# verses

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<t>from the sons of Joseph: <pb/>from Ephraim, Elishama son of Ammihud; <pb/>from Manasseh, Gamaliel son of Pedahzur; <pb/> </t>


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<pb/>These were the men appointed from the community, the leaders of their ancestral tribes. They were the heads of the clans of Israel.


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and they called the whole community together on the first day of the second month. The people registered their ancestry by their clans and families, and the men twenty years old or more were listed by name, one by one,


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<pb/><t>From the descendants of Reuben the firstborn son of Israel: <pb/>All the men twenty years old or more who were able to serve in the army were listed by name, one by one, according to the records of their clans and families. </t>


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<t>From the descendants of Simeon: <pb/>All the men twenty years old or more who were able to serve in the army were counted and listed by name, one by one, according to the records of their clans and families. </t>


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<t>From the descendants of Gad: <pb/>All the men twenty years old or more who were able to serve in the army were listed by name, according to the records of their clans and families. </t>


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<t>From the descendants of Judah: <pb/>All the men twenty years old or more who were able to serve in the army were listed by name, according to the records of their clans and families. </t>


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<t>From the descendants of Issachar: <pb/>All the men twenty years old or more who were able to serve in the army were listed by name, according to the records of their clans and families. </t>


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<t>From the descendants of Zebulun: <pb/>All the men twenty years old or more who were able to serve in the army were listed by name, according to the records of their clans and families. </t>


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<t>From the sons of Joseph: <pb/>From the descendants of Ephraim: <pb/>All the men twenty years old or more who were able to serve in the army were listed by name, according to the records of their clans and families. </t>


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<t>From the descendants of Manasseh: <pb/>All the men twenty years old or more who were able to serve in the army were listed by name, according to the records of their clans and families. </t>


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<t>From the descendants of Benjamin: <pb/>All the men twenty years old or more who were able to serve in the army were listed by name, according to the records of their clans and families. </t>


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<t>From the descendants of Dan: <pb/>All the men twenty years old or more who were able to serve in the army were listed by name, according to the records of their clans and families. </t>


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<t>From the descendants of Asher: <pb/>All the men twenty years old or more who were able to serve in the army were listed by name, according to the records of their clans and families. </t>


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<t>From the descendants of Naphtali: <pb/>All the men twenty years old or more who were able to serve in the army were listed by name, according to the records of their clans and families. </t>


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<pb/>These were the men counted by Moses and Aaron and the twelve leaders of Israel, each one representing his family.


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All the Israelites twenty years old or more who were able to serve in Israel’s army were counted according to their families.


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Instead, appoint the Levites to be in charge of the tabernacle of the covenant law — over all its furnishings and everything belonging to it. They are to carry the tabernacle and all its furnishings; they are to take care of it and encamp around it.


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Whenever the tabernacle is to move, the Levites are to take it down, and whenever the tabernacle is to be set up, the Levites shall do it. Anyone else who approaches it is to be put to death.


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The Israelites are to set up their tents by divisions, each of them in their own camp under their standard.


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The Levites, however, are to set up their tents around the tabernacle of the covenant law so that my wrath will not fall on the Israelite community. The Levites are to be responsible for the care of the tabernacle of the covenant law.”


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“The Israelites are to camp around the tent of meeting some distance from it, each of them under their standard and holding the banners of their family.”


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<pb/>On the east, toward the sunrise, the divisions of the camp of Judah are to encamp under their standard. The leader of the people of Judah is Nahshon son of Amminadab.


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<pb/>The tribe of Issachar will camp next to them. The leader of the people of Issachar is Nethanel son of Zuar.


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<pb/>All the men assigned to the camp of Judah, according to their divisions, number 186,400. They will set out first.


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<pb/>On the south will be the divisions of the camp of Reuben under their standard. The leader of the people of Reuben is Elizur son of Shedeur.


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<pb/>The tribe of Simeon will camp next to them. The leader of the people of Simeon is Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai.


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<pb/>The tribe of Gad will be next. The leader of the people of Gad is Eliasaph son of Deuel. <f>[1]</f>


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<pb/>All the men assigned to the camp of Reuben, according to their divisions, number 151,450. They will set out second.


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<pb/>Then the tent of meeting and the camp of the Levites will set out in the middle of the camps. They will set out in the same order as they encamp, each in their own place under their standard.


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<pb/>On the west will be the divisions of the camp of Ephraim under their standard. The leader of the people of Ephraim is Elishama son of Ammihud.


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<pb/>The tribe of Manasseh will be next to them. The leader of the people of Manasseh is Gamaliel son of Pedahzur.


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<pb/>The tribe of Benjamin will be next. The leader of the people of Benjamin is Abidan son of Gideoni.


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<pb/>All the men assigned to the camp of Ephraim, according to their divisions, number 108,100. They will set out third.


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<pb/>On the north will be the divisions of the camp of Dan under their standard. The leader of the people of Dan is Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai.


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<pb/>The tribe of Asher will camp next to them. The leader of the people of Asher is Pagiel son of Okran.


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<pb/>All the men assigned to the camp of Dan number 157,600. They will set out last, under their standards.


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<pb/>These are the Israelites, counted according to their families. All the men in the camps, by their divisions, number 603,550.


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The Levites, however, were not counted along with the other Israelites, as the LORD commanded Moses.


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<pb/>So the Israelites did everything the LORD commanded Moses; that is the way they encamped under their standards, and that is the way they set out, each of them with their clan and family.


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<pb/>This is the account of the family of Aaron and Moses at the time the LORD spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai.


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Nadab and Abihu, however, died before the LORD when they made an offering with unauthorized fire before him in the Desert of Sinai. They had no sons, so Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests during the lifetime of their father Aaron.


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They are to perform duties for him and for the whole community at the tent of meeting by doing the work of the tabernacle.


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They are to take care of all the furnishings of the tent of meeting, fulfilling the obligations of the Israelites by doing the work of the tabernacle.


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Give the Levites to Aaron and his sons; they are the Israelites who are to be given wholly to him. <f>[2]</f>


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Appoint Aaron and his sons to serve as priests; anyone else who approaches the sanctuary is to be put to death.”


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“I have taken the Levites from among the Israelites in place of the first male offspring of every Israelite woman. The Levites are mine,


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for all the firstborn are mine. When I struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, I set apart for myself every firstborn in Israel, whether human or animal. They are to be mine. I am the LORD.”


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<t>The Merarite clans: <pb/>Mahli and Mushi. </t> <pb/>These were the Levite clans, according to their families.


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At the tent of meeting the Gershonites were responsible for the care of the tabernacle and tent, its coverings, the curtain at the entrance to the tent of meeting,


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the curtains of the courtyard, the curtain at the entrance to the courtyard surrounding the tabernacle and altar, and the ropes — and everything related to their use.


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<pb/>To Kohath belonged the clans of the Amramites, Izharites, Hebronites and Uzzielites; these were the Kohathite clans.


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The number of all the males a month old or more was 8,600. <f>[3]</f> The Kohathites were responsible for the care of the sanctuary.


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They were responsible for the care of the ark, the table, the lampstand, the altars, the articles of the sanctuary used in ministering, the curtain, and everything related to their use.


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The chief leader of the Levites was Eleazar son of Aaron, the priest. He was appointed over those who were responsible for the care of the sanctuary.


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The leader of the families of the Merarite clans was Zuriel son of Abihail; they were to camp on the north side of the tabernacle.


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The Merarites were appointed to take care of the frames of the tabernacle, its crossbars, posts, bases, all its equipment, and everything related to their use,


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<pb/>Moses and Aaron and his sons were to camp to the east of the tabernacle, toward the sunrise, in front of the tent of meeting. They were responsible for the care of the sanctuary on behalf of the Israelites. Anyone else who approached the sanctuary was to be put to death.


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<pb/>The total number of Levites counted at the LORD’s command by Moses and Aaron according to their clans, including every male a month old or more, was 22,000.


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<pb/>The LORD said to Moses, “Count all the firstborn Israelite males who are a month old or more and make a list of their names.


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Take the Levites for me in place of all the firstborn of the Israelites, and the livestock of the Levites in place of all the firstborn of the livestock of the Israelites. I am the LORD.”


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“Take the Levites in place of all the firstborn of Israel, and the livestock of the Levites in place of their livestock. The Levites are to be mine. I am the LORD.


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collect five shekels <f>[4]</f> for each one, according to the sanctuary shekel, which weighs twenty gerahs.


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<pb/>So Moses collected the redemption money from those who exceeded the number redeemed by the Levites.


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From the firstborn of the Israelites he collected silver weighing 1,365 shekels, <f>[5]</f> according to the sanctuary shekel.


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Count all the men from thirty to fifty years of age who come to serve in the work at the tent of meeting.


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When the camp is to move, Aaron and his sons are to go in and take down the shielding curtain and put it over the ark of the covenant law.


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Then they are to cover the curtain with a durable leather, <f>[6]</f> spread a cloth of solid blue over that and put the poles in place.


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<pb/>“Over the table of the Presence they are to spread a blue cloth and put on it the plates, dishes and bowls, and the jars for drink offerings; the bread that is continually there is to remain on it.


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They are to spread a scarlet cloth over them, cover that with the durable leather and put the poles in place.


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<pb/>“They are to take a blue cloth and cover the lampstand that is for light, together with its lamps, its wick trimmers and trays, and all its jars for the olive oil used to supply it.


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Then they are to wrap it and all its accessories in a covering of the durable leather and put it on a carrying frame.


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<pb/>“Over the gold altar they are to spread a blue cloth and cover that with the durable leather and put the poles in place.


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<pb/>“They are to take all the articles used for ministering in the sanctuary, wrap them in a blue cloth, cover that with the durable leather and put them on a carrying frame.


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Then they are to place on it all the utensils used for ministering at the altar, including the firepans, meat forks, shovels and sprinkling bowls. Over it they are to spread a covering of the durable leather and put the poles in place.


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<pb/>“After Aaron and his sons have finished covering the holy furnishings and all the holy articles, and when the camp is ready to move, only then are the Kohathites to come and do the carrying. But they must not touch the holy things or they will die. The Kohathites are to carry those things that are in the tent of meeting.


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<pb/>“Eleazar son of Aaron, the priest, is to have charge of the oil for the light, the fragrant incense, the regular grain offering and the anointing oil. He is to be in charge of the entire tabernacle and everything in it, including its holy furnishings and articles.”


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So that they may live and not die when they come near the most holy things, do this for them: Aaron and his sons are to go into the sanctuary and assign to each man his work and what he is to carry.


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They are to carry the curtains of the tabernacle, that is, the tent of meeting, its covering and its outer covering of durable leather, the curtains for the entrance to the tent of meeting,


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the curtains of the courtyard surrounding the tabernacle and altar, the curtain for the entrance to the courtyard, the ropes and all the equipment used in the service of the tent. The Gershonites are to do all that needs to be done with these things.


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All their service, whether carrying or doing other work, is to be done under the direction of Aaron and his sons. You shall assign to them as their responsibility all they are to carry.


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This is the service of the Gershonite clans at the tent of meeting. Their duties are to be under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron, the priest.


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As part of all their service at the tent, they are to carry the frames of the tabernacle, its crossbars, posts and bases,


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as well as the posts of the surrounding courtyard with their bases, tent pegs, ropes, all their equipment and everything related to their use. Assign to each man the specific things he is to carry.


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This is the service of the Merarite clans as they work at the tent of meeting under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron, the priest.”


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<pb/>Moses, Aaron and the leaders of the community counted the Kohathites by their clans and families.


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This was the total of all those in the Kohathite clans who served at the tent of meeting. Moses and Aaron counted them according to the LORD’s command through Moses.


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This was the total of those in the Gershonite clans who served at the tent of meeting. Moses and Aaron counted them according to the LORD’s command.


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This was the total of those in the Merarite clans. Moses and Aaron counted them according to the LORD’s command through Moses.


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All the men from thirty to fifty years of age who came to do the work of serving and carrying the tent of meeting


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At the LORD’s command through Moses, each was assigned his work and told what to carry. <pb/>Thus they were counted, as the LORD commanded Moses.


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“Command the Israelites to send away from the camp anyone who has a defiling skin disease <f>[7]</f> or a discharge of any kind, or who is ceremonially unclean because of a dead body.


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Send away male and female alike; send them outside the camp so they will not defile their camp, where I dwell among them.”


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The Israelites did so; they sent them outside the camp. They did just as the LORD had instructed Moses.


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“Say to the Israelites: ‘Any man or woman who wrongs another in any way <f>[8]</f> and so is unfaithful to the LORD is guilty


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and must confess the sin they have committed. They must make full restitution for the wrong they have done, add a fifth of the value to it and give it all to the person they have wronged.


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But if that person has no close relative to whom restitution can be made for the wrong, the restitution belongs to the LORD and must be given to the priest, along with the ram with which atonement is made for the wrongdoer.


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Sacred things belong to their owners, but what they give to the priest will belong to the priest.’ ”


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so that another man has sexual relations with her, and this is hidden from her husband and her impurity is undetected (since there is no witness against her and she has not been caught in the act),


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and if feelings of jealousy come over her husband and he suspects his wife and she is impure — or if he is jealous and suspects her even though she is not impure — 


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then he is to take his wife to the priest. He must also take an offering of a tenth of an ephah <f>[9]</f> of barley flour on her behalf. He must not pour olive oil on it or put incense on it, because it is a grain offering for jealousy, a reminder-offering to draw attention to wrongdoing.


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Then he shall take some holy water in a clay jar and put some dust from the tabernacle floor into the water.


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After the priest has had the woman stand before the LORD, he shall loosen her hair and place in her hands the reminder-offering, the grain offering for jealousy, while he himself holds the bitter water that brings a curse.


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Then the priest shall put the woman under oath and say to her, “If no other man has had sexual relations with you and you have not gone astray and become impure while married to your husband, may this bitter water that brings a curse not harm you.


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But if you have gone astray while married to your husband and you have made yourself impure by having sexual relations with a man other than your husband” — 


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here the priest is to put the woman under this curse — “may the LORD cause you to become a curse <f>[10]</f> among your people when he makes your womb miscarry and your abdomen swell.


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May this water that brings a curse enter your body so that your abdomen swells or your womb miscarries.” <pb/>“ ‘Then the woman is to say, “Amen. So be it.”


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<pb/>“ ‘The priest is to write these curses on a scroll and then wash them off into the bitter water.


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He shall make the woman drink the bitter water that brings a curse, and this water that brings a curse and causes bitter suffering will enter her.


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The priest is to take from her hands the grain offering for jealousy, wave it before the LORD and bring it to the altar.


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The priest is then to take a handful of the grain offering as a memorial <f>[11]</f> offering and burn it on the altar; after that, he is to have the woman drink the water.


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If she has made herself impure and been unfaithful to her husband, this will be the result: When she is made to drink the water that brings a curse and causes bitter suffering, it will enter her, her abdomen will swell and her womb will miscarry, and she will become a curse.


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If, however, the woman has not made herself impure, but is clean, she will be cleared of guilt and will be able to have children.


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<pb/>“ ‘This, then, is the law of jealousy when a woman goes astray and makes herself impure while married to her husband,


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or when feelings of jealousy come over a man because he suspects his wife. The priest is to have her stand before the LORD and is to apply this entire law to her.


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The husband will be innocent of any wrongdoing, but the woman will bear the consequences of her sin.’ ”


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“Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘If a man or woman wants to make a special vow, a vow of dedication to the LORD as a Nazirite,


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they must abstain from wine and other fermented drink and must not drink vinegar made from wine or other fermented drink. They must not drink grape juice or eat grapes or raisins.


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As long as they remain under their Nazirite vow, they must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine, not even the seeds or skins.


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<pb/>“ ‘During the entire period of their Nazirite vow, no razor may be used on their head. They must be holy until the period of their dedication to the LORD is over; they must let their hair grow long.


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<pb/>“ ‘Throughout the period of their dedication to the LORD, the Nazirite must not go near a dead body.


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Even if their own father or mother or brother or sister dies, they must not make themselves ceremonially unclean on account of them, because the symbol of their dedication to God is on their head.


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<pb/>“ ‘If someone dies suddenly in the Nazirite’s presence, thus defiling the hair that symbolizes their dedication, they must shave their head on the seventh day — the day of their cleansing.


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Then on the eighth day they must bring two doves or two young pigeons to the priest at the entrance to the tent of meeting.


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The priest is to offer one as a sin offering <f>[12]</f> and the other as a burnt offering to make atonement for the Nazirite because they sinned by being in the presence of the dead body. That same day they are to consecrate their head again.


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They must rededicate themselves to the LORD for the same period of dedication and must bring a year-old male lamb as a guilt offering. The previous days do not count, because they became defiled during their period of dedication.


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<pb/>“ ‘Now this is the law of the Nazirite when the period of their dedication is over. They are to be brought to the entrance to the tent of meeting.


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There they are to present their offerings to the LORD: a year-old male lamb without defect for a burnt offering, a year-old ewe lamb without defect for a sin offering, a ram without defect for a fellowship offering,


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together with their grain offerings and drink offerings, and a basket of bread made with the finest flour and without yeast — thick loaves with olive oil mixed in, and thin loaves brushed with olive oil.


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<pb/>“ ‘The priest is to present all these before the LORD and make the sin offering and the burnt offering.


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He is to present the basket of unleavened bread and is to sacrifice the ram as a fellowship offering to the LORD, together with its grain offering and drink offering.


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<pb/>“ ‘Then at the entrance to the tent of meeting, the Nazirite must shave off the hair that symbolizes their dedication. They are to take the hair and put it in the fire that is under the sacrifice of the fellowship offering.


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<pb/>“ ‘After the Nazirite has shaved off the hair that symbolizes their dedication, the priest is to place in their hands a boiled shoulder of the ram, and one thick loaf and one thin loaf from the basket, both made without yeast.


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The priest shall then wave these before the LORD as a wave offering; they are holy and belong to the priest, together with the breast that was waved and the thigh that was presented. After that, the Nazirite may drink wine.


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<pb/>“ ‘This is the law of the Nazirite who vows offerings to the LORD in accordance with their dedication, in addition to whatever else they can afford. They must fulfill the vows they have made, according to the law of the Nazirite.’ ”


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<pb/>When Moses finished setting up the tabernacle, he anointed and consecrated it and all its furnishings. He also anointed and consecrated the altar and all its utensils.


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Then the leaders of Israel, the heads of families who were the tribal leaders in charge of those who were counted, made offerings.


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They brought as their gifts before the LORD six covered carts and twelve oxen — an ox from each leader and a cart from every two. These they presented before the tabernacle.


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“Accept these from them, that they may be used in the work at the tent of meeting. Give them to the Levites as each man’s work requires.”


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and he gave four carts and eight oxen to the Merarites, as their work required. They were all under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron, the priest.


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But Moses did not give any to the Kohathites, because they were to carry on their shoulders the holy things, for which they were responsible.


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<pb/>When the altar was anointed, the leaders brought their offerings for its dedication and presented them before the altar.


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For the LORD had said to Moses, “Each day one leader is to bring his offering for the dedication of the altar.”


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<pb/>The one who brought his offering on the first day was Nahshon son of Amminadab of the tribe of Judah.


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<pb/>His offering was one silver plate weighing a hundred and thirty shekels <f>[13]</f> and one silver sprinkling bowl weighing seventy shekels, <f>[14]</f> both according to the sanctuary shekel, each filled with the finest flour mixed with olive oil as a grain offering;


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and two oxen, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs a year old to be sacrificed as a fellowship offering. This was the offering of Nahshon son of Amminadab.


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<pb/>The offering he brought was one silver plate weighing a hundred and thirty shekels and one silver sprinkling bowl weighing seventy shekels, both according to the sanctuary shekel, each filled with the finest flour mixed with olive oil as a grain offering;


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and two oxen, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs a year old to be sacrificed as a fellowship offering. This was the offering of Nethanel son of Zuar.


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<pb/>On the third day, Eliab son of Helon, the leader of the people of Zebulun, brought his offering.


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<pb/>His offering was one silver plate weighing a hundred and thirty shekels and one silver sprinkling bowl weighing seventy shekels, both according to the sanctuary shekel, each filled with the finest flour mixed with olive oil as a grain offering;


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and two oxen, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs a year old to be sacrificed as a fellowship offering. This was the offering of Eliab son of Helon.


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<pb/>On the fourth day Elizur son of Shedeur, the leader of the people of Reuben, brought his offering.


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and two oxen, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs a year old to be sacrificed as a fellowship offering. This was the offering of Elizur son of Shedeur.


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<pb/>On the fifth day Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai, the leader of the people of Simeon, brought his offering.


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and two oxen, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs a year old to be sacrificed as a fellowship offering. This was the offering of Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai.


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and two oxen, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs a year old to be sacrificed as a fellowship offering. This was the offering of Eliasaph son of Deuel.


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<pb/>On the seventh day Elishama son of Ammihud, the leader of the people of Ephraim, brought his offering.


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and two oxen, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs a year old to be sacrificed as a fellowship offering. This was the offering of Elishama son of Ammihud.


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<pb/>On the eighth day Gamaliel son of Pedahzur, the leader of the people of Manasseh, brought his offering.


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and two oxen, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs a year old to be sacrificed as a fellowship offering. This was the offering of Gamaliel son of Pedahzur.


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<pb/>On the ninth day Abidan son of Gideoni, the leader of the people of Benjamin, brought his offering.


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and two oxen, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs a year old to be sacrificed as a fellowship offering. This was the offering of Abidan son of Gideoni.


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<pb/>On the tenth day Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai, the leader of the people of Dan, brought his offering.


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and two oxen, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs a year old to be sacrificed as a fellowship offering. This was the offering of Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai.


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<pb/>On the eleventh day Pagiel son of Okran, the leader of the people of Asher, brought his offering.


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and two oxen, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs a year old to be sacrificed as a fellowship offering. This was the offering of Pagiel son of Okran.


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<pb/>On the twelfth day Ahira son of Enan, the leader of the people of Naphtali, brought his offering.


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and two oxen, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs a year old to be sacrificed as a fellowship offering. This was the offering of Ahira son of Enan.


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<pb/>These were the offerings of the Israelite leaders for the dedication of the altar when it was anointed: twelve silver plates, twelve silver sprinkling bowls and twelve gold dishes.


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Each silver plate weighed a hundred and thirty shekels, and each sprinkling bowl seventy shekels. Altogether, the silver dishes weighed two thousand four hundred shekels, <f>[17]</f> according to the sanctuary shekel.


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The twelve gold dishes filled with incense weighed ten shekels each, according to the sanctuary shekel. Altogether, the gold dishes weighed a hundred and twenty shekels. <f>[18]</f>


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The total number of animals for the burnt offering came to twelve young bulls, twelve rams and twelve male lambs a year old, together with their grain offering. Twelve male goats were used for the sin offering.


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The total number of animals for the sacrifice of the fellowship offering came to twenty-four oxen, sixty rams, sixty male goats and sixty male lambs a year old. These were the offerings for the dedication of the altar after it was anointed.


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<pb/>When Moses entered the tent of meeting to speak with the LORD, he heard the voice speaking to him from between the two cherubim above the atonement cover on the ark of the covenant law. In this way the LORD spoke to him.


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“Speak to Aaron and say to him, ‘When you set up the lamps, see that all seven light up the area in front of the lampstand.’ ”


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<pb/>Aaron did so; he set up the lamps so that they faced forward on the lampstand, just as the LORD commanded Moses.


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This is how the lampstand was made: It was made of hammered gold — from its base to its blossoms. The lampstand was made exactly like the pattern the LORD had shown Moses.


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To purify them, do this: Sprinkle the water of cleansing on them; then have them shave their whole bodies and wash their clothes. And so they will purify themselves.


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Have them take a young bull with its grain offering of the finest flour mixed with olive oil; then you are to take a second young bull for a sin offering. <f>[19]</f>


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Aaron is to present the Levites before the LORD as a wave offering from the Israelites, so that they may be ready to do the work of the LORD.


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<pb/>“Then the Levites are to lay their hands on the heads of the bulls, using one for a sin offering to the LORD and the other for a burnt offering, to make atonement for the Levites.


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Have the Levites stand in front of Aaron and his sons and then present them as a wave offering to the LORD.


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In this way you are to set the Levites apart from the other Israelites, and the Levites will be mine.


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<pb/>“After you have purified the Levites and presented them as a wave offering, they are to come to do their work at the tent of meeting.


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They are the Israelites who are to be given wholly to me. I have taken them as my own in place of the firstborn, the first male offspring from every Israelite woman.


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Every firstborn male in Israel, whether human or animal, is mine. When I struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, I set them apart for myself.


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From among all the Israelites, I have given the Levites as gifts to Aaron and his sons to do the work at the tent of meeting on behalf of the Israelites and to make atonement for them so that no plague will strike the Israelites when they go near the sanctuary.”


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<pb/>Moses, Aaron and the whole Israelite community did with the Levites just as the LORD commanded Moses.


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The Levites purified themselves and washed their clothes. Then Aaron presented them as a wave offering before the LORD and made atonement for them to purify them.


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After that, the Levites came to do their work at the tent of meeting under the supervision of Aaron and his sons. They did with the Levites just as the LORD commanded Moses.


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“This applies to the Levites: Men twenty-five years old or more shall come to take part in the work at the tent of meeting,


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They may assist their brothers in performing their duties at the tent of meeting, but they themselves must not do the work. This, then, is how you are to assign the responsibilities of the Levites.”


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<pb/>The LORD spoke to Moses in the Desert of Sinai in the first month of the second year after they came out of Egypt. He said,


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Celebrate it at the appointed time, at twilight on the fourteenth day of this month, in accordance with all its rules and regulations.”


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and they did so in the Desert of Sinai at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month. The Israelites did everything just as the LORD commanded Moses.


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<pb/>But some of them could not celebrate the Passover on that day because they were ceremonially unclean on account of a dead body. So they came to Moses and Aaron that same day


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and said to Moses, “We have become unclean because of a dead body, but why should we be kept from presenting the LORD’s offering with the other Israelites at the appointed time?”


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“Tell the Israelites: ‘When any of you or your descendants are unclean because of a dead body or are away on a journey, they are still to celebrate the LORD’s Passover,


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but they are to do it on the fourteenth day of the second month at twilight. They are to eat the lamb, together with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.


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They must not leave any of it till morning or break any of its bones. When they celebrate the Passover, they must follow all the regulations.


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But if anyone who is ceremonially clean and not on a journey fails to celebrate the Passover, they must be cut off from their people for not presenting the LORD’s offering at the appointed time. They will bear the consequences of their sin.


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<pb/>“ ‘A foreigner residing among you is also to celebrate the LORD’s Passover in accordance with its rules and regulations. You must have the same regulations for both the foreigner and the native-born.’ ”


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<pb/>On the day the tabernacle, the tent of the covenant law, was set up, the cloud covered it. From evening till morning the cloud above the tabernacle looked like fire.


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Whenever the cloud lifted from above the tent, the Israelites set out; wherever the cloud settled, the Israelites encamped.


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At the LORD’s command the Israelites set out, and at his command they encamped. As long as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle, they remained in camp.


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When the cloud remained over the tabernacle a long time, the Israelites obeyed the LORD’s order and did not set out.


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Sometimes the cloud was over the tabernacle only a few days; at the LORD’s command they would encamp, and then at his command they would set out.


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Sometimes the cloud stayed only from evening till morning, and when it lifted in the morning, they set out. Whether by day or by night, whenever the cloud lifted, they set out.


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Whether the cloud stayed over the tabernacle for two days or a month or a year, the Israelites would remain in camp and not set out; but when it lifted, they would set out.


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At the LORD’s command they encamped, and at the LORD’s command they set out. They obeyed the LORD’s order, in accordance with his command through Moses.


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“Make two trumpets of hammered silver, and use them for calling the community together and for having the camps set out.


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When both are sounded, the whole community is to assemble before you at the entrance to the tent of meeting.


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If only one is sounded, the leaders — the heads of the clans of Israel — are to assemble before you.


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At the sounding of a second blast, the camps on the south are to set out. The blast will be the signal for setting out.


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<pb/>“The sons of Aaron, the priests, are to blow the trumpets. This is to be a lasting ordinance for you and the generations to come.


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When you go into battle in your own land against an enemy who is oppressing you, sound a blast on the trumpets. Then you will be remembered by the LORD your God and rescued from your enemies.


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Also at your times of rejoicing — your appointed festivals and New Moon feasts — you are to sound the trumpets over your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, and they will be a memorial for you before your God. I am the LORD your God.”


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<pb/>On the twentieth day of the second month of the second year, the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle of the covenant law.


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Then the Israelites set out from the Desert of Sinai and traveled from place to place until the cloud came to rest in the Desert of Paran.


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<pb/>The divisions of the camp of Judah went first, under their standard. Nahshon son of Amminadab was in command.


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<pb/>The divisions of the camp of Reuben went next, under their standard. Elizur son of Shedeur was in command.


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Then the Kohathites set out, carrying the holy things. The tabernacle was to be set up before they arrived.


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<pb/>The divisions of the camp of Ephraim went next, under their standard. Elishama son of Ammihud was in command.


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<pb/>Finally, as the rear guard for all the units, the divisions of the camp of Dan set out under their standard. Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai was in command.


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<pb/>Now Moses said to Hobab son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, “We are setting out for the place about which the LORD said, ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us and we will treat you well, for the LORD has promised good things to Israel.”


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<pb/>But Moses said, “Please do not leave us. You know where we should camp in the wilderness, and you can be our eyes.


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<pb/>So they set out from the mountain of the LORD and traveled for three days. The ark of the covenant of the LORD went before them during those three days to find them a place to rest.


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<pb/>Whenever the ark set out, Moses said, <pb/><t>“Rise up, LORD! </t><t>May your enemies be scattered; </t><t>may your foes flee before you.” </t>


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<pb/>Whenever it came to rest, he said, <pb/><t>“Return, LORD, </t><t>to the countless thousands of Israel.”</t>


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<pb/>Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the LORD, and when he heard them his anger was aroused. Then fire from the LORD burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp.


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<pb/>The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, “If only we had meat to eat!


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We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost — also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic.


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The people went around gathering it, and then ground it in a hand mill or crushed it in a mortar. They cooked it in a pot or made it into loaves. And it tasted like something made with olive oil.


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<pb/>Moses heard the people of every family wailing at the entrance to their tents. The LORD became exceedingly angry, and Moses was troubled.


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He asked the LORD, “Why have you brought this trouble on your servant? What have I done to displease you that you put the burden of all these people on me?


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Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth? Why do you tell me to carry them in my arms, as a nurse carries an infant, to the land you promised on oath to their ancestors?


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If this is how you are going to treat me, please go ahead and kill me — if I have found favor in your eyes — and do not let me face my own ruin.”


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<pb/>The LORD said to Moses: “Bring me seventy of Israel’s elders who are known to you as leaders and officials among the people. Have them come to the tent of meeting, that they may stand there with you.


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I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take some of the power of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them. They will share the burden of the people with you so that you will not have to carry it alone.


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<pb/>“Tell the people: ‘Consecrate yourselves in preparation for tomorrow, when you will eat meat. The LORD heard you when you wailed, “If only we had meat to eat! We were better off in Egypt!” Now the LORD will give you meat, and you will eat it.


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but for a whole month — until it comes out of your nostrils and you loathe it — because you have rejected the LORD, who is among you, and have wailed before him, saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?” ’ ”


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<pb/>But Moses said, “Here I am among six hundred thousand men on foot, and you say, ‘I will give them meat to eat for a whole month!’


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Would they have enough if flocks and herds were slaughtered for them? Would they have enough if all the fish in the sea were caught for them?”


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<pb/>The LORD answered Moses, “Is the LORD’s arm too short? Now you will see whether or not what I say will come true for you.”


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<pb/>So Moses went out and told the people what the LORD had said. He brought together seventy of their elders and had them stand around the tent.


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Then the LORD came down in the cloud and spoke with him, and he took some of the power of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied — but did not do so again.


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<pb/>However, two men, whose names were Eldad and Medad, had remained in the camp. They were listed among the elders, but did not go out to the tent. Yet the Spirit also rested on them, and they prophesied in the camp.


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<pb/>Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses’ aide since youth, spoke up and said, “Moses, my lord, stop them!”


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<pb/>But Moses replied, “Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the LORD’s people were prophets and that the LORD would put his Spirit on them!”


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<pb/>Now a wind went out from the LORD and drove quail in from the sea. It scattered them up to two cubits <f>[21]</f> deep all around the camp, as far as a day’s walk in any direction.


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All that day and night and all the next day the people went out and gathered quail. No one gathered less than ten homers. <f>[22]</f> Then they spread them out all around the camp.


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But while the meat was still between their teeth and before it could be consumed, the anger of the LORD burned against the people, and he struck them with a severe plague.


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Therefore the place was named Kibroth Hattaavah, <f>[23]</f> because there they buried the people who had craved other food.


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<pb/>Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite.


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“Has the LORD spoken only through Moses?” they asked. “Hasn’t he also spoken through us?” And the LORD heard this.


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<pb/>At once the LORD said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam, “Come out to the tent of meeting, all three of you.” So the three of them went out.


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Then the LORD came down in a pillar of cloud; he stood at the entrance to the tent and summoned Aaron and Miriam. When the two of them stepped forward,


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he said, “Listen to my words: <pb/><t>“When there is a prophet among you, </t><t>I, the LORD, reveal myself to them in visions, </t><t>I speak to them in dreams. </t>


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<t>With him I speak face to face, </t><t>clearly and not in riddles; </t><t>he sees the form of the LORD. </t><t>Why then were you not afraid </t><t>to speak against my servant Moses?” </t>


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<pb/>When the cloud lifted from above the tent, Miriam’s skin was leprous <f>[24]</f> — it became as white as snow. Aaron turned toward her and saw that she had a defiling skin disease,


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and he said to Moses, “Please, my lord, I ask you not to hold against us the sin we have so foolishly committed.


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Do not let her be like a stillborn infant coming from its mother’s womb with its flesh half eaten away.”


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<pb/>The LORD replied to Moses, “If her father had spit in her face, would she not have been in disgrace for seven days? Confine her outside the camp for seven days; after that she can be brought back.”


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So Miriam was confined outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on till she was brought back.


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“Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. From each ancestral tribe send one of its leaders.”


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<pb/>So at the LORD’s command Moses sent them out from the Desert of Paran. All of them were leaders of the Israelites.


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<pb/>These are the names of the men Moses sent to explore the land. (Moses gave Hoshea son of Nun the name Joshua.)


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<pb/>When Moses sent them to explore Canaan, he said, “Go up through the Negev and on into the hill country.


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What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What kind of towns do they live in? Are they unwalled or fortified?


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How is the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees in it or not? Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land.” (It was the season for the first ripe grapes.)


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<pb/>So they went up and explored the land from the Desert of Zin as far as Rehob, toward Lebo Hamath.


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They went up through the Negev and came to Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, lived. (Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)


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When they reached the Valley of Eshkol, <f>[25]</f> they cut off a branch bearing a single cluster of grapes. Two of them carried it on a pole between them, along with some pomegranates and figs.


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That place was called the Valley of Eshkol because of the cluster of grapes the Israelites cut off there.


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<pb/>They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There they reported to them and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land.


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They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit.


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But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there.


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The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan.”


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<pb/>Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”


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<pb/>But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.”


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And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size.


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We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”


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All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this wilderness!


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Why is the LORD bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?”


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Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes


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and said to the entire Israelite assembly, “The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good.


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If the LORD is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us.


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Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will devour them. Their protection is gone, but the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them.”


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<pb/>But the whole assembly talked about stoning them. Then the glory of the LORD appeared at the tent of meeting to all the Israelites.


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The LORD said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the signs I have performed among them?


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I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them, but I will make you into a nation greater and stronger than they.”


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<pb/>Moses said to the LORD, “Then the Egyptians will hear about it! By your power you brought these people up from among them.


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And they will tell the inhabitants of this land about it. They have already heard that you, LORD, are with these people and that you, LORD, have been seen face to face, that your cloud stays over them, and that you go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.


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If you put all these people to death, leaving none alive, the nations who have heard this report about you will say,


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‘The LORD was not able to bring these people into the land he promised them on oath, so he slaughtered them in the wilderness.’


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‘The LORD is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.’


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In accordance with your great love, forgive the sin of these people, just as you have pardoned them from the time they left Egypt until now.”


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not one of those who saw my glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times — 


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not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their ancestors. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it.


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But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it.


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Since the Amalekites and the Canaanites are living in the valleys, turn back tomorrow and set out toward the desert along the route to the Red Sea. <f>[26]</f>”


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“How long will this wicked community grumble against me? I have heard the complaints of these grumbling Israelites.


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So tell them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the LORD, I will do to you the very thing I heard you say:


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In this wilderness your bodies will fall — every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me.


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Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.


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As for your children that you said would be taken as plunder, I will bring them in to enjoy the land you have rejected.


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Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the wilderness.


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For forty years — one year for each of the forty days you explored the land — you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you.’


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I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will surely do these things to this whole wicked community, which has banded together against me. They will meet their end in this wilderness; here they will die.”


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<pb/>So the men Moses had sent to explore the land, who returned and made the whole community grumble against him by spreading a bad report about it — 


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these men who were responsible for spreading the bad report about the land were struck down and died of a plague before the LORD.


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Of the men who went to explore the land, only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh survived.


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Early the next morning they set out for the highest point in the hill country, saying, “Now we are ready to go up to the land the LORD promised. Surely we have sinned!”


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for the Amalekites and the Canaanites will face you there. Because you have turned away from the LORD, he will not be with you and you will fall by the sword.”


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<pb/>Nevertheless, in their presumption they went up toward the highest point in the hill country, though neither Moses nor the ark of the LORD’s covenant moved from the camp.


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Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and attacked them and beat them down all the way to Hormah.


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and you present to the LORD food offerings from the herd or the flock, as an aroma pleasing to the LORD — whether burnt offerings or sacrifices, for special vows or freewill offerings or festival offerings — 


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then the person who brings an offering shall present to the LORD a grain offering of a tenth of an ephah <f>[27]</f> of the finest flour mixed with a quarter of a hin <f>[28]</f> of olive oil.


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With each lamb for the burnt offering or the sacrifice, prepare a quarter of a hin of wine as a drink offering.


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<pb/>“ ‘With a ram prepare a grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah <f>[29]</f> of the finest flour mixed with a third of a hin <f>[30]</f> of olive oil,


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<pb/>“ ‘When you prepare a young bull as a burnt offering or sacrifice, for a special vow or a fellowship offering to the LORD,


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bring with the bull a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah <f>[31]</f> of the finest flour mixed with half a hin <f>[32]</f> of olive oil,


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and also bring half a hin of wine as a drink offering. This will be a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the LORD.


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<pb/>“ ‘Everyone who is native-born must do these things in this way when they present a food offering as an aroma pleasing to the LORD.


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For the generations to come, whenever a foreigner or anyone else living among you presents a food offering as an aroma pleasing to the LORD, they must do exactly as you do.


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The community is to have the same rules for you and for the foreigner residing among you; this is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. You and the foreigner shall be the same before the LORD:


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Present a loaf from the first of your ground meal and present it as an offering from the threshing floor.


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Throughout the generations to come you are to give this offering to the LORD from the first of your ground meal.


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<pb/>“ ‘Now if you as a community unintentionally fail to keep any of these commands the LORD gave Moses — 


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any of the LORD’s commands to you through him, from the day the LORD gave them and continuing through the generations to come — 


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and if this is done unintentionally without the community being aware of it, then the whole community is to offer a young bull for a burnt offering as an aroma pleasing to the LORD, along with its prescribed grain offering and drink offering, and a male goat for a sin offering. <f>[33]</f>


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The priest is to make atonement for the whole Israelite community, and they will be forgiven, for it was not intentional and they have presented to the LORD for their wrong a food offering and a sin offering.


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The whole Israelite community and the foreigners residing among them will be forgiven, because all the people were involved in the unintentional wrong.


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<pb/>“ ‘But if just one person sins unintentionally, that person must bring a year-old female goat for a sin offering.


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The priest is to make atonement before the LORD for the one who erred by sinning unintentionally, and when atonement has been made, that person will be forgiven.


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One and the same law applies to everyone who sins unintentionally, whether a native-born Israelite or a foreigner residing among you.


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<pb/>“ ‘But anyone who sins defiantly, whether native-born or foreigner, blasphemes the LORD and must be cut off from the people of Israel.


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Because they have despised the LORD’s word and broken his commands, they must surely be cut off; their guilt remains on them.’ ”


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<pb/>While the Israelites were in the wilderness, a man was found gathering wood on the Sabbath day.


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Then the LORD said to Moses, “The man must die. The whole assembly must stone him outside the camp.”


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“Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘Throughout the generations to come you are to make tassels on the corners of your garments, with a blue cord on each tassel.


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You will have these tassels to look at and so you will remember all the commands of the LORD, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by chasing after the lusts of your own hearts and eyes.


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<pb/>Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and certain Reubenites — Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth — became insolent <f>[34]</f>


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and rose up against Moses. With them were 250 Israelite men, well-known community leaders who had been appointed members of the council.


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They came as a group to oppose Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! The whole community is holy, every one of them, and the LORD is with them. Why then do you set yourselves above the LORD’s assembly?”


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Then he said to Korah and all his followers: “In the morning the LORD will show who belongs to him and who is holy, and he will have that person come near him. The man he chooses he will cause to come near him.


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and tomorrow put burning coals and incense in them before the LORD. The man the LORD chooses will be the one who is holy. You Levites have gone too far!”


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Isn’t it enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the rest of the Israelite community and brought you near himself to do the work at the LORD’s tabernacle and to stand before the community and minister to them?


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He has brought you and all your fellow Levites near himself, but now you are trying to get the priesthood too.


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It is against the LORD that you and all your followers have banded together. Who is Aaron that you should grumble against him?”


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Isn’t it enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness? And now you also want to lord it over us!


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Moreover, you haven’t brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey or given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Do you want to treat these men like slaves <f>[35]</f>? No, we will not come!”


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<pb/>Then Moses became very angry and said to the LORD, “Do not accept their offering. I have not taken so much as a donkey from them, nor have I wronged any of them.”


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<pb/>Moses said to Korah, “You and all your followers are to appear before the LORD tomorrow — you and they and Aaron.


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Each man is to take his censer and put incense in it — 250 censers in all — and present it before the LORD. You and Aaron are to present your censers also.”


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So each of them took his censer, put burning coals and incense in it, and stood with Moses and Aaron at the entrance to the tent of meeting.


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When Korah had gathered all his followers in opposition to them at the entrance to the tent of meeting, the glory of the LORD appeared to the entire assembly.


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<pb/>But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and cried out, “O God, the God who gives breath to all living things, will you be angry with the entire assembly when only one man sins?”


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He warned the assembly, “Move back from the tents of these wicked men! Do not touch anything belonging to them, or you will be swept away because of all their sins.”


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So they moved away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram had come out and were standing with their wives, children and little ones at the entrances to their tents.


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<pb/>Then Moses said, “This is how you will know that the LORD has sent me to do all these things and that it was not my idea:


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But if the LORD brings about something totally new, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them, with everything that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the realm of the dead, then you will know that these men have treated the LORD with contempt.”


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and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households, and all those associated with Korah, together with their possessions.


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They went down alive into the realm of the dead, with everything they owned; the earth closed over them, and they perished and were gone from the community.


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At their cries, all the Israelites around them fled, shouting, “The earth is going to swallow us too!”


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“Tell Eleazar son of Aaron, the priest, to remove the censers from the charred remains and scatter the coals some distance away, for the censers are holy — 


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the censers of the men who sinned at the cost of their lives. Hammer the censers into sheets to overlay the altar, for they were presented before the LORD and have become holy. Let them be a sign to the Israelites.”


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<pb/>So Eleazar the priest collected the bronze censers brought by those who had been burned to death, and he had them hammered out to overlay the altar,


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as the LORD directed him through Moses. This was to remind the Israelites that no one except a descendant of Aaron should come to burn incense before the LORD, or he would become like Korah and his followers.


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<pb/>The next day the whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. “You have killed the LORD’s people,” they said.


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<pb/>But when the assembly gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron and turned toward the tent of meeting, suddenly the cloud covered it and the glory of the LORD appeared.


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<pb/>Then Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer and put incense in it, along with burning coals from the altar, and hurry to the assembly to make atonement for them. Wrath has come out from the LORD; the plague has started.”


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So Aaron did as Moses said, and ran into the midst of the assembly. The plague had already started among the people, but Aaron offered the incense and made atonement for them.


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Then Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance to the tent of meeting, for the plague had stopped. <f>[36]</f>


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“Speak to the Israelites and get twelve staffs from them, one from the leader of each of their ancestral tribes. Write the name of each man on his staff.


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On the staff of Levi write Aaron’s name, for there must be one staff for the head of each ancestral tribe.


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The staff belonging to the man I choose will sprout, and I will rid myself of this constant grumbling against you by the Israelites.”


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<pb/>So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and their leaders gave him twelve staffs, one for the leader of each of their ancestral tribes, and Aaron’s staff was among them.


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<pb/>The next day Moses entered the tent and saw that Aaron’s staff, which represented the tribe of Levi, had not only sprouted but had budded, blossomed and produced almonds.


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Then Moses brought out all the staffs from the LORD’s presence to all the Israelites. They looked at them, and each of the leaders took his own staff.


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<pb/>The LORD said to Moses, “Put back Aaron’s staff in front of the ark of the covenant law, to be kept as a sign to the rebellious. This will put an end to their grumbling against me, so that they will not die.”


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<pb/>The LORD said to Aaron, “You, your sons and your family are to bear the responsibility for offenses connected with the sanctuary, and you and your sons alone are to bear the responsibility for offenses connected with the priesthood.


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Bring your fellow Levites from your ancestral tribe to join you and assist you when you and your sons minister before the tent of the covenant law.


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They are to be responsible to you and are to perform all the duties of the tent, but they must not go near the furnishings of the sanctuary or the altar. Otherwise both they and you will die.


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They are to join you and be responsible for the care of the tent of meeting — all the work at the tent — and no one else may come near where you are.


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<pb/>“You are to be responsible for the care of the sanctuary and the altar, so that my wrath will not fall on the Israelites again.


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I myself have selected your fellow Levites from among the Israelites as a gift to you, dedicated to the LORD to do the work at the tent of meeting.


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But only you and your sons may serve as priests in connection with everything at the altar and inside the curtain. I am giving you the service of the priesthood as a gift. Anyone else who comes near the sanctuary is to be put to death.”


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<pb/>Then the LORD said to Aaron, “I myself have put you in charge of the offerings presented to me; all the holy offerings the Israelites give me I give to you and your sons as your portion, your perpetual share.


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You are to have the part of the most holy offerings that is kept from the fire. From all the gifts they bring me as most holy offerings, whether grain or sin <f>[38]</f> or guilt offerings, that part belongs to you and your sons.


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<pb/>“This also is yours: whatever is set aside from the gifts of all the wave offerings of the Israelites. I give this to you and your sons and daughters as your perpetual share. Everyone in your household who is ceremonially clean may eat it.


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<pb/>“I give you all the finest olive oil and all the finest new wine and grain they give the LORD as the firstfruits of their harvest.


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All the land’s firstfruits that they bring to the LORD will be yours. Everyone in your household who is ceremonially clean may eat it.


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The first offspring of every womb, both human and animal, that is offered to the LORD is yours. But you must redeem every firstborn son and every firstborn male of unclean animals.


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When they are a month old, you must redeem them at the redemption price set at five shekels <f>[40]</f> of silver, according to the sanctuary shekel, which weighs twenty gerahs.


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<pb/>“But you must not redeem the firstborn of a cow, a sheep or a goat; they are holy. Splash their blood against the altar and burn their fat as a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the LORD.


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Whatever is set aside from the holy offerings the Israelites present to the LORD I give to you and your sons and daughters as your perpetual share. It is an everlasting covenant of salt before the LORD for both you and your offspring.”


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<pb/>The LORD said to Aaron, “You will have no inheritance in their land, nor will you have any share among them; I am your share and your inheritance among the Israelites.


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<pb/>“I give to the Levites all the tithes in Israel as their inheritance in return for the work they do while serving at the tent of meeting.


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From now on the Israelites must not go near the tent of meeting, or they will bear the consequences of their sin and will die.


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It is the Levites who are to do the work at the tent of meeting and bear the responsibility for any offenses they commit against it. This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. They will receive no inheritance among the Israelites.


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Instead, I give to the Levites as their inheritance the tithes that the Israelites present as an offering to the LORD. That is why I said concerning them: ‘They will have no inheritance among the Israelites.’ ”


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“Speak to the Levites and say to them: ‘When you receive from the Israelites the tithe I give you as your inheritance, you must present a tenth of that tithe as the LORD’s offering.


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Your offering will be reckoned to you as grain from the threshing floor or juice from the winepress.


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In this way you also will present an offering to the LORD from all the tithes you receive from the Israelites. From these tithes you must give the LORD’s portion to Aaron the priest.


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<pb/>“Say to the Levites: ‘When you present the best part, it will be reckoned to you as the product of the threshing floor or the winepress.


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You and your households may eat the rest of it anywhere, for it is your wages for your work at the tent of meeting.


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By presenting the best part of it you will not be guilty in this matter; then you will not defile the holy offerings of the Israelites, and you will not die.’ ”


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“This is a requirement of the law that the LORD has commanded: Tell the Israelites to bring you a red heifer without defect or blemish and that has never been under a yoke.


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Then Eleazar the priest is to take some of its blood on his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the tent of meeting.


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The priest is to take some cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet wool and throw them onto the burning heifer.


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After that, the priest must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water. He may then come into the camp, but he will be ceremonially unclean till evening.


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The man who burns it must also wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he too will be unclean till evening.


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<pb/>“A man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and put them in a ceremonially clean place outside the camp. They are to be kept by the Israelite community for use in the water of cleansing; it is for purification from sin.


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The man who gathers up the ashes of the heifer must also wash his clothes, and he too will be unclean till evening. This will be a lasting ordinance both for the Israelites and for the foreigners residing among them.


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They must purify themselves with the water on the third day and on the seventh day; then they will be clean. But if they do not purify themselves on the third and seventh days, they will not be clean.


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If they fail to purify themselves after touching a human corpse, they defile the LORD’s tabernacle. They must be cut off from Israel. Because the water of cleansing has not been sprinkled on them, they are unclean; their uncleanness remains on them.


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<pb/>“This is the law that applies when a person dies in a tent: Anyone who enters the tent and anyone who is in it will be unclean for seven days,


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<pb/>“Anyone out in the open who touches someone who has been killed with a sword or someone who has died a natural death, or anyone who touches a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days.


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<pb/>“For the unclean person, put some ashes from the burned purification offering into a jar and pour fresh water over them.


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Then a man who is ceremonially clean is to take some hyssop, dip it in the water and sprinkle the tent and all the furnishings and the people who were there. He must also sprinkle anyone who has touched a human bone or a grave or anyone who has been killed or anyone who has died a natural death.


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The man who is clean is to sprinkle those who are unclean on the third and seventh days, and on the seventh day he is to purify them. Those who are being cleansed must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and that evening they will be clean.


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But if those who are unclean do not purify themselves, they must be cut off from the community, because they have defiled the sanctuary of the LORD. The water of cleansing has not been sprinkled on them, and they are unclean.


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This is a lasting ordinance for them. <pb/>“The man who sprinkles the water of cleansing must also wash his clothes, and anyone who touches the water of cleansing will be unclean till evening.


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Anything that an unclean person touches becomes unclean, and anyone who touches it becomes unclean till evening.”


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<pb/>In the first month the whole Israelite community arrived at the Desert of Zin, and they stayed at Kadesh. There Miriam died and was buried.


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<pb/>Now there was no water for the community, and the people gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron.


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They quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the LORD!


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Why did you bring the LORD’s community into this wilderness, that we and our livestock should die here?


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Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink!”


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<pb/>Moses and Aaron went from the assembly to the entrance to the tent of meeting and fell facedown, and the glory of the LORD appeared to them.


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“Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink.”


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He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?”


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Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.


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<pb/>But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.”


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<pb/>These were the waters of Meribah, <f>[41]</f> where the Israelites quarreled with the LORD and where he was proved holy among them.


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<pb/>Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, saying: <pb/>“This is what your brother Israel says: You know about all the hardships that have come on us.


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Our ancestors went down into Egypt, and we lived there many years. The Egyptians mistreated us and our ancestors,


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but when we cried out to the LORD, he heard our cry and sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt. <pb/>“Now we are here at Kadesh, a town on the edge of your territory.


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Please let us pass through your country. We will not go through any field or vineyard, or drink water from any well. We will travel along the King’s Highway and not turn to the right or to the left until we have passed through your territory.”


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<pb/>But Edom answered: <pb/>“You may not pass through here; if you try, we will march out and attack you with the sword.”


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<pb/>The Israelites replied: <pb/>“We will go along the main road, and if we or our livestock drink any of your water, we will pay for it. We only want to pass through on foot — nothing else.”


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<pb/>Again they answered: <pb/>“You may not pass through.” <pb/>Then Edom came out against them with a large and powerful army.


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“Aaron will be gathered to his people. He will not enter the land I give the Israelites, because both of you rebelled against my command at the waters of Meribah.


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Remove Aaron’s garments and put them on his son Eleazar, for Aaron will be gathered to his people; he will die there.”


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Moses removed Aaron’s garments and put them on his son Eleazar. And Aaron died there on top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain,


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and when the whole community learned that Aaron had died, all the Israelites mourned for him thirty days.


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<pb/>When the Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev, heard that Israel was coming along the road to Atharim, he attacked the Israelites and captured some of them.


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Then Israel made this vow to the LORD: “If you will deliver these people into our hands, we will totally destroy <f>[42]</f> their cities.”


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The LORD listened to Israel’s plea and gave the Canaanites over to them. They completely destroyed them and their towns; so the place was named Hormah. <f>[43]</f>


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<pb/>They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, <f>[44]</f> to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way;


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they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!”


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The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.


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<pb/>The LORD said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.”


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So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.


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Then they set out from Oboth and camped in Iye Abarim, in the wilderness that faces Moab toward the sunrise.


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They set out from there and camped alongside the Arnon, which is in the wilderness extending into Amorite territory. The Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites.


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That is why the Book of the Wars of the LORD says: <pb/><t>“…Zahab <f>[45]</f> in Suphah and the ravines, </t><t>the Arnon </t>


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<t>and <f>[46]</f> the slopes of the ravines </t><t>that lead to the settlement of Ar </t><t>and lie along the border of Moab.” </t>


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<pb/>From there they continued on to Beer, the well where the LORD said to Moses, “Gather the people together and I will give them water.”


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<t>about the well that the princes dug, </t><t>that the nobles of the people sank —  </t><t>the nobles with scepters and staffs.” </t> <pb/>Then they went from the wilderness to Mattanah,


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<pb/>“Let us pass through your country. We will not turn aside into any field or vineyard, or drink water from any well. We will travel along the King’s Highway until we have passed through your territory.”


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<pb/>But Sihon would not let Israel pass through his territory. He mustered his entire army and marched out into the wilderness against Israel. When he reached Jahaz, he fought with Israel.


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Israel, however, put him to the sword and took over his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, but only as far as the Ammonites, because their border was fortified.


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Israel captured all the cities of the Amorites and occupied them, including Heshbon and all its surrounding settlements.


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Heshbon was the city of Sihon king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and had taken from him all his land as far as the Arnon.


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<pb/>That is why the poets say: <pb/><t>“Come to Heshbon and let it be rebuilt; </t><t>let Sihon’s city be restored. <pb/> </t>


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<t>“Fire went out from Heshbon, </t><t>a blaze from the city of Sihon. </t><t>It consumed Ar of Moab, </t><t>the citizens of Arnon’s heights. </t>


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<t>Woe to you, Moab! </t><t>You are destroyed, people of Chemosh! </t><t>He has given up his sons as fugitives </t><t>and his daughters as captives </t><t>to Sihon king of the Amorites. <pb/> </t>


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<t>“But we have overthrown them; </t><t>Heshbon’s dominion has been destroyed all the way to Dibon. </t><t>We have demolished them as far as Nophah, </t><t>which extends to Medeba.” </t>


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<pb/>After Moses had sent spies to Jazer, the Israelites captured its surrounding settlements and drove out the Amorites who were there.


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Then they turned and went up along the road toward Bashan, and Og king of Bashan and his whole army marched out to meet them in battle at Edrei.


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<pb/>The LORD said to Moses, “Do not be afraid of him, for I have delivered him into your hands, along with his whole army and his land. Do to him what you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon.”


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<pb/>So they struck him down, together with his sons and his whole army, leaving them no survivors. And they took possession of his land.


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<pb/>Then the Israelites traveled to the plains of Moab and camped along the Jordan across from Jericho.


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and Moab was terrified because there were so many people. Indeed, Moab was filled with dread because of the Israelites.


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<pb/>The Moabites said to the elders of Midian, “This horde is going to lick up everything around us, as an ox licks up the grass of the field.” <pb/>So Balak son of Zippor, who was king of Moab at that time,


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sent messengers to summon Balaam son of Beor, who was at Pethor, near the Euphrates River, in his native land. Balak said: <pb/>“A people has come out of Egypt; they cover the face of the land and have settled next to me.


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Now come and put a curse on these people, because they are too powerful for me. Perhaps then I will be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land. For I know that whoever you bless is blessed, and whoever you curse is cursed.”


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<pb/>The elders of Moab and Midian left, taking with them the fee for divination. When they came to Balaam, they told him what Balak had said.


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<pb/>“Spend the night here,” Balaam said to them, “and I will report back to you with the answer the LORD gives me.” So the Moabite officials stayed with him.


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‘A people that has come out of Egypt covers the face of the land. Now come and put a curse on them for me. Perhaps then I will be able to fight them and drive them away.’ ”


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<pb/>But God said to Balaam, “Do not go with them. You must not put a curse on those people, because they are blessed.”


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<pb/>The next morning Balaam got up and said to Balak’s officials, “Go back to your own country, for the LORD has refused to let me go with you.”


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They came to Balaam and said: <pb/>“This is what Balak son of Zippor says: Do not let anything keep you from coming to me,


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because I will reward you handsomely and do whatever you say. Come and put a curse on these people for me.”


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<pb/>But Balaam answered them, “Even if Balak gave me all the silver and gold in his palace, I could not do anything great or small to go beyond the command of the LORD my God.


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<pb/>That night God came to Balaam and said, “Since these men have come to summon you, go with them, but do only what I tell you.”


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But God was very angry when he went, and the angel of the LORD stood in the road to oppose him. Balaam was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him.


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When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand, it turned off the road into a field. Balaam beat it to get it back on the road.


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<pb/>Then the angel of the LORD stood in a narrow path through the vineyards, with walls on both sides.


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When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, it pressed close to the wall, crushing Balaam’s foot against it. So he beat the donkey again.


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<pb/>Then the angel of the LORD moved on ahead and stood in a narrow place where there was no room to turn, either to the right or to the left.


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When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, it lay down under Balaam, and he was angry and beat it with his staff.


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Then the LORD opened the donkey’s mouth, and it said to Balaam, “What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?”


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<pb/>Balaam answered the donkey, “You have made a fool of me! If only I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you right now.”


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<pb/>The donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden, to this day? Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?” <pb/>“No,” he said.


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<pb/>Then the LORD opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road with his sword drawn. So he bowed low and fell facedown.


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<pb/>The angel of the LORD asked him, “Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? I have come here to oppose you because your path is a reckless one before me. <f>[47]</f>


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The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If it had not turned away, I would certainly have killed you by now, but I would have spared it.”


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<pb/>Balaam said to the angel of the LORD, “I have sinned. I did not realize you were standing in the road to oppose me. Now if you are displeased, I will go back.”


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<pb/>The angel of the LORD said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but speak only what I tell you.” So Balaam went with Balak’s officials.


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<pb/>When Balak heard that Balaam was coming, he went out to meet him at the Moabite town on the Arnon border, at the edge of his territory.


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Balak said to Balaam, “Did I not send you an urgent summons? Why didn’t you come to me? Am I really not able to reward you?”


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<pb/>“Well, I have come to you now,” Balaam replied. “But I can’t say whatever I please. I must speak only what God puts in my mouth.”


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The next morning Balak took Balaam up to Bamoth Baal, and from there he could see the outskirts of the Israelite camp.


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<pb/>Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your offering while I go aside. Perhaps the LORD will come to meet with me. Whatever he reveals to me I will tell you.” Then he went off to a barren height.


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<pb/>God met with him, and Balaam said, “I have prepared seven altars, and on each altar I have offered a bull and a ram.”


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<pb/>So he went back to him and found him standing beside his offering, with all the Moabite officials.


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Then Balaam spoke his message: <pb/><t>“Balak brought me from Aram, </t><t>the king of Moab from the eastern mountains. </t><t>‘Come,’ he said, ‘curse Jacob for me; </t><t>come, denounce Israel.’ </t>


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<t>How can I curse </t><t>those whom God has not cursed? </t><t>How can I denounce </t><t>those whom the LORD has not denounced? </t>


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<t>From the rocky peaks I see them, </t><t>from the heights I view them. </t><t>I see a people who live apart </t><t>and do not consider themselves one of the nations. </t>


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<t>Who can count the dust of Jacob </t><t>or number even a fourth of Israel? </t><t>Let me die the death of the righteous, </t><t>and may my final end be like theirs!” </t>


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<pb/>Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, but you have done nothing but bless them!”


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<pb/>Then Balak said to him, “Come with me to another place where you can see them; you will not see them all but only the outskirts of their camp. And from there, curse them for me.”


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So he took him to the field of Zophim on the top of Pisgah, and there he built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.


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<pb/>The LORD met with Balaam and put a word in his mouth and said, “Go back to Balak and give him this word.”


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<pb/>So he went to him and found him standing beside his offering, with the Moabite officials. Balak asked him, “What did the LORD say?”


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<pb/>Then he spoke his message: <pb/><t>“Arise, Balak, and listen; </t><t>hear me, son of Zippor. </t>


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<t>God is not human, that he should lie, </t><t>not a human being, that he should change his mind. </t><t>Does he speak and then not act? </t><t>Does he promise and not fulfill? </t>


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<t>“No misfortune is seen in Jacob, </t><t>no misery observed <f>[48]</f> in Israel. </t><t>The LORD their God is with them; </t><t>the shout of the King is among them. </t>


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<t>There is no divination against <f>[49]</f> Jacob, </t><t>no evil omens against <f>[50]</f> Israel. </t><t>It will now be said of Jacob </t><t>and of Israel, ‘See what God has done!’ </t>


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<t>The people rise like a lioness; </t><t>they rouse themselves like a lion </t><t>that does not rest till it devours its prey </t><t>and drinks the blood of its victims.” </t>


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<pb/>Then Balak said to Balaam, “Come, let me take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God to let you curse them for me from there.”


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<pb/>Now when Balaam saw that it pleased the LORD to bless Israel, he did not resort to divination as at other times, but turned his face toward the wilderness.


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and he spoke his message: <pb/><t>“The prophecy of Balaam son of Beor, </t><t>the prophecy of one whose eye sees clearly, </t>


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<t>the prophecy of one who hears the words of God, </t><t>who sees a vision from the Almighty, <f>[51]</f> </t><t>who falls prostrate, and whose eyes are opened: <pb/> </t>


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<t>“Like valleys they spread out, </t><t>like gardens beside a river, </t><t>like aloes planted by the LORD, </t><t>like cedars beside the waters. </t>


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<t>Water will flow from their buckets; </t><t>their seed will have abundant water. <pb/>“Their king will be greater than Agag; </t><t>their kingdom will be exalted. <pb/> </t>


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<t>“God brought them out of Egypt; </t><t>they have the strength of a wild ox. </t><t>They devour hostile nations </t><t>and break their bones in pieces; </t><t>with their arrows they pierce them. </t>


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<t>Like a lion they crouch and lie down, </t><t>like a lioness — who dares to rouse them? <pb/>“May those who bless you be blessed </t><t>and those who curse you be cursed!” </t>


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<pb/>Then Balak’s anger burned against Balaam. He struck his hands together and said to him, “I summoned you to curse my enemies, but you have blessed them these three times.


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Now leave at once and go home! I said I would reward you handsomely, but the LORD has kept you from being rewarded.”


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‘Even if Balak gave me all the silver and gold in his palace, I could not do anything of my own accord, good or bad, to go beyond the command of the LORD — and I must say only what the LORD says’?


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Now I am going back to my people, but come, let me warn you of what this people will do to your people in days to come.”


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<pb/>Then he spoke his message: <pb/><t>“The prophecy of Balaam son of Beor, </t><t>the prophecy of one whose eye sees clearly, </t>


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<t>the prophecy of one who hears the words of God, </t><t>who has knowledge from the Most High, </t><t>who sees a vision from the Almighty, </t><t>who falls prostrate, and whose eyes are opened: <pb/> </t>


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<t>“I see him, but not now; </t><t>I behold him, but not near. </t><t>A star will come out of Jacob; </t><t>a scepter will rise out of Israel. </t><t>He will crush the foreheads of Moab, </t><t>the skulls <f>[52]</f> of <f>[53]</f> all the people of Sheth. <f>[54]</f> </t>


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<t>Edom will be conquered; </t><t>Seir, his enemy, will be conquered, </t><t>but Israel will grow strong. </t>


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<pb/>Then Balaam saw Amalek and spoke his message: <pb/><t>“Amalek was first among the nations, </t><t>but their end will be utter destruction.” </t>


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<pb/>Then he saw the Kenites and spoke his message: <pb/><t>“Your dwelling place is secure, </t><t>your nest is set in a rock; </t>


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<t>Ships will come from the shores of Cyprus; </t><t>they will subdue Ashur and Eber, </t><t>but they too will come to ruin.” </t>


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<pb/>While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with Moabite women,


text:
who invited them to the sacrifices to their gods. The people ate the sacrificial meal and bowed down before these gods.


text:
<pb/>The LORD said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of these people, kill them and expose them in broad daylight before the LORD, so that the LORD’s fierce anger may turn away from Israel.”


text:
<pb/>So Moses said to Israel’s judges, “Each of you must put to death those of your people who have yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor.”


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<pb/>Then an Israelite man brought into the camp a Midianite woman right before the eyes of Moses and the whole assembly of Israel while they were weeping at the entrance to the tent of meeting.


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When Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw this, he left the assembly, took a spear in his hand


text:
and followed the Israelite into the tent. He drove the spear into both of them, right through the Israelite man and into the woman’s stomach. Then the plague against the Israelites was stopped;


text:
“Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, has turned my anger away from the Israelites. Since he was as zealous for my honor among them as I am, I did not put an end to them in my zeal.


text:
He and his descendants will have a covenant of a lasting priesthood, because he was zealous for the honor of his God and made atonement for the Israelites.”


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<pb/>The name of the Israelite who was killed with the Midianite woman was Zimri son of Salu, the leader of a Simeonite family.


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And the name of the Midianite woman who was put to death was Kozbi daughter of Zur, a tribal chief of a Midianite family.


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They treated you as enemies when they deceived you in the Peor incident involving their sister Kozbi, the daughter of a Midianite leader, the woman who was killed when the plague came as a result of that incident.”


text:
“Take a census of the whole Israelite community by families — all those twenty years old or more who are able to serve in the army of Israel.”


text:
So on the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho, Moses and Eleazar the priest spoke with them and said,


text:
“Take a census of the men twenty years old or more, as the LORD commanded Moses.” <pb/>These were the Israelites who came out of Egypt:


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<pb/>The descendants of Reuben, the firstborn son of Israel, were: <pb/><t>through Hanok, the Hanokite clan; <pb/>through Pallu, the Palluite clan; <pb/> </t>


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and the sons of Eliab were Nemuel, Dathan and Abiram. The same Dathan and Abiram were the community officials who rebelled against Moses and Aaron and were among Korah’s followers when they rebelled against the LORD.


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The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them along with Korah, whose followers died when the fire devoured the 250 men. And they served as a warning sign.


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<pb/>The descendants of Simeon by their clans were: <pb/><t>through Nemuel, the Nemuelite clan; <pb/>through Jamin, the Jaminite clan; <pb/>through Jakin, the Jakinite clan; <pb/> </t>


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<pb/>The descendants of Gad by their clans were: <pb/><t>through Zephon, the Zephonite clan; <pb/>through Haggi, the Haggite clan; <pb/>through Shuni, the Shunite clan; <pb/> </t>


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<pb/>The descendants of Judah by their clans were: <pb/><t>through Shelah, the Shelanite clan; <pb/>through Perez, the Perezite clan; <pb/>through Zerah, the Zerahite clan. <pb/> </t>


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<t>The descendants of Perez were: <pb/>through Hezron, the Hezronite clan; <pb/>through Hamul, the Hamulite clan. </t>


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<pb/>The descendants of Issachar by their clans were: <pb/><t>through Tola, the Tolaite clan; <pb/>through Puah, the Puite <f>[57]</f> clan; <pb/> </t>


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<pb/><t>The descendants of Zebulun by their clans were: <pb/>through Sered, the Seredite clan; <pb/>through Elon, the Elonite clan; <pb/>through Jahleel, the Jahleelite clan. </t>


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<pb/>The descendants of Manasseh: <pb/><t>through Makir, the Makirite clan (Makir was the father of Gilead); <pb/>through Gilead, the Gileadite clan. <pb/> </t>


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<t>These were the descendants of Gilead: <pb/>through Iezer, the Iezerite clan; <pb/>through Helek, the Helekite clan; <pb/> </t>


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<t>(Zelophehad son of Hepher had no sons; he had only daughters, whose names were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milkah and Tirzah.) </t>


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<pb/>These were the descendants of Ephraim by their clans: <pb/><t>through Shuthelah, the Shuthelahite clan; <pb/>through Beker, the Bekerite clan; <pb/>through Tahan, the Tahanite clan. <pb/> </t>


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<pb/>These were the clans of Ephraim; those numbered were 32,500. <pb/>These were the descendants of Joseph by their clans.


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<pb/>The descendants of Benjamin by their clans were: <pb/><t>through Bela, the Belaite clan; <pb/>through Ashbel, the Ashbelite clan; <pb/>through Ahiram, the Ahiramite clan; <pb/> </t>


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<t>through Shupham, <f>[58]</f> the Shuphamite clan; <pb/>through Hupham, the Huphamite clan. <pb/> </t>


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<t>The descendants of Bela through Ard and Naaman were: <pb/>through Ard, <f>[59]</f> the Ardite clan; <pb/>through Naaman, the Naamite clan. </t>


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<pb/>These were the descendants of Dan by their clans: <pb/><t>through Shuham, the Shuhamite clan. </t> <pb/>These were the clans of Dan:


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<pb/>The descendants of Asher by their clans were: <pb/><t>through Imnah, the Imnite clan; <pb/>through Ishvi, the Ishvite clan; <pb/>through Beriah, the Beriite clan; <pb/> </t>


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<t>and through the descendants of Beriah: <pb/>through Heber, the Heberite clan; <pb/>through Malkiel, the Malkielite clan. <pb/> </t>


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<pb/>The descendants of Naphtali by their clans were: <pb/><t>through Jahzeel, the Jahzeelite clan; <pb/>through Guni, the Gunite clan; <pb/> </t>


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To a larger group give a larger inheritance, and to a smaller group a smaller one; each is to receive its inheritance according to the number of those listed.


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Be sure that the land is distributed by lot. What each group inherits will be according to the names for its ancestral tribe.


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<pb/>These were the Levites who were counted by their clans: <pb/><t>through Gershon, the Gershonite clan; <pb/>through Kohath, the Kohathite clan; <pb/>through Merari, the Merarite clan. <pb/> </t>


text:
<t>These also were Levite clans: <pb/>the Libnite clan, <pb/>the Hebronite clan, <pb/>the Mahlite clan, <pb/>the Mushite clan, <pb/>the Korahite clan. <pb/>(Kohath was the forefather of Amram; </t>


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<t>the name of Amram’s wife was Jochebed, a descendant of Levi, who was born to the Levites <f>[60]</f> in Egypt. To Amram she bore Aaron, Moses and their sister Miriam. </t>


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<t>But Nadab and Abihu died when they made an offering before the LORD with unauthorized fire.) </t>


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<pb/>All the male Levites a month old or more numbered 23,000. They were not counted along with the other Israelites because they received no inheritance among them.


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<pb/>These are the ones counted by Moses and Eleazar the priest when they counted the Israelites on the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho.


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Not one of them was among those counted by Moses and Aaron the priest when they counted the Israelites in the Desert of Sinai.


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For the LORD had told those Israelites they would surely die in the wilderness, and not one of them was left except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.


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<pb/>The daughters of Zelophehad son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Makir, the son of Manasseh, belonged to the clans of Manasseh son of Joseph. The names of the daughters were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milkah and Tirzah. They came forward


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and stood before Moses, Eleazar the priest, the leaders and the whole assembly at the entrance to the tent of meeting and said,


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“Our father died in the wilderness. He was not among Korah’s followers, who banded together against the LORD, but he died for his own sin and left no sons.


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Why should our father’s name disappear from his clan because he had no son? Give us property among our father’s relatives.”


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“What Zelophehad’s daughters are saying is right. You must certainly give them property as an inheritance among their father’s relatives and give their father’s inheritance to them.


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<pb/>“Say to the Israelites, ‘If a man dies and leaves no son, give his inheritance to his daughter.


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If his father had no brothers, give his inheritance to the nearest relative in his clan, that he may possess it. This is to have the force of law for the Israelites, as the LORD commanded Moses.’ ”


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<pb/>Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go up this mountain in the Abarim Range and see the land I have given the Israelites.


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for when the community rebelled at the waters in the Desert of Zin, both of you disobeyed my command to honor me as holy before their eyes.” (These were the waters of Meribah Kadesh, in the Desert of Zin.)


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to go out and come in before them, one who will lead them out and bring them in, so the LORD’s people will not be like sheep without a shepherd.”


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<pb/>So the LORD said to Moses, “Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit of leadership, <f>[61]</f> and lay your hand on him.


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Have him stand before Eleazar the priest and the entire assembly and commission him in their presence.


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He is to stand before Eleazar the priest, who will obtain decisions for him by inquiring of the Urim before the LORD. At his command he and the entire community of the Israelites will go out, and at his command they will come in.”


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<pb/>Moses did as the LORD commanded him. He took Joshua and had him stand before Eleazar the priest and the whole assembly.


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“Give this command to the Israelites and say to them: ‘Make sure that you present to me at the appointed time my food offerings, as an aroma pleasing to me.’


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Say to them: ‘This is the food offering you are to present to the LORD: two lambs a year old without defect, as a regular burnt offering each day.


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together with a grain offering of a tenth of an ephah <f>[62]</f> of the finest flour mixed with a quarter of a hin <f>[63]</f> of oil from pressed olives.


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This is the regular burnt offering instituted at Mount Sinai as a pleasing aroma, a food offering presented to the LORD.


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The accompanying drink offering is to be a quarter of a hin of fermented drink with each lamb. Pour out the drink offering to the LORD at the sanctuary.


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Offer the second lamb at twilight, along with the same kind of grain offering and drink offering that you offer in the morning. This is a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the LORD.


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<pb/>“ ‘On the Sabbath day, make an offering of two lambs a year old without defect, together with its drink offering and a grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah <f>[64]</f> of the finest flour mixed with olive oil.


text:
This is the burnt offering for every Sabbath, in addition to the regular burnt offering and its drink offering.


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<pb/>“ ‘On the first of every month, present to the LORD a burnt offering of two young bulls, one ram and seven male lambs a year old, all without defect.


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With each bull there is to be a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah <f>[65]</f> of the finest flour mixed with oil; with the ram, a grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with oil;


text:
and with each lamb, a grain offering of a tenth of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with oil. This is for a burnt offering, a pleasing aroma, a food offering presented to the LORD.


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With each bull there is to be a drink offering of half a hin <f>[66]</f> of wine; with the ram, a third of a hin <f>[67]</f>; and with each lamb, a quarter of a hin. This is the monthly burnt offering to be made at each new moon during the year.


text:
Besides the regular burnt offering with its drink offering, one male goat is to be presented to the LORD as a sin offering. <f>[68]</f>


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On the fifteenth day of this month there is to be a festival; for seven days eat bread made without yeast.


text:
Present to the LORD a food offering consisting of a burnt offering of two young bulls, one ram and seven male lambs a year old, all without defect.


text:
With each bull offer a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with oil; with the ram, two-tenths;


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In this way present the food offering every day for seven days as an aroma pleasing to the LORD; it is to be offered in addition to the regular burnt offering and its drink offering.


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<pb/>“ ‘On the day of firstfruits, when you present to the LORD an offering of new grain during the Festival of Weeks, hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work.


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Present a burnt offering of two young bulls, one ram and seven male lambs a year old as an aroma pleasing to the LORD.


text:
With each bull there is to be a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with oil; with the ram, two-tenths;


text:
Offer these together with their drink offerings, in addition to the regular burnt offering and its grain offering. Be sure the animals are without defect.


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<pb/>“ ‘On the first day of the seventh month hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. It is a day for you to sound the trumpets.


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As an aroma pleasing to the LORD, offer a burnt offering of one young bull, one ram and seven male lambs a year old, all without defect.


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With the bull offer a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah <f>[69]</f> of the finest flour mixed with olive oil; with the ram, two-tenths <f>[70]</f>;


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These are in addition to the monthly and daily burnt offerings with their grain offerings and drink offerings as specified. They are food offerings presented to the LORD, a pleasing aroma.


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<pb/>“ ‘On the tenth day of this seventh month hold a sacred assembly. You must deny yourselves <f>[73]</f> and do no work.


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Present as an aroma pleasing to the LORD a burnt offering of one young bull, one ram and seven male lambs a year old, all without defect.


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With the bull offer a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with oil; with the ram, two-tenths;


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Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the sin offering for atonement and the regular burnt offering with its grain offering, and their drink offerings.


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<pb/>“ ‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. Celebrate a festival to the LORD for seven days.


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Present as an aroma pleasing to the LORD a food offering consisting of a burnt offering of thirteen young bulls, two rams and fourteen male lambs a year old, all without defect.


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With each of the thirteen bulls offer a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with oil; with each of the two rams, two-tenths;


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Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and drink offering.


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<pb/>“ ‘On the second day offer twelve young bulls, two rams and fourteen male lambs a year old, all without defect.


text:
With the bulls, rams and lambs, offer their grain offerings and drink offerings according to the number specified.


text:
Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering, and their drink offerings.


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<pb/>“ ‘On the third day offer eleven bulls, two rams and fourteen male lambs a year old, all without defect.


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<pb/>“ ‘On the fourth day offer ten bulls, two rams and fourteen male lambs a year old, all without defect.


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<pb/>“ ‘On the fifth day offer nine bulls, two rams and fourteen male lambs a year old, all without defect.


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<pb/>“ ‘On the sixth day offer eight bulls, two rams and fourteen male lambs a year old, all without defect.


text:
<pb/>“ ‘On the seventh day offer seven bulls, two rams and fourteen male lambs a year old, all without defect.


text:
Present as an aroma pleasing to the LORD a food offering consisting of a burnt offering of one bull, one ram and seven male lambs a year old, all without defect.


text:
With the bull, the ram and the lambs, offer their grain offerings and drink offerings according to the number specified.


text:
<pb/>“ ‘In addition to what you vow and your freewill offerings, offer these to the LORD at your appointed festivals: your burnt offerings, grain offerings, drink offerings and fellowship offerings.’ ”


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<pb/> <f>[75]</f> <n>[1]</n> Moses said to the heads of the tribes of Israel: “This is what the LORD commands:


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When a man makes a vow to the LORD or takes an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word but must do everything he said.


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<pb/>“When a young woman still living in her father’s household makes a vow to the LORD or obligates herself by a pledge


text:
and her father hears about her vow or pledge but says nothing to her, then all her vows and every pledge by which she obligated herself will stand.


text:
But if her father forbids her when he hears about it, none of her vows or the pledges by which she obligated herself will stand; the LORD will release her because her father has forbidden her.


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<pb/>“If she marries after she makes a vow or after her lips utter a rash promise by which she obligates herself


text:
and her husband hears about it but says nothing to her, then her vows or the pledges by which she obligated herself will stand.


text:
But if her husband forbids her when he hears about it, he nullifies the vow that obligates her or the rash promise by which she obligates herself, and the LORD will release her.


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and her husband hears about it but says nothing to her and does not forbid her, then all her vows or the pledges by which she obligated herself will stand.


text:
But if her husband nullifies them when he hears about them, then none of the vows or pledges that came from her lips will stand. Her husband has nullified them, and the LORD will release her.


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Her husband may confirm or nullify any vow she makes or any sworn pledge to deny herself. <f>[76]</f>


text:
But if her husband says nothing to her about it from day to day, then he confirms all her vows or the pledges binding on her. He confirms them by saying nothing to her when he hears about them.


text:
If, however, he nullifies them some time after he hears about them, then he must bear the consequences of her wrongdoing.”


text:
<pb/>These are the regulations the LORD gave Moses concerning relationships between a man and his wife, and between a father and his young daughter still living at home.


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“Take vengeance on the Midianites for the Israelites. After that, you will be gathered to your people.”


text:
<pb/>So Moses said to the people, “Arm some of your men to go to war against the Midianites so that they may carry out the LORD’s vengeance on them.


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So twelve thousand men armed for battle, a thousand from each tribe, were supplied from the clans of Israel.


text:
Moses sent them into battle, a thousand from each tribe, along with Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, who took with him articles from the sanctuary and the trumpets for signaling.


text:
Among their victims were Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur and Reba — the five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword.


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The Israelites captured the Midianite women and children and took all the Midianite herds, flocks and goods as plunder.


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and brought the captives, spoils and plunder to Moses and Eleazar the priest and the Israelite assembly at their camp on the plains of Moab, by the Jordan across from Jericho.


text:
<pb/>Moses, Eleazar the priest and all the leaders of the community went to meet them outside the camp.


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Moses was angry with the officers of the army — the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds — who returned from the battle.


text:
“They were the ones who followed Balaam’s advice and enticed the Israelites to be unfaithful to the LORD in the Peor incident, so that a plague struck the LORD’s people.


text:
<pb/>“Anyone who has killed someone or touched someone who was killed must stay outside the camp seven days. On the third and seventh days you must purify yourselves and your captives.


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<pb/>Then Eleazar the priest said to the soldiers who had gone into battle, “This is what is required by the law that the LORD gave Moses:


text:
and anything else that can withstand fire must be put through the fire, and then it will be clean. But it must also be purified with the water of cleansing. And whatever cannot withstand fire must be put through that water.


text:
“You and Eleazar the priest and the family heads of the community are to count all the people and animals that were captured.


text:
Divide the spoils equally between the soldiers who took part in the battle and the rest of the community.


text:
From the soldiers who fought in the battle, set apart as tribute for the LORD one out of every five hundred, whether people, cattle, donkeys or sheep.


text:
From the Israelites’ half, select one out of every fifty, whether people, cattle, donkeys, sheep or other animals. Give them to the Levites, who are responsible for the care of the LORD’s tabernacle.”


text:
From the Israelites’ half, Moses selected one out of every fifty people and animals, as the LORD commanded him, and gave them to the Levites, who were responsible for the care of the LORD’s tabernacle.


text:
<pb/>Then the officers who were over the units of the army — the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds — went to Moses


text:
and said to him, “Your servants have counted the soldiers under our command, and not one is missing.


text:
So we have brought as an offering to the LORD the gold articles each of us acquired — armlets, bracelets, signet rings, earrings and necklaces — to make atonement for ourselves before the LORD.”


text:
All the gold from the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds that Moses and Eleazar presented as a gift to the LORD weighed 16,750 shekels. <f>[77]</f>


text:
Moses and Eleazar the priest accepted the gold from the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds and brought it into the tent of meeting as a memorial for the Israelites before the LORD.


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<pb/>The Reubenites and Gadites, who had very large herds and flocks, saw that the lands of Jazer and Gilead were suitable for livestock.


text:
the land the LORD subdued before the people of Israel — are suitable for livestock, and your servants have livestock.


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If we have found favor in your eyes,” they said, “let this land be given to your servants as our possession. Do not make us cross the Jordan.”


text:
<pb/>Moses said to the Gadites and Reubenites, “Should your fellow Israelites go to war while you sit here?


text:
After they went up to the Valley of Eshkol and viewed the land, they discouraged the Israelites from entering the land the LORD had given them.


text:
‘Because they have not followed me wholeheartedly, not one of those who were twenty years old or more when they came up out of Egypt will see the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob — 


text:
not one except Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua son of Nun, for they followed the LORD wholeheartedly.’


text:
The LORD’s anger burned against Israel and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until the whole generation of those who had done evil in his sight was gone.


text:
<pb/>“And here you are, a brood of sinners, standing in the place of your fathers and making the LORD even more angry with Israel.


text:
If you turn away from following him, he will again leave all this people in the wilderness, and you will be the cause of their destruction.”


text:
<pb/>Then they came up to him and said, “We would like to build pens here for our livestock and cities for our women and children.


text:
But we will arm ourselves for battle <f>[78]</f> and go ahead of the Israelites until we have brought them to their place. Meanwhile our women and children will live in fortified cities, for protection from the inhabitants of the land.


text:
We will not receive any inheritance with them on the other side of the Jordan, because our inheritance has come to us on the east side of the Jordan.”


text:
<pb/>Then Moses said to them, “If you will do this — if you will arm yourselves before the LORD for battle


text:
and if all of you who are armed cross over the Jordan before the LORD until he has driven his enemies out before him — 


text:
then when the land is subdued before the LORD, you may return and be free from your obligation to the LORD and to Israel. And this land will be your possession before the LORD.


text:
<pb/>“But if you fail to do this, you will be sinning against the LORD; and you may be sure that your sin will find you out.


text:
But your servants, every man who is armed for battle, will cross over to fight before the LORD, just as our lord says.”


text:
<pb/>Then Moses gave orders about them to Eleazar the priest and Joshua son of Nun and to the family heads of the Israelite tribes.


text:
He said to them, “If the Gadites and Reubenites, every man armed for battle, cross over the Jordan with you before the LORD, then when the land is subdued before you, you must give them the land of Gilead as their possession.


text:
But if they do not cross over with you armed, they must accept their possession with you in Canaan.”


text:
We will cross over before the LORD into Canaan armed, but the property we inherit will be on this side of the Jordan.”


text:
<pb/>Then Moses gave to the Gadites, the Reubenites and the half-tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites and the kingdom of Og king of Bashan — the whole land with its cities and the territory around them.


text:
as well as Nebo and Baal Meon (these names were changed) and Sibmah. They gave names to the cities they rebuilt.


text:
<pb/>The descendants of Makir son of Manasseh went to Gilead, captured it and drove out the Amorites who were there.


text:
Jair, a descendant of Manasseh, captured their settlements and called them Havvoth Jair. <f>[79]</f>


text:
<pb/>Here are the stages in the journey of the Israelites when they came out of Egypt by divisions under the leadership of Moses and Aaron.


text:
<pb/>The Israelites set out from Rameses on the fifteenth day of the first month, the day after the Passover. They marched out defiantly in full view of all the Egyptians,


text:
who were burying all their firstborn, whom the LORD had struck down among them; for the LORD had brought judgment on their gods.


text:
<pb/>They left Etham, turned back to Pi Hahiroth, to the east of Baal Zephon, and camped near Migdol.


text:
<pb/>They left Pi Hahiroth <f>[80]</f> and passed through the sea into the desert, and when they had traveled for three days in the Desert of Etham, they camped at Marah.


text:
<pb/>They left Marah and went to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there.


text:
At the LORD’s command Aaron the priest went up Mount Hor, where he died on the first day of the fifth month of the fortieth year after the Israelites came out of Egypt.


text:
<pb/>The Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev of Canaan, heard that the Israelites were coming.


text:
<pb/>They left the mountains of Abarim and camped on the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho.


text:
drive out all the inhabitants of the land before you. Destroy all their carved images and their cast idols, and demolish all their high places.


text:
Distribute the land by lot, according to your clans. To a larger group give a larger inheritance, and to a smaller group a smaller one. Whatever falls to them by lot will be theirs. Distribute it according to your ancestral tribes.


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<pb/>“ ‘But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land, those you allow to remain will become barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will give you trouble in the land where you will live.


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“Command the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter Canaan, the land that will be allotted to you as an inheritance is to have these boundaries:


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<pb/>“ ‘Your southern side will include some of the Desert of Zin along the border of Edom. Your southern boundary will start in the east from the southern end of the Dead Sea,


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cross south of Scorpion Pass, continue on to Zin and go south of Kadesh Barnea. Then it will go to Hazar Addar and over to Azmon,


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<pb/>“ ‘Your western boundary will be the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. This will be your boundary on the west.


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The boundary will go down from Shepham to Riblah on the east side of Ain and continue along the slopes east of the Sea of Galilee. <f>[82]</f>


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Then the boundary will go down along the Jordan and end at the Dead Sea. <pb/>“ ‘This will be your land, with its boundaries on every side.’ ”


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<pb/>Moses commanded the Israelites: “Assign this land by lot as an inheritance. The LORD has ordered that it be given to the nine-and-a-half tribes,


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because the families of the tribe of Reuben, the tribe of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh have received their inheritance.


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These two-and-a-half tribes have received their inheritance east of the Jordan across from Jericho, toward the sunrise.”


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“These are the names of the men who are to assign the land for you as an inheritance: Eleazar the priest and Joshua son of Nun.


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<pb/>These are the men the LORD commanded to assign the inheritance to the Israelites in the land of Canaan.


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“Command the Israelites to give the Levites towns to live in from the inheritance the Israelites will possess. And give them pasturelands around the towns.


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Then they will have towns to live in and pasturelands for the cattle they own and all their other animals.


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<pb/>“The pasturelands around the towns that you give the Levites will extend a thousand cubits <f>[83]</f> from the town wall.


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Outside the town, measure two thousand cubits <f>[84]</f> on the east side, two thousand on the south side, two thousand on the west and two thousand on the north, with the town in the center. They will have this area as pastureland for the towns.


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<pb/>“Six of the towns you give the Levites will be cities of refuge, to which a person who has killed someone may flee. In addition, give them forty-two other towns.


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The towns you give the Levites from the land the Israelites possess are to be given in proportion to the inheritance of each tribe: Take many towns from a tribe that has many, but few from one that has few.”


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select some towns to be your cities of refuge, to which a person who has killed someone accidentally may flee.


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They will be places of refuge from the avenger, so that anyone accused of murder may not die before they stand trial before the assembly.


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These six towns will be a place of refuge for Israelites and for foreigners residing among them, so that anyone who has killed another accidentally can flee there.


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<pb/>“ ‘If anyone strikes someone a fatal blow with an iron object, that person is a murderer; the murderer is to be put to death.


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Or if anyone is holding a stone and strikes someone a fatal blow with it, that person is a murderer; the murderer is to be put to death.


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Or if anyone is holding a wooden object and strikes someone a fatal blow with it, that person is a murderer; the murderer is to be put to death.


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The avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death; when the avenger comes upon the murderer, the avenger shall put the murderer to death.


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If anyone with malice aforethought shoves another or throws something at them intentionally so that they die


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or if out of enmity one person hits another with their fist so that the other dies, that person is to be put to death; that person is a murderer. The avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death when they meet.


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<pb/>“ ‘But if without enmity someone suddenly pushes another or throws something at them unintentionally


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or, without seeing them, drops on them a stone heavy enough to kill them, and they die, then since that other person was not an enemy and no harm was intended,


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the assembly must judge between the accused and the avenger of blood according to these regulations.


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The assembly must protect the one accused of murder from the avenger of blood and send the accused back to the city of refuge to which they fled. The accused must stay there until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the holy oil.


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and the avenger of blood finds them outside the city, the avenger of blood may kill the accused without being guilty of murder.


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The accused must stay in the city of refuge until the death of the high priest; only after the death of the high priest may they return to their own property.


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<pb/>“ ‘This is to have the force of law for you throughout the generations to come, wherever you live.


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<pb/>“ ‘Anyone who kills a person is to be put to death as a murderer only on the testimony of witnesses. But no one is to be put to death on the testimony of only one witness.


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<pb/>“ ‘Do not accept a ransom for the life of a murderer, who deserves to die. They are to be put to death.


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<pb/>“ ‘Do not accept a ransom for anyone who has fled to a city of refuge and so allow them to go back and live on their own land before the death of the high priest.


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<pb/>“ ‘Do not pollute the land where you are. Bloodshed pollutes the land, and atonement cannot be made for the land on which blood has been shed, except by the blood of the one who shed it.


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Do not defile the land where you live and where I dwell, for I, the LORD, dwell among the Israelites.’ ”


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<pb/>The family heads of the clan of Gilead son of Makir, the son of Manasseh, who were from the clans of the descendants of Joseph, came and spoke before Moses and the leaders, the heads of the Israelite families.


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They said, “When the LORD commanded my lord to give the land as an inheritance to the Israelites by lot, he ordered you to give the inheritance of our brother Zelophehad to his daughters.


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Now suppose they marry men from other Israelite tribes; then their inheritance will be taken from our ancestral inheritance and added to that of the tribe they marry into. And so part of the inheritance allotted to us will be taken away.


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When the Year of Jubilee for the Israelites comes, their inheritance will be added to that of the tribe into which they marry, and their property will be taken from the tribal inheritance of our ancestors.”


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<pb/>Then at the LORD’s command Moses gave this order to the Israelites: “What the tribe of the descendants of Joseph is saying is right.


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This is what the LORD commands for Zelophehad’s daughters: They may marry anyone they please as long as they marry within their father’s tribal clan.


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No inheritance in Israel is to pass from one tribe to another, for every Israelite shall keep the tribal inheritance of their ancestors.


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Every daughter who inherits land in any Israelite tribe must marry someone in her father’s tribal clan, so that every Israelite will possess the inheritance of their ancestors.


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No inheritance may pass from one tribe to another, for each Israelite tribe is to keep the land it inherits.”


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Zelophehad’s daughters — Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milkah and Noah — married their cousins on their father’s side.


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They married within the clans of the descendants of Manasseh son of Joseph, and their inheritance remained in their father’s tribe and clan.


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<pb/>These are the commands and regulations the LORD gave through Moses to the Israelites on the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho.


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<pb/>These are the words Moses spoke to all Israel in the wilderness east of the Jordan — that is, in the Arabah — opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth and Dizahab.


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<pb/>In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses proclaimed to the Israelites all that the LORD had commanded him concerning them.


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This was after he had defeated Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, and at Edrei had defeated Og king of Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth.


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Break camp and advance into the hill country of the Amorites; go to all the neighboring peoples in the Arabah, in the mountains, in the western foothills, in the Negev and along the coast, to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, as far as the great river, the Euphrates.


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See, I have given you this land. Go in and take possession of the land the LORD swore he would give to your fathers — to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob — and to their descendants after them.”


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The LORD your God has increased your numbers so that today you are as numerous as the stars in the sky.


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May the LORD, the God of your ancestors, increase you a thousand times and bless you as he has promised!


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Choose some wise, understanding and respected men from each of your tribes, and I will set them over you.”


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<pb/>So I took the leading men of your tribes, wise and respected men, and appointed them to have authority over you — as commanders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens and as tribal officials.


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And I charged your judges at that time, “Hear the disputes between your people and judge fairly, whether the case is between two Israelites or between an Israelite and a foreigner residing among you.


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Do not show partiality in judging; hear both small and great alike. Do not be afraid of anyone, for judgment belongs to God. Bring me any case too hard for you, and I will hear it.”


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<pb/>Then, as the LORD our God commanded us, we set out from Horeb and went toward the hill country of the Amorites through all that vast and dreadful wilderness that you have seen, and so we reached Kadesh Barnea.


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Then I said to you, “You have reached the hill country of the Amorites, which the LORD our God is giving us.


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See, the LORD your God has given you the land. Go up and take possession of it as the LORD, the God of your ancestors, told you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”


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<pb/>Then all of you came to me and said, “Let us send men ahead to spy out the land for us and bring back a report about the route we are to take and the towns we will come to.”


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Taking with them some of the fruit of the land, they brought it down to us and reported, “It is a good land that the LORD our God is giving us.”


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You grumbled in your tents and said, “The LORD hates us; so he brought us out of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us.


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Where can we go? Our brothers have made our hearts melt in fear. They say, ‘The people are stronger and taller than we are; the cities are large, with walls up to the sky. We even saw the Anakites there.’ ”


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The LORD your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes,


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and in the wilderness. There you saw how the LORD your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place.”


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who went ahead of you on your journey, in fire by night and in a cloud by day, to search out places for you to camp and to show you the way you should go.


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except Caleb son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and I will give him and his descendants the land he set his feet on, because he followed the LORD wholeheartedly.”


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But your assistant, Joshua son of Nun, will enter it. Encourage him, because he will lead Israel to inherit it.


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And the little ones that you said would be taken captive, your children who do not yet know good from bad — they will enter the land. I will give it to them and they will take possession of it.


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But as for you, turn around and set out toward the desert along the route to the Red Sea. <f>[1]</f>”


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<pb/>Then you replied, “We have sinned against the LORD. We will go up and fight, as the LORD our God commanded us.” So every one of you put on his weapons, thinking it easy to go up into the hill country.


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<pb/>But the LORD said to me, “Tell them, ‘Do not go up and fight, because I will not be with you. You will be defeated by your enemies.’ ”


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<pb/>So I told you, but you would not listen. You rebelled against the LORD’s command and in your arrogance you marched up into the hill country.


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The Amorites who lived in those hills came out against you; they chased you like a swarm of bees and beat you down from Seir all the way to Hormah.


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You came back and wept before the LORD, but he paid no attention to your weeping and turned a deaf ear to you.


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<pb/>Then we turned back and set out toward the wilderness along the route to the Red Sea, <f>[2]</f> as the LORD had directed me. For a long time we made our way around the hill country of Seir.


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Give the people these orders: ‘You are about to pass through the territory of your relatives the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, but be very careful.


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Do not provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land, not even enough to put your foot on. I have given Esau the hill country of Seir as his own.


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<pb/>The LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast wilderness. These forty years the LORD your God has been with you, and you have not lacked anything.


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<pb/>So we went on past our relatives the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. We turned from the Arabah road, which comes up from Elath and Ezion Geber, and traveled along the desert road of Moab.


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<pb/>Then the LORD said to me, “Do not harass the Moabites or provoke them to war, for I will not give you any part of their land. I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot as a possession.”


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Horites used to live in Seir, but the descendants of Esau drove them out. They destroyed the Horites from before them and settled in their place, just as Israel did in the land the LORD gave them as their possession.)


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<pb/>Thirty-eight years passed from the time we left Kadesh Barnea until we crossed the Zered Valley. By then, that entire generation of fighting men had perished from the camp, as the LORD had sworn to them.


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When you come to the Ammonites, do not harass them or provoke them to war, for I will not give you possession of any land belonging to the Ammonites. I have given it as a possession to the descendants of Lot.”


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<pb/>(That too was considered a land of the Rephaites, who used to live there; but the Ammonites called them Zamzummites.


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They were a people strong and numerous, and as tall as the Anakites. The LORD destroyed them from before the Ammonites, who drove them out and settled in their place.


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The LORD had done the same for the descendants of Esau, who lived in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites from before them. They drove them out and have lived in their place to this day.


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And as for the Avvites who lived in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorites coming out from Caphtor <f>[3]</f> destroyed them and settled in their place.)


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<pb/>“Set out now and cross the Arnon Gorge. See, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his country. Begin to take possession of it and engage him in battle.


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This very day I will begin to put the terror and fear of you on all the nations under heaven. They will hear reports of you and will tremble and be in anguish because of you.”


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<pb/>From the Desert of Kedemoth I sent messengers to Sihon king of Heshbon offering peace and saying,


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“Let us pass through your country. We will stay on the main road; we will not turn aside to the right or to the left.


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Sell us food to eat and water to drink for their price in silver. Only let us pass through on foot — 


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as the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir, and the Moabites, who live in Ar, did for us — until we cross the Jordan into the land the LORD our God is giving us.”


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But Sihon king of Heshbon refused to let us pass through. For the LORD your God had made his spirit stubborn and his heart obstinate in order to give him into your hands, as he has now done.


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<pb/>The LORD said to me, “See, I have begun to deliver Sihon and his country over to you. Now begin to conquer and possess his land.”


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the LORD our God delivered him over to us and we struck him down, together with his sons and his whole army.


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At that time we took all his towns and completely destroyed <f>[4]</f> them — men, women and children. We left no survivors.


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From Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Gorge, and from the town in the gorge, even as far as Gilead, not one town was too strong for us. The LORD our God gave us all of them.


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But in accordance with the command of the LORD our God, you did not encroach on any of the land of the Ammonites, neither the land along the course of the Jabbok nor that around the towns in the hills.


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<pb/>Next we turned and went up along the road toward Bashan, and Og king of Bashan with his whole army marched out to meet us in battle at Edrei.


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The LORD said to me, “Do not be afraid of him, for I have delivered him into your hands, along with his whole army and his land. Do to him what you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon.”


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<pb/>So the LORD our God also gave into our hands Og king of Bashan and all his army. We struck them down, leaving no survivors.


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At that time we took all his cities. There was not one of the sixty cities that we did not take from them — the whole region of Argob, Og’s kingdom in Bashan.


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All these cities were fortified with high walls and with gates and bars, and there were also a great many unwalled villages.


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We completely destroyed <f>[5]</f> them, as we had done with Sihon king of Heshbon, destroying <f>[6]</f> every city — men, women and children.


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<pb/>So at that time we took from these two kings of the Amorites the territory east of the Jordan, from the Arnon Gorge as far as Mount Hermon.


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We took all the towns on the plateau, and all Gilead, and all Bashan as far as Salekah and Edrei, towns of Og’s kingdom in Bashan.


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(Og king of Bashan was the last of the Rephaites. His bed was decorated with iron and was more than nine cubits long and four cubits wide. <f>[7]</f> It is still in Rabbah of the Ammonites.)


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<pb/>Of the land that we took over at that time, I gave the Reubenites and the Gadites the territory north of Aroer by the Arnon Gorge, including half the hill country of Gilead, together with its towns.


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The rest of Gilead and also all of Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh. (The whole region of Argob in Bashan used to be known as a land of the Rephaites.


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Jair, a descendant of Manasseh, took the whole region of Argob as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Maakathites; it was named after him, so that to this day Bashan is called Havvoth Jair. <f>[8]</f>)


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But to the Reubenites and the Gadites I gave the territory extending from Gilead down to the Arnon Gorge (the middle of the gorge being the border) and out to the Jabbok River, which is the border of the Ammonites.


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Its western border was the Jordan in the Arabah, from Kinnereth to the Sea of the Arabah (that is, the Dead Sea), below the slopes of Pisgah.


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<pb/>I commanded you at that time: “The LORD your God has given you this land to take possession of it. But all your able-bodied men, armed for battle, must cross over ahead of the other Israelites.


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However, your wives, your children and your livestock (I know you have much livestock) may stay in the towns I have given you,


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until the LORD gives rest to your fellow Israelites as he has to you, and they too have taken over the land that the LORD your God is giving them across the Jordan. After that, each of you may go back to the possession I have given you.”


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<pb/>At that time I commanded Joshua: “You have seen with your own eyes all that the LORD your God has done to these two kings. The LORD will do the same to all the kingdoms over there where you are going.


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“Sovereign LORD, you have begun to show to your servant your greatness and your strong hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do the deeds and mighty works you do?


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<pb/>But because of you the LORD was angry with me and would not listen to me. “That is enough,” the LORD said. “Do not speak to me anymore about this matter.


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Go up to the top of Pisgah and look west and north and south and east. Look at the land with your own eyes, since you are not going to cross this Jordan.


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But commission Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for he will lead this people across and will cause them to inherit the land that you will see.”


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<pb/>Now, Israel, hear the decrees and laws I am about to teach you. Follow them so that you may live and may go in and take possession of the land the LORD, the God of your ancestors, is giving you.


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Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the LORD your God that I give you.


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<pb/>You saw with your own eyes what the LORD did at Baal Peor. The LORD your God destroyed from among you everyone who followed the Baal of Peor,


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<pb/>See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the LORD my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it.


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Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.”


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What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the LORD our God is near us whenever we pray to him?


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And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today?


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<pb/>Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.


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Remember the day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, when he said to me, “Assemble the people before me to hear my words so that they may learn to revere me as long as they live in the land and may teach them to their children.”


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You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain while it blazed with fire to the very heavens, with black clouds and deep darkness.


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Then the LORD spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words but saw no form; there was only a voice.


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He declared to you his covenant, the Ten Commandments, which he commanded you to follow and then wrote them on two stone tablets.


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And the LORD directed me at that time to teach you the decrees and laws you are to follow in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess.


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<pb/>You saw no form of any kind the day the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire. Therefore watch yourselves very carefully,


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so that you do not become corrupt and make for yourselves an idol, an image of any shape, whether formed like a man or a woman,


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And when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon and the stars — all the heavenly array — do not be enticed into bowing down to them and worshiping things the LORD your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven.


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But as for you, the LORD took you and brought you out of the iron-smelting furnace, out of Egypt, to be the people of his inheritance, as you now are.


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<pb/>The LORD was angry with me because of you, and he solemnly swore that I would not cross the Jordan and enter the good land the LORD your God is giving you as your inheritance.


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I will die in this land; I will not cross the Jordan; but you are about to cross over and take possession of that good land.


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Be careful not to forget the covenant of the LORD your God that he made with you; do not make for yourselves an idol in the form of anything the LORD your God has forbidden.


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<pb/>After you have had children and grandchildren and have lived in the land a long time — if you then become corrupt and make any kind of idol, doing evil in the eyes of the LORD your God and arousing his anger,


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I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you this day that you will quickly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live there long but will certainly be destroyed.


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The LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and only a few of you will survive among the nations to which the LORD will drive you.


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But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.


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When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the LORD your God and obey him.


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For the LORD your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant with your ancestors, which he confirmed to them by oath.


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<pb/>Ask now about the former days, long before your time, from the day God created human beings on the earth; ask from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything so great as this ever happened, or has anything like it ever been heard of?


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Has any other people heard the voice of God <f>[9]</f> speaking out of fire, as you have, and lived?


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Has any god ever tried to take for himself one nation out of another nation, by testings, by signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, or by great and awesome deeds, like all the things the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes?


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<pb/>You were shown these things so that you might know that the LORD is God; besides him there is no other.


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From heaven he made you hear his voice to discipline you. On earth he showed you his great fire, and you heard his words from out of the fire.


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Because he loved your ancestors and chose their descendants after them, he brought you out of Egypt by his Presence and his great strength,


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to drive out before you nations greater and stronger than you and to bring you into their land to give it to you for your inheritance, as it is today.


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<pb/>Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other.


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Keep his decrees and commands, which I am giving you today, so that it may go well with you and your children after you and that you may live long in the land the LORD your God gives you for all time.


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to which anyone who had killed a person could flee if they had unintentionally killed a neighbor without malice aforethought. They could flee into one of these cities and save their life.


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The cities were these: Bezer in the wilderness plateau, for the Reubenites; Ramoth in Gilead, for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, for the Manassites.


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and were in the valley near Beth Peor east of the Jordan, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon and was defeated by Moses and the Israelites as they came out of Egypt.


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They took possession of his land and the land of Og king of Bashan, the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan.


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This land extended from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Gorge to Mount Sirion <f>[10]</f> (that is, Hermon),


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and included all the Arabah east of the Jordan, as far as the Dead Sea, <f>[11]</f> below the slopes of Pisgah.


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<pb/>Moses summoned all Israel and said: <pb/>Hear, Israel, the decrees and laws I declare in your hearing today. Learn them and be sure to follow them.


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It was not with our ancestors <f>[12]</f> that the LORD made this covenant, but with us, with all of us who are alive here today.


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(At that time I stood between the LORD and you to declare to you the word of the LORD, because you were afraid of the fire and did not go up the mountain.) And he said:


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but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns, so that your male and female servants may rest, as you do.


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Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.


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<pb/>“Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the LORD your God is giving you.


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<pb/>“You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. You shall not set your desire on your neighbor’s house or land, his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”


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<pb/>These are the commandments the LORD proclaimed in a loud voice to your whole assembly there on the mountain from out of the fire, the cloud and the deep darkness; and he added nothing more. Then he wrote them on two stone tablets and gave them to me.


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<pb/>When you heard the voice out of the darkness, while the mountain was ablaze with fire, all the leaders of your tribes and your elders came to me.


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And you said, “The LORD our God has shown us his glory and his majesty, and we have heard his voice from the fire. Today we have seen that a person can live even if God speaks with them.


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But now, why should we die? This great fire will consume us, and we will die if we hear the voice of the LORD our God any longer.


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For what mortal has ever heard the voice of the living God speaking out of fire, as we have, and survived?


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Go near and listen to all that the LORD our God says. Then tell us whatever the LORD our God tells you. We will listen and obey.”


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<pb/>The LORD heard you when you spoke to me, and the LORD said to me, “I have heard what this people said to you. Everything they said was good.


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Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever!


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But you stay here with me so that I may give you all the commands, decrees and laws you are to teach them to follow in the land I am giving them to possess.”


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<pb/>So be careful to do what the LORD your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left.


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Walk in obedience to all that the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess.


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<pb/>These are the commands, decrees and laws the LORD your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess,


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so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the LORD your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life.


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Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your ancestors, promised you.


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Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.


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<pb/>When the LORD your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you — a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build,


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houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant — then when you eat and are satisfied,


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be careful that you do not forget the LORD, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.


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for the LORD your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land.


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Be sure to keep the commands of the LORD your God and the stipulations and decrees he has given you.


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Do what is right and good in the LORD’s sight, so that it may go well with you and you may go in and take over the good land the LORD promised on oath to your ancestors,


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<pb/>In the future, when your son asks you, “What is the meaning of the stipulations, decrees and laws the LORD our God has commanded you?”


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tell him: “We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.


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Before our eyes the LORD sent signs and wonders — great and terrible — on Egypt and Pharaoh and his whole household.


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But he brought us out from there to bring us in and give us the land he promised on oath to our ancestors.


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The LORD commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the LORD our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today.


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And if we are careful to obey all this law before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness.”


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<pb/>When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations — the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you — 


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and when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. <f>[15]</f> Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy.


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Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons,


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for they will turn your children away from following me to serve other gods, and the LORD’s anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you.


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This is what you are to do to them: Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut down their Asherah poles <f>[16]</f> and burn their idols in the fire.


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For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.


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<pb/>The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.


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But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.


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Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.


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But <pb/><t>those who hate him he will repay to their face by destruction; </t><t>he will not be slow to repay to their face those who hate him. </t>


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<pb/>If you pay attention to these laws and are careful to follow them, then the LORD your God will keep his covenant of love with you, as he swore to your ancestors.


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He will love you and bless you and increase your numbers. He will bless the fruit of your womb, the crops of your land — your grain, new wine and olive oil — the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you.


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You will be blessed more than any other people; none of your men or women will be childless, nor will any of your livestock be without young.


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The LORD will keep you free from every disease. He will not inflict on you the horrible diseases you knew in Egypt, but he will inflict them on all who hate you.


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You must destroy all the peoples the LORD your God gives over to you. Do not look on them with pity and do not serve their gods, for that will be a snare to you.


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<pb/>You may say to yourselves, “These nations are stronger than we are. How can we drive them out?”


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You saw with your own eyes the great trials, the signs and wonders, the mighty hand and outstretched arm, with which the LORD your God brought you out. The LORD your God will do the same to all the peoples you now fear.


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Moreover, the LORD your God will send the hornet among them until even the survivors who hide from you have perished.


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The LORD your God will drive out those nations before you, little by little. You will not be allowed to eliminate them all at once, or the wild animals will multiply around you.


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But the LORD your God will deliver them over to you, throwing them into great confusion until they are destroyed.


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He will give their kings into your hand, and you will wipe out their names from under heaven. No one will be able to stand up against you; you will destroy them.


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The images of their gods you are to burn in the fire. Do not covet the silver and gold on them, and do not take it for yourselves, or you will be ensnared by it, for it is detestable to the LORD your God.


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Do not bring a detestable thing into your house or you, like it, will be set apart for destruction. Regard it as vile and utterly detest it, for it is set apart for destruction.


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<pb/>Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land the LORD promised on oath to your ancestors.


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Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.


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He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.


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For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land — a land with brooks, streams, and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills;


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a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills.


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<pb/>When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you.


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Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day.


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and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied,


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then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.


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He led you through the vast and dreadful wilderness, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock.


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He gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never known, to humble and test you so that in the end it might go well with you.


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But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.


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<pb/>If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed.


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Like the nations the LORD destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the LORD your God.


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<pb/>Hear, Israel: You are now about to cross the Jordan to go in and dispossess nations greater and stronger than you, with large cities that have walls up to the sky.


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The people are strong and tall — Anakites! You know about them and have heard it said: “Who can stand up against the Anakites?”


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But be assured today that the LORD your God is the one who goes across ahead of you like a devouring fire. He will destroy them; he will subdue them before you. And you will drive them out and annihilate them quickly, as the LORD has promised you.


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<pb/>After the LORD your God has driven them out before you, do not say to yourself, “The LORD has brought me here to take possession of this land because of my righteousness.” No, it is on account of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is going to drive them out before you.


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It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession of their land; but on account of the wickedness of these nations, the LORD your God will drive them out before you, to accomplish what he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.


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Understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the LORD your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people.


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<pb/>Remember this and never forget how you aroused the anger of the LORD your God in the wilderness. From the day you left Egypt until you arrived here, you have been rebellious against the LORD.


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When I went up on the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that the LORD had made with you, I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights; I ate no bread and drank no water.


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The LORD gave me two stone tablets inscribed by the finger of God. On them were all the commandments the LORD proclaimed to you on the mountain out of the fire, on the day of the assembly.


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<pb/>At the end of the forty days and forty nights, the LORD gave me the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant.


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Then the LORD told me, “Go down from here at once, because your people whom you brought out of Egypt have become corrupt. They have turned away quickly from what I commanded them and have made an idol for themselves.”


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Let me alone, so that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. And I will make you into a nation stronger and more numerous than they.”


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<pb/>So I turned and went down from the mountain while it was ablaze with fire. And the two tablets of the covenant were in my hands.


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When I looked, I saw that you had sinned against the LORD your God; you had made for yourselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. You had turned aside quickly from the way that the LORD had commanded you.


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<pb/>Then once again I fell prostrate before the LORD for forty days and forty nights; I ate no bread and drank no water, because of all the sin you had committed, doing what was evil in the LORD’s sight and so arousing his anger.


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I feared the anger and wrath of the LORD, for he was angry enough with you to destroy you. But again the LORD listened to me.


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Also I took that sinful thing of yours, the calf you had made, and burned it in the fire. Then I crushed it and ground it to powder as fine as dust and threw the dust into a stream that flowed down the mountain.


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<pb/>And when the LORD sent you out from Kadesh Barnea, he said, “Go up and take possession of the land I have given you.” But you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God. You did not trust him or obey him.


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<pb/>I lay prostrate before the LORD those forty days and forty nights because the LORD had said he would destroy you.


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I prayed to the LORD and said, “Sovereign LORD, do not destroy your people, your own inheritance that you redeemed by your great power and brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand.


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Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Overlook the stubbornness of this people, their wickedness and their sin.


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Otherwise, the country from which you brought us will say, ‘Because the LORD was not able to take them into the land he had promised them, and because he hated them, he brought them out to put them to death in the wilderness.’


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But they are your people, your inheritance that you brought out by your great power and your outstretched arm.”


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<pb/>At that time the LORD said to me, “Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones and come up to me on the mountain. Also make a wooden ark. <f>[17]</f>


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I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. Then you are to put them in the ark.”


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<pb/>So I made the ark out of acacia wood and chiseled out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I went up on the mountain with the two tablets in my hands.


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The LORD wrote on these tablets what he had written before, the Ten Commandments he had proclaimed to you on the mountain, out of the fire, on the day of the assembly. And the LORD gave them to me.


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Then I came back down the mountain and put the tablets in the ark I had made, as the LORD commanded me, and they are there now.


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<pb/>(The Israelites traveled from the wells of Bene Jaakan to Moserah. There Aaron died and was buried, and Eleazar his son succeeded him as priest.


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At that time the LORD set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the LORD, to stand before the LORD to minister and to pronounce blessings in his name, as they still do today.


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That is why the Levites have no share or inheritance among their fellow Israelites; the LORD is their inheritance, as the LORD your God told them.)


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<pb/>Now I had stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights, as I did the first time, and the LORD listened to me at this time also. It was not his will to destroy you.


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“Go,” the LORD said to me, “and lead the people on their way, so that they may enter and possess the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.”


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<pb/>And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,


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<pb/>To the LORD your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it.


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Yet the LORD set his affection on your ancestors and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations — as it is today.


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For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes.


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He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing.


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He is the one you praise; he is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes.


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Your ancestors who went down into Egypt were seventy in all, and now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky.


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<pb/>Love the LORD your God and keep his requirements, his decrees, his laws and his commands always.


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Remember today that your children were not the ones who saw and experienced the discipline of the LORD your God: his majesty, his mighty hand, his outstretched arm;


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the signs he performed and the things he did in the heart of Egypt, both to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his whole country;


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what he did to the Egyptian army, to its horses and chariots, how he overwhelmed them with the waters of the Red Sea <f>[18]</f> as they were pursuing you, and how the LORD brought lasting ruin on them.


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It was not your children who saw what he did for you in the wilderness until you arrived at this place,


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and what he did to Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab the Reubenite, when the earth opened its mouth right in the middle of all Israel and swallowed them up with their households, their tents and every living thing that belonged to them.


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<pb/>Observe therefore all the commands I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to go in and take over the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess,


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and so that you may live long in the land the LORD swore to your ancestors to give to them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.


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The land you are entering to take over is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you planted your seed and irrigated it by foot as in a vegetable garden.


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But the land you are crossing the Jordan to take possession of is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks rain from heaven.


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It is a land the LORD your God cares for; the eyes of the LORD your God are continually on it from the beginning of the year to its end.


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<pb/>So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today — to love the LORD your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul — 


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then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and olive oil.


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Then the LORD’s anger will burn against you, and he will shut up the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce, and you will soon perish from the good land the LORD is giving you.


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Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.


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Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.


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so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land the LORD swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.


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<pb/>If you carefully observe all these commands I am giving you to follow — to love the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to him and to hold fast to him — 


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then the LORD will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations larger and stronger than you.


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Every place where you set your foot will be yours: Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the Euphrates River to the Mediterranean Sea.


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No one will be able to stand against you. The LORD your God, as he promised you, will put the terror and fear of you on the whole land, wherever you go.


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the curse if you disobey the commands of the LORD your God and turn from the way that I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known.


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When the LORD your God has brought you into the land you are entering to possess, you are to proclaim on Mount Gerizim the blessings, and on Mount Ebal the curses.


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As you know, these mountains are across the Jordan, westward, toward the setting sun, near the great trees of Moreh, in the territory of those Canaanites living in the Arabah in the vicinity of Gilgal.


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You are about to cross the Jordan to enter and take possession of the land the LORD your God is giving you. When you have taken it over and are living there,


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<pb/>These are the decrees and laws you must be careful to follow in the land that the LORD, the God of your ancestors, has given you to possess — as long as you live in the land.


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Destroy completely all the places on the high mountains, on the hills and under every spreading tree, where the nations you are dispossessing worship their gods.


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Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and burn their Asherah poles in the fire; cut down the idols of their gods and wipe out their names from those places.


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But you are to seek the place the LORD your God will choose from among all your tribes to put his Name there for his dwelling. To that place you must go;


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there bring your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, what you have vowed to give and your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks.


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There, in the presence of the LORD your God, you and your families shall eat and shall rejoice in everything you have put your hand to, because the LORD your God has blessed you.


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since you have not yet reached the resting place and the inheritance the LORD your God is giving you.


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But you will cross the Jordan and settle in the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, and he will give you rest from all your enemies around you so that you will live in safety.


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Then to the place the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name — there you are to bring everything I command you: your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, and all the choice possessions you have vowed to the LORD.


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And there rejoice before the LORD your God — you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites from your towns who have no allotment or inheritance of their own.


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Offer them only at the place the LORD will choose in one of your tribes, and there observe everything I command you.


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<pb/>Nevertheless, you may slaughter your animals in any of your towns and eat as much of the meat as you want, as if it were gazelle or deer, according to the blessing the LORD your God gives you. Both the ceremonially unclean and the clean may eat it.


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You must not eat in your own towns the tithe of your grain and new wine and olive oil, or the firstborn of your herds and flocks, or whatever you have vowed to give, or your freewill offerings or special gifts.


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Instead, you are to eat them in the presence of the LORD your God at the place the LORD your God will choose — you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites from your towns — and you are to rejoice before the LORD your God in everything you put your hand to.


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<pb/>When the LORD your God has enlarged your territory as he promised you, and you crave meat and say, “I would like some meat,” then you may eat as much of it as you want.


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If the place where the LORD your God chooses to put his Name is too far away from you, you may slaughter animals from the herds and flocks the LORD has given you, as I have commanded you, and in your own towns you may eat as much of them as you want.


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But be sure you do not eat the blood, because the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat.


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Do not eat it, so that it may go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is right in the eyes of the LORD.


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<pb/>But take your consecrated things and whatever you have vowed to give, and go to the place the LORD will choose.


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Present your burnt offerings on the altar of the LORD your God, both the meat and the blood. The blood of your sacrifices must be poured beside the altar of the LORD your God, but you may eat the meat.


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Be careful to obey all these regulations I am giving you, so that it may always go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is good and right in the eyes of the LORD your God.


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<pb/>The LORD your God will cut off before you the nations you are about to invade and dispossess. But when you have driven them out and settled in their land,


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and after they have been destroyed before you, be careful not to be ensnared by inquiring about their gods, saying, “How do these nations serve their gods? We will do the same.”


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You must not worship the LORD your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the LORD hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods.


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<pb/> <f>[20]</f> <n>[1]</n> If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a sign or wonder,


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and if the sign or wonder spoken of takes place, and the prophet says, “Let us follow other gods” (gods you have not known) “and let us worship them,”


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you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul.


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It is the LORD your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him.


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That prophet or dreamer must be put to death for inciting rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. That prophet or dreamer tried to turn you from the way the LORD your God commanded you to follow. You must purge the evil from among you.


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<pb/>If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you love, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, “Let us go and worship other gods” (gods that neither you nor your ancestors have known,


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You must certainly put them to death. Your hand must be the first in putting them to death, and then the hands of all the people.


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Stone them to death, because they tried to turn you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.


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that troublemakers have arisen among you and have led the people of their town astray, saying, “Let us go and worship other gods” (gods you have not known),


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then you must inquire, probe and investigate it thoroughly. And if it is true and it has been proved that this detestable thing has been done among you,


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you must certainly put to the sword all who live in that town. You must destroy it completely, <f>[21]</f> both its people and its livestock.


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You are to gather all the plunder of the town into the middle of the public square and completely burn the town and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the LORD your God. That town is to remain a ruin forever, never to be rebuilt,


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and none of the condemned things <f>[22]</f> are to be found in your hands. Then the LORD will turn from his fierce anger, will show you mercy, and will have compassion on you. He will increase your numbers, as he promised on oath to your ancestors — 


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because you obey the LORD your God by keeping all his commands that I am giving you today and doing what is right in his eyes.


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<pb/>You are the children of the LORD your God. Do not cut yourselves or shave the front of your heads for the dead,


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for you are a people holy to the LORD your God. Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the LORD has chosen you to be his treasured possession.


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the deer, the gazelle, the roe deer, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope and the mountain sheep. <f>[23]</f>


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However, of those that chew the cud or that have a divided hoof you may not eat the camel, the rabbit or the hyrax. Although they chew the cud, they do not have a divided hoof; they are ceremonially unclean for you.


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The pig is also unclean; although it has a divided hoof, it does not chew the cud. You are not to eat their meat or touch their carcasses.


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<pb/>Do not eat anything you find already dead. You may give it to the foreigner residing in any of your towns, and they may eat it, or you may sell it to any other foreigner. But you are a people holy to the LORD your God. <pb/>Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.


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Eat the tithe of your grain, new wine and olive oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the presence of the LORD your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name, so that you may learn to revere the LORD your God always.


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But if that place is too distant and you have been blessed by the LORD your God and cannot carry your tithe (because the place where the LORD will choose to put his Name is so far away),


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then exchange your tithe for silver, and take the silver with you and go to the place the LORD your God will choose.


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Use the silver to buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drink, or anything you wish. Then you and your household shall eat there in the presence of the LORD your God and rejoice.


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And do not neglect the Levites living in your towns, for they have no allotment or inheritance of their own.


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<pb/>At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes of that year’s produce and store it in your towns,


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so that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.


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This is how it is to be done: Every creditor shall cancel any loan they have made to a fellow Israelite. They shall not require payment from anyone among their own people, because the LORD’s time for canceling debts has been proclaimed.


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You may require payment from a foreigner, but you must cancel any debt your fellow Israelite owes you.


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However, there need be no poor people among you, for in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you,


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if only you fully obey the LORD your God and are careful to follow all these commands I am giving you today.


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For the LORD your God will bless you as he has promised, and you will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. You will rule over many nations but none will rule over you.


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<pb/>If anyone is poor among your fellow Israelites in any of the towns of the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward them.


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Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought: “The seventh year, the year for canceling debts, is near,” so that you do not show ill will toward the needy among your fellow Israelites and give them nothing. They may then appeal to the LORD against you, and you will be found guilty of sin.


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Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to.


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There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land.


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<pb/>If any of your people — Hebrew men or women — sell themselves to you and serve you six years, in the seventh year you must let them go free.


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Supply them liberally from your flock, your threshing floor and your winepress. Give to them as the LORD your God has blessed you.


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Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you. That is why I give you this command today.


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<pb/>But if your servant says to you, “I do not want to leave you,” because he loves you and your family and is well off with you,


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then take an awl and push it through his earlobe into the door, and he will become your servant for life. Do the same for your female servant.


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<pb/>Do not consider it a hardship to set your servant free, because their service to you these six years has been worth twice as much as that of a hired hand. And the LORD your God will bless you in everything you do.


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<pb/>Set apart for the LORD your God every firstborn male of your herds and flocks. Do not put the firstborn of your cows to work, and do not shear the firstborn of your sheep.


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Each year you and your family are to eat them in the presence of the LORD your God at the place he will choose.


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If an animal has a defect, is lame or blind, or has any serious flaw, you must not sacrifice it to the LORD your God.


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You are to eat it in your own towns. Both the ceremonially unclean and the clean may eat it, as if it were gazelle or deer.


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<pb/>Observe the month of Aviv and celebrate the Passover of the LORD your God, because in the month of Aviv he brought you out of Egypt by night.


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Sacrifice as the Passover to the LORD your God an animal from your flock or herd at the place the LORD will choose as a dwelling for his Name.


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Do not eat it with bread made with yeast, but for seven days eat unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, because you left Egypt in haste — so that all the days of your life you may remember the time of your departure from Egypt.


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Let no yeast be found in your possession in all your land for seven days. Do not let any of the meat you sacrifice on the evening of the first day remain until morning.


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except in the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name. There you must sacrifice the Passover in the evening, when the sun goes down, on the anniversary <f>[24]</f> of your departure from Egypt.


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Roast it and eat it at the place the LORD your God will choose. Then in the morning return to your tents.


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For six days eat unleavened bread and on the seventh day hold an assembly to the LORD your God and do no work.


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Then celebrate the Festival of Weeks to the LORD your God by giving a freewill offering in proportion to the blessings the LORD your God has given you.


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And rejoice before the LORD your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name — you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, the Levites in your towns, and the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows living among you.


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<pb/>Celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing floor and your winepress.


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Be joyful at your festival — you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites, the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns.


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For seven days celebrate the festival to the LORD your God at the place the LORD will choose. For the LORD your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your joy will be complete.


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<pb/>Three times a year all your men must appear before the LORD your God at the place he will choose: at the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks and the Festival of Tabernacles. No one should appear before the LORD empty-handed:


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<pb/>Appoint judges and officials for each of your tribes in every town the LORD your God is giving you, and they shall judge the people fairly.


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Do not pervert justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the innocent.


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Follow justice and justice alone, so that you may live and possess the land the LORD your God is giving you.


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<pb/>Do not sacrifice to the LORD your God an ox or a sheep that has any defect or flaw in it, for that would be detestable to him.


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<pb/>If a man or woman living among you in one of the towns the LORD gives you is found doing evil in the eyes of the LORD your God in violation of his covenant,


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and contrary to my command has worshiped other gods, bowing down to them or to the sun or the moon or the stars in the sky,


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and this has been brought to your attention, then you must investigate it thoroughly. If it is true and it has been proved that this detestable thing has been done in Israel,


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On the testimony of two or three witnesses a person is to be put to death, but no one is to be put to death on the testimony of only one witness.


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The hands of the witnesses must be the first in putting that person to death, and then the hands of all the people. You must purge the evil from among you.


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<pb/>If cases come before your courts that are too difficult for you to judge — whether bloodshed, lawsuits or assaults — take them to the place the LORD your God will choose.


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Go to the Levitical priests and to the judge who is in office at that time. Inquire of them and they will give you the verdict.


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You must act according to the decisions they give you at the place the LORD will choose. Be careful to do everything they instruct you to do.


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Act according to whatever they teach you and the decisions they give you. Do not turn aside from what they tell you, to the right or to the left.


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Anyone who shows contempt for the judge or for the priest who stands ministering there to the LORD your God is to be put to death. You must purge the evil from Israel.


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<pb/>When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, “Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,”


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be sure to appoint over you a king the LORD your God chooses. He must be from among your fellow Israelites. Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not an Israelite.


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The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the LORD has told you, “You are not to go back that way again.”


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He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold.


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<pb/>When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the Levitical priests.


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It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the LORD his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees


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and not consider himself better than his fellow Israelites and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel.


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<pb/>The Levitical priests — indeed, the whole tribe of Levi — are to have no allotment or inheritance with Israel. They shall live on the food offerings presented to the LORD, for that is their inheritance.


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They shall have no inheritance among their fellow Israelites; the LORD is their inheritance, as he promised them.


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<pb/>This is the share due the priests from the people who sacrifice a bull or a sheep: the shoulder, the internal organs and the meat from the head.


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You are to give them the firstfruits of your grain, new wine and olive oil, and the first wool from the shearing of your sheep,


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for the LORD your God has chosen them and their descendants out of all your tribes to stand and minister in the LORD’s name always.


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<pb/>If a Levite moves from one of your towns anywhere in Israel where he is living, and comes in all earnestness to the place the LORD will choose,


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he may minister in the name of the LORD his God like all his fellow Levites who serve there in the presence of the LORD.


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He is to share equally in their benefits, even though he has received money from the sale of family possessions.


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<pb/>When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there.


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Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft,


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Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD; because of these same detestable practices the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you.


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<pb/>The nations you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery or divination. But as for you, the LORD your God has not permitted you to do so.


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The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him.


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For this is what you asked of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the LORD our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.”


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I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him.


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I myself will call to account anyone who does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name.


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But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, is to be put to death.”


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If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously, so do not be alarmed.


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<pb/>When the LORD your God has destroyed the nations whose land he is giving you, and when you have driven them out and settled in their towns and houses,


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Determine the distances involved and divide into three parts the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, so that a person who kills someone may flee for refuge to one of these cities.


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<pb/>This is the rule concerning anyone who kills a person and flees there for safety — anyone who kills a neighbor unintentionally, without malice aforethought.


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For instance, a man may go into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood, and as he swings his ax to fell a tree, the head may fly off and hit his neighbor and kill him. That man may flee to one of these cities and save his life.


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Otherwise, the avenger of blood might pursue him in a rage, overtake him if the distance is too great, and kill him even though he is not deserving of death, since he did it to his neighbor without malice aforethought.


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<pb/>If the LORD your God enlarges your territory, as he promised on oath to your ancestors, and gives you the whole land he promised them,


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because you carefully follow all these laws I command you today — to love the LORD your God and to walk always in obedience to him — then you are to set aside three more cities.


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Do this so that innocent blood will not be shed in your land, which the LORD your God is giving you as your inheritance, and so that you will not be guilty of bloodshed.


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<pb/>But if out of hate someone lies in wait, assaults and kills a neighbor, and then flees to one of these cities,


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the killer shall be sent for by the town elders, be brought back from the city, and be handed over to the avenger of blood to die.


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Show no pity. You must purge from Israel the guilt of shedding innocent blood, so that it may go well with you.


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<pb/>Do not move your neighbor’s boundary stone set up by your predecessors in the inheritance you receive in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess.


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<pb/>One witness is not enough to convict anyone accused of any crime or offense they may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.


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the two people involved in the dispute must stand in the presence of the LORD before the priests and the judges who are in office at the time.


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The judges must make a thorough investigation, and if the witness proves to be a liar, giving false testimony against a fellow Israelite,


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then do to the false witness as that witness intended to do to the other party. You must purge the evil from among you.


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The rest of the people will hear of this and be afraid, and never again will such an evil thing be done among you.


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<pb/>When you go to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours, do not be afraid of them, because the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt, will be with you.


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He shall say: “Hear, Israel: Today you are going into battle against your enemies. Do not be fainthearted or afraid; do not panic or be terrified by them.


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For the LORD your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.”


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<pb/>The officers shall say to the army: “Has anyone built a new house and not yet begun to live in it? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else may begin to live in it.


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Has anyone planted a vineyard and not begun to enjoy it? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else enjoy it.


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Has anyone become pledged to a woman and not married her? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else marry her.”


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Then the officers shall add, “Is anyone afraid or fainthearted? Let him go home so that his fellow soldiers will not become disheartened too.”


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If they accept and open their gates, all the people in it shall be subject to forced labor and shall work for you.


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As for the women, the children, the livestock and everything else in the city, you may take these as plunder for yourselves. And you may use the plunder the LORD your God gives you from your enemies.


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This is how you are to treat all the cities that are at a distance from you and do not belong to the nations nearby.


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<pb/>However, in the cities of the nations the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes.


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Completely destroy <f>[25]</f> them — the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites — as the LORD your God has commanded you.


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Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods, and you will sin against the LORD your God.


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<pb/>When you lay siege to a city for a long time, fighting against it to capture it, do not destroy its trees by putting an ax to them, because you can eat their fruit. Do not cut them down. Are the trees people, that you should besiege them? <f>[26]</f>


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However, you may cut down trees that you know are not fruit trees and use them to build siege works until the city at war with you falls.


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<pb/>If someone is found slain, lying in a field in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who the killer was,


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your elders and judges shall go out and measure the distance from the body to the neighboring towns.


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Then the elders of the town nearest the body shall take a heifer that has never been worked and has never worn a yoke


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and lead it down to a valley that has not been plowed or planted and where there is a flowing stream. There in the valley they are to break the heifer’s neck.


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The Levitical priests shall step forward, for the LORD your God has chosen them to minister and to pronounce blessings in the name of the LORD and to decide all cases of dispute and assault.


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Then all the elders of the town nearest the body shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley,


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Accept this atonement for your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, LORD, and do not hold your people guilty of the blood of an innocent person.” Then the bloodshed will be atoned for,


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and you will have purged from yourselves the guilt of shedding innocent blood, since you have done what is right in the eyes of the LORD.


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<pb/>When you go to war against your enemies and the LORD your God delivers them into your hands and you take captives,


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if you notice among the captives a beautiful woman and are attracted to her, you may take her as your wife.


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and put aside the clothes she was wearing when captured. After she has lived in your house and mourned her father and mother for a full month, then you may go to her and be her husband and she shall be your wife.


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If you are not pleased with her, let her go wherever she wishes. You must not sell her or treat her as a slave, since you have dishonored her.


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<pb/>If a man has two wives, and he loves one but not the other, and both bear him sons but the firstborn is the son of the wife he does not love,


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when he wills his property to his sons, he must not give the rights of the firstborn to the son of the wife he loves in preference to his actual firstborn, the son of the wife he does not love.


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He must acknowledge the son of his unloved wife as the firstborn by giving him a double share of all he has. That son is the first sign of his father’s strength. The right of the firstborn belongs to him.


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<pb/>If someone has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and will not listen to them when they discipline him,


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They shall say to the elders, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.”


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Then all the men of his town are to stone him to death. You must purge the evil from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid.


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you must not leave the body hanging on the pole overnight. Be sure to bury it that same day, because anyone who is hung on a pole is under God’s curse. You must not desecrate the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.


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<pb/>If you see your fellow Israelite’s ox or sheep straying, do not ignore it but be sure to take it back to its owner.


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If they do not live near you or if you do not know who owns it, take it home with you and keep it until they come looking for it. Then give it back.


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<pb/>If you see your fellow Israelite’s donkey or ox fallen on the road, do not ignore it. Help the owner get it to its feet.


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<pb/>A woman must not wear men’s clothing, nor a man wear women’s clothing, for the LORD your God detests anyone who does this.


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<pb/>If you come across a bird’s nest beside the road, either in a tree or on the ground, and the mother is sitting on the young or on the eggs, do not take the mother with the young.


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You may take the young, but be sure to let the mother go, so that it may go well with you and you may have a long life.


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<pb/>When you build a new house, make a parapet around your roof so that you may not bring the guilt of bloodshed on your house if someone falls from the roof.


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<pb/>Do not plant two kinds of seed in your vineyard; if you do, not only the crops you plant but also the fruit of the vineyard will be defiled. <f>[27]</f>


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and slanders her and gives her a bad name, saying, “I married this woman, but when I approached her, I did not find proof of her virginity,”


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then the young woman’s father and mother shall bring to the town elders at the gate proof that she was a virgin.


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Her father will say to the elders, “I gave my daughter in marriage to this man, but he dislikes her.


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Now he has slandered her and said, ‘I did not find your daughter to be a virgin.’ But here is the proof of my daughter’s virginity.” Then her parents shall display the cloth before the elders of the town,


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They shall fine him a hundred shekels <f>[28]</f> of silver and give them to the young woman’s father, because this man has given an Israelite virgin a bad name. She shall continue to be his wife; he must not divorce her as long as he lives.


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she shall be brought to the door of her father’s house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death. She has done an outrageous thing in Israel by being promiscuous while still in her father’s house. You must purge the evil from among you.


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<pb/>If a man is found sleeping with another man’s wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from Israel.


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you shall take both of them to the gate of that town and stone them to death — the young woman because she was in a town and did not scream for help, and the man because he violated another man’s wife. You must purge the evil from among you.


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<pb/>But if out in the country a man happens to meet a young woman pledged to be married and rapes her, only the man who has done this shall die.


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Do nothing to the woman; she has committed no sin deserving death. This case is like that of someone who attacks and murders a neighbor,


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for the man found the young woman out in the country, and though the betrothed woman screamed, there was no one to rescue her.


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<pb/>If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered,


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he shall pay her father fifty shekels <f>[29]</f> of silver. He must marry the young woman, for he has violated her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives.


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<pb/> <f>[31]</f> <n>[1]</n> No one who has been emasculated by crushing or cutting may enter the assembly of the LORD.


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<pb/>No one born of a forbidden marriage <f>[32]</f> nor any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD, not even in the tenth generation.


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<pb/>No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD, not even in the tenth generation.


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For they did not come to meet you with bread and water on your way when you came out of Egypt, and they hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Aram Naharaim <f>[33]</f> to pronounce a curse on you.


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However, the LORD your God would not listen to Balaam but turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the LORD your God loves you.


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<pb/>Do not despise an Edomite, for the Edomites are related to you. Do not despise an Egyptian, because you resided as foreigners in their country.


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If one of your men is unclean because of a nocturnal emission, he is to go outside the camp and stay there.


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As part of your equipment have something to dig with, and when you relieve yourself, dig a hole and cover up your excrement.


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For the LORD your God moves about in your camp to protect you and to deliver your enemies to you. Your camp must be holy, so that he will not see among you anything indecent and turn away from you.


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You must not bring the earnings of a female prostitute or of a male prostitute <f>[34]</f> into the house of the LORD your God to pay any vow, because the LORD your God detests them both.


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<pb/>Do not charge a fellow Israelite interest, whether on money or food or anything else that may earn interest.


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You may charge a foreigner interest, but not a fellow Israelite, so that the LORD your God may bless you in everything you put your hand to in the land you are entering to possess.


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<pb/>If you make a vow to the LORD your God, do not be slow to pay it, for the LORD your God will certainly demand it of you and you will be guilty of sin.


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Whatever your lips utter you must be sure to do, because you made your vow freely to the LORD your God with your own mouth.


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<pb/>If you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat all the grapes you want, but do not put any in your basket.


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If you enter your neighbor’s grainfield, you may pick kernels with your hands, but you must not put a sickle to their standing grain.


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<pb/>If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house,


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and her second husband dislikes her and writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, or if he dies,


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then her first husband, who divorced her, is not allowed to marry her again after she has been defiled. That would be detestable in the eyes of the LORD. Do not bring sin upon the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.


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<pb/>If a man has recently married, he must not be sent to war or have any other duty laid on him. For one year he is to be free to stay at home and bring happiness to the wife he has married.


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<pb/>Do not take a pair of millstones — not even the upper one — as security for a debt, because that would be taking a person’s livelihood as security.


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<pb/>If someone is caught kidnapping a fellow Israelite and treating or selling them as a slave, the kidnapper must die. You must purge the evil from among you.


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<pb/>In cases of defiling skin diseases, <f>[35]</f> be very careful to do exactly as the Levitical priests instruct you. You must follow carefully what I have commanded them.


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<pb/>When you make a loan of any kind to your neighbor, do not go into their house to get what is offered to you as a pledge.


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Return their cloak by sunset so that your neighbor may sleep in it. Then they will thank you, and it will be regarded as a righteous act in the sight of the LORD your God.


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<pb/>Do not take advantage of a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether that worker is a fellow Israelite or a foreigner residing in one of your towns.


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Pay them their wages each day before sunset, because they are poor and are counting on it. Otherwise they may cry to the LORD against you, and you will be guilty of sin.


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<pb/>Parents are not to be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their parents; each will die for their own sin.


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<pb/>Do not deprive the foreigner or the fatherless of justice, or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge.


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Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you from there. That is why I command you to do this.


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<pb/>When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.


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When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow.


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When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow.


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<pb/>When people have a dispute, they are to take it to court and the judges will decide the case, acquitting the innocent and condemning the guilty.


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If the guilty person deserves to be beaten, the judge shall make them lie down and have them flogged in his presence with the number of lashes the crime deserves,


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but the judge must not impose more than forty lashes. If the guilty party is flogged more than that, your fellow Israelite will be degraded in your eyes.


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<pb/>If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband’s brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her.


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The first son she bears shall carry on the name of the dead brother so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel.


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<pb/>However, if a man does not want to marry his brother’s wife, she shall go to the elders at the town gate and say, “My husband’s brother refuses to carry on his brother’s name in Israel. He will not fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to me.”


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Then the elders of his town shall summon him and talk to him. If he persists in saying, “I do not want to marry her,”


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his brother’s widow shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, take off one of his sandals, spit in his face and say, “This is what is done to the man who will not build up his brother’s family line.”


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<pb/>If two men are fighting and the wife of one of them comes to rescue her husband from his assailant, and she reaches out and seizes him by his private parts,


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You must have accurate and honest weights and measures, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.


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When you were weary and worn out, they met you on your journey and attacked all who were lagging behind; they had no fear of God.


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When the LORD your God gives you rest from all the enemies around you in the land he is giving you to possess as an inheritance, you shall blot out the name of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!


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<pb/>When you have entered the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance and have taken possession of it and settled in it,


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take some of the firstfruits of all that you produce from the soil of the land the LORD your God is giving you and put them in a basket. Then go to the place the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name


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and say to the priest in office at the time, “I declare today to the LORD your God that I have come to the land the LORD swore to our ancestors to give us.”


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The priest shall take the basket from your hands and set it down in front of the altar of the LORD your God.


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Then you shall declare before the LORD your God: “My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down into Egypt with a few people and lived there and became a great nation, powerful and numerous.


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Then we cried out to the LORD, the God of our ancestors, and the LORD heard our voice and saw our misery, toil and oppression.


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So the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror and with signs and wonders.


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and now I bring the firstfruits of the soil that you, LORD, have given me.” Place the basket before the LORD your God and bow down before him.


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Then you and the Levites and the foreigners residing among you shall rejoice in all the good things the LORD your God has given to you and your household.


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<pb/>When you have finished setting aside a tenth of all your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, you shall give it to the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied.


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Then say to the LORD your God: “I have removed from my house the sacred portion and have given it to the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, according to all you commanded. I have not turned aside from your commands nor have I forgotten any of them.


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I have not eaten any of the sacred portion while I was in mourning, nor have I removed any of it while I was unclean, nor have I offered any of it to the dead. I have obeyed the LORD my God; I have done everything you commanded me.


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Look down from heaven, your holy dwelling place, and bless your people Israel and the land you have given us as you promised on oath to our ancestors, a land flowing with milk and honey.”


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<pb/>The LORD your God commands you this day to follow these decrees and laws; carefully observe them with all your heart and with all your soul.


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You have declared this day that the LORD is your God and that you will walk in obedience to him, that you will keep his decrees, commands and laws — that you will listen to him.


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And the LORD has declared this day that you are his people, his treasured possession as he promised, and that you are to keep all his commands.


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He has declared that he will set you in praise, fame and honor high above all the nations he has made and that you will be a people holy to the LORD your God, as he promised.


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<pb/>Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people: “Keep all these commands that I give you today.


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When you have crossed the Jordan into the land the LORD your God is giving you, set up some large stones and coat them with plaster.


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Write on them all the words of this law when you have crossed over to enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your ancestors, promised you.


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And when you have crossed the Jordan, set up these stones on Mount Ebal, as I command you today, and coat them with plaster.


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Build the altar of the LORD your God with fieldstones and offer burnt offerings on it to the LORD your God.


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Sacrifice fellowship offerings there, eating them and rejoicing in the presence of the LORD your God.


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<pb/>Then Moses and the Levitical priests said to all Israel, “Be silent, Israel, and listen! You have now become the people of the LORD your God.


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<pb/>When you have crossed the Jordan, these tribes shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph and Benjamin.


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And these tribes shall stand on Mount Ebal to pronounce curses: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali.


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<pb/>“Cursed is anyone who makes an idol — a thing detestable to the LORD, the work of skilled hands — and sets it up in secret.” <pb/>Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”


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<pb/>“Cursed is anyone who dishonors their father or mother.” <pb/>Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”


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<pb/>“Cursed is anyone who moves their neighbor’s boundary stone.” <pb/>Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”


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<pb/>“Cursed is anyone who leads the blind astray on the road.” <pb/>Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”


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<pb/>“Cursed is anyone who withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow.” <pb/>Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”


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<pb/>“Cursed is anyone who sleeps with his father’s wife, for he dishonors his father’s bed.” <pb/>Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”


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<pb/>“Cursed is anyone who has sexual relations with any animal.” <pb/>Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”


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<pb/>“Cursed is anyone who sleeps with his sister, the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother.” <pb/>Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”


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<pb/>“Cursed is anyone who sleeps with his mother-in-law.” <pb/>Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”


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<pb/>“Cursed is anyone who kills their neighbor secretly.” <pb/>Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”


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<pb/>“Cursed is anyone who accepts a bribe to kill an innocent person.” <pb/>Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”


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<pb/>“Cursed is anyone who does not uphold the words of this law by carrying them out.” <pb/>Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”


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<pb/>If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth.


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<pb/>The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock — the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.


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<pb/>The LORD will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven.


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<pb/>The LORD will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The LORD your God will bless you in the land he is giving you.


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<pb/>The LORD will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the LORD your God and walk in obedience to him.


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Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they will fear you.


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The LORD will grant you abundant prosperity — in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground — in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you.


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<pb/>The LORD will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none.


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The LORD will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the LORD your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom.


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Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods and serving them.


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<pb/>However, if you do not obey the LORD your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come on you and overtake you:


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<pb/>The fruit of your womb will be cursed, and the crops of your land, and the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.


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<pb/>The LORD will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in forsaking him. <f>[36]</f>


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The LORD will plague you with diseases until he has destroyed you from the land you are entering to possess.


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The LORD will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, with blight and mildew, which will plague you until you perish.


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The LORD will turn the rain of your country into dust and powder; it will come down from the skies until you are destroyed.


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<pb/>The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will come at them from one direction but flee from them in seven, and you will become a thing of horror to all the kingdoms on earth.


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Your carcasses will be food for all the birds and the wild animals, and there will be no one to frighten them away.


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The LORD will afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, festering sores and the itch, from which you cannot be cured.


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At midday you will grope about like a blind person in the dark. You will be unsuccessful in everything you do; day after day you will be oppressed and robbed, with no one to rescue you.


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<pb/>You will be pledged to be married to a woman, but another will take her and rape her. You will build a house, but you will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will not even begin to enjoy its fruit.


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Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will eat none of it. Your donkey will be forcibly taken from you and will not be returned. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and no one will rescue them.


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Your sons and daughters will be given to another nation, and you will wear out your eyes watching for them day after day, powerless to lift a hand.


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A people that you do not know will eat what your land and labor produce, and you will have nothing but cruel oppression all your days.


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The LORD will afflict your knees and legs with painful boils that cannot be cured, spreading from the soles of your feet to the top of your head.


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<pb/>The LORD will drive you and the king you set over you to a nation unknown to you or your ancestors. There you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone.


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You will become a thing of horror, a byword and an object of ridicule among all the peoples where the LORD will drive you.


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<pb/>You will sow much seed in the field but you will harvest little, because locusts will devour it.


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You will plant vineyards and cultivate them but you will not drink the wine or gather the grapes, because worms will eat them.


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You will have olive trees throughout your country but you will not use the oil, because the olives will drop off.


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<pb/>The foreigners who reside among you will rise above you higher and higher, but you will sink lower and lower.


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They will lend to you, but you will not lend to them. They will be the head, but you will be the tail.


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<pb/>All these curses will come on you. They will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the LORD your God and observe the commands and decrees he gave you.


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therefore in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies the LORD sends against you. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you.


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<pb/>The LORD will bring a nation against you from far away, from the ends of the earth, like an eagle swooping down, a nation whose language you will not understand,


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They will devour the young of your livestock and the crops of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain, new wine or olive oil, nor any calves of your herds or lambs of your flocks until you are ruined.


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They will lay siege to all the cities throughout your land until the high fortified walls in which you trust fall down. They will besiege all the cities throughout the land the LORD your God is giving you.


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<pb/>Because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege, you will eat the fruit of the womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters the LORD your God has given you.


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Even the most gentle and sensitive man among you will have no compassion on his own brother or the wife he loves or his surviving children,


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and he will not give to one of them any of the flesh of his children that he is eating. It will be all he has left because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege of all your cities.


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The most gentle and sensitive woman among you — so sensitive and gentle that she would not venture to touch the ground with the sole of her foot — will begrudge the husband she loves and her own son or daughter


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the afterbirth from her womb and the children she bears. For in her dire need she intends to eat them secretly because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege of your cities.


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<pb/>If you do not carefully follow all the words of this law, which are written in this book, and do not revere this glorious and awesome name — the LORD your God — 


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the LORD will send fearful plagues on you and your descendants, harsh and prolonged disasters, and severe and lingering illnesses.


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The LORD will also bring on you every kind of sickness and disaster not recorded in this Book of the Law, until you are destroyed.


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You who were as numerous as the stars in the sky will be left but few in number, because you did not obey the LORD your God.


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Just as it pleased the LORD to make you prosper and increase in number, so it will please him to ruin and destroy you. You will be uprooted from the land you are entering to possess.


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<pb/>Then the LORD will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods — gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your ancestors have known.


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Among those nations you will find no repose, no resting place for the sole of your foot. There the LORD will give you an anxious mind, eyes weary with longing, and a despairing heart.


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In the morning you will say, “If only it were evening!” and in the evening, “If only it were morning!” — because of the terror that will fill your hearts and the sights that your eyes will see.


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The LORD will send you back in ships to Egypt on a journey I said you should never make again. There you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.


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<pb/> <f>[37]</f> <n>[1]</n> These are the terms of the covenant the LORD commanded Moses to make with the Israelites in Moab, in addition to the covenant he had made with them at Horeb.


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<pb/>Moses summoned all the Israelites and said to them: <pb/>Your eyes have seen all that the LORD did in Egypt to Pharaoh, to all his officials and to all his land.


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But to this day the LORD has not given you a mind that understands or eyes that see or ears that hear.


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Yet the LORD says, “During the forty years that I led you through the wilderness, your clothes did not wear out, nor did the sandals on your feet.


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You ate no bread and drank no wine or other fermented drink. I did this so that you might know that I am the LORD your God.”


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<pb/>When you reached this place, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan came out to fight against us, but we defeated them.


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We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh.


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All of you are standing today in the presence of the LORD your God — your leaders and chief men, your elders and officials, and all the other men of Israel,


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together with your children and your wives, and the foreigners living in your camps who chop your wood and carry your water.


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You are standing here in order to enter into a covenant with the LORD your God, a covenant the LORD is making with you this day and sealing with an oath,


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to confirm you this day as his people, that he may be your God as he promised you and as he swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.


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who are standing here with us today in the presence of the LORD our God but also with those who are not here today.


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<pb/>You yourselves know how we lived in Egypt and how we passed through the countries on the way here.


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Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the LORD our God to go and worship the gods of those nations; make sure there is no root among you that produces such bitter poison.


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<pb/>When such a person hears the words of this oath and they invoke a blessing on themselves, thinking, “I will be safe, even though I persist in going my own way,” they will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry.


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The LORD will never be willing to forgive them; his wrath and zeal will burn against them. All the curses written in this book will fall on them, and the LORD will blot out their names from under heaven.


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The LORD will single them out from all the tribes of Israel for disaster, according to all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law.


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<pb/>Your children who follow you in later generations and foreigners who come from distant lands will see the calamities that have fallen on the land and the diseases with which the LORD has afflicted it.


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The whole land will be a burning waste of salt and sulfur — nothing planted, nothing sprouting, no vegetation growing on it. It will be like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboyim, which the LORD overthrew in fierce anger.


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All the nations will ask: “Why has the LORD done this to this land? Why this fierce, burning anger?”


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<pb/>And the answer will be: “It is because this people abandoned the covenant of the LORD, the God of their ancestors, the covenant he made with them when he brought them out of Egypt.


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They went off and worshiped other gods and bowed down to them, gods they did not know, gods he had not given them.


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Therefore the LORD’s anger burned against this land, so that he brought on it all the curses written in this book.


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In furious anger and in great wrath the LORD uprooted them from their land and thrust them into another land, as it is now.”


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<pb/>The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.


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<pb/>When all these blessings and curses I have set before you come on you and you take them to heart wherever the LORD your God disperses you among the nations,


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and when you and your children return to the LORD your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today,


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then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes <f>[38]</f> and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you.


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Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there the LORD your God will gather you and bring you back.


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He will bring you to the land that belonged to your ancestors, and you will take possession of it. He will make you more prosperous and numerous than your ancestors.


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The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.


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Then the LORD your God will make you most prosperous in all the work of your hands and in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your land. The LORD will again delight in you and make you prosperous, just as he delighted in your ancestors,


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if you obey the LORD your God and keep his commands and decrees that are written in this Book of the Law and turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.


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It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, “Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?”


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Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, “Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?”


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For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.


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<pb/>But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them,


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I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.


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<pb/>This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live


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and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.


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“I am now a hundred and twenty years old and I am no longer able to lead you. The LORD has said to me, ‘You shall not cross the Jordan.’


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The LORD your God himself will cross over ahead of you. He will destroy these nations before you, and you will take possession of their land. Joshua also will cross over ahead of you, as the LORD said.


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And the LORD will do to them what he did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, whom he destroyed along with their land.


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Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”


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<pb/>Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the presence of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you must go with this people into the land that the LORD swore to their ancestors to give them, and you must divide it among them as their inheritance.


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The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”


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<pb/>So Moses wrote down this law and gave it to the Levitical priests, who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and to all the elders of Israel.


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Then Moses commanded them: “At the end of every seven years, in the year for canceling debts, during the Festival of Tabernacles,


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when all Israel comes to appear before the LORD your God at the place he will choose, you shall read this law before them in their hearing.


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Assemble the people — men, women and children, and the foreigners residing in your towns — so they can listen and learn to fear the LORD your God and follow carefully all the words of this law.


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Their children, who do not know this law, must hear it and learn to fear the LORD your God as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”


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<pb/>The LORD said to Moses, “Now the day of your death is near. Call Joshua and present yourselves at the tent of meeting, where I will commission him.” So Moses and Joshua came and presented themselves at the tent of meeting.


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<pb/>Then the LORD appeared at the tent in a pillar of cloud, and the cloud stood over the entrance to the tent.


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And the LORD said to Moses: “You are going to rest with your ancestors, and these people will soon prostitute themselves to the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake me and break the covenant I made with them.


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And in that day I will become angry with them and forsake them; I will hide my face from them, and they will be destroyed. Many disasters and calamities will come on them, and in that day they will ask, ‘Have not these disasters come on us because our God is not with us?’


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And I will certainly hide my face in that day because of all their wickedness in turning to other gods.


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<pb/>“Now write down this song and teach it to the Israelites and have them sing it, so that it may be a witness for me against them.


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When I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, the land I promised on oath to their ancestors, and when they eat their fill and thrive, they will turn to other gods and worship them, rejecting me and breaking my covenant.


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And when many disasters and calamities come on them, this song will testify against them, because it will not be forgotten by their descendants. I know what they are disposed to do, even before I bring them into the land I promised them on oath.”


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<pb/>The LORD gave this command to Joshua son of Nun: “Be strong and courageous, for you will bring the Israelites into the land I promised them on oath, and I myself will be with you.”


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“Take this Book of the Law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God. There it will remain as a witness against you.


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For I know how rebellious and stiff-necked you are. If you have been rebellious against the LORD while I am still alive and with you, how much more will you rebel after I die!


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Assemble before me all the elders of your tribes and all your officials, so that I can speak these words in their hearing and call the heavens and the earth to testify against them.


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For I know that after my death you are sure to become utterly corrupt and to turn from the way I have commanded you. In days to come, disaster will fall on you because you will do evil in the sight of the LORD and arouse his anger by what your hands have made.”


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<pb/>And Moses recited the words of this song from beginning to end in the hearing of the whole assembly of Israel:


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<t>Let my teaching fall like rain </t><t>and my words descend like dew, </t><t>like showers on new grass, </t><t>like abundant rain on tender plants. <pb/> </t>


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<t>He is the Rock, his works are perfect, </t><t>and all his ways are just. </t><t>A faithful God who does no wrong, </t><t>upright and just is he. <pb/> </t>


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<t>They are corrupt and not his children; </t><t>to their shame they are a warped and crooked generation. </t>


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<t>Is this the way you repay the LORD, </t><t>you foolish and unwise people? </t><t>Is he not your Father, your Creator, <f>[39]</f> </t><t>who made you and formed you? <pb/> </t>


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<t>Remember the days of old; </t><t>consider the generations long past. </t><t>Ask your father and he will tell you, </t><t>your elders, and they will explain to you. </t>


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<t>When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, </t><t>when he divided all mankind, </t><t>he set up boundaries for the peoples </t><t>according to the number of the sons of Israel. <f>[40]</f> </t>


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<t>In a desert land he found him, </t><t>in a barren and howling waste. </t><t>He shielded him and cared for him; </t><t>he guarded him as the apple of his eye, </t>


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<t>like an eagle that stirs up its nest </t><t>and hovers over its young, </t><t>that spreads its wings to catch them </t><t>and carries them aloft. </t>


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<t>He made him ride on the heights of the land </t><t>and fed him with the fruit of the fields. </t><t>He nourished him with honey from the rock, </t><t>and with oil from the flinty crag, </t>


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<t>with curds and milk from herd and flock </t><t>and with fattened lambs and goats, </t><t>with choice rams of Bashan </t><t>and the finest kernels of wheat. </t><t>You drank the foaming blood of the grape. <pb/> </t>


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<t>Jeshurun <f>[41]</f> grew fat and kicked; </t><t>filled with food, they became heavy and sleek. </t><t>They abandoned the God who made them </t><t>and rejected the Rock their Savior. </t>


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<t>They made him jealous with their foreign gods </t><t>and angered him with their detestable idols. </t>


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<t>They sacrificed to false gods, which are not God —  </t><t>gods they had not known, </t><t>gods that recently appeared, </t><t>gods your ancestors did not fear. </t>


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<t>You deserted the Rock, who fathered you; </t><t>you forgot the God who gave you birth. <pb/> </t>


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<t>The LORD saw this and rejected them </t><t>because he was angered by his sons and daughters. </t>


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<t>“I will hide my face from them,” he said, </t><t>“and see what their end will be; </t><t>for they are a perverse generation, </t><t>children who are unfaithful. </t>


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<t>They made me jealous by what is no god </t><t>and angered me with their worthless idols. </t><t>I will make them envious by those who are not a people; </t><t>I will make them angry by a nation that has no understanding. </t>


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<t>For a fire will be kindled by my wrath, </t><t>one that burns down to the realm of the dead below. </t><t>It will devour the earth and its harvests </t><t>and set afire the foundations of the mountains. <pb/> </t>


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<t>I will send wasting famine against them, </t><t>consuming pestilence and deadly plague; </t><t>I will send against them the fangs of wild beasts, </t><t>the venom of vipers that glide in the dust. </t>


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<t>In the street the sword will make them childless; </t><t>in their homes terror will reign. </t><t>The young men and young women will perish, </t><t>the infants and those with gray hair. </t>


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<t>but I dreaded the taunt of the enemy, </t><t>lest the adversary misunderstand </t><t>and say, ‘Our hand has triumphed; </t><t>the LORD has not done all this.’ ” <pb/> </t>


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<t>How could one man chase a thousand, </t><t>or two put ten thousand to flight, </t><t>unless their Rock had sold them, </t><t>unless the LORD had given them up? </t>


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<t>Their vine comes from the vine of Sodom </t><t>and from the fields of Gomorrah. </t><t>Their grapes are filled with poison, </t><t>and their clusters with bitterness. </t>


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<t>It is mine to avenge; I will repay. </t><t>In due time their foot will slip; </t><t>their day of disaster is near </t><t>and their doom rushes upon them.” <pb/> </t>


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<t>The LORD will vindicate his people </t><t>and relent concerning his servants </t><t>when he sees their strength is gone </t><t>and no one is left, slave or free. <f>[42]</f> </t>


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<t>the gods who ate the fat of their sacrifices </t><t>and drank the wine of their drink offerings? </t><t>Let them rise up to help you! </t><t>Let them give you shelter! <pb/> </t>


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<t>“See now that I myself am he! </t><t>There is no god besides me. </t><t>I put to death and I bring to life, </t><t>I have wounded and I will heal, </t><t>and no one can deliver out of my hand. </t>


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<t>when I sharpen my flashing sword </t><t>and my hand grasps it in judgment, </t><t>I will take vengeance on my adversaries </t><t>and repay those who hate me. </t>


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<t>I will make my arrows drunk with blood, </t><t>while my sword devours flesh: </t><t>the blood of the slain and the captives, </t><t>the heads of the enemy leaders.” <pb/> </t>


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<t>Rejoice, you nations, with his people, <f>[43]</f> <f>[44]</f> </t><t>for he will avenge the blood of his servants; </t><t>he will take vengeance on his enemies </t><t>and make atonement for his land and people. </t>


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<pb/>Moses came with Joshua <f>[45]</f> son of Nun and spoke all the words of this song in the hearing of the people.


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he said to them, “Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day, so that you may command your children to obey carefully all the words of this law.


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They are not just idle words for you — they are your life. By them you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”


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“Go up into the Abarim Range to Mount Nebo in Moab, across from Jericho, and view Canaan, the land I am giving the Israelites as their own possession.


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There on the mountain that you have climbed you will die and be gathered to your people, just as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people.


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This is because both of you broke faith with me in the presence of the Israelites at the waters of Meribah Kadesh in the Desert of Zin and because you did not uphold my holiness among the Israelites.


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Therefore, you will see the land only from a distance; you will not enter the land I am giving to the people of Israel.”


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He said: <pb/><t>“The LORD came from Sinai </t><t>and dawned over them from Seir; </t><t>he shone forth from Mount Paran. </t><t>He came with <f>[46]</f> myriads of holy ones </t><t>from the south, from his mountain slopes. <f>[47]</f> </t>


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<t>Surely it is you who love the people; </t><t>all the holy ones are in your hand. </t><t>At your feet they all bow down, </t><t>and from you receive instruction, </t>


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<t>He was king over Jeshurun <f>[48]</f> </t><t>when the leaders of the people assembled, </t><t>along with the tribes of Israel. <pb/> </t>


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<pb/>And this he said about Judah: <pb/><t>“Hear, LORD, the cry of Judah; </t><t>bring him to his people. </t><t>With his own hands he defends his cause. </t><t>Oh, be his help against his foes!” </t>


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<pb/>About Levi he said: <pb/><t>“Your Thummim and Urim belong </t><t>to your faithful servant. </t><t>You tested him at Massah; </t><t>you contended with him at the waters of Meribah. </t>


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<t>He said of his father and mother, </t><t>‘I have no regard for them.’ </t><t>He did not recognize his brothers </t><t>or acknowledge his own children, </t><t>but he watched over your word </t><t>and guarded your covenant. </t>


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<t>He teaches your precepts to Jacob </t><t>and your law to Israel. </t><t>He offers incense before you </t><t>and whole burnt offerings on your altar. </t>


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<t>Bless all his skills, LORD, </t><t>and be pleased with the work of his hands. </t><t>Strike down those who rise against him, </t><t>his foes till they rise no more.” </t>


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<pb/>About Benjamin he said: <pb/><t>“Let the beloved of the LORD rest secure in him, </t><t>for he shields him all day long, </t><t>and the one the LORD loves rests between his shoulders.” </t>


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<pb/>About Joseph he said: <pb/><t>“May the LORD bless his land </t><t>with the precious dew from heaven above </t><t>and with the deep waters that lie below; </t>


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<t>with the choicest gifts of the ancient mountains </t><t>and the fruitfulness of the everlasting hills; </t>


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<t>with the best gifts of the earth and its fullness </t><t>and the favor of him who dwelt in the burning bush. </t><t>Let all these rest on the head of Joseph, </t><t>on the brow of the prince among <f>[50]</f> his brothers. </t>


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<t>In majesty he is like a firstborn bull; </t><t>his horns are the horns of a wild ox. </t><t>With them he will gore the nations, </t><t>even those at the ends of the earth. </t><t>Such are the ten thousands of Ephraim; </t><t>such are the thousands of Manasseh.” </t>


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<pb/>About Zebulun he said: <pb/><t>“Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going out, </t><t>and you, Issachar, in your tents. </t>


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<t>They will summon peoples to the mountain </t><t>and there offer the sacrifices of the righteous; </t><t>they will feast on the abundance of the seas, </t><t>on the treasures hidden in the sand.” </t>


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<pb/>About Gad he said: <pb/><t>“Blessed is he who enlarges Gad’s domain! </t><t>Gad lives there like a lion, </t><t>tearing at arm or head. </t>


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<t>He chose the best land for himself; </t><t>the leader’s portion was kept for him. </t><t>When the heads of the people assembled, </t><t>he carried out the LORD’s righteous will, </t><t>and his judgments concerning Israel.” </t>


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<pb/>About Naphtali he said: <pb/><t>“Naphtali is abounding with the favor of the LORD </t><t>and is full of his blessing; </t><t>he will inherit southward to the lake.” </t>


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<pb/>About Asher he said: <pb/><t>“Most blessed of sons is Asher; </t><t>let him be favored by his brothers, </t><t>and let him bathe his feet in oil. </t>


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<t>The bolts of your gates will be iron and bronze, </t><t>and your strength will equal your days. <pb/> </t>


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<t>“There is no one like the God of Jeshurun, </t><t>who rides across the heavens to help you </t><t>and on the clouds in his majesty. </t>


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<t>The eternal God is your refuge, </t><t>and underneath are the everlasting arms. </t><t>He will drive out your enemies before you, </t><t>saying, ‘Destroy them!’ </t>


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<t>So Israel will live in safety; </t><t>Jacob will dwell <f>[51]</f> secure </t><t>in a land of grain and new wine, </t><t>where the heavens drop dew. </t>


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<t>Blessed are you, Israel! </t><t>Who is like you, </t><t>a people saved by the LORD? </t><t>He is your shield and helper </t><t>and your glorious sword. </t><t>Your enemies will cower before you, </t><t>and you will tread on their heights.”</t>


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<pb/>Then Moses climbed Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab to the top of Pisgah, across from Jericho. There the LORD showed him the whole land — from Gilead to Dan,


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all of Naphtali, the territory of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Mediterranean Sea,


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Then the LORD said to him, “This is the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob when I said, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not cross over into it.”


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He buried him <f>[52]</f> in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is.


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Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone.


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The Israelites grieved for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days, until the time of weeping and mourning was over.


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<pb/>Now Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit <f>[53]</f> of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him. So the Israelites listened to him and did what the LORD had commanded Moses.


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who did all those signs and wonders the LORD sent him to do in Egypt — to Pharaoh and to all his officials and to his whole land.


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For no one has ever shown the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.


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<pb/>After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide:


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“Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them — to the Israelites.


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Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates — all the Hittite country — to the Mediterranean Sea in the west.


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No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.


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Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.


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<pb/>“Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.


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Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.


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Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”


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“Go through the camp and tell the people, ‘Get your provisions ready. Three days from now you will cross the Jordan here to go in and take possession of the land the LORD your God is giving you for your own.’ ”


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“Remember the command that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you after he said, ‘The LORD your God will give you rest by giving you this land.’


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Your wives, your children and your livestock may stay in the land that Moses gave you east of the Jordan, but all your fighting men, ready for battle, must cross over ahead of your fellow Israelites. You are to help them


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until the LORD gives them rest, as he has done for you, and until they too have taken possession of the land the LORD your God is giving them. After that, you may go back and occupy your own land, which Moses the servant of the LORD gave you east of the Jordan toward the sunrise.”


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<pb/>Then they answered Joshua, “Whatever you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go.


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Just as we fully obeyed Moses, so we will obey you. Only may the LORD your God be with you as he was with Moses.


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Whoever rebels against your word and does not obey it, whatever you may command them, will be put to death. Only be strong and courageous!”


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<pb/>Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. “Go, look over the land,” he said, “especially Jericho.” So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.


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<pb/>The king of Jericho was told, “Look, some of the Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land.”


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So the king of Jericho sent this message to Rahab: “Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have come to spy out the whole land.”


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<pb/>But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from.


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At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, they left. I don’t know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You may catch up with them.”


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(But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax she had laid out on the roof.)


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So the men set out in pursuit of the spies on the road that leads to the fords of the Jordan, and as soon as the pursuers had gone out, the gate was shut.


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and said to them, “I know that the LORD has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you.


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We have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea <f>[1]</f> for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. <f>[2]</f>


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When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.


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<pb/>“Now then, please swear to me by the LORD that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you. Give me a sure sign


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that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them — and that you will save us from death.”


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<pb/>“Our lives for your lives!” the men assured her. “If you don’t tell what we are doing, we will treat you kindly and faithfully when the LORD gives us the land.”


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<pb/>So she let them down by a rope through the window, for the house she lived in was part of the city wall.


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She said to them, “Go to the hills so the pursuers will not find you. Hide yourselves there three days until they return, and then go on your way.”


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unless, when we enter the land, you have tied this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you have brought your father and mother, your brothers and all your family into your house.


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If any of them go outside your house into the street, their blood will be on their own heads; we will not be responsible. As for those who are in the house with you, their blood will be on our head if a hand is laid on them.


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<pb/>“Agreed,” she replied. “Let it be as you say.” <pb/>So she sent them away, and they departed. And she tied the scarlet cord in the window.


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<pb/>When they left, they went into the hills and stayed there three days, until the pursuers had searched all along the road and returned without finding them.


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Then the two men started back. They went down out of the hills, forded the river and came to Joshua son of Nun and told him everything that had happened to them.


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They said to Joshua, “The LORD has surely given the whole land into our hands; all the people are melting in fear because of us.”


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<pb/>Early in the morning Joshua and all the Israelites set out from Shittim and went to the Jordan, where they camped before crossing over.


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giving orders to the people: “When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the Levitical priests carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it.


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Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before. But keep a distance of about two thousand cubits <f>[3]</f> between you and the ark; do not go near it.”


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<pb/>Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do amazing things among you.”


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<pb/>Joshua said to the priests, “Take up the ark of the covenant and pass on ahead of the people.” So they took it up and went ahead of them.


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<pb/>And the LORD said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel, so they may know that I am with you as I was with Moses.


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Tell the priests who carry the ark of the covenant: ‘When you reach the edge of the Jordan’s waters, go and stand in the river.’ ”


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This is how you will know that the living God is among you and that he will certainly drive out before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites and Jebusites.


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And as soon as the priests who carry the ark of the LORD — the Lord of all the earth — set foot in the Jordan, its waters flowing downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap.”


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<pb/>So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them.


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Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge,


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the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (that is, the Dead Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho.


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The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD stopped in the middle of the Jordan and stood on dry ground, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.


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and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, from right where the priests are standing, and carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight.”


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<pb/>So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe,


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and said to them, “Go over before the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites,


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to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’


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tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.”


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<pb/>So the Israelites did as Joshua commanded them. They took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, as the LORD had told Joshua; and they carried them over with them to their camp, where they put them down.


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Joshua set up the twelve stones that had been <f>[4]</f> in the middle of the Jordan at the spot where the priests who carried the ark of the covenant had stood. And they are there to this day.


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<pb/>Now the priests who carried the ark remained standing in the middle of the Jordan until everything the LORD had commanded Joshua was done by the people, just as Moses had directed Joshua. The people hurried over,


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and as soon as all of them had crossed, the ark of the LORD and the priests came to the other side while the people watched.


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The men of Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh crossed over, ready for battle, in front of the Israelites, as Moses had directed them.


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About forty thousand armed for battle crossed over before the LORD to the plains of Jericho for war.


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<pb/>That day the LORD exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they stood in awe of him all the days of his life, just as they had stood in awe of Moses.


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<pb/>And the priests came up out of the river carrying the ark of the covenant of the LORD. No sooner had they set their feet on the dry ground than the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and ran at flood stage as before.


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<pb/>On the tenth day of the first month the people went up from the Jordan and camped at Gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho.


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He said to the Israelites, “In the future when your descendants ask their parents, ‘What do these stones mean?’


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For the LORD your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The LORD your God did to the Jordan what he had done to the Red Sea <f>[5]</f> when he dried it up before us until we had crossed over.


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He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the LORD is powerful and so that you might always fear the LORD your God.”


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<pb/>Now when all the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings along the coast heard how the LORD had dried up the Jordan before the Israelites until they <f>[6]</f> had crossed over, their hearts melted in fear and they no longer had the courage to face the Israelites.


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<pb/>Now this is why he did so: All those who came out of Egypt — all the men of military age — died in the wilderness on the way after leaving Egypt.


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All the people that came out had been circumcised, but all the people born in the wilderness during the journey from Egypt had not.


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The Israelites had moved about in the wilderness forty years until all the men who were of military age when they left Egypt had died, since they had not obeyed the LORD. For the LORD had sworn to them that they would not see the land he had solemnly promised their ancestors to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey.


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So he raised up their sons in their place, and these were the ones Joshua circumcised. They were still uncircumcised because they had not been circumcised on the way.


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And after the whole nation had been circumcised, they remained where they were in camp until they were healed.


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<pb/>Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” So the place has been called Gilgal <f>[8]</f> to this day.


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<pb/>On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, while camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, the Israelites celebrated the Passover.


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The day after the Passover, that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land: unleavened bread and roasted grain.


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The manna stopped the day after <f>[9]</f> they ate this food from the land; there was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate the produce of Canaan.


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<pb/>Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?”


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<pb/>“Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the LORD I have now come.” Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord <f>[10]</f> have for his servant?”


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<pb/>The commander of the LORD’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.


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<pb/>Now the gates of Jericho were securely barred because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in.


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<pb/>Then the LORD said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men.


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Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets.


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When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in.”


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<pb/>So Joshua son of Nun called the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant of the LORD and have seven priests carry trumpets in front of it.”


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And he ordered the army, “Advance! March around the city, with an armed guard going ahead of the ark of the LORD.”


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<pb/>When Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets before the LORD went forward, blowing their trumpets, and the ark of the LORD’s covenant followed them.


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The armed guard marched ahead of the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard followed the ark. All this time the trumpets were sounding.


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But Joshua had commanded the army, “Do not give a war cry, do not raise your voices, do not say a word until the day I tell you to shout. Then shout!”


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So he had the ark of the LORD carried around the city, circling it once. Then the army returned to camp and spent the night there.


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The seven priests carrying the seven trumpets went forward, marching before the ark of the LORD and blowing the trumpets. The armed men went ahead of them and the rear guard followed the ark of the LORD, while the trumpets kept sounding.


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So on the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. They did this for six days.


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<pb/>On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched around the city seven times in the same manner, except that on that day they circled the city seven times.


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The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the army, “Shout! For the LORD has given you the city!


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The city and all that is in it are to be devoted <f>[11]</f> to the LORD. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent.


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But keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it.


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All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the LORD and must go into his treasury.”


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<pb/>When the trumpets sounded, the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so everyone charged straight in, and they took the city.


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They devoted the city to the LORD and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it — men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys.


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<pb/>Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, “Go into the prostitute’s house and bring her out and all who belong to her, in accordance with your oath to her.”


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So the young men who had done the spying went in and brought out Rahab, her father and mother, her brothers and sisters and all who belonged to her. They brought out her entire family and put them in a place outside the camp of Israel.


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<pb/>Then they burned the whole city and everything in it, but they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the LORD’s house.


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But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho — and she lives among the Israelites to this day.


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<pb/>At that time Joshua pronounced this solemn oath: “Cursed before the LORD is the one who undertakes to rebuild this city, Jericho: <pb/><t>“At the cost of his firstborn son </t><t>he will lay its foundations; </t><t>at the cost of his youngest </t><t>he will set up its gates.” </t>


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<pb/>But the Israelites were unfaithful in regard to the devoted things <f>[12]</f>; Achan son of Karmi, the son of Zimri, <f>[13]</f> the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of them. So the LORD’s anger burned against Israel.


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<pb/>Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth Aven to the east of Bethel, and told them, “Go up and spy out the region.” So the men went up and spied out Ai.


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<pb/>When they returned to Joshua, they said, “Not all the army will have to go up against Ai. Send two or three thousand men to take it and do not weary the whole army, for only a few people live there.”


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who killed about thirty-six of them. They chased the Israelites from the city gate as far as the stone quarries and struck them down on the slopes. At this the hearts of the people melted in fear and became like water.


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<pb/>Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell facedown to the ground before the ark of the LORD, remaining there till evening. The elders of Israel did the same, and sprinkled dust on their heads.


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And Joshua said, “Alas, Sovereign LORD, why did you ever bring this people across the Jordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us? If only we had been content to stay on the other side of the Jordan!


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The Canaanites and the other people of the country will hear about this and they will surround us and wipe out our name from the earth. What then will you do for your own great name?”


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Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have lied, they have put them with their own possessions.


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That is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies; they turn their backs and run because they have been made liable to destruction. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy whatever among you is devoted to destruction.


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<pb/>“Go, consecrate the people. Tell them, ‘Consecrate yourselves in preparation for tomorrow; for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: There are devoted things among you, Israel. You cannot stand against your enemies until you remove them.


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<pb/>“ ‘In the morning, present yourselves tribe by tribe. The tribe the LORD chooses shall come forward clan by clan; the clan the LORD chooses shall come forward family by family; and the family the LORD chooses shall come forward man by man.


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Whoever is caught with the devoted things shall be destroyed by fire, along with all that belongs to him. He has violated the covenant of the LORD and has done an outrageous thing in Israel!’ ”


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The clans of Judah came forward, and the Zerahites were chosen. He had the clan of the Zerahites come forward by families, and Zimri was chosen.


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Joshua had his family come forward man by man, and Achan son of Karmi, the son of Zimri, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was chosen.


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<pb/>Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give glory to the LORD, the God of Israel, and honor him. Tell me what you have done; do not hide it from me.”


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<pb/>Achan replied, “It is true! I have sinned against the LORD, the God of Israel. This is what I have done:


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When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, <f>[14]</f> two hundred shekels <f>[15]</f> of silver and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels, <f>[16]</f> I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.”


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<pb/>So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent, and there it was, hidden in his tent, with the silver underneath.


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They took the things from the tent, brought them to Joshua and all the Israelites and spread them out before the LORD.


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<pb/>Then Joshua, together with all Israel, took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the robe, the gold bar, his sons and daughters, his cattle, donkeys and sheep, his tent and all that he had, to the Valley of Achor.


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Joshua said, “Why have you brought this trouble on us? The LORD will bring trouble on you today.” <pb/>Then all Israel stoned him, and after they had stoned the rest, they burned them.


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Over Achan they heaped up a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day. Then the LORD turned from his fierce anger. Therefore that place has been called the Valley of Achor <f>[17]</f> ever since.


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<pb/>Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai. For I have delivered into your hands the king of Ai, his people, his city and his land.


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You shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, except that you may carry off their plunder and livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush behind the city.”


text:
<pb/>So Joshua and the whole army moved out to attack Ai. He chose thirty thousand of his best fighting men and sent them out at night


text:
with these orders: “Listen carefully. You are to set an ambush behind the city. Don’t go very far from it. All of you be on the alert.


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I and all those with me will advance on the city, and when the men come out against us, as they did before, we will flee from them.


text:
They will pursue us until we have lured them away from the city, for they will say, ‘They are running away from us as they did before.’ So when we flee from them,


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When you have taken the city, set it on fire. Do what the LORD has commanded. See to it; you have my orders.”


text:
<pb/>Then Joshua sent them off, and they went to the place of ambush and lay in wait between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai — but Joshua spent that night with the people.


text:
<pb/>Early the next morning Joshua mustered his army, and he and the leaders of Israel marched before them to Ai.


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The entire force that was with him marched up and approached the city and arrived in front of it. They set up camp north of Ai, with the valley between them and the city.


text:
Joshua had taken about five thousand men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city.


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So the soldiers took up their positions — with the main camp to the north of the city and the ambush to the west of it. That night Joshua went into the valley.


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<pb/>When the king of Ai saw this, he and all the men of the city hurried out early in the morning to meet Israel in battle at a certain place overlooking the Arabah. But he did not know that an ambush had been set against him behind the city.


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Joshua and all Israel let themselves be driven back before them, and they fled toward the wilderness.


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All the men of Ai were called to pursue them, and they pursued Joshua and were lured away from the city.


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Not a man remained in Ai or Bethel who did not go after Israel. They left the city open and went in pursuit of Israel.


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<pb/>Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Hold out toward Ai the javelin that is in your hand, for into your hand I will deliver the city.” So Joshua held out toward the city the javelin that was in his hand.


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As soon as he did this, the men in the ambush rose quickly from their position and rushed forward. They entered the city and captured it and quickly set it on fire.


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<pb/>The men of Ai looked back and saw the smoke of the city rising up into the sky, but they had no chance to escape in any direction; the Israelites who had been fleeing toward the wilderness had turned back against their pursuers.


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For when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city and that smoke was going up from it, they turned around and attacked the men of Ai.


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Those in the ambush also came out of the city against them, so that they were caught in the middle, with Israelites on both sides. Israel cut them down, leaving them neither survivors nor fugitives.


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<pb/>When Israel had finished killing all the men of Ai in the fields and in the wilderness where they had chased them, and when every one of them had been put to the sword, all the Israelites returned to Ai and killed those who were in it.


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For Joshua did not draw back the hand that held out his javelin until he had destroyed <f>[18]</f> all who lived in Ai.


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But Israel did carry off for themselves the livestock and plunder of this city, as the LORD had instructed Joshua.


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<pb/>So Joshua burned Ai <f>[19]</f> and made it a permanent heap of ruins, a desolate place to this day.


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He impaled the body of the king of Ai on a pole and left it there until evening. At sunset, Joshua ordered them to take the body from the pole and throw it down at the entrance of the city gate. And they raised a large pile of rocks over it, which remains to this day.


text:
as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded the Israelites. He built it according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses — an altar of uncut stones, on which no iron tool had been used. On it they offered to the LORD burnt offerings and sacrificed fellowship offerings.


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All the Israelites, with their elders, officials and judges, were standing on both sides of the ark of the covenant of the LORD, facing the Levitical priests who carried it. Both the foreigners living among them and the native-born were there. Half of the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the LORD had formerly commanded when he gave instructions to bless the people of Israel.


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<pb/>Afterward, Joshua read all the words of the law — the blessings and the curses — just as it is written in the Book of the Law.


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There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua did not read to the whole assembly of Israel, including the women and children, and the foreigners who lived among them.


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<pb/>Now when all the kings west of the Jordan heard about these things — the kings in the hill country, in the western foothills, and along the entire coast of the Mediterranean Sea as far as Lebanon (the kings of the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites) — 


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they resorted to a ruse: They went as a delegation whose donkeys were loaded <f>[20]</f> with worn-out sacks and old wineskins, cracked and mended.


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They put worn and patched sandals on their feet and wore old clothes. All the bread of their food supply was dry and moldy.


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Then they went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and the Israelites, “We have come from a distant country; make a treaty with us.”


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<pb/>The Israelites said to the Hivites, “But perhaps you live near us, so how can we make a treaty with you?”


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<pb/>“We are your servants,” they said to Joshua. <pb/>But Joshua asked, “Who are you and where do you come from?”


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<pb/>They answered: “Your servants have come from a very distant country because of the fame of the LORD your God. For we have heard reports of him: all that he did in Egypt,


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and all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan — Sihon king of Heshbon, and Og king of Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth.


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And our elders and all those living in our country said to us, ‘Take provisions for your journey; go and meet them and say to them, “We are your servants; make a treaty with us.” ’


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This bread of ours was warm when we packed it at home on the day we left to come to you. But now see how dry and moldy it is.


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And these wineskins that we filled were new, but see how cracked they are. And our clothes and sandals are worn out by the very long journey.”


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Then Joshua made a treaty of peace with them to let them live, and the leaders of the assembly ratified it by oath.


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<pb/>Three days after they made the treaty with the Gibeonites, the Israelites heard that they were neighbors, living near them.


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So the Israelites set out and on the third day came to their cities: Gibeon, Kephirah, Beeroth and Kiriath Jearim.


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But the Israelites did not attack them, because the leaders of the assembly had sworn an oath to them by the LORD, the God of Israel. <pb/>The whole assembly grumbled against the leaders,


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but all the leaders answered, “We have given them our oath by the LORD, the God of Israel, and we cannot touch them now.


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This is what we will do to them: We will let them live, so that God’s wrath will not fall on us for breaking the oath we swore to them.”


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They continued, “Let them live, but let them be woodcutters and water carriers in the service of the whole assembly.” So the leaders’ promise to them was kept.


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<pb/>Then Joshua summoned the Gibeonites and said, “Why did you deceive us by saying, ‘We live a long way from you,’ while actually you live near us?


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You are now under a curse: You will never be released from service as woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God.”


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<pb/>They answered Joshua, “Your servants were clearly told how the LORD your God had commanded his servant Moses to give you the whole land and to wipe out all its inhabitants from before you. So we feared for our lives because of you, and that is why we did this.


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That day he made the Gibeonites woodcutters and water carriers for the assembly, to provide for the needs of the altar of the LORD at the place the LORD would choose. And that is what they are to this day.


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<pb/>Now Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem heard that Joshua had taken Ai and totally destroyed <f>[21]</f> it, doing to Ai and its king as he had done to Jericho and its king, and that the people of Gibeon had made a treaty of peace with Israel and had become their allies.


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He and his people were very much alarmed at this, because Gibeon was an important city, like one of the royal cities; it was larger than Ai, and all its men were good fighters.


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So Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem appealed to Hoham king of Hebron, Piram king of Jarmuth, Japhia king of Lachish and Debir king of Eglon.


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“Come up and help me attack Gibeon,” he said, “because it has made peace with Joshua and the Israelites.”


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<pb/>Then the five kings of the Amorites — the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish and Eglon — joined forces. They moved up with all their troops and took up positions against Gibeon and attacked it.


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<pb/>The Gibeonites then sent word to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal: “Do not abandon your servants. Come up to us quickly and save us! Help us, because all the Amorite kings from the hill country have joined forces against us.”


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The LORD said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid of them; I have given them into your hand. Not one of them will be able to withstand you.”


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The LORD threw them into confusion before Israel, so Joshua and the Israelites defeated them completely at Gibeon. Israel pursued them along the road going up to Beth Horon and cut them down all the way to Azekah and Makkedah.


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As they fled before Israel on the road down from Beth Horon to Azekah, the LORD hurled large hailstones down on them, and more of them died from the hail than were killed by the swords of the Israelites.


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<pb/>On the day the LORD gave the Amorites over to Israel, Joshua said to the LORD in the presence of Israel: <pb/><t>“Sun, stand still over Gibeon, </t><t>and you, moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.” </t>


text:
<t>So the sun stood still, </t><t>and the moon stopped, </t><t>till the nation avenged itself on <f>[22]</f> its enemies, </t> <pb/>as it is written in the Book of Jashar. <pb/>The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day.


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There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the LORD listened to a human being. Surely the LORD was fighting for Israel!


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But don’t stop; pursue your enemies! Attack them from the rear and don’t let them reach their cities, for the LORD your God has given them into your hand.”


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<pb/>So Joshua and the Israelites defeated them completely, but a few survivors managed to reach their fortified cities.


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The whole army then returned safely to Joshua in the camp at Makkedah, and no one uttered a word against the Israelites.


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So they brought the five kings out of the cave — the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish and Eglon.


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When they had brought these kings to Joshua, he summoned all the men of Israel and said to the army commanders who had come with him, “Come here and put your feet on the necks of these kings.” So they came forward and placed their feet on their necks.


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<pb/>Joshua said to them, “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Be strong and courageous. This is what the LORD will do to all the enemies you are going to fight.”


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Then Joshua put the kings to death and exposed their bodies on five poles, and they were left hanging on the poles until evening.


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<pb/>At sunset Joshua gave the order and they took them down from the poles and threw them into the cave where they had been hiding. At the mouth of the cave they placed large rocks, which are there to this day.


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<pb/>That day Joshua took Makkedah. He put the city and its king to the sword and totally destroyed everyone in it. He left no survivors. And he did to the king of Makkedah as he had done to the king of Jericho.


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The LORD also gave that city and its king into Israel’s hand. The city and everyone in it Joshua put to the sword. He left no survivors there. And he did to its king as he had done to the king of Jericho.


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<pb/>Then Joshua and all Israel with him moved on from Libnah to Lachish; he took up positions against it and attacked it.


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The LORD gave Lachish into Israel’s hands, and Joshua took it on the second day. The city and everyone in it he put to the sword, just as he had done to Libnah.


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Meanwhile, Horam king of Gezer had come up to help Lachish, but Joshua defeated him and his army — until no survivors were left.


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<pb/>Then Joshua and all Israel with him moved on from Lachish to Eglon; they took up positions against it and attacked it.


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They captured it that same day and put it to the sword and totally destroyed everyone in it, just as they had done to Lachish.


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They took the city and put it to the sword, together with its king, its villages and everyone in it. They left no survivors. Just as at Eglon, they totally destroyed it and everyone in it.


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They took the city, its king and its villages, and put them to the sword. Everyone in it they totally destroyed. They left no survivors. They did to Debir and its king as they had done to Libnah and its king and to Hebron.


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<pb/>So Joshua subdued the whole region, including the hill country, the Negev, the western foothills and the mountain slopes, together with all their kings. He left no survivors. He totally destroyed all who breathed, just as the LORD, the God of Israel, had commanded.


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All these kings and their lands Joshua conquered in one campaign, because the LORD, the God of Israel, fought for Israel.


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<pb/>When Jabin king of Hazor heard of this, he sent word to Jobab king of Madon, to the kings of Shimron and Akshaph,


text:
and to the northern kings who were in the mountains, in the Arabah south of Kinnereth, in the western foothills and in Naphoth Dor on the west;


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to the Canaanites in the east and west; to the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites and Jebusites in the hill country; and to the Hivites below Hermon in the region of Mizpah.


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They came out with all their troops and a large number of horses and chariots — a huge army, as numerous as the sand on the seashore.


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All these kings joined forces and made camp together at the Waters of Merom to fight against Israel.


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<pb/>The LORD said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid of them, because by this time tomorrow I will hand all of them, slain, over to Israel. You are to hamstring their horses and burn their chariots.”


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<pb/>So Joshua and his whole army came against them suddenly at the Waters of Merom and attacked them,


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and the LORD gave them into the hand of Israel. They defeated them and pursued them all the way to Greater Sidon, to Misrephoth Maim, and to the Valley of Mizpah on the east, until no survivors were left.


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<pb/>At that time Joshua turned back and captured Hazor and put its king to the sword. (Hazor had been the head of all these kingdoms.)


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Everyone in it they put to the sword. They totally destroyed <f>[23]</f> them, not sparing anyone that breathed, and he burned Hazor itself.


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<pb/>Joshua took all these royal cities and their kings and put them to the sword. He totally destroyed them, as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded.


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Yet Israel did not burn any of the cities built on their mounds — except Hazor, which Joshua burned.


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The Israelites carried off for themselves all the plunder and livestock of these cities, but all the people they put to the sword until they completely destroyed them, not sparing anyone that breathed.


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As the LORD commanded his servant Moses, so Moses commanded Joshua, and Joshua did it; he left nothing undone of all that the LORD commanded Moses.


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<pb/>So Joshua took this entire land: the hill country, all the Negev, the whole region of Goshen, the western foothills, the Arabah and the mountains of Israel with their foothills,


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from Mount Halak, which rises toward Seir, to Baal Gad in the Valley of Lebanon below Mount Hermon. He captured all their kings and put them to death.


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Except for the Hivites living in Gibeon, not one city made a treaty of peace with the Israelites, who took them all in battle.


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For it was the LORD himself who hardened their hearts to wage war against Israel, so that he might destroy them totally, exterminating them without mercy, as the LORD had commanded Moses.


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<pb/>At that time Joshua went and destroyed the Anakites from the hill country: from Hebron, Debir and Anab, from all the hill country of Judah, and from all the hill country of Israel. Joshua totally destroyed them and their towns.


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<pb/>So Joshua took the entire land, just as the LORD had directed Moses, and he gave it as an inheritance to Israel according to their tribal divisions. Then the land had rest from war.


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<pb/>These are the kings of the land whom the Israelites had defeated and whose territory they took over east of the Jordan, from the Arnon Gorge to Mount Hermon, including all the eastern side of the Arabah:


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<pb/>Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon. <pb/>He ruled from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Gorge — from the middle of the gorge — to the Jabbok River, which is the border of the Ammonites. This included half of Gilead.


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He also ruled over the eastern Arabah from the Sea of Galilee <f>[24]</f> to the Sea of the Arabah (that is, the Dead Sea), to Beth Jeshimoth, and then southward below the slopes of Pisgah.


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<pb/>And the territory of Og king of Bashan, one of the last of the Rephaites, who reigned in Ashtaroth and Edrei.


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<pb/>He ruled over Mount Hermon, Salekah, all of Bashan to the border of the people of Geshur and Maakah, and half of Gilead to the border of Sihon king of Heshbon.


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<pb/>Moses, the servant of the LORD, and the Israelites conquered them. And Moses the servant of the LORD gave their land to the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh to be their possession.


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<pb/>Here is a list of the kings of the land that Joshua and the Israelites conquered on the west side of the Jordan, from Baal Gad in the Valley of Lebanon to Mount Halak, which rises toward Seir. Joshua gave their lands as an inheritance to the tribes of Israel according to their tribal divisions.


text:
The lands included the hill country, the western foothills, the Arabah, the mountain slopes, the wilderness and the Negev. These were the lands of the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. These were the kings:


text:
<pb/>When Joshua had grown old, the LORD said to him, “You are now very old, and there are still very large areas of land to be taken over.


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from the Shihor River on the east of Egypt to the territory of Ekron on the north, all of it counted as Canaanite though held by the five Philistine rulers in Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath and Ekron; the territory of the Avvites


text:
on the south; all the land of the Canaanites, from Arah of the Sidonians as far as Aphek and the border of the Amorites;


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<pb/>“As for all the inhabitants of the mountain regions from Lebanon to Misrephoth Maim, that is, all the Sidonians, I myself will drive them out before the Israelites. Be sure to allocate this land to Israel for an inheritance, as I have instructed you,


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<pb/>The other half of Manasseh, <f>[25]</f> the Reubenites and the Gadites had received the inheritance that Moses had given them east of the Jordan, as he, the servant of the LORD, had assigned it to them.


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<pb/>It extended from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Gorge, and from the town in the middle of the gorge, and included the whole plateau of Medeba as far as Dibon,


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and all the towns of Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon, out to the border of the Ammonites.


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It also included Gilead, the territory of the people of Geshur and Maakah, all of Mount Hermon and all Bashan as far as Salekah — 


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that is, the whole kingdom of Og in Bashan, who had reigned in Ashtaroth and Edrei. (He was the last of the Rephaites.) Moses had defeated them and taken over their land.


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But the Israelites did not drive out the people of Geshur and Maakah, so they continue to live among the Israelites to this day.


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<pb/>But to the tribe of Levi he gave no inheritance, since the food offerings presented to the LORD, the God of Israel, are their inheritance, as he promised them.


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<pb/>The territory from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Gorge, and from the town in the middle of the gorge, and the whole plateau past Medeba


text:
all the towns on the plateau and the entire realm of Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled at Heshbon. Moses had defeated him and the Midianite chiefs, Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur and Reba — princes allied with Sihon — who lived in that country.


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In addition to those slain in battle, the Israelites had put to the sword Balaam son of Beor, who practiced divination.


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The boundary of the Reubenites was the bank of the Jordan. These towns and their villages were the inheritance of the Reubenites, according to their clans.


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<pb/>The territory of Jazer, all the towns of Gilead and half the Ammonite country as far as Aroer, near Rabbah;


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and in the valley, Beth Haram, Beth Nimrah, Sukkoth and Zaphon with the rest of the realm of Sihon king of Heshbon (the east side of the Jordan, the territory up to the end of the Sea of Galilee <f>[26]</f>).


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<pb/>This is what Moses had given to the half-tribe of Manasseh, that is, to half the family of the descendants of Manasseh, according to its clans:


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<pb/>The territory extending from Mahanaim and including all of Bashan, the entire realm of Og king of Bashan — all the settlements of Jair in Bashan, sixty towns,


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half of Gilead, and Ashtaroth and Edrei (the royal cities of Og in Bashan). This was for the descendants of Makir son of Manasseh — for half of the sons of Makir, according to their clans.


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<pb/>This is the inheritance Moses had given when he was in the plains of Moab across the Jordan east of Jericho.


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But to the tribe of Levi, Moses had given no inheritance; the LORD, the God of Israel, is their inheritance, as he promised them.


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<pb/>Now these are the areas the Israelites received as an inheritance in the land of Canaan, which Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun and the heads of the tribal clans of Israel allotted to them.


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Their inheritances were assigned by lot to the nine-and-a-half tribes, as the LORD had commanded through Moses.


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Moses had granted the two-and-a-half tribes their inheritance east of the Jordan but had not granted the Levites an inheritance among the rest,


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for Joseph’s descendants had become two tribes — Manasseh and Ephraim. The Levites received no share of the land but only towns to live in, with pasturelands for their flocks and herds.


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<pb/>Now the people of Judah approached Joshua at Gilgal, and Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know what the LORD said to Moses the man of God at Kadesh Barnea about you and me.


text:
I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadesh Barnea to explore the land. And I brought him back a report according to my convictions,


text:
but my fellow Israelites who went up with me made the hearts of the people melt in fear. I, however, followed the LORD my God wholeheartedly.


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So on that day Moses swore to me, ‘The land on which your feet have walked will be your inheritance and that of your children forever, because you have followed the LORD my God wholeheartedly.’ <f>[27]</f>


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<pb/>“Now then, just as the LORD promised, he has kept me alive for forty-five years since the time he said this to Moses, while Israel moved about in the wilderness. So here I am today, eighty-five years old!


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I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then.


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Now give me this hill country that the LORD promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but, the LORD helping me, I will drive them out just as he said.”


text:
So Hebron has belonged to Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite ever since, because he followed the LORD, the God of Israel, wholeheartedly.


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(Hebron used to be called Kiriath Arba after Arba, who was the greatest man among the Anakites.) <pb/>Then the land had rest from war.


text:
<pb/>The allotment for the tribe of Judah, according to its clans, extended down to the territory of Edom, to the Desert of Zin in the extreme south.


text:
crossed south of Scorpion Pass, continued on to Zin and went over to the south of Kadesh Barnea. Then it ran past Hezron up to Addar and curved around to Karka.


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It then passed along to Azmon and joined the Wadi of Egypt, ending at the Mediterranean Sea. This is their <f>[28]</f> southern boundary.


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<pb/>The eastern boundary is the Dead Sea as far as the mouth of the Jordan. <pb/>The northern boundary started from the bay of the sea at the mouth of the Jordan,


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The boundary then went up to Debir from the Valley of Achor and turned north to Gilgal, which faces the Pass of Adummim south of the gorge. It continued along to the waters of En Shemesh and came out at En Rogel.


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Then it ran up the Valley of Ben Hinnom along the southern slope of the Jebusite city (that is, Jerusalem). From there it climbed to the top of the hill west of the Hinnom Valley at the northern end of the Valley of Rephaim.


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From the hilltop the boundary headed toward the spring of the waters of Nephtoah, came out at the towns of Mount Ephron and went down toward Baalah (that is, Kiriath Jearim).


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Then it curved westward from Baalah to Mount Seir, ran along the northern slope of Mount Jearim (that is, Kesalon), continued down to Beth Shemesh and crossed to Timnah.


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It went to the northern slope of Ekron, turned toward Shikkeron, passed along to Mount Baalah and reached Jabneel. The boundary ended at the sea.


text:
<pb/>The western boundary is the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea. <pb/>These are the boundaries around the people of Judah by their clans.


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<pb/>In accordance with the LORD’s command to him, Joshua gave to Caleb son of Jephunneh a portion in Judah — Kiriath Arba, that is, Hebron. (Arba was the forefather of Anak.)


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And Caleb said, “I will give my daughter Aksah in marriage to the man who attacks and captures Kiriath Sepher.”


text:
Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s brother, took it; so Caleb gave his daughter Aksah to him in marriage.


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<pb/>One day when she came to Othniel, she urged him <f>[29]</f> to ask her father for a field. When she got off her donkey, Caleb asked her, “What can I do for you?”


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<pb/>She replied, “Do me a special favor. Since you have given me land in the Negev, give me also springs of water.” So Caleb gave her the upper and lower springs.


text:
<pb/>The southernmost towns of the tribe of Judah in the Negev toward the boundary of Edom were: <pb/>Kabzeel, Eder, Jagur,


text:
Ashdod, its surrounding settlements and villages; and Gaza, its settlements and villages, as far as the Wadi of Egypt and the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea.


text:
<pb/>Judah could not dislodge the Jebusites, who were living in Jerusalem; to this day the Jebusites live there with the people of Judah.


text:
<pb/>The allotment for Joseph began at the Jordan, east of the springs of Jericho, and went up from there through the desert into the hill country of Bethel.


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It went on from Bethel (that is, Luz), <f>[32]</f> crossed over to the territory of the Arkites in Ataroth,


text:
descended westward to the territory of the Japhletites as far as the region of Lower Beth Horon and on to Gezer, ending at the Mediterranean Sea.


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<pb/>This was the territory of Ephraim, according to its clans: <pb/>The boundary of their inheritance went from Ataroth Addar in the east to Upper Beth Horon


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and continued to the Mediterranean Sea. From Mikmethath on the north it curved eastward to Taanath Shiloh, passing by it to Janoah on the east.


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From Tappuah the border went west to the Kanah Ravine and ended at the Mediterranean Sea. This was the inheritance of the tribe of the Ephraimites, according to its clans.


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It also included all the towns and their villages that were set aside for the Ephraimites within the inheritance of the Manassites.


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<pb/>They did not dislodge the Canaanites living in Gezer; to this day the Canaanites live among the people of Ephraim but are required to do forced labor.


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<pb/>This was the allotment for the tribe of Manasseh as Joseph’s firstborn, that is, for Makir, Manasseh’s firstborn. Makir was the ancestor of the Gileadites, who had received Gilead and Bashan because the Makirites were great soldiers.


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So this allotment was for the rest of the people of Manasseh — the clans of Abiezer, Helek, Asriel, Shechem, Hepher and Shemida. These are the other male descendants of Manasseh son of Joseph by their clans.


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<pb/>Now Zelophehad son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Makir, the son of Manasseh, had no sons but only daughters, whose names were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milkah and Tirzah.


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They went to Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the leaders and said, “The LORD commanded Moses to give us an inheritance among our relatives.” So Joshua gave them an inheritance along with the brothers of their father, according to the LORD’s command.


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because the daughters of the tribe of Manasseh received an inheritance among the sons. The land of Gilead belonged to the rest of the descendants of Manasseh.


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<pb/>The territory of Manasseh extended from Asher to Mikmethath east of Shechem. The boundary ran southward from there to include the people living at En Tappuah.


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(Manasseh had the land of Tappuah, but Tappuah itself, on the boundary of Manasseh, belonged to the Ephraimites.)


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Then the boundary continued south to the Kanah Ravine. There were towns belonging to Ephraim lying among the towns of Manasseh, but the boundary of Manasseh was the northern side of the ravine and ended at the Mediterranean Sea.


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On the south the land belonged to Ephraim, on the north to Manasseh. The territory of Manasseh reached the Mediterranean Sea and bordered Asher on the north and Issachar on the east.


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<pb/>Within Issachar and Asher, Manasseh also had Beth Shan, Ibleam and the people of Dor, Endor, Taanach and Megiddo, together with their surrounding settlements (the third in the list is Naphoth <f>[33]</f>).


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<pb/>Yet the Manassites were not able to occupy these towns, for the Canaanites were determined to live in that region.


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However, when the Israelites grew stronger, they subjected the Canaanites to forced labor but did not drive them out completely.


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<pb/>The people of Joseph said to Joshua, “Why have you given us only one allotment and one portion for an inheritance? We are a numerous people, and the LORD has blessed us abundantly.”


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<pb/>“If you are so numerous,” Joshua answered, “and if the hill country of Ephraim is too small for you, go up into the forest and clear land for yourselves there in the land of the Perizzites and Rephaites.”


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<pb/>The people of Joseph replied, “The hill country is not enough for us, and all the Canaanites who live in the plain have chariots fitted with iron, both those in Beth Shan and its settlements and those in the Valley of Jezreel.”


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<pb/>But Joshua said to the tribes of Joseph — to Ephraim and Manasseh — “You are numerous and very powerful. You will have not only one allotment


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but the forested hill country as well. Clear it, and its farthest limits will be yours; though the Canaanites have chariots fitted with iron and though they are strong, you can drive them out.”


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<pb/>The whole assembly of the Israelites gathered at Shiloh and set up the tent of meeting there. The country was brought under their control,


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<pb/>So Joshua said to the Israelites: “How long will you wait before you begin to take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your ancestors, has given you?


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Appoint three men from each tribe. I will send them out to make a survey of the land and to write a description of it, according to the inheritance of each. Then they will return to me.


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You are to divide the land into seven parts. Judah is to remain in its territory on the south and the tribes of Joseph in their territory on the north.


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After you have written descriptions of the seven parts of the land, bring them here to me and I will cast lots for you in the presence of the LORD our God.


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The Levites, however, do not get a portion among you, because the priestly service of the LORD is their inheritance. And Gad, Reuben and the half-tribe of Manasseh have already received their inheritance on the east side of the Jordan. Moses the servant of the LORD gave it to them.”


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<pb/>As the men started on their way to map out the land, Joshua instructed them, “Go and make a survey of the land and write a description of it. Then return to me, and I will cast lots for you here at Shiloh in the presence of the LORD.”


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So the men left and went through the land. They wrote its description on a scroll, town by town, in seven parts, and returned to Joshua in the camp at Shiloh.


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Joshua then cast lots for them in Shiloh in the presence of the LORD, and there he distributed the land to the Israelites according to their tribal divisions.


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<pb/>The first lot came up for the tribe of Benjamin according to its clans. Their allotted territory lay between the tribes of Judah and Joseph:


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<pb/>On the north side their boundary began at the Jordan, passed the northern slope of Jericho and headed west into the hill country, coming out at the wilderness of Beth Aven.


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From there it crossed to the south slope of Luz (that is, Bethel) and went down to Ataroth Addar on the hill south of Lower Beth Horon.


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<pb/>From the hill facing Beth Horon on the south the boundary turned south along the western side and came out at Kiriath Baal (that is, Kiriath Jearim), a town of the people of Judah. This was the western side.


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<pb/>The southern side began at the outskirts of Kiriath Jearim on the west, and the boundary came out at the spring of the waters of Nephtoah.


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The boundary went down to the foot of the hill facing the Valley of Ben Hinnom, north of the Valley of Rephaim. It continued down the Hinnom Valley along the southern slope of the Jebusite city and so to En Rogel.


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It then curved north, went to En Shemesh, continued to Geliloth, which faces the Pass of Adummim, and ran down to the Stone of Bohan son of Reuben.


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It then went to the northern slope of Beth Hoglah and came out at the northern bay of the Dead Sea, at the mouth of the Jordan in the south. This was the southern boundary.


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<pb/>The Jordan formed the boundary on the eastern side. <pb/>These were the boundaries that marked out the inheritance of the clans of Benjamin on all sides.


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<pb/>The tribe of Benjamin, according to its clans, had the following towns: <pb/>Jericho, Beth Hoglah, Emek Keziz,


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Zelah, Haeleph, the Jebusite city (that is, Jerusalem), Gibeah and Kiriath — fourteen towns and their villages. <pb/>This was the inheritance of Benjamin for its clans.


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<pb/>The second lot came out for the tribe of Simeon according to its clans. Their inheritance lay within the territory of Judah.


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and all the villages around these towns as far as Baalath Beer (Ramah in the Negev). <pb/>This was the inheritance of the tribe of the Simeonites, according to its clans.


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The inheritance of the Simeonites was taken from the share of Judah, because Judah’s portion was more than they needed. So the Simeonites received their inheritance within the territory of Judah.


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<pb/>The third lot came up for Zebulun according to its clans: <pb/>The boundary of their inheritance went as far as Sarid.


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It turned east from Sarid toward the sunrise to the territory of Kisloth Tabor and went on to Daberath and up to Japhia.


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Then it continued eastward to Gath Hepher and Eth Kazin; it came out at Rimmon and turned toward Neah.


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Included were Kattath, Nahalal, Shimron, Idalah and Bethlehem. There were twelve towns and their villages.


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The boundary touched Tabor, Shahazumah and Beth Shemesh, and ended at the Jordan. There were sixteen towns and their villages.


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<pb/>These towns and their villages were the inheritance of the tribe of Issachar, according to its clans.


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It then turned east toward Beth Dagon, touched Zebulun and the Valley of Iphtah El, and went north to Beth Emek and Neiel, passing Kabul on the left.


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The boundary then turned back toward Ramah and went to the fortified city of Tyre, turned toward Hosah and came out at the Mediterranean Sea in the region of Akzib,


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<pb/>These towns and their villages were the inheritance of the tribe of Asher, according to its clans.


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<pb/>Their boundary went from Heleph and the large tree in Zaanannim, passing Adami Nekeb and Jabneel to Lakkum and ending at the Jordan.


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The boundary ran west through Aznoth Tabor and came out at Hukkok. It touched Zebulun on the south, Asher on the west and the Jordan <f>[37]</f> on the east.


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<pb/>These towns and their villages were the inheritance of the tribe of Naphtali, according to its clans.


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<pb/>(When the territory of the Danites was lost to them, they went up and attacked Leshem, took it, put it to the sword and occupied it. They settled in Leshem and named it Dan after their ancestor.)


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<pb/>These towns and their villages were the inheritance of the tribe of Dan, according to its clans.


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<pb/>When they had finished dividing the land into its allotted portions, the Israelites gave Joshua son of Nun an inheritance among them,


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as the LORD had commanded. They gave him the town he asked for — Timnath Serah <f>[38]</f> in the hill country of Ephraim. And he built up the town and settled there.


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<pb/>These are the territories that Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun and the heads of the tribal clans of Israel assigned by lot at Shiloh in the presence of the LORD at the entrance to the tent of meeting. And so they finished dividing the land.


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so that anyone who kills a person accidentally and unintentionally may flee there and find protection from the avenger of blood.


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When they flee to one of these cities, they are to stand in the entrance of the city gate and state their case before the elders of that city. Then the elders are to admit the fugitive into their city and provide a place to live among them.


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If the avenger of blood comes in pursuit, the elders must not surrender the fugitive, because the fugitive killed their neighbor unintentionally and without malice aforethought.


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They are to stay in that city until they have stood trial before the assembly and until the death of the high priest who is serving at that time. Then they may go back to their own home in the town from which they fled.”


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<pb/>So they set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the hill country of Judah.


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East of the Jordan (on the other side from Jericho) they designated Bezer in the wilderness on the plateau in the tribe of Reuben, Ramoth in Gilead in the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan in the tribe of Manasseh.


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Any of the Israelites or any foreigner residing among them who killed someone accidentally could flee to these designated cities and not be killed by the avenger of blood prior to standing trial before the assembly.


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<pb/>Now the family heads of the Levites approached Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the other tribal families of Israel


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at Shiloh in Canaan and said to them, “The LORD commanded through Moses that you give us towns to live in, with pasturelands for our livestock.”


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So, as the LORD had commanded, the Israelites gave the Levites the following towns and pasturelands out of their own inheritance:


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<pb/>The first lot came out for the Kohathites, according to their clans. The Levites who were descendants of Aaron the priest were allotted thirteen towns from the tribes of Judah, Simeon and Benjamin.


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The rest of Kohath’s descendants were allotted ten towns from the clans of the tribes of Ephraim, Dan and half of Manasseh.


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<pb/>The descendants of Gershon were allotted thirteen towns from the clans of the tribes of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali and the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan.


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<pb/>The descendants of Merari, according to their clans, received twelve towns from the tribes of Reuben, Gad and Zebulun.


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<pb/>So the Israelites allotted to the Levites these towns and their pasturelands, as the LORD had commanded through Moses.


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(these towns were assigned to the descendants of Aaron who were from the Kohathite clans of the Levites, because the first lot fell to them):


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<pb/>They gave them Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron), with its surrounding pastureland, in the hill country of Judah. (Arba was the forefather of Anak.)


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But the fields and villages around the city they had given to Caleb son of Jephunneh as his possession.


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<pb/>So to the descendants of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron (a city of refuge for one accused of murder), Libnah,


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<pb/>The total number of towns for the priests, the descendants of Aaron, came to thirteen, together with their pasturelands.


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<pb/>In the hill country of Ephraim they were given Shechem (a city of refuge for one accused of murder) and Gezer,


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<pb/>From half the tribe of Manasseh they received: Taanach and Gath Rimmon, together with their pasturelands — two towns.


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<pb/>The Levite clans of the Gershonites were given: <pb/><t>from the half-tribe of Manasseh, <pb/>Golan in Bashan (a city of refuge for one accused of murder) and Be Eshterah, together with their pasturelands — two towns; <pb/> </t>


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<t>from the tribe of Naphtali, <pb/>Kedesh in Galilee (a city of refuge for one accused of murder), Hammoth Dor and Kartan, together with their pasturelands — three towns. </t>


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<pb/>The total number of towns of the Gershonite clans came to thirteen, together with their pasturelands.


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<pb/>The Merarite clans (the rest of the Levites) were given: <pb/><t>from the tribe of Zebulun, <pb/>Jokneam, Kartah, </t>


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<t>from the tribe of Gad, <pb/>Ramoth in Gilead (a city of refuge for one accused of murder), Mahanaim, </t>


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<pb/>The total number of towns allotted to the Merarite clans, who were the rest of the Levites, came to twelve.


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<pb/>The towns of the Levites in the territory held by the Israelites were forty-eight in all, together with their pasturelands.


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<pb/>So the LORD gave Israel all the land he had sworn to give their ancestors, and they took possession of it and settled there.


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The LORD gave them rest on every side, just as he had sworn to their ancestors. Not one of their enemies withstood them; the LORD gave all their enemies into their hands.


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and said to them, “You have done all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded, and you have obeyed me in everything I commanded.


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For a long time now — to this very day — you have not deserted your fellow Israelites but have carried out the mission the LORD your God gave you.


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Now that the LORD your God has given them rest as he promised, return to your homes in the land that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you on the other side of the Jordan.


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But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you: to love the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to him, to keep his commands, to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.”


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(To the half-tribe of Manasseh Moses had given land in Bashan, and to the other half of the tribe Joshua gave land on the west side of the Jordan along with their fellow Israelites.) When Joshua sent them home, he blessed them,


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saying, “Return to your homes with your great wealth — with large herds of livestock, with silver, gold, bronze and iron, and a great quantity of clothing — and divide the plunder from your enemies with your fellow Israelites.”


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<pb/>So the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh left the Israelites at Shiloh in Canaan to return to Gilead, their own land, which they had acquired in accordance with the command of the LORD through Moses.


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<pb/>When they came to Geliloth near the Jordan in the land of Canaan, the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an imposing altar there by the Jordan.


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And when the Israelites heard that they had built the altar on the border of Canaan at Geliloth near the Jordan on the Israelite side,


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<pb/>So the Israelites sent Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, to the land of Gilead — to Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh.


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With him they sent ten of the chief men, one from each of the tribes of Israel, each the head of a family division among the Israelite clans.


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“The whole assembly of the LORD says: ‘How could you break faith with the God of Israel like this? How could you turn away from the LORD and build yourselves an altar in rebellion against him now?


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Was not the sin of Peor enough for us? Up to this very day we have not cleansed ourselves from that sin, even though a plague fell on the community of the LORD!


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And are you now turning away from the LORD? <pb/>“ ‘If you rebel against the LORD today, tomorrow he will be angry with the whole community of Israel.


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If the land you possess is defiled, come over to the LORD’s land, where the LORD’s tabernacle stands, and share the land with us. But do not rebel against the LORD or against us by building an altar for yourselves, other than the altar of the LORD our God.


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When Achan son of Zerah was unfaithful in regard to the devoted things, <f>[39]</f> did not wrath come on the whole community of Israel? He was not the only one who died for his sin.’ ”


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“The Mighty One, God, the LORD! The Mighty One, God, the LORD! He knows! And let Israel know! If this has been in rebellion or disobedience to the LORD, do not spare us this day.


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If we have built our own altar to turn away from the LORD and to offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, or to sacrifice fellowship offerings on it, may the LORD himself call us to account.


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<pb/>“No! We did it for fear that some day your descendants might say to ours, ‘What do you have to do with the LORD, the God of Israel?


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The LORD has made the Jordan a boundary between us and you — you Reubenites and Gadites! You have no share in the LORD.’ So your descendants might cause ours to stop fearing the LORD.


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<pb/>“That is why we said, ‘Let us get ready and build an altar — but not for burnt offerings or sacrifices.’


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On the contrary, it is to be a witness between us and you and the generations that follow, that we will worship the LORD at his sanctuary with our burnt offerings, sacrifices and fellowship offerings. Then in the future your descendants will not be able to say to ours, ‘You have no share in the LORD.’


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<pb/>“And we said, ‘If they ever say this to us, or to our descendants, we will answer: Look at the replica of the LORD’s altar, which our ancestors built, not for burnt offerings and sacrifices, but as a witness between us and you.’


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<pb/>“Far be it from us to rebel against the LORD and turn away from him today by building an altar for burnt offerings, grain offerings and sacrifices, other than the altar of the LORD our God that stands before his tabernacle.”


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<pb/>When Phinehas the priest and the leaders of the community — the heads of the clans of the Israelites — heard what Reuben, Gad and Manasseh had to say, they were pleased.


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And Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, said to Reuben, Gad and Manasseh, “Today we know that the LORD is with us, because you have not been unfaithful to the LORD in this matter. Now you have rescued the Israelites from the LORD’s hand.”


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<pb/>Then Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, and the leaders returned to Canaan from their meeting with the Reubenites and Gadites in Gilead and reported to the Israelites.


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They were glad to hear the report and praised God. And they talked no more about going to war against them to devastate the country where the Reubenites and the Gadites lived.


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<pb/>And the Reubenites and the Gadites gave the altar this name: A Witness Between Us — that the LORD is God.


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<pb/>After a long time had passed and the LORD had given Israel rest from all their enemies around them, Joshua, by then a very old man,


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summoned all Israel — their elders, leaders, judges and officials — and said to them: “I am very old.


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You yourselves have seen everything the LORD your God has done to all these nations for your sake; it was the LORD your God who fought for you.


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Remember how I have allotted as an inheritance for your tribes all the land of the nations that remain — the nations I conquered — between the Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea in the west.


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The LORD your God himself will push them out for your sake. He will drive them out before you, and you will take possession of their land, as the LORD your God promised you.


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<pb/>“Be very strong; be careful to obey all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, without turning aside to the right or to the left.


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Do not associate with these nations that remain among you; do not invoke the names of their gods or swear by them. You must not serve them or bow down to them.


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<pb/>“The LORD has driven out before you great and powerful nations; to this day no one has been able to withstand you.


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<pb/>“But if you turn away and ally yourselves with the survivors of these nations that remain among you and if you intermarry with them and associate with them,


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then you may be sure that the LORD your God will no longer drive out these nations before you. Instead, they will become snares and traps for you, whips on your backs and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land, which the LORD your God has given you.


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<pb/>“Now I am about to go the way of all the earth. You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the LORD your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed.


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But just as all the good things the LORD your God has promised you have come to you, so he will bring on you all the evil things he has threatened, until the LORD your God has destroyed you from this good land he has given you.


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If you violate the covenant of the LORD your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, the LORD’s anger will burn against you, and you will quickly perish from the good land he has given you.”


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<pb/>Then Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He summoned the elders, leaders, judges and officials of Israel, and they presented themselves before God.


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<pb/>Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your ancestors, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River and worshiped other gods.


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But I took your father Abraham from the land beyond the Euphrates and led him throughout Canaan and gave him many descendants. I gave him Isaac,


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and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I assigned the hill country of Seir to Esau, but Jacob and his family went down to Egypt.


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<pb/>“ ‘Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I afflicted the Egyptians by what I did there, and I brought you out.


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When I brought your people out of Egypt, you came to the sea, and the Egyptians pursued them with chariots and horsemen <f>[40]</f> as far as the Red Sea. <f>[41]</f>


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But they cried to the LORD for help, and he put darkness between you and the Egyptians; he brought the sea over them and covered them. You saw with your own eyes what I did to the Egyptians. Then you lived in the wilderness for a long time.


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<pb/>“ ‘I brought you to the land of the Amorites who lived east of the Jordan. They fought against you, but I gave them into your hands. I destroyed them from before you, and you took possession of their land.


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When Balak son of Zippor, the king of Moab, prepared to fight against Israel, he sent for Balaam son of Beor to put a curse on you.


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But I would not listen to Balaam, so he blessed you again and again, and I delivered you out of his hand.


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<pb/>“ ‘Then you crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The citizens of Jericho fought against you, as did also the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites and Jebusites, but I gave them into your hands.


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I sent the hornet ahead of you, which drove them out before you — also the two Amorite kings. You did not do it with your own sword and bow.


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So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.’


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<pb/>“Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.


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But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”


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It was the LORD our God himself who brought us and our parents up out of Egypt, from that land of slavery, and performed those great signs before our eyes. He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we traveled.


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And the LORD drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites, who lived in the land. We too will serve the LORD, because he is our God.”


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<pb/>Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the LORD. He is a holy God; he is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins.


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If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you, after he has been good to you.”


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<pb/>Then Joshua said, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the LORD.” <pb/>“Yes, we are witnesses,” they replied.


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<pb/>“Now then,” said Joshua, “throw away the foreign gods that are among you and yield your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel.”


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<pb/>On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people, and there at Shechem he reaffirmed for them decrees and laws.


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And Joshua recorded these things in the Book of the Law of God. Then he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak near the holy place of the LORD.


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<pb/>“See!” he said to all the people. “This stone will be a witness against us. It has heard all the words the LORD has said to us. It will be a witness against you if you are untrue to your God.”


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<pb/>After these things, Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of a hundred and ten.


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And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath Serah <f>[42]</f> in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.


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<pb/>Israel served the LORD throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had experienced everything the LORD had done for Israel.


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<pb/>And Joseph’s bones, which the Israelites had brought up from Egypt, were buried at Shechem in the tract of land that Jacob bought for a hundred pieces of silver <f>[43]</f> from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem. This became the inheritance of Joseph’s descendants.


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<pb/>And Eleazar son of Aaron died and was buried at Gibeah, which had been allotted to his son Phinehas in the hill country of Ephraim.


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<pb/>After the death of Joshua, the Israelites asked the LORD, “Who of us is to go up first to fight against the Canaanites?”


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<pb/>The men of Judah then said to the Simeonites their fellow Israelites, “Come up with us into the territory allotted to us, to fight against the Canaanites. We in turn will go with you into yours.” So the Simeonites went with them.


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<pb/>When Judah attacked, the LORD gave the Canaanites and Perizzites into their hands, and they struck down ten thousand men at Bezek.


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It was there that they found Adoni-Bezek and fought against him, putting to rout the Canaanites and Perizzites.


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<pb/>Then Adoni-Bezek said, “Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off have picked up scraps under my table. Now God has paid me back for what I did to them.” They brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.


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<pb/>The men of Judah attacked Jerusalem also and took it. They put the city to the sword and set it on fire.


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<pb/>After that, Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites living in the hill country, the Negev and the western foothills.


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They advanced against the Canaanites living in Hebron (formerly called Kiriath Arba) and defeated Sheshai, Ahiman and Talmai.


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<pb/>And Caleb said, “I will give my daughter Aksah in marriage to the man who attacks and captures Kiriath Sepher.”


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Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, took it; so Caleb gave his daughter Aksah to him in marriage.


text:
<pb/>One day when she came to Othniel, she urged him <f>[1]</f> to ask her father for a field. When she got off her donkey, Caleb asked her, “What can I do for you?”


text:
<pb/>The descendants of Moses’ father-in-law, the Kenite, went up from the City of Palms <f>[2]</f> with the people of Judah to live among the inhabitants of the Desert of Judah in the Negev near Arad.


text:
<pb/>Then the men of Judah went with the Simeonites their fellow Israelites and attacked the Canaanites living in Zephath, and they totally destroyed <f>[3]</f> the city. Therefore it was called Hormah. <f>[4]</f>


text:
<pb/>The LORD was with the men of Judah. They took possession of the hill country, but they were unable to drive the people from the plains, because they had chariots fitted with iron.


text:
The Benjamites, however, did not drive out the Jebusites, who were living in Jerusalem; to this day the Jebusites live there with the Benjamites.


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the spies saw a man coming out of the city and they said to him, “Show us how to get into the city and we will see that you are treated well.”


text:
He then went to the land of the Hittites, where he built a city and called it Luz, which is its name to this day.


text:
<pb/>But Manasseh did not drive out the people of Beth Shan or Taanach or Dor or Ibleam or Megiddo and their surrounding settlements, for the Canaanites were determined to live in that land.


text:
When Israel became strong, they pressed the Canaanites into forced labor but never drove them out completely.


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Nor did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites living in Gezer, but the Canaanites continued to live there among them.


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Neither did Zebulun drive out the Canaanites living in Kitron or Nahalol, so these Canaanites lived among them, but Zebulun did subject them to forced labor.


text:
Nor did Asher drive out those living in Akko or Sidon or Ahlab or Akzib or Helbah or Aphek or Rehob.


text:
The Asherites lived among the Canaanite inhabitants of the land because they did not drive them out.


text:
Neither did Naphtali drive out those living in Beth Shemesh or Beth Anath; but the Naphtalites too lived among the Canaanite inhabitants of the land, and those living in Beth Shemesh and Beth Anath became forced laborers for them.


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The Amorites confined the Danites to the hill country, not allowing them to come down into the plain.


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And the Amorites were determined also to hold out in Mount Heres, Aijalon and Shaalbim, but when the power of the tribes of Joseph increased, they too were pressed into forced labor.


text:
<pb/>The angel of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said, “I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land I swore to give to your ancestors. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you,


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and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall break down their altars.’ Yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this?


text:
And I have also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you; they will become traps for you, and their gods will become snares to you.’ ”


text:
<pb/>When the angel of the LORD had spoken these things to all the Israelites, the people wept aloud,


text:
<pb/>After Joshua had dismissed the Israelites, they went to take possession of the land, each to their own inheritance.


text:
The people served the LORD throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the great things the LORD had done for Israel.


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And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath Heres <f>[7]</f> in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.


text:
<pb/>After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel.


text:
They forsook the LORD, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They aroused the LORD’s anger


text:
In his anger against Israel the LORD gave them into the hands of raiders who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist.


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Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the LORD was against them to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them. They were in great distress.


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Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. They quickly turned from the ways of their ancestors, who had been obedient to the LORD’s commands.


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Whenever the LORD raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the LORD relented because of their groaning under those who oppressed and afflicted them.


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But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their ancestors, following other gods and serving and worshiping them. They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.


text:
<pb/>Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel and said, “Because this nation has violated the covenant I ordained for their ancestors and has not listened to me,


text:
I will use them to test Israel and see whether they will keep the way of the LORD and walk in it as their ancestors did.”


text:
The LORD had allowed those nations to remain; he did not drive them out at once by giving them into the hands of Joshua.


text:
<pb/>These are the nations the LORD left to test all those Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars in Canaan


text:
(he did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had not had previous battle experience):


text:
the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites living in the Lebanon mountains from Mount Baal Hermon to Lebo Hamath.


text:
They were left to test the Israelites to see whether they would obey the LORD’s commands, which he had given their ancestors through Moses.


text:
<pb/>The Israelites lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.


text:
They took their daughters in marriage and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods.


text:
<pb/>The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD; they forgot the LORD their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs.


text:
The anger of the LORD burned against Israel so that he sold them into the hands of Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram Naharaim, <f>[9]</f> to whom the Israelites were subject for eight years.


text:
But when they cried out to the LORD, he raised up for them a deliverer, Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, who saved them.


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The Spirit of the LORD came on him, so that he became Israel’s judge <f>[10]</f> and went to war. The LORD gave Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram into the hands of Othniel, who overpowered him.


text:
<pb/>Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, and because they did this evil the LORD gave Eglon king of Moab power over Israel.


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Getting the Ammonites and Amalekites to join him, Eglon came and attacked Israel, and they took possession of the City of Palms. <f>[11]</f>


text:
<pb/>Again the Israelites cried out to the LORD, and he gave them a deliverer — Ehud, a left-handed man, the son of Gera the Benjamite. The Israelites sent him with tribute to Eglon king of Moab.


text:
Now Ehud had made a double-edged sword about a cubit <f>[12]</f> long, which he strapped to his right thigh under his clothing.


text:
But on reaching the stone images near Gilgal he himself went back to Eglon and said, “Your Majesty, I have a secret message for you.” <pb/>The king said to his attendants, “Leave us!” And they all left.


text:
<pb/>Ehud then approached him while he was sitting alone in the upper room of his palace <f>[13]</f> and said, “I have a message from God for you.” As the king rose from his seat,


text:
Ehud reached with his left hand, drew the sword from his right thigh and plunged it into the king’s belly.


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Even the handle sank in after the blade, and his bowels discharged. Ehud did not pull the sword out, and the fat closed in over it.


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Then Ehud went out to the porch <f>[14]</f>; he shut the doors of the upper room behind him and locked them.


text:
<pb/>After he had gone, the servants came and found the doors of the upper room locked. They said, “He must be relieving himself in the inner room of the palace.”


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They waited to the point of embarrassment, but when he did not open the doors of the room, they took a key and unlocked them. There they saw their lord fallen to the floor, dead.


text:
When he arrived there, he blew a trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went down with him from the hills, with him leading them.


text:
<pb/>“Follow me,” he ordered, “for the LORD has given Moab, your enemy, into your hands.” So they followed him down and took possession of the fords of the Jordan that led to Moab; they allowed no one to cross over.


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At that time they struck down about ten thousand Moabites, all vigorous and strong; not one escaped.


text:
<pb/>After Ehud came Shamgar son of Anath, who struck down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad. He too saved Israel.


text:
So the LORD sold them into the hands of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. Sisera, the commander of his army, was based in Harosheth Haggoyim.


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Because he had nine hundred chariots fitted with iron and had cruelly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years, they cried to the LORD for help.


text:
She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went up to her to have their disputes decided.


text:
She sent for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “The LORD, the God of Israel, commands you: ‘Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead them up to Mount Tabor.


text:
I will lead Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands.’ ”


text:
<pb/>“Certainly I will go with you,” said Deborah. “But because of the course you are taking, the honor will not be yours, for the LORD will deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman.” So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh.


text:
There Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali, and ten thousand men went up under his command. Deborah also went up with him.


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<pb/>Now Heber the Kenite had left the other Kenites, the descendants of Hobab, Moses’ brother-in-law, <f>[16]</f> and pitched his tent by the great tree in Zaanannim near Kedesh.


text:
Sisera summoned from Harosheth Haggoyim to the Kishon River all his men and his nine hundred chariots fitted with iron.


text:
<pb/>Then Deborah said to Barak, “Go! This is the day the LORD has given Sisera into your hands. Has not the LORD gone ahead of you?” So Barak went down Mount Tabor, with ten thousand men following him.


text:
At Barak’s advance, the LORD routed Sisera and all his chariots and army by the sword, and Sisera got down from his chariot and fled on foot.


text:
<pb/>Barak pursued the chariots and army as far as Harosheth Haggoyim, and all Sisera’s troops fell by the sword; not a man was left.


text:
Sisera, meanwhile, fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was an alliance between Jabin king of Hazor and the family of Heber the Kenite.


text:
<pb/>Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Come, my lord, come right in. Don’t be afraid.” So he entered her tent, and she covered him with a blanket.


text:
<pb/>“I’m thirsty,” he said. “Please give me some water.” She opened a skin of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him up.


text:
<pb/>“Stand in the doorway of the tent,” he told her. “If someone comes by and asks you, ‘Is anyone in there?’ say ‘No.’ ”


text:
<pb/>But Jael, Heber’s wife, picked up a tent peg and a hammer and went quietly to him while he lay fast asleep, exhausted. She drove the peg through his temple into the ground, and he died.


text:
<pb/>Just then Barak came by in pursuit of Sisera, and Jael went out to meet him. “Come,” she said, “I will show you the man you’re looking for.” So he went in with her, and there lay Sisera with the tent peg through his temple — dead.


text:
And the hand of the Israelites pressed harder and harder against Jabin king of Canaan until they destroyed him.


text:
<pb/><t>“When the princes in Israel take the lead, </t><t>when the people willingly offer themselves —  </t><t>praise the LORD! <pb/> </t>


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<t>“Hear this, you kings! Listen, you rulers! </t><t>I, even I, will sing to <f>[17]</f> the LORD; </t><t>I will praise the LORD, the God of Israel, in song. <pb/> </t>


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<t>“When you, LORD, went out from Seir, </t><t>when you marched from the land of Edom, </t><t>the earth shook, the heavens poured, </t><t>the clouds poured down water. </t>


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<t>The mountains quaked before the LORD, the One of Sinai, </t><t>before the LORD, the God of Israel. <pb/> </t>


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<t>“In the days of Shamgar son of Anath, </t><t>in the days of Jael, the highways were abandoned; </t><t>travelers took to winding paths. </t>


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<t>Villagers in Israel would not fight; </t><t>they held back until I, Deborah, arose, </t><t>until I arose, a mother in Israel. </t>


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<t>God chose new leaders </t><t>when war came to the city gates, </t><t>but not a shield or spear was seen </t><t>among forty thousand in Israel. </t>


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<t>My heart is with Israel’s princes, </t><t>with the willing volunteers among the people. </t><t>Praise the LORD! <pb/> </t>


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<t>“You who ride on white donkeys, </t><t>sitting on your saddle blankets, </t><t>and you who walk along the road, </t><t>consider </t>


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<t>the voice of the singers <f>[18]</f> at the watering places. </t><t>They recite the victories of the LORD, </t><t>the victories of his villagers in Israel. <pb/>“Then the people of the LORD </t><t>went down to the city gates. </t>


text:
<t>‘Wake up, wake up, Deborah! </t><t>Wake up, wake up, break out in song! </t><t>Arise, Barak! </t><t>Take captive your captives, son of Abinoam.’ <pb/> </t>


text:
<t>“The remnant of the nobles came down; </t><t>the people of the LORD came down to me against the mighty. </t>


text:
<t>Some came from Ephraim, whose roots were in Amalek; </t><t>Benjamin was with the people who followed you. </t><t>From Makir captains came down, </t><t>from Zebulun those who bear a commander’s <f>[19]</f> staff. </t>


text:
<t>The princes of Issachar were with Deborah; </t><t>yes, Issachar was with Barak, </t><t>sent under his command into the valley. </t><t>In the districts of Reuben </t><t>there was much searching of heart. </t>


text:
<t>Why did you stay among the sheep pens <f>[20]</f> </t><t>to hear the whistling for the flocks? </t><t>In the districts of Reuben </t><t>there was much searching of heart. </t>


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<t>Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan. </t><t>And Dan, why did he linger by the ships? </t><t>Asher remained on the coast </t><t>and stayed in his coves. </t>


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<t>The people of Zebulun risked their very lives; </t><t>so did Naphtali on the terraced fields. <pb/> </t>


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<t>“Kings came, they fought, </t><t>the kings of Canaan fought. </t><t>At Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo, </t><t>they took no plunder of silver. </t>


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<t>The river Kishon swept them away, </t><t>the age-old river, the river Kishon. </t><t>March on, my soul; be strong! </t>


text:
<t>‘Curse Meroz,’ said the angel of the LORD. </t><t>‘Curse its people bitterly, </t><t>because they did not come to help the LORD, </t><t>to help the LORD against the mighty.’ <pb/> </t>


text:
<t>“Most blessed of women be Jael, </t><t>the wife of Heber the Kenite, </t><t>most blessed of tent-dwelling women. </t>


text:
<t>He asked for water, and she gave him milk; </t><t>in a bowl fit for nobles she brought him curdled milk. </t>


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<t>Her hand reached for the tent peg, </t><t>her right hand for the workman’s hammer. </t><t>She struck Sisera, she crushed his head, </t><t>she shattered and pierced his temple. </t>


text:
<t>At her feet he sank, </t><t>he fell; there he lay. </t><t>At her feet he sank, he fell; </t><t>where he sank, there he fell — dead. <pb/> </t>


text:
<t>“Through the window peered Sisera’s mother; </t><t>behind the lattice she cried out, </t><t>‘Why is his chariot so long in coming? </t><t>Why is the clatter of his chariots delayed?’ </t>


text:
<t>‘Are they not finding and dividing the spoils: </t><t>a woman or two for each man, </t><t>colorful garments as plunder for Sisera, </t><t>colorful garments embroidered, </t><t>highly embroidered garments for my neck —  </t><t>all this as plunder?’ <pb/> </t>


text:
<t>“So may all your enemies perish, LORD! </t><t>But may all who love you be like the sun </t><t>when it rises in its strength.” </t> <pb/>Then the land had peace forty years.


text:
<pb/>The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites.


text:
Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds.


text:
Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country.


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They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys.


text:
They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count them or their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it.


text:
he sent them a prophet, who said, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.


text:
I rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians. And I delivered you from the hand of all your oppressors; I drove them out before you and gave you their land.


text:
I said to you, ‘I am the LORD your God; do not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.’ But you have not listened to me.”


text:
<pb/>The angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites.


text:
<pb/>“Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”


text:
<pb/>The LORD turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”


text:
<pb/>“Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”


text:
<pb/>The LORD answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”


text:
<pb/>Gideon replied, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me.


text:
Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you.” <pb/>And the LORD said, “I will wait until you return.”


text:
<pb/>Gideon went inside, prepared a young goat, and from an ephah <f>[21]</f> of flour he made bread without yeast. Putting the meat in a basket and its broth in a pot, he brought them out and offered them to him under the oak.


text:
<pb/>The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread, place them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And Gideon did so.


text:
Then the angel of the LORD touched the meat and the unleavened bread with the tip of the staff that was in his hand. Fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread. And the angel of the LORD disappeared.


text:
When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the LORD, he exclaimed, “Alas, Sovereign LORD! I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face!”


text:
<pb/>So Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and called it The LORD Is Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.


text:
<pb/>That same night the LORD said to him, “Take the second bull from your father’s herd, the one seven years old. <f>[22]</f> Tear down your father’s altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole <f>[23]</f> beside it.


text:
Then build a proper kind of <f>[24]</f> altar to the LORD your God on the top of this height. Using the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down, offer the second <f>[25]</f> bull as a burnt offering.”


text:
<pb/>So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the LORD told him. But because he was afraid of his family and the townspeople, he did it at night rather than in the daytime.


text:
<pb/>In the morning when the people of the town got up, there was Baal’s altar, demolished, with the Asherah pole beside it cut down and the second bull sacrificed on the newly built altar!


text:
<pb/>They asked each other, “Who did this?” <pb/>When they carefully investigated, they were told, “Gideon son of Joash did it.”


text:
<pb/>The people of the town demanded of Joash, “Bring out your son. He must die, because he has broken down Baal’s altar and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.”


text:
<pb/>But Joash replied to the hostile crowd around him, “Are you going to plead Baal’s cause? Are you trying to save him? Whoever fights for him shall be put to death by morning! If Baal really is a god, he can defend himself when someone breaks down his altar.”


text:
So because Gideon broke down Baal’s altar, they gave him the name Jerub-Baal <f>[26]</f> that day, saying, “Let Baal contend with him.”


text:
<pb/>Now all the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples joined forces and crossed over the Jordan and camped in the Valley of Jezreel.


text:
Then the Spirit of the LORD came on Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, summoning the Abiezrites to follow him.


text:
He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, calling them to arms, and also into Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali, so that they too went up to meet them.


text:
look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said.”


text:
And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew — a bowlful of water.


text:
<pb/>Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece, but this time make the fleece dry and let the ground be covered with dew.”


text:
<pb/>Early in the morning, Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) and all his men camped at the spring of Harod. The camp of Midian was north of them in the valley near the hill of Moreh.


text:
The LORD said to Gideon, “You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me.’


text:
Now announce to the army, ‘Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.’ ” So twenty-two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained.


text:
<pb/>But the LORD said to Gideon, “There are still too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will thin them out for you there. If I say, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go; but if I say, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.”


text:
<pb/>So Gideon took the men down to the water. There the LORD told him, “Separate those who lap the water with their tongues as a dog laps from those who kneel down to drink.”


text:
Three hundred of them drank from cupped hands, lapping like dogs. All the rest got down on their knees to drink.


text:
<pb/>The LORD said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the others go home.”


text:
So Gideon sent the rest of the Israelites home but kept the three hundred, who took over the provisions and trumpets of the others. <pb/>Now the camp of Midian lay below him in the valley.


text:
During that night the LORD said to Gideon, “Get up, go down against the camp, because I am going to give it into your hands.


text:
and listen to what they are saying. Afterward, you will be encouraged to attack the camp.” So he and Purah his servant went down to the outposts of the camp.


text:
The Midianites, the Amalekites and all the other eastern peoples had settled in the valley, thick as locusts. Their camels could no more be counted than the sand on the seashore.


text:
<pb/>Gideon arrived just as a man was telling a friend his dream. “I had a dream,” he was saying. “A round loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp. It struck the tent with such force that the tent overturned and collapsed.”


text:
<pb/>His friend responded, “This can be nothing other than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God has given the Midianites and the whole camp into his hands.”


text:
<pb/>When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he bowed down and worshiped. He returned to the camp of Israel and called out, “Get up! The LORD has given the Midianite camp into your hands.”


text:
Dividing the three hundred men into three companies, he placed trumpets and empty jars in the hands of all of them, with torches inside.


text:
<pb/>“Watch me,” he told them. “Follow my lead. When I get to the edge of the camp, do exactly as I do.


text:
When I and all who are with me blow our trumpets, then from all around the camp blow yours and shout, ‘For the LORD and for Gideon.’ ”


text:
<pb/>Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after they had changed the guard. They blew their trumpets and broke the jars that were in their hands.


text:
The three companies blew the trumpets and smashed the jars. Grasping the torches in their left hands and holding in their right hands the trumpets they were to blow, they shouted, “A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!”


text:
<pb/>When the three hundred trumpets sounded, the LORD caused the men throughout the camp to turn on each other with their swords. The army fled to Beth Shittah toward Zererah as far as the border of Abel Meholah near Tabbath.


text:
Gideon sent messengers throughout the hill country of Ephraim, saying, “Come down against the Midianites and seize the waters of the Jordan ahead of them as far as Beth Barah.” <pb/>So all the men of Ephraim were called out and they seized the waters of the Jordan as far as Beth Barah.


text:
They also captured two of the Midianite leaders, Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb at the winepress of Zeeb. They pursued the Midianites and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon, who was by the Jordan.


text:
<pb/>Now the Ephraimites asked Gideon, “Why have you treated us like this? Why didn’t you call us when you went to fight Midian?” And they challenged him vigorously.


text:
<pb/>But he answered them, “What have I accomplished compared to you? Aren’t the gleanings of Ephraim’s grapes better than the full grape harvest of Abiezer?


text:
God gave Oreb and Zeeb, the Midianite leaders, into your hands. What was I able to do compared to you?” At this, their resentment against him subsided.


text:
<pb/>Gideon and his three hundred men, exhausted yet keeping up the pursuit, came to the Jordan and crossed it.


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He said to the men of Sukkoth, “Give my troops some bread; they are worn out, and I am still pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.”


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<pb/>But the officials of Sukkoth said, “Do you already have the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna in your possession? Why should we give bread to your troops?”


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<pb/>Then Gideon replied, “Just for that, when the LORD has given Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, I will tear your flesh with desert thorns and briers.”


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<pb/>From there he went up to Peniel <f>[27]</f> and made the same request of them, but they answered as the men of Sukkoth had.


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<pb/>Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with a force of about fifteen thousand men, all that were left of the armies of the eastern peoples; a hundred and twenty thousand swordsmen had fallen.


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Gideon went up by the route of the nomads east of Nobah and Jogbehah and attacked the unsuspecting army.


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Zebah and Zalmunna, the two kings of Midian, fled, but he pursued them and captured them, routing their entire army.


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He caught a young man of Sukkoth and questioned him, and the young man wrote down for him the names of the seventy-seven officials of Sukkoth, the elders of the town.


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Then Gideon came and said to the men of Sukkoth, “Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me by saying, ‘Do you already have the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna in your possession? Why should we give bread to your exhausted men?’ ”


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He took the elders of the town and taught the men of Sukkoth a lesson by punishing them with desert thorns and briers.


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<pb/>Then he asked Zebah and Zalmunna, “What kind of men did you kill at Tabor?” <pb/>“Men like you,” they answered, “each one with the bearing of a prince.”


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<pb/>Gideon replied, “Those were my brothers, the sons of my own mother. As surely as the LORD lives, if you had spared their lives, I would not kill you.”


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Turning to Jether, his oldest son, he said, “Kill them!” But Jether did not draw his sword, because he was only a boy and was afraid.


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<pb/>Zebah and Zalmunna said, “Come, do it yourself. ‘As is the man, so is his strength.’ ” So Gideon stepped forward and killed them, and took the ornaments off their camels’ necks.


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<pb/>The Israelites said to Gideon, “Rule over us — you, your son and your grandson — because you have saved us from the hand of Midian.”


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<pb/>But Gideon told them, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The LORD will rule over you.”


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And he said, “I do have one request, that each of you give me an earring from your share of the plunder.” (It was the custom of the Ishmaelites to wear gold earrings.)


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<pb/>They answered, “We’ll be glad to give them.” So they spread out a garment, and each of them threw a ring from his plunder onto it.


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The weight of the gold rings he asked for came to seventeen hundred shekels, <f>[28]</f> not counting the ornaments, the pendants and the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian or the chains that were on their camels’ necks.


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Gideon made the gold into an ephod, which he placed in Ophrah, his town. All Israel prostituted themselves by worshiping it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his family.


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<pb/>Thus Midian was subdued before the Israelites and did not raise its head again. During Gideon’s lifetime, the land had peace forty years.


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Gideon son of Joash died at a good old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.


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<pb/>No sooner had Gideon died than the Israelites again prostituted themselves to the Baals. They set up Baal-Berith as their god


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and did not remember the LORD their God, who had rescued them from the hands of all their enemies on every side.


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They also failed to show any loyalty to the family of Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) in spite of all the good things he had done for them.


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<pb/>Abimelek son of Jerub-Baal went to his mother’s brothers in Shechem and said to them and to all his mother’s clan,


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“Ask all the citizens of Shechem, ‘Which is better for you: to have all seventy of Jerub-Baal’s sons rule over you, or just one man?’ Remember, I am your flesh and blood.”


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<pb/>When the brothers repeated all this to the citizens of Shechem, they were inclined to follow Abimelek, for they said, “He is related to us.”


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They gave him seventy shekels <f>[29]</f> of silver from the temple of Baal-Berith, and Abimelek used it to hire reckless scoundrels, who became his followers.


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He went to his father’s home in Ophrah and on one stone murdered his seventy brothers, the sons of Jerub-Baal. But Jotham, the youngest son of Jerub-Baal, escaped by hiding.


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Then all the citizens of Shechem and Beth Millo gathered beside the great tree at the pillar in Shechem to crown Abimelek king.


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<pb/>When Jotham was told about this, he climbed up on the top of Mount Gerizim and shouted to them, “Listen to me, citizens of Shechem, so that God may listen to you.


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One day the trees went out to anoint a king for themselves. They said to the olive tree, ‘Be our king.’


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<pb/>“But the olive tree answered, ‘Should I give up my oil, by which both gods and humans are honored, to hold sway over the trees?’


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<pb/>“But the fig tree replied, ‘Should I give up my fruit, so good and sweet, to hold sway over the trees?’


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<pb/>“But the vine answered, ‘Should I give up my wine, which cheers both gods and humans, to hold sway over the trees?’


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<pb/>“The thornbush said to the trees, ‘If you really want to anoint me king over you, come and take refuge in my shade; but if not, then let fire come out of the thornbush and consume the cedars of Lebanon!’


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<pb/>“Have you acted honorably and in good faith by making Abimelek king? Have you been fair to Jerub-Baal and his family? Have you treated him as he deserves?


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But today you have revolted against my father’s family. You have murdered his seventy sons on a single stone and have made Abimelek, the son of his female slave, king over the citizens of Shechem because he is related to you.


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So have you acted honorably and in good faith toward Jerub-Baal and his family today? If you have, may Abimelek be your joy, and may you be his, too!


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But if you have not, let fire come out from Abimelek and consume you, the citizens of Shechem and Beth Millo, and let fire come out from you, the citizens of Shechem and Beth Millo, and consume Abimelek!”


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<pb/>Then Jotham fled, escaping to Beer, and he lived there because he was afraid of his brother Abimelek.


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God stirred up animosity between Abimelek and the citizens of Shechem so that they acted treacherously against Abimelek.


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God did this in order that the crime against Jerub-Baal’s seventy sons, the shedding of their blood, might be avenged on their brother Abimelek and on the citizens of Shechem, who had helped him murder his brothers.


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In opposition to him these citizens of Shechem set men on the hilltops to ambush and rob everyone who passed by, and this was reported to Abimelek.


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<pb/>Now Gaal son of Ebed moved with his clan into Shechem, and its citizens put their confidence in him.


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After they had gone out into the fields and gathered the grapes and trodden them, they held a festival in the temple of their god. While they were eating and drinking, they cursed Abimelek.


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Then Gaal son of Ebed said, “Who is Abimelek, and why should we Shechemites be subject to him? Isn’t he Jerub-Baal’s son, and isn’t Zebul his deputy? Serve the family of Hamor, Shechem’s father! Why should we serve Abimelek?


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If only this people were under my command! Then I would get rid of him. I would say to Abimelek, ‘Call out your whole army!’ ” <f>[30]</f>


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Under cover he sent messengers to Abimelek, saying, “Gaal son of Ebed and his clan have come to Shechem and are stirring up the city against you.


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In the morning at sunrise, advance against the city. When Gaal and his men come out against you, seize the opportunity to attack them.”


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<pb/>So Abimelek and all his troops set out by night and took up concealed positions near Shechem in four companies.


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Now Gaal son of Ebed had gone out and was standing at the entrance of the city gate just as Abimelek and his troops came out from their hiding place.


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<pb/>When Gaal saw them, he said to Zebul, “Look, people are coming down from the tops of the mountains!” <pb/>Zebul replied, “You mistake the shadows of the mountains for men.”


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<pb/>But Gaal spoke up again: “Look, people are coming down from the central hill, <f>[31]</f> and a company is coming from the direction of the diviners’ tree.”


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<pb/>Then Zebul said to him, “Where is your big talk now, you who said, ‘Who is Abimelek that we should be subject to him?’ Aren’t these the men you ridiculed? Go out and fight them!”


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So he took his men, divided them into three companies and set an ambush in the fields. When he saw the people coming out of the city, he rose to attack them.


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Abimelek and the companies with him rushed forward to a position at the entrance of the city gate. Then two companies attacked those in the fields and struck them down.


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All that day Abimelek pressed his attack against the city until he had captured it and killed its people. Then he destroyed the city and scattered salt over it.


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<pb/>On hearing this, the citizens in the tower of Shechem went into the stronghold of the temple of El-Berith.


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he and all his men went up Mount Zalmon. He took an ax and cut off some branches, which he lifted to his shoulders. He ordered the men with him, “Quick! Do what you have seen me do!”


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So all the men cut branches and followed Abimelek. They piled them against the stronghold and set it on fire with the people still inside. So all the people in the tower of Shechem, about a thousand men and women, also died.


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Inside the city, however, was a strong tower, to which all the men and women — all the people of the city — had fled. They had locked themselves in and climbed up on the tower roof.


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Abimelek went to the tower and attacked it. But as he approached the entrance to the tower to set it on fire,


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<pb/>Hurriedly he called to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and kill me, so that they can’t say, ‘A woman killed him.’ ” So his servant ran him through, and he died.


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<pb/>Thus God repaid the wickedness that Abimelek had done to his father by murdering his seventy brothers.


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God also made the people of Shechem pay for all their wickedness. The curse of Jotham son of Jerub-Baal came on them.


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<pb/>After the time of Abimelek, a man of Issachar named Tola son of Puah, the son of Dodo, rose to save Israel. He lived in Shamir, in the hill country of Ephraim.


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He had thirty sons, who rode thirty donkeys. They controlled thirty towns in Gilead, which to this day are called Havvoth Jair. <f>[34]</f>


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<pb/>Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD. They served the Baals and the Ashtoreths, and the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites and the gods of the Philistines. And because the Israelites forsook the LORD and no longer served him,


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who that year shattered and crushed them. For eighteen years they oppressed all the Israelites on the east side of the Jordan in Gilead, the land of the Amorites.


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The Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah, Benjamin and Ephraim; Israel was in great distress.


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Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD, “We have sinned against you, forsaking our God and serving the Baals.”


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the Sidonians, the Amalekites and the Maonites <f>[35]</f> oppressed you and you cried to me for help, did I not save you from their hands?


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<pb/>But the Israelites said to the LORD, “We have sinned. Do with us whatever you think best, but please rescue us now.”


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Then they got rid of the foreign gods among them and served the LORD. And he could bear Israel’s misery no longer.


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<pb/>When the Ammonites were called to arms and camped in Gilead, the Israelites assembled and camped at Mizpah.


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The leaders of the people of Gilead said to each other, “Whoever will take the lead in attacking the Ammonites will be head over all who live in Gilead.”


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<pb/>Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior. His father was Gilead; his mother was a prostitute.


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Gilead’s wife also bore him sons, and when they were grown up, they drove Jephthah away. “You are not going to get any inheritance in our family,” they said, “because you are the son of another woman.”


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So Jephthah fled from his brothers and settled in the land of Tob, where a gang of scoundrels gathered around him and followed him.


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<pb/>Jephthah said to them, “Didn’t you hate me and drive me from my father’s house? Why do you come to me now, when you’re in trouble?”


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<pb/>The elders of Gilead said to him, “Nevertheless, we are turning to you now; come with us to fight the Ammonites, and you will be head over all of us who live in Gilead.”


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<pb/>Jephthah answered, “Suppose you take me back to fight the Ammonites and the LORD gives them to me — will I really be your head?”


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So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and commander over them. And he repeated all his words before the LORD in Mizpah.


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<pb/>Then Jephthah sent messengers to the Ammonite king with the question: “What do you have against me that you have attacked my country?”


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<pb/>The king of the Ammonites answered Jephthah’s messengers, “When Israel came up out of Egypt, they took away my land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, all the way to the Jordan. Now give it back peaceably.”


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saying: <pb/>“This is what Jephthah says: Israel did not take the land of Moab or the land of the Ammonites.


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But when they came up out of Egypt, Israel went through the wilderness to the Red Sea <f>[36]</f> and on to Kadesh.


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Then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Give us permission to go through your country,’ but the king of Edom would not listen. They sent also to the king of Moab, and he refused. So Israel stayed at Kadesh.


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<pb/>“Next they traveled through the wilderness, skirted the lands of Edom and Moab, passed along the eastern side of the country of Moab, and camped on the other side of the Arnon. They did not enter the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was its border.


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<pb/>“Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon, and said to him, ‘Let us pass through your country to our own place.’


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Sihon, however, did not trust Israel <f>[37]</f> to pass through his territory. He mustered all his troops and encamped at Jahaz and fought with Israel.


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<pb/>“Then the LORD, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and his whole army into Israel’s hands, and they defeated them. Israel took over all the land of the Amorites who lived in that country,


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<pb/>“Now since the LORD, the God of Israel, has driven the Amorites out before his people Israel, what right have you to take it over?


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Will you not take what your god Chemosh gives you? Likewise, whatever the LORD our God has given us, we will possess.


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Are you any better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever quarrel with Israel or fight with them?


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For three hundred years Israel occupied Heshbon, Aroer, the surrounding settlements and all the towns along the Arnon. Why didn’t you retake them during that time?


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I have not wronged you, but you are doing me wrong by waging war against me. Let the LORD, the Judge, decide the dispute this day between the Israelites and the Ammonites.”


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<pb/>Then the Spirit of the LORD came on Jephthah. He crossed Gilead and Manasseh, passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from there he advanced against the Ammonites.


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whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the LORD’s, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.”


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He devastated twenty towns from Aroer to the vicinity of Minnith, as far as Abel Keramim. Thus Israel subdued Ammon.


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<pb/>When Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, who should come out to meet him but his daughter, dancing to the sound of timbrels! She was an only child. Except for her he had neither son nor daughter.


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When he saw her, he tore his clothes and cried, “Oh no, my daughter! You have brought me down and I am devastated. I have made a vow to the LORD that I cannot break.”


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<pb/>“My father,” she replied, “you have given your word to the LORD. Do to me just as you promised, now that the LORD has avenged you of your enemies, the Ammonites.


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But grant me this one request,” she said. “Give me two months to roam the hills and weep with my friends, because I will never marry.”


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<pb/>“You may go,” he said. And he let her go for two months. She and her friends went into the hills and wept because she would never marry.


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After the two months, she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had vowed. And she was a virgin. <pb/>From this comes the Israelite tradition


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that each year the young women of Israel go out for four days to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.


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<pb/>The Ephraimite forces were called out, and they crossed over to Zaphon. They said to Jephthah, “Why did you go to fight the Ammonites without calling us to go with you? We’re going to burn down your house over your head.”


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<pb/>Jephthah answered, “I and my people were engaged in a great struggle with the Ammonites, and although I called, you didn’t save me out of their hands.


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When I saw that you wouldn’t help, I took my life in my hands and crossed over to fight the Ammonites, and the LORD gave me the victory over them. Now why have you come up today to fight me?”


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<pb/>Jephthah then called together the men of Gilead and fought against Ephraim. The Gileadites struck them down because the Ephraimites had said, “You Gileadites are renegades from Ephraim and Manasseh.”


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The Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan leading to Ephraim, and whenever a survivor of Ephraim said, “Let me cross over,” the men of Gilead asked him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he replied, “No,”


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they said, “All right, say ‘Shibboleth.’ ” If he said, “Sibboleth,” because he could not pronounce the word correctly, they seized him and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. Forty-two thousand Ephraimites were killed at that time.


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<pb/>Jephthah led <f>[38]</f> Israel six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried in a town in Gilead.


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He had thirty sons and thirty daughters. He gave his daughters away in marriage to those outside his clan, and for his sons he brought in thirty young women as wives from outside his clan. Ibzan led Israel seven years.


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Then Abdon son of Hillel died and was buried at Pirathon in Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites.


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<pb/>Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, so the LORD delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years.


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<pb/>A certain man of Zorah, named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was childless, unable to give birth.


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The angel of the LORD appeared to her and said, “You are barren and childless, but you are going to become pregnant and give birth to a son.


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Now see to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean.


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You will become pregnant and have a son whose head is never to be touched by a razor because the boy is to be a Nazirite, dedicated to God from the womb. He will take the lead in delivering Israel from the hands of the Philistines.”


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<pb/>Then the woman went to her husband and told him, “A man of God came to me. He looked like an angel of God, very awesome. I didn’t ask him where he came from, and he didn’t tell me his name.


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But he said to me, ‘You will become pregnant and have a son. Now then, drink no wine or other fermented drink and do not eat anything unclean, because the boy will be a Nazirite of God from the womb until the day of his death.’ ”


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<pb/>Then Manoah prayed to the LORD: “Pardon your servant, Lord. I beg you to let the man of God you sent to us come again to teach us how to bring up the boy who is to be born.”


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<pb/>God heard Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman while she was out in the field; but her husband Manoah was not with her.


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<pb/>Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he came to the man, he said, “Are you the man who talked to my wife?” <pb/>“I am,” he said.


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<pb/>So Manoah asked him, “When your words are fulfilled, what is to be the rule that governs the boy’s life and work?”


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She must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine, nor drink any wine or other fermented drink nor eat anything unclean. She must do everything I have commanded her.”


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<pb/>Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, “We would like you to stay until we prepare a young goat for you.”


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<pb/>The angel of the LORD replied, “Even though you detain me, I will not eat any of your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the LORD.” (Manoah did not realize that it was the angel of the LORD.)


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<pb/>Then Manoah inquired of the angel of the LORD, “What is your name, so that we may honor you when your word comes true?”


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Then Manoah took a young goat, together with the grain offering, and sacrificed it on a rock to the LORD. And the LORD did an amazing thing while Manoah and his wife watched:


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As the flame blazed up from the altar toward heaven, the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame. Seeing this, Manoah and his wife fell with their faces to the ground.


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When the angel of the LORD did not show himself again to Manoah and his wife, Manoah realized that it was the angel of the LORD.


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<pb/>But his wife answered, “If the LORD had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and grain offering from our hands, nor shown us all these things or now told us this.”


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and the Spirit of the LORD began to stir him while he was in Mahaneh Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.


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When he returned, he said to his father and mother, “I have seen a Philistine woman in Timnah; now get her for me as my wife.”


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<pb/>His father and mother replied, “Isn’t there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?” <pb/>But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me. She’s the right one for me.”


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(His parents did not know that this was from the LORD, who was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines; for at that time they were ruling over Israel.)


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<pb/>Samson went down to Timnah together with his father and mother. As they approached the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young lion came roaring toward him.


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The Spirit of the LORD came powerfully upon him so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. But he told neither his father nor his mother what he had done.


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<pb/>Some time later, when he went back to marry her, he turned aside to look at the lion’s carcass, and in it he saw a swarm of bees and some honey.


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He scooped out the honey with his hands and ate as he went along. When he rejoined his parents, he gave them some, and they too ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the lion’s carcass.


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<pb/>Now his father went down to see the woman. And there Samson held a feast, as was customary for young men.


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<pb/>“Let me tell you a riddle,” Samson said to them. “If you can give me the answer within the seven days of the feast, I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes.


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If you can’t tell me the answer, you must give me thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes.” <pb/>“Tell us your riddle,” they said. “Let’s hear it.”


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<pb/>He replied, <pb/><t>“Out of the eater, something to eat; </t><t>out of the strong, something sweet.” </t> <pb/>For three days they could not give the answer.


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<pb/>On the fourth <f>[40]</f> day, they said to Samson’s wife, “Coax your husband into explaining the riddle for us, or we will burn you and your father’s household to death. Did you invite us here to steal our property?”


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<pb/>Then Samson’s wife threw herself on him, sobbing, “You hate me! You don’t really love me. You’ve given my people a riddle, but you haven’t told me the answer.” <pb/>“I haven’t even explained it to my father or mother,” he replied, “so why should I explain it to you?”


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She cried the whole seven days of the feast. So on the seventh day he finally told her, because she continued to press him. She in turn explained the riddle to her people.


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<pb/>Before sunset on the seventh day the men of the town said to him, <pb/><t>“What is sweeter than honey? </t><t>What is stronger than a lion?” </t> <pb/>Samson said to them, <pb/><t>“If you had not plowed with my heifer, </t><t>you would not have solved my riddle.” </t>


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<pb/>Then the Spirit of the LORD came powerfully upon him. He went down to Ashkelon, struck down thirty of their men, stripped them of everything and gave their clothes to those who had explained the riddle. Burning with anger, he returned to his father’s home.


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<pb/>Later on, at the time of wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat and went to visit his wife. He said, “I’m going to my wife’s room.” But her father would not let him go in.


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<pb/>“I was so sure you hated her,” he said, “that I gave her to your companion. Isn’t her younger sister more attractive? Take her instead.”


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<pb/>Samson said to them, “This time I have a right to get even with the Philistines; I will really harm them.”


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So he went out and caught three hundred foxes and tied them tail to tail in pairs. He then fastened a torch to every pair of tails,


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lit the torches and let the foxes loose in the standing grain of the Philistines. He burned up the shocks and standing grain, together with the vineyards and olive groves.


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<pb/>When the Philistines asked, “Who did this?” they were told, “Samson, the Timnite’s son-in-law, because his wife was given to his companion.” <pb/>So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father to death.


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Samson said to them, “Since you’ve acted like this, I swear that I won’t stop until I get my revenge on you.”


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He attacked them viciously and slaughtered many of them. Then he went down and stayed in a cave in the rock of Etam.


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The people of Judah asked, “Why have you come to fight us?” <pb/>“We have come to take Samson prisoner,” they answered, “to do to him as he did to us.”


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<pb/>Then three thousand men from Judah went down to the cave in the rock of Etam and said to Samson, “Don’t you realize that the Philistines are rulers over us? What have you done to us?” <pb/>He answered, “I merely did to them what they did to me.”


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<pb/>They said to him, “We’ve come to tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines.” <pb/>Samson said, “Swear to me that you won’t kill me yourselves.”


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<pb/>“Agreed,” they answered. “We will only tie you up and hand you over to them. We will not kill you.” So they bound him with two new ropes and led him up from the rock.


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As he approached Lehi, the Philistines came toward him shouting. The Spirit of the LORD came powerfully upon him. The ropes on his arms became like charred flax, and the bindings dropped from his hands.


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<pb/>Then Samson said, <pb/><t>“With a donkey’s jawbone </t><t>I have made donkeys of them. <f>[41]</f> </t><t>With a donkey’s jawbone </t><t>I have killed a thousand men.” </t>


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<pb/>When he finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone; and the place was called Ramath Lehi. <f>[42]</f>


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<pb/>Because he was very thirsty, he cried out to the LORD, “You have given your servant this great victory. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?”


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Then God opened up the hollow place in Lehi, and water came out of it. When Samson drank, his strength returned and he revived. So the spring was called En Hakkore, <f>[43]</f> and it is still there in Lehi.


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<pb/>One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute. He went in to spend the night with her.


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The people of Gaza were told, “Samson is here!” So they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the city gate. They made no move during the night, saying, “At dawn we’ll kill him.”


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<pb/>But Samson lay there only until the middle of the night. Then he got up and took hold of the doors of the city gate, together with the two posts, and tore them loose, bar and all. He lifted them to his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron.


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The rulers of the Philistines went to her and said, “See if you can lure him into showing you the secret of his great strength and how we can overpower him so we may tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels <f>[45]</f> of silver.”


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<pb/>So Delilah said to Samson, “Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued.”


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<pb/>Samson answered her, “If anyone ties me with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I’ll become as weak as any other man.”


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<pb/>Then the rulers of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she tied him with them.


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With men hidden in the room, she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” But he snapped the bowstrings as easily as a piece of string snaps when it comes close to a flame. So the secret of his strength was not discovered.


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<pb/>Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have made a fool of me; you lied to me. Come now, tell me how you can be tied.”


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<pb/>He said, “If anyone ties me securely with new ropes that have never been used, I’ll become as weak as any other man.”


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<pb/>So Delilah took new ropes and tied him with them. Then, with men hidden in the room, she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” But he snapped the ropes off his arms as if they were threads.


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<pb/>Delilah then said to Samson, “All this time you have been making a fool of me and lying to me. Tell me how you can be tied.” <pb/>He replied, “If you weave the seven braids of my head into the fabric on the loom and tighten it with the pin, I’ll become as weak as any other man.” So while he was sleeping, Delilah took the seven braids of his head, wove them into the fabric


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and <f>[46]</f> tightened it with the pin. <pb/>Again she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” He awoke from his sleep and pulled up the pin and the loom, with the fabric.


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<pb/>Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when you won’t confide in me? This is the third time you have made a fool of me and haven’t told me the secret of your great strength.”


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<pb/>So he told her everything. “No razor has ever been used on my head,” he said, “because I have been a Nazirite dedicated to God from my mother’s womb. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man.”


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<pb/>When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines, “Come back once more; he has told me everything.” So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in their hands.


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After putting him to sleep on her lap, she called for someone to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him. <f>[47]</f> And his strength left him.


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<pb/>Then she called, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” <pb/>He awoke from his sleep and thought, “I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the LORD had left him.


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<pb/>Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding grain in the prison.


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<pb/>Now the rulers of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to celebrate, saying, “Our god has delivered Samson, our enemy, into our hands.”


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<pb/>When the people saw him, they praised their god, saying, <pb/><t>“Our god has delivered our enemy </t><t>into our hands, </t><t>the one who laid waste our land </t><t>and multiplied our slain.” </t>


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<pb/>While they were in high spirits, they shouted, “Bring out Samson to entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison, and he performed for them. <pb/>When they stood him among the pillars,


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Samson said to the servant who held his hand, “Put me where I can feel the pillars that support the temple, so that I may lean against them.”


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Now the temple was crowded with men and women; all the rulers of the Philistines were there, and on the roof were about three thousand men and women watching Samson perform.


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Then Samson prayed to the LORD, “Sovereign LORD, remember me. Please, God, strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes.”


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Then Samson reached toward the two central pillars on which the temple stood. Bracing himself against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other,


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Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” Then he pushed with all his might, and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Thus he killed many more when he died than while he lived.


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<pb/>Then his brothers and his father’s whole family went down to get him. They brought him back and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had led <f>[48]</f> Israel twenty years.


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said to his mother, “The eleven hundred shekels <f>[49]</f> of silver that were taken from you and about which I heard you utter a curse — I have that silver with me; I took it.” <pb/>Then his mother said, “The LORD bless you, my son!”


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<pb/>When he returned the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, she said, “I solemnly consecrate my silver to the LORD for my son to make an image overlaid with silver. I will give it back to you.”


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<pb/>So after he returned the silver to his mother, she took two hundred shekels <f>[50]</f> of silver and gave them to a silversmith, who used them to make the idol. And it was put in Micah’s house.


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<pb/>Now this man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and some household gods and installed one of his sons as his priest.


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left that town in search of some other place to stay. On his way <f>[51]</f> he came to Micah’s house in the hill country of Ephraim.


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<pb/>Micah asked him, “Where are you from?” <pb/>“I’m a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah,” he said, “and I’m looking for a place to stay.”


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<pb/>Then Micah said to him, “Live with me and be my father and priest, and I’ll give you ten shekels <f>[52]</f> of silver a year, your clothes and your food.”


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And Micah said, “Now I know that the LORD will be good to me, since this Levite has become my priest.”


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<pb/>In those days Israel had no king. <pb/>And in those days the tribe of the Danites was seeking a place of their own where they might settle, because they had not yet come into an inheritance among the tribes of Israel.


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So the Danites sent five of their leading men from Zorah and Eshtaol to spy out the land and explore it. These men represented all the Danites. They told them, “Go, explore the land.” <pb/>So they entered the hill country of Ephraim and came to the house of Micah, where they spent the night.


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When they were near Micah’s house, they recognized the voice of the young Levite; so they turned in there and asked him, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? Why are you here?”


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<pb/>Then they said to him, “Please inquire of God to learn whether our journey will be successful.”


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<pb/>So the five men left and came to Laish, where they saw that the people were living in safety, like the Sidonians, at peace and secure. And since their land lacked nothing, they were prosperous. <f>[53]</f> Also, they lived a long way from the Sidonians and had no relationship with anyone else. <f>[54]</f>


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<pb/>When they returned to Zorah and Eshtaol, their fellow Danites asked them, “How did you find things?”


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<pb/>They answered, “Come on, let’s attack them! We have seen the land, and it is very good. Aren’t you going to do something? Don’t hesitate to go there and take it over.


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When you get there, you will find an unsuspecting people and a spacious land that God has put into your hands, a land that lacks nothing whatever.”


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On their way they set up camp near Kiriath Jearim in Judah. This is why the place west of Kiriath Jearim is called Mahaneh Dan <f>[55]</f> to this day.


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<pb/>Then the five men who had spied out the land of Laish said to their fellow Danites, “Do you know that one of these houses has an ephod, some household gods and an image overlaid with silver? Now you know what to do.”


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The five men who had spied out the land went inside and took the idol, the ephod and the household gods while the priest and the six hundred armed men stood at the entrance of the gate.


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<pb/>When the five men went into Micah’s house and took the idol, the ephod and the household gods, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?”


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<pb/>They answered him, “Be quiet! Don’t say a word. Come with us, and be our father and priest. Isn’t it better that you serve a tribe and clan in Israel as priest rather than just one man’s household?”


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The priest was very pleased. He took the ephod, the household gods and the idol and went along with the people.


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Putting their little children, their livestock and their possessions in front of them, they turned away and left.


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<pb/>When they had gone some distance from Micah’s house, the men who lived near Micah were called together and overtook the Danites.


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As they shouted after them, the Danites turned and said to Micah, “What’s the matter with you that you called out your men to fight?”


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<pb/>He replied, “You took the gods I made, and my priest, and went away. What else do I have? How can you ask, ‘What’s the matter with you?’ ”


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<pb/>The Danites answered, “Don’t argue with us, or some of the men may get angry and attack you, and you and your family will lose your lives.”


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So the Danites went their way, and Micah, seeing that they were too strong for him, turned around and went back home.


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<pb/>Then they took what Micah had made, and his priest, and went on to Laish, against a people at peace and secure. They attacked them with the sword and burned down their city.


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There was no one to rescue them because they lived a long way from Sidon and had no relationship with anyone else. The city was in a valley near Beth Rehob. <pb/>The Danites rebuilt the city and settled there.


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They named it Dan after their ancestor Dan, who was born to Israel — though the city used to be called Laish.


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There the Danites set up for themselves the idol, and Jonathan son of Gershom, the son of Moses, <f>[56]</f> and his sons were priests for the tribe of Dan until the time of the captivity of the land.


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<pb/>In those days Israel had no king. <pb/>Now a Levite who lived in a remote area in the hill country of Ephraim took a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah.


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But she was unfaithful to him. She left him and went back to her parents’ home in Bethlehem, Judah. After she had been there four months,


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her husband went to her to persuade her to return. He had with him his servant and two donkeys. She took him into her parents’ home, and when her father saw him, he gladly welcomed him.


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His father-in-law, the woman’s father, prevailed on him to stay; so he remained with him three days, eating and drinking, and sleeping there.


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<pb/>On the fourth day they got up early and he prepared to leave, but the woman’s father said to his son-in-law, “Refresh yourself with something to eat; then you can go.”


