The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete

by Unknown

THE BOOK OF NUMBERS

This fourth Book of Moses is called NUMBERS, because it begins with the numbering of the people. The Hebrews, from its first words, call it VAIEDABBER. It contains the transactions of the Israelites from the second month of the second year after their going out of Egypt, until the beginning of the eleventh month of the fortieth year; that is, a history almost of thirty-nine years.

Numbers Chapter 1

The children of Israel are numbered: the Levites are designed to serve the tabernacle.

1:1. And the Lord spoke to Moses in the desert of Sinai in the tabernacle of the covenant, the first day of the second month, the second year of their going out of Egypt, saying:

1:2. Take the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel by their families, and houses, and the names of every one, as many as are of the male sex,

1:3. From twenty years old and upwards, of all the men of Israel fit for war, and you shall number them by their troops, thou and Aaron.

1:4. And there shall be with you the princes of the tribes, and of the houses in their kindreds,

1:5. Whose names are these: Of Ruben, Elisur the son of Sedeur.

1:6. Of Simeon, Salamiel the son of Surisaddai.

1:7. Of Juda, Nahasson the son of Aminadab.

1:8. Of Issachar, Nathanael the son of Suar.

1:9. Of Zabulon, Eliab the son of Helon.

1:10. And of the sons of Joseph: of Ephraim, Elisama the son of Ammiud: of Manasses, Gamaliel the son of Phadassur.

1:11. Of Benjamin, Abidan the son of Gedeon.

1:12. Of Dan, Ahiezer the son of Ammisaddai.

1:13. Of Aser, Phegiel the son of Ochran.

1:14. Of Gad, Eliasaph the son of Duel.

1:15. Of Nephtali, Ahira the son of Enan.

1:16. These are the most noble princes of the multitude by their tribes and kindreds, and the chiefs of the army of Israel:

1:17. Whom Moses and Aaron took with all the multitude of the common people:

1:18. And assembled them on the first day of the second month, reckoning them up by the kindreds, and houses, and families, and heads, and names of every one from twenty years old and upward,

1:19. As the Lord had commanded Moses. And they were numbered in the desert of Sinai.

1:20. Of Ruben the eldest son of Israel, by their generations and families and houses and names of every head, all that were of the male sex, from twenty years old and upward, that were able to go forth to war,

1:21. Were forty-six thousand five hundred.

1:22. Of the sons of Simeon by their generations and families, and houses of their kindreds, were reckoned up by the names and heads of every one, all that were of the male sex, from twenty years old and upward, that were able to go forth to war,

1:23. Fifty-nine thousand three hundred.

1:24. Of the sons of Gad, by their generations and families and houses of their kindreds were reckoned up by the names of every one from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war,

1:25. Forty-five thousand six hundred and fifty.

1:26. Of the sons of Juda, by their generations and families and houses of their kindreds, by the names of every one from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war,

1:27. Were reckoned up seventy-four thousand six hundred.

1:28. Of the sons of Issachar, by their generations and families and houses of their kindreds, by the names of every one from twenty years old and upward, all that could go forth to war,

1:29. Were reckoned up fifty-four thousand four hundred.

1:30. Of the sons of Zabulon, by the generations and families and houses of their kindreds, were reckoned up by the names of every one from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war,

1:31. Fifty-seven thousand four hundred.

1:32. Of the sons of Joseph, namely, of the sons of Ephraim, by the generations and families and houses of their kindreds, were reckoned up by the names of every one, from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war,

1:33. Forty thousand five hundred.

1:34. Moreover of the sons of Manasses, by the generations and families and houses of their kindreds, were reckoned up by the names of every one from twenty years old and upward, all that could go forth to war,

1:35. Thirty-two thousand two hundred.

1:36. Of the sons of Benjamin, by their generations and families and houses of their kindreds, were reckoned up by the names of every one from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war,

1:37. Thirty-five thousand four hundred.

1:38. Of the sons of Dan, by their generations and families and houses of their kindreds, were reckoned up by the names of every one from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war,

1:39. Sixty-two thousand seven hundred.

1:40. Of the sons of Aser, by their generations and families and houses of their kindreds, were reckoned up by the names of every one from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war,

1:41. Forty-one thousand and five hundred.

1:42. Of the sons of Nephtali, by their generations and families and houses of their kindreds, were reckoned up by the names of every one from twenty years old and upward, were able to go forth to war,

1:43. Fifty-three thousand four hundred.

1:44. These are they who were numbered by Moses and Aaron, and the twelve princes of Israel, every one by the houses of their kindreds.

1:45. And the whole number of the children of Israel by their houses and families, from twenty years old and upward, that were able to go to war,

1:46. Were six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty men.

1:47. But the Levites in the tribes of their families were not numbered with them.

1:48. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

1:49. Number not the tribe of Levi, neither shalt thou put down the sum of them with the children of Israel:

1:50. But appoint them over the tabernacle of the testimony, and all the vessels thereof, and whatsoever pertaineth to the ceremonies. They shall carry the tabernacle and all the furniture thereof: and they shall minister, and shall encamp round about the tabernacle.

1:51. When you are to go forward, the Levites shall take down the tabernacle: when you are to camp, they shall set it up. What stranger soever cometh to it, shall be slain.

1:52. And the children of Israel shall camp every man by his troops and bands and army.

1:53. But the Levites shall pitch their tents round about the tabernacle, lest there come indignation upon the multitude of the children of Israel, and they shall keep watch, and guard the tabernacle of the testimony.

1:54. And the children of Israel did according to all things which the Lord had commanded Moses.

Numbers Chapter 2

The order of the tribes in their camp.

2:1. And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying:

2:2. All the children of Israel shall camp by their troops, ensigns, and standards, and the houses of their kindreds, round about the tabernacle of the covenant.

2:3. On the east Juda shall pitch his tents by the bands of his army: and the prince of his sons; shall be Nahasson the son of Aminadab.

2:4. And the whole sum of the fighting men of his stock, were seventy-four thousand six hundred.

2:5. Next unto him they of the tribe of Issachar encamped, whose prince was Nathanael, the son of Suar.

2:6. And the whole number of his fighting men were fifty-four thousand four hundred.

2:7. In the tribe of Zabulon the prince was Eliab the son of Helon.

2:8. And all the army of fighting men of his stock, were fifty-seven thousand four hundred.

2:9. All that were numbered in the camp of Juda, were a hundred and eighty-six thousand four hundred: and they by their troops shall march first.

2:10. In the camp of the sons of Ruben, on the south side, the prince shall be Elisur the son of Sedeur:

2:11. And the whole army of his fighting men, that were numbered, were forty-six thousand five hundred.

2:12. Beside him camped they of the tribe of Simeon: whose prince was Salamiel the son of Surisaddai.

2:13. And the whole army of his fighting men, that were numbered, were fifty-nine thousand three hundred.

2:14. In the tribe of Gad the prince was Eliasaph the son of Duel.

2:15. And the whole army of his fighting men that were numbered, were forty-five thousand six hundred and fifty.

2:16. All that were reckoned up in the camp of Ruben, were a hundred and fifty-one thousand four hundred and fifty, by their troops: they shall march in the second place.

2:17. And the tabernacle of the testimony shall be carried by the officers of the Levites and their troops. As it shall be set up, so shall it be taken down. Every one shall march according to their places, and ranks.

2:18. On the west side shall be the camp of the sons of Ephraim, whose prince was Elisama the son of Ammiud.

2:19. The whole army of his fighting men, that were numbered, were forty thousand five hundred.

2:20. And with them the tribe of the sons of Manasses, whose prince was Gamaliel the son of Phadassur.

2:21. And the whole army of his fighting men, that were numbered, were thirty-two thousand two hundred.

2:22. In the tribe of the sons of Benjamin the prince was Abidan the son of Gedeon.

2:23. And the whole army of fighting men, that were reckoned up, were thirty-five thousand four hundred.

2:24. All that were numbered in the camp of Ephraim, were a hundred and eight-thousand one hundred by their troops: they shall march in the third place.

2:25. On the north side camped the sons of Dan: whose prince was Ahiezar the son of Ammisaddai.

2:26. The whole army of his fighting men, that were numbered, were sixty-two thousand seven hundred.

2:27. Beside him they of the tribe of Aser pitched their tents: whose prince was Phegiel the son of Ochran.

2:28. The whole army of his fighting men, that were numbered, were forty-one thousand five hundred.

2:29. Of the tribe of the sons of Nephtali the prince was Ahira the son of Enan.

2:30. The whole army of his fighting men, were fifty-three thousand four hundred.

2:31. All that were numbered in the camp of Dan, were a hundred and fifty-seven thousand six hundred: and they shall march last.

2:32. This is the number of the children of Israel, of their army divided according to the houses of their kindreds and their troops, six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty.

2:33. And the Levites were not numbered among the children of Israel: for so the Lord had commanded Moses.

2:34. And the children of Israel did according to all things that the Lord had commanded. They camped by their troops, and marched by the families and houses of their fathers.

Numbers Chapter 3

The Levites are numbered and their offices distinguished. They are taken in the place of the firstborn of the children of Israel.

3:1. These are the generations of Aaron and Moses in the day that the Lord spoke to Moses in mount Sinai.

3:2. And these the names of the sons of Aaron: his firstborn Nadab, then Abiu, and Eleazar, and Ithamar.

3:3. These the names of the sons of Aaron the priests that were anointed, and whose hands were filled and consecrated, to do the functions of priesthood.

3:4. Now Nadab and Abiu died, without children, when they offered strange fire before the Lord, in the desert of Sinai: and Eleazar and Ithamar performed the priestly office in the presence of Aaron their father.

3:5. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

3:6. Bring the tribe of Levi, and make them stand in the sight of Aaron the priest to minister to him, and let them watch,

3:7. And observe whatsoever appertaineth to the service of the multitude before the tabernacle of the testimony,

3:8. And let them keep the vessels of the tabernacle, serving in the ministry thereof.

3:9. And thou shalt give the Levites for a gift,

3:10. To Aaron and to his sons, to whom they are delivered by the children of Israel. But thou shalt appoint Aaron and his sons over the service of priesthood. The stranger that approacheth to minister, shall be put to death.

3:11. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

3:12. I have taken the Levites from the children of Israel, for every firstborn that openeth the womb among the children of Israel, and the Levites shall be mine.

3:13. For every firstborn is mine: since I struck the firstborn in the land of Egypt: I have sanctified to myself whatsoever is firstborn in Israel both of man and beast, they are mine: I am the Lord.

3:14. And the Lord spoke to Moses in the desert of Sinai, saying:

3:15. Number the sons of Levi by the houses of their fathers and their families, every male from one month and upward.

3:16. Moses numbered them as the Lord had commanded.

3:17. And there were found sons of Levi by their names, Gerson and Caath Merari.

3:18. The sons of Gerson: Lebni and Semei.

3:19. The sons of Caath: Amram, and Jesaar, Hebron and Oziel:

3:20. The sons of Merari, Moholi and Musi.

3:21. Of Gerson were two families, the Lebnites, and the Semeites:

3:22. Of which were numbered, people of the male sex from one month and upward, seven thousand five hundred.

3:23. These shall pitch behind the tabernacle on the west,

3:24. Under their prince Eliasaph the son of Lael.

3:25. And their charge shall be in the tabernacle of the covenant:

3:26. The tabernacle itself and the cover thereof, the hanging that is drawn before the doors of the tabernacle of the covenant, and the curtains of the court: the hanging also that is hanged in the entry of the court of the tabernacle, and whatsoever belongeth to the rite of the altar, the cords of the tabernacle, and all the furniture thereof.

3:27. Of the kindred of Caath come the families of the Amramites and Jesaarites and Hebronites and Ozielites. These are the families of the Caathites reckoned up by their names:

3:28. All of the male sex from one month and upward, eight thousand six hundred: they shall have the guard of the sanctuary,

3:29. And shall camp on the south side.

3:30. And their prince shall be Elisaphan the son of Oziel:

3:31. And they shall keep the ark, and the table and the candlestick, the altars, and the vessels of the sanctuary, wherewith they minister, and the veil, and all the furniture of this kind.

3:32. And the prince of the princes of the Levites, Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, shall be over them that watch for the guard of the sanctuary.

3:33. And of Merari are the families of the Moholites, and Musites, reckoned up by their names:

3:34. All of the male kind from one month and upward, six thousand two hundred.

3:35. Their prince Suriel the son of Abihaiel: their shall camp on the north side.

3:36. Under their custody shall be the boards of the tabernacle, and the bars, and the pillars and their sockets, and all things that pertain to this kind of service:

3:37. And the pillars of the court round about with their sockets, and the pins with their cords.

3:38. Before the tabernacle of the covenant, that is to say on the east side shall Moses and Aaron camp, with their sons, having the custody of the sanctuary, in the midst of the children of Israel. What stranger soever cometh unto it, shall be put to death.

3:39. All the Levites, that I Moses and Aaron numbered according to the precept of the Lord, by their f families, of the male kind from one month and upward, were twenty-two thousand.

3:40. And the Lord said to Moses: Number the firstborn of the male sex of the children of Israel, from one month and upward, and thou shalt take the sum of them.

3:41. And thou shalt take the Levites to me for all the firstborn of the children of Israel, I am the Lord: and their cattle for all the firstborn of the cattle of the children of Israel:

3:42. Moses reckoned up, as the Lord had commanded, the firstborn of the children of Israel:

3:43. And the males by their names, from one month and upward, were twenty-two thousand two hundred and seventy-three.

3:44. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

3:45. Take the Levites for the firstborn of the children of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites for their cattle, and the Levites shall be mine. I am the Lord.

3:46. But for the price of the two hundred and seventy-three, of the firstborn of the children of Israel, that exceed the number of the Levites,

3:47. Thou shalt take five sicles for every head, according to the weight of the sanctuary. A sicle hath twenty obols.

3:48. And thou shalt give the money to Aaron and his sons, the price of them that are above.

3:49. Moses therefore took the money of them that were above, and whom they had redeemed from the Levites,

3:50. For the firstborn of the children of Israel, one thousand three hundred and sixty-five sicles, according to the weight of the sanctuary,

3:51. And gave it to Aaron and his sons according to the word that the Lord had commanded him.

Numbers Chapter 4

The age and time of the Levites’ service: their offices and burdens.

4:1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, and Aaron, saying:

4:2. Take the sum of the sons of Caath from the midst of the Levites, by their houses and families.

4:3. From thirty years old and upward, to fifty years old, of all that go in to stand and to minister in the tabernacle of the covenant.

4:4. This is the service of the sons of Caath:

4:5. When the camp is; to set forward, Aaron and his sons shall go into the tabernacle of the covenant, and the holy of holies, and shall take down the veil that hangeth before the door, and shall wrap up the ark of the testimony in it,

4:6. And shall cover it again with a cover of violet skins, and shall spread over it a cloth all of violet, and shall put in the bars.

4:7. They shall wrap up also the table of proposition in a cloth of violet, and shall put with it the censers and little mortars, the cups and bowls to pour out the libations: the loaves shall be always on it:

4:8. And they shall spread over it a cloth of scarlet, which again they shall cover with a covering of violet skins, and shall put in the bars.

4:9. They shall take also a cloth of violet wherewith they shall cover the candlestick with the lamps and tongs thereof and the snuffers and all the oil vessels, which are necessary for the dressing of the lamps:

4:10. And over all they shall put a cover of violet skins and put in the bars.

4:11. And they shall wrap up the golden altar also in a cloth of violet, and shall spread over it a cover of violet skins, and put in the bars.

4:12. All the vessels wherewith they minister in the sanctuary, they shall wrap up in a cloth of violet, and shall spread over it a cover of violet skins, and put in the bars.

4:13. They shall cleanse the altar also from the ashes, and shall wrap it up in a purple cloth,

4:14. And shall put it with all the vessels that they use in the ministry thereof, that is to say, firepans, fleshhooks and forks, pothooks and shovels. They shall cover all the vessels of the altar together with a covering of violet skins, and shall put in the bars.

4:15. And when Aaron and his sons have wrapped up the sanctuary and the vessels thereof at the removing of the camp, then shall the sons of Caath enter in to carry the things wrapped up: and they shall not touch the vessels of the sanctuary, lest they die. These are the burdens of the sons of Caath: in the tabernacle of the covenant:

4:16. And over them shall be Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, to whose charge pertaineth the oil to dress the lamps, and the sweet incense, and the sacrifice, that is always offered, and the oil of unction, and whatsoever pertaineth to the service of the tabernacle, and of all the vessels that are in the sanctuary.

4:17. And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying:

4:18. Destroy not the people of Caath from the midst of the Levites:

4:19. But do this to them, that they may live, and not die, by touching the holies of holies. Aaron and his sons shall go in, and they shall appoint every man his work, and shall divide the burdens that every man is to carry.

4:20. Let not others by any curiosity see the things that are in the sanctuary before they be wrapped up, otherwise they shall die.

4:21. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

4:22. Take the sum of the sons of Gerson also by their houses and families and kindreds.

4:23. From thirty years old and upward, unto fifty years old. Number them all that go in and minister in the tabernacle of the covenant.

4:24. This is the office of the family of the Gersonites:

4:25. To carry the curtains of the tabernacle and the roof of the covenant, the other covering, and the violet covering over all, and the hanging that hangeth in the entry of the tabernacle of the covenant,

4:26. The curtains of the court, and the veil in the entry that is before tabernacle. All things that pertain to the altar, the cords and the vessels of the ministry,

4:27. The sons of Gerson shall carry, by the commandment of Aaron and his sons: and each man shall know to what burden he must be assigned.

4:28. This is the service of the family of the Gersonites in the tabernacle of the covenant, and they shall be under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.

4:29. Thou shalt reckon up the sons of Merari also by the families and houses of their fathers,

4:30. From thirty years old and upward, unto fifty years old, all that go in to the office of their ministry, and to the service of the covenant of the testimony.

4:31. These are their burdens: They shall carry the boards of the tabernacle and the bars thereof, the pillars and their sockets,

4:32. The pillars also of the court round about, with their sockets and pins and cords. They shall receive by account all the vessels and furniture, and so shall carry them.

4:33. This is the office of the family of the Merarites, and their ministry in the tabernacle of the covenant: and they shall be under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.

4:34. So Moses and Aaron and the princes of the synagogue reckoned up the sons of Caath, by their kindreds and the houses of their fathers,

4:35. From thirty years old and upward, unto fifty years old, all that go in to the ministry of the tabernacle of the covenant:

4:36. And they were found two thousand seven hundred and fifty.

4:37. This is the number of the people of Caath that go in to the tabernacle of the covenant: these did Moses and Aaron number according to the word of the Lord by the hand of Moses.

4:38. The sons of Gerson also were numbered by the kindreds and houses of their fathers,

4:39. From thirty years old and upward, unto fifty years old, all that go in to minister in the tabernacle of the covenant:

4:40. And they were found two thousand six hundred and thirty.

4:41. This is the people of the Gersonites, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the word of the Lord.

4:42. The sons of Merari also were numbered by the kindreds and houses of their fathers,

4:43. From thirty years old and upward, unto fifty years old, all that go in to fulfil the rites of the tabernacle of the covenant:

4:44. And they were found three thousand two hundred.

4:45. This is the number of the sons of Merari, whom Moses and Aaron reckoned up according to the commandment of the Lord by the hand of Moses.

4:46. All that were reckoned up of the Levites, and whom Moses and Aaron and the princes of Israel took by name, by the kindreds and houses of their fathers,

4:47. From thirty years old and upward, until fifty years old, that go into the ministry of the tabernacle, and to carry the burdens,

4:48. Were in all eight thousand five hundred and eighty.

4:49. Moses reckoned them up according to the word of the Lord, every one according to their office and burdens, as the Lord had commanded him.

Numbers Chapter 5

The unclean are removed out of the camp: confession of sins, and satisfaction: firstfruits and oblations belonging to the priests: trial of jealousy.

5:1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

5:2. Command the children of Israel, that they cast out of the camp every leper, and whosoever hath an issue of seed, or is defiled by the dead:

5:3. Whether it be man or woman, cast ye them out of the camp, lest they defile it when I shall dwell with you,

5:4. And the children of Israel did so, and they cast them forth without the camp, as the Lord had spoken to Moses.

5:5. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

5:6. Say to the children of Israel: When a man or woman shall have committed any of all the sins that men are wont to commit, and by negligence shall have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and offended,

5:7. They shall confess their sin, and restore the principal itself, and the fifth part over and above, to him against whom they have sinned.

Shall confess.... This confession and satisfaction, ordained in the Old Law, was a figure of the sacrament of penance.

5:8. But if there be no one to receive it, they shall give it to the Lord, and it shall be the priest’s, besides the ram that is offered for expiation, to be an atoning sacrifice.

5:9. All the firstfruits also, which the children of Israel offer, belong to the priest:

5:10. And whatsoever is offered into the sanctuary by every one, and is delivered into the hands of the priest, it shall be his.

5:11. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

5:12. Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: The man whose wife shall have gone astray, and contemning her husband,

5:13. Shall have slept with another man, and her husband cannot discover it, but the adultery is secret, and cannot be proved by witnesses, because she was not found in the adultery:

5:14. If the spirit of jealousy stir up the husband against his wife, who either is defiled, or is charged with false suspicion,

The spirit of jealousy, etc.... This ordinance was designed to clear the innocent, and to prevent jealous husbands from doing mischief to their wives: as likewise to give all a horror of adultery, by punishing it in so remarkable a manner.

5:15. He shall bring her to the priest, and shall offer an oblation for her, the tenth part of a measure of barley meal: he shall not pour oil thereon, nor put frankincense upon it: because it is a sacrifice of jealousy, and an oblation searching out adultery.

5:16. The priest therefore shall offer it, and set it before the Lord.

5:17. And he shall take holy water in an earthen vessel, and he shall cast a little earth of the pavement of the tabernacle into it.

5:18. And when the woman shall stand before the Lord, he shall uncover her head, and shall put on her hands the sacrifice of remembrance, and the oblation of jealousy: and he himself shall hold the most bitter waters, whereon he hath heaped curses with execration.

5:19. And he shall adjure her, and shall say: If another man hath not slept with thee, and if thou be not defiled by forsaking thy husband’s bed, these most bitter waters, on which I have heaped curses, shall not hurt thee.

5:20. But if thou hast gone aside from thy husband, and art defiled, and hast lain with another man:

5:21. These curses shall light upon thee: The Lord make thee a curse, and an example for all among his people: may he make thy thigh to rot, and may thy belly swell and burst asunder.

5:22. Let the cursed waters enter into thy belly, and may thy womb swell and thy thigh rot. And the woman shall answer, Amen, amen.

5:23. And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and shall wash them out with the most bitter waters, upon which he hath heaped the curses,

5:24. And he shall give them her to drink. And when she hath drunk them up,

5:25. The priest shall take from her hand the sacrifice of jealousy, and shall elevate it before the Lord, and shall put it upon the altar: yet so as first,

5:26. To take a handful of the sacrifice of that which is offered, and burn it upon the altar: and so give the most bitter waters to the woman to drink.

5:27. And when she hath drunk them, if she be defiled, and having despised her husband be guilty of adultery, the malediction shall go through her, and her belly swelling, her thigh shall rot: and the woman shall be a curse, and an example to all the people.

5:28. But if she be not defiled, she shall not be hurt, and shall bear children.

5:29. This is the law of jealousy. If a woman hath gone aside from her husband, and be defiled,

5:30. And the husband stirred up by the spirit of jealousy bring her before the Lord, and the priest do to her according to all things that are here written:

5:31. The husband shall be blameless, and she shall bear her iniquity.

Numbers Chapter 6

The law of the Nazarites: the form of blessing the people.

6:1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

6:2. Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: When a man, or woman, shall make a vow to be sanctified, and will consecrate themselves to the Lord:

6:3. They shall abstain from wine, and from every thing that may make a man drunk. They shall not drink vinegar of wine, or of any other drink, nor any thing that is pressed out of the grape: nor shall they eat grapes either fresh or dried.

6:4. All the days that they are consecrated to the Lord by vow: they shall eat nothing that cometh of the vineyard, from the raisin even to the kernel.

6:5. All the time of his separation no razor shall pass over his head, until the day be fulfilled of his consecration to the Lord. He shall be holy, and shall let the hair of his head grow.

6:6. All the time of his consecration he shall not go in to any dead,

6:7. Neither shall he make himself unclean, even for his father, or for his mother, or for his brother, or for his sister, when they die, because the consecration of his God is upon his head.

6:8. All the days of his separation he shall be holy to the Lord.

6:9. But if any man die suddenly before him: the head of his consecration shall be defiled: and he shall shave it forthwith on the same day of his purification, and again on the seventh day.

6:10. And on the eighth day he shall bring two turtles, or two young pigeons to the priest in the entry of the covenant of the testimony.

6:11. And the priest shall offer one for sin, and the other for a holocaust, and shall pray for him, for that he hath sinned by the dead: and he shall sanctify his head that day:

6:12. And shall consecrate to the Lord the days of his separation, offering a lamb of one year for sin: yet so that the former days be made void, because his sanctification was profaned.

6:13. This is the law of consecration. When the days which he had determined by vow shall be expired, he shall bring him to the door of the tabernacle of the covenant,

6:14. And shall offer his oblation to the Lord: one he lamb of a year old without blemish for a holocaust, and one ewe lamb of a year old without blemish for a sin offering, and one ram without blemish for a victim of peace offering,

6:15. A basket also of unleavened bread, tempered with oil, and wafers without leaven anointed with oil, and the libations of each:

6:16. And the priest shall present them before the Lord, and shall offer both the sin offering and the holocaust.

6:17. But the ram he shall immolate for a sacrifice of peace offering to the Lord, offering at the same time the basket of unleavened bread, and the libations that are due by custom.

6:18. Then shall the hair of the consecration of the Nazarite, be shaved off before the door of the tabernacle of the covenant: and he shall take his hair, and lay it upon the fire, which is under the sacrifice of the peace offerings.

6:19. And shall take the boiled shoulder of the ram, and one unleavened cake out of the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and he shall deliver them into the hands of the Nazarite, after his head is shaven.

6:20. And receiving them again from him, he shall elevate them in the sight of the Lord: and they being sanctified shall belong to the priest, as the breast, which was commanded to be separated, and the shoulder. After this the Nazarite may drink wine.

6:21. This is the law of the Nazarite, when he hath vowed his oblation to the Lord in the time of his consecration, besides those things which his hand shall find, according to that which he had vowed in his mind, so shall he do for the fulfilling of his sanctification.

6:22. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

6:23. Say to Aaron and his sons: Thus shall you bless the children of Israel, and you shall say to them:

6:24. The Lord bless thee, and keep thee.

6:25. The Lord shew his face to thee, and have mercy on thee.

6:26. The Lord turn his countenance to thee, and give thee peace.

6:27. And they shall invoke my name upon the children of Israel, and I will bless them.

Numbers Chapter 7

The offerings of the princes at the dedication of the tabernacle. God speaketh to Moses from the propitiatory.

7:1. And it came to pass in the day that Moses had finished the tabernacle, and set it up, and had anointed and sanctified it with all its vessels, the altar likewise and all the vessels thereof,

7:2. The princes of Israel and the heads of the families, in every tribe, who were the rulers of them who had been numbered, offered

7:3. Their gifts before the Lord, six wagons covered, and twelve oxen. Two princes offered one wagon, and each one an ox, and they offered them before the tabernacle.

7:4. And the Lord said to Moses:

7:5. Receive them from them to serve in the ministry of the tabernacle, and thou shalt deliver them to the Levites according to the order of their ministry.

7:6. Moses therefore receiving the wagons and the oxen, delivered them to the Levites.

7:7. Two wagons and four oxen he gave to the sons of Gerson, according to their necessity.

7:8. The other four wagons, and eight oxen he gave to the sons of Merari, according to their offices and service, under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.

7:9. But to the sons of Caath he gave no wagons or oxen: because they serve in the sanctuary and carry their burdens upon their own shoulders.

7:10. And the princes offered for the dedication of the altar on the day when it was anointed, their oblation before the altar.

7:11. And the Lord said to Moses: Let each of the princes one day after another offer their gifts for the dedication of the altar.

7:12. The first day Nahasson the son of Aminadab of the tribe of Juda offered his offering:

7:13. And his offering was a silver dish weighing one hundred and thirty sicles, a silver bowl of seventy sicles according to the weight of the sanctuary, both full of flour tempered with oil for a sacrifice:

7:14. A little mortar of ten sicles of gold full of incense:

7:15. An ox of the herd, and a ram, and lamb of a year old for a holocaust:

7:16. And a buck goat for sin:

7:17. And for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he goats, five lambs of a year old. This was the offering of Nahasson the son of Aminadab.

7:18. The second day Nathanael the son of Suar, prince of the tribe of Issachar, made his offering,

7:19. A silver dish weighing one hundred and thirty sicles, a silver bowl of seventy sicles, according to the weight of the sanctuary, both full of flour tempered with oil for a sacrifice:

7:20. A little mortar of gold weighing ten sicles full of incense:

7:21. An ox of the herd, and a ram, and a lamb of a year old for a holocaust:

7:22. And a buck goat for sin:

7:23. And for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five buck goats, five lambs of a year old. This was the offering of Nathanael the son of Suar.

7:24. The third day the prince of the sons of Zabulon, Eliab the son of Helon,

7:25. Offered a silver dish weighing one hundred and thirty sicles, a silver bowl of seventy sicles by the weight of the sanctuary, both full of flour tempered with oil for a sacrifice:

7:26. A little mortar of gold weighing ten sicles full of incense:

7:27. An ox of the herd, and a ram, and a lamb of a year old for a holocaust:

7:28. And a buck goat for sin:

7:29. And for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five buck goats, five lambs of a year old. This is the oblation of Eliab the son of Helon.

7:30. The fourth day the prince of the sons of Ruben, Elisur the son of Sedeur,

7:31. Offered a silver dish weighing one hundred and thirty sicles, a silver bowl of seventy sicles according to the weight of the sanctuary, both full of flour tempered with oil for a sacrifice:

7:32. A little mortar of gold weighing ten sicles full of incense:

7:33. An ox of the herd, and a ram, and a lamb of a year old, for a holocaust:

7:34. And a buck goat for sin:

7:35. And for victims of peace offerings two oxen, five rams, five buck goats, five lambs of a year old. This was the offering of Elisur the son of Sedeur.

7:36. The fifth day the prince of the sons of Simeon, Salamiel the son of Surisaddai,

7:37. Offered a silver dish weighing one hundred and thirty sicles, a silver bowl of seventy sicles after the weight of the sanctuary, both full of flour tempered with oil for a sacrifice:

7:38. A little mortar of gold weighing ten sicles full of incense:

7:39. An ox of the herd, and a ram, and a lamb of a year old for a holocaust:

7:40. And a buck goat for sin:

7:41. And for sacrifices of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five buck goats, five lambs of a year old. This was the offering of Salamiel the son of Surisaddai.

7:42. The sixth day the prince of the sons of Gad, Eliasaph the son of Duel,

7:43. Offered a silver dish weighing a hundred and thirty sicles, a silver bowl of seventy sicles by the weight of the sanctuary, both full of flour tempered with oil for a sacrifice:

7:44. A little mortar of gold weighing ten sicles full of incense:

7:45. An ox of the herd, and a ram, and a lamb of a year old for a holocaust:

7:46. And a buck goat for sin:

7:47. And for sacrifices of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five buck goats, five lambs of a year old. This was the offering of Eliasaph the son of Duel.

7:48. The seventh day the prince of the sons of Ephraim, Elisama the son of Ammiud,

7:49. Offered a silver dish weighing a hundred and thirty sicles, a silver bowl of seventy sicles according to the weight of the sanctuary, both full of flour tempered with oil for a sacrifice:

7:50. A little mortar of gold weighing ten sicles full of incense:

7:51. An ox of the herd, and a ram, and a lamb of a year old for a holocaust:

7:52. And a buck goat for sin:

7:53. And for sacrifices of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five buck goats, five lambs of a year old. This was the offering of Elisama the son of Ammiud.

7:54. The eighth day the prince of the sons of Manasses, Gamaliel the son of Phadassur,

7:55. Offered a silver dish, weighing a hundred and thirty sicles, a silver bowl of seventy sicles, according to the weight of the sanctuary, both full of flour tempered with oil for a sacrifice:

7:56. A little mortar of gold weighing ten sicles full of incense:

7:57. An ox of the herd, and a ram, and a lamb of a year old for a holocaust:

7:58. And a buck goat for sin:

7:59. And for sacrifices of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five buck goats, five lambs of a year old. This was the offering of Gamaliel the son of Phadassur.

7:60. The ninth day the prince of the sons of Benjamin, Abidan the son of Gedeon,

7:61. Offered a silver dish weighing a hundred and thirty sicles, a silver bowl of seventy sicles by the weight of the sanctuary, both full of flour tempered with oil for a sacrifice:

7:62. A little mortar of gold weighing ten sicles full of incense:

7:63. An ox of the herd, and a ram, and a lamb of a year old for a holocaust:

7:64. And a buck goat for sin:

7:65. And for sacrifices of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five buck goats, five lambs of a year old. This was the offering of Abidan the son of Gedeon.

7:66. The tenth day the princes of the sons of Dan, Ahiezer the son of Ammisaddai,

7:67. Offered a silver dish weighing a hundred and thirty sicles, a silver bowl of seventy sicles, according to the weight of the sanctuary, both full of flour tempered with oil for a sacrifice:

7:68. A little mortar of gold weighing ten sicles full of incense:

7:69. An ox of the herd, and a ram, and a lamb of a year old for a holocaust:

7:70. And a buck goat for sin:

7:71. And for sacrifices of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five buck goats, five lambs of a year old. This was the offering of Ahiezer the son of Ammisaddai.

7:72. The eleventh day the prince of the sons of Aser, Phegiel the son of Ochran,

7:73. Offered a silver dish weighing a hundred and thirty sicles, a silver bowl of seventy sicles, according to the weight of the sanctuary, both full of flour tempered with oil for a sacrifice:

7:74. A little mortar of gold weighing ten sicles full of incense:

7:75. An ox of the herd, and a ram, and a lamb of a year old for a holocaust:

7:76. And a buck goat for sin:

7:77. And for sacrifices of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five buck goats, five lambs of a year old. This was the offering of Phegiel the son of Ochran.

7:78. The twelfth day the prince of the sons of Nephtali, Ahira the son of Enan,

7:79. Offered a silver dish weighing a hundred and thirty sicles, a silver bowl of seventy sicles, according to the weight of the sanctuary, both full of flour tempered with oil for a sacrifice:

7:80. A little mortar of gold weighing ten sicles full of incense:

7:81. An ox of the herd, and a ram, and a lamb of a year old for a holocaust:

7:82. And a buck goat for sin:

7:83. And for sacrifices of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five buck goats, five lambs of a year old. This was the offering of Ahira the son of Enan.

7:84. These were the offerings made by the princes of Israel in the dedication of the altar, in the day wherein it was consecrated. Twelve dishes of silver: twelve silver bowls: twelve little mortars of gold:

7:85. Each dish weighing a hundred and thirty sicles of silver, and each bowl seventy sicles: that is, putting all the vessels of silver together, two thousand four hundred sicles, by the weight of the sanctuary.

7:86. Twelve little mortars of gold full of incense, weighing ten sicles apiece, by the weight of the sanctuary: that is, in all a hundred and twenty sicles of gold.

7:87. Twelve oxen out of the herd for a holocaust, twelve rams, twelve lambs of a year old, and their libations: twelve buck goats for sin.

7:88. And for sacrifices of peace offerings, oxen twenty-four, rams sixty, buck goats sixty, lambs of a year old sixty. These things were offered in the dedication of the altar, when it was anointed.

7:89. And when Moses entered into the tabernacle of the covenant, to consult the oracle, he heard the voice of one speaking to him from the propitiatory, that is over the ark between the two cherubims, and from this place he spoke to him.

Numbers Chapter 8

The seven lamps are placed on the golden candlestick, to shine towards the loaves of proposition: the ordination of the Levites: and to what age they shall serve in the tabernacle.

8:1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

8:2. Speak to Aaron, and thou shalt say to him: When thou shalt place the seven lamps, let the candlestick be set up on the south side. Give orders therefore that the lamps look over against the north, towards the table of the loaves of proposition, over against that part shall they give light, towards which the candlestick looketh.

8:3. And Aaron did so, and he put the lamps upon the candlestick, as the Lord had commanded Moses.

8:4. Now this was the work of the candlestick, it was of beaten gold, both the shaft in the middle, and all that came out of both sides of the branches: according to the pattern which the Lord had shewn to Moses, so he made the candlestick.

8:5. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

8:6. Take the Levites out of the midst of the children of Israel, and thou shalt purify them,

8:7. According to this rite: Let them be sprinkled with the water of purification, and let them shave all the hairs of their flesh. And when they shall have washed their garments, and are cleansed,

Let them be sprinkled with the water of purification.... This was the holy water mixed with the ashes of the red cow, Num. 19., appointed for purifying all that were unclean. It was a figure of the blood of Christ, applied to our souls by his holy sacraments.

8:8. They shall take an ox of the herd, and for the offering thereof fine flour tempered with oil: and thou shalt take another ox of the herd for a sin offering:

8:9. And thou shalt bring the Levites before the tabernacle of the covenant, calling together all the multitude of the children of Israel:

8:10. And when the Levites are before the Lord, the children of Israel shall put their hands upon them:

8:11. And Aaron shall offer the Levites, as a gift in the sight of the Lord from the children of Israel, that they may serve in his ministry.

8:12. The Levites also shall put their hands upon the heads of the oxen, of which thou shalt sacrifice one for sin, and the other for a holocaust to the Lord, to pray for them.

8:13. And thou shalt set the Levites in the sight of Aaron and of his, and shalt consecrate them being offered to the Lord,

8:14. And shalt separate them from the midst of the children of Israel, to be mine.

8:15. And afterwards they shall enter into the tabernacle of the covenant, to serve me. And thus shalt thou purify and consecrate them for an oblation of the Lord: for as a gift they were given me by the children of Israel.

8:16. I have taken them instead of the firstborn that open every womb in Israel,

8:17. For all the firstborn of the children of Israel, both of men and of beasts, are mine. From the day that I slew every firstborn in the land of Egypt, have I sanctified them to myself:

8:18. And I have taken the Levites for all the firstborn of the children of Israel:

8:19. And have delivered them for a gift to Aaron and his sons out of the midst of the people, to serve me for Israel in the tabernacle of the covenant, and to pray for them, lest there should be a plague among the people, if they should presume to approach unto my sanctuary.

8:20. And Moses and Aaron and all the multitude of the children of Israel did with the Levites all that the Lord had commanded Moses:

8:21. And they were purified, and washed their garments. And Aaron lifted them up in the sight of the Lord, and prayed for them,

8:22. That being purified they might go into the tabernacle of the covenant to do their services before Aaron and his sons. As the Lord had commanded Moses touching the Levites, so was it done.

8:23. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

8:24. This is the law of the Levites: From twenty-five years old and upwards, they shall go in to minister in the tabernacle of the covenant.

8:25. And when they shall have accomplished the fiftieth year of their age, they shall cease to serve:

8:26. And they shall be the ministers of their brethren in the tabernacle of the covenant, to keep the things that are committed to their care, but not to do the works. Thus shalt thou order the Levites touching their charge.

Numbers Chapter 9

The precept of the pasch is renewed: the unclean and travellers are to observe it the second month: the camp is guided by the pillar of the cloud.

9:1. The Lord spoke to Moses in the desert of Sinai, the second year after they were come out of the land of Egypt, in the first month, saying:

9:2. Let the children of Israel make the phase in its due time,

Make the phase.... That is, keep the paschal solemnity, and eat the paschal lamb.

9:3. The fourteenth day of this month in the evening, according to all the ceremonies and justifications thereof.

9:4. And Moses commanded the children of Israel that they should make the phase.

9:5. And they made it in its proper time: the fourteenth day of the month at evening, in mount Sinai. The children of Israel did according to all things that the Lord had commanded Moses.

9:6. But behold some who were unclean by occasion of the soul of a man, who could not make the phase on that day, coming to Moses and Aaron,

Behold some who were unclean by occasion of the soul of a man, etc.... That is, by having touched or come near a dead body, out of which the soul was departed.

9:7. Said to them: We are unclean by occasion of the soul of a man. Why are we kept back that we may not offer in its season the offering to the Lord among the children of Israel?

9:8. And Moses answered them: Stay that I may consult the Lord what he will ordain concerning you.

9:9. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

9:10. Say to the children of Israel: The man that shall be unclean by occasion of one that is dead, or shall be in a journey afar off in your nation, let him make the phase to the Lord.

9:11. In the second month, on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening, they shall eat it with unleavened bread and wild lettuce:

9:12. They shall not leave any thing thereof until morning, nor break a bone thereof, they shall observe all the ceremonies of the phase.

9:13. But if any man is clean, and was not on a journey, and did not make the phase, that soul shall be cut off from among his people, because he offered not sacrifice to the Lord in due season: he shall bear his sin.

9:14. The sojourner also and the stranger if they be among you, shall make the phase to the Lord according to the ceremonies and justifications thereof. The same ordinances shall be with you both for the stranger, and for him that was born in the land.

9:15. Now on the day that the tabernacle was reared up, a cloud covered it. But from the evening there was over the tabernacle, as it were, the appearance of fire until the morning.

9:16. So it was always: by day the cloud covered it, and by night as it were the appearance of fire.

9:17. And when the cloud that covered the tabernacle was taken up, then the children of Israel marched forward: and in the place where the cloud stood still, there they camped.

9:18. At the commandment of the Lord they marched, and at his commandment they pitched the tabernacle. All the days that the cloud abode over the tabernacle, they remained in the same place:

9:19. And if it was so that it continued over it a long time, the children of Israel kept the watches of the Lord, and marched not,

9:20. For as many days soever as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle. At the commandment of the Lord they pitched their tents, and at his commandment they took them down.

9:21. If the cloud tarried from evening until morning, and immediately at break of day left the tabernacle, they marched forward: and if it departed after a day and a night, they took down their tents.

9:22. But if it remained over the tabernacle for two days or a month or a longer time, the children of Israel remained in the same place, and marched not: but immediately as soon as it departed, they removed the camp.

9:23. By the word of the Lord they pitched their tents, and by his word they marched: and kept the watches of the Lord according to his commandment by the hand of Moses.

Numbers Chapter 10

The silver trumpets and their use. They march from Sinai.

10:1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

10:2. Make thee two trumpets of beaten silver, wherewith thou mayest call together the multitude when the camp is to be removed.

10:3. And when thou shalt sound the trumpets, all the multitude shall gather unto thee to the door of the tabernacle of the covenant.

10:4. If thou sound but once, the princes and the heads of the multitude of Israel shall come to thee.

10:5. But if the sound of the trumpets be longer, and with interruptions, they that are on the east side, shall first go forward.

10:6. And at the second sounding and like noise of the trumpet, they who lie on the south side shall take up their tents. And after this manner shall the rest do, when the trumpets shall sound for a march.

10:7. But when the people is to be gathered together, the sound of the trumpets shall be plain, and they shall not make a broken sound.

10:8. And the sons of Aaron the priest shall sound the trumpets: and this shall be an ordinance for ever in your generations.

10:9. If you go forth to war out of your land against the enemies that fight against you, you shall sound aloud with the trumpets, and there shall be a remembrance of you before the Lord your God, that you may be delivered out of the hands of your enemies.

10:10. If at any time you shall have a banquet, and on your festival days, and on the first days of your months, you shall sound the trumpets over the holocausts, and the sacrifices of peace offerings, that they may be to you for a remembrance of your God. I am the Lord your God.

10:11. The second year, in the second month, the twentieth day of the month, the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle of the covenant.

10:12. And the children of Israel marched by their troops from the desert of Sinai, and the cloud rested in the wilderness of Pharan.

10:13. And the first went forward according to the commandment of the Lord by the hand of Moses.

10:14. The sons of Juda by their troops: whose prince was Nahasson the son of Aminadab.

10:15. In the tribe of the sons of Issachar, the prince was Nathanael the son of Suar.

10:16. In the tribe of Zabulon, the prince was Eliab the son of Helon.

10:17. And the tabernacle was taken down, and the sons of Gerson and Merari set forward, bearing it.

10:18. And the sons of Ruben also marched, by their troops and ranks, whose prince was Helisur the son of Sedeur.

10:19. And in the tribe of Simeon, the prince was Salamiel the son of Surisaddai.

10:20. And in the tribe of Gad, the prince was Eliasaph the son of Duel.

10:21. Then the Caathites also marched carrying the sanctuary. So long was the tabernacle carried, till they came to the place of setting it up.

10:22. The sons of Ephraim also moved their camp by their troops, in whose army the prince was Elisama the son of Ammiud.

10:23. And in the tribe of the sons of Manasses, the prince was Gamaliel the son of Phadassur.

10:24. And in the tribe of Benjamin, the prince was Abidan the son of Gedeon.

10:25. The last of all the camp marched the sons of Dan by their troops, in whose army the prince was Ahiezer the son of Ammisaddai.

10:26. And in the tribe of the sons of Aser, the prince was Phegiel the son of Ochran.

10:27. And in the tribe of the sons of Nephtali, the prince was Ahira the son of Enan.

10:28. This was the order of the camps, and marches of the children of Israel by their troops, when they set forward.

10:29. And Moses said to Hobab the son of Raguel the Madianite, his kinsman: We are going towards the place which the Lord will give us: come with us, that we may do thee good: for the Lord hath promised good things to Israel.

10:30. But he answered him: I will not go with thee, but I will return to my country, wherein I was born.

10:31. And he said: Do not leave us: for thou knowest in what places we should encamp in the wilderness, and thou shalt be our guide.

10:32. And if thou comest with us, we will give thee what is the best of the riches which the Lord shall deliver to us.

10:33. So they marched from the mount of the Lord three days’ journey, and the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them, for three days providing a place for the camp.

10:34. The cloud also of the Lord was over them by day when they marched.

10:35. And when the ark was lifted up, Moses said: Arise, O Lord, and let thy enemies be scattered, and let them that hate thee, flee from before thy face.

10:36. And when it was set down, he said: Return, O Lord, to the multitude of the host of Israel.

Numbers Chapter 11

The people murmur and are punished with fire. God appointeth seventy ancients for assistants to Moses. They prophesy. The people have their fill of flesh, but forthwith many die of the plague.

11:1. In the mean time there arose a murmuring of the people against the Lord, as it were repining at their fatigue. And when the Lord heard it he was angry. And the fire of the Lord being kindled against them, devoured them that were at the uttermost part of the camp.

11:2. And when the people cried to Moses, Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire was swallowed up.

11:3. And he called the name of that place, The burning: for that the fire of the Lord had been kindled against them.

The burning.... Hebrew, Taberah.

11:4. For a mixt multitude of people, that came up with them, burned with desire, sitting and weeping, the children of Israel also being joined with them, and said: Who shall give us flesh to eat?

A mixt multitude.... These were people that came with them out of Egypt, who were not of the race of Israel; who, by their murmuring, drew also the children of Israel to murmur: this should teach us the danger of associating ourselves with the children of Egypt, that is, with the lovers and admirers of this wicked world.

11:5. We remember the fish that we ate in Egypt free cost: the cucumbers come into our mind, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic.

11:6. Our soul is dry, our eyes behold nothing else but manna.

11:7. Now the manna was like coriander seed, of the colour of bdellium.

Bdellium.... Bdellium, according to Pliny, 1.21, c. 9. was of the colour of a man’s nail, white and bright.

11:8. And the people went about, and gathering it, ground it in a mill, or beat it in a mortar, and boiled it in a pot, and made cakes thereof of the taste of bread tempered with oil.

11:9. And when the dew fell in the night upon the camp, the manna also fell with it.

11:10. Now Moses heard the people weeping by their families, every one at the door of his tent. And the wrath of the Lord was exceedingly enkindled: to Moses also the thing seemed insupportable.

11:11. And he said to the Lord: Why hast thou afflicted thy servant? Wherefore do I not find favour before thee? And why hast thou laid the weight of all this people upon me?

11:12. Have I conceived all this multitude, or begotten them, that thou shouldst say to me: Carry them in thy bosom as the nurse is wont to carry the little infant, and bear them into the land, for which thou hast sworn to their fathers?

11:13. Whence should I have flesh to give to so great a multitude? They weep against me, saying: Give us flesh that we may eat.

11:14. I am not able alone to bear all this people, because it is too heavy for me.

11:15. But if it seem unto thee otherwise, I beseech thee to kill me, and let me find grace in thy eyes, that I be not afflicted with so great evils.

11:16. And the Lord said to Moses: Gather unto me seventy men of the ancients of Israel, whom thou knowest to be ancients and masters of the people: and thou shalt bring them to the door of the tabernacle of the covenant, and shalt make them stand there with thee,

Seventy men.... This was the first institution of the council or senate, called the Sanhedrin, consisting of seventy or seventy-two senators or counsellors.

11:17. That I may come down and speak with thee: and I will take of thy spirit, and will give to them, that they may bear with thee the burden of the people, and thou mayest not be burthened alone.

11:18. And thou shalt say to the people: Be ye sanctified: to morrow you shall eat flesh: for I have heard you say: Who will give us flesh to eat? It was well with us in Egypt. That the Lord may give you flesh, and you may eat:

11:19. Not for one day, nor two, nor five, nor ten, no nor for twenty.

11:20. But even for a month of days, till it come out at your nostrils, and become loathsome to you, because you have cast off the Lord, who is in the midst of you, and have wept before him, saying: Why came we out of Egypt?

11:21. And Moses said: There are six hundred thousand footmen of this people, and sayest thou: I will give them flesh to eat a whole month?

11:22. Shall then a multitude of sheep and oxen be killed, that it may suffice for their food? or shall the fishes of the sea be gathered together to fill them?

11:23. And the Lord answered him: Is the hand of the Lord unable? Thou shalt presently see whether my word shall come to pass or no.

11:24. Moses therefore came, and told the people the words of the Lord, and assembled seventy men of the ancients of Israel, and made them to stand about the tabernacle.

11:25. And the Lord came down in a cloud, and spoke to him, taking away of the spirit that was in Moses, and giving to the seventy men. And when the spirit had rested on them they prophesied, nor did they cease afterwards.

11:26. Now there remained in the camp two of the men, of whom one was called Eldad, and the other Medad, upon whom the spirit rested; for they also had been enrolled, but were not gone forth to the tabernacle.

11:27. And when they prophesied in the camp, there ran a young man, and told Moses, saying: Eldad and Medad prophesy in the camp.

11:28. Forthwith Josue the son of Nun, the minister of Moses, and chosen out of many, said: My lord Moses forbid them.

11:29. But he said: Why hast thou emulation for me? O that all the people might prophesy, and that the Lord would give them his spirit!

11:30. And Moses returned, with the ancients of Israel, into the camp.

11:31. And a wind going out from the Lord, taking quails up beyond the sea brought them, and cast them into the camp for the space of one day’s journey, on every side of the camp round about, and they flew in the air two cubits high above the ground.

11:32. The people therefore rising up all that day, and night, and the next day, gathered together of quails, he that did least, ten cores: and they dried them round about the camp.

11:33. As yet the flesh was between their teeth, neither had that kind of meat failed: when behold the wrath of the Lord being provoked against the people, struck them with an exceeding great plague.

11:34. And that place was called, The graves of lust: for there they buried the people that had lusted. And departing from the graves of lust, they came unto Haseroth, and abode there.

The graves of lust.... Or, the sepulchres of concupiscence: so called from their irregular desire of flesh. In Hebrew, Kibroth. Hattaavah.

Numbers Chapter 12

Mary and Aaron murmur against Moses, whom God praiseth above other prophets. Mary being struck with leprosy, Aaron confesseth his fault. Moses prayeth for her, and after seven days’ separation from the camp, she is restored.

12:1. And Mary and Aaron spoke against Moses, because of his wife the Ethiopian,

Ethiopian.... Sephora the wife of Moses was of Madian, which bordered upon the land of Chus or Ethiopia: where note, that the Ethiopia here spoken of is not that of Africa but that of Arabia.

12:2. And they said: Hath the Lord spoken by Moses only? Hath he not also spoken to us in like manner? And when the Lord heard this,

12:3. (For Moses was a man exceeding meek above all men that dwelt upon earth)

Exceeding meek.... Moses being the meekest of men, would not contend for himself; therefore, God inspired him to write here his own defence: and the Holy Spirit, whose dictate he wrote, obliged him to declare the truth, though it was so much to his own praise.

12:4. Immediately he spoke to him, and to Aaron and Mary: Come out you three only to the tabernacle of the covenant. And when they were come out,

12:5. The Lord came down in a pillar of the cloud, and stood in the entry of the tabernacle calling to Aaron and Mary. And when they were come,

12:6. He said to them: Hear my words: if there be among you a prophet of the Lord, I will appear to him in a vision, or I will speak to him in a dream.

12:7. But it is not so with my servant Moses who is most faithful in all my house:

12:8. For I speak to him mouth to mouth: and plainly, and not by riddles and figures doth he see the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak ill of my servant Moses?

12:9. And being angry with them he went away:

12:10. The cloud also that was over the tabernacle departed: and behold Mary appeared white as snow with a leprosy. And when Aaron had looked on her, and saw her all covered with leprosy,

12:11. He said to Moses: I beseech thee, my lord, lay not upon us this sin, which we have foolishly committed:

12:12. Let her not be as one dead, and as an abortive that is cast forth from the mother’s womb. Lo, now one half of her flesh is consumed with the leprosy.

12:13. And Moses cried to the Lord, saying O God, I beseech thee heal her.

12:14. And the Lord answered him: If her father had spitten upon her face, ought she not to have been ashamed for seven days at least? Let her be separated seven days without the camp, and afterwards she shall be called again.

12:15. Mary therefore was put out of the camp seven days: and the people moved not from that place until Mary was called again.

Numbers Chapter 13

The twelve spies are sent to view the land. The relation they make of it.

13:1. And the people marched from Haseroth, and pitched their tents in the desert of Pharan.

13:2. And there the Lord spoke to Moses, saying.

13:3. Send men to view the land of Chanaan, which I will give to the children of Israel, one of every tribe, of the rulers.

13:4. Moses did what the Lord had commanded, sending from the desert of Pharan, principal men, whose names are these:

13:5. Of the tribe of Ruben, Sammua the son of Zechur.

13:6. Of the tribe of Simeon, Saphat the son of Huri.

13:7. Of the tribe of Juda, Caleb the son of Jephone.

13:8. Of the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph.

13:9. Of the tribe of Ephraim, Osee the son of Nun.

13:10. Of the tribe of Benjamin, Phalti the son of Raphu.

13:11. Of the tribe of Zabulon, Geddiel the son of Sodi.

13:12. Of the tribe of Joseph, of the sceptre of Manasses, Gaddi the son of Susi.

13:13. Of the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli.

13:14. Of the tribe of Aser, Sthur the son of Michael.

13:15. Of the tribe of Nephtali, Nahabi the son of Vapsi.

13:16. Of the tribe of Gad, Guel the son of Machi.

13:17. These are the names of the men, whom Moses sent to view the land: and he called Osee the son of Nun, Josue.

13:18. And Moses sent them to view the land of Chanaan, and said to them: Go you up by the south side. And when you shall come to the mountains,

13:19. View the land, of what sort it is, and the people that are the inhabitants thereof, whether they be strong or weak: few in number or many:

13:20. The land itself, whether it be good or bad: what manner of cities, walled or without walls:

13:21. The ground, fat or barren, woody or without trees. Be of good courage, and bring us of the fruits of the land. Now it was the time when the firstripe grapes are fit to be eaten.

13:22. And when they were gone up, they viewed the land from the desert of Sin, unto Rohob as you enter into Emath.

13:23. And they went up at the south side, and came to Hebron, where were Achiman and Sisai and Tholmai the sons of Enac. For Hebron was built seven years before Tanis the city of Egypt.

13:24. And going forward as far as the torrent of the cluster of grapes, they cut off a branch with its cluster of grapes, which two men carried upon a lever. They took also of the pomegranates and of the figs of that place:

13:25. Which was called Nehelescol, that is to say, the torrent of the cluster of grapes, because from thence the children of Israel had carried a cluster of grapes.

13:26. And they that went to spy out the land returned after forty days, having gone round all the country,

13:27. And came to Moses and Aaron and to all the assembly of the children of Israel to the desert of Pharan, which is in Cades. And speaking to them and to all the multitude, they shewed them the fruits of the land:

13:28. And they related and said: We came into the land to which thou sentest us, which in very deed floweth with milk and honey as may be known by these fruits:

13:29. But it hath very strong inhabitants, and the cities are great and walled. We saw there the race of Enac.

13:30. Amalec dwelleth in the south, the Hethite and the Jebusite and the Amorrhite in the mountains: but the Chanaanite abideth by the sea and near the streams of the Jordan.

13:31. In the mean time Caleb, to still the murmuring of the people that rose against Moses, said: Let us go up and possess the land, for we shall be able to conquer it.

13:32. But the others, that had been with him, said: No, we are not able to go up to this people, because they are stronger than we.

13:33. And they spoke ill of the land, which they had viewed, before the children of Israel, saying: The land which we have viewed, devoureth its inhabitants: the people, that we beheld are of a tall stature.

Spoke ill, etc.... These men, who by their misrepresentations of the land of promise, discouraged the Israelites from attempting the conquest of it, were a figure of worldlings, who, by decrying or misrepresenting true devotion, discourage Christians from seeking in earnest and acquiring so great a good, and thereby securing to themselves a happy eternity.

13:34. There we saw certain monsters of the sons of Enac, of the giant kind: in comparison of whom, we seemed like locusts.

Numbers Chapter 14

The people murmur. God threateneth to destroy them. He is appeased by Moses, yet so as to exclude the murmurers from entering the promised land. The authors of the sedition are struck dead. The rest going to fight against the will of God are beaten.

14:1. Therefore the whole multitude crying wept that night.

14:2. And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron, saying:

14:3. Would God that we had died in Egypt: and would God we may die in this vast wilderness, and that the Lord may not bring us into this land, lest we fall by the sword, and our wives and children be led away captives. Is it not better to return into Egypt?

14:4. And they said one to another: Let us appoint a captain, and let us return into Egypt.

14:5. And when Moses and Aaron heard this, they fell down flat upon the ground before the multitude of the children of Israel.

14:6. But Josue the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephone, who themselves also had viewed the land, rent their garments,

14:7. And said to all the multitude of the children of Israel: The land which we have gone round is very good:

14:8. If the Lord be favourable, he will bring us into it, and give us a land flowing with milk and honey.

14:9. Be not rebellious against the Lord: and fear ye not the people of this land, for we are able to eat them up as bread. All aid is gone from them: the Lord is with us, fear ye not.

14:10. And when all the multitude cried out, and would have stoned them, the glory of the Lord appeared over the tabernacle of the covenant to all the children of Israel.

14:11. And the Lord said to Moses: How long will this people detract me? how long will they not believe me for all the signs that I have wrought before them?

14:12. I will strike them therefore with pestilence, and will consume them: but thee I will make a ruler over a great nation, and a mightier than this is.

14:13. And Moses said to the Lord: That the Egyptians, from the midst of whom thou hast brought forth this people,

14:14. And the inhabitants of this land, (who have heard that thou, O Lord, art among this people, and art seen face to face, and thy cloud protecteth them, and thou goest before them in a pillar of a cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night,)

14:15. May hear that thou hast killed so great a multitude as it were one man and may say:

14:16. He could not bring the people into the land for which he had sworn, therefore did he kill them in the wilderness.

14:17. Let then the strength of the Lord be magnified, as thou hast sworn, saying:

14:18. The Lord is patient and full of mercy, by taking away iniquity and wickedness, and leaving no man clear, who visitest the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.

Clear.... i. e., who deserves punishment.

14:19. Forgive, I beseech thee, the sins of this people, according to the greatness of thy mercy, as thou hast been merciful to them from their going out of Egypt unto this place.

14:20. And the Lord said: I have forgiven according to thy word.

14:21. As I live: and the whole earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.

14:22. But yet all the men that have seen my majesty, and the signs that I have done in Egypt, and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now ten times, and have not obeyed my voice,

14:23. Shall not see the land for which I swore to their fathers, neither shall any one of them that hath detracted me behold it.

14:24. My servant Caleb, who being full of another spirit hath followed me, I will bring into this land which he hath gone round: and his seed shall possess it.

14:25. For the Amalecite and the Chanaanite dwell in the valleys. To morrow remove the camp, and return into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea.

14:26. And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying:

14:27. How long doth this wicked multitude murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel.

14:28. Say therefore to them: As I live, saith the Lord: According as you have spoken in my hearing, so will I do to you.

14:29. In the wilderness shall your carcasses lie. All you that were numbered from twenty years old and upward, and have murmured against me,

14:30. Shall not enter into the land, over which I lifted up my hand to make you dwell therein, except Caleb the son of Jephone, and Josue the son of Nun.

14:31. But your children, of whom you said, that they should be a prey to the enemies, will I bring in: that they may see the land which you have despised.

14:32. Your carcasses shall lie in the wilderness.

14:33. Your children shall wander in the desert forty years, and shall bear your fornication, until the carcasses of their fathers be consumed in the desert,

Shall bear your fornication.... That is, shall bear the punishment of your disloyalty to God, which in the scripture language is here called a fornication, in a spiritual sense.

14:34. According to the number of the forty days, wherein you viewed the land: a year shall be counted for a day. And forty years you shall receive your iniquities, and shall know my revenge:

14:35. For as I have spoken, so will I do to all this wicked multitude, that hath risen up together against me: in this wilderness shall it faint away and die.

14:36. Therefore all the men, whom Moses had sent to view the land, and who at their return had made the whole multitude to murmur against him, speaking ill of the land that it was naught,

14:37. Died and were struck in the sight of the Lord.

14:38. But Josue the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephone lived, of all them that had gone to view the land.

14:39. And Moses spoke all these words to all the children of Israel, and the people mourned exceedingly.

14:40. And behold rising up very early in the morning, they went up to the top of the mountain, and said: We are ready to go up to the place, of which the Lord hath spoken: for we have sinned.

14:41. And Moses said to them: Why transgress you the word of the Lord, which shall not succeed prosperously with you?

14:42. Go not up, for the Lord is not with you: lest you fall before your enemies.

14:43. The Amalecite and the Chanaanite are before you, and by their sword you shall fall, because you would not consent to the Lord, neither will the Lord be with you.

14:44. But they being blinded went up to the top of the mountain. But the ark of the testament of the Lord and Moses departed not from the camp.

14:45. And the Amalecite came down, and the Chanaanite that dwelt in the mountain: and smiting and slaying them pursued them as far as Horma.

Numbers Chapter 15

Certain laws concerning sacrifices. Sabbath breaking is punished with death. The law of fringes on their garments.

15:1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

15:2. Speak to the children of Israel and thou shalt say to them: When you shall be come unto the land of your habitation, which I will give you,

15:3. And shall make an offering to the Lord, for a holocaust, or a victim, paying your vows, or voluntarily offering gifts, or in your solemnities burning a sweet savour unto the Lord, of oxen or of sheep:

15:4. Whosoever immolateth the victim, shall offer a sacrifice of fine flour, the tenth part of an ephi, tempered with the fourth part of a hin of oil:

15:5. And he shall give the same measure of wine to pour out in libations for the holocaust or for the victim. For every lamb,

15:6. And for every ram there shall be a sacrifice of flour of two tenths, which shall be tempered with the third part of a hin of oil:

15:7. And he shall offer the third part the same measure of wine for the libation, for a sweet savour to the Lord.

15:8. But when thou offerest a holocaust or sacrifice of oxen, to fulfil thy vow or for victims of peace offerings,

15:9. Thou shalt give for every ox three tenths of flour tempered with half a hin of oil,

15:10. And wine for libations of the same measure, for an offering of most sweet savour to the Lord.

15:11. Thus shalt thou do

15:12. For every ox and ram and lamb and kid.

15:13. Both they that are born in the land, and the strangers

15:14. Shall offer sacrifices after the same rite.

15:15. There shall be all one law and judgment both for you and for them who are strangers in the land.

15:16. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

15:17. Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them:

15:18. When you are come into the land which I will give you,

15:19. And shall eat of the bread of that country, you shall separate firstfruits to the Lord,

15:20. Of the things you eat. As you separate firstfruits of your barnfloors:

15:21. So also shall you give firstfruits of your dough to the Lord.

15:22. And if through ignorance you omit any of these things, which the Lord hath spoken to Moses,

15:23. And by him hath commanded you from the day that he began to command and thenceforward,

15:24. And the multitude have forgotten to do it: they shall offer a calf out of the herd, a holocaust for a most sweet savour to the Lord, and the sacrifice and libations thereof, as the ceremonies require, and a buck goat for sin:

15:25. And the priest shall pray for all the multitude of the children of Israel: and it shall be forgiven them, because they sinned ignorantly, offering notwithstanding a burnt offering to the Lord for themselves and for their sin and their Ignorance:

15:26. And it shall be forgiven all the people of the children of Israel: and the strangers that sojourn among them: because it is the fault of all the people through ignorance.

15:27. But if one soul shall sin ignorantly, he shall offer a she goat of a year old for his sin.

15:28. And the priest shall pray for him, because he sinned ignorantly before the Lord: and he shall obtain his pardon, and it shall be forgiven him.

15:29. The same law shall be for all that sin by ignorance, whether they be natives or strangers.

15:30. But the soul that committeth any thing through pride, whether he be born in the land or a stranger (because he hath been rebellious against the Lord) shall be cut off from among his people:

15:31. For he hath contemned the word of the Lord, and made void his precept: therefore shall he be destroyed, and shall bear his iniquity.

15:32. And it came to pass, when the children of Israel were in the wilderness, and had found a man gathering sticks on the sabbath day,

15:33. That they brought him to Moses and Aaron and the whole multitude.

15:34. And they put him into prison, not knowing what they should do with him.

15:35. And the Lord said to Moses: Let that man die, let all the multitude stone him without the camp.

15:36. And when they had brought him out, they stoned him, and he died as the Lord had commanded.

15:37. The Lord also said to Moses:

15:38. Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt tell them to make to themselves fringes in the corners of their garments, putting in them ribands of blue:

Fringes.... The Pharisees enlarged these fringes through hypocrisy, Matt. 23.5, to appear more zealous than other men for the law of God.

15:39. That when they shall see them, they may remember all the commandments of the Lord, and not follow their own thoughts and eyes going astray after divers things,

15:40. But rather being mindful of the precepts of the Lord, may do them and be holy to their God.

15:41. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that I might be your God.

Numbers Chapter 16

The schism of Core and his adherents: their punishment.

16:1. And behold Core the son of Isaar, the son of Caath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiron the sons of Eliab, and Hon the son of Pheleth of the children of Ruben,

16:2. Rose up against Moses, and with them two hundred and fifty others of the children of Israel, leading men of the synagogue, and who in the time of assembly were called by name.

Rose up.... The crime of these men, which was punished in so remarkable a manner, was that of schism, and of rebellion against the authority established by God in the church; and their pretending to the priesthood without being lawfully called and sent: the same is the case of all modern sectaries.

16:3. And when they had stood up against Moses and Aaron, they said: Let it be enough for you, that all the multitude consisteth of holy ones, and the Lord is among them: Why lift you up yourselves above the people of the Lord?

16:4. When Moses heard this, he fell flat on his face:

16:5. And speaking to Core and all the multitude, he said: In the morning the Lord will make known who belong to him, and the holy he will join to himself: and whom he shall choose, they shall approach to him.

16:6. Do this therefore: Take every man of you your censers, thou Core, and all thy company.

16:7. And putting fire in them to morrow, put incense upon it before the Lord: and whomsoever he shall choose, the same shall be holy: you take too much upon you, ye sons of Levi.

16:8. And he said again to Core: Hear ye sons of Levi.

16:9. Is it a small thing unto you, that the God of Israel hath spared you from all the people, and joined you to himself, that you should serve him in the service of the tabernacle, and should stand before the congregation of the people, and should minister to him?

16:10. Did he therefore make thee and all thy brethren the sons of Levi to approach unto him, that you should challenge to yourselves the priesthood also,

16:11. And that all thy company should stand against the Lord? for what is Aaron that you murmur against him?

16:12. Then Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiron the sons of Eliab. But they answered: We will not come.

16:13. Is it a small matter to thee, that thou hast brought us out of a land that flowed with milk and honey, to kill us in the desert, except thou rule also like a lord over us?

16:14. Thou hast brought us indeed into a land that floweth with rivers of milk and honey, and hast given us possessions of fields and vineyards; wilt thou also pull out our eyes? We will not come.

16:15. Moses therefore being very angry, said to the Lord: Respect not their sacrifices: thou knowest that I have not taken of them so much as a young ass at any time, nor have injured any of them.

Very angry.... This anger was a zeal against sin; and an indignation at the affront offered to God; like that which the same holy prophet conceived upon the sight of the golden calf, Ex. 32.19.

16:16. And he said to Core: Do thou and thy congregation stand apart before the Lord to morrow, and Aaron apart.

16:17. Take every one of you censers, and put incense upon them, offering to the Lord two hundred and fifty censers: let Aaron also hold his censer.

16:18. When they had done this, Moses and Aaron standing,

16:19. And had drawn up all the multitude against them to the door of the tabernacle, the glory of the Lord appeared to them all.

16:20. And the Lord speaking to Moses and Aaron, said:

16:21. Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may presently destroy them.

16:22. They fell flat on their face, and said: O most mighty, the God of the spirits of all flesh, for one man’s sin shall thy wrath rage against all?

16:23. And the Lord said to Moses:

16:24. Command the whole people to separate themselves from the tents of Core and Dathan and Abiron.

16:25. And Moses arose, and went to Dathan and Abiron: and the ancients of Israel following him,

16:26. He said to the multitude: Depart from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest you be involved in their sins.

16:27. And when they were departed from their tents round about, Dathan and Abiron coming out stood in the entry of their pavilions with their wives and children, and all the people.

16:28. And Moses said: By this you shall know that the Lord hath sent me to do all things that you see, and that I have not forged them of my own head:

16:29. If these men die the common death of men, and if they be visited with a plague, wherewith others also are wont to be visited, the Lord did not send me.

16:30. But if the Lord do a new thing, and the earth opening her mouth swallow them down, and all things that belong to them, and they go down alive into hell, you shall know that they have blasphemed the Lord.

16:31. And immediately as he had made an end of speaking, the earth broke asunder under their feet:

16:32. And opening her mouth, devoured them with their tents and all their substance.

16:33. And they went down alive into hell, the ground closing upon them, and they perished from among the people.

16:34. But all Israel, that was standing round about, fled at the cry of them that were perishing: saying: Lest perhaps the earth swallow us up also.

16:35. And a fire coming out from the Lord, destroyed the two hundred and fifty men that offered the incense.

16:36. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

16:37. Command Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest to take up the censers that lie in the burning, and to scatter the fire of one side and the other: because they are sanctified

16:38. In the deaths of the sinners: and let him beat them into plates, and fasten them to the altar, because incense hath been offered in them to the Lord, and they are sanctified, that the children of Israel may see them for a sign and a memorial.

16:39. Then Eleazar the priest took the brazen censers, wherein they had offered, whom the burning fire had devoured, and beat them into plates, fastening them to the altar:

16:40. That the children of Israel might have for the time to come wherewith they should be admonished, that no stranger or any one that is not of the seed of Aaron should come near to offer incense to the Lord, lest he should suffer as Core suffered, and all his congregation, according as the Lord spoke to Moses.

16:41. The following day all the multitude of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron, saying: You have killed the people of the Lord.

16:42. And when there arose a sedition, and the tumult increased,

16:43. Moses and Aaron fled to the tabernacle of the covenant. And when they were gone into it, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord appeared.

16:44. And the Lord said to Moses:

16:45. Get you out from the midst of this multitude, this moment will I destroy them. And as they were lying on the ground,

16:46. Moses said to Aaron: Take the censer, and putting fire in it from the altar, put incense upon it, and go quickly to the people to pray for them: for already wrath is gone out from the Lord, and the plague rageth.

16:47. When Aaron had done this, and had run to the midst of the multitude which the burning fire was now destroying, he offered the incense:

16:48. And standing between the dead and the living, he prayed for the people, and the plague ceased.

16:49. And the number of them that were slain was fourteen thousand and seven hundred men, besides them that had perished in the sedition of Core.

16:50. And Aaron returned to Moses to the door of the tabernacle of the covenant after the destruction was over.

Numbers Chapter 17

The priesthood is confirmed to Aaron by the miracle of the blooming of his rod, which is kept for a monument in the tabernacle.

17:1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

17:2. Speak to the children of Israel, and take of every one of them a rod by their kindreds, of all the princes of the tribes, twelve rods, and write the name of every man upon his rod.

17:3. And the name of Aaron shall be for the tribe of Levi, and one rod shall contain all their families:

17:4. And thou shalt lay them up in the tabernacle of the covenant before the testimony, where I will speak to thee.

17:5. Whomsoever of these I shall choose, his rod shall blossom: and I will make to cease from me the murmurings of the children of Israel, wherewith they murmur against you.

17:6. And Moses spoke to the children of Israel: and all the princes gave him rods one for every tribe: and there were twelve rods besides the rod of Aaron.

17:7. And when Moses had Laid them up before the Lord in the tabernacle of the testimony:

17:8. He returned on the following day, and found that the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi, was budded: and that the buds swelling it had bloomed blossoms, which spreading the leaves, were formed into almonds.

The rod of Aaron for the house of Levi, was budded, etc.... This rod of Aaron which thus miraculously brought forth fruit, was a figure of the blessed Virgin conceiving and bringing forth her Son without any prejudice to her virginity.

17:9. Moses therefore brought out all the rods from before the Lord to all the children of Israel: and they saw, and every one received their rods.

17:10. And the Lord said to Moses: Carry back the rod of Aaron into the tabernacle of the testimony, that it may be kept there for a token of the rebellious children of Israel, and that their complaints may cease from me lest they die.

17:11. And Moses did as the Lord had commanded.

17:12. And the children of Israel said to Moses: Behold we are consumed, we all perish.

17:13. Whosoever approacheth to the tabernacle of the Lord, he dieth. Are we all to a man to be utterly destroyed?

Numbers Chapter 18

The charge of the priests and of the Levites, and their portion.

18:1. And the Lord said to Aaron: Thou, and thy sons, and thy father’s house with thee shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary: and thou and thy sons with thee shall bear the sins of your priesthood.

Thou, and thy father’s house with thee, shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary.... That is, you shall be punished if, through negligence or want of due attention, you err in the discharge of the sacred functions for which you were ordained.

18:2. And take with thee thy brethren also of the tribe of Levi, and the sceptre of thy father, and let them be ready in hand, and minister to thee: but thou and thy sons shall minister in the tabernacle of the testimony.

18:3. And the Levites shall watch to do thy commands, and about all the works of the tabernacle: only they shall not come nigh the vessels of the sanctuary nor the altar, lest both they die, and you also perish with them.

18:4. But let them be with thee, and watch in the charge of the tabernacle, and in all the ceremonies thereof. A stranger shall not join himself with you.

18:5. Watch ye in the charge of the sanctuary, and in the ministry of the altar: lest indignation rise upon the children of Israel.

18:6. I have given you your brethren the Levites from among the children of Israel, and have delivered them for a gift to the Lord, to serve in the ministries of the tabernacle.

18:7. But thou and thy sons look ye to the priesthood: and all things that pertain to the service of the altar, and that are within the veil, shall be executed by the priests. If any stranger shall approach, he shall be slain.

18:8. And the Lord said to Aaron: Behold I have given thee the charge of my firstfruits. All things that are sanctified by the children of Israel, I have delivered to thee and to thy sons for the priestly office, by everlasting ordinances.

18:9. These therefore shalt thou take of the things that are sanctified, and are offered to the Lord. Every offering, and sacrifice, and whatsoever is rendered to me for sin and for trespass, and becometh holy of holies, shall be for thee and thy sons.

18:10. Thou shalt eat it in the sanctuary: the males only shall eat thereof, because it is a consecrated thing to thee.

18:11. But the firstfruits, which the children of Israel shall vow and offer, I have given to thee, and to thy sons, and to thy daughters, by a perpetual law. He that is clean in thy house, shall eat them.

18:12. All the best of the oil, and of the wine, and of the corn, whatsoever firstfruits they offer to the Lord, I have given them to thee.

18:13. All the firstripe of the fruits, that the ground bringeth forth, and which are brought to the Lord, shall be for thy use: he that is clean in thy house, shall eat them.

18:14. Every thing that the children of Israel shall give by vow, shall be thine.

18:15. Whatsoever is firstborn of all flesh, which they offer to the Lord, whether it be of men, or of beasts, shall belong to thee: only for the firstborn of man thou shalt take a price, and every beast that is unclean thou shalt cause to be redeemed,

18:16. And the redemption of it shall be after one month, for five sicles of silver, by the weight of the sanctuary. A sicle hath twenty obols.

18:17. But the firstling of a cow, and of a sheep and of a goat thou shalt not cause to be redeemed, because they are sanctified to the Lord. Their blood only thou shalt pour upon the altar, and their fat thou shalt burn for a most sweet odour to the Lord.

18:18. But the flesh shall fall to thy use, as the consecrated breast, and the right shoulder shall be thine.

18:19. All the firstfruits of the sanctuary which the children of Israel offer to the Lord, I have given to thee and to thy sons and daughters, by a perpetual ordinance. It is a covenant of salt for ever before the Lord, to thee and to thy sons.

A covenant of salt.... It is a proverbial expression, signifying a covenant not to be altered or corrupted; as salt is used to keep things from corruption; a covenant perpetual, like that by which it was appointed, that salt should be used in every sacrifice. Lev. 2.

18:20. And the Lord said to Aaron: You shall possess nothing in their land, neither shall you have a portion among them: I am thy portion and inheritance in the midst of the children of Israel.

18:21. And I have given to the sons of Levi all the tithes of Israel for a possession, for the ministry wherewith they serve me in the tabernacle of the covenant:

18:22. That the children of Israel may not approach any more to the tabernacle, nor commit deadly sin,

Deadly sin.... That is, sin which will bring death after it.

18:23. But only the sons of Levi may serve me in the tabernacle, and bear the sins of the people. It shall be an everlasting ordinance in your generations. They shall not possess any other thing,

18:24. But be content with the oblation or tithes, which I have separated for their uses and necessities.

18:25. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

18:26. Command the Levites, and declare unto them: When you shall receive of the children of Israel the tithes, which I have given you, offer the firstfruits of them to the Lord, that is to say, the tenth part of the tenth:

18:27. That it may be reckoned to you as an oblation of firstfruits, as well of the barnfloors as of the winepresses:

18:28. And of all the things of which you receive tithes, offer the firstfruits to the Lord, and give them to Aaron the priest.

18:29. All the things that you shall offer of the tithes, and shall separate for the gifts of the Lord, shall be the best and choicest things.

18:30. And thou shalt say to them: If you offer all the goodly and the better things of the tithes, it shall be reckoned to you as if you had given the firstfruits of the barnfloor and the winepress:

18:31. And you shall eat them in all your places, both you and your families: because it is your reward for the ministry, wherewith you serve in the tabernacle of the testimony.

18:32. And you shall not sin in this point, by reserving the choicest and fat things to yourselves, lest you profane the oblations of the children of Israel, and die.

Numbers Chapter 19

The law of the sacrifice of the red cow, and the water of expiation.

19:1. And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying:

19:2. This is the observance of the victim, which the Lord hath ordained. Command the children of Israel, that they bring unto thee a red cow of full age, in which there is no blemish, and which hath not carried the yoke:

A red cow, etc.... This red cow, offered in sacrifice for sin, and consumed with fire without the camp, with the ashes of which, mingled with water, the unclean were to be expiated and purified; was a figure of the passion of Christ, by whose precious blood applied to our souls in the holy sacraments, we are cleansed from our sins.

19:3. And you shall deliver her to Eleazar the priest, who shall bring her forth without the camp, and shall immolate her in the sight of all:

19:4. And dipping his finger in her blood, shall sprinkle it over against the door of the tabernacle seven times,

19:5. And shall burn her in the sight of all delivering up to the fire her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, and her dung.

19:6. The priest shall also take cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet twice dyed, and cast it into the flame, with which the cow is consumed.

19:7. And then after washing his garments, and body, he shall enter into the camp, and shall be unclean until the evening.

19:8. He also that hath burned her, shall wash his garments, and his body, and shall be unclean until the evening.

19:9. And a man that is clean shall gather up the ashes of the cow, and shall pour them forth without the camp in a most clean place, that they may be reserved for the multitude of the children of Israel, and for a water of aspersion: because the cow was burnt for sin.

19:10. And when he that carried the ashes of the cow, hath washed his garments, he shall be unclean until the evening. The children of Israel, and the strangers that dwell among them, shall observe this for a holy thing by a perpetual ordinance.

19:11. He that toucheth the corpse of a man, and is therefore unclean seven days,

19:12. Shall be sprinkled with this water on the third day, and on the seventh, and so shall be cleansed. If he were not sprinkled on the third day, he cannot be cleansed on the seventh.

19:13. Every one that toucheth the corpse of a man, and is not sprinkled with this mixture, shall profane the tabernacle of the Lord, and shall perish out of Israel: because he was not sprinkled with the water of expiation, he shall be unclean, and his uncleanness shall remain upon him.

19:14. This is the law of a man that dieth in a tent: All that go into his tent and all the vessels that are there, shall be unclean seven days.

19:15. The vessel that hath no cover, nor binding over it, shall be unclean.

19:16. If any man in the field touch the corpse of a man that was slain, or that died of himself, or his bone, or his grave, he shall be unclean seven days.

19:17. And they shall take of the ashes of the burning and of the sin offering, and shall pour living waters upon them into a vessel.

19:18. And a man that is clean shall dip hyssop in them, and shall sprinkle therewith all the tent, and all the furniture, and the men that are defiled with touching any such thing:

19:19. And in this manner he that is clean shall purify the unclean on the third and on the seventh day. And being expiated the seventh day, he shall wash both himself and his garments, and be unclean until the evening.

19:20. If any man be not expiated after this rite, his soul shall perish out of the midst of the church: because he hath profaned the sanctuary of the Lord, and was not sprinkled with the water of purification.

19:21. This precept shall be an ordinance for ever. He also that sprinkled the water, shall wash his garments. Every one that shall touch the waters of expiation, shall be unclean until the evening.

19:22. Whatsoever a person toucheth who is unclean, he shall make it unclean: and the person that toucheth any of these things, shall be unclean until the evening.

Numbers Chapter 20

The death of Mary the sister of Moses. The people murmur for want of water: God giveth it them from the rock. The death of Aaron.

20:1. And the children of Israel, and all the multitude came into the desert of Sin, in the first month: and the people abode in Cades. And Mary died there, and was buried in the same place.

20:2. And the people wanting water, came together against Moses and Aaron:

20:3. And making a sedition, they said: Would God we had perished among our brethren before the Lord.

20:4. Why have you brought out the church of the Lord into the wilderness, that both we and our cattle should die?

20:5. Why have you made us come up out of Egypt, and have brought us into this wretched place which cannot be sowed, nor bringeth forth figs, nor vines, nor pomegranates, neither is there any water to drink?

20:6. And Moses and Aaron leaving the multitude, went into the tabernacle of the covenant, and fell flat upon the ground, and cried to the Lord, and said. O Lord God, hear the cry of this people, and open to them thy treasure, a fountain of living water, that being satisfied, they may cease to murmur. And the glory of the Lord appeared over them.

20:7. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

20:8. Take the rod, and assemble the people together, thou and Aaron thy brother, and speak to the rock before them, and it shall yield waters. And when thou hast brought forth water out of the rock, all the multitude and their cattle shall drink.

20:9. Moses therefore took the rod, which was before the Lord, as he had commanded him,

20:10. And having gathered together the multitude before the rock, he said to them: Hear, ye rebellious and incredulous: Can we bring you forth water out of this rock?

20:11. And when Moses had lifted up his hand, and struck the rock twice with the rod, there came forth water in great abundance, so that the people and their cattle drank,

The rock.... This rock was a figure of Christ, and the water that issued out from the rock, of his precious blood, the source of all our good.

20:12. And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron: Because you have not believed me, to sanctify me before the children of Israel, you shall not bring these people into the land, which I will give them.

You have not believed, etc.... The fault of Moses and Aaron, on this occasion, was a certain diffidence and weakness of faith; not doubting of God’s power or veracity; but apprehending the unworthiness of that rebellious and incredulous people, and therefore speaking with some ambiguity.

20:13. This is the Water of contradiction, where the children of Israel strove with words against the Lord, and he was sanctified in them.

The Water of contradiction.... Or strife. Hebrew, Meribah.

20:14. In the mean time Moses sent messengers from Cades to the king of Edom, to say: Thus saith thy brother Israel: Thou knowest all the labour that hath come upon us:

20:15. In what manner our fathers went down into Egypt, and there we dwelt a long time, and the Egyptians afflicted us and our fathers.

20:16. And how we cried to the Lord, and he heard us, and sent an angel, who hath brought us out of Egypt. Lo, we are now in the city of Cades, which is in the uttermost of thy borders,

20:17. And we beseech thee that we may have leave to pass through thy country. We will not go through the fields, nor through the vineyards, we will not drink the waters of thy wells, but we will go by the common highway, neither turning aside to the right hand, nor to the left, till we are past thy borders.

20:18. And Edom answered them: Thou shalt not pass by me: if thou dost I will come out armed against thee.

20:19. And the children of Israel said: We will go by the beaten way: and if we and our cattle drink of thy waters, we will give thee what is just: there shall be no difficulty in the price, only let us pass speedily.

20:20. But he answered: Thou shalt not pass. And immediately he came forth to meet them with an infinite multitude, and a strong hand,

20:21. Neither would he condescend to their desire to grant them passage through his borders. Wherefore Israel turned another way from him.

20:22. And when they had removed the camp from Cades, they came to mount Hor, which is in the borders of the land of Edom:

20:23. Where the Lord spoke to Moses:

20:24. Let Aaron, saith he, go to his people: for he shall not go into the land which I have given the children of Israel, because he was incredulous to my words, at the waters of contradiction.

20:25. Take Aaron and his son with him, and bring them up into mount Hor:

20:26. And when thou hast stripped the father of his vesture, thou shalt vest therewith Eleazar his son: Aaron shall be gathered to his people, and die there.

20:27. Moses did as the Lord had commanded: and they went up into mount Hor before all the multitude.

20:28. And when he had stripped Aaron of his vestments, he vested Eleazar his son with them.

20:29. And Aaron being dead in the top of the mountain, he came down with Eleazar.

20:30. And all the multitude seeing that Aaron was dead, mourned for him thirty days throughout all their families.

Numbers Chapter 21

King Arad is overcome. The people murmur and are punished with fiery serpents: they are healed by the brazen serpent. They conquer the kings Sehon and Og.

21:1. And when king Arad the Chanaanite, who dwelt towards the south, had heard this, to wit, that Israel was come by the way of the spies, he fought against them, and overcoming them carried off their spoils.

21:2. But Israel binding himself by vow to the Lord, said: If thou wilt deliver this people into my hand, I will utterly destroy their cities.

21:3. And the Lord heard the prayers of Israel, and delivered up the Chanaanite, and they cut them off and destroyed their cities: and they called the name of that place Horma, that is to say, Anathema.

Anathema.... That is, a thing devoted to utter destruction.

21:4. And they marched from mount Hor, by the way that leadeth to the Red Sea, to compass the land of Edom. And the people began to be weary of their journey and labour:

21:5. And speaking against God and Moses, they said: Why didst thou bring us out of Egypt, to die in the wilderness? There is no bread, nor have we any waters: our soul now loatheth this very light food.

Very light food.... So they call the heavenly manna: thus worldlings loathe the things of heaven, for which they have no relish.

21:6. Wherefore the Lord sent among the people fiery serpents, which bit them and killed many of them.

Fiery serpents.... They are so called, because they that were bitten by them were burnt with a violent heat.

21:7. Upon which they came to Moses, and said; We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord and thee: pray that he may take away these serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.

21:8. And the Lord said to him: Make a brazen serpent, and set it up for a sign: whosoever being struck shall look on it, shall live.

21:9. Moses therefore made a brazen serpent, and set it up for a sign: which when they that were bitten looked upon, they were healed.

A brazen serpent.... This was a figure of Christ crucified, and of the efficacy of a lively faith in him, against the bites of the hellish serpent. John 3.14.

21:10. And the children of Israel setting forwards camped in Oboth.

21:11. And departing thence they pitched their tents in Jeabarim, in the wilderness, that faceth Moab toward the east.

21:12. And removing from thence, they came to the torrent Zared:

21:13. Which they left and encamped over against Arnon, which is in the desert and standeth out on the borders of the Amorrhite. For Arnon is the border of Moab, dividing the Moabites and the Amorrhites.

21:14. Wherefore it is said in the book of the wars of the Lord: As he did in the Red Sea, so will he do in the streams of Arnon.

The book of the wars, etc.... An ancient book, which, like several others quoted in scripture, has been lost.

21:15. The rocks of the torrents were bowed down that they might rest in Ar, and lie down in the borders of the Moabites.

21:16. When they went from that place, the well appeared whereof the Lord said to Moses: Gather the people together, and I will give them water.

21:17. Then Israel sung this song: Let the well spring up. They sung thereto:

21:18. The well, which the princes dug, and the chiefs of the people prepared by the direction of the lawgiver, and with their staves. And they marched from the wilderness to Mathana.

21:19. From Mathana unto Nahaliel: from Nahaliel unto Bamoth.

21:20. From Bamoth, is a valley in the country of Moab, to the top of Phasga, which looked towards the desert.

21:21. And Israel sent messengers to Sehon king of the Amorrhites, saying:

21:22. I beseech thee that I may have leave to pass through thy land: we will not go aside into the fields or the vineyards, we will not drink waters of the wells, we will go the king’s highway, till we be past thy borders.

21:23. And he would not grant that Israel should pass by his borders: but rather gathering an army, went forth to meet them in the desert, and came to Jasa and fought against them.

21:24. And he was slain by them with the edge of the sword, and they possessed his land from the Arnon unto the Jeboc, and to the confines of the children of Ammon: for the borders of the Ammonites, were kept with a strong garrison.

21:25. So Israel took all his cities, and dwelt in the cities of the Amorrhite, to wit, in Hesebon, and in the villages thereof.

21:26. Hesebon was the city of Sehon the king of the Amorrhites, who fought against the king of Moab: and took all the land, that had been of his dominion, as far as the Arnon.

21:27. Therefore it is said in the proverb: Come into Hesebon, let the city of Sehon be built and set up:

21:28. A fire is gone out of Hesebon, a flame from the city of Sehon, and hath consumed Ar of the Moabites, and the inhabitants of the high places of the Arnon.

21:29. Woe to thee Moab: thou art undone, O people of Chamos. He hath given his sons to flight, and his daughters into captivity to Sehon the king of the Amorrhites.

21:30. Their yoke is perished from Hesebon unto Dibon, they came weary to Nophe, and unto Medaba.

21:31. So Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorrhite.

21:32. And Moses sent some to take a view of Jazer: and they took the villages of it, and conquered the inhabitants.

21:33. And they turned themselves, and went up by the way of Basan, and Og the king of Basan came against them with all his people, to fight in Edrai.

21:34. And the Lord said to Moses: Fear him not, for I have delivered him and all his people, and his country into thy hand: and thou shalt do to him as thou didst to Sehon the king of the Amorrhites, the inhabitant of Hesebon.

21:35. So they slew him also with his sons, and all his people, not letting any one escape, and they possessed his land.

Numbers Chapter 22

Balac, king of Moab, sendeth twice for Balaam to curse Israel. In his way Balaam is rebuked by an angel.

22:1. And they went forward and encamped in the plains of Moab, over against where Jericho is situate beyond the Jordan.

22:2. And Balac the son of Sephor, seeing all that Israel had done to the Amorrhite,

22:3. And that the Moabites were in great fear of him, and were not able to sustain his assault,

22:4. He said to the elders of Madian: So will this people destroy all that dwell in our borders, as the ox is wont to eat the grass to the very roots. Now he was at that time king in Moab.

22:5. He sent therefore messengers to Balaam the son of Beor, a soothsayer, who dwelt by the river of the land of the children of Ammon, to call him, and to say: Behold a people is come out of Egypt, that hath covered the face of the earth, sitting over against me.

22:6. Come therefore, and curse this people, because it is mightier than I: if by any means I may beat them and drive them out of my land: for I know that he whom thou shalt bless is blessed, and he whom thou shalt curse is cursed.

22:7. And the ancients of Moab, and the elders of Madian, went with the price of divination in their hands. And where they were come to Balaam, and had told him all the words of Balac:

22:8. He answered: Tarry here this night and I will answer whatsoever the Lord shall say to me. And while they stayed with Balaam, God came and said to him:

22:9. What mean these men that are with thee?

22:10. He answered: Balac the son of Sephor king of the Moabites hath sent to me,

22:11. Saying: Behold a people that is come out of Egypt, hath covered the face of the land: come and curse them, if by any means I may fight with them and drive them away.

22:12. And God said to Balaam: Thou shalt not go with them, nor shalt thou curse the people: because it is blessed.

22:13. And he rose in the morning and said to the princes: Go into your country, because the Lord hath forbid me to come with you.

22:14. The princes returning, said to Balac: Balaam would not come with us.

22:15. Then he sent many more and more noble than he had sent before:

22:16. Who, when they were come to Balaam, said: Thus saith Balac the son of Sephor, Delay not to come to me:

22:17. For I am ready to honour thee, and will give thee whatsoever thou wilt: come and curse this people.

22:18. Balaam answered: If Balac would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot alter the word of the Lord my God, to speak either more or less.

22:19. I pray you to stay here this night also, that I may know what the Lord will answer me once more.

To stay.... His desiring them to stay, after he had been fully informed already that it was not God’s will he should go, came from the inclination he had to gratify Balac, for the sake of worldly gain. And this perverse disposition God punished by permitting him to go (though not to curse the people as he would willingly have done), and suffering him to fall still deeper and deeper into sin, till he came at last to give that abominable counsel against the people of God, which ended in his own destruction. So sad a thing it is to indulge a passion for money.

22:20. God therefore came to Balaam in the night, and said to him: If these men be come to call thee, arise and go with them: yet so, that thou do what I shall command thee.

22:21. Balaam arose in the morning, and saddling his ass went with them.

22:22. And God was angry. And an angel of the Lord stood in the way against Balaam, who sat on the ass, and had two servants with him.

22:23. The ass seeing the angel standing in the way, with a drawn sword, turned herself out of the way, and went into the field. And when Balaam beat her, and had a mind to bring her again to the way,

22:24. The angel stood in a narrow place between two walls, wherewith the vineyards were enclosed.

22:25. And the ass seeing him, thrust herself close to the wall, and bruised the foot of the rider. But he beat her again:

22:26. And nevertheless the angel going on to a narrow place, where there was no way to turn aside either to the right hand or to the left, stood to meet him.

22:27. And when the ass saw the angel standing, she fell under the feet of the rider: who being angry beat her sides more vehemently with a staff.

22:28. And the Lord opened the mouth of the ass, and she said: What have I done to thee? Why strikest thou me, lo, now this third time?

Opened the mouth, etc.... The angel moved the tongue of the ass, to utter these speeches, to rebuke, by the mouth of a brute beast, the brutal fury and folly of Balaam.

22:29. Balaam answered: Because thou hast deserved it, and hast served me ill: I would I had a sword that I might kill thee.

22:30. The ass said: Am not I thy beast, on which thou hast been always accustomed to ride until this present day? tell me if I ever did the like thing to thee. But he said: Never.

22:31. Forthwith the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel standing in the way with a drawn sword, and he worshipped him falling flat on the ground.

22:32. And the angel said to him: Why beatest thou thy ass these three times? I am come to withstand thee, because thy way is perverse, and contrary to me:

Perverse.... Because thy inclinations are wicked in being willing for the sake of gain to curse the people of whom I am the guardian.

22:33. And unless the ass had turned out of the way, giving place to me who stood against thee, I had slain thee, and she should have lived.

22:34. Balaam said: I have sinned, not knowing that thou didst stand against me: and now if it displease thee that I go, I will return.

22:35. The angel said: Go with these men, and see thou speak no other thing than what I shall command thee. He went therefore with the princes.

22:36. And when Balac heard it he came forth to meet him in a town of the Moabites, that is situate in the uttermost borders of Arnon.

22:37. And he said to Balaam: I sent messengers to call thee, why didst thou not come immediately to me? was it because I am not able to reward thy coming?

22:38. He answered him: Lo, here I am: shall I have power to speak any other thing but that which God shall put in my mouth?

22:39. So they went on together, and came into a city, that was in the uttermost borders of his kingdom.

22:40. And when Balac had killed oxen and sheep, he sent presents to Balaam, and to the princes that were with him.

22:41. And when morning was come, he brought him to the high places of Baal, and he beheld the uttermost part of the people.

Numbers Chapter 23

Balaam, instead of cursing Israel, is obliged to bless them, and prophesy good things of them.

23:1. And Balaam said to Balac: Build me here seven altars, and prepare as many calves, and the same number of rams.

23:2. And when he had done according to the word of Balaam, they laid together a calf and a ram upon every altar.

23:3. And Balaam said to Balac: Stand a while by thy burnt offering, until I go, to see if perhaps the Lord will meet me, and whatsoever he shall command, I will speak to thee.

23:4. And when he was gone with speed, God met him. And Balaam speaking to him, said: I have erected seven altars, and have laid on everyone a calf and a ram.

23:5. And the Lord put the word in his mouth, and said: Return to Balac, and thus shalt thou speak.

23:6. Returning he found Balac standing by his burnt offering, with all the princes of the Moabites:

23:7. And taking up his parable, he said: Balac king of the Moabites hath brought me from Aram, from the mountains of the east: Come, said he, and curse Jacob: make haste and detest Israel.

23:8. How shall I curse him, whom God hath not cursed? By what means should I detest him, whom the Lord detesteth not?

23:9. I shall see him from the tops of the rocks, and shall consider him from the hills. This people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.

23:10. Who can count the dust of Jacob, and know the number of the stock of Israel? Let my soul die the death of the just, and my last end be like to them.

23:11. And Balac said to Balaam: What is this that thou dost? I sent for thee to curse my enemies: and thou contrariwise blessest them.

23:12. He answered him: Can I speak any thing else but what the Lord commandeth?

23:13. Balac therefore said: Come with me to another place from whence thou mayest see part of Israel, and canst not see them all: curse them from thence.

23:14. And when he had brought him to a high place, upon the top of mount Phasga, Balaam built seven altars, and laying on every one a calf and a ram,

23:15. He said to Balac: Stand here by thy burnt offering while I go to meet him.

23:16. And when the Lord had met him, and had put the word in his mouth, he said: Return to Balac, and thus shalt thou say to him.

23:17. Returning he found him standing by his burnt sacrifice, and the princes of the Moabites with him. And Balac said to him: What hath the Lord spoken?

23:18. But he taking up his parable, said: Stand, O Balac, and give ear: hear, thou son of Sephor:

23:19. God is not a man, that he should lie, nor is the son of man, that he should be changed. Hath he said then, and will he not do? hath he spoken, and will he not fulfil?

23:20. I was brought to bless, the blessing I am not able to hinder.

23:21. There is no idol in Jacob, neither is there an image god to be seen in Israel. The Lord his God is with him, and the sound of the victory of the king in him.

23:22. God hath brought him out of Egypt, whose strength is like to the rhinoceros.

23:23. There is no soothsaying in Jacob, nor divination in Israel. In their times it shall be told to Jacob and to Israel what God hath wrought.

23:24. Behold the people shall rise up as a lioness, and shall lift itself up as a lion: it shall not lie down till it devour the prey, and drink the blood of the slain.

23:25. And Balac said to Balaam: Neither curse, nor bless him.

23:26. And he said: Did I not tell thee, that whatsoever God should command me, that I would do?

23:27. And Balac said to him: Come and I will bring thee to another place; if peradventure it please God that thou mayest curse them from thence.

23:28. And when he had brought him upon the top of mount Phogor, which looketh towards the wilderness,

23:29. Balaam said to him: Build me here seven altars, and prepare as many calves, and the same number of rams.

23:30. Balac did as Balaam had said: and he laid on every altar, a calf and a ram.

Numbers Chapter 24

Balaam still continues to prophesy good things in favour of Israel.

24:1. And when Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord that he should bless Israel, he went not as he had gone before, to seek divination: but setting his face towards the desert,

24:2. And lifting up his eyes, he saw Israel abiding in their tents by their tribes: and the spirit of God rushing upon him,

24:3. He took up his parable and said: Balaam the son of Beor hath said: The man hath said, whose eye is stopped up:

24:4. The hearer of the words of God hath said, he that hath beheld the vision of the Almighty, he that falleth, and so his eyes are opened:

24:5. How beautiful are thy tabernacles O Jacob, and thy tents, O Israel!

24:6. As woody valleys, as watered gardens near the rivers, as tabernacles which the Lord hath pitched, as cedars by the waterside.

24:7. Water shall flow out of his bucket, and his seed shall be in many waters. For Agag his king shall be removed, and his kingdom shall be taken away.

24:8. God hath brought him out of Egypt, whose strength is like to the rhinoceros. They shall devour the nations that are his enemies, and break their bones, and pierce them with arrows.

24:9. Lying down he hath slept as a lion, and as a lioness, whom none shall dare to rouse. He that blesseth thee, shall also himself be blessed: he that curseth thee shall be reckoned accursed.

24:10. And Balac being angry against Balaam, clapped his hands together and said: I called thee to curse my enemies, and thou on the contrary hast blessed them three times.

24:11. Return to thy place. I had determined indeed greatly to honour thee, but the Lord hath deprived thee of the honour designed for thee.

24:12. Balaam made answer to Balac: Did I not say to thy messengers, whom thou sentest to me:

24:13. If Balac would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord my God, to utter any thing of my own head either good or evil: but whatsoever the Lord shall say, that I will speak?

24:14. But yet going to my people, I will give thee counsel, what this people shall do to thy people in the latter days.

24:15. Therefore taking up his parable, again he said: Balaam the son of Beor hath said: The man whose eye is stopped up, hath said:

24:16. The hearer of the words of God hath said, who knoweth the doctrine of the Highest, and seeth the visions of the Almighty, who falling hath his eyes opened:

24:17. I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not near. A STAR SHALL RISE out of Jacob and a sceptre shall spring up from Israel: and shall strike the chiefs of Moab, and shall waste all the children of Seth

24:18. And he shall possess Idumea: the inheritance of Seir shall come to their enemies, but Israel shall do manfully.

24:19. Out of Jacob shall he come that shall rule, and shall destroy the remains of the city.

24:20. And when he saw Amalec, he took up his parable, and said: Amalec the beginning of nations, whose latter ends shall be destroyed.

24:21. He saw also the Cinite: and took up his parable, and said: Thy habitation indeed is strong: but though thou build thy nest in a rock,

24:22. And thou be chosen of the stock of Cin, how long shalt thou be able to continue? For Assur shall take thee captive.

24:23. And taking up his parable, again he said: Alas, who shall live when God shall do these things?

24:24. They shall come in galleys from Italy, they shall overcome the Assyrians, and shall waste the Hebrews, and at the last they themselves also shall perish.

24:25. And Balaam rose, and returned to his place: Balac also returned the way that he came.

Numbers Chapter 25

The people fall into fornication and idolatry; for which twenty-four thousand are slain. The zeal of Phinees.

25:1. And Israel at that time abode in Settim, and the people committed fornication with the daughters of Moab,

25:2. Who called them to their sacrifices. And they ate of them, and adored their gods.

25:3. And Israel was initiated to Beelphegor: upon which the Lord being angry,

Initiated to Beelphegor.... That is, they took to the worship of Beelphegor, an obscene idol of the Moabites, and were consecrated, as it were, to him.

25:4. Said to Moses: Take all the princes of the people, and hang them up on gibbets against the sun: that my fury may be turned away from Israel.

25:5. And Moses said to the judges of Israel: Let every man kill his neighbours, that have been initiated to Beelphegor.

25:6. And behold one of the children of Israel went in before his brethren to a harlot of Madian, in the sight of Moses and of all the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle.

25:7. And when Phinees the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest saw it, he rose up from the midst of the multitude, and taking a dagger,

25:8. Went in after the Israelite into the brothel house, and thrust both of them through together, to wit, the man and the woman in the genital parts. And the scourge ceased from the children of Israel.

25:9. And there were slain four and twenty thousand men.

25:10. And the Lord said to Moses:

25:11. Phinees the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned away my wrath from the children of Israel: because he was moved with my zeal against them, that I myself might not destroy the children of Israel in my zeal.

25:12. Therefore say to him: behold I give him the peace of my covenant,

25:13. And the covenant of the priesthood for ever shall be both to him and his seed, because he hath been zealous for his God, and hath made atonement for the wickedness of the children of Israel.

25:14. And the name of the Israelite, that was slain with the woman of Madian, was Zambri the son of Salu, a prince of the kindred and tribe of Simeon.

25:15. And the Madianite woman, that was slain with him, was called Cozbi the daughter of Sur, a most noble prince among the Madianites.

25:16. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

25:17. Let the Madianites find you their enemies, and slay you them:

25:18. Because they also have acted like enemies against you, and have guilefully deceived you by the idol Phogor, and Cozbi their sister, a daughter of a prince of Madian, who was slain in the day of the plague for the sacrilege of Phogor.

Numbers Chapter 26

The people are again numbered by their tribes and families.

26:1. After the blood of the guilty was shed, the Lord said to Moses and to Eleazar the son of Aaron, the priest:

26:2. Number the whole sum of the children of Israel from twenty years old and upward, by their houses and kindreds, all that are able to go forth to war.

26:3. Moses therefore and Eleazar the priest, being in the plains of Moab upon the Jordan over against Jericho, spoke to them that were

26:4. From twenty years old and upward, as the Lord had commanded: and this is the number of them:

26:5. Ruben the firstborn of Israel. His sons were Henoch, of whom is the family of the Henochites: and Phallu, of whom is the family of the Phalluites:

26:6. And Hesron, of whom is the family of the Hesronites: and Charmi, of whom is the family of the Charmites.

26:7. These are the families of the stock of Ruben: whose number was found to be forty-three thousand seven hundred and thirty.

26:8. The son of Phallu was Eliab.

26:9. His sons, were Namuel and Dathan and Abiron. These are Dathan and Abiron the princes of the people, that rose against Moses and Aaron in the sedition of Core, when they rebelled against the Lord:

26:10. And the earth opening her mouth swallowed up Core, many others dying, when the fire burned two hundred and fifty men. And there was a great miracle wrought,

26:11. That when Core perished, his sons did not perish.

26:12. The sons of Simeon by their kindreds: Namuel, of him is the family of the Namuelites: Jamin, of him is the family of the Jaminites: Jachim, of him is the family of the Jachimites:

26:13. Zare, of him is the family of the Zarites: Saul, of him is the family of the Saulites.

26:14. These are the families of the stock of Simeon, of which the whole number was twenty-two thousand two hundred.

26:15. The sons of Gad by their kindreds: Sephon, of him is the family of the Sephonites: Aggi, of him is the family of the Aggites: Suni, of him is the family of the Sunites:

26:16. Ozni, of him is the family of the Oznites: Her, of him is the family of the Herites:

26:17. Arod, of him is the family of the Arodites: Ariel, of him is the family of the Arielites.

26:18. These are the families of Gad, of which the whole number was forty thousand five hundred.

26:19. The sons of Juda, Her and Onan, who both died in the land of Chanaan.

26:20. And the sons of Juda by their kindreds were: Sela, of whom is the family of the Selaites: Phares, of whom is the family of the Pharesites: Zare, of whom is the family of the Zarites.

26:21. Moreover the sons of Phares were: Hesron, of whom is the family of the Hesronites: and Hamul, of whom is the family of the Hamulites.

26:22. These are the families of Juda, of which the whole number was seventy-six thousand five hundred.

26:23. The sons of Issachar, by their kindreds: Thola of whom is the family of the Tholaites: Phua, of whom is the family of the Phuaites:

26:24. Jasub, of whom is the family of the Jasubites: Semran, of whom is the family of the Semranites.

26:25. These are the kindreds of Issachar, whose number was sixty-four thousand three hundred.

26:26. The sons of Zabulon by their kindreds: Sared, of whom is the family of the Saredites: Elon, of whom is the family of the Elonites: Jalel, of whom is the family of the Jalelites.

26:27. These are the kindreds of Zabulon, whose number was sixty thousand five hundred.

26:28. The sons of Joseph by their kindred, Manasses and Ephraim.

26:29. Of Manasses was born Machir, of whom is the family of the Machirites. Machir begot Galaad, of whom is the family of the Galaadites.

26:30. Galaad had sons: Jezer, of whom is the family of the Jezerites: and Helec, of whom is the family of the Helecites:

26:31. And Asriel, of whom is the family of the Asrielites: and Sechem, of whom is the family of the Sechemites:

26:32. And Semida, of whom is the family of the Semidaites: and Hepher, of whom is the family of the Hepherites.

26:33. And Hepher was the father of Salphaad, who had no sons, but only daughters, whose names are these: Maala, and Noa, and Hegla, and Melcha, and Thersa.

26:34. These are the families of Manasses, and the number of them fifty-two thousand seven hundred.

26:35. And the sons of Ephraim by their kindreds were these: Suthala, of whom is the family of the Suthalaites: Becher, of whom is the family of the Becherites: Thehen, of whom is the family of the Thehenites.

26:36. Now the son of Suthala was Heran, of whom is the family of the Heranites.

26:37. These are the kindreds of the sons of Ephraim: whose number was thirty-two thousand five hundred.

26:38. These are the sons of Joseph by their families. The sons of Benjamin in their kindreds: Bela, of whom is the family of the Belaites: Asbel, of whom is the family of the Asbelites: Ahiram, of whom is the family of the Ahiramites:

26:39. Supham, of whom is the family of the Suphamites: Hupham, of whom is the family of the Huphamites.

26:40. The sons of Bela: Hered, and Noeman. Of Hered, is the family of the Heredites: of Noeman, the family of the Noemanites.

26:41. These are the sons of Benjamin by their kindreds, whose number was forty-five thousand six hundred.

26:42. The sons of Dan by their kindreds: Suham, of whom is the family of the Suhamites: These are the kindreds of Dan by their families.

26:43. All were Suhamites, whose number was sixty-four thousand four hundred.

26:44. The sons of Aser by their kindreds: Jemna, of whom is the family of the Jemnaites: Jessui, of whom is the family of the Jessuites: Brie, of whom is the family of the Brieites.

26:45. The sons of Brie: Heber, of whom is the family of the Heberites: and Melchiel, of whom is the family of the Melchielites.

26:46. And the name of the daughter of Aser, was Sara.

26:47. These are the kindreds of the sons of Aser, and their number fifty-three thousand four hundred.

26:48. The sons of Nephtali by their kindreds: Jesiel, of whom is the family of the Jesielites: Guni, of whom is the family of the Gunites:

26:49. Jeser, of whom is the family of the Jeserites: Sellem, of whom is the family of the Sellemites.

26:50. These are the kindreds of the sons of Nephtali by their families: whose number was forty-five thousand four hundred.

26:51. This is the sum of the children of Israel, that were reckoned up, six hundred and one thousand seven hundred and thirty.

26:52. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

26:53. To these shall the land be divided for their possessions according to the number of names.

26:54. To the greater number thou shalt give a greater portion, and to the fewer a less: to every one, as they have now been reckoned up, shall a possession be delivered:

26:55. Yet so that by lot the land be divided to the tribe and families.

26:56. Whatsoever shall fall by lot, that shall be taken by the more, or the fewer.

26:57. This also is the number of the sons of Levi by their families: Gerson, of whom is the family of the Gersonites: Caath, of whom is the family of the Caathites: Merari, of whom is the family of the Merarites.

26:58. These are the families of Levi: The family of Lobni, the family of Hebroni, the family of Moholi, the family of Musi, the family of Core. Now Caath begot Amram:

26:59. Who had to wife Jochabed the daughter of Levi, who was born to him in Egypt. She bore to her husband Amram sons, Aaron and Moses, and Mary their sister.

26:60. Of Aaron were born Nadab and Abiu, and Eleazar and Ithamar:

26:61. Of whom Nadab and Abiu died, when they had offered the strange fire before the Lord.

26:62. And all that were numbered, were twenty-three thousand males from one month old and upward: for they were not reckoned up among the children of Israel, neither was a possession given to them with the rest.

26:63. This is the number of the children of Israel, that were enrolled by Moses and Eleazar the priest, in the plains of Moab upon the Jordan, over against Jericho.

26:64. Among whom there was not one of them that were numbered before by Moses and Aaron in the desert of Sinai.

26:65. For the Lord had foretold that they should die in the wilderness. And none remained of them, but Caleb the son of Jephone, and Josue the son of Nun.

Numbers Chapter 27

The law of inheritance. Josue is appointed to succeed Moses.

27:1. Then came the daughters of Salphaad, the son of Hepher, the son of Galaad, the son of Machir, the son of Manasses, who was the son of Joseph: and their names are Maala, and Noa, and Hegla, and Melcha, and Thersa.

27:2. And they stood before Moses and Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of the people at the door of the tabernacle of the covenant, and said:

27:3. Our father died in the desert, and was not in the sedition, that was raised against the Lord under Core, but he died in his own sin: and he had no male children. Why is his name taken away out of his family, because he had no son? Give us a possession among the kinsmen of our father.

27:4. And Moses referred their cause to the judgment of the Lord.

27:5. And the Lord said to him:

27:6. The daughters of Salphaad demand a just thing: Give them a possession among their father’s kindred, and let them succeed him in his inheritance.

27:7. And to the children of Israel thou shalt speak these things:

27:8. When a man dieth without a son, his inheritance shall pass to his daughter.

27:9. If he have no daughter, his brethren shall succeed him.

27:10. And if he have no brethren, you shall give the inheritance to his father’s brethren.

27:11. But if he have no uncles by the father, the inheritance shall be given to them that are the next akin. And this shall be to the children of Israel sacred by a perpetual law, as the Lord hath commanded Moses.

27:12. The Lord also said to Moses: Go up into this mountain Abarim, and view from thence the land which I will give to the children of Israel.

27:13. And when thou shalt have seen it, thou also shalt go to thy people, as thy brother Aaron is gone:

27:14. Because you offended me in the desert of Sin in the contradiction of the multitude, neither would you sanctify me before them at the waters. These are the waters of contradiction in Cades of the desert of Sin.

27:15. And Moses answered him:

27:16. May the Lord the God of the spirits of all flesh provide a man, that may be over this multitude:

27:17. And may go out and in before them, and may lead them out, or bring them in: lest the people of the Lord be as sheep without a shepherd.

27:18. And the Lord said to him: take Josue the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and put thy hand upon him.

27:19. And he shall stand before Eleazar the priest and all the multitude:

27:20. And thou shalt give him precepts in the sight of all, and part of thy glory, that all the congregation of the children of Israel may hear him.

27:21. If any thing be to be done, Eleazar the priest shall consult the Lord for him. He and all the children of Israel with him, and the rest of the multitude shall go out and go in at his word.

27:22. Moses did as the Lord had commanded. And, when he had taken Josue, he set him before Eleazar the priest, and all the assembly of the people,

27:23. And laying his hands on his head, he repeated all things that the Lord had commanded.

Numbers Chapter 28

Sacrifices are appointed as well for every day as for sabbaths, and other festivals.

28:1. The Lord also said to Moses:

28:2. Command the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: Offer ye my oblation and my bread, and burnt sacrifice of most sweet odour, in their due seasons.

28:3. These are the sacrifices which you shall offer: Two lambs of a year old without blemish every day for the perpetual holocaust:

28:4. One you shall offer in the mornings, and the other in the evening:

28:5. And the tenth part of an ephi of flour, which shall be tempered with the purest oil, of the measure of the fourth part of a hin.

28:6. It is the continual holocaust which you offered in mount Sinai for a most sweet odour of a sacrifice by fire to the Lord.

28:7. And for a libation you shall offer of wine the fourth part of a hin for every lamb in the sanctuary of the Lord.

28:8. And you shall offer the other lamb in like manner in the evening according to all the rites of the morning sacrifice, and of the libations thereof, an oblation of most sweet odour to the Lord.

28:9. And on the sabbath day you shall offer two lambs of a year old without blemish, and two tenths of flour tempered with oil in sacrifice, and the libations,

28:10. Which regularly are poured out every sabbath for the perpetual holocaust.

28:11. And on the first day of the month you shall offer a holocaust to the Lord, two calves of the herd, one ram, and seven lambs of a year old, without blemish,

28:12. And three tenths of flour tempered with oil in sacrifice for every calf: and two tenths of flour tempered with oil for every ram:

28:13. And the tenth of a tenth of flour tempered with oil in sacrifice for every lamb. It is a holocaust of most sweet odour and an offering by fire to the Lord.

28:14. And these shall be the libations of wine that are to be poured out for every victim: Half a hin for every calf, a third for a ram, and a fourth for a lamb. This shall be the holocaust for every month, as they succeed one another in the course of the year.

28:15. A buck goat also shall be offered to the Lord for a sin offering over and above the perpetual holocaust with its libations.

28:16. And in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, shall be the phase of the Lord,

28:17. And on the fifteenth day the solemn feast: seven days shall they eat unleavened bread.

28:18. And the first day of them shall be venerable and holy: you shall not do any servile work therein.

28:19. And you shall offer a burnt sacrifice a holocaust to the Lord, two calves of the herd, one ram, seven lambs of a year old, without blemish:

28:20. And for the sacrifice of every one three tenths of flour which shall be tempered with oil to every calf, and two tenths to every ram,

28:21. And the tenth of a tenth, to every lamb, that is to say, to all the seven lambs:

28:22. And one buck goat for sin, to make atonement for you,

28:23. Besides the morning holocaust which you shall always offer.

28:24. So shall you do every day of the seven days for the food of the fire, and for a most sweet odour to the Lord, which shall rise from the holocaust, and from the libations of each.

28:25. The seventh day also shall be most solemn and holy unto you, you shall do no servile work therein.

28:26. The day also of firstfruits, when after the weeks are accomplished, you shall offer new fruits to the Lord, shall be venerable and holy: you shall do no servile work therein.

28:27. And you shall offer a holocaust for a most sweet odour to the Lord, two calves of the herd, one ram, and seven lambs of a year old, without blemish:

28:28. And in the sacrifices of them three tenths of flour tempered with oil to every calf, two to every ram,

28:29. The tenth of a tenth to every lamb, which in all are seven lambs: a buck goat also,

28:30. Which is slain for expiation: besides the perpetual holocaust and the libations thereof.

28:31. You shall offer them all without blemish with their libations.

Numbers Chapter 29

Sacrifices for the festivals of the seventh month.

29:1. The first day also of the seventh month shall be venerable and holy unto you; you shall do no servile work therein, because it is the day of the sounding and of trumpets.

29:2. And you shall offer a holocaust for a most sweet odour to the Lord, one calf of the herd, one ram and seven lambs of a year old, without blemish.

29:3. And for their sacrifices, three tenths of flour tempered with oil to every calf, two tenths to a ram,

29:4. One tenth to a lamb, which in all are seven lambs:

29:5. And a buck goat for sin, which is offered for the expiation of the people,

29:6. Besides the holocaust of the first day of the month with the sacrifices thereof, and the perpetual holocaust with the accustomed libations. With the same ceremonies you shall offer a burnt sacrifice for a most sweet odour to the Lord.

29:7. The tenth day also of this seventh month shall be holy and venerable unto you, and you shall afflict your souls; you shall do no servile work therein.

29:8. And you shall offer a holocaust to the Lord for a most sweet odour, one calf of the herd, one ram, and seven lambs of a year old, without blemish:

29:9. And for their sacrifices, three tenths of flour tempered with oil to every calf, two tenths to a ram,

29:10. The tenth of a tenth to every lamb, which are in all seven lambs:

29:11. And a buck goat for sin, besides the things that are wont to be offered for sin, for expiation, and for the perpetual holocaust with their sacrifice and libations.

29:12. And on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, which shall be unto you holy and venerable, you shall do no servile work, but shall celebrate a solemnity to the Lord seven days.

29:13. And you shall offer a holocaust for a most sweet odour to the Lord, thirteen calves of the herd, two rams, and fourteen lambs of a year old, without blemish:

29:14. And for their libations three tenths of flour tempered with oil to every calf, being in all thirteen calves: and two tenths to each ram, being two rams,

29:15. And the tenth of a tenth to every lamb, being in all fourteen lambs:

29:16. And a buck goat for sin, besides the perpetual holocaust, and the sacrifice and the libation thereof.

29:17. On the second day you shall offer twelve calves of the herd, two rams and fourteen lambs of a year old, without blemish:

29:18. And the sacrifices and the libations for every one, for the calves and for the rams and for the lambs you shall duly celebrate:

29:19. And a buck goat for a sin offering besides the perpetual holocaust, and the sacrifice and the libation thereof.

29:20. The third day you shall offer eleven calves, two rams, and fourteen lambs of a year old, without blemish:

29:21. And the sacrifices and the libations of every one for the calves and for the rams and for the lambs you shall offer according to the rite:

29:22. And a buck goat for sin, besides the perpetual holocaust, and the sacrifice, and the libation thereof.

29:23. The fourth day you shall offer ten calves, two rams, and fourteen lambs of a year old, without blemish:

29:24. And the sacrifices and the libations of every one for the calves and for the rams and for the lambs you shall celebrate in right manner:

29:25. And a buck goat for sin, besides the perpetual holocaust, and the sacrifice and the libation thereof.

29:26. The fifth day you shall offer nine calves, two rams, and fourteen lambs of a year old, without blemish:

29:27. And the sacrifices and the libations of every one for the calves and for the rams and for the lambs you shall celebrate according to the rite:

29:28. And a buck goat for sin, besides the perpetual holocaust, and the sacrifice and the libation thereof.

29:29. The sixth day you shall offer eight calves, two rams, and fourteen lambs of a year old, without blemish:

29:30. And the sacrifices and the libations of every one for the calves and for the rams and for the lambs you shall celebrate according to the rite:

29:31. And a buck goat for sin, besides the perpetual holocaust, and the sacrifice and the libation thereof.

29:32. The seventh day you shall offer seven calves and two rams, and fourteen lambs of a year old, without blemish:

29:33. And the sacrifices and the libations of every one for the calves and for the rams and for the lambs you shall celebrate according to the rite:

29:34. And a buck goat for sin, besides the perpetual holocaust, and the sacrifice and the libation thereof.

29:35. On the eighth day, which is most solemn, you shall do no servile work:

29:36. But you shall offer a holocaust for a most sweet odour to the Lord, one calf, one ram, and seven lambs of a year old, without blemish:

29:37. And the sacrifices and the libations of every one for the calves and for the rams and for the lambs you shall celebrate according to the rite:

29:38. And a buck goat for sin, besides the perpetual holocaust, and the sacrifice and the libation thereof.

29:39. These things shall you offer to the Lord in your solemnities: besides your vows and voluntary oblations for holocaust, for sacrifice, for libation, and for victims of peace offerings.

Numbers Chapter 30

Of vows and oaths: and their obligation.

30:1. And Moses told the children of Israel all that the Lord had commanded him:

30:2. And he said to the princes of the tribes of the children of Israel: This is the word that the Lord hath commanded:

30:3. If any man make a vow to the Lord, or bind himself by an oath: he shall not make his word void but shall fulfil all that he promised.

30:4. If a woman vow any thing, and bind herself by an oath, being in her father’s house, and but yet a girl in age: if her father knew the vow that she hath promised, and the oath wherewith she hath bound her soul, and held his peace, she shall be bound by the vow:

30:5. Whatsoever she promised and swore, she shall fulfil in deed.

30:6. But if her father, immediately as soon as he heard it, gainsaid it, both her vows and her oaths shall be void, neither shall she be bound to what she promised, because her father hath gainsaid it.

30:7. If she have a husband, and shall vow any thing, and the word once going out of her mouth shall bind her soul by an oath,

30:8. The day that her husband shall hear it, and not gainsay it, she shall be bound to the vow, and shall give whatsoever she promised.

30:9. But if as soon as he heareth he gainsay it, and make her promises and the words wherewith she had bound her soul of no effect: the Lord will forgive her.

30:10. The widow, and she that is divorced, shall fulfil whatsoever they vow.

30:11. If the wife in the house of her husband, hath bound herself by vow and by oath,

30:12. If her husband hear, and hold his peace, and doth not disallow the promise, she shall accomplish whatsoever she had promised.

30:13. But if forthwith he gainsay it, she shall not be bound by the promise: because her husband gainsaid it, and the Lord will be merciful to her.

30:14. If she vow and bind herself by oath, to afflict her soul by fasting, or abstinence from other things, it shall depend on the will of her husband, whether she shall do it, or not do it.

30:15. But if the husband hearing it hold his peace, and defer the declaring his mind till another day: whatsoever she had vowed and promised, she shall fulfil: because immediately as he heard it, he held his peace.

30:16. But if he gainsay it after that he knew it, he shall bear her iniquity.

30:17. These are the laws which the Lord appointed to Moses between the husband and the wife, between the father and the daughter that is as yet but a girl in age, or that abideth in her father’s house.

Numbers Chapter 31

The Madianites are slain for having drawn the people of Israel into sin. The dividing of the booty.

31:1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

31:2. Revenge first the children of Israel on the Madianites, and so thou shalt be gathered to thy people.

31:3. And Moses forthwith said: Arm of you men to fight, who may take the revenge of the Lord on the Madianites.

31:4. Let a thousand men be chosen out of every tribe of Israel to be sent to the war.

31:5. And they gave a thousand of every tribe, that is to say, twelve thousand men well appointed for battle.

31:6. And Moses sent them with Phinees the son of Eleazar the priest, and he delivered to him the holy vessels, and the trumpets to sound.

31:7. And when they had fought against the Madianites and had overcome them, they slew all the men.

31:8. And their kings Evi, and Recem, and Sur, and Hur, and Rebe, five princes of the nation: Balaam also the son of Beor they killed with the sword.

31:9. And they took their women, and their children captives, and all their cattle, and all their goods: and all their possessions they plundered:

31:10. And all their cities, and their villages, and castles, they burned.

31:11. And they carried away the booty, and all that they had taken both of men and of beasts.

31:12. And they brought them to Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and to all the multitude of the children of Israel. But the rest of the things for use they carried to the camp on the plains of Moab, beside the Jordan over against Jericho.

31:13. And Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the princes of the synagogue went forth to meet them without the camp.

31:14. And Moses being angry with the chief officers of the army, the tribunes, and the centurions that were come from the battle,

31:15. Said: Why have you saved the women?

31:16. Are not these they, that deceived the children of Israel by the counsel of Balaam, and made you transgress against the Lord by the sin of Phogor, for which also the people was punished?

The sin of Phogor.... The sin committed in the worship of Beelphegor.

31:17. Therefore kill all that are of the male sex, even of the children: and put to death the women, that have carnally known men.

Of children.... Women and children, ordinarily speaking, were not to be killed in war, Deut. 20.14. But the great Lord of life and death was pleased to order it otherwise in the present case, in detestation of the wickedness of this people, who by the counsel of Balaam, had sent their women among the Israelites on purpose to draw them from God.

31:18. But the girls, and all the women that are virgins save for yourselves:

31:19. And stay without the camp seven days. He that hath killed a man, or touched one that is killed, shall be purified the third day and the seventh day.

31:20. And of all the spoil, every garment, or vessel, or any thing made for use, of the skins, or hair of goats, or of wood, shall be purified.

31:21. Eleazar also the priest spoke to the men of the army, that had fought, in this manner: This is the ordinance of the law, which the Lord hath commanded Moses:

31:22. Gold, and silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin,

31:23. And all that may pass through the fire, shall be purified by fire, but whatsoever cannot abide the fire, shall be sanctified with the water of expiation:

31:24. And you shall wash your garments the seventh day, and being purified, you shall afterwards enter into the camp.

31:25. And the Lord said to Moses:

31:26. Take the sum of the things that were taken both of man and beast, thou and Eleazar the priest and the princes of the multitude:

31:27. And thou shalt divide the spoil equally, between them that fought and went out to the war, and between the rest of the multitude.

31:28. And thou shalt separate a portion to the Lord from them that fought and were in the battle, one soul of five hundred as well of persons as of oxen and asses and sheep.

31:29. And thou shalt give it to Eleazar the priest, because they are the firstfruits of the Lord.

31:30. Out of the moiety also of the children of Israel thou shalt take the fiftieth head of persons, and of oxen, and asses, and sheep, and of all beasts, and thou shalt give them to the Levites that watch in the charge of the tabernacle of the Lord.

31:31. And Moses and Eleazar did as the Lord had commanded.

31:32. And the spoil which the army had taken, was six hundred seventy-five thousand sheep,

31:33. Seventy-two thousand oxen,

31:34. Sixty-one thousand asses:

31:35. And thirty-two thousand persons of the female sex, that had not known men.

31:36. And one half was given to them that had been in the battle, to wit, three hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep:

31:37. Out of which, for the portion of the Lord, were reckoned six hundred seventy five sheep.

31:38. And out of the thirty-six thousand oxen, seventy-two oxen:

31:39. Out of the thirty thousand five hundred asses, sixty-one asses:

31:40. Out of the sixteen thousand persons, there fell to the portion of the Lord, thirty-two souls.

31:41. And Moses delivered the number of the firstfruits of the Lord to Eleazar the priest, as had been commanded him,

31:42. Out of the half of the children of Israel, which he had separated for them that had been in the battle.

31:43. But out of the half that fell to the rest of the multitude, that is to say, out of the three hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep,

31:44. And out of the thirty-six thousand oxen,

31:45. And out of the thirty thousand five hundred asses,

31:46. And out of the sixteen thousand persons,

31:47. Moses took the fiftieth head, and gave it to the Levites that watched in the tabernacle of the Lord, as the Lord had commanded.

31:48. And when the commanders of the army, and the tribunes and centurions were come to Moses, they said:

31:49. We thy servants have reckoned up the number of the fighting men, whom we had under our hand, and not so much as one was wanting.

31:50. Therefore we offer as gifts to the Lord what gold every one of us could find in the booty, in garters and tablets, rings and bracelets, and chains, that thou mayst pray to the Lord for us.

31:51. And Moses and Eleazar the priest received all the gold in divers kinds,

31:52. In weight sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty sicles, from the tribunes and from the centurions.

31:53. For that which every one had taken in the booty was his own.

31:54. And that which was received they brought into the tabernacle of the testimony, for a memorial of the children of Israel before the Lord.

Numbers Chapter 32

The tribes of Ruben and Gad, and half of the tribe of Manasses, receive their inheritance on the east side of Jordan, upon conditions approved of by Moses.

32:1. And the sons of Ruben and Gad had many flocks of cattle, and their substance in beasts was infinite. And when they saw the lands of Jazer and Galaad fit for feeding cattle,

32:2. They came to Moses and Eleazar the priest, and the princes of the multitude, and said:

32:3. Ataroth, and Dibon, and Jazer, and Nemra, Hesebon, and Eleale, and Saban, and Nebo, and Beon,

32:4. The land, which the Lord hath conquered in the sight of the children of Israel, is a very fertile soil for the feeding of beasts: and we thy servants have very much cattle:

32:5. And we pray thee, if we have found favour in thy sight, that thou give it to us thy servants in possession, and make us not pass over the Jordan.

32:6. And Moses answered them: What, shall your brethren go to fight, and will you sit here?

32:7. Why do ye overturn the minds of the children of Israel, that they may not dare to pass into the place which the Lord hath given them?

32:8. Was it not thus your fathers did, when I sent from Cadesbarne to view the land?

32:9. And when they were come as far as the valley of the cluster, having viewed all the country, they overturned the hearts of the children of Israel, that they should not enter into the coasts, which the Lord gave them.

32:10. And he swore in his anger, saying:

32:11. If these men, that came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land, which I promised with an oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: because they would not follow me,

32:12. Except Caleb the son of Jephone the Cenezite, and Josue the son of Nun: these have fulfilled my will.

32:13. And the Lord being angry against Israel, led them about through the desert forty years, until the whole generation, that had done evil in his sight, was consumed.

32:14. And behold, said he, you are risen up instead of your fathers, the increase and offspring of sinful men, to augment the fury of the Lord against Israel.

32:15. For if you will not follow him, he will leave the people in the wilderness, and you shall be the cause of the destruction of all.

32:16. But they coming near, said: We will make sheepfolds, and stalls for our cattle, and strong cities for our children:

32:17. And we ourselves will go armed and ready for battle before the children of Israel, until we bring them in unto their places. Our little ones, and all we have, shall be in walled cities, for fear of the ambushes of the inhabitants.

32:18. We will not return into our houses until the children of Israel possess their inheritance:

32:19. Neither will we seek any thing beyond the Jordan, because we have already our possession on the east side thereof,

32:20. And Moses said to them: If you do what you promise, go on well appointed for war before the Lord:

32:21. And let every fighting man pass over the Jordan, until the Lord overthrow his enemies:

32:22. And all the land be brought under him, then shall you be blameless before the Lord and before Israel, and you shall obtain the countries that you desire, before the Lord.

32:23. But if you do not what you say, no man can doubt but you sin against God: and know ye, that your sin shall overtake you.

32:24. Build therefore cities for your children, and folds and stalls for your sheep and beasts, and accomplish what you have promised.

32:25. And the children of Gad and Ruben said to Moses: We are thy servants, we will do what my lord commandeth.

32:26. We will leave our children, and our wives and sheep and cattle, in the cities of Galaad:

32:27. And we thy servants all well appointed will march on to the war, as thou, my lord, speakest.

32:28. Moses therefore commanded Eleazar the priest, and Josue the son of Nun, and the princes of the families of all the tribes of Israel, and said to them:

32:29. If the children of Gad, and the children of Ruben pass with you over the Jordan, all armed for war before the Lord, and the land be made subject to you: give them Galaad in possession.

32:30. But if they will not pass armed with you into the land of Chanaan, let them receive places to dwell in among you.

32:31. And the children of Gad, and the children of Ruben answered: As the Lord hath spoken to his servants, so will we do:

32:32. We will go armed before the Lord into the land of Chanaan, and we confess that we have already received our possession beyond the Jordan.

32:33. Moses therefore gave to the children of Gad and of Ruben, and to the half tribe of Manasses the son of Joseph, the kingdom of Sehon king of the Amorrhites, and the kingdom of Og king of Basan, and their land and the cities thereof round about.

32:34. And the sons of Gad built Dibon, and Ataroth, and Aroer,

32:35. And Etroth, and Sophan, and Jazer, and Jegbaa,

32:36. And Bethnemra, and Betharan, fenced cities, and folds for their cattle.

32:37. But the children of Ruben built Hesebon, and Eleale, and Cariathaim,

32:38. And Nabo, and Baalmeon (their names being changed) and Sabama: giving names to the cities which they had built.

32:39. Moreover the children of Machir, the son of Manasses, went into Galaad, and wasted it, cutting off the Amorrhites, the inhabitants thereof.

32:40. And Moses gave the land of Galaad to Machir the son of Manasses, and he dwelt in it.

32:41. And Jair the son of Manasses went, and took the villages thereof, and he called them Havoth Jair, that is to say, the villages of Jair.

32:42. Nobe also went, and took Canath with the villages thereof: and he called it by his own name, Nobe.

Numbers Chapter 33

The mansions or journeys of the children of Israel towards the land of promise.

33:1. These are the mansions of the children of Israel, who went out of Egypt by their troops under the conduct of Moses and Aaron,

The mansions.... These mansions, or journeys of the children of Israel from Egypt to the land of promise, were figures, according to the fathers, of the steps and degrees by which Christians leaving sin are to advance from virtue to virtue, till they come to the heavenly mansions, after this life, to see and enjoy God.

33:2. Which Moses wrote down according to the places of their encamping, which they changed by the commandment of the Lord.

33:3. Now the children of Israel departed from Ramesses the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month, the day after the phase, with a mighty hand, in the sight of all the Egyptians,

33:4. Who were burying their firstborn, whom the Lord had slain (upon their gods also he had executed vengeance,)

33:5. And they camped in Soccoth.

33:6. And from Soccoth they came into Etham, which is in the uttermost borders of the wilderness.

33:7. Departing from thence they came over against Phihahiroth, which looketh towards Beelsephon, and they camped before Magdalum.

33:8. And departing from Phihahiroth, they passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness: and having marched three days through the desert of Etham, they camped in Mara.

33:9. And departing from Mara, they came into Elim, where there were twelve fountains of waters, and seventy palm trees: and there they camped.

33:10. But departing from thence also, they pitched their tents by the Red Sea. And departing from the Red Sea,

33:11. They camped in the desert of Sin.

33:12. And they removed from thence, and came to Daphca.

33:13. And departing from Daphca, they camped in Alus.

33:14. And departing from Alus, they pitched their tents in Raphidim, where the people wanted water to drink.

33:15. And departing from Raphidim, they camped in the desert of Sinai.

33:16. But departing also from the desert of Sinai, they came to the graves of lust.

33:17. And departing from the graves of lust, they camped in Haseroth.

33:18. And from Haseroth they came to Rethma.

33:19. And departing from Rethma, they camped in Remmomphares.

33:20. And they departed from thence and came to Lebna.

33:21. Removing from Lebna they camped in Ressa.

33:22. And departing from Ressa, they came to Ceelatha.

33:23. And they removed from thence and camped in the mountain Sepher.

33:24. Departing from the mountain Sepher, they came to Arada,

33:25. From thence they went and camped in Maceloth.

33:26. And departing from Maceloth, they came to Thahath.

33:27. Removing from Thahath they camped in Thare.

33:28. And they departed from thence, and pitched their tents in Methca.

33:29. And removing from Methca, they camped in Hesmona.

33:30. And departing from Hesmona, they came to Moseroth.

33:31. And removing from Moseroth, they camped in Benejaacan.

33:32. And departing from Benejaacan, they came to mount Gadgad.

33:33. From thence they went and camped in Jetebatha.

33:34. And from Jetebatha they came to Hebrona.

33:35. And departing from Hebrona, they camped in Asiongaber.

33:36. They removed from thence and came into the desert of Sin, which is Cades.

33:37. And departing from Cades, they camped in mount Hor, in the uttermost borders of the land of Edom.

33:38. And Aaron the priest went up into mount Hor at the commandment of the Lord: and there he died in the fortieth year of the coming forth of the children of Israel out of Egypt, the fifth month, the first day of the month,

33:39. When he was a hundred and twenty-three years old.

33:40. And king Arad the Chanaanite, who dwelt towards the south, heard that the children of Israel were come to the land of Chanaan.

33:41. And they departed from mount Hor, and camped in Salmona.

33:42. From whence they removed and came to Phunon.

33:43. And departing from Phunon, they camped in Oboth.

33:44. And from Oboth they came to Ijeabarim, which is in the borders of the Moabites.

33:45. And departing from Ijeabarim they pitched their tents in Dibongab.

33:46. From thence they went and camped in Helmondeblathaim.

33:47. And departing from Helmondeblathaim, they came to the mountains of Abarim over against Nabo.

33:48. And departing from the mountains of Abarim, they passed to the plains of Moab, by the Jordan, over against Jericho.

33:49. And there they camped from Bethsimoth even to Ablesatim in the plains of the Moabites,

33:50. Where the Lord said to Moses:

33:51. Command the children of Israel, and say to them: When you shall have passed over the Jordan, entering into the land of Chanaan,

33:52. Destroy all the inhabitants of that land: Beat down their pillars, and break in pieces their statues, and waste all their high places,

33:53. Cleansing the land, and dwelling in it. For I have given it you for a possession.

33:54. And you shall divide it among you by lot. To the more you shall give a larger part, and to the fewer a lesser. To every one as the lot shall fall, so shall the inheritance be given. The possession shall be divided by the tribes and the families.

33:55. But if you will not kill the inhabitants of the land: they that remain, shall be unto you as nails in your eyes, and spears in your sides, and they shall be your adversaries in the land of your habitation.

33:56. And whatsoever I had thought to do to them, I will do to you.

Numbers Chapter 34

The limits of Chanaan; with the names of the men that make the division of it.

34:1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

34:2. Command the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: When you are entered into the land of Chanaan, and it shall be fallen into your possession by lot, it shall be bounded by these limits:

34:3. The south side shall begin from the wilderness of Sin, which is by Edom: and shall have the most salt sea for its furthest limits eastward:

The most salt sea.... The lake of Sodom, otherwise called the Dead Sea.

34:4. Which limits shall go round on the south side by the ascent of the Scorpion and so into Senna, and reach toward the south as far as Cadesbarne, from whence the frontiers shall go out to the town called Adar, and shall reach as far as Asemona.

The Scorpion.... A mountain so called from having a great number of scorpions.

34:5. And the limits shall fetch a compass from Asemona to the torrent of Egypt, and shall end in the shore of the great sea.

The great sea.... The Mediterranean.

34:6. And the west side shall begin from the great sea, and the same shall be the end thereof.

34:7. But toward the north side the borders shall begin from the great sea, reaching to the most high mountain,

The most high mountain.... Libanus.

34:8. From which they shall come to Emath, as far as the borders of Sedada:

34:9. And the limits shall go as far as Zephrona, and the village of Enan. These shall be the borders on the north side.

34:10. From thence they shall mark out the bounds towards the east side from the village of Enan unto Sephama.

34:11. And from Sephama the bounds shall go down to Rebla over against the fountain of Daphnis: from thence they shall come eastward to the sea of Cenereth,

Sea of Cenereth.... This is the sea of Galilee, illustrated by the miracles of our Lord.

34:12. And shall reach as far as the Jordan, and at the last shall be closed in by the most salt sea. This shall be your land with its borders round about.

34:13. And Moses commanded the children of Israel, saying: This shall be the land which you shall possess by lot, and which the Lord hath commanded to be given to the nine tribes, and to the half tribe.

34:14. For the tribe of the children of Ruben by their families, and the tribe of the children of Gad according to the number of their kindreds, and half of the tribe of Manasses,

34:15. That is, two tribes and a half, have received their portion beyond the Jordan over against Jericho at the east side.

34:16. And the Lord said to Moses:

34:17. These are the names of the men, that shall divide the land unto you: Eleazar the priest, and Josue the son of Nun,

34:18. And one prince of every tribe,

34:19. Whose names are these: Of the tribe of Juda, Caleb the son of Jephone.

34:20. Of the tribe of Simeon, Samuel the son of Ammiud.

34:21. Of the tribe of Benjamin, Elidad the son of Chaselon.

34:22. Of the tribe of the children of Dan, Bocci the son of Jogli.

34:23. Of the children of Joseph of the tribe of Manasses, Hanniel the son of Ephod.

34:24. Of the tribe of Ephraim, Camuel the son of Sephtan.

34:25. Of the tribe of Zabulon, Elisaphan the son of Pharnach.

34:26. Of the tribe of Issachar, Phaltiel the prince, the son of Ozan.

34:27. Of the tribe of Aser, Ahiud the son of Salomi.

34:28. Of the tribe of Nephtali: Phedael the son of Ammiud.

34:29. These are they Whom the Lord hath commanded to divide the land of Chanaan to the children of Israel.

Numbers Chapter 35

Cities are appointed for the Levites. Of which six are to be the cities of refuge.

35:1. And the Lord spoke these things also to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, over against Jericho:

35:2. Command the children of Israel that they give to the Levites out of their possessions,

35:3. Cities to dwell in, and their suburbs round about: that they may abide in the towns, and the suburbs may be for their cattle and beasts:

35:4. Which suburbs shall reach from the walls of the cities outward, a thousand paces on every side:

35:5. Toward the east shall be two thousand cubits: and toward the south in like manner shall be two thousand cubits: toward the sea also, which looketh to the west, shall be the same extent: and the north side shall be bounded with the like limits. And the cities shall be in the midst, and the suburbs without.

35:6. And among the cities, which you shall give to the Levites, six shall be separated for refuge to fugitives, that he who hath shed blood may flee to them: and besides these there shall be other forty-two cities,

35:7. That is, in all forty-eight with their suburbs.

35:8. And of these cities which shall be given out of the possessions of the children of Israel, from them that have more, more shall be taken: and from them that have less, fewer. Each shall give towns to the Levites according to the extent of their inheritance.

35:9. The Lord said to Moses:

35:10. Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: When you shall have passed over the Jordan into the land of Chanaan,

35:11. Determine what cities shall be for the refuge of fugitives, who have shed blood against their will.

35:12. And when the fugitive shall be in them, the kinsman of him that is slain may not have power to kill him, until he stand before the multitude, and his cause be judged.

35:13. And of those cities, that are separated for the refuge of fugitives,

35:14. Three shall be beyond the Jordan, and three in the land of Chanaan,

35:15. As well for the children of Israel as for strangers and sojourners, that he may flee to them, who hath shed blood against his will.

35:16. If any man strike with iron, and he die that was struck: he shall be guilty of murder, and he himself shall die.

35:17. If he throw a stone, and he that is struck die: he shall be punished in the same manner.

35:18. If he that is struck with wood die: he shall be revenged by the blood of him that struck him.

35:19. The kinsman of him that was slain, shall kill the murderer: as soon as he apprehendeth him, he shall kill him.

35:20. If through hatred any one push a man, or fling any thing at him with ill design:

35:21. Or being his enemy, strike him with his hand, and he die: the striker shall be guilty of murder: the kinsman of him that was slain as soon as he findeth him, shall kill him.

35:22. But if by chance medley, and without hatred,

35:23. And enmity, he do any of these things,

35:24. And this be proved in the hearing of the people, and the cause be debated between him that struck, and the next of kin:

35:25. The innocent shall be delivered from the hand of the revenger, and shall be brought back by sentence into the city, to which he had fled, and he shall abide there until the death of the high priest, that is anointed with the holy oil.

Until the death, etc.... This mystically signified that our deliverance was to be effected by the death of Christ, the high priest and the anointed of God.

35:26. If the murderer be found without the limits of the cities that are appointed for the banished,

35:27. And be struck by him that is the avenger of blood: he shall not be guilty that killed him.

35:28. For the fugitive ought to have stayed in the city until the death of the high priest: and after he is dead, then shall the manslayer return to his own country.

35:29. These things shall be perpetual, and for an ordinance in all your dwellings.

35:30. The murderer shall be punished by witnesses: none shall be condemned upon the evidence of one man.

35:31. You shall not take money of him that is guilty of blood, but he shall die forthwith.

35:32. The banished and fugitives before the death of the high priest may by no means return into their own cities.

35:33. Defile not the land of your habitation, which is stained with the blood of the innocent: neither can it otherwise be expiated, but by his blood that hath shed the blood of another.

35:34. And thus shall your possession be cleansed, myself abiding with you. For I am the Lord that dwell among the children of Israel.

Numbers Chapter 36

That the inheritances may not be alienated from one tribe to another, all are to marry within their own tribes.

36:1. And the princes of the families of Galaad, the son of Machir, the son of Manasses, of the stock of the children of Joseph, came and spoke to Moses before the princes of Israel, and said:

36:2. The Lord hath commanded thee, my lord, that thou shouldst divide the land by lot to the children of Israel, and that thou shouldst give to the daughters of Salphaad our brother the possession due to their father:

36:3. Now if men of another tribe take them to wives, their possession will follow them, and being transferred to another tribe, will be a diminishing of our inheritance.

36:4. And so it shall come to pass, that when the jubilee, that is, the fiftieth year of remission, is come, the distribution made by the lots shall be confounded, and the possession of the one shall pass to the others.

36:5. Moses answered the children of Israel, and said by the command of the Lord: The tribe of the children of Joseph hath spoken rightly.

36:6. And this is the law promulgated by the Lord touching the daughters of Salphaad: Let them marry to whom they will, only so that it be to men of their own tribe.

36:7. Lest the possession of the children of Israel be mingled from tribe to tribe. For all men shall marry wives of their own tribe and kindred:

36:8. And all women shall take husbands of the same tribe: that the inheritance may remain in the families.

36:9. And that the tribes be not mingled one with another, but remain so

36:10. As they were separated by the Lord. And the daughters of Salphaad did as was commanded:

36:11. And Maala, and Thersa, and Hegla, and Melcha, and Noa were married to the sons of their uncle by their father

36:12. Of the family of Manasses, who was the son of Joseph: and the possession that had been allotted to them, remained in the tribe and family of their father.

36:13. These are the commandments and judgment, which the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses to the children of Israel, in the plains of Moab upon the Jordan over against Jericho.

THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY

This Book is called DEUTERONOMY, which signifies a SECOND LAW, because it repeats and inculcates the ordinances formerly given on mount Sinai, with other precepts not expressed before. The Hebrews, from the first words in the book, call it ELLE HADDEBARIM.

Deuteronomy Chapter 1

A repetition of what passed at Sinai and Cadesbarne: and of the people’s murmuring and their punishment.

1:1. These are the words, which Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan, in the plain wilderness, over against the Red Sea, between Pharan and Thophel and Laban and Haseroth, where there is very much gold.

1:2. Eleven days’ journey from Horeb by the way of mount Seir to Cadesbarne.

1:3. In the fortieth year, the eleventh month, the first day of the month, Moses spoke to the children of Israel all that the Lord had commanded him to say to them:

1:4. After that he had slain Sehon king of the Amorrhites, who dwelt in Hesebon: and Og king of Basan who abode in Astaroth, and in Edrai,

1:5. Beyond the Jordan in the land of Moab. And Moses began to expound the law, and to say:

1:6. The Lord our God spoke to us in Horeb, saying: You have stayed long enough in this mountain:

1:7. Turn you, and come to the mountain of the Amorrhites, and to the other places that are next to it, the plains and the hills and the vales towards the south, and by the sea shore, the land of the Chanaanites, and of Libanus, as far as the great river Euphrates.

1:8. Behold, said he, I have delivered it to you: go in and possess it, concerning which the Lord swore to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that he would give it to them, and to their seed after them.

1:9. And I said to you at that time:

1:10. I alone am not able to bear you: for the Lord your God hath multiplied you, and you are this day as the stars of heaven, for multitude.

1:11. (The Lord God of your fathers add to this number many thousands, and bless you as he hath spoken.)

1:12. I alone am not able to bear your business, and the charge of you and your differences.

1:13. Let me have from among you wise and understanding men, and such whose conversation is approved among your tribes, that I may appoint them your rulers.

1:14. Then you answered me: The thing is good which thou meanest to do.

1:15. And I took out of your tribes men wise and honourable, and appointed them rulers, tribunes, and centurions, and officers over fifties, and over tens, who might teach you all things.

1:16. And I commanded them, saying: Hear them, and judge that which is just: whether he be one of your country, or a stranger.

1:17. There shall be no difference of persons, you shall hear the little as well as the great: neither shall you respect any man’s person, because it is the judgment of God. And if any thing seem hard to you, refer it to me, and I will hear it.

1:18. And I commanded you all things that you were to do.

1:19. And departing from Horeb, we passed through the terrible and vast wilderness, which you saw, by the way of the mountain of the Amorrhite, as the Lord our God had commanded us. And when we were come into Cadesbarne,

1:20. I said to you: You are come to the mountain of the Amorrhite, which the Lord our God will give to us.

1:21. See the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee: go up and possess it, as the Lord our God hath spoken to thy fathers: fear not, nor be any way discouraged.

1:22. And you came all to me, and said: Let us send men who may view the land, and bring us word what way we shall go up, and to what cities we shall go.

1:23. And because the saying pleased me, I sent of you twelve men, one of every tribe:

1:24. Who, when they had set forward and had gone up to the mountains, came as far as the valley of the cluster: and having viewed the land,

1:25. Taking of the fruits thereof, to shew its fertility, they brought them to us, and said: The land is good, which the Lord our God will give us.

1:26. And you would not go up, but being incredulous to the word of the Lord our God,

1:27. You murmured in your tents, and said: The Lord hateth us, and therefore he hath brought us out of the land of Egypt, that he might deliver us into the hand of the Amorrhite, and destroy us.

1:28. Whither shall we go up? the messengers have terrified our hearts, saying: The multitude is very great, and taller than we: the cities are great, and walled up to the sky, we have seen the sons of the Enacims there.

Walled up to the sky.... A figurative expression, signifying the walls to be very high.

1:29. And I said to you: Fear not, neither be ye afraid of them:

1:30. The Lord God, who is your leader, himself will fight for you, as he did in Egypt in the sight of all.

1:31. And in the wilderness (as thou hast seen) the Lord thy God hath carried thee, as a man is wont to carry his little son, all the way that you have come, until you came to this place.

1:32. And yet for all this you did not believe the Lord your God,

1:33. Who went before you in the way, and marked out the place, wherein you should pitch your tents, in the night shewing you the way by fire, and in the day by the pillar of a cloud.

1:34. And when the Lord had heard the voice of your words, he was angry and swore, and said:

1:35. Not one of the men of this wicked generation shall see the good land, which I promised with an oath to your fathers:

1:36. Except Caleb the son of Jephone: for he shall see it, and to him I will give the land that he hath trodden upon, and to his children, because he hath followed the Lord.

1:37. Neither is his indignation against the people to be wondered at, since the Lord was angry with me also on your account, and said: Neither shalt thou go in thither.

1:38. But Josue the son of Nun, thy minister, he shall go in for thee: exhort and encourage him, and he shall divide the land by lot to Israel.

1:39. Your children, of whom you said that they should be led away captives, and your sons who know not this day the difference of good and evil, they shall go in: and to them I will give the land, and they shall possess it.

1:40. But return you and go into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea.

1:41. And you answered me: We have sinned against the Lord: we will go up and fight, as the Lord our God hath commanded. And when you went ready armed unto the mountain,

1:42. The Lord said to me: Say to them: Go not up, and fight not, for I am not with you: lest you fall before your enemies.

1:43. I spoke, and you hearkened not: but resisting the commandment of the Lord, and swelling with pride, you went up into the mountain.

1:44. And the Amorrhite that dwelt in the mountains coming out, and meeting you, chased you, as bees do: and made slaughter of you from Seir as far as Horma.

1:45. And when you returned and wept before the Lord, he heard you not, neither would he yield to your voice.

1:46. So you abode in Cadesbarne a long time.

Deuteronomy Chapter 2

They are forbid to fight against the Edomites, Moabites, and Ammonites. Their victory over Sehon king of Hesebon.

2:1. And departing from thence we came into the wilderness that leadeth to the Red Sea, as the Lord had spoken to me: and we compassed mount Seir a long time.

2:2. And the Lord said to me:

2:3. You have compassed this mountain long enough: go toward the north:

2:4. And command thou the people, saying: You shall pass by the borders of your brethren the children of Esau, who dwell in Seir, and they will be afraid of you.

2:5. Take ye then good heed that you stir not against them. For I will not give you of their land so much as the step of one foot can tread upon, because I have given mount Seir to Esau, for a possession.

2:6. You shall buy meats of them for money and shall eat: you shall draw waters for money, and shall drink.

2:7. The Lord thy God hath blessed thee in every work of thy hands: the Lord thy God dwelling with thee, knoweth thy journey, how thou hast passed through this great wilderness, for forty years, and thou hast wanted nothing.

2:8. And when we had passed by our brethren the children of Esau, that dwelt in Seir, by the way of the plain from Elath and from Asiongaber, we came to the way that leadeth to the desert of Moab.

2:9. And the Lord said to me: Fight not against the Moabites, neither go to battle against them: for I will not give thee any of their land, because I have given Ar to the children of Lot in possession.

2:10. The Emims first were the inhabitants thereof, a people great, and strong, and so tall, that like the race of the Enacims,

2:11. They were esteemed as giants, and were like the sons of the Enacims. But the Moabites call them Emims.

2:12. The Horrhites also formerly dwelt in Seir: who being driven out and destroyed, the children of Esau dwelt there, as Israel did in the land of his possession, which the Lord gave him.

2:13. Then rising up to pass the torrent Zared, we came to it.

2:14. And the time that we journeyed from Cadesbarne till we passed over the torrent Zared, was thirty-eight years: until all the generation of the men that were fit for war was consumed out of the camp, as the Lord had sworn:

2:15. For his hand was against them, that they should perish from the midst of the camp.

2:16. And after all the fighting men were dead,

2:17. The Lord spoke to me, saying:

2:18. Thou shalt pass this day the borders of Moab, the city named Ar:

2:19. And when thou comest nigh the frontiers of the children of Ammon, take heed thou fight not against them, nor once move to battle: for I will not give thee of the land of the children of Ammon, because I have given it to the children of Lot for a possession.

2:20. It was accounted a land of giants: and giants formerly dwelt in it, whom the Ammonites call Zomzommims,

2:21. A people great and many, and of tall stature, like the Enacims whom the Lord destroyed before their face: and he made them to dwell in their stead,

2:22. As he had done in favour of the children of Esau, that dwell in Seir, destroying the Horrhites, and delivering their land to them, which they possess to this day.

2:23. The Hevites also, that dwelt in Haserim as far as Gaza, were expelled by the Cappadocians: who came out of Cappadocia, and destroyed them and dwelt in their stead.

2:24. Arise ye, and pass the torrent Arnon: Behold I have delivered into thy hand Sehon king of Hesebon the Amorrhite, and begin thou to possess his land and make war against him.

2:25. This day will I begin to send the dread and fear of thee upon the nations that dwell under the whole heaven: that when they hear thy name they may fear and tremble, and be in pain like women in travail.

2:26. So I sent messengers from the wilderness of Cademoth to Sehon the king of Hesebon with peaceable words, saying:

2:27. We will pass through thy land, we will go along by the highway: we will not turn aside neither to the right hand nor to the left.

2:28. Sell us meat for money, that we may eat: give us water for money and so we will drink. We only ask that thou wilt let us pass through,

2:29. As the children of Esau have done, that dwell in Seir, and the Moabites, that abide in Ar: until we come to the Jordan, and pass to the land which the Lord our God will give us.

2:30. And Sehon the king of Hesebon would not let us pass: because the Lord thy God had hardened his spirit, and fixed his heart, that he might be delivered into thy hands, as now thou seest.

Hardened, etc.... That is, in punishment of his past sins he left him to his own stubborn and perverse disposition, which drew him to his ruin. See the note on Ex. 7.3.

2:31. And the Lord said to me: Behold I have begun to deliver unto thee Sehon and his land, begin to possess it.

2:32. And Sehon came out to meet us with all his people to fight at Jasa.

2:33. And the Lord our God delivered him to us: and we slew him with his sons and all his people.

2:34. And we took all his cities at that time, killing the inhabitants of them, men and women and children. We left nothing of them:

2:35. Except the cattle which came to the share of them that took them: and the spoils of the cities, which we took:

2:36. From Aroer, which is upon the bank of the torrent Arnon, a town that is situate in a valley, as far as Galaad. There was not a village or city, that escaped our hands: the Lord our God delivered all unto us:

2:37. Except the land of the children of Ammon, to which we approached not: and all that border upon the torrent Jeboc, and the cities in the mountains, and all the places which the Lord our God forbade us.

Deuteronomy Chapter 3

The victory over Og king of Basan. Ruben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasses receive their possession on the other side of Jordan.

3:1. Then we turned and went by the way of Basan: and Og the king of Basan came out to meet us with his people to fight in Edrai.

3:2. And the Lord said to me: Fear him not: because he is delivered into thy hand, with all his people and his land: and thou shalt do to him as thou hast done to Sehon king of the Amorrhites, that dwelt in Hesebon.

3:3. So the Lord our God delivered into our hands, Og also, the king of Basan, and all his people: and we utterly destroyed them,

3:4. Wasting all his cities at one time, there was not a town that escaped us: sixty cities, all the country of Argob the kingdom of Og in Basan.

3:5. All the cities were fenced with very high walls, and with gates and bars, besides innumerable towns that had no walls.

3:6. And we utterly destroyed them, as we had done to Sehon the king of Hesebon, destroying every city, men and women and children:

3:7. But the cattle and the spoils of the cities we took for our prey.

3:8. And we took at that time the land out of the hand of the two kings of the Amorrhites, that were beyond the Jordan: from the torrent Arnon unto the mount Hermon,

3:9. Which the Sidonians call Sarion, and the Amorrhites Sanir:

3:10. All the cities that are situate in the plain, and all the land of Galaad and Basan as far as Selcha and Edrai, cities of the kingdom of Og in Basan.

3:11. For only Og king of Basan remained of the race of the giants. His bed of iron is shewn, which is in Rabbath of the children of Ammon, being nine cubits long, and four broad after the measure of the cubit of a man’s hand.

3:12. And we possessed the land at that time from Aroer, which is upon the bank of the torrent Arnon, unto the half of mount Galaad: and I gave the cities thereof to Ruben and Gad.

3:13. And I delivered the other part of Galaad, and all Basan the kingdom of Og to the half tribe of Manasses, all the country of Argob: and all Basan is called the Land of giants.

3:14. Jair the son of Manasses possessed all the country of Argob unto the borders of Gessuri, and Machati. And he called Basan by his own name, Havoth Jair, that is to say, the towns of Jair, until this present day.

3:15. To Machir also I gave Galaad.

3:16. And to the tribes of Ruben and Gad I gave of the land of Galaad as far as the torrent Arnon, half the torrent, and the confines even unto the torrent Jeboc, which is the border of the children of Ammon:

3:17. And the plain of the wilderness, and the Jordan, and the borders of Cenereth unto the sea of the desert, which is the most salt sea, to the foot of mount Phasga eastward.

3:18. And I commanded you at that time, saying: The Lord your God giveth you this land for an inheritance, go ye well appointed before your brethren the children of Israel, all the strong men of you.

3:19. Leaving your wives and children and cattle. For I know you have much cattle, and they must remain in the cities, which I have delivered to you.

3:20. Until the Lord give rest to your brethren, as he hath given to you: and they also possess the land, which he will give them beyond the Jordan: then shall every man return to his possession, which I have given you.

3:21. I commanded Josue also at that time, saying: Thy eyes have seen what the Lord your God hath done to these two kings: so will he do to all the kingdoms to which thou shalt pass.

3:22. Fear them not: for the Lord your God will fight for you.

3:23. And I besought the Lord at that time, saying:

3:24. Lord God, thou hast begun to shew unto thy servant thy greatness, and most mighty hand, for there is no other God either in heaven or earth, that is able to do thy works, or to be compared to thy strength.

3:25. I will pass over therefore, and will see this excellent land beyond the Jordan, and this goodly mountain, and Libanus.

3:26. And the Lord was angry with me on your account and heard me not, but said to me: It is enough: speak no more to me of this matter.

3:27. Go up to the top of Phasga, and cast thy eyes round about to the west, and to the north, and to the south, and to the east, and behold it, for thou shalt not pass this Jordan.

3:28. Command Josue, and encourage and strengthen him: for he shall go before this people, and shall divide unto them the land which thou shalt see.

3:29. And we abode in the valley over against the temple of Phogor.

Deuteronomy Chapter 4

Moses exhorteth the people to keep God’s commandments: particularly to fly idolatry. Appointeth three cities of refuge, on that side of the Jordan.

4:1. And now, O Israel, hear the commandments and judgments which I teach thee: that doing them, thou mayst live, and entering in mayst possess the land which the Lord the God of your fathers will give you.

4:2. You shall not add to the word that I speak to you, neither shall you take away from it: keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.

4:3. Your eyes have seen all that the Lord hath done against Beelphegor, how he hath destroyed all his worshippers from among you.

4:4. But you that adhere to the Lord your God, are all alive until this present day.

4:5. You know that I have taught you statutes and justices, as the Lord my God hath commanded me: so shall you do them in the land which you shall possess:

4:6. And you shall observe, and fulfil them in practice. For this is your wisdom, and understanding in the sight of nations, that hearing all these precepts, they may say: Behold a wise and understanding people, a great nation.

4:7. Neither is there any other nation so great, that hath gods so nigh them, as our God is present to all our petitions.

4:8. For what other nation is there so renowned that hath ceremonies, and just judgments, and all the law, which I will set forth this day before our eyes?

4:9. Keep thyself therefore, and thy soul carefully. Forget not the words that thy eyes have seen, and let them not go out of thy heart all the days of thy life. Thou shalt teach them to thy sons and to thy grandsons,

4:10. From the day in which thou didst stand before the Lord thy God in Horeb, when the Lord spoke to me, saying: Call together the people unto me, that they may hear my words, and may learn to fear me all the time that they live on the earth, and may teach their children.

4:11. And you came to the foot of the mount, which burned even unto heaven: and there was darkness, and a cloud and obscurity in it.

4:12. And the Lord spoke to you from the midst of the fire. You heard the voice of his words, but you saw not any form at all.

4:13. And he shewed you his covenant, which he commanded you to do, and the ten words that he wrote in two tables of stone.

4:14. And he commanded me at that time that I should teach you the ceremonies and judgments which you shall do in the land, that you shall possess.

4:15. Keep therefore your souls carefully. You saw not any similitude in the day that the Lord God spoke to you in Horeb from the midst of the fire:

4:16. Lest perhaps being deceived you might make you a graven similitude, or image of male or female,

4:17. The similitude of any beasts, that are upon the earth, or of birds, that fly under heaven,

4:18. Or of creeping things, that move on the earth, or of fishes, that abide in the waters under the earth:

4:19. Lest perhaps lifting up thy eyes to heaven, thou see the sun and the moon, and all the stars of heaven, and being deceived by error thou adore and serve them, which the Lord thy God created for the service of all the nations, that are under heaven.

4:20. But the Lord hath taken you and brought you out of the iron furnaces of Egypt, to make you his people of inheritance, as it is this present day.

4:21. And the Lord was angry with me for your words, and he swore that I should not pass over the Jordan, nor enter into the excellent land, which he will give you.

4:22. Behold I die in this land, I shall not pass over the Jordan: you shall pass, and possess the goodly land.

4:23. Beware lest thou ever forget the covenant of the Lord thy God, which he hath made with thee: and make to thyself a graven likeness of those things which the Lord hath forbid to be made:

4:24. Because the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

4:25. If you shall beget sons and grandsons, and abide in the land, and being deceived, make to yourselves any similitude, committing evil before the Lord your God, to provoke him to wrath:

4:26. I call this day heaven and earth to witness, that you shall quickly perish out of the land, which, when you have passed over the Jordan, you shall possess. You shall not dwell therein long, but the Lord will destroy you,

4:27. And scatter you among all nations, and you shall remain a few among the nations, to which the Lord shall lead you.

4:28. And there you shall serve gods, that were framed with men’s hands: wood and stone, that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.

4:29. And when thou shalt seek there the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him: yet so, if thou seek him with all thy heart, and all the affliction of thy soul.

4:30. After all the things aforesaid shall find thee, in the latter time thou shalt return to the Lord thy God, and shalt hear his voice.

4:31. Because the Lord thy God is a merciful God: he will not leave thee, nor altogether destroy thee, nor forget the covenant, by which he swore to thy fathers.

4:32. Ask of the days of old, that have been before thy time from the day that God created man upon the earth, from one end of heaven to the other end thereof, if ever there was done the like thing, or it hath been known at any time,

4:33. That a people should hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of fire, as thou hast heard, and lived:

4:34. If God ever did so as to go, and take to himself a nation out of the midst of nations by temptations, signs, and wonders, by fight, and a strong hand, and stretched out arm, and horrible visions according to all the things that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt, before thy eyes.

4:35. That thou mightest know that the Lord he is God, and there is no other besides him.

4:36. From heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might teach thee. And upon earth he shewed thee his exceeding great fire, and thou didst hear his words out of the midst of the fire,

4:37. Because he loved thy fathers, and chose their seed after them. And he brought thee out of Egypt, going before thee with his great power,

4:38. To destroy at thy coming very great nations, and stronger than thou art, and to bring thee in, and give thee their land for a possession, as thou seest at this present day.

4:39. Know therefore this day, and think in thy heart that the Lord he is God in heaven above, and in the earth beneath, and there is no other.

4:40. Keep his precepts and commandments, which I command thee: that it may be well with thee, and thy children after thee, and thou mayst remain a long time upon the land, which the Lord thy God will give thee.

4:41. Then Moses set aside three cities beyond the Jordan at the east side,

4:42. That any one might flee to them who should kill his neighbour unwillingly, and was not his enemy a day or two before, and that he might escape to some one of these cities:

4:43. Bosor in the wilderness, which is situate in the plains of the tribe of Ruben: and Ramoth in Galaad, which is in the tribe of Gad: and Golan in Basan, which is in the tribe of Manasses.

4:44. This is the law, that Moses set before the children of Israel,

4:45. And these are the testimonies and ceremonies and judgments, which he spoke to the children of Israel, when they came out of Egypt,

4:46. Beyond the Jordan in the valley over against the temple of Phogor, in the land of Sehon king of the Amorrhites, that dwelt in Hesebon, whom Moses slew. And the children of Israel coming out of Egypt,

4:47. Possessed his land, and the land of Og king of Basan, of the two kings of the Amorrhites, who were beyond the Jordan towards the rising of the sun:

4:48. From Aroer, which is situate upon the bank of the torrent Arnon, unto mount Sion, which is also called Hermon,

4:49. All the plain beyond the Jordan at the east side, unto the sea of the wilderness, and unto the foot of mount Phasga.

Deuteronomy Chapter 5

The ten commandments are repeated and explained.

5:1. And Moses called all Israel, and said to them: Hear, O Israel, the ceremonies and judgments, which I speak in your ears this day: learn them, and fulfil them in work.

5:2. The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb.

5:3. He made not the covenant with our fathers, but with us, who are now present and living.

5:4. He spoke to us face to face in the mount out of the midst of fire.

5:5. I was the mediator and stood between the Lord and you at that time, to shew you his words, for you feared the fire, and went not up into the mountain, and he said:

5:6. I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

5:7. Thou shalt not have strange gods in my sight.

5:8. Thou shalt not make to thy self a graven thing, nor the likeness of any things, that are in heaven above, or that are in the earth beneath, or that abide in the waters under the earth.

5:9. Thou shalt not adore them, and thou shalt not serve them. For I am the Lord thy God, a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon their children unto the third and fourth generation, to them that hate me,

5:10. And shewing mercy unto many thousands, to them that love me, and keep my commandments.

5:11. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for he shall not be unpunished that taketh his name upon a vain thing.

5:12. Observe the day of the sabbath, to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee.

5:13. Six days shalt thou labour, and shalt do all thy works.

5:14. The seventh is the day of the sabbath, that is, the rest of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not do any work therein, thou nor thy son nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant nor thy maidservant, nor thy ox, nor thy ass, nor any of thy beasts, nor the stranger that is within thy gates: that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest, even as thyself.

5:15. Remember that thou also didst serve in Egypt, and the Lord thy God brought thee out from thence with a strong hand, and a stretched out arm. Therefore hath he commanded thee that thou shouldst observe the sabbath day.

5:16. Honour thy father and mother, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee, that thou mayst live a long time, and it may be well with thee in the land, which the Lord thy God will give thee.

5:17. Thou shalt not kill.

5:18. Neither shalt thou commit adultery.

5:19. And thou shalt not steal.

5:20. Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour.

5:21. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife: nor his house, nor his field, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is his.

5:22. These words the Lord spoke to all the multitude of you in the mountain, out of the midst of the fire and the cloud, and the darkness, with a loud voice, adding nothing more: and he wrote them in two tables of stone, which he delivered unto me.

5:23. But you, after you heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, and saw the mountain burn, came to me, all the princes of the tribes and the elders, and you said:

5:24. Behold the Lord our God hath shewn us his majesty and his greatness, we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire, and have proved this day that God speaking with man, man hath lived.

5:25. Why shall we die therefore, and why shall this exceeding great fire comsume us: for if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, we shall die.

5:26. What is all flesh, that it should hear the voice of the living God, who speaketh out of the midst of the fire, as we have heard, and be able to live?

5:27. Approach thou rather: and hear all things that the Lord our God shall say to thee, and thou shalt speak to us, and we will hear and will do them.

5:28. And when the Lord had heard this, he said to me: I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they spoke to thee: they have spoken all things well.

5:29. Who shall give them to have such a mind, to fear me, and to keep all my commandments at all times, that it may be well with them and with their children for ever?

5:30. Go and say to them: Return into your tents.

5:31. But stand thou here with me, and I will speak to thee all my commandments, and ceremonies and judgments: which thou shalt teach them, that they may do them in the land, which I will give them for a possession.

5:32. Keep therefore and do the things which the Lord God hath commanded you: you shall not go aside neither to the right hand, nor to the left.

5:33. But you shall walk in the way that the Lord your God hath commanded, that you may live, and it may be well with you, and your days may be long in the land of your possession.

Deuteronomy Chapter 6

An exhortation to the love of God, and obedience to his law.

6:1. These are the precepts, and ceremonies, and judgments, which the Lord your God commanded that I should teach you, and that you should do them in the land into which you pass over to possess it:

6:2. That thou mayst fear the Lord thy God, and keep all his commandments and precepts, which I command thee, and thy sons, and thy grandsons, all the days of thy life, that thy days may be prolonged.

6:3. Hear, O Israel, and observe to do the things which the Lord hath commanded thee, that it may be well with thee, and thou mayst be greatly multiplied, as the Lord the God of thy fathers hath promised thee a land flowing with milk and honey.

6:4. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord.

6:5. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole strength.

6:6. And these words which I command thee this day, shall be in thy heart:

6:7. And thou shalt tell them to thy children, and thou shalt meditate upon them sitting in thy house, and walking on thy journey, sleeping and rising.

6:8. And thou shalt bind them as a sign on thy hand, and they shall be and shall move between thy eyes.

6:9. And thou shalt write them in the entry, and on the doors of thy house.

6:10. And when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land, for which he swore to thy fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: and shall have given thee great and goodly cities, which thou didst not build,

6:11. Houses full of riches, which thou didst not set up, cisterns which thou didst not dig, vineyards and oliveyards, which thou didst not plant,

6:12. And thou shalt have eaten and be full:

6:13. Take heed diligently lest thou forget the Lord, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and shalt serve him only, and thou shalt swear by his name.

6:14. You shall not go after the strange gods of all the nations, that are round about you:

6:15. Because the Lord thy God is a jealous God in the midst of thee: lest at any time the wrath of the Lord thy God be kindled against thee, and take thee away from the face of the earth.

6:16. Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God, as thou temptedst him in the place of temptation.

6:17. Keep the precepts of the Lord thy God, and the testimonies and ceremonies which he hath commanded thee.

6:18. And do that which is pleasing and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may be well with thee: and going in thou mayst possess the goodly land, concerning which the Lord swore to thy fathers,

6:19. That he would destroy all thy enemies before thee, as he hath spoken.

6:20. And when thy son shall ask thee to morrow, saying: What mean these testimonies, and ceremonies and judgments, which the Lord our God hath commanded us?

6:21. Thou shalt say to him: We were bondmen of Pharao in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand.

6:22. And he wrought signs and wonders great and very grievous in Egypt against Pharao, and all his house, in our sight,

6:23. And he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in and give us the land, concerning which he swore to our fathers.

6:24. And the Lord commanded that we should do all these ordinances, and should fear the Lord our God, that it might be well with us all the days of our life, as it is at this day.

6:25. And he will be merciful to us, if we keep and do all his precepts before the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us.

Deuteronomy Chapter 7

No league nor fellowship to be made with the Chanaanites: God promiseth his people his blessing and assistance, if they keep his commandments.

7:1. When the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land, which thou art going in to possess, and shall have destroyed many nations before thee, the Hethite, and the Gergezite, and the Amorrhite, and the Chanaanite, and the Pherezite, and the Hevite, and the Jebusite, seven nations much more numerous than thou art, and stronger than thou:

7:2. And the Lord thy God shall have delivered them to thee, thou shalt utterly destroy them. Thou shalt make no league with them, nor shew mercy to them:

7:3. Neither shalt thou make marriages with them. Thou shalt not give thy daughter to his son, nor take his daughter for thy son:

7:4. For she will turn away thy son from following me, that he may rather serve strange gods, and the wrath of the Lord will be kindled, and will quickly destroy thee.

7:5. But thus rather shall you deal with them: Destroy their altars, and break their statues, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven things.

7:6. Because thou art a holy people to the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God hath chosen thee, to be his peculiar people of all peoples that are upon the earth.

7:7. Not because you surpass all nations in number, is the Lord joined unto you, and hath chosen you, for you are the fewest of any people:

7:8. But because the Lord hath loved you, and hath kept his oath, which he swore to your fathers: and hath brought you out with a strong hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, out of the hand of Pharao the king of Egypt.

7:9. And thou shalt know that the Lord thy God, he is a strong and faithful God, keeping his covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments, unto a thousand generations:

7:10. And repaying forthwith them that hate him, so as to destroy them, without further delay immediately rendering to them what they deserve.

7:11. Keep therefore the precepts and ceremonies and judgments, which I command thee this day to do.

7:12. If after thou hast heard these judgments, thou keep and do them, the Lord thy God will also keep his covenant to thee, and the mercy which he swore to thy fathers:

7:13. And he will love thee and multiply thee, and will bless the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy land, thy corn, and thy vintage, thy oil, and thy herds, and the flocks of thy sheep upon the land, for which he swore to thy fathers that he would give it thee.

7:14. Blessed shalt thou be among all people. No one shall be barren among you of either sex, neither of men nor cattle.

7:15. The Lord will take away from thee all sickness: and the grievous infirmities of Egypt, which thou knowest, he will not bring upon thee, but upon thy enemies.

7:16. Thou shalt consume all the people, which the Lord thy God will deliver to thee. Thy eye shall not spare them, neither shalt thou serve their gods, lest they be thy ruin.

7:17. If thou say in thy heart: These nations are more than I, how shall I be able to destroy them?

7:18. Fear not, but remember what the Lord thy God did to Pharao and to all the Egyptians,

7:19. The exceeding great plagues, which thy eyes saw, and the signs and wonders, and the strong hand, and the stretched out arm, with which the Lord thy God brought thee out: so will he do to all the people, whom thou fearest.

7:20. Moreover the Lord thy God will send also hornets among them, until he destroy and consume all that have escaped thee, and could hide themselves.

7:21. Thou shalt not fear them, because the Lord thy God is in the midst of thee, a God mighty and terrible:

7:22. He will consume these nations in thy sight by little and little and by degrees. Thou wilt not be able to destroy them altogether: lest perhaps the beasts of the earth should increase upon thee.

7:23. But the Lord thy God shall deliver them in thy sight: and shall slay them until they be utterly destroyed.

7:24. And he shall deliver their kings into thy hands, and thou shalt destroy their names from under Heaven: no man shall be able to resist thee, until thou destroy them.

7:25. Their graven things thou shalt burn with fire: thou shalt not covet the silver and gold of which they are made, neither shalt thou take to thee any thing thereof, lest thou offend, because it is an abomination to the Lord thy God.

Graven things.... Idols, so called by contempt.

7:26. Neither shalt thou bring any thing of the idol into thy house, lest thou become an anathema, like it. Thou shalt detest it as dung, and shalt utterly abhor it as uncleanness and filth, because it is an anathema.

Deuteronomy Chapter 8

The people is put in mind of God’s dealings with them, to the end that they may love him and serve him.

8:1. All the commandments, that I command thee this day, take great care to observe: that you may live, and be multiplied, and going in may possess the land, for which the Lord swore to your fathers.

8:2. And thou shalt remember all the way through which the Lord thy God hath brought thee for forty years through the desert, to afflict thee and to prove thee, and that the things that were in thy heart might be made known, whether thou wouldst keep his commandments or no.

8:3. He afflicted thee with want, and gave thee manna for thy food, which neither thou nor thy fathers knew: to shew that not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God.

Not in bread alone, etc.... That is, that God is able to make food of what he pleases for the support of man.

8:4. Thy raiment, with which thou wast covered, hath not decayed for age, and thy foot is not worn, lo this is the fortieth year,

8:5. That thou mayst consider in thy heart, that as a man traineth up his son, so the Lord thy God hath trained thee up.

8:6. That thou shouldst keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways, and fear him.

8:7. For the Lord thy God will bring thee into a good land, of brooks and of waters, and of fountains: in the plains of which and the hills deep rivers break out:

8:8. A land of wheat, and barley, and vineyards, wherein fig trees and pomegranates, and oliveyards grow: a land of oil and honey.

8:9. Where without any want thou shalt eat thy bread, and enjoy abundance of all things: where the stones are iron, and out of its hills are dug mines of brass:

8:10. That when thou hast eaten, and art full, thou mayst bless the Lord thy God for the excellent land which he hath given thee.

8:11. Take heed, and beware lest at any time thou forget the Lord thy God, and neglect his commandments and judgments and ceremonies, which I command thee this day:

8:12. Lest after thou hast eaten and art filled, hast built goodly houses, and dwelt in them,

8:13. And shalt have herds of oxen and flocks of sheep, and plenty of gold and of silver, and of all things,

8:14. Thy heart be lifted up, and thou remember not the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage:

8:15. And was thy leader in the great and terrible wilderness, wherein there was the serpent burning with his breath, and the scorpion and the dipsas, and no waters at all: who brought forth streams out of the hardest rock,

The Dipsas.... A serpent whose bite causeth a violent thirst; from whence it has its name, for in Greek dipsa signifies thirst.

8:16. And fed thee in the wilderness with manna which thy fathers knew not. And after he had afflicted and proved thee, at the last he had mercy on thee,

8:17. Lest thou shouldst say in thy heart: My own might, and the strength of my own hand have achieved all these things for me.

8:18. But remember the Lord thy God, that he hath given thee strength, that he might fulfil his covenant, concerning which he swore to thy fathers, as this present day sheweth.

8:19. But if thou forget the Lord thy God, and follow strange gods, and serve and adore them: behold now I foretell thee that thou shalt utterly perish.

8:20. As the nations, which the Lord destroyed at thy entrance, so shall you also perish, if you be disobedient to the voice of the Lord your God.

Deuteronomy Chapter 9

Lest they should impute their victories to their own merits, they are put in mind of their manifold rebellions and other sins, for which they should have been destroyed, but God spared them for his promise made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

9:1. Hear, O Israel: Thou shalt go over the Jordan this day; to possess nations very great, and stronger than thyself, cities great, and walled up to the sky,

9:2. A people great and tall, the sons of the Enacims, whom thou hast seen, and heard of, against whom no man is able to stand.

9:3. Thou shalt know therefore this day that the Lord thy God himself will pass over before thee, a devouring and consuming fire, to destroy and extirpate and bring them to nothing before thy face quickly, as he hath spoken to thee.

9:4. Say not in thy heart, when the Lord thy God shall have destroyed them in thy sight: For my justice hath the Lord brought me in to possess this land, whereas these nations are destroyed for their wickedness.

9:5. For it is not for thy justices, and the uprightness of thy heart that thou shalt go in to possess their lands: but because they have done wickedly, they are destroyed at thy coming in: and that the Lord might accomplish his word, which he promised by oath to thy fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

9:6. Know therefore that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this excellent land in possession for thy justices, for thou art a very stiffnecked people.

9:7. Remember, and forget not how thou provokedst the Lord thy God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day that thou camest out of Egypt unto this place, thou hast always strove against the Lord.

9:8. For in Horeb, also thou didst provoke him, and he was angry, and would have destroyed thee,

9:9. When I went up into the mount to receive the tables of stone, the tables of the covenant which the Lord made with you: and I continued in the mount forty days and nights, neither eating bread, nor drinking water.

9:10. And the Lord gave me two tables of stone written with the finger of God, and containing all the words that he spoke to you in the mount from the midst of the fire, when the people were assembled together.

9:11. And when forty days were passed, and as many nights, the Lord gave me the two tables of stone, the tables of the covenant,

9:12. And said to me: Arise, and go down from hence quickly: for thy people, which thou hast brought out of Egypt, have quickly forsaken the way that thou hast shewn them, and have made to themselves a molten idol.

9:13. And again the Lord said to me: I see that this people is stiffnecked:

9:14. Let me alone that I may destroy them, and abolish their name from under heaven, and set thee over a nation, that is greater and stronger than this.

9:15. And when I came down from the burning mount, and held the two tables of the covenant with both hands,

9:16. And saw that you had sinned against the Lord your God, and had made to yourselves a molten calf, and had quickly forsaken his way, which he had shewn you:

9:17. I cast the tables out of my hands, and broke them in your sight.

9:18. And I fell down before the Lord as before, forty days and nights neither eating bread, nor drinking water, for all your sins, which you had committed against the Lord, and had provoked him to wrath:

9:19. For I feared his indignation and anger, wherewith being moved against you, he would have destroyed you. And the Lord heard me this time also.

9:20. And he was exceeding angry against Aaron also, and would have destroyed him, and I prayed in like manner for him.

9:21. And your sin that you had committed, that is, the calf, I took, and burned it with fire, and breaking it into pieces, until it was as small as dust, I threw it into the torrent, which cometh down from the mountain.

9:22. At the burning also, and at the place of temptation, and at the graves of lust you provoked the Lord:

9:23. And when he sent you from Cadesbarne, saying: Go up, and possess the land that I have given you, and you slighted the commandment of the Lord your God, and did not believe him, neither would you hearken to his voice:

9:24. But were always rebellious from the day that I began to know you.

9:25. And I lay prostrate before the Lord forty days and nights, in which I humbly besought him, that he would not destroy you as he had threatened:

9:26. And praying, I said: O Lord God, destroy not thy people, and thy inheritance, which thou hast redeemed in thy greatness, whom thou hast brought out of Egypt with a strong hand.

9:27. Remember thy servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: look not on the stubbornness of this people, nor on their wickedness and sin:

9:28. Lest perhaps the inhabitants of the land, out of which thou hast brought us, say: The Lord could not bring them into the land that he promised them, and he hated them: therefore he brought them out, that he might kill them in the wilderness,

9:29. Who are thy people and thy inheritance, whom thou hast brought out by thy great strength, and in thy stretched out arm.

Deuteronomy Chapter 10

God giveth the second tables of the law: a further exhortation to fear and serve the Lord.

10:1. At that time the Lord said to me: Hew thee two tables of stone like the former, and come up to me into the mount: and thou shalt make an ark of wood,

10:2. And I will write on the tables the words that were in them, which thou brokest before, and thou shalt put them in the ark.

10:3. And I made an ark of setim wood. And when I had hewn two tables of stone like the former, I went up into the mount, having them in my hands.

10:4. And he wrote in the tables, according as he had written before, the ten words, which the Lord spoke to you in the mount from the midst of the fire, when the people were assembled: and he gave them to me.

10:5. And returning from the mount, I came down, and put the tables into the ark, that I had made, and they are there till this present, as the Lord commanded me.

10:6. And the children of Israel removed their camp from Beroth, of the children of Jacan into Mosera, where Aaron died and was buried, and Eleazar his son succeeded him in the priestly office.

Mosera.... By mount Hor, for there Aaron died, Num. 20. This and the following verses seem to be inserted by way of parenthesis.

10:7. From thence they came to Gadgad, from which place they departed, and camped in Jetebatha, in a land of waters and torrents.

10:8. At that time he separated the tribe of Levi, to carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to stand before him in the ministry, and to bless in his name until this present day.

10:9. Wherefore Levi hath no part nor possession with his brethren: because the Lord himself is his possession, as the Lord thy God promised him.

10:10. And I stood in the mount, as before, forty days and nights: and the Lord heard me this time also, and would not destroy thee.

10:11. And he said to me: Go, and walk before the people, that they may enter, and possess the land, which I swore to their fathers that I would give them.

10:12. And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but that thou fear the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways, and love him, and serve the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul:

10:13. And keep the commandments of the Lord, and his ceremonies, which I command thee this day, that it may be well with thee?

10:14. Behold heaven is the Lord’s thy God, and the heaven of heaven, the earth and all things that are therein.

10:15. And yet the Lord hath been closely joined to thy fathers, and loved them and chose their seed after them, that is to say, you, out of all nations, as this day it is proved.

10:16. Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and stiffen your neck no more.

10:17. Because the Lord your God he is the God of gods, and the Lord of lords, a great God and mighty and terrible, who accepteth no person nor taketh bribes.

10:18. He doth judgment to the fatherless and the widow, loveth the stranger, and giveth him food and raiment.

10:19. And do you therefore love strangers, because you also were strangers in the land of Egypt.

10:20. Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him only: to him thou shalt adhere, and shalt swear by his name.

10:21. He is thy praise, and thy God, that hath done for thee these great and terrible things, which thy eyes have seen.

10:22. In seventy souls thy fathers went down into Egypt: and behold now the Lord thy God hath multiplied thee as the stars of heaven.

Deuteronomy Chapter 11

The love and service of God are still inculcated, with a blessing to them that serve him, and threats of punishment if they forsake his law.

11:1. Therefore love the Lord thy God and observe his precepts and ceremonies, his judgments and commandments at all times.

11:2. Know this day the things that your children know not, who saw not the chastisements of the Lord your God, his great doings and strong hand, and stretched out arm,

11:3. The signs and works which he did in the midst of Egypt to king Pharao, and to all his land,

11:4. And to all the host of the Egyptians, and to their horses and chariots: how the waters of the Red Sea covered them, when they pursued you, and how the Lord destroyed them until this present day:

11:5. And what he hath done to you in the wilderness, til you came to this place:

11:6. And to Dathan and Abiron the sons of Eliab, who was the son of Ruben: whom the earth, opening her mouth swallowed up with their households and tents, and all their substance, which they had in the midst of Israel.

11:7. Your eyes have seen all the great works of the Lord, that he hath done,

11:8. That you may keep all his commandments, which I command you this day, and may go in, and possess the land, to which you are entering,

11:9. And may live in it a long time: which the Lord promised by oath to your fathers, and to their seed, a land which floweth with milk and honey.

11:10. For the land, which thou goest to possess, is not like the land of Egypt, from whence thou camest out, where, when the seed is sown, waters are brought in to water it after the manner of gardens.

11:11. But it is a land of hills and plains, expecting rain from heaven.

11:12. And the Lord thy God doth always visit it, and his eyes are on it from the beginning of the year unto the end thereof.

11:13. If then you obey my commandments, which I command you this day, that you love the Lord your God, and serve him with all your heart, and with all your soul:

11:14. He will give to your land the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your corn, and your wine, and your oil,

11:15. And your hay out of the fields to feed your cattle, and that you may eat and be filled.

11:16. Beware lest perhaps your heart be deceived, and you depart from the Lord, and serve strange gods, and adore them:

11:17. And the Lord being angry shut up heaven, that the rain come not down, nor the earth yield her fruit, and you perish quickly from the excellent land, which the Lord will give you.

11:18. Lay up these words in your hearts and minds, and hang them for a sign on your hands, and place them between your eyes.

11:19. Teach your children that they meditate on them, when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest on the way, and when thou liest down and risest up.

11:20. Thou shalt write them upon the posts and the doors of thy house:

11:21. That thy days may be multiplied, and the days of thy children in the land which the Lord swore to thy fathers, that he would give them as long as the heaven hangeth over the earth.

11:22. For if you keep the commandments which I command you, and do them, to love the Lord your God, and walk in all his ways, cleaving unto him,

11:23. The Lord will destroy all these nations before your face, and you shall possess them, which are greater and stronger than you.

11:24. Every place, that your foot shall tread upon, shall be yours. From the desert, and from Libanus, from the great river Euphrates unto the western sea shall be your borders.

11:25. None shall stand against you: the Lord your God shall lay the dread and fear of you upon all the land that you shall tread upon, as he hath spoken to you.

11:26. Behold I set forth in your sight this day a blessing and a curse:

11:27. A blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day:

11:28. A curse, if you obey not the commandments of the Lord your God, but revolt from the way which now I shew you, and walk after strange gods which you know not.

11:29. And when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land, whither thou goest to dwell, thou shalt put the blessing upon mount Garizim, the curse upon mount Hebal:

Put the blessing, et.... See Deut. 27.12, etc. and Josue 8.33, etc.

11:30. Which are beyond the Jordan, behind the way that goeth to the setting of the sun, in the land of the Chanaanite who dwelleth in the plain country over against Galgala, which is near the valley that reacheth and entereth far.

11:31. For you shall pass over the Jordan, to possess the land, which the Lord your God will give you, that you may have it and possess it.

11:32. See therefore that you fulfil the ceremonies and judgments, which I shall set this day before you.

Deuteronomy Chapter 12

All idolatry must be extirpated: sacrifices, tithes, and firstfruits must be offered in one only place: all eating of blood is prohibited.

12:1. These are the precepts and judgments, that you must do in the land, which the Lord the God of thy fathers will give thee, to possess it all the days that thou shalt walk upon the earth.

12:2. Destroy all the places in which the nations, that you shall possess, worshipped their gods upon high mountains, and hills, and under every shady tree:

12:3. Overthrow their altars, and break down their statues, burn their groves with fire, and break their idols in pieces: destroy their names out of those places.

12:4. You shall not do so to the Lord your God:

12:5. But you shall come to the place, which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes, to put his name there, and to dwell in it:

12:6. And you shall offer in that place your holocausts and victims, the tithes and firstfruits of your hands and your vows and gifts, the firstborn of your herds and your sheep.

12:7. And you shall eat there in the sight of the Lord your God: and you shall rejoice in all things, whereunto you shall put your hand, you and your houses wherein the Lord your God hath blessed you.

12:8. You shall not do there the things we do here this day, every man that which seemeth good to himself.

12:9. For until this present time you are not come to rest, and to the possession, which the Lord your God will give you.

12:10. You shall pass over the Jordan, and shall dwell in the land which the Lord your God will give you, that you may have rest from all enemies round about: and may dwell without any fear,

12:11. In the place, which the Lord your God shall choose, that his name may be therein. Thither shall you bring all the things that I command you, holocausts, and victims, and tithes, and the firstfruits of your hands: and whatsoever is the choicest in the gifts which you shall vow to the Lord.

12:12. There shall you feast before the Lord your God, you and your sons and your daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite that dwelleth in your cities. For he hath no other part and possession among you.

12:13. Beware lest thou offer thy holocausts in every place that thou shalt see:

12:14. But in the place which the Lord shall choose in one of thy tribes shalt thou offer sacrifices, and shalt do all that I command thee.

12:15. But if thou desirest to eat, and the eating of flesh delight thee, kill, and eat according to the blessing of the Lord thy God, which he hath given thee, in thy cities: whether it be unclean, that is to say, having blemish or defect: or clean, that is to say, sound and without blemish, such as may be offered, as the roe, and the hart, shalt thou eat it:

12:16. Only the blood thou shalt not eat, but thou shalt pour it out upon the earth as water.

12:17. Thou mayst not eat in thy towns the tithes of thy corn, and thy wine, and thy oil, the firstborn of thy herds and thy cattle, nor any thing that thou vowest, and that thou wilt offer voluntarily, and the firstfruits of thy hands:

12:18. But thou shalt eat them before the Lord thy God in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, thou and thy son and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and maidservant, and the Levite that dwelleth in thy cities: and thou shalt rejoice and be refreshed before the Lord thy God in all things, whereunto thou shalt put thy hand.

12:19. Take heed thou forsake not the Levite all the time that thou livest in the land.

12:20. When the Lord thy God shall have enlarged thy borders, as he hath spoken to thee, and thou wilt eat the flesh that thy soul desireth:

12:21. And if the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, that his name should be there, be far off, thou shalt kill of thy herds and of thy flocks, as I have commanded thee, and shalt eat in thy towns, as it pleaseth thee.

12:22. Even as the roe and the hart is eaten, so shalt thou eat them: both the clean and unclean shall eat of them alike.

12:23. Only beware of this, that thou eat not the blood, for the blood is for the soul: and therefore thou must not eat the soul with the flesh:

12:24. But thou shalt pour it upon the earth as water,

12:25. That it may be well with thee and thy children after thee, when thou shalt do that which is pleasing in the sight of the Lord.

12:26. But the things which thou hast sanctified and vowed to the Lord, thou shalt take, and shalt come to the place which the Lord shall choose:

12:27. And shalt offer thy oblations, the flesh and the blood upon the altar of the Lord thy God: the blood of thy victims thou shalt pour on the altar: and the flesh thou thyself shalt eat.

12:28. Observe and hear all the things that I command thee, that it may be well with thee and thy children after thee for ever, when thou shalt do what is good and pleasing in the sight of the Lord thy God.

12:29. When the Lord thy God shall have destroyed before thy face the nations, which thou shalt go in to possess, and when thou shalt possess them, and dwell in their land:

12:30. Beware lest thou imitate them, after they are destroyed at thy coming in, and lest thou seek after their ceremonies, saying: As these nations have worshipped their gods, so will I also worship.

12:31. Thou shalt not do in like manner to the Lord thy God. For they have done to their gods all the abominations which the Lord abhorreth, offering their sons and daughters, and burning them with fire.

12:32. What I command thee, that only do thou to the Lord: neither add any thing, nor diminish.

That only do thou, etc.... They are forbid here to follow the ceremonies of the heathens; or to make any alterations in the divine ordinances.

Deuteronomy Chapter 13

False prophets must be slain, and idolatrous cities destroyed.

13:1. If there rise in the midst of thee a prophet or one that saith he hath dreamed a dream, and he foretell a sign and a wonder,

13:2. And that come to pass which he spoke, and he say to thee: Let us go and follow strange gods, which thou knowest not, and let us serve them:

13:3. Thou shalt not hear the words of that prophet or dreamer: for the Lord your God trieth you, that it may appear whether you love him with all your heart, and with all your soul, or not.

13:4. Follow the Lord your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and hear his voice: him you shall serve, and to him you shall cleave.

13:5. And that prophet or forger of dreams shall be slain: because he spoke to draw you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you from the house of bondage: to make thee go out of the way, which the Lord thy God commanded thee: and thou shalt take away the evil out of the midst of thee.

13:6. If thy brother the son of thy mother, or thy son, or daughter, or thy wife that is in thy bosom, or thy friend, whom thou lovest as thy own soul, would persuade thee secretly, saying: Let us go, and serve strange gods, which thou knowest not, nor thy fathers,

13:7. Of all the nations round about, that are near or afar off, from one end of the earth to the other,

13:8. Consent not to him, hear him not, neither let thy eye spare him to pity and conceal him,

13:9. But thou shalt presently put him to death. Let thy hand be first upon him, and afterwards the hands of all the people.

Presently put him to death.... Not by killing him by private authority, but by informing the magistrate, and proceeding by order of justice.

13:10. With stones shall he be stoned to death: because he would have withdrawn thee from the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage:

13:11. That all Israel hearing may fear, and may do no more any thing like this.

13:12. If in one of thy cities, which the Lord thy God shall give thee to dwell in, thou hear some say:

13:13. Children of Belial are gone out of the midst of thee, and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city, and have said: Let us go, and serve strange gods which you know not:

Belial.... That is, without yoke. Hence the wicked, who refuse to be subject to the divine law, are called in scripture the children of Belial.

13:14. Inquire carefully and diligently, the truth of the thing by looking well into it, and if thou find that which is said to be certain, and that this abomination hath been really committed,

13:15. Thou shalt forthwith kill the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, and shalt destroy it and all things that are in it, even the cattle.

13:16. And all the household goods that are there, thou shalt gather together in the midst of the streets thereof, and shall burn them with the city itself, so as to comsume all for the Lord thy God, and that it be a heap for ever: it shall be built no more.

13:17. And there shall nothing of that anathema stick to thy hand: that the Lord may turn from the wrath of his fury, and may have mercy on thee, and multiply thee as he swore to thy fathers,

13:18. When thou shalt hear the voice of the Lord thy God, keeping all his precepts, which I command thee this day, that thou mayst do what is pleasing in the sight of the Lord thy God.

Deuteronomy Chapter 14

In mourning for the dead they are not to follow the ways of the Gentiles: the distinction of clean and unclean meats: ordinances concerning tithes, and firstfruits.

14:1. Be ye children of the Lord your God: you shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness for the dead;

14:2. Because thou art a holy people to the Lord thy God: and he chose thee to be his peculiar people of all nations that are upon the earth.

14:3. Eat not the things that are unclean.

Unclean.... See the annotations on Lev. 11.

14:4. These are the beasts that you shall eat, the ox, and the sheep, and the goat,

14:5. The hart and the roe, the buffle, the chamois, the pygarg, the wild goat, the camelopardalus.

14:6. Every beast that divideth the hoof in two parts, and cheweth the cud, you shall eat.

14:7. But of them that chew the cud, but divide not the hoof, you shall not eat, such as the camel, the hare, and the cherogril: because they chew the cud, but divide not the hoof, they shall be unclean to you.

14:8. The swine also, because it divideth the hoof, but cheweth not the cud, shall be unclean, their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch.

14:9. These shall you eat of all that abide in the waters: All that have fins and scales, you shall eat.

14:10. Such as are without fins and scales, you shall not eat, because they are unclean.

14:11. All birds that are clean you shall eat.

14:12. The unclean eat not: to wit, the eagle, and the grype, and the osprey,

14:13. The ringtail, and the vulture, and the kite according to their kind:

14:14. And all of the raven’s kind:

14:15. And the ostrich, and the owl, and the larus, and the hawk according to its kind:

14:16. The heron, and the swan, and the stork,

14:17. And the cormorant, the porphirion, and the night crow,

14:18. The bittern, and the charadrion, every one in their kind: the houp also and the bat.

14:19. Every thing that creepeth, and hath little wings, shall be unclean, and shall not be eaten.

14:20. All that is clean, you shall eat.

14:21. But whatsoever is dead of itself, eat not thereof. Give it to the stranger, that is within thy gates, to eat, or sell it to him: because thou art the holy people of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not boil a kid in the milk of his dam.

14:22. Every year thou shalt set aside the tithes of all thy fruits that the earth bringeth forth,

14:23. And thou shalt eat before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose, that his name may be called upon therein, the tithe of thy corn, and thy wine, and thy oil, and the firstborn of thy herds and thy sheep: that thou mayst learn to fear the Lord thy God at all times.

14:24. But when the way and the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, are far off, and he hath blessed thee, and thou canst not carry all these things thither,

14:25. Thou shalt sell them all, and turn them into money, and shalt carry it in thy hand, and shalt go to the place which the Lord shall choose:

14:26. And thou shalt buy with the same money whatsoever pleaseth thee, either of the herds or of sheep, wine also and strong drink, and all that thy soul desireth: and thou shalt eat before the Lord thy God, and shalt feast, thou and thy house:

14:27. And the Levite that is within thy gates, beware thou forsake him not, because he hath no other part in thy possession.

14:28. The third year thou shalt separate another tithe of all things that grow to thee at that time, and shalt lay it up within thy gates.

14:29. And the Levite that hath no other part nor possession with thee, and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow, that are within thy gates, shall come and shall eat and be filled: that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the works of thy hands that thou shalt do.

Deuteronomy Chapter 15

The law of the seventh year of remission. The firstlings of cattle are to be sanctified to the Lord.

15:1. In the seventh year thou shalt make a remission,

15:2. Which shall be celebrated in this order. He to whom any thing is owing from his friend or neighbour or brother, cannot demand it again, because it is the year of remission of the Lord.

15:3. Of the foreigner or stranger thou mayst exact it: of thy countryman and neighbour thou shalt not have power to demand it again.

15:4. And there shall be no poor nor beggar among you: that the Lord thy God may bless thee in the land which he will give thee in possession.

There shall be no poor, etc.... It is not to be understood as a promise, that there should be no poor in Israel, as appears from ver. 11, where we learn that God’s people would never be at a loss to find objects for their charity: but it is an ordinance that all should do their best endeavours to prevent any of their brethren from suffering the hardships of poverty and want.

15:5. Yet so if thou hear the voice of the Lord thy God, and keep all things that he hath ordained, and which I command thee this day, he will bless thee, as he hath promised.

15:6. Thou shalt lend to many nations, and thou shalt borrow of no man. Thou shalt have dominion over very many nations, and no one shall have dominion over thee.

15:7. If one of thy brethren that dwelleth within thy gates of thy city in the land which the Lord thy God will give thee, come to poverty: thou shalt not harden thy heart, nor close thy hand,

15:8. But shalt open it to the poor man, thou shalt lend him, that which thou perceivest he hath need of.

15:9. Beware lest perhaps a wicked thought steal in upon thee, and thou say in thy heart: The seventh year of remission draweth nigh; and thou turn away thy eyes from thy poor brother, denying to lend him that which he asketh: lest he cry against thee to the Lord, and it become a sin unto thee.

15:10. But thou shalt give to him: neither shalt thou do any thing craftily in relieving his necessities: that the Lord thy God may bless thee at all times, and in all things to which thou shalt put thy hand.

15:11. There will not be wanting poor in the land of thy habitation: therefore I command thee to open thy hand to thy needy and poor brother, that liveth in the land.

15:12. When thy brother a Hebrew man, or Hebrew woman is sold to thee, and hath served thee six years, in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free:

15:13. And when thou sendest him out free, thou shalt not let him go away empty:

15:14. But shall give him for his way out of thy flocks, and out of thy barnfloor, and thy winepress, wherewith the Lord thy God shall bless thee.

15:15. Remember that thou also wast a bondservant in the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God made thee free, and therefore I now command thee this.

15:16. But if he say: I will not depart: because he loveth thee, and thy house, and findeth that he is well with thee:

15:17. Thou shalt take an awl, and bore through his ear in the door of thy house, and he shall serve thee for ever: thou shalt do in like manner to thy womanservant also.

15:18. Turn not away thy eyes from them when thou makest them free: because he hath served thee six years according to the wages of a hireling: that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the works that thou dost.

15:19. Of the firstlings, that come of thy herds and thy sheep, thou shalt sanctify to the Lord thy God whatsoever is of the male sex. Thou shalt not work with the firstling of a bullock, and thou shalt not shear the firstlings of thy sheep.

15:20. In the sight of the Lord thy God shalt thou eat them every year, in the place that the Lord shall choose, thou and thy house.

15:21. But if it have a blemish, or be lame, or blind, or in any part disfigured or feeble, it shall not be sacrificed to the Lord thy God.

15:22. But thou shalt eat it within the gates of thy city: the clean and the unclean shall eat them alike, as the roe and as the hart.

15:23. Only thou shalt take heed not to eat their blood, but pour it out on the earth as water.

Deuteronomy Chapter 16

The three principal solemnities to be observed: just judges to be appointed in every city: all occasions of idolatry to be avoided.

16:1. Observe the month of new corn, which is the first of the spring, that thou mayst celebrate the phase to the Lord thy God: because in this month the Lord thy God brought thee out of Egypt by night.

16:2. And thou shalt sacrifice the phase to the Lord thy God, of sheep, and of oxen, in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, that his name may dwell there.

16:3. Thou shalt not eat with it leavened bread: seven days shalt thou eat without leaven, the bread of affliction, because thou camest out of Egypt in fear: that thou mayst remember the day of thy coming out of Egypt, all the days of thy life.

16:4. No leaven shall be seen in all thy coasts for seven days, neither shall any of the flesh of that which was sacrificed the first day in the evening remain until morning.

16:5. Thou mayst not immolate the phase in any one of thy cities, which the Lord thy God will give thee:

16:6. But in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, that his name may dwell there: thou shalt immolate the phase in the evening, at the going down of the sun, at which time thou camest out of Egypt.

16:7. And thou shalt dress, and eat it in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, and in the morning rising up thou shalt go into thy dwellings.

16:8. Six days shalt thou eat unleavened bread: and on the seventh day, because it is the assembly of the Lord thy God, thou shalt do no work.

16:9. Thou shalt number unto thee seven weeks from that day, wherein thou didst put the sickle to the corn.

16:10. And thou shalt celebrate the festival of weeks to the Lord thy God, a voluntary oblation of thy hand, which thou shalt offer according to the blessing of the Lord thy God.

16:11. And thou shalt feast before the Lord thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy gates, and the stranger and the fatherless, and the widow, who abide with you: in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, that his name may dwell there:

16:12. And thou shalt remember that thou wast a servant in Egypt: and thou shalt keep and do the things that are commanded.

16:13. Thou shalt celebrate the solemnity also of tabernacles seven days, when thou hast gathered in thy fruit of the barnfloor and of the winepress.

16:14. And thou shalt make merry in thy festival time, thou, thy son, and thy daughter, thy manservant, and thy maidservant, the Levite also and the stranger, and the fatherless and the widow that are within thy gates.

16:15. Seven days shalt thou celebrate feasts to the Lord thy God in the place which the Lord shall choose: and the Lord thy God will bless thee in all thy fruits, and in every work of thy hands, and thou shalt be in joy.

16:16. Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose: in the feast of unleavened bread, in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles. No one shall appear with his hands empty before the Lord:

16:17. But every one shall offer according to what he hath, according to the blessing of the Lord his God, which he shall give him.

16:18. Thou shalt appoint judges and magistrates in all thy gates, which the Lord thy God shall give thee, in all thy tribes: that they may judge the people with just judgment,

16:19. And not go aside to either part. Thou shalt not accept person nor gifts: for gifts blind the eyes of the wise, and change the words of the just.

16:20. Thou shalt follow justly after that which is just: that thou mayst live and possess the land, which the Lord thy God shall give thee.

16:21. Thou shalt plant no grove, nor any tree near the altar of the Lord thy God:

16:22. Neither shalt thou make nor set up to thyself a statue: which things the Lord thy God hateth.

Deuteronomy Chapter 17

Victims must be without blemish. Idolaters are to be slain. Controversies are to be decided by the high priest and council, whose sentence must be obeyed under pain of death. The duty of a king, who is to receive the law of God at the priest’s hands.

17:1. Thou shalt not sacrifice to the Lord thy God a sheep, or an ox, wherein there is blemish, or any fault: for that is an abomination to the Lord thy God.

17:2. When there shall be found among you within any of thy gates, which the Lord thy God shall give thee, man or woman that do evil in the sight of the Lord thy God, and transgress his covenant,

17:3. So as to go and serve strange gods, and adore them, the sun and the moon, and all the host of heaven, which I have not commanded:

The host of heaven.... That is, the stars.

17:4. And this is told thee, and hearing it thou hast inquired diligently, and found it to be true, and that the abomination is committed in Israel:

17:5. Thou shalt bring forth the man or the woman, who have committed that most wicked thing, to the gates of thy city, and they shall be stoned.

17:6. By the mouth of two or three witnesses shall he die that is to be slain. Let no man be put to death, when only one beareth witness against him.

17:7. The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to kill him, and afterwards the hands of the rest of the people: that thou mayst take away the evil out of the midst of thee.

17:8. If thou perceive that there be among you a hard and doubtful matter in judgment between blood and blood, cause and cause, leprosy and leprosy: and thou see that the words of the judges within thy gates do vary: arise, and go up to the place, which the Lord thy God shall choose.

If thou perceive, etc.... Here we see what authority God was pleased to give to the church guides of the Old Testament, in deciding, without appeal, all controversies relating to the law; promising that they should not err therein; and surely he has not done less for the church guides of the New Testament.

17:9. And thou shalt come to the priests of the Levitical race, and to the judge, that shall be at that time: and thou shalt ask of them, and they shall shew thee the truth of the judgment.

17:10. And thou shalt do whatsoever they shall say, that preside in the place, which the Lord shall choose, and what they shall teach thee,

17:11. According to his law; and thou shalt follow their sentence: neither shalt thou decline to the right hand nor to the left hand.

17:12. But he that will be proud, and refuse to obey the commandment of the priest, who ministereth at that time to the Lord thy God, and the decree of the judge, that man shall die, and thou shalt take away the evil from Israel:

17:13. And all the people hearing it shall fear, that no one afterwards swell with pride.

17:14. When thou art come into the land, which the Lord thy God will give thee, and possessest it, and shalt say: I will set a king over me, as all nations have that are round about:

17:15. Thou shalt set him whom the Lord thy God shall choose out of the number of thy brethren. Thou mayst not make a man of another nation king, that is not thy brother.

17:16. And when he is made king, he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor lead back the people into Egypt, being lifted up with the number of his horsemen, especially since the Lord hath commanded you to return no more the same way.

17:17. He shall not have many wives, that may allure his mind, nor immense sums of silver and gold.

17:18. But after he is raised to the throne of his kingdom, he shall copy out to himself the Deuteronomy of this law in a volume, taking the copy of the priests of the Levitical tribe,

17:19. And he shall have it with him, and shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, and keep his words and ceremonies, that are commanded in the law;

17:20. And that his heart be not lifted up with pride over his brethren, nor decline to the right or to the left, that he and his sons may reign a long time over Israel.

Deuteronomy Chapter 18

The Lord is the inheritance of the priests and Levites. Heathenish abominations are to be avoided. The great PROPHET CHRIST is promised. False prophets must be slain.

18:1. The priests and Levites, and all that are of the same tribe, shall have no part nor inheritance with the rest of Israel, because they shall eat the sacrifices of the Lord, and his oblations,

18:2. And they shall receive nothing else of the possession of their brethren: for the Lord himself is their inheritance, as he hath said to them.

18:3. This shall be the priest’s due from the people, and from them that offer victims: whether they sacrifice an ox, or a sheep, they shall give to the priest the shoulder and the breast:

18:4. The firstfruits also of corn, of wine, and of oil, and a part of the wool from the shearing of their sheep.

18:5. For the Lord thy God hath chosen him of all thy tribes, to stand and to minister to the name of the Lord, him and his sons for ever.

18:6. If a Levite go out of any one of the cities throughout all Israel, in which he dwelleth, and have a longing mind to come to the place which the Lord shall choose,

18:7. He shall minister in the name of the Lord his God, as all his brethren the Levites do, that shall stand at that time before the Lord.

18:8. He shall receive the same portion of food that the rest do: besides that which is due to him in his own city, by succession from his fathers.

18:9. When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God shall give thee, beware lest thou have a mind to imitate the abominations of those nations.

18:10. Neither let there be found among you any one that shall expiate his son or daughter, making them to pass through the fire: or that consulteth soothsayers, or observeth dreams and omens, neither let there be any wizard,

18:11. Nor charmer, nor any one that consulteth pythonic spirits, or fortune tellers, or that seeketh the truth from the dead.

18:12. For the Lord abhorreth all these things, and for these abominations he will destroy them at thy coming.

18:13. Thou shalt be perfect, and without spot before the Lord thy God.

18:14. These nations, whose land thou shalt possess, hearken to soothsayers and diviners: but thou art otherwise instructed by the Lord thy God.

18:15. The Lord thy God will raise up to thee a PROPHET of thy nation and of thy brethren like unto me: him thou shalt hear:

18:16. As thou desiredst of the Lord thy God in Horeb, when the assembly was gathered together, and saidst: Let me not hear any more the voice of the Lord my God, neither let me see any more this exceeding great fire, lest I die.

18:17. And the Lord said to me: They have spoken all things well.

18:18. I will raise them up a prophet out of the midst of their brethren like to thee: and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I shall command him.

18:19. And he that will not hear his words, which he shall speak in my name, I will be the revenger.

18:20. But the prophet, who being corrupted with pride, shall speak in my name things that I did not command him to say, or in the name of strange gods, shall be slain.

18:21. And if in silent thought thou answer: How shall I know the word that the Lord hath not spoken?

18:22. Thou shalt have this sign: Whatsoever that same prophet foretelleth in the name of the Lord, and it cometh not to pass: that thing the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath forged it by the pride of his mind: and therefore thou shalt not fear him.

Deuteronomy Chapter 19

The cities of refuge. Wilful murder, and false witnesses must be punished.

19:1. When the Lord thy God hath destroyed the nations, whose land he will deliver to thee, and thou shalt possess it, and shalt dwell in the cities and houses thereof:

19:2. Thou shalt separate to thee three cities in the midst of the land, which the Lord will give thee in possession,

19:3. Paving diligently the way: and thou shalt divide the whole province of thy land equally into three parts: that he who is forced to flee for manslaughter, may have near at hand whither to escape.

19:4. This shall be the law of the slayer that fleeth, whose life is to be saved: He that killeth his neighbor ignorantly, and who is proved to have had no hatred against him yesterday and the day before:

19:5. But to have gone with him to the wood to hew wood, and in cutting down the tree the axe slipped out of his hand, and the iron slipping from the handle struck his friend, and killed him: he shall flee to one of the cities aforesaid, and live:

19:6. Lest perhaps the next kinsman of him whose blood was shed, pushed on by his grief should pursue, and apprehend him, if the way be too long, and take away the life of him who is not guilty of death, because he is proved to have had no hatred before against him that was slain.

19:7. Therefore I command thee, that thou separate three cities at equal distance one from another.

19:8. And when the Lord thy God shall have enlarged thy borders, as he swore to thy fathers, and shall give thee all the land that he promised them,

19:9. (Yet so, if thou keep his commandments, and do the things which I command thee this day, that thou love the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways at all times) thou shalt add to thee other three cities, and shalt double the number of the three cities aforesaid:

19:10. That innocent blood may not be shed in the midst of the land which the Lord thy God will give thee to possess, lest thou be guilty of blood.

19:11. But if any man hating his neighbour, lie in wait for his life, and rise and strike him, and he die, and he flee to one of the cities aforesaid,

19:12. The ancients of his city shall send, and take him out of the place of refuge, and shall deliver him into the hand of the kinsman of him whose blood was shed, and he shall die.

19:13. Thou shalt not pity him, and thou shalt take away the guilt of innocent blood out of Israel, that it may be well with thee.

19:14. Thou shalt not take nor remove thy neighbour’s landmark, which thy predecessors have set in thy possession, which the Lord thy God will give thee in the land that thou shalt receive to possess.

19:15. One witness shall not rise up against any man, whatsoever the sin or wickedness be: but in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall stand.

19:16. If a lying witness stand against a man, accusing him of transgression,

19:17. Both of them, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before the Lord in the sight of the priests and the judges that shall be in those days.

19:18. And when after most diligent inquisition, they shall find that the false witness hath told a lie against his brother:

19:19. They shall render to him as he meant to do to his brother, and thou shalt take away the evil out of the midst of thee:

19:20. That others hearing may fear, and may not dare to do such things.

19:21. Thou shalt not pity him, but shalt require life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Deuteronomy Chapter 20

Laws relating to war.

20:1. If thou go out to war against thy enemies, and see horsemen and chariots, and the numbers of the enemy’s army greater than thine, thou shalt not fear them: because the Lord thy God is with thee, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt.

20:2. And when the battle is now at hand, the priest shall stand before the army, and shall speak to the people in this manner:

20:3. Hear, O Israel, you join battle this day against your enemies, let not your heart be dismayed, be not afraid, do not give back, fear ye them not:

20:4. Because the Lord your God is in the midst of you, and will fight for you against your enemies, to deliver you from danger.

20:5. And the captains shall proclaim through every band in the hearing of the army: What man is there, that hath built a new house, and hath not dedicated it? let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it.

20:6. What man is there, that hath planted a vineyard, and hath not as yet made it to be common, whereof all men may eat? let him go, and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man execute his office.

20:7. What man is there, that hath espoused a wife, and not taken her? let him go, and return to his house, lest he die in the war, and another man take her.

20:8. After these things are declared they shall add the rest, and shall speak to the people: What man is there that is fearful, and faint hearted? let him go, and return to his house, lest he make the hearts of his brethren to fear, as he himself is possessed with fear.

20:9. And when the captains of the army shall hold their peace, and have made an end of speaking, every man shall prepare their bands to fight.

20:10. If at any time thou come to fight against a city, thou shalt first offer it peace.

20:11. If they receive it, and open the gates to thee, all the people that are therein, shall be saved, and shall serve thee paying tribute.

20:12. But if they will not make peace, and shall begin war against thee, thou shalt besiege it.

20:13. And when the Lord thy God shall deliver it into thy hands, thou shalt slay all that are therein of the male sex, with the edge of the sword,

20:14. Excepting women and children, cattle and other things, that are in the city. And thou shalt divide all the prey to the army, and thou shalt eat the spoils of thy enemies, which the Lord thy God shall give thee.

20:15. So shalt thou do to all cities that are at a great distance from thee, and are not of these cities which thou shalt receive in possession.

20:16. But of those cities that shall be given thee, thou shalt suffer none at all to live:

20:17. But shalt kill them with the edge of the sword, to wit, the Hethite, and the Amorrhite, and the Chanaanite, the Pherezite, and the Hevite, and the Jebusite, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee:

20:18. Lest they teach you to do all the abominations which they have done to their gods: and you should sin against the Lord your God.

20:19. When thou hast besieged a city a long time, and hath compassed it with bulwarks, to take it, thou shalt not cut down the trees that may be eaten of, neither shalt thou spoil the country round about with axes: for it is a tree, and not a man, neither can it increase the number of them that fight against thee.

20:20. But if there be any trees that are not fruitful, but wild, and fit for other uses, cut them down, and make engines, until thou take the city, which fighteth against thee.

Deuteronomy Chapter 21

The expiation of a secret murder. The marrying a captive. The eldest son must not be deprived of his birthright for hatred of his mother. A stubborn son is to be stoned to death. When one is hanged on a gibbet, he must be taken down the same day and buried.

21:1. When there shall be found in the land, which the Lord thy God will give thee, the corpse of a man slain, and it is not known who is guilty of the murder,

21:2. Thy ancients and judges shall go out, and shall measure from the place where the body lieth the distance of every city round about:

21:3. And the ancients of that city which they shall perceive to be nearer than the rest, shall take a heifer of the herd, that hath not drawn in the yoke, nor ploughed the ground,

21:4. And they shall bring her into a rough and stony valley, that never was ploughed, nor sown: and there they shall strike off the head of the heifer:

21:5. And the priests the sons of Levi shall come, whom the Lord thy God hath chosen to minister to him, and to bless in his name, and that by their word every matter should be decided, and whatsoever is clean or unclean should be judged.

21:6. And the ancients of that city shall come to the person slain, and shall wash their hands over the heifer that was killed in the valley,

21:7. And shall say: Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it.

21:8. Be merciful to thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, O Lord, and lay not innocent blood to their charge, in the midst of thy people Israel. And the guilt of blood shall be taken from them:

21:9. And thou shalt be free from the innocent’s blood, that was shed, when thou shalt have done what the Lord hath commanded thee.

21:10. If thou go out to fight against thy enemies, and the Lord thy God deliver them into thy hand, and thou lead them away captives,

21:11. And seest in the number of the captives a beautiful woman, and lovest her, and wilt have her to wife,

21:12. Thou shalt bring her into thy house: and she shall shave her hair, and pare her nails,

21:13. And shall put off the raiment, wherein she was taken: and shall remain in thy house, and mourn for her father and mother one month: and after that thou shalt go in unto her, and shalt sleep with her, and she shall be thy wife.

21:14. But if afterwards she please thee not, thou shalt let her go free, but thou mayst not sell her for money nor oppress her by might because thou hast humbled her.

21:15. If a man have two wives, one beloved, and the other hated, and they have had children by him, and the son of the hated be the firstborn,

21:16. And he meaneth to divide his substance among his sons: he may not make the son of the beloved the firstborn, and prefer him before the son of the hated.

21:17. But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the firstborn, and shall give him a double portion of all he hath: for this is the first of his children, and to him are due the first birthrights.

21:18. If a man have a stubborn and unruly son, who will not hear the commandments of his father or mother, and being corrected, slighteth obedience:

21:19. They shall take him and bring him to the ancients of the city, and to the gate of judgment,

21:20. And shall say to them: This our son is rebellious and stubborn, he slighteth hearing our admonitions, he giveth himself to revelling, and to debauchery and banquetings:

21:21. The people of the city shall stone him: and he shall die, that you may take away the evil out of the midst of you, and all Israel hearing it may be afraid.

21:22. When a man hath committed a crime for which he is to be punished with death, and being condemned to die is hanged on a gibbet:

21:23. His body shall not remain upon the tree, but shall be buried the same day: for he is accursed of God that hangeth on a tree: and thou shalt not defile thy land, which the Lord thy God shall give thee in possession.

Deuteronomy Chapter 22

Humanity towards neighbours. Neither sex may use the apparel of the other. Cruelty to be avoided even to birds. Battlements about the roof of a house. Things of divers kinds not to be mixed. The punishment of him that slandereth his wife, as also of adultery and rape.

22:1. Thou shalt not pass by if thou seest thy brother’s ox, or his sheep go astray: but thou shalt bring them back to thy brother.

22:2. And if thy brother be not nigh, or thou know him not: thou shalt bring them to thy house, and they shall be with thee until thy brother seek them, and receive them.

22:3. Thou shalt do in like manner with his ass, and with his raiment, and with every thing that is thy brother’s, which is lost: if thou find it, neglect it not as pertaining to another.

22:4. If thou see thy brother’s ass or his ox to be fallen down in the way, thou shalt not slight it, but shalt lift it up with him.

22:5. A woman shall not be clothed with man’s apparel, neither shall a man use woman’s apparel: for he that doth these things is abominable before God.

22:6. If thou find as thou walkest by the way, a bird’s nest in a tree, or on the ground, and the dam sitting upon the young or upon the eggs: thou shalt not take her with her young:

Thou shalt not take, etc. This was to shew them to exercise a certain mercy even to irrational creatures; and by that means to train them up to a horror of cruelty; and to the exercise of humanity and mutual charity one to another.

22:7. But shalt let her go, keeping the young which thou hast caught: that it may be well with thee, and thou mayst live a long time.

22:8. When thou buildest a new house, thou shalt make a battlement to the roof round about: lest blood be shed in thy house, and thou be guilty, if any one slip, and fall down headlong.

Battlement.... This precaution was necessary, because all their houses had flat tops, and it was usual to walk and to converse together upon them.

22:9. Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with divers seeds: lest both the seed which thou hast sown, and the fruit of the vineyard, be sanctified together.

22:10. Thou shalt not plough with an ox and an ass together.

22:11. Thou shalt not wear a garment that is woven of woollen and linen together.

22:12. Thou shalt make strings in the hem at the four corners of thy cloak, wherewith thou shalt be covered.

22:13. If a man marry a wife, and afterwards hate her,

22:14. And seek occasions to put her away, laying to her charge a very ill name, and say: I took this woman to wife, and going in to her, I found her not a virgin:

22:15. Her father and mother shall take her, and shall bring with them the tokens of her virginity to the ancients of the city that are in the gate:

22:16. And the father shall say: I gave my daughter unto this man to wife: and because he hateth her,

22:17. He layeth to her charge a very ill name, so as to say: I found not thy daughter a virgin: and behold these are the tokens of my daughter’s virginity. And they shall spread the cloth before the ancients of the city:

22:18. And the ancients of that city shall take that man, and beat him,

22:19. Condemning him besides in a hundred sicles of silver, which he shall give to the damsel’s father, because he hath defamed by a very ill name a virgin of Israel: and he shall have her to wife, and may not put her away all the days of his life.

22:20. But if what he charged her with be true, and virginity be not found in the damsel:

22:21. They shall cast her out of the doors of her father’s house, and the men of the city shall stone her to death, and she shall die: because she hath done a wicked thing in Israel, to play the whore in her father’s house: and thou shalt take away the evil out of the midst of thee.

22:22. If a man lie with another man’s wife, they shall both die, that is to say, the adulterer and the adulteress: and thou shalt take away the evil out of Israel.

22:23. If a man have espoused a damsel that is a virgin, and some one find her in the city, and lie with her,

22:24. Thou shalt bring them both out to the gate of that city, and they shall be stoned: the damsel, because she cried not out, being in the city: the man, because he hath humbled his neighbour’s wife. And thou shalt take away the evil from the midst of thee.

22:25. But if a man find a damsel that is betrothed, in the field, and taking hold of her, lie with her, he alone shall die:

22:26. The damsel shall suffer nothing, neither is she guilty of death: for as a robber riseth against his brother, and taketh away his life, so also did the damsel suffer:

22:27. She was alone in the field: she cried, and there was no man to help her.

22:28. If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, who is not espoused, and taking her, lie with her, and the matter come to judgment:

22:29. He that lay with her shall give to the father of the maid fifty sicles of silver, and shall have her to wife, because he hath humbled her: he may not put her away all the days of his life.

22:30. No man shall take his father’s wife, nor remove his covering.

Deuteronomy Chapter 23

Who may and who may not enter into the church: uncleanness to be avoided: other precepts concerning fugitives, fornication, usury, vows, and eating other men’s grapes and corn.

23:1. An eunuch, whose testicles are broken or cut away, or yard cut off, shall not enter into the church of the Lord.

Eunuch.... By these are meant, in the spiritual sense, such as are barren in good works. Ibid. Into the church.... That is, into the assembly or congregation of Israel, so as to have the privilege of an Israelite, or to be capable of any place or office among the people of God.

23:2. A mamzer, that is to say, one born of a prostitute, shall not enter into the church of the Lord, until the tenth generation.

23:3. The Ammonite and the Moabite, even after the tenth generation shall not enter into the church of the Lord for ever:

23:4. Because they would not meet you with bread and water in the way, when you came out of Egypt: and because they hired against thee Balaam, the son of Beor, from Mesopotamia in Syria, to curse thee.

23:5. And the Lord thy God would not hear Balaam, and he turned his cursing into thy blessing, because he loved thee.

23:6. Thou shalt not make peace with them, neither shalt thou seek their prosperity all the days of thy life for ever.

23:7. Thou shalt not abhor the Edomite, because he is thy brother: nor the Egyptian, because thou wast a stranger in his land.

23:8. They that are born of them, in the third generation shall enter into the church of the Lord.

23:9. When thou goest out to war against thy enemies, thou shalt keep thyself from every evil thing.

23:10. If there be among you any man, that is defiled in a dream by night, he shall go forth out of the camp,

23:11. And shall not return, before he be washed with water in the evening: and after sunset he shall return into the camp.

23:12. Thou shalt have a place without the camp, to which thou mayst go for the necessities of nature,

23:13. Carrying a paddle at thy girdle. And when thou sittest down, thou shalt dig round about, and with the earth that is dug up thou shalt cover

23:14. That which thou art eased of: (for the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thy enemies to thee:) and let thy camp be holy, and let no uncleanness appear therein, lest he go away from thee.

No uncleanness.... This caution against suffering any filth in the camp, was to teach them to fly the filth of sin, which driveth God away from the soul.

23:15. Thou shalt not deliver to his master the servant that is fled to thee.

23:16. He shall dwell with thee in the place that shall please him, and shall rest in one of thy cities: give him no trouble.

23:17. There shall be no whore among the daughters of Israel, nor whoremonger among the sons of Israel.

23:18. Thou shalt not offer the hire of a strumpet, nor the price of a dog, in the house of the Lord thy God, whatsoever it be that thou hast vowed: because both these are an abomination to the Lord thy God.

23:19. Thou shalt not lend to thy brother money to usury, nor corn, nor any other thing:

23:20. But to the stranger. To thy brother thou shalt lend that which he wanteth, without usury: that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all thy works in the land, which thou shalt go in to possess.

To the stranger.... This was a dispensation granted by God to his people, who being the Lord of all things, can give a right and title to one upon the goods of another. Otherwise the scripture everywhere condemns usury, as contrary to the law of God, and a crying sin. See Ex. 22.25; Lev. 25.36, 37; 2 Esd. 5.7; Ps. 14.5; Ezech. 18.8, 13, etc.

23:21. When thou hast made a vow to the Lord thy God, thou shalt not delay to pay it: because the Lord thy God will require it. And if thou delay, it shall be imputed to thee for a sin.

23:22. If thou wilt not promise, thou shalt be without sin.

23:23. But that which is once gone out of thy lips, thou shalt observe, and shalt do as thou hast promised to the Lord thy God, and hast spoken with thy own will and with thy own mouth.

23:24. Going into thy neighbour’s vineyard, thou mayst eat as many grapes as thou pleasest: but must carry none out with thee:

23:25. If thou go into thy friend’s corn, thou mayst break the ears, and rub them in thy hand: but not reap them with a sickle.

Deuteronomy Chapter 24

Divorce permitted to avoid greater evil: the newly married must not go to war: of men stealers, of leprosy, of pledges, of labourers’ hire, of justice, and of charity to the poor.

24:1. If a man take a wife, and have her, and she find not favour in his eyes, for some uncleanness: he shall write a bill of divorce, and shall give it in her hand, and send her out of his house.

24:2. And when she is departed, and marrieth another husband,

24:3. And he also hateth her, and hath given her a bill of divorce, and hath sent her out of his house or is dead:

24:4. The former husband cannot take her again to wife: because she is defiled, and is become abominable before the Lord: lest thou cause thy land to sin, which the Lord thy God shall give thee to possess.

24:5. When a man hath lately taken a wife, he shall not go out to war, neither shall any public business be enjoined him, but he shall be free at home without fault, that for one year he may rejoice with his wife.

24:6. Thou shalt not take the nether, nor the upper millstone to pledge: for he hath pledged his life to thee.

24:7. If any man be found soliciting his brother of the children of Israel, and selling him shall take a price, he shall be put to death, and thou shalt take away the evil from the midst of thee.

24:8. Observe diligently that thou incur not the stroke of the leprosy, but thou shalt do whatsoever the priests of the Levitical race shall teach thee, according to what I have commanded them, and fulfil thou it carefully.

24:9. Remember what the Lord your God did to Mary, in the way when you came out of Egypt.

24:10. When thou shalt demand of thy neighbour any thing that he oweth thee, thou shalt not go into his house to take away a pledge:

24:11. But thou shalt stand without, and he shall bring out to thee what he hath.

24:12. But if he be poor, the pledge shall not lodge with thee that night,

24:13. But thou shalt restore it to him presently before the going down of the sun: that he may sleep in his own raiment and bless thee, and thou mayst have justice before the Lord thy God.

24:14. Thou shalt not refuse the hire of the needy, and the poor, whether he be thy brother, or a stranger that dwelleth with thee in the land, and is within thy gates:

24:15. But thou shalt pay him the price of his labour the same day, before the going down of the sun, because he is poor, and with it maintaineth his life: lest he cry against thee to the Lord, and it be reputed to thee for a sin.

24:16. The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor the children for the fathers, but every one shall die for his own sin,

24:17. Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the stranger nor of the fatherless, neither shalt thou take away the widow’s raiment for a pledge.

24:18. Remember that thou wast a slave in Egypt, and the Lord thy God delivered thee from thence. Therefore I command thee to do this thing.

24:19. When thou hast reaped the corn in thy field, and hast forgot and left a sheaf, thou shalt not return to take it away: but thou shalt suffer the stranger, and the fatherless and the widow to take it away: that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the works of thy hands.

24:20. If thou have gathered the fruit of thy olive trees, thou shalt not return to gather whatsoever remaineth on the trees: but shalt leave it for the stranger, for the fatherless, and the widow.

24:21. If thou make the vintage of thy vineyard, thou shalt not gather the clusters that remain, but they shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow.

24:22. Remember that thou also wast a bondman in Egypt, and therefore I command thee to do this thing.

Deuteronomy Chapter 25

Stripes must not exceed forty. The ox is not to be muzzled. Of raising seed to the brother. Of the immodest woman. Of unjust weight. Of destroying the Amalecites.

25:1. If there be a controversy between men, and they call upon the judges: they shall give the prize of justice to him whom they perceive to be just: and him whom they find to be wicked, they shall condemn of wickedness.

25:2. And if they see that the offender be worthy of stripes: they shall lay him down, and shall cause him to be beaten before them. According to the measure of the sin shall the measure also of the stripes be:

25:3. Yet so, that they exceed not the number of forty: lest thy brother depart shamefully torn before thy eyes.

25:4. Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out thy corn on the floor.

Not muzzle, etc.... St. Paul understands this of the spiritual labourer in the church of God, who is not to be denied his maintenance. 1 Cor. 9.8, 9, 10.

25:5. When brethren dwell together, and one of them dieth without children, the wife of the deceased shall not marry to another: but his brother shall take her, and raise up seed for his brother:

25:6. And the first son he shall have of her he shall call by his name, that his name be not abolished out of Israel.

25:7. But if he will not take his brother’s wife, who by law belongeth to him, the woman shall go to the gate of the city, and call upon the ancients, and say: My husband’s brother refuseth to raise up his brother’s name in Israel: and will not take me to wife.

25:8. And they shall cause him to be sent for forthwith, and shall ask him. If he answer: I will not take her to wife:

25:9. The woman shall come to him before the ancients, and shall take off his shoe from his foot, and spit in his face, and say: So shall it be done to the man that will not build up his brother’s house:

25:10. And his name shall be called in Israel, the house of the unshod.

25:11. If two men have words together, and one begin to fight against the other, and the other’s wife willing to deliver her husband out of the hand of the stronger, shall put forth her hand, and take him by the secrets,

25:12. Thou shalt cut off her hand, neither shalt thou be moved with any pity in her regard.

25:13. Thou shalt not have divers weights in thy bag, a greater and a less:

25:14. Neither shall there be in thy house a greater bushel and a less.

25:15. Thou shalt have a just and a true weight, and thy bushel shall be equal and true: that thou mayest live a long time upon the land which the Lord thy God shall give thee.

25:16. For the Lord thy God abhorreth him that doth these things, and he hateth all injustice.

25:17. Remember what Amalec did to thee in the way when thou camest out of Egypt:

Amalec.... This order for destroying the Amalecites, in the mystical sense, sheweth how hateful they are to God, and what punishments they are to look for from his justice, who attack and discourage his servants when they are but just come out, as it were, of the Egypt of this wicked world and being yet weak and fainthearted, are but beginning their journey to the land of promise.

25:18. How he met thee: and slew the hindmost of the army, who sat down, being weary, when thou wast spent with hunger and labour, and he feared not God.

25:19. Therefore when the Lord thy God shall give thee rest, and shall have subdued all the nations round about in the land which he hath promised thee: thou shalt blot out his name from under heaven. See thou forget it not.

Deuteronomy Chapter 26

The form of words with which the firstfruits and tithes are to be offered. God’s covenant.

26:1. And when thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God will give thee to possess, and hast conquered it, and dwellest in it:

26:2. Thou shalt take the first of all thy fruits, and put them in a basket, and shalt go to the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, that his name may be invocated there:

26:3. And thou shalt go to the priest that shall be in those days, and say to him: I profess this day before the Lord thy God, that I am come into the land, for which he swore to our fathers, that he would give it us.

26:4. And the priest taking the basket at thy hand, shall set it before the altar of the Lord thy God:

26:5. And thou shalt speak thus in the sight of the Lord thy God: The Syrian pursued my father, who went down into Egypt, and sojourned there in a very small number, and grew into a nation great and strong and of an infinite multitude.

The Syrian.... Laban. See Gen. 27.

26:6. And the Egyptians afflicted us, and persecuted us, laying on us most grievous burdens:

26:7. And we cried to the Lord God of our fathers: who heard us, and looked down upon our affliction, and labour, and distress:

26:8. And brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand, and a stretched out arm, with great terror, with signs and wonders:

26:9. And brought us into this place, and gave us this land flowing with milk and honey.

26:10. And therefore now I offer the firstfruits of the land which the Lord hath given me. And thou shalt leave them in the sight of the Lord thy God, adoring the Lord thy God.

26:11. And thou shalt feast in all the good things which the Lord thy God hath given thee, and thy house, thou and the Levite, and the stranger that is with thee.

26:12. When thou hast made an end of tithing all thy fruits, in the third year of tithes thou shalt give it to the Levite, and to the stranger, and to the fatherless, and to the widow, that they may eat within thy gates, and be filled:

26:13. And thou shalt speak thus in the sight of the Lord thy God: I have taken that which was sanctified out of my house, and I have given it to the Levite, and to the stranger, and to the fatherless, and to the widow, as thou hast commanded me: I have not transgressed thy commandments nor forgotten thy precepts.

26:14. I have not eaten of them in my mourning, nor separated them for any uncleanness, nor spent any thing of them in funerals. I have obeyed the voice of the Lord my God, and have done all things as thou hast commanded me.

26:15. Look from thy sanctuary, and thy high habitation of heaven, and bless thy people Israel, and the land which thou hast given us, as thou didst swear to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.

26:16. This day the Lord thy God hath commanded thee to do these commandments and judgments: and to keep and fulfil them with all thy heart, and with all thy soul.

26:17. Thou hast chosen the Lord this day to be thy God, and to walk in his ways and keep his ceremonies, and precepts, and judgments, and obey his command.

26:18. And the Lord hath chosen thee this day, to be his peculiar people, as he hath spoken to thee, and to keep all his commandments:

26:19. And to make thee higher than all nations which he hath created, to his own praise, and name, and glory: that thou mayst be a holy people of the Lord thy God, as he hath spoken.

Deuteronomy Chapter 27

The commandments must be written on stones: and an altar erected, and sacrifices offered. The observers of the commandments are to be blessed, and the transgressors cursed.

27:1. And Moses with the ancients of Israel commanded the people, saying: Keep every commandment that I command you this day.

27:2. And when you are passed over the Jordan into the land which the Lord thy God will give thee, thou shalt set up great stones, and shalt plaster them over with plaster,

27:3. That thou mayst write on them all the words of this law, when thou art passed over the Jordan: that thou mayst enter into the land which the Lord thy God will give thee, a land flowing with milk and honey, as he swore to thy fathers.

27:4. Therefore when you are passed over the Jordan, set up the stones which I command you this day, in mount Hebal, and thou shalt plaster them with plaster:

27:5. And thou shalt build there an altar to the Lord thy God, of stones which iron hath not touched,

27:6. And of stones not fashioned nor polished: and thou shalt offer upon it holocausts to the Lord thy God:

27:7. And shalt immolate peace victims, and eat there, and feast before the Lord thy God.

27:8. And thou shalt write upon the stones all the words of this law plainly and clearly.

27:9. And Moses and the priests of the race of Levi said to all Israel: Attend, and hear, O Israel: This day thou art made the people of the Lord thy God:

27:10. Thou shalt hear his voice, and do the commandments and justices which I command thee.

27:11. And Moses commanded the people in that day, saying:

27:12. These shall stand upon mount Garizim to bless the people, when you are passed the Jordan: Simeon, Levi, Juda, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin.

27:13. And over against them shall stand on mount Hebal to curse: Ruben, Gad, and Aser, and Zabulon, Dan, and Nephtali.

27:14. And the Levites shall pronounce, and say to all the men of Israel with a loud voice:

27:15. Cursed be the man that maketh a graven and molten thing, the abomination of the Lord, the work of the hands of artificers, and shall put it in a secret place: and all the people shall answer and say: Amen.

27:16. Cursed be he that honoureth not his father and mother: and all the people shall say: Amen.

27:17. Cursed be he that removeth his neighbour’s landmarks: and all the people shall say: Amen.

27:18. Cursed be he that maketh the blind to wander out of his way: and all the people shall say: Amen.

27:19. Cursed be he that perverteth the judgment of the stranger, of the fatherless and the widow: and all the people shall say: Amen.

27:20. Cursed be he that lieth with his father’s wife, and uncovereth his bed: and all the people shall say: Amen.

27:21. Cursed be he that lieth with any beast: and all the people shall say: Amen.

27:22. Cursed be he that lieth with his sister, the daughter of his father, or of his mother: and all the people shall say: Amen.

27:23. Cursed be he that lieth with his mother-in-law: and all the people shall say: Amen.

27:24. Cursed be he that secretly killeth his neighbour: and all the people shall say: Amen.

27:25. Cursed be he that taketh gifts, to slay an innocent person: and all the people shall say: Amen.

27:26. Cursed be he that abideth not in the words of this law, and fulfilleth them not in work: and all the people shall say: Amen.

Deuteronomy Chapter 28

Many blessings are promised to observers of God’s commandments: and curses threatened to transgressors.

28:1. Now if thou wilt hear the voice of the Lord thy God, to do and keep all his commandments, which I command thee this day, the Lord thy God will make thee higher than all the nations that are on the earth.

28:2. And all these blessings shall come upon thee and overtake thee: yet so if thou hear his precepts.

All these blessings, etc.... In the Old Testament, God promised temporal blessings to the keepers of his law, heaven not being opened as yet; and that gross and sensual people being more moved with present and sensible things. But in the New Testament the goods that are promised us are spiritual and eternal; and temporal evils are turned into blessings.

28:3. Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed in the field.

28:4. Blessed shall be the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the droves of thy herds, and the folds of thy sheep.

28:5. Blessed shall be thy barns and blessed thy stores.

28:6. Blessed shalt thou be coming in and going out.

28:7. The Lord shall cause thy enemies, that rise up against thee, to fall down before thy face: one way shall they come out against thee, and seven ways shall they flee before thee.

28:8. The Lord will send forth a blessing upon thy storehouses, and upon all the works of thy hands: and will bless thee in the land that thou shalt receive.

28:9. The Lord will raise thee up to be a holy people to himself, as he swore to thee: if thou keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways.

28:10. And all the people of the earth shall see that the name of the Lord is invocated upon thee, and they shall fear thee.

28:11. The Lord will make thee abound with all goods, with the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy cattle, with the fruit of thy land, which the Lord swore to thy fathers that he would give thee.

28:12. The Lord will open his excellent treasure, the heaven, that it may give rain in due season: and he will bless all the works of thy hands. And thou shalt lend to many nations, and shalt not borrow of any one.

28:13. And the Lord shall make thee the head and not the tail: and thou shalt be always above, and not beneath: yet so if thou wilt hear the commandments of the Lord thy God which I command thee this day, and keep and do them,

28:14. And turn not away from them neither to the right hand, nor to the left, nor follow strange gods, nor worship them.

28:15. But if thou wilt not hear the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep and to do all his commandments and ceremonies, which I command thee this day, all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee.

All these curses, etc.... Thus God dealt with the transgressors of his law in the Old Testament: but now he often suffers sinners to prosper in this world, rewarding them for some little good they have done, and reserving their punishment for the other world.

28:16. Cursed shalt thou be in the city, cursed in the field.

28:17. Cursed shall be thy barn, and cursed thy stores.

28:18. Cursed shall be the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy ground, the herds of thy oxen, and the flocks of thy sheep.

28:19. Cursed shalt thou be coming in, and cursed going out.

28:20. The Lord shall send upon thee famine and hunger, and a rebuke upon all the works which thou shalt do: until he consume and destroy thee quickly, for thy most wicked inventions, by which thou hast forsaken me.

28:21. May the Lord set the pestilence upon thee, until he consume thee out of the land, which thou shalt go in to possess.

28:22. May the Lord afflict thee with miserable want, with the fever and with cold, with burning and with heat, and with corrupted air and with blasting, and pursue thee till thou perish.

28:23. Be the heaven, that is over thee, of brass: and the ground thou treadest on, of iron.

28:24. The Lord give thee dust for rain upon thy land, and let ashes come down from heaven upon thee, till thou be consumed.

28:25. The Lord make thee to fall down before thy enemies, one way mayst thou go out against them, and flee seven ways, and be scattered throughout all the kingdoms of the earth.

28:26. And be thy carcass meat for all the fowls of the air, and the beasts of the earth, and be there none to drive them away.

28:27. The Lord strike thee with the ulcer of Egypt, and the part of thy body, by which the dung is cast out, with the scab and with the itch: so that thou canst not be healed.

28:28. The Lord strike thee with madness and blindness and fury of mind.

28:29. And mayst thou grope at midday as the blind is wont to grope in the dark, and not make straight thy ways. And mayst thou at all times suffer wrong, and be oppressed with violence, and mayst thou have no one to deliver thee.

28:30. Mayst thou take a wife, and another sleep with her. Mayst thou build a house, and not dwell therein. Mayest thou plant a vineyard and not gather the vintage thereof.

28:31. May thy ox be slain before thee, and thou not eat thereof. May thy ass be taken away in thy sight, and not restored to thee. May thy sheep be given to thy enemies, and may there be none to help thee.

28:32. May thy sons and thy daughters be given to another people, thy eyes looking on, and languishing at the sight of them all the day, and may there be no strength in thy hand.

28:33. May a people which thou knowest not, eat the fruits of thy land, and all thy labours: and mayst thou always suffer oppression, and be crushed at all times.

28:34. And be astonished at the terror of those things which thy eyes shall see:

28:35. May the Lord strike thee with a very sore ulcer in the knees and in the legs, and be thou incurable from the sole of the foot to the top of the head.

28:36. The Lord shall bring thee, and thy king, whom thou shalt have appointed over thee, into a nation which thou and thy fathers know not: and there thou shalt serve strange gods, wood and stone.

28:37. And thou shalt be lost, as a proverb and a byword to all people, among whom the Lord shall bring thee in.

28:38. Thou shalt cast much seed into the ground, and gather little: because the locusts shall consume all.

28:39. Thou shalt plant a vineyard, and dig it, and shalt not drink the wine, nor gather any thing thereof: because it shall be wasted with worms.

28:40. Thou shalt have olive trees in all thy borders, and shalt not be anointed with the oil: for the olives shall fall off and perish.

28:41. Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, and shalt not enjoy them: because they shall be led into captivity.

28:42. The blast shall consume all the trees and the fruits of thy ground.

28:43. The stranger that liveth with thee in the land, shall rise up over thee, and shall be higher: and thou shalt go down, and be lower.

28:44. He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him. He shall be as the head, and thou shalt be the tail.

28:45. And all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue and overtake thee, till thou perish: because thou heardst not the voice of the Lord thy God, and didst not keep his commandments and ceremonies which he commanded thee.

28:46. And they shall be as signs and wonders on thee, and on thy seed for ever.

28:47. Because thou didst not serve the Lord thy God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things:

28:48. Thou shalt serve thy enemy, whom the Lord will send upon thee, in hunger, and thirst, and nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put an iron yoke upon thy neck, till he consume thee.

28:49. The Lord will bring upon thee a nation from afar, and from the uttermost ends of the earth, like an eagle that flyeth swiftly, whose tongue thou canst not understand,

28:50. A most insolent nation, that will shew no regard to the ancients, nor have pity on the infant,

28:51. And will devour the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruits of thy land: until thou be destroyed, and will leave thee no wheat, nor wine, nor oil, nor herds of oxen, nor flocks of sheep: until he destroy thee.

28:52. And consume thee in all thy cities, and thy strong and high wall be brought down, wherein thou trustedst in all thy land. Thou shalt be besieged within thy gates in all thy land which the Lord thy God will give thee:

28:53. And thou shalt eat the fruit of thy womb, and the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the Lord thy God shall give thee, in the distress and extremity wherewith thy enemy shall oppress thee.

28:54. The man that is nice among you, and very delicate, shall envy his own brother, and his wife, that lieth in his bosom,

28:55. So that he will not give them of the flesh of his children, which he shall eat: because he hath nothing else in the siege and the want, wherewith thy enemies shall distress thee within all thy gates.

28:56. The tender and delicate woman, that could not go upon the ground, nor set down her foot for over much niceness and tenderness, will envy her husband who lieth in her bosom, the flesh of her son, and of her daughter,

28:57. And the filth of the afterbirths, that come forth from between her thighs, and the children that are born the same hour. For they shall eat them secretly for the want of all things, in the siege and distress, wherewith thy enemy shall oppress thee within thy gates.

28:58. If thou wilt not keep, and fulfil all the words of this law, that are written in this volume, and fear his glorious and terrible name: that is, The Lord thy God:

28:59. The Lord shall increase thy plagues, and the plagues of thy seed, plagues great and lasting, infirmities grievous and perpetual.

28:60. And he shall bring back on thee all the afflictions of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of, and they shall stick fast to thee.

28:61. Moreover the Lord will bring upon thee all the diseases, and plagues, that are not written in the volume of this law till he consume thee:

28:62. And you shall remain few in number, who before were as the stars of heaven for multitude, because thou heardst not the voice of the Lord thy God.

28:63. And as the Lord rejoiced upon you before doing good to you, and multiplying you: so he shall rejoice destroying and bringing you to nought, so that you shall be taken away from the land which thou shalt go in to possess.

28:64. The Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the farthest parts of the earth to the ends thereof: and there thou shalt serve strange gods, which both thou art ignorant of and thy fathers, wood and stone.

28:65. Neither shalt thou be quiet, even in those nations, nor shall there be any rest for the sole of thy foot. For the Lord will give thee a fearful heart, and languishing eyes, and a soul consumed with pensiveness:

28:66. And thy life shall be as it were hanging before thee. Thou shalt fear night and day, neither shalt thou trust thy life.

28:67. In the morning thou shalt say: Who will grant me evening? and at evening: Who will grant me morning? for the fearfulness of thy heart, wherewith thou shalt be terrified, and for those things which thou shalt see with thy eyes.

28:68. The Lord shall bring thee again with ships into Egypt, by the way whereof he said to thee that thou shouldst see it no more. There shalt thou be set to sale to thy enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy you.

Deuteronomy Chapter 29

The covenant is solemnly confirmed between God and his people. Threats against those that shall break it.

29:1. These are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab: beside that covenant which he made with them in Horeb.

29:2. And Moses called all Israel, and said to them: You have seen all the things that the Lord did before you in the land of Egypt to Pharao, and to all his servants, and to his whole land.

29:3. The great temptations, which thy eyes have seen, those mighty signs and wonders,

29:4. And the Lord hath not given you a heart to understand, and eyes to see, and ears that may hear, unto this present day.

Hath not given you, etc.... Through your own fault and because you resisted his grace.

29:5. He hath brought you forty years through the desert: your garments are not worn out, neither are the shoes of your feet consumed with age.

29:6. You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or strong drink: that you might know that I am the Lord your God.

29:7. And you came to this place: and Sehon king of Hesebon, and Og king of Basan, came out against us to fight. And we slew them.

29:8. And took their land, and delivered it for a possession to Ruben and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasses.

29:9. Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and fulfil them: that you may understand all that you do.

29:10. You all stand this day before the Lord your God, your princes, and tribes, and ancients, and doctors, all the people of Israel,

29:11. Your children and your wives, and the stranger that abideth with thee in the camp, besides the hewers of wood, and them that bring water:

29:12. That thou mayst pass in the covenant of the Lord thy God, and in the oath which this day the Lord thy God maketh with thee.

29:13. That he may raise thee up a people to himself, and he may be thy God as he hath spoken to thee, and as he swore to thy fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

29:14. Neither with you only do I make this covenant, and confirm these oaths,

29:15. But with all that are present and that are absent.

29:16. For you know how we dwelt in the land of Egypt, and how we have passed through the midst of nations, and passing through them,

29:17. You have seen their abominations and filth, that is to say, their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which they worshipped.

29:18. Lest perhaps there should be among you a man or a woman, a family or a tribe, whose heart is turned away this day from the Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of those nations: and there should be among you a root bringing forth gall and bitterness.

29:19. And when he shall hear the words of this oath, he should bless himself in his heart saying: I shall have peace, and will walk on in the naughtiness of my heart: and the drunken may consume the thirsty,

The drunken, etc., absumat ebria sitientem.... It is a proverbial expression, which may either be understood, as spoken by the sinner, blessing, that is, flattering himself in his sins with the imagination of peace, and so great an abundance as may satisfy, and as it were, consume all thirst and want: or it may be referred to the root of bitterness, spoken of before, which being drunken with sin may attract, and by that means consume, such as thirst after the like evils.

29:20. And the Lord should not forgive him: but his wrath and jealousy against that man should be exceedingly enkindled at that time, and all the curses that are written in this volume should light upon him: and the Lord should blot out his name from under heaven,

29:21. And utterly destroy him out of all the tribes of Israel, according to the curses that are contained in the book of this law and covenant:

29:22. And the following generation shall say, and the children that shall be born hereafter, and the strangers that shall come from afar, seeing the plagues of that land and the evils wherewith the Lord hath afflicted it,

29:23. Burning it with brimstone, and the heat of salt, so that it cannot be sown any more, nor any green thing grow therein, after the example of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrha, Adama and Seboim, which the Lord destroyed in his wrath and indignation:

29:24. And all the nations shall say: Why hath the Lord done thus to this land? what meaneth this exceeding great heat of his wrath?

29:25. And they shall answer: Because they forsook the covenant of the Lord, which he made with their fathers, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt:

29:26. And they have served strange gods, and adored them, whom they knew not, and for whom they had not been assigned:

29:27. Therefore the wrath of the Lord was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this volume:

29:28. And he hath cast them out of their land, in anger and in wrath, and in very great indignation, and hath thrown them into a strange land, as it is seen this day.

29:29. Secret things to the Lord our God: things that are manifest, to us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.

Secret things, etc.... As much as to say, secret things belong to, and are known to, God alone; our business must be to observe what he has revealed and manifested to us, and to direct our lives accordingly.

Deuteronomy Chapter 30

Great mercies are promised to the penitent: God’s commandment is feasible. Life and death are set before them.

30:1. Now when all these things shall be come upon thee, the blessing or the curse, which I have set forth before thee, and thou shalt be touched with repentance of thy heart among all the nations, into which the Lord thy God shall have scattered thee,

30:2. And shalt return to him, and obey his commandments, as I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul:

30:3. The Lord thy God will bring back again thy captivity, and will have mercy on thee, and gather thee again out of all the nations, into which he scattered thee before.

30:4. If thou be driven as far as the poles of heaven, the Lord thy God will fetch thee back from hence,

30:5. And will take thee to himself, and bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it: and blessing thee, he will make thee more numerous than were thy fathers.

30:6. The Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart, and the heart of thy seed: that thou mayst love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, that thou mayst live.

30:7. And he will turn all these curses upon thy enemies, and upon them that hate and persecute thee.

30:8. But thou shalt return, and hear the voice of the Lord thy God, and shalt do all the commandments which I command thee this day:

30:9. And the Lord thy God will make thee abound in all the works of thy hands, in the fruit of thy womb, and in the fruit of thy cattle, in the fruitfulness of thy land, and in the plenty of all things. For the Lord will return to rejoice over thee in all good things, as he rejoiced in thy fathers:

30:10. Yet so if thou hear the voice of the Lord thy God, and keep his precepts and ceremonies, which are written in this law: and return to the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul.

30:11. This commandment, that I command thee this day is not above thee, nor far off from thee:

30:12. Nor is it in heaven, that thou shouldst say: Which of us can go up to heaven to bring it unto us, and we may hear and fulfil it in work?

30:13. Nor is it beyond the sea: that thou mayst excuse thyself, and say: Which of us can cross the sea, and bring it unto us: that we may hear, and do that which is commanded?

30:14. But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart, that thou mayst do it.

30:15. Consider that I have set before thee this day life and good, and on the other hand death and evil:

30:16. That thou mayst love the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways, and keep his commandments and ceremonies and judgments, and thou mayst live, and he may multiply thee, and bless thee in the land, which thou shalt go in to possess.

30:17. But if thy heart be turned away, so that thou wilt not hear, and being deceived with error thou adore strange gods, and serve them:

30:18. I foretell thee this day that thou shalt perish, and shalt remain but a short time in the land, to which thou shalt pass over the Jordan, and shalt go in to possess it.

30:19. I call heaven and earth to witness this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Choose therefore life, that both thou and thy seed may live:

30:20. And that thou mayst love the Lord thy God, and obey his voice, and adhere to him (for he is thy life, and the length of thy days,) that thou mayst dwell in the land, for which the Lord swore to thy fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that he would give it them.

Deuteronomy Chapter 31

Moses encourageth the people, and Josue, who is appointed to succeed him. He delivereth the law to the priests. God foretelleth that the people will often forsake him, and that he will punish them. He commandeth Moses to write a canticle, as a constant remembrancer of the law.

31:1. And Moses went, and spoke all these words to all Israel,

31:2. And he said to them: I am this day a hundred and twenty years old, I can no longer go out and come in, especially as the Lord also hath said to me: Thou shalt not pass over this Jordan.

31:3. The Lord thy God then will pass over before thee: he will destroy all these nations in thy sight, and thou shalt possess them: and this Josue shall go over before thee, as the Lord hath spoken.

31:4. And the Lord shall do to them as he did to Sehon and Og the kings of the Amorrhites, and to their land, and shall destroy them.

31:5. Therefore when the Lord shall have delivered these also to you, you shall do in like manner to them as I have commanded you.

31:6. Do manfully and be of good heart: fear not, nor be ye dismayed at their sight: for the Lord thy God he himself is thy leader, and will not leave thee nor forsake thee.

31:7. And Moses called Josue, and said to him before all Israel: Take courage, and be valiant: for thou shalt bring this people into the land which the Lord swore he would give to their fathers, and thou shalt divide it by lot.

31:8. And the Lord who is your leader, he himself will be with thee: he will not leave thee, nor forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.

31:9. And Moses wrote this law, and delivered it to the priests the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the ancients of Israel.

31:10. And he commanded them, saying: After seven years, in the year of remission, in the feast of tabernacles,

31:11. When all Israel come together, to appear in the sight of the Lord thy God in the place which the Lord shall choose, thou shalt read the words of this law before all Israel, in their hearing.

31:12. And the people being all assembled together, both men and women, children and strangers, that are within thy gates: that hearing they may learn, and fear the Lord your God, and keep, and fulfil all the words of this law:

31:13. That their children also, who now are ignorant, may hear, and fear the Lord their God, all the days that they live in the land whither you are going over the Jordan to possess it.

31:14. And the Lord said to Moses: Behold the days of thy death are nigh: call Josue, and stand ye in the tabernacle of the testimony, that I may give him a charge. So Moses and Josue went and stood in the tabernacle of the testimony:

31:15. And the Lord appeared there in the pillar of a cloud, which stood in the entry of the tabernacle.

31:16. And the Lord said to Moses: Behold thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, and this people rising up will go a fornicating after strange gods in the land, to which it goeth in to dwell: there will they forsake me, and will make void the covenant, which I have made with them,

31:17. And my wrath shall be kindled against them in that day: and I will forsake them, and will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured: all evils and afflictions shall find them, so that they shall say in that day: In truth it is because God is not with me, that these evils have found me.

31:18. But I will hide, and cover my face in that day, for all the evils which they have done, because they have followed strange gods.

31:19. Now therefore write you this canticle, and teach the children of Israel: that they may know it by heart, and sing it by mouth, and this song may be unto me for a testimony among the children of Israel.

31:20. For I will bring them into the land, for which I swore to their fathers, that floweth with milk and honey. And when they have eaten, and are full and fat, they will turn away after strange gods, and will serve them: and will despise me, and make void my covenant.

31:21. And after many evils and afflictions shall have come upon them, this canticle shall answer them for a testimony, which no oblivion shall take away out of the mouth of their seed. For I know their thoughts, and what they are about to do this day, before that I bring them into the land which I have promised them.

31:22. Moses therefore wrote the canticle, and taught it to the children of Israel.

31:23. And the Lord commanded Josue the son of Nun, and said: Take courage, and be valiant: for thou shalt bring the children of Israel into the land which I have promised, and I will be with thee.

31:24. Therefore after Moses had wrote the words of this law in a volume, and finished it:

31:25. He commanded the Levites, who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying:

31:26. Take this book, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God: that it may be there for a testimony against thee.

31:27. For I know thy obstinacy, and thy most stiff neck. While I am yet living, and going in with you, you have always been rebellious against the Lord: how much more when I shall be dead?

31:28. Gather unto me all the ancients of your tribes, and your doctors, and I will speak these words in their hearing, and will call heaven and earth to witness against them.

31:29. For I know that, after my death, you will do wickedly, and will quickly turn aside from the way that I have commanded you: and evils shall come upon you in the latter times, when you shall do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him by the works of your hands.

31:30. Moses therefore spoke, in the hearing of the whole assembly of Israel, the words of this canticle, and finished it even to the end.

Deuteronomy Chapter 32

A canticle for the remembrance of the law. Moses is commanded to go up into a mountain, from whence he shall see the promised land but not enter into it.

32:1. Hear, O ye heavens, the things I speak, let the earth give ear to the words of my mouth.

32:2. Let my doctrine gather as the rain, let my speech distil as the dew, as a shower upon the herb, and as drops upon the grass.

32:3. Because I will invoke the name of the Lord: give ye magnificence to our God.

32:4. The works of God are perfect, and all his ways are judgments: God is faithful and without any iniquity, he is just and right.

32:5. They have sinned against him, and are none of his children in their filth: they are a wicked and perverse generation.

32:6. Is this the return thou makest to the Lord, O foolish and senseless people? Is not he thy father, that hath possessed thee, and made thee, and created thee?

32:7. Remember the days of old, think upon every generation: ask thy father, and he will declare to thee: thy elders and they will tell thee.

32:8. When the Most High divided the nations: when he separated the sons of Adam, he appointed the bounds of people according to the number of the children of Israel.

32:9. But the Lord’s portion is his people: Jacob the lot of his inheritance.

32:10. He found him in a desert land, in a place of horror, and of vast wilderness: he led him about, and taught him: and he kept him as the apple of his eye.

32:11. As the eagle enticing her young to fly, and hovering over them, he spread his wings, and hath taken him and carried him on his shoulders.

32:12. The Lord alone was his leader: and there was no strange god with him.

32:13. He set him upon high land: that he might eat the fruits of the fields, that he might suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the hardest stone,

32:14. Butter of the herd, and milk of the sheep with the fat of lambs, and of the rams of the breed of Basan: and goats with the marrow of wheat, and might drink the purest blood of the grape.

32:15. The beloved grew fat, and kicked: he grew fat, and thick and gross, he forsook God who made him, and departed from God his saviour.

32:16. They provoked him by strange gods, and stirred him up to anger, with their abominations.

32:17. They sacrificed to devils and not to God: to gods whom they knew not: that were newly come up, whom their fathers worshipped not.

32:18. Thou hast forsaken the God that begot thee, and hast forgotten the Lord that created thee.

32:19. The Lord saw, and was moved to wrath: because his own sons and daughters provoked him.

32:20. And he said: I will hide my face from them, and will consider what their last end shall be: for it is a perverse generation, and unfaithful children.

32:21. They have provoked me with that which was no god, and have angered me with their vanities: and I will provoke them with that which is no people, and will vex them with a foolish nation.

32:22. A fire is kindled in my wrath, and shall burn even to the lowest hell: and shall devour the earth with her increase, and shall burn the foundations of the mountains.

32:23. I will heap evils upon them, and will spend my arrows among them.

32:24. They shall be consumed with famine, and birds shall devour them with a most bitter bite: I will send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the fury of creatures that trail upon the ground, and of serpents.

32:25. Without, the sword shall lay them waste, and terror within, both the young man and the virgin, the sucking child with the man in years.

32:26. I said: Where are they? I will make the memory of them to cease from among men.

32:27. But for the wrath of the enemies I have deferred it: lest perhaps their enemies might be proud, and should say: Our mighty hand, and not the Lord, hath done all these things.

32:28. They are a nation without counsel, and without wisdom.

32:29. O that they would be wise and would understand, and would provide for their last end.

32:30. How should one pursue after a thousand, and two chase ten thousand? Was it not, because their God had sold them, and the Lord had shut them up?

32:31. For our God is not as their gods: our enemies themselves are judges.

32:32. Their vines are of the vineyard of Sodom, and of the suburbs of Gomorrha: their grapes are grapes of gall, and their clusters most bitter.

32:33. Their wine is the gall of dragons, and the venom of asps, which is incurable.

32:34. Are not these things stored up with me, and sealed up in my treasures?

32:35. Revenge is mine, and I will repay them in due time, that their foot may slide: the day of destruction is at hand, and the time makes haste to come.

32:36. The Lord will judge his people, and will have mercy on his servants: he shall see that their hand is weakened, and that they who were shut up have also failed, and they that remained are consumed.

32:37. And he shall say: Where are their gods, in whom they trusted?

32:38. Of whose victims they ate the fat, and drank the wine of their drink offerings: let them arise and help you, and protect you in your distress.

32:39. See ye that I alone am, and there is no other God besides me: I will kill and I will make to live: I will strike, and I will heal, and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.

32:40. I will lift up my hand to heaven, and I will say: I live for ever.

32:41. If I shall whet my sword as the lightning, and my hand take hold on judgment: I will render vengeance to my enemies, and repay them that hate me.

32:42. I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh, of the blood of the slain and of the captivity, of the bare head of the enemies.

32:43. Praise his people, ye nations, for he will revenge the blood of his servants: and will render vengeance to their enemies, and he will be merciful to the land of his people.

32:44. So Moses came and spoke all the words of this canticle in the ears of the people, and Josue the son of Nun.

32:45. And he ended all these words, speaking to all Israel.

32:46. And he said to them: Set your hearts on all the words, which I testify to you this day: which you shall command your children to observe and to do, and to fulfil all that is written in this law:

32:47. For they are not commanded you in vain, but that every one should live in them, and that doing them you may continue a long time in the land whither you are going over the Jordan to possess it.

32:48. And the Lord spoke to Moses the same day, saying:

32:49. Go up into this mountain Abarim, (that is to say, of passages,) unto mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab over against Jericho: and see the land of Chanaan, which I will deliver to the children of Israel to possess, and die thou in the mountain.

32:50. When thou art gone up into it thou shalt be gathered to thy people, as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gathered to his people:

32:51. Because you trespassed against me in the midst of the children of Israel, at the waters of contradiction, in Cades of the desert of Sin: and you did not sanctify me among the children of Israel.

32:52. Thou shalt see the land before thee, which I will give to the children of Israel, but thou shalt not enter into it.

Deuteronomy Chapter 33

Moses before his death blesseth the tribes of Israel.

33:1. This is the blessing, wherewith the man of God, Moses, blessed the children of Israel, before his death.

33:2. And he said: The Lord came from Sinai, and from Seir he rose up to us: he hath appeared from mount Pharan, and with him thousands of saints. In his right hand a fiery law.

33:3. He hath loved the people, all the saints are in his hand: and they that approach to his feet, shall receive of his doctrine.

33:4. Moses commanded us a law, the inheritance of the multitude of Jacob.

33:5. He shall be king with the most right, the princes of the people, being assembled with the tribes of Israel.

33:6. Let Ruben live, and not die, and be he small in number.

33:7. This is the blessing of Juda. Hear, O Lord, the voice of Juda, and bring him in unto his people: his hands shall fight for him, and he shall be his helper against his enemies.

33:8. To Levi also he said: Thy perfection, and thy doctrine be to thy holy man, whom thou hast proved in the temptation, and judged at the waters of contradiction:

Holy man.... Aaron and his successors in the priesthood.

33:9. Who hath said to his father, and to his mother: I do not know you; and to his brethren: I know you not: and their own children they have not known. These have kept thy word, and observed thy covenant,

Who hath said, etc.... It is the duty of the priestly tribe to prefer God’s honour and service before all considerations of flesh and blood: in such manner as to behave as strangers to their nearest akin, when these would withdraw them from the business of their calling.

33:10. Thy judgments, O Jacob, and thy law, O Israel: they shall put incense in thy wrath and holocaust upon thy altar.

33:11. Bless, O Lord, his strength, and receive the works of his hands. Strike the backs of his enemies, and let not them that hate him rise.

33:12. And to Benjamin he said: The best beloved of the Lord shall dwell confidently in him: as in a bride chamber shall he abide all the day long, and between his shoulders shall be rest.

Shall dwell, etc.... This seems to allude to the temple being built in the confines of the tribe of Benjamin.

33:13. To Joseph also he said: Of the blessing of the Lord be his land, of the fruits of heaven, and of the dew, and of the deep that lieth beneath.

33:14. Of the fruits brought forth by the sun and by the moon.

33:15. Of the tops of the ancient mountains, of the fruits of the everlasting hills:

33:16. And of the fruits of the earth, and of the fulness thereof. The blessing of him that appeared in the bush, come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the crown of the Nazarite among his brethren.

The Nazarite.... See the note on Gen. 49.26.

33:17. His beauty as of the firstling of a bullock, his horns as the horns of a rhinoceros: with them shall he push the nations even to the ends of the earth. These are the multitudes of Ephraim and these the thousands of Manasses.

33:18. And to Zabulon he said: Rejoice, O Zabulon, in thy going out; and Issachar in thy tabernacles.

33:19. They shall call the people to the mountain: there shall they sacrifice the victims of justice. Who shall suck as milk the abundance of the sea, and the hidden treasures of the sands.

33:20. And to Gad he said: Blessed be Gad in his breadth: he hath rested as a lion, and hath seized upon the arm and the top of the head.

33:21. And he saw his pre-eminence, that in his portion the teacher was laid up: who was with the princes of the people, and did the justices of the Lord, and his judgment with Israel.

He saw, etc.... The pre-eminence of the tribe of Gad, to which this alludeth, was their having the lawgiver Moses buried in their borders; though the particular place was not known.

33:22. To Dan also he said: Dan is a young lion, he shall flow plentifully from Basan.

33:23. And To Nephtali he said: Nephtali shall enjoy abundance, and shall be full of the blessings of the Lord: he shall possess the sea and the south.

The sea.... The lake of Genesareth.

33:24. To Aser also he said: Let Aser be blessed with children, let him be acceptable to his brethren, and let him dip his foot in oil.

33:25. His shoe shall be iron and brass. As the days of thy youth, so also shall thy old age be.

33:26. There is no other god like the God of the rightest: he that is mounted upon the heaven is thy helper. By his magnificence the clouds run hither and thither.

33:27. His dwelling is above, and underneath are the everlasting arms: he shall cast out the enemy from before thee, and shall say: Be thou brought to nought.

Underneath are the everlasting arms.... Though the dwelling of God be above in heaven, his arms are always stretched out to help us here below.

33:28. Israel shall dwell in safety, and alone. The eye of Jacob in a land of corn and wine, and the heavens shall be misty with dew.

33:29. Blessed art thou, Israel: who is like to thee, O people, that art saved by the Lord? the shield of thy help, and the sword of thy glory: thy enemies shall deny thee, and thou shalt tread upon their necks.

Deuteronomy Chapter 34

Moses seeth the promised land, but is not suffered to go into it. He dieth at the age of 120 years. God burieth his body secretly, and all Israel mourn for him thirty days. Josue, replenished (by imposition of Moses’s hands) with the spirit of God, succeedeth. But Moses, for his special familiarity with God, and for most wonderful miracles, is commended above all other prophets.

34:1. Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab upon mount Nebo, to the top of Phasga over against Jericho: and the Lord shewed him all the land of Galaad as far as Dan.

34:2. And all Nephtali, and the land of Ephraim and Manasses, and all the land of Juda unto the furthermost sea,

34:3. And the south part, and the breadth of the plain of Jericho the city of palm trees as far as Segor.

34:4. And the Lord said to him: This is the land, for which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying: I will give it to thy seed. Thou hast seen it with thy eyes, and shalt not pass over to it.

34:5. And Moses the servant of the Lord died there, in the land of Moab, by the commandment of the Lord:

Died there.... This last chapter of Deuteronomy, in which the death of Moses is related, was written by Josue, or by some of the prophets.

34:6. And he buried him in the valley of the land of Moab over against Phogor: and no man hath known of his sepulchre until this present day.

He buried him, viz.... by the ministry of angels, and would have the place of his burial to be unknown, lest the Israelites, who were so prone to idolatry, might worship him with divine honours.

34:7. Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, neither were his teeth moved.

34:8. And the children of Israel mourned for him in the plains of Moab thirty days: and the days of their mourning in which they mourned Moses were ended.

34:9. And Josue the son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom, because Moses had laid his hands upon him. And the children of Israel obeyed him, and did as the Lord commanded Moses.

34:10. And there arose no more a prophet in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face,

34:11. In all the signs and wonders, which he sent by him, to do in the land of Egypt to Pharao, and to all his servants, and to his whole land,

34:12. And all the mighty hand, and great miracles, which Moses did before all Israel.