THE TARGUM OF ONKELOS

ON THE

SEPHER ELLEH HADDEBARIM

OR

BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY

SECTION OF THE TORAH XLIV

TITLE DEBARIM

I. THESE are the words which Mosheh spake with all Israel beyond the Jordan, reproving them because they had sinned in the wilderness, and had provoked (the Lord) to anger on the plains over against the Sea of Suph, in Pharan, where they scorned the manna; and in Hazeroth, where they provoked to anger on account of flesh, and because they had made the golden calf.

It is a journey of eleven days from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir unto Rekem Giah.

And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, in the first day of the month, Mosheh spake with the sons of Israel according to all that the Lord had commanded him for them. After he had slain Sihon, king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon, and Og, king of Mathnan, who dwelt at Ashtaroth in Edrehi; on this side Jordan in the land of Moab began Mosheh to explain the doctrine of this law, saying:

The Lord our God spake with us at Horeb, saying : It is sufficient for you to have dwelt at this mountain: turn, and proceed, and go unto the mountain of the Amoraah, and to all its habitable places in the plains, the mountain, the valleys, and in the south, and by the side of the sea; the land of the Kenaanah and Lebanon, unto the river, the great river Phrat; behold, I have set the land before you; go in and possess the land which the Lord covenanted to your fathers, to Abraham, to Izhak, and to Jakob; to give it to them, and to your children after them.

And I spake to you at that time, saying: I am not able to bear you myself alone. The Lord your God hath multiplied you; and, behold, you are this day as the stars of the heavens for multitude. The Lord God of your fathers make you a thousand times more than you are, and bless you, as He hath said to you! How can I bear alone your labour, your business, and your adjudgments? Provide (then) for yourselves prudent and sagacious men of your tribes, and I will appoint them to be chiefs over you. And you answered me, and said: The thing that thou hast spoken it is right that we should do.

And I took the heads of your tribes, wise men and masters of knowledge, and appointed them chiefs over you, captains of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens, and officers of your tribes. And I charged your judges at that time, saying: Hear between your brethren, and judge rightly between a man and his brother, or the sojourner. You shall not have respect to persons in the judgment; you shall hear little words (matters) as well as great; nor be afraid of the face of man, for the judgment is of the Lord; and the matter that is too hard for you bring to me, and I will hear it; and commanded you at that time all the things that you should do.

And we departed from Horeb, and went through all that great and fearful desert which you saw by the way of the mountain of the Amoraah, as the Lord our God commanded us, and we came unto Rekem Giah. And I the said: You are come to the mountain of the Amoraah, which the Lord our God will give to us. See, the Lord thy God hath set the land before thee: arise, possess (it), as the Lord the God of thy fathers hath bid thee; fear not, nor be broken. And all of you came to me and said: We will send men before us, to explore the land for us, and bring us word about the way to go up to it, and to what cities we shall come. And the thing was good in my eyes, and I took from you twelve men, one man for a tribe. And they turned and went up to the mountain, and came to the brook of Ethkela, and explored it. And they took in their hands some of the produce of the land and brought to us, and returned us word, saying: The land which the Lord will give us is good. But you were not willing to go up, but were rebellious against the Word of the Lord your God, and murmured in your tents, and said: Because the Lord hath hated us, He hath brought us from the land of Mizraim to deliver us into the hand of the Amoraah to destroy us. To what shall we go up? Our brethren have broken our heart, saying: The people are greater and stronger than we; vast are the cities, and walled to the height of heaven, and we saw there also the sons of the giants. But I said to you: Be not broken (hearted), fear them not; the Word of the Lord, who leadeth on before you, will fight for you, according to all that He did for you in Mizraim in your sight; and in the wilderness, where thou hast seen that the Lord thy God carrieth thee, as a man carrieth his child, in all the way you have journeyed until your coming to this place. But in this thing you did not believe in the Word of the Lord your God, who led on before you in the way to prepare for you (each) place of encampment for your sojournings, in the pillar of fire by night to show you in which way to go, and in the pillar of the cloud by day. But the voice of your words was heard before the Lord, and He was angry, and made oath, saying: If a man of the men of this evil generation shall see the good land which I sware to your fathers, save Kaleb bar Jephunneh. He shall see it, and I will give to him the land on which he hath trodden, and unto his children, because he hath been upright in the fear of the Lord. Also against me was there displeasure before the Lord on your account, (He) saying: Thou too art not to go in thither; Jehoshua bar Nun, who standeth before thee, he shall go in thither; strengthen him, for he is to make Israel to inherit; but your little ones, who you said would be for prey, your children, who today know not good and evil, they shall enter therein, to them will I give it, and they shall possess it; but you, turn you, and go into the wilderness by the Weedy Sea.

Then you answered, and said: We have sinned before the Lord; we will go up and wage war according to all that the Lord our God commanded; and you girded on every man his weapons of war, and began to go up to the mountain. But the Lord said to me: Tell them, You shall not go up, neither wage war; for My Shekinah is not among you, lest you be crushed before your enemies. And I told you, but you hearkened not, but rebelled against the Word of the Lord, and dared, and went up to the mountain; but the Amoraah who dwelt in that mountain came out against you, and pursued you as bees are dispersed, and smote you in Seir unto Hormah. And you returned, and wept before the Lord; but the Lord would not receive your prayer, nor hearken to your words; and you dwelt in Rekem many days, according to the days that you abode.

II. And we turned, and journeyed to the wilderness by the way of the Sea of Suph, as the Lord had told us; and we encompassed the mountain of Seir many days. And the Lord spake to me, saying: You have been about this mountain enough for you: turn you northward; and command the people, saying: You are going through the coasts of your brethren, the sons of Esau, who dwell in Seir; and they will be afraid of you. Take great heed, quarrel not with them; for I will not give you of their land, not so much as you may tread upon with the sole of the foot; for the inheritance of Mount Seir I have given to Esau. You shall buy provision of them with silver, that you may eat; and water, with silver, that you may drink; for the Lord thy God bath blessed thee in all the works of thy hands; He bath given thee sufficient for thy need in thy going about in this great wilderness; these forty years the Word of the Lord thy God hath been thy helper, thou hast not wanted any thing. And we passed by from our brethren, the sons of Esau, who dwelt in Seir, by the way of the plain from Elath, and from Ezion Geber; and turned and passed by the way of the wilderness of Moab.

And the Lord said to me, Distress not the Moabaee, nor stir thyself to make war with them; for I will not give thee any of their land to inherit, for I have given Lechiath unto the children of Lot for an inheritance. The Emethanee in old times dwelt in it; a people great and many, and strong as the giants. They were reputed as giants, and like giants also they were; but the Moabites called them Emethanee.And in Seir dwelt the Horaee in former times; but the sons of Esau drave them out, and destroyed them, and dwelt in their places, as Israel did in the land of his inheritance which the Lord gave to them.

Now arise, (said I,) and go over the stream of Zared. And we passed over the stream of Zared. And the days in which we were journeying from Rekem Giah until we crossed the stream of Zared were thirty and eight years, till all the generation of the men of war were consumed from the camp, as the Lord had sworn to them. For the plague stroke from before the Lord was upon them to destroy them from among the host till they were consumed.

When all the men of war had been consumed, and had died away from among the people, the Lord spake with me, saying: Thou art today to pass by Lechaiath, the frontier of Moab. But when thou comest nigh over against the Beni Ammon, be not troublesome to them, nor provoke thyself to make war with them; for I have not given to thee of the land of the Beni Ammon any inheritance; for I have given it to the children of Lot to inherit. That also was reputed a land of giants; in old times giants did dwell in it, and the Ammonites called them Hashbanee; a people great and many, and strong as giants, but the Lord destroyed them before them) and cast them out, and they dwelt in their places.

As did the sons of Esau who dwelt in Seir, when He destroyed the Horaee from before them, and drave them out, and they have dwelt in their places unto this day. And the Avaee, who dwelt in Pheziach unto Hazah destroyed the Kaphutkaee, who came out of Kaphutkaia, and dwelt in their place.

Arise, remove, and pass over the river of Arnon: behold, I have delivered into thy hand Sihon, king of Heshbon, the Amorite, and his land; begin to cast him out, and rouse thyself to make battle with him. This day will I begin to put dread of thee and fear of thee upon the face of the peoples which are under the whole heavens, who shall hear thy fame, and be broken before thee.

And I sent ambassadors from the wilderness of Kedemoth unto Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying, May I pass through thy land by the way? I will go by the way, nor turn to the right or the left: thou shalt sell me provision for silver, and I will eat; and give me water for silver, and I will drink; I will only go through on my feet: as the Beni Esau who dwell in Seir, and the Moabaee who dwell in Lechaiath, did to me, until I pass over Jordan to the land which the Lord our God shall give to us. But Sihon king of Heshbon was not willing to permit us to pass through his coasts; for the Lord thy God hardened his spirit and strengthened his heart, that He might deliver him into thy hand, as at this day. And the Lord said to me, See, I have begun to deliver to thee Sihon and his country; begin thou to drive him out, that thou mayest inherit his land. And Sihon came forth to meet us, he and all his people, to give battle at Jahaz; and the Word of the Lord our God delivered him up before us, and we smote him, and his sons, and all his people. And we subdued all his cities at that time, and consumed all the towns, and the men, women, and children, and left none to escape. Only the cattle was a booty to us, and the spoil of the cities which we subdued. From Aroer which is upon the bank of the river of Arnon, and the city that is by the river, even unto Gilead, there was no city too strong for us; for the Lord our God delivered all before us. Only to the land of the Beni Ammon thou didst not come near, nor to all the side of the river Jubeka, nor the cities of the mountain, nor to any of which the Lord our God had commanded us.

III. And we turned, and went up the way of Mathnan; and Og king of Mathnan came out to meet us, he and all his people, to give battle at Edrehi. And the Lord said to me, Fear him not; for I have delivered him into thy hand, with all his people and his land; and thou shalt do to him as thou hast done to Sihon king of the Amoraah, who dwelt at Heshbon. And the Lord our God delivered Og the king of Mathnan into our hand with all his people, and we smote him until not a remnant of him escaped. And we subdued all his cities at that time, there was not a city which we took not from them, sixty cities, all the region of the territory of the kingdom of Og in Mathnan. All those strong cities were fortified with gates and bars, beside unwalled towns very many. But we consumed them as we did Sihon king of Heshbon: we destroyed in all the cities the men, women, and children; but all the cattle and the spoil of the cities were a prey to us. And we took at that time from the hand of the two kings of the Amoraah, the country on this side of Jordana, from the river of Arnon unto the mountain of Hermon. The Zidonaee call Hermon Sirion, but the Amoraee call it the Mount of Snow: All the cities of the plain, all Gilead, and all Mathnan, unto Salka and Edrehi, cities of the kingdom of Og in Mathnan. For only Og king of Mathnan remained of the remnant of the giants. Behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron: is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon, nine cubits its length, and four cubits its breadth, in the cubit of the king? And their land (which) we took into possession at that time, from Aroer, upon the river Arnon, and half Mount Gilead, and the cities thereof, I have given to the tribe of Reuben, and to the tribe of Gad. And the rest of Gilead, and all Mathnan, the kingdom of Og, I have given to the half tribe of Menasheh; all the surrounding country, even all Mathnan, which was called the Land of the Giants. Jaer bar Menasheh took all the territory of Terakona, unto the border of Geshurah and Aphkiros, and called it after his name, Mathnan Kapharne-Jair, unto this day. And to Machir I have given Gilead. And to the tribe of Reuben, and of Gad, I have given from Gilead unto the river of Arnon (to) the middle of the river and its bound, unto the river Jubeka, which is the border of the children of Ammon. And the plain, and the Jordan, and the border thereof, from Genezar unto the Sea of the Plain, the Sea of Salt, under the declivity of the height, eastward. And I instructed you at that time, saying: The Lord your God hath given you this land to possess it; you shall pass over armed before your brethren the sons of Israel, all armed for the host. Only your wives, and little ones, and your cattle, for I know that you have much cattle, shall abide in your cities which I have given you, until the Lord hath given rest to your brethren as well as to you, and they also possess the land which the Lord your God hath given to them on the other side of Jordana: and you shall return every man to his inheritance which I have given you. And I charged Jehoshua at that time, saying: Thine eyes have seen all that the Lord your God hath done unto these two kings; so shall the Lord do to all the kingdoms to which thou art going over. Fear them not, for the Word of the Lord your God will fight for you.

SECTION XLV.

VAETHCHANNAN.

AND I prayed before the Lord at that time, saying: O Lord God, Thou hast begun to show Thy servant Thy greatness and Thy mighty hand; for Thou art God, whose Shekinah is in the heavens above, and Thou rulest in the earth, and none can do according to Thy greatness or Thy might. Let me, I pray, go over and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain, and the place of the sanctuary. But there was displeasure with the Lord against me on your account, and He heard me not; but said to me, It is enough for, thee; add not to speak again before Me of this thing: go up to the summit of the height, and lift up thy eyes to the west, the north, the south, and the east, and see with thy eyes; for thou shalt not pass over this Jordan. But instruct Jehoshua, and fortify, and make him strong; for he shall go over before this people, and put them in possession of the land which thou wilt see. And we dwelt in the valley over against Beth Peor.

IV. And now, Israel, hear the statutes and the judgments which I am to teach you to do, that you may live, and go in to inherit the land which the Lord God of your fathers hath given you. Ye shall not add to the word that I command you, nor diminish from it, to keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. Your eyes have seen what the Lord hath done with the worshippers of Baala Peor; for all the men who went after Baala Peor the Lord thy God hath destroyed from among you. But you who have cleaved to the fear of the Lord your God, are alive all of you this day. Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, as the Lord my God commanded me, that you may so do in the land to which you go to possess it. And observe, and perform; for this is your wisdom and understanding in the eyes of the nations who will hear all these statutes, and say, Most surely this great people is a wise and understanding people. For what people so great who hath God so nigh unto it to hearken to their prayer in the time of their tribulation, as the Lord our God (is to us) in every time that we pray before Him? Or what people so great which hath statutes and judgments so true as all this law which I set before you this day? Only take heed to thyself, and diligently keep thy soul, all the days of thy life, lest thou forget the things which thy eyes have seen, and they pass away from thy heart. But make them known to thy children, and to thy children's children, (as was said) on the day when thou stoodest before the Lord thy God at Horeb, when the Lord said to me, Gather the people together before Me, and I will make them hear My words, that they may learn to fear Me all the days which they live on the earth, and may teach their children. And you came near, and stood at the lower parts of the mountain, and the mount burned with fire to the height of the heavens, in darkness, clouds, and shadow. And the Lord spake with you from the midst of the fire; you heard a voice of words, but you beheld no similitude; (there was) only the Voice. And He proclaimed to you His covenant which He commanded you to do, (even) the Ten Words; and He wrote them upon two tables of stone.

 And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments for you to perform in the land whither you pass over to possess it. But take heed to your souls; for you saw no likeness in the day that the Lord spake with you from the midst of the fire; lest you corrupt yourselves, and make you an image, or the likeness of any form, the likeness of male or female, of any beast on the ground, or of any bird which flieth in the air of the expanse of the skies, of any reptile of the earth, or any fish of the waters, under the earth; and lest thou lift up thine eyes to the heavens, and behold the sun, or moon and stars, all the host of the heavens, and go astray and worship them, and serve them, which the Lord thy God hath not appointed for any of the nations that are under the whole heavens. But you hath the Lord drawn nigh unto His service, and brought you out from the iron furnace, (even) from Mizraim, to be unto Him a people of inheritance, as at this day. But towards me the Lord had displeasure, on account of your words, and He sware that I should not go over Jordan, nor enter the good land which the Lord your God giveth you to inherit. For I must die in this land; I am not to pass over the Jordan; but you are to pass over, and inherit that good land. Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which He hath concluded with you, and you make an image for you, the likeness of anything about which the Lord thy God hath commanded thee. For the Word of the Lord thy God is a consuming fire: He is a jealous God.

 When thou shalt have begotten sons and daughters, and have grown old in the land, and thou become corrupt, and make an image, the likeness of anything, or do what is evil before the Lord thy God, to cause displeasure before Him; I call, this day, the heavens and earth to witness that you will surely perish from off the land whither you go over the Jordan to possess it: you will not prolong days upon it, for with destruction you will be destroyed. And the Lord will scatter you among the nations, and you will remain a numbered people[1] among the nations whither the Lord shall lead you. And there will you serve the peoples who are worshippers of idols, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.

Yet if from thence thou seek the fear of the Lord thy God, thou shalt find, if thou seek for Him with thy heart, and with all thy soul. When thou wilt be in trouble, and all these words will have found thee, in the end of the days, and thou wilt turn unto the fear of the Lord thy God, and be obedient to His Word, because the Lord thy God is a merciful God; He will not forsake thee, nor destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which He sware unto them. For ask now of the ancient days that have been before thee, from the day that the Lord created man upon the earth, and (ask) from one end of the heavens to the other, if there hath been so great a thing as this, or any heard like it, whether a people have heard the voice of the Word of the Lord speaking from the midst of the fire as thou didst hear, and have lived. Or (if any have seen) like miracles which the Lord hath wrought, in being revealed to redeem to Himself a people from among a people, by miracles, signs, and wonders, and with war, and by a mighty hand and uplifted arm, and by grand visions, according to all that the Lord your God hath done for you in Mizraim before your eyes. Unto thee hath it been shown, that thou mayest know that the Lord He is God, there is none beside Him. From the heavens thou didst hear the voice of His Word, that He might teach thee, and upon earth He showed thee His great fire, and thou heardest His words from the midst of the fire. And because He loved thy fathers, and had pleasure in their children after them, He brought thee out by His Word, by His mighty power, from Mizraim, to drive out nations greater and stronger than thou from before thee, to bring thee in, to give thee their land to inherit, as at this day.

 Know then, this day, and revolve it in thy heart, that the Lord He is God, whose glory is in the heavens above, and who ruleth upon the earth beneath, (and that) there is none but He; and keep His statutes and His commandments that I teach thee this day, that it may be well with thee, and thy sons after thee, and thou mayest prolong days on the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, all the days.

 Then Mosheh separated three cities on the other side of the Jordan (toward) the sunrise, that the slayer may escape thither who may kill his neighbour unawares, not having hated him yesterday, or before it; and that, escaping to one of those cities, he may live: Bezer, in the wilderness, in the plain land of the tribe of Reuben; Ramoth, in Gilead, of the tribe Gad; and Golan, in Mathnan, of the tribe of Menasheh.

And this is the law which Mosheh set in order before the children of Israel: these are the testimonies, statutes, and judgments, which Mosheh spake to the children of Israel, on their coming forth from Mizraim; on the other side of Jordan, in the vale over against Beth Peor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amoraah, who dwelt in Heshbon, whom Mosheh and the children of Israel smote when they had come out of Mizraim. And they took possession of his land, and the land of Og king of Mathnan, two kings of the Amoraah, who were beyond Jordan, toward the sunrise; from Aroer, upon the bank of the river Arnon to the mountain of Siaon, which is Hermon; and all the plain beyond Jordan eastward unto the sea of the plain at the declivity of the heights.

V. And Mosheh called all Israel, and said to them: Listen, Israel, to the statutes and judgments which I speak before you this day, and learn them, and keep them to do them. The Lord our God confirmed a covenant with us at Horeb. The Lord confirmed not this covenant with our fathers, but with us who are here all of us living this day: word with word hath the Lord spoken with you at the mountain from the midst of the fire, (I stood between the Word of the Lord and you, to announce to you at that time the word of the Lord; for you were afraid in presence of the fire, and went not up to the mountain,) saying: I am the Lord thy God, who hath brought thee out of the land of Mizraim, from the house of bondage; there shall not be with thee another god beside Me. Thou shalt not make to thee an image or any likeness of that which is in the heavens above, or on the earth below, or in the waters under the earth; thou shalt not worship them or serve them: for I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the guilt of fathers upon rebellious children, upon the third generation and upon the fourth of them that hate Me, when the children complete the sins of their fathers; but doing good unto (thousands of) generations of those who love Me, and keep My commandments. Thou shalt not swear by the Name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not acquit him who shall swear by His Name falsely. Keep the day of Shabbatha to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee. Six days thou shalt work, and do all thy labour; but the seventh day is the Sabbath before the Lord thy God: thou shalt not perform any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy servant, thy handmaid, thy ox, thy ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy sojourner who is in thy gates; that thy servant and handmaid may rest as well as thou. And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Mizraim, and that the Lord brought thee out from thence with a mighty hand and uplifted arm; therefore the Lord thy God hath commanded thee to observe the Sabbath day. Honour thy father and mother, as the Lord hath commanded, that thou mayest prolong thy days, and it may be well with thee in the land which the Lord thy God shall give thee. Thou shalt not kill life, nor commit adultery, nor steal, nor bear false witness against thy neighbour. Nor shalt thou desire thy neighbour's wife, nor covet thy neighbour's house, his field, or his servant, or his handmaid, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbourÕs.

These words spake the Lord with all your congregation at the mount, from the midst of the fire, the clouds and the darkness, with a great voice, and hath not ceased.[2] And He wrote them upon two tables of stone, and gave them to me. But it was, when you heard the voice from the midst of the fire and darkness, the mount burning with fire, all the chiefs of your tribes and your elders drew near to me; and you said, Behold, the Lord our God hath showed to us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard the voice of His Word out of the midst of the fire; this day have we seen that the Lord speaketh with a man,[3] and he liveth. But now why should we die? For this great fire will consume us: if we go on to hear the voice of the Word of the Lord our God, we shall die. For who is there of all flesh who can hear the voice of the Word of the Living God speaking from the midst of fire (in the manner) that we have, and can live? Go thou near, and hear all that the Lord our God shall say, and speak thou with us all that the Lord our God shall speak with thee, and we will hearken and will do. And the voice of your words was heard before the Lord when you spake with me, and the Lord said to me, The voice of the words of this people which they have spoken with thee is heard before Me; all (the words) they have spoken are right. O that they may have such a heart to fear Me and keep all My commandments all days, that it may be well with them and their children for ever. Go, and say to them, Return to your tents. But thou, stand here before Me, and I will tell thee all the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which thou shalt teach them, that they may do them in the land that I will give them to possess it.

And you shall observe to do as the Lord your God hath commanded you, nor decline to the right hand or to the left. In all the way which the Lord your God hath commanded you shall ye walk, that you may live, and it may be well with you, and you may lengthen out your days in the land which you are to inherit.

VI. And this is the commandment, (these are) the statutes and the judgments, which the Lord your God hath commanded (me) to teach you to perform in the land to which you go over to possess it, that thou mayest fear before the Lord thy God, and keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command thee; thou, thy sons, and thy sons' son, all the days of thy life, that thy days may be prolonged. And thou, Israel, shalt receive, and keep, and perform, that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest increase greatly, as the Lord God of thy fathers bath said to thee, (in) the land which produceth milk and honey.

 HEAR, ISRAEL;[4] THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy substance. And these words that command thee this day shall be upon thy heart.

And thou shalt deliver them to thy children, and talk of them when thou art sitting in thy house, and when thou goest in the way, and in thy lying down, and thy rising up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thy hand, and they shall be for tephillin[5] between thine eyes; and thou shalt write them upon the doorposts, and affix them to the lintels[6] of thy house, and upon thy gates.

And it shall be, when the Lord thy God will have brought thee into the land which He covenanted to thy fathers, to Abraham, Izhak, and Jakob, to give thee great and goodly cities which thou buildedst not, and houses full of goods that thou didst not fill, and cisterns hewn which thou hewedst not, vineyards and olive trees which thou didst not plant, and thou have eaten and be full; beware, lest thou forget the fear of the Lord who brought thee out from the land of Mizraim, from the house of bondage. Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve before Him, and swear by His Name. You shall not go after the idols of the Gentiles, the idols of the peoples who surround you (for the Lord thy God is a jealous God, His Shekinah dwelleth in the midst of thee,) lest the anger of the Lord thy God be kindled against thee, and He destroy thee from off the face of the earth. You shall not tempt the Lord your God as you tempted Him in the temptation: keeping you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God, His testimonies, and His statutes He hath commanded thee, and do what is right and well ordered before the Lord, that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest enter ill and possess the good land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers to break all thy enemies before thee, as He hath said.

When thy son shall ask thee in time to come, (mehar, to-morrow,) saying, What are the testimonies, statutes, and judgments, which the Lord our God hath commanded you? then thou shalt say, We were servants to Pharoh in Mizraim; and the Lord brought us out of Mizraim with a mighty hand, and put forth miracles great and sore upon Pharoh, and all the men of his house, before our eyes; and He brought us out from thence, to bring us in, to give us the land which He sware to our fathers. And the Lord commanded us to perform all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, that all days it may be well with us, (and) that He may preserve us alive as at this day. And it shall be our righteousness to observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God, as He hath commanded us.

VII. When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land into which thou goest to possess it, and cast out many peoples from before thee, the Hittites  Girgashites, Amorites, Kenaanites, Pherizites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations, greater and mightier than thou, and shall deliver them up before thee; then thou shalt smite and utterly consume them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy upon them. Neither shalt thou intermarry with them; thou shalt not give thy daughter to his son, nor take his daughter for thy son. For they will cause thy son to go astray from serving Me, and they will worship the idols of the Gentiles, and the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and He will destroy thee speedily. But thus shall you do to them: you shall pull down their altars, break their statues in pieces, cut down their (sacred) groves and burn their images with fire. For thou art a people consecrated before the Lord thy God, thee hath the Lord thy God chosen to be to Him a people more beloved than all peoples upon the face of the earth. Not because you were greater than any of the peoples, bath the Lord chosen and befriended you, for you were smaller than any of the peoples; but because the Lord had mercy on you, and that He would keep the covenant He sware to your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed thee from the house of bondage, out of the hand of Pharoh, the king of Mizraim. Know, then, that the Lord thy God, He is God, a faithful God, keeping covenant and mercy for them who love Him and keep His commandments to a thousand generations, but repaying them who hate Him the good which they have done before Him in their lives, to destroy them (in the life to come ?). He delayeth not to do good to His enemies for the good they may have wrought before Him in their lives, to repay them. Thou shalt therefore observe the commandments, statutes, and judgments, which I command thee this day, to do them.

SECTION XLVI.

EKEB.

AND it shall be that because thou wilt have obeyed these judgments, and have observed and performed them, the Lord thy God will keep with thee the covenant and the mercy which He sware to thy fathers. And He will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee, and will bless the offspring of thy womb, the fruit of thy land, thy corn, wine, and oil, the herds of thy oxen, and the flocks of thy sheep, on the land which He sware to thy fathers to give thee. Blessed shalt thou be above all peoples; there shall not be among thee a barren male or a barren female, neither among thy cattle. And the Lord thy God will remove from thee all diseases, and all the plagues of Mizraim; the evil things that thou knowest He will not lay upon thee, but will put them on all that hate thee. And thou shalt consume all the peoples that the Lord thy God will give up to thee; thine eye shall not have pity upon them, nor shalt thou serve their idols, for that will be a stumbling-block to thee.

 If thou say in thy heart, These nations are greater than I am: how can I drive them out? thou shalt not be afraid of them; remembering thou shalt remember what the Lord thy God did to Pharoh and all Mizraim; the great miracles which thine eye beheld, and the signs and wonders, the mighty hand and uplifted arm, by which the Lord thy God led thee forth; so shall the Lord thy God do to all the nations before whom thou art afraid. And moreover, the Lord thy God will stir up the hornet among them, until they who remain and who hid themselves from before thee have perished. Thou shalt not be broken down before them; for the Lord thy God dwelleth in the midst of thee, the Great and fearful God. And the Lord thy God will put away those nations before thee by little and little; for thou mayest not consume them instantly, lest the wild beast of the field multiply against thee. Yet will the Lord thy God deliver them up before thee, and destroy them with a great destruction, till they be consumed; and He will deliver their kings into thy hand, and destroy their names from under the heavens, and not a man will stand before thee till thou wilt have destroyed them. The images of their idols thou shalt burn with fire; thou shalt not desire the silver or the gold upon them, nor take (it) to thyself, lest thou offend through it, for it is an abomination before the Lord thy God. Nor shalt thou bring what is abominable into thy house, and thou be accursed as that is; but with loathing thou shalt loathe it, and with abhorrence abhor it, for it is a thing accursed.

 VIII. Every mandate that I command thee this day, you shall observe to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the Lord did covenant unto your fathers. And thou shalt remember all the way that the Lord thy God hath led thee these forty years in the wilderness, that He might humble thee, to prove thee, to know what was in thy heart, whether thou wouldst keep His commandments or not: and He humbled ( or afflicted) thee, and let thee hunger, and fed thee with the manna which thou knewest not, nor did thy fathers know; that He might make thee to know, That not by bread only is man sustained, but by every forth-coming word from before the Lord shall man live. Thy raiment faded not away from thee, and thy shoes wore not out these forty years; and know thou with thy heart, that as a man instructeth his son, (so) the Lord thy God instructeth thee. Keep then the commandments of the Lord thy God, to walk in the ways which are right before Him, to fear Him for the Lord thy God bringeth thee into the good [and; a land streaming with brooks of water, with fountain-springs, and depths (of water) gushing from valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley, vines, figs, and pomegranates; a land of olives yielding oil, and which produceth honey; a land where, without poverty, thou mayest eat bread, and have want of nothing; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills  thou mayest cast brass: and thou shalt eat and be satisfied, and shalt bless the Lord thy God in the good land.

Beware, lest thou forget the fear of the Lord thy God, in not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes, which I command thee this day. Lest, when thou hast eaten and art full, and bast built goodly houses and inhabited (them), and when thy oxen and sheep have multiplied to thee, and silver and gold have increased, and whatever thou hast is increased with thee, thy heart should be lifted up, and thou shouldest forget the fear of the Lord thy God, who brought thee up from the land of Mizraim, from the house of bondage; who led thee through the great and terrible desert, the place of burning serpents and scorpions, the place of thirsting, where there is no water, who brought out water for thee from the hard rock; who fed thee in the wilderness with manna which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and prove the, to do thee good in thy latter end.  And (lest) thou say in thy heart, My power and the might of my hand have gathered to me these possessions: but remember the Lord thy God, for He it is who giveth thee power to acquire riches, that He may confirm his covenant which He sware to thy fathers, as at this day.

But it will be that if thou forget the fear of the Lord thy God, and walk after the idols of the Gentiles to serve and worship them, I testify against you this day that perishing you will perish. As the nations which the Lord destroyeth from before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the Word of the Lord your God.

IX. Hear, Israel: thou art this day (about) to pass over the Jordana, to enter, to drive out nations greater and stronger than thou, and (to take possession of) cities, great and fortified to the height of heaven; a people great and mighty, the sons of the giants whom thou knowest, and (of whom) thou hast heard (it said), Who can stand before the sons of the giants? But know this day that the Word of the Lord thy God, He it is who goeth over before thee, He who is a burning fire, He will consume them, He will break them down before thee, and thou wilt soon drive them out, as the Lord hath told thee. Thou shalt not (therefore) speak in thy heart when the Lord thy God hath broken them before thee, saying: For the sake of my righteousness hath the Lord brought me in to inherit this land; but for the wickedness of these nations the Lord driveth them out before thee. Not for thy righteousness or the integrity of thy heart dost thou go in to possess their land, but for the guilt of these nations the Lord thy God doth drive them out before thee, and that He may confirm the word which he sware to thy fathers, to Abraham, to Izhak, and to Jakob. Know, then, that not for thy righteousness will the Lord thy God give thee this good land to possess it, for thou art a hard-necked people. Be mindful, and forget not that thou didst provoke the Lord thy God to wrath in the wilderness; from the day that thou camest out from the land of Mizraim until thou hast come to this place, ye have been rebellious before the Lord. And in Horeb (itself) you provoked the Lord, and aroused the Lord's anger to destroy you.  When I had gone up to the mountain to receive the tables of the stones, the tables of the covenant which the Lord had made with you, and I abode in the mount forty days and forty nights - I ate no bread, I drank no water - And the Lord gave to me the two tables of stones, written upon by the finger of the Lord, according to all the words which the Lord had spoken with you on the mount from the midst of the fire, on the day of the convocation. It was at the end of forty days and nights, when the Lord gave to me the two tables of the stones, the tables of the covenant, that the Lord said to me, Arise, go down quickly from hence; for thy people whom I brought out from Mizraim are corrupted; they have soon turned from the way that I commanded them, and have made them a molten image. And the Lord spake to me, saying: This people are disclosed before me, and, behold, it is a hard-necked people.

Cease from thy prayer before me, and I will destroy them, and blot out their name from under the heavens, and I will make thee for a people stronger and greater than they.

And I turned and descended from the mount; and the mountain burned with fire, and the two tables of the covenant were upon my two hands.

 And I looked, and, behold, yon had sinned before the Lord your God; you had made you a molten calf; you had turned quickly from the way which the Lord had commanded you. And I took the two tables, and cast them away from my two hands, and brake them before your eyes. And I fell down before the Lord as at the first, forty days and forty nights, bread I ate not, water I drank not, for all your sins which you sinned to do evil before the Lord, to provoke to anger before Him; for I was afraid before the anger and indignation wherewith the Lord was angry against you to destroy you; but the Lord hearkened to my prayer on that day also. And against Aharon was there great displeasure before the Lord to destroy him; but I prayed for Aharon also at that time.

And your sin which you had made, the calf, I took and burned it in fire, and ground it to a fine grinding till it was small as powder, and I threw the dust of it into the stream that descended from the mount.

And at the Burning, and at the Temptation, and at the Graves of Desire, you were rebellious before the Lord; and when the Lord sent you from Rekem Giah, saying: Go up and possess the land I have given, then rebelled you against the decree of the Word of the Lord your God, and would not believe Him, nor be obedient to His Word. You have been contumacious before the Lord from the day that I have known you; but I fell down before the Lord the forty days and the forty nights that I was prostrate, for the Lord had spoken to consume you.

And I prayed before the Lord, and said: O Lord God, destroy not Thy people, and Thine inheritance, which Thou hast redeemed by Thy power, and brought out from Mizraim with a mighty hand. Remember Thy servants Abraham, Izhak, and Jakob; regard not the stubbornness of this people, nor their wickedness, nor their sin: lest the inhabitants of the land from whence Thou hast led us should say: Because there was no power before the Lord to bring them into the land which He had told them of, or because He hated them, He led them forth to kill them in the wilderness. But they are Thy people, and Thy inheritance, which thou hast led forth with Thy great power and Thy uplifted arm.

X. At that time the Lord said to me: Hew thee two tables of stones like the first, and come up before Me on the mount, and make thee an ark of wood; and I will write upon the tables the words that were upon the former tables which thou brakest, and thou shalt put them into the ark. And I made an ark of sittin wood, and hewed two tables of stones like the former, and went up to the mountain, and the two tables were in my hand; and He wrote upon the tables according to the former writing, the Ten Words which the Lord spake with you on the mount from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly; and the Lord gave them to me. And I returned and descended from the mount, and put the tables into the ark which I had made, and they are there, as the Lord commanded me.

And the children of Israel went forward from Bearith of the Beni Jaakan unto Moserah; there Aharon died, and was buried there, and Elazar his son hath ministered in his stead. From thence they journeyed unto Gudgod, and from Gudgod unto Jatbath, a land flowing with streams of water.

At that time the Lord had set apart the tribe of Levi, to bear the ark of the Lord's covenant, to stand before the Lord to minister unto Him, and to bless in His Name, unto this day. Wherefore, Levi hath no portion or inheritance with his brethren; the gifts which the Lord shall give him are his inheritance, as the Lord thy God hath told him. And I stood on the mountain as in the former days, forty days and nights; and the Lord received my prayer at that time also, that He would not destroy thee. And the Lord said to me: Arise, go, to proceed before the people, that they may be brought in to possess the land which I sware unto their fathers to give them.

And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear before the Lord thy God, to walk in all the ways that are right before Him, and to love Him, and to serve before the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul; to keep the commandments of the Lord, and His statutes which I command thee this day, that it may be well with thee? Behold, the heavens the heavens of the heavens, are the Lord's thy God, and all that is therein; only the Lord did choose thy fathers to love them, and He hath taken pleasure in their children after them, even in you, above all people, as at this day. Put away, therefore, the foolishness of your hearts, and harden your neck no more; for the Lord your God is the God of judges, and the Lord of kings, the Great God, mighty and terrible, before whom is no respect of persons, nor doth He accept a reward.[7] He executeth judgment for the orphan and the widow, and hath pity on the stranger to give him food and raiment. Be loving then to the stranger, for you were sojourners in the land of Mizraim. Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve before Him; to His fear thou shalt keep close, and shalt swear by His Name;

He is thy glory, and He is thy God, who hath done for thee these vast and mighty acts which thy eyes have seen. With seventy souls went thy fathers down into Mizraim, and now the Lord thy God hath set thee as the stars of the heavens for multitude.

XI. And thou shalt love the Lord thy God, and keeping keep His word, His statutes, His judgments, and His commandments all days. And you know this day what your children have not known or seen, the discipline of the Lord your God, His greatness, His mighty hand and uplifted arm, His miracles, and His works which He did in Mizraim, to Pharoh king of Mizraim, and to all his land; and what He did to the host of the Mizraee, to their horses and their chariots, when he made the waters of the Sea of Suph to overflow their faces as they followed after you, and the Lord destroyed them unto this day; and what He did to you in the wilderness until your coming unto this place; and what He did unto Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab bar Reuben, when the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up with the men of their house, their tents, and all the substance they had, in the midst of all Israel; for your eyes have seen all the great acts of the Lord which He hath wrought.

You shall observe all the precepts which I command thee this day, that you may be strengthened, and go in and possess the land unto which you are going over to inherit, and may prolong your days upon the land which the Lord sware to your fathers to give them and their children, a land producing milk and honey; for the land into which thou art going to possess it, is not as the land of Mizraim from which thou hast come out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and didst water it with thy feet as a garden of herbs (or a green garden); but the land to which thou goest over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, drinking water of the rains of heaven; keep a land which the Lord thy God looketh after; (inquireth for;) the eyes[8] of the Lord thy God are evermore upon it, from the beginning unto the end of the year.

And it shall be, if you will be diligently obedient to all My commandments which I command you this day to love the Lord your God, and to serve before Him with all most your heart, and with all your soul, I will give you the rain of your land in its season, the early and the latter; and thou shalt gather in thy corn, thy wine, and thy oil; and I will give herbage in thy field for thy cattle, and thou shalt eat and be satisfied.

Take heed to yourselves lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside to serve the gods of the Gentiles and worship them; and the anger of the Lord be aroused against you, and He shut up the skies that there be no rain, and the earth yield not her fruit, and you perish soon from off the good land which the Lord will give you: but lay these my words upon your heart, and upon your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, and let them be for tephillin between your eyes; and teach them to your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest in the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up; and write them upon the posts, and fix them to the entrance of thy house, and upon thy gates;[9] that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied on the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth. 

For if you surely keep all this precept that I command you to perform it, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all the ways that are right before Him, and keep close unto His fear, then will the Lord drive out all these nations from before you, that you may possess (the lands) of nations greater and stronger than yourselves. Every place on which the sole of your foot shall tread shall be yours, from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Phrat, unto the uttermost sea shall be your border. There shall not a man stand before you; for the Lord your God will put the fear and dread of you upon the face of all the land that you tread upon, as the Lord hath said unto you.

SECTION XLVII.

REèH.

BEHOLD, I set before you this day blessings and curses: blessings, if you obey the precepts of the Lord your God, which I command you this day; but curses, if you obey not the precepts of the Lord your God, and turn aside from the way that I teach you this day, to go after the idols of the peoples whom you have not known. And it shall be, when the Lord your God hath brought thee into the land which thou goest to possess, thou shalt set the blessings upon the Mount of Gerizim, and the curses upon the Mountain of Ebal. Are they not beyond Jordan, after the way of the sun-setting, in the land of the Kenaanites, which dwell in the plains over against Gilgala, by the side of the plain of Moreh?[10] For you are to pass over the Jordan to enter in to inherit the land which the Lord your God will give you; and you will possess, and dwell therein. And you shall observe to do all the statutes and judgments which I have set before you this day.

XII. These are the commandments and judgments you shall observe to do in the land that the Lord the God of your fathers will give to thee to inherit all the days that you subsist upon the earth. You shall destroying destroy all the places wherein the peoples (whose lands) you will inherit have served their idols, upon the high mountains, and the hills, and under every leafy tree. And you shall lay their altars in ruin, break their statues,[11] l burn their groves with fire, cut the images of their idols in pieces, and blot out their names from that place.

Not so shall you do before the Lord your God; but, to the place which the Lord your God will choose that His Shekinah may dwell there, unto the house of His Shekinah you shall seek, and thither come to offer there your burnt offerings, your consecrated victims, your tenths, and the separations of your hands, your vows and freewill gifts, and the firstlings of your oxen and sheep. And there shall you eat before the Lord your God, and rejoice in all that you have set your hand unto, you and your households, for that the Lord thy God hath blessed thee. You shall not (then) do as we are doing here this day, every man as (seemeth) proper in his own eyes; for you are not come as yet to the place of quietness, and to the inheritance which the Lord thy God will give thee. But (when) you go over the Jordan, and dwell in the land which the Lord your God giveth you to inherit, and He hath given you rest from all your enemies round about, and you dwell in safety, then there will be a Place which the Lord your God will choose, to make His Shekinah to dwell there; thither shall you bring all that I command you, your burnt offerings and consecrated oblations, your tenths and the separations of your hands, and all the goodly things of your vows which you may vow before the Lord. And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your sons and daughters, your servants and handmaids, and the Levite who is among you, for he hath no part or inheritance with you.

Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every place that thou seest; but in the Place which the Lord will choose out of one of thy tribes thou shalt offer thy sacrifices, and there do all that I command thee. Though in any place where thy soul may desire thou mayest kill and eat flesh, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God, which He will give thee in all thy cities; the unclean and the clean may eat thereof, as the flesh of the gazelle and the deer. Only of blood you may not eat; thou shalt pour it upon the ground like water. It is not lawful for thee to eat in thy cities of the tythe of the produce of thy wine or oil, or the firstlings of thy bullocks or thy sheep, or of any vow which thou hast devoted, or of thy freewill offerings, or separations of thy hands; but before the Lord thy God shalt thou eat it, in the place which the Lord thy God will choose; thou and thy son and daughter, thy servant and handmaid, and the Levite who is in thy cities; and you shall rejoice before the Lord thy God in all that thou set test thy hand unto. Take heed to thee that thou forsake not the Levite all thy days upon thy land.

When the Lord thy God shall have enlarged thy border, as He bath said to thee, and thou sayest, I will eat flesh, when thy soul desireth to eat flesh, of all the desire of thy soul thou mayest eat flesh. If the place which the Lord thy God will choose for His Shekinah to dwell there, be too far from thee, thou mayest kill of thy oxen and sheep which the Lord will give thee, as I have commanded thee, and eat in thy cities of all the desire of thy soul. As the flesh of the gazelle and the deer so shalt thou eat it, the unclean and the clean may eat it alike. Only, be steadfast in not eating the blood, for blood is life, and thou mayest not eat the life with the flesh: thou shalt not eat it; thou shalt pour it like water upon the ground; thou shalt not eat it, that it may be well with thee and with thy children after thee, when thou doest that which is right before the Lord. Only thy consecrated things which thou hast, and thy vows, thou shalt take and bring to the place that the Lord will choose; and make thy burnt sacrifices, the flesh and the blood, upon the altar of the Lord thy God; and the blood of thy consecrated victims thou shalt pour out at the altar of the Lord thy God, but of the flesh thou mayest eat. Observe and obey all these commandments which I command thee, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee for ever, when thou doest that which is meet and right before the Lord thy God.

When the Lord thy God shall have destroyed the nations (of the land) whither thou art going to cast them out from before thee, and He cast them out, and thou dwell in their land, take heed to thyself that thou stumble not after them when they shall have been dispersed before thee, and that thou seek not to their idols, saying, How did these nations serve their idols? for so will I do also. Thou shalt not do so before the Lord thy God; for all that is abominable before the Lord, and that He hateth, have they done to their idols. For even their sons and daughters they have burned in the fire. Every word I command you, that shall you observe to perform; you shall not add to it nor diminish from it.

XIII. If there shall arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and he give a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder cometh to pass, (yet,) should he speak with thee, saying, Let us go after the gods of the Gentiles whom thou hast not known, and let us worship them; thou shalt not hearken to the words of that prophet or dreamer of dreams; for the Lord your God is proving you, to know whether you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the Lord your God; Him shall ye fear, and keep His commandments, and be obedient to His Word, and serve Him, and keep close to His fear. And that prophet, or dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; for he hath spoken perversions against the Lord your God, who brought you out from the land of Mizraim, and delivered you from the house of bondage, to make you go astray from the path in which the Lord thy God hath commanded thee to walk; and so shalt thou put away the evil doer from the midst of thee.

If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy covenant,[12] or thy friend who is as thy soul, shall persuade thee in secret, saying: Let us go and worship the gods of the Gentiles whom thou hast not known, nor thy fathers, gods of the nations round about you, nigh thee, or far off, from one end of the earth to the other; thou shalt not consent to him, nor listen to his word, nor must thy eye have pity on him; thou shalt neither compassionate nor conceal him, but killing thou shalt kill him; thy hand shall be upon him the first to kill him, and afterwards the hand of all the people; and thou shalt stone him with stones that he die, because he sought to lead thee astray from the fear of the Lord thy God who brought thee out of the land of Mizraim, from the house of bondage; and all Israel will hear and be afraid, and not add to do this evil thing among thee.

If thou hear in one of the cities which the Lord thy God will give thee to dwell in, saying: Men, sons of wickedness, have gone forth from among thee, and led away the inhabitants of their city, saying: Let us go and worship the gods of the nations which you have not known; then shalt thou seek and search out, and fairly inquire; and, behold, such a thing is the truth, and this abomination is being done among thee, thou shalt smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, and destroy it and all that is therein and its cattle by the edge of the sword; and thou shalt gather all the spoil of it together into the midst of its street, and burn the city and the whole spoil thereof with fire entirely before the Lord thy God, and it shall be a desolate heap for ever, it shall be builded no more; and nought of the accursed thing shall cleave to thy hand, that the Lord may turn away His anger from thee, and show mercy upon thee, and be loving towards thee, and increase thee, as He sware unto thy fathers; when thou shalt be obedient to the Word of the Lord thy God, to observe all His commandments which I command thee this day, to do that which is right before the Lord thy God.

XIV. Children are you before the Lord your God. You shall not lacerate yourselves, nor make baldness between your eyes for the dead; for thou art (to be) a holy people before the Lord thy God, chosen to be unto Him a people more beloved than all the nations upon the face of the earth. Thou shalt not eat any thing that is abominable. These are the cattle that you may eat: oxen, lambs of the flock, and kids of the goats. The hart, and the antelope, the forest deer, and the wild goat, the pygarg, the buffalo, and the chamois; and any animal that hath the hoof cloven, and that divideth the hoof into two parts, and ruminateth the cud, among cattle, that you may eat. Nevertheless, you shall not eat of those that (only) chew the cud, or of them that (only) separate the hoof into divided parts: the camel, the hare, and the coney, for they bring up the cud, but divide not the hoof, they are unclean to you; and the swine, because it divideth the hoof, but doth not ruminate, shall be unclean to you; of their flesh you may not eat, nor touch their carcases.

Of all that are in the waters these you may eat: all that have fins and scales you may eat; but any (fish) that hath not fins and scales you may not eat; it is unclean to you. You may eat any clean bird; but of these you shall not eat: the eagle, ossifrage, osprey, gleed, vulture, and kite after his kind, and every raven after his kind; the owl, nightbird, gull, and hawk after his kind; the heron, swan, and stork, the cormorant, pelican, and owl; the bittern and ibis after his kind; the lapwing and the bat: and no reptile may you eat whose flesh is unclean to you; but you may eat any fowl (or winged thing) that is clean.

You shall not eat of any thing that dieth of itself: thou mayest give it to the uncircumcised stranger who is in thy city, and he may eat it; or thou mayest sell it to the outward people; for thou art to be a holy people to the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not eat flesh with the milk.

Thou shalt tythe all the produce of thy seed, and all that thy field may bring forth from year to year; and before the Lord thy God in the place which He will choose to make His Shekinah dwell there, thou shalt eat the tythe of thy corn, wine, and oil, and the firstlings of thy herd and flock, that thou mayest learn to fear before the Lord thy God all days. But if the way be too great for thee, so that thou art not able to bring it, if the way be too distant from the place which the Lord thy God may choose to make His Shekinah to dwell there, when the Lord thy God shall have blessed thee, then thou shalt put (change) it into silver, and bind the silver in thy hand, and go to the place which the Lord thy God will choose, and shalt give the silver for whatever thy soul may please, for oxen, sheep, wine, new or old, or any thing thy soul may desire, and shalt eat there before the Lord thy God, and rejoice, thou, the men of thy house, and the Levite who is in thy cities; thou shalt not forsake him, for he hath no portion or inheritance with thee.

At the end of three years thou shalt bring forth all the tithes of thy produce in that year, and lay it up in thy cities and the Levite, because he hath no part or inheritance with thee, and the stranger, the orphan, and the widow who are in thy cities, shall come and eat and be satisfied, that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work of thy hand which thou shalt do.

XV. At the end of seven years thou shalt make the Release,[13] and this is the sentence (word) of the Release: That every man who is a creditor[14] shall give release to him who oweth to his neighbour; he shall not exact it from his neighbour or his brother, because the release is proclaimed before the Lord. From a son of the Gentiles thou mayest demand; but that which is with thy brother, thou shalt release by thy hand. Save when there shall not be the poor among thee, for the Lord in blessing will bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God will give thee for a possession to inherit. Only if thou wilt indeed be obedient to the Word of the Lord thy God, and observe to do all these precepts which I command thee this day; for the Lord thy God doth bless thee, as He hath said to thee: and thou shalt lend to many peoples, but thou shalt not take a loan ; and thou shalt have rule over many peoples, but they shall not have rule over thee.

If there be with thee a poor man of thy brethren, in one of the cities in the land which the Lord thy God will give thee, thou shalt not harden thy heart, nor shut up thy hand from thy poor brother; but thou shalt open thy hand to him, and lend, according to the measure of his want, of that which he may need. Beware, lest there be a word with thy wicked heart, saying, The year of release draweth near, and thine eye be evil toward thy poor brother, and thou give not to him, and he cry against thee before the Lord, and there be guiltiness in thee. Giving thou shalt give to him, and thy heart shall not be evil when thou givest to him: because for this thing the Lord thy God will bless thee in all thy works, and in all thou put test thy hand unto. For the poor will not cease (to be) in the midst of thy land; therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt verily open thy hand to thy brother, to thy afflicted, and to thy poor in thy land.

If thy brother, a son of Israel, or a daughter of Israel, be sold to thee, and shall have served thee six years, in the seventh year let him go, a son of liberty, from thee. And when thou let test him go free from thee, thou shalt not send him away empty. But thou shalt separate to him from thy flock, and thy floor, and thy wine-press, and give to him of that which the Lord thy God hath blessed thee. And thou shalt remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Mizraim, and the Lord thy God set thee free: therefore I command thee this thing today.

But if he say to thee, I will not go out from being with thee, because he loveth thee, and the men of thy house, (and) because it is good for me to be with thee, then thou shalt take an awl, put it through his ear, and into the door, and he shall be a ministering servant to thee evermore. And also likewise shalt thou do to thy handmaid.

It shall not be a hardship in thy eyes when thou dost send him from thee to be a son of freedom, for he hath been doubly worth a hireling, serving thee six years; and the Lord thy God will bless thee in all that thou shalt do.

Every firstling male which cometh of thy cattle or thy sheep, thou shalt consecrate before the Lord thy God: thou shalt not work with the firstling of thy herd, nor shear the firstling of thy flock. Thou shalt eat it before the Lord thy God from year to year in the place which the Lord will choose, thou and the men of thy house. And if there be any blemish (spot) in it, (if it be) lame, or blind, or have any evil spot, thou shalt not sacrifice it before the Lord thy God: thou mayest eat it in thy cities, unclean (persons) and clean alike (may eat it), as the antelope and the hart. Only thou shalt not eat the blood, but pour it out upon the ground like water.

XVI. Observe the month of Abiba, and perform the pascha before the Lord thy God; for in the month of Abiba the Lord thy God brought thee out of Mizraim, and wrought signs for thee in the night. And thou shalt sacrifice the pascha before the Lord thy God, with the lambs (young) of thy flock, and with consecrated victims from thy herd, in the place which the Lord will choose to make His Shekinah dwell there. Thou shalt not eat leaven with it. Seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread with it, the bread of humiliation; for in haste didst thou come out of the land of Mizraim: that thou mayest remember the day of thy coming from the land of Mizraim all the days of thy life. And there shall not be leaven seen with thee within all thy borders seven days; neither shall any of the flesh of that which thou didst sacrifice in the evening of the first day remain until the morning. Thou hast not liberty to sacrifice the pascha in anyone of thy cities which the Lord thy God will give thee; but in the place which the Lord thy God will approve to make His Shekinah dwell, there thou shalt sacrifice the pascha, in the evening, at the going away of the sun; the time of thy coming out of Mizraim. And thou shalt dress and eat it in the place which the Lord thy God shall favour, and in the morning turn and go to thy tent. Six days thou shalt eat unleavened, and on the seventh day gather together before the Lord thy God: thou shalt do no work.

Seven weeks number to thee from the beginning (of the harvest); when the omer of the elevation[15] is reaped with the sickle, shalt thou begin to number the seven weeks. And thou shalt perform the festival of the weeks before the Lord thy God, with a tribute of the free-will offering of thy hand, which thou shalt give as the Lord thy God will have blessed thee. And thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God, thou, thy son, thy daughter, thy man-servant, thy handmaid, the Levite who is in thy cities, the sojourner, the orphan, and the widow who are among you, in the place which the Lord thy God will choose to make His Shekinah to dwell there. And thou shalt remember that thou wast a servant in Mizraim, and keep and perform these statutes.

The Feast of Tabernacles thou shalt make to thee seven days, when thou hast gathered in from thy threshing-floor, and from thy wine-press. And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, thy son, thy daughter, thy servant, thy handmaid, the Levite, the stranger, the orphan, and the widow, who are in thy cities. Seven days shalt thou hold the festival before the Lord thy God in the place the Lord shall choose, because the Lord thy God will have blessed thee in all thy produce, and in all the work of thy hands, and therefore shalt thou rejoice.

Three times in the year all thy males are to appear before the Lord thy God in the place that He will choose; at the Feast of the Unleavened, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles; and they shall not appear before the Lord empty; but every man with the gift of his hand, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which He hath given thee.

SECTION XLVIII.

SHOPHETIM.

JUDGES and officers shalt thou appoint to thee in all thy cities which the Lord thy God will give thee throughout thy tribes, and they shall judge the people with true judgment. Thou shalt not pervert judgment, nor have respect to persons, nor receive a gift; for a gift blindeth the eyes of the wise, and depraveth right words. Thou shalt follow that which is surely true, that thou mayest live and inherit the land which the Lord thy God will give thee. Thou shalt not plant thee a grove, nor any tree beside the altar of the Lord thy God that thou makest thee, nor erect a statue which the Lord thy God abhorreth.

XVII. Thou shalt not sacrifice before the Lord thy God a bullock or ram which hath blemish in it, not anything that is evil; for that is abomination before the Lord thy God.

If, in anyone of the cities which the Lord thy God will give thee, there be found a man or woman who hath done evil before the Lord thy God in transgressing his covenant, and going to do service to the idols of the Gentiles, or to the sun, moon, or all the host of the heavens, in worshipping them, which I have not commanded; and it be told thee, and thou hast heard ; thou shalt inquire fairly, and if such word be true that this abomination hath been wrought in Israel, thou shalt bring forth that man or woman, and stone them with stones that they die. On the word of two witnesses or, of three shall he die who is guilty of death: he shall not die on the word of one witness. The hands of the witnesses shall be upon him first to kill him, and the hands of all the people afterward; and thou shalt put down the doer of evil from among you.

If a matter for judgment be extraordinary to thee, between blood and blood, between cause and cause, or between plague and plague, of leprosy, they being matters of divided judgment in thy cities, then thou shalt arise and go up to the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, and come to the priests, the Levites, and to the judge who may be in those days, and inquire; and they will show thee the sentence of decision.

 And thou shalt do according to the word of the sentence which they will show thee from the place which the Lord will choose, and thou shalt observe to do according to all that they will teach thee. Upon the word of the law which they teach thee, and upon the judgment they tell thee, thou shalt act; thou shalt not swerve from the word they will have shown thee, to the right or the left. And the man who doeth wickedly in not receiving from the priest who standeth there to minister before the Lord thy God, or from the judge, that man shall die; and thou shalt put down the evil doer from Israel. And all the people will hear and be afraid, and do wickedly no more.

When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God will give thee, and dost possess and dwell in it, and thou mayest say, I will appoint a king over me, like the nations who are about me; thou mayest verily appoint over thee a king whom the Lord thy God will choose, from among thy brethren thou shalt appoint the king over thee. Thou shalt not have power to set over thee a foreign man, who is not thy brother. Only he shall not multiply to him horses, nor cause the people to return to Mizraim for the purpose of multiplying horses; for the Lord hath said to you, Ye shall no more return by that way. Neither shall he multiply wives to him, that his heart be not turned away; nor shall he increase silver and gold for himself greatly. And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself a copy of this Law in a book, out (of that which is) before the priests, the Levites. And he shall have it with him, to read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear before the Lord his God, to keep all the words of this law, and these statutes, to perform them: that his heart may not be lifted up from his brethren, nor swerve from the precepts of the Lord to the right or to the left, and may prolong (his days) in his kingdom, he and his sons in the midst of Israel.

XVIII. For the priests and Levites, (even) all the tribe of Levi, there shall be no part or inheritance with Israel; they shall eat the oblations of the Lord and his inheritance, but have no heritage among their brethren, the gifts presented unto the Lord they are his heritage, as the Lord hath said to him.

And this is what shall appertain to the priests from the people, from them who offer a sacrifice, whether bullock or lamb; they shall give to the priest the shoulder, the cheeks, and the maw. The first of thy corn, wine, and oil, and the first of the fleece of thy sheep, thou shalt set apart for him. For the Lord thy God hath chosen him out of all thy tribes to stand to minister in the Name of the Lord, he, and his sons, all the days.

And if a Levite come from one of thy cities out of all Israel, where he hath dwelt, and come with all the desire of his soul, to the place which the Lord will choose, then he shall minister in the Name of the Lord his God with his brethren the Levites who minister there before the Lord. Portion for portion shall they eat, beside the accustomed allotment which cometh on the Sabbath, as the fathers have appointed. When thou hast entered into the land which the Lord thy God will give thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of these peoples: No one shall be found among thee who maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, using enchantments, observing times or augury or witchcraft, nor an incantator, or a consulter at a heathen oracle, or a wizard, or an inquirer from the dead: for all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord; and because of these abominations the Lord thy God driveth them out from before thee. Thou shalt be perfect in the fear of the Lord thy God. For these nations which thou shalt possess hearkened to diviners and enchanters; not so hath the Lord given thee to do. A PROPHET from among thee, of thy brethren, like me, will the Lord thy God raise up unto thee, to him shall ye hearken. According to all that thou didst ask before the Lord thy God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying: Let me not again hear the voice of the Word of the Lord my God, and let me not see the great fire any more, lest I die. And the Lord said to me, That which they have spoken is right: I will raise up to them a Prophet from among them like unto thee, and I will put My words of prophecy upon his lips, and he will speak to them all that I shall command him. And the man who will not hearken to My words which he will speak in My Name, My Word will require it of him.

But a prophet who shall do wickedly in speaking in My Name a word which I had not commanded him to speak, or who shall speak in the name of the gods of the Gentiles, that prophet shall die. And if thou say in thy heart, How shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the Name of the Lord, if the word come not to pass, neither be confirmed, that is a word which the Lord hath not spoken: of the prophet who hath spoken in wickedness thou shalt not be afraid.

XIX. When the Lord thy God hath destroyed the nations whose land the Lord thy God will give thee, and you possess it, and dwell in their cities and houses; three cities shalt thou set apart to thee within thy land, which the Lord thy God will give thee to inherit. Thou shalt prepare for thee a way, and divide into three parts the boundary of thy land which the Lord thy God giveth thee to possess, for any manslayer to escape thither. And this shall be the case of the manslayer who fleeth thither that he may live: he who shall have slain his neighbour unwittingly, he not having hated him yesterday or before. As, when a man goeth with his neighbour into the thicket to cut wood, and his hand with the iron is driven aside in cutting the wood, and the iron flieth off from the handle and striketh (findeth) his neighbour, and he be killed, he shall flee to one of these cities that he may live; lest the avenger of blood pursue him while his heart is hot, and overtake him, because the way is long, and destroy his life; he not being guilty of death, because he had not hated him in time past. Wherefore, I command thee, saying: Thou shalt set apart to thee three cities. And when the Lord thy God shall enlarge thy border, as He sware to thy fathers, and give thee all the land which He said to thy fathers He would give, if thou wilt keep all this commandment which I command thee this day, to perform it, to love the Lord thy God, and to walk in the ways that are right before Him all the days; then thou halt add yet three cities to those three, that innocent blood may not be shed within thy land which the Lord thy God will give thee to inherit, and that the guilt of murder may not be upon thee.

But if a man bear hatred to his neighbour, and lie in wait for him, l and rise up against him, and destroy his life, and he die, and he flee to one of these cities, then the elders of his city shall send and take him from thence, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, and he shall die. Thine eye shall not have pity upon him, and thou shalt do away with the shedding of innocent blood from Israel, that it may be well with thee.

Thou shalt not remove the boundary of thy neighbour which he hath set for a limit in the inheritance which thou shalt possess in the land the Lord thy God will give thee to inherit.

One witness shall not rise up (alone) against a man for any iniquities or sins, or any sin by which he (may have) transgressed; but upon the word of two or of three witnesses shall the case be confirmed. If a false witness stand up against a man to testify against him with perversity, then the two men to whom the cause belongeth shall stand in the presence of the Lord before the priests and judges who shall be in those days; and the judges shall make inquest fairly, and, behold, he hath testified falsely, and the testimony is false that he bath witnessed against his brother, then you shall do to him as he had designed to do to his brother, and so shall you put away the evil doer from among you. And the rest shall hear and be afraid, and not do any more like this evil thing among thee.

And thine eye shall not have pity: life for life; eye for eye; tooth for tooth; hand for hand; foot for foot.

XX. When thou goest out to war with thy adversaries, and seest horses, and chariots, and more people than thou, be not afraid of them; for thy helper is the Word of the Lord thy God, who brought thee up from the land of Mizraim. And it shall be when you draw nigh to battle, that the priest shall approach, and speak with the people, and say to them, Hear, Israel: you come this day to do battle with your enemies: let not your heart waver, neither be afraid, or confounded, or broken before them; for the Lord your God (is He) who goeth before you to fight for you against your enemies, to save you. And the officers shall speak before the people, saying: What man is there who hath built a new house, and hath not dedicated it? let him go and return to his house, lest he be slain in the battle, and another man dedicate it. And what man who hath planted a vineyard, but hath not made it common (for use)? let him go and return to his house, lest he be slain in the battle, and another man make it common, (or partake of it). And what man hath betrothed a wife, and not taken her? let him go and return to his house, lest he be slain in the battle, and another man take her. And the officers shall yet speak to the people, and say: What man is there who is afraid and broken-hearted? Let him return to his house, and not make the heart of his brethren to be broken as his heart. And it shall be, when the officers have finished to speak with the people, they shall appoint captains of the host at the head of the people.

When thou drawest nigh to a city to make war against it, then proclaim to it words of peace. And if it be that it make thee an answer of peace, and open to thee, then all the people who dwell in it shall be tributaries to thee and serve thee. But if it will not make peace with thee, but will have war with thee, then thou shalt besiege it: and when the Lord thy God hath delivered it into thy hand, thou mayest smite all the males thereof by the sentence of the sword; but the women, children, cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil, thou shalt make booty for thyself; and thou &halt eat the spoil of thy enemies, which the Lord thy God will have given thee. Thus shalt thou do to all cities which are remote from thee, but are not of the cities of these nations; for of the cities of these nations which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not spare alive any breathing thing, but utterly destroy them, Hittites and Amorites, Kenaanites and Pheresites, Hivites and Jebusites, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee; that they may not teach you to do according to all their abominations which they have done to their idols, and you sin against the Lord your God.

When thou layest siege to a city many days in making war against it to subdue it, thou shalt not destroy the trees (that are about) it, nor lift up the iron against them: for of them thou mayest eat; thou shalt not cut them down, for the tree of the field is not like a man, to come against thee in the siege. Only a tree which thou knowest is not for food, thou mayest destroy and cut down; and thou shalt build bulwarks (palisades) against the city which maketh war with thee, until thou subdue it.

When in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee to inherit there may be found one who is slain, lying in the field, and it is not known who hath killed him, then thy elders and judges shall come forth and admeasure unto the cities that surround the dead man; and the elders of the city that is nearest to the dead man shall take an heifer of the herd which hath not been worked with, nor hath drawn on the yoke. And the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to an uncultivated valley (or field) which is not tilled nor sown, and there cut off the heifer in the field. And the priests the sons of Levi shall go near, for them the Lord thy God hath chosen to minister to Him, and to bless in the Name of the Lord, and on their word shall every controversy or stroke of leprosy (be adjudged); and all the elders of that city which is nearest to the dead man shall wash their hands over the heifer which hath been cut off in the field; and shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, and our eyes have not seen. And the priests shall say, Forgive Thy people Israel whom Thou, O Lord, hast redeemed, and let not the guilt of innocent blood be among Thy people Israel. And it shall be forgiven them concerning the blood: so shalt thou put away the guilt of innocent blood from among you, when thou shalt do that which is right before the Lord.

WHEN thou goest out to war against thy enemies, and the Lord thy God doth deliver them into thy hand, and thou takest them captive; and thou seest among the captives a woman of fair countenance, and hast a desire for her, and wouldst take her unto thee to wife; then thou shalt bring her into thy house, and she shall shave her head, and pare her nails, and take off from her the dress of her captivity, and dwell in thy house, and mourn for her father and mother a month of days; and afterward thou mayest go to her and marry her, and she shall be thy wife.

But if it be that thou hast no pleasure in her, then thou mayest send her away by herself: thou shalt in no wise sell her for money, nor make merchandise of her, for thou hast afflicted her.

If a man have two wives, the one beloved and the other hated, and they have borne sons, the beloved one and the hated one, and the firstborn son belong to the hated; then in the day that he maketh his sons to inherit what he hath, he shall not make the son of the beloved to be (as) the firstborn over the head (face) of the son of the hated, the (actual) firstborn. For he shall distribute to the firstborn the son of the hated by giving him two parts of all his possession; for he is the beginning of his strength, and to him pertaineth the birthright.

If a man hath a son perverse and rebellious, who will not obey the word of his father or his mother, and, though they instruct him, will not hearken to them;

then his father and mother shall lay hold of him, and bring him forth before the elders of his city at the gate of the judgment house of his place, and shall say to the elders of the city, This our son is perverse and rebellious; he will not obey our words, he is a devourer of flesh and a taker of wine; then all the men of the city shall stone him with stones, that he die; and thou shalt put a way the evil doer from among you, and all Israel will hear, and be afraid. When a man guilty of the judgment of death is put to death, and thou hast hanged him on a gibbet; his body shall not remain upon the gibbet, but thou shalt surely bury him on that day: for he was hanged because he had sinned before the Lord; and thy land which the Lord thy God hath given thee to inherit shall not be defiled.

XXII. Thou shalt not see thy brother's ox or his lamb going astray, and turn thyself aside from them; thou shalt surely bring them back to thy brother. And if thy brother be not near to thee, or if thou know him not, then thou shalt bring it into thy house, and it shall be with thee until thou make inquiry for thy brother, and then thou shalt restore it to him.

 In like manner shalt thou do with his ass, and with his garment, and with any lost thing of thy brother's which thou mayest have found, it is not lawful for thee to conceal it. Thou shalt not see thy brother's ass or his ox fallen in the way, and turn thyself away from them, thou shalt surely lift them up for him.

The adorning of a man shall not be upon a woman, nor shall the apparel of a man be like the apparel of a woman; for everyone who doeth these things is abominable before the Lord thy God.

If thou find the nest of a bird before thee on the way, in any tree, or upon the ground, with young ones, or eggs, and the mother lying over the young ones, or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the mother with the offspring. Thou shalt send away the mother, and take the young ones with thee; that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest prolong thy days.

When thou buildest a new house, then thou shalt make a parapet to thy roof, that thou mayest not bring the guilt of the blood of the slain upon thy house, by the falling of anyone who may fall there-from.

Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with mixed (seeds), lest what cometh from the seed which thou sowest, and the produce of thy vineyard, be unclean.

Thou shalt not plough with an ox and an ass together. Thou shalt not dress with a contexture of woollen and of linen joined together. Thou shalt make thee fringes (or tassels) upon the four corners of thy garment with which thou coverest thyself.

If a man take a wife, and go unto her, and dislike her, and lay an occasion of words about her, or bring out an evil name upon her, and say, I took this woman and came to her, and I have not found her to be a virgin: then shall the father and mother of the damsel bring forth the tokens of the damsel's virginity before the elders of the city, at the gate of the judgment house of the place; and the father of the damsel shall say to the elders, I gave my daughter to this man to wife, and he hateth her; and, behold, he hath set an occasion of words, saying, I have not found the virginity of thy daughter; but these are the tokens of my daughter's virginity. And he shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city. And the elders of the city shall take that man and scourge him, and fine him a hundred shekels of silver, and give to the father of the damsel, because he brought out an evil name upon a virgin of the house of Israel. And she shall be his wife, he hath no power to put her away all his days. But if this word be true, and the tokens of virginity are not found unto the damsel, then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father's house, and the men of that city shall stone her with stones that she die; for she hath wrought shame in Israel in playing whoredom in her father's house, and thou shalt put away the evil doer from among you.

If a man be found lying with a woman, the wife of (another) man, they shall be both of them put to death, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman; and thou shalt put away the evil doer from Israel. If a man find in the city a damsel, a virgin, who is betrothed to a man, and lie with her, then shall you bring them both out to the gate of that city, and stone them with stones that they die; the damsel because she cried not out in the city, and the man because he humiliated his neighbour's wife; and thou shalt put away the evil doer from among you. But if a man find the betrothed damsel in the field, and prevail against her, and lie with her, then only the man who lay with her shall be put to death; but unto the damsel thou shalt not do anything; there is not with the damsel guilt of the judgment of death; for as when a man riseth up against his neighbour and killeth him, even so is this matter; he found her in the field, the betrothed damsel cried, but there was none to deliver. If a man find a damsel, a virgin who is not betrothed, and lay hold of her and lie with her, and they be found, then the man who lay with her shall give to the damsel's father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife; because he had humbled her, he shall not have power to send her away all his days. A man shall not take his father's wife, nor uncover the skirt of his father.

XXIII. He who is castrated or ruptured shall not be clean so as to enter into the congregation of the Lord. A bastard or mixed person (mamzer) shall not be clean, so as to enter into the congregation of the Lord; his offspring also to the tenth generation shall not be clean, so as to enter into the congregation of the Lord.

 An Ammonite or a Moabite shall not be clean, so as to enter into the congregation of the Lord; neither to the tenth generation shall they be clean ever to enter the congregation of the Lord; because they met you not with bread and water in the way, when you came up from Mizraim; and because they hired Bilaam bar Beor from Pethor Aram, upon the Phrat, to curse thee. But the Lord thy God would not hearken to Bileam, and the Lord thy God turned the curses into blessings, because the Lord thy God loved thee. Thou shalt not seek their peace nor their prosperity all thy days for ever. Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite, for he is thy brother; thou shalt not abhor a Mizraite, for thou wast a sojourner in his land. The children that are begotten of them of the third generation shall be clean, so as to enter into the congregation of the Lord. When thou goest forth a host against thy enemies, then beware of every wicked thing. If there be among thee a man who is not clean, by an accident of the night, let him go forth without the camp, let him not enter into the midst of the camp, but at eventide let him wash with water, and at sunset he may come into the camp. And a place shall be appointed for thee outside of the camp, that thou mayest go thither without.

 And thou shalt have a blade upon thy weapon, that when thou sit test abroad thou mayest dig with it, and cover that which cometh from thee. For the Shekinah of the Lord thy God walketh amid thy camp to save thee and deliver up thy enemies before thee, and thy camp shall be sacred, that nothing that offendeth may be seen among thee, lest His Word turn away from doing thee good.

Thou shalt not deliver up a slave of the Gentiles into the hand of his master, when he hath escaped to thee from his master; he shall dwell with thee in thy midst in the place that he may choose in one of thy cities where it may be best for him; thou shalt not oppress him. No woman of the children of Israel may be the wife of a man who is a slave; neither shall any man of the sons of Israel take a bondwoman to wife. Thou shalt not bring the hire of fornication nor the price of a dog into the house of the sanctuary of the Lord thy God, for any vow; for even both of them are an abomination before the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not make usury of thy brother; the usury of money, of corn, or of any thing that produceth usury. From a son of the Gentiles thou mayest take usury, but from thy brother thou shalt not take it; for the Lord thy God will bless thee in all that thou put test thy hand unto in the land to which thou goest to possess it.

When thou vowest a vow before the Lord thy God, thou shalt not delay to fulfil it; for the Lord thy God requiring will require it of thee, and it would become sin in thee. Yet if thou shouldst forbear to vow, it will not be sin in thee. What hath gone forth from thy lips thou shalt observe and perform; as thou hast vowed before the Lord thy God, (thou shalt perform) freely what thou hast spoken with thy lips.

If thou comest for hire into thy neighbour's vineyard, thou mayest eat grapes for the satisfying of thy life; but thou shalt not put (them) into thy vessel.

 If thou comest into thy neighbour's ripe corn, thou mayest pluck the full ears with thy hand, but not put in the sickle upon thy neighbour's corn.

XXIV. When a man shall have taken a wife, and become her husband, and she hath not found favour in his eyes, because he hath found something wrong in her, then he may write for her a bill of divorcement, and give it into her hand, and send her from his house. And when she hath departed from his house,

she may go and become (the wife) of another man. And if the latter husband dislike her, and write her a bill of divorce, and put it into her hand, and dismiss her from his house; or if the latter husband who had taken her to be his wife shall die, the first husband who had put her away hath no power to return to take her to be his wife, after that she hath been defiled; for that is an abomination before the Lord; and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the Lord thy God giveth thee to inherit. When a man hath taken a new wife, he shall not go forth with the army, nor shall any transaction be (laid) upon him; he shall be free in his house for a year, that he may cheer (or, may enjoy himself with) his wife whom he hath taken.

No man shall take as a pledge the millstones (either lower) or upper; for by them is made the subsistence of every living man. If a man be found stealing a person of his brethren of the sons of Israel, to make merchandise of him, or to sell him, that man shall be put to death, and thou shalt put away the evil doer from among thee. Take heed, in the plague of leprosy, to observe and perform entirely all that the priests, the Levites, shall teach you; as I have commanded them, you shall observe to do. Remember what the Lord the God did unto Miriam, in the way when you came out of Mizraim.

When thou hast lent the use of anything to thy neighbour, thou shalt not enter into his house to take his pledge. Thou shalt stand without, and the man to whom thou hast lent shall bring out the pledge to thee. And if the man be poor, thou shalt not sleep with his pledge; thou shalt return him his pledge at sunset, that he may sleep in his garment, and may bless thee, and it shall be righteousness before the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not oppress an hireling who is needy and poor, (whether he be) of thy brethren, or of thy sojourners who are in thy land or thy cities. In his day thou shalt give him his hire; thou shalt not let the sun go down upon it, for he is needy, and to it he delivereth his life (soul) ; that he cry not against thee before the Lord, and it be sin in thee. The fathers shall not die for the children, nor shall children die for the fathers; a man shall die for his own sin. Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of the stranger or the orphan, nor take the garment of the widow for a pledge; but thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Mizraim, and that the Lord thy God redeemed thee from thence; therefore I command thee to do this thing.

When thou art harvesting thy harvest in thy field, and hast forgotten a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not return to take it; let it be for the stranger, the orphan, and the widow, that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work of thy hands. When thou beatest thy olive (trees), thou shalt not make search for what thou bast left behind thee; let it be for the stranger, the orphan, and the widow. When thou art gathering thy vineyard, thou shalt not glean the grapes that are left behind thee; let them be for the stranger, the orphan, and the widow; and remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Mizraim; therefore have I commanded thee to do this thing.

XXV. If there be (a case for) judgment between men, let them bring it to the, judges, that they may adjudicate; and they shall justify the innocent, and condemn the guilty. And if the guilty be condemned to be scourged, the judge shall cause him to lie down, and have him scourged before him (with stripes), in number according to the measure of his guilt. Forty (times) he may smite him, not more, lest he should go on to smite him above these with many stripes, and thy brother be made vile in thy eyes. Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox while he treadeth out (the corn). If brothers dwell together, and one of them die, having no son, the wife of the deceased shall not marry another man without; her husband's brother shall go to her, and take her to him to wife, and marry her for his brother. And the first-born that she beareth shall keep up the name of his deceased brother, that his name be not blotted out from Israel. But should the man be unwilling to take the wife of his brother, his brother's wife shall go up to the gate of the house of judgment, and say before the elders, My husband's brother refuseth to keep up a name to his brother in Israel; he is not willing to marry me. Then the elders of his city shall call him, and speak with him; and if he rise up and say, It is not my pleasure to take her; then shall his brother's wife approach him in the presence of the elders, and loose his shoe from off his foot, and spit in his face, and answer, and say, Thus let it be done to the man who will not build up the house of his brother. And his name shall be called in Israel, The house of the loosed shoe.

XXV. If men strive together, a man and his brother, and the wife of one (of them) come nigh to save her husband from the hand of him who smiteth him, and put forth her hand and seize the place of his shame, then thou shalt cut off her hand, thine eye shall have no pity on her.

Thou shalt not have in thy bag weight and weight, great and small.

 Thou shalt not have in thy house measure and measure, great and small:

perfect weights and true shalt thou have, perfect measures and true shalt thou have, that thy days may be prolonged upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee: for everyone who doeth these things, everyone who acteth falsely, is an abomination before the Lord thy God.

Remember what Amalek did to thee in the way, when thou camest up out of Mizraim; how he overtook thee in the way, and slew of thee all who were following behind thee when thou wast faint and weary; and he was not afraid before the Lord. Therefore when the Lord thy God shall have given thee rest from all thy enemies round about, in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for a possession to inherit, thou shalt blot out the memory of Amalek from under the heavens: thou shalt not be forgetful.

SECTION L.

THABO.

XXVI. And when thou hast entered into the land which the Lord thy God will give thee for possession, and thou inherit and dwell in it, thou shalt take of the first of all the produce of the earth which thou shalt bring up from the land the Lord thy God will give thee, and put it into a basket, and go to the place which the Lord thy God will choose to make His Shekinah to dwell there. And thou shalt come unto the priest who will be in those days, and say to him: I profess this day before the Lord thy God, that I have come into the land which the Lord did covenant to our fathers to give them. And the priest shall take the basket from thy hand, and lay it down before the altar of the Lord thy God; and thou shalt answer and say before the Lord thy God:

Laban the Aramite sought to destroy my father, I and he went down to Mizraim, and dwelt there with a few people, but became there a people great and strong. But the Mizraee maltreated and afflicted us, and laid hard labour upon us.

 And we prayed before the Lord, the God of our fathers; and the Lord heard our prayer, and our travail, weariness, and oppression were manifest before Him; and the Lord brought us out of Mizraim with a mighty hand and uplifted arm, with great visions, signs, and wonders, and brought us to this place, and gave us this land, a land producing milk and honey. And now, behold, I have brought the first fruits of the land which Thou, O Lord, hast given me.

And thou shalt set it down before the Lord thy God, and worship before the Lord thy God. And thou shalt rejoice in all the good which the Lord thy God hath given thee, with the men of thy house, the Levite and the stranger who is among you.

 When thou hast made an end of tything all the tythe of thy produce in the third year, the year of the tythes, and hast given it to the Levite, the stranger, the orphan, and the widow, that they may eat within thy cities and be satisfied, then thou shalt say before the Lord thy God:

I have set apart the consecrated tenth from my house, and have given also to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all Thy commandment which Thou hast commanded me. I have not transgressed Thy commandment, nor been forgetful. I have not eaten of it in my mourning, nor exchanged ally of it for what is unclean, nor given of it for the dead. I have been obedient to the Word of the Lord my God, and have done according to all that Thou hast commanded me. Look down from the heavens, the habitation of Thy holiness, and bless Thy people Israel, and the land which Thou hast given us, as Thou didst swear to our fathers, a land producing milk and honey.

This day doth the Lord thy God command thee to do these statutes and judgments, and to keep and perform them with all thy heart, and with all thy soul.

This day hast thou declared (or avouched) the Lord to be thy God, and to walk in the ways that are right before Him, and Ito keep His statutes, His commandments, and His judgments, and to be obedient to His word. And the Lord hath declared thee this day to be His beloved people, as He hath said unto thee, that thou mayest observe all His commandments, and that He may set thee above all the nations whom He hath made, in praise, and in name, and in greatness, and that thou mayest be a holy people before the Lord thy God, as He hath spoken.

XXVII. And Mosheh and the elders of Israel instructed the people, saying: Observe all the commandments which I command you this day. In the day that you pass over the Jordan to the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt set thee up great stones, and cover them with plaster (or lime), and write upon them all the words of this law, when thou hast passed over to go into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, a land producing milk and honey, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath said to thee. When you have passed the Jordan, you shall set up those stones which I command you this day, on the mountain of Ebal, and plaster them with lime; and thou shalt build an altar before the Lord thy God, an altar of stones: thou shalt not lift up iron upon it. With perfected stones shalt thou build the altar of the Lord thy God, and offer sacrifices thereon before the Lord thy God. And thou shalt sacrifice consecrated victims, and eat there, and rejoice before the Lord thy God; and thou shalt write upon the stones all the words of this law, distinctly and beautifully.

And Mosheh, and the priests, the Levites, spake to all Israel: Listen and hear, O Israel: Today art thou a people before the Lord thy God and thou shalt hearken to the Word of the Lord thy God, and do His commandments and His statutes which I command thee this day. And Mosheh charged the people on that day, saying: These shall stand to bless the people on the mountain of Gerizim, when you have passed the Jordan; Shemeon and Levi, Jehudah, Issakar, Joseph, and Benjamin. And these shall stand to accurse upon the mountain of Ebal; Reuben and Asher, Zebulon, Dan, and Naphtali. And the Levites shall answer and say to all the men of Israel, with a high voice:

Accursed be the man who shall make an image or molten (one), an abomination before the Lord, the work of an artificer's hand, and place it in secret. And all the people shall respond and say, Amen. Accursed be he who contemneth his father or his mother. And all the people shall say, Amen.

 Accursed he who changeth the boundary of his neighbour. And all the people shall say, Amen. Accursed he who maketh the blind wander in the way. And all the people shall say, Amen. Accursed he who perverteth the judgment of the stranger, the orphan, or the widow. And all the people shall say, Amen. Accursed he who lieth with his father's wife: he uncovereth the skirt of his father. And all the people shall say, Amen. Accursed is he who lieth with any beast. And all the people shall say, Amen. Accursed is he who lieth with his sister, the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother. And all the people shall say, Amen.

 Accursed is he who lieth with his mother-in-law. And all the people shall say, Amen. Accursed is he who smiteth his neighbour in secret. And all the people shall say, Amen. Accursed is he who receiveth hire to kill the life, and (shed the) blood of the innocent. And all the people shall say, Amen. Accursed is he who confirmeth not the words of this law to do them. And all the people shall say, Amen.

XXVIII. And if thou wilt indeed be obedient to the Word of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all His commandments which I command thee this day, the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all the peoples of the earth;

and all these blessings shall come upon thee and keep with thee, if thou wilt be obedient to the Word of the Lord thy God. Blessed (shalt) thou (be) in the city, and blessed in the field. Blessed shall be the offspring of thy womb, and the produce of thy land, the increase of thy cattle, the oxen of thy herd, and the flocks of thy sheep. Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store. Blessed shalt thou be in thy coming in, and blessed in thy going out. The Lord shall cause thy adversaries that rise up against thee to be shattered before thee; they will come out to thee in one way, but in seven ways shall they flee from before thee. The Lord will command  blessing upon thee in all thy storehouses, and on all that thou set test thy hand unto, and will bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth to thee. The Lord shall confirm thee for Himself to be a holy people, as He hath sworn to thee, if thou wilt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in the ways which are right before Him. And all the nations of the earth shall see that the Name of the Lord is invoked upon thee, and they will be afraid of thee. And the Lord will make thee to abound in good, in the offspring of thy womb, and of thy cattle, and in the produce of thy ground, in the land which the Lord sware to thy fathers to give thee. The Lord will open for thee His good treasure, the heavens, to give rain to thy land in its season, and to bless all the works of thy hand; and thou shalt lend unto many nations, but not borrow; and the Lord will make thee strong and not weak, and thou shalt evermore be upper and not under, if thou wilt obey the commandments of the Lord thy God which I command thee this day to keep and to perform. And you shall not go astray from any of the things I command you this day, right or left, to walk after the gods of the Gentiles to serve them.

But if thou wilt not obey the Word of the Lord thy God to observe and do all His commandments, and His statutes which I command you this day, all these curses shall come upon thee and cleave to thee. Accursed shalt thou be in the city, and accursed in the field; accursed thy basket and thy store; accursed the generation of thy womb, the produce of thy ground, the oxen of thy herd, and the folds of thy sheep. Accursed shalt thou be in thy coming in, and accursed in thy going out. The Lord shall send upon thee malediction and trouble and rebuke (or menace) in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou art consumed and perish quickly, on account of the wickedness of thy works, when thou hast forgotten to fear Me (or, whereby thou hast forgotten My fear). The Lord shall make the pestilence cleave to thee, until He have destroyed thee from off the land into which thou art going to possess it.

 The Lord will smite thee with wasting, with fever, with inflammation, with dryness, and with the sword, and with jaundice (or mildew?). And they shall follow thee till thou art destroyed. And the heavens over thy head will be obdurate as brass in withholding rain, and the ground under thee obstinate as iron in producing no fruit. The Lord will give thee ashes for the rain of thy land; and dust will come down from the heavens upon thee, until thou be consumed.

 The Lord will deliver thee up to be broken before thy enemies; thou wilt go out to them by one way, but by seven ways shalt thou flee before them, and thou shalt be dispersed in all the kingdoms of the earth. And thy carcase shall be cast out for food for all the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth, and there shall be none to drive (them) away. And the Lord will smite thee with the ulcer of the Mizraee, with emerods, soreness, and the dry scurvy, from which thou canst not be healed. And the Lord will smite thee with distraction, and blindness, and with bewilderment of heart; and thou shalt grope in the noonday as the blind gropeth in darkness; and thou shalt not prosper in thy way, but be only oppressed and despoiled always, and no man will be able to save.

 Thou wilt betroth a wife, but another man shall have her; thou wilt build a house, but not dwell in it, and plant a vineyard, but have no use thereof. Thy ox will all be killed in thy sight; but thou shalt not eat of it; thy ass shall be taken away from thee, and not be returned to thee; thy sheep will be delivered to thy enemies, and thou wilt have no one to rescue them; thy sons and daughters will be given up to another people, and thy eyes look and fail (with longing) for them all the day, and there shall be no power in thy hand. The produce of thy land and all thy labours a people whom thou knowest not shall devour, and thou wilt only be oppressed and crushed all the days. And thou wilt be mad through the sight of thy eyes which thou seest. The Lord will smite thee with an evil ulcer upon thy knees and thy thighs, from which thou wilt not be able to be healed from the sole of thy foot unto thy brain.

The Lord will make thee and thy king whom thou mayest have set over thee to be captive to a people whom thou and thy fathers have not known; and there shalt thou serve a people, worshippers of idols of wood and stone;

 and thou wilt become a ruin, a proverb, and a history, among all nations whither the Lord shall make thee go.

Much seed wilt thou carry out into the field, but little shalt thou gather in, for the locust will consume it; thou wilt plant and till vineyards, but wilt not drink the wine, nor gather in, for the worm shall eat it; thou wilt have olive trees in all thy borders, but with the oil thou wilt not anoint, for thy olive trees shall waste;

thou wilt beget sons and daughters, but wilt not have them (with thee), for they shall go into captivity. The locust will consume all the fruitage and the trees of thy land. The uncircumcised stranger who is among thee will rise up high above thee, but thou shalt be brought down very low: he shall lend to thee, but thou wilt not lend to him; he will be strong, and thou wilt be weak. And all these curses shall come upon thee, and follow thee, and cleave to thee till thou art consumed, because thou wast not obedient to the Word of the Lord thy God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which He hath commanded thee. And they will be upon thee for a sign and a wonder, and upon thy children for ever; because thou wouldst not worship before the Lord thy God with cheerfulness and comeliness of heart for the abundance of all (His benefits): but thou shalt serve thy enemies whom the Lord will send against thee, in hunger, thirst, nakedness, and want of all things; and He will put a yoke of iron upon thy neck until He hath destroyed thee. And the Lord will bring upon thee a nation from afar, from the ends of the earth, like the flying eagle, a people whose language thou wilt not understand, a people of mighty presence, who will not regard the old man, nor have mercy on the infant. And he will eat up the increase of thy cattle, and the fruitage of thy ground, until he hath consumed thee; for he will not leave thee corn, wine, nor oil, the oxen of thy herd, nor the sheep of thy flock, until he hath brought thee to ruin. And he will shut thee up in all thy cities, till he hath brought down thy high and fenced walls, wherein thou didst confide to be saved by them throughout all thy land; and he will besiege thee in all thy cities in all thy land which the Lord thy God did give thee. And thou wilt eat the offspring of thy womb, the flesh of thy sons and daughters whom the Lord thy God had given thee, in the siege and straitness with which thy enemies shall straiten thee. The man who is gentle among you, and very delicate, will look with an evil eye upon his brother, and upon the wife of his covenant, and upon the remnant of his children whom he will leave; he will not give to one of them of the flesh of his children which he shall eat, for that nothing remaineth to him of all, in the siege and the straitness with which thy enemies shall straiten thee in all thy cities.

 She who is tender among you, and delicate, who had not (been used to) put the sole of her foot upon the ground under her, from delicateness and tenderness, will look with an evil eye upon the husband of her covenant, and upon her son and her daughter, and against her little children who have been brought forth of her, and against her children whom she hath borne; for she will eat them in secret, in the want of all things, in the siege and the straitness with which thy enemies shall straiten thee in thy cities: if thou wilt not observe to perform all the words of this law which are written in this book, to reverence this glorious and fearful Name, THE LORD THY GOD. And the Lord will make thy plagues to be manifest (distinguished), and the plagues of thy children) great plagues and continuous, afflictions evil and abiding. And He will lay upon thee all the strokes of Mizraim of which thou wast afraid, and they shall cleave to thee. All the diseases also and all the plagues that are not written in the book of this law, will the Lord lay upon thee till He hath destroyed thee. And you, who had been as the stars of heaven for multitude, will be left a small people, because you would not be obedient to the Word of the Lord your God. And as the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good and to multiply you, so will the Lord rejoice over you to destroy and consume you, and to carry you away from off the land which you are entering to possess it. And the Lord will scatter thee among all nations unto the ends of the earth; and thou shalt there serve peoples who worship idols of wood and stone, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known. But among those nations thou wilt have no repose, nor will the sole of thy foot have rest, but the Lord will give thee there a timorous heart, darkness of eyes, and feebleness of mind; and thou wilt hold thy life in suspense, and be afraid by night and day, for thou wilt be never sure of thy life. In the morning thou wilt say, O that it were evening I but in the evening thou wilt say, O that it were morning! from the fearfulness of thy heart with which thou wilt fear, and the sight of thy eyes which thou shalt see. And the Lord will cause thee to return to Mizraim, in ships, by the way of which I spake with thee, thou shalt see it no more: and there shall you be offered for sale for bondmen and bondwomen, but none shall buy.

These are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Mosheh to ratify with the children of Israel in the land of Moab; besides the covenant which He ratified with them at Horeb.

XXIX. And Mosheh called unto all Israel, and said to them: You have seen all that the Lord wrought before your eyes in the land of Mizraim on Pharoh, and all his servants, and on all his land; the great temptations, the signs and grand portents which thy eyes beheld; yet the Lord hath not given you a heart to understand, nor eyes to discern, nor ears to hear, unto this day. And I have led you forty years in the wilderness; your raiment hath not become old upon you, and thy shoes have not worn away from off thy feet; you have not eaten bread, nor drunk wine, either new or old, that you may know that I am the Lord your God.

And you came to this place; and Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Mathnan came out to meet us, to wage battle; and we smote them, and subdued their land, and gave it for an inheritance to the tribe of Reuben and Gad, and the half tribe of Menasheh. Keep ye the words of this covenant, and perform them, that you may prosper in all that you do.

SECTION LI.

NITSTSABIM

YOU stand this day an of you before the Lord your God, the princes of your tribes, your elders, and your officers, every man of Israel; your children, your wives, and thy sojourner who is within thy camp, from the hewer of thy wood to the filler of thy water; to enter into the covenant of the Lord thy God, and into His oath which the Lord thy God doth ratify with thee this day, that He may establish thee this day to be a people before Him, and that He may be a God unto thee, as He promised thee, and as He sware unto Abraham, and to Izhak, and to Jakob.

And I ratify this covenant and oath not with you only, but with him who is standing here with us this day: before the Lord our God, and with him also who is not here with us this day. For you know how we dwelt in the land of Mizraim, and how we came through the midst of the nations by whom we have passed. And you have seen their abominations, and their idols of wood and stone, silver and gold, which (were found) among them; lest there should be among you a man, woman, family, or tribe whose heart is turned away this day from the fear of the Lord our God, to go after the worship of these Gentiles; lest there should be with you a man who imagineth wickedness or pride, that, when he heareth the words of this oath, he should reckon in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I go on in the imagination  of my heart to multiply sins of ignorance with (sin of) presumption. The Lord will not absolve him, but now will the anger and indignation of the Lord break forth against that man, and ail the curses which are written in this book will cleave to him, and his name will be blotted out from under the heavens. And the Lord will separate him from all the tribes of Israel unto evil, according to all the curses of the covenant which are written in the book of this law. And the generation that cometh after, and your children who will arise after you, and the son of the Gentiles who may come from a land afar off, when they see the plagues of that land, and the afflictions with which the Lord will afflict it,

the whole land, brimstone and salt and burning, with no sowing, or growth, or any herbage springing up therein, even as the overthrow of Sedom and Amorah, Admah and Zeboim, which the Lord overthrew in His anger and indignation,

even all the nations will say, Why did the Lord thus to this land ? What caused the fury of this wrath? Then shall they say, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord, the God of their fathers, which He ratified with them when He brought them out of the land of Mizraim. For they went and served the idols of the Gentiles, and worshipped fearful things which they knew not, and which could do them no good. And the anger of the Lord waxed strong against this land to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this book. And the Lord cast them away from off their land in anger, indignation, and great violence, and drave them captive into another land as at this day. The things which are secret are before the Lord our God; and those which are revealed are ours, and our children's for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.

XXX. And it will be that when all these words of blessings or of maledictions which I have set before thee have come upon thee, and thou turn unto thy heart among all the nations whither the Lord thy God will have led thee captive, and return to the fear of the Lord thy God, and obey His Word, according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thy heart and all thy soul, that the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity, and have mercy upon thee, and will return, and gather thee from all the nations among which the Lord thy God hath dispersed thee. If any of thy dispersed be (scattered) unto the ends of the heavens, from thence will the Lord thy God gather thee, and lead thee.

 And the Lord thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers did inherit, and thou shalt possess it: and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers. And the Lord thy God will take away the foolishness of thy heart, and the foolishness of thy children's heart, to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and all thy soul, that thou mayest live.And the Lord thy God will put all these curses upon thy enemies and upon them who hated and persecuted thee; but thou shalt return and be obedient to the Word of the Lord, and do all the commandments which I command thee this day.

And the Lord thy God will make thee to abound in all the works of thy hand, the offspring of thy womb, the increase of thy cattle, and the produce of thy land, unto good; for the Lord will return to rejoice over thee for good, as He rejoiced over thy fathers; when thou shalt be obedient to the Word of the Lord thy God, to keep His commandments and statutes which are written in the book of this law, if thou return unto the fear of the Lord thy God with all thy heart and all thy soul.

For this commandment which I command thee this day is not apart from thee, nor is it far away. It is not in the heavens, that thou shouldst say, Who shall ascend for us into heaven, that he may bring it to us, that we may hear and do it?

 nor is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldst. say, Who will go over for us beyond the sea, and bring it to us, that we may hear and do it ? For the word is very nigh thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.

Behold, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;

 for I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in the ways that are right in His presence, and to keep His commandments, statutes, and judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply, and the Lord God may bless thee in the land into which thou art going, to possess it. But if thy heart be averse, and thou wilt not obey, but wilt go astray, and worship the idols of the Gentiles, and serve them, I have shown you this day that perishing you shall perish. You will not prolong your days upon the land whither thou passest over Jordan to enter in and possess it. I call heaven and earth to attest in you this day that I have set before thee life and death, blessings and curses: but choose for life, that thou mayest live, thou and thy children, to love the Lord thy God, to be obedient to His word, and to keep close unto His fear, for He is thy life, and the prolonged of thy days, to abide upon the land which the Lord sware to thy fathers, to Abraham, Izhak, and Jakob, to give unto them.

SECTION LII.

VAIYELECH

            XXXI. AND Mosheh went and spake these words with all Israel.

 And he said to them, I am the son of a hundred and twenty years this day. I am no more able to go out and to come in; and the Lord hath said to me, Thou shalt not pass over this Jordan. The Lord thy God, He goeth over before thee; He will destroy these nations from before thee, and thou shalt inherit them. Jehoshua, he goeth over before thee, as the Lord hath said.

 And the Lord will do to them as He did to Sihon and to Og, kings of the Amorites, and to the lands of them whom He destroyed. The Lord will deliver them up, and you shall do to them according to all the commandments that I have commanded you. Be strong and of good courage, fear not, nor be broken before them; for the Word of the Lord thy God will be the leader before thee, He will not forsake thee, nor be far off from thee.

And Mosheh called Jehoshua, and said to him before the eyes of all Israel, Be strong and of good courage; for thou art to go in with this people to the land which the Lord hath sworn to their fathers to give it to them, and thou shalt cause them to inherit. But the Lord, He is the leader before thee; His Word shall be thy helper, for He will not forsake thee, nor be far from thee; fear not, nor be dismayed.

And Mosheh wrote this law, and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who bare the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel.

 And Mosheh commanded them, saying: At the end of seven years, at the time of the year of release, at the Feast of Tabernacles, when all Israel cometh to appear before the Lord thy God, in the place that He will choose, thou shalt read this law before all Israel, and make them hear. Gather the people together, the men, the women, and children, and thy sojourners who are in thy cities, that they may hear, and learn, and fear before the Lord your God, and observe and perform all the words of this law, and that their children who have not known may hear and learn to fear before the Lord all the days that you abide upon the land to which you pass over the Jordan to possess it.

And the Lord said to Mosheh, Behold, the days are drawing near for thee to die: call Jehoshua, and let him stand in the tabernacle of ordinance, and I will give him commandment. And Mosheh and Jehoshua went and stood in the tabernacle of ordinance. And the Lord was revealed at the tabernacle in the pillar of the cloud, and the pillar of the cloud stood over the door of the tabernacle.

 And the Lord said to Mosheh, Behold, thou art to sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up and go astray after the idols of the peoples of the land among whom they are going, and will forsake My fear, and remove (or change) from My covenant which I have made with them. And my anger will be kindled against them at that time, and I will drive them afar off, and remove My Shekinah from them to consume them, and many evils and troubles shall befall them. And they will say in that day, Is it not because the Shekinah of my God is not among me, that these evils have befallen me? But I will remove My Shekinah from them at that time on account of the evils they had done; for they will have turned away after the idols of the nations.

And now, write for you this hymn, and teach it to the children of Israel; put it upon their lips, that this hymn may be a witness for Me against the children of Israel. For when they will have entered into the land which I promised to their fathers, (a land) producing milk and honey, and they have eaten and been satisfied, and have become luxurious, they will turn away after the idols of the nations, and serve them, and provoke to anger before Me, and change from My covenant. And when many evils and troubles have fallen on them, this song shall answer against them, for it will not be forgotten from the mouth of their children, because their imagination which they will do is manifest before Me this day, while (as yet) I have not brought them into the land which I have promised.

And Mosheh wrote this hymn on that day, and taught it to the children of Israel. And he commanded Jehoshua bar Nun, and said, Be strong, and of good courage; for thou shalt bring the sons of Israel into the land which I have promised to them, and His Word shall be thy helper. And it was, when Mosheh had finished to write the words of this law upon a book until they were completed,

 that Mosheh commanded the Levites who bare the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, saying, Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, and it shall be there for a witness against thee. For I know thy rebelliousness, and the stiffness of thy neck: behold, while I am alive with you this day, you have rebelled against the Lord; but (how much) also after that I am dead? Gather to me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, and I will speak these words before you, and will call the heavens and earth to witness:

 for I know that after I am dead you will corrupt yourselves, and decline from the way which I have commanded you, and that evil will befall you at the end of the days; for you will do evil before the Lord to provoke Him to anger by the works of your hands. And Mosheh spake before all the congregation of Israel the words of this hymn, until he had finished it.

SECTION LIII.

HAAZINU

XXXII. LISTEN, ye heavens, and I will speak ; give ear, O earth, to the words of my mouth. My doctrine shall be soft as rain; let it be received as the dew, and my word be as the breath of the rain that breathes upon the grass, and as the showers of the latter rain upon the herbage. For in the Name of the Lord do I invoke:  Ascribe ye greatness unto our God; the Mighty One whose works are perfect; for all His ways are justice; a faithful God from whom no iniquity proceedeth, just and true is He.

They have corrupted themselves, and not Him; children who worship idols, a generation that changeth its work, and maketh it another. Behold, render you this before the Lord, ye people who have received the law, but have not become wise ? Is He not thy Father, and thou art His who made thee and bought thee?

 Remember the days of old, consider the years of generation and generation; ask thy fathers, and they will show thee, thy elders, and they will tell thee. For the Lord's portion is His people, Jakob is the lot of His inheritance. He satisfied their wants in the land of the wilderness, in the dry place where there was no water; He placed them round about His Shekinah; He taught them the words of His law; He kept them as the apple of His eye. As the eagle which hasteneth to his: nest, and spreadeth himself over his young ones, stretching out his wings, taketh them, upbeareth them with the strength of his pinions, so did the Lord alone prepare them to dwell in the world which He will renew (set right), while the worship of idols shall not be established before Him. He made them to dwell in the strong places of the earth, to eat the spoil of their enemies: He gave them the spoil of the rulers of cities, and the wealth of them who dwelt in strong defences.

 He gave them the spoil of their kings and sultans, with the riches of their princes, and the strength of the people of their lands, their possessions, the booty of their hosts and camps, and the blood of their heroes was poured out like water.

But Israel waxed fat and kicked, he prospered, grew strong and got rich, and forgot the worship of Eloha who made him, and provoked the Almighty who redeemed him. They provoked Him by the worship of idols, by abominations they made Him angry. They sacrificed to demons in whom there is no help, {nothing that is needed,) and fearful things that they had not known, new (gods) that were lately made, with which your fathers had no dealings; of the Awful One and the Omnipotent who created thee, thou art forgetful; thou hast forsaken the worship of Eloha who made thee.

And it was seen before the Lord, and His anger was kindled by the provocation of His sons and daughters before Him. And He said: I will take away (take up) My Shekinah from among them; what will be their latter end is manifest to Me; for they are a perverse generation, children in whom is no faith.

 They have moved Me to jealousy by that which is not worshipful, they have angered Me by their idolatries; and I will make them jealous by what hath not been a people, by a foolish nation will I provoke them. For a burning, strong as fire, shall go forth before Me in fury consuming unto the lowest hell, to make an end of the earth and its produce, and to destroy the mountains to the end;

and I will multiply calamities upon them, My plagues will I send forth among them; they shall be swollen with hunger, and be eaten by the fowl, and be vexed with evil spirits; and the teeth of wild beasts will I appoint among them with the venom of serpents that crawl in the dust. Without will the sword devour, and within the chambers be the slaughter-work of death, the youths and the maidens, the sucklings with the aged. I said I would make My anger to remain upon them and consume them; I will abolish their memorial from (among) the children of men: only that the wrath of the enemy would be condensed, and the adversary make himself great, and would say: Our hand hath prevailed, and all this is not from the Lord. For they are a people that letteth counsel go, and there is no understanding in them. O that they were wise, that they had understanding in this, and would consider what will be in their end! How would one Pursue a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, unless the Mighty One had delivered them up, and the Lord had requited them!

For their strength is not as our Strength, and our enemies are the judges.

 For as the punishment of the people of Sedom will their punishment be, and their stroke like (that) of the people of Amorah; their plagues will be evil as the heads of serpents, and the retribution of their works like their venom. As the poison of dragons is the cup of their punishment, and as the heads of the cruel basilisks. Are not all their works manifest before Me, laid up in My treasures against the day of judgment? Their punishment is before Me, and I will repay; in the time of their dispersion from their land; for the day of their ruin draweth near, and that which is prepared for them maketh haste.

For the Lord shall decide the judgment of His people, and the avengement of His righteous servants shall be avenged; for it is seen before Him, that in the time when the stroke of their enemies would prevail against them, they will be wavering (as those who) are forsaken. And He will say: Where are their idols, the mighty things in which they had trusted, which did eat the fat of their sacrifices, and drink the wine of their libations? Let them now rise up and help you, let them be a shield over you. See, now, that I, even I, am He, and there is no God beside Me. I kill and make alive, I wound but also heal, and there is none who can deliver out of My hand. For I have prepared in the heavens the abode of My Shekinah, and have said, I live for evermore. When My sword is revealed like the sight of twofold lightning from one end of the heavens to another, and My hand taketh hold on judgment, I will render vengeance on My enemies, and My adversaries will I repay; I will make My arrows drunk with blood, and My sword shall slay the peoples, that by the blood of the slain, and the captives, I may take the crowns from the head of the foe and the enemy.

Give praise, ye Gentiles, with His people, because the avengement of His righteous servants will have been made; for He will bring retribution on them who hate Him, and will show mercy unto His land and His people.

And Mosheh came and spake all the words of this hymn before the people, he and Jehoshua bar Nun. And Mosheh concluded to speak all these words with all Israel, and said to them, Set your heart upon all the words that I have witnessed to you this day, that you may instruct your children to observe and perform all the words of this law. For the word is not (given) in vain to you; it is your life, and by this word will you prolong your days upon the land which you pass over Jordan to inherit.

And the Lord spake with Mosheh the same day, saying: Go up to this mountain of Abaraee, the mountain of Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, over against Jericho, and see the land of Kenaan which I have given to the sons of Israel for possession; and, dying on the mountain to which thou goest up thou shalt be gathered to thy people, as Aharon thy brother died on Mount Hor, and was gathered to his people; because thou wast perverse with My Word in the midst of the children of Israel, at the Waters of Contradiction, at Rekem, in the desert of Zin, and because thou didst not sanctify Me among the children of Israel. For, though thou mayest see the land, yet from thence thou shalt not go in unto the land which I have given to the children of Israel.

XXXIII. And this is the benediction wherewith Mosheh, the prophet of the Lord, blessed the children of Israel before his death; and he said:

The Lord was revealed from Sinai, and the brightness of His glory appeared to us from Seir. He was revealed in His power upon the mountain of Pharan, and with Him were ten thousand saints; He gave us, written with His own right hand, the law from the midst of the fire.

He loved the tribes, all the holy ones of the house of Israel; with power He led them out of Mizraim, and they were conducted under Thy Cloud, they journeyed by Thy Word.

Mosheh gave to us the law and delivered it an inheritance to the congregation of Jakob. And he was the king in Israel, when the heads of the people were gathered with the tribes of Israel.

            Let Reuben live in life eternal, and not die the second death; and let his children receive their inheritance according to their numbers.

And of Jehudah he said this: Hear, O Lord, the prayer of Jehudah when he goeth forth to battle, and let him return to his people in peace; let his hands do vengeance upon his enemies, and be Thou to him a help against his foes.

And of Levi he said: With perfections and lights, clothe Thou the man who is found holy before Thee whom Thou didst try in the temptation, and he was upright, and whom Thou didst prove at the Waters of Contention, and he was faithful. Who, when they had sinned, had no mercy in the judgment upon his father or his mother, and no respect to his brother or his children; for they have kept the charge of Thy word, and Thy covenant have they not altered.

 These are worthy to teach Thy judgments unto Jakob, and Thy law unto Israel. They shall set the sweet incense before Thee, and the full free will offerings upon Thy altar. Bless, Lord, his substance, and the oblation of his hands receive Thou with favour; break the loins of his enemies and of his adversaries, that they may not arise.

Of Benjamin he said: The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by Him: the shield will be over him all the days, and the Shekinah will dwell in his land.

And of Joseph he said: Blessed be his land from before the Lord; let it make fruit by the dew of the heavens from above, and from the fountain springs, and the depths which flow from the abysses of the earth beneath, let it make fruit and produce which the sun causeth to grow; let it make fruit from the beginning of month after month; and first fruits from the mountain tops, and goodly things from the unfailing hills, with the good of the earth and its fulness, and the favour of Him Those glory is in the heavens, and who was revealed unto Mosheh at the Bush: let all these come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the man who was separated from his brethren. The greatness of his children will be his beauty, and the mighty works wrought for him from before the Omnipotent and the Most High, by whose strength he will slay nations together unto the ends of the earth; and these are the myriads of the house of Ephraim, and these are the thousands of the house of Menasheh.

And unto Zebulon he said: Rejoice, Zebulon, when thou goest out to war against thy adversaries, and thou, Issakar, when thou goest to compute the time of the festivals in Jerusalem. They shall assemble the tribes of Israel at the mountain of the sanctuary, to offer there the holy sacrifices with free will; for they will eat the victims of the Gentiles, and the treasures hidden in the sand shall be disclosed for them.

And of Gad he said: Blessed is He who enlargeth Gad. He dwelleth as a lioness; he will kill sultans with kings: and he shall receive his own at the beginning: for there, in his inheritance, Mosheh the scribe-prince of Israel is (to be) buried; he who came out and went in at the head of the people, who hath wrought righteousness before the Lord and His judgments with Israel.

And of Dan he said: Dan is strong as a lion's whelp; his land is watered by the streams that flow from Mathnan.

And of Naphtali he said: Naphtali, satisfied with favour and full of blessings from the Lord, shall inherit from the western sea, Genesar, unto the south.

And of Asher he said: Blessed shall be Asher with the blessings of children: let him be acceptable to his brethren, and be nourished with the dainties of kings: strong shalt thou be as iron and brass, and as the days of thy youth shall be thy strength.

There is no God like the God of Israel, whose Shekinah in the skies is thy help, and whose power is in the heaven of heavens. The habitation of Eloha is from eternity, and the world was made by His Word; and He will drive out thy enemies from before thee, and will say, Destroy.

And Israel shall dwell securely by themselves, according to the benediction with which Jakob their father blessed them in the land producing corn and wine; the heavens also above them shall drop down with dew.

Happy art thou, Israel; none is like unto thee, a people whose salvation is from the Lord, who is the strength of thy help, and from whom is the might of thy victory: thy enemies shall be liars unto thee, and thou shalt tread upon the necks of their kings.

XXXIV. And Mosheh went up from the plains of Moab to the mountains of Nebo, to the summit of the height which is over against Jericho; and the Lord showed him all the land of Gilead unto Dan, and all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim and Menasheh, and all the land of Jehudah to the hinder sea, and the south, and the country of the plain of Jericho, the city of palm trees, unto Zoar.

And the Lord said to him, This is the land which I covenanted unto Abraham, Izhak, and Jakob, saying, To thy children will I give it; thou hast seen it with thine eyes, but unto it thou art not to pass over.

And Mosheh the servant of the Lord died there, in the land of Moab, by the Word of the Lord.

And He buried him in a valley (or cavity, becheltha) in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeor : but no man knoweth his sepulchre unto this day.

And Mosheh was a son of a hundred and twenty years when he died: his eye had not dimmed, neither was the radiance of his face changed.

And the children of Israel wept for Mosheh in the fields of Moab thirty days; and the days of the mourning for Mosheh were completed.

And Jehoshua bar Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom; for Mosheh had laid his hands upon him, and the children of Israel obeyed him, and did as the Lord had commanded (by) Mosheh.

But no prophet hath arisen in Israel like unto Mosheh, unto whom the Lord revealed Himself face to face, in all the signs and wonders which the Lord sent him to perform in the land of Mizraim upon Pharoh, and on all his servants, and on all his land, and all the Mighty Hand, and all the great manifestations which Mosheh wrought in the eyes of all Israel.

END OF THE TARGUM OF ONKELOS ON THE TORAH.



[1] Am deminyan, Òa people of (small) number.Ó (?) Heb. Text, mithe mispar, Òmen of number.Ó Peschito Syrian, kalil be-menyono, Òsmall in number.Ó

[2] Pesch. Syriac, Òa great voice which hath no limit.Ó Hebrew text Òand He added not.Ó

[3] I.e., Moses: vide the Palestine, in loco.

[4] Verses 4-9 form the first part of what in the Hebrew liturgy is called the Shema (ÒHearÓ). The other parts are Deut. xi. 13-21, and Num. xv. 37-41.

[5] Heb., totaphoth. LXX., άσάλευτα. New Test., φυλακτήρια

[6] Or, Òin the ends,Ó Ð besiphey.

[7] Sam. Vers., Òmoney.Ó

[8] Sam. Vers., Òthe favourable eye.Ó

[9] Sam. Vers., Òthy cities.Ó

[10] Sam. Vers., Òthe Valley of Vision.Ó

[11] Or, Òcolumns.Ó

[12] Sam. Vers., Òof thy love.Ó

[13] Shemittha, Òremissio

[14] Mari-rasho, Òa lord or master of rent.Ó

[15] Glossary, page 57.