# verses

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Then will the land take pleasure in its Sabbaths while it is waste and you are living in the land of your haters; then will the land have rest.


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All the days while it is waste will the land have rest, such rest as it never had in your Sabbaths, when you were living in it.


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And as for the rest of you, I will make their hearts feeble in the land of their haters, and the sound of a leaf moved by the wind will send them in flight, and they will go in flight as from the sword, falling down when no one comes after them;


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Falling on one another, as before the sword, when no one comes after them; you will give way before your haters.


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And death will overtake you among strange nations, and the land of your haters will be your destruction.


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And those of you who are still living will be wasting away in their sins in the land of your haters; in the sins of their fathers they will be wasting away.


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And they will have grief for their sins and for the sins of their fathers, when their hearts were untrue to me, and they went against me;


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So that I went against them and sent them away into the land of their haters: if then the pride of their hearts is broken and they take the punishment of their sins,


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Then I will keep in mind the agreement which I made with Jacob and with Isaac and with Abraham, and I will keep in mind the land.


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And the land, while she is without them, will keep her Sabbaths; and they will undergo the punishment of their sins, because they were turned away from my decisions and in their souls was hate for my laws.


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But for all that, when they are in the land of their haters I will not let them go, or be turned away from them, or give them up completely; my agreement with them will not be broken, for I am the Lord their God.


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And because of them I will keep in mind the agreement which I made with their fathers, whom I took out of the land of Egypt before the eyes of the nations, to be their God: I am the Lord.


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These are the rules, decisions, and laws, which the Lord made between himself and the children of Israel in Mount Sinai, by the hand of Moses.


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Say to the children of Israel, If a man makes a special oath, you will give your decision as to the value of the persons for the Lord.


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And you will put the value of a male from twenty years to sixty years old at fifty shekels of silver, by the scale of the holy place.


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And if the person is from five to twenty years old, the value will be twenty shekels for a male, and ten for a female.


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And if the person is from one month to five years old, then the value for a male will be five shekels of silver, and for a female three shekels.


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And for sixty years old and over, for a male the value will be fifteen shekels, and for a female, ten.


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But if he is poorer than the value which you have put on him, then let him be taken to the priest, and the priest will put a value on him, such as it is possible for him to give.


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And if it is a beast of which men make offerings to the Lord, whatever any man gives of such to the Lord will be holy.


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It may not be changed in any way, a good given for a bad, or a bad for a good; if one beast is changed for another, the two will be holy.


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And if it is any unclean beast, of which offerings are not made to the Lord, then let him take the beast before the priest;


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And let the priest put a value on it, if it is good or bad; whatever value the priest puts on it, so will it be.


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And if a man has given his house as holy to the Lord, then the priest will put a value on it, if it is good or bad; as the priest gives decision so will the value be fixed.


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And if the owner has a desire to get back his house, let him give a fifth more than your value, and it will be his.


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And if a man gives to the Lord part of the field which is his property, then let your value be in relation to the seed which is planted in it; a measure of barley grain will be valued at fifty shekels of silver.


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But if he gives his field after the year of Jubilee, the amount of the money will be worked out by the priest in relation to the number of years till the coming year of Jubilee, and the necessary amount will be taken off your value.


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And if the man who has given the field has a desire to get it back, let him give a fifth more than the price at which it was valued and it will be his.


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But if he has no desire to get it back, or if he has given it for a price to another man, it may not be got back again.


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But the field, when it becomes free at the year of Jubilee, will be holy to the Lord, as a field given under oath: it will be the property of the priest.


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And if a man gives to the Lord a field which he has got for money from another, which is not part of his heritage;


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Then the value fixed by you up to the year of Jubilee will be worked out for him by the priest, and in that day he will give the amount of your value as holy to the Lord.


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In the year of Jubilee the field will go back to him from whom he got it, that is, to him whose heritage it was.


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And let all your values be based on the shekel of the holy place, that is, twenty gerahs to the shekel.


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But a man may not give by oath to the Lord the first-fruits of cattle which are offered to the Lord: if it is an ox or a sheep it is the Lord's.


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And if it is an unclean beast, then the owner of it may give money to get it back, in agreement with the value fixed by you, by giving a fifth more; or if it is not taken back, let it be given for money in agreement with your valuing.


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But nothing which a man has given completely to the Lord, out of all his property, of man or beast, or of the land which is his heritage, may be given away or got back in exchange for money; anything completely given is most holy to the Lord.


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And every tenth part of the land, of the seed planted, or of the fruit of trees, is holy to the Lord.


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And if a man has a desire to get back any of the tenth part which he has given, let him give a fifth more.


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And a tenth part of the herd and of the flock, whatever goes under the rod of the valuer, will be holy to the Lord.


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He may not make search to see if it is good or bad, or make any changes in it; and if he makes exchange of it for another, the two will be holy; he will not get them back again.


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And the Lord said to Moses in the waste land of Sinai, in the Tent of meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they came out of the land of Egypt,


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Take the full number of the children of Israel, by their families, and by their fathers' houses, every male by name;


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All those of twenty years old and over, who are able to go to war in Israel, are to be numbered by you and Aaron.


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Of the children of Joseph: from Ephraim, Elishama, the son of Ammihud; from Manasseh, Gamaliel, the son of Pedahzur,


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These are the men named out of all the people, chiefs of their fathers' houses, heads of the tribes of Israel.


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And they got together all the people on the first day of the second month; and everyone made clear his family and his father's house, by the number of the names, from twenty years old and over.


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The generations of the sons of Reuben, the oldest son of Israel, were numbered by their families and their fathers' houses, every male of twenty years old and over, who was able to go to war;


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The generations of the sons of Simeon were numbered by their families and their fathers' houses, every male of twenty years old and over, who was able to go to war;


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The generations of the sons of Gad were numbered by their families and their fathers' houses, every male of twenty years old and over who was able to go to war;


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The generations of the sons of Judah were numbered by their families and their fathers' houses, every male of twenty years old and over who was able to go to war;


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The generations of the sons of Issachar were numbered by their families and their fathers' houses, every male of twenty years old and over who was able to go to war;


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The generations of the sons of Zebulun were numbered by their families and their fathers' houses, every male of twenty years old and over who was able to go to war;


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The generations of the sons of Joseph were numbered by their families and their fathers' houses, every male of twenty years old and over who was able to go to war;


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The generations of the sons of Manasseh were numbered by their families and their fathers' houses, every male of twenty years old and over who was able to go to war;


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The generations of the sons of Benjamin were numbered by their families and their fathers' houses, every male of twenty years old and over who was able to go to war;


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The generations of the sons of Dan were numbered by their families and their fathers' houses, every male of twenty years and over who was able to go to war;


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The generations of the sons of Asher were numbered by their families and their fathers' houses, every male of twenty years old and over who was able to go to war;


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The generations of the sons of Naphtali were numbered by their families and their fathers' houses, every male of twenty years old and over who was able to go to war;


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These are they who were numbered by Moses and Aaron and by the twelve chiefs of Israel, one from every tribe.


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So all those who were numbered of the children of Israel, by their families, all those of twenty years old and over who were able to go to war,


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But to them you are to give the care of the Tent of meeting with its vessels and everything in it: they are to take up the Tent, and be responsible for everything to do with it, and put up their tents round it.


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And when the Tent of meeting goes forward, the Levites are to take it down; and when it is to be put up, they are to do it: any strange person who comes near it is to be put to death.


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But the tents of the Levites are to be round the Tent of meeting, so that wrath may not come on the children of Israel: the Tent of meeting is to be in the care of the Levites.


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The children of Israel are to put up their tents in the order of their families, by the flags of their fathers' houses, facing the Tent of meeting on every side.


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Those whose tents are on the east side, looking to the dawn, will be round the flag of the children of Judah, with Nahshon, the son of Amminadab, as their chief.


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The number of all the armies of Judah was a hundred and eighty-six thousand, four hundred. They go forward first.


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On the south side is the flag of the children of Reuben, in the order of their armies, with Elizur, the son of Shedeur, as their chief.


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The number of all the armies of Reuben together came to a hundred and fifty-one thousand, four hundred and fifty. They go forward second.


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Then the Tent of meeting is to go forward, with the tents of the Levites, in the middle of the armies; in the same order as their tents are placed, they are to go forward, every man under his flag.


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On the west side will be the flag of the children of Ephraim, with Elishama, the son of Ammihud, as their chief.


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The number of all the armies of Ephraim was a hundred and eight thousand, one hundred. They go forward third.


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On the north side will be the flag of the children of Dan, with Ahiezer, the son of Ammishaddai, as their chief.


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The number of all the armies in the tents of Dan was a hundred and fifty-seven thousand, six hundred. They will go forward last, by their flags.


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These are all who were numbered of the children of Israel, in the order of their fathers' families: all the armies in their tents together came to six hundred and three thousand, five hundred and fifty.


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So the children of Israel did as the Lord said to Moses, so they put up their tents by their flags, and they went forward in the same order, by their families, and by their fathers' houses.


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Now these are the generations of Aaron and Moses, in the day when the word of the Lord came to Moses on Mount Sinai.


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These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the priests, on whom the holy oil was put, who were marked out as priests.


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And Nadab and Abihu were put to death before the Lord when they made an offering of strange fire before the Lord, in the waste land of Sinai, and they had no children: and Eleazar and Ithamar did the work of priests before Aaron their father.


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In order that they may be responsible to him and to all Israel for the care of the Tent of meeting, and to do the work of the House;


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And they will have the care of all the vessels of the Tent of meeting, and will do for the children of Israel all the necessary work of the House.


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Give the Levites to Aaron and his sons; so that they may be his without question from among the children of Israel.


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And give orders that Aaron and his sons are to keep their place as priests; any strange person who comes near is to be put to death.


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See, I have taken the Levites out of the children of Israel to be mine in place of the first sons of the children of Israel;


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For all the first sons are mine; on the day when I put to death all the first sons in the land of Egypt, I took for myself every first male birth of man and beast. They are mine; I am the Lord.


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Let all the children of Levi be numbered by their families and their fathers' houses; let every male of a month old and over be numbered.


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And the sons of Merari by their families: Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites in the order of their fathers' houses.


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Those who were numbered of them, the males from one month old and over, were seven thousand, five hundred.


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In the Tent of meeting, the Gershonites are to have the care of the House, and the Tent with its cover, and the veil for the door of the Tent of meeting,


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And the hangings for the open space round the House and the altar, and the curtain for its doorway, and all the cords needed for its use.


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From Kohath come the Amramites and the Izharites and the Hebronites and the Uzzielites; these are the families of the Kohathites.


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Those who were numbered of them, the males from one month old and over, were eight thousand, six hundred, who were responsible for the care of the holy place.


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In their care are the ark, and the table, and the lights, and the altars, and all the vessels used in the holy place, and the veil, and all they are used for.


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Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, will be head over all the Levites and overseer of those responsible for the care of the holy place.


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The chief of the families of Merari was Zuriel, the son of Abihail: their tents are to be placed on the north side of the House.


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And in their care are to be all the boards of the Tent, with their rods and pillars and bases, and all the instruments, and all they are used for,


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And those whose tents are to be placed on the east side of the House in front of the Tent of meeting, looking to the dawn, are Moses and Aaron and his sons, who will do the work of the holy place for the children of Israel; and any strange person who comes near will be put to death.


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All the Levites numbered by Moses and Aaron at the order of the Lord, all the males of one month old and over numbered in the order of their families, were twenty-two thousand.


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And the Lord said to Moses, Let all the first male children be numbered, and take the number of their names.


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And give to me the Levites (I am the Lord) in place of the first sons of the children of Israel; and the cattle of the Levites in place of the first births among the cattle of the children of Israel.


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Every first son from a month old and over was numbered by name, and the number came to twenty-two thousand, two hundred and seventy-three.


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Take the Levites in place of all the first sons of the children of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites in place of their cattle; the Levites are to be mine; I am the Lord.


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And the price you have to give for the two hundred and seventy-three first sons of the children of Israel which are in addition to the number of the Levites,


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And this money, the price of those over the number of the Levites, is to be given to Aaron and his sons.


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From the first sons of Israel he took it, a thousand, three hundred and sixty-five shekels, by the scale of the holy place;


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Let the sons of Kohath, from among the sons of Levi, be numbered by their families, in the order of their fathers' houses;


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When all the people go forward, Aaron is to go in with his sons, and take down the veil of the curtain, covering the ark of witness with it;


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And on the table of the holy bread they are to put a blue cloth, and on it all the vessels, the spoons and the basins and the cups; and the holy bread with them;


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And over them they are to put a red cloth, covering it with a leather cover, and putting its rods in their places.


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And they are to take a blue cloth, covering with it the light-support with its lights and its instruments and its trays and all the oil vessels which are used for it:


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On the gold altar they are to put a blue cloth, covering it with a leather cover; and they are to put its rods in their places.


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All the vessels which are used in the holy place they are to put in a blue cloth, covering them with a leather cover, and put them on the frame.


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Placing on the cloth all its vessels, the fire-baskets, the meat-hooks, the spades, and the basins; all the vessels of the altar; they are to put a leather cover over all these, and put its rods in their places.


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And after the holy place and all its vessels have been covered up by Aaron and his sons, when the tents of the people go forward, the sons of Kohath are to come and take it up; but the holy things may not be touched by them for fear of death.


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And Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, is to be responsible for the oil for the light, and the sweet perfumes for burning, and the regular meal offering, and the holy oil; the House and the holy place and everything in it will be in his care.


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But do this to them, so that life and not death may be theirs when they come near the most holy things; let Aaron and his sons go in and give to every one his work and that which he is to take up;


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They are to take up the curtains of the House, and the Tent of meeting with its cover and the leather cover over it, and the hangings for the door of the Tent of meeting;


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And the hangings for the open space round the House and the altar, and the curtain for its doorway, with the cords and all the things used for them; whatever is necessary for these, they are to do.


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From the mouth of Aaron and his sons the Gershonites will have word about all the things they are to do and take up; you are to give them their orders.


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This is the work of the family of the Gershonites in the Tent of meeting, and they will be under the direction of Ithamar, the son of Aaron the priest.


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And this is their part in the work of the Tent of meeting: the transport of the boards and the rods of the Tent, with the pillars and their bases;


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And the pillars of the open space outside it, with their bases and their nails and cords and all the instruments used, and everything which has to be done there; all the instruments for which they are responsible are to be numbered by name.


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This is the work which the sons of Merari are to do in connection with the Tent of meeting, under the direction of Ithamar, the son of Aaron the priest.


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So Moses and Aaron and the chiefs of the people took in hand the numbering of the sons of the Kohathites, by families, in the order of their fathers' houses;


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Numbering all those from thirty to fifty years old who were able to do the work in the Tent of meeting;


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This is the number of those of the Kohathites who did the work in the Tent of meeting, as they were numbered by Moses and Aaron at the order of the Lord.


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Who were numbered by families in the order of their fathers' houses, were two thousand, six hundred and thirty.


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This is the number of the sons of Gershon who did the work in the Tent of meeting, as they were numbered by Moses and Aaron at the order of the Lord.


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And those of the sons of Merari who were numbered by families, in the order of their fathers' houses,


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And all the Levites who were numbered by Moses and Aaron and the chiefs of the people, by families, in the order of their fathers' houses,


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Those from thirty to fifty years old who were able to do the work of the Tent of meeting and of its transport,


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At the order of the Lord they were numbered by Moses, every one in relation to his work and to his part in the transport; so they were numbered by Moses at the order of the Lord.


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Give orders to the children of Israel to put outside the tent-circle every leper, and anyone who has any sort of flow from his body, and anyone who is unclean from the touch of the dead;


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Male or female they are to be put outside the tent-circle, so that they may not make unclean my resting-place among them.


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Say to the children of Israel, If a man or a woman does any of the sins of men, going against the word of the Lord, and is in the wrong;


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Let them say openly what they have done; and make payment for the wrong done, with the addition of a fifth part, and give it to him to whom the wrong was done.


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But if the man has no relation to whom the payment may be made, then the payment for sin made to the Lord will be the priest's, in addition to the sheep offered to take away his sin.


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And every offering lifted up of all the holy things which the children of Israel give to the priest, will be his.


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By taking as her lover another man, and keeps it secret so that her husband has no knowledge of it, and there is no witness against her, and she is not taken in the act;


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If the spirit of doubt comes into her husband's heart, and he has doubts of his wife, with good cause; or if he has doubts of her without cause:


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Then let him take her to the priest, offering for her the tenth part of an ephah of barley meal, without oil or perfume; for it is a meal offering of a bitter spirit, a meal offering keeping wrongdoing in mind.


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And he will make the woman come before the Lord with her hair loose, and will put the meal offering, the offering of a bitter spirit, in her hands; and the priest will take in his hand the bitter water causing the curse;


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And he will make her take an oath, and say to her, If no man has been your lover and you have not been with another in place of your husband, you are free from this bitter water causing the curse;


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But if you have been with another in place of your husband and have made yourself unclean with a lover:


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Then the priest will put the oath of the curse on the woman, and say to her, May the Lord make you a curse and an oath among your people, sending on you wasting of the legs and disease of the stomach;


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And this water of the curse will go into your body, causing disease of your stomach and wasting of your legs: and the woman will say, So be it.


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And he will give to the woman the bitter water for drink; and the bitter water causing the curse will go into her.


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And the priest will take from her hand the meal offering of doubt, waving it before the Lord, and will take it to the altar;


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And he will take some of it in his hand, burning it on the altar as a sign, and then he will give the woman the bitter water.


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And it will be that if the woman has become unclean, sinning against her husband, when she has taken the bitter water it will go into her body, causing disease of the stomach and wasting of the legs, and she will be a curse among her people.


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This is the law for testing a wife who goes with another in place of her husband and becomes unclean;


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Or for a husband who, in a bitter spirit, has doubts in his heart about his wife; let him take her to the priest, who will put in force this law.


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Say to the children of Israel, If a man or a woman takes an oath to keep himself separate and give himself to the Lord;


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He is to keep himself from wine and strong drink, and take no mixed wine or strong drink or any drink made from grapes, or any grapes, green or dry.


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All the time he is separate he may take nothing made from the grape-vine, from its seeds to its skin.


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All the time he is under his oath let no blade come near his head; till the days while he is separate are ended he is holy and his hair may not be cut.


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He may not make himself unclean for his father or his mother, his sister or his brother, if death comes to them; because he is under an oath to keep himself separate for God.


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If death comes suddenly to a man at his side, so that he becomes unclean, let his hair be cut off on the day when he is made clean, on the seventh day.


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And on the eighth day let him take to the priest, at the door of the Tent of meeting, two doves or two young pigeons;


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And the priest will give one for a sin-offering and the other for a burned offering to take away the sin which came on him on account of the dead, and he will make his head holy that same day.


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And he will give to the Lord his days of being separate, offering a he-lamb of the first year as an offering for error: but the earlier days will be a loss, because he became unclean.


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And this is the law for him who is separate, when the necessary days are ended: he is to come to the door of the Tent of meeting,


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And make his offering to the Lord; one he-lamb of the first year, without a mark, for a burned offering, and one female lamb of the first year, without a mark, for a sin-offering, and one male sheep, without a mark, for peace-offerings,


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And a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of the best meal mixed with oil, and thin unleavened cakes covered with oil, with their meal offering and drink offerings.


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Giving the sheep of the peace-offerings, with the basket of unleavened bread; and at the same time, the priest will make his meal offering and his drink offering.


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Then let his long hair, the sign of his oath, be cut off at the door of the Tent of meeting, and let him put it on the fire on which the peace-offerings are burning.


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And the priest will take the cooked leg of the sheep and one unleavened cake and one thin cake out of the basket, and put them on the hands of the separate one after his hair has been cut,


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Waving them for a wave offering before the Lord; this is holy for the priest, together with the waved breast and the leg which is lifted up; after that, the man may take wine.


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This is the law for him who takes an oath to keep himself separate, and for his offering to the Lord on that account, in addition to what he may be able to get; this is the law of his oath, which he will have to keep.


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Say to Aaron and his sons, These are the words of blessing which are to be used by you in blessing the children of Israel; say to them,


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And when Moses had put up the House completely, and had put oil on it and made it holy, with all the things in it, and had made the altar and all its vessels holy with oil;


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Then the chiefs of Israel, the heads of their fathers' houses, made offerings; these were the chiefs of the tribes, who were over those who were numbered.


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And they came with their offerings before the Lord, six covered carts and twelve oxen; a cart for every two of the chiefs, and for every one an ox.


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Take the things from them, to be used for the work of the Tent of meeting; and give them to the Levites, to every man what is needed for his work.


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And four carts and eight oxen he gave to the sons of Merari for their work, under the direction of Ithamar, the son of Aaron the priest.


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But to the sons of Kohath he gave nothing; because they had the care of the holy place, taking it about on their backs.


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And the chiefs gave an offering for the altar on the day when the holy oil was put on it; they made their offering before the altar.


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And he who made his offering on the first day was Nahshon, the son of Amminadab, of the tribe of Judah:


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And his offering was one silver plate, a hundred and thirty shekels in weight, one silver basin of seventy shekels, by the scale of the holy place; the two of them full of the best meal mixed with oil for a meal offering;


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And for the peace-offerings, two oxen, five male sheep, five he-goats, five he-lambs of the first year: this was the offering of Nahshon, the son of Amminadab.


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He gave one silver plate, a hundred and thirty shekels in weight, one silver basin of seventy shekels, by the scale of the holy place; the two of them full of the best meal mixed with oil for a meal offering;


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And for the peace-offerings, two oxen, five male sheep, five he-goats, five he-lambs of the first year: this was the offering of Nethanel, the son of Zuar.


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His offering was one silver plate, a hundred and thirty shekels in weight, one silver basin of seventy shekels, by the scale of the holy place; the two of them full of the best meal mixed with oil for a meal offering;


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And for the peace-offerings, two oxen, five male sheep, five he-goats, five he-lambs of the first year: this was the offering of Eliab, the son of Helon.


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And for the peace-offerings, two oxen, five male sheep, five he-goats, five he-lambs of the first year: this was the offering of Elizur, the son of Shedeur.


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And for the peace-offerings, two oxen, five male sheep, five he-goats, five he-lambs of the first year: this was the offering of Shelumiel, the son of Zurishaddai.


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And for the peace-offerings, two oxen, five male sheep, five he-goats, five he-lambs of the first year: this was the offering of Eliasaph, the son of Reuel


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And for the peace-offerings, two oxen, five male sheep, five he-goats, five he-lambs of the first year: this was the offering of Elishama, the son of Ammihud.


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And for the peace-offerings, two oxen, five male sheep, five he-goats, five he-lambs of the first year: this was the offering of Gamaliel, the son of Pedahzur.


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And for the peace-offerings, two oxen, five male sheep, five he-goats, five he-lambs of the first year: this was the offering of Abidan, the son of Gideoni.


text:
And for the peace-offerings, two oxen, five male sheep, five he-goats, five he-lambs of the first year: this was the offering of Ahiezer, the son of Ammishaddai.


text:
His offering was one silver plate; a hundred and thirty shekels in weight, one silver basin of seventy shekels, by the scale of the holy place; the two of them full of the best meal mixed with oil for a meal offering;


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And for the peace-offerings, two oxen, five male sheep, five he-goats, five he-lambs of the first year: this was the offering of Pagiel, the son of Ochran.


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And for the peace-offerings, two oxen, five male sheep, five he-goats, five he-lambs of the first year: this was the offering of Ahira, the son of Enan.


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These were the offerings given for the altar by the chiefs of Israel, when the holy oil was put on it: twelve silver plates, twelve silver basins, twelve gold spoons;


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The weight of every silver plate was a hundred and thirty shekels, and of every basin seventy; the weight of all the silver of the vessels was two thousand and four hundred shekels, by the scale of the holy place;


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The weight of the twelve gold spoons of spice for burning was ten shekels for every one, by the scale of the holy place; all the gold of the spoons was a hundred and twenty shekels;


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All the oxen, for the burned offering were twelve, the male sheep twelve, the he-lambs of the first year twelve, with their meal offering; and the males of the goats for sin-offering twelve;


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And all the oxen for the peace-offerings, twenty-four oxen, the male sheep sixty, and the he-goats sixty, the he-lambs of the first year sixty. This was given for the altar after the holy oil was put on it.


text:
And when Moses went into the Tent of meeting to have talk with him, then the Voice came to his ears from over the cover which was on the ark of witness, from between the two winged ones. And he had talk with him.


text:
Say to Aaron, When you put the lights in their places, the seven lights will give light in front of the support.


text:
And Aaron did so; he put the lights in their places so that they gave light in front of the support, as the Lord gave orders to Moses.


text:
The support for the lights was of hammered gold work, from its base to its flowers it was of hammered work; from the design which the Lord had given to Moses, he made the support for the lights.


text:
And this is how you are to make them clean: let the holy water which takes away sin be put on them, and let the hair all over their bodies be cut off with a sharp blade, and let their clothing be washed and their bodies made clean.


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Then let them take a young ox and its meal offering, crushed grain mixed with oil, and take another ox for a sin-offering.


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And make the Levites come forward in front of the Tent of meeting, and let all the children of Israel come together:


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And you are to take the Levites before the Lord: and the children of Israel are to put their hands on them:


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And Aaron is to give the Levites to the Lord as a wave offering from the children of Israel, so that they may do the Lord's work.


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And the Levites are to put their hands on the heads of the oxen, and one of the oxen is to be offered for a sin-offering and the other for a burned offering to the Lord to take away the sin of the Levites.


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Then the Levites are to be put before Aaron and his sons, to be offered as a wave offering to the Lord.


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After that, the Levites will go in to do whatever has to be done in the Tent of meeting; you are to make them clean and give them as a wave offering.


text:
For they have been given to me from among the children of Israel; in place of every mother's first son, the first to come to birth in Israel, I have taken them for myself.


text:
For every mother's first son among the children of Israel is mine, the first male birth of man or beast: on the day when I sent death on all the first sons in the land of Egypt, I made them mine.


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And I have given them to Aaron and to his sons, from among the children of Israel, to undertake for them all the work of the Tent of meeting, and to take away sin from the children of Israel so that no evil may come on them when they come near the holy place.


text:
All these things Moses and Aaron and the children of Israel did to the Levites; as the Lord gave orders to Moses about the Levites, so the children of Israel did.


text:
And the Levites were made clean from sin, and their clothing was washed, and Aaron gave them for a wave offering before the Lord; and Aaron took away their sin and made them clean.


text:
And then the Levites went in to do their work in the Tent of meeting before Aaron and his sons: all the orders which the Lord had given Moses about the Levites were put into effect.


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This is the rule for the Levites: those of twenty-five years old and over are to go in and do the work of the Tent of meeting;


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But be with their brothers in the Tent of meeting, taking care of it but doing no work. This is what you are to do in connection with the Levites and their work.


text:
And the Lord said to Moses, in the waste land of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt,


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In the fourteenth day of this month, at evening, you are to keep it at the regular time, and in the way ordered in the law.


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So they kept the Passover in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at evening, in the waste land of Sinai: as the Lord gave orders to Moses, so the children of Israel did.


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And there were certain men who were unclean because of a dead body, so that they were not able to keep the Passover on that day; and they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day:


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And these men said to him, We have been made unclean by the dead body of a man; why may we not make the offering of the Lord at the regular time among the children of Israel?


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Say to the children of Israel, If any one of you or of your families is unclean because of a dead body, or is on a journey far away, still he is to keep the Passover to the Lord:


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In the second month, on the fourteenth day, in the evening, they are to keep it, taking it with unleavened bread and bitter-tasting plants;


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Nothing of it is to be kept till the morning, and no bone of it is to be broken: they are to keep it by the rules of the Passover.


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But the man who, not being unclean or on a journey, does not keep the Passover, will be cut off from his people: because he did not make the offering of the Lord at the regular time, his sin will be on him.


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And if a man from another country is among you and has a desire to keep the Passover to the Lord, let him do as is ordered in the law of the Passover: there is to be the same rule for the man from another nation and for him who had his birth in the land.


text:
And on the day when the House was put up, the cloud came down on it, on the Tent of witness; and in the evening there was a light like fire over the House till the morning.


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And whenever the cloud was taken up from over the House, then the children of Israel went journeying on; and in the place where the cloud came to rest, there the children of Israel put up their tents.


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At the order of the Lord the children of Israel went forward, and at the order of the Lord they put up their tents: as long as the cloud was resting on the House, they did not go away from that place.


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When the cloud was resting on the House for a long time the children of Israel, waiting for the order of the Lord, did not go on.


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Sometimes the cloud was resting on the House for two or three days; then, by the order of the Lord, they kept their tents in that place, and when the Lord gave the order they went on.


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And sometimes the cloud was there only from evening to morning; and when the cloud was taken up in the morning they went on their journey again: or if it was resting there by day and by night, whenever the cloud was taken up they went forward.


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Or if the cloud came to rest on the House for two days or a month or a year without moving, the children of Israel went on waiting there and did not go on; but whenever it was taken up they went forward on their journey.


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At the word of the Lord they put up their tents, and at the word of the Lord they went forward on their journey: they kept the orders of the Lord as he gave them by Moses.


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Make two silver horns of hammered work, to be used for getting the people together and to give the sign for the moving of the tents.


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When they are sounded, all the people are to come together to you at the door of the Tent of meeting.


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If only one of them is sounded, then the chiefs, the heads of the thousands of Israel, are to come to you.


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At the sound of a second loud note, the tents on the south side are to go forward: the loud note will be the sign to go forward.


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The horns are to be sounded by the sons of Aaron, the priests; this is to be a law for you for ever, from generation to generation.


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And if you go to war in your land against any who do you wrong, then let the loud note of the horn be sounded; and the Lord your God will keep you in mind and give you salvation from those who are against you.


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And on days of joy and on your regular feasts and on the first day of every month, let the horns be sounded over your burned offerings and your peace-offerings; and they will put the Lord in mind of you: I am the Lord your God.


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Now in the second year, on the twentieth day of the second month, the cloud was taken up from over the Tent of witness.


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And the children of Israel went on their journey out of the waste land of Sinai; and the cloud came to rest in the waste land of Paran.


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They went forward for the first time on their journey as the Lord had given orders by the hand of Moses.


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First the flag of the children of Judah went forward with their armies: and at the head of his army was Nahshon, the son of Amminadab.


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Then the House was taken down; and the sons of Gershon and the sons of Merari, who were responsible for moving the House, went forward.


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Then the flag of the children of Reuben went forward with their armies: and at the head of his army was Elizur, the son of Shedeur.


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Then the Kohathites went forward with the holy place; the others put up the House ready for their coming.


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Then the flag of the children of Ephraim went forward with their armies: and at the head of his army was Elishama, the son of Ammihud.


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And the flag of the children of Dan, whose tents were moved last of all, went forward with their armies: and at the head of his army was Ahiezer, the son of Ammishaddai.


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Then Moses said to Hobab, the son of his father-in-law Reuel the Midianite, We are journeying to that place of which the Lord has said, I will give it to you: so come with us, and it will be for your profit: for the Lord has good things in store for Israel.


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And he said, Do not go from us; for you will be eyes for us, guiding us to the right places in the waste land to put up our tents.


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So they went forward three days' journey from the mountain of the Lord; and the ark of the Lord's agreement went three days' journey before them, looking for a resting-place for them;


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And by day the cloud of the Lord went over them, when they went forward from the place where they had put up their tents.


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And when the ark went forward Moses said, Come up, O Lord, and let the armies of those who are against you be broken, and let your haters go in flight before you.


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And when it came to rest, he said, Take rest, O Lord, and give a blessing to the families of Israel.


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Now the people were saying evil against the Lord; and the Lord, hearing it, was angry and sent fire on them, burning the outer parts of the tent-circle.


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And the people made an outcry to Moses, and Moses made prayer to the Lord, and the fire was stopped.


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And the mixed band of people who went with them were overcome by desire: and the children of Israel, weeping again, said, Who will give us flesh for our food?


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Sweet is the memory of the fish we had in Egypt for nothing, and the fruit and green plants of every sort, sharp and pleasing to the taste:


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But now our soul is wasted away; there is nothing at all: we have nothing but this manna before our eyes.


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The people went about taking it up from the earth, crushing it between stones or hammering it to powder, and boiling it in pots, and they made cakes of it: its taste was like the taste of cakes cooked with oil.


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And at the sound of the people weeping, every man at his tent-door, the wrath of the Lord was great, and Moses was very angry.


text:
And Moses said to the Lord, Why have you done me this evil? and why have I not grace in your eyes, that you have put on me the care of all this people?


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Am I the father of all this people? have I given them birth, that you say to me, Take them in your arms, like a child at the breast, to the land which you gave by an oath to their fathers?


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Where am I to get flesh to give to all this people? For they are weeping to me and saying, Give us flesh for our food.


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If this is to be my fate, put me to death now in answer to my prayer, if I have grace in your eyes; and let me not see my shame.


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And the Lord said to Moses, Send for seventy of the responsible men of Israel, who are in your opinion men of weight and authority over the people; make them come to the Tent of meeting and be there with you.


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And I will come down and have talk with you there: and I will take some of the spirit which is on you and put it on them, and they will take part of the weight of the people off you, so that you do not have to take it by yourself.


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And say to the people, Make yourselves clean before tomorrow and you will have flesh for your food: for in the ears of the Lord you have been weeping and saying, Who will give us flesh for food? for we were well off in Egypt: and so the Lord will give you flesh, and it will be your food;


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But every day for a month, till you are tired of it, turning from it in disgust: because you have gone against the Lord who is with you, and have been weeping before him saying, Why did we come out of Egypt?


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Then Moses said, The people, among whom I am, are six hundred thousand men on foot; and you have said, I will give them flesh to be their food for a month.


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Are flocks and herds to be put to death for them? or are all the fish in the sea to be got together so that they may be full?


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And the Lord said to Moses, Has the Lord's hand become short? Now you will see if my word comes true for you or not.


text:
And Moses went out and gave the people the words of the Lord: and he took seventy of the responsible men of the people, placing them round the Tent.


text:
Then the Lord came down in the cloud and had talk with him, and put on the seventy men some of the spirit which was on him: now when the spirit came to rest on them, they were like prophets, but only at that time.


text:
But two men were still in the tent-circle one of them named Eldad and the other Medad: and the spirit came to rest on them; they were among those who had been sent for, but they had not gone out to the Tent: and the prophet's power came on them in the tent-circle.


text:
And a young man went running to Moses and said, Eldad and Medad are acting as prophets in the tent-circle.


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Then Joshua, the son of Nun, who had been Moses' servant from the time when he was a child, said, My lord Moses, let them be stopped.


text:
And Moses said to him, Are you moved by envy on my account? If only all the Lord's people were prophets, and the Lord might put his spirit on them!


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Then the Lord sent a wind, driving little birds from the sea, so that they came down on the tents, and all round the tent-circle, about a day's journey on this side and on that, in masses about two cubits high over the face of the earth.


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And all that day and all night and the day after, the people were taking up the birds; the smallest amount which anyone got was ten homers: and they put them out all round the tents.


text:
But while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was tasted, the wrath of the Lord was moved against the people and he sent a great outburst of disease on them.


text:
So that place was named Kibroth-hattaavah; because there they put in the earth the bodies of the people who had given way to their desires.


text:
Now Miriam and Aaron said evil against Moses, because of the Cushite woman to whom he was married, for he had taken a Cushite woman as his wife.


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And they said, Have the words of the Lord been given to Moses only? have they not come to us? And the Lord took note of it.


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And suddenly the Lord said to Moses and Aaron and Miriam, Come out, you three, to the Tent of meeting. And the three of them went out.


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And the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud, taking his place at the door of the Tent, and made Aaron and Miriam come before him.


text:
And he said, Now give ear to my words: if there is a prophet among you I will give him knowledge of myself in a vision and will let my words come to him in a dream.


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With him I will have talk mouth to mouth, openly and not in dark sayings; and with his eyes he will see the form of the Lord: why then had you no fear of saying evil against my servant Moses?


text:
And the cloud was moved from over the Tent; and straight away Miriam became a leper, as white as snow: and Aaron, looking at Miriam, saw that she was a leper.


text:
Then Aaron said to Moses, O my lord, let not our sin be on our heads, for we have done foolishly and are sinners.


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Let her not be as one dead, whose flesh is half wasted when he comes out from the body of his mother.


text:
And the Lord said to Moses, If her father had put a mark of shame on her, would she not be shamed for seven days? Let her be shut up outside the tent-circle for seven days, and after that she may come in again.


text:
So Miriam was shut up outside the tent-circle for seven days: and the people did not go forward on their journey till Miriam had come in again.


text:
Send men to get knowledge about the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel; from every tribe of their fathers you are to send a man, every one a chief among them.


text:
And Moses sent them from the waste land of Paran as the Lord gave orders, all of them men who were heads of the children of Israel.


text:
These are the names of the men whom Moses sent to get knowledge about the land. And Moses gave to Hoshea, the son of Nun, the name of Joshua.


text:
So Moses sent them to have a look at the land of Canaan, and said to them, Go up into the South and into the hill-country;


text:
And see what the land is like; and if the people living in it are strong or feeble, small or great in number;


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And what sort of land they are living in, if it is good or bad; and what their living-places are, tent-circles or walled towns;


text:
And if the land is fertile or poor, and if there is wood in it or not. And be of good heart, and come back with some of the produce of the land. Now it was the time when the first grapes were ready.


text:
So they went up and got a view of the land, from the waste land of Zin to Rehob, on the way to Hamath.


text:
They went up into the South and came to Hebron; and Ahiman and Sheshai and Talmai, the children of Anak, were living there. (Now the building of Hebron took place seven years before that of Zoan in Egypt.)


text:
And they came to the valley of Eshcol, and cutting down a vine-branch with its grapes, two of them took it on a rod between them; and they took some pomegranates and figs.


text:
That place was named the valley of Eshcol because of the grapes which the children of Israel took from there.


text:
And they came back to Moses and Aaron and all the children of Israel, to Kadesh in the waste land of Paran; and gave an account to them and to all the people and let them see the produce of the land.


text:
And they said, We came to the land where you sent us, and truly it is flowing with milk and honey: and here is some of the produce of it.


text:
But the people living in the land are strong, and the towns are walled and very great; further, we saw the children of Anak there.


text:
And the Amalekites are in the South; and the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Amorites are living in the hill-country; and the Canaanites by the sea and by the side of Jordan.


text:
Then Caleb made signs to the people to keep quiet, and said to Moses, Let us go up straight away and take this land; for we are well able to overcome it.


text:
But the men who had gone up with him said, We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.


text:
And they gave the children of Israel a bad account of the land they had been to see, saying, This land through which we went is a land causing destruction to those living in it; and all the people we saw there are men of more than common size.


text:
There we saw those great men, the sons of Anak, offspring of the Nephilim: and we seemed to ourselves no more than insects, and so we seemed to them.


text:
Then all the people gave load cries of grief, and all that night they gave themselves up to weeping.


text:
And all the children of Israel, crying out against Moses and Aaron, said, If only we had come to our death in the land of Egypt, or even in this waste land!


text:
Why is the Lord taking us into this land to come to our death by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will get into strange hands: would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?


text:
And Joshua, the son of Nun, and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, two of those who had been to see the land, giving signs of grief,


text:
And if the Lord has delight in us, he will take us into this land and give it to us, a land flowing with milk and honey.


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Only, do not go against the Lord or go in fear of the people of the land, for they will be our food; their strength has been taken from them and the Lord is with us: have no fear of them.


text:
But all the people said they were to be stoned. Then the glory of the Lord was seen in the Tent of meeting, before the eyes of all the children of Israel.


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And the Lord said to Moses, How long will this people have no respect for me? how long will they be without faith, in the face of all the signs I have done among them?


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I will send disease on them for their destruction, and take away their heritage, and I will make of you a nation greater and stronger than they.


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And Moses said to the Lord, Then it will come to the ears of the Egyptians; for by your power you took this people out from among them;


text:
And they will give the news to the people of this land: they have had word that you, Lord, are present with this people, letting yourself be seen face to face, and that your cloud is resting over them, and that you go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night.


text:
Now if you put to death all this people as one man, then the nations who have had word of your glory will say,


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Because the Lord was not able to take this people into the land which he made an oath to give them, he sent destruction on them in the waste land.


text:
The Lord is slow to wrath and great in mercy, overlooking wrongdoing and evil, and will not let wrongdoers go free; sending punishment on children for the sins of their fathers, to the third and fourth generation.


text:
May the sin of this people have forgiveness, in the measure of your great mercy, as you have had mercy on them from Egypt up till now.


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Because all these men, having seen my glory and the signs which I have done in Egypt and in the waste land, still have put me to the test ten times, and have not given ear to my voice;


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They will not see the land about which I made an oath to their fathers; not one of these by whom I have not been honoured will see it.


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But my servant Caleb, because he had a different spirit in him, and has been true to me with all his heart, him I will take into that land into which he went, and his seed will have it for their heritage.


text:
Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites are in the valley; tomorrow, turning round, go into the waste land by the way to the Red Sea.


text:
How long am I to put up with this evil people and their outcries against me? The words which they say against me have come to my ears.


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Say to them, By my life, says the Lord, as certainly as your words have come to my ears, so certainly will I do this to you:


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Your dead bodies will be stretched out in this waste land; and of all your number, all those of twenty years old and over who have been crying out against me,


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Not one will come into the land which I gave my word you would have for your resting-place, but only Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua, the son of Nun.


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And your little ones, whom you said would come into strange hands, I will take in, and they will see the land which you would not have.


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And your children will be wanderers in the waste land for forty years, undergoing punishment for your false ways, till your bodies become dust in the waste land.


text:
And as you went through the land viewing it for forty days, so for forty years, a year for every day, you will undergo punishment for your wrongdoing, and you will see that I am against you.


text:
I the Lord have said it, and this I will certainly do to all this evil people who have come together against me: in this waste land destruction will come on them, and death will be their fate.


text:
And the men whom Moses sent to see the land, and who, by the bad account they gave of the land, were the cause of the outcry the people made against Moses,


text:
But Joshua, the son of Nun, and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, of those who went to see the land, were not touched by disease.


text:
And early in the morning they got up and went to the top of the mountain, saying, We are here and we will go up to the place which the Lord said he would give us: for we have done wrong.


text:
And Moses said, Why are you now acting against the Lord's order, seeing that no good will come of it?


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Go not up, for the Lord is not with you, and you will be overcome by those who are fighting against you.


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For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and you will be put to death by their swords: because you have gone back from the way of the Lord, the Lord will not be with you.


text:
But they gave no attention to his words and went to the top of the mountain, though Moses and the ark of the Lord's agreement did not go out of the tent-circle.


text:
Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites who were living in the hill-country, and overcame them completely, driving them back as far as Hormah.


text:
Say to the children of Israel, When you have come into the land which I am giving to you for your resting-place,


text:
And are going to make an offering by fire to the Lord, a burned offering or an offering in connection with an oath, or an offering freely given, or at your regular feasts, an offering for a sweet smell to the Lord, from the herd or the flock:


text:
Then let him who is making his offering, give to the Lord a meal offering of a tenth part of a measure of the best meal mixed with a fourth part of a hin of oil:


text:
And for the drink offering, you are to give with the burned offering or other offering, the fourth part of a hin of wine for every lamb.


text:
Or for a male sheep, give as a meal offering two tenth parts of a measure of the best meal mixed with a third part of a hin of oil:


text:
And when you make ready a young ox for a burned or other offering, or for the effecting of an oath, or for peace-offerings to the Lord:


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Then with the ox give a meal offering of three tenth parts of a measure of the best meal mixed with half a hin of oil.


text:
And for the drink offering: give half a hin of wine, for an offering made by fire for a sweet smell to the Lord.


text:
All those who are Israelites by birth are to do these things in this way, when giving an offering made by fire of a sweet smell to the Lord.


text:
And if a man from another country or any other person living among you, through all your generations, has the desire to give an offering made by fire of a sweet smell to the Lord, let him do as you do.


text:
There is to be one law for you and for the man of another country living with you, one law for ever from generation to generation; as you are, so is he to be before the Lord.


text:
Then, when you take for your food the produce of the land, you are to give an offering lifted up before the Lord.


text:
Of the first of your rough meal you are to give a cake for a lifted offering, lifting it up before the Lord as the offering of the grain-floor is lifted up.


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From generation to generation you are to give to the Lord a lifted offering from the first of your rough meal.


text:
All the laws which the Lord has given you by the hand of Moses, from the day when the Lord gave them, and ever after from generation to generation;


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Then, if the wrong is done in error, without the knowledge of the meeting of the people, let all the meeting give a young ox as a burned offering, a sweet smell to the Lord, with its meal offering and its drink offering, as is ordered in the law, together with a he-goat for a sin-offering.


text:
So the priest will make the people free from sin, and they will have forgiveness; for it was an error, and they have given their offering made by fire to the Lord, and their sin-offering before the Lord, on account of their error:


text:
And all the meeting of the children of Israel, as well as those from other lands living among them, will have forgiveness; for it was an error on the part of the people.


text:
And if one person does wrong, without being conscious of it, then let him give a she-goat of the first year for a sin-offering.


text:
And the priest will take away the sin of the person who has done wrong, if the wrong was done unconsciously, and he will have forgiveness.


text:
The law in connection with wrong done unconsciously is to be the same for him who is an Israelite by birth and for the man from another country who is living among them.


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But the person who does wrong in the pride of his heart, if he is one of you or of another nation by birth, is acting without respect for the Lord, and will be cut off from his people.


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Because he had no respect for the word of the Lord, and did not keep his law, that man will be cut off without mercy and his sin will be on him.


text:
Now while the children of Israel were in the waste land, they saw a man who was getting sticks on the Sabbath day.


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Then the Lord said to Moses, Certainly the man is to be put to death: let him be stoned by all the people outside the tent-circle.


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So all the people took him outside the tent-circle and he was stoned to death there, as the Lord gave orders to Moses.


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Say to the children of Israel that through all their generations they are to put on the edges of their robes an ornament of twisted threads, and in every ornament a blue cord;


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So that, looking on these ornaments, you may keep in mind the orders of the Lord and do them; and not be guided by the desires of your hearts and eyes, through which you have been untrue to me:


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I am the Lord your God, who took you out of the land of Egypt, so that I might be your God: I am the Lord your God.


text:
Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, with Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Pallu, the son of Reuben, made themselves ready,


text:
And came before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty chiefs of the people, men of good name who had a place in the meeting of the people.


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They came together against Moses and against Aaron, and said to them, You take overmuch on yourselves, seeing that all the people are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them; why then have you put yourselves in authority over the people of the Lord?


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And he said to Korah and his band, In the morning the Lord will make clear who are his, and who is holy, and who may come near him: the man of his selection will be caused to come near him.


text:
And put spices on the fire in them before the Lord tomorrow; then the man marked out by the Lord will be holy: you take overmuch on yourselves, you sons of Levi.


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Does it seem only a small thing to you that the God of Israel has made you separate from the rest of Israel, letting you come near himself to do the work of the House of the Lord, and to take your place before the people to do what has to be done for them;


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Letting you, and all your brothers the sons of Levi, come near to him? and would you now be priests?


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So you and all your band have come together against the Lord; and Aaron, who is he, that you are crying out against him?


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Is it not enough that you have taken us from a land flowing with milk and honey, to put us to death in the waste land, but now you are desiring to make yourself a chief over us?


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And more than this, you have not taken us into a land flowing with milk and honey, or given us a heritage of fields and vine-gardens: will you put out the eyes of these men? We will not come up.


text:
Then Moses was very angry, and said to the Lord, Give no attention to their offering: not one of their asses have I taken, or done wrong to any of them.


text:
And Moses said to Korah, You and all your band are to come before the Lord tomorrow, you and they and Aaron:


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And let every man take a vessel for burning perfumes, and put sweet spices in them; let every man take his vessel before the Lord, two hundred and fifty vessels; you and Aaron and everyone with his vessel.


text:
So every man took his vessel and they put fire in them, with spices, and came to the door of the Tent of meeting with Moses and Aaron.


text:
And Korah made all the people come together against them to the door of the Tent of meeting: and the glory of the Lord was seen by all the people.


text:
Then falling down on their faces they said, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, because of one man's sin will your wrath be moved against all the people?


text:
And he said to the people, Come away now from the tents of these evil men, without touching anything of theirs, or you may be taken in the punishment of their sins.


text:
So on every side they went away from the tent of Korah Dathan, and Abiram: and Dathan and Abiram came out to the door of their tents, with their wives and their sons and their little ones.


text:
And Moses said, Now you will see that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, and I have not done them of myself.


text:
If these men have the common death of men, or if the natural fate of all men overtakes them, then the Lord has not sent me.


text:
But if the Lord does something new, opening the earth to take them in, with everything which is theirs, and they go down living into the underworld, then it will be clear to you that the Lord has not been honoured by these men.


text:
And the earth, opening her mouth, took them in, with their families, and all the men who were joined to Korah, and their goods.


text:
So they and all theirs went down living into the underworld, and the earth was shut over them, and they were cut off from among the meeting of the people.


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And all Israel round about them went in flight at their cry, For fear, said they, that we go down into the heart of the earth.


text:
Then fire came out from the Lord, burning up the two hundred and fifty men who were offering the perfume.


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Say to Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, that he is to take out of the flames the vessels with the perfumes in them, turning the fire out of them, for they are holy;


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And let the vessels of those men, who with their lives have made payment for their sin, be hammered out into plates as a cover for the altar; for they have been offered before the Lord and are holy; so that they may be a sign to the children of Israel.


text:
So Eleazar the priest took the brass vessels which had been offered by those who were burned up, and they were hammered out to make a cover for the altar:


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To be a sign, kept in memory for ever by the children of Israel, that no man who is not of the seed of Aaron has the right of burning spices before the Lord, so that he may not be like Korah and his band: as the Lord said to him by the mouth of Moses.


text:
But on the day after, all the children of Israel made an outcry against Moses and against Aaron, saying, You have put to death the Lord's people.


text:
Now when the people had come together against Moses and Aaron, looking in the direction of the Tent of meeting, they saw the cloud covering it, and the glory of the Lord came before their eyes.


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Come out from among this people, so that I may send sudden destruction on them. And they went down on their faces.


text:
And Moses said to Aaron, Take your vessel and put in it fire from the altar, and sweet spices, and take it quickly into the meeting of the people, and make them free from sin: for wrath has gone out from the Lord, and the disease is starting.


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And at the words of Moses, Aaron took his vessel, and went running among the people; and even then the disease had made a start among them; and he put spices in his vessel to take away the sin of the people.


text:
Now fourteen thousand, seven hundred deaths were caused by that disease, in addition to those who came to their end because of what Korah had done.


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Say to the children of Israel that they are to give you rods, one for every family, for every chief, the head of his father's house, making twelve rods; let every man's name be placed on his rod.


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And let Aaron's name be placed on the rod of Levi: for there is to be one rod for the head of every family.


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And let them be stored up in the Tent of meeting, in front of the ark of witness where I come to you.


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And the rod of that man who is marked out by me for myself will have buds on it; so I will put a stop to the outcries which the children of Israel make to me against you.


text:
So Moses gave these orders to the children of Israel, and all their chiefs gave him rods, one for the head of every family, making twelve rods: and Aaron's rod was among them.


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Now on the day after, Moses went into the Tent of witness; and he saw that Aaron's rod, the rod of the house of Levi, had put out buds, and was covered with buds and flowers and fruit.


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Then Moses took out all the rods from before the Lord, and gave them back to the children of Israel: and they saw them, and every man took his rod.


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And the Lord said to Moses, Put Aaron's rod back in front of the ark of witness, to be kept for a sign against this false-hearted people, so that you may put a stop to their outcries against me, and death may not overtake them.


text:
And the children of Israel said to Moses, Truly, destruction has come on us; an evil fate has overtaken us all.


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Death will overtake everyone who comes near, who comes near the House of the Lord: are we all to come to destruction?


text:
And the Lord said to Aaron, You and your sons and your father's family are to be responsible for all wrongdoing in relation to the holy place: and you and your sons are to be responsible for the errors which come about in your work as priests.


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Let your brothers, the family of Levi, come near with you, so that they may be joined with you and be your servants: but you and your sons with you are to go in before the ark of witness.


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They are to do your orders and be responsible for the work of the Tent; but they may not come near the vessels of the holy place or the altar, so that death may not overtake them or you.


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They are to be joined with you in the care of the Tent of meeting, doing whatever is needed for the Tent: and no one of any other family may come near you.


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You are to be responsible for the holy place and the altar, so that wrath may never again come on the children of Israel.


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Now, see, I have taken your brothers the Levites from among the children of Israel: they are given to you and to the Lord, to do the work of the Tent of meeting.


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And you and your sons with you are to be responsible as priests for the altar and everything on it, and everything inside the veil; you are to do the work of priests; I have given you your position as priests; and any other man who comes near will be put to death.


text:
And the Lord said to Aaron, See, I have given into your care my lifted offerings; even all the holy things of the children of Israel I have given to you and to your sons as your right for ever, because you have been marked with the holy oil.


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This is to be yours of the most holy things, out of the fire offerings; every offering of theirs, every meal offering and sin-offering, and every offering which they make on account of error, is to be most holy for you and your sons.


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As most holy things they are to be your food: let every male have them for food; it is to be holy to you.


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And this is yours: the lifted offering which they give and all the wave offerings of the children of Israel I have given to you and to your sons and to your daughters as your right for ever: everyone in your house who is clean may have them for food.


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All the best of the oil and the wine and the grain, the first-fruits of them which they give to the Lord, to you have I given them.


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The earliest produce from their land which they take to the Lord is to be yours; everyone in your house who is clean may have it for his food.


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The first birth of every living thing which is offered to the Lord, of man or beast, is to be yours; but for the first sons of man payment is to be made, and for the first young of unclean beasts.


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Payment is to be made for these when they are a month old, at the value fixed by you, a price of five shekels by the scale of the holy place, that is, twenty gerahs to the shekel.


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But no such payment may be made for the first birth of an ox or a sheep or a goat; these are holy: their blood is to be dropped on the altar, and their fat burned for an offering made by fire, a sweet smell to the Lord.


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Their flesh is to be yours; like the breast of the wave offering and the right leg, it is to be yours.


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All the lifted offerings of the holy things which the children of Israel give to the Lord, I have given to you and to your sons and to your daughters as a right for ever. This is an agreement made with salt before the Lord, to you and to your seed for ever.


text:
And the Lord said to Aaron, You will have no heritage in their land, or any part among them; I am your part and your heritage among the children of Israel.


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And to the children of Levi I have given as their heritage all the tenths offered in Israel, as payment for the work they do, the work of the Tent of meeting.


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In future the children of Israel are not to come near the Tent of meeting, so that death may not come to them because of sin.


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But the Levites are to do the work of the Tent of meeting, and be responsible for errors in connection with it: this is a law for ever through all your generations; and among the children of Israel they will have no heritage.


text:
For the tenths which the children of Israel give as a lifted offering to the Lord I have given to the Levites as their heritage. and so I have said to them, Among the children of Israel they will have no heritage.


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Say to the Levites, When you take from the children of Israel the tenth which I have given to you from them as your heritage, a tenth part of that tenth is to be offered as an offering lifted up before the Lord.


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And this lifted offering is to be put to your credit as if it was grain from the grain-floor and wine from the vines.


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So you are to make an offering lifted up to the Lord from all the tenths which you get from the children of Israel, giving out of it the Lord's lifted offering to Aaron the priest.


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From everything given to you, let the best of it, the holy part of it, be offered as a lifted offering to the Lord.


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Say to them, then, When the best of it is lifted up on high, it is to be put to the account of the Levites as the increase of the grain-floor and of the place where the grapes are crushed.


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It is to be your food, for you and your families in every place: it is your reward for your work in the Tent of meeting.


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And no sin will be yours on account of it, when the best of it has been lifted up on high; you are not to make a wrong use of the holy things of the children of Israel, so that death may not overtake you.


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This is the rule of the law which the Lord has made, saying, Give orders to the children of Israel to give you a red cow without any mark on her, and on which the yoke has never been put:


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Give her to Eleazar the priest and let him take her outside the tent-circle and have her put to death before him.


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Then let Eleazar the priest take some of her blood on his finger, shaking the blood seven times in the direction of the front of the Tent of meeting:


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And the cow is to be burned before him, her skin and her flesh and her blood and her waste are to be burned:


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Then let the priest take cedar-wood and hyssop and red thread, and put them into the fire where the cow is burning.


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And the priest, after washing his clothing and bathing his body in water, may come back to the tent-circle, and will be unclean till evening.


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And he who does the burning is to have his clothing washed and his body bathed in water and be unclean till evening.


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Then let a man who is clean take the dust of the burned cow and put it outside the tent-circle in a clean place, where it is to be kept for the children of Israel and used in making the water which takes away what is unclean: it is a sin-offering.


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And he who takes up the dust of the burned cow is to have his clothing washed with water and be unclean till evening: this is to be a law for ever, for the children of Israel as well as for the man from another country who is living among them.


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On the third day and on the seventh day he is to make himself clean with the water, and so he will be clean: but if he does not do this on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not be clean.


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Anyone touching the body of a dead man without making himself clean in this way, makes the House of the Lord unclean; and that man will be cut off from Israel: because the water was not put on him, he will be unclean; his unclean condition is unchanged.


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This is the law when death comes to a man in his tent: everyone who comes into the tent, and everyone who is in the tent, will be unclean for seven days.


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And anyone touching one who has been put to death with the sword in the open country, or the body of one who has come to his end by a natural death, or a man's bone, or the resting-place of a dead body, will be unclean for seven days.


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And for the unclean, they are to take the dust of the burning of the sin-offering, and put flowing water on it in a vessel:


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And a clean person is to take hyssop and put it in the water, shaking it over the tent, and all the vessels, and the people who were there, and over him by whom the bone, or the body of one who has been put to death with the sword, or the body of one who has come to his end by a natural death, or the resting-place was touched.


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Let the clean person do this to the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day: and on the seventh day he is to make him clean; and after washing his clothing and bathing himself in water, he will be clean in the evening.


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But the man who, being unclean, does not make himself clean in this way, will be cut off from the meeting of the people, because he has made the holy place of the Lord unclean: the water has not been put on him, he is unclean.


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This is to be a law for them for ever: he who puts the water on the unclean person is to have his clothing washed; and anyone touching the water will be unclean till evening.


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Anything touched by the unclean person will be unclean; and any person touching it will be unclean till evening.


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In the first month all the children of Israel came into the waste land of Zin, and put up their tents in Kadesh; there death came to Miriam, and they put her body to rest in the earth.


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And the people were angry with Moses and said, If only death had overtaken us when our brothers came to their death before the Lord!


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Why have you taken the Lord's people into this waste, for death to come to us and to our cattle there?


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Why have you made us come out of Egypt into this evil place? This is no place of seed or figs or vines or other fruits, and there is no water for drinking.


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Then Moses and Aaron went away from the people to the door of the Tent of meeting; and, falling on their faces there, they saw the glory of the Lord.


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Take the rod, you and Aaron, your brother, and make all the people come together, and before their eyes give orders to the rock to give out its water; and so make water come out of the rock for them, and give the people and their cattle drink.


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Then Moses and Aaron made the people come together in front of the rock, and he said to them, Give ear now, you people whose hearts are turned from the Lord; are we to get water for you out of the rock?


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And lifting up his hand, Moses gave the rock two blows with his rod: and water came streaming out, and the people and their cattle had drink enough.


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Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, Because you had not enough faith in me to keep my name holy before the children of Israel, you will not take this people into the land which I have given them.


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These are the waters of Meribah; because the children of Israel went against the Lord, and they saw that he was holy among them.


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Then Moses sent men from Kadesh to the king of Edom to say to him, Your brother Israel says, You have knowledge of all the things we have been through;


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How our fathers went down into Egypt, and we were living in Egypt for a long time; and the Egyptians were cruel to us and to our fathers:


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And the Lord gave ear to the voice of our cry, and sent an angel and took us out of Egypt: and now we are in Kadesh, a town on the edge of your land;


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Let us now go through your land: we will not go into field or vine-garden, or take the water of the springs; we will go by the highway, not turning to the right or to the left, till we have gone past the limits of your land.


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And Edom said, You are not to go through my land, for if you do I will come out against you with the sword.


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And the children of Israel said to him, We will go up by the highway: and if we or our cattle take of your water, we will give you a price for it: only let us go through on our feet, nothing more.


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But he said, You are not to go through. And Edom came out against them in his strength, with a great army.


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Aaron will be put to rest with his people; he will not go into the land which I have given to the children of Israel, because you went against my word at the waters of Meribah.


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And take Aaron's robes off him and put them on Eleazar, his son: and death will come to Aaron there, and he will be put to rest with his people.


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And Moses took off Aaron's robes, and put them on Eleazar, his son; and there on the top of the mountain death came to Aaron: then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain.


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And when the people saw that Aaron was dead, all the children of Israel gave themselves up to weeping for him for thirty days.


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And it came to the ears of the Canaanite, the king of Arad, living in the South, that Israel was coming by the way of Atharim, and he came out against them and took some of them prisoners.


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Then Israel made an oath to the Lord, and said, If you will give up this people into my hands, then I will send complete destruction on all their towns.


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And the Lord, in answer to the voice of Israel, gave the Canaanites up to them; and they put them and their towns completely to destruction: and that place was named Hormah.


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Then they went on from Mount Hor by the way to the Red Sea, going round the land of Edom: and the spirit of the people was overcome with weariness on the way.


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And crying out against God and against Moses, they said, Why have you taken us out of Egypt to come to our death in the waste land? For there is no bread and no water, and this poor bread is disgusting to us.


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Then the Lord sent poison-snakes among the people; and their bites were a cause of death to numbers of the people of Israel.


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Then the people came to Moses and said, We have done wrong in crying out against the Lord and against you: make prayer to the Lord to take away the snakes from us. So Moses made prayer for the people.


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And the Lord said to Moses, Make an image of a snake and put it on a rod, and anyone who has been wounded by the snakes, looking on it will be made well.


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So Moses made a snake of brass and put it on a rod; and anyone who had a snakebite, after looking on the snake of brass, was made well.


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And journeying on again from Oboth, they put up their tents in Iye-abarim, in the waste land before Moab looking east.


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From there they went on and put up their tents on the other side of the Arnon, which is on the waste land at the edge of the land of the Amorites; for the Arnon is the line of division between Moab and the Amorites:


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From there they went on to Beer, the water-spring of which the Lord said to Moses, Make the people come together and I will give them water.


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The fountain made by the chiefs, made deep by the great ones of the people, with the law-givers' rod, and with their sticks. Then from the waste land they went on to Mattanah:


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And from Bamoth to the valley in the open country of Moab, and to the top of Pisgah looking over Jeshimon.


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Let me go through your land: we will not go into field or vine-garden, or take the water of the springs; we will go by the highway till we have gone past the limits of your land.


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And Sihon would not let Israel go through his land; but got all his people together and went out against Israel into the waste land, as far as Jahaz, to make war on Israel.


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But Israel overcame him, and took all his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, as far as the country of the children of Ammon, for the country of the children of Ammon was strongly armed.


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And Israel took all their towns, living in Heshbon and all the towns and small places of the Amorites.


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For Heshbon was the town of Sihon, king of the Amorites, who had made war against an earlier king of Moab and taken from him all his land as far as the Arnon.


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So the makers of wise sayings say, Come to Heshbon, building up the town of Sihon and making it strong:


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For a fire has gone out of Heshbon, a flame from the town of Sihon: for the destruction of Ar in Moab, and the lords of the high places of the Arnon.


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Sorrow is yours, O Moab! Destruction is your fate, O people of Chemosh: his sons have gone in flight, and his daughters are prisoners, in the hands of Sihon, king of the Amorites.


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They are wounded with our arrows; destruction has come on Heshbon, even to Dibon; and we have made the land waste as far as Nophah, stretching out to Medeba.


text:
And Moses sent men secretly to Jazer, and they took its towns, driving out the Amorites who were living there.


text:
Then turning they went up by the way of Bashan; and Og, king of Bashan, went out against them with all his people, to the fight at Edrei.


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And the Lord said to Moses, Have no fear of him: for I have given him up into your hands, with all his people and his land; do to him as you did to Sihon, king of the Amorites, at Heshbon.


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So they overcame him and his sons and his people, driving them all out: and they took his land for their heritage.


text:
Then the children of Israel, journeying on, put up their tents in the lowlands of Moab, on the other side of Jordan at Jericho.


text:
And in Moab there was great fear of the people, because their numbers were so great: and the feeling of Moab was bitter against the children of Israel.


text:
Then Moab said to the responsible men of Midian, It is clear that this great people will be the destruction of everything round us, making a meal of us as the ox does of the grass of the field. At that time Balak, the son of Zippor, was king of Moab.


text:
So he sent men to Balaam, son of Beor, at Pethor by the River in the land of the children of his people, saying to him, See, a people has come out of Egypt, covering all the face of the earth, and they have put up their tents opposite to me:


text:
Come now, in answer to my prayer, and put a curse on this people, for they are greater than I: and then I may be strong enough to overcome them and send them out of the land: for it is clear that good comes to him who has your blessing, but he on whom you put your curse is cursed.


text:
So the responsible men of Moab and Midian went away, taking in their hands rewards for the prophet; and they came to Balaam and said to him what Balak had given them orders to say.


text:
And he said to them, Take your rest here tonight, and I will give you an answer after hearing what the Lord says; so the chiefs of Moab kept there with Balaam that night.


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See, the people who have come out of Egypt are covering all the earth: now, put a curse on this people for me, so that I may be able to make war on them, driving them out of the land.


text:
And God said to Balaam, You are not to go with them, or put a curse on this people, for they have my blessing.


text:
In the morning Balaam got up and said to the chiefs of Balak, Go back to your land, for the Lord will not let me go with you.


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And they came to Balaam and said, Balak, son of Zippor, says, Let nothing keep you from coming to me:


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For I will give you a place of very great honour, and whatever you say to me I will do; so come, in answer to my prayer, and put a curse on this people.


text:
But Balaam, in answer; said to the servants of Balak, Even if Balak gave me his house full of silver and gold, it would not be possible for me to do anything more or less than the orders of the Lord my God.


text:
And that night God came to Balaam and said to him, If these men have come for you, go with them: but do only what I say to you.


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But God was moved to wrath because he went: and the angel of the Lord took up a position in the road to keep him from his purpose. Now he was seated on his ass, and his two servants were with him.


text:
And the ass saw the angel of the Lord waiting in the road with his sword in his hand; and turning from the road, the ass went into the field; and Balaam gave the ass blows, to get her back on to the road.


text:
Then the angel of the Lord took up his position in a narrow road through the vine-gardens, with a wall on this side and on that.


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And the ass saw the angel of the Lord, and went near the wall, crushing Balaam's foot against the wall; and he gave her more blows.


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Then the angel of the Lord went further, stopping in a narrow place where there was no room for turning to the right or to the left.


text:
And the ass saw the angel of the Lord and went down on the earth under Balaam; and full of wrath, Balaam gave her hard blows with his stick.


text:
Then the Lord gave the ass the power of talking, and opening her mouth she said to Balaam, What have I done to you that you have given me blows these three times?


text:
And Balaam said to the ass, You have made me seem foolish: if only I had a sword in my hand I would put you to death.


text:
And the ass said to Balaam, Am I not your ass upon which you have gone all your life till this day? and have I ever done this to you before? And he said, No.


text:
Then the Lord made Balaam's eyes open, and he saw the angel of the Lord in the way with his sword in his hand: and he went down on his face to the earth.


text:
And the angel of the Lord said to him, Why have you given your ass blows these three times? See, I have come out against you to keep you back, because your purpose is not pleasing to me.


text:
And the ass saw me, turning to one side from me three times: if she had not gone to one side, I would certainly have put you to death and kept her safe.


text:
And Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, I have done wrong, for I did not see that you were in the way against me: but now, if it is evil in your eyes, I will go back again.


text:
And the angel of the Lord said to Balaam, Go with the men; but say only what I give you to say. Then Balaam went on with the chiefs of Balak.


text:
Now Balak, hearing that Balaam had come, went to the chief town of Moab, on the edge of the Arnon, in the farthest part of the land, for the purpose of meeting him.


text:
And Balak said to Balaam, Did I not send to you, requesting you with all my heart to come to me? why did you not come? am I not able to give you a place of honour?


text:
Then Balaam said to Balak, Now I have come to you; but have I power to say anything? Only what God puts into my mouth may I say.


text:
And in the morning Balak took Balaam up to the high places of Baal, and from there he was able to see the outer limits of the people.


text:
And Balak did as Balaam had said; and Balak and Balaam made an offering on every altar of an ox and a male sheep.


text:
Then Balaam said to Balak, Take your place by your burned offering, and I will go and see if the Lord comes to me: and I will give you word of whatever he says to me. And he went to an open place on a hill.


text:
And God came to Balaam, and Balaam said to him, I have made ready seven altars, offering an ox and a male sheep on every altar.


text:
And the Lord put words in Balaam's mouth, and said, Go back to Balak, and this is what you are to say.


text:
And in the words which the Lord had given him he said, From Aram Balak has sent for me, the king of Moab from the mountains of the East: come, put curses on Jacob for me and be angry with Israel.


text:
How may I put curses on him who is not cursed by God? how may I be angry with him with whom the Lord is not angry?


text:
From the top of the rocks I see him, looking down on him from the hills: it is a people made separate, not to be numbered among the nations.


text:
Who is able to take the measure of the dust of Jacob or the number of the thousands of Israel? May my death be the death of the upright and my last end like his!


text:
Then Balak said to Balaam, What have you done to me? I sent for you so that my haters might be cursed, and see, you have given them a blessing.


text:
And Balak said to him, Come with me now into another place from which you will not be able to see them all, but only the outskirts of them; and you will send curses on them from there.


text:
So he took him into the country of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and there they made seven altars, offering an ox and a male sheep on every altar.


text:
Then he said to Balak, Take your place here by your burned offering, while I go over there to the Lord.


text:
And the Lord came to Balaam, and put words in his mouth, and said, Go back to Balak, and this is what you are to say.


text:
So he came to him where he was waiting by his burned offering with the chiefs of Moab by his side. And Balak said to him, What has the Lord said?


text:
And in the words which the Lord had given him he said, Up! Balak, and give ear; give attention to me, O son of Zippor:


text:
God is not a man, to say what is false; or the son of man, that his purpose may be changed: what he has said, will he not do? and will he not give effect to the words of his mouth?


text:
See, I have had orders to give blessing: and he has given a blessing which I have no power to take away.


text:
He has seen no evil in Jacob or wrongdoing in Israel: the Lord his God is with him, and the glad cry of a king is among them.


text:
No evil power has effect against Jacob, no secret arts against Israel; at the right time it will be said of Jacob and of Israel, See what God has done!


text:
See, Israel comes up like a she-lion, lifting himself up like a lion: he will take no rest till he has made a meal of those he has overcome, drinking the blood of those he has put to death.


text:
Then Balak said to Balaam, If you will not put a curse on them, at all events do not give them a blessing.


text:
Then Balak said to Balaam, Come now, I will take you to another place; it may be that God will let you put a curse on them from there.


text:
And Balaam said to Balak, Make me seven altars here and get seven oxen and seven male sheep ready for me.


text:
Now when Balaam saw that it was the Lord's pleasure to give his blessing to Israel, he did not, as at other times, make use of secret arts, but turning his face to the waste land,


text:
And lifting up his eyes, he saw Israel there, with their tents in the order of their tribes: and the spirit of God came on him.


text:
And moved by the spirit, he said, These are the words of Balaam, son of Beor, the words of the man whose eyes are open:


text:
He says, whose ears are open to the words of God, who has seen the vision of the Ruler of all, falling down, but having his eyes open:


text:
They are stretched out like valleys, like gardens by the riverside, like flowering trees planted by the Lord, like cedar-trees by the waters.


text:
Peoples will be in fear before his strength, his arm will be on great nations: his king will be higher than Agag, and his kingdom made great in honour.


text:
It is God who has taken him out of Egypt; his horns are like those of the mountain ox; the nations warring against him will be his food, their bones will be broken, they will be wounded with his arrows.


text:
He took his sleep stretched out like a lion, and like a she-lion: by whom will his rest be broken? May a blessing be on everyone who gives you blessing, and a curse on everyone by whom you are cursed.


text:
Then Balak was full of wrath against Balaam, and angrily waving his hands he said to Balaam, I sent for you so that those who are against me might be cursed, but now, see, three times you have given them a blessing.


text:
Go back quickly to the place you came from: it was my purpose to give you a place of honour, but now the Lord has kept you back from honour.


text:
Even if Balak gave me his house full of silver and gold, it would not be possible for me to go outside the orders of the Lord, doing good or evil at the impulse of my mind; whatever the Lord says I will say?


text:
So now I will go back to my people: but first let me make clear to you what this people will do to your people in days to come.


text:
Then he went on with his story and said, These are the words of Balaam, the son of Beor, the words of him whose eyes are open:


text:
He says, whose ear is open to the words of God, who has knowledge of the Most High, who has seen the vision of the Ruler of all, falling down and having his eyes open:


text:
I see him, but not now: looking on him, but not near: a star will come out of Jacob, and a rod of authority out of Israel, sending destruction to the farthest limits of Moab and on the head of all the sons of Sheth.


text:
Then, turning his eyes to Amalek, he went on with his story and said, Amalek was the first of the nations, but his part will be destruction for ever.


text:
And looking on the Kenites he went on with his story and said, Strong is your living-place, and your secret place is safe in the rock.


text:
But ships will come from the direction of Kittim, troubling Asshur and troubling Eber, and like the others their fate will be destruction.


text:
Now when Israel was living in Shittim the people became false to the Lord, doing evil with the daughters of Moab:


text:
For they sent for the people to be present at the offerings made to their gods; and the people took part in their feasts and gave honour to their gods.


text:
So Israel had relations with the women of Moab in honour of the Baal of Peor: and the Lord was moved to wrath against Israel.


text:
Then the Lord said to Moses, Take all the chiefs of the people, hanging them up in the sun before the Lord, so that the wrath of the Lord may be turned from Israel.


text:
So Moses said to the judges of Israel, Let everyone put to death those of his men who have had relations with the women of Moab in honour of the Baal of Peor.


text:
Then one of the children of Israel came to his brothers, taking with him a woman of Midian, before the eyes of Moses and all the meeting of the people, while they were weeping at the door of the Tent of meeting.


text:
And Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, seeing it, got up from among the people and took a spear in his hand,


text:
And went after the man of Israel into the tent, driving the spear through the two of them, through the man of Israel and through the stomach of the woman. So the disease was stopped among the children of Israel.


text:
Through Phinehas, and because of his passion for my honour, my wrath has been turned away from the children of Israel, so that I have not sent destruction on them all in my wrath.


text:
And by this agreement, he and his sons after him have the right to be priests for ever; because, by his care for the honour of his God, he took away the sin of the children of Israel.


text:
Now the man of Israel who was put to death with the woman of Midian was Zimri, the son of Salu, a chief of one of the families of the Simeonites.


text:
And the woman of Midian who was put to death was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur; he was the head of a family in Midian.


text:
For they are a danger to you with their false ways, causing sin to come on you in the question of Peor, and because of Cozbi, their sister, the daughter of the chief of Midian, who was put to death at the time of the disease which came on you because of Peor.


text:
Let all the children of Israel be numbered, by the names of their fathers' families, all those of twenty years old and over who are able to go to war in Israel.


text:
So Moses and Eleazar the priest gave them the order in the lowlands of Moab by Jordan at Jericho, saying,


text:
Let all the people of twenty years old and over be numbered, as the Lord has given orders to Moses and the children of Israel who have come out of Egypt.


text:
Reuben, the first son of Israel: the sons of Reuben by their families: of Hanoch, the family of the Hanochites: of Pallu, the family of the Palluites:


text:
These are the families of the Reubenites: their number was forty-three thousand, seven hundred and thirty.


text:
And the sons of Eliab: Nemuel and Dathan and Abiram. These are the same Dathan and Abiram who had a place in the meeting of the people, who together with Korah made an outcry against Moses and Aaron and against the Lord:


text:
And they went down into the open mouth of the earth, together with Korah, when death overtook him and all his band; at the time when two hundred and fifty men were burned in the fire, and they became a sign.


text:
The sons of Simeon by their families: of Nemuel, the family of the Nemuelites: of Jamin, the family of the Jaminites: of Jachin, the family of the Jachinites:


text:
The sons of Gad by their families: of Zephon, the family of the Zephonites: of Haggi, the family of the Haggites: of Shuni, the family of the Shunites:


text:
And the sons of Judah by their families were: of Shelah, the family of the Shelahites: of Perez, the family of the Perezites: of Zerah, the family of the Zerahites.


text:
And the sons of Perez were: of Hezron, the family of the Hezronites: of Hamul, the family of the Hamulites.


text:
The sons of Issachar by their families: of Tola, the family of the Tolaites: of Puvah, the family of the Punites:


text:
The sons of Zebulun by their families: of Sered, the family of the Seredites: of Elon, the family of the Elonites: of Jahleel, the family of the Jahleelites.


text:
The sons of Manasseh: of Machir, the family of the Machirites: and Machir was the father of Gilead: of Gilead, the family of the Gileadites.


text:
These are the sons of Gilead: of Iezer, the family of the Iezerites: of Helek, the family of the Helekites:


text:
And Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, had no sons, but only daughters, and the names of the daughters of Zelophehad were Mahlah, and Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.


text:
These are the families of Manasseh; and those who were numbered of them were fifty-two thousand, seven hundred.


text:
These are the sons of Ephraim by their families: of Shuthelah, the family of the Shuthelahites: of Becher, the family of the Becherites: of Tahan, the family of the Tahanites.


text:
These are the families of Ephraim as they were numbered, thirty-two thousand, five hundred. These are the sons of Joseph by their families.


text:
The sons of Benjamin by their families: of Bela, the family of the Belaites: of Ashbel, the family of the Ashbelites: of Ahiram, the family of the Ahiramites:


text:
And the sons of Bela were Ard and Naaman: of Ard, the family of the Ardites: of Naaman, the family of the Naamites.


text:
These are the sons of Benjamin by their families: and those who were numbered of them were forty-five thousand, six hundred.


text:
These are the sons of Dan by their families: of Shuham, the family of the Shuhamites. These are the families of Dan by their families.


text:
The sons of Asher by their families: of Imnah, the family of the Imnites: of Ishvi, the family of the Ishvites: of Beriah, the family of the Beriites.


text:
Of the sons of Beriah: of Heber, the family of the Heberites: of Malchiel, the family of the Malchielites:


text:
These are the families of the sons of Asher as they were numbered, fifty-three thousand, four hundred.


text:
The sons of Naphtali by their families: of Jahzeel, the family of the Jahzeelites: of Guni, the family of the Gunites:


text:
These are the families of Naphtali by their families: and those who were numbered of them were forty-five thousand, four hundred.


text:
Those who were numbered of the children of Israel were six hundred and one thousand, seven hundred and thirty.


text:
Let there be a division of the land among these, for their heritage, in relation to the number of names.


text:
To those families who are more in number, give a greater heritage; to those who are less in number, a smaller part: to every one let the heritage be given in relation to the number in his family.


text:
But let the distribution of the land be made by the decision of the Lord: by the names of the tribes of their fathers let their heritage be given them.


text:
As it is ordered by the decision of the Lord, let distribution be made between those who are more in number and those who are less.


text:
These were those of the Levites who were numbered by their families: of Gershon, the family of the Gershonites: of Kohath, the family of the Kohathites: of Merari, the family of the Merarites.


text:
These are the families of Levi: the family of the Libnites, the family of the Hebronites, the family of the Mahlites, the family of the Mushites, the family of the Korahites. And Kohath was the father of Amram.


text:
Amram's wife was Jochebed, the daughter of Levi, whom he had in Egypt: by Amram she had Moses and Aaron and their sister Miriam.


text:
Of these, twenty-three thousand males, from one month old and over, were numbered: they were not numbered with the rest of the children of Israel, for they had no heritage among the children of Israel.


text:
All these were numbered by Moses and Eleazar the priest when the children of Israel were numbered in the lowlands of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.


text:
But among all these was not one of those numbered by Moses and Aaron the priest when the children of Israel were numbered in the waste land of Sinai.


text:
For the Lord had said of them, Death will certainly overtake them in the waste land. And of them all, only Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua, the son of Nun, were still living.


text:
Then the daughters of Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of Manasseh, the son of Joseph, came forward: their names are Mahlah, Noah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Tirzah.


text:
They came before Moses and Eleazar the priest and the chiefs and all the people at the door of the Tent of meeting, and said,


text:
Death overtook our father in the waste land; he was not among those who were banded together with Korah against the Lord; but death came to him in his sin; and he had no sons.


text:
Why is the name of our father to be taken away from among his family, because he had no son? Give us a heritage among our father's brothers.


text:
What the daughters of Zelophehad say is right: certainly you are to give them a heritage among their father's brothers: and let the property which would have been their father's go to them.


text:
And say to the children of Israel, If a man has no son at the time of his death, let his heritage go to his daughter.


text:
And if his father has no brothers, then give it to his nearest relation in the family, as his heritage: this is to be a decision made by law for the children of Israel, as the Lord gave orders to Moses.


text:
And the Lord said to Moses, Go up into this mountain of Abarim so that you may see the land which I have given to the children of Israel.


text:
Because in the waste land of Zin, when the people were angry, you and he went against my word and did not keep my name holy before their eyes, at the waters. (These are the waters of Meribah in Kadesh in the waste land of Zin.)


text:
To go out and come in before them and be their guide; so that the people of the Lord may not be like sheep without a keeper.


text:
And the Lord said to Moses, Take Joshua, the son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and put your hand on him;


text:
And take him before Eleazar the priest and all the meeting of the people, and give him his orders before their eyes.


text:
He will take his place before Eleazar the priest, so that he may get directions from the Lord for him, with the Urim: at his word they will go out, and at his word they will come in, he and all the children of Israel.


text:
So Moses did as the Lord said: he took Joshua and put him before Eleazar the priest and the meeting of the people:


text:
Give orders to the children of Israel and say to them, Let it be your care to give me my offerings at their regular times, the food of the offerings made by fire to me for a sweet smell.


text:
Say to them, This is the offering made by fire which you are to give to the Lord; he-lambs of the first year without any mark, two every day as a regular burned offering.


text:
And the tenth part of an ephah of the best meal for a meal offering mixed with the fourth part of a hin of clear oil.


text:
It is a regular burned offering, as it was ordered in Mount Sinai, for a sweet smell, an offering made by fire to the Lord.


text:
And for its drink offering take the fourth part of a hin for one lamb: in the holy place let the wine be drained out for a drink offering for the Lord.


text:
Let the other lamb be offered at evening; like the meal offering of the morning and its drink offering, let it be offered as an offering made by fire for a sweet smell to the Lord.


text:
And on the Sabbath day, two he-lambs of the first year, without any mark, and two tenth parts of the best meal for a meal offering mixed with oil, and its drink offering:


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


text:
And on the first day of every month you are to give a burned offering to the Lord; two oxen, one male sheep, and seven he-lambs of the first year, without any mark;


text:
And three tenth parts of the best meal for a meal offering mixed with oil, for every ox; and two tenth parts of the best meal for a meal offering mixed with oil, for the one sheep;


text:
And a separate tenth part of the best meal mixed with oil for a meal offering for every lamb; for a burned offering of a sweet smell, an offering made by fire to the Lord.


text:
And their drink offerings are to be half a hin of wine for an ox, and the third part of a hin for a male sheep, and the fourth part of a hin for a lamb: this is the burned offering for every month through all the months of the year.


text:
And one he-goat for a sin-offering to the Lord; it is to be offered in addition to the regular burned offering and its drink offering.


text:
On the fifteenth day of this month there is to be a feast; for seven days let your food be unleavened cakes.


text:
And you are to give an offering made by fire, a burned offering to the Lord; two oxen, one male sheep, and seven he-lambs of the first year, without any mark:


text:
And their meal offering, the best meal mixed with oil: let three tenth parts of an ephah be offered for an ox and two tenth parts for a male sheep;


text:
These are to be offered in addition to the morning burned offering, which is a regular burned offering at all times.


text:
In this way, every day for seven days, give the food of the offering made by fire, a sweet smell to the Lord: it is to be offered in addition to the regular burned offering, and its drink offering.


text:
And at the time of the first-fruits, when you give an offering of new meal to the Lord at your feast of weeks, there is to be a holy meeting: you may do no field-work:


text:
And give a burned offering for a sweet smell to the Lord; two oxen, one male sheep, and seven he-lambs of the first year;


text:
And their meal offering, the best meal mixed with oil, three tenth parts for an ox, two tenth parts for a male sheep,


text:
These are in addition to the regular burned offering and its meal offering; take care that they are without any mark, and let them be offered with their drink offerings.


text:
In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, let there be a holy meeting; on it you may do no field-work; let the day be marked by the blowing of horns;


text:
And give to the Lord a burned offering for a sweet smell; one ox, one male sheep, seven he-lambs of the first year, without any mark on them:


text:
In addition to the burned offering of the new moon, and its meal offering, and the regular burned offering and its meal offering, and their drink offerings, as they are ordered, for a sweet smell, an offering made by fire to the Lord.


text:
And on the tenth day of this seventh month there will be a holy meeting; keep yourselves from pleasure, and do no sort of work;


text:
And give to the Lord a burned offering for a sweet smell; one ox, one male sheep, seven he-lambs of the first year: only those without any mark on them may be used:


text:
One he-goat for a sin-offering; in addition to the offering for taking away your sin, and the regular burned offering and its meal offering, and their drink offerings.


text:
And on the fifteenth day of the seventh month let there be a holy meeting; do no field-work, and keep a feast to the Lord for seven days;


text:
And give a burned offering, an offering made by fire of a sweet smell to the Lord, thirteen oxen, two male sheep, fourteen he-lambs of the first year, all without any mark on them;


text:
And their meal offering, the best meal mixed with oil, three tenth parts for every one of the thirteen oxen, two tenth parts for every male sheep,


text:
And one he-goat for a sin-offering; in addition to the regular burned offering, and its meal offering, and its drink offering.


text:
On the second day of the feast give an offering of twelve oxen, two male sheep, fourteen he-lambs of the first year, without any mark on them;


text:
And their meal offering and their drink offerings for the oxen and the sheep and the lambs, in relation to their number, as it is ordered:


text:
And one he-goat for a sin-offering in addition to the regular burned offering, and its meal offering, and their drink offerings.


text:
And on the third day eleven oxen, two male sheep, fourteen he-lambs of the first year, without any mark;


text:
And their meal offering and drink offerings for the oxen, for the male sheep, and for the lambs, in relation to their number, as it is ordered:


text:
And on the fourth day ten oxen, two male sheep, fourteen he-lambs of the first year, without any mark:


text:
And their meal offering and their drink offerings for the oxen, for the male sheep, and for the lambs, in relation to their number, as it is ordered.


text:
And on the fifth day nine oxen, two male sheep, fourteen he-lambs of the first year, without any mark:


text:
And their meal offering and their drink offerings for the oxen, for the male sheep, and for the lambs, in relation to their number, as it is ordered:


text:
And on the sixth day eight oxen, two male sheep, fourteen he-lambs of the first year, without any mark:


text:
And one he-goat for a sin-offering; in addition to the regular burned offering, its meal offering, and its drink offerings.


text:
And on the seventh day seven oxen, two male sheep, fourteen he-lambs of the first year, without any mark:


text:
And one he-goat for a sin-offering; in addition to the regular burned offering, its meal offering, and its drink offering.


text:
And give a burned offering, an offering made by fire of a sweet smell to the Lord: one ox, one male sheep, seven he-lambs of the first year, without any mark:


text:
With the meal offering and the drink offerings for the ox, the male sheep, and the lambs, in relation to their number, as it is ordered:


text:
These are the offerings which you are to give to the Lord at your regular feasts, in addition to the offerings for an oath, and the free offerings you give, for your burned offerings and your drink offerings and your peace-offerings.


text:
When a man takes an oath to the Lord, or gives an undertaking having the force of an oath, let him not go back from his word, but let him do whatever he has said he will do.


text:
If a woman, being young and under the authority of her father, takes an oath to the Lord or gives an undertaking;


text:
If her father, hearing of her oath or the undertaking she has given, says nothing to her, then all her oaths and every undertaking she has given will have force.


text:
But if her father, hearing of it, makes her take back her word, then the oaths or the undertakings she has given will have no force; and she will have forgiveness from the Lord, because her oath was broken by her father.


text:
And if she is married to a husband at the time when she is under an oath or an undertaking given without thought;


text:
If her husband, hearing of it, says nothing to her at the time, then the oaths she made and the undertakings she gave will have force.


text:
But if her husband, hearing of it, makes her take it back, then the oath she made and the undertaking she gave without thought will have no force or effect, and she will have the Lord's forgiveness.


text:
But an oath made by a widow or one who is no longer married to her husband, and every undertaking she has given, will have force.


text:
And her husband, hearing of it, said nothing to her and did not put a stop to it, then all her oaths and every undertaking she gave will have force.


text:
But if her husband, on hearing of it, made them without force or effect, then whatever she has said about her oaths or her undertaking has no force: her husband has made them without effect, and she will have the Lord's forgiveness.


text:
Every oath, and every undertaking which she gives, to keep herself from pleasure, may be supported or broken by her husband.


text:
But if the days go on, and her husband says nothing whatever to her, then he is giving the support of his authority to her oaths and undertakings, because at the time of hearing them he said nothing to her.


text:
But if at some time after hearing of them, he makes them without force, then he is responsible for her wrongdoing.


text:
These are the laws which the Lord gave Moses in relation to a man and his wife, or a father and a young daughter who is under his authority.


text:
Give the Midianites punishment for the wrong they did to the children of Israel: and after that you will go to rest with your people.


text:
So Moses said to the people, Let men from among you be armed for war to put into effect against Midian the Lord's punishment on them.


text:
So from the thousands of Israel a thousand were taken from every tribe, twelve thousand men armed for war.


text:
And Moses sent them out to war, a thousand from every tribe, and with them Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the priest, taking in his hands the vessels of the holy place and the horns for sounding the note of war.


text:
They put the kings of Midian to death with the rest, Evi and Reken and Zur and Hur and Reba, the five kings of Midian: and Balaam, the son of Beor, they put to death with the sword.


text:
The women of Midian with their little ones the children of Israel took prisoner; and all their cattle and flocks and all their goods they took for themselves;


text:
And the prisoners and the goods and everything they had taken, they took to Moses and Eleazar the priest and the people of Israel, to the tent-circle in the lowlands of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.


text:
Then Moses and Eleazar the priest and the chiefs of the people went out to them before they had come into the tent-circle.


text:
And Moses was angry with the chiefs of the army, the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds who had come back from the war.


text:
It was these who, moved by Balaam, were the cause of Israel's sin against the Lord in the question of Peor, because of which disease came on the people of the Lord.


text:
You yourselves will have to keep outside the tent-circle for seven days, anyone of you who has put any person to death or come near a dead body; and on the third day and on the seventh day make yourselves and your prisoners clean.


text:
And every bit of clothing, and anything made of leather or goats' hair or wood, you are to make clean.


text:
Then Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who had been to the fight, This is the rule of the law which the Lord has given to Moses:


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And anything which may be heated, is to go through the fire and be made clean; but in addition it is to be put in the water of cleaning: and anything which may not go through the fire is to be put in the water.


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And on the seventh day, after washing your clothing, you will be clean, and then you may come into the tent-circle.


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Get an account of everything which was taken in the war, of man and of beast, you and Eleazar the priest and the heads of families of the people:


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And let division be made of it into two parts, one for the men of war who went out to the fight, and one for all the people:


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And from the men of war who went out let there be offered to the Lord one out of every five hundred, from the persons, and from the oxen and asses and sheep:


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Take this from their part and give it to Eleazar the priest as an offering to be lifted up to the Lord.


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And from the part given to the children of Israel, take one out of every fifty, from the persons, and from the oxen and asses and sheep, and give it to the Levites who have the care of the House of the Lord.


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Now the beasts taken, in addition to what the fighting-men took for themselves, were six hundred and seventy-five thousand sheep,


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And the half given as their part to the men who went to the war, was three hundred and thirty-seven thousand, five hundred sheep,


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And Moses gave the Lord's part, lifted up as an offering, to Eleazar the priest, as the Lord had given orders to Moses.


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And from the half given to the children of Israel, which Moses had kept separate from that given to the fighting-men,


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Even from the children of Israel's half, Moses took one out of every fifty, men and beasts, and gave them to the Levites who had the care of the House of the Lord; as the Lord gave orders to Moses.


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Then the men in authority over the thousands of the army, the captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, came to Moses,


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And said to him, Your servants have taken note of the number of all the fighting-men under our orders, and every one is present;


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And we have here an offering for the Lord from what every man took in the war, ornaments of gold, leg-chains and arm-rings, finger-rings, ear-rings, and neck-ornaments, to make our souls free from sin before the Lord.


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And the gold which the captains of thousands and captains of hundreds gave, as an offering to be lifted up before the Lord, came to sixteen thousand, seven hundred and fifty shekels.


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Then Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold given by the captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, and took it into the Tent of meeting, to be a sign in memory of the children of Israel before the Lord.


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Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a great number of cattle: and when they saw that the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead was a good place for cattle;


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The children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and said to Moses and to Eleazar the priest and to the chiefs of the meeting,


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The land which the Lord gave into the hands of the children of Israel, is a land for cattle, and your servants have cattle.


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And they said, With your approval, let this land be given to your servants as their heritage: do not take us over Jordan.


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And Moses said to the children of Gad and the children of Reuben, Are your brothers to go to the war, while you take your rest here?


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Why would you take from the children of Israel the desire to go over into the land which the Lord has given them?


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For when they went up to the valley of Eshcol, and saw the land, they took from the children of Israel the desire to go into the land which the Lord had given them.


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Truly, not one of the men of twenty years old and over who came out of Egypt will see the land which I gave by oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; because they have not been true to me with all their heart;


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But only Caleb, the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite, and Joshua, the son of Nun: because they have been true to the Lord.


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Then the Lord was angry with Israel, and he made them wanderers in the waste land for forty years? till all that generation who had done evil in the eyes of the Lord was dead.


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And now you have come to take the place of your fathers, another generation of sinners, increasing the wrath of the Lord against Israel.


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For if you are turned away from him, he will send them wandering again in the waste land; and you will be the cause of the destruction of all this people.


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Then they came to him, and said, We will make safe places for our cattle here, and towns for our little ones;


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But we ourselves will be ready armed to go before the children of Israel till we have taken them to their place: but our little ones will be safe in the walled towns against the people of the land.


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We will not come back to our houses till every one of the children of Israel has come into his heritage.


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For we will not have our heritage with them on the other side of Jordan and forward; because our heritage has come to us on this side of Jordan to the east.


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Every armed man of you going across Jordan before the Lord till he has overcome and sent in flight all who are against him,


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And the land is under the rule of the Lord: then after that you may come back, having done no wrong to the Lord and to Israel; and this land will be yours for your heritage before the Lord.


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But if you do not do this, then you are sinners against the Lord; and you may be certain that your sin will have its reward.


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So get to work building your towns for your little ones, and safe places for your sheep; and do as you have said.


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And the children of Gad and the children of Reuben said to Moses, Your servants will do as my lord says.


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Our little ones, our wives, and our flocks, and all our cattle, will be there in the towns of Gilead;


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But your servants will go over, every man armed for war, before the Lord to the fight, as my lord says.


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So Moses gave orders about them to Eleazar the priest and to Joshua, the son of Nun, and to the heads of families of the tribes of the children of Israel.


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And Moses said to them, If the children of Gad and the children of Reuben go with you over Jordan, every man armed for the fight before the Lord, and all the land is given into your hands, then let them have the land of Gilead for a heritage:


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But if they do not go over with you armed, they will have to take their heritage with you in the land of Canaan.


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Then the children of Gad and the children of Reuben said, As the Lord has said to your servants, so will we do.


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We will go over armed before the Lord into the land of Canaan, and you will give us our heritage on this side of Jordan.


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So Moses gave to them, even to the children of Gad and the children of Reuben and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, the son of Joseph, the kingdom of Sihon, king of the Amorites and Og, king of Bashan, all the land with its towns and the country round them.


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And Nebo and Baal-meon, (their names being changed,) and Sibmah: and they gave other names to the towns they made.


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And the children of Machir, the son of Manasseh, went to Gilead and took it, driving out the Amorites who were living there.


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These are the journeys of the children of Israel, when they went out of the land of Egypt in their armies, under the direction of Moses and Aaron.


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And the stages of their journey on their way out were put down in writing by Moses at the order of the Lord: these are the stages of their journey and the way they went.


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On the fifteenth day of the first month they went out from Rameses; on the day after the Passover the children of Israel went out by the power of the Lord before the eyes of all the Egyptians,


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While the Egyptians were placing in the earth the bodies of their sons on whom the Lord had sent destruction: and their gods had been judged by him.


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And from Etham, turning back to Pi-hahiroth which is before Baal-zephon, they put up their tents before Migdol.


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And journeying on from before Hahiroth, they went through the sea into the waste land: they went three days' journey through the waste land of Etham and put up their tents in Marah.


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And from Marah they went on to Elim: and in Elim there were twelve water-springs and seventy palm-trees; and they put up their tents there.


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And they went on from Alush, and put up their tents in Rephidim, where there was no drinking-water for the people.


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And they went on from Ezion-geber, and put up their tents in the waste land of Zin (which is Kadesh).


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And Aaron the priest went up into the mountain at the order of the Lord, and came to his death there, in the fortieth year after the children of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fifth month, on the first day of the month.


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And news of the coming of the children of Israel came to the king of Arad, the Canaanite, who was living in the South in the land of Canaan.


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And from Almon-diblathaim they went on, and put up their tents in the mountains of Abarim, before Nebo.


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And they went on from the mountains of Abarim, and put up their tents in the lowlands of Moab by Jordan at Jericho;


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Planting their tents by the side of Jordan from Beth-jeshimoth as far as Abel-shittim in the lowlands of Moab.


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See that all the people of the land are forced out from before you, and put to destruction all their pictured stones, and all their metal images, and all their high places:


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And take the land for yourselves, for your resting-place: for to you I have given the land as your heritage.


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And you will take up your heritage in the land by the decision of the Lord, to every family its part; the greater the family the greater its heritage, and the smaller the family the smaller will be its heritage; wherever the decision of the Lord gives to any man his part, that will be his; distribution will be made to you by your fathers' tribes.


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But if you are slow in driving out the people of the land, then those of them who are still there will be like pin-points in your eyes and like thorns in your sides, troubling you in the land where you are living.


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Give orders to the children of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land of Canaan; (this is the land which is to be your heritage, the land of Canaan inside these limits,)


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Then your south quarter will be from the waste land of Zin by the side of Edom, and your limit on the south will be from the east end of the Salt Sea,


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And round to the south of the slope of Akrabbim, and on to Zin: and its direction will be south of Kadesh-barnea, and it will go as far as Hazar-addar and on to Azmon:


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And for your limit on the west you will have the Great Sea and its edge: this will be your limit on the west.


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And from Mount Hor the line will go in the direction of Hamath; the farthest point of it will be at Zedad:


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And the limit will go on to Ziphron, with its farthest point at Hazar-enan: this will be your limit on the north.


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Going down from Shepham to Riblah on the east side of Ain, and on as far as the east side of the sea of Chinnereth:


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And Moses gave orders to the children of Israel saying, This is the land which is to be your heritage, by the decision of the Lord, which by the Lord's order is to be given to the nine tribes and the half-tribe:


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For the tribe of the children of Reuben, by their fathers' families, and the tribe of the children of Gad, by their fathers' families, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, have been given their heritage:


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The two tribes and the half-tribe have been given their heritage on the other side of Jordan at Jericho, on the east looking to the dawn.


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These are the names of the men who are to make the distribution of the land among you: Eleazar the priest and Joshua, the son of Nun.


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Of the children of Joseph: of the tribe of the children of Manasseh, a chief, Hanniel, the son of Ephod:


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These are they to whom the Lord gave orders to make the distribution of the heritage among the children of Israel in the land of Canaan.


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Give orders to the children of Israel to give to the Levites, from the heritage which is theirs, towns for themselves, with land on the outskirts of the towns.


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These towns are to be their living-places, with land round them for their cattle and their food and all their beasts,


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The measure of this space of land is to be two thousand cubits outside the town on the east, and two thousand cubits on the south and on the west and on the north, the town being in the middle. This space will be the outskirts of their towns.


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And the towns which you give the Levites are to be the six safe places to which the taker of life may go in flight; and in addition you are to give them forty-two towns.


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And these towns are to be given out of the heritage of the children of Israel, taking the greater number from those who have much, and a smaller number from those who have little: everyone, in the measure of his heritage, is to give of his property to the Levites.


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Then let certain towns be marked out as safe places to which anyone who takes the life of another in error may go in flight.


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In these towns you may be safe from him who has the right of punishment; so that death may not overtake the taker of life till he has been judged by the meeting of the people.


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For the children of Israel and for the man from another country who is living among them, these six towns are to be safe places, where anyone causing the death of another through error may go in flight.


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But if a man gives another man a blow with an iron instrument, causing his death, he is a taker of life and is certainly to be put to death.


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Or if he gives him a blow with a stone in his hand, causing his death, he is a taker of life and is certainly to be put to death.


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Or if he gave him blows with a wood instrument in his hands, causing his death, he is a taker of life and is certainly to be put to death.


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He whose right it is to give punishment for blood, may himself put to death the taker of life when he comes face to face with him.


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If in his hate he put a sword through him, or waiting secretly for him sent a spear or stone at him, causing his death;


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Or in hate gave him blows with his hand, causing death; he who gave the death-blow is to be put to death; he is a taker of life: he whose right it is to give punishment for blood may put to death the taker of life when he comes face to face with him.


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But if a man has given a wound to another suddenly and not in hate, or without design has sent something against him,


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Or has given him a blow with a stone, without seeing him, so causing his death, though he had nothing against him and no desire to do him evil:


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Then let the meeting of the people be judge between the man responsible for the death and him who has the right of punishment for blood, acting by these rules:


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And let the people keep the man responsible for the death safe from the hands of him who has the right of punishment for blood, and send him back to his safe town where he had gone in flight: there let him be till the death of the high priest who was marked with the holy oil.


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And the giver of punishment, meeting him outside the walls of the town, puts him to death, he will not be responsible for his blood:


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Because he had been ordered to keep inside the safe town till the death of the high priest: but after the death of the high priest the taker of life may come back to the place of his heritage.


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These rules are to be your guide in judging through all your generations wherever you may be living.


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Anyone causing the death of another is himself to be put to death on the word of witnesses: but the word of one witness is not enough.


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Further, no price may be given for the life of one who has taken life and whose right reward is death: he is certainly to be put to death.


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And no price may be offered for one who has gone in flight to a safe town, for the purpose of letting him come back to his place before the death of the high priest.


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So do not make the land where you are living unholy: for blood makes the land unholy: and there is no way of making the land free from the blood which has come on it, but only by the death of him who was the cause of it.


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Do not make unclean the land where you are living and in which is my House: for I the Lord am present among the children of Israel.


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Now the heads of the families of the children of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of the sons of Joseph, came to Moses, the chiefs and the heads of families of the children of Israel being present,


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And said, The Lord gave orders to my lord to make distribution of the land as their heritage to the children of Israel: and my lord was ordered by the Lord to give the heritage of Zelophehad, our brother, to his daughters.


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Now if they get married to any of the sons of other tribes of the children of Israel, then their property will be taken away from the heritage of our fathers, and become part of the heritage of the tribe into which they get married: and their heritage will be taken away from the heritage of our tribe.


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And at the time of the Jubilee of the children of Israel, their property will be joined to the heritage of the tribe of which they are part and will be taken away from the heritage of the tribe of our fathers.


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So by the direction of the Lord, Moses gave orders to the children of Israel, saying, What the tribe of the sons of Joseph have said is right.


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This is the order of the Lord about the daughters of Zelophehad: The Lord says, Let them take as their husbands whoever is most pleasing to them, but only among the family of their father's tribe.


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And so no property will be handed from tribe to tribe among the children of Israel; but every one of the children of Israel will keep the heritage of his father's tribe.


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And every daughter owning property in any tribe of the children of Israel is to be married to one of the family of her father's tribe, so that every man of the children of Israel may keep the heritage of his fathers.


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And no property will be handed from one tribe to another, but every tribe of the children of Israel will keep its heritage.


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For Mahlah, Tirzah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, took as their husbands the sons of their father's brothers:


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And were married into the families of the sons of Manasseh, the son of Joseph, and their property was kept in the tribe of their father's family


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These are the laws and the orders which the Lord gave to the children of Israel by Moses, in the lowlands of Moab by Jordan at Jericho.


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These are the words which Moses said to all Israel on the far side of Jordan, in the waste land in the Arabah opposite Suph, between Paran on the one side, and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab on the other.


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Now in the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses gave to the children of Israel all the orders which the Lord had given him for them;


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After he had overcome Sihon, king of the Amorites, ruling in Heshbon, and Og, king of Bashan, ruling in Ashtaroth, at Edrei:


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Make a move now, and go on your way into the hill-country of the Amorites and the places near it, in the Arabah and the hill-country and in the lowlands and in the South and by the seaside, all the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates.


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See, all the land is before you: go in and take for yourselves the land which the Lord gave by an oath to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to their seed after them.


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May the Lord, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand times greater in number than you are, and give you his blessing as he has said!


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How is it possible for me by myself to be responsible for you, and undertake the weight of all your troubles and your arguments?


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Take for yourselves men who are wise, far-seeing, and respected among you, from your tribes, and I will make them rulers over you.


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So I took the heads of your tribes, wise men and respected, and made them rulers over you, captains of thousands and captains of hundreds and captains of fifties and captains of tens, and overseers of your tribes.


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And at that time I gave orders to your judges, saying, Let all questions between your brothers come before you for hearing, and give decisions uprightly between a man and his brother or one from another nation who is with him.


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In judging, do not let a man's position have any weight with you; give hearing equally to small and great; have no fear of any man, for it is God who is judge: and any cause in which you are not able to give a decision, you are to put before me and I will give it a hearing.


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Then we went on from Horeb, through all that great and cruel waste which you saw, on our way to the hill-country of the Amorites, as the Lord gave us orders; and we came to Kadesh-barnea.


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And I said to you, You have come to the hill-country of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is giving us.


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See now, the Lord your God has put the land into your hands: go up and take it, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has said to you; have no fear and do not be troubled.


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And you came near to me, every one of you, and said, Let us send men before us to go through the land with care and give us an account of the way we are to go and the towns to which we will come.


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And taking in their hands some of the fruit of the land, they came down again to us, and gave us their account, saying, It is a good land which the Lord our God is giving us.


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And you made an angry outcry in your tents, and said, In his hate for us the Lord has taken us out of the land of Egypt, to give us up into the hands of the Amorites for our destruction.


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Where are we going up? Our brothers have made our hearts feeble with fear by saying, The people are greater and taller than we are, and the towns are great and walled up to heaven; and more than this, we have seen the sons of the Anakim there.


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The Lord your God who goes before you will be fighting for you, and will do such wonders as he did for you in Egypt before your eyes;


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And in the waste land, where you have seen how the Lord was supporting you, as a man does his son, in all your journeying till you came to this place.


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Who goes before you on your way, looking for a place where you may put up your tents, in fire by night, lighting up the way you are to go, and in a cloud by day.


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Truly, not one of this evil generation will see that good land which I said I would give to your fathers,


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But only Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, he will see it; and to him and to his children I will give the land over which his feet have gone, because he has been true to the Lord with all his heart.


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And, in addition, the Lord was angry with me because of you, saying, You yourself will not go into it:


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Joshua, the son of Nun, your servant, he will go into the land: say to him that he is to be strong, for he will be Israel's guide into their heritage.


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And your little ones, who, you said, would come into strange hands, your children, who now have no knowledge of good or evil, they will go into that land, and to them I will give it and it will be theirs.


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Then you said to me, We have done evil against the Lord, we will go up to the attack, as the Lord our God has given us orders. And arming yourselves every one, you made ready to go up without care into the hill-country.


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And the Lord said to me, Say to them, Do not go up to the attack; for I am not among you, and you will be overcome by those who are against you.


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This I said to you, but you gave no attention and went against the orders of the Lord, and in your pride went up into the hill-country.


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And the Amorites who were in the hill-country came out against you and put you to flight, rushing after you like bees, and overcame you in Seir, driving you even as far as Hormah.


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And you came back, weeping before the Lord; but the Lord gave no attention to your cries and did not give ear to you.


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Then we went back, journeying into the waste land by the way to the Red Sea, as the Lord had said to me: and we were a long time going round Mount Seir.


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And give the people orders, saying, You are about to go through the land of your brothers, the children of Esau, who are living in Seir; and they will have fear of you; so take care what you do:


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Make no attack on them, for I will not give you any of their land, not even space enough for a man's foot: because I have given Mount Seir to Esau for his heritage.


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For the blessing of the Lord your God has been on you in all the work of your hands: he has knowledge of your wanderings through this great waste: these forty years the Lord your God has been with you, and you have been short of nothing.


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So we went on past our brothers, the children of Esau, living in Seir, by the road through the Arabah, from Elath and Ezion-geber. And turning, we went by the road through the waste land of Moab.


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And the Lord said to me, Make no attack on Moab and do not go to war with them, for I will not give you any of his land: because I have given Ar to the children of Lot for their heritage.


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(In the past the Emim were living there; a great people, equal in numbers to the Anakim and as tall;


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And the Horites in earlier times were living in Seir, but the children of Esau took their place; they sent destruction on them and took their land for themselves, as Israel did to the land of his heritage which the Lord gave them.)


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Thirty-eight years had gone by from the time when we came away from Kadesh-barnea till we went over the stream Zered; by that time all the generation of the men of war among us were dead, as the Lord had said.


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And when you come near the land of the children of Ammon, give them no cause of trouble and do not make war on them, for I will not give you any of the land of the children of Ammon for your heritage: because I have given it to the children of Lot.


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(That land is said to have been a land of the Rephaim, for Rephaim had been living there in earlier times, but they were named Zamzummim by the Ammonites;


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They were a great people, tall as the Anakim, and equal to them in number; but the Lord sent destruction on them and the children of Ammon took their place, living in their land;


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As he did for the children of Esau living in Seir, when he sent destruction on the Horites before them, and they took their land where they are living to this day:


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And the Avvim, living in the small towns as far as Gaza, came to destruction by the hands of the Caphtorim who came out from Caphtor and took their land.)


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Get up now, and go on your journey, crossing over the valley of the Arnon: see, I have given into your hands Sihon, the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and all his land: go forward to make it yours, and make war on him,


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From now on I will put the fear of you in all peoples under heaven, who, hearing of you, will be shaking with fear and grief of heart because of you.


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Then from the waste land of Kedemoth I sent representatives to Sihon, king of Heshbon, with words of peace, saying,


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As the children of Esau did for me in Seir and the Moabites in Ar; till I have gone over Jordan into the land which the Lord our God is giving us.


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But Sihon, king of Heshbon, would not let us go through; for the Lord your God made his spirit hard and his heart strong, so that he might give him up into your hands as at this day.


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And the Lord said to me, See, from now on I have given Sihon and his land into your hands: go forward now to take his land and make it yours.


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At that time we took all his towns, and gave them over to complete destruction, together with men, women, and children; we had no mercy on any:


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From Aroer on the edge of the valley of the Arnon and from the town in the valley as far as Gilead, no town was strong enough to keep us out; the Lord our God gave them all into our hands:


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But you did not go near the land of the children of Ammon, that is, all the side of the river Jabbok or the towns of the hill-country, wherever the Lord our God had said we were not to go.


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Then turning we took the road to Bashan: and Og, king of Bashan, came out against us with all his people, and made an attack on us at Edrei.


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And the Lord said to me, Have no fear of him: for I have given him and all his people and his land into your hands; do to him as you did to Sihon, king of the Amorites, who was ruling in Heshbon.


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So the Lord our God gave up Og, king of Bashan, and all his people into our hands; and we overcame him so completely that all his people came to their end in the fight.


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At that time we took all his towns; there was not one town of the sixty towns, all the country of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan, which we did not take.


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All these towns had high walls round them with doors and locks; and in addition we took a great number of unwalled towns.


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At that time we took their land from the two kings of the Amorites on the far side of Jordan, from the valley of the Arnon to Mount Hermon;


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All the towns of the table-land and all Gilead and Bashan as far as Salecah and Edrei, towns of the kingdom of Og in Bashan.


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(For Og, king of Bashan, was the last of all the Rephaim; his bed was made of iron; is it not in Rabbah, in the land of the children of Ammon? It was nine cubits long and four cubits wide, measured by the common cubit.)


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And this land which we took at that time, from Aroer by the valley of the Arnon, and half the hill-country of Gilead with its towns, I gave to the Reubenites and the Gadites.


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The rest of Gilead and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, all the land of Argob, together with Bashan, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh. (This land is named the land of the Rephaim.


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Jair, the son of Manasseh, took all the land of Argob, as far as the country of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, naming it, Bashan, Havvoth-Jair after himself, as it is to this day.)


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And the land from Gilead to the valley of the Arnon, with the middle of the valley as a limit, as far as the river Jabbok which is the limit of the country of the children of Ammon, I gave to the Reubenites and the Gadites;


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As well as the Arabah, with the river Jordan as their limit, from Chinnereth to the Salt Sea, under the slopes of Pisgah to the east.


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At that time I gave you orders, saying, The Lord has given you this land for your heritage: all the men of war are to go over armed before your brothers the children of Israel.


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But your wives and your little ones and your cattle (for it is clear that you have much cattle) may go on living in the towns I have given you;


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Till the Lord has given rest to your brothers as to you, and till they have taken for themselves the land which the Lord your God is giving them on the other side of Jordan: then you may go back, every man of you, to the heritage which I have given you.


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And I gave orders to Joshua at that time, saying, Your eyes have seen what the Lord your God has done to these two kings: so will the Lord do to all the kingdoms into which you come.


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O Lord God, you have now for the first time let your servant see your great power and the strength of your hand; for what god is there in heaven or on earth able to do such great works and such acts of power?


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Let me go over, O Lord, and see the good land on the other side of Jordan, and that fair mountain country, even Lebanon.


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But the Lord was angry with me because of you and would not give ear to my prayer; and the Lord said to me, Let it be enough, say no more about this thing.


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Go up to the top of Pisgah, and turning your eyes to the west and the north, to the south and the east, see the land with your eyes: for you are not to go over Jordan.


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But give my orders to Joshua, comforting him and making him strong; for he is to go over Jordan at the head of this people, and he will give them this land which you will see for their heritage.


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And now give ear, O Israel, to the laws and the decisions which I am teaching you, and do them; so that life may be yours, and you may go in and take for yourselves the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you.


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Make no addition to the orders which I give you, and take nothing from them, but keep the orders of the Lord your God which I give you.


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Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baal-peor: for destruction came from the Lord on all those among you who went after Baal-peor.


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I have been teaching you laws and decisions, as I was ordered to do by the Lord my God, so that you might keep them in the land to which you are going to take it for your heritage.


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So keep these laws and do them; for so will your wisdom and good sense be clear in the eyes of the peoples, who hearing all these laws will say, Truly, this great nation is a wise and far-seeing people.


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For what great nation has a god so near to them as the Lord our God is, whenever we are turned to him in prayer?


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Only take care, and keep watch on your soul, for fear that the things which your eyes have seen go from your memory and from your heart all the days of your life; but let the knowledge of them be given to your children and to your children's children;


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That day when you were waiting before the Lord your God in Horeb, and the Lord said to me, Make all the people come together, so that hearing my words they may go in fear of me all the days of their life on earth and give this teaching to their children.


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And you came near, waiting at the foot of the mountain; and flames of fire went up from the mountain to the heart of heaven, with dark clouds, and all was black as night.


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And the voice of the Lord came to you out of the fire: the sound of his words came to your ears but you saw no form; there was nothing but a voice.


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And he gave you his agreement with you, the ten rules which you were to keep, which he put in writing on the two stones of the law.


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And the Lord gave me orders at that time to make clear to you these laws and decisions, so that you might do them in the land to which you are going, and which is to be your heritage.


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So keep watch on yourselves with care; for you saw no form of any sort on the day when the voice of the Lord came to you in Horeb out of the heart of the fire:


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So that you may not be turned to evil ways and make for yourselves an image in the form of any living thing, male or female,


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And when your eyes are lifted up to heaven, and you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the army of heaven, do not let yourselves be moved to give them worship, or become the servants of what the Lord has given equally to all peoples under heaven.


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But the Lord has taken you out of the flaming fire, out of Egypt, to be to him the people of his heritage, as you are today.


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And the Lord was angry with me because of you, and made an oath that I was not to go over Jordan into the good land which the Lord is giving you for your heritage:


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But death is to come to me in this land, I may not go over Jordan: but you will go over and take that good land for your heritage.


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Take care that you do not let the agreement of the Lord your God, which he has made with you, go out of your mind, or make for yourselves images of any sort, against the orders which the Lord your God has given you.


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For the Lord your God is an all-burning fire, and he will not let the honour which is his be given to any other.


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If, when you have had children and children's children, and have been living a long time in the land, you are turned to evil ways, and make an image of any sort, and do evil in the eyes of the Lord your God, moving him to wrath:


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May heaven and earth be my witnesses against you today, that destruction will quickly overtake you, cutting you off from that land which you are going over Jordan to take; your days will not be long in that land, but you will come to a complete end.


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And the Lord will send you wandering among the peoples; only a small band of you will be kept from death among the nations where the Lord will send you.


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There you will be the servants of gods, made by men's hands, of wood and stone, having no power of seeing or hearing or taking food or smelling.


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But if in those lands you are turned again to the Lord your God, searching for him with all your heart and soul, he will not keep himself from you.


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When you are in trouble and all these things have come on you, if, in the future, you are turned again to the Lord your God, and give ear to his voice:


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Because the Lord your God is a God of mercy, he will not take away his help from you or let destruction overtake you, or be false to the agreement which he made by an oath with your fathers.


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Give thought now to the days which are past, before your time, from the day when God first gave life to man on the earth, and searching from one end of heaven to the other, see if such a great thing as this has ever been, or if anything like it has been talked of in story.


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Has any people ever gone on living after hearing the voice of God out of the heart of the fire as you did?


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Has God ever before taken a nation for himself from out of another nation, by punishments and signs and wonders, by war and by a strong hand and a stretched-out arm and great acts of wonder and fear, as the Lord your God did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes?


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Out of heaven itself his voice came to you, teaching you; and on earth he let you see his great fire; and his words came to your ears out of the heart of the fire.


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And because of his love for your fathers, he took their seed and made it his, and he himself, present among you, took you out of Egypt by his great power;


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Driving out before you nations greater and stronger than you, to take you into their land and give it to you for your heritage, as at this day.


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So today be certain, and keep the knowledge deep in your hearts, that the Lord is God, in heaven on high and here on earth; there is no other God.


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Then keep his laws and his orders which I give you today, so that it may be well for you and for your children after you, and that your lives may be long in the land which the Lord your God is giving you for ever.


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To which anyone causing the death of his neighbour in error and not through hate, might go in flight; so that in one of these towns he might be kept from death:


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The names of the towns were Bezer in the waste land, in the table-land, for the Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan for Manasseh.


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These are the rules and the laws and the decisions which Moses gave to the children of Israel after they came out of Egypt;


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On the far side of Jordan, in the valley facing Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon, king of the Amorites, who was ruling in Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel overcame after they had come out of Egypt:


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And they took his land for a heritage, and the land of Og, king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites, whose lands were on the other side of Jordan to the east;


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And all the Arabah on the far side of Jordan to the east, as far as the sea of the Arabah under the slopes of Pisgah.


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And Moses sent for all Israel, and said to them, Give ear, O Israel, to the laws and the decisions which I give you today, and give attention to them so that you may keep and do them.


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The Lord did not make this agreement with our fathers but with us, who are all living and present here today.


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(I was between the Lord and you at that time, to make clear to you the word of the Lord: because, through fear of the fire, you did not go up the mountain;) saying,


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You may not make for yourselves an image in the form of anything in heaven or on earth or in the waters under the earth:


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You are not to make use of the name of the Lord your God for an evil purpose; whoever takes the Lord's name on his lips for an evil purpose will be judged as a sinner by the Lord.


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But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; on that day do no work, you or your son or your daughter, or your man-servant or your woman-servant, or your ox or your ass or any of your cattle, or the man from a strange country who is living among you; so that your man-servant and your woman-servant may have rest as well as you.


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And keep in mind that you were a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord your God took you out of that land by his strong hand and his stretched-out arm: for this reason the Lord has given you orders to keep the Sabbath day.


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Give honour to your father and your mother, as you have been ordered by the Lord your God; so that your life may be long and all may be well for you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you.


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Or let your desire be turned to your neighbour's wife, or his house or his field or his man-servant or his woman-servant or his ox or his ass or anything which is your neighbour's.


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These words the Lord said to all of you together on the mountain, out of the heart of the fire, out of the cloud and the dark, with a great voice: and he said no more; he put them in writing on the two stones of the law and gave them to me.


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And after hearing the voice which came out of the dark while the mountain was burning with fire, all the heads of your tribes and your chiefs came to me,


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And said, The Lord has let us see his glory and his power, and his voice has come to us out of the fire: today we have seen that a man may go on living even after hearing the voice of God.


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Why then is death to be our fate? For if the voice of the Lord our God comes to us any more, death will overtake us, and we will be burned up in this great fire.


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For what man is there in all the earth, who, hearing the voice of the living God as we have, out of the heart of the fire, has been kept from death?


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Do you go near: and after hearing everything which the Lord our God has to say, give us an account of all he has said to you, and we will give ear, and do it.


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Then the Lord, hearing your words to me, said to me, The words which this people have said to you have come to my ears: what they have said is well said.


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If only they had such a heart in them at all times, so that they might go in fear of me and keep my orders and that it might be well for them and for their children for ever!


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But as for you, keep your place here by me, and I will give you all the orders and the laws and the decisions which you are to make clear to them, so that they may do them in the land which I am giving them for their heritage.


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Take care, then, to do whatever the Lord your God has given you orders to do; let there be no turning away to the right hand or to the left.


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Go on walking in the way ordered for you by the Lord your God, so that life may be yours and it may be well for you, and your days may be long in the land of your heritage.


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Now these are the orders and the laws and the decisions which the Lord your God gave me for your teaching, so that you might do them in the land of your heritage to which you are going:


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So that living in the fear of the Lord your God, you may keep all his laws and his orders, which I give you: you and your son and your son's son, all the days of your life; and so that your life may be long.


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So give ear, O Israel, and take care to do this; so that it may be well for you, and you may be greatly increased, as the Lord the God of your fathers has given you his word, in a land flowing with milk and honey.


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And the Lord your God is to be loved with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.


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Teaching them to your children with all care, talking of them when you are at rest in your house or walking by the way, when you go to sleep and when you get up.


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And when the Lord your God has taken you into the land which he gave his oath to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, that he would give you; with great and fair towns which were not of your building;


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And houses full of good things not stored up by you, and places for storing water which you did not make, and vine-gardens and olive-trees not of your planting; and you have taken food and are full;


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Then take care that you keep your hearts true to the Lord, who took you out of the land of Egypt, out of the prison-house.


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Let the fear of the Lord your God be in your hearts, and be his servants, taking your oaths by his name.


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For the Lord your God who is with you is a God who will not let his honour be given to another; or the wrath of the Lord will be burning against you, causing your destruction from the face of the earth.


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And do what is upright and good in the eyes of the Lord your God, so that it may be well for you and you may go in and take for your heritage that good land from which the Lord undertook by an oath to your fathers,


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And when your son says to you in time to come, What is the reason for these rules and laws and decisions which the Lord our God has given you?


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Then you will say to your son, We were servants under Pharaoh's yoke in Egypt; and the Lord took us out of Egypt with a strong hand:


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And the Lord did great signs and wonders against Egypt, and against Pharaoh and all his house, before our eyes:


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And he took us out from that place, guiding us here to give us this land, as he said in his oath to our fathers.


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And the Lord gave us orders to keep all these laws, in the fear of the Lord our God, so that it might be well for us for ever, and that he might keep us from death, as he has done to this day.


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And it will be our righteousness if we take care to keep all this order before the Lord our God as he has given it to us.


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When the Lord your God takes you into the land where you are going, which is to be your heritage, and has sent out the nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and stronger than you;


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And when the Lord has given them up into your hands and you have overcome them, give them up to complete destruction: make no agreement with them, and have no mercy on them:


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Do not take wives or husbands from among them; do not give your daughters to their sons, or take their daughters for your sons.


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For through them your sons will be turned from me to the worship of other gods: and the Lord will be moved to wrath against you and send destruction on you quickly.


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But this is what you are to do to them: their altars are to be pulled down and their pillars broken, and their holy trees cut down and their images burned with fire.


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For you are a holy people to the Lord your God: marked out by the Lord your God to be his special people out of all the nations on the face of the earth.


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The Lord did not give you his love or take you for himself because you were more in number than any other people; for you were the smallest of the nations:


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But because of his love for you, and in order to keep his oath to your fathers, the Lord took you out with the strength of his hand, making you free from the prison-house and from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.


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Be certain, then, that the Lord your God is God; whose faith and mercy are unchanging, who keeps his word through a thousand generations to those who have love for him and keep his laws;


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Rewarding his haters to their face with destruction; he will have no mercy on his hater, but will give him open punishment.


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And it will be, that if you give attention to these decisions and keep and do them, then the Lord will keep his agreement with you and his mercy, as he said in his oath to your fathers.


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And he will give you his love, blessing you and increasing you: he will send his blessing on the offspring of your body and the fruit of your land, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your cattle and the young of your flock, in the land which by his oath to your fathers he undertook to give you.


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You will have greater blessings than any other people: no male or female among you or among your cattle will be without offspring.


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And the Lord will take away from you all disease, and will not put on you any of the evil diseases of Egypt which you have seen, but will put them on your haters.


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And you are to send destruction on all the peoples which the Lord your God gives into your hands; have no pity on them, and do not give worship to their gods; for that will be a cause of sin to you.


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If you say in your hearts, These nations are greater in number than we are: how are we to take their land from them?


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The great punishments which your eyes saw, and the signs and the wonders and the strong hand and the stretched-out arm, by which the Lord your God took you out: so will the Lord your God do to all the peoples who are the cause of your fears.


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And the Lord will send a hornet among them, till all the rest who have kept themselves safe from you in secret places have been cut off.


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The Lord your God will send out the nations before you little by little; they are not to be rooted out quickly, for fear that the beasts of the field may be increased overmuch against you.


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But the Lord your God will give them up into your hands, overpowering them till their destruction is complete.


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He will give their kings into your hands, and you will put their names out of existence under heaven; there is not one of them who will not give way before you, till their destruction is complete.


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The images of their gods are to be burned with fire: have no desire for the gold and silver on them, and do not take it for yourselves, for it will be a danger to you: it is a thing disgusting to the Lord your God:


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And you may not take a disgusting thing into your house, and so become cursed with its curse: but keep yourselves from it, turning from it with fear and hate, for it is a cursed thing.


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Take care to keep all the orders which I give you today, so that you may have life and be increased and go in and take as a heritage the land which the Lord, by his oath to your fathers, undertook to give you.


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And keep in mind the way by which the Lord your God has taken you through the waste land these forty years, so that he might make low your pride and put you to the test, to see what was in your heart and if you would keep his orders or not.


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And he made low your pride and let you be without food and gave you manna for your food, a thing new to you, which your fathers never saw; so that he might make it clear to you that bread is not man's only need, but his life is in every word which comes out of the mouth of the Lord.


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Keep in mind this thought, that as a son is trained by his father, so you have been trained by the Lord your God.


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For the Lord your God is guiding you into a good land, a land of water-springs, of fountains, and deep streams flowing out from the valleys and the hills;


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A land of grain and vines and fig-trees and fair fruits; a land of oil-giving olive-trees and honey;


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Where there will be bread for you in full measure and you will be in need of nothing; a land where the very stones are iron and from whose hills you may get copper.


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And you will have food enough and be full, praising the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.


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Then take care that you are not turned away from the Lord your God and from keeping his orders and decisions and laws which I give you this day:


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And when you have taken food and are full, and have made fair houses for yourselves and are living in them;


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And when your herds and your flocks are increased, and your stores of silver and gold, and you have wealth of every sort;


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Take care that your hearts are not lifted up in pride, giving no thought to the Lord your God who took you out of the land of Egypt, out of the prison-house;


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Who was your guide through that great and cruel waste, where there were poison-snakes and scorpions and a dry land without water; who made water come out of the hard rock for you;


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Who gave you manna for your food in the waste land, a food which your fathers had never seen; so that your pride might be broken and your hearts tested for your good in the end;


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But keep in mind the Lord your God: for it is he who gives you the power to get wealth, so that he may give effect to the agreement which he made by his oath with your fathers, as at this day.


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And it is certain that if at any time you are turned away from the Lord your God, and go after other gods, to be their servants and to give them worship, destruction will overtake you.


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Like the nations which the Lord is cutting off before you, so you will be cut off; because you would not give ear to the voice of the Lord your God.


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Give ear, O Israel: today you are to go over Jordan, to take the heritage of nations greater and stronger than yourselves, and towns of great size with walls as high as heaven;


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A people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, of whom you have knowledge and of whom it has been said, All are forced to give way before the sons of Anak.


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Be certain then today that it is the Lord your God who goes over before you like an all-burning fire; he will send destruction on them, crushing them before you; and you will send them in flight, putting an end to them quickly, as the Lord has said.


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And after the Lord has sent them in flight from before you, say not in your heart, Because of my righteousness the Lord has given me this land; when it is because of their evil-doing that the Lord is driving these nations out before you.


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Not for your righteousness or because your hearts are upright are you going in to take their land; but because of the evil-doing of these nations the Lord your God is driving them out from before you, and to give effect to his oath to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.


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Be certain then that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land as a reward for your righteousness; for you are a stiff-necked people.


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Keep well in mind how you made the Lord your God angry in the waste land; from the day when you went out of Egypt till you came to this place, you have gone against the orders of the Lord.


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When I had gone up into the mountain to be given the stones on which was recorded the agreement which the Lord made with you, I was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights without taking food or drinking water.


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And the Lord gave me the two stones with writing on them done by the finger of God: on them were recorded all the words which the Lord said to you on the mountain out of the heart of the fire, on the day of the great meeting.


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Then at the end of forty days and forty nights the Lord gave me those stones, the stones of the agreement.


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And the Lord said to me, Get up now, and go down quickly from this place; for the people you have taken out of Egypt have given themselves over to evil; they have quickly been turned from the way in which I gave them orders to go; they have made themselves a metal image.


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Let me send destruction on them till their very name is cut off; and I will make of you a nation greater and stronger than they.


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So turning round I came down from the mountain, and the mountain was burning with fire; and the two stones of the agreement were in my hands.


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And I saw that you had done evil against the Lord, and had made for yourselves a metal image of a young ox: you had quickly been turned from the way in which the Lord had given you orders to go.


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And I went down on my face before the Lord, as at the first, for forty days and forty nights, without taking food or drinking water, because of all your sin, in doing evil in the eyes of the Lord and moving him to wrath.


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For I was full of fear because of the wrath of the Lord which was burning against you, with your destruction in view. But again the Lord's ear was open to my prayer.


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And the Lord, in his wrath, would have put Aaron to death: and I made prayer for Aaron at the same time.


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And I took your sin, the image which you had made, and put it in the fire and had it hammered and crushed very small till it was only dust: and the dust I put in the stream flowing down from the mountain.


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And when the Lord sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, Go up and take the land which I have given you; you went against the orders of the Lord your God, and had no faith in him, and would not give ear to his voice.


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So I went down on my face in prayer before the Lord for forty days and forty nights as I did at first; because the Lord had said that he would put an end to you.


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And I made prayer to the Lord and said, O Lord God, do not send destruction on your people and your heritage, to whom, by your great power, you have given salvation, whom you have taken out of Egypt by the strength of your hand.


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Keep in mind your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, not looking at the hard heart of this people, or their evil-doing and their sin:


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Or it may be said in the land from which you have taken them, Because the Lord was not able to take them into the land which he said he would give them, and because of his hate for them, he has taken them out to put them to death in the waste land.


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But still they are your people and your heritage, whom you took out by your great power and by your stretched-out arm.


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At that time the Lord said to me, Make two other stones, cut like the first two, and come up to me on the mountain, and make an ark of wood.


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And I will put on the stones the words which were on the first stones which were broken by you, and you are to put them into the ark.


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So I made an ark of hard wood, and had two stones cut like the others, and went up the mountain with the stones in my hands.


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And he put on the stones, as in the first writing, the ten rules which the Lord gave you on the mountain out of the fire on the day of the great meeting: and the Lord gave the stones to me.


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And turning round I came down from the mountain and put the stones in the ark which I had made; and there they are as the Lord gave me orders.


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(And the children of Israel went on from Beeroth Bene-jaakan to Moserah: there death came to Aaron and he was put to rest in the earth; and Eleazar, his son, took his place as priest.


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At that time the Lord had the tribe of Levi marked out to take up the ark of the Lord's agreement, to be before the Lord and to do his work and to give blessings in his name, to this day.


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For this reason Levi has no part or heritage for himself among his brothers: the Lord is his heritage, as the Lord your God said to him.)


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And I was in the mountain, as at the first time, for forty days and forty nights; and again the ears of the Lord were open to my prayer, and he did not send destruction on you.


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Then the Lord said to me, Get up and go on your journey before the people, so that they may go in and take the land which I said in my oath to their fathers that I would give them.


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And now, Israel, what would the Lord your God have you do, but to go in the fear of the Lord your God, walking in all his ways and loving him and doing his pleasure with all your heart and all your soul,


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The Lord your God is ruler of heaven, of the heaven of heavens, and of the earth with everything in it.


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But the Lord had delight in your fathers and love for them, marking out for himself their seed after them, even you, from all peoples, as at this day.


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For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, strong in power and greatly to be feared, who has no respect for any man's position and takes no rewards:


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Judging uprightly in the cause of the widow and of the child who has no father, and giving food and clothing in his mercy to the man from a strange country.


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So be kind to the man from a strange country who is living among you, for you yourselves were living in a strange country in the land of Egypt.


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Let the fear of the Lord your God be before you, give him worship and be true to him at all times, taking your oaths in his name.


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He is your God, the God of your praise, your God who has done for you all these works of power which your eyes have seen.


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Your fathers went down into Egypt with seventy persons; and now the Lord your God has made you like the stars of heaven in number.


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So have love for the Lord your God, and give him worship, and keep his laws and his decisions and his orders at all times.


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And be certain in your minds this day; for these words are not said to your children, who have had no experience of the training of the Lord your God, and who have not seen his great power or his strong hand and his stretched-out arm,


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And what he did to the army of Egypt, to their horses and their war-carriages; how he made the waters of the Red Sea come up over them when they went after you, and how the Lord put an end to them even to this day;


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And what he did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben; when they went down into the open mouth of the earth, with their families and their tents and every living thing which was theirs, before the eyes of all Israel:


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So keep all the orders which I give you today, so that you may be strong, and go in and take the land which is to be your heritage;


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And that your days may be long in the land which the Lord gave by an oath to your fathers and to their seed after them, a land flowing with milk and honey.


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For the land where you are going is not like the land of Egypt from which you have come, where you put in your seeds, watering them with your foot, like a planted garden:


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A land cared for by the Lord your God: the eyes of the Lord your God are on it at all times from one end of the year to the other.


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And it will be that if you truly give ear to the orders which I put before you this day, loving the Lord your God and worshipping him with all your heart and all your soul,


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Then I will send rain on your land at the right time, the early rains and the late rains, so that you may get in your grain and your wine and your oil.


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But take care that your hearts are not turned to false ways so that you become servants and worshippers of other gods;


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For if you do so, the wrath of the Lord will be burning against you, and the heaven will be shut up so that there is no rain and the land will give no fruit; and in a very little time you will be cut off from the good land which the Lord is giving you.


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So keep these words deep in your heart and in your soul, and have them fixed on your hand for a sign and marked on your brow;


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Teaching them to your children, and talking of them when you are at rest in your house or walking by the way, when you go to sleep and when you get up:


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So that your days, and the days of your children, may be long in the land which the Lord by his oath to your fathers said he would give them, like the days of the eternal heavens.


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For if you take care to keep all the orders which I give you, and to do them; loving the Lord your God and walking in all his ways and being true to him:


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Then the Lord will send these nations in flight before you, and you will take the lands of nations greater and stronger than yourselves.


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Every place where you put your foot will be yours: from the waste land and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates as far as the Great Sea, will be the limits of your land.


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All people will give way before you: for the Lord your God will put the fear of you on all the land through which you go, as he has said.


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And the curse if you do not give ear to the orders of the Lord your God, but let yourselves be turned from the way which I have put before you this day, and go after other gods which are not yours.


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And when the Lord your God has taken you into the land of your heritage, you are to put the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal.


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Are they not on the other side of Jordan, looking west, in the land of the Canaanites living in the Arabah, opposite Gilgal, by the holy tree of Moreh?


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For you are about to go over Jordan to take the heritage which the Lord your God is giving you, and it will be your resting-place.


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These are the laws and the decisions which you are to keep with care in the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to be your heritage all the days of your life on earth.


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You are to give up to the curse all those places where the nations, whom you are driving out, gave worship to their gods, on the high mountains and the hills and under every green tree:


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Their altars and their pillars are to be broken down, and their holy trees burned with fire, and the images of their gods cut down; you are to take away their names out of that place.


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But let your hearts be turned to the place which will be marked out by the Lord your God, among your tribes, to put his name there;


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And there you are to take your burned offerings and other offerings, and the tenth part of your goods, and the offerings to be lifted up to the Lord, and the offerings of your oaths, and those which you give freely from the impulse of your hearts, and the first births among your herds and your flocks;


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There you and all your families are to make a feast before the Lord your God, with joy in everything to which you put your hand, because the Lord has given you his blessing.


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You are not to do things then in the way in which we now do them here, every man as it seems right to him:


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But when you have gone over Jordan and are living in the land which the Lord your God is giving you as your heritage, and when he has given you rest from all those on every side who are fighting against you, and you are living there safely;


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Then there will be a place marked out by the Lord your God as the resting-place for his name, and there you will take all the things which I give you orders to take: your burned offerings and other offerings, and the tenth part of your goods, and the offerings to be lifted up, and the offerings of your oaths which you make to the Lord;


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And you will be glad before the Lord your God, you and your sons and your daughters, and your men-servants and your women-servants, and the Levite who is with you in your house, because he has no part or heritage among you.


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But in the place marked out by the Lord in one of your tribes, there let your burned offerings be offered, and there do what I have given you orders to do.


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Only you may put to death animals, such as the gazelle or the roe, for your food in any of your towns, at the desire of your soul, in keeping with the blessing of the Lord your God which he has given you: the unclean and the clean may take of it.


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In your towns you are not to take as food the tenth part of your grain, or of your wine or your oil, or the first births of your herds or of your flocks, or anything offered under an oath, or freely offered to the Lord, or given as a lifted offering;


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But they will be your food before the Lord your God in the place of his selection, where you may make a feast of them, with your son and your daughter, and your man-servant and your woman-servant, and the Levite who is living with you: and you will have joy before the Lord your God in everything to which you put your hand.


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When the Lord your God makes wide the limit of your land, as he has said, and you say, I will take flesh for my food, because you have a desire for it; then you may take whatever flesh you have a desire for.


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If the place marked out by the Lord your God as the resting-place for his name is far away from you, then take from your herds and from your flocks which the Lord has given you, as I have said, and have a meal of it in the towns where you may be living.


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But see that you do not take the blood for food; for the blood is the life; and you may not make use of the life as food with the flesh.


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Do not take it for food; so that it may be well for you and for your children after you, while you do what is right in the eyes of the Lord.


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But the holy things which you have, and the offerings of your oaths, you are to take to the place which will be marked out by the Lord:


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Offering the flesh and the blood of your burned offerings on the altar of the Lord your God; and the blood of your offerings is to be drained out on the altar of the Lord your God, and the flesh will be your food.


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Take note of all these orders I am giving you and give attention to them, so that it may be well for you and for your children after you for ever, while you do what is good and right in the eyes of the Lord your God.


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When the people of the land where you are going have been cut off before you by the Lord your God, and you have taken their land and are living in it;


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After their destruction take care that you do not go in their ways, and that you do not give thought to their gods, saying, How did these nations give worship to their gods? I will do as they did.


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Do not so to the Lord your God: for everything which is disgusting to the Lord and hated by him they have done in honour of their gods: even burning their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods.


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You are to keep with care all the words I give you, making no addition to them and taking nothing from them.


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And the sign or the wonder takes place, and he says to you, Let us go after other gods, which are strange to you, and give them worship;


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Then give no attention to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams: for the Lord your God is testing you, to see if all the love of your heart and soul is given to him.


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But keep on in the ways of the Lord your God, fearing him and keeping his orders and hearing his voice, worshipping him and being true to him.


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And that prophet or that dreamer of dreams is to be put to death; for his words were said with the purpose of turning you away from the Lord your God, who took you out of the land of Egypt and made you free from the prison-house; and of forcing you out of the way in which the Lord your God has given you orders to go. So you are to put away the evil from among you.


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If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son or your daughter or the wife of your heart, or the friend who is as dear to you as your life, working on you secretly says to you, Let us go and give worship to other gods, strange to you and to your fathers;


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Do not be guided by him or give attention to him; have no pity on him or mercy, and give him no cover;


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But put him to death without question; let your hand be the first stretched out against him to put him to death, and then the hands of all the people.


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Let him be stoned with stones till he is dead; because it was his purpose to make you false to the Lord your God, who took you out of the land of Egypt, out of the prison-house.


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And all Israel, hearing of it, will be full of fear, and no one will again do such evil as this among you.


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And if word comes to you, in one of the towns which the Lord your God is giving you for your resting-place,


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That good-for-nothing persons have gone out from among you, turning the people of their town from the right way and saying, Let us go and give worship to other gods, of whom you have no knowledge;


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Then let a full search be made, and let questions be put with care; and if it is true and certain that such a disgusting thing has been done among you;


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Then take up arms against the people of that town and give it up to the curse, with all its cattle and everything in it.


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And take all the goods into the middle of its open space, burning the town and all its property with fire as an offering to the Lord your God; it is to be a waste for ever; there is to be no more building there.


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Keep not a thing of what is cursed for yourselves: so the Lord may be turned away from the heat of his wrath, and have mercy on you, and give you increase as he said in his oath to your fathers:


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So long as you give ear to the voice of the Lord your God, and keep all his orders which I give you today, and do what is right in the eyes of the Lord your God.


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You are the children of the Lord your God: you are not to make cuts on your bodies or take off the hair on your brows in honour of the dead;


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For you are a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord has taken you to be his special people out of all the nations on the face of the earth.


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The hart, the gazelle, and the roe, the mountain goat and the pygarg and the antelope and the mountain sheep.


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Any beast which has a division in the horn of its foot and whose food comes back into its mouth to be crushed again, may be used for food.


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But even among these, there are some which may not be used for food: such as the camel, the hare, and the coney, which are unclean to you, because, though their food comes back, the horn of their feet is not parted in two.


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And the pig is unclean to you, because though it has a division in the horn of its foot, its food does not come back; their flesh may not be used for food or their dead bodies touched by you.


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And of the things living in the waters, you may take all those who have wings for swimming with and skins formed of thin plates.


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But any which have no skin-plates or wings for swimming, you may not take; they are unclean for you.


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You may not have as food anything which has come to a natural death; the man from another country who is living with you may take it for food, or you may get a price for it from one of another nation; for you are a holy people to the Lord your God. The young goat is not to be cooked in its mother's milk.


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And make a feast before the Lord your God, in the place which is to be marked out, where his name will be for ever, of the tenth part of your grain and your wine and your oil, and the first births of your herds and your flocks; so that you may have the fear of the Lord your God in your hearts at all times.


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And if the way is so long that you are not able to take these things to the place marked out by the Lord your God for his name, when he has given you his blessing, because it is far away from you;


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Then let these things be exchanged for money, and, taking the money in your hand, go to the place marked out by the Lord your God for himself;


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And with the money get whatever you have a desire for, oxen or sheep or wine or strong drink, whatever your soul's desire may be: and make a feast there before the Lord your God, and be glad, you and all your house;


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And give a thought to the Levite who is living among you, for he has no part or heritage in the land.


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At the end of every three years take a tenth part of all your increase for that year, and put it in store inside your walls:


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And the Levite, because he has no part or heritage in the land, and the man from a strange country, and the child who has no father, and the widow, who are living among you, will come and take food and have enough; and so the blessing of the Lord your God will be on you in everything you do.


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This is how it is to be done: every creditor is to give up his right to whatever he has let his neighbour have; he is not to make his neighbour, his countryman, give it back; because a general forgiveness has been ordered by the Lord.


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A man of another nation may be forced to make payment of his debt, but if your brother has anything of yours, let it go;


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But there will be no poor among you; for the Lord will certainly give you his blessing in the land which the Lord your God is giving you for your heritage;


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If only you give ear to the voice of the Lord your God, and take care to keep all these orders which I give you today.


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For the Lord your God will give you his blessing as he has said: you will let other nations have the use of your money, but you will not make use of theirs; you will be rulers over a number of nations, but they will not be your rulers.


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If in any of your towns in the land which the Lord your God is giving you, there is a poor man, one of your countrymen, do not let your heart be hard or your hand shut to him;


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And see that there is no evil thought in your heart, moving you to say to yourself, The seventh year, the year of forgiveness is near; and so looking coldly on your poor countryman you give him nothing; and he will make an outcry to the Lord against you, and it will be judged as sin in you.


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But it is right for you to give to him, without grief of heart: for because of this, the blessing of the Lord your God will be on all your work and on everything to which you put your hand.


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For there will never be a time when there are no poor in the land; and so I give orders to you, Let your hand be open to your countrymen, to those who are poor and in need in your land.


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If one of your countrymen, a Hebrew man or woman, becomes your servant for a price and does work for you six years, in the seventh year let him go free.


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But give him freely from your flock and from your grain and your wine: in the measure of the wealth which the Lord your God has given you, you are to give to him.


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And keep in mind that you yourself were a servant in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God made you free: so I give you this order today.


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But if he says to you, I have no desire to go away from you; because you and your family are dear to him and he is happy with you;


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Then take a sharp-pointed instrument, driving it through his ear into the door, and he will be your servant for ever. And you may do the same for your servant-girl.


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Let it not seem hard to you that you have to send him away free; for he has been working for you for six years, which is twice the regular time for a servant: and the blessing of the Lord your God will be on you in everything you do.


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All the first males to come to birth in your herd and your flock are to be holy to the Lord your God: the first birth of your ox is not to be used for work, the wool of your first lamb is not to be cut.


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But year by year you and all your house are to take a meal of it before the Lord, in the place of his selection.


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But if it has any mark on it, if it is blind or has damaged legs, or if there is anything wrong with it, it may not be offered to the Lord your God.


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It may be used for food in your houses: the unclean and the clean may take of it, as of the gazelle and the roe.


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Take note of the month of Abib and keep the Passover to the Lord your God: for in the month of Abib the Lord your God took you out of Egypt by night.


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The Passover offering, from your flock or your herd, is to be given to the Lord your God in the place marked out by him as the resting-place of his name.


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Take no leavened bread with it; for seven days let your food be unleavened bread, that is, the bread of sorrow; for you came out of the land of Egypt quickly: so the memory of that day, when you came out of the land of Egypt, will be with you all your life.


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For seven days let no leaven be used through all your land; and nothing of the flesh which is put to death in the evening of the first day is to be kept through the night till morning.


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The Passover offering is not to be put to death in any of the towns which the Lord your God gives you:


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But in the place marked out by the Lord your God as the resting-place of his name, there you are to put the Passover to death in the evening, at sundown, at that time of the year when you came out of Egypt.


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It is to be cooked and taken as food in the place marked out by the Lord: and in the morning you are to go back to your tents.


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For six days let your food be unleavened bread; and on the seventh day there is to be a holy meeting to the Lord your God; no work is to be done.


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Then keep the feast of weeks to the Lord your God, with an offering freely given to him from the wealth he has given you:


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Then you are to be glad before the Lord your God, you and your son and your daughter, your man-servant and your woman-servant, and the Levite who is with you, and the man from a strange country, and the child without a father, and the widow, who are living among you, in the place marked out by the Lord your God as a resting-place for his name.


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And you will keep in mind that you were a servant in the land of Egypt: and you will take care to keep all these laws.


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You are to keep the feast of tents for seven days after you have got in all your grain and made your wine:


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You are to keep the feast with joy, you and your son and your daughter, your man-servant and your woman-servant, and the Levite, and the man from a strange country, and the child without a father, and the widow, who are living among you.


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Keep the feast to the Lord your God for seven days, in the place marked out by the Lord: because the blessing of the Lord your God will be on all the produce of your land and all the work of your hands, and you will have nothing but joy.


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Three times in the year let all your males come before the Lord your God in the place named by him; at the feast of unleavened bread, the feast of weeks, and the feast of tents: and they are not to come before the Lord with nothing in their hands;


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Every man is to give as he is able, in the measure of the blessing which the Lord your God has given you.


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You are to make judges and overseers in all your towns which the Lord your God gives you, for every tribe: and they are to be upright men, judging the people in righteousness.


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You are not to be moved in your judging by a man's position, you are not to take rewards; for rewards make the eyes of the wise man blind, and the decisions of the upright false.


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Let righteousness be your guide, so that you may have life, and take for your heritage the land which the Lord your God is giving you.


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No ox or sheep which has a mark on it or is damaged in any way may be offered to the Lord your God: for that is disgusting to the Lord your God.


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If there is any man or woman among you, in any of the towns which the Lord your God gives you, who does evil in the eyes of the Lord your God, sinning against his agreement,


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By becoming a servant of other gods and worshipping them or the sun or the moon or all the stars of heaven, against my orders;


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If word of this comes to your ears, then let this thing be looked into with care, and if there is no doubt that it is true, and such evil has been done in Israel;


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Then you are to take the man or woman who has done the evil to the public place of your town, and they are to be stoned with stones till they are dead.


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On the word of two or three witnesses, a man may be given the punishment of death; but he is not to be put to death on the word of one witness.


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The hands of the witnesses will be the first to put him to death, and after them the hands of all the people. So you are to put away the evil from among you.


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If you are not able to give a decision as to who is responsible for a death, or who is right in a cause, or who gave the first blow in a fight, and there is a division of opinion about it in your town: then go to the place marked out by the Lord your God;


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And come before the priests, the Levites, or before him who is judge at the time: and they will go into the question and give you a decision:


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And you are to be guided by the decision they give in the place named by the Lord, and do whatever they say:


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Acting in agreement with their teaching and the decision they give: not turning to one side or the other from the word they have given you.


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And any man who, in his pride, will not give ear to the priest whose place is there before the Lord your God, or to the judge, is to be put to death: you are to put away the evil from Israel.


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When you have come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and have taken it for a heritage and are living in it, if it is your desire to have a king over you, like the other nations round about you;


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Then see that you take as your king the man named by the Lord your God: let your king be one of your countrymen, not a man of another nation who is not one of yourselves.


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And he is not to get together a great army of horses for himself, or make the people go back to Egypt to get horses for him: because the Lord has said, You will never again go back that way.


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And he is not to have a great number of wives, for fear that his heart may be turned away; or great wealth of silver and gold.


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And when he has taken his place on the seat of his kingdom, he is to make in a book a copy of this law, from that which the priests, the Levites, have in their care:


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And it is to be with him for his reading all the days of his life, so that he may be trained in the fear of the Lord his God to keep and do all the words of this teaching and these laws:


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So that his heart may not be lifted up over his countrymen, and he may not be turned away from the orders, to one side or the other: but that his life and the lives of his children may be long in his kingdom in Israel.


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The priests, the Levites, that is, all the tribe of Levi, will have no part or heritage with Israel: their food and their heritage will be the offerings of the Lord made by fire.


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And they will have no heritage among their countrymen: the Lord is their heritage, as he has said to them.


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And this is to be the priests' right: those who make an offering of a sheep or an ox are to give to the priest the top part of the leg and the two sides of the head and the stomach.


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And in addition you are to give him the first of your grain and wine and oil, and the first wool cut from your sheep.


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For he, and his sons after him for ever, have been marked out by the Lord your God from all your tribes, to do the work of priests in the name of the Lord.


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And if a Levite, moved by a strong desire, comes from any town in all Israel where he is living to the place marked out by the Lord;


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Then he will do the work of a priest in the name of the Lord his God, with all his brothers the Levites who are there before the Lord.


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His food will be the same as theirs, in addition to what has come to him as the price of his property.


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When you have come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, do not take as your example the disgusting ways of those nations.


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Let there not be seen among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter go through the fire, or anyone using secret arts, or a maker of strange sounds, or a reader of signs, or any wonder-worker,


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Or anyone using secret force on people, or putting questions to a spirit, or having secret knowledge, or going to the dead for directions.


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For all who do such things are disgusting to the Lord; and because of these disgusting things the Lord your God is driving them out before you.


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For these nations, whose land you are taking, give attention to readers of signs and to those using secret arts: but the Lord your God will not let you do so.


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The Lord your God will give you a prophet from among your people, like me; you will give ear to him;


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In answer to the request you made to the Lord your God in Horeb on the day of the great meeting, when you said, Let not the voice of the Lord my God come to my ears again, and let me not see this great fire any more, or death will overtake me.


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I will give them a prophet from among themselves, like you, and I will put my words in his mouth, and he will say to them whatever I give him orders to say.


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But the prophet who takes it on himself to say words in my name which I have not given him orders to say, or who says anything in the name of other gods, will come to his death.


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When a prophet makes a statement in the name of the Lord, if what he says does not take place and his words do not come true, then his word is not the word of the Lord: the words of the prophet were said in the pride of his heart, and you are to have no fear of him.


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When the nations, whose land the Lord your God is giving you, have been cut off by him, and you have taken their place and are living in their towns and in their houses;


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You are to have three towns marked out in the land which the Lord your God is giving you for your heritage.


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You are to make ready a way, and see that the land which the Lord your God is giving you for your heritage, is marked out into three parts, to which any taker of life may go in flight.


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This is to be the rule for anyone who goes in flight there, after causing the death of his neighbour in error and not through hate;


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For example, if a man goes into the woods with his neighbour for the purpose of cutting down trees, and when he takes his axe to give a blow to the tree, the head of the axe comes off, and falling on to his neighbour gives him a wound causing his death; then the man may go in flight to one of these towns and be safe:


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For if not, he who has the right of punishment may go running after the taker of life in the heat of his wrath, and overtake him because the way is long, and give him a death-blow; though it is not right for him to be put to death because he was not moved by hate.


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And if the Lord your God makes wide the limits of your land, as he said in his oath to your fathers, and gives you all the land which he undertook to give to your fathers;


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If you keep and do all these orders which I give you today, loving the Lord your God and walking ever in his ways; then let three more towns, in addition to these three, be marked out for you:


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So that in all your land, which the Lord your God is giving you for your heritage, no man may be wrongly put to death, for which you will be responsible.


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But if any man has hate for his neighbour, and waiting for him secretly makes an attack on him and gives him a blow causing his death, and then goes in flight to one of these towns;


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The responsible men of his town are to send and take him, and give him up to the one who has the right of punishment to be put to death.


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Have no pity on him, so that Israel may be clear from the crime of putting a man to death without cause, and it will be well for you.


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Your neighbour's landmark, which was put in its place by the men of old times, is not to be moved or taken away in the land of your heritage which the Lord your God is giving you.


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One witness may not make a statement against a man in relation to any sin or wrongdoing which he has done: on the word of two or three witnesses a question is to be judged.


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Then the two men, between whom the argument has taken place, are to come before the Lord, before the priests and judges who are then in power;


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And the judges will have the question looked into with care: and if the witness is seen to be false and to have made a false statement against his brother,


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Then do to him what it was his purpose to do to his brother: and so put away the evil from among you.


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And the rest of the people, hearing of it, will be full of fear, and never again do such evil among you.


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Have no pity; let life be given for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.


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When you go out to war against other nations, and come face to face with horses and war-carriages and armies greater in number than yourselves, have no fear of them: for the Lord your God is with you, who took you up out of the land of Egypt.


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Give ear, O Israel: today you are going forward to the fight; let your heart be strong; do not let uncontrolled fear overcome you because of those who are against you;


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For the Lord your God goes with you, fighting for you to give you salvation from those who are against you.


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And let the overseers say to the people, If there is any man who has made for himself a new house and has not gone into it, let him go back to his house, so that in the event of his death in the fight, another may not take his house for himself.


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Or if any man has made a vine-garden without taking the first-fruits of it, let him go back to his house, so that in the event of his death in the fight, another may not be the first to make use of the fruit.


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Or if any man is newly married and has had no sex relations with his wife, let him go back to his house, so that in the event of his death in the fight, another man may not take her.


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And let the overseers go on to say to the people, If there is any man whose heart is feeble with fear, let him go back to his house before he makes the hearts of his countrymen feeble.


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And if it gives you back an answer of peace, opening its doors to you, then all the people in it may be put to forced work as your servants.


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And when the Lord your God has given it into your hands, let every male in it be put to death without mercy.


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But the women and the children and the cattle and everything in the town and all its wealth, you may take for yourselves: the wealth of your haters, which the Lord your God has given you, will be your food.


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But in the towns of these peoples whose land the Lord your God is giving you for your heritage, let no living thing be kept from death:


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Give them up to the curse; the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, as the Lord your God has given you orders:


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So that you may not take them as your example and do all the disgusting things which they do in the worship of their gods, so sinning against the Lord your God.


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If in war a town is shut in by your armies for a long time, do not let its trees be cut down and made waste; for their fruit will be your food; are the trees of the countryside men for you to take up arms against them?


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Only those trees which you are certain are not used for food may be cut down and put to destruction: and you are to make walls of attack against the town till it is taken.


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If, in the land which the Lord your God is giving you, you come across the dead body of a man in the open country, and you have no idea who has put him to death:


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Then your responsible men and your judges are to come out, and give orders for the distance from the dead body to the towns round about it to be measured;


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And whichever town is nearest to the body, the responsible men of that town are to take from the herd a young cow which has never been used for work or put under the yoke;


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And they are to take the cow into a valley where there is flowing water, and which is not ploughed or planted, and there the neck of the cow is to be broken:


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Then the priests, the sons of Levi, are to come near; for they have been marked out by the Lord your God to be his servants and to give blessings in the name of the Lord; and by their decision every argument and every blow is to be judged:


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And all the responsible men of that town which is nearest to the dead man, washing their hands over the cow whose neck was broken in the valley,


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Have mercy, O Lord, on your people Israel whom you have made free, and take away from your people the crime of a death without cause. Then they will no longer be responsible for the man's death.


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So you will take away the crime of a death without cause from among you, when you do what is right in the eyes of the Lord.


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When you go out to war against other nations, and the Lord your God gives them up into your hands and you take them as prisoners;


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And let her take off the dress in which she was made prisoner and go on living in your house and weeping for her father and mother for a full month: and after that you may go in to her and be her husband and she will be your wife.


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But if you have no delight in her, you are to let her go wherever she will; you may not take a price for her as if she was your property, for you have made use of her for your pleasure.


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If a man has two wives, one greatly loved and the other hated, and the two of them have had children by him; and if the first son is the child of the hated wife:


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Then when he gives his property to his sons for their heritage, he is not to put the son of his loved one in the place of the first son, the son of the hated wife:


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But he is to give his first son his birthright, and twice as great a part of his property: for he is the first-fruits of his strength and the right of the first son is his.


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If a man has a son who is hard-hearted and uncontrolled, who gives no attention to the voice of his father and mother, and will not be ruled by them, though they give him punishment:


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And say to them, This son of ours is hard-hearted and uncontrolled, he will not give attention to us; he gives himself up to pleasure and strong drink.


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Then he is to be stoned to death by all the men of the town: so you are to put away the evil from among you; and all Israel, hearing of it, will be full of fear.


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If a man does a crime for which the punishment is death, and he is put to death by hanging him on a tree;


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Do not let his body be on the tree all night, but put it to rest in the earth the same day; for the man who undergoes hanging is cursed by God; so do not make unclean the land which the Lord your God is giving you for your heritage.


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If you see your brother's ox or his sheep wandering, do not go by without helping, but take them back to your brother.


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If their owner is not near, or if you are not certain who he is, then take the beast to your house and keep it till its owner comes in search of it, and then you are to give it back to him.


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Do the same with his ass or his robe or anything which has gone from your brother's keeping and which you have come across: do not keep it to yourself.


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If you see your brother's ox or his ass falling down on the road, do not go by without giving him help in lifting it up again.


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It is not right for a woman to be dressed in man's clothing, or for a man to put on a woman's robe: whoever does such things is disgusting to the Lord your God.


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If by chance you see a place which a bird has made for itself in a tree or on the earth, with young ones or eggs, and the mother bird seated on the young ones or on the eggs, do not take the mother bird with the young:


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See that you let the mother bird go, but the young ones you may take; so it will be well for you and your life will be long.


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If you are building a house, make a railing for the roof, so that the blood of any man falling from it will not come on your house.


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Do not have your vine-garden planted with two sorts of seed: or all of it may become a loss, the seed you have put in as well as the increase.


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And says evil things about her and gives her a bad name, saying, I took this woman, and when I had connection with her it was clear to me that she was not a virgin:


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Then let the girl's father and mother put before the responsible men of the town, in the public place, signs that the girl was a virgin:


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And let the girl's father say to the responsible men, I gave my daughter to this man for his wife, but he has no love for her;


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And now he has put shame on her, saying that she is not a virgin; but here is the sign that she is a virgin. Then they are to put her clothing before the responsible men of the town.


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They will take from him a hundred shekels of silver, which are to be given to the father of the girl, because he has given an evil name to a virgin of Israel: she will go on being his wife, he may never put her away all his life.


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Then they are to make the girl come to the door of her father's house and she will be stoned to death by the men of the town, because she has done evil and put shame on Israel, by acting as a loose woman in her father's house: so you are to put away evil from among you.


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If a man is taken in the act of going in to a married woman, the two of them, the man as well as the woman, are to be put to death: so you are to put away the evil from Israel.


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If a young virgin has given her word to be married to a man, and another man meeting her in the town, has connection with her;


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Then you are to take the two of them to the doorway of the town, and have them stoned to death; the young virgin, because she gave no cry for help, though it was in the town, and the man, because he has put shame on his neighbour's wife: so you are to put away evil from among you.


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But if the man, meeting such a virgin in the open country, takes her by force, then only the man is to be put to death;


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Nothing is to be done to the virgin, because there is no cause of death in her: it is the same as if a man made an attack on his neighbour and put him to death:


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For he came across her in the open country, and there was no one to come to the help of the virgin in answer to her cry.


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If a man sees a young virgin, who has not given her word to be married to anyone, and he takes her by force and has connection with her, and discovery is made of it;


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Then the man will have to give the virgin's father fifty shekels of silver and make her his wife, because he has put shame on her; he may never put her away all his life.


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No man whose private parts have been wounded or cut off may come into the meeting of the Lord's people.


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One whose father and mother are not married may not come into the meeting of the Lord's people, or any of his family to the tenth generation.


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No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their people to the tenth generation may come into the meeting of the Lord's people:


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Because they gave you no bread or water on your way, when you came out of Egypt: and they got Balaam, the son of Peor, from Pethor in Aram-naharaim to put curses on you.


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But the Lord your God would not give ear to Balaam, but let the curse be changed into a blessing to you, because of his love for you.


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But have no hate for an Edomite, because he is your brother, or for an Egyptian, for you were living in his land.


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If any man among you becomes unclean through anything which has taken place in the night, he is to go out from the tent-circle and keep outside it:


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And have among your arms a spade; and when you have been to that place, let that which comes from you be covered up with earth:


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For the Lord your God is walking among your tents, to keep you safe and to give up into your hands those who are fighting against you; then let your tents be holy, so that he may see no unclean thing among you, and be turned away from you.


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No daughter of Israel is to let herself be used as a loose woman for a strange god, and no son of Israel is to give himself to a man.


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Do not take into the house of the Lord your God, as an offering for an oath, the price of a loose woman or the money given to one used for sex purposes in the worship of the gods: for these two things are disgusting to the Lord your God.


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Do not take interest from an Israelite on anything, money or food or any other goods, which you let him have:


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From men of other nations you may take interest, but not from an Israelite: so that the blessing of the Lord your God may be on everything to which you put your hand, in the land which you are about to take as your heritage.


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When you take an oath to the Lord, do not be slow to give effect to it: for without doubt the Lord your God will make you responsible, and will put it to your account as sin.


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Whatever your lips have said, see that you do it; for you gave your word freely to the Lord your God.


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When you go into your neighbour's vine-garden, you may take of his grapes at your pleasure, but you may not take them away in your vessel.


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When you go into your neighbour's field, you may take the heads of grain with your hand; but you may not put your blade to his grain.


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If a man takes a wife, and after they are married she is unpleasing to him because of some bad quality in her, let him give her a statement in writing and send her away from his house.


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And if the second husband has no love for her and, giving her a statement in writing, sends her away; or if death comes to the second husband to whom she was married;


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Her first husband, who had sent her away, may not take her back after she has been wife to another; for that is disgusting to the Lord: and you are not to be a cause of sin in the land which the Lord your God is giving you for your heritage.


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A newly married man will not have to go out with the army or undertake any business, but may be free for one year, living in his house for the comfort of his wife.


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No one is to take, on account of a debt, the stones with which grain is crushed: for in doing so he takes a man's living.


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If a man takes by force one of his countrymen, the children of Israel, using him as his property or getting a price for him, that thief is to be put to death: so you are to put away evil from among you.


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In connection with the leper's disease, take care to keep and do every detail of the teaching of the priests, the Levites: as I gave them orders, so you are to do.


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If you let your brother have the use of anything which is yours, do not go into his house and take anything of his as a sign of his debt;


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But be certain to give it back to him when the sun goes down, so that he may have his clothing for sleeping in, and will give you his blessing: and this will be put to your account as righteousness before the Lord your God.


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Do not be hard on a servant who is poor and in need, if he is one of your countrymen or a man from another nation living with you in your land.


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Give him his payment day by day, not keeping it back over night; for he is poor and his living is dependent on it; and if his cry against you comes to the ears of the Lord, it will be judged as sin in you.


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Fathers are not to be put to death for their children or children for their fathers: every man is to be put to death for the sin which he himself has done.


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Be upright in judging the cause of the man from a strange country and of him who has no father; do not take a widow's clothing on account of a debt:


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But keep in mind that you were a servant in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God made you free: for this is why I give you orders to do this.


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When you get in the grain from your field, if some of the grain has been dropped by chance in the field, do not go back and get it, but let it be for the man from a strange land, the child without a father, and the widow: so that the blessing of the Lord your God may be on all the work of your hands.


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When you are shaking the fruit from your olive-trees, do not go over the branches a second time: let some be for the man from a strange land, the child without a father, and the widow.


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When you are pulling the grapes from your vines, do not take up those which have been dropped; let them be for the man from a strange land, the child without a father, and the widow.


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Keep in mind that you were a servant in the land of Egypt: for this is why I give you orders to do this.


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If there is an argument between men and they go to law with one another, let the judges give their decision for the upright, and against the wrongdoer.


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And if the wrongdoer is to undergo punishment by whipping, the judge will give orders for him to go down on his face and be whipped before him, the number of the blows being in relation to his crime.


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He may be given forty blows, not more; for if more are given, your brother may be shamed before you.


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If brothers are living together and one of them, at his death, has no son, the wife of the dead man is not to be married outside the family to another man: let her husband's brother go in to her and make her his wife, doing as it is right for a brother-in-law to do.


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Then the first male child she has will take the rights of the brother who is dead, so that his name may not come to an end in Israel.


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But if the man says he will not take his brother's wife, then let the wife go to the responsible men of the town, and say, My husband's brother will not keep his brother's name living in Israel; he will not do what it is right for a husband's brother to do.


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Then the responsible men of the town will send for the man, and have talk with him: and if he still says, I will not take her;


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Then his brother's wife is to come to him, before the responsible men of the town, and take his shoe off his foot, and put shame on him, and say, So let it be done to the man who will not take care of his brother's name.


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If two men are fighting, and the wife of one of them, coming to the help of her husband, takes the other by the private parts;


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But have a true weight and a true measure: so that your life may be long in the land which the Lord your God is giving you.


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For all who do such things, and all whose ways are not upright, are disgusting to the Lord your God.


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How, meeting you on the way, he made an attack on you when you were tired and without strength, cutting off all the feeble ones at the end of your line; and the fear of God was not in him.


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So when the Lord your God has given you rest from all who are against you on every side, in the land which the Lord your God is giving you for your heritage, see to it that the memory of Amalek is cut off from the earth; keep this in mind.


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Now when you have come into the land which the Lord is giving you for your heritage, and you have made it yours and are living in it;


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You are to take a part of the first-fruits of the earth, which you get from the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and put it in a basket, and go to the place marked out by the Lord your God, as the resting-place of his name.


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And you are to come to him who is priest at that time, and say to him, I give witness today before the Lord your God, that I have come into the land which the Lord made an oath to our fathers to give us.


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Then the priest will take the basket from your hand and put it down in front of the altar of the Lord your God.


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And these are the words which you will say before the Lord your God: My father was a wandering Aramaean, and he went down with a small number of people into Egypt; there he became a great and strong nation:


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And our cry went up to the Lord, the God of our fathers, and the Lord's ear was open to the voice of our cry, and his eyes took note of our grief and the crushing weight of our work:


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And the Lord took us out of Egypt with a strong hand and a stretched-out arm, with works of power and signs and wonders:


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And he has been our guide to this place, and has given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.


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So now, I have come here with the first of the fruits of the earth which you, O Lord, have given me. Then you will put it down before the Lord your God and give him worship:


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And you will have joy in every good thing which the Lord your God has given to you and to your family; and the Levite, and the man from a strange land who is with you, will take part in your joy.


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When you have taken out a tenth from the tenth of all your produce in the third year, which is the year when this has to be done, give it to the Levite, and the man from a strange land, and the child without a father, and the widow, so that they may have food in your towns and be full;


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And say before the Lord your God, I have taken all the holy things out of my house and have given them to the Levite, and the man from a strange land, and him who has no father, and the widow, as you have given me orders: I have kept in mind all your orders, in nothing have I gone against them:


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No part of these things has been used for food in a time of weeping, or put away when I was unclean, or given for the dead: I have given ear to the voice of the Lord my God, and have done all you have given me orders to do.


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So, looking down from your holy place in heaven, send your blessing on your people Israel and on the land which you have given us, as you said in your oath to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.


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Today the Lord your God gives you orders to keep all these laws and decisions: so then keep and do them with all your heart and all your soul.


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Today you have given witness that the Lord is your God, and that you will go in his ways and keep his laws and his orders and his decisions and give ear to his voice:


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And the Lord has made it clear this day that you are a special people to him, as he gave you his word; and that you are to keep all his orders;


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And that he will make you high over all the nations he has made, in praise, in name, and in honour, and that you are to be a holy people to the Lord your God as he has said.


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Then Moses and the responsible men of Israel gave the people these orders: Keep all the orders which I have given you this day;


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And on the day when you go over Jordan into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, put up great stones, coating them with building-paste,


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And writing on them all the words of this law, after you have gone over; so that you may take the heritage which the Lord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has said.


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And when you have gone over Jordan, you are to put up these stones, as I have said to you today, in Mount Ebal, and have them coated with building-paste.


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There you are to make an altar to the Lord your God, of stones on which no iron instrument has been used.


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You are to make the altar of the Lord your God of uncut stones; offering on it burned offerings to the Lord your God:


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Then Moses and the priests, the Levites, said to all Israel, Be quiet and give ear, O Israel; today you have become the people of the Lord your God.


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For this cause you are to give ear to the voice of the Lord your God, and do his orders and his laws which I give you this day.


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These are to take their places on Mount Gerizim for blessing the people when you have gone over Jordan: Simeon and Levi and Judah and Issachar and Joseph and Benjamin;


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And these are to be on Mount Ebal for the curse: Reuben, Gad, and Asher, and Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.


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Cursed is the man who makes any image of wood or stone or metal, disgusting to the Lord, the work of man's hands, and puts it up in secret. And let all the people say, So be it.


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Cursed is he who does not give honour to his father or mother. And let all the people say, So be it.


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Cursed is he who takes his neighbour's landmark from its place. And let all the people say, So be it.


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Cursed is he who gives a wrong decision in the cause of a man from a strange land, or of one without a father, or of a widow. And let all the people say, So be it.


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Cursed is he who has sex relations with his father's wife, for he has put shame on his father. And let all the people say, So be it.


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Cursed is he who has sex relations with his sister, the daughter of his father or of his mother. And let all the people say, So be it.


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Cursed is he who for a reward puts to death one who has done no wrong. And let all the people say, So be it.


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Now if you give ear to the voice of the Lord your God, and keep with care all these orders which I have given you today, then the Lord your God will put you high over all the nations of the earth:


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And all these blessings will come on you and overtake you, if your ears are open to the voice of the Lord your God.


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A blessing will be on the fruit of your body, and on the fruit of your land, on the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herd, and the young of your flock.


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By the power of the Lord, those who take arms against you will be overcome before you: they will come out against you one way, and will go in flight from you seven ways.


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The Lord will send his blessing on your store-houses and on everything to which you put your hand: his blessing will be on you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you.


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The Lord will keep you as a people holy to himself, as he has said to you in his oath, if you keep the orders of the Lord your God and go on walking in his ways.


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And all the peoples of the earth will see that the name of the Lord is on you, and they will go in fear of you.


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And the Lord will make you fertile in every good thing, in the fruit of your body, and the fruit of your cattle, and the fruit of your fields, in the land which the Lord, by his oath to your fathers, said he would give you.


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Opening his store-house in heaven, the Lord will send rain on your land at the right time, blessing all the work of your hands: other nations will make use of your wealth, and you will have no need of theirs.


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The Lord will make you the head and not the tail; and you will ever have the highest place, if you give ear to the orders of the Lord your God which I give you today, to keep and to do them;


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Not turning away from any of the orders which I give you today, to the right hand or to the left, or going after any other gods to give them worship.


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But if you do not give ear to the voice of the Lord your God, and take care to do all his orders and his laws which I give you today, then all these curses will come on you and overtake you:


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A curse will be on the fruit of your body, and on the fruit of your land, on the increase of your cattle, and the young of your flock.


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The Lord will send on you cursing and trouble and punishment in everything to which you put your hand, till sudden destruction overtakes you; because of your evil ways in which you have been false to me.


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The Lord will send disease after disease on you, till you have been cut off by death from the land to which you are going.


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The Lord will send wasting disease, and burning pain, and flaming heat against you, keeping back the rain till your land is waste and dead; so will it be till your destruction is complete.


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The Lord will make the rain of your land powder and dust, sending it down on you from heaven till your destruction is complete.


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The Lord will let you be overcome by your haters: you will go out against them one way, and you will go in flight before them seven ways: you will be the cause of fear among all the kingdoms of the earth.


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Your bodies will be meat for all the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth; there will be no one to send them away.


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The Lord will send on you the disease of Egypt, and other sorts of skin diseases which nothing will make well.


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You will go feeling your way when the sun is high, like a blind man for whom all is dark, and nothing will go well for you: you will be crushed and made poor for ever, and you will have no saviour.


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You will take a wife, but another man will have the use of her: the house which your hands have made will never be your resting-place: you will make a vine-garden, and never take the fruit of it.


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Your ox will be put to death before your eyes, but its flesh will not be your food: your ass will be violently taken away before your face, and will not be given back to you: your sheep will be given to your haters, and there will be no saviour for you.


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Your sons and your daughters will be given to another people, and your eyes will be wasted away with looking and weeping for them all the day: and you will have no power to do anything.


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The fruit of your land and all the work of your hands will be food for a nation which is strange to you and to your fathers; you will only be crushed down and kept under for ever:


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The Lord will send a skin disease, attacking your knees and your legs, bursting out from your feet to the top of your head, so that nothing will make you well.


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And you, and the king whom you have put over you, will the Lord take away to a nation strange to you and to your fathers; there you will be servants to other gods of wood and stone.


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And you will become a wonder and a name of shame among all the nations where the Lord will take you.


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You will put in vines and take care of them, but you will get no wine or grapes from them; for they will be food for worms.


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Your land will be full of olive-trees, but there will be no oil for the comfort of your body; for your olive-tree will give no fruit.


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You will have sons and daughters, but they will not be yours; for they will go away prisoners into a strange land.


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The man from a strange land who is living among you will be lifted up higher and higher over you, while you go down lower and lower.


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He will let you have his wealth at interest, and will have no need of yours: he will be the head and you the tail.


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And all these curses will come after you and overtake you, till your destruction is complete; because you did not give ear to the voice of the Lord your God, or keep his laws and his orders which he gave you:


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Because you did not give honour to the Lord your God, worshipping him gladly, with joy in your hearts on account of all your wealth of good things;


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For this cause you will become servants to those whom the Lord your God will send against you, without food and drink and clothing, and in need of all things: and he will put a yoke of iron on your neck till he has put an end to you.


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The Lord will send a nation against you from the farthest ends of the earth, coming with the flight of an eagle; a nation whose language is strange to you;


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He will take the fruit of your cattle and of your land till death puts an end to you: he will let you have nothing of your grain or wine or oil or any of the increase of your cattle or the young of your flock, till he has made your destruction complete.


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Your towns will be shut in by his armies, till your high walls, in which you put your faith, have come down: his armies will be round your towns, through all your land which the Lord your God has given you.


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And your food will be the fruit of your body, the flesh of the sons and daughters which the Lord your God has given you; because of your bitter need and the cruel grip of your haters.


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That man among you who is soft and used to comfort will be hard and cruel to his brother, and to his dear wife, and to of those his children who are still living;


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And will not give to any of them the flesh of his children which will be his food because he has no other; in the cruel grip of your haters on all your towns.


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The most soft and delicate of your women, who would not so much as put her foot on the earth, so delicate is she, will be hard-hearted to her husband and to her son and to her daughter;


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And to her baby newly come to birth, and to the children of her body; for having no other food, she will make a meal of them secretly, because of her bitter need and the cruel grip of your haters on all your towns.


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If you will not take care to do all the words of this law, recorded in this book, honouring that name of glory and of fear, THE LORD YOUR GOD;


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Then the Lord your God will make your punishment, and the punishment of your seed, a thing to be wondered at; great punishments and cruel diseases stretching on through long years.


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He will send on you again all the diseases of Egypt, which were a cause of fear to you, and they will take you in their grip.


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And all the diseases and the pains not recorded in the book of this law will the Lord send on you till your destruction is complete.


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And you will become a very small band, though your numbers were like the stars of heaven; because you did not give ear to the voice of the Lord your God.


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And as the Lord took delight in doing you good and increasing you, so the Lord will take pleasure in cutting you off and causing your destruction, and you will be uprooted from the land which you are about to take as your heritage.


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And the Lord will send you wandering among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other: there you will be servants to other gods, of wood and stone, gods of which you and your fathers had no knowledge.


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And even among these nations there will be no peace for you, and no rest for your feet: but the Lord will give you there a shaking heart and wasting eyes and weariness of soul:


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Your very life will be hanging in doubt before you, and day and night will be dark with fears, and nothing in life will be certain:


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In the morning you will say, If only it was evening! And at evening you will say, If only morning would come! Because of the fear in your hearts and the things which your eyes will see.


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And the Lord will take you back to Egypt again in ships, by the way of which I said to you, You will never see it again: there you will be offering yourselves as men-servants and women-servants to your haters for a price, and no man will take you.


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These are the words of the agreement which Moses was ordered by the Lord to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, in addition to the agreement which he made with them in Horeb.


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And Moses said in the hearing of all Israel, You have seen all the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and to all his servants and all his land;


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But even to this day the Lord has not given you a mind open to knowledge, or seeing eyes or hearing ears.


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For forty years I have been your guide through the waste land: your clothing has not become old on your backs, or your shoes on your feet.


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When you came to this place, Sihon, king of Heshbon, and Og, king of Bashan, came out to make war against us and we overcame them:


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And we took their land and gave it to the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, for their heritage.


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So keep the words of this agreement and do them, so that it may be well for you in everything you do.


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You have come here today, all of you, before the Lord your God; the heads of your tribes, the overseers, and those who are in authority over you, with all the men of Israel,


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And your little ones, your wives, and the men of other lands who are with you in your tents, down to the wood-cutter and the servant who gets water for you:


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With the purpose of taking part in the agreement of the Lord your God, and his oath which he makes with you today:


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And so that he may make you his people today, and be your God, as he has said to you, and as he made an oath to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.


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But with everyone who is here with us today before the Lord our God, as well as with those who are not here:


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(For you have in mind how we were living in the land of Egypt; and how we came through all the nations which were on your way;


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And you have seen their disgusting doings, and the images of wood and stone and silver and gold which were among them:)


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So that there may not be among you any man or woman or family or tribe whose heart is turned away from the Lord our God today, to go after other gods and give them worship; or any root among you whose fruit is poison and bitter sorrow;


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If such a man, hearing the words of this oath, takes comfort in the thought that he will have peace even if he goes on in the pride of his heart, taking whatever chance may give him:


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The Lord will have no mercy on him, but the wrath of the Lord will be burning against that man, and all the curses recorded in this book will be waiting for him, and the Lord will take away his name completely from the earth.


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He will be marked out by the Lord, from all the tribes of Israel, for an evil fate, in keeping with all the curses of the agreement recorded in this book of the law.


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And future generations, your children coming after you, and travellers from far countries, will say, when they see the punishments of that land and the diseases which the Lord has sent on it;


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And that all the land is a salt and smoking waste, not planted or giving fruit or clothed with grass, but wasted like Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, on which the Lord sent destruction in the heat of his wrath:


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Truly all the nations will say, Why has the Lord done so to this land? what is the reason for this great and burning wrath?


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Then men will say, Because they gave up the agreement of the Lord, the God of their fathers, which he made with them when he took them out of the land of Egypt:


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And they went after other gods and gave them worship, gods who were strange to them, and whom he had not given them:


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And so the wrath of the Lord was moved against this land, to send on it all the curse recorded in this book:


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Rooting them out of their land, in the heat of his wrath and passion, and driving them out into another land, as at this day.


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The secret things are the Lord our God's: but the things which have been made clear are ours and our children's for ever, so that we may do all the words of this law.


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Now when all these things have come on you, the blessing and the curse which I have put before you, if the thought of them comes back to your minds, when you are living among the nations where the Lord your God has sent you,


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And your hearts are turned again to the Lord your God, and you give ear to his word which I give you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul:


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Then the Lord will have pity on you, changing your fate, and taking you back again from among all the nations where you have been forced to go.


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Even if those who have been forced out are living in the farthest part of heaven, the Lord your God will go in search of you, and take you back;


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Placing you again in the land of your fathers as your heritage; and he will do you good, increasing you till you are more in number than your fathers were.


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And the Lord your God will give to you and to your seed a circumcision of the heart, so that, loving him with all your heart and all your soul, you may have life.


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And the Lord your God will put all these curses on those who are against you, and on your haters who put a cruel yoke on you.


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And you will again give ear to the voice of the Lord, and do all his orders which I have given you today.


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And the Lord your God will make you fertile in all good things, blessing the work of your hands, and the fruit of your body, and the fruit of your cattle, and the fruit of your land: for the Lord will have joy in you, as he had in your fathers:


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If you give ear to the voice of the Lord your God, keeping his orders and his laws which are recorded in this book of the law, and turning to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.


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They are not in heaven, for you to say, Who will go up to heaven for us and give us knowledge of them so that we may do them?


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And they are not across the sea, for you to say, Who will go over the sea for us and give us news of them so that we may do them?


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In giving you orders today to have love for the Lord your God, to go in his ways and keep his laws and his orders and his decisions, so that you may have life and be increased, and that the blessing of the Lord your God may be with you in the land where you are going, the land of your heritage.


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But if your heart is turned away and your ear is shut, and you go after those who would make you servants and worshippers of other gods:


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I give witness against you this day that destruction will certainly be your fate, and your days will be cut short in the land where you are going, the land of your heritage on the other side of Jordan.


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Let heaven and earth be my witnesses against you this day that I have put before you life and death, a blessing and a curse: so take life for yourselves and for your seed:


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In loving the Lord your God, hearing his voice and being true to him: for he is your life and by him will your days be long: so that you may go on living in the land which the Lord gave by an oath to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.


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Then he said to them, I am now a hundred and twenty years old; I am no longer able to go out and come in: and the Lord has said to me, You are not to go over Jordan.


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The Lord your God, he will go over before you; he will send destruction on all those nations, and you will take their land as your heritage: and Joshua will go over at your head as the Lord has said.


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The Lord will do to them as he did to Sihon and to Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, whom he put to destruction.


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Be strong and take heart, and have no fear of them: for it is the Lord your God who is going with you; he will not take away his help from you.


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Then Moses sent for Joshua, and before the eyes of all Israel said to him, Be strong and take heart: for you are to go with this people into the land which the Lord, by his oath to their fathers, has given them; by your help they will take it for their heritage.


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It is the Lord who goes before you; he will be with you, he will not take away his help from you or give you up: so have no fear.


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Then Moses put all this law in writing, and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who take up the ark of the Lord's agreement, and to all the responsible men of Israel.


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And Moses said to them, At the end of every seven years, at the time fixed for the ending of debts, at the feast of tents,


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When all Israel has come before the Lord your God in the place named by him, let a reading be given of this law in the hearing of all Israel.


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Make all the people come together, men and women and children, and anyone from another country who is with you, so that hearing they may become wise in the fear of the Lord your God, and take care to do all the words of this law;


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And so that your children, to whom it is new, may give ear and be trained in the fear of the Lord your God, while you are living in the land which you are going over Jordan to take for your heritage.


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At that time the Lord said to Moses, The day of your death is near: send for Joshua, and come to the Tent of meeting so that I may give him his orders. So Moses and Joshua went to the Tent of meeting.


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And the Lord said to Moses, Now you are going to rest with your fathers; and this people will be false to me, uniting themselves to the strange gods of the land where they are going; they will be turned away from me and will not keep the agreement I have made with them.


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In that day my wrath will be moved against them, and I will be turned away from them, veiling my face from them, and destruction will overtake them, and unnumbered evils and troubles will come on them; so that in that day they will say, Have not these evils come on us because our God is not with us?


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Truly, my face will be turned away from them in that day, because of all the evil they have done in going after other gods.


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Make then this song for yourselves, teaching it to the children of Israel: put it in their mouths, so that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel.


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For when I have taken them into the land named in my oath to their fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey, and they have made themselves full of food and are fat, then they will be turned to other gods and will give them worship, no longer honouring me or keeping my agreement.


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Then when evils and troubles without number have overtaken them, this song will be a witness to them, for the words of it will be clear in the memories of their children: for I see the thoughts which are moving in their hearts even now, before I have taken them into the land of my oath.


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Then he gave orders to Joshua, the son of Nun, saying to him, Be strong and take heart: for you are to go at the head of the children of Israel into the land which I made an oath to give them; and I will be with you.


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Take this book of the law and put it by the ark of the Lord's agreement, so that it may be a witness against you.


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For I have knowledge of your hard and uncontrolled hearts: even now, while I am still living, you will not be ruled by the Lord; how much less after my death?


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Get together before me all those who are in authority in your tribes, and your overseers, so that I may say these things in their hearing, and make heaven and earth my witnesses against them.


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For I am certain that after my death you will give yourselves up to sin, wandering from the way which I have given you; and evil will overtake you in the end, because you will do evil in the eyes of the Lord, moving him to wrath by the work of your hands.


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My teaching is dropping like rain, coming down like dew on the fields; like rain on the young grass and showers on the garden plants:


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He is the Rock, complete is his work; for all his ways are righteousness: a God without evil who keeps faith, true and upright is he.


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They have become false, they are not his children, the mark of sin is on them; they are an evil and hard-hearted generation.


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Is this your answer to the Lord, O foolish people and unwise? Is he not your father who has given you life? He has made you and given you your place.


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Keep in mind the days of the past, give thought to the years of generations gone by: go to your father and he will make it clear to you, to the old men and they will give you the story.


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When the Most High gave the nations their heritage, separating into groups the children of men, he had the limits of the peoples marked out, keeping in mind the number of the children of Israel.


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He came to him in the waste land, in the unpeopled waste of sand: putting his arms round him and caring for him, he kept him as the light of his eye.


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As an eagle, teaching her young to make their flight, with her wings outstretched over them, takes them up on her strong feathers:


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He put him on the high places of the earth, his food was the increase of the field; honey he gave him out of the rock and oil out of the hard rock;


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Butter from his cows and milk from his sheep, with fat of lambs and sheep of Bashan, and goats, and the heart of the grain; and for your drink, wine from the blood of the grape.


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But Jeshurun became fat and would not be controlled: you have become fat, you are thick and full of food: then he was untrue to the God who made him, giving no honour to the Rock of his salvation.


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They made offerings to evil spirits which were not God, to gods who were strange to them, which had newly come up, not feared by your fathers.


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And he said, My face will be veiled from them, I will see what their end will be: for they are an uncontrolled generation, children in whom is no faith.


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They have given my honour to that which is not God, moving me to wrath with their false worship: I will give their honour to those who are not a people, moving them to wrath by a foolish nation,


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For my wrath is a flaming fire, burning to the deep parts of the underworld, burning up the earth with her increase, and firing the deep roots of the mountains.


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They will be wasted from need of food, and overcome by burning heat and bitter destruction; and the teeth of beasts I will send on them, with the poison of the worms of the dust.


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Outside they will be cut off by the sword, and in the inner rooms by fear; death will take the young man and the virgin, the baby at the breast and the grey-haired man.


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I said I would send them wandering far away, I would make all memory of them go from the minds of men:


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But for the fear that their haters, uplifted in their pride, might say, Our hand is strong, the Lord has not done all this.


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If only they were wise, if only this was clear to them, and they would give thought to their future!


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How would it be possible for one to overcome a thousand, and two to send ten thousand in flight, if their rock had not let them go, if the Lord had not given them up?


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For their vine is the vine of Sodom, from the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are the grapes of evil, and the berries are bitter:


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Punishment is mine and reward, at the time of the slipping of their feet: for the day of their downfall is near, sudden will be their fate.


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For the Lord will be judge of his people, he will have pity for his servants; when he sees that their power is gone, there is no one, shut up or free.


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Who took the fat of their offerings, and the wine of their drink offering? Let them now come to your help, let them be your salvation.


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See now, I myself am he; there is no other god but me: giver of death and life, wounding and making well: and no one has power to make you free from my hand.


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If I make sharp my shining sword, and my hand is outstretched for judging, I will give punishment to those who are against me, and their right reward to my haters.


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I will make my arrows red with blood, my sword will be feasting on flesh, with the blood of the dead and the prisoners, of the long-haired heads of my haters.


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Be glad, O you his people, over the nations; for he will take payment for the blood of his servants, and will give punishment to his haters, and take away the sin of his land, for his people.


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So Moses said all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he and Hoshea, the son of Nun.


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Moses said to them, Let the words which I have said to you today go deep into your hearts, and give orders to your children to do every word of this law.


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And this is no small thing for you, but it is your life, and through this you may make your days long in the land which you are going over Jordan to take for your heritage.


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Go up into this mountain of Abarim, to Mount Nebo in the land of Moab opposite Jericho; there you may see the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel for their heritage:


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And let death come to you on the mountain where you are going, and be put to rest with your people; as death came to Aaron, your brother, on Mount Hor, where he was put to rest with his people:


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Because of your sin against me before the children of Israel at the waters of Meribath Kadesh in the waste land of Zin; because you did not keep my name holy among the children of Israel.


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So you will see the land before you, but you will not go into the land which I am giving to the children of Israel.


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Now this is the blessing which Moses, the man of God, gave to the children of Israel before his death.


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He said, The Lord came from Sinai, dawning on them from Seir; shining out from Mount Paran, coming from Meribath Kadesh: from his right hand went flames of fire: his wrath made waste the peoples.


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And there was a king in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people and the tribes of Israel came together.


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And this is the blessing of Judah: he said, Give ear, O Lord, to the voice of Judah and make him one with his people: let your hands take up his cause, and be his help against his attackers.


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And of Levi he said, Give your Thummim to Levi and let the Urim be with your loved one, whom you put to the test at Massah, with whom you were angry at the waters of Meribah;


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Who said of his father, Who is he? and of his mother, I have not seen her; he kept himself separate from his brothers and had no knowledge of his children: for they have given ear to your word and kept your agreement.


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They will be the teachers of your decisions to Jacob and of your law to Israel: the burning of perfumes before you will be their right, and the ordering of burned offerings on your altar.


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Let your blessing, O Lord, be on his substance, may the work of his hands be pleasing to you: may those who take up arms against him and all who have hate for him, be wounded through the heart, never to be lifted up again.


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And of Benjamin he said, Benjamin is the loved one of the Lord, he will be kept safe at all times; he will be covered by the Most High, resting between his arms.


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And of Joseph he said, Let the blessing of the Lord be on his land; for the good things of heaven on high, and the deep waters flowing under the earth,


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The good things of the earth and all its wealth, the good pleasure of him who was seen in the burning tree: may they come on the head of Joseph, on the head of him who was prince among his brothers.


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He is a young ox, glory is his; his horns are the horns of the mountain ox, with which all peoples will be wounded, even to the ends of the earth: they are the ten thousands of Ephraim and the thousands of Manasseh.


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They will send out the word for the people to come to the mountain, taking there the offerings of righteousness: for the store of the seas will be theirs, and the secret wealth of the sand.


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Of Gad he said, A blessing be on him who makes wide the limits of Gad: he takes his rest like a she-lion, taking for himself the arm and the crown of the head.


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He kept for himself the first part, for his was the ruler's right: he put in force the righteousness of the Lord, and his decisions for Israel.


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And of Naphtali he said, O Naphtali, made glad with grace and full of the blessing of the Lord: the sea and its fishes will be his.


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And of Asher he said, Let Asher have the blessing of children; may he be pleasing to his brothers, and let his foot be wet with oil.


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No other is like the God of Jeshurun, coming on the heavens to your help, and letting his glory be seen in the skies.


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The God of your fathers is your safe resting-place, and under you are his eternal arms: driving out the forces of your haters from before you, he said, Let destruction overtake them.


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And Israel is living in peace, the fountain of Jacob by himself, in a land of grain and wine, with dew dropping from the heavens.


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Happy are you, O Israel: who is like you, a people whose saviour is the Lord, whose help is your cover, whose sword is your strength! All those who are against you will put themselves under your rule, and your feet will be planted on their high places.


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And Moses went up from the table-lands of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah which is facing Jericho. And the Lord let him see all the land, the land of Gilead as far as Dan;


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And all Naphtali and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, as far as the Great Sea of the west;


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And the Lord said to him, This is the land about which I made an oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, I will give it to your seed: now I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not go in there.


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And the Lord put him to rest in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth-peor: but no man has knowledge of his resting-place to this day.


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And Moses at his death was a hundred and twenty years old: his eye had not become clouded, or his natural force become feeble.


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For thirty days the children of Israel were weeping for Moses in the table-lands of Moab, till the days of weeping and sorrow for Moses were ended.


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And Joshua, the son of Nun, was full of the spirit of wisdom; for Moses had put his hands on him: and the children of Israel gave ear to him, and did as the Lord had given orders to Moses.


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There has never been another prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord had knowledge of face to face;


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In all the signs and wonders which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and all his land;


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Now after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, the word of the Lord came to Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' helper, saying,


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Moses my servant is dead; so now get up! Go over Jordan, you and all this people, into the land which I am giving to them, to the children of Israel.


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From the waste land and this mountain Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, and all the land of the Hittites to the Great Sea, in the west, will be your country.


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While you are living, all will give way before you: as I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will not take away my help from you or give you up.


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Take heart and be strong; for you will give to this people for their heritage the land which I gave by an oath to their fathers.


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Only take heart and be very strong; take care to do all the law which Moses my servant gave you, not turning from it to the right hand or to the left, so that you may do well in all your undertakings.


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Let this book of the law be ever on your lips and in your thoughts day and night, so that you may keep with care everything in it; then a blessing will be on all your way, and you will do well.


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Have I not given you your orders? Take heart and be strong; have no fear and do not be troubled; for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go,


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Go through the tents and give orders to the people, saying, Get ready a store of food; for in three days you are to go over this river Jordan and take for your heritage the land which the Lord your God is giving you.


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Keep in mind what Moses, the servant of the Lord, said to you, The Lord your God is sending you rest and will give you this land.


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Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle will be kept here in the land which Moses gave you on this side of Jordan; but you, the fighting-men, are to go over before your brothers, armed, to give them help;


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Till the Lord has given your brothers rest, as he has given it to you, and they have taken their heritage in the land which the Lord your God is giving them: then you will go back to the land of your heritage which Moses, the servant of the Lord, gave you on the east side of Jordan.


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Then they said to Joshua in answer, Whatever you say to us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go.


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As we gave attention to Moses in all things, so we will give attention to you: and may the Lord your God be with you as he was with Moses.


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Whoever goes against your orders, and does not give attention to all your words, will be put to death: only take heart and be strong.


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Then Joshua, the son of Nun, sent two men from Shittim secretly, with the purpose of searching out the land, and Jericho. So they went and came to the house of a loose woman of the town, named Rahab, where they took their rest for the night.


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And it was said to the king of Jericho, See, some men have come here tonight from the children of Israel with the purpose of searching out the land.


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Then the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, Send out the men who have come to you and are in your house; for they have come with the purpose of searching out all the land.


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And the woman took the two men and put them in a secret place; then she said, Yes, the men came to me, but I had no idea where they came from;


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And when it was the time for shutting the doors at dark, they went out; I have no idea where the men went: but if you go after them quickly, you will overtake them.


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But she had taken them up to the roof, covering them with the stems of flax which she had put out in order there.


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So the men went after them on the road to Jordan as far as the river-crossing: and when they had gone out after them, the door into the town was shut.


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And said to them, It is clear to me that the Lord has given you the land, and that the fear of you has come on us;


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For we have had news of how the Lord made the Red Sea dry before you when you came out of Egypt; and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites, on the other side of Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you gave up to the curse.


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And because of this news, our hearts became like water, and there was no more spirit in any of us because of you; for the Lord your God is God in heaven on high and here on earth.


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So now, will you give me your oath by the Lord, that, because I have been kind to you, you will be kind to my father's house,


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And that you will keep safe my father and mother and my brothers and sisters and all they have, so that death may not come on us?


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And the men said to her, Our life for yours if you keep our business secret; and when the Lord has given us the land, we will keep faith and be kind to you.


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Then she let them down from the window by a cord, for the house where she was living was on the town wall.


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And she said to them, Get away into the hill-country, or the men who have gone after you will overtake you; keep yourselves safe there for three days, till the searchers have come back, and then go on your way.


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If, when we come into the land, you put this cord of bright red thread in the window from which you let us down; and get your father and mother and your brothers and all your family into the house;


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Then if anyone goes out of your house into the street, his blood will be on his head, we will not be responsible; but if any damage comes to anyone in the house, his blood will be on our heads.


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But if you say anything about our business here, then we will be free from the oath you have made us take.


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And she said, Let it be as you say. Then she sent them away, and they went; and she put the bright red cord in the window.


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And they went into the hill-country and were there three days, till the men who had gone after them had come back; and those who went after them were searching for them everywhere without coming across them.


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Then the two men came down from the hill-country and went over and came back to Joshua, the son of Nun; and they gave him a complete account of what had taken place.


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And they said to Joshua, Truly, the Lord has given all the land into our hands; and all the people of the land have become like water because of us.


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Then Joshua got up early in the morning, and, moving on from Shittim, he and all the children of Israel came to Jordan and were there for the night before going over.


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Giving the people their orders, and saying, When you see the ark of the agreement of the Lord your God lifted up by the priests, the Levites, then get up from your places and go after it;


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But let there be a space between you and it of about two thousand cubits: come no nearer to it, so that you may see the way you have to go, for you have not been over this way before.


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And Joshua said to the people, Make yourselves holy, for tomorrow the Lord will do works of wonder among you.


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Then Joshua said to the priests, Take up the ark of the agreement and go over in front of the people. So they took up the ark of the agreement and went in front of the people.


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And the Lord said to Joshua, From now on I will give you glory in the eyes of all Israel, so that they may see that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.


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And you are to give orders to the priests who take up the ark of the agreement, and say, When you come to the edge of the waters of Jordan, go no further.


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And Joshua said to the children of Israel, Come to me here: and give ear to the words of the Lord your God.


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And Joshua said, By this you will see that the living God is among you, and that he will certainly send out from before you the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Hivite and the Perizzite and the Girgashite and the Amorite and the Jebusite.


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And when the feet of the priests who take up the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, come to rest in the waters of Jordan, the waters of Jordan will be cut off, all the waters flowing down from higher up, and will come together in a mass.


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So when the people went out from their tents to go over Jordan, the priests who took up the ark of the agreement were in front of the people;


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And when those who took up the ark came to Jordan, and the feet of the priests who took up the ark were touching the edge of the water (for the waters of Jordan are overflowing all through the time of the grain-cutting),


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Then the waters flowing down from higher up were stopped and came together in a mass a long way back at Adam, a town near Zarethan; and the waters flowing down to the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, were cut off: and the people went across opposite Jericho.


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And the priests who took up the ark of the agreement of the Lord kept their places, with their feet on dry land in the middle of Jordan, while all Israel went over on dry land, till all the nation had gone over Jordan.


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And say to them, Take up from the middle of Jordan, from the place where the feet of the priests were resting, twelve stones, and take them over with you and put them down in the place where you take your rest tonight.


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So Joshua sent for the twelve men, whom he had ready, one man out of every tribe of the children of Israel,


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And he said to them, Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of Jordan, and let every one of you take up a stone on his back, one for every tribe of the children of Israel:


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So that this may be a sign among you; when your children say to you in time to come, What is the reason for these stones?


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Then you will say to them, Because the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the Lord's agreement; when it went over Jordan the waters of Jordan were cut off: and these stones will be a sign for the children of Israel, keeping it in their memory for ever.


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So the children of Israel did as Joshua gave them orders, and took twelve stones from the middle of Jordan, as the Lord had said to Joshua, one for every tribe of the children of Israel; these they took across with them to their night's resting-place and put them down there.


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And Joshua put up twelve stones in the middle of Jordan, where the feet of the priests who took up the ark of the agreement had been placed: and there they are to this day.


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For the priests who took up the ark kept there in the middle of Jordan till all the orders given to Joshua by Moses from the Lord had been done: then the people went over quickly.


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And when all the people had come to the other side, the ark of the Lord went over, and the priests, before the eyes of the people.


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And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh went over armed before the children of Israel as Moses had said to them:


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About forty thousand armed for war went over before the Lord to the fight, to the lowlands of Jericho.


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That day the Lord made Joshua great in the eyes of all Israel; and all the days of his life they went in fear of him, as they had gone in fear of Moses.


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And when the priests who took up the ark of the Lord's agreement came up out of Jordan and their feet came out on to dry land, the waters of Jordan went back to their place, overflowing its edges as before.


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So on the tenth day of the first month the people came up out of Jordan, and put up their tents in Gilgal, on the east side of Jericho.


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And he said to the children of Israel, When your children say to their fathers in time to come, What is the reason for these stones?


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For the Lord your God made the waters of Jordan dry before you till you had gone across, as he did to the Red Sea, drying it up before us till we had gone across:


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So that all the peoples of the earth may see that the hand of the Lord is strong; and that they may go in fear of the Lord your God for ever.


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Now when the news came to all the kings of the Amorites on the west side of Jordan, and all the kings of the Canaanites living by the sea, how the Lord had made the waters of Jordan dry before the children of Israel, till they had gone across, their hearts became like water, and there was no more spirit in them, because of the children of Israel.


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At that time the Lord said to Joshua, Make yourself stone knives and give the children of Israel circumcision a second time.


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And this is the reason why Joshua did so: all the males of the people who came out of Egypt, all the fighting-men, had been overtaken by death in the waste land on the way, after they came out of Egypt.


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All the people who came out had undergone circumcision; but all the people whose birth had taken place in the waste land on their journey from Egypt had not.


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For the children of Israel were wandering in the waste land for forty years, till all the nation, that is, all the fighting-men, who had come out of Egypt, were dead, because they did not give ear to the voice of the Lord: to whom the Lord said, with an oath, that he would not let them see the land which the Lord had given his word to their fathers to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey.


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And their children, who came up in their place, now underwent circumcision by the hands of Joshua, not having had it before: for there had been no circumcision on the journey.


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So when all the nation had undergone circumcision, they kept in their tents till they were well again.


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And the Lord said to Joshua, Today the shame of Egypt has been rolled away from you. So that place was named Gilgal, to this day.


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So the children of Israel put up their tents in Gilgal; and they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month, in the evening, in the lowlands of Jericho.


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And on the day after the Passover, they had for their food the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and dry grain on the same day.


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And there was no more manna from the day after they had for their food the produce of the land; the children of Israel had manna no longer, but that year the produce of the land of Canaan was their food.


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Now when Joshua was near Jericho, lifting up his eyes he saw a man in front of him, with his sword uncovered in his hand: and Joshua went up to him and said, Are you for us or against us?


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And he said, No; but I have come as captain of the armies of the Lord. Then Joshua, falling down with his face to the earth in worship, said, What has my lord to say to his servant?


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And the captain of the Lord's army said to Joshua, Take off your shoes from your feet, for the place where you are is holy. And Joshua did so.


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(Now Jericho was all shut up because of the children of Israel: there was no going out or coming in.)


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And the Lord said to Joshua, See, I have given into your hands Jericho with its king and all its men of war.


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Now let all your fighting-men make a circle round the town, going all round it once. Do this for six days.


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And let seven priests go before the ark with seven loud-sounding horns in their hands: on the seventh day you are to go round the town seven times, the priests blowing their horns.


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And at the sound of a long note on the horns, let all the people give a loud cry; and the wall of the town will come down flat, and all the people are to go straight forward.


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Then Joshua, the son of Nun, sent for the priests and said to them, Take up the ark of the agreement, and let seven priests take seven horns in their hands and go before the ark of the Lord.


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And he said to the people, Go forward, circling the town, and let the armed men go before the ark of the Lord.


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So after Joshua had said this to the people, the seven priests with their seven horns went forward before the Lord, blowing on their horns: and the ark of the Lord's agreement went after them.


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And the armed men went before the priests who were blowing the horns, and the mass of the people went after the ark, blowing their horns.


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And to the people Joshua gave an order, saying, You will give no cry, and make no sound, and let no word go out of your mouth till the day when I say, Give a loud cry; then give a loud cry.


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So he made the ark of the Lord go all round the town once: then they went back to the tents for the night.


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And the seven priests with their seven horns went on before the ark of the Lord, blowing their horns: the armed men went before them, and the mass of the people went after the ark of the Lord, blowing their horns.


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The second day they went all round the town once, and then went back to their tents: and so they did for six days.


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Then on the seventh day they got up early, at the dawn of the day, and went round the town in the same way, but that day they went round it seven times.


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And the seventh time, at the sound of the priests' horns, Joshua said to the people, Now give a loud cry; for the Lord has given you the town.


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And the town will be put to the curse, and everything in it will be given to the Lord: only Rahab, the loose woman, and all who are in the house with her, will be kept safe, because she kept secret the men we sent.


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And as for you, keep yourselves from the cursed thing, for fear that you may get a desire for it and take some of it for yourselves, and so be the cause of a curse and great trouble on the tents of Israel.


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But all the silver and gold and the vessels of brass and iron are holy to the Lord: they are to come into the store-house of the Lord.


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So the people gave a loud cry, and the horns were sounded; and on hearing the horns the people gave a loud cry, and the wall came down flat, so that the people went up into the town, every man going straight before him, and they took the town.


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And they put everything in the town to the curse; men and women, young and old, ox and sheep and ass, they put to death without mercy.


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Then Joshua said to the two men who had been sent to make a search through the land, Go into the house of the loose woman, and get her out, and all who are with her, as you gave her your oath.


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So the searchers went in and got out Rahab and her father and mother and her brothers and all she had, and they got out all her family; and they took them outside the tents of Israel.


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Then, after burning up the town and everything in it, they put the silver and gold and the vessels of brass and iron into the store-house of the Lord's house.


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But Joshua kept Rahab, the loose woman, and her father's family and all she had, from death, and so she got a living-place among the children of Israel to this day; because she kept safe the men whom Joshua had sent to make a search through the land.


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Then Joshua gave the people orders with an oath, saying, Let that man be cursed before the Lord who puts his hand to the building up of this town: with the loss of his first son will he put the first stone of it in place, and with the loss of his youngest son he will put up its doors.


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But the children of Israel did wrong about the cursed thing: for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the family of Judah, took of the cursed thing, moving the Lord to wrath against the children of Israel.


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Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is by the side of Beth-aven, on the east side of Beth-el, and said to them, Go up and make a search through the land. And the men went up and saw how Ai was placed.


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Then they came back to Joshua and said to him, Do not send all the people up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and make an attack on Ai; there is no need for all the people to be tired with the journey there, for it is only a small town.


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The men of Ai put to death about thirty-six of them, driving them from before the town as far as the stoneworks, and overcoming them on the way down: and the hearts of the people became like water.


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Then Joshua, in great grief, went down on the earth before the ark of the Lord till the evening, and all the chiefs of Israel with him, and they put dust on their heads.


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And Joshua said, O Lord God, why have you taken us over Jordan only to give us up into the hands of the Amorites for our destruction? If only it had been enough for us to keep on the other side of Jordan!


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For when the news comes to the Canaanites and all the people of the land, they will come up, shutting us in and cutting off our name from the earth: and what will you do for the honour of your great name?


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Israel has done wrong, sinning against the agreement which I made with them: they have even taken of the cursed thing; acting falsely like thieves they have put it among their goods.


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For this reason the children of Israel have given way, turning their backs in flight before their attackers, because they are cursed: I will no longer be with you, if you do not put the cursed thing away from among you.


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Up! make the people holy; say to them, Make yourselves holy before tomorrow, for the Lord, the God of Israel, has said, There is a cursed thing among you, O Israel, and you will give way before your attackers in the fight till the cursed thing has been taken away from among you.


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So in the morning you are to come near, tribe by tribe; and the tribe marked out by the Lord is to come near, family by family; and the family marked out by the Lord is to come near, house by house; and the house marked out by the Lord is to come near, man by man.


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Then the man who is taken with the cursed thing is to be burned, with everything which is his; because he has gone against the agreement of the Lord and has done an act of shame in Israel.


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So Joshua got up early in the morning, and made Israel come before him by their tribes; and the tribe of Judah was taken;


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Then he made Judah come forward, and the family of the Zerahites was taken; and he made the family of the Zerahites come forward man by man; and Zabdi was taken;


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Then the house of Zabdi came forward man by man, and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken.


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And Joshua said to Achan, My son, give glory and praise to the Lord, the God of Israel; give me word now of what you have done, and keep nothing back from me.


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And Achan, answering, said to Joshua, Truly I have done wrong against the Lord, the God of Israel, and this is what I have done:


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When I saw among their goods a fair robe of Babylon and two hundred shekels of silver, and a mass of gold, fifty shekels in weight, I was overcome by desire and took them; and they are put away in the earth in my tent, and the silver is under it.


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So Joshua sent men quickly, and looking in his tent, they saw where the robe had been put away secretly with the silver under it.


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And they took them from the tent and came back with them to Joshua and the children of Israel, and put them before the Lord.


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Then Joshua and all Israel took Achan, the son of Zerah, and the silver and the robe and the mass of gold, and his sons and his daughters and his oxen and his asses and his sheep and his tent and everything he had; and they took them up into the valley of Achor.


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And Joshua said, Why have you been a cause of trouble to us? Today the Lord will send trouble on you. And all Israel took part in stoning him; they had him stoned to death and then burned with fire.


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And over him they put a great mass of stones, which is there to this day; then the heat of the Lord's wrath was turned away. So that place was named, The Valley of Achor, to this day.


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Then the Lord said to Joshua, Have no fear and do not be troubled: take with you all the fighting-men and go up against Ai: for I have given into your hands the king of Ai and his people and his town and his land:


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And you are to do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king: but their goods and their cattle you may take for yourselves: let a secret force be stationed to make a surprise attack on the town from the back.


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So Joshua and the fighting-men got ready to go up against Ai; and Joshua took thirty thousand men of war, and sent them out by night.


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And he gave them their orders, saying, Go and take up your position secretly at the back of the town: do not go very far away, and let all of you be ready:


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And I and all the people with me will come near the town, and when they come out against us as they did before, we will go in flight from them;


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And they will come out after us, till we have got them away from the town; for they will say, They have gone in flight from us as before; so we will go in flight before them;


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Then you will get up from your secret position and take the town, for the Lord your God will give it up into your hands.


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And when you have taken the town, put fire to it, as the Lord has said: see, I have given you your orders.


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So Joshua sent them out: and they took up a secret position between Beth-el and Ai, on the west side of Ai: but Joshua kept with the people that night.


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And early in the morning Joshua got up, and put the people in order, and he and the chiefs of Israel went up before the people to Ai.


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And all the fighting-men who were with him went up and came near the town, and took up a position on the north side of Ai facing the town, with a valley between him and the town.


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And taking about five thousand men, he put them in position for a surprise attack on the west side of Ai, between Beth-el and Ai.


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So all the people were in their places, the army on the north side of the town and the secret force on the west; and that night Joshua went down into the valley.


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Now when the king of Ai saw it, he got up quickly and went out to war against Israel, he and all his people, to the slope going down to the valley; but he had no idea that a secret force was waiting at the back of the town.


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Then Joshua and all Israel, acting as if they were overcome before them, went in flight by way of the waste land.


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And all the people in Ai came together to go after them; and they went after Joshua, moving away from the town.


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There was not a man in Ai and Beth-el who did not go out after Israel; and the town was open and unwatched while they went after Israel.


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And the Lord said to Joshua, Let your spear be stretched out against Ai; for I will give it into your hands. So Joshua took up his spear, stretching it out in the direction of the town.


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Then the secret force came quickly from their place, and running forward when they saw his hand stretched out, went into the town and took it, and put fire to it straight away.


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Then the men of Ai, looking back, saw the smoke of the town going up to heaven, and were unable to go this way or that: and the people who had gone in flight to the waste land were turned back on those who were coming after them.


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And when Joshua and all Israel saw that the town had been taken by the surprise attack, and that the smoke of the town had gone up, turning round they overcame the men of Ai.


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Then the other force came out of the town against them, so that they were being attacked on this side and on that: and Israel overcame them and let not one of them get away with his life.


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Then, after the destruction of all the people of Ai in the field and in the waste land where they went after them, and when all the people had been put to death without mercy, all Israel went back to Ai, and put to death all who were in it without mercy.


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For Joshua did not take back his hand with the outstretched spear till the destruction of the people of Ai was complete.


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But the cattle and the goods from that town, Israel took for themselves, as the Lord had given orders to Joshua.


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And he put the king of Ai to death, hanging him on a tree till evening: and when the sun went down, Joshua gave them orders to take his body down from the tree, and put it in the public place of the town, covering it with a great mass of stones, which is there to this day.


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In the way ordered by Moses, the servant of the Lord, as it is recorded in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of uncut stones, untouched by any iron instrument: and on it they made burned offerings and peace-offerings to the Lord.


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And he made there on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, writing it before the eyes of the children of Israel.


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And all Israel, those who were Israelites by birth, as well as the men from other lands living with them, and their responsible men and their overseers and judges, took their places round the ark, in front of the priests, the Levites, whose work it was to take up the ark of the Lord's agreement; half of them were stationed in front of Mount Gerizim and half in front of Mount Ebal, in agreement with the orders for the blessing of the children of Israel which Moses, the servant of the Lord, had given.


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And after, he gave them all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, as it is all recorded in the book of the law;


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Reading to all the meeting of Israel, with the women and the children and the men from other lands who were living among them, every word of the orders which Moses had given.


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Now on hearing the news of these things, all the kings on the west side of Jordan, in the hill-country and the lowlands and by the Great Sea in front of Lebanon, the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites,


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Acting with deceit, got food together as if for a long journey; and took old food-bags for their asses, and old and cracked wine-skins kept together with cord;


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And put old stitched-up shoes on their feet, and old clothing on their backs; and all the food they had with them was dry and broken up.


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And they came to Joshua to the tent-circle at Gilgal, and said to him and to the men of Israel, We have come from a far country: so now make an agreement with us.


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And the men of Israel said to the Hivites, It may be that you are living among us; how then may we make an agreement with you?


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And they said to Joshua, We are your servants. Then Joshua said to them, Who are you and where do you come from?


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And they said to him, Your servants have come from a very far country, because of the name of the Lord your God: for the story of his great name, and of all he did in Egypt has come to our ears,


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And what he did to the two kings of the Amorites east of Jordan, to Sihon, king of Heshbon, and to Og, king of Bashan, at Ashtaroth.


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So the responsible men and all the people of our country said to us, Take food with you for the journey and go to them, and say to them, We are your servants: so now make an agreement with us.


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This bread which we have with us for our food, we took warm and new from our houses when starting on our journey to you; but now see, it has become dry and broken up.


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And these wine-skins were new when we put the wine in them, and now they are cracked as you see; and our clothing and our shoes have become old because of our very long journey here.


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So Joshua made peace with them, and made an agreement with them that they were not to be put to death: and the chiefs of the people took an oath to them.


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Now three days after, when they had made this agreement with them, they had word that these men were their neighbours, living near them.


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And the children of Israel went forward on their journey, and on the third day came to their towns. Now their towns were Gibeon and Chephirah and Beeroth and Kiriath-jearim.


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And the children of Israel did not put them to death, because the chiefs of the people had taken an oath to them by the Lord, the God of Israel. And all the people made an outcry against the chiefs.


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But all the chiefs said to the people, We have taken an oath to them by the Lord, the God of Israel, and so we may not put our hands on them.


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This is what we will do to them: we will not put them to death, for fear that wrath may come on us because of our oath to them.


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Keep them living, and let them be servants, cutting wood and getting water for all the people. And all the people did as the chiefs had said to them.


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Then Joshua sent for them, and said to them, Why have you been false to us, saying, We are very far from you, when you are living among us?


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Now because of this you are cursed, and you will for ever be our servants, cutting wood and getting water for the house of my God.


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And, answering Joshua, they said, Because it came to the ears of your servants that the Lord your God had given orders to his servant Moses to give you all this land, and to send destruction on all the people living in it, because of you; so, fearing greatly for our lives because of you, we have done this.


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And that day Joshua made them servants, cutting wood and getting water for the people and for the altar of the Lord, in the place marked out by him, to this day.


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Now when it came to the ears of Adoni-zedek, king of Jerusalem, that Joshua had taken Ai, and had given it up to the curse (for as he had done to Jericho and its king, so he had done to Ai and its king); and that the people of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were living among them;


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He was in great fear, because Gibeon was a great town, like one of the king's towns, greater than Ai, and all the men in it were men of war.


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So Adoni-zedek, king of Jerusalem, sent to Hoham, king of Hebron, and to Piram, king of Jarmuth, and to Japhia, king of Lachish, and to Debir, king of Eglon, saying,


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Come up to me and give me help, and let us make an attack on Gibeon: for they have made peace with Joshua and the children of Israel.


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So the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon, were banded together, and went up with all their armies and took up their position before Gibeon and made war against it.


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And the men of Gibeon sent to Joshua to the tent-circle at Gilgal, saying, Be not slow to send help to your servants; come up quickly to our support and keep us safe: for all the kings of the Amorites from the hill-country have come together against us.


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And the Lord said to Joshua, Have no fear of them, for I have given them into your hands; they will all give way before you.


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And the Lord made them full of fear before Israel, and they put great numbers of them to death at Gibeon, and went after them by the way going up to Beth-horon, driving them back to Azekah and Makkedah


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And in their flight before Israel, on the way down from Beth-horon, the Lord sent down great stones from heaven on them all the way to Azekah, causing their death: those whose death was caused by the stones were more than those whom the children of Israel put to death with the sword.


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It was on the day when the Lord gave up the Amorites into the hands of the children of Israel that Joshua said to the Lord, before the eyes of Israel, Sun, be at rest over Gibeon; and you, O moon, in the valley of Aijalon.


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And the sun was at rest and the moon kept its place till the nation had given punishment to their attackers. (Is it not recorded in the book of Jashar?) So the sun kept its place in the middle of the heavens, and was waiting, and did not go down, for the space of a day.


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And there was no day like that, before it or after it, when the Lord gave ear to the voice of a man; for the Lord was fighting for Israel.


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And Joshua said, Let great stones be rolled against the mouth of the hole, and let men keep watch by it:


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But do you, without waiting, go after their army, attacking them from the back; do not let them get into their towns, for the Lord your God has given them into your hands.


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Now when Joshua and the children of Israel had come to the end of their war of complete destruction, and had put to death all but a small band who had got safely into the walled towns,


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All the people went back to Joshua to the tent-circle at Makkedah in peace: and no one said a word against the children of Israel.


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Then Joshua said, Take away the stones from the mouth of the hole in the rock, and make those five kings come out to me.


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And they did so, and made those five kings come out of the hole to him, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon.


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And when they had made those kings come out to Joshua, Joshua sent for all the men of Israel, and said to the chiefs of the men of war who had gone with him, Come near and put your feet on the necks of these kings. So they came near and put their feet on their necks.


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And Joshua said to them, Have no fear and do not be troubled; be strong and take heart: for so will the Lord do to all against whom you make war.


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And when the sun went down, they were taken down from the trees, by Joshua's orders, and put into the hole where they had gone to be safe; and great stones were placed at the mouth of the hole, where they are to this day.


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That day Joshua took Makkedah, and put it and its king to the sword; every soul in it he gave up to the curse without mercy: and he did to the king of Makkedah as he had done to the king of Jericho.


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Then Joshua and all Israel with him went on from Makkedah and came to Libnah, and made an attack on it;


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And again the Lord gave it and its king into the hands of Israel; and he put it and every person in it to the sword, till their destruction was complete; and he did to its king as he had done to the king of Jericho.


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Then Joshua and all Israel with him went on from Libnah to Lachish, and took up their position against it and made an attack on it,


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And the Lord gave Lachish into the hands of Israel, and on the second day he took it, putting it and every person in it to the sword without mercy, as he had done to Libnah.


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Then Horam, king of Gezer, came up to the help of Lachish; and Joshua overcame him and his people, putting all of them to death.


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And Joshua and all Israel with him went on from Lachish to Eglon: and they took up their position against it and made an attack on it;


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And that day they took it, putting it and every person in it to the sword, as he had done to Lachish.


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And took it, overcoming it and putting it and its king and its towns and every person in it to the sword: as he had done to Eglon, he put them all to death, and gave it up to the curse with every person in it.


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And he took it, with its king and all its towns: and he put them to the sword, giving every person in it to the curse; all were put to death: as he had done to Hebron, so he did to Debir and its king.


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So Joshua overcame all the land, the hill-country and the South and the lowland and the mountain slopes, and all their kings; all were put to death: and every living thing he gave up to the curse, as the Lord, the God of Israel, had given him orders.


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And all these kings and their land Joshua took at the same time, because the Lord, the God of Israel, was fighting for Israel.


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Now Jabin, king of Hazor, hearing of these things, sent to Jobab, king of Madon, and to the king of Shimron, and to the king of Achshaph,


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And to the kings on the north in the hill-country, and in the Arabah south of Chinneroth, and in the lowland, and in the highlands of Dor on the west,


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And to the Canaanites on the east and on the west, and to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites, and the Jebusites in the hill-country, and the Hivites under Hermon in the land of Mizpah.


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And they went out, they and all their armies with them, a great people, in number like the sand on the seaside, with horses and war-carriages in great number.


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And all these kings came together, and put their forces in position at the waters of Merom, to make war on Israel.


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And the Lord said to Joshua, Have no fear of them: for tomorrow at this time I will give them all up dead before Israel; you are to have the leg-muscles of their horses cut and their war-carriages burned with fire.


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So Joshua and all the men of war with him came against them suddenly at the waters of Merom, and made an attack on them.


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And the Lord gave them up into the hands of Israel, and they overcame them driving them back to great Zidon and to Misrephoth-maim and into the valley of Mizpeh to the east; and they put them all to death, no man got away safely.


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And Joshua did to them as the Lord had said to him; he had the leg-muscles of their horses cut and their war-carriages burned with fire.


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At that time, Joshua went on to take Hazor and put its king to the sword: for in earlier times Hazor was the chief of all those kingdoms.


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And they put every person in it to death without mercy, giving every living thing up to the curse, and burning Hazor.


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And all the towns of these kings, and all the kings, Joshua took, and put them to the sword: he gave them up to the curse, as Moses, the servant of the Lord, had said.


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As for the towns made on hills of earth, not one was burned by Israel but Hazor, which was burned by Joshua.


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And all the goods taken from these towns, and their cattle, the children of Israel kept for themselves; but every man they put to death without mercy, till their destruction was complete, and there was no one living.


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As the Lord had given orders to Moses his servant, so Moses gave orders to Joshua, and so Joshua did; every order which the Lord had given to Moses was done.


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So Joshua took all that land, the hill-country and all the South, and all the land of Goshen, and the lowland and the Arabah, the hill-country of Israel and its lowland;


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From Mount Halak, which goes up to Seir, as far as Baal-gad in the valley of Lebanon under Mount Hermon: and all their kings he overcame and put to death.


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Not one town made peace with the children of Israel, but only the Hivites of Gibeon: they took them all in war.


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For the Lord made them strong in heart to go to war against Israel, so that he might give them up to the curse without mercy, and that destruction might come on them, as the Lord had given orders to Moses.


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And Joshua came at that time and put an end to the Anakim in the hill-country, in Hebron, in Debir, in Anab, and in all the hill-country of Judah and Israel: Joshua gave them and their towns to the curse.


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Not one of the Anakim was to be seen in the land of the children of Israel: only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod, some were still living.


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So Joshua took all the land, as the Lord had said to Moses; and Joshua gave it to the children of Israel as their heritage, making division of it among them by their tribes. And the land had rest from war.


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Now these are the kings of the land whom the children of Israel overcame, taking as their heritage their land on the east side of Jordan, from the valley of the Arnon to Mount Hermon, and all the Arabah to the east:


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Sihon, king of the Amorites, who was living in Heshbon, ruling from Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, and the town in the middle of the valley, and half Gilead, as far as the river Jabbok, the limits of the children of Ammon;


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And the Arabah to the sea of Chinneroth, to the east, and to the sea of the Arabah, that is the Salt Sea, to the east, the way to Beth-jeshimoth; and on the south, under the slopes of Pisgah:


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And the land of Og, king of Bashan, of the rest of the Rephaim, who was living at Ashtaroth and at Edrei,


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Ruling in the mountain of Hermon, and in Salecah, and in all Bashan, as far as the limits of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and half Gilead, to the land of Sihon, king of Heshbon.


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Moses, the servant of the Lord, and the children of Israel overcame them; and Moses, the servant of the Lord, gave their land for a heritage to the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.


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And these are the kings of the land whom Joshua and the children of Israel overcame on the west side of Jordan, from Baal-gad in the valley of Lebanon to Mount Halak, which goes up to Seir; and Joshua gave the land to the tribes of Israel for a heritage, in keeping with their divisions;


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In the hill-country, and in the lowland, and in the Arabah, and on the mountain slopes, and in the waste land, and in the South; the Hittites, the Amorites, and the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.


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Now Joshua was old and full of years; and the Lord said to him, You are old and full of years, and there is still very much land to be taken.


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This is the land which is still to be taken: all the country of the Philistines, and all the Geshurites;


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From the Shihor, which is before Egypt, to the edge of Ekron to the north, which is taken to be Canaanite property: the five chiefs of the Philistines; the Gazites, and the Ashdodites, the Ashkelonites, the Gittites, and the Ekronites, as well as the Avvim;


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On the south: all the land of the Canaanites, and Mearah which is the property of the Zidonians, to Aphek, as far as the limit of the Amorites:


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And the land of the Gebalites, and all Lebanon, looking east, from Baal-gad under Mount Hermon as far as Hamath:


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All the people of the hill-country from Lebanon to Misrephoth-maim, all the Zidonians; them will I send out from before the children of Israel: only make division of it to Israel for a heritage, as I have given you orders to do.


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So now make division of this land for a heritage to the nine tribes, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.


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With him the Reubenites and the Gadites have been given their heritage, which Moses gave them, on the east side of Jordan, as Moses, the servant of the Lord, gave them;


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From Aroer, on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, and the town in the middle of the valley, and all the table-land from Medeba to Dibon;


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And all the towns of Sihon, king of the Amorites, who was ruling in Heshbon, to the limits of the children of Ammon;


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And Gilead, and the land of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and all Mount Hermon, and all Bashan to Salecah;


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All the kingdom of Og in Bashan, who was ruling in Ashtaroth and in Edrei (he was one of the last of the Rephaim); these did Moses overcome, driving them out of their country.


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However, the people of Israel did not send out the Geshurites, or the Maacathites: but Geshur and Maacath are living among Israel to this day.


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Only to the tribe of Levi he gave no heritage; the offerings of the Lord, the God of Israel, made by fire are his heritage, as he said to him.


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Their limit was from Aroer, on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, and the town in the middle of the valley, and all the table-land by Medeba;


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And all the towns of the table-land, and all the kingdom of Sihon, king of the Amorites, who was ruling in Heshbon, whom Moses overcame, together with the chiefs of Midian, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, the chiefs of Sihon, who were living in the land.


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And the limit of the children of Reuben was the edge of Jordan. This was the heritage of the children of Reuben by their families, with its towns and its unwalled places.


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And their limit was Jazer, and all the towns of Gilead, and half the land of the children of Ammon, to Aroer before Rabbah;


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And in the valley, Beth-haram, and Beth-nimrah, and Succoth, and Zaphon, the rest of the kingdom of Sihon, king of Heshbon, having Jordan for its limit, to the end of the sea of Chinnereth on the east side of Jordan.


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This is the heritage of the children of Gad by their families, with its towns and its unwalled places


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And their limit was from Mahanaim, all Bashan, all the kingdom of Og, king of Bashan, and all Havvoth-Jair, in Bashan, sixty towns;


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And half Gilead, and Ashtaroth, and Edrei, towns of the kingdom of Og in Bashan, were for the children of Machir, the son of Manasseh, for half of the children of Machir by their families.


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These are the heritages of which Moses made distribution in the lowlands of Moab, on the other side of Jordan in Jericho, to the east.


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But to the tribe of Levi Moses gave no heritage: the Lord, the God of Israel, is their heritage, as he said to them.


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And these are the heritages which the children of Israel took in the land of Canaan, which Eleazar, the priest, and Joshua, the son of Nun, and the heads of the tribes of the children of Israel, gave out to them;


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Their heritage by the Lord's decision, as he gave orders by Moses, for the nine tribes and the half-tribe.


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For Moses had given their heritage to the two tribes and the half-tribe on the other side of Jordan, but to the Levites he gave no heritage among them.


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Because the children of Joseph were two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim; and they gave the Levites no part in the land, only towns for their living-places, with the grass-lands for their cattle and for their property.


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As the Lord had given orders to Moses, so the people of Israel did, and they made division of the land.


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Then the children of Judah went to Joshua in Gilgal; and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite, said to him, You have knowledge of what the Lord said to Moses, the man of God, about me and about you in Kadesh-barnea.


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I was forty years old when Moses, the servant of the Lord, sent me from Kadesh-barnea to make a search through the land; and the account which I gave him was in keeping with his desire.


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My brothers, however, who went up with me, made the heart of the people like water: but I was true to the Lord with all my heart.


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And on that day Moses took an oath, saying, Truly the land where your feet have been placed will become a heritage for you and your children for ever, because you have been true to the Lord your God with all your heart.


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And now, as you see, the Lord has kept me safe these forty-five years, from the time when the Lord said this to Moses, while Israel was wandering in the waste land: and now I am eighty-five years old.


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And still, I am as strong today as I was when Moses sent me out: as my strength was then, so is it now, for war and for all the business of life.


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So now, give me this hill-country named by the Lord at that time; for you had an account of it then, how the Anakim were there, and great walled towns: it may be that the Lord will be with me, and I will be able to take their land, as the Lord said.


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And Joshua gave him his blessing; and he gave Hebron to Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, for his heritage.


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So Hebron became the heritage of Caleb, the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite, to this day, because with all his heart he was true to the Lord, the God of Israel.


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In earlier times the name of Hebron had been Kiriath-arba, named after Arba, the greatest of the Anakim. And the land had rest from war.


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Now the part of the land marked out for the children of Judah by families, went up to the edge of Edom, as far as the waste land of Zin to the south, to the farthest point of it on the south.


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From there it goes south of the slope up to Akrabbim, and on to Zin, then south past Kadesh-barnea, and on by Hezron and up to Addar, turning in the direction of Karka:


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Then on to Azmon, ending at the stream of Egypt: and the end of the limit is at the sea; this will be your limit on the south.


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And the east limit is the Salt Sea as far as the end of Jordan. And the limit of the north part of the land is from the inlet of the sea at the end of Jordan:


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Then the line goes up to Beth-hoglah, past the north of Beth-arabah, and up to the stone of Bohan, the son of Reuben;


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Then the line goes up to Debir from the valley of Achor, and so to the north, in the direction of Gilgal, which is opposite the slope up to Adummim, on the south side of the river: and the line goes on to the waters of En-shemesh, ending at En-rogel:


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Then the line goes up by the valley of the son of Hinnom to the south side of the Jebusite (which is Jerusalem): then up to the top of the mountain in front of the valley of Hinnom to the west, which is at the farthest point of the valley of Rephaim on the north:


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And the limit is marked out from the top of the mountain to the fountain of the waters of Nephtoah, and out to the towns of Mount Ephron, as far as Baalah (which is Kiriath-jearim):


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Then turning west, the line goes from Baalah to Mount Seir, and on to the side of Mount Jearim (which is Chesalon) on the north, then down to Beth-shemesh, and on past Timnah:


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And out to the side of Ekron to the north: then it is marked out to Shikkeron and on to Mount Baalah, ending at Jabneel; the end of the line is at the sea.


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And the limit on the west is the edge of the Great Sea. This is the line going round the land marked out for the children of Judah, by their families.


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And to Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, he gave a part among the children of Judah, as the Lord had given orders to Joshua, that is, Kiriath-arba, named after Arba, the father of Anak which is Hebron.


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And the three sons of Anak, Sheshai and Ahiman and Talmai, the children of Anak, were forced out from there by Caleb.


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From there he went up against the people of Debir: (now the name of Debir before that was Kiriath-sepher.)


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And Caleb said, I will give Achsah, my daughter, as wife to the man who overcomes Kiriath-sepher and takes it.


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And Othniel, the son of Kenaz, Caleb's brother, took it: so he gave him his daughter Achsah for his wife.


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Now when she came to him, he put into her mind the idea of requesting a field from her father: and she got down from her ass; and Caleb said to her, What is it?


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And she said, Give me a blessing; because you have put me in dry south-land, now give me springs of water. So he gave her the higher spring and the lower spring.


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The farthest towns of the tribe of Judah in the direction of the limits of Edom to the south, were Kabzeel, and Eder, and Jagur;


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And Lebaoth, and Shilhim, and Ain, and Rimmon; all the towns are twenty-nine, with their unwalled places.


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And Shaaraim, and Adithaim, and Gederah, and Gederothaim; fourteen towns with their unwalled places.


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Ashdod, with her daughter-towns and her unwalled places; Gaza, with her daughter-towns and her unwalled places, to the stream of Egypt, with the Great Sea as a limit.


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And as for the Jebusites living in Jerusalem, the children of Judah were unable to make them go out; but the Jebusites are living with the children of Judah at Jerusalem, to this day.


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And the limit of the land marked out for the children of Joseph went out from Jordan at Jericho, at the waters of Jericho on the east, in the waste land, going up from Jericho through the hill-country to Beth-el;


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And it goes down to the west to the limit of the Japhletites, to the limit of Beth-horon the lower, as far as Gezer; ending at the sea.


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And the limit of the land of the children of Ephraim by their families was marked out in this way: the limit of their heritage to the east was Ataroth-addar, to Beth-horon the higher;


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The line goes out to the west at Michmethath on the north; then turning to the east to Taanath-shiloh, going past it on the east of Janoah;


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From Tappuah the line goes on to the west to the river of Kanah; ending at the sea. This is the heritage of the children of Ephraim by their families;


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Together with the towns marked out for the children of Ephraim in the heritage of Manasseh, all the towns with their unwalled places.


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And the Canaanites who were living in Gezer were not forced out; but the Canaanites have been living among Ephraim, to this day, as servants, doing forced work.


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And this was the part marked out for the tribe of Manasseh, because he was the oldest son of Joseph. As for Machir, the oldest son of Manasseh, the father of Gilead, because he was a man of war he had Gilead and Bashan.


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And as for the rest of the children of Manasseh, their heritage was given to them by families; for the children of Abiezer, and for the children of Helek, and for the children of Asriel, and for the children of Shechem, and for the children of Hepher, and for the children of Shemida: these were the male children of Manasseh, the son of Joseph, by their families.


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But Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, had no sons, but only daughters; and these are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, and Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.


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And they came before Eleazar the priest, and Joshua, the son of Nun, and before the chiefs, saying, The Lord gave orders to Moses to give us a heritage among our brothers: so in agreement with the orders of the Lord he gave them a heritage among their father's brothers.


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And ten parts were given to Manasseh, in addition to the land of Gilead and Bashan, which is on the other side of Jordan;


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Because the daughters of Manasseh had a heritage among his sons, and the land of Gilead was the property of the other sons of Manasseh.


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And the limit of Manasseh's land was from Asher to Michmethath, which is before Shechem; the line goes on to the right hand, to the people of En-tappuah.


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The land of Tappuah was the property of Manasseh; but Tappuah on the edge of Manasseh was the property of the children of Ephraim.


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And the limit goes down to the stream Kanah, to the south of the stream: these towns were Ephraim's among the towns of Manasseh; Manasseh's limit was on the north side of the stream, ending at the sea:


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To the south it is Ephraim's, and to the north it is Manasseh's, and the sea is his limit; and they are touching Asher on the north, and Issachar on the east.


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In Issachar and Asher, Manasseh had Beth-shean and its daughter-towns, and Ibleam and its daughter-towns, and the people of Dor and its daughter-towns, and the people of En-dor and its daughter-towns, and the people of Taanach and its daughter-towns, and the people of Megiddo and its daughter-towns, that is, the three hills.


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But the children of Manasseh were not able to make the people of those towns go out; but the Canaanites would go on living in that land.


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And when the children of Israel had become strong, they put the Canaanites to forced work, in place of driving them out.


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Then the children of Joseph said to Joshua, Why have you given me only one part and one stretch of land for my heritage? For through the blessing given to me by the Lord up to now, I am a great people.


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Then Joshua said to them, If you are such a great people, go up into the woodlands, clearing a place there for yourselves in the land of the Perizzites and the Rephaim, if the hill-country of Ephraim is not wide enough for you.


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And the children of Joseph said, The hill-country is not enough for us: and all the Canaanites living in the valley have iron war-carriages, those in Beth-shean and its towns as well as those in the valley of Jezreel.


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Then Joshua said to the children of Joseph, to Ephraim and Manasseh, You are a great people, and have great power: you are not to have one property only,


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For the hill-country of Gilead will be yours...the woodland and cut down...its outskirts will be yours...get the Canaanites out, for they have iron war-carriages...strong.


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And all the meeting of the children of Israel came together at Shiloh and put up the Tent of meeting there: and the land was crushed before them.


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Then Joshua said to the children of Israel, Why are you so slow to go in and take up your heritage in the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you?


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Take from among you three men from every tribe; and I will send them to go through the land and make a record of it for distribution as their heritage; then let them come back to me.


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And let them make division of it into seven parts: let Judah keep inside his limit on the south, and let the children of Joseph keep inside their limit on the north.


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And you are to have the land marked out in seven parts, and come back to me with the record; and I will make the distribution for you here by the decision of the Lord our God.


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For the Levites have no part among you; to be the Lord's priests is their heritage; and Gad and Reuben and the half-tribe of Manasseh have had their heritage on the east side of Jordan, given to them by Moses, the servant of the Lord.


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So the men got up and went; and Joshua gave orders to those who went, to make a record of the land, saying, Go up and down through the land, and make a record of it and come back here to me, and I will make the distribution for you here by the decision of the Lord in Shiloh.


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So the men went, travelling through the land, and made a record of it by towns in seven parts in a book, and came back to Joshua to the tent-circle at Shiloh.


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And Joshua made the distribution for them in Shiloh by the decision of the Lord, marking out the land for the children of Israel by their divisions.


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And the first heritage came out for the tribe of Benjamin by their families: and the limit of their heritage went between the children of Judah and the children of Joseph.


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And their limit on the north was from the Jordan, and the line goes up to the side of Jericho on the north and through the hill-country to the west, ending at the waste land of Beth-aven.


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And from there the line goes south to Luz, to the side of Luz (which is Beth-el), then down to Ataroth-addar, by the mountain to the south of Beth-horon the lower.


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And the limit is marked as coming round to the south on the west side from the mountain which is south of Beth-horon, and ending at Kiriath-baal (which is Kiriath-jearim), a town of the children of Judah: this is the west part.


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And the south part is from the farthest point of Kiriath-jearim, and the line goes out to the west to the fountain of the waters of Nephtoah:


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And the line goes down to the farthest part of the mountain facing the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is on the north of the valley of Rephaim: from there it goes down to the valley of Hinnom, to the side of the Jebusite on the south as far as En-rogel;


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And it goes to En-shemesh and on to Geliloth, opposite the way up to Adummim, and it goes down to the stone of Bohan, the son of Reuben;


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And on to the north side of Beth-hoglah, ending at the north inlet of the Salt Sea at the south end of Jordan; this is their limit on the south.


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And the limit of the east part is the Jordan. This is the heritage of the children of Benjamin, marked out for their families by these limits on all sides.


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And the towns of the children of Benjamin, given to them in the order of their families, are Jericho and Beth-hoglah and Emek-kezziz


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And Zela, Eleph and the Jebusite (which is Jerusalem), Gibeath and Kiriath; fourteen towns with their unwalled places. This is the heritage of the children of Benjamin by their families.


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And the second heritage came out for the tribe of Simeon by their families; and their heritage was in the middle of the heritage of the children of Judah.


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And all the unwalled places round about these towns as far as Baalath-beer-ramah to the south. This is the heritage of the tribe of Simeon by their families.


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The heritage of Simeon was taken out of Judah's stretch of land, for Judah's part was more than they had need of, so the heritage of the children of Simeon was inside their heritage.


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And the third heritage came out for Zebulun by their families; the limit of their heritage was as far as Sarid;


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And their limit goes up to the west to Maralah, stretching to Dabbesheth, and to the stream in front of Jokneam;


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Then turning east from Sarid to the limit of Chisloth-tabor, it goes out to Daberath, and up to Japhia;


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And from there it goes on east to Gath-hepher, to Eth-kazin; ending at Rimmon which goes as far as Neah;


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And Kattath and Nahalal and Shimron and Idalah and Beth-lehem; twelve towns with their unwalled places.


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This is the heritage of the children of Zebulun by their families, these towns with their unwalled places.


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And their limit goes as far as Tabor and Shahazimah and Beth-shemesh, ending at Jordan; sixteen towns with their unwalled places.


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This is the heritage of the tribe of the children of Issachar by their families, these towns with their unwalled places.


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Turning to the east to Beth-dagon and stretching to Zebulun and the valley of Iphtah-el as far as Beth-emek and Neiel to the north; on the left it goes as far as Cabul


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And the limit goes round to Ramah and the walled town of Tyre and Hosah, ending at the sea by Heleb and Achzib;


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This is the heritage of the tribe of the children of Asher by their families, these towns with their unwalled places.


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For the children of Naphtali the sixth heritage came out, for the children of Naphtali by their families;


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And their limit was from Heleph, from the oak-tree in Zaanannim, and Adami-hannekeb and Jabneel, as far as Lakkum, ending at Jordan;


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And turning west to Aznoth-tabor, the limit goes out from there to Hukkok, stretching to Zebulun on the south, and Asher on the west, and Judah at Jordan on the east.


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And Iron and Migdal-el, Horem and Beth-anath and Beth-shemesh; nineteen towns with their unwalled places.


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This is the heritage of the tribe of the children of Naphtali by their families, these towns with their unwalled places.


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(But the limit of the children of Dan was not wide enough for them; so the children of Dan went up and made war on Leshem and took it, putting it to the sword without mercy, and they took it for their heritage and made a place for themselves there, giving it the name of Leshem-dan, after the name of their father, Dan.)


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This is the heritage of the tribe of the children of Dan by their families, these towns with their unwalled places.


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So the distribution of the land and its limits was complete; and the children of Israel gave Joshua, the son of Nun, a heritage among them;


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By the orders of the Lord they gave him the town for which he made request, Timnath-serah in the hill-country of Ephraim: there, after building the town, he made his living-place.


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These are the heritages which Eleazar the priest and Joshua, the son of Nun, and the heads of families of the tribes of the children of Israel gave out at Shiloh, by the decision of the Lord, at the door of the Tent of meeting. So the distribution of the land was complete.


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Say to the children of Israel, Let certain towns be marked out as safe places, as I said to you by the mouth of Moses,


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So that any man who in error and without design has taken the life of another, may go in flight to them: and they will be safe places for you from him who has the right of punishment for blood.


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And if anyone goes in flight to one of those towns, and comes into the public place of the town, and puts his cause before the responsible men of the town, they will take him into the town and give him a place among them where he may be safe.


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And if the one who has the right of punishment comes after him, they are not to give the taker of life up to him; because he was the cause of his neighbour's death without designing it and not in hate.


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And he is to go on living in that town till he has to come before the meeting of the people to be judged; (till the death of him who is high priest at that time:) then the taker of life may come back to his town and to his house, to the town from which he had gone in flight.


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So they made selection of Kedesh in Galilee in the hill-country of Naphtali, and Shechem in the hill-country of Ephraim, and Kiriath-arba (which is Hebron) in the hill-country of Judah.


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And on the east side of Jordan at Jericho, they made selection of Bezer in the waste land, in the table-land, out of the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead out of the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan out of the tribe of Manasseh.


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These were the towns marked out for all the children of Israel and for the man from a strange country living among them, so that anyone causing the death of another in error, might go in flight there, and not be put to death by him who has the right of punishment for blood till he had come before the meeting of the people.


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Then the heads of the families of the Levites came to Eleazar the priest and Joshua, the son of Nun, and to the heads of families of the tribes of the children of Israel;


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And said to them in Shiloh in the land of Canaan, The Lord gave orders by Moses that we were to have towns for living in, with their grass-lands for our cattle.


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And the children of Israel out of their heritage gave to the Levites these towns with their grass-lands, by the order of the Lord.


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And the heritage came out for the families of the Kohathites: the children of Aaron the priest, who were of the Levites, were given thirteen towns from the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin.


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The rest of the children of Kohath by their families were given ten towns from the tribes of Ephraim and Dan and the half-tribe of Manasseh.


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The children of Gershon by their families were given thirteen towns from the tribes of Issachar and Asher and Naphtali and the half-tribe of Manasseh which was in Bashan.


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The children of Merari by their families were given twelve towns from the tribes of Reuben and Gad and Zebulun.


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All these towns with their grass-lands the children of Israel gave by the decision of the Lord to the Levites, as the Lord had given orders by Moses.


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From the tribes of the children of Judah and the children of Simeon they gave these towns, listed here by name:


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These were for the children of Aaron among the families of the Kohathites, of the children of Levi: for they came first in the distribution.


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They gave them Kiriath-arba, the town of Arba, the father of Anak, (which is Hebron) in the hill-country of Judah, with its grass-lands.


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But the open country round the town, and its unwalled places, they gave to Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, as his property.


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And to the children of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron with its grass-lands, the town where the taker of life might be safe, and Libnah with its grass-lands;


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The rest of the families of the children of Kohath, the Levites, were given towns from the tribe of Ephraim.


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And they gave them Shechem with its grass-lands in the hill-country of Ephraim, the town where the taker of life might be safe, and Gezer with its grass-lands;


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All the towns of the rest of the families of the children of Kohath were ten with their grass-lands.


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And to the children of Gershon, of the families of the Levites, they gave from the half-tribe of Manasseh, Golan in Bashan with its grass-lands, the town where the taker of life might be safe, and Ashtaroth with its grass-lands, two towns.


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And from the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with its grass-lands, the town where the taker of life might be safe, and Hammoth-dor and Kartan with their grass-lands, three towns.


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And to the rest of the Levites, that is, the families of the children of Merari, they gave from the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam and Kartah with their grass-lands;


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And from the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Gilead, the town where the taker of life might be safe, and Mahanaim with their grass-lands;


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All these towns were given to the children of Merari by their families, that is, the rest of the families of the Levites; and their heritage was twelve towns.


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All the towns of the Levites, among the heritage of the children of Israel, were forty-eight towns with their grass-lands.


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So the Lord gave to Israel all the land which he gave by oath to their fathers; so it became their heritage and their living-place.


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And the Lord gave them peace on every side, as he had said to their fathers: all those who were against them gave way before them, for the Lord gave them all up into their hands.


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The Lord kept faith with the house of Israel about all the good which he said he would do for them, and all his words came true.


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And said to them, You have kept all the orders of Moses, the Lord's servant, and have done everything I gave you orders to do:


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You have now been with your brothers for a long time; till this day you have been doing the orders of the Lord your God.


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And now the Lord your God has given your brothers rest, as he said: so now you may go back to your tents, to the land of your heritage, which Moses, the Lord's servant, gave to you on the other side of Jordan.


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Only take great care to do the orders and the law which Moses, the Lord's servant, gave you; to have love for the Lord your God and to go in all his ways; and to keep his laws and to be true to him and to be his servants with all your heart and with all your soul.


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Now to the one half of the tribe of Manasseh, Moses had given a heritage in Bashan; but to the other half, Joshua gave a heritage among their brothers on the west side of Jordan. Now when Joshua sent them away to their tents, he gave them his blessing,


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And said to them, Go back with much wealth to your tents, and with very much cattle, with silver and gold and brass and iron, and with a very great store of clothing; give your brothers a part of the goods taken in the war.


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So Reuben and Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh went back, parting from the children of Israel at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, to go to the land of Gilead, to the land of their heritage which had been given to them by the Lord's order to Moses.


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Now when they came to the country by Jordan in the land of Canaan, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh put up there, by Jordan, a great altar, seen from far.


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And news came to the children of Israel, See, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh have put up an altar opposite the land of Canaan, in the country by Jordan on the side which is Israel's.


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Then all the meeting of the children of Israel, hearing this, came together at Shiloh to go up against them to war.


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And the children of Israel sent Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the priest, to the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh, to the land of Gilead,


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And with him they sent ten chiefs, one for every tribe of the children of Israel, every one of them the head of his house among the families of Israel.


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And they came to the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh, to the land of Gilead, and said to them,


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This is what all the meeting of the people of the Lord has said, What is this wrong which you have done against the God of Israel, turning back this day from the Lord and building an altar for yourselves, and being false to the Lord?


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Was not the sin of Baal-peor great enough, from which we are not clear even to this day, though punishment came on the people of the Lord,


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That now you are turned back from the Lord? and, because you are false to him today, tomorrow his wrath will be let loose on all the people of Israel.


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But if the land you now have is unclean, come over into the Lord's land where his House is, and take up your heritage among us: but do not be false to the Lord and to us by building yourselves an altar in addition to the altar of the Lord our God.


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Did not Achan, the son of Zerah, do wrong about the cursed thing, causing wrath to come on all the people of Israel? And not on him only came the punishment of death.


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Then the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh said in answer to the heads of the families of Israel,


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God, even God the Lord, God, even God the Lord, he sees, and Israel will see--if it is in pride or in sin against the Lord,


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That we have made ourselves an altar, being false to the Lord, keep us not safe from death this day; and if for the purpose of offering burned offerings on it and meal offerings, or peace-offerings, let the Lord himself send punishment for it;


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And if we have not, in fact, done this designedly and with purpose, having in our minds the fear that in time to come your children might say to our children, What have you to do with the Lord, the God of Israel?


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For the Lord has made Jordan a line of division between us and you, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad; you have no part in the Lord: so your children will make our children give up fearing the Lord.


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So we said, Let us now make an altar for ourselves, not for burned offerings or for the offerings of beasts:


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But to be a witness between us and you, and between the future generations, that we have the right of worshipping the Lord with our burned offerings and our offerings of beasts and our peace-offerings; so that your children will not be able to say to our children in time to come, You have no part in the Lord.


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For we said to ourselves, If they say this to us or to future generations, then we will say, See this copy of the Lord's altar which our fathers made, not for burned offerings or offerings of beasts, but for a witness between us and you.


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Never let it be said that we were false to the Lord, turning back this day from him and building an altar for burned offerings and meal offerings and offerings of beasts, in addition to the altar of the Lord our God which is before his House.


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Then Phinehas the priest and the chiefs of the meeting and the heads of the families of Israel who were with him, hearing what the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the children of Manasseh said, were pleased.


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And Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the priest, said to the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the children of Manasseh, Now we are certain that the Lord is among us, because you have not done this wrong against the Lord: and you have kept us from falling into the hands of the Lord.


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Then Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the priest, and the chiefs went back from the land of Gilead, from the children of Reuben and the children of Gad, and came to the children of Israel in Canaan and gave them the news.


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And the children of Israel were pleased about this; and they gave praise to God, and had no more thought of going to war against the children of Reuben and the children of Gad for the destruction of their land.


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And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad gave to that altar the name of Ed. For, they said, It is a witness between us that the Lord is God.


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Now after a long time, when the Lord had given Israel rest from wars on every side, and Joshua was old and full of years,


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Joshua sent for all Israel, for their responsible men and their chiefs and their judges and their overseers, and said to them, I am old, and full of years:


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You have seen everything the Lord your God has done to all these nations because of you; for it is the Lord your God who has been fighting for you.


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Now I have given to you, as the heritage of your tribes, all these nations which are still in the land, together with those cut off by me, from Jordan as far as the Great Sea on the west.


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The Lord your God will send them away by force, driving them out before you; and you are to take their land for your heritage, as the Lord your God said to you.


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So be very strong to keep and do whatever is recorded in the book of the law of Moses, not turning away from it to the right or to the left;


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Have nothing to do with these nations who still are living among you; let not their gods be named by you or used in your oaths; do not be their servants or give them worship:


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For the Lord has sent out from before you nations great and strong: and they have all given way before you till this day.


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One man of you is able to put to flight a thousand; for it is the Lord your God who is fighting for you, as he has said to you.


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For if you go back, joining yourselves to the rest of these nations who are still among you, getting married to them and living with them and they with you:


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Then you may be certain that the Lord your God will not go on driving these nations out from before you; but they will become a danger and a cause of sin to you, a whip for your sides and thorns in your eyes, till you are cut off from this good land which the Lord your God has given you.


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Now I am about to go the way of all the earth: and you have seen and are certain, all of you, in your hearts and souls, that in all the good things which the Lord said about you, he has kept faith with you; everything has come true for you.


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And you will see that, as all the good things which the Lord your God undertook to do for you, have come to you, so the Lord will send down on you all the evil things till he has made your destruction complete, and you are cut off from the good land which the Lord your God has given you.


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If the agreement of the Lord your God, which was given to you by his orders, is broken, and you become the servants of other gods and give them worship, then the wrath of the Lord will be burning against you, and you will quickly be cut off from the good land which he has given you.


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Then Joshua got all the tribes of Israel together at Shechem; and he sent for the responsible men of Israel and their chiefs and their judges and their overseers; and they took their place before God.


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And Joshua said to all the people, These are the words of the Lord, the God of Israel: In the past your fathers, Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nahor, were living on the other side of the River: and they were worshipping other gods.


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And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the River, guiding him through all the land of Canaan; I made his offspring great in number, and gave him Isaac.


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And to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau: to Esau I gave Mount Seir, as his heritage; but Jacob and his children went down to Egypt.


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And I sent Moses and Aaron, troubling Egypt by all the signs I did among them: and after that I took you out.


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I took your fathers out of Egypt: and you came to the Red Sea; and the Egyptians came after your fathers to the Red Sea, with their war-carriages and their horsemen.


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And at their cry, the Lord made it dark between you and the Egyptians, and made the sea go over them, covering them with its waters; your eyes have seen what I did in Egypt: then for a long time you were living in the waste land.


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And I took you into the lands of the Amorites on the other side of Jordan; and they made war on you, and I gave them into your hands and you took their land; and I sent destruction on them before you.


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Then Balak, the son of Zippor, king of Moab, went up to war against Israel; and he sent for Balaam, the son of Beor, to put a curse on you:


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Then you went over Jordan and came to Jericho: and the men of Jericho made war on you, the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Hivites and the Jebusites: and I gave them up into your hands.


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And I sent the hornet before you, driving out the two kings of the Amorites before you, not with your sword and your bow.


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And I gave you a land on which you had done no work, and towns not of your building, and you are now living in them; and your food comes from vine-gardens and olive-gardens not of your planting.


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So now, go in fear of the Lord, and be his servants with true hearts: put away the gods worshipped by your fathers across the River and in Egypt, and be servants of the Lord.


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And if it seems evil to you to be the servants of the Lord, make the decision this day whose servants you will be: of the gods whose servants your fathers were across the River, or of the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living: but I and my house will be the servants of the Lord.


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For it is the Lord our God who has taken us and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, out of the prison-house, and who did all those great signs before our eyes, and kept us safe on all our journeys, and among all the peoples through whom we went:


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And the Lord sent out from before us all the peoples, the Amorites living in the land: so we will be the servants of the Lord, for he is our God.


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And Joshua said to the people, You are not able to be the servants of the Lord, for he is a holy God, a God who will not let his honour be given to another: he will have no mercy on your wrongdoing or your sins.


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If you are turned away from the Lord and become the servants of strange gods, then turning against you he will do you evil, cutting you off, after he has done you good.


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And Joshua said to the people, You are witnesses against yourselves that you have made the decision to be the servants of the Lord. And they said, We are witnesses.


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Then, he said, put away the strange gods among you, turning your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.


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And the people said to Joshua, We will be the servants of the Lord our God, and we will give ear to his voice.


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And Joshua put these words on record, writing them in the book of the law of God; and he took a great stone, and put it up there under the oak-tree which was in the holy place of the Lord.


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And Joshua said to all the people, See now, this stone is to be a witness against us; for all the words of the Lord have been said to us in its hearing: so it will be a witness against you if you are false to the Lord your God.


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Now after these things, the death of Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, took place, he being then a hundred and ten years old.


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And they put his body in the earth in the land of his heritage in Timnath-serah, in the hill-country of Ephraim, to the north of Mount Gaash.


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And Israel was true to the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the older men who were still living after Joshua's death, and had seen what the Lord had done for Israel.


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And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel had taken up from Egypt, they put in the earth in Shechem, in the property which Jacob had got from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for a hundred shekels: and they became the heritage of the children of Joseph.


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Then the death of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, took place; and his body was put in the earth in the hill of Phinehas his son, which had been given to him in the hill-country of Ephraim.


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Now after the death of Joshua, the children of Israel made request to the Lord, saying, Who is to go up first to make war for us against the Canaanites?


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Then Judah said to Simeon his brother, Come up with me into my heritage, so that we may make war against the Canaanites; and I will then go with you into your heritage. So Simeon went with him.


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And Judah went up; and the Lord gave the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hands; and they overcame ten thousand of them in Bezek.


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And they came across Adoni-zedek, and made war on him; and they overcame the Canaanites and the Perizzites.


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But Adoni-zedek went in flight; and they went after him and overtook him, and had his thumbs and his great toes cut off.


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And Adoni-zedek said, Seventy kings, whose thumbs and great toes had been cut off, got broken meat under my table: as I have done, so has God done to me in full. And they took him to Jerusalem, and he came to his end there.


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Then the children of Judah made an attack on Jerusalem, and took it, burning down the town after they had put its people to the sword without mercy.


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After that the children of Judah went down to make war on the Canaanites living in the hill-country and in the south and in the lowlands.


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And Caleb went against the Canaanites of Hebron: (now in earlier times Hebron was named Kiriath-arba:) and he put Sheshai and Ahiman and Talmai to the sword.


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And from there he went up against the people of Debir. (Now the name of Debir in earlier times was Kiriath-sepher.)


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And Othniel, the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, took it; so he gave him his daughter Achsah for his wife.


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And she said to him, Give me a blessing; because you have put me in a dry south-land, now give me springs of water. So Caleb gave her the higher spring and the lower spring.


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Now Hobab the Kenite, Moses' father-in-law, had come up out of the town of palm-trees, with the children of Judah, into the waste land of Arad; and he went and was living among the Amalekites;


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And Judah went with Simeon, his brother, and overcame the Canaanites living in Zephath, and put it under the curse; and he gave the town the name of Hormah.


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And the Lord was with Judah; and he took the hill-country for his heritage; but he was unable to make the people of the valley go out, for they had war-carriages of iron.


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And they gave Hebron to Caleb, as Moses had said; and he took the land of the three sons of Anak, driving them out from there.


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And the children of Judah did not make the Jebusites who were living in Jerusalem go out; the Jebusites are still living with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem.


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So they sent men to make a search round Beth-el. (Now the name of the town in earlier times was Luz.)


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And the watchers saw a man coming out of the town, and said to him, If you will make clear to us the way into the town, we will be kind to you.


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So he made clear to them the way into the town, and they put it to the sword; but they let the man and all his family get away safe.


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And he went into the land of the Hittites, building a town there and naming it Luz: which is its name to this day.


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And Manasseh did not take away the land of the people of Beth-shean and its daughter-towns, or of Taanach and its daughter-towns, or of the people of Dor and its daughter-towns, or of the people of Ibleam and its daughter-towns, or of the people of Megiddo and its daughter-towns, driving them out; but the Canaanites would go on living in that land.


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And whenever Israel became strong, they put the Canaanites to forced work, without driving them out completely.


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And Ephraim did not make the Canaanites who were living in Gezer go out; but the Canaanites went on living in Gezer among them.


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Zebulun did not make the people of Kitron or the people of Nahalol go out; but the Canaanites went on living among them and were put to forced work.


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And Asher did not take the land of the people of Acco, or Zidon, or Ahlab, or Achzib, or Helbah, or Aphik, or Rehob, driving them out;


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But the Asherites went on living among the Canaanites, the people of the land, without driving them out.


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Naphtali did not take the land of the people of Beth-shemesh or of Beth-anath, driving them out; but he was living among the Canaanites in the land; however, the people of Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath were put to forced work.


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And the children of Dan were forced into the hill-country by the Amorites, who would not let them come down into the valley;


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For the Amorites would go on living in Mount Heres, in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim; but the children of Joseph became stronger than they, and put them to forced work.


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Now the angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, ***I took you out of Egypt, guiding you into the land which I gave by an oath to your fathers; and I said, My agreement with you will never be broken by me:


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And you are to make no agreement with the people of this land; you are to see that their altars are broken down: but you have not given ear to my voice: what have you done?


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And so I have said, I will not send them out from before you; but they will be a danger to you, and their gods will be a cause of falling to you.


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Now on hearing these words which the angel of the Lord said to all the children of Israel, the people gave themselves up to loud crying and weeping.


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And Joshua let the people go away, and the children of Israel went, every man to his heritage, to take the land for themselves.


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And the people were true to the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the responsible men who were still living after the death of Joshua, and had seen all the great work of the Lord which he had done for Israel.


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And death came to Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, he being a hundred and ten years old.


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And they put his body in the earth in the land of his heritage in Timnath-heres, in the hill-country of Ephraim to the north of Mount Gaash.


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And in time death overtook all that generation; and another generation came after them, having no knowledge of the Lord or of the things which he had done for Israel.


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And they gave up the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had taken them out of the land of Egypt, and went after other gods, the gods of the peoples round about them, worshipping them and moving the Lord to wrath.


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And the wrath of the Lord was burning against Israel, and he gave them up into the hands of those who violently took their property, and into the hands of their haters all round them, so that they were forced to give way before them.


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Wherever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil, as the Lord had taken his oath it would be; and things became very hard for them.


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But still they would not give ear to their judges, but went after other gods and gave them worship; quickly turning from the way in which their fathers had gone, keeping the orders of the Lord; but they did not do so.


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And whenever the Lord gave them judges, then the Lord was with the judge, and was their saviour from the hands of their haters all the days of the judge; for the Lord was moved by their cries of grief because of those who were cruel to them.


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But whenever the judge was dead, they went back and did more evil than their fathers, going after other gods, to be their servants and their worshippers; giving up nothing of their sins and their hard-hearted ways.


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And the wrath of the Lord was burning against Israel, and he said, Because this nation has not been true to my agreement which I made with their fathers, and has not given ear to my voice;


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From now on I will not go on driving out from before them any of the nations which at the death of Joshua were still living in this land;


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In order to put Israel to the test, and see if they will keep the way of the Lord, walking in it as their fathers did, or not.


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So the Lord let those nations go on living in the land, not driving them out quickly, and did not give them up into the hands of Joshua.


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Now these are the nations which the Lord kept in the land for the purpose of testing Israel by them, all those who had had no experience of all the wars of Canaan;


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Only because of the generations of the children of Israel, for the purpose of teaching them war--only those who up till then had no experience of it;


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The five chiefs of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites and the Zidonians and the Hivites living in Mount Lebanon, from the mountain Baal-hermon as far as Hamath:


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For the purpose of testing Israel by them, to see if they would give ear to the orders of the Lord, which he had given to their fathers by the hand of Moses.


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Now the children of Israel were living among the Canaanites, the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites:


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And they took as wives the daughters of these nations and gave their daughters to their sons, and became servants to their gods.


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And the children of Israel did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and put out of their minds the Lord their God, and became servants to the Baals and the Astartes.


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So the wrath of the Lord was burning against Israel, and he gave them up into the hands of Cushan-rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia; and the children of Israel were his servants for eight years.


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And when the children of Israel made prayer to the Lord, he gave them a saviour, Othniel, the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother.


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And the spirit of the Lord came on him and he became judge of Israel, and went out to war, and the Lord gave up Cushan-rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia, into his hands and he overcame him.


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Then the children of Israel again did evil in the eyes of the Lord; and the Lord made Eglon, king of Moab, strong against Israel, because they had done evil in the Lord's eyes.


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And Eglon got together the people of Ammon and Amalek, and they went and overcame Israel and took the town of palm-trees.


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Then when the children of Israel made prayer to the Lord, he gave them a saviour, Ehud, the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a left-handed man; and the children of Israel sent an offering by him to Eglon, king of Moab.


text:
So Ehud made himself a two-edged sword, a cubit long, which he put on at his right side under his robe.


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But he himself, turning back from the stone images at Gilgal, said, I have something to say to you in secret, O king. And he said, Let there be quiet. Then all those who were waiting before him went out.


text:
Then Ehud came in to him while he was seated by himself in his summer-house. And Ehud said, I have a word from God for you. And he got up from his seat.


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And Ehud put out his left hand, and took the sword from his right side, and sent it into his stomach;


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And the hand-part went in after the blade, and the fat was joined up over the blade; for he did not take the sword out of his stomach. And he went out into the...


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Then Ehud went out into the covered way, shutting the doors of the summer-house on him and locking them.


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Now when he had gone, the king's servants came, and saw that the doors of the summer-house were locked; and they said, It may be that he is in his summer-house for a private purpose.


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And they went on waiting till they were shamed, but the doors were still shut; so they took the key, and, opening them, saw their lord stretched out dead on the floor.


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But Ehud had got away while they were waiting and had gone past the stone images and got away to Seirah.


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And when he came there, he had a horn sounded in the hill-country of Ephraim, and all the children of Israel went down with him from the hill-country, and he at their head.


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And he said to them, Come after me; for the Lord has given the Moabites, your haters, into your hands. So they went down after him and took the crossing-places of Jordan against Moab, and let no one go across.


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At that time they put about ten thousand men of Moab to the sword, every strong man and every man of war; not a man got away.


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And after him came Shamgar, the son of Anath, who put to death six hundred Philistines with an ox-stick; and he was another saviour of Israel.


text:
And the Lord gave them up into the hands of Jabin, king of Canaan, who was ruling in Hazor; the captain of his army was Sisera, who was living in Harosheth of the Gentiles.


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Then the children of Israel made prayer to the Lord; for he had nine hundred iron war-carriages, and for twenty years he was very cruel to the children of Israel.


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(And she had her seat under the palm-tree of Deborah between Ramah and Beth-el in the hill-country of Ephraim; and the children of Israel came up to her to be judged.)


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And she sent for Barak, the son of Abinoam, from Kedesh-naphtali, and said to him, Has not the Lord, the God of Israel, given orders saying, Go and get your force into line in Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun?


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And I will make Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, with his war-carriages and his forces, come against you at the river Kishon, where I will give him into your hands.


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And Barak said to her, If you will go with me then I will go; but if you will not go with me I will not go.


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And she said, I will certainly go with you: though you will get no honour in your undertaking, for the Lord will give Sisera into the hands of a woman. So Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh.


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Then Barak sent for Zebulun and Naphtali to come to Kedesh; and ten thousand men went up after him, and Deborah went up with him.


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Now Heber the Kenite, separating himself from the rest of the Kenites, from the children of Hobab, the brother-in-law of Moses, had put up his tent as far away as the oak-tree in Zaanannim, by Kedesh.


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So Sisera got together all his war-carriages, nine hundred war-carriages of iron, and all the people who were with him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles as far as the river Kishon.


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Then Deborah said to Barak, Up! for today the Lord has given Sisera into your hands: has not the Lord gone out before you? So Barak went down from Mount Tabor and ten thousand men after him.


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And the Lord sent fear on Sisera and all his war-carriages and all his army before Barak; and Sisera got down from his war-carriage and went in flight on foot.


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But Barak went after the war-carriages and the army as far as Harosheth of the Gentiles; and all Sisera's army was put to the sword; not a man got away.


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But Sisera went in flight on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between Jabin, king of Hazor, and the family of Heber the Kenite.


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And Jael went out to Sisera, and said to him, Come in, my lord, come in to me without fear. So he went into her tent, and she put a cover over him.


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Then he said to her, Give me now a little water, for I have need of a drink. And opening a skin of milk, she gave him drink, and put the cover over him again.


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And he said to her, Take your place at the door of the tent, and if anyone comes and says to you, Is there any man here, say, No.


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Then Jael, Heber's wife, took a tent-pin and a hammer and went up to him quietly, driving the pin into his head, and it went through his head into the earth, for he was in a deep sleep from weariness; and so he came to his end.


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Then Jael went out, and meeting Barak going after Sisera, said to him, Come, and I will let you see the man you are searching for. So he came into her tent and saw, and there was Sisera stretched out dead with the tent-pin in his head.


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And the power of the children of Israel went on increasing against Jabin, king of Canaan, till he was cut off.


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Because of the flowing hair of the fighters in Israel, because the people gave themselves freely, give praise to the Lord.


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Give attention, O kings; give ear, O rulers; I, even I, will make a song to the Lord; I will make melody to the Lord, the God of Israel.


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Lord, when you went out from Seir, moving like an army from the field of Edom, the earth was shaking and the heavens were troubled, and the clouds were dropping water.


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In the days of Shamgar, the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were not used, and travellers went by side roads.


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Country towns were no more in Israel, ***were no more, till you, Deborah, came up, till you came up as a mother in Israel.


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They had no one to make arms, there were no more armed men in the towns; was there a body-cover or a spear to be seen among forty thousand in Israel?


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Come, you rulers of Israel, you who gave yourselves freely among the people: give praise to the Lord.


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Give ear to the women laughing by the water-springs; there they will give again the story of the upright acts of the Lord, all the upright acts of his arm in Israel.


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Awake! awake! Deborah: awake! awake! give a song: Up! Barak, and take prisoner those who took you prisoner, O son of Abinoam.


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Out of Ephraim they came down into the valley; after you, Benjamin, among your tribesmen; from Machir came down the captains, and from Zebulun those in whose hand is the ruler's rod.


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Your chiefs, Issachar, were with Deborah; and Naphtali was true to Barak; into the valley they went rushing out at his feet. In Reuben there were divisions, and great searchings of heart.


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Gilead was living over Jordan; and Dan was waiting in his ships; Asher kept in his place by the sea's edge, living by his inlets.


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It was the people of Zebulun who put their lives in danger, even to death, with Naphtali on the high places of the field.


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The kings came on to the fight, the kings of Canaan were warring; in Taanach by the waters of Megiddo: they took no profit in money.


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The river Kishon took them violently away, stopping their flight, the river Kishon. Give praise, O my soul, to the strength of the Lord!


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Then loudly the feet of the horses were sounding with the stamping, the stamping of their war-horses.


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A curse, a curse on Meroz! said the angel of the Lord. A bitter curse on her townspeople! Because they came not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord among the strong ones.


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She put out her hand to the tent-pin, and her right hand to the workman's hammer; and she gave Sisera a blow, crushing his head, wounding and driving through his brow.


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Bent at her feet he went down, he was stretched out; bent at her feet he went down; where he was bent down, there he went down in death.


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Looking out from the window she gave a cry, the mother of Sisera was crying out through the window, Why is his carriage so long in coming? When will the noise of his wheels be sounding?


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Are they not getting, are they not parting the goods among them: a young girl or two to every man; and to Sisera robes of coloured needlework, worked in fair colours on this side and on that, for the neck of the queen?


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So may destruction come on all your haters, O Lord; but let your lovers be like the sun going out in his strength. And for forty years the land had peace.


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And the children of Israel did evil in the eyes of the Lord; and the Lord gave them up into the hand of Midian for seven years.


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And Midian was stronger than Israel; and because of the Midianites, the children of Israel made holes for themselves in the mountains, and hollows in the rocks, and strong places.


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And whenever Israel's grain was planted, the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the east came up against them;


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And put their army in position against them; and they took all the produce of the earth as far as Gaza, till there was no food in Israel, or any sheep or oxen or asses.


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For they came up regularly with their oxen and their tents; they came like the locusts in number; they and their camels were without number; and they came into the land for its destruction.


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And Israel was in great need because of Midian; and the cry of the children of Israel went up to the Lord.


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The Lord sent a prophet to the children of Israel, who said to them, The Lord the God of Israel, has said, I took you up from Egypt, out of the prison-house;


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And I took you out of the hands of the Egyptians and out of the hands of all who were cruel to you, and I sent them out by force from before you and gave you their land;


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And I said to you, I am the Lord your God; you are not to give worship to the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living, but you did not give ear to my voice.


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Now the angel of the Lord came and took his seat under the oak-tree in Ophrah, in the field of Joash the Abiezrite; and his son Gideon was crushing grain in the place where the grapes were crushed, so that the Midianites might not see it.


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And the angel of the Lord came before his eyes, and said to him, The Lord is with you, O man of war.


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Then Gideon said to him, O my lord, if the Lord is with us why has all this come on us? And where are all his works of power, of which our fathers have given us word, saying, Did not the Lord take us out of Egypt? But now he has given us up, handing us over to the power of Midian.


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And the Lord, turning to him, said, Go in the strength you have and be Israel's saviour from Midian: have I not sent you?


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And he said to him, O Lord, how may I be the saviour of Israel? See, my family is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.


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Then the Lord said to him, Truly, I will be with you, and you will overcome the Midianites as if they were one man.


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So he said to him, If now I have grace in your eyes, then give me a sign that it is you who are talking to me.


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Do not go away till I come with my offering and put it before you. And he said, I will not go away before you come back.


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Then Gideon went in and made ready a young goat, and with an ephah of meal he made unleavened cakes: he put the meat in a basket and the soup in which it had been cooked he put in a pot, and he took it out to him under the oak-tree and gave it to him there.


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And the angel of God said to him, Take the meat and the unleavened cakes and put them down on the rock over there, draining out the soup over them. And he did so.


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Then the angel of the Lord put out the stick which was in his hand, touching the meat and the cakes with the end of it; and a flame came up out of the rock, burning up the meat and the cakes: and the angel of the Lord was seen no longer.


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Then Gideon was certain that he was the angel of the Lord; and Gideon said, I am in fear, O Lord God! for I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.


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Then Gideon made an altar there to the Lord, and gave it the name Yahweh-shalom; to this day it is in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.


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The same night the Lord said to him, Take ten men of your servants and an ox seven years old, and after pulling down the altar of Baal which is your father's, and cutting down the holy tree by its side,


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Make an altar to the Lord your God on the top of this rock, in the ordered way and take the ox and make a burned offering with the wood of the holy tree which has been cut down.


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Then Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the Lord had said to him; but fearing to do it by day, because of his father's people and the men of the town, he did it by night.


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And the men of the town got up early in the morning, and they saw the altar of Baal broken down, and the holy tree which was by it cut down, and the ox offered on the altar which had been put up there.


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And they said to one another, Who has done this thing? And after searching with care, they said, Gideon, the son of Joash, has done this thing.


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Then the men of the town said to Joash, Make your son come out to be put to death, for pulling down the altar of Baal and cutting down the holy tree which was by it.


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But Joash said to all those who were attacking him, Will you take up the cause of Baal? will you be his saviour? Let anyone who will take up his cause be put to death while it is still morning: if he is a god, let him take up his cause himself because of the pulling down of his altar.


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So that day he gave him the name of Jerubbaal, saying, Let Baal take up his cause against him because his altar has been broken down.


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Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the east, banding themselves together, went over and put up their tents in the valley of Jezreel.


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But the spirit of the Lord came on Gideon; and at the sound of his horn all Abiezer came together after him.


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And he sent through all Manasseh, and they came after him; and he sent to Asher and Zebulun and Naphtali, and they came up and were joined to the others.


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See, I will put the wool of a sheep on the grain-floor; if there is dew on the wool only, while all the earth is dry, then I will be certain that it is your purpose to give Israel salvation by my hand as you have said.


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And it was so: for he got up early on the morning after, and twisting the wool in his hands, he got a basin full of water from the dew on the wool.


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Then Gideon said to God, Do not be moved to wrath against me if I say only this: let me make one more test with the wool; let the wool now be dry, while the earth is covered with dew.


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Then Jerubbaal, that is, Gideon, and all the people with him, got up early and put up their tents by the side of the water-spring of Harod; the tents of Midian were on the north side of him, under the hill of Moreh in the valley.


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And the Lord said to Gideon, So great is the number of your people, that if I give the Midianites into their hands they will be uplifted in pride over me and will say, I myself have been my saviour.


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So now, let it be given out to the people that anyone who is shaking with fear is to go back from Mount Galud. So twenty-two thousand of the people went back, but there were still ten thousand.


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Then the Lord said to Gideon, There are still more people than is necessary; take them down to the water so that I may put them to the test for you there; then whoever I say is to go with you will go, and whoever I say is not to go will not go.


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So he took the people down to the water; and the Lord said to Gideon, Put on one side by themselves all those drinking up the water with their tongues like a dog; and in the same way, all those who go down on their knees to the water while drinking.


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Now the number of those who took up the water with their tongues was three hundred; all the rest of the people went down on their knees to the water.


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And the Lord said to Gideon, By those three hundred who were drinking with their tongues I will give you salvation and give the Midianites into your hands; let the rest of the people go away, every man to his place.


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So they took the vessels of the people, and their horns from their hands, and he sent them away, every man to his tent, keeping only the three hundred; and the tents of Midian were lower down in the valley.


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The same night the Lord said to him, Up! go down now against their army, for I have given them into your hands.


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And after hearing what they are saying, you will get strength to go down against the army. So he went down with his servant Purah to the outer line of the tents of the armed men.


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Now the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the people of the east were covering the valley like locusts; and their camels were like the sand by the seaside, without number.


text:
When Gideon came there, a man was giving his friend an account of his dream, saying, See, I had a dream about a cake of barley bread which, falling into the tents of Midian, came on to the tent, overturning it so that it was stretched out flat on the earth.


text:
And his friend in answer said, This is certainly the sword of Gideon, the son of Joash, the men of Israel: into their hands God has given up all the army of Midian.


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Then Gideon, hearing the story of the dream and the sense in which they took it, gave worship; then he went back to the tents of Israel, and said, Up! for the Lord has given the army of Midian into your hands.


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Then separating the three hundred men into three bands, he gave every man a horn, and a vessel in which was a flaming branch.


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And he said to them, Keep your eyes on me, and do what I do; when I come to the outer line of tents, whatever I do, you are to do the same.


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At the sound of my horn, and the horns of those who are with me, let your horns be sounded all round the tents, and say, For the Lord and for Gideon.


text:
So Gideon and the three hundred men who were with him came to the outer line of tents, at the start of the middle watch, when the watchmen had only then taken their stations; and the horns were sounded and the vessels broken.


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So the three bands all gave a loud note on their horns, and when the vessels had been broken, they took the flaming branches in their left hands, and the horns in their right hands ready for blowing, crying out, For the Lord and for Gideon.


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Then they made a line round the tents, every man in his place; and all the army, awaking from sleep, came running out, and with loud cries went in flight.


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And the three hundred gave a loud note on their horns, and every man's sword was turned by the Lord against his brother all through the army; and the army went in flight as far as Beth-shittah in the direction of Zeredah, to the edge of Abel-meholah by Tabbath.


text:
And the men of Israel came together from Naphtali and from Asher and all Manasseh, and went after Midian.


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Then Gideon sent through all the hill-country of Ephraim saying, Come down against Midian, and keep the ways across Jordan before they come. So all the men of Ephraim, massing themselves together, kept the ways across Jordan.


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And they took the two chiefs of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb; and they put Oreb to death at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb they put to death at the place of the grape-crushing in Zeeb, and they went after Midian; but the heads of Oreb and Zeeb they took across Jordan to Gideon.


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And the men of Ephraim came and said to him, Why did you not send for us when you went to war against Midian? And they said sharp and angry words to him.


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And he said to them, What have I done in comparison with you? Is not that which Ephraim took up after the grape-cutting better than all the grapes which Abiezer got in from the grape-cutting?


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God has given into your hands the chiefs of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb; what have I been able to do in comparison with you? And when he said this, their feeling about him became kinder.


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Then Gideon came to Jordan and went over it with his three hundred, overcome with weariness and in need of food.


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And he said to the men of Succoth, Give bread cakes to my people, for they are overcome with weariness, and I am going on after Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.


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But the chiefs of Succoth said, Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna even now in your hand that we are to give bread to your army?


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Then Gideon said, Because of this, when the Lord has given Zebah and Zalmunna into my hands, I will have you stretched on a bed of thorns of the waste land and on sharp stems, and have you crushed as grain is crushed on a grain-floor.


text:
So he went up from there to Penuel and made the same request to the men of Penuel; but they gave him the same answer as the men of Succoth had given.


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Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor and their armies with them, about fifteen thousand men, those of all the army of the children of the east who were still living; for a hundred and twenty thousand of their swordsmen had been put to death.


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And Gideon went up by the way used by the people living in tents on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and made an attack on the army when they had no thought of danger.


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And Zebah and Zalmunna went in flight; and he went after them, and took the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and put all the army to the curse.


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And taking prisoner a young man of the people of Succoth, he got from him, in answer to his questions, a list of the chiefs of Succoth and the responsible men, seventy-seven men.


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So he came to the men of Succoth and said, Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, on account of whom you made sport of me, saying, Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna even now in your hand, that we are to give bread to your army who are overcome with weariness?


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Then he took the responsible men of the town and had them crushed on a bed of thorns and sharp stems.


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Then he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, Where are the men whom you put to death at Tabor? And they gave answer, As you are, so were they; every one of them was like a king's son.


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And he said, They were my brothers, my mother's sons: by the life of the Lord, if you had kept them safe, I would not put you to death.


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Then he said to Jether, his oldest son, Up! Put them to death. But the boy did not take out his sword, fearing because he was still a boy.


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Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, Up! Put an end to us yourself: for you have a man's strength. Then Gideon got up and put Zebah and Zalmunna to death and took the ornaments which were on their camels' necks.


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Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, Be our ruler, you and your son and your son's son after him; for you have been our saviour from the hands of Midian.


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But Gideon said to them, I will not be a ruler over you, and my son will not be a ruler over you: it is the Lord who will be ruler over you.


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Then Gideon said to them, I have a request to make to you; let every man give me the ear-rings he has taken. (For they had gold ear-rings, because they were Ishmaelites.)


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And they gave answer, We will gladly give them. So they put down a robe, every man dropping into it the ear-rings he had taken.


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The weight of the gold ear-rings which he got from them was one thousand, seven hundred shekels of gold; in addition to the moon-ornaments and jewels and the purple robes which were on the kings of Midian, and the chains on their camels' necks.


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And Gideon made an ephod from them and put it up in his town Ophrah; and all Israel went after it there and were false to the Lord; and it became a cause of sin to Gideon and his house.


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So Midian was broken before the children of Israel and the Midianites never got back their strength. And the land had peace for forty years, in the days of Gideon.


text:
And Gideon, the son of Joash, came to his end when he was very old, and his body was put in the resting-place of Joash his father, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.


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And after the death of Gideon, the children of Israel again went after the gods of Canaan and were false to the Lord, and made Baal-berith their god.


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And the children of Israel did not keep in their minds the Lord their God, who had been their saviour from all their haters on every side;


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And they were not kind to the house of Jerubbaal, that is, Gideon, in reward for all the good he had done to Israel.


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Now Abimelech, the son of Jerubbaal, went to Shechem to his mother's family, and said to them and to all the family of his mother's father,


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Say now in the ears of all the townsmen of Shechem, Is it better for you to be ruled by all the seventy sons of Jerubbaal or by one man only? And keep in mind that I am your bone and your flesh.


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So his mother's family said all this about him in the ears of all the townsmen of Shechem: and their hearts were turned to Abimelech, for they said, He is our brother.


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And they gave him seventy shekels of silver from the house of Baal-berith, with which Abimelech got the support of a number of uncontrolled and good-for-nothing persons.


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Then he went to his father's house at Ophrah, and put his brothers, the seventy sons of Jerubbaal, to death on the same stone; however, Jotham, the youngest, kept himself safe by going away to a secret place.


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And all the townsmen of Shechem and all Beth-millo came together and went and made Abimelech their king, by the oak of the pillar in Shechem.


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Now Jotham, on hearing of it, went to the top of Mount Gerizim, and crying out with a loud voice said to them, Give ear to me, you townsmen of Shechem, so that God may give ear to you.


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One day the trees went out to make a king for themselves; and they said to the olive-tree, Be king over us.


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But the olive-tree said to them, Am I to give up my wealth of oil, by which men give honour to God, and go waving over the trees?


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But the fig-tree said to them, Am I to give up my sweet taste and my good fruit and go waving over the trees?


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But the vine said to them, Am I to give up my wine, which makes glad God and men, to go waving over the trees?


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And the thorn said to the trees, If it is truly your desire to make me your king, then come and put your faith in my shade; and if not, may fire come out of the thorn, burning up the cedars of Lebanon.


text:
So now, if you have done truly and uprightly in making Abimelech king, and if you have done well to Jerubbaal and his house in reward for the work of his hands;


