# verses

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"But if it's just one person who sins by mistake, not realizing what he's doing, he is to bring a yearling she-goat as an Absolution-Offering.


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The priest then is to atone for the person who accidentally sinned, to make atonement before God so that it won't be held against him.


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"The same standard holds for everyone who sins by mistake; the native-born Israelites and the foreigners go by the same rules.


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"But the person, native or foreigner, who sins defiantly, deliberately blaspheming God, must be cut off from his people:


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He has despised God's word, he has violated God's command; that person must be kicked out of the community, ostracized, left alone in his wrongdoing."


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Once, during those wilderness years of the People of Israel, a man was caught gathering wood on the Sabbath.


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Then God spoke to Moses: "Give the man the death penalty. Yes, kill him, the whole community hurling stones at him outside the camp."


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So the whole community took him outside the camp and threw stones at him, an execution commanded by God and given through Moses.


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"Speak to the People of Israel. Tell them that from now on they are to make tassels on the corners of their garments and to mark each corner tassel with a blue thread.


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When you look at these tassels you'll remember and keep all the commandments of God, and not get distracted by everything you feel or see that seduces you into infidelities.


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The tassels will signal remembrance and observance of all my commandments, to live a holy life to God.


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I am your God who rescued you from the land of Egypt to be your personal God. Yes, I am God, your God."


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Getting on his high horse one day, Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, along with a few Reubenites—Dathan and Abiram sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth—


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rebelled against Moses. He had with him 250 leaders of the congregation of Israel, prominent men with positions in the Council.


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They came as a group and confronted Moses and Aaron, saying, "You've overstepped yourself. This entire community is holy and God is in their midst. So why do you act like you're running the whole show?"


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Then he addressed Korah and his gang: "In the morning God will make clear who is on his side, who is holy. God will take his stand with the one he chooses.


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In the presence of God, put fire in them and then incense. Then we'll see who is holy, see whom God chooses. Sons of Levi, you've overstepped yourselves!"


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Isn't it enough for you that the God of Israel has selected you out of the congregation of Israel to bring you near him to serve in the ministries of The Dwelling of God, and to stand before the congregation to minister to them?


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He has brought you and all your brother Levites into his inner circle, and now you're grasping for the priesthood too.


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It's God you've ganged up against, not us. What do you have against Aaron that you're bad-mouthing him?"


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Isn't it enough that you yanked us out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness? And now you keep trying to boss us around!


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Face it, you haven't produced: You haven't brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, you haven't given us the promised inheritance of fields and vineyards. You'd have to poke our eyes out to keep us from seeing what's going on. Forget it, we're not coming."


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Moses' temper blazed white-hot. He said to God, "Don't accept their Grain-Offering. I haven't taken so much as a single donkey from them; I haven't hurt a single hair of their heads."


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Have each man bring his censer filled with incense and present it to God—all 250 censers. And you and Aaron do the same, bring your censers."


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So they all did it. They brought their censers filled with fire and incense and stood at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. Moses and Aaron did the same.


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It was Korah and his gang against Moses and Aaron at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. The entire community could see the Glory of God.


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They threw themselves on their faces and said, "O God, God of everything living, when one man sins are you going to take it out on the whole community?"


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He then spoke to the community: "Back off from the tents of these bad men; don't touch a thing that belongs to them lest you be carried off on the flood of their sins."


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So they all backed away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram by now had come out and were standing at the entrance to their tents with their wives, children, and babies.


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Moses continued to address the community: "This is how you'll know that it was God who sent me to do all these things and that it wasn't anything I cooked up on my own.


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If these men die a natural death like all the rest of us, you'll know that it wasn't God who sent me.


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But if God does something unprecedented—if the ground opens up and swallows the lot of them and they are pitched alive into Sheol—then you'll know that these men have been insolent with God."


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Earth opened its mouth and in one gulp swallowed them down, the men and their families, all the human beings connected with Korah, along with everything they owned.


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And that was the end of them, pitched alive into Sheol. The Earth closed up over them and that was the last the community heard of them.


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At the sound of their cries everyone around ran for dear life, shouting, "We're about to be swallowed up alive!"


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"Tell Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, Gather up the censers from the smoldering cinders and scatter the coals a distance away for these censers have become holy.


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Take the censers of the men who have sinned and are now dead and hammer them into thin sheets for covering the Altar. They have been offered to God and are holy to God. Let them serve as a sign to Israel, evidence of what happened this day."


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So Eleazar gathered all the bronze censers that belonged to those who had been burned up and had them hammered flat and used to overlay the Altar,


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just as God had instructed him by Moses. This was to serve as a sign to Israel that only descendants of Aaron were allowed to burn incense before God; anyone else trying it would end up like Korah and his gang.


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Grumbling broke out the next day in the community of Israel, grumbling against Moses and Aaron: "You have killed God's people!"


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But it so happened that when the community got together against Moses and Aaron, they looked over at the Tent of Meeting and there was the Cloud—the Glory of God for all to see.


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"Back away from this congregation so that I can do away with them this very minute."<br/>They threw themselves facedown on the ground.


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Moses said to Aaron, "Take your censer and fill it with incense, along with fire from the Altar. Get to the congregation as fast as you can: make atonement for them. Anger is pouring out from God—the plague has started!"


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Aaron grabbed the censer, as directed by Moses, and ran into the midst of the congregation. The plague had already begun. He put burning incense into the censer and atoned for the people.


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Fourteen thousand seven hundred people died from the plague, not counting those who died in the affair of Korah.


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"Speak to the People of Israel. Get staffs from them—twelve staffs in all, one from the leader of each of their ancestral tribes. Write each man's name on his staff.


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Start with Aaron; write Aaron's name on the staff of Levi and then proceed with the rest, a staff for the leader of each ancestral tribe.


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Now lay them out in the Tent of Meeting in front of The Testimony where I keep appointments with you.


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What will happen next is this: The staff of the man I choose will sprout. I'm going to put a stop to this endless grumbling by the People of Israel against you."


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Moses spoke to the People of Israel. Their leaders handed over twelve staffs, one for the leader of each tribe. And Aaron's staff was one of them.


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Moses walked into the Tent of Testimony the next day and saw that Aaron's staff, the staff of the tribe of Levi, had in fact sprouted—buds, blossoms, and even ripe almonds!


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Moses brought out all the staffs from God's presence and presented them to the People of Israel. They took a good look. Each leader took the staff with his name on it.


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God said to Moses, "Return Aaron's staff to the front of The Testimony. Keep it there as a sign to rebels. This will put a stop to the grumbling against me and save their lives."


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God said to Aaron, "You and your sons, along with your father's family, are responsible for taking care of sins having to do with the Sanctuary; you and your sons are also responsible for sins involving the priesthood.


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So enlist your brothers of the tribe of Levi to join you and assist you and your sons in your duties in the Tent of Testimony.


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They will report to you as they go about their duties related to the Tent, but they must not have anything to do with the holy things of the Altar under penalty of death—both they and you will die!


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They are to work with you in taking care of the Tent of Meeting, whatever work is involved in the Tent. Outsiders are not allowed to help you.


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"Your job is to take care of the Sanctuary and the Altar so that there will be no more outbreaks of anger on the People of Israel.


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I personally have picked your brothers, the Levites, from Israel as a whole. I'm giving them to you as a gift, a gift of God, to help with the work of the Tent of Meeting.


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But only you and your sons may serve as priests, working around the Altar and inside the curtain. The work of the priesthood is my exclusive gift to you; it cannot be delegated—anyone else who invades the Sanctuary will be executed."


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God spoke to Aaron, "I am personally putting you in charge of my contributions, all the holy gifts I get from the People of Israel. I am turning them over to you and your children for your personal use. This is the standing rule.


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You and your sons get what's left from the offerings, whatever hasn't been totally burned up on the Altar—the leftovers from Grain-Offerings, Absolution-Offerings, and Compensation-Offerings.


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"You also get the Wave-Offerings from the People of Israel. I present them to you and your sons and daughters as a gift. This is the standing rule. Anyone in your household who is ritually clean may eat it.


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I also give you all the best olive oil, the best new wine, and the grain that is offered to God as the firstfruits of their harvest—


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all the firstfruits they offer to God are yours. Anyone in your household who is ritually clean may eat it.


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Every firstborn that is offered to God, whether animal or person, is yours. Except you don't get the firstborn itself, but its redemption price; firstborn humans and ritually clean animals are bought back and you get the redemption price.


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When the firstborn is a month old it must be redeemed at the redemption price of five shekels of silver, using the standard of the Sanctuary shekel, which weighs twenty gerahs.


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"On the other hand, you don't redeem a firstborn ox, sheep, or goat—they are holy. Instead splash their blood on the Altar and burn their fat as a Fire-Gift, a pleasing fragrance to God.


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All the holy offerings that the People of Israel set aside for God, I'm turning over to you and your children. That's the standard rule and includes both you and your children—a Covenant-of-Salt, eternal and unchangeable before God."


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God said to Aaron, "You won't get any inheritance in land, not so much as a small plot of ground: I am your plot of ground, I am your inheritance among the People of Israel.


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"I'm giving the Levites all the tithes of Israel as their pay for the work they do in the Tent of Meeting.


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Starting now, the rest of the People of Israel cannot wander in and out of the Tent of Meeting; they'll be penalized for their sin and the penalty is death.


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It's the Levites and only the Levites who are to work in the Tent of Meeting and they are responsible for anything that goes wrong. This is the regular rule for all time. They get no inheritance among the People of Israel;


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instead I turn over to them the tithes that the People of Israel present as an offering to God. That's why I give the ruling: They are to receive no land-inheritance among the People of Israel."


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"Speak to the Levites. Tell them, When you get the tithe from the People of Israel, the inheritance that I have assigned to you, you must tithe that tithe and present it as an offering to God.


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Your offerings will be treated the same as other people's gifts of grain from the threshing floor or wine from the wine vat.


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This is your procedure for making offerings to God from all the tithes you get from the People of Israel: give God's portion from these tithes to Aaron the priest.


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"Tell the Levites, When you offer the best part, the rest will be treated the same as grain from the threshing floor or wine from the wine vat that others give.


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You and your households are free to eat the rest of it anytime and anyplace—it's your wages for your work at the Tent of Meeting.


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By offering the best part, you'll avoid guilt, you won't desecrate the holy offerings of the People of Israel, and you won't die."


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"This is the rule from the Revelation that God commands: Tell the People of Israel to get a red cow, a healthy specimen, ritually clean, that has never been in harness.


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Eleazar will take some of the blood on his finger and splash it seven times in the direction of the Tent of Meeting.


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The priest then will take a stick of cedar, some sprigs of hyssop, and a piece of scarlet material and throw them on the burning cow.


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Afterwards the priest must wash his clothes and bathe well with water. He can then come into the camp but he remains ritually unclean until evening.


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The man who burns the cow must also wash his clothes and bathe with water. He also is unclean until evening.


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"Then a man who is ritually clean will gather the ashes of the cow and place them in a ritually clean place outside the camp. The congregation of Israel will keep them to use in the Water-of-Cleansing, an Absolution-Offering.


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"The man who gathered up the ashes must scrub his clothes; he is ritually unclean until evening. This is to be a standing rule for both native-born Israelites and foreigners living among them.


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He must purify himself with the Water-of-Cleansing on the third day; on the seventh day he will be clean. But if he doesn't follow the procedures for the third and seventh days, he won't be clean.


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Anyone who touches the dead body of anyone and doesn't get cleansed desecrates God's Dwelling and is to be excommunicated. For as long as the Water-of-Cleansing has not been sprinkled on him, he remains ritually unclean.


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"This is the rule for someone who dies in his tent: Anyone who enters the tent or is already in the tent is ritually unclean for seven days,


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"Anyone out in the open field who touches a corpse, whether dead from violent or natural causes, or a human bone or a grave is unclean for seven days.


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For this unclean person, take some ashes from the burned Absolution-Offering and add some fresh water to it in a bowl.


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Find a ritually clean man to dip a sprig of hyssop into the water and sprinkle the tent and all its furnishings, the persons who were in the tent, the one who touched the bones of the person who was killed or died a natural death, and whoever may have touched a grave.


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Then he is to sprinkle the unclean person on the third and seventh days. On the seventh day he is considered cleansed. The cleansed person must then scrub his clothes and take a bath; by evening he is clean.


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But if an unclean person does not go through these cleansing procedures, he must be excommunicated from the community; he has desecrated the Sanctuary of God. The Water-of-Cleansing has not been sprinkled on him and he is ritually unclean.


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This is the standing rule for these cases.<br/>"The man who sprinkles the Water-of-Cleansing has to scrub his clothes; anyone else who touched the Water-of-Cleansing is also ritually unclean until evening.


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"Anything the ritually unclean man touches becomes unclean, and the person who touches what he touched is unclean until evening."


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In the first month, the entire company of the People of Israel arrived in the Wilderness of Zin. The people stayed in Kadesh.<br/>Miriam died there, and she was buried.


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Why did you haul this congregation of God out here into this wilderness to die, people and cattle alike?


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And why did you take us out of Egypt in the first place, dragging us into this miserable country? No grain, no figs, no grapevines, no pomegranates—and now not even any water!"


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Moses and Aaron walked from the assembled congregation to the Tent of Meeting and threw themselves facedown on the ground. And they saw the Glory of God.


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"Take the staff. Assemble the community, you and your brother Aaron. Speak to that rock that's right in front of them and it will give water. You will bring water out of the rock for them; congregation and cattle will both drink."


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He and Aaron rounded up the whole congregation in front of the rock. Moses spoke: "Listen, rebels! Do we have to bring water out of this rock for you?"


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With that Moses raised his arm and slammed his staff against the rock—once, twice. Water poured out. Congregation and cattle drank.


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God said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you didn't trust me, didn't treat me with holy reverence in front of the People of Israel, you two aren't going to lead this company into the land that I am giving them."


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These were the Waters of Meribah (Bickering) where the People of Israel bickered with God, and he revealed himself as holy.


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Moses sent emissaries from Kadesh to the king of Edom with this message: "A message from your brother Israel: You are familiar with all the trouble we've run into.


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Our ancestors went down to Egypt and lived there a long time. The Egyptians viciously abused both us and our ancestors.


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But when we cried out for help to God, he heard our cry. He sent an angel and got us out of Egypt. And now here we are at Kadesh, a town at the border of your land.


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"Will you give us permission to cut across your land? We won't trespass through your fields or orchards and we won't drink out of your wells; we'll keep to the main road, the King's Road, straying neither right nor left until we've crossed your border."


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The king of Edom answered, "Not on your life. If you so much as set a foot on my land, I'll kill you."


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The People of Israel said, "Look, we'll stay on the main road. If we or our animals drink any water, we'll pay you for it. We're harmless—just a company of footsore travelers."


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He answered again: "No. You may not come through." And Edom came out and blocked the way with a crowd of people brandishing weapons.


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"It's time for Aaron to be gathered into the company of his ancestors. He will not enter the land I am giving to the People of Israel because you both rebelled against my orders at the Waters of Meribah.


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Remove Aaron's clothes from him and put them on his son Eleazar. Aaron will be gathered there; Aaron will die."


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Moses took off Aaron's clothes and put them on his son Eleazar. Aaron died on top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain.


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The whole congregation, getting the news that Aaron had died, went into thirty days of mourning for him.


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The Canaanite king of Arad, ruling in the Negev, heard that Israel was advancing up the road to Atharim. He attacked Israel and took prisoners of war.


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Israel vowed a vow to God: "If you will give this people into our power, we'll destroy their towns and present the ruins to you as a holy destruction."


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God listened to Israel's prayer and gave them the Canaanites. They destroyed both them and their towns, a holy destruction. They named the place Hormah (Holy Destruction).


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They set out from Mount Hor along the Red Sea Road, a detour around the land of Edom. The people became irritable and cross as they traveled.


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They spoke out against God and Moses: "Why did you drag us out of Egypt to die in this godforsaken country? No decent food; no water—we can't stomach this stuff any longer."


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The people came to Moses and said, "We sinned when we spoke out against God and you. Pray to God; ask him to take these snakes from us."<br/>Moses prayed for the people.


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God said to Moses, "Make a snake and put it on a flagpole: Whoever is bitten and looks at it will live."


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So Moses made a snake of fiery copper and put it on top of a flagpole. Anyone bitten by a snake who then looked at the copper snake lived.


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Their next camp was alongside the Arnon River, which marks the border between Amorite country and Moab.


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Along the canyon ravines<br/>that lead to the village Ar<br/>And lean hard against<br/>the border of Moab.


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They went on to Beer (The Well), where God said to Moses, "Gather the people; I'll give them water."


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the well sunk by princes,<br/>Dug out by the peoples' leaders<br/>digging with their scepters and staffs.<br/>From the wilderness their route went from Mattanah


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to the valley that opens into the fields of Moab from where Pisgah (The Summit) rises and overlooks Jeshimon (Wasteland).


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"Let us cross your land. We won't trespass into your fields or drink water in your vineyards. We'll keep to the main road, the King's Road, until we're through your land."


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But Sihon wouldn't let Israel go through. Instead he got his army together and marched into the wilderness to fight Israel. At Jahaz he attacked Israel.


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But Israel fought hard, beat him soundly, and took possession of his land from the Arnon all the way to the Jabbok right up to the Ammonite border. They stopped there because the Ammonite border was fortified.


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Israel took and occupied all the Amorite cities, including Heshbon and all its surrounding villages.


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Heshbon was the capital city of Sihon king of the Amorites. He had attacked the former king of Moab and captured all his land as far north as the river Arnon.


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That is why the folk singers sing,<br/>Come to Heshbon to rebuild the city,<br/>restore Sihon's town.


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Fire once poured out of Heshbon,<br/>flames from the city of Sihon;<br/>Burning up Ar of Moab,<br/>the natives of Arnon's heights.


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Doom, Moab!<br/>The people of Chemosh, done for!<br/>Sons turned out as fugitives, daughters abandoned as captives<br/>to the king of the Amorites, to Sihon.


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Oh, but we finished them off:<br/>Nothing left of Heshbon as far as Dibon;<br/>Devastation as far off as Nophah,<br/>scorched earth all the way to Medeba.


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Moses sent men to scout out Jazer. They captured its villages and drove away the Amorites who lived there.


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Then they turned north on the road to Bashan. Og king of Bashan marched out with his entire army to meet Moses in battle at Edrei.


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God said to Moses, "Don't be afraid of him. I'm making a present of him to you, him and all his people and his land. Treat him the same as Sihon king of the Amorites who ruled in Heshbon."


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So they attacked him, his sons, and all the people—there was not a single survivor. Israel took the land.


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The people of Moab were in a total panic because of Israel. There were so many of them! They were terrorized.


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Moab spoke to the leaders of Midian: "Look, this mob is going to clean us out—a bunch of crows picking a carcass clean."<br/>Balak son of Zippor, who was king of Moab at that time,


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sent emissaries to get Balaam son of Beor, who lived at Pethor on the banks of the Euphrates River, his homeland.<br/>Balak's emissaries said, "Look. A people has come up out of Egypt, and they're all over the place! And they're pressing hard on me.


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Come and curse them for me—they're too much for me. Maybe then I can beat them; we'll attack and drive them out of the country. You have a reputation: Those you bless stay blessed; those you curse stay cursed."


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The leaders of Moab and Midian were soon on their way, with the fee for the cursing tucked safely in their wallets. When they got to Balaam, they gave him Balak's message.


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"Stay here for the night," Balaam said. "In the morning I'll deliver the answer that God gives me."<br/>The Moabite nobles stayed with him.


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'Look, the people that came up out of Egypt are all over the place! Come and curse them for me. Maybe then I'll be able to attack and drive them out of the country.' "


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The next morning Balaam got up and told Balak's nobles, "Go back home; God refuses to give me permission to go with you."


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I will honor and reward you lavishly—anything you tell me to do, I'll do; I'll pay anything—only come and curse this people.' "


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Balaam answered Balak's servants: "Even if Balak gave me his house stuffed with silver and gold, I wouldn't be able to defy the orders of my God to do anything, whether big or little.


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But come along and stay with me tonight as the others did; I'll see what God will say to me this time."


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God came to Balaam that night and said, "Since these men have come all this way to see you, go ahead and go with them. But make sure you do absolutely nothing other than what I tell you."


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As he was going, though, God's anger flared. The angel of God stood in the road to block his way. Balaam was riding his donkey, accompanied by his two servants.


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When the donkey saw the angel blocking the road and brandishing a sword, she veered off the road into the ditch. Balaam beat the donkey and got her back on the road.


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the donkey again saw God's angel blocking the way and veered into the fence, crushing Balaam's foot against the fence. Balaam hit her again.


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God's angel blocked the way yet again—a very narrow passage this time; there was no getting through on the right or left.


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Seeing the angel, Balaam's donkey sat down under him. Balaam lost his temper; he beat the donkey with his stick.


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Then God gave speech to the donkey. She said to Balaam: "What have I ever done to you that you have beat me these three times?"


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Balaam said, "Because you've been playing games with me! If I had a sword I would have killed you by now."


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The donkey said to Balaam, "Am I not your trusty donkey on whom you've ridden for years right up until now? Have I ever done anything like this to you before? Have I?"<br/>He said, "No."


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Then God helped Balaam see what was going on: He saw God's angel blocking the way, brandishing a sword. Balaam fell to the ground, his face in the dirt.


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God's angel said to him: "Why have you beaten your poor donkey these three times? I have come here to block your way because you're getting way ahead of yourself.


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The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If she hadn't, I would have killed you by this time, but not the donkey. I would have let her off."


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Balaam said to God's angel, "I have sinned. I had no idea you were standing in the road blocking my way. If you don't like what I'm doing, I'll head back."


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But God's angel said to Balaam, "Go ahead and go with them. But only say what I tell you to say—absolutely no other word."<br/>And so Balaam continued to go with Balak's nobles.


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When Balak heard that Balaam was coming, he went out to meet him in the Moabite town that was on the banks of the Arnon, right on the boundary of his land.


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Balak said to Balaam, "Didn't I send an urgent message for help? Why didn't you come when I called? Do you think I can't pay you enough?"


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Balaam said to Balak, "Well, I'm here now. But I can't tell you just anything. I can speak only words that God gives me—no others."


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Balak slaughtered cattle and sheep for sacrifices and presented them to Balaam and the nobles who were with him.


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At daybreak Balak took Balaam up to Bamoth Baal (The Heights of Baal) so that he could get a good view of some of the people.


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Balaam instructed Balak: "Stand watch here beside your Whole-Burnt-Offering while I go off by myself. Maybe God will come and meet with me. Whatever he shows or tells me, I'll report to you." Then he went off by himself.


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God did meet with Balaam. Balaam said, "I've set up seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar."


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He went back and found him stationed beside his Whole-Burnt-Offering and with him all the nobles of Moab.


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Then Balaam spoke his message-oracle:<br/>Balak led me here from Aram,<br/>the king of Moab all the way from the eastern mountains.<br/>"Go, curse Jacob for me;<br/>go, damn Israel."


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From rock pinnacles I see them,<br/>from hilltops I survey them:<br/>Look! a people camping off by themselves,<br/>thinking themselves outsiders among nations.


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But who could ever count the dust of Jacob<br/>or take a census of cloud-of-dust Israel?<br/>I want to die like these right-living people!<br/>I want an end just like theirs!


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Balak said to Balaam, "What's this? I brought you here to curse my enemies, and all you've done is bless them."


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Balak said to him, "Go with me to another place from which you can only see the outskirts of their camp—you won't be able to see the whole camp. From there, curse them for my sake."


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So he took him to Watchmen's Meadow at the top of Pisgah. He built seven altars there and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.


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Balaam said to Balak, "Take up your station here beside your Whole-Burnt-Offering while I meet with him over there."


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Balaam returned and found him stationed beside his Whole-Burnt-Offering and the nobles of Moab with him. Balak said to him, "What did God say?"


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Then Balaam spoke his message-oracle:<br/>On your feet, Balak. Listen,<br/>listen carefully son of Zippor:


text:
God is not man, one given to lies,<br/>and not a son of man changing his mind.<br/>Does he speak and not do what he says?<br/>Does he promise and not come through?


text:
He has no bone to pick with Jacob,<br/>he sees nothing wrong with Israel.<br/>God is with them,<br/>and they're with him, shouting praises to their King.


text:
No magic spells can bind Jacob,<br/>no incantations can hold back Israel.<br/>People will look at Jacob and Israel and say,<br/>"What a great thing has God done!"


text:
Look, a people rising to its feet, stretching like a lion,<br/>a king-of-the-beasts, aroused,<br/>Unsleeping, unresting until its hunt is over<br/>and it's eaten and drunk its fill.


text:
Balaam replied to Balak, "Didn't I tell you earlier: 'All God speaks, and only what he speaks, I speak'?"


text:
Balak said to Balaam, "Please, let me take you to another place; maybe we can find the right place in God's eyes where you'll be able to curse them for me."


text:
Balaam said to Balak, "Build seven altars for me here and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for sacrifice."


text:
By now Balaam realized that God wanted to bless Israel. So he didn't work in any sorcery as he had done earlier. He turned and looked out over the wilderness.


text:
and he spoke his oracle-message:<br/>Decree of Balaam son of Beor,<br/>yes, decree of a man with 20/20 vision;


text:
Decree of a man who hears God speak,<br/>who sees what The Strong God shows him,<br/>Who falls on his face in worship,<br/>who sees what's really going on.


text:
Like valleys stretching out in the distance,<br/>like gardens planted by rivers,<br/>Like sweet herbs planted by the gardener God,<br/>like red cedars by pools and springs,


text:
Their buckets will brim with water,<br/>their seed will spread life everywhere.<br/>Their king will tower over Agag and his ilk,<br/>their kingdom surpassingly majestic.


text:
God brought them out of Egypt,<br/>rampaging like a wild ox,<br/>Gulping enemies like morsels of meat,<br/>crushing their bones, snapping their arrows.


text:
Israel crouches like a lion and naps,<br/>king-of-the-beasts—who dares disturb him?<br/>Whoever blesses you is blessed,<br/>whoever curses you is cursed.


text:
Balak lost his temper with Balaam. He shook his fist. He said to Balaam: "I got you in here to curse my enemies and what have you done? Blessed them! Blessed them three times!


text:
Get out of here! Go home! I told you I would pay you well, but you're getting nothing. You can blame God."


text:
'Even if Balak gave me his palace stuffed with silver and gold, I couldn't do anything on my own, whether good or bad, that went against God's command'?


text:
I'm leaving for home and my people, but I warn you of what this people will do to your people in the days to come."


text:
Then he spoke his oracle-message:<br/>Decree of Balaam son of Beor,<br/>decree of the man with vision,


text:
Decree of the man who hears godly speech,<br/>who knows what's going on with the High God,<br/>Who sees what The Strong God reveals,<br/>who bows in worship and sees what's real.


text:
I see him, but not right now,<br/>I perceive him, but not right here;<br/>A star rises from Jacob<br/>a scepter from Israel,<br/>Crushing the heads of Moab,<br/>the skulls of all the noisy windbags;


text:
I see Edom sold off at auction,<br/>enemy Seir marked down at the flea market,<br/>while Israel walks off with the trophies.


text:
Then Balaam spotted Amalek and delivered an oracle-message. He said,<br/>Amalek, you're in first place among nations right now,<br/>but you're going to come in last, ruined.


text:
He saw the Kenites and delivered his oracle-message to them:<br/>Your home is in a nice secure place,<br/>like a nest high on the face of a cliff.


text:
Sea-Peoples, raiders from across the sea,<br/>will harass Asshur and Eber,<br/>But they'll also come to nothing,<br/>just like all the rest.


text:
While Israel was camped at Shittim (Acacia Grove), the men began to have sex with the Moabite women.


text:
It started when the women invited the men to their sex-and-religion worship. They ate together and then worshiped their gods.


text:
Israel ended up joining in the worship of the Baal of Peor. God was furious, his anger blazing out against Israel.


text:
God said to Moses, "Take all the leaders of Israel and kill them by hanging, leaving them publicly exposed in order to turn God's anger away from Israel."


text:
Moses issued orders to the judges of Israel: "Each of you must execute the men under your jurisdiction who joined in the worship of Baal Peor."


text:
Just then, while everyone was weeping in penitence at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, an Israelite man, flaunting his behavior in front of Moses and the whole assembly, paraded a Midianite woman into his family tent.


text:
and followed them into the tent. With one thrust he drove the spear through the two of them, the man of Israel and the woman, right through their private parts. That stopped the plague from continuing among the People of Israel.


text:
"Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has stopped my anger against the People of Israel. Because he was as zealous for my honor as I myself am, I didn't kill all the People of Israel in my zeal.


text:
He and his descendants are joined in a covenant of eternal priesthood, because he was zealous for his God and made atonement for the People of Israel."


text:
The name of the man of Israel who was killed with the Midianite woman was Zimri son of Salu, the head of the Simeonite family.


text:
And the name of the Midianite woman who was killed was Cozbi daughter of Zur, a tribal chief of a Midianite family.


text:
They turned out to be your enemies when they seduced you in the business of Peor and that woman Cozbi, daughter of a Midianite leader, the woman who was killed at the time of the plague in the matter of Peor."


text:
"Number the entire community of Israel by families—count every person who is twenty years and older who is able to serve in the army of Israel."


text:
Obeying God's command, Moses and Eleazar the priest addressed them on the Plains of Moab at Jordan-Jericho:


text:
Reuben, Israel's firstborn. The sons of Reuben were:<br/>Hanoch and the Hanochite clan,<br/>Pallu and the Palluite clan,


text:
The sons of Eliab: Nemuel, Dathan, and Abiram. (These were the same Dathan and Abiram, community leaders from Korah's gang, who rebelled against Moses and Aaron in the Korah Rebellion against God.


text:
The Earth opened its jaws and swallowed them along with Korah's gang who died when the fire ate them up, all 250 of them. After all these years, they're still a warning sign.


text:
The sons of Simeon by clans:<br/>Nemuel and the Nemuelite clan,<br/>Jamin and the Jaminite clan,<br/>Jakin and the Jakinite clan,


text:
The sons of Gad by clans:<br/>Zephon and the Zephonite clan,<br/>Haggi and the Haggite clan,<br/>Shuni and the Shunite clan,


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The sons of Judah by clans:<br/>Shelah and the Shelanite clan,<br/>Perez and the Perezite clan,<br/>Zerah and the Zerahite clan.


text:
The sons of Zebulun by clans:<br/>Sered and the Seredite clan,<br/>Elon and the Elonite clan,<br/>Jahleel and the Jahleelite clan.


text:
Makir and the Makirite clan<br/>(now Makir was the father of Gilead),<br/>Gilead and the Gileadite clan.


text:
Zelophehad son of Hepher had no sons, only daughters.<br/>Their names were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.


text:
The sons of Ephraim by clans:<br/>Shuthelah and the Shuthelahite clan,<br/>Beker and the Bekerite clan,<br/>Tahan and the Tahanite clan.


text:
These were the clans of Ephraim. They numbered 32,500.<br/>These are all the sons of Joseph by their clans.


text:
The sons of Benjamin by clans:<br/>Bela and the Belaite clan,<br/>Ashbel and the Ashbelite clan,<br/>Ahiram and the Ahiramite clan,


text:
The sons of Bela through Ard and Naaman:<br/>Ard and the Ardite clan,<br/>Naaman and the Naamite clan.


text:
The sons of Asher by clan:<br/>Imnah and the Imnite clan,<br/>Ishvi and the Ishvite clan,<br/>Beriah and the Beriite clan.


text:
A larger group gets a larger inheritance; a smaller group gets a smaller inheritance—each gets its inheritance based on the population count.


text:
"Each group's inheritance is based on population, the number of names listed in its ancestral tribe, divided among the many and the few by lot."


text:
These are the numberings of the Levites by clan:<br/>Gershon and the Gershonite clan,<br/>Kohath and the Kohathite clan,<br/>Merari and the Merarite clan.


text:
The Levite clans also included:<br/>the Libnite clan,<br/>the Hebronite clan,<br/>the Mahlite clan,<br/>the Mushite clan,<br/>the Korahite clan.<br/>Kohath was the father of Amram.


text:
Amram's wife was Jochebed, a descendant of Levi, born into the Levite family during the Egyptian years. Jochebed bore Aaron, Moses, and their sister Miriam to Amram.


text:
The numbering of Levite males one month and older came to 23,000. They hadn't been counted in with the rest of the People of Israel because they didn't inherit any land.


text:
These are the ones numbered by Moses and Eleazar the priest, the People of Israel counted in the Plains of Moab at Jordan-Jericho.


text:
Not one of them had been among those counted by Moses and Aaron the priest in the census of the People of Israel taken in the Wilderness of Sinai.


text:
For God had said of them, "They'll die, die in the wilderness—not one of them will be left except for Caleb son of Jephunneh, and Joshua son of Nun."


text:
The daughters of Zelophehad showed up. Their father was the son of Hepher son of Gilead son of Makir son of Manasseh, belonging to the clans of Manasseh son of Joseph. The daughters were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.


text:
They came to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. They stood before Moses and Eleazar the priest and before the leaders and the congregation and said,


text:
"Our father died in the wilderness. He wasn't part of Korah's rebel anti-God gang. He died for his own sins. And he left no sons.


text:
But why should our father's name die out from his clan just because he had no sons? So give us an inheritance among our father's relatives."


text:
"Zelophehad's daughters are right. Give them land as an inheritance among their father's relatives. Give them their father's inheritance.


text:
"Then tell the People of Israel, If a man dies and leaves no son, give his inheritance to his daughter.


text:
If his father had no brothers, give it to the nearest relative so that the inheritance stays in the family. This is the standard procedure for the People of Israel, as commanded by God through Moses."


text:
God said to Moses, "Climb up into the Abarim Mountains and look over at the land that I am giving to the People of Israel.


text:
When you've had a good look you'll be joined to your ancestors in the grave—yes, you also along with Aaron your brother.


text:
This goes back to the day when the congregation quarreled in the Wilderness of Zin and you didn't honor me in holy reverence before them in the matter of the waters, the Waters of Meribah (Quarreling) at Kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin."


text:
to lead them, to show the way ahead and bring them back home so God's community will not be like sheep without a shepherd."


text:
Stand him before Eleazar the priest in front of the entire congregation and commission him with everyone watching.


text:
Pass your magisterial authority over to him so that the whole congregation of the People of Israel will listen obediently to him.


text:
He is to consult with Eleazar the priest who, using the oracle-Urim, will prayerfully advise him in the presence of God. He will command the People of Israel, the entire community, in all their comings and goings."


text:
Moses followed God's orders. He took Joshua and stood him before Eleazar the priest in front of the entire community.


text:
"Command the People of Israel. Tell them, You're in charge of presenting my food, my Fire-Gifts of pleasing fragrance, at the set times.


text:
Tell them, This is the Fire-Gift that you are to present to God: two healthy yearling lambs each day as a regular Whole-Burnt-Offering.


text:
This is the standard Whole-Burnt-Offering instituted at Mount Sinai as a pleasing fragrance, a Fire-Gift to God.


text:
The Drink-Offering that goes with it is a quart of strong beer with each lamb. Pour out the Drink-Offering before God in the Sanctuary.


text:
Sacrifice the second lamb in the evening with the Grain-Offering and Drink-Offering the same as in the morning—a Fire-Gift of pleasing fragrance for God.


text:
"On the Sabbath, sacrifice two healthy yearling lambs, together with the Drink-Offering and the Grain-Offering of four quarts of fine flour mixed with oil.


text:
This is the regular Sabbath Whole-Burnt-Offering, in addition to the regular Whole-Burnt-Offering and its Drink-Offering.


text:
"On the first of the month offer a Whole-Burnt-Offering to God: two young bulls, one ram, and seven male yearling lambs—all healthy.


text:
"A Grain-Offering of six quarts of fine flour mixed with oil goes with each bull, four quarts of fine flour mixed with oil with the ram,


text:
and two quarts of fine flour mixed with oil with each lamb. This is for a Whole-Burnt-Offering, a pleasing fragrance, a Fire-Gift to God.


text:
Also, Drink-Offerings of two quarts of wine for each bull, one and a quarter quarts of wine for the ram, and a quart of wine for each lamb are to be poured out.<br/>"This is the first of the month Whole-Burnt-Offering to be made throughout the year.


text:
In addition to the regular Whole-Burnt-Offering with its accompanying Drink-Offering, a he-goat is to be offered to God as an Absolution-Offering.


text:
Bring a Fire-Gift to God, a Whole-Burnt-Offering: two young bulls, one ram, and seven male yearling lambs—all healthy.


text:
Prepare a Grain-Offering of six quarts of fine flour mixed with oil for each bull, four quarts for the ram,


text:
Prepare the food this way for the Fire-Gift, a pleasing fragrance to God, every day for seven days. Prepare it in addition to the regular Whole-Burnt-Offering and Drink-Offering.


text:
"On the Day of Firstfruits when you bring an offering of new grain to God on your Feast-of-Weeks, gather in holy worship and don't do any regular work.


text:
Bring a Whole-Burnt-Offering of two young bulls, one ram, and seven male yearling lambs as a pleasing fragrance to God.


text:
"These are all over and above the daily Whole-Burnt-Offering and its Grain-Offering and the Drink-Offering. Remember, the animals must be healthy.


text:
"On the first day of the seventh month, gather in holy worship and do no regular work. This is your Day-of-Trumpet-Blasts.


text:
Sacrifice a Whole-Burnt-Offering: one young bull, one ram, and seven male yearling lambs—all healthy—as a pleasing fragrance to God.


text:
Prepare a Grain-Offering of six quarts of fine flour mixed with oil for the bull, four quarts for the ram,


text:
"These are all over and above the monthly and daily Whole-Burnt-Offerings with their Grain-Offerings and Drink-Offerings as prescribed, a pleasing fragrance, a Fire-Gift to God.


text:
"Bring a Whole-Burnt-Offering to God as a pleasing fragrance: one young bull, one ram, and seven yearling male lambs—all healthy.


text:
Also bring a he-goat as an Absolution-Offering to atone for you in addition to the regular Whole-Burnt-Offering with its Grain-Offering and Drink-Offering.


text:
"Gather in holy worship on the fifteenth day of the seventh month; do no regular work. Celebrate a Festival to God for seven days.


text:
Bring a Whole-Burnt-Offering, a Fire-Gift of pleasing fragrance to God: thirteen young bulls, two rams, and fourteen yearling male lambs—all healthy.


text:
Prepare a Grain-Offering of six quarts of fine flour mixed with oil for each of the bulls, four quarts for each ram,


text:
Also bring a he-goat as an Absolution-Offering in addition to the regular Whole-Burnt-Offering with its Grain-Offering and Drink-Offering.


text:
Prepare Grain-Offerings and Drink-Offerings to go with the bulls, rams, and lambs following the prescribed recipes.


text:
And bring a he-goat as an Absolution-Offering in addition to the regular Whole-Burnt-Offering with its Grain-Offering and Drink-Offering.


text:
Bring a Fire-Gift of pleasing fragrance to God, a Whole-Burnt-Offering: one bull, one ram, and seven male yearling lambs—all healthy.


text:
"Sacrifice these to God as a congregation at your set feasts: your Whole-Burnt-Offerings, Grain-Offerings, Drink-Offerings, and Peace-Offerings. These are all over and above your personal Vow-Offerings and Freewill-Offerings."


text:
When a man makes a vow to God or binds himself by an oath to do something, he must not break his word; he must do exactly what he has said.


text:
"When a woman makes a vow to God and binds herself by a pledge as a young girl still living in her father's house,


text:
and her father hears of her vow or pledge but says nothing to her, then she has to make good on all her vows and pledges.


text:
But if her father holds her back when he hears of what she has done, none of her vows and pledges are valid. God will release her since her father held her back.


text:
and her husband hears of it but says nothing to her, then she has to make good on whatever she vowed or pledged.


text:
But if her husband intervenes when he hears of it, he cancels the vow or rash promise that binds her. And God will release her.


text:
and her husband hears about it but says nothing and doesn't say she can't do it, then all her vows and pledges are valid.


text:
But if her husband cancels them when he hears about them, then none of the vows and pledges that she made are binding. Her husband has canceled them and God will release her.


text:
Any vow and pledge that she makes that may be to her detriment can be either affirmed or annulled by her husband.


text:
But if her husband is silent and doesn't speak up day after day, he confirms her vows and pledges—she has to make good on them. By saying nothing to her when he hears of them, he binds her to them.


text:
These are the rules that God gave Moses regarding conduct between a man and his wife and between a father and his young daughter who is still living at home.


text:
"Avenge the People of Israel on the Midianites. Afterward you will go to be with your dead ancestors."


text:
Moses addressed the people: "Recruit men for a campaign against Midian, to exact God's vengeance on Midian,


text:
Moses sent them off to war, a thousand from each tribe, and also Phinehas son of Eleazar, who went as priest to the army, in charge of holy vessels and the signaling bugles.


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


text:
The People of Israel took the Midianite women and children captive and took all their animals and herds and goods as plunder.


text:
They took it all—captives and booty and plunder—back to Moses and Eleazar the priest and the company of Israel where they were camped on the Plains of Moab, at Jordan-Jericho.


text:
Moses, Eleazar, and all the leaders of the congregation went to meet the returning army outside the camp.


text:
Moses was furious with the army officers—the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds—as they came back from the battlefield:


text:
They're the ones who, under Balaam's direction, seduced the People of Israel away from God in that mess at Peor, causing the plague that hit God's people.


text:
"Now here's what you are to do: Pitch tents outside the camp. All who have killed anyone or touched a corpse must stay outside the camp for seven days. Purify yourselves and your captives on the third and seventh days.


text:
Eleazar the priest then spoke to the soldiers who had fought in the battle: "This is the ruling from the Revelation that God gave Moses:


text:
—and anything else that can survive fire—must be passed through the fire; then it will be ritually purified. It must also be ritually washed in the Water-of-Cleansing. Further, whatever cannot survive fire must be put through that water.


text:
"I want you and Eleazar the priest and the family leaders in the community to count the captives, people and animals.


text:
"Then tax the booty that goes to the soldiers at the rate of one life out of five hundred, whether humans, cattle, donkeys, or sheep.


text:
It's a God-tax taken from their half-share to be turned over to Eleazar the priest on behalf of God.


text:
Tax the congregation's half-share at the rate of one life out of fifty, whether persons, cattle, donkeys, sheep, goats, or other animals. Give this to the Levites who are in charge of the care of God's Dwelling."


text:
Moses turned the tax over to Eleazar the priest as God's part, following God's instructions to Moses.


text:
The other half-share for the Israelite community that Moses set apart from what was given to the men who fought the war was:


text:
From the half-share going to the People of Israel, Moses, just as God had instructed him, picked one out of every fifty persons and animals and gave them to the Levites, who were in charge of maintaining God's Dwelling.


text:
We've brought offerings to God from the gold jewelry we got—armlets, bracelets, rings, earrings, ornaments—to make atonement for our lives before God."


text:
In total, the gold from the commanders of thousands and hundreds that Moses and Eleazar offered as a gift to God weighed about six hundred pounds,


text:
Moses and Eleazar took the gold from the commanders of thousands and hundreds and brought it to the Tent of Meeting, to serve as a reminder for the People of Israel before God.


text:
The families of Reuben and Gad had huge herds of livestock. They saw that the country of Jazer and Gilead was just the place for grazing livestock.


text:
And so they came, the families of Gad and of Reuben, and spoke to Moses and Eleazar the priest and the leaders of the congregation, saying,


text:
—the country that God laid low before the community of Israel—is a country just right for livestock, and we have livestock."


text:
They continued, "If you think we've done a good job so far, give us this country for our inheritance. Don't make us go across the Jordan."


text:
Moses answered the families of Gad and Reuben: "Do you mean that you are going to leave the fighting that's ahead to your brothers while you settle down here?


text:
Why would you even think of letting the People of Israel down, demoralizing them just as they're about to move into the land God gave them?


text:
They went as far as the Valley of Eshcol, took one look and quit. They completely demoralized the People of Israel from entering the land God had given them.


text:
'They'll never get to see it; none of those who came up out of Egypt who are twenty years and older will ever get to see the land that I promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They weren't interested in following me—their hearts weren't in it.


text:
None, except for Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite, and Joshua son of Nun; they followed me—their hearts were in it.'


text:
"God's anger smoked against Israel. He made them wander in the wilderness for forty years, until that entire generation that acted out evil in his sight had died out.


text:
"And now here you are, just one more mob of sinners stepping up to replace your ancestors, throwing fuel on the already blazing anger of God against Israel.


text:
If you won't follow him, he'll do it again. He'll dump them in the desert and the disaster will be all your fault."


text:
They came close to him and said, "All we want to do is build corrals for our livestock and towns for our families.


text:
Then we'll take up arms and take the front lines, leading the People of Israel to their place. We'll be able to leave our families behind, secure in fortified towns, safe from those who live in the land.


text:
We won't expect any inheritance west of the Jordan; we are claiming all our inheritance east of the Jordan."


text:
and together go across the Jordan ready, before God, to fight until God has cleaned his enemies out of the land,


text:
then when the land is secure you will have fulfilled your duty to God and Israel. Then this land will be yours to keep before God.


text:
"But if you don't do what you say, you will be sinning against God; you can be sure that your sin will track you down.


text:
So, go ahead. Build towns for your families and corrals for you livestock. Do what you said you'd do."


text:
But we, every one of us fully armed, will cross the river to fight for God, just as our master has said."


text:
So Moses issued orders for them to Eleazar the priest, Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the ancestral tribes of the People of Israel.


text:
Moses said, "If the families of Gad and Reuben cross the Jordan River with you and before God, all armed and ready to fight, then after the land is secure, you may give them the land of Gilead as their inheritance.


text:
We will cross the Jordan before God, ready and willing to fight. But the land we inherit will be here, to the east of the Jordan."


text:
Moses gave the families of Gad, Reuben, and the half-tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph the kingdom of Sihon, king of the Amorites, and the kingdom of Og, king of Bashan—the land, its towns, and all the territories connected with them—the works.


text:
The family of Makir son of Manasseh went to Gilead, captured it, and drove out the Amorites who lived there.


text:
Moses then gave Gilead to the Makirites, the descendants of Manasseh. They moved in and settled there.


text:
Jair, another son of Manasseh, captured some villages and named them Havvoth Jair (Jair's Tent-Camps).


text:
These are the camping sites in the journey of the People of Israel after they left Egypt, deployed militarily under the command of Moses and Aaron.


text:
They marched out of Rameses the day after the Passover. It was the fifteenth day of the first month. They marched out heads high and confident.


text:
The Egyptians, busy burying their firstborn whom God had killed, watched them go. God had exposed the nonsense of their gods.


text:
left Pi Hahiroth and crossed through the Sea into the wilderness; three days into the Wilderness of Etham they camped at Marah;


text:
left Marah and came to Elim where there were twelve springs and<br/>seventy palm trees; they camped there;


text:
Aaron the priest climbed Mount Hor at God's command and died there. It was the first day of the fifth month in the fortieth year after the People of Israel had left Egypt.


text:
The Canaanite king of Arad—he ruled in the Negev of Canaan—heard that the People of Israel had arrived.


text:
left Almon Diblathaim and camped in the mountains of Abarim (Across-the-River), within sight of Nebo.


text:
On the Plains of Moab their camp stretched along the banks of the Jordan from Beth Jeshimoth to Abel Shittim (Acacia Meadow).


text:
drive out the native population before you, destroy their carved idols, destroy their cast images, level their worship-mounds


text:
"Divide up the land by lot according to the size of your clans: Large clans will get large tracts of land, small clans will get smaller tracts of land. However the lot falls, that's it. Divide it up according to your ancestral tribes.


text:
"But if you don't drive out the native population, everyone you let stay there will become a cinder in your eye and a splinter in your foot. They'll give you endless trouble right in your own backyards.


text:
"Command the People of Israel. Tell them: When you enter Canaan, these are the borders of the land you are getting as an inheritance:


text:
"Your southern border will take in some of the Wilderness of Zin where it touches Edom. It starts in the east at the Dead Sea,


text:
curves south of Scorpion Pass and on to Zin, continues south of Kadesh Barnea, then to Hazar Addar and on to Azmon,


text:
The border goes south from Shepham to Riblah to the east of Ain, and continues along the slopes east of the Sea of Galilee.


text:
The border then follows the Jordan River and ends at the Dead Sea.<br/>"This is your land with its four borders."


text:
Moses then commanded the People of Israel: "This is the land: Divide up the inheritance by lot. God has ordered it to be given to the nine and a half tribes.


text:
The tribe of Reuben, the tribe of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh have already received their inheritance;


text:
the two tribes and the half-tribe got their inheritance east of Jordan-Jericho, facing the sunrise."


text:
"These are the men who will be in charge of distributing the inheritance of the land: Eleazar the priest and Joshua son of Nun.


text:
These are the men God commanded to hand out the assignments of land-inheritance to the People of Israel in the country of Canaan.


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"Command the People of Israel to give the Levites as their part of the total inheritance towns to live in. Make sure there is plenty of pasture around the towns.


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Then they will be well taken care of with towns to live in and pastures for their cattle, flocks, and other livestock.


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"The pasture surrounding the Levites' towns is to extend 1,500 feet in each direction from the city wall.


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The outside borders of the pasture are to measure three thousand feet on each of the four sides—east, south, west, and north—with the town at the center. Each city will be supplied with pasture.


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"Six of these towns that you give the Levites will be asylum-cities to which anyone who accidentally kills another person may flee for asylum. In addition, you will give them forty-two other towns—


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The towns that you give the Levites from the common inheritance of the People of Israel are to be taken in proportion to the size of each tribe—many towns from a tribe that has many, few from a tribe that has few."


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"Speak to the People of Israel. Tell them, When you cross the River Jordan into the country of Canaan,


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designate your asylum-cities, towns to which a person who accidentally kills someone can flee for asylum.


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They will be places of refuge from the avenger so that the alleged murderer won't be killed until he can appear before the community in court.


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Designate three of the towns to the east side of the Jordan, the other three in Canaan proper—asylum-cities


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for the People of Israel, for the foreigner, and for any occasional visitors or guests—six asylum-cities to run to for anyone who accidentally kills another.


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"But if the killer has used an iron object, that's just plain murder; he's obviously a murderer and must be put to death.


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"Or if he has a rock in his hand big enough to kill and the man dies, that's murder; he's a murderer and must be put to death.


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"Or if he's carrying a wooden club heavy enough to kill and the man dies, that's murder; he's a murderer and must be put to death.


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"In such cases the avenger has a right to kill the murderer when he meets him—he can kill him on the spot.


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"And if out of sheer hatred a man pushes another or from ambush throws something at him and he dies,


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or angrily hits him with his fist and kills him, that's murder—he must be put to death. The avenger has a right to kill him when he gets him.


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"If, however, he impulsively pushes someone and there is no history of hard feelings, or he impetuously picks up something and throws it,


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or he accidentally drops a stone tool—a maul or hammer, say—and it hits and kills someone he didn't even know was there, and there's no suspicion that there was bad blood between them,


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It's the task of the community to save the killer from the hand of the avenger—the community is to return him to his asylum-city to which he fled. He must stay there until the death of the High Priest who was anointed with the holy oil.


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and the avenger finds him outside the borders of his asylum-city, the avenger has a right to kill the murderer. And he's not considered guilty of murder.


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"So it's important that he stay in his asylum-city until the death of the High Priest. After the death of the High Priest he is free to return to his own place.


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"Anyone who kills another may be executed only on the testimony of eyewitnesses. But no one can be executed on the testimony of only one witness.


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"Don't accept bribe money in exchange for the life of a murderer. He's guilty and deserves the death penalty. Put him to death.


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"And don't accept bribe money for anyone who has fled to an asylum-city so as to permit him to go back and live in his own place before the death of the High Priest.


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"Don't pollute the land in which you live. Murder pollutes the land. The land can't be cleaned up of the blood of murder except through the blood of the murderer.


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"Don't desecrate the land in which you live. I live here too—I, God, live in the same neighborhood with the People of Israel."


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The heads of the ancestral clan of Gilead son of Makir, the son of Manasseh—they were from the clans of the descendants of Joseph—approached Moses and the leaders who were heads of the families in the People of Israel.


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They said, "When God commanded my master to hand over the inheritance-lands by lot to the People of Israel, my master was also commanded by God to hand over the inheritance-land of Zelophehad our brother to his daughters.


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But what happens if they marry into another tribe in the People of Israel? Their inheritance-land will be taken out of our ancestral tribe and get added into the tribe into which they married.


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And then when the Year of Jubilee comes for the People of Israel their inheritance will be lumped in with the inheritance of the tribe into which they married—their land will be removed from our ancestors' inheritance!"


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Moses, at God's command, issued this order to the People of Israel: "What the tribe of the sons of Joseph says is right.


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This is God's command to Zelophehad's daughters: They are free to marry anyone they choose as long as they marry within their ancestral clan.


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The inheritance-land of the People of Israel must not get passed around from tribe to tribe. No, keep the tribal inheritance-land in the family.


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Every daughter who inherits land, regardless of the tribe she is in, must marry a man from within her father's tribal clan. Every Israelite is responsible for making sure the inheritance stays within the ancestral tribe.


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No inheritance-land may be passed from tribe to tribe; each tribe of the People of Israel must hold tight to its own land."


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Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah, Zelophehad's daughters, all married their cousins on their father's side.


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They married within the families of Manasseh son of Joseph and their inheritance-lands stayed in their father's family.


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These are the commands and regulations that God commanded through the authority of Moses to the People of Israel on the Plains of Moab at Jordan-Jericho.


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These are the sermons Moses preached to all Israel when they were east of the Jordan River in the Arabah Wilderness, opposite Suph, in the vicinity of Paran, Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab.


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It was on the first day of the eleventh month of the fortieth year when Moses addressed the People of Israel, telling them everything God had commanded him concerning them.


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This came after he had defeated Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled from Heshbon, and Og king of Bashan, who ruled from Ashtaroth in Edrei.


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It was east of the Jordan in the land of Moab that Moses set out to explain this Revelation.<br/>He said:


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On your way now. Get moving. Head for the Amorite hills, wherever people are living in the Arabah, the mountains, the foothills, the Negev, the seashore—the Canaanite country and the Lebanon all the way to the big river, the Euphrates.


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Look, I've given you this land. Now go in and take it. It's the land God promised to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and their children after them."


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And may God, the God-of-Your-Fathers, keep it up and multiply you another thousand times, bless you just as he promised.


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So select some wise, understanding, and seasoned men from your tribes, and I will commission them as your leaders."


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So I went ahead and took the top men of your tribes, wise and seasoned, and made them your leaders—leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens, officials adequate for each of your tribes.


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At the same time I gave orders to your judges: "Listen carefully to complaints and accusations between your fellow Israelites. Judge fairly between each person and his fellow or foreigner.


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Don't play favorites; treat the little and the big alike; listen carefully to each. Don't be impressed by big names. This is God's judgment you're dealing with. Hard cases you can bring to me; I'll deal with them."


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Then we set out from Horeb and headed for the Amorite hill country, going through that huge and frightening wilderness that you've had more than an eyeful of by now—all under the command of God, our God—and finally arrived at Kadesh Barnea.


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Look, God, your God, has placed this land as a gift before you. Go ahead and take it now. God, the God-of-Your-Fathers, promised it to you. Don't be afraid. Don't lose heart."


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But then you all came to me and said, "Let's send some men on ahead to scout out the land for us and bring back a report on the best route to take and the kinds of towns we can expect to find."


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They took samples of the produce of the land and brought them back to us, saying, "It's a good land that God, our God, is giving us!"


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You complained in your tents: "God hates us. He hauled us out of Egypt in order to dump us among the Amorites—a death sentence for sure!


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How can we go up? We're trapped in a dead end. Our brothers took all the wind out of our sails, telling us, 'The people are bigger and stronger than we are; their cities are huge, their defenses massive—we even saw Anakite giants there!' "


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God, your God, is leading the way; he's fighting for you. You saw with your own eyes what he did for you in Egypt;


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you saw what he did in the wilderness, how God, your God, carried you as a father carries his child, carried you the whole way until you arrived here.


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this same God who goes ahead of you in your travels to scout out a place to pitch camp, a fire by night and a cloud by day to show you the way to go."


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"Not a single person of this evil generation is going to get so much as a look at the good land that I promised to give to your parents. Not one—


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except for Caleb son of Jephunneh. He'll see it. I'll give him and his descendants the land he walked on because he was all for following God, heart and soul."


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But I also got it. Because of you God's anger spilled over onto me. He said, "You aren't getting in either.


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Your assistant, Joshua son of Nun, will go in. Build up his courage. He's the one who will claim the inheritance for Israel.


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And your babies of whom you said, 'They'll be grabbed for plunder,' and all these little kids who right now don't even know right from wrong—they'll get in. I'll give it to them. Yes, they'll be the new owners.


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You spoke up, "We've sinned against God. We'll go up and fight, following all the orders that God, our God, has commanded." You took your weapons and dressed for battle—you thought it would be so easy going into those hills!


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But God told me, "Tell them, 'Don't do it; don't go up to fight—I'm not with you in this. Your enemies will waste you.' "


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I told you but you wouldn't listen. You rebelled at the plain word of God. You threw out your chests and strutted into the hills.


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And those Amorites, who had lived in those hills all their lives, swarmed all over you like a hive of bees, chasing you from Seir all the way to Hormah, a stinging defeat.


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You came back and wept in the presence of God, but he didn't pay a bit of attention to you; God didn't give you the time of day.


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Then we turned around and went back into the wilderness following the route to the Red Sea, as God had instructed me. We worked our way in and around the hills of Seir for a long, long time.


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Command the people, You're about to cut through the land belonging to your relatives, the People of Esau who settled in Seir. They are terrified of you, but restrain yourselves.


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Don't try and start a fight. I am not giving you so much as a square inch of their land. I've already given all the hill country of Seir to Esau—he owns it all.


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God, your God, has blessed you in everything you have done. He has guarded you in your travels through this immense wilderness. For forty years now, God, your God, has been right here with you. You haven't lacked one thing.


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So we detoured around our brothers, the People of Esau who live in Seir, avoiding the Arabah Road that comes up from Elath and Ezion Geber; instead we used the road through the Wilderness of Moab.


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God told me, "And don't try to pick a fight with the Moabites. I am not giving you any of their land. I've given ownership of Ar to the People of Lot."


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Along with the Anakites they were lumped in with the Rephaites (Ghosts) but in Moab they were called Emites.


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Horites also used to live in Seir, but the descendants of Esau took over and destroyed them, the same as Israel did in the land God gave them to possess.


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It took us thirty-eight years to get from Kadesh Barnea to the Brook Zered. That's how long it took for the entire generation of soldiers from the camp to die off, as God had sworn they would.


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When you approach the People of Ammon, don't try and pick a fight with them because I'm not giving you any of the land of the People of Ammon for yourselves—I've already given it to the People of Lot."


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It is also considered to have once been the land of the Rephaites. Rephaites lived there long ago—the Ammonites called them Zamzummites (Barbarians)


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—huge mobs of them, giants like the Anakites. God destroyed them and the Ammonites moved in and took over.


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It was the same with the People of Esau who live in Seir—God got rid of the Horites who lived there earlier and they moved in and took over, as you can see.


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Regarding the Avvites who lived in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorites who came from Caphtor (Crete) wiped them out and moved in.


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"On your feet now. Get started. Cross the Brook Arnon. Look: Here's Sihon the Amorite king of Heshbon and his land. I'm handing it over to you—it's all yours. Go ahead take it. Go to war with him.


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Before the day is out, I'll make sure that all the people around here are thoroughly terrified. Rumors of you are going to spread like wildfire; they'll totally panic."


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From the Wilderness of Kedemoth, I sent messengers to Sihon, king of Heshbon. They carried a friendly message:


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"Let me cross through your land on the highway. I'll stay right on the highway; I won't trespass right or left.


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"The People of Esau who live in Seir and the Moabites who live in Ar did this, helping me on my way until I can cross the Jordan and enter the land that God, our God, is giving us."


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But Sihon king of Heshbon wouldn't let us cross his land. God, your God, turned his spirit mean and his heart hard so he could hand him over to you, as you can see that he has done.


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Then God said to me, "Look, I've got the ball rolling—Sihon and his land are soon yours. Go ahead. Take it. It's practically yours!"


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While we were at it we captured all his towns and totally destroyed them, a holy destruction—men, women, and children. No survivors.


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We took the livestock and the plunder from the towns we had captured and carried them off for ourselves.


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From Aroer on the edge of the Brook Arnon and the town in the gorge, as far as Gilead, not a single town proved too much for us; God, our God, gave every last one of them to us.


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The only land you didn't take, obeying God's command, was the land of the People of Ammon, the land along the Jabbok and around the cities in the hills.


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Then we turned north and took the road to Bashan. Og king of Bashan, he and all his people, came out to meet us in battle at Edrei.


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God said to me, "Don't be afraid of him; I'm turning him over to you, along with his whole army and his land. Treat him the way you treated Sihon king of the Amorites who ruled from Heshbon."


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So God, our God, also handed Og king of Bashan over to us—Og and all his people—and we utterly crushed them. Again, no survivors.


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At the same time we took all his cities. There wasn't one of the sixty cities that we didn't take—the whole region of Argob, Og's kingdom in Bashan.


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All these cities were fortress cities with high walls and barred gates. There were also numerous unwalled villages.


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We totally destroyed them—a holy destruction. It was the same treatment we gave to Sihon king of Heshbon, a holy destruction of every city, man, woman, and child.


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Throughout that time we took the land from under the control of the two kings of the Amorites who ruled the country east of the Jordan, all the way from the Brook Arnon to Mount Hermon.


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We took all the towns of the plateau, everything in Gilead, everything in Bashan, as far as Salecah and Edrei, the border towns of Bashan, Og's kingdom.


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Og king of Bashan was the last remaining Rephaite. His bed, made of iron, was over thirteen feet long and six wide. You can still see it on display in Rabbah of the People of Ammon.


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Of the land that we possessed at that time, I gave the Reubenites and the Gadites the territory north of Aroer along the Brook Arnon and half the hill country of Gilead with its towns.


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I gave the half-tribe of Manasseh the rest of Gilead and all of Bashan, Og's kingdom—all the region of Argob, which takes in all of Bashan. This used to be known as the Land of the Rephaites.


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Jair, a son of Manasseh, got the region of Argob to the borders of the Geshurites and Maacathites. He named the Bashan villages after himself, Havvoth Jair (Jair's Tent-Villages). They're still called that.


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I gave the Reubenites and Gadites the land from Gilead down to the Brook Arnon, whose middle was the boundary, and as far as the Jabbok River, the boundary line of the People of Ammon.


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The western boundary was the Jordan River in the Arabah all the way from the Kinnereth (the Sea of Galilee) to the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea or Dead Sea) at the base of the slopes of Mount Pisgah on the east.


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I commanded you at that time, "God, your God, has given you this land to possess. Your men, fit and armed for the fight, are to cross the river in advance of their brothers, the People of Israel.


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Only your wives, children, and livestock (I know you have much livestock) may go ahead and settle down in the towns I have already given you


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until God secures living space for your brothers as he has for you and they have taken possession of the country west of the Jordan that God, your God, is giving them. After that, each man may return to the land I've given you here."


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I commanded Joshua at that time, "You've seen with your own two eyes everything God, your God, has done to these two kings. God is going to do the same thing to all the kingdoms over there across the river where you're headed.


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"God, my Master, you let me in on the beginnings, you let me see your greatness, you let me see your might—what god in Heaven or Earth can do anything like what you've done!


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Please, let me in also on the endings, let me cross the river and see the good land over the Jordan, the lush hills, the Lebanon mountains."


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But God was still angry with me because of you. He wouldn't listen. He said, "Enough of that. Not another word from you on this.


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Climb to the top of Mount Pisgah and look around: look west, north, south, east. Take in the land with your own eyes. Take a good look because you're not going to cross this Jordan.


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"Then command Joshua: Give him courage. Give him strength. Single-handed he will lead this people across the river. Single-handed he'll cause them to inherit the land at which you can only look."


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Now listen, Israel, listen carefully to the rules and regulations that I am teaching you to follow so that you may live and enter and take possession of the land that God, the God-of-Your-Fathers, is giving to you.


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Don't add a word to what I command you, and don't remove a word from it. Keep the commands of God, your God, that I am commanding you.


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You saw with your own eyes what God did at Baal Peor, how God destroyed from among you every man who joined in the Baal Peor orgies.


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Pay attention: I'm teaching you the rules and regulations that God commanded me, so that you may live by them in the land you are entering to take up ownership.


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Keep them. Practice them. You'll become wise and understanding. When people hear and see what's going on, they'll say, "What a great nation! So wise, so understanding! We've never seen anything like it."


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Yes. What other great nation has gods that are intimate with them the way God, our God, is with us, always ready to listen to us?


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And what other great nation has rules and regulations as good and fair as this Revelation that I'm setting before you today?


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Just make sure you stay alert. Keep close watch over yourselves. Don't forget anything of what you've seen. Don't let your heart wander off. Stay vigilant as long as you live. Teach what you've seen and heard to your children and grandchildren.


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That day when you stood before God, your God, at Horeb, God said to me, "Assemble the people in my presence to listen to my words so that they will learn to fear me in holy fear for as long as they live on the land, and then they will teach these same words to their children."


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You gathered. You stood in the shadow of the mountain. The mountain was ablaze with fire, blazing high into the very heart of Heaven. You stood in deep darkness and thick clouds.


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God spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words but you saw nothing—no form, only a voice.


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He announced his covenant, the Ten Words, by which he commanded you to live. Then he wrote them down on two slabs of stone.


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And God commanded me at that time to teach you the rules and regulations that you are to live by in the land which you are crossing over the Jordan to possess.


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You saw no form on the day God spoke to you at Horeb from out of the fire. Remember that. Carefully guard yourselves


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And also carefully guard yourselves so that you don't look up into the skies and see the sun and moon and stars, all the constellations of the skies, and be seduced into worshiping and serving them. God set them out for everybody's benefit, everywhere.


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But you—God took you right out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to become the people of his inheritance—and that's what you are this very day.


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But God was angry with me because of you and the things you said. He swore that I'd never cross the Jordan, never get to enter the good land that God, your God, is giving you as an inheritance.


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This means that I am going to die here. I'm not crossing the Jordan. But you will cross; you'll possess the good land.


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So stay alert. Don't for a minute forget the covenant which God, your God, made with you. And don't take up with any carved images, no forms of any kind—God, your God, issued clear commands on that.


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When the time comes that you have children and grandchildren, put on years, and start taking things for granted, if you then become corrupt and make any carved images, no matter what their form, by doing what is sheer evil in God's eyes and provoking his anger—


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I can tell you right now, with Heaven and Earth as witnesses, that it will be all over for you. You'll be kicked off the land that you're about to cross over the Jordan to possess. Believe me, you'll have a very short stay there. You'll be ruined, completely ruined.


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God will scatter you far and wide; a few of you will survive here and there in the nations where God will drive you.


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There you can worship your homemade gods to your hearts' content, your wonderful gods of wood and stone that can't see or hear or eat or smell.


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But even there, if you seek God, your God, you'll be able to find him if you're serious, looking for him with your whole heart and soul.


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When troubles come and all these awful things happen to you, in future days you will come back to God, your God, and listen obediently to what he says.


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God, your God, is above all a compassionate God. In the end he will not abandon you, he won't bring you to ruin, he won't forget the covenant with your ancestors which he swore to them.


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Ask questions. Find out what has been going on all these years before you were born. From the day God created man and woman on this Earth, and from the horizon in the east to the horizon in the west—as far back as you can imagine and as far away as you can imagine—has as great a thing as this ever happened? Has anyone ever heard of such a thing?


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Has a people ever heard, as you did, a god speaking out of the middle of the fire and lived to tell the story?


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Or has a god ever tried to select for himself a nation from within a nation using trials, miracles, and war, putting his strong hand in, reaching his long arm out, a spectacle awesome and staggering, the way God, your God, did it for you in Egypt while you stood right there and watched?


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You were shown all this so that you would know that God is, well, God. He's the only God there is. He's it.


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He made it possible for you to hear his voice out of Heaven to discipline you. Down on Earth, he showed you the big fire and again you heard his words, this time out of the fire.


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He loved your ancestors and chose to work with their children. He personally and powerfully brought you out of Egypt


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in order to displace bigger and stronger and older nations with you, bringing you out and turning their land over to you as an inheritance. And now it's happening. This very day.


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Know this well, then. Take it to heart right now: God is in Heaven above; God is on Earth below. He's the only God there is.


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Obediently live by his rules and commands which I'm giving you today so that you'll live well and your children after you—oh, you'll live a long time in the land that God, your God, is giving you.


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to which someone who had unintentionally killed a person could flee and find refuge. If the murder was unintentional and there was no history of bad blood, the murderer could flee to one of these cities and save his life:


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Bezer in the wilderness on the tableland for the Reubenites, Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan for the Manassites.


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These are the testimonies, the rules and regulations Moses spoke to the People of Israel after their exodus from Egypt


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and arrival on the east side of the Jordan in the valley near Beth Peor. It was the country of Sihon king of the Amorites who ruled from Heshbon. Moses and the People of Israel fought and beat him after they left Egypt


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and took his land. They also took the land of Og king of Bashan. The two Amorite kings held the country on the east of the Jordan


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all the Arabah plain east of the Jordan, and as far south as the Sea of the Arabah (the Dead Sea) beneath the slopes of Mount Pisgah.


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Moses called all Israel together. He said to them,<br/>Attention, Israel. Listen obediently to the rules and regulations I am delivering to your listening ears today. Learn them. Live them.


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God didn't just make this covenant with our parents; he made it also with us, with all of us who are alive right now.


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At the time I stood between God and you, to tell you what God said. You were afraid, remember, of the fire and wouldn't climb the mountain. He said:


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Don't bow down to them and don't serve them because I am God, your God, and I'm a most jealous God. I hold parents responsible for any sins they pass on to their children to the third, and yes, even to the fourth generation.


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No using the name of God, your God, in curses or silly banter; God won't put up with the irreverent use of his name.


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but the seventh day is a Sabbath, a Rest Day—no work: not you, your son, your daughter, your servant, your maid, your ox, your donkey (or any of your animals), and not even the foreigner visiting your town. That way your servants and maids will get the same rest as you.


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Don't ever forget that you were slaves in Egypt and God, your God, got you out of there in a powerful show of strength. That's why God, your God, commands you to observe the day of Sabbath rest.


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Respect your father and mother—God, your God, commands it! You'll have a long life; the land that God is giving you will treat you well.


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No coveting your neighbor's wife. And no lusting for his house, field, servant, maid, ox, or donkey either—nothing that belongs to your neighbor!


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These are the words that God spoke to the whole congregation at the mountain. He spoke in a tremendous voice from the fire and cloud and dark mist. And that was it. No more words. Then he wrote them on two slabs of stone and gave them to me.


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As it turned out, when you heard the Voice out of that dark cloud and saw the mountain on fire, you approached me, all the heads of your tribes and your leaders,


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and said,<br/>"Our God has revealed to us his glory and greatness. We've heard him speak from the fire today! We've seen that God can speak to humans and they can still live.


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But why risk it further? This huge fire will devour us if we stay around any longer. If we hear God's voice anymore, we'll die for sure.


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Has anyone ever known of anyone who has heard the Voice of God the way we have and lived to tell the story?


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"From now on, you go and listen to what God, our God, says and then tell us what God tells you. We'll listen and we'll do it."


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God heard what you said to me and told me, "I've heard what the people said to you. They're right—good and true words.


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What I wouldn't give if they'd always feel this way, continuing to revere me and always keep all my commands; they'd have a good life forever, they and their children!


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But you, you stay here with me so I can tell you every commandment and all the rules and regulations that you must teach them so they'll know how to live in the land that I'm giving them as their own."


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Walk straight down the road God commands so that you'll have a good life and live a long time in the land that you're about to possess.


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This is the commandment, the rules and regulations, that God, your God, commanded me to teach you to live out in the land you're about to cross into to possess.


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This is so that you'll live in deep reverence before God lifelong, observing all his rules and regulations that I'm commanding you, you and your children and your grandchildren, living good long lives.


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Listen obediently, Israel. Do what you're told so that you'll have a good life, a life of abundance and bounty, just as God promised, in a land abounding in milk and honey.


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Love God, your God, with your whole heart: love him with all that's in you, love him with all you've got!


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and then get them inside your children. Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; talk about them from the time you get up in the morning to when you fall into bed at night.


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When God, your God, ushers you into the land he promised through your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to give you, you're going to walk into large, bustling cities you didn't build,


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well-furnished houses you didn't buy, come upon wells you didn't dig, vineyards and olive orchards you didn't plant. When you take it all in and settle down, pleased and content,


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Deeply respect God, your God. Serve and worship him exclusively. Back up your promises with his name only.


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because God, your God, who is alive among you is a jealous God. Don't provoke him, igniting his hot anger that would burn you right off the face of the Earth.


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Do what is right; do what is good in God's sight so you'll live a good life and be able to march in and take this pleasant land that God so solemnly promised through your ancestors,


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The next time your child asks you, "What do these requirements and regulations and rules that God, our God, has commanded mean?"


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tell your child, "We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt and God powerfully intervened and got us out of that country.


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We stood there and watched as God delivered miracle-signs, great wonders, and evil-visitations on Egypt, on Pharaoh and his household.


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He pulled us out of there so he could bring us here and give us the land he so solemnly promised to our ancestors.


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That's why God commanded us to follow all these rules, so that we would live reverently before God, our God, as he gives us this good life, keeping us alive for a long time to come.


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"It will be a set-right and put-together life for us if we make sure that we do this entire commandment in the Presence of God, our God, just as he commanded us to do."


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When God, your God, brings you into the country that you are about to enter and take over, he will clear out the superpowers that were there before you: the Hittite, the Girgashite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. Those seven nations are all bigger and stronger than you are.


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God, your God, will turn them over to you and you will conquer them. You must completely destroy them, offering them up as a holy destruction to God.<br/>Don't make a treaty with them.<br/>Don't let them off in any way.


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Don't marry them: Don't give your daughters to their sons and don't take their daughters for your sons—


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before you know it they'd involve you in worshiping their gods, and God would explode in anger, putting a quick end to you.


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Here's what you are to do:<br/>Tear apart their altars stone by stone,<br/>smash their phallic pillars,<br/>chop down their sex-and-religion Asherah groves,<br/>set fire to their carved god-images.


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Do this because you are a people set apart as holy to God, your God. God, your God, chose you out of all the people on Earth for himself as a cherished, personal treasure.


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God wasn't attracted to you and didn't choose you because you were big and important—the fact is, there was almost nothing to you.


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He did it out of sheer love, keeping the promise he made to your ancestors. God stepped in and mightily bought you back out of that world of slavery, freed you from the iron grip of Pharaoh king of Egypt.


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Know this: God, your God, is God indeed, a God you can depend upon. He keeps his covenant of loyal love with those who love him and observe his commandments for a thousand generations.


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But he also pays back those who hate him, pays them the wages of death; he isn't slow to pay them off—those who hate him, he pays right on time.


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And this is what will happen: When you, on your part, will obey these directives, keeping and following them, God, on his part, will keep the covenant of loyal love that he made with your ancestors:


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He will love you,<br/>he will bless you,<br/>he will increase you.<br/>He will bless the babies from your womb and the harvest of grain, new wine, and oil from your fields; he'll bless the calves from your herds and lambs from your flocks in the country he promised your ancestors that he'd give you.


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God will get rid of all sickness. And all the evil afflictions you experienced in Egypt he'll put not on you but on those who hate you.


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You'll make mincemeat of all the peoples that God, your God, hands over to you. Don't feel sorry for them. And don't worship their gods—they'll trap you for sure.


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You're going to think to yourselves, "Oh! We're outnumbered ten to one by these nations! We'll never even make a dent in them!"


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But I'm telling you, Don't be afraid. Remember, yes, remember in detail what God, your God, did to Pharaoh and all Egypt.


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Remember the great contests to which you were eyewitnesses: the miracle-signs, the wonders, God's mighty hand as he stretched out his arm and took you out of there. God, your God, is going to do the same thing to these people you're now so afraid of.


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And to top it off, the Hornet. God will unleash the Hornet on them until every survivor-in-hiding is dead.


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God, your God, will get rid of these nations, bit by bit. You won't be permitted to wipe them out all at once lest the wild animals take over and overwhelm you.


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But God, your God, will move them out of your way—he'll throw them into a huge panic until there's nothing left of them.


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He'll turn their kings over to you and you'll remove all trace of them under Heaven. Not one person will be able to stand up to you; you'll put an end to them all.


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Make sure you set fire to their carved gods. Don't get greedy for the veneer of silver and gold on them and take it for yourselves—you'll get trapped by it for sure. God hates it; it's an abomination to God, your God.


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And don't dare bring one of these abominations home or you'll end up just like it, burned up as a holy destruction. No: It is forbidden! Hate it. Abominate it. Destroy it and preserve God's holiness.


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Keep and live out the entire commandment that I'm commanding you today so that you'll live and prosper and enter and own the land that God promised to your ancestors.


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Remember every road that God led you on for those forty years in the wilderness, pushing you to your limits, testing you so that he would know what you were made of, whether you would keep his commandments or not.


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He put you through hard times. He made you go hungry. Then he fed you with manna, something neither you nor your parents knew anything about, so you would learn that men and women don't live by bread only; we live by every word that comes from God's mouth.


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You learned deep in your heart that God disciplines you in the same ways a father disciplines his child.


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So it's paramount that you keep the commandments of God, your God, walk down the roads he shows you and reverently respect him.


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God is about to bring you into a good land, a land with brooks and rivers, springs and lakes, streams out of the hills and through the valleys.


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It's land where you'll never go hungry—always food on the table and a roof over your head. It's a land where you'll get iron out of rocks and mine copper from the hills.


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Make sure you don't forget God, your God, by not keeping his commandments, his rules and regulations that I command you today


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see your herds and flocks flourish and more and more money come in, watch your standard of living going up and up—


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make sure you don't become so full of yourself and your things that you forget God, your God,<br/>the God who delivered you from Egyptian slavery;


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the God who led you through that huge and fearsome wilderness, those desolate, arid badlands crawling with fiery snakes and scorpions;<br/>the God who gave you water gushing from hard rock;


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the God who gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, some-thing your ancestors had never heard of, in order to give you a taste of the hard life, to test you so that you would be prepared to live well in the days ahead of you.


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well, think again. Remember that God, your God, gave you the strength to produce all this wealth so as to confirm the covenant that he promised to your ancestors—as it is today.


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If you forget, forget God, your God, and start taking up with other gods, serving and worshiping them, I'm on record right now as giving you firm warning: that will be the end of you; I mean it—destruction.


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You'll go to your doom—the same as the nations God is destroying before you; doom because you wouldn't obey the Voice of God, your God.


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Attention, Israel!<br/>This very day you are crossing the Jordan to enter the land and dispossess nations that are much bigger and stronger than you are. You're going to find huge cities with sky-high fortress-walls and


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gigantic people, descendants of the Anakites—you've heard all about them; you've heard the saying, "No one can stand up to an Anakite."


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Today know this: God, your God, is crossing the river ahead of you—he's a consuming fire. He will destroy the nations, he will put them under your power. You will dispossess them and very quickly wipe them out, just as God promised you would.


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But when God pushes them out ahead of you, don't start thinking to yourselves, "It's because of all the good I've done that God has brought me in here to dispossess these nations." Actually it's because of all the evil these nations have done.


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No, it's nothing good that you've done, no record for decency that you've built up, that got you here; it's because of the vile wickedness of these nations that God, your God, is dispossessing them before you so that he can keep his promised word to your ancestors, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.


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Know this and don't ever forget it: It's not because of any good that you've done that God is giving you this good land to own. Anything but! You're stubborn as mules.


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Keep in mind and don't ever forget how angry you made God, your God, in the wilderness. You've kicked and screamed against God from the day you left Egypt until you got to this place, rebels all the way.


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When I climbed the mountain to receive the slabs of stone, the tablets of the covenant that God made with you, I stayed there on the mountain forty days and nights: I ate no food; I drank no water.


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Then God gave me the two slabs of stone, engraved with the finger of God. They contained word for word everything that God spoke to you on the mountain out of the fire, on the day of the assembly.


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It was at the end of the forty days and nights that God gave me the two slabs of stone, the tablets of the covenant.


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God said to me, "Get going, and quickly. Get down there, because your people whom you led out of Egypt have ruined everything. In almost no time at all they have left the road that I laid out for them and gone off and made for themselves a cast god."


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Get out of my way now so I can destroy them. I'm going to wipe them off the face of the map. Then I'll start over with you to make a nation far better and bigger than they could ever be."


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I turned around and started down the mountain—by now the mountain was blazing with fire—carrying the two tablets of the covenant in my two arms.


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That's when I saw it: There you were, sinning against God, your God—you had made yourselves a cast god in the shape of a calf! So soon you had left the road that God had commanded you to walk on.


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Then I prostrated myself before God, just as I had at the beginning of the forty days and nights. I ate no food; I drank no water. I did this because of you, all your sins, sinning against God, doing what is evil in God's eyes and making him angry.


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I was terrified of God's furious anger, his blazing anger. I was sure he would destroy you. But once again God listened to me.


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And Aaron! How furious he was with Aaron—ready to destroy him. But I prayed also for Aaron at that same time.


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But that sin-thing that you made, that calf-god, I took and burned in the fire, pounded and ground it until it was crushed into a fine powder, then threw it into the stream that comes down the mountain.


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And then there was Camp Taberah (Blaze), Massah (Testing-Place), and Camp Kibroth Hattaavah (Graves-of-the-Craving)—more occasions when you made God furious with you.


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The most recent was when God sent you out from Kadesh Barnea, ordering you: "Go. Possess the land that I'm giving you." And what did you do? You rebelled. Rebelled against the clear orders of God, your God. Refused to trust him. Wouldn't obey him.


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When I was on my face, prostrate before God those forty days and nights after God said he would destroy you,


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I prayed to God for you, "My Master, God, don't destroy your people, your inheritance whom, in your immense generosity, you redeemed, using your enormous strength to get them out of Egypt.


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"Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; don't make too much of the stubbornness of this people, their evil and their sin,


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lest the Egyptians from whom you rescued them say, 'God couldn't do it; he got tired and wasn't able to take them to the land he promised them. He ended up hating them and dumped them in the wilderness to die.'


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God responded. He said, "Shape two slabs of stone similar to the first ones. Climb the mountain and meet me. Also make yourself a wooden chest.


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I will engrave the stone slabs with the words that were on the first ones, the ones you smashed. Then you will put them in the Chest."


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So I made a chest out of acacia wood, shaped two slabs of stone, just like the first ones, and climbed the mountain with the two slabs in my arms.


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He engraved the stone slabs the same as he had the first ones, the Ten Words that he addressed to you on the mountain out of the fire on the day of the assembly. Then God gave them to me.


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I turned around and came down the mountain. I put the stone slabs in the Chest that I made and they've been there ever since, just as God commanded me.


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The People of Israel went from the wells of the Jaakanites to Moserah. Aaron died there and was buried. His son Eleazar succeeded him as priest.


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That's when God set apart the tribe of Levi to carry God's Covenant Chest, to be on duty in the Presence of God, to serve him, and to bless in his name, as they continue to do today.


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And that's why Levites don't have a piece of inherited land as their kinsmen do. God is their inheritance, as God, your God, promised them.


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I stayed there on the mountain forty days and nights, just as I did the first time. And God listened to me, just as he did the first time: God decided not to destroy you.


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God told me, "Now get going. Lead your people as they resume the journey to take possession of the land that I promised their ancestors that I'd give to them."


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So now Israel, what do you think God expects from you? Just this: Live in his presence in holy reverence, follow the road he sets out for you, love him, serve God, your God, with everything you have in you,


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Look around you: Everything you see is God's—the heavens above and beyond, the Earth, and everything on it.


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But it was your ancestors that God fell in love with; he picked their children—that's you!—out of all the other peoples. That's where we are right now.


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God, your God, is the God of all gods, he's the Master of all masters, a God immense and powerful and awesome. He doesn't play favorites, takes no bribes,


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makes sure orphans and widows are treated fairly, takes loving care of foreigners by seeing that they get food and clothing.


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You must treat foreigners with the same loving care—<br/>remember, you were once foreigners in Egypt.


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Reverently respect God, your God, serve him, hold tight to him,<br/>back up your promises with the authority of his name.


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He's your praise! He's your God!<br/>He did all these tremendous, these staggering things<br/>that you saw with your own eyes.


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When your ancestors entered Egypt, they numbered a mere seventy souls. And now look at you—you look more like the stars in the night skies in number. And your God did it.


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So love God, your God;<br/>guard well his rules and regulations;<br/>obey his commandments for the rest of time.


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Today it's very clear that it isn't your children who are front and center here: They weren't in on what God did, didn't see the acts, didn't experience the discipline, didn't marvel at his greatness, the way he displayed his power in the miracle-signs and deeds


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the way he took care of the Egyptian army, its horses and chariots, burying them in the waters of the Red Sea as they pursued you. God drowned them. And you're standing here today alive.


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Nor was it your children who saw how God took care of you in the wilderness up until the time you arrived here,


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what he did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab son of Reuben, how the Earth opened its jaws and swallowed them with their families—their tents, and everything around them—right out of the middle of Israel.


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So it's you who are in charge of keeping the entire commandment that I command you today so that you'll have the strength to invade and possess the land that you are crossing the river to make your own.


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Your obedience will give you a long life on the soil that God promised to give your ancestors and their children, a land flowing with milk and honey.


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The land you are entering to take up ownership isn't like Egypt, the land you left, where you had to plant your own seed and water it yourselves as in a vegetable garden.


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But the land you are about to cross the river and take for your own is a land of mountains and valleys; it drinks water that rains from the sky.


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It's a land that God, your God, personally tends—he's the gardener—he alone keeps his eye on it all year long.


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From now on if you listen obediently to the commandments that I am commanding you today, love God, your God, and serve him with everything you have within you,


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he'll take charge of sending the rain at the right time, both autumn and spring rains, so that you'll be able to harvest your grain, your grapes, your olives.


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and God erupts in anger and shuts down Heaven so there's no rain and nothing grows in the fields, and in no time at all you're starved out—not a trace of you left on the good land that God is giving you.


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Place these words on your hearts. Get them deep inside you. Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a reminder.


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Teach them to your children. Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; talk about them from the time you get up in the morning until you fall into bed at night.


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so that you'll live a long time, and your children with you, on the soil that God promised to give your ancestors for as long as there is a sky over the Earth.


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That's right. If you diligently keep all this commandment that I command you to obey—love God, your God, do what he tells you, stick close to him—


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God on his part will drive out all these nations that stand in your way. Yes, he'll drive out nations much bigger and stronger than you.


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Every square inch on which you place your foot will be yours. Your borders will stretch from the wilderness to the mountains of Lebanon, from the Euphrates River to the Mediterranean Sea.


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No one will be able to stand in your way. Everywhere you go, God-sent fear and trembling will precede you, just as he promised.


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The Blessing: if you listen obediently to the commandments of God, your God, which I command you today.


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The Curse: if you don't pay attention to the commandments of God, your God, but leave the road that I command you today, following other gods of which you know nothing.


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Here's what comes next: When God, your God, brings you into the land you are going into to make your own, you are to give out the Blessing from Mount Gerizim and the Curse from Mount Ebal.


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After you cross the Jordan River, follow the road to the west through Canaanite settlements in the valley near Gilgal and the Oaks of Moreh.


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These are the rules and regulations that you must diligently observe for as long as you live in this country that God, the God-of-Your-Fathers, has given you to possess.


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Ruthlessly demolish all the sacred shrines where the nations that you're driving out worship their gods—wherever you find them, on hills and mountains or in groves of green trees.


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Tear apart their altars. Smash their phallic pillars. Burn their sex-and-religion Asherah shrines. Break up their carved gods. Obliterate the names of those god sites.


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Instead find the site that God, your God, will choose and mark it with his name as a common center for all the tribes of Israel. Assemble there.


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Bring to that place your Absolution-Offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and Tribute-Offerings, your Vow-Offerings, your Freewill-Offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks.


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Feast there in the Presence of God, your God. Celebrate everything that you and your families have accomplished under the blessing of God, your God.


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Until now you haven't arrived at the goal, the resting place, the inheritance that God, your God, is giving you.


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But the minute you cross the Jordan River and settle into the land God, your God, is enabling you to inherit, he'll give you rest from all your surrounding enemies. You'll be able to settle down and live in safety.


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From then on, at the place that God, your God, chooses to mark with his name as the place where you can meet him, bring everything that I command you: your Absolution-Offerings and sacrifices, tithes and Tribute-Offerings, and the best of your Vow-Offerings that you vow to God.


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Celebrate there in the Presence of God, your God, you and your sons and daughters, your servants and maids, including the Levite living in your neighborhood because he has no place of his own in your inheritance.


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Offer your Absolution-Offerings only in the place that God chooses in one of your tribal regions. There and only there are you to bring all that I command you.


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It's permissible to slaughter your nonsacrificial animals like gazelle and deer in your towns and eat all you want from them with the blessing of God, your God. Both the ritually clean and unclean may eat.


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Nor may you eat there the tithe of your grain, new wine, or olive oil; nor the firstborn of your herds and flocks; nor any of the Vow-Offerings that you vow; nor your Freewill-Offerings and Tribute-Offerings.


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All these you must eat in the Presence of God, your God, in the place God, your God, chooses—you, your son and daughter, your servant and maid, and the Levite who lives in your neighborhood. You are to celebrate in the Presence of God, your God, all the things you've been able to accomplish.


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When God, your God, expands your territory as he promised he would do, and you say, "I'm hungry for meat," because you happen to be craving meat at the time, go ahead and eat as much meat as you want.


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If you're too far away from the place that God, your God, has marked with his name, it's all right to slaughter animals from your herds and flocks that God has given you, as I've commanded you. In your own towns you may eat as much of them as you want.


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Just as the nonsacrificial animals like the gazelle and deer are eaten, you may eat them; the ritually unclean and clean may eat them at the same table.


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Only this: Absolutely no blood. Don't eat the blood. Blood is life; don't eat the life with the meat.


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Don't eat it; then you'll have a good life, you and your children after you. By all means, do the right thing in God's eyes.


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And this: Lift high your Holy-Offerings and your Vow-Offerings and bring them to the place God designates.


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Sacrifice your Absolution-Offerings, the meat and blood, on the Altar of God, your God; pour out the blood of the Absolution-Offering on the Altar of God, your God; then you can go ahead and eat the meat.


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Be vigilant, listen obediently to these words that I command you so that you'll have a good life, you and your children, for a long, long time, doing what is good and right in the eyes of God, your God.


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When God, your God, cuts off the nations whose land you are invading, shoves them out of your way so that you displace them and settle in their land,


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be careful that you don't get curious about them after they've been destroyed before you. Don't get fascinated with their gods, thinking, "I wonder what it was like for them, worshiping their gods. I'd like to try that myself."


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Don't do this to God, your God. They commit every imaginable abomination with their gods. God hates it all with a passion. Why, they even set their children on fire as offerings to their gods!


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Diligently do everything I command you, the way I command you: don't add to it; don't subtract from it.


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and the miracle-sign or wonder that he gave out happens and he says, "Let's follow other gods" (these are gods you know nothing about), "let's worship them,"


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don't pay any attention to what that prophet or visionary says. God, your God, is testing you to find out if you totally love him with everything you have in you.


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You are to follow only God, your God, hold him in deep reverence, keep his commandments, listen obediently to what he says, serve him—hold on to him for dear life!


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And that prophet or visionary must be put to death. He has urged mutiny against God, your God, who rescued you from Egypt, who redeemed you from a world of slavery and put you on the road on which God, your God, has commanded you to walk. Purge the evil from your company.


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And when your brother or son or daughter, or even your dear wife or lifelong friend, comes to you in secret and whispers, "Let's go and worship some other gods" (gods that you know nothing about, neither you nor your ancestors,


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Kill him. That's right, kill him. You throw the first stone. Take action at once and swiftly with everybody in the community getting in on it at the end.


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Stone him with stones so that he dies. He tried to turn you traitor against God, your God, the one who got you out of Egypt and the world of slavery.


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Every man, woman, and child in Israel will hear what's been done and be in awe. No one will dare to do an evil thing like this again.


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reporting that evil men have gotten together with some of the citizens of the city and have broken away, saying, "Let's go and worship other gods" (gods you know nothing about),


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then you must conduct a careful examination. Ask questions, investigate. If it turns out that the report is true and this abomination did in fact take place in your community,


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you must execute the citizens of that town. Kill them, setting that city apart for holy destruction: the city and everything in it including its animals.


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Gather the plunder in the middle of the town square and burn it all—town and plunder together up in smoke, a holy sacrifice to God, your God. Leave it there, ashes and ruins. Don't build on that site again.


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And don't let any of the plunder devoted to holy destruction stick to your fingers. Get rid of it so that God may turn from anger to compassion, generously making you prosper, just as he promised your ancestors.


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Yes. Obediently listen to God, your God. Keep all his commands that I am giving you today. Do the right thing in the eyes of God, your God.


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You are children of God, your God, so don't mutilate your bodies or shave your heads in funeral rites for the dead.


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You only are a people holy to God, your God; God chose you out of all the people on Earth as his cherished personal treasure.


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But you may not eat camels, rabbits, and rock badgers because they chew the cud but they don't have a cloven hoof—that makes them ritually unclean.


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And pigs: Don't eat pigs—they have a cloven hoof but don't chew the cud, which makes them ritually unclean. Don't even touch a pig's carcass.


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Because you are a people holy to God, your God, don't eat anything that you find dead. You can, though, give it to a foreigner in your neighborhood for a meal or sell it to a foreigner.<br/>Don't boil a kid in its mother's milk.


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Make an offering of ten percent, a tithe, of all the produce which grows in your fields year after year.


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Bring this into the Presence of God, your God, at the place he designates for worship and there eat the tithe from your grain, wine, and oil and the firstborn from your herds and flocks. In this way you will learn to live in deep reverence before God, your God, as long as you live.


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But if the place God, your God, designates for worship is too far away and you can't carry your tithe that far, God, your God, will still bless you:


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exchange your tithe for money and take the money to the place God, your God, has chosen to be worshiped.


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Use the money to buy anything you want: cattle, sheep, wine, or beer—anything that looks good to you. You and your family can then feast in the Presence of God, your God, and have a good time.


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Meanwhile, don't forget to take good care of the Levites who live in your towns; they won't get any property or inheritance of their own as you will.


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At the end of every third year, gather the tithe from all your produce of that year and put it aside in storage.


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Keep it in reserve for the Levite who won't get any property or inheritance as you will, and for the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow who live in your neighborhood. That way they'll have plenty to eat and God, your God, will bless you in all your work.


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This is the procedure: Everyone who has lent money to a neighbor writes it off. You must not press your neighbor or his brother for payment: All-Debts-Are-Canceled—God says so.


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You may collect payment from foreigners, but whatever you have lent to your fellow Israelite you must write off.


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There must be no poor people among you because God is going to bless you lavishly in this land that God, your God, is giving you as an inheritance, your very own land.


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But only if you listen obediently to the Voice of God, your God, diligently observing every commandment that I command you today.


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Oh yes—God, your God, will bless you just as he promised. You will lend to many nations but won't borrow from any; you'll rule over many nations but none will rule over you.


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When you happen on someone who's in trouble or needs help among your people with whom you live in this land that God, your God, is giving you, don't look the other way pretending you don't see him. Don't keep a tight grip on your purse.


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Don't count the cost. Don't listen to that selfish voice saying, "It's almost the seventh year, the year of All-Debts-Are-Canceled," and turn aside and leave your needy neighbor in the lurch, refusing to help him. He'll call God's attention to you and your blatant sin.


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Give freely and spontaneously. Don't have a stingy heart. The way you handle matters like this triggers God, your God's, blessing in everything you do, all your work and ventures.


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There are always going to be poor and needy people among you. So I command you: Always be generous, open purse and hands, give to your neighbors in trouble, your poor and hurting neighbors.


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If a Hebrew man or Hebrew woman was sold to you and has served you for six years, in the seventh year you must set him or her free, released into a free life.


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Provide them with some animals, plenty of bread and wine and oil. Load them with provisions from all the blessings with which God, your God, has blessed you.


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Don't for a minute forget that you were once slaves in Egypt and God, your God, redeemed you from that slave world.<br/>For that reason, this day I command you to do this.


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But if your slave, because he loves you and your family and has a good life with you, says, "I don't want to leave you,"


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then take an awl and pierce through his earlobe into the doorpost, marking him as your slave forever. Do the same with your women slaves who want to stay with you.


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Don't consider this an unreasonable hardship, this setting your slave free. After all, he's worked six years for you at half the cost of a hired hand.<br/>Believe me, God, your God, will bless you in everything you do.


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Consecrate to God, your God, all the firstborn males in your herds and flocks. Don't use the firstborn from your herds as work animals; don't shear the firstborn from your flocks.


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These are for you to eat every year, you and your family, in the Presence of God, your God, at the place that God designates for worship.


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If the animal is defective, lame, say, or blind—anything wrong with it—don't slaughter it as a sacrifice to God, your God.


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Stay at home and eat it there. Both the ritually clean and unclean may eat it, the same as with a gazelle or a deer.


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Observe the month of Abib by celebrating the Passover to God, your God. It was in the month of Abib that God, your God, delivered you by night from Egypt.


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Offer the Passover-Sacrifice to God, your God, at the place God chooses to be worshiped by establishing his name there.


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Don't eat yeast bread with it; for seven days eat it with unraised bread, hard-times bread, because you left Egypt in a hurry—that bread will keep the memory fresh of how you left Egypt for as long as you live.


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There is to be no sign of yeast anywhere for seven days. And don't let any of the meat that you sacrifice in the evening be left over until morning.


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other than the one God, your God, designates for worship; there and there only you will offer the Passover-Sacrifice at evening as the sun goes down, marking the time that you left Egypt.


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Boil and eat it at the place designated by God, your God. Then, at daybreak, turn around and go home.


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Celebrate the Feast-of-Weeks to God, your God, by bringing your Freewill-Offering—give as generously as God, your God, has blessed you.


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Rejoice in the Presence of God, your God: you, your son, your daughter, your servant, your maid, the Levite who lives in your neighborhood, the foreigner, the orphan and widow among you; rejoice at the place God, your God, will set aside to be worshiped.


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Observe the Feast-of-Booths for seven days when you gather the harvest from your threshing-floor and your wine-vat.


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Rejoice at your festival: you, your son, your daughter, your servant, your maid, the Levite, the foreigner, and the orphans and widows who live in your neighborhood.


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Celebrate the Feast to God, your God, for seven days at the place God designates. God, your God, has been blessing you in your harvest and in all your work, so make a day of it—really celebrate!


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All your men must appear before God, your God, three times each year at the place he designates: at the Feast-of-Unraised-Bread (Passover), at the Feast-of-Weeks, and at the Feast-of-Booths. No one is to show up in the Presence of God empty-handed;


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each man must bring as much as he can manage, giving generously in response to the blessings of God, your God.


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Appoint judges and officers, organized by tribes, in all the towns that God, your God, is giving you. They are to judge the people fairly and honestly.


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Don't twist the law. Don't play favorites. Don't take a bribe—a bribe blinds even a wise person; it undermines the intentions of the best of people.


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The right! The right! Pursue only what's right! It's the only way you can really live and possess the land that God, your God, is giving you.


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And don't sacrifice to God, your God, an ox or sheep that is defective or has anything at all wrong with it. That's an abomination, an insult to God, your God.


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If you find anyone within the towns that God, your God, is giving you doing what is wrong in God's eyes, breaking his covenant


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by going off to worship other gods, bowing down to them—the sun, say, or the moon, or any rebel sky-gods—


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look at the evidence and investigate carefully. If you find that it is true, that, in fact, an abomination has been committed in Israel,


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then you are to take the man or woman who did this evil thing outside your city gates and stone the man or the woman. Hurl stones at the person until dead.


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But only on the testimony of two or three witnesses may a person be put to death. No one may be put to death on the testimony of one witness.


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The witnesses must throw the first stones in the execution, then the rest of the community joins in. You have to purge the evil from your community.


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When matters of justice come up that are too much for you—hard cases regarding homicides, legal disputes, fights—take them up to the central place of worship that God, your God, has designated.


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Bring them to the Levitical priests and the judge who is in office at the time. Consult them and they will hand down the decision for you.


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Then carry out their verdict at the place designated by God, your God. Do what they tell you, in exactly the way they tell you.


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Anyone who presumes to override or twist the decision handed down by the priest or judge who was acting in the Presence of God, your God, is as good as dead—root him out, rid Israel of the evil.


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When you enter the land that God, your God, is giving you and take it over and settle down, and then say, "I'm going to get me a king, a king like all the nations around me,"


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make sure you get yourself a king whom God, your God, chooses. Choose your king from among your kinsmen; don't take a foreigner—only a kinsman.


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And make sure he doesn't build up a war machine, amassing military horses and chariots. He must not send people to Egypt to get more horses, because God told you, "You'll never go back there again!"


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And make sure he doesn't build up a harem, collecting wives who will divert him from the straight and narrow. And make sure he doesn't pile up a lot of silver and gold.


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This is what must be done: When he sits down on the throne of his kingdom, the first thing he must do is make himself a copy of this Revelation on a scroll, copied under the supervision of the Levitical priests.


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That scroll is to remain at his side at all times; he is to study it every day so that he may learn what it means to fear his God, living in reverent obedience before these rules and regulations by following them.


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He must not become proud and arrogant, changing the commands at whim to suit himself or making up his own versions. If he reads and learns, he will have a long reign as king in Israel, he and his sons.


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The Levitical priests—that's the entire tribe of Levi—don't get any land-inheritance with the rest of Israel. They get the Fire-Gift-Offerings of God—they will live on that inheritance.


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This is what the priests get from the people from any offering of an ox or a sheep: the shoulder, the two cheeks, and the stomach.


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You must also give them the firstfruits of your grain, wine, and oil and the first fleece of your sheep,


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because God, your God, has chosen only them and their children out of all your tribes to be present and serve always in the name of God, your God.


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If a Levite moves from any town in Israel—and he is quite free to move wherever he desires—and comes to the place God designates for worship,


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he may serve there in the name of God along with all his brother Levites who are present and serving in the Presence of God.


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And he will get an equal share to eat, even though he has money from the sale of his parents' possessions.


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When you enter the land that God, your God, is giving you, don't take on the abominable ways of life of the nations there.


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Don't you dare sacrifice your son or daughter in the fire. Don't practice divination, sorcery, fortunetelling, witchery,


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People who do these things are an abomination to God. It's because of just such abominable practices that God, your God, is driving these nations out before you.


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These nations that you're about to run out of the country consort with sorcerers and witches. But not you. God, your God, forbids it.


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God, your God, is going to raise up a prophet for you. God will raise him up from among your kinsmen, a prophet like me. Listen obediently to him.


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This is what you asked God, your God, for at Horeb on the day you were all gathered at the mountain and said, "We can't hear any more from God, our God; we can't stand seeing any more fire. We'll die!"


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I'll raise up for them a prophet like you from their kinsmen. I'll tell him what to say and he will pass on to them everything I command him.


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"But any prophet who fakes it, who claims to speak in my name something I haven't commanded him to say, or speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet must die."


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You may be wondering among yourselves, "How can we tell the difference, whether it was God who spoke or not?" Here's how:


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If what the prophet spoke in God's name doesn't happen, then obviously God wasn't behind it; the prophet made it up. Forget about him.


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When God, your God, throws the nations out of the country that God, your God, is giving you and you settle down in their cities and houses,


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you are to set aside three easily accessible cities in the land that God, your God, is giving you as your very own.


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Divide your land into thirds, this land that God, your God, is giving you to possess, and build roads to the towns so that anyone who accidentally kills another can flee there.


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This is the guideline for the murderer who flees there to take refuge: He has to have killed his neighbor without premeditation and with no history of bad blood between them.


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For instance, a man goes with his neighbor into the woods to cut a tree; he swings the ax, the head slips off the handle and hits his neighbor, killing him. He may then flee to one of these cities and save his life.


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If the city is too far away, the avenger of blood racing in hot-blooded pursuit might catch him since it's such a long distance, and kill him even though he didn't deserve it. It wasn't his fault. There was no history of hatred between them.


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When God, your God, enlarges your land, extending its borders as he solemnly promised your ancestors, by giving you the whole land he promised them


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because you are diligently living the way I'm commanding you today, namely, to love God, your God, and do what he tells you all your life; and when that happens, then add three more to these three cities


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so that there is no chance of innocent blood being spilled in your land. God, your God, is giving you this land as an inheritance—you don't want to pollute it with innocent blood and bring bloodguilt upon yourselves.


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On the other hand, if a man with a history of hatred toward his neighbor waits in ambush, then jumps him, mauls and kills him, and then runs to one of these cities, that's a different story.


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The elders of his own city are to send for him and have him brought back. They are to hand him over to the avenger of blood for execution.


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Don't feel sorry for him. Clean out the pollution of wrongful murder from Israel so that you'll be able to live well and breathe clean air.


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Don't move your neighbor's boundary markers, the longstanding landmarks set up by your pioneer ancestors defining their property.


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You cannot convict anyone of a crime or sin on the word of one witness. You need two or three witnesses to make a case.


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then both parties involved in the quarrel must stand in the Presence of God before the priests and judges who are in office at that time.


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The judges must conduct a careful investigation; if the witness turns out to be a false witness and has lied against his fellow Israelite,


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give him the same medicine he intended for the other party. Clean the polluting evil from your company.


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People will hear of what you've done and be impressed; that will put a stop to this kind of evil among you.


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Don't feel sorry for the person: It's life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.


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When you go to war against your enemy and see horses and chariots and soldiers far outnumbering you, do not recoil in fear of them; God, your God, who brought you up out of Egypt is with you.


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He'll say, "Attention, Israel. In a few minutes you're going to do battle with your enemies. Don't waver in resolve. Don't fear. Don't hesitate. Don't panic.


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Then let the officers step up and speak to the troops: "Is there a man here who has built a new house but hasn't yet dedicated it? Let him go home right now lest he die in battle and another man dedicate it.


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And is there a man here who has planted a vineyard but hasn't yet enjoyed the grapes? Let him go home right now lest he die in battle and another man enjoy the grapes.


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Is there a man here engaged to marry who hasn't yet taken his wife? Let him go home right now lest he die in battle and another man take her."


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The officers will then continue, "And is there a man here who is wavering in resolve and afraid? Let him go home right now so that he doesn't infect his fellows with his timidity and cowardly spirit."


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When the officers have finished speaking to the troops, let them appoint commanders of the troops who shall muster them by units.


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If they answer, "Yes, peace!" and open the city to you, then everyone found there will be conscripted as forced laborers and work for you.


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But don't kill the women and children and animals. Everything inside the town you can take as plunder for you to use and eat—God, your God, gives it to you.


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This is the way you deal with the distant towns, the towns that don't belong to the nations at hand.


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But with the towns of the people that God, your God, is giving you as an inheritance, it's different: don't leave anyone alive.


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Consign them to holy destruction: the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, obeying the command of God, your God.


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This is so there won't be any of them left to teach you to practice the abominations that they engage in with their gods and you end up sinning against God, your God.


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When you mount an attack on a town and the siege goes on a long time, don't start cutting down the trees, swinging your axes against them. Those trees are your future food; don't cut them down. Are trees soldiers who come against you with weapons?


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The exception can be those trees which don't produce food; you can chop them down and use the timbers to build siege engines against the town that is resisting you until it falls.


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If a dead body is found on the ground, this ground that God, your God, has given you, lying out in the open, and no one knows who killed him,


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The leaders and judges of the city that is nearest the corpse will then take a heifer that has never been used for work, never had a yoke on it.


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The leaders will take the heifer to a valley with a stream, a valley that has never been plowed or planted, and there break the neck of the heifer.


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The Levitical priests will then step up. God has chosen them to serve him in these matters by settling legal disputes and violent crimes and by pronouncing blessings in God's name.


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Finally, all the leaders of that town that is nearest the body will wash their hands over the heifer that had its neck broken at the stream


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Purify your people Israel whom you redeemed, O God. Clear your people Israel from any guilt in this murder."<br/>That will clear them from any responsibility in the murder.


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By following these procedures you will have absolved yourselves of any part in the murder because you will have done what is right in God's sight.


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When you go to war against your enemies and God, your God, gives you victory and you take prisoners,


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and then you notice among the prisoners of war a good-looking woman whom you find attractive and would like to marry,


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and discard the clothes she was wearing when captured. She is then to stay in your home for a full month, mourning her father and mother. Then you may go to bed with her as husband and wife.


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If it turns out you don't like her, you must let her go and live wherever she wishes. But you can't sell her or use her as a slave since you've humiliated her.


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When a man has two wives, one loved and the other hated, and they both give him sons, but the firstborn is from the hated wife,


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at the time he divides the inheritance with his sons he must not treat the son of the loved wife as the firstborn, cutting out the son of the hated wife, who is the actual firstborn.


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No, he must acknowledge the inheritance rights of the real firstborn, the son of the hated wife, by giving him a double share of the inheritance: that son is the first proof of his virility; the rights of the firstborn belong to him.


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When a man has a stubborn son, a real rebel who won't do a thing his mother and father tell him, and even though they discipline him he still won't obey,


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and say to the city fathers, "This son of ours is a stubborn rebel; he won't listen to a thing we say. He's a glutton and a drunk."


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Then all the men of the town are to throw rocks at him until he's dead. You will have purged the evil pollution from among you. All Israel will hear what's happened and be in awe.


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When a man has committed a capital crime, been given the death sentence, executed and hung from a tree,


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don't leave his dead body hanging overnight from the tree. Give him a decent burial that same day so that you don't desecrate your God-given land—a hanged man is an insult to God.


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If you see your kinsman's ox or sheep wandering off loose, don't look the other way as if you didn't see it. Return it promptly.


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If your fellow Israelite is not close by or you don't know whose it is, take the animal home with you and take care of it until your fellow asks about it. Then return it to him.


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Do the same if it's his donkey or a piece of clothing or anything else your fellow Israelite loses. Don't look the other way as if you didn't see it.


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If you see your fellow's donkey or ox injured along the road, don't look the other way. Help him get it up and on its way.


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A woman must not wear a man's clothing, nor a man wear women's clothing. This kind of thing is an abomination to God, your God.


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When you come across a bird's nest alongside the road, whether in a tree or on the ground, and the mother is sitting on the young or on the eggs, don't take the mother with the young.


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When you build a new house, make a parapet around your roof to make it safe so that someone doesn't fall off and die and your family become responsible for the death.


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Don't plant two kinds of seed in your vineyard. If you do, you will forfeit what you've sown, the total production of the vineyard.


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calling her a slut, giving her a bad name, saying, "I married this woman, but when I slept with her I discovered she wasn't a virgin,"


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then the father and mother of the girl are to take her with the proof of her virginity to the town leaders at the gate.


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The father is to tell the leaders, "I gave my daughter to this man as wife and he turned on her, rejecting her.


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And now he has slanderously accused her, claiming that she wasn't a virgin. But look at this, here is the proof of my daughter's virginity." And then he is to spread out her blood-stained wedding garment before the leaders for their examination.


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fine him a hundred pieces of silver, and give it to the father of the girl. The man gave a virgin girl of Israel a bad name. He has to keep her as his wife and can never divorce her.


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the men of the town are to take her to the door of her father's house and stone her to death. She acted disgracefully in Israel. She lived like a whore while still in her parents' home. Purge the evil from among you.


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take both of them to the town gate and stone them until they die—the girl because she didn't yell out for help in the town and the man because he raped her, violating the fianc-e of his neighbor. You must purge the evil from among you.


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But if it was out in the country that the man found the engaged girl and grabbed and raped her, only the man is to die, the man who raped her.


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Don't do anything to the girl; she did nothing wrong. This is similar to the case of a man who comes across his neighbor out in the country and murders him;


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When a man comes upon a virgin who has never been engaged and grabs and rapes her and they are found out,


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the man who raped her has to give her father fifty pieces of silver. He has to marry her because he took advantage of her. And he can never divorce her.


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No bastard is to enter the congregation of God, even to the tenth generation, nor any of his children.


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No Ammonite or Moabite is to enter the congregation of God, even to the tenth generation, nor any of his children, ever.


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Those nations didn't treat you with hospitality on your travels out of Egypt, and on top of that they also hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Mesopotamia to curse you.


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God, your God, refused to listen to Balaam but turned the curse into a blessing—how God, your God, loves you!


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But don't spurn an Edomite; he's your kin.<br/>And don't spurn an Egyptian; you were a foreigner in his land.


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When you are camped out, at war with your enemies, be careful to keep yourself from anything ritually defiling.


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If one of your men has become ritually unclean because of a nocturnal emission, he must go outside the camp and stay there


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Along with your weapons have a stick with you. After you relieve yourself, dig a hole with the stick and cover your excrement.


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God, your God, strolls through your camp; he's present to deliver you and give you victory over your enemies. Keep your camp holy; don't permit anything indecent or offensive in God's eyes.


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Let him live wherever he wishes within the protective gates of your city. Don't take advantage of him.


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No daughter of Israel is to become a sacred prostitute; and no son of Israel is to become a sacred prostitute.


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And don't bring the fee of a sacred whore or the earnings of a priest-pimp to the house of God, your God, to pay for any vow—they are both an abomination to God, your God.


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Don't charge interest to your kinsmen on any loan: not for money or food or clothing or anything else that could earn interest.


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You may charge foreigners interest, but you may not charge your brothers interest; that way God, your God, will bless all the work that you take up and the land that you are entering to possess.


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When you make a vow to God, your God, don't put off keeping it; God, your God, expects you to keep it and if you don't you're guilty.


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If you say you're going to do something, do it. Keep the vow you willingly vowed to God, your God. You promised it, so do it.


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When you enter your neighbor's vineyard, you may eat all the grapes you want until you're full, but you may not put any in your bucket or bag.


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And when you walk through the ripe grain of your neighbor, you may pick the heads of grain, but you may not swing your sickle there.


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If a man marries a woman and then it happens that he no longer likes her because he has found something wrong with her, he may give her divorce papers, put them in her hand, and send her off.


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and he also comes to hate her and this second husband also gives her divorce papers, puts them in her hand, and sends her off, or if he should die,


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then the first husband who divorced her can't marry her again. She has made herself ritually unclean, and her remarriage would be an abomination in the Presence of God and defile the land with sin, this land that God, your God, is giving you as an inheritance.


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When a man takes a new wife, he is not to go out with the army or be given any business or work duties. He gets one year off simply to be at home making his wife happy.


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Don't seize a handmill or an upper millstone as collateral for a loan. You'd be seizing someone's very life.


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If a man is caught kidnapping one of his kinsmen, someone of the People of Israel, to enslave or sell him, the kidnapper must die. Purge that evil from among you.


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Warning! If a serious skin disease breaks out, follow exactly the rules set down by the Levitical priests. Follow them precisely as I commanded them.


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return it to him at nightfall so that he can sleep in his cloak and bless you. In the sight of God, your God, that will be viewed as a righteous act.


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Don't abuse a laborer who is destitute and needy, whether he is a fellow Israelite living in your land and in your city.


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Pay him at the end of each workday; he's living from hand to mouth and needs it now. If you hold back his pay, he'll protest to God and you'll have sin on your books.


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Parents shall not be put to death for their children, nor children for their parents. Each person shall be put to death for his own sin.


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Make sure foreigners and orphans get their just rights. Don't take the cloak of a widow as security for a loan.


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Don't ever forget that you were once slaves in Egypt and God, your God, got you out of there. I command you: Do what I'm telling you.


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When you harvest your grain and forget a sheaf back in the field, don't go back and get it; leave it for the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow so that God, your God, will bless you in all your work.


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When you shake the olives off your trees, don't go back over the branches and strip them bare—what's left is for the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow.


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And when you cut the grapes in your vineyard, don't take every last grape—leave a few for the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow.


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When men have a legal dispute, let them go to court; the judges will decide between them, declaring one innocent and the other guilty.


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If the guilty one deserves punishment, the judge will have him prostrate himself before him and lashed as many times as his crime deserves,


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but not more than forty. If you hit him more than forty times, you will degrade him to something less than human.


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When brothers are living together and one of them dies without having had a son, the widow of the dead brother shall not marry a stranger from outside the family; her husband's brother is to come to her and marry her and do the brother-in-law's duty by her.


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The first son that she bears shall be named after her dead husband so his name won't die out in Israel.


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But if the brother doesn't want to marry his sister-in-law, she is to go to the leaders at the city gate and say, "My brother-in-law refuses to keep his brother's name alive in Israel; he won't agree to do the brother-in-law's duty by me."


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Then the leaders will call for the brother and confront him. If he stands there defiant and says, "I don't want her,"


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his sister-in-law is to pull his sandal off his foot, spit in his face, and say, "This is what happens to the man who refuses to build up the family of his brother


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When two men are in a fight and the wife of the one man, trying to rescue her husband, grabs the genitals of the man hitting him,


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Use only one weight, a true and honest weight, and one measure, a true and honest measure, so that you will live a long time on the land that God, your God, is giving you.


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Dishonest weights and measures are an abomination to God, your God—all this corruption in business deals!


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how he attacked you when you were tired, barely able to put one foot in front of another, mercilessly cut off your stragglers, and had no regard for God.


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When God, your God, gives you rest from all the enemies that surround you in the inheritance-land God, your God, is giving you to possess, you are to wipe the name of Amalek from off the Earth. Don't forget!


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Once you enter the land that God, your God, is giving you as an inheritance and take it over and settle down,


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you are to take some of all the firstfruits of what you grow in the land that God, your God, is giving you, put them in a basket and go to the place God, your God, sets apart for you to worship him.


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At that time, go to the priest who is there and say, "I announce to God, your God, today that I have entered the land that God promised our ancestors that he'd give to us."


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And there in the Presence of God, your God, you will recite,<br/>A wandering Aramean was my father,<br/>he went down to Egypt and sojourned there,<br/>he and just a handful of his brothers at first, but soon<br/>they became a great nation, mighty and many.


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We cried out to God, the God-of-Our-Fathers:<br/>He listened to our voice, he saw<br/>our destitution, our trouble, our cruel plight.


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And God took us out of Egypt<br/>with his strong hand and long arm, terrible and great,<br/>with signs and miracle-wonders.


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So here I am. I've brought the firstfruits<br/>of what I've grown on this ground you gave me, O God.<br/>Then place it in the Presence of God, your God. Prostrate yourselves in the Presence of God, your God.


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And rejoice! Celebrate all the good things that God, your God, has given you and your family; you and the Levite and the foreigner who lives with you.


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Every third year, the year of the tithe, give a tenth of your produce to the Levite, the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow so that they may eat their fill in your cities.


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And then, in the Presence of God, your God, say this:<br/>I have brought the sacred share,<br/>I've given it to the Levite, foreigner, orphan, and widow.<br/>What you commanded, I've done.<br/>I haven't detoured around your commands,<br/>I haven't forgotten a single one.


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I haven't eaten from the sacred share while mourning,<br/>I haven't removed any of it while ritually unclean,<br/>I haven't used it in funeral feasts.<br/>I have listened obediently to the Voice of God, my God,<br/>I have lived the way you commanded me.


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Look down from your holy house in Heaven!<br/>Bless your people Israel and the ground you gave us,<br/>just as you promised our ancestors you would,<br/>this land flowing with milk and honey.


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This very day God, your God, commands you to follow these rules and regulations, to live them out with everything you have in you.


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You've renewed your vows today that God is your God, that you'll live the way he shows you; do what he tells you in the rules, regulations, and commandments; and listen obediently to him.


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And today God has reaffirmed that you are dearly held treasure just as he promised, a people entrusted with keeping his commandments,


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a people set high above all other nations that he's made, high in praise, fame, and honor: you're a people holy to God, your God. That's what he has promised.


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Moses commanded the leaders of Israel and charged the people: Keep every commandment that I command you today.


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On the day you cross the Jordan into the land that God, your God, is giving you, erect large stones and coat them with plaster.


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As soon as you cross over the river, write on the stones all the words of this Revelation so that you'll enter the land that God, your God, is giving you, that land flowing with milk and honey that God, the God-of-Your-Fathers, promised you.


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Build an Altar of stones for God, your God, there on the mountain. Don't use an iron tool on the stones;


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build the Altar to God, your God, with uncut stones and offer your Whole-Burnt-Offerings on it to God, your God.


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When you sacrifice your Peace-Offerings you will also eat them there, rejoicing in the Presence of God, your God.


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Moses and the Levitical priests addressed all Israel: Quiet. Listen obediently, Israel. This very day you have become the people of God, your God.


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Listen to the Voice of God, your God. Keep his commandments and regulations that I'm commanding you today.


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After you've crossed the Jordan, these tribes will stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin.


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God's curse on anyone who carves or casts a god-image—an abomination to God made by a craftsman—and sets it up in secret.<br/>All respond: Yes. Absolutely.


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God's curse on anyone who interferes with justice due the foreigner, orphan, or widow.<br/>All respond: Yes. Absolutely.


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God's curse on anyone who has sex with his father's wife; he has violated the woman who belongs to his father.<br/>All respond: Yes. Absolutely.


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God's curse on anyone who has sex with his sister, the daughter of his father or mother.<br/>All respond: Yes. Absolutely.


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God's curse on anyone who takes a bribe to kill an innocent person.<br/>All respond: Yes. Absolutely.


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God's curse on whoever does not give substance to the words of this Revelation by living them.<br/>All respond: Yes. Absolutely.


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If you listen obediently to the Voice of God, your God, and heartily obey all his commandments that I command you today, God, your God, will place you on high, high above all the nations of the world.


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All these blessings will come down on you and spread out beyond you because you have responded to the Voice of God, your God:


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God's blessing on your children,<br/>the crops of your land,<br/>the young of your livestock,<br/>the calves of your herds,<br/>the lambs of your flocks.


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God will defeat your enemies who attack you. They'll come at you on one road and run away on seven roads.


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God will order a blessing on your barns and workplaces; he'll bless you in the land that God, your God, is giving you.


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God will form you as a people holy to him, just as he promised you, if you keep the commandments of God, your God, and live the way he has shown you.


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God will lavish you with good things: children from your womb, offspring from your animals, and crops from your land, the land that God promised your ancestors that he would give you.


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God will throw open the doors of his sky vaults and pour rain on your land on schedule and bless the work you take in hand. You will lend to many nations but you yourself won't have to take out a loan.


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God will make you the head, not the tail; you'll always be the top dog, never the bottom dog, as you obediently listen to and diligently keep the commands of God, your God, that I am commanding you today.


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Don't swerve an inch to the right or left from the words that I command you today by going off following and worshiping other gods.


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Here's what will happen if you don't obediently listen to the Voice of God, your God, and diligently keep all the commandments and guidelines that I'm commanding you today. All these curses will come down hard on you:


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God's curse on your children,<br/>the crops of your land,<br/>the young of your livestock,<br/>the calves of your herds,<br/>the lambs of your flocks.


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God will send The Curse, The Confusion, The Contrariness down on everything you try to do until you've been destroyed and there's nothing left of you—all because of your evil pursuits that led you to abandon me.


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God will infect you with The Disease, wiping you right off the land that you're going in to possess.


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God will set consumption and fever and rash and seizures and dehydration and blight and jaundice on you. They'll hunt you down until they kill you.


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God will defeat you by enemy attack. You'll come at your enemies on one road and run away on seven roads. All the kingdoms of Earth will see you as a horror.


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You'll grope around in the middle of the day like a blind person feeling his way through a lifetime of darkness; you'll never get to where you're going. Not a day will go by that you're not abused and robbed. And no one is going to help you.


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You'll get engaged to a woman and another man will take her for his mistress; you'll build a house and never live in it; you'll plant a garden and never eat so much as a carrot;


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you'll watch your ox get butchered and not get a single steak from it; your donkey will be stolen from in front of you and you'll never see it again; your sheep will be sent off to your enemies and no one will lift a hand to help you.


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Your sons and daughters will be shipped off to foreigners; you'll wear your eyes out looking vainly for them, helpless to do a thing.


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Your crops and everything you work for will be eaten and used by foreigners; you'll spend the rest of your lives abused and knocked around.


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God will hit you with painful boils on your knees and legs and no healing or relief from head to foot.


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God will lead you and the king you set over you to a country neither you nor your ancestors have heard of; there you'll worship other gods, no-gods of wood and stone.


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You'll plant sacks and sacks of seed in the field but get almost nothing—the grasshoppers will devour it.


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You'll plant and hoe and prune vineyards but won't drink or put up any wine—the worms will devour them.


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You'll have groves of olive trees everywhere, but you'll have no oil to rub on your face or hands—the olives will have fallen off.


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The foreigner who lives among you will climb the ladder, higher and higher, while you go deeper and deeper into the hole.


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All these curses are going to come on you. They're going to hunt you down and get you until there's nothing left of you because you didn't obediently listen to the Voice of God, your God, and diligently keep his commandments and guidelines that I commanded you.


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Because you didn't serve God, your God, out of the joy and goodness of your heart in the great abundance,


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you'll have to serve your enemies whom God will send against you. Life will be famine and drought, rags and wretchedness; then he'll put an iron yoke on your neck until he's destroyed you.


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Yes, God will raise up a faraway nation against you, swooping down on you like an eagle, a nation whose language you can't understand,


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They'll ravage the young of your animals and the crops from your fields until you're destroyed. They'll leave nothing behind: no grain, no wine, no oil, no calves, no lambs—and finally, no you.


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They'll lay siege to you while you're huddled behind your town gates. They'll knock those high, proud walls flat, those walls behind which you felt so safe. They'll lay siege to your fortified cities all over the country, this country that God, your God, has given you.


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And you'll end up cannibalizing your own sons and daughters that God, your God, has given you. When the suffering from the siege gets extreme, you're going to eat your own babies.


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The most gentle and caring man among you will turn hard, his eye evil, against his own brother, his cherished wife, and even the rest of his children who are still alive,


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refusing to share with them a scrap of meat from the cannibal child-stew he is eating. He's lost everything, even his humanity, in the suffering of the siege that your enemy mounts against your fortified towns.


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And the most gentle and caring woman among you, a woman who wouldn't step on a wildflower, will turn hard, her eye evil, against her cherished husband, against her son, against her daughter,


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against even the afterbirth of her newborn infants; she plans to eat them in secret—she does eat them!—because she has lost everything, even her humanity, in the suffering of the siege that your enemy mounts against your fortified towns.


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If you don't diligently keep all the words of this Revelation written in this book, living in holy awe before This Name glorious and terrible, God, your God,


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then God will pound you with catastrophes, you and your children, huge interminable catastrophes, hideous interminable illnesses.


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And yes, every disease and catastrophe imaginable—things not even written in the Book of this Revelation—God will bring on you until you're destroyed.


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Because you didn't listen obediently to the Voice of God, your God, you'll be left with a few pitiful stragglers in place of the dazzling stars-in-the-heavens multitude you had become.


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And this is how things will end up: Just as God once enjoyed you, took pleasure in making life good for you, giving you many children, so God will enjoy getting rid of you, clearing you off the Earth. He'll weed you out of the very soil that you are entering in to possess.


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He'll scatter you to the four winds, from one end of the Earth to the other. You'll worship all kinds of other gods, gods neither you nor your parents ever heard of, wood and stone no-gods.


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But you won't find a home there, you'll not be able to settle down. God will give you a restless heart, longing eyes, a homesick soul.


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You will live in constant jeopardy, terrified of every shadow, never knowing what you'll meet around the next corner.


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In the morning you'll say, "I wish it were evening." In the evening you'll say, "I wish it were morning." Afraid, terrorized at what's coming next, afraid of the unknown, because of the sights you've witnessed.


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God will ship you back to Egypt by a road I promised you'd never see again. There you'll offer yourselves for sale, both men and women, as slaves to your enemies. And not a buyer to be found.


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These are the terms of the Covenant that God commanded Moses to make with the People of Israel in the land of Moab, renewing the Covenant he made with them at Horeb.


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Moses called all Israel together and said, You've seen with your own eyes everything that God did in Egypt to Pharaoh and his servants, and to the land itself—


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But God didn't give you an understanding heart or perceptive eyes or attentive ears until right now, this very day.


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I took you through the wilderness for forty years and through all that time the clothes on your backs didn't wear out, the sandals on your feet didn't wear out,


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When you arrived here in this place, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan met us primed for war but we beat them.


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We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.


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Diligently keep the words of this Covenant. Do what they say so that you will live well and wisely in every detail.


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You are all standing here today in the Presence of God, your God—the heads of your tribes, your leaders, your officials, all Israel:


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the Covenant that this day confirms that you are his people and he is God, your God, just as he promised you and your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.


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I am making it with you who are standing here today in the Presence of God, our God, yes, but also with those who are not here today.


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You know the conditions in which we lived in Egypt and how we crisscrossed through nations in our travels.


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Don't let down your guard lest even now, today, someone—man or woman, clan or tribe—gets sidetracked from God, our God, and gets involved with the no-gods of the nations; lest some poisonous weed sprout and spread among you,


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a person who hears the words of the Covenant-oath but exempts himself, thinking, "I'll live just the way I please, thank you," and ends up ruining life for everybody.


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God won't let him off the hook. God's anger and jealousy will erupt like a volcano against that person. The curses written in this book will bury him. God will delete his name from the records.


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God will separate him out from all the tribes of Israel for special punishment, according to all the curses of the Covenant written in this Book of Revelation.


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The next generation, your children who come after you and the foreigner who comes from a far country, will be appalled when they see the widespread devastation, how God made the whole land sick.


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They'll see a fire-blackened wasteland of brimstone and salt flats, nothing planted, nothing growing, not so much as a blade of grass anywhere—like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which God overthrew in fiery rage.


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All the nations will ask, "Why did God do this to this country? What on earth could have made him this angry?"


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Your children will answer, "Because they abandoned the Covenant of the God of their ancestors that he made with them after he got them out of Egypt;


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they went off and worshiped other gods, submitted to gods they'd never heard of before, gods they had no business dealing with.


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God, furiously angry, pulled them, roots and all, out of their land and dumped them in another country, as you can see."


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God, our God, will take care of the hidden things but the revealed things are our business. It's up to us and our children to attend to all the terms in this Revelation.


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Here's what will happen. While you're out among the nations where God has dispersed you and the blessings and curses come in just the way I have set them before you, and you and your children take them seriously


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and come back to God, your God, and obey him with your whole heart and soul according to everything that I command you today,


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God, your God, will restore everything you lost; he'll have compassion on you; he'll come back and pick up the pieces from all the places where you were scattered.


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and bring you back to the land your ancestors once possessed. It will be yours again. He will give you a good life and make you more numerous than your ancestors.


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God, your God, will cut away the thick calluses on your heart and your children's hearts, freeing you to love God, your God, with your whole heart and soul and live, really live.


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And you will make a new start, listening obediently to God, keeping all his commandments that I'm commanding you today.


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God, your God, will outdo himself in making things go well for you: you'll have babies, get calves, grow crops, and enjoy an all-around good life. Yes, God will start enjoying you again, making things go well for you just as he enjoyed doing it for your ancestors.


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But only if you listen obediently to God, your God, and keep the commandments and regulations written in this Book of Revelation. Nothing halfhearted here; you must return to God, your God, totally, heart and soul, holding nothing back.


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It's not on a high mountain—you don't have to get mountaineers to climb the peak and bring it down to your level and explain it before you can live it.


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And it's not across the ocean—you don't have to send sailors out to get it, bring it back, and then explain it before you can live it.


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No. The word is right here and now—as near as the tongue in your mouth, as near as the heart in your chest. Just do it!


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Look at what I've done for you today: I've placed in front of you<br/>Life and Good<br/>Death and Evil.


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And I command you today: Love God, your God. Walk in his ways. Keep his commandments, regulations, and rules so that you will live, really live, live exuberantly, blessed by God, your God, in the land you are about to enter and possess.


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But I warn you: If you have a change of heart, refuse to listen obediently, and willfully go off to serve and worship other gods,


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you will most certainly die. You won't last long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.


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I call Heaven and Earth to witness against you today: I place before you Life and Death, Blessing and Curse. Choose life so that you and your children will live.


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And love God, your God, listening obediently to him, firmly embracing him. Oh yes, he is life itself, a long life settled on the soil that God, your God, promised to give your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.


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He said, "I'm 120 years old today. I can't get about as I used to. And God told me, 'You're not going to cross this Jordan River.'


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"God, your God, will cross the river ahead of you and destroy the nations in your path so that you may dispossess them. (And Joshua will cross the river before you, as God said he would.)


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God will give the nations the same treatment he gave the kings of the Amorites, Sihon and Og, and their land; he'll destroy them.


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"Be strong. Take courage. Don't be intimidated. Don't give them a second thought because God, your God, is striding ahead of you. He's right there with you. He won't let you down; he won't leave you."


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Then Moses summoned Joshua. He said to him with all Israel watching, "Be strong. Take courage. You will enter the land with this people, this land that God promised their ancestors that he'd give them. You will make them the proud possessors of it.


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God is striding ahead of you. He's right there with you. He won't let you down; he won't leave you. Don't be intimidated. Don't worry."


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Moses wrote out this Revelation and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the Chest of the Covenant of God, and to all the leaders of Israel.


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And he gave these orders: "At the end of every seven years, the Year-All-Debts-Are-Canceled, during the pilgrim Festival of Booths


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when everyone in Israel comes to appear in the Presence of God, your God, at the place he designates, read out this Revelation to all Israel, with everyone listening.


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Gather the people together—men, women, children, and the foreigners living among you—so they can listen well, so they may learn to live in holy awe before God, your God, and diligently keep everything in this Revelation.


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And do this so that their children, who don't yet know all this, will also listen and learn to live in holy awe before God, your God, for as long as you live on the land that you are crossing over the Jordan to possess."


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God spoke to Moses: "You are about to die. So call Joshua. Meet me in the Tent of Meeting so that I can commission him."<br/>So Moses and Joshua went and stationed themselves in the Tent of Meeting.


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God appeared in the Tent in a Pillar of Cloud. The Cloud was near the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.


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God spoke to Moses: "You're about to die and be buried with your ancestors. You'll no sooner be in the grave than this people will be up and whoring after the foreign gods of this country that they are entering. They will abandon me and violate my Covenant that I've made with them.


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I'll get angry, oh so angry! I'll walk off and leave them on their own, won't so much as look back at them. Then many calamities and disasters will devastate them because they are defenseless. They'll say, 'Isn't it because our God wasn't here that all this evil has come upon us?'


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But I'll stay out of their lives, keep looking the other way because of all their evil: they took up with other gods!


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"But for right now, copy down this song and teach the People of Israel to sing it by heart. They'll have it then as my witness against them.


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When I bring them into the land that I promised to their ancestors, a land flowing with milk and honey, and they eat and become full and get fat and then begin fooling around with other gods and worshiping them,


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and then things start falling apart, many terrible things happening, this song will be there with them as a witness to who they are and what went wrong. Their children won't forget this song; they'll be singing it. Don't think I don't know what they are already scheming to do, and they're not even in the land yet, this land I promised them."


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Then God commanded Joshua son of Nun saying, "Be strong. Take courage. You will lead the People of Israel into the land I promised to give them. And I'll be right there with you."


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After Moses had finished writing down the words of this Revelation in a book, right down to the last word,


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"Take this Book of Revelation and place it alongside the Chest of the Covenant of God, your God. Keep it there as a witness.


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"I know what rebels you are, how stubborn and willful you can be. Even today, while I'm still alive and present with you, you're rebellious against God. How much worse when I've died!


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So gather the leaders of the tribes and the officials here. I have something I need to say directly to them with Heaven and Earth as witnesses.


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I know that after I die you're going to make a mess of things, abandoning the way I commanded, inviting all kinds of evil consequences in the days ahead. You're determined to do evil in defiance of God—I know you are—deliberately provoking his anger by what you do."


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So with everyone in Israel gathered and listening, Moses taught them the words of this song, from start to finish.


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Listen, Heavens, I have something to tell you.<br/>Attention, Earth, I've got a mouth full of words.


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My teaching, let it fall like a gentle rain,<br/>my words arrive like morning dew,<br/>Like a sprinkling rain on new grass,<br/>like spring showers on the garden.


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The Rock: His works are perfect,<br/>and the way he works is fair and just;<br/>A God you can depend upon, no exceptions,<br/>a straight-arrow God.


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Don't you realize it is God you are treating like this?<br/>This is crazy; don't you have any sense of reverence?<br/>Isn't this your father who created you,<br/>who made you and gave you a place on Earth?


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Read up on what happened before you were born;<br/>dig into the past, understand your roots.<br/>Ask your parents what it was like before you were born;<br/>ask the old-ones, they'll tell you a thing or two.


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When the High God gave the nations their stake,<br/>gave them their place on Earth,<br/>He put each of the peoples within boundaries<br/>under the care of divine guardians.


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He found him out in the wilderness,<br/>in an empty, windswept wasteland.<br/>He threw his arms around him, lavished attention on him,<br/>guarding him as the apple of his eye.


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He was like an eagle hovering over its nest,<br/>overshadowing its young,<br/>Then spreading its wings, lifting them into the air,<br/>teaching them to fly.


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God lifted him on to the hilltops,<br/>so he could feast on the crops in the fields.<br/>He fed him honey from the rock,<br/>oil from granite crags,


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Curds of cattle and the milk of sheep,<br/>the choice cuts of lambs and goats,<br/>Fine Bashan rams, high-quality wheat,<br/>and the blood of grapes: you drank good wine!


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Jeshurun put on weight and bucked;<br/>you got fat, became obese, a tub of lard.<br/>He abandoned the God who made him,<br/>he mocked the Rock of his salvation.


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They made him jealous with their foreign newfangled gods,<br/>and with obscenities they vexed him no end.


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They sacrificed to no-god demons,<br/>gods they knew nothing about,<br/>The latest in gods, fresh from the market,<br/>gods your ancestors would never call "gods."


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You walked out on the Rock who gave you your life,<br/>forgot the birth-God who brought you into the world.


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He said, "From now on I'm looking the other way.<br/>Wait and see what happens to them.<br/>Oh, they're a turned-around, upside-down generation!<br/>Who knows what they'll do from one moment to the next?


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They've goaded me with their no-gods,<br/>infuriated me with their hot-air gods;<br/>I'm going to goad them with a no-people,<br/>with a hollow nation incense them.


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My anger started a fire,<br/>a wildfire burning deep down in Sheol,<br/>Then shooting up and devouring the Earth and its crops,<br/>setting all the mountains, from bottom to top, on fire.


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Starvation, blistering heat, killing disease;<br/>I'll send snarling wild animals to attack from the forest<br/>and venomous creatures to strike from the dust.


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Killing in the streets,<br/>terror in the houses,<br/>Young men and virgins alike struck down,<br/>and yes, breast-feeding babies and gray-haired old men."


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Except that I feared the enemy would grab the chance<br/>to take credit for all of it,<br/>Crowing, "Look what we did!<br/>God had nothing to do with this."


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How could one soldier chase a thousand enemies off,<br/>or two men run off two thousand,<br/>Unless their Rock had sold them,<br/>unless God had given them away?


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They're a vine that comes right out of Sodom,<br/>who they are is rooted in Gomorrah;<br/>Their grapes are poison grapes,<br/>their grape-clusters bitter.


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I'm in charge of vengeance and payback,<br/>just waiting for them to slip up;<br/>And the day of their doom is just around the corner,<br/>sudden and swift and sure.


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Yes, God will judge his people,<br/>but oh how compassionately he'll do it.<br/>When he sees their weakened plight<br/>and there is no one left, slave or free,


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The gods who feasted on the fat of their sacrifices<br/>and drank the wine of their drink-offerings?<br/>Let them show their stuff and help you,<br/>let them give you a hand!


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"Do you see it now? Do you see that I'm the one?<br/>Do you see that there's no other god beside me?<br/>I bring death and I give life, I wound and I heal—<br/>there is no getting away from or around me!


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When I sharpen my lightning sword<br/>and execute judgment,<br/>I take vengeance on my enemies<br/>and pay back those who hate me.


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I'll make my arrows drunk with blood,<br/>my sword will gorge itself on flesh,<br/>Feasting on slain and captive alike,<br/>the proud and vain enemy corpses.' "


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Celebrate, nations, join the praise of his people.<br/>He avenges the deaths of his servants,<br/>Pays back his enemies with vengeance,<br/>and cleanses his land for his people.


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Moses came and recited all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he and Joshua son of Nun.


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he said, "Take to heart all these words to which I give witness today and urgently command your children to put them into practice, every single word of this Revelation.


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Yes. This is no small matter for you; it's your life. In keeping this word you'll have a good and long life in this land that you're crossing the Jordan to possess."


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"Climb the Abarim Mountains to Mount Nebo in the land of Moab, overlooking Jericho, and view the land of Canaan that I'm giving the People of Israel to have and hold.


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Die on the mountain that you climb and join your people in the ground, just as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and joined his people.


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"This is because you broke faith with me in the company of the People of Israel at the Waters of Meribah Kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin—you didn't honor my Holy Presence in the company of the People of Israel.


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You'll look at the land spread out before you but you won't enter it, this land that I am giving to the People of Israel."


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He said,<br/>God came down from Sinai,<br/>he dawned from Seir upon them;<br/>He radiated light from Mount Paran,<br/>coming with ten thousand holy angels<br/>And tongues of fire<br/>streaming from his right hand.


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Oh, how you love the people,<br/>all his holy ones are palmed in your left hand.<br/>They sit at your feet,<br/>honoring your teaching,


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Judah:<br/>"Listen, God, to the Voice of Judah,<br/>bring him to his people;<br/>Strengthen his grip,<br/>be his helper against his foes."


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Levi:<br/>"Let your Thummim and Urim<br/>belong to your loyal saint;<br/>The one you tested at Massah,<br/>whom you fought with at the Waters of Meribah,


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Who said of his father and mother,<br/>'I no longer recognize them.'<br/>He turned his back on his brothers<br/>and neglected his children,<br/>Because he was guarding your sayings<br/>and watching over your Covenant.


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Let him teach your rules to Jacob<br/>and your Revelation to Israel,<br/>Let him keep the incense rising to your nostrils<br/>and the Whole-Burnt-Offerings on your Altar.


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God bless his commitment,<br/>stamp your seal of approval on what he does;<br/>Disable the loins of those who defy him,<br/>make sure we've heard the last from those who hate him."


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Benjamin:<br/>"God's beloved;<br/>God's permanent residence.<br/>Encircled by God all day long,<br/>within whom God is at home."


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Joseph:<br/>"Blessed by God be his land:<br/>The best fresh dew from high heaven,<br/>and fountains springing from the depths;


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The best of Earth's exuberant gifts,<br/>the smile of the Burning-Bush Dweller.<br/>All this on the head of Joseph,<br/>on the brow of the consecrated one among his brothers.


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In splendor he's like a firstborn bull,<br/>his horns the horns of a wild ox;<br/>He'll gore the nations with those horns,<br/>push them all to the ends of the Earth.<br/>Ephraim by the ten thousands will do this,<br/>Manasseh by the thousands will do this."


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They'll invite people to the Mountain<br/>and offer sacrifices of right worship,<br/>For they will have hauled riches in from the sea<br/>and gleaned treasures from the beaches."


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Gad:<br/>"Blessed is he who makes Gad large.<br/>Gad roams like a lion,<br/>tears off an arm, rips open a skull.


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He took one look and grabbed the best place for himself,<br/>the portion just made for someone in charge.<br/>He took his place at the head,<br/>carried out God's right ways<br/>and his rules for life in Israel."


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Naphtali:<br/>"Naphtali brims with blessings,<br/>spills over with God's blessings<br/>As he takes possession<br/>of the sea and southland."


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Asher:<br/>"Asher, best blessed of the sons!<br/>May he be the favorite of his brothers,<br/>his feet massaged in oil.


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There is none like God, Jeshurun,<br/>riding to your rescue through the skies,<br/>his dignity haloed by clouds.


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The ancient God is home<br/>on a foundation of everlasting arms.<br/>He drove out the enemy before you<br/>and commanded, "Destroy!"


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Israel lived securely,<br/>the fountain of Jacob undisturbed<br/>In grain and wine country<br/>and, oh yes, his heavens drip dew.


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Lucky Israel! Who has it as good as you?<br/>A people saved by God!<br/>The Shield who defends you,<br/>the Sword who brings triumph.<br/>Your enemies will come crawling on their bellies<br/>and you'll march on their backs.


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Moses climbed from the Plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, the peak of Pisgah facing Jericho. God showed him all the land from Gilead to Dan,


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Then and there God said to him, "This is the land I promised to your ancestors, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob with the words 'I will give it to your descendants.' I've let you see it with your own eyes. There it is. But you're not going to go in." <br/>


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God buried him in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth Peor. No one knows his burial site to this very day.


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Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eyesight was sharp; he still walked with a spring in his step.


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The People of Israel wept for Moses in the Plains of Moab thirty days. Then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses came to an end.


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Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him. The People of Israel listened obediently to him and did the same as when God had commanded Moses.


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Never since has there been anything like the signs and miracle-wonders that God sent him to do in Egypt, to Pharaoh, to all his servants, and to all his land


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—nothing to compare with that all-powerful hand of his and all the great and terrible things Moses did as every eye in Israel watched.


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"Moses my servant is dead. Get going. Cross this Jordan River, you and all the people. Cross to the country I'm giving to the People of Israel.


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From the wilderness and this Lebanon east to the Great River, the Euphrates River—all the Hittite country—and then west to the Great Sea. It's all yours.


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All your life, no one will be able to hold out against you. In the same way I was with Moses, I'll be with you. I won't give up on you; I won't leave you.


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Strength! Courage! You are going to lead this people to inherit the land that I promised to give their ancestors.


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Give it everything you have, heart and soul. Make sure you carry out The Revelation that Moses commanded you, every bit of it. Don't get off track, either left or right, so as to make sure you get to where you're going.


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And don't for a minute let this Book of The Revelation be out of mind. Ponder and meditate on it day and night, making sure you practice everything written in it. Then you'll get where you're going; then you'll succeed.


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Haven't I commanded you? Strength! Courage! Don't be timid; don't get discouraged. God, your God, is with you every step you take."


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"Go through the camp and give this order to the people: 'Pack your bags. In three days you will cross this Jordan River to enter and take the land God, your God, is giving you to possess.' "


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"Remember what Moses the servant of God commanded you: God, your God, gives you rest and he gives you this land.


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Your wives, your children, and your livestock can stay here east of the Jordan, the country Moses gave you; but you, tough soldiers all, must cross the River in battle formation, leading your brothers, helping them


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until God, your God, gives your brothers a place of rest just as he has done for you. They also will take possession of the land that God, your God, is giving them. Then you will be free to return to your possession, given to you by Moses the servant of God, across the Jordan to the east."


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We obeyed Moses to the letter; we'll also obey you—we just pray that God, your God, will be with you as he was with Moses.


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Anyone who questions what you say and refuses to obey whatever you command him will be put to death. Strength! Courage!"^


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Joshua son of Nun secretly sent out from Shittim two men as spies: "Go. Look over the land. Check out Jericho." They left and arrived at the house of a harlot named Rahab and stayed there.


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The king of Jericho was told, "We've just learned that men arrived tonight to spy out the land. They're from the People of Israel."


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The king of Jericho sent word to Rahab: "Bring out the men who came to you to stay the night in your house. They're spies; they've come to spy out the whole country."


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The woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, "Yes, two men did come to me, but I didn't know where they'd come from.


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At dark, when the gate was about to be shut, the men left. But I have no idea where they went. Hurry up! Chase them—you can still catch them!"


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(She had actually taken them up on the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax that were spread out for her on the roof.)


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So the men set chase down the Jordan road toward the fords. As soon as they were gone, the gate was shut.


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and said, "I know that God has given you the land. We're all afraid. Everyone in the country feels hopeless.


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We heard how God dried up the waters of the Red Sea before you when you left Egypt, and what he did to the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you put under a holy curse and destroyed.


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We heard it and our hearts sank. We all had the wind knocked out of us. And all because of you, you and God, your God, God of the heavens above and God of the earth below.


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"Now promise me by God. I showed you mercy; now show my family mercy. And give me some tangible proof, a guarantee


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of life for my father and mother, my brothers and sisters—everyone connected with my family. Save our souls from death!"


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"Our lives for yours!" said the men. "But don't tell anyone our business. When God turns this land over to us, we'll do right by you in loyal mercy."


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She lowered them down out a window with a rope because her house was on the city wall to the outside.


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She told them, "Run for the hills so your pursuers won't find you. Hide out for three days and give your pursuers time to return. Then get on your way."


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here is what you must do: Hang this red rope out the window through which you let us down and gather your entire family with you in your house—father, mother, brothers, and sisters.


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Anyone who goes out the doors of your house into the street and is killed, it's his own fault—we aren't responsible. But for everyone within the house we take full responsibility. If anyone lays a hand on one of them, it's our fault.


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But if you tell anyone of our business here, the oath you made us swear is canceled—we're no longer responsible."


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She said, "If that's what you say, that's the way it is," and sent them off. They left and she hung the red rope out the window.


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They headed for the hills and stayed there for three days until the pursuers had returned. The pursuers had looked high and low but found nothing.


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The men headed back. They came down out of the hills, crossed the river, and returned to Joshua son of Nun and reported all their experiences.


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They told Joshua, "Yes! God has given the whole country to us. Everybody there is in a state of panic because of us."


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Joshua was up early and on his way from Shittim with all the People of Israel with him. He arrived at the Jordan and camped before crossing over.


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and gave out orders to the people: "When you see the Covenant-Chest of God, your God, carried by the Levitical priests, start moving. Follow it.


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Make sure you keep a proper distance between you and it, about half a mile—be sure now to keep your distance!—and you'll see clearly the route to take. You've never been on this road before."


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Then Joshua addressed the people: "Sanctify yourselves. Tomorrow God will work miracle-wonders among you."


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Joshua instructed the priests, "Take up the Chest of the Covenant and step out before the people." So they took it up and processed before the people.


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God said to Joshua, "This very day I will begin to make you great in the eyes of all Israel. They'll see for themselves that I'm with you in the same way that I was with Moses.


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You will command the priests who are carrying the Chest of the Covenant: 'When you come to the edge of the Jordan's waters, stand there on the river bank.' "


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This is how you'll know that God is alive among you—he will completely dispossess before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites.


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Look at what's before you: the Chest of the Covenant. Think of it—the Master of the entire earth is crossing the Jordan as you watch.


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When the soles of the feet of the priests carrying the Chest of God, Master of all the earth, touch the Jordan's water, the flow of water will be stopped—the water coming from upstream will pile up in a heap."


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And that's what happened. The people left their tents to cross the Jordan, led by the priests carrying the Chest of the Covenant.


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When the priests got to the Jordan and their feet touched the water at the edge (the Jordan overflows its banks throughout the harvest),


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the flow of water stopped. It piled up in a heap—a long way off—at Adam, which is near Zarethan. The river went dry all the way down to the Arabah Sea (the Salt Sea). And the people crossed, facing Jericho.


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And there they stood; those priests carrying the Chest of the Covenant stood firmly planted on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan while all Israel crossed on dry ground. Finally the whole nation was across the Jordan, and not one wet foot.


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and tell them, 'From right here, the middle of the Jordan where the feet of the priests are standing firm, take twelve stones. Carry them across with you and set them down in the place where you camp tonight.' "


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Joshua called out the twelve men whom he selected from the People of Israel, one man from each tribe.


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Joshua directed them, "Cross to the middle of the Jordan and take your place in front of the Chest of God, your God. Each of you heft a stone to your shoulder, a stone for each of the tribes of the People of Israel,


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so you'll have something later to mark the occasion. When your children ask you, 'What are these stones to you?'


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you'll say, 'The flow of the Jordan was stopped in front of the Chest of the Covenant of God as it crossed the Jordan—stopped in its tracks. These stones are a permanent memorial for the People of Israel.' "


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The People of Israel did exactly as Joshua commanded: They took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan—a stone for each of the twelve tribes, just as God had instructed Joshua—carried them across with them to the camp, and set them down there.


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Joshua set up the twelve stones taken from the middle of the Jordan that had marked the place where the priests who carried the Chest of the Covenant had stood. They are still there today.


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The priests carrying the Chest continued standing in the middle of the Jordan until everything God had instructed Joshua to tell the people to do was done (confirming what Moses had instructed Joshua). The people crossed; no one dawdled.


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When the crossing of all the people was complete, they watched as the Chest of the Covenant and the priests crossed over.


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The Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh had crossed over in battle formation in front of the People of Israel, obedient to Moses' instructions.


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All told, about 40,000 armed soldiers crossed over before God to the plains of Jericho, ready for battle.


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God made Joshua great that day in the sight of all Israel. They were in awe of him just as they had been in awe of Moses all his life.


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They did it. The priests carrying God's Chest of the Covenant came up from the middle of the Jordan. As soon as the soles of the priests' feet touched dry land, the Jordan's waters resumed their flow within the banks, just as before.


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The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month. They set up camp at The Gilgal (The Circle) to the east of Jericho.


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Joshua erected a monument at The Gilgal, using the twelve stones that they had taken from the Jordan.


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And then he told the People of Israel, "In the days to come, when your children ask their fathers, 'What are these stones doing here?'


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"Yes, God, your God, dried up the Jordan's waters for you until you had crossed, just as God, your God, did at the Red Sea, which had dried up before us until we had crossed.


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This was so that everybody on earth would recognize how strong God's rescuing hand is and so that you would hold God in solemn reverence always."


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When all the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and the Canaanite kings along the seacoast heard how God had stopped the Jordan River before the People of Israel until they had crossed over, their hearts sank; the courage drained out of them just thinking about the People of Israel.


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At that time God said to Joshua, "Make stone knives and circumcise the People of Israel a second time."


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This is why Joshua conducted the circumcision. All the males who had left Egypt, the soldiers, had died in the wilderness on the journey out of Egypt.


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All the people who had come out of Egypt, of course, had been circumcised, but all those born in the wilderness along the way since leaving Egypt had not been.


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The fact is that the People of Israel had walked through that wilderness for forty years until the entire nation died out, all the men of military age who had come out of Egypt but had disobeyed the call of God. God vowed that these would never lay eyes on the land God had solemnly promised their ancestors to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey.


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But their children had replaced them. These are the ones Joshua circumcised. They had never been circumcised; no one had circumcised them along the way.


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When they had completed the circumcising of the whole nation, they stayed where they were in camp until they were healed.


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God said to Joshua, "Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt." That's why the place is called The Gilgal. It's still called that.


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The People of Israel continued to camp at The Gilgal. They celebrated the Passover on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month on the plains of Jericho.


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Right away, the day after the Passover, they started eating the produce of that country, unraised bread and roasted grain.


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And then no more manna; the manna stopped. As soon as they started eating food grown in the land, there was no more manna for the People of Israel. That year they ate from the crops of Canaan.


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And then this, while Joshua was there near Jericho: He looked up and saw right in front of him a man standing, holding his drawn sword. Joshua stepped up to him and said, "Whose side are you on—ours or our enemies'?"


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He said, "Neither. I'm commander of God's army. I've just arrived." Joshua fell, face to the ground, and worshiped. He asked, "What orders does my Master have for his servant?"


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God's army commander ordered Joshua, "Take your sandals off your feet. The place you are standing is holy."<br/>Joshua did it.


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Jericho was shut up tight as a drum because of the People of Israel: no one going in, no one coming out.


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God spoke to Joshua, "Look sharp now. I've already given Jericho to you, along with its king and its crack troops.


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Here's what you are to do: March around the city, all your soldiers. Circle the city once. Repeat this for six days.


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Have seven priests carry seven ram's horn trumpets in front of the Chest. On the seventh day march around the city seven times, the priests blowing away on the trumpets.


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And then, a long blast on the ram's horn—when you hear that, all the people are to shout at the top of their lungs. The city wall will collapse at once. All the people are to enter, every man straight on in."


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So Joshua son of Nun called the priests and told them, "Take up the Chest of the Covenant. Seven priests are to carry seven ram's horn trumpets leading God's Chest."


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Then he told the people, "Set out! March around the city. Have the armed guard march before the Chest of God."


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And it happened. Joshua spoke, the people moved: Seven priests with their seven ram's horn trumpets set out before God. They blew the trumpets, leading God's Chest of the Covenant.


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The armed guard marched ahead of the trumpet-blowing priests; the rear guard was marching after the Chest, marching and blowing their trumpets.


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Joshua had given orders to the people, "Don't shout. In fact, don't even speak—not so much as a whisper until you hear me say, 'Shout!'—then shout away!"


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He sent the Chest of God on its way around the city. It circled once, came back to camp, and stayed for the night.


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The seven priests carrying the seven ram's horn trumpets marched before the Chest of God, marching and blowing the trumpets, with the armed guard marching before and the rear guard marching after. Marching and blowing of trumpets!


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When the seventh day came, they got up early and marched around the city this same way but seven times—yes, this day they circled the city seven times.


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On the seventh time around the priests blew the trumpets and Joshua signaled the people, "Shout!—God has given you the city!


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The city and everything in it is under a holy curse and offered up to God.<br/>"Except for Rahab the harlot—she is to live, she and everyone in her house with her, because she hid the agents we sent.


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"As for you, watch yourselves in the city under holy curse. Be careful that you don't covet anything in it and take something that's cursed, endangering the camp of Israel with the curse and making trouble for everyone.


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The priests blew the trumpets.<br/>When the people heard the blast of the trumpets, they gave a thunderclap shout. The wall fell at once. The people rushed straight into the city and took it.


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They put everything in the city under the holy curse, killing man and woman, young and old, ox and sheep and donkey.


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Joshua ordered the two men who had spied out the land, "Enter the house of the harlot and rescue the woman and everyone connected with her, just as you promised her."


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So the young spies went in and brought out Rahab, her father, mother, and brothers—everyone connected with her. They got the whole family out and gave them a place outside the camp of Israel.


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But they burned down the city and everything in it, except for the gold and silver and the bronze and iron vessels—all that they put in the treasury of God's house.


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But Joshua let Rahab the harlot live—Rahab and her father's household and everyone connected to her. She is still alive and well in Israel because she hid the agents whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.


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Joshua swore a solemn oath at that time:<br/>Cursed before God is the man<br/>who sets out to rebuild this city Jericho.<br/>He'll pay for the foundation with his firstborn son,<br/>he'll pay for the gates with his youngest son.


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Then the People of Israel violated the holy curse. Achan son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah of the tribe of Judah, took some of the cursed things. God became angry with the People of Israel.


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Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai (The Ruin), which is near Beth Aven just east of Bethel. He instructed them, "Go up and spy out the land." The men went up and spied out Ai.


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They returned to Joshua and reported, "Don't bother sending a lot of people—two or three thousand men are enough to defeat Ai. Don't wear out the whole army; there aren't that many people there."


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The men of Ai killed thirty-six—chased them from the city gate as far as The Quarries, killing them at the descent. The heart of the people sank, all spirit knocked out of them.


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Joshua ripped his clothes and fell on his face to the ground before the Chest of God, he and the leaders throwing dirt on their heads, prostrate until evening.


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Joshua said, "Oh, oh, oh... Master, God. Why did you insist on bringing this people across the Jordan? To make us victims of the Amorites? To wipe us out? Why didn't we just settle down on the east side of the Jordan?


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When the Canaanites and all the others living here get wind of this, they'll gang up on us and make short work of us—and then how will you keep up your reputation?"


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Israel has sinned: They've broken the covenant I commanded them; they've taken forbidden plunder—stolen and then covered up the theft, squirreling it away with their own stuff.


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The People of Israel can no longer look their enemies in the eye—they themselves are plunder. I can't continue with you if you don't rid yourselves of the cursed things.


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"So get started. Purify the people. Tell them: Get ready for tomorrow by purifying yourselves. For this is what God, the God of Israel, says: There are cursed things in the camp. You won't be able to face your enemies until you have gotten rid of these cursed things.


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"First thing in the morning you will be called up by tribes. The tribe God names will come up clan by clan; the clan God names will come up family by family; and the family God names will come up man by man.


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The person found with the cursed things will be burned, he and everything he has, because he broke God's covenant and did this despicable thing in Israel."


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Joshua was up at the crack of dawn and called Israel up tribe by tribe. The tribe of Judah was singled out.


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Then he called up the clans and singled out the Zerahites. He called up the Zerahite families and singled out the Zabdi family.


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He called up the family members one by one and singled out Achan son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah of the tribe of Judah.


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Joshua spoke to Achan, "My son, give glory to God, the God of Israel. Make your confession to him. Tell me what you did. Don't keep back anything from me."


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In the plunder I spotted a beautiful Shinar robe, two hundred shekels of silver, and a fifty-shekel bar of gold, and I coveted and took them. They are buried in my tent with the silver at the bottom."


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Joshua sent off messengers. They ran to the tent. And there it was, buried in the tent with the silver at the bottom.


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They took the stuff from the tent and brought it to Joshua and to all the People of Israel and spread it out before God.


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Joshua took Achan son of Zerah, took the silver, the robe, the gold bar, his sons and daughters, his ox, donkey, sheep, and tent—everything connected with him. All Israel was there. They led them off to the Valley of Achor (Trouble Valley).


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Joshua said, "Why have you troubled us? God will now trouble you. Today!" And all Israel stoned him—burned him with fire and stoned him with stones.


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They piled a huge pile of stones over him. It's still there. Only then did God turn from his hot anger. That's how the place came to be called Trouble Valley right up to the present time.


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God said to Joshua, "Don't be timid and don't so much as hesitate. Take all your soldiers with you and go back to Ai. I have turned the king of Ai over to you—his people, his city, and his land.


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"Do to Ai and its king what you did to Jericho and its king. Only this time you may plunder its stuff and cattle to your heart's content. Set an ambush behind the city."


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Joshua and all his soldiers got ready to march on Ai. Joshua chose thirty thousand men, tough, seasoned fighters, and sent them off at night


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with these orders: "Look sharp now. Lie in ambush behind the city. Get as close as you can. Stay alert.


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I and the troops with me will approach the city head-on. When they come out to meet us just as before, we'll turn and run.


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They'll come after us, leaving the city. As we are off and running, they'll say, 'They're running away just like the first time.'


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That's your signal to spring from your ambush and take the city. God, your God, will hand it to you on a platter.


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Once you have the city, burn it down. God says it, you do it. Go to it. I've given you your orders."


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Joshua sent them off. They set their ambush and waited between Bethel and Ai, just west of Ai. Joshua spent the night with the people.


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Joshua was up early in the morning and mustered his army. He and the leaders of Israel led the troops to Ai.


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The whole army, fighting men all, marched right up within sight of the city and set camp on the north side of Ai. There was a valley between them and Ai.


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He had taken about five thousand men and put them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, west of the city.


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They were all deployed, the main army to the north of the city and the ambush to the west. Joshua spent the night in the valley.


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So it happened that when the king of Ai saw all this, the men of the city lost no time; they were out of there at the crack of dawn to join Israel in battle, the king and his troops, at a field en route to the Arabah. The king didn't know of the ambush set against him behind the city.


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There wasn't a soul left in Ai or Bethel who wasn't out there chasing after Israel. The city was left empty and undefended as they were chasing Israel down.


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Then God spoke to Joshua: "Stretch out the javelin in your hand toward Ai—I'm giving it to you." Joshua stretched out the javelin in his hand toward Ai.


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At the signal the men in ambush sprang to their feet, ran to the city, took it, and quickly had it up in flames.


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The men of Ai looked back and, oh! saw the city going up in smoke. They found themselves trapped with nowhere to run.


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The army on the run toward the wilderness did an about-face—Joshua and all Israel, seeing that the ambush had taken the city, saw it going up in smoke, turned and attacked the men of Ai.


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Then the men in the ambush poured out of the city. The men of Ai were caught in the middle with Israelites on both sides—a real massacre. And not a single survivor.


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When it was all over, Israel had killed everyone in Ai, whether in the fields or in the wilderness where they had chased them. When the killing was complete, the Israelites returned to Ai and completed the devastation.


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Joshua didn't lower his outstretched javelin until the sacred destruction of Ai and all its people was completed.


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Israel did get to take the livestock and loot left in the city; God's instructions to Joshua allowed for that.


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He hanged the king of Ai from a tree. At evening, with the sun going down, Joshua ordered the corpse cut down. They dumped it at the entrance to the city and piled it high with stones—you can go see that also.


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He built it following the instructions of Moses the servant of God to the People of Israel and written in the Book of The Revelation of Moses, an altar of whole stones that hadn't been chiseled or shaped by an iron tool. On it they offered to God Whole-Burnt-Offerings and sacrificed Peace-Offerings.


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He also wrote out a copy of The Revelation of Moses on the stones. He wrote it with the People of Israel looking on.


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All Israel was there, foreigners and citizens alike, with their elders, officers, and judges, standing on opposite sides of the Chest, facing the Levitical priests who carry God's Covenant Chest. Half of the people stood with their backs to Mount Gerizim and half with their backs to Mount Ebal to bless the People of Israel, just as Moses the servant of God had instructed earlier.


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After that, he read out everything written in The Revelation, the Blessing and the Curse, everything in the Book of The Revelation.


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There wasn't a word of all that Moses commanded that Joshua didn't read to the entire congregation—men, women, children, and foreigners who had been with them on the journey.


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All the kings west of the Jordan in the hills and foothills and along the Mediterranean seacoast north toward Lebanon—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, Girgashites, and Jebusites—got the news.


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and cooked up a ruse. They posed as travelers: their donkeys loaded with patched sacks and mended wineskins,


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threadbare sandals on their feet, tattered clothes on their bodies, nothing but dry crusts and crumbs for food.


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They came to Joshua at Gilgal and spoke to the men of Israel, "We've come from a far-off country; make a covenant with us."


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The men of Israel said to these Hivites, "How do we know you aren't local people? How could we then make a covenant with you?"


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They said to Joshua, "We'll be your servants."<br/>Joshua said, "Who are you now? Where did you come from?"


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They said, "From a far-off country, very far away. Your servants came because we'd heard such great things about God, your God—all those things he did in Egypt!


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And the two Amorite kings across the Jordan, King Sihon of Heshbon and King Og of Bashan, who ruled in Ashtaroth!


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Our leaders and everybody else in our country told us, 'Pack up some food for the road and go meet them. Tell them, We're your servants; make a covenant with us.'


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"This bread was warm from the oven when we packed it and left to come and see you. Now look at it—crusts and crumbs.


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And our cracked and mended wineskins, good as new when we filled them. And our clothes and sandals, in tatters from the long, hard traveling."


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So Joshua made peace with them and formalized it with a covenant to guarantee their lives. The leaders of the congregation swore to it.


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And then, three days after making this covenant, they learned that they were next-door neighbors who had been living there all along!


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The People of Israel broke camp and set out; three days later they reached their towns—Gibeon, Kephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath Jearim.


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But the People of Israel didn't attack them; the leaders of the congregation had given their word before the God of Israel. But the congregation was up in arms over their leaders.


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The leaders were united in their response to the congregation: "We promised them in the presence of the God of Israel. We can't lay a hand on them now.


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Then the leaders continued, "We'll let them live, but they will be woodcutters and water carriers for the entire congregation."<br/>And that's what happened; the leaders' promise was kept.


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But Joshua called the Gibeonites together and said, "Why did you lie to us, telling us, 'We live far, far away from you,' when you're our next-door neighbors?


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For that you are cursed. From now on it's menial labor for you—woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God."


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They answered Joshua, "We got the message loud and clear that God, your God, commanded through his servant Moses: to give you the whole country and destroy everyone living in it. We were terrified because of you; that's why we did this.


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And that's what they did. Joshua delivered them from the power of the People of Israel so they didn't kill them.


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But he made them woodcutters and water carriers for the congregation and for the Altar of God at the place God chooses. They still are.


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It wasn't long before My-Master-Zedek king of Jerusalem heard that Joshua had taken Ai and destroyed it and its king under a holy curse, just as he had done to Jericho and its king. He also learned that the people of Gibeon had come to terms with Israel and were living as neighbors.


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He and his people were alarmed: Gibeon was a big city—as big as any with a king and bigger than Ai—and all its men were seasoned fighters.


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Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem sent word to Hoham king of Hebron, Piram king of Jarmuth, Japhia king of Lachish, and Debir king of Eglon:


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So the five Amorite (Western) kings—the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon—combined their armies and set out to attack Gibeon.


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The men of Gibeon sent word to Joshua camped at Gilgal, "Don't let us down now! Come up here quickly! Save us! Help us! All the Amorite kings who live up in the hills have ganged up on us."


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God told him, "Don't give them a second thought. I've put them under your thumb—not one of them will stand up to you."


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God threw them into total confusion before Israel, a major victory at Gibeon. Israel chased them along the ridge to Beth Horon and fought them all the way down to Azekah and Makkedah.


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As they ran from the People of Israel, down from the Beth Horon ridge and all the way to Azekah, God pitched huge stones on them out of the sky and many died. More died from the hailstones than the People of Israel killed with the sword.


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The day God gave the Amorites up to Israel, Joshua spoke to God, with all Israel listening:<br/>"Stop, Sun, over Gibeon;<br/>Halt, Moon, over Aijalon Valley."


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And Sun stopped,<br/>Moon stood stock still<br/>Until he defeated his enemies.<br/>(You can find this written in the Book of Jashar.) The sun stopped in its tracks in mid sky; just sat there all day.


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There's never been a day like that before or since—God took orders from a human voice! Truly, God fought for Israel.


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But don't you hang around—go after your enemies. Cut off their retreat. Don't let them back into their cities. God has given them to you."


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Joshua and the People of Israel then finished them off, total devastation. Only a few got away to the fortified towns.


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The whole army then returned intact to the camp and to Joshua at Makkedah. There was no criticism that day from the People of Israel!


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They did it. They brought him the five kings from the cave: 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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When they had them all there in front of Joshua, he called up the army and told the field commanders who had been with him, "Come here. Put your feet on the necks of these kings."<br/>They stepped up and put their feet on their necks.


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Joshua told them, "Don't hold back. Don't be timid. Be strong! Be confident! This is what God will do to all your enemies when you fight them."


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Then Joshua struck and killed the kings. He hung them on five trees where they remained until evening.


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At sunset Joshua gave the command. They took them down from the trees and threw them into the cave where they had hidden. They put large stones at the mouth of the cave. The kings are still in there.


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That same day Joshua captured Makkedah, a massacre that included the king. He carried out the holy curse. No survivors. Makkedah's king got the same treatment as Jericho's king.


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God gave Libnah to Israel. They captured city and king and massacred the lot. No survivors. Libnah's king got the same treatment as Jericho's king.


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God gave Lachish to Israel. Israel took it in two days and killed everyone. He carried out the holy curse, the same as with Libnah.


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Horam, king of Gezer, arrived to help Lachish. Joshua attacked him and his army until there was nothing left of them. No survivors.


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They captured it and killed everyone, carrying out the holy curse, the same as they had done with Lachish.


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and captured it. They killed everyone, including its king, its villages, and their people. No survivors, the same as with Eglon. They carried out the holy curse on city and people.


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He captured it, its king, and its villages. They killed everyone. They put everyone and everything under the holy curse. No survivors. Debir and its king got the same treatment as Hebron and its king, and Libnah and its king.


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Joshua took the whole country: hills, desert, foothills, and mountain slopes, including all kings. He left no survivors. He carried out the holy curse on everything that breathed, just as God, the God of Israel, had commanded.


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Joshua's conquest stretched from Kadesh Barnea to Gaza and from the entire region of Goshen to Gibeon.


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Joshua took all these kings and their lands in a single campaign because God, the God of Israel, fought for Israel.


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When Jabin king of Hazor heard of all this, he sent word to Jobab king of Madon; to the king of Shimron; to the king of Acshaph;


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to all the kings in the northern mountains; to the kings in the valley south of Kinnereth; to the kings in the western foothills and Naphoth Dor;


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to the Canaanites both east and west; to the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, and Jebusites in the hill country; and to the Hivites below Hermon in the region of Mizpah.


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They came out in full force, all their troops massed together—a huge army, in number like sand on an ocean beach—to say nothing of all the horses and chariots.


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God said to Joshua: "Don't worry about them. This time tomorrow I'll hand them over to Israel, all dead. You'll hamstring their horses. You'll set fire to their chariots."


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God gave them to Israel, who struck and chased them all the way to Greater Sidon, to Misrephoth Maim, and then to the Valley of Mizpah on the east. No survivors.


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Joshua treated them following God's instructions: he hamstrung their horses; he burned up their chariots.


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Then Joshua came back and took Hazor, killing its king. Early on Hazor had been head of all these kingdoms.


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They killed every person there, carrying out the holy curse—not a breath of life left anywhere. Then he burned down Hazor.


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Joshua captured and massacred all the royal towns with their kings, the holy curse commanded by Moses the servant of God.


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But Israel didn't burn the cities that were built on mounds, except for Hazor—Joshua did burn down Hazor.


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The People of Israel plundered all the loot, including the cattle, from these towns for themselves. But they killed the people—total destruction. They left nothing human that breathed.


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Just as God commanded his servant Moses, so Moses commanded Joshua, and Joshua did it. He didn't leave incomplete one thing that God had commanded Moses.


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Joshua took the whole country: the mountains, the southern desert, all of Goshen, the foothills, the valley (the Arabah), and the Israel mountains with their foothills,


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from Mount Halak, which towers over the region of Seir, all the way to Baal Gad in the Valley of Lebanon in the shadows of Mount Hermon. He captured their kings and then killed them.


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Not one town made peace with the People of Israel, with the one exception of the Hivites who lived in Gibeon. Israel fought and took all the rest.


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It was God's idea that they all would stubbornly fight the Israelites so he could put them under the holy curse without mercy. That way he could destroy them just as God had commanded Moses.


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Joshua came out at that time also to root out the Anakim from the hills, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, from the mountains of Judah, from the mountains of Israel. Joshua carried out the holy curse on them and their cities.


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No Anakim were left in the land of the People of Israel, except in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod—there were a few left there.


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Joshua took the whole region. He did everything that God had told Moses. Then he parceled it out as an inheritance to Israel according to their tribes.<br/>And Israel had rest from war.


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These are the kings that the People of Israel defeated and whose land they took on the east of the Jordan, from the Arnon Gorge to Mount Hermon, with the whole eastern side of the Arabah Valley.


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Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned from Heshbon: His rule extended from Aroer, which sits at the edge of the Arnon Gorge, from the middle of the gorge and over half of Gilead to the Gorge of the Jabbok River, which is the border of the Ammonites.


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His rule included the eastern Arabah Valley from the Sea of Kinnereth to the Arabah Sea (the Salt Sea), eastward toward Beth Jeshimoth and southward to the slopes of Pisgah.


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His rule extended from Mount Hermon and Salecah over the whole of Bashan to the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites (the other half of Gilead) to the border of Sihon king of Heshbon.


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Moses the servant of God and the People of Israel defeated them. And Moses the servant of God gave this land as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and half of the tribe of Manasseh.


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And these are the kings of the land that Joshua and the People of Israel defeated in the country west of the Jordan, from Baal Gad in the Valley of Lebanon south to Mount Halak, which towers over Seir. Joshua gave this land to the tribes of Israel as a possession, according to their divisions:


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lands in the mountains, the western foothills, and the Arabah Valley, on the slopes, and in the wilderness and the Negev desert (lands on which Hittites, Amorites and Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites had lived). The kings were:


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When Joshua had reached a venerable age, God said to him, "You've had a good, long life, but there is a lot of land still to be taken.


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the land from the Shihor River east of Egypt to the border of Ekron up north, Canaanite country (there were five Philistine tyrants—in Gaza, in Ashdod, in Ashkelon, in Gath, in Ekron); also the Avvim


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from the south;<br/>all the Canaanite land from Arah (belonging to the Sidonians) to Aphek at the Amorite border;


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the country of the Gebalites;<br/>all Lebanon eastward from Baal Gad in the shadow of Mount Hermon to the Entrance of Hamath;


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all who live in the mountains, from Lebanon to Misrephoth Maim;<br/>all the Sidonians.<br/>"I myself will drive them out before the People of Israel. All you have to do is allot this land to Israel as an inheritance, as I have instructed you.


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The other half-tribe of Manasseh, with the Reubenites and Gadites, had been given their inheritance by Moses on the other side of the Jordan eastward. Moses the servant of God gave it to them.


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This land extended from Aroer at the edge of the Arnon Gorge and the city in the middle of the valley, taking in the entire tableland of Medeba as far as Dibon,


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and all the towns of Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled from Heshbon, and out to the border of the Ammonites.


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It also included Gilead, the country of the people of Geshur and Maacah, all of Mount Hermon, and all Bashan as far as Salecah


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—the whole kingdom of Og in Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth and Edrei. He was one of the last survivors of the Rephaim. Moses had defeated them and taken their land.


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The People of Israel never did drive out the Geshurites and the Maacathites—they're still there, living in Israel.


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Levi was the only tribe that did not receive an inheritance. The Fire-Gift offerings to God, the God of Israel, are their inheritance, just as he told them.


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the land from Aroer at the edge of the Arnon Gorge and the town in the middle of the valley, including the tableland around Medeba;


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and all the cities of the tableland, the whole kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled at Heshbon, whom Moses put to death along with the princes of Midian: Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, who lived in that country, all puppets of Sihon.


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(In addition to those killed in battle, Balaam son of Beor, the soothsayer, was put to death by the People of Israel.)


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The boundary for the Reubenites was the bank of the Jordan River. This was the inheritance of the Reubenites, their villages and cities, according to their clans.


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the territory of Jazer and all the towns of Gilead and half the Ammonite country as far as Aroer near Rabbah;


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in the valley: Beth Haram, Beth Nimrah, Succoth, and Zaphon, with the rest of the kingdom of Sihon king of Heshbon (the east side of the Jordan, north to the end of the Sea of Kinnereth).


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the land stretching out from Mahanaim;<br/>all of Bashan, which is the entire kingdom of Og king of Bashan, and all the settlements of Jair in Bashan—sixty towns in all.


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Half of Gilead with Ashtaroth and Edrei, the royal cities of Og in<br/>Bashan, belong to the descendants of Makir, a son of Manasseh (in other words, the half-tribe of the children of Makir) for their clans.


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This is the inheritance that Moses gave out when he was on the plains of Moab across the Jordan east of Jericho.


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But Moses gave no inheritance to the tribe of Levi. God, the God of Israel, is their inheritance, just as he told them.


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Here are the inheritance allotments that the People of Israel received in the land of Canaan. Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the family clans made the allotments.


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Each inheritance was assigned by lot to the nine and a half tribes, just as God had commanded Moses.


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Moses had given the two and a half tribes their inheritance east of the Jordan, but hadn't given an inheritance to the Levites, as he had to the others.


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Because the sons of Joseph had become two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim, they gave no allotment to the Levites; but they did give them cities to live in with pasture rights for their flocks and herds.


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The People of Israel followed through exactly as God had commanded Moses. They apportioned the land.


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The people of Judah came to Joshua at Gilgal. Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite spoke: "You'll remember what God said to Moses the man of God concerning you and me back at Kadesh Barnea.


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I was forty years old when Moses the servant of God sent me from Kadesh Barnea to spy out the land. And I brought back an honest and accurate report.


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My companions who went with me discouraged the people, but I stuck to my guns, totally with God, my God.


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That was the day that Moses solemnly promised, 'The land on which your feet have walked will be your inheritance, you and your children's, forever. Yes, you have lived totally for God.'


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Now look at me: God has kept me alive, as he promised. It is now forty-five years since God spoke this word to Moses, years in which Israel wandered in the wilderness. And here I am today, eighty-five years old!


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I'm as strong as I was the day Moses sent me out. I'm as strong as ever in battle, whether coming or going.


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So give me this hill country that God promised me. You yourself heard the report, that the Anakim were there with their great fortress cities. If God goes with me, I will drive them out, just as God said."


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Hebron belongs to Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite still today, because he gave himself totally to God, the God of Israel.


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The name of Hebron used to be Kiriath Arba, named after Arba, the greatest man among the Anakim.<br/>And the land had rest from war.


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The lot for the people of Judah, their clans, extended south to the border of Edom, to the wilderness of Zin in the extreme south.


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it ran southward from Scorpions Pass, went around Zin and just south of Kadesh Barnea; then it ran past Hezron, ascended to Addar, and curved around to Karka;


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from there it passed along to Azmon, came out at the Brook of Egypt, ending at the Sea. This is the southern boundary.


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The eastern boundary: the Salt Sea up to the mouth of the Jordan.<br/>The northern boundary started at the shallows of the Sea at the mouth of the Jordan,


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went up to Beth Hoglah and around to the north of Beth Arabah and to the Stone of Bohan son of Reuben.


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The border then ascended to Debir from Trouble Valley and turned north toward Gilgal, which lies opposite Red Pass, just south of the gorge. The border then followed the Waters of En Shemesh and ended at En Rogel.


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The border followed the Valley of Ben Hinnom along the southern slope of the Jebusite ridge (that is, Jerusalem). It ascended to the top of the mountain opposite Hinnom Valley on the west, at the northern end of Rephaim Valley;


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the border then took a turn at the top of the mountain to the spring, the Waters of Nephtoah, and followed the valley out to Mount Ephron, turned toward Baalah (that is, Kiriath Jearim),


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took another turn west of Baalah to Mount Seir, curved around to the northern shoulder of Mount Jearim (that is, Kesalon), descended to Beth Shemesh, and crossed to Timnah.


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The border then went north to the ridge of Ekron, turned toward Shikkeron, passed along to Mount Baalah, and came out at Jabneel. The border ended at the Sea.


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The western border: the coastline of the Great Sea.<br/>This is the boundary around the people of Judah for their clans.


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Joshua gave Caleb son of Jephunneh a section among the people of Judah, according to God's command. He gave him Kiriath Arba, that is, Hebron. Arba was the ancestor of Anak.


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Caleb said, "Whoever attacks Kiriath Sepher and takes it, I'll give my daughter Acsah to him as his wife."


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When she arrived she got him<br/>to ask for farm land from her father.<br/>As she dismounted from her donkey<br/>Caleb asked her, "What would you like?"


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She said, "Give me a marriage gift.<br/>You've given me desert land;<br/>Now give me pools of water!"<br/>And he gave her the upper and the lower pools.


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The southern towns of the tribe of Judah in the Negev were near the boundary of Edom:<br/>Kabzeel, Eder, Jagur,


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Ashdod with its towns and villages;<br/>Gaza with its towns and villages all the way to the Brook of Egypt.<br/>The Great Sea is the western border.


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The people of Judah couldn't get rid of the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem. The Jebusites stayed put, living alongside the people of Judah. They are still living there in Jerusalem.


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The lot for the people of Joseph went from the Jordan near Jericho, east of the spring of Jericho, north through the desert mountains to Bethel.


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It then descended westward to the territory of the Japhletites to the region of Lower Beth Horon and on to Gezer, ending at the Sea.


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Ephraim's territory by clans:<br/>The boundary of their inheritance went from Ataroth Addar in the east to Upper Beth Horon


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and then west to the Sea. From Micmethath on the north it turned eastward to Taanath Shiloh and passed along, still eastward, to Janoah.


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The border then descended from Janoah to Ataroth and Naarah; it touched Jericho and came out at the Jordan.


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From Tappuah the border went westward to the Brook Kanah and ended at the Sea. This was the inheritance of the tribe of Ephraim by clans,


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including the cities set aside for Ephraim within the inheritance of Manasseh—all those towns and their villages.


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But they didn't get rid of the Canaanites who were living in Gezer. Canaanites are still living among the people of Ephraim, but they are made to do forced labor.


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This is the lot that fell to the people of Manasseh, Joseph's firstborn. (Gilead and Bashan had already been given to Makir, Manasseh's firstborn and father of Gilead, because he was an outstanding fighter.)


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So the lot that follows went to the rest of the people of Manasseh and their clans, the clans of Abiezer, Helek, Asriel, Shechem, Hepher, and Shemida. These are the male descendants of Manasseh son of Joseph by their clans.


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Zelophehad son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Makir, the son of Manasseh, had no sons, only daughters. Their names were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.


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They went to Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the leaders and said, "God commanded Moses to give us an inheritance among our kinsmen." And Joshua did it; he gave them, as God commanded, an inheritance amid their father's brothers.


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Manasseh's lot came to ten portions, in addition to the land of Gilead and Bashan on the other side of the Jordan,


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because Manasseh's daughters got an inheritance along with his sons. The land of Gilead belonged to the rest of the people of Manasseh.


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The boundary of Manasseh went from Asher all the way to Micmethath, just opposite Shechem, then ran southward to the people living at En Tappuah.


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(The land of Tappuah belonged to Manasseh, but Tappuah itself on the border of Manasseh belonged to the Ephraimites.)


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The boundary continued south to the Brook Kanah. (The cities there belonged to Ephraim although they lay among the cities of Manasseh.) The boundary of Manasseh ran north of the brook and ended at the Sea.


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The land to the south belonged to Ephraim; the land to the north to Manasseh, with the Sea as their western border; they meet Asher on the north and Issachar on the east.


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Within Issachar and Asher, Manasseh also held Beth Shan, Ibleam, and the people of Dor, Endor, Taanach, and Megiddo, together with their villages, and the third in the list is Naphoth.


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But later, when the Israelites got stronger, they put the Canaanites to forced labor. But they never did get rid of them.


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The people of Joseph spoke to Joshua: "Why did you give us just one allotment, one solitary share? There are a lot of us, and growing—God has extravagantly blessed us."


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Joshua responded, "Since there are so many of you, and you find the hill country of Ephraim too confining, climb into the forest and clear ground there for yourselves in the land of the Perizzites and the Rephaim."


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But the people of Joseph said, "There's not enough hill country for us; and the Canaanites who live down in the plain, both those in Beth Shan and its villages and in the Valley of Jezreel, have iron chariots."


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Joshua said to the family of Joseph (to Ephraim and Manasseh): "Yes, there are a lot of you, and you are very strong. One lot is not enough for you.


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You also get the hill country. It's nothing but trees now, but you will clear the land and make it your own from one end to the other. The powerful Canaanites, even with their iron chariots, won't stand a chance against you."


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Then the entire congregation of the People of Israel got together at Shiloh. They put up the Tent of Meeting.<br/>The land was under their control


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Joshua addressed the People of Israel: "How long are you going to sit around on your hands, putting off taking possession of the land that God, the God of your ancestors, has given you?


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Pick three men from each tribe so I can commission them. They will survey and map the land, showing the inheritance due each tribe, and report back to me.


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They will divide it into seven parts. Judah will stay in its territory in the south and the people of Joseph will keep to their place in the north.


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"You are responsible for preparing a survey map showing seven portions. Then bring it to me so that I can cast lots for you here in the presence of our God.


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"Only the Levites get no portion among you because the priesthood of God is their inheritance. And Gad, Reuben, and the half-tribe of Manasseh already have their inheritance on the east side of the Jordan, given to them by Moses the servant of God."


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So the men set out. As they went out to survey the land, Joshua charged them: "Go. Survey the land and map it. Then come back to me and I will cast lots for you here at Shiloh in the presence of God."


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So off the men went. They covered the ground and mapped the country by towns in a scroll. Then they reported back to Joshua at the camp at Shiloh.


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Joshua cast the lots for them at Shiloh in the presence of God. That's where Joshua divided up the land to the People of Israel, according to their tribal divisions.


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The first lot turned up for the tribe of Benjamin with its clans. The border of the allotment went between the peoples of Judah and Joseph.


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The northern border began at the Jordan, then went up to the ridge north of Jericho, ascending west into the hill country into the wilderness of Beth Aven.


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From there the border went around to Luz, to its southern ridge (that is, Bethel), and then down from Ataroth Addar to the mountain to the south of Lower Beth Horon.


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There the border took a turn on the west side and swung south from the mountain to the south of Beth Horon and ended at Kiriath Baal (that is, Kiriath Jearim), a town of the people of Judah. This was the west side.


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The southern border began at the edge of Kiriath Jearim on the west, then ran west until it reached the spring, the Waters of Nephtoah.


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It then descended to the foot of the mountain opposite the Valley of Ben Hinnom (which flanks the Valley of Rephaim to the north), descended to the Hinnom Valley, just south of the Jebusite ridge, and went on to En Rogel.


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From there it curved north to En Shemesh and Geliloth, opposite the Red Pass (Adummim), down to the Stone of Bohan the son of Reuben,


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It then followed the slope of Beth Hoglah north and came out at the northern bay of the Salt Sea—the south end of the Jordan. This was the southern border.


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The east border was formed by the Jordan.<br/>This was the inheritance of the people of Benjamin for their clans, marked by these borders on all sides.


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Zelah, Haeleph, the Jebusite city (that is, Jerusalem), Gibeah, and Kiriath Jearim—<br/>fourteen cities with their villages.<br/>This was the inheritance for Benjamin, according to its clans.


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plus all the villages around these towns as far as Baalath Beer, the Ramah of the Negev.<br/>This is the inheritance of the tribe of Simeon according to its clans.


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The inheritance of Simeon came out of the share of Judah, because Judah's portion turned out to be more than they needed. That's how the people of Simeon came to get their lot from within Judah's portion.


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The third lot went to Zebulun, clan by clan:<br/>The border of their inheritance went all the way to Sarid.


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In the other direction from Sarid, the border ran east; it followed the sunrise to the border of Kisloth Tabor, on to Daberath and up to Japhia.


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The boundary touched Tabor, Shahazumah, and Beth Shemesh and ended at the Jordan—sixteen towns and their villages.


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then turned east toward Beth Dagon, touched Zebulun and the Valley of Iphtah El, and went north to Beth Emek and Neiel, skirting Cabul on the left.


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The border circled back toward Ramah, extended to the fort city of Tyre, turned toward Hosah, and came out at the Sea in the region of Aczib,


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Their border ran from Heleph, from the oak at Zaanannim, passing Adami Nekeb and Jabneel to Lakkum and ending at the Jordan.


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The border returned on the west at Aznoth Tabor and came out at Hukkok, meeting Zebulun on the south, Asher on the west, and the Jordan on the east.


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But the people of Dan failed to get rid of the Westerners (Amorites), who pushed them back into the hills. The Westerners kept them out of the plain and they didn't have enough room. So the people of Dan marched up and attacked Leshem. They took it, killed the inhabitants, and settled in. They renamed it Leshem Dan after the name of Dan their ancestor.


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This is the inheritance of the tribe of Dan, according to its clans, these towns with their villages.


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They completed the dividing of the land as inheritance and the setting of its boundaries. The People of Israel then gave an inheritance among them to Joshua son of Nun.


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In obedience to God's word, they gave him the city which he had requested, Timnath Serah in the hill country of Ephraim. He rebuilt the city and settled there.


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These are the inheritances which Eleazar the priest and Joshua son of Nun and the ancestral leaders assigned by lot to the tribes of Israel at Shiloh in the presence of God at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. They completed the dividing of the land.


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so that anyone who kills a person accidentally—that is, unintentionally—may flee there as a safe place of asylum from the avenger of blood.


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"A person shall escape for refuge to one of these cities, stand at the entrance to the city gate, and lay out his case before the city's leaders. The leaders must then take him into the city among them and give him a place to live with them.


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"If the avenger of blood chases after him, they must not give him up—he didn't intend to kill the person; there was no history of ill-feeling.


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He may stay in that city until he has stood trial before the congregation and until the death of the current high priest. Then he may go back to his own home in his hometown from which he fled."


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They set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hills of Naphtali, Shechem in the hills of Ephraim, and Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the hills of Judah.


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On the other side of the Jordan, east of Jericho, they designated Bezer on the desert plateau from the tribe of Reuben, Ramoth in Gilead from the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan from the tribe of Manasseh.


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These were the designated cities for the People of Israel and any resident foreigner living among them, so that anyone who killed someone unintentionally could flee there and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood without a fair trial before the congregation.


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The ancestral heads of the Levites came to Eleazar the priest and Joshua son of Nun and to the heads of the other tribes of the People of Israel.


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This took place at Shiloh in the land of Canaan. They said, "God commanded through Moses that you give us cities to live in with access to pastures for our cattle."


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So the People of Israel, out of their own inheritance, gave the Levites, just as God commanded, the following cities and pastures:


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The lot came out for the families of the Kohathites this way: Levites descended from Aaron the priest received by lot thirteen cities out of the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin.


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The rest of the Kohathites received by lot ten cities from the families of the tribes of Ephraim, Dan, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.


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The Gershonites received by lot thirteen cities from the families of the tribes of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan.


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So the People of Israel gave these cities with their pastures to the Levites just as God had ordered through Moses, that is, by lot.


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They assigned from the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin the following towns, here named individually


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(these were for the descendants of Aaron who were from the families of the Kohathite branch of Levi because the first lot fell to them):


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Kiriath Arba (Arba was the ancestor of Anak), that is, Hebron, in the hills of Judah, with access to the pastures around it.


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The fields of the city and its open lands they had already given to Caleb son of Jephunneh as his possession.


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To the descendants of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron (the asylum-city for the unconvicted killers), Libnah,


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, Ain, Juttah, and Beth Shemesh, all with their accompanying pastures—nine towns from these two tribes.


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The rest of the Kohathite families from the tribe of Levi were assigned their cities by lot from the tribe of Ephraim:


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And from the half-tribe of Manasseh they received Taanach and Gath Rimmon with their pastures—two towns.


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The Gershonite families of the tribe of Levi were given from the half-tribe of Manasseh: Golan in Bashan (an asylum-city for the unconvicted killer), and Be Eshtarah, with their pastures—two cities.


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From the tribe of Naphtali: Kedesh in Galilee (an asylum-city for the unconvicted killer), Hammoth Dor, and Kartan, with their pastures—three towns.


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The Levites held forty-eight towns with their accompanying pastures within the territory of the People of Israel.


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And so God gave Israel the entire land that he had solemnly vowed to give to their ancestors. They took possession of it and made themselves at home in it.


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And God gave them rest on all sides, as he had also solemnly vowed to their ancestors. Not a single one of their enemies was able to stand up to them—God handed over all their enemies to them.


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Not one word failed from all the good words God spoke to the house of Israel. Everything came out right.


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He said: "You have carried out everything Moses the servant of God commanded you, and you have obediently done everything I have commanded you.


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All this time and right down to this very day you have not abandoned your brothers; you've shouldered the task laid on you by God, your God.


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And now God, your God, has given rest to your brothers just as he promised them. You're now free to go back to your homes, the country of your inheritance that Moses the servant of God gave you on the other side of the Jordan.


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Only this: Be vigilant in keeping the Commandment and The Revelation that Moses the servant of God laid on you: Love God, your God, walk in all his ways, do what he's commanded, embrace him, serve him with everything you are and have."


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(To the half-tribe of Manasseh, Moses had assigned a share in Bashan. To the other half, Joshua assigned land with their brothers west of the Jordan.)<br/>When Joshua sent them off to their homes, he blessed them.


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He said: "Go home. You're going home rich—great herds of cattle, silver and gold, bronze and iron, huge piles of clothing. Share the wealth with your friends and families—all this plunder from your enemies!"


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The Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh left the People of Israel at Shiloh in the land of Canaan to return to Gilead, the land of their possession, which they had taken under the command of Moses as ordered by God.


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They arrived at Geliloth on the Jordan (touching on Canaanite land). There the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an altar on the banks of the Jordan—a huge altar!


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The People of Israel heard of it: "What's this? The Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built an altar facing the land of Canaan at Geliloth on the Jordan, across from the People of Israel!"


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When the People of Israel heard this, the entire congregation mustered at Shiloh to go to war against them.


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They sent Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest to the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh (that is, to the land of Gilead).


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Accompanying him were ten chiefs, one chief for each of the ten tribes, each the head of his ancestral family. They represented the military divisions of Israel.


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"The entire congregation of God wants to know: What is this violation against the God of Israel that you have committed, turning your back on God and building your own altar—a blatant act of rebellion against God?


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Wasn't the crime of Peor enough for us? Why, to this day we aren't rid of it, still living with the fallout of the plague on the congregation of God!


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Look at you—turning your back on God! If you rebel against God today, tomorrow he'll vent his anger on all of us, the entire congregation of Israel.


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"If you think the land of your possession isn't holy enough but somehow contaminated, come back over to God's possession, where God's Dwelling is set up, and take your land there, but don't rebel against God. And don't rebel against us by building your own altar apart from the Altar of our God.


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When Achan son of Zerah violated the holy curse, didn't anger fall on the whole congregation of Israel? He wasn't the only one to die for his sin."


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The Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh replied to the heads of the tribes of Israel:


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The God of Gods is God,<br/>The God of Gods is God!<br/>"He knows and he'll let Israel know if this is a rebellious betrayal of God. And if it is, don't bother saving us.


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If we built ourselves an altar in rebellion against God, if we did it to present on it Whole-Burnt-Offerings or Grain-Offerings or to enact there sacrificial Peace-Offerings, let God decide.


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"But that's not it. We did it because we cared. We were anxious lest someday your children should say to our children, 'You're not connected with God, the God of Israel!


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God made the Jordan a boundary between us and you. You Reubenites and Gadites have no part in God.' And then your children might cause our children to quit worshiping God.


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"So we said to ourselves, 'Let's do something. Let's build an altar—but not for Whole-Burnt-Offerings, not for sacrifices.'


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"We built this altar as a witness between us and you and our children coming after us, a witness to the Altar where we worship God in his Sacred Dwelling with our Whole-Burnt-Offerings and our sacrifices and our Peace-Offerings.<br/>"This way, your children won't be able to say to our children in the future, 'You have no part in God.'


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"We said to ourselves, 'If anyone speaks disparagingly to us or to our children in the future, we'll say: Look at this model of God's Altar which our ancestors made. It's not for Whole-Burnt-Offerings, not for sacrifices. It's a witness connecting us with you.'


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"Rebelling against or turning our backs on God is the last thing on our minds right now. We never dreamed of building an altar for Whole-Burnt-Offerings or Grain-Offerings to rival the Altar of our God in front of his Sacred Dwelling."


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Phinehas the priest, all the heads of the congregation, and the heads of the military divisions of Israel who were also with him heard what the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh had to say. They were satisfied.


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Priest Phinehas son of Eleazar said to Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh, "Now we're convinced that God is present with us since you haven't been disloyal to God in this matter. You saved the People of Israel from God's discipline."


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Then Priest Phinehas son of Eleazar left the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh (from Gilead) and, with the chiefs, returned to the land of Canaan to the People of Israel and gave a full report.


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They were pleased with the report. The People of Israel blessed God—there was no more talk of attacking and destroying the land in which the Reubenites and Gadites were living.


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A long time later, after God had given Israel rest from all their surrounding enemies, and Joshua was a venerable old man,


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Joshua called all Israel together—elders, chiefs, judges, and officers. Then he spoke to them:<br/>"I'm an old man. I've lived a long time.


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You have seen everything that God has done to these nations because of you. He did it because he's God, your God. He fought for you.


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"Stay alert: I have assigned to you by lot these nations that remain as an inheritance to your tribes—these in addition to the nations I have already cut down—from the Jordan to the Great Sea in the west.


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God, your God, will drive them out of your path until there's nothing left of them and you'll take over their land just as God, your God, promised you.


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"Now, stay strong and steady. Obediently do everything written in the Book of The Revelation of Moses—don't miss a detail.


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Don't get mixed up with the nations that are still around. Don't so much as speak the names of their gods or swear by them. And by all means don't worship or pray to them.


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"God has driven out superpower nations before you. And up to now, no one has been able to stand up to you.


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Think of it—one of you, single-handedly, putting a thousand on the run! Because God is God, your God. Because he fights for you, just as he promised you.


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Because if you wander off and start taking up with these remaining nations still among you (intermarry, say, and have other dealings with them),


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know for certain that God, your God, will not get rid of these nations for you. They'll be nothing but trouble to you—horsewhips on your backs and sand in your eyes—until you're the ones who will be driven out of this good land that God, your God, has given you.


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"As you can see, I'm about to go the way we all end up going. Know this with all your heart, with everything in you, that not one detail has failed of all the good things God, your God, promised you. It has all happened. Nothing's left undone—not so much as a word.


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"But just as sure as everything good that God, your God, has promised has come true, so also God will bring to pass every bad thing until there's nothing left of you in this good land that God has given you.


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If you leave the path of the Covenant of God, your God, that he commanded you, go off and serve and worship other gods, God's anger will blaze out against you. In no time at all there'll be nothing left of you, no sign that you've ever been in this good land he gave you."


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Joshua called together all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He called in the elders, chiefs, judges, and officers. They presented themselves before God.


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Then Joshua addressed all the people:<br/>"This is what God, the God of Israel, says: A long time ago your ancestors, Terah and his sons Abraham and Nahor, lived to the east of the River Euphrates. They worshiped other gods.


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I took your ancestor Abraham from the far side of The River. I led him all over the land of Canaan and multiplied his descendants. I gave him Isaac.


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Then I gave Isaac Jacob and Esau. I let Esau have the mountains of Seir as home, but Jacob and his sons ended up in Egypt.


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I brought your ancestors out of Egypt. You came to the sea, the Egyptians in hot pursuit with chariots and cavalry, to the very edge of the Red Sea!


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"Then they cried out for help to God. He put a cloud between you and the Egyptians and then let the sea loose on them. It drowned them.<br/>"You watched the whole thing with your own eyes, what I did to Egypt. And then you lived in the wilderness for a long time.


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I brought you to the country of the Amorites, who lived east of the Jordan, and they fought you. But I fought for you and you took their land. I destroyed them for you.


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Then Balak son of Zippor made his appearance. He was the king of Moab. He got ready to fight Israel by sending for Balaam son of Beor to come and curse you.


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"You then crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The Jericho leaders ganged up on you as well as the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites, and Jebusites, but I turned them over to you.


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"I sent the Hornet ahead of you. It drove out the two Amorite kings—did your work for you. You didn't have to do a thing, not so much as raise a finger.


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"I handed you a land for which you did not work, towns you did not build. And here you are now living in them and eating from vineyards and olive groves you did not plant.


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"So now: Fear God. Worship him in total commitment. Get rid of the gods your ancestors worshiped on the far side of The River (the Euphrates) and in Egypt. You, worship God.


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"If you decide that it's a bad thing to worship God, then choose a god you'd rather serve—and do it today. Choose one of the gods your ancestors worshiped from the country beyond The River, or one of the gods of the Amorites, on whose land you're now living. As for me and my family, we'll worship God."


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"God is our God! He brought up our ancestors from Egypt and from slave conditions. He did all those great signs while we watched. He has kept his eye on us all along the roads we've traveled and among the nations we've passed through.


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Just for us he drove out all the nations, Amorites and all, who lived in the land.<br/>"Count us in: We too are going to worship God. He's our God."


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Then Joshua told the people: "You can't do it; you're not able to worship God. He is a holy God. He is a jealous God. He won't put up with your fooling around and sinning.


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When you leave God and take up the worship of foreign gods, he'll turn right around and come down on you hard. He'll put an end to you—and after all the good he has done for you!"


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And so Joshua addressed the people: "You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen God for yourselves—to worship him."<br/>And they said, "We are witnesses."


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Joshua said, "Now get rid of all the foreign gods you have with you. Say an unqualified Yes to God, the God of Israel."


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Joshua completed a Covenant for the people that day there at Shechem. He made it official, spelling it out in detail.


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Joshua wrote out all the directions and regulations into the Book of The Revelation of God. Then he took a large stone and set it up under the oak that was in the holy place of God.


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Joshua spoke to all the people: "This stone is a witness against us. It has heard every word that God has said to us. It is a standing witness against you lest you cheat on your God."


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They buried him in the land of his inheritance at Timnath Serah in the mountains of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.


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Israel served God through the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him, who had themselves experienced all that God had done for Israel.


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Joseph's bones, which the People of Israel had brought from Egypt, they buried in Shechem in the plot of ground that Jacob had purchased from the sons of Hamor (who was the father of Shechem). He paid a hundred silver coins for it. It belongs to the inheritance of the family of Joseph.


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Eleazar son of Aaron died. They buried him at Gibeah, which had been allotted to his son Phinehas in the mountains of Ephraim.


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A time came after the death of Joshua when the People of Israel asked God, "Who will take the lead in going up against the Canaanites to fight them?"


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The men of Judah said to those of their brother Simeon, "Go up with us to our territory and we'll fight the Canaanites. Then we'll go with you to your territory." And Simeon went with them.


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So Judah went up. God gave them the Canaanites and the Perizzites. They defeated them at Bezek—ten military units!


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They caught up with My-Master-Bezek there and fought him. They smashed the Canaanites and the Perizzites.


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My-Master-Bezek said, "Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off used to crawl under my table, scavenging. Now God has done to me what I did to them."<br/>They brought him to Jerusalem and he died there.


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The people of Judah attacked and captured Jerusalem, subduing the city by sword and then sending it up in flames.


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After that they had gone down to fight the Canaanites who were living in the hill country, the Negev, and the foothills.


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Judah had gone on to the Canaanites who lived in Hebron (Hebron used to be called Kiriath Arba) and brought Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai to their knees.


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From there they had marched against the population of Debir (Debir used to be called Kiriath Sepher).


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Caleb had said, "Whoever attacks Kiriath Sepher and takes it, I'll give my daughter Acsah to him as his wife."


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The people of Hobab the Kenite, Moses' relative, went up with the people of Judah from the City of Palms to the wilderness of Judah at the descent of Arad. They settled down there with the Amalekites.


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The people of Judah went with their kin the Simeonites and struck the Canaanites who lived in Zephath. They carried out the holy curse and named the city Curse-town.


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God was certainly with Judah in that they took over the hill country. But they couldn't oust the people on the plain because they had iron chariots.


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But the people of Benjamin couldn't get rid of the Jebusites living in Jerusalem. Benjaminites and Jebusites live side by side in Jerusalem to this day.


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The spies saw a man leaving the city and said to him, "Show us a way into the city and we'll treat you well."


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But Manasseh never managed to drive out Beth Shan, Taanach, Dor, Ibleam, and Megiddo with their territories. The Canaanites dug in their heels and wouldn't budge.


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When Israel became stronger they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but they never got rid of them.


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Neither did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer. The Canaanites stuck it out and lived there with them.


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Nor did Zebulun drive out the Canaanites in Kitron or Nahalol. They kept living there, but they were put to forced labor.


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Naphtali fared no better. They couldn't drive out the people of Beth Shemesh or Beth Anath so they just moved in and lived with them. They did, though, put them to forced labor.


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The Amorites stubbornly continued to live in Mount Heres, Aijalon, and Shaalbim. But when the house of Joseph got the upper hand, they were put to forced labor.


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Godangel went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said, "I brought you out of Egypt; I led you to the land that I promised to your fathers; and I said, I'll never break my covenant with you—never!


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And you're never to make a covenant with the people who live in this land. Tear down their altars! But you haven't obeyed me! What's this that you're doing?


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"So now I'm telling you that I won't drive them out before you. They'll trip you up and their gods will become a trap."


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When God's angel had spoken these words to all the People of Israel, they cried out—oh! how they wept!


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<br/>After Joshua had dismissed them, the People of Israel went off to claim their allotted territories and take possession of the land.


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The people worshiped God throughout the lifetime of Joshua and the time of the leaders who survived him, leaders who had been in on all of God's great work that he had done for Israel.


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They buried him in his allotted inheritance at Timnath Heres in the hills of Ephraim north of Mount Gaash.


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Eventually that entire generation died and was buried. Then another generation grew up that didn't know anything of God or the work he had done for Israel.


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they served Baal-gods; they deserted God, the God of their parents who had led them out of Egypt; they took up with other gods, gods of the peoples around them. They actually worshiped them! And oh, how they angered God


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God's anger was hot against Israel: He handed them off to plunderers who stripped them; he sold them cheap to enemies on all sides. They were helpless before their enemies.


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Every time they walked out the door God was with them—but for evil, just as God had said, just as he had sworn he would do. They were in a bad way.


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But they wouldn't listen to their judges; they prostituted themselves to other gods—worshiped them! They lost no time leaving the road walked by their parents, the road of obedience to God's commands. They refused to have anything to do with it.


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When God was setting up judges for them, he would be right there with the judge: He would save them from their enemies' oppression as long as the judge was alive, for God was moved to compassion when he heard their groaning because of those who afflicted and beat them.


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But when the judge died, the people went right back to their old ways—but even worse than their parents!—running after other gods, serving and worshiping them. Stubborn as mules, they didn't drop a single evil practice.


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And God's anger blazed against Israel. He said, "Because these people have thrown out my covenant that I commanded their parents and haven't listened to me,


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I'll use them to test Israel and see whether they stay on God's road and walk down it as their parents did."


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These are the nations that God left there, using them to test the Israelites who had no experience in the Canaanite wars.


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He did it to train the descendants of Israel, the ones who had no battle experience, in the art of war.


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He left the five Philistine tyrants, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites living on Mount Lebanon from Mount Baal Hermon to Hamath's Pass.


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They were there to test Israel and see whether they would obey God's commands that were given to their parents through Moses.


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But the People of Israel made themselves at home among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.


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They married their daughters and gave their own daughters to their sons in marriage. And they worshiped their gods.


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The People of Israel did evil in God's sight. They forgot their God and worshiped the Baal gods and Asherah goddesses.


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God's hot anger blazed against Israel. He sold them off to Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram Naharaim. The People of Israel were in servitude to Cushan-Rishathaim for eight years.


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The People of Israel cried out to God and God raised up a savior who rescued them: Caleb's nephew Othniel, son of his younger brother Kenaz. The Spirit of God came on him and he rallied Israel. He went out to war and God gave him Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram Naharaim. Othniel made short work of him.


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But the People of Israel went back to doing evil in God's sight. So God made Eglon king of Moab a power against Israel because they did evil in God's sight.


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He recruited the Ammonites and Amalekites and went out and struck Israel. They took the City of Palms.


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The People of Israel cried out to God and God raised up for them a savior, Ehud son of Gera, a Benjaminite. He was left-handed. The People of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon king of Moab.


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But when he got as far as the stone images near Gilgal, he went back and said, "I have a private message for you, O king."<br/>The king told his servants, "Leave." They all left.


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Ehud approached him—the king was now quite alone in his cool rooftop room—and said, "I have a word of God for you." Eglon stood up from his throne.


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Ehud reached with his left hand and took his sword from his right thigh and plunged it into the king's big belly.


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Then he was gone.<br/>When the servants came, they saw with surprise that the doors to the rooftop room were locked. They said, "He's probably relieving himself in the restroom."


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They waited. And then they worried—no one was coming out of those locked doors. Finally, they got a key and unlocked them. There was their master, fallen on the floor, dead!


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While they were standing around wondering what to do, Ehud was long gone. He got past the stone images and escaped to Seirah.


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When he got there, he sounded the trumpet on Mount Ephraim. The People of Israel came down from the hills and joined him. He took his place at their head.


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He said, "Follow me, for God has given your enemies—yes, Moab!—to you." They went down after him and secured the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites. They let no one cross over.


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At that time, they struck down about ten companies of Moabites, all of them well-fed and robust. Not one escaped.


text:
Shamgar son of Anath came after Ehud. Using a cattle prod, he killed six hundred Philistines single-handed. He too saved Israel.


text:
God sold them off to Jabin king of Canaan who ruled from Hazor. Sisera, who lived in Harosheth Haggoyim, was the commander of his army.


text:
The People of Israel cried out to God because he had cruelly oppressed them with his nine hundred iron chariots for twenty years.


text:
She held court under Deborah's Palm between Ramah and Bethel in the hills of Ephraim. The People of Israel went to her in matters of justice.


text:
She sent for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, "It has become clear that God, the God of Israel, commands you: Go to Mount Tabor and prepare for battle. Take ten companies of soldiers from Naphtali and Zebulun.


text:
I'll take care of getting Sisera, the leader of Jabin's army, to the Kishon River with all his chariots and troops. And I'll make sure you win the battle."


text:
She said, "Of course I'll go with you. But understand that with an attitude like that, there'll be no glory in it for you. God will use a woman's hand to take care of Sisera."<br/>Deborah got ready and went with Barak to Kedesh.


text:
Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali together at Kedesh. Ten companies of men followed him. And Deborah was with him.


text:
It happened that Heber the Kenite had parted company with the other Kenites, the descendants of Hobab, Moses' in-law. He was now living at Zaanannim Oak near Kedesh.


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Sisera immediately called up all his chariots to the Kishon River—nine hundred iron chariots!—along with all his troops who were with him at Harosheth Haggoyim.


text:
Deborah said to Barak, "Charge! This very day God has given you victory over Sisera. Isn't God marching before you?"<br/>Barak charged down the slopes of Mount Tabor, his ten companies following him.


text:
God routed Sisera—all those chariots, all those troops!—before Barak. Sisera jumped out of his chariot and ran.


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Barak chased the chariots and troops all the way to Harosheth Haggoyim. Sisera's entire fighting force was killed—not one man left.


text:
Meanwhile Sisera, running for his life, headed for the tent of Jael, wife of Heber the Kenite. Jabin king of Hazor and Heber the Kenite were on good terms with one another.


text:
Jael stepped out to meet Sisera and said, "Come in, sir. Stay here with me. Don't be afraid."<br/>So he went with her into her tent. She covered him with a blanket.


text:
He said to her, "Please, a little water. I'm thirsty."<br/>She opened a bottle of milk, gave him a drink, and then covered him up again.


text:
He then said, "Stand at the tent flap. If anyone comes by and asks you, 'Is there anyone here?' tell him, 'No, not a soul.' "


text:
Then while he was fast asleep from exhaustion, Jael wife of Heber took a tent peg and hammer, tiptoed toward him, and drove the tent peg through his temple and all the way into the ground. He convulsed and died.


text:
Barak arrived in pursuit of Sisera. Jael went out to greet him. She said, "Come, I'll show you the man you're looking for." He went with her and there he was—Sisera, stretched out, dead, with a tent peg through his neck.


text:
The People of Israel pressed harder and harder on Jabin king of Canaan until there was nothing left of him.


text:
When they let down their hair in Israel,<br/>they let it blow wild in the wind.<br/>The people volunteered with abandon,<br/>bless God!


text:
Hear O kings! Listen O princes!<br/>To God, yes to God, I'll sing,<br/>Make music to God,<br/>to the God of Israel.


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God, when you left Seir,<br/>marched across the fields of Edom,<br/>Earth quaked, yes, the skies poured rain,<br/>oh, the clouds made rivers.


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In the time of Shamgar son of Anath,<br/>and in the time of Jael,<br/>Public roads were abandoned,<br/>travelers went by backroads.


text:
Warriors became fat and sloppy,<br/>no fight left in them.<br/>Then you, Deborah, rose up;<br/>you got up, a mother in Israel.


text:
God chose new leaders,<br/>who then fought at the gates.<br/>And not a shield or spear to be seen<br/>among the forty companies of Israel.


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Lift your hearts high, O Israel,<br/>with abandon, volunteering yourselves with the people—bless God!


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You who ride on prize donkeys<br/>comfortably mounted on blankets<br/>And you who walk down the roads,<br/>ponder, attend!


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Gather at the town well<br/>and listen to them sing,<br/>Chanting the tale of God's victories,<br/>his victories accomplished in Israel.<br/>Then the people of God<br/>went down to the city gates.


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Wake up, wake up, Deborah!<br/>Wake up, wake up, sing a song!<br/>On your feet, Barak!<br/>Take your prisoners, son of Abinoam!


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The captains from Ephraim came to the valley,<br/>behind you, Benjamin, with your troops.<br/>Captains marched down from Makir,<br/>from Zebulun high-ranking leaders came down.


text:
Issachar's princes rallied to Deborah,<br/>Issachar stood fast with Barak,<br/>backing him up on the field of battle.<br/>But in Reuben's divisions there was much second-guessing.


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Why all those campfire discussions?<br/>Diverted and distracted,<br/>Reuben's divisions couldn't make up their minds.


text:
Gilead played it safe across the Jordan,<br/>and Dan, why did he go off sailing?<br/>Asher kept his distance on the seacoast,<br/>safe and secure in his harbors.


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The kings came, they fought,<br/>the kings of Canaan fought.<br/>At Taanach they fought, at Megiddo's brook,<br/>but they took no silver, no plunder.


text:
The torrent Kishon swept them away,<br/>the torrent attacked them, the torrent Kishon.<br/>Oh, you'll stomp on the necks of the strong!


text:
"Curse Meroz," says God's angel.<br/>"Curse, double curse, its people,<br/>Because they didn't come when God needed them,<br/>didn't rally to God's side with valiant fighters."


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Most blessed of all women is Jael,<br/>wife of Heber the Kenite,<br/>most blessed of homemaking women.


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She grabbed a tent peg in her left hand,<br/>with her right hand she seized a hammer.<br/>She hammered Sisera, she smashed his head,<br/>she drove a hole through his head.


text:
He slumped at her feet. He fell. He sprawled.<br/>He slumped at her feet. He fell.<br/>Slumped. Fallen. Dead.<br/>W


text:
Sisera's mother waited at the window,<br/>a weary, anxious watch.<br/>"What's keeping his chariot?<br/>What delays his chariot's rumble?"


text:
"Don't you think they're busy at plunder,<br/>dividing up the loot?<br/>A girl, maybe two girls,<br/>for each man,<br/>And for Sisera a bright silk shirt,<br/>a prize, fancy silk shirt!<br/>And a colorful scarf—make it two scarves—<br/>to grace the neck of the plunderer."


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Thus may all God's enemies perish,<br/>while his lovers be like the unclouded sun.<br/>The land was quiet for forty years.


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Yet again the People of Israel went back to doing evil in God's sight. God put them under the domination of Midian for seven years.


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Midian overpowered Israel. Because of Midian, the People of Israel made for themselves hideouts in the mountains—caves and forts.


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camp in their fields, and destroy their crops all the way down to Gaza. They left nothing for them to live on, neither sheep nor ox nor donkey.


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Bringing their cattle and tents, they came in and took over, like an invasion of locusts. And their camels—past counting! They marched in and devastated the country.


text:
God sent them a prophet with this message: "God, the God of Israel, says,<br/>I delivered you from Egypt,<br/>I freed you from a life of slavery;


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I rescued you from Egypt's brutality<br/>and then from every oppressor;<br/>I pushed them out of your way<br/>and gave you their land.


text:
"And I said to you, 'I am God, your God. Don't for a minute be afraid of the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living.' But you didn't listen to me."


text:
One day the angel of God came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, whose son Gideon was threshing wheat in the winepress, out of sight of the Midianites.


text:
Gideon replied, "With me, my master? If God is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all the miracle-wonders our parents and grandparents told us about, telling us, 'Didn't God deliver us from Egypt?' The fact is, God has nothing to do with us—he has turned us over to Midian."


text:
But God faced him directly: "Go in this strength that is yours. Save Israel from Midian. Haven't I just sent you?"


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Gideon said to him, "Me, my master? How and with what could I ever save Israel? Look at me. My clan's the weakest in Manasseh and I'm the runt of the litter."


text:
Gideon said, "If you're serious about this, do me a favor: Give me a sign to back up what you're telling me.


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Gideon went and prepared a young goat and a huge amount of unraised bread (he used over half a bushel of flour!). He put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot and took them back under the shade of the oak tree for a sacred meal.


text:
The angel of God said to him, "Take the meat and unraised bread, place them on that rock, and pour the broth on them." Gideon did it.


text:
The angel of God stretched out the tip of the stick he was holding and touched the meat and the bread. Fire broke out of the rock and burned up the meat and bread while the angel of God slipped away out of sight.


text:
And Gideon knew it was the angel of God!<br/>Gideon said, "Oh no! Master, God! I have seen the angel of God face to face!"


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Then Gideon built an altar there to God and named it "God's Peace." It's still called that at Ophrah of Abiezer.


text:
That night this happened. God said to him, "Take your father's best seven-year-old bull, the prime one. Tear down your father's Baal altar and chop down the Asherah fertility pole beside it.


text:
Then build an altar to God, your God, on the top of this hill. Take the prime bull and present it as a Whole-Burnt-Offering, using firewood from the Asherah pole that you cut down."


text:
Gideon selected ten men from his servants and did exactly what God had told him. But because of his family and the people in the neighborhood, he was afraid to do it openly, so he did it that night.


text:
Early in the morning, the people in town were shocked to find Baal's altar torn down, the Asherah pole beside it chopped down, and the prime bull burning away on the altar that had been built.


text:
They kept asking, "Who did this?"<br/>Questions and more questions, and then the answer: "Gideon son of Joash did it."


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The men of the town demanded of Joash: "Bring out your son! He must die! Why, he tore down the Baal altar and chopped down the Asherah tree!"


text:
But Joash stood up to the crowd pressing in on him, "Are you going to fight Baal's battles for him? Are you going to save him? Anyone who takes Baal's side will be dead by morning. If Baal is a god in fact, let him fight his own battles and defend his own altar."


text:
They nicknamed Gideon that day Jerub-Baal because after he had torn down the Baal altar, he had said, "Let Baal fight his own battles."


text:
All the Midianites and Amalekites (the easterners) got together, crossed the river, and made camp in the Valley of Jezreel.


text:
God's Spirit came over Gideon. He blew his ram's horn trumpet and the Abiezrites came out, ready to follow him.


text:
He dispatched messengers all through Manasseh, calling them to the battle; also to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali. They all came.


text:
then look: I'm placing a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If dew is on the fleece only, but the floor is dry, then I know that you will use me to save Israel, as you said."


text:
That's what happened. When he got up early the next morning, he wrung out the fleece—enough dew to fill a bowl with water!


text:
Then Gideon said to God, "Don't be impatient with me, but let me say one more thing. I want to try another time with the fleece. But this time let the fleece stay dry, while the dew drenches the ground."


text:
Jerub-Baal (Gideon) got up early the next morning, all his troops right there with him. They set up camp at Harod's Spring. The camp of Midian was in the plain, north of them near the Hill of Moreh.


text:
God said to Gideon, "You have too large an army with you. I can't turn Midian over to them like this—they'll take all the credit, saying, 'I did it all myself,' and forget about me.


text:
Make a public announcement: 'Anyone afraid, anyone who has any qualms at all, may leave Mount Gilead now and go home.' " Twenty-two companies headed for home. Ten companies were left.


text:
God said to Gideon: "There are still too many. Take them down to the stream and I'll make a final cut. When I say, 'This one goes with you,' he'll go. When I say, 'This one doesn't go,' he won't go."


text:
So Gideon took the troops down to the stream.<br/>God said to Gideon: "Everyone who laps with his tongue, the way a dog laps, set on one side. And everyone who kneels to drink, drinking with his face to the water, set to the other side."


text:
God said to Gideon: "I'll use the three hundred men who lapped at the stream to save you and give Midian into your hands. All the rest may go home."


text:
After Gideon took all their provisions and trumpets, he sent all the Israelites home. He took up his position with the three hundred. The camp of Midian stretched out below him in the valley.


text:
when you hear what they're saying, you'll be bold and confident." He and his armor bearer Purah went down near the place where sentries were posted.


text:
Midian and Amalek, all the easterners, were spread out on the plain like a swarm of locusts. And their camels! Past counting, like grains of sand on the seashore!


text:
Gideon arrived just in time to hear a man tell his friend a dream. He said, "I had this dream: A loaf of barley bread tumbled into the Midianite camp. It came to the tent and hit it so hard it collapsed. The tent fell!"


text:
His friend said, "This has to be the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite! God has turned Midian—the whole camp!—over to him."


text:
When Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he went to his knees before God in prayer. Then he went back to the Israelite camp and said, "Get up and get going! God has just given us the Midianite army!"


text:
He divided the three hundred men into three companies. He gave each man a trumpet and an empty jar, with a torch in the jar.


text:
When I and those with me blow the trumpets, you also, all around the camp, blow your trumpets and shout, 'For God and for Gideon!' "


text:
Gideon and his hundred men got to the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after the sentries had been posted. They blew the trumpets, at the same time smashing the jars they carried.


text:
All three companies blew the trumpets and broke the jars. They held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands, ready to blow, and shouted, "A sword for God and for Gideon!"


text:
They were stationed all around the camp, each man at his post. The whole Midianite camp jumped to its feet. They yelled and fled.


text:
When the three hundred blew the trumpets, God aimed each Midianite's sword against his companion, all over the camp. They ran for their lives—to Beth Shittah, toward Zererah, to the border of Abel Meholah near Tabbath.


text:
Israelites rallied from Naphtali, from Asher, and from all over Manasseh. They had Midian on the run.


text:
Gideon then sent messengers through all the hill country of Ephraim, urging them, "Come down against Midian! Capture the fords of the Jordan at Beth Barah."


text:
So all the men of Ephraim rallied and captured the fords of the Jordan at Beth Barah. They also captured the two Midianite commanders Oreb (Raven) and Zeeb (Wolf). They killed Oreb at Raven Rock; Zeeb they killed at Wolf Winepress. And they pressed the pursuit of Midian. They brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon across the Jordan.


text:
Then the Ephraimites said to Gideon, "Why did you leave us out of this, not calling us when you went to fight Midian?" They were indignant and let him know it.


text:
But Gideon replied, "What have I done compared to you? Why, even the gleanings of Ephraim are superior to the vintage of Abiezer.


text:
God gave you Midian's commanders, Oreb and Zeeb. What have I done compared with you?"<br/>When they heard this, they calmed down and cooled off.


text:
Gideon and his three hundred arrived at the Jordan and crossed over. They were bone-tired but still pressing the pursuit.


text:
He asked the men of Succoth, "Please, give me some loaves of bread for my troops I have with me. They're worn out, and I'm hot on the trail of Zebah and Zalmunna, the Midianite kings."


text:
But the leaders in Succoth said, "You're on a wild goose chase; why should we help you on a fool's errand?"


text:
Gideon said, "If you say so. But when God gives me Zebah and Zalmunna, I'll give you a thrashing, whip your bare flesh with desert thorns and thistles!"


text:
He went from there to Peniel and made the same request. The men of Peniel, like the men of Succoth, also refused.


text:
Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with an army of about fifteen companies, all that was left of the fighting force of the easterners—they had lost 120 companies of soldiers.


text:
Gideon went up the caravan trail east of Nobah and Jogbehah, found and attacked the undefended camp.


text:
Zebah and Zalmunna fled, but he chased and captured the two kings of Midian. The whole camp had panicked.


text:
He captured a young man from Succoth and asked some questions. The young man wrote down the names of the officials and leaders of Succoth, seventy-seven men.


text:
Then Gideon went to the men of Succoth and said, "Here are the wild geese, Zebah and Zalmunna, you said I'd never catch. You wouldn't give so much as a scrap of bread to my worn-out men; you taunted us, saying that we were on a fool's errand."


text:
Then he took the seventy-seven leaders of Succoth and thrashed them with desert thorns and thistles.


text:
He then addressed Zebah and Zalmunna: "Tell me about the men you killed at Tabor."<br/>"They were men much like you," they said, "each one like a king's son."


text:
Gideon said, "They were my brothers, my mother's sons. As God lives, if you had let them live, I would let you live."


text:
Then he spoke to Jether, his firstborn: "Get up and kill them." But he couldn't do it, couldn't draw his sword. He was afraid—he was still just a boy.


text:
Zebah and Zalmunna said, "Do it yourself—if you're man enough!" And Gideon did it. He stepped up and killed Zebah and Zalmunna. Then he took the crescents that hung on the necks of their camels.


text:
The Israelites said, "Rule over us, you and your son and your grandson. You have saved us from Midian's tyranny."


text:
Then Gideon said, "But I do have one request. Give me, each of you, an earring that you took as plunder." Ishmaelites wore gold earrings, and the men all had their pockets full of them.


text:
They said, "Of course. They're yours!"<br/>They spread out a blanket and each man threw his plundered earrings on it.


text:
The gold earrings that Gideon had asked for weighed about forty-three pounds—and that didn't include the crescents and pendants, the purple robes worn by the Midianite kings, and the ornaments hung around the necks of their camels.


text:
Gideon made the gold into a sacred ephod and put it on display in his hometown, Ophrah. All Israel prostituted itself there. Gideon and his family, too, were seduced by it.


text:
Midian's tyranny was broken by the Israelites; nothing more was heard from them. The land was quiet for forty years in Gideon's time.


text:
Gideon son of Joash died at a good old age. He was buried in the tomb of his father Joash at Ophrah of the Abiezrites.


text:
Gideon was hardly cool in the tomb when the People of Israel had gotten off track and were prostituting themselves to Baal—they made Baal-of-the-Covenant their god.


text:
The People of Israel forgot all about God, their God, who had saved them from all their enemies who had hemmed them in.


text:
And they didn't keep faith with the family of Jerub-Baal (Gideon), honoring all the good he had done for Israel.


text:
Abimelech son of Jerub-Baal went to Shechem to his uncles and all his mother's relatives and said to them,


text:
"Ask all the leading men of Shechem, 'What do you think is best, that seventy men rule you—all those sons of Jerub-Baal—or that one man rule? You'll remember that I am your own flesh and blood.' "


text:
His mother's relatives reported the proposal to the leaders of Shechem. They were inclined to take Abimelech. "Because," they said, "he is, after all, one of us."


text:
They gave him seventy silver pieces from the shrine of Baal-of-the-Covenant. With the money he hired some reckless riff-raff soldiers and they followed along after him.


text:
He went to his father's house in Ophrah and killed his half brothers, the sons of Jerub-Baal—seventy men! And on one stone! The youngest, Jotham son of Jerub-Baal, managed to hide, the only survivor.


text:
Then all the leaders of Shechem and Beth Millo gathered at the Oak by the Standing Stone at Shechem and crowned Abimelech king.


text:
When this was all told to Jotham, he climbed to the top of Mount Gerizim, raised his voice, and shouted:<br/>Listen to me, leaders of Shechem.<br/>And let God listen to you!


text:
The trees set out one day<br/>to anoint a king for themselves.<br/>They said to Olive Tree,<br/>"Rule over us."


text:
But Olive Tree told them,<br/>"Am I no longer good for making oil<br/>That gives glory to gods and men,<br/>and to be demoted to waving over trees?"


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But Fig Tree said to them,<br/>"Am I no longer good for making sweets,<br/>My mouthwatering sweet fruits,<br/>and to be demoted to waving over trees?"


text:
But Vine said to them,<br/>"Am I no longer good for making wine,<br/>Wine that cheers gods and men,<br/>and to be demoted to waving over trees?"


text:
But Tumbleweed said to the trees:<br/>"If you're serious about making me your king,<br/>Come and find shelter in my shade.<br/>But if not, let fire shoot from Tumbleweed<br/>and burn down the cedars of Lebanon!"


text:
"Now listen: Do you think you did a right and honorable thing when you made Abimelech king? Do you think you treated Jerub-Baal and his family well, did for him what he deserved?


text:
and you have, just now, betrayed him. You massacred his sons—seventy men on a single stone! You made Abimelech, the son by his maidservant, king over Shechem's leaders because he's your relative.


text:
If you think that this is an honest day's work, this way you have treated Jerub-Baal today, then enjoy Abimelech and let him enjoy you.


text:
But if not, let fire break from Abimelech and burn up the leaders of Shechem and Beth Millo. And let fire break from the leaders of Shechem and Beth Millo and burn up Abimelech."


text:
And Jotham fled. He ran for his life. He went to Beer and settled down there, because he was afraid of his brother Abimelech.


text:
Then God brought bad blood between Abimelech and Shechem's leaders, who now worked treacherously behind his back.


text:
Violence boomeranged: The murderous violence that killed the seventy brothers, the sons of Jerub-Baal, was now loose among Abimelech and Shechem's leaders, who had supported the violence.


text:
To undermine Abimelech, Shechem's leaders put men in ambush on the mountain passes who robbed travelers on those roads. And Abimelech was told.


text:
At that time Gaal son of Ebed arrived with his relatives and moved into Shechem. The leaders of Shechem trusted him.


text:
One day they went out into the fields, gathered grapes in the vineyards, and trod them in the winepress. Then they held a celebration in their god's temple, a feast, eating and drinking. And then they started putting down Abimelech.


text:
Gaal son of Ebed said, "Who is this Abimelech? And who are we Shechemites to take orders from him? Isn't he the son of Jerub-Baal, and isn't this his henchman Zebul? We belong to the race of Hamor and bear the noble name of Shechem. Why should we be toadies of Abimelech?


text:
If I were in charge of this people, the first thing I'd do is get rid of Abimelech! I'd say, 'Show me your stuff, Abimelech—let's see who's boss here!' "


text:
Secretly he sent messengers to Abimelech with the message, "Gaal son of Ebed and his relatives have come to Shechem and are stirring up trouble against you.


text:
In the morning, as soon as the sun breaks, get moving and charge the city. Gaal and his troops will come out to you, and you'll know what to do next."


text:
Abimelech and his troops, four companies of them, went up that night and waited in ambush approaching Shechem.


text:
Gaal son of Ebed had gotten up and was standing in the city gate. Abimelech and his troops left their cover.


text:
When Gaal saw them he said to Zebul, "Look at that, people coming down from the tops of the mountains!"<br/>Zebul said, "That's nothing but mountain shadows; they just look like men." Gaal kept chattering away.


text:
Then he said again, "Look at the troops coming down off Tabbur-erez (the Navel of the World)—and one company coming straight from the Oracle Oak."


text:
Zebul said, "Where is that big mouth of yours now? You who said, 'And who is Abimelech that we should take orders from him?' Well, there he is with the troops you ridiculed. Here's your chance. Fight away!"


text:
Abimelech set up his field headquarters at Arumah while Zebul kept Gaal and his relatives out of Shechem.


text:
He took his troops, divided them into three companies, and placed them in ambush in the fields. When he saw that the people were well out in the open, he sprang up and attacked them.


text:
Abimelech and the company with him charged ahead and took control of the entrance to the city gate; the other two companies chased down those who were in the open fields and killed them.


text:
Abimelech fought at the city all that day. He captured the city and massacred everyone in it. He leveled the city to the ground, then sowed it with salt.


text:
When the leaders connected with Shechem's Tower heard this, they went into the fortified God-of-the-Covenant temple.


text:
He and his troops climbed Mount Zalmon (Dark Mountain). Abimelech took his ax and chopped a bundle of firewood, picked it up, and put it on his shoulder. He said to his troops, "Do what you've seen me do, and quickly."


text:
So each of his men cut his own bundle. They followed Abimelech, piled their bundles against the Tower fortifications, and set the whole structure on fire. Everyone in Shechem's Tower died, about a thousand men and women.


text:
The Tower-of-Strength stood in the middle of the city; all the men and women of the city along with the city's leaders had fled there and locked themselves in. They were up on the tower roof.


text:
He called urgently to his young armor-bearer and said, "Draw your sword and kill me so they can't say of me, 'A woman killed him.' " His armor bearer drove in his sword, and Abimelech died.


text:
And God brought down on the heads of the men of Shechem all the evil that they had done, the curse of Jotham son of Jerub-Baal.


text:
Tola son of Puah, the son of Dodo, was next after Abimelech. He rose to the occasion to save Israel. He was a man of Issachar. He lived in Shamir in the hill country of Ephraim.


text:
He had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys and had thirty towns in Gilead. The towns are still called Jair's Villages.


text:
And then the People of Israel went back to doing evil in God's sight. They worshiped the Baal gods and Ashtoreth goddesses: gods of Aram, Sidon, and Moab; gods of the Ammonites and the Philistines. They just walked off and left God, quit worshiping him.


text:
beginning that year, bullied and battered the People of Israel mercilessly. For eighteen years they had them under their thumb, all the People of Israel who lived east of the Jordan in the Amorite country of Gilead.


text:
Then the Ammonites crossed the Jordan to go to war also against Judah, Benjamin, and Ephraim. Israel was in a bad way!


text:
The People of Israel cried out to God for help: "We've sinned against you! We left our God and worshiped the Baal gods!"


text:
The People of Israel said to God: "We've sinned. Do to us whatever you think best, but please, get us out of this!"


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Then they cleaned house of the foreign gods and worshiped only God. And God took Israel's troubles to heart.


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The Ammonites prepared for war, setting camp in Gilead. The People of Israel set their rival camp in Mizpah.


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The leaders in Gilead said, "Who will stand up for us against the Ammonites? We'll make him head over everyone in Gilead!"


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Meanwhile Gilead's legal wife had given him other sons, and when they grew up, his wife's sons threw Jephthah out. They told him: "You're not getting any of our family inheritance—you're the son of another woman."


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So Jephthah fled from his brothers and went to live in the land of Tob. Some riff-raff joined him and went around with him.


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With the Ammonites at war with them, the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob.


text:
But Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead: "But you hate me. You kicked me out of my family home. So why are you coming to me now? Because you are in trouble. Right?"


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The elders of Gilead replied, "That's it exactly. We've come to you to get you to go with us and fight the Ammonites. You'll be the head of all of us, all the Gileadites."


text:
Jephthah addressed the elders of Gilead, "So if you bring me back home to fight the Ammonites and God gives them to me, I'll be your head—is that right?"


text:
Jephthah went along with the elders of Gilead. The people made him their top man and general. And Jephthah repeated what he had said before God at Mizpah.


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Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites with a message: "What's going on here that you have come into my country picking a fight?"


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The king of the Ammonites told Jephthah's messengers: "Because Israel took my land when they came up out of Egypt—from the Arnon all the way to the Jabbok and to the Jordan. Give it back peaceably and I'll go."


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When they came up from Egypt, Israel went through the desert as far as the Red Sea, arriving at Kadesh.


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There Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom saying, 'Let us pass through your land, please.' But the king of Edom wouldn't let them. Israel also requested permission from the king of Moab, but he wouldn't let them cross either. They were stopped in their tracks at Kadesh.


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So they traveled across the desert and circled around the lands of Edom and Moab. They came out east of the land of Moab and set camp on the other side of the Arnon—they didn't set foot in Moabite territory, for Arnon was the Moabite border.


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Israel then sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites at Heshbon the capital. Israel asked, 'Let us pass, please, through your land on the way to our country.'


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But Sihon didn't trust Israel to cut across his land; he got his entire army together, set up camp at Jahaz, and fought Israel.


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But God, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his troops to Israel. Israel defeated them. Israel took all the Amorite land,


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It was God, the God of Israel, who pushed out the Amorites in favor of Israel; so who do you think you are to try to take it over?


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Why don't you just be satisfied with what your god Chemosh gives you and we'll settle for what God, our God, gives us?


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Do you think you're going to come off better than Balak son of Zippor, the king of Moab? Did he get anywhere in opposing Israel? Did he risk war?


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All this time—it's been three hundred years now!—that Israel has lived in Heshbon and its villages, in Aroer and its villages, and in all the towns along the Arnon, why didn't you try to snatch them away then?


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No, I haven't wronged you. But this is an evil thing that you are doing to me by starting a fight. Today God the Judge will decide between the People of Israel and the people of Ammon."


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God's Spirit came upon Jephthah. He went across Gilead and Manasseh, went through Mizpah of Gilead, and from there approached the Ammonites.


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then I'll give to God whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in one piece from among the Ammonites—I'll offer it up in a sacrificial burnt offering."


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He beat them soundly, all the way from Aroer to the area around Minnith as far as Abel Keramim—twenty cities! A massacre! Ammonites brought to their knees by the People of Israel.


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Jephthah came home to Mizpah. His daughter ran from the house to welcome him home—dancing to tambourines! She was his only child. He had no son or daughter except her.


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When he realized who it was, he ripped his clothes, saying, "Ah, dearest daughter—I'm dirt. I'm despicable. My heart is torn to shreds. I made a vow to God and I can't take it back!"


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She said, "Dear father, if you made a vow to God, do to me what you vowed; God did his part and saved you from your Ammonite enemies."


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And then she said to her father, "But let this one thing be done for me. Give me two months to wander through the hills and lament my virginity since I will never marry, I and my dear friends."


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"Oh yes, go," he said. He sent her off for two months. She and her dear girlfriends went among the hills, lamenting that she would never marry.


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At the end of the two months, she came back to her father. He fulfilled the vow with her that he had made. She had never slept with a man.<br/>It became a custom in Israel


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that for four days every year the young women of Israel went out to mourn for the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.


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The men of Ephraim mustered their troops, crossed to Zaphon, and said to Jephthah, "Why did you go out to fight the Ammonites without letting us go with you? We're going to burn your house down on you!"


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Jephthah said, "I and my people had our hands full negotiating with the Ammonites. And I did call to you for help but you ignored me.


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When I saw that you weren't coming, I took my life in my hands and confronted the Ammonites myself. And God gave them to me! So why did you show up here today? Are you spoiling for a fight with me?"


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So Jephthah got his Gilead troops together and fought Ephraim. And the men of Gilead hit them hard because they were saying, "Gileadites are nothing but half-breeds and rejects from Ephraim and Manasseh."


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Gilead captured the fords of the Jordan at the crossing to Ephraim. If an Ephraimite fugitive said, "Let me cross," the men of Gilead would ask, "Are you an Ephraimite?" and he would say, "No."


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And they would say, "Say, 'Shibboleth.' " But he would always say, "Sibboleth"—he couldn't say it right. Then they would grab him and kill him there at the fords of the Jordan. Forty-two Ephraimite divisions were killed on that occasion.


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Jephthah judged Israel six years. Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried in his city, Mizpah of Gilead.


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He had thirty sons and thirty daughters. He gave his daughters in marriage outside his clan and brought in thirty daughters-in-law from the outside for his sons.


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Abdon son of Hillel the Pirathonite died and was buried at Pirathon in the land of Ephraim in the Amalekite hill country.


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And then the People of Israel were back at it again, doing what was evil in God's sight. God put them under the domination of the Philistines for forty years.


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At that time there was a man named Manoah from Zorah from the tribe of Dan. His wife was barren and childless.


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The angel of God appeared to her and told her, "I know that you are barren and childless, but you're going to become pregnant and bear a son.


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You are, in fact, pregnant right now, carrying a son. No razor will touch his head—the boy will be God's Nazirite from the moment of his birth. He will launch the deliverance from Philistine oppression."


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The woman went to her husband and said, "A man of God came to me. He looked like the angel of God—terror laced with glory! I didn't ask him where he was from and he didn't tell me his name,


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but he told me, 'You're pregnant. You're going to give birth to a son. Don't drink any wine or beer and eat nothing ritually unclean. The boy will be God's Nazirite from the moment of birth to the day of his death.' "


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Manoah prayed to God: "Master, let the man of God you sent come to us again and teach us how to raise this boy who is to be born."


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God listened to Manoah. God's angel came again to the woman. She was sitting in the field; her husband Manoah wasn't there with her.


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Manoah got up and, following his wife, came to the man. He said to him, "Are you the man who spoke to my wife?"<br/>He said, "I am."


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Manoah said, "So. When what you say comes true, what do you have to tell us about this boy and his work?"


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"Keep in mind everything I told the woman. Eat nothing that comes from the vine: Drink no wine or beer; eat no ritually unclean foods. She's to observe everything I commanded her."


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Manoah said to the angel of God, "Please, stay with us a little longer; we'll prepare a meal for you—a young goat."


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God's angel said to Manoah, "Even if I stay, I won't eat your food. But if you want to prepare a Whole-Burnt-Offering for God, go ahead—offer it!" Manoah had no idea that he was talking to the angel of God.


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Then Manoah asked the angel of God, "What's your name? When your words come true, we'd like to honor you."


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The angel of God said, "What's this? You ask for my name? You wouldn't understand—it's sheer wonder."


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So Manoah took the kid and the Grain-Offering and sacrificed them on a rock altar to God who works wonders.


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As the flames leapt up from the altar to heaven, God's angel also ascended in the altar flames. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell facedown to the ground.


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Manoah and his wife never saw the angel of God again.<br/>Only then did Manoah realize that this was God's angel.


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But his wife said, "If God were planning to kill us, he wouldn't have accepted our Whole-Burnt-Offering and Grain-Offering, or revealed all these things to us—given us this birth announcement."


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The Spirit of God began working in him while he was staying at a Danite camp between Zorah and Eshtaol.


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He came back and told his father and mother, "I saw a woman in Timnah, a Philistine girl; get her for me as my wife."


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His parents said to him, "Isn't there a woman among the girls in the neighborhood of our people? Do you have to go get a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?"<br/>But Samson said to his father, "Get her for me. She's the one I want—she's the right one."


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(His father and mother had no idea that God was behind this, that he was arranging an opportunity against the Philistines. At the time the Philistines lorded it over Israel.)


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Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother. When he got to the vineyards of Timnah, a young lion came at him, roaring.


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The Spirit of God came on him powerfully and he ripped it open barehanded, like tearing a young goat. But he didn't tell his parents what he had done.


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Some days later when he came back to get her, he made a little detour to look at what was left of the lion. And there a wonder: a swarm of bees in the lion's carcass—and honey!


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He scooped it up in his hands and kept going, eating as he went. He rejoined his father and mother and gave some to them and they ate. But he didn't tell them that he had scooped out the honey from the lion's carcass.


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His father went on down to make arrangements with the woman, while Samson prepared a feast there. That's what the young men did in those days.


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Samson said to them: "Let me put a riddle to you. If you can figure it out during the seven days of the feast, I'll give you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of fine clothing.


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But if you can't figure it out then you'll give me thirty linen garments and thirty changes of fine clothing."<br/>They said, "Put your riddle. Let's hear it."


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So he said,<br/>From the eater came something to eat,<br/>From the strong came something sweet.<br/>They couldn't figure it out. After three days they were still stumped.


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On the fourth day they said to Samson's bride, "Worm the answer out of your husband or we'll burn you and your father's household. Have you invited us here to bankrupt us?"


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So Samson's bride turned on the tears, saying to him, "You hate me. You don't love me. You've told a riddle to my people but you won't even tell me the answer."<br/>He said, "I haven't told my own parents—why would I tell you?"


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But she turned on the tears all the seven days of the feast. On the seventh day, worn out by her nagging, he told her. Then she went and told it to her people.


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The men of the town came to him on the seventh day, just before sunset and said,<br/>What is sweeter than honey?<br/>What is stronger than a lion?<br/>And Samson said,<br/>If you hadn't plowed with my heifer,<br/>You wouldn't have found out my riddle.


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Then the Spirit of God came powerfully on him. He went down to Ashkelon and killed thirty of their men, stripped them, and gave their clothing to those who had solved the riddle. Stalking out, smoking with anger, he went home to his father's house.


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Later on—it was during the wheat harvest—Samson visited his bride, bringing a young goat. He said, "Let me see my wife—show me her bedroom."<br/>But her father wouldn't let him in.


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He said, "I concluded that by now you hated her with a passion, so I gave her to your best man. But her little sister is even more beautiful. Why not take her instead?"


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Samson then went out and caught three hundred jackals. He lashed the jackals' tails together in pairs and tied a torch between each pair of tails.


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He then set fire to the torches and let them loose in the Philistine fields of ripe grain. Everything burned, both stacked and standing grain, vineyards and olive orchards—everything.


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The Philistines said, "Who did this?"<br/>They were told, "Samson, son-in-law of the Timnite who took his bride and gave her to his best man."<br/>The Philistines went up and burned both her and her father to death.


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Samson then said, "If this is the way you're going to act, I swear I'll get even with you. And I'm not quitting till the job's done!"


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With that he tore into them, ripping them limb from limb—a huge slaughter. Then he went down and stayed in a cave at Etam Rock.


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When the men of Judah asked, "Why have you come up against us?" they said, "We're out to get Samson. We're going after Samson to do to him what he did to us."


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Three companies of men from Judah went down to the cave at Etam Rock and said to Samson, "Don't you realize that the Philistines already bully and lord it over us? So what's going on with you, making things even worse?"<br/>He said, "It was tit for tat. I only did to them what they did to me."


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They said, "Well, we've come down here to tie you up and turn you over to the Philistines."<br/>Samson said, "Just promise not to hurt me."


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"We promise," they said. "We will tie you up and surrender you to them but, believe us, we won't kill you." They proceeded to tie him with new ropes and led him up from the Rock.


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As he approached Lehi, the Philistines came to meet him, shouting in triumph. And then the Spirit of God came on him with great power. The ropes on his arms fell apart like flax on fire; the thongs slipped off his hands.


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He spotted a fresh donkey jawbone, reached down and grabbed it, and with it killed the whole company.


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And Samson said,<br/>With a donkey's jawbone<br/>I made heaps of donkeys of them.<br/>With a donkey's jawbone<br/>I killed an entire company.


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When he finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone. He named that place Ramath Lehi (Jawbone Hill).


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Now he was suddenly very thirsty. He called out to God, "You have given your servant this great victory. Are you going to abandon me to die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?"


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So God split open the rock basin in Lehi; water gushed out and Samson drank. His spirit revived—he was alive again! That's why it's called En Hakkore (Caller's Spring). It's still there at Lehi today.


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The news got around: "Samson's here." They gathered around in hiding, waiting all night for him at the city gate, quiet as mice, thinking, "At sunrise we'll kill him."


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Samson was in bed with the woman until midnight. Then he got up, seized the doors of the city gate and the two gateposts, bolts and all, hefted them on his shoulder, and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron.


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The Philistine tyrants approached her and said, "Seduce him. Discover what's behind his great strength and how we can tie him up and humble him. Each man's company will give you a hundred shekels of silver."


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So Delilah said to Samson, "Tell me, dear, the secret of your great strength, and how you can be tied up and humbled."


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Samson told her, "If they were to tie me up with seven bowstrings—the kind made from fresh animal tendons, not dried out—then I would become weak, just like anyone else."


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The men were waiting in ambush in her room. Then she said, "The Philistines are on you, Samson!" He snapped the cords as though they were mere threads. The secret of his strength was still a secret.


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Delilah said, "Come now, Samson—you're playing with me, making up stories. Be serious; tell me how you can be tied up."


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He told her, "If you were to tie me up tight with new ropes, ropes never used for work, then I would be helpless, just like anybody else."


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So Delilah got some new ropes and tied him up. She said, "The Philistines are on you, Samson!" The men were hidden in the next room. He snapped the ropes from his arms like threads.


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Delilah said to Samson, "You're still playing games with me, teasing me with lies. Tell me how you can be tied up."<br/>He said to her, "If you wove the seven braids of my hair into the fabric on the loom and drew it tight, then I would be as helpless as any other mortal."<br/>When she had him fast asleep, Delilah took the seven braids of his hair and wove them into the fabric on the loom


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and drew it tight. Then she said, "The Philistines are on you, Samson!" He woke from his sleep and ripped loose from both the loom and fabric!


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She said, "How can you say 'I love you' when you won't even trust me? Three times now you've toyed with me, like a cat with a mouse, refusing to tell me the secret of your great strength."


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She kept at it day after day, nagging and tormenting him. Finally, he was fed up—he couldn't take another minute of it.


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He spilled it.<br/>He told her, "A razor has never touched my head. I've been God's Nazirite from conception. If I were shaved, my strength would leave me; I would be as helpless as any other mortal."


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When Delilah realized that he had told her his secret, she sent for the Philistine tyrants, telling them, "Come quickly—this time he's told me the truth." They came, bringing the bribe money.


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When she got him to sleep, his head on her lap, she motioned to a man to cut off the seven braids of his hair. Immediately he began to grow weak. His strength drained from him.


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Then she said, "The Philistines are on you, Samson!" He woke up, thinking, "I'll go out, like always, and shake free." He didn't realize that God had abandoned him.


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The Philistines grabbed him, gouged out his eyes, and took him down to Gaza. They shackled him in irons and put him to the work of grinding in the prison.


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The Philistine tyrants got together to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon. They celebrated, saying,<br/>Our god has given us<br/>Samson our enemy!


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And when the people saw him, they joined in, cheering their god,<br/>Our god has given<br/>Our enemy to us,<br/>The one who ravaged our country,<br/>Piling high the corpses among us.


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Then this: Everyone was feeling high and someone said, "Get Samson! Let him show us his stuff!" They got Samson from the prison and he put on a show for them.<br/>They had him standing between the pillars.


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Samson said to the young man who was acting as his guide, "Put me where I can touch the pillars that hold up the temple so I can rest against them."


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The building was packed with men and women, including all the Philistine tyrants. And there were at least 3,000 in the stands watching Samson's performance.


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And Samson cried out to God:<br/>Master, God!<br/>Oh, please, look on me again,<br/>Oh, please, give strength yet once more.<br/>God!<br/>With one avenging blow let me be avenged<br/>On the Philistines for my two eyes!


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Then Samson reached out to the two central pillars that held up the building and pushed against them, one with his right arm, the other with his left.


text:
Saying, "Let me die with the Philistines," Samson pushed hard with all his might. The building crashed on the tyrants and all the people in it. He killed more people in his death than he had killed in his life.


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His brothers and all his relatives went down to get his body. They carried him back and buried him in the tomb of Manoah his father, between Zorah and Eshtaol.<br/>He judged Israel for twenty years.


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He said to his mother, "Remember that 1,100 pieces of silver that were taken from you? I overheard you when you pronounced your curse. Well, I have the money; I stole it. But now I've brought it back to you."<br/>His mother said, "God bless you, my son!"


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As he returned the 1,100 silver pieces to his mother, she said, "I had totally consecrated this money to God for my son to make a statue, a cast god."


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Then she took 200 pieces of the silver and gave it to a sculptor and he cast them into the form of a god.


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This man, Micah, had a private chapel. He had made an ephod and some teraphim-idols and had ordained one of his sons to be his priest.


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Meanwhile there was a young man from Bethlehem in Judah and from a family of Judah. He was a Levite but was a stranger there.


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He left that town, Bethlehem in Judah, seeking his fortune. He got as far as the hill country of Ephraim and showed up at Micah's house.


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Micah asked him, "So where are you from?"<br/>He said, "I'm a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah. I'm on the road, looking for a place to settle down."


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Micah said, "Stay here with me. Be my father and priest. I'll pay you ten pieces of silver a year, whatever clothes you need, and your meals."


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Micah said, "Now I know that God will make things go well for me—why, I've got a Levite for a priest!"


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In those days there was no king in Israel. But also in those days, the tribe of Dan was looking for a place to settle down. They hadn't yet occupied their plot among the tribes of Israel.


text:
The Danites sent out five robust warriors from Zorah and Eshtaol to look over the land and see what was out there suitable for their families. They said, "Go and explore the land."<br/>They went into the hill country of Ephraim and got as far as the house of Micah. They camped there for the night.


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As they neared Micah's house, they recognized the voice of the young Levite. They went over and said to him, "How on earth did you get here? What's going on? What are you doing here?"


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The five men left and headed north to Laish. They saw that the people there were living in safety under the umbrella of the Sidonians, quiet and unsuspecting. They had everything going for them. But the people lived a long way from the Sidonians to the west and had no treaty with the Arameans to the east.


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They said, "Let's go for it! Let's attack. We've seen the land and it is excellent. Are you going to just sit on your hands? Don't dawdle! Invade and conquer!


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When you get there, you'll find they're sitting ducks, totally unsuspecting. Wide open land—God is handing it over to you, everything you could ever ask for."


text:
Along the way they made camp at Kiriath Jearim in Judah. That is why the place is still today called Dan's Camp—it's just west of Kiriath Jearim.


text:
The five men who earlier had explored the country of Laish told their companions, "Did you know there's an ephod, teraphim-idols, and a cast god-sculpture in these buildings? What do you think? Do you want to do something about it?"


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So they turned off the road there, went to the house of the young Levite at Micah's place and asked how things had been with him.


text:
while the five scouts who had gone to explore the land went in and took the carved idol, the ephod, the teraphim-idols, and the god-sculpture. The priest was standing at the gate entrance with the 600 armed men.


text:
When the five went into Micah's house and took the carved idol, the ephod, the teraphim-idols, and the sculpted god, the priest said to them, "What do you think you're doing?"


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They said to him, "Hush! Don't make a sound. Come with us. Be our father and priest. Which is more important, that you be a priest to one man or that you become priest to a whole tribe and clan in Israel?"


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The priest jumped at the chance. He took the ephod, the teraphim-idols, and the idol and fell in with the troops.


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They were well on their way from Micah's house before Micah and his neighbors got organized. But they soon overtook the Danites.


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Micah said, "You took my god, the one I made, and you took my priest. And you marched off! What do I have left? How can you now say, 'What's the matter?' "


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But the Danites answered, "Don't yell at us; you just might provoke some fierce, hot-tempered men to attack you, and you'll end up an army of dead men."


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The Danites went on their way. Micah saw that he didn't stand a chance against their arms. He turned back and went home.


text:
So they took the things that Micah had made, along with his priest, and they arrived at Laish, that city of quiet and unsuspecting people. They massacred the people and burned down the city.


text:
There was no one around to help. They were a long way from Sidon and had no treaty with the Arameans. Laish was in the valley of Beth Rehob.


text:
When they rebuilt the city they renamed it Dan after their ancestor who was a son of Israel, but its original name was Laish.


text:
The Danites set up the god-figure for themselves. Jonathan son of Gershom, the son of Moses, and his descendants were priests to the tribe of Dan down to the time of the land's captivity.


text:
All during the time that there was a sanctuary of God in Shiloh, they kept for their private use the god-figure that Micah had made.


text:
It was an era when there was no king in Israel. A Levite, living as a stranger in the backwoods hill country of Ephraim, got himself a concubine, a woman from Bethlehem in Judah.


text:
But she quarreled with him and left, returning to her father's house in Bethlehem in Judah. She was there four months.


text:
Then her husband decided to go after her and try to win her back. He had a servant and a pair of donkeys with him. When he arrived at her father's house, the girl's father saw him, welcomed him, and made him feel at home.


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His father-in-law, the girl's father, pressed him to stay. He stayed with him three days; they feasted and drank and slept.


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On the fourth day, they got up at the crack of dawn and got ready to go. But the girl's father said to his son-in-law, "Strengthen yourself with a hearty breakfast and then you can go."


text:
So they sat down and ate breakfast together.<br/>The girl's father said to the man, "Come now, be my guest. Stay the night—make it a holiday."


text:
On the fifth day, he was again up early, ready to go. The girl's father said, "You need some breakfast." They went back and forth, and the day slipped on as they ate and drank together.


text:
But the man and his concubine were finally ready to go. Then his father-in-law, the girl's father, said, "Look, the day's almost gone—why not stay the night? There's very little daylight left; stay another night and enjoy yourself. Tomorrow you can get an early start and set off for your own place."


text:
But this time the man wasn't willing to spend another night. He got things ready, left, and went as far as Jebus (Jerusalem) with his pair of saddled donkeys, his concubine, and his servant.


text:
At Jebus, though, the day was nearly gone. The servant said to his master, "It's late; let's go into this Jebusite city and spend the night."


text:
He directed his servant, "Keep going. Let's go on ahead. We'll spend the night either at Gibeah or Ramah."


text:
So they kept going. As they pressed on, the sun finally left them in the vicinity of Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin.


text:
They left the road there to spend the night at Gibeah.<br/>The Levite went and sat down in the town square, but no one invited them in to spend the night.


text:
Then, late in the evening, an old man came in from his day's work in the fields. He was from the hill country of Ephraim and lived temporarily in Gibeah where all the local citizens were Benjaminites.


text:
When the old man looked up and saw the traveler in the town square, he said, "Where are you going? And where are you from?"


text:
The Levite said, "We're just passing through. We're coming from Bethlehem on our way to a remote spot in the hills of Ephraim. I come from there. I've just made a trip to Bethlehem in Judah and I'm on my way back home, but no one has invited us in for the night.


text:
We wouldn't be any trouble: We have food and straw for the donkeys, and bread and wine for the woman, the young man, and me—we don't need anything."


text:
The old man said, "It's going to be all right; I'll take care of you. You aren't going to spend the night in the town square."


text:
They were relaxed and enjoying themselves when the men of the city, a gang of local hell-raisers all, surrounded the house and started pounding on the door. They yelled for the owner of the house, the old man, "Bring out the man who came to your house. We want to have sex with him."


text:
He went out and told them, "No, brothers! Don't be obscene—this man is my guest. Don't commit this outrage.


text:
Look, my virgin daughter and his concubine are here. I'll bring them out for you. Abuse them if you must, but don't do anything so senselessly vile to this man."


text:
But the men wouldn't listen to him. Finally, the Levite pushed his concubine out the door to them. They raped her repeatedly all night long. Just before dawn they let her go.


text:
The woman came back and fell at the door of the house where her master was sleeping. When the sun rose, there she was.


text:
It was morning. Her master got up and opened the door to continue his journey. There she was, his concubine, crumpled in a heap at the door, her hands on the threshold.


text:
He lifted her onto his donkey and set out for home. When he got home he took a knife and dismembered his concubine—cut her into twelve pieces. He sent her, piece by piece, throughout the country of Israel.


text:
And he ordered the men he sent out, "Say to every man in Israel: 'Has such a thing as this ever happened from the time the Israelites came up from the land of Egypt until now? Think about it! Talk it over. Do something!' "


text:
Then all the People of Israel came out. The congregation met in the presence of God at Mizpah. They were all there, from Dan to Beersheba, as one person!


text:
The leaders of all the people, representing all the tribes of Israel, took their places in the gathering of God's people. There were 400 divisions of sword-wielding infantry.


text:
Meanwhile the Benjaminites got wind that the Israelites were meeting at Mizpah.<br/>The People of Israel said, "Now tell us. How did this outrageous evil happen?"


text:
The Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, spoke: "My concubine and I came to spend the night at Gibeah, a Benjaminite town.


text:
That night the men of Gibeah came after me. They surrounded the house, intending to kill me. They gang-raped my concubine and she died.


text:
So I took my concubine, cut up her body, and sent her piece by piece—twelve pieces!—to every part of Israel's inheritance. This vile and outrageous crime was committed in Israel!


text:
All the people were at once and as one person on their feet. "None of us will go home; not a single one of us will go to his own house.


text:
We'll take ten of every hundred men from all the tribes of Israel (a hundred of every thousand, and a thousand of every ten thousand) to carry food for the army. When the troops arrive at Gibeah they will settle accounts for this outrageous and vile evil that was done in Israel."


text:
The Israelite tribes sent messengers throughout the tribe of Benjamin saying, "What's the meaning of this outrage that took place among you?


text:
Surrender the men right here and now, these hell-raisers of Gibeah. We'll put them to death and burn the evil out of Israel."<br/>But they wouldn't do it. The Benjaminites refused to listen to their brothers, the People of Israel.


text:
Instead they raised an army from all their cities and rallied at Gibeah to go to war against the People of Israel.


text:
In no time at all they had recruited from their cities twenty-six divisions of sword-wielding infantry. From Gibeah they got 700 hand-picked fighters, the best.


text:
There were another 700 super marksmen who were ambidextrous—they could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.


text:
They set out and went to Bethel to inquire of God. The People of Israel said, "Who of us shall be first to go into battle with the Benjaminites?"<br/>God said, "Judah goes first."


text:
The army of Israel marched out against Benjamin and took up their positions, ready to attack Gibeah.


text:
But the Benjaminites poured out of Gibeah and devastated twenty-two Israelite divisions on the ground.


text:
The Israelites went back to the sanctuary and wept before God until evening. They again inquired of God, "Shall we again go into battle against the Benjaminites, our brothers?"<br/>God said, "Yes. Attack."


text:
This time as the Benjaminites came out of the city, on this second day, they devastated another eighteen Israelite divisions, all swordsmen.


text:
All the People of Israel, the whole army, were back at Bethel, weeping, sitting there in the presence of God. That day they fasted until evening. They sacrificed Whole-Burnt-Offerings and Peace-Offerings before God.


text:
Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, as the ministering priest. They asked, "Shall we again march into battle against the Benjaminites, our brothers? Or should we call it quits?"<br/>And God said, "Attack. Tomorrow I'll give you victory."


text:
On the third day when Israel set out, they took up the same positions before the Benjaminites as before.


text:
When the Benjaminites came out to meet the army, they moved out from the city. Benjaminites began to cut down some of the troops just as they had before. About thirty men fell in the field and on the roads to Bethel and Gibeah.


text:
But the Israelites strategized: "Now let's retreat and pull them out of the city onto the main roads." So every Israelite moved farther out to Baal Tamar; at the same time the Israelite ambush rushed from its place west of Gibeah.


text:
Ten crack divisions from all over Israel now arrived at Gibeah—intense, bloody fighting! The Benjaminites had no idea that they were about to go down in defeat—


text:
God routed them before Israel. The Israelites decimated twenty-five divisions of Benjamin that day—25,100 killed. They were all swordsmen.


text:
The Benjaminites saw that they were beaten.<br/>The men of Israel acted like they were retreating before Benjamin, knowing that they could depend on the ambush they had prepared for Gibeah.


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Then the men of Israel would turn in battle. When that happened, Benjamin had killed about thirty Israelites and thought they were on their way to victory, yelling out, "They're on the run, just as in the first battle!"


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But then the signal went up from the city—a huge column of smoke. When the Benjaminites looked back, there it was, the whole city going up in smoke.


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By the time the men of Israel had turned back on them, the men of Benjamin fell apart—they could see that they were trapped.


text:
Confronted by the Israelites, they tried to get away down the wilderness road, but by now the battle was everywhere. The men of Israel poured out of the towns, killing them right and left,


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Five divisions turned to escape to the wilderness, to Rimmon Rock, but the Israelites caught and slaughtered them on roads.<br/>Keeping the pressure on, the Israelites brought down two more divisions.


text:
The total of the Benjaminites killed that day came to twenty-five divisions of infantry, their best swordsmen.


text:
Six hundred men got away. They made it to Rimmon Rock in the wilderness and held out there for four months.


text:
The men of Israel came back and killed all the Benjaminites who were left, all the men and animals they found in every town, and then torched the towns, sending them up in flames.


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Back at Mizpah the men of Israel had taken an oath: "No man among us will give his daughter to a Benjaminite in marriage."


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Now, back in Bethel, the people sat in the presence of God until evening. They cried loudly; there was widespread lamentation.


text:
They said, "Why, O God, God of Israel, has this happened? Why do we find ourselves today missing one whole tribe from Israel?"


text:
Early the next morning, the people got busy and built an altar. They sacrificed Whole-Burnt-Offerings and Peace-Offerings.


text:
Then the Israelites said, "Who from all the tribes of Israel didn't show up as we gathered in the presence of God?" For they had all taken a sacred oath that anyone who had not gathered in the presence of God at Mizpah had to be put to death.


text:
But the People of Israel were feeling sorry for Benjamin, their brothers. They said, "Today, one tribe is cut off from Israel.


text:
How can we get wives for those who are left? We have sworn by God not to give any of our daughters to them in marriage."


text:
They said, "Which one of the tribes of Israel didn't gather before God at Mizpah?"<br/>It turned out that no one had come to the gathering from Jabesh Gilead.


text:
So the congregation sent twelve divisions of their top men there with the command, "Kill everyone of Jabesh Gilead, including women and children.


text:
These are your instructions: Every man and woman who has had sexual intercourse you must kill. But keep the virgins alive." And that's what they did.


text:
And they found 400 virgins among those who lived in Jabesh Gilead; they had never had sexual intercourse with a man. And they brought them to the camp at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.


text:
Then the congregation sent word to the Benjaminites who were at the Rimmon Rock and offered them peace.


text:
And Benjamin came. They gave them the women they had let live at Jabesh Gilead. But even then, there weren't enough for all the men.


text:
The people felt bad for Benjamin; God had left out Benjamin—the missing piece from the Israelite tribes.


text:
The elders of the congregation said, "How can we get wives for the rest of the men, since all the Benjaminite women have been killed?


text:
How can we keep the inheritance alive for the Benjaminite survivors? How can we prevent an entire tribe from extinction?


text:
We certainly can't give our own daughters to them as wives." (Remember, the Israelites had taken the oath: "Cursed is anyone who provides a wife to Benjamin.")


text:
Then they said, "There is that festival of God held every year in Shiloh. It's north of Bethel, just east of the main road that goes up from Bethel to Shechem and a little south of Lebonah."


text:
Stay alert—when you see the Shiloh girls come out to dance the dances, run out of the vineyards, grab one of the Shiloh girls for your wife, and then hightail it back to the country of Benjamin.


text:
When their fathers or brothers come to lay charges against us, we'll tell them, 'We did them a favor. After all we didn't go to war and kill to get wives for men. And it wasn't as if you were in on it by giving consent. But if you keep this up, you will incur blame.' "


text:
And that's what the Benjaminites did: They carried off girls from the dance, wives enough for their number, got away, and went home to their inheritance. They rebuilt their towns and settled down.


text:
From there the People of Israel dispersed, each man heading back to his own tribe and clan, each to his own plot of land.


text:
Once upon a time—it was back in the days when judges led Israel—there was a famine in the land. A man from Bethlehem in Judah left home to live in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons.


text:
The man's name was Elimelech; his wife's name was Naomi; his sons were named Mahlon and Kilion—all Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They all went to the country of Moab and settled there.


text:
The sons took Moabite wives; the name of the first was Orpah, the second Ruth. They lived there in Moab for the next ten years.


text:
But then the two brothers, Mahlon and Kilion, died. Now the woman was left without either her young men or her husband.


text:
One day she got herself together, she and her two daughters-in-law, to leave the country of Moab and set out for home; she had heard that God had been pleased to visit his people and give them food.


text:
And so she started out from the place she had been living, she and her two daughters-in-law with her, on the road back to the land of Judah.


text:
After a short while on the road, Naomi told her two daughters-in-law, "Go back. Go home and live with your mothers. And may God treat you as graciously as you treated your deceased husbands and me.


text:
But Naomi was firm: "Go back, my dear daughters. Why would you come with me? Do you suppose I still have sons in my womb who can become your future husbands?


text:
Go back, dear daughters—on your way, please! I'm too old to get a husband. Why, even if I said, 'There's still hope!' and this very night got a man and had sons,


text:
can you imagine being satisfied to wait until they were grown? Would you wait that long to get married again? No, dear daughters; this is a bitter pill for me to swallow—more bitter for me than for you. God has dealt me a hard blow."


text:
Again they cried openly. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye; but Ruth embraced her and held on.


text:
Naomi said, "Look, your sister-in-law is going back home to live with her own people and gods; go with her."


text:
But Ruth said, "Don't force me to leave you; don't make me go home. Where you go, I go; and where you live, I'll live. Your people are my people, your God is my god;


text:
where you die, I'll die, and that's where I'll be buried, so help me God—not even death itself is going to come between us!"


text:
And so the two of them traveled on together to Bethlehem.<br/>When they arrived in Bethlehem the whole town was soon buzzing: "Is this really our Naomi? And after all this time!"


text:
I left here full of life, and God has brought me back with nothing but the clothes on my back. Why would you call me Naomi? God certainly doesn't. The Strong One ruined me."


text:
And so Naomi was back, and Ruth the foreigner with her, back from the country of Moab. They arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.


text:
It so happened that Naomi had a relative by marriage, a man prominent and rich, connected with Elimelech's family. His name was Boaz.


text:
One day Ruth, the Moabite foreigner, said to Naomi, "I'm going to work; I'm going out to glean among the sheaves, following after some harvester who will treat me kindly."<br/>Naomi said, "Go ahead, dear daughter."


text:
And so she set out. She went and started gleaning in a field, following in the wake of the harvesters. Eventually she ended up in the part of the field owned by Boaz, her father-in-law Elimelech's relative.


text:
A little later Boaz came out from Bethlehem, greeting his harvesters, "God be with you!" They replied, "And God bless you!"


text:
Boaz asked his young servant who was foreman over the farm hands, "Who is this young woman? Where did she come from?"


text:
The foreman said, "Why, that's the Moabite girl, the one who came with Naomi from the country of Moab.


text:
She asked permission. 'Let me glean,' she said, 'and gather among the sheaves following after your harvesters.' She's been at it steady ever since, from early morning until now, without so much as a break."


text:
Then Boaz spoke to Ruth: "Listen, my daughter. From now on don't go to any other field to glean—stay right here in this one. And stay close to my young women.


text:
Watch where they are harvesting and follow them. And don't worry about a thing; I've given orders to my servants not to harass you. When you get thirsty, feel free to go and drink from the water buckets that the servants have filled."


text:
She dropped to her knees, then bowed her face to the ground. "How does this happen that you should pick me out and treat me so kindly—me, a foreigner?"


text:
Boaz answered her, "I've heard all about you—heard about the way you treated your mother-in-law after the death of her husband, and how you left your father and mother and the land of your birth and have come to live among a bunch of total strangers.


text:
God reward you well for what you've done—and with a generous bonus besides from God, to whom you've come seeking protection under his wings."


text:
She said, "Oh sir, such grace, such kindness—I don't deserve it. You've touched my heart, treated me like one of your own. And I don't even belong here!"


text:
At the lunch break, Boaz said to her, "Come over here; eat some bread. Dip it in the wine."<br/>So she joined the harvesters. Boaz passed the roasted grain to her. She ate her fill and even had some left over.


text:
When she got up to go back to work, Boaz ordered his servants: "Let her glean where there's still plenty of grain on the ground—make it easy for her.


text:
Better yet, pull some of the good stuff out and leave it for her to glean. Give her special treatment."


text:
Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. When she threshed out what she had gathered, she ended up with nearly a full sack of barley!


text:
She gathered up her gleanings, went back to town, and showed her mother-in-law the results of her day's work; she also gave her the leftovers from her lunch.


text:
Naomi asked her, "So where did you glean today? Whose field? God bless whoever it was who took such good care of you!"<br/>Ruth told her mother-in-law, "The man with whom I worked today? His name is Boaz."


text:
Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, "Why, God bless that man! God hasn't quite walked out on us after all! He still loves us, in bad times as well as good!"<br/>Naomi went on, "That man, Ruth, is one of our circle of covenant redeemers, a close relative of ours!"


text:
Ruth the Moabitess said, "Well, listen to this: He also told me, 'Stick with my workers until my harvesting is finished.' "


text:
Naomi said to Ruth, "That's wonderful, dear daughter! Do that! You'll be safe in the company of his young women; no danger now of being raped in some stranger's field."


text:
So Ruth did it—she stuck close to Boaz's young women, gleaning in the fields daily until both the barley and wheat harvesting were finished. And she continued living with her mother-in-law.


text:
One day her mother-in-law Naomi said to Ruth, "My dear daughter, isn't it about time I arranged a good home for you so you can have a happy life?


text:
And isn't Boaz our close relative, the one with whose young women you've been working? Maybe it's time to make our move. Tonight is the night of Boaz's barley harvest at the threshing floor.


text:
"Take a bath. Put on some perfume. Get all dressed up and go to the threshing floor. But don't let him know you're there until the party is well under way and he's had plenty of food and drink.


text:
When you see him slipping off to sleep, watch where he lies down and then go there. Lie at his feet to let him know that you are available to him for marriage. Then wait and see what he says. He'll tell you what to do."


text:
Boaz had a good time, eating and drinking his fill—he felt great. Then he went off to get some sleep, lying down at the end of a stack of barley. Ruth quietly followed; she lay down to signal her availability for marriage.


text:
In the middle of the night the man was suddenly startled and sat up. Surprise! This woman asleep at his feet!


text:
He said, "And who are you?"<br/>She said, "I am Ruth, your maiden; take me under your protecting wing. You're my close relative, you know, in the circle of covenant redeemers—you do have the right to marry me."


text:
He said, "God bless you, my dear daughter! What a splendid expression of love! And when you could have had your pick of any of the young men around.


text:
And now, my dear daughter, don't you worry about a thing; I'll do all you could want or ask. Everybody in town knows what a courageous woman you are—a real prize!


text:
So stay the rest of the night. In the morning, if he wants to exercise his customary rights and responsibilities as the closest covenant redeemer, he'll have his chance; but if he isn't interested, as God lives, I'll do it. Now go back to sleep until morning."


text:
Ruth slept at his feet until dawn, but she got up while it was still dark and wouldn't be recognized. Then Boaz said to himself, "No one must know that Ruth came to the threshing floor."


text:
So Boaz said, "Bring the shawl you're wearing and spread it out."<br/>She spread it out and he poured it full of barley, six measures, and put it on her shoulders. Then she went back to town.


text:
Ruth told her everything that the man had done for her, adding, "And he gave me all this barley besides—six quarts! He told me, 'You can't go back empty-handed to your mother-in-law!' "


text:
Naomi said, "Sit back and relax, my dear daughter, until we find out how things turn out; that man isn't going to fool around. Mark my words, he's going to get everything wrapped up today."


text:
Boaz went straight to the public square and took his place there. Before long the "closer relative," the one mentioned earlier by Boaz, strolled by.<br/>"Step aside, old friend," said Boaz. "Take a seat." The man sat down.


text:
Boaz then gathered ten of the town elders together and said, "Sit down here with us; we've got some business to take care of." And they sat down.


text:
Boaz then said to his relative, "The piece of property that belonged to our relative Elimelech is being sold by his widow Naomi, who has just returned from the country of Moab.


text:
I thought you ought to know about it. Buy it back if you want it—you can make it official in the presence of those sitting here and before the town elders. You have first redeemer rights. If you don't want it, tell me so I'll know where I stand. You're first in line to do this and I'm next after you."<br/>He said, "I'll buy it."


text:
Then Boaz added, "You realize, don't you, that when you buy the field from Naomi, you also get Ruth the Moabite, the widow of our dead relative, along with the redeemer responsibility to have children with her to carry on the family inheritance."


text:
Then the relative said, "Oh, I can't do that—I'd jeopardize my own family's inheritance. You go ahead and buy it—you can have my rights—I can't do it."


text:
In the olden times in Israel, this is how they handled official business regarding matters of property and inheritance: a man would take off his shoe and give it to the other person. This was the same as an official seal or personal signature in Israel.


text:
So when Boaz's "redeemer" relative said, "Go ahead and buy it," he signed the deal by pulling off his shoe.


text:
Boaz then addressed the elders and all the people in the town square that day: "You are witnesses today that I have bought from Naomi everything that belonged to Elimelech and Kilion and Mahlon,


text:
including responsibility for Ruth the foreigner, the widow of Mahlon—I'll take her as my wife and keep the name of the deceased alive along with his inheritance. The memory and reputation of the deceased is not going to disappear out of this family or from his hometown. To all this you are witnesses this very day."


text:
All the people in the town square that day, backing up the elders, said, "Yes, we are witnesses. May God make this woman who is coming into your household like Rachel and Leah, the two women who built the family of Israel. May God make you a pillar in Ephrathah and famous in Bethlehem!


text:
With the children God gives you from this young woman, may your family rival the family of Perez, the son Tamar bore to Judah."


text:
Boaz married Ruth. She became his wife. Boaz slept with her. By God's gracious gift she conceived and had a son.


text:
The town women said to Naomi, "Blessed be God! He didn't leave you without family to carry on your life. May this baby grow up to be famous in Israel!


text:
He'll make you young again! He'll take care of you in old age. And this daughter-in-law who has brought him into the world and loves you so much, why, she's worth more to you than seven sons!"


text:
Naomi took the baby and held him in her arms, cuddling him, cooing over him, waiting on him hand and foot.


text:
The neighborhood women started calling him "Naomi's baby boy!" But his real name was Obed. Obed was the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David.


text:
There once was a man who lived in Ramathaim. He was descended from the old Zuph family in the Ephraim hills. His name was Elkanah. (He was connected with the Zuphs from Ephraim through his father Jeroham, his grandfather Elihu, and his great-grandfather Tohu.)


text:
He had two wives. The first was Hannah; the second was Peninnah. Peninnah had children; Hannah did not.


text:
Every year this man went from his hometown up to Shiloh to worship and offer a sacrifice to God-of-the-Angel-Armies. Eli and his two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, served as the priests of God there.


text:
When Elkanah sacrificed, he passed helpings from the sacrificial meal around to his wife Peninnah and all her children,


text:
but he always gave an especially generous helping to Hannah because he loved her so much, and because God had not given her children.


text:
But her rival wife taunted her cruelly, rubbing it in and never letting her forget that God had not given her children.


text:
This went on year after year. Every time she went to the sanctuary of God she could expect to be taunted. Hannah was reduced to tears and had no appetite.


text:
Her husband Elkanah said, "Oh, Hannah, why are you crying? Why aren't you eating? And why are you so upset? Am I not of more worth to you than ten sons?"


text:
So Hannah ate. Then she pulled herself together, slipped away quietly, and entered the sanctuary. The priest Eli was on duty at the entrance to God's Temple in the customary seat.


text:
Then she made a vow:<br/>Oh, God-of-the-Angel-Armies,<br/>If you'll take a good, hard look at my pain,<br/>If you'll quit neglecting me and go into action for me<br/>By giving me a son,<br/>I'll give him completely, unreservedly to you.<br/>I'll set him apart for a life of holy discipline.


text:
Hannah was praying in her heart, silently. Her lips moved, but no sound was heard. Eli jumped to the conclusion that she was drunk.


text:
Hannah said, "Oh no, sir—please! I'm a woman hard used. I haven't been drinking. Not a drop of wine or beer. The only thing I've been pouring out is my heart, pouring it out to God.


text:
Don't for a minute think I'm a bad woman. It's because I'm so desperately unhappy and in such pain that I've stayed here so long."


text:
"Think well of me—and pray for me!" she said, and went her way. Then she ate heartily, her face radiant.


text:
Up before dawn, they worshiped God and returned home to Ramah. Elkanah slept with Hannah his wife, and God began making the necessary arrangements in response to what she had asked.


text:
Before the year was out, Hannah had conceived and given birth to a son. She named him Samuel, explaining, "I asked God for him."


text:
When Elkanah next took his family on their annual trip to Shiloh to worship God, offering sacrifices and keeping his vow,


text:
Hannah didn't go. She told her husband, "After the child is weaned, I'll bring him myself and present him before God—and that's where he'll stay, for good."


text:
Elkanah said to his wife, "Do what you think is best. Stay home until you have weaned him. Yes! Let God complete what he has begun!"<br/>So she did. She stayed home and nursed her son until she had weaned him.


text:
Then she took him up to Shiloh, bringing also the makings of a generous sacrificial meal—a prize bull, flour, and wine. The child was so young to be sent off!


text:
Hannah said, "Excuse me, sir. Would you believe that I'm the very woman who was standing before you at this very spot, praying to God?


text:
And now I have dedicated him to God. He's dedicated to God for life."<br/>Then and there, they worshiped God.


text:
Hannah prayed:<br/>I'm bursting with God-news!<br/>I'm walking on air.<br/>I'm laughing at my rivals.<br/>I'm dancing my salvation.


text:
Don't dare talk pretentiously—<br/>not a word of boasting, ever!<br/>For God knows what's going on.<br/>He takes the measure of everything that happens.


text:
The weapons of the strong are smashed to pieces,<br/>while the weak are infused with fresh strength.


text:
The well-fed are out begging in the streets for crusts,<br/>while the hungry are getting second helpings.<br/>The barren woman has a houseful of children,<br/>while the mother of many is bereft.


text:
He puts poor people on their feet again;<br/>he rekindles burned-out lives with fresh hope,<br/>Restoring dignity and respect to their lives—<br/>a place in the sun!<br/>For the very structures of earth are God's;<br/>he has laid out his operations on a firm foundation.


text:
He protectively cares for his faithful friends, step by step,<br/>but leaves the wicked to stumble in the dark.<br/>No one makes it in this life by sheer muscle!


text:
God's enemies will be blasted out of the sky,<br/>crashed in a heap and burned.<br/>God will set things right all over the earth,<br/>he'll give strength to his king,<br/>he'll set his anointed on top of the world!


text:
about the customs of priests among the people. Ordinarily, when someone offered a sacrifice, the priest's servant was supposed to come up and, while the meat was boiling,


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stab a three-pronged fork into the cooking pot. The priest then got whatever came up on the fork. But this is how Eli's sons treated all the Israelites who came to Shiloh to offer sacrifices to God.


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Before they had even burned the fat to God, the priest's servant would interrupt whoever was sacrificing and say, "Hand over some of that meat for the priest to roast. He doesn't like boiled meat; he likes his rare."


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If the man objected, "First let the fat be burned—God's portion!—then take all you want," the servant would demand, "No, I want it now. If you won't give it, I'll take it."


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It was a horrible sin these young servants were committing—and right in the presence of God!—desecrating the holy offerings to God.


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Additionally, every year his mother would make him a little robe cut to his size and bring it to him when she and her husband came for the annual sacrifice.


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Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, saying, "God give you children to replace this child you have dedicated to God." Then they would go home.


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God was most especially kind to Hannah. She had three more sons and two daughters! The boy Samuel stayed at the sanctuary and grew up with God.


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By this time Eli was very old. He kept getting reports on how his sons were ripping off the people and sleeping with the women who helped out at the sanctuary.


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Eli took them to task: "What's going on here? Why are you doing these things? I hear story after story of your corrupt and evil carrying on.


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Oh, my sons, this is not right! These are terrible reports I'm getting, stories spreading right and left among God's people!


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If you sin against another person, there's help—God's help. But if you sin against God, who is around to help?"<br/>But they were far gone in disobedience and refused to listen to a thing their father said. So God, who was fed up with them, decreed their death.


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A holy man came to Eli and said: "This is God's message: I revealed myself openly to your ancestors when they were Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt.


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Out of all the tribes of Israel, I chose your family to be my priests: to preside at the altar, to burn incense, to wear the priestly robes in my presence. I put your ancestral family in charge of all the sacrificial offerings of Israel.


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So why do you now treat as mere loot these very sacrificial offerings that I commanded for my worship? Why do you treat your sons better than me, turning them loose to get fat on these offerings, and ignoring me?


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Therefore—this is God's word, the God of Israel speaking—I once said that you and your ancestral family would be my priests indefinitely, but now—God's word, remember!—there is no way this can continue.<br/>I honor those who honor me;<br/>those who scorn me I demean.


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"Be well warned: It won't be long before I wipe out both your family and your future family. No one in your family will make it to old age!


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You'll see good things that I'm doing in Israel, but you'll see it and weep, for no one in your family will live to enjoy it.


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I will leave one person to serve at my altar, but it will be a hard life, with many tears. Everyone else in your family will die before their time.


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Then I'll establish for myself a true priest. He'll do what I want him to do, be what I want him to be. I'll make his position secure and he'll do his work freely in the service of my anointed one.


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Survivors from your family will come to him begging for handouts, saying, 'Please, give me some priest work, just enough to put some food on the table.' "


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The boy Samuel was serving God under Eli's direction. This was at a time when the revelation of God was rarely heard or seen.


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It was well before dawn; the sanctuary lamp was still burning. Samuel was still in bed in the Temple of God, where the Chest of God rested.


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Then he ran to Eli saying, "I heard you call. Here I am."<br/>Eli said, "I didn't call you. Go back to bed." And so he did.


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God called again, "Samuel, Samuel!"<br/>Samuel got up and went to Eli, "I heard you call. Here I am."<br/>Again Eli said, "Son, I didn't call you. Go back to bed."


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(This all happened before Samuel knew God for himself. It was before the revelation of God had been given to him personally.)


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God called again, "Samuel!"—the third time! Yet again Samuel got up and went to Eli, "Yes? I heard you call me. Here I am."<br/>That's when it dawned on Eli that God was calling the boy.


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So Eli directed Samuel, "Go back and lie down. If the voice calls again, say, 'Speak, God. I'm your servant, ready to listen.' " Samuel returned to his bed.


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Then God came and stood before him exactly as before, calling out, "Samuel! Samuel!"<br/>Samuel answered, "Speak. I'm your servant, ready to listen."


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God said to Samuel, "Listen carefully. I'm getting ready to do something in Israel that is going to shake everyone up and get their attention.


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The time has come for me to bring down on Eli's family everything I warned him of, every last word of it.


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I'm letting him know that the time's up. I'm bringing judgment on his family for good. He knew what was going on, that his sons were desecrating God's name and God's place, and he did nothing to stop them.


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This is my sentence on the family of Eli: The evil of Eli's family can never be wiped out by sacrifice or offering."


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Samuel stayed in bed until morning, then rose early and went about his duties, opening the doors of the sanctuary, but he dreaded having to tell the vision to Eli.


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But then Eli summoned Samuel: "Samuel, my son!"<br/>Samuel came running: "Yes? What can I do for you?"


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"What did he say? Tell it to me, all of it. Don't suppress or soften one word, as God is your judge! I want it all, word for word as he said it to you."


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So Samuel told him, word for word. He held back nothing.<br/>Eli said, "He is God. Let him do whatever he thinks best."


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Everyone in Israel, from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south, recognized that Samuel was the real thing—a true prophet of God.


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Whatever Samuel said was broadcast all through Israel. Israel went to war against the Philistines. Israel set up camp at Ebenezer, the Philistines at Aphek.


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The Philistines marched out to meet Israel, the fighting spread, and Israel was badly beaten—about 4,000 soldiers left dead on the field.


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When the troops returned to camp, Israel's elders said, "Why has God given us such a beating today by the Philistines? Let's go to Shiloh and get the Chest of God's Covenant. It will accompany us and save us from the grip of our enemies."


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So the army sent orders to Shiloh. They brought the Chest of the Covenant of God, the God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the Cherubim-Enthroned-God. Eli's two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, accompanied the Chest of the Covenant of God.


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When the Chest of the Covenant of God was brought into camp, everyone gave a huge cheer. The shouts were like thunderclaps shaking the very ground.


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The Philistines heard the shouting and wondered what on earth was going on: "What's all this shouting among the Hebrews?"<br/>Then they learned that the Chest of God had entered the Hebrew camp.


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The Philistines panicked: "Their gods have come to their camp! Nothing like this has ever happened before.


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We're done for! Who can save us from the clutches of these supergods? These are the same gods who hit the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues out in the wilderness.


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On your feet, Philistines! Courage! We're about to become slaves to the Hebrews, just as they have been slaves to us. Show what you're made of! Fight for your lives!"


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And did they ever fight! It turned into a rout. They thrashed Israel so mercilessly that the Israelite soldiers ran for their lives, leaving behind an incredible 30,000 dead.


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As if that wasn't bad enough, the Chest of God was taken and the two sons of Eli—Hophni and Phinehas—were killed.


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Immediately, a Benjaminite raced from the front lines back to Shiloh. Shirt torn and face smeared with dirt,


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he entered the town. Eli was sitting on his stool beside the road keeping vigil, for he was extremely worried about the Chest of God. When the man ran straight into town to tell the bad news, everyone wept.


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They were appalled. Eli heard the loud wailing and asked, "Why this uproar?" The messenger hurried over and reported.


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The man said to Eli, "I've just come from the front, barely escaping with my life."<br/>"And so, my son," said Eli, "what happened?"


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The messenger answered, "Israel scattered before the Philistines. The defeat was catastrophic, with enormous losses. Your sons Hophni and Phinehas died, and the Chest of God was taken."


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At the words, "Chest of God," Eli fell backwards off his stool where he sat next to the gate. Eli was an old man, and very fat. When he fell, he broke his neck and died. He had led Israel forty years.


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His daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant and ready to deliver. When she heard that the Chest of God had been taken and that both her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she went to her knees to give birth, going into hard labor.


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As she was about to die, her midwife said, "Don't be afraid. You've given birth to a son!" But she gave no sign that she had heard.


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Next morning when the citizens of Ashdod got up, they were shocked to find Dagon toppled from his place, flat on his face before the Chest of God. They picked him up and put him back where he belonged.


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First thing the next morning they found him again, toppled and flat on his face before the Chest of God. Dagon's head and arms were broken off, strewn across the entrance. Only his torso was in one piece.


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(That's why even today, the priests of Dagon and visitors to the Dagon shrine in Ashdod avoid stepping on the threshold.)


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God was hard on the citizens of Ashdod. He devastated them by hitting them with tumors. This happened in both the town and the surrounding neighborhoods. He let loose rats among them. Jumping from ships there, rats swarmed all over the city! And everyone was deathly afraid.


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When the leaders of Ashdod saw what was going on, they decided, "The chest of the god of Israel has got to go. We can't handle this, and neither can our god Dagon."


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They called together all the Philistine leaders and put it to them: "How can we get rid of the chest of the god of Israel?"<br/>The leaders agreed: "Move it to Gath." So they moved the Chest of the God of Israel to Gath.


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But as soon as they moved it there, God came down hard on that city, too. It was mass hysteria! He hit them with tumors. Tumors broke out on everyone in town, young and old.


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So they sent the Chest of God on to Ekron, but as the Chest was being brought into town, the people shouted in protest, "You'll kill us all by bringing in this Chest of the God of Israel!"


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They called the Philistine leaders together and demanded, "Get it out of here, this Chest of the God of Israel. Send it back where it came from. We're threatened with mass death!" For everyone was scared to death when the Chest of God showed up. God was already coming down very hard on the place.


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Those who didn't die were hit with tumors. All over the city cries of pain and lament filled the air.


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the Philistine leaders called together their religious professionals, the priests, and experts on the supernatural for consultation: "How can we get rid of this Chest of God, get it off our hands without making things worse? Tell us!"


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They said, "If you're going to send the Chest of the God of Israel back, don't just dump it on them. Pay compensation. Then you will be healed. After you're in the clear again, God will let up on you. Why wouldn't he?"


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"And what exactly would make for adequate compensation?"<br/>"Five gold tumors and five gold rats," they said, "to match the number of Philistine leaders. Since all of you—leaders and people—suffered the same plague,


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make replicas of the tumors and rats that are devastating the country and present them as an offering to the glory of the God of Israel. Then maybe he'll ease up and not be so hard on you and your gods, and on your country.


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Why be stubborn like the Egyptians and Pharaoh? God didn't quit pounding on them until they let the people go. Only then did he let up.


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"So here's what you do: Take a brand-new oxcart and two cows that have never been in harness. Hitch the cows to the oxcart and send their calves back to the barn.


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Put the Chest of God on the cart. Secure the gold replicas of the tumors and rats that you are offering as compensation in a sack and set them next to the Chest. Then send it off.


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But keep your eyes on it. If it heads straight back home to where it came from, toward Beth Shemesh, it is clear that this catastrophe is a divine judgment, but if not, we'll know that God had nothing to do with it—it was just an accident."


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The cows headed straight for home, down the road to Beth Shemesh, straying neither right nor left, mooing all the way. The Philistine leaders followed them to the outskirts of Beth Shemesh.


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The people of Beth Shemesh were harvesting wheat in the valley. They looked up and saw the Chest. Jubilant, they ran to meet it.


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The cart came into the field of Joshua, a Beth Shemeshite, and stopped there beside a huge boulder. The harvesters tore the cart to pieces, then chopped up the wood and sacrificed the cows as a burnt offering to God.


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The Levites took charge of the Chest of God and the sack containing the gold offerings, placing them on the boulder. Offering the sacrifices, everyone in Beth Shemesh worshiped God most heartily that day.


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The five gold replicas of the tumors were offered by the Philistines in compensation for the cities of Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron.


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The five gold rats matched the number of Philistine towns, both large and small, ruled by the five leaders. The big boulder on which they placed the Chest of God is still there in the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh, a landmark.


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God struck some of the men of Beth Shemesh who, out of curiosity, irreverently peeked into the Chest of God. Seventy died. The whole town was in mourning, reeling under the hard blow from God,


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and questioning, "Who can stand before God, this holy God? And who can we get to take this Chest off our hands?"


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They sent emissaries to Kiriath Jearim, saying, "The Philistines have returned the Chest of God. Come down and get it."


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And they did. The men of Kiriath Jearim came and got the Chest of God and delivered it to the house of Abinadab on the hill. They ordained his son, Eleazar, to take responsibility for the Chest of God.


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From the time that the Chest came to rest in Kiriath Jearim, a long time passed—twenty years it was—and throughout Israel there was a widespread, fearful movement toward God.


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Then Samuel addressed the house of Israel: "If you are truly serious about coming back to God, clean house. Get rid of the foreign gods and fertility goddesses, ground yourselves firmly in God, worship him and him alone, and he'll save you from Philistine oppression."


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They did it. They got rid of the gods and goddesses, the images of Baal and Ashtoreth, and gave their exclusive attention and service to God.


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So everyone assembled at Mizpah. They drew water from the wells and poured it out before God in a ritual of cleansing. They fasted all day and prayed, "We have sinned against God."<br/>So Samuel prepared the Israelites for holy war there at Mizpah.


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When the Philistines heard that Israel was meeting at Mizpah, the Philistine leaders went on the offensive. Israel got the report and became frightened—Philistines on the move again!


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They pleaded with Samuel, "Pray with all your might! And don't let up! Pray to God, our God, that he'll save us from the boot of the Philistines."


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Samuel took a young lamb not yet weaned and offered it whole as a Whole-Burnt-Offering to God. He prayed fervently to God, interceding for Israel. And God answered.


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While Samuel was offering the sacrifice, the Philistines came within range to fight Israel. Just then God thundered, a huge thunderclap exploding among the Philistines. They panicked—mass confusion!—and ran helter-skelter from Israel.


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Israel poured out of Mizpah and gave chase, killing Philistines right and left, to a point just beyond Beth Car.


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Samuel took a single rock and set it upright between Mizpah and Shen. He named it "Ebenezer" (Rock of Help), saying, "This marks the place where God helped us."


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The Philistines learned their lesson and stayed home—no more border crossings. God was hard on the Philistines all through Samuel's lifetime.


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All the cities from Ekron to Gath that the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored. Israel also freed the surrounding countryside from Philistine control. And there was peace between Israel and the Amorites.


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Every year he went on a circuit from Bethel to Gilgal to Mizpah. He gave leadership to Israel in each of these places.


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But always he would return to Ramah, where he lived, and preside from there. That is where he built an altar to God.


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His firstborn son was named Joel, the name of his second, Abijah. They were assigned duty in Beersheba.


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But his sons didn't take after him; they were out for what they could get for themselves, taking bribes, corrupting justice.


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They presented their case: "Look, you're an old man, and your sons aren't following in your footsteps. Here's what we want you to do: Appoint a king to rule us, just like everybody else."


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When Samuel heard their demand—"Give us a king to rule us!"—he was crushed. How awful! Samuel prayed to God.


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God answered Samuel, "Go ahead and do what they're asking. They are not rejecting you. They've rejected me as their King.


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From the day I brought them out of Egypt until this very day they've been behaving like this, leaving me for other gods. And now they're doing it to you.


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So let them have their own way. But warn them of what they're in for. Tell them the way kings operate, just what they're likely to get from a king."


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He said, "This is the way the kind of king you're talking about operates. He'll take your sons and make soldiers of them—chariotry, cavalry, infantry,


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regimented in battalions and squadrons. He'll put some to forced labor on his farms, plowing and harvesting, and others to making either weapons of war or chariots in which he can ride in luxury.


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He'll conscript your best fields, vineyards, and orchards and hand them over to his special friends.


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The day will come when you will cry in desperation because of this king you so much want for yourselves. But don't expect God to answer."


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Then we'll be just like all the other nations. Our king will rule us and lead us and fight our battles."


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God told Samuel, "Do what they say. Make them a king."<br/>Then Samuel dismissed the men of Israel: "Go home, each of you to your own city."


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There was a man from the tribe of Benjamin named Kish. He was the son of Abiel, grandson of Zeror, great-grandson of Becorath, great-great-grandson of Aphiah—a Benjaminite of stalwart character.


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He had a son, Saul, a most handsome young man. There was none finer—he literally stood head and shoulders above the crowd!


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Some of Kish's donkeys got lost. Kish said to his son, "Saul, take one of the servants with you and go look for the donkeys."


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Saul took one of the servants and went to find the donkeys. They went into the hill country of Ephraim around Shalisha, but didn't find them. Then they went over to Shaalim—no luck. Then to Jabin, and still nothing.


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When they got to Zuph, Saul said to the young man with him, "Enough of this. Let's go back. Soon my father is going to forget about the donkeys and start worrying about us."


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He replied, "Not so fast. There's a holy man in this town. He carries a lot of weight around here. What he says is always right on the mark. Maybe he can tell us where to go."


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Saul said, "If we go, what do we have to give him? There's no more bread in our sacks. We've nothing to bring as a gift to the holy man. Do we have anything else?"


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The servant spoke up, "Look, I just happen to have this silver coin! I'll give it to the holy man and he'll tell us how to proceed!"


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(In former times in Israel, a person who wanted to seek God's word on a matter would say, "Let's visit the Seer," because the one we now call "the Prophet" used to be called "the Seer.")


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As they were climbing up the hill into the town, they met some girls who were coming out to draw water. They said to them, "Is this where the Seer lives?"


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They answered, "It sure is—just ahead. Hurry up. He's come today because the people have prepared a sacrifice at the shrine.


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As soon as you enter the town, you can catch him before he goes up to the shrine to eat. The people won't eat until he arrives, for he has to bless the sacrifice. Only then can everyone eat. So get going. You're sure to find him!"


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They continued their climb and entered the city. And then there he was—Samuel!—coming straight toward them on his way to the shrine!


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"This time tomorrow, I'm sending a man from the land of Benjamin to meet you. You're to anoint him as prince over my people Israel. He will free my people from Philistine oppression. Yes, I know all about their hard circumstances. I've heard their cries for help."


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The moment Samuel laid eyes on Saul, God said, "He's the one, the man I told you about. This is the one who will keep my people in check."


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Saul came up to Samuel in the street and said, "Pardon me, but can you tell me where the Seer lives?"


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"I'm the Seer," said Samuel. "Accompany me to the shrine and eat with me. In the morning I'll tell you all about what's on your mind, and send you on your way.


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And by the way, your lost donkeys—the ones you've been hunting for the last three days—have been found, so don't worry about them. At this moment, Israel's future is in your hands."


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Saul answered, "But I'm only a Benjaminite, from the smallest of Israel's tribes, and from the most insignificant clan in the tribe at that. Why are you talking to me like this?"


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Samuel took Saul and his servant and led them into the dining hall at the shrine and seated them at the head of the table. There were about thirty guests.


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Then Samuel directed the chef, "Bring the choice cut I pointed out to you, the one I told you to reserve."


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The chef brought it and placed it before Saul with a flourish, saying, "This meal was kept aside just for you. Eat! It was especially prepared for this time and occasion with these guests."


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Afterward they went down from the shrine into the city. A bed was prepared for Saul on the breeze-cooled roof of Samuel's house.


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They woke at the break of day. Samuel called to Saul on the roof, "Get up and I'll send you off." Saul got up and the two of them went out in the street.


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As they approached the outskirts of town, Samuel said to Saul, "Tell your servant to go on ahead of us. You stay with me for a bit. I have a word of God to give you."


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Then Samuel took a flask of oil, poured it on Saul's head, and kissed him. He said, "Do you see what this means? God has anointed you prince over his people.<br/>"This sign will confirm God's anointing of you as prince over his inheritance:


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After you leave me today, as you get closer to your home country of Benjamin, you'll meet two men near Rachel's Tomb. They'll say, 'The donkeys you went to look for are found. Your father has forgotten about the donkeys and is worried about you, wringing his hands—quite beside himself!'


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"Leaving there, you'll arrive at the Oak of Tabor. There you'll meet three men going up to worship God at Bethel. One will be carrying three young goats, another carrying three sacks of bread, and the third a jug of wine.


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"Next, you'll come to Gibeah of God, where there's a Philistine garrison. As you approach the town, you'll run into a bunch of prophets coming down from the shrine, playing harps and tambourines, flutes and drums. And they'll be prophesying.


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Before you know it, the Spirit of God will come on you and you'll be prophesying right along with them. And you'll be transformed. You'll be a new person!


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"When these confirming signs are accomplished, you'll know that you're ready: Whatever job you're given to do, do it. God is with you!


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"Now, go down to Gilgal and I will follow. I'll come down and join you in worship by sacrificing burnt offerings and peace offerings. Wait seven days. Then I'll come and tell you what to do next."


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Saul turned and left Samuel. At that very moment God transformed him—made him a new person! And all the confirming signs took place the same day.


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When Saul and his party got to Gibeah, there were the prophets, right in front of them! Before he knew it, the Spirit of God came on Saul and he was prophesying right along with them.


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When those who had previously known Saul saw him prophesying with the prophets, they were totally surprised. "What's going on here? What's come over the son of Kish? How on earth did Saul get to be a prophet?"


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One man spoke up and said, "Who started this? Where did these people ever come from?"<br/>That's how the saying got started, "Saul among the prophets! Who would have guessed?!"


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His uncle asked him and his servant, "So where have you two been all this time?"<br/>"Out looking for the donkeys. We looked and looked and couldn't find them. And then we found Samuel!"


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Saul said, "He told us not to worry—the donkeys had been found." But Saul didn't breathe a word to his uncle of what Samuel said about the king business.


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He addressed the children of Israel, "This is God's personal message to you:<br/>"I brought Israel up out of Egypt. I delivered you from Egyptian oppression—yes, from all the bullying governments that made your life miserable.


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And now you want nothing to do with your God, the very God who has a history of getting you out of troubles of all sorts.<br/>"And now you say, 'No! We want a king; give us a king!'<br/>"Well, if that's what you want, that's what you'll get! Present yourselves formally before God, ranked in tribes and families."


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Then he lined up the Benjamin tribe in family groups, and the family of Matri was picked. The family of Matri took its place in the lineup, and the name Saul, son of Kish, was picked. But when they went looking for him, he was nowhere to be found.


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Samuel went back to God: "Is he anywhere around?"<br/>God said, "Yes, he's right over there—hidden in that pile of baggage."


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They ran and got him. He took his place before everyone, standing tall—head and shoulders above them.


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Samuel then addressed the people, "Take a good look at whom God has chosen: the best! No one like him in the whole country!"<br/>Then a great shout went up from the people: "Long live the king!"


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Samuel went on to instruct the people in the rules and regulations involved in a kingdom, wrote it all down in a book, and placed it before God. Then Samuel sent everyone home.


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But the riff-raff went off muttering, " 'Deliverer'? Don't make me laugh!" They held him in contempt and refused to congratulate him. But Saul paid them no mind.<br/>Nahash, king of the Ammonites, was brutalizing the tribes of Gad and Reuben, gouging out their right eyes and intimidating anyone who would come to Israel's help. There were very few Israelites living on the east side of the Jordan River who had not had their right eyes gouged out by Nahash. But seven thousand men had escaped from the Ammonites and were now living safely in Jabesh.


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So Nahash went after them and prepared to go to war against Jabesh Gilead. The men of Jabesh petitioned Nahash: "Make a treaty with us and we'll serve you."


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Nahash said, "I'll make a treaty with you on one condition: that every right eye among you be gouged out! I'll humiliate every last man and woman in Israel before I'm done!"


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The town leaders of Jabesh said, "Give us time to send messengers around Israel—seven days should do it. If no one shows up to help us, we'll accept your terms."


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The messengers came to Saul's place at Gibeah and told the people what was going on. As the people broke out in loud wails,


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Saul showed up. He was coming back from the field with his oxen.<br/>Saul asked, "What happened? Why is everyone crying?"<br/>And they repeated the message that had come from Jabesh.


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He grabbed the yoke of oxen and butchered them on the spot. He sent the messengers throughout Israel distributing the bloody pieces with this message: "Anyone who refuses to join up with Saul and Samuel, let this be the fate of his oxen!"<br/>The terror of God seized the people, and they came out, one and all, not a laggard among them.


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Saul took command of the people at Bezek. There were 300,000 men from Israel, another 30,000 from Judah.


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Saul instructed the messengers, "Tell this to the folk in Jabesh Gilead: 'Help is on the way. Expect it by noon tomorrow.' "<br/>The messengers set straight off and delivered their message. Elated, the people of Jabesh Gilead


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Long before dawn the next day, Saul had strategically placed his army in three groups. At first light they broke into the enemy camp and slaughtered Ammonites until noon. Those who were left ran for their lives, scattering every which way.


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The people came to Samuel then and said, "Where are those men who said, 'Saul is not fit to rule over us'? Hand them over. We'll kill them!"


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They all trooped out to Gilgal. Before God, they crowned Saul king at Gilgal. And there they worshiped, sacrificing peace offerings. Saul and all Israel celebrated magnificently.


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Samuel addressed all Israel: "I've listened to everything you've said to me, listened carefully to every word, and I've given you a king.


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See for yourself: Your king among you, leading you! But now look at me: I'm old and gray, and my sons are still here. I've led you faithfully from my youth until this very day.


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Look at me! Do you have any complaints to bring before God and his anointed? Have I ever stolen so much as an ox or a donkey? Have I ever taken advantage of you or exploited you? Have I ever taken a bribe or played fast and loose with the law? Bring your complaint and I'll make it right."


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"Oh no," they said, "never. You've never done any of that—never abused us, never lined your own pockets."


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"That settles it then," said Samuel. "God is witness, and his anointed is witness that you find nothing against me—no faults, no complaints."


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And the people said, "He is witness."<br/>Samuel continued, "This is the God who made Moses and Aaron your leaders and brought your ancestors out of Egypt.


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Take your stand before him now as I review your case before God in the light of all the righteous ways in which God has worked with you and your ancestors.


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When Jacob's sons entered Egypt, the Egyptians made life hard for them and they cried for help to God. God sent Moses and Aaron, who led your ancestors out of Egypt and settled them here in this place.


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"They soon forgot their God, so he sold them off to Sisera, commander of Hazor's army, later to a hard life under the Philistines, and still later to the king of Moab. They had to fight for their lives.


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"Then they cried for help to God. They confessed, 'We've sinned! We've gone off and left God and worshiped the fertility gods and goddesses of Canaan. Oh, deliver us from the brutalities of our enemies and we'll worship you alone.'


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"So God sent Jerub-Baal (Gideon), Bedan (Barak), Jephthah, and Samuel. He saved you from that hard life surrounded by enemies, and you lived in peace.


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"But when you saw Nahash, king of the Ammonites, preparing to attack you, you said to me, 'No more of this. We want a king to lead us.' And God was already your king!


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"So here's the king you wanted, the king you asked for. God has let you have your own way, given you a king.


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If you fear God, worship and obey him, and don't rebel against what he tells you. If both you and your king follow God, no problem. God will be sure to save you.


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But if you don't obey him and rebel against what he tells you, king or no king, you will fare no better than your fathers.


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It's summer, as you well know, and the rainy season is over. But I'm going to pray to God. He'll send thunder and rain, a sign to convince you of the great wrong you have done to God by asking for a king."


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Samuel prayed to God, and God sent thunder and rain that same day. The people were greatly afraid and in awe of God and of Samuel.


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Then all the people begged Samuel, "Pray to your God for us, your servants. Pray that we won't die! On top of all our other sins, we've piled on one more—asking for a king!"


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Samuel said to them, "Don't be fearful. It's true that you have done something very wrong. All the same, don't turn your back on God. Worship and serve him heart and soul!


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There's nothing to them. They can't help you. They're nothing but ghost-gods! God, simply because of who he is, is not going to walk off and leave his people. God took delight in making you into his very own people.


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"And neither will I walk off and leave you. That would be a sin against God! I'm staying right here at my post praying for you and teaching you the good and right way to live.


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But I beg of you, fear God and worship him honestly and heartily. You've seen how greatly he has worked among you!


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Saul conscripted enough men for three companies of soldiers. He kept two companies under his command at Micmash and in the Bethel hills. The other company was under Jonathan at Gibeah in Benjamin. He sent the rest of the men home.


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Jonathan attacked and killed the Philistine governor stationed at Geba (Gibeah). When the Philistines heard the news, they raised the alarm: "The Hebrews are in revolt!" Saul ordered the reveille trumpets blown throughout the land.


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The word went out all over Israel, "Saul has killed the Philistine governor—drawn first blood! The Philistines are stirred up and mad as hornets!" Summoned, the army came to Saul at Gilgal.


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The Philistines rallied their forces to fight Israel: three companies of chariots, six companies of cavalry, and so many infantry they looked like sand on the seashore. They went up into the hills and set up camp at Micmash, east of Beth Aven.


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When the Israelites saw that they were way outnumbered and in deep trouble, they ran for cover, hiding in caves and pits, ravines and brambles and cisterns—wherever.


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They retreated across the Jordan River, refugees fleeing to the country of Gad and Gilead. But Saul held his ground in Gilgal, his soldiers still with him but scared to death.


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He waited seven days, the time set by Samuel. Samuel failed to show up at Gilgal, and the soldiers were slipping away, right and left.


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So Saul took charge: "Bring me the burnt offering and the peace offerings!" He went ahead and sacrificed the burnt offering.


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Samuel said, "What on earth are you doing?"<br/>Saul answered, "When I saw I was losing my army from under me, and that you hadn't come when you said you would, and that the Philistines were poised at Micmash,


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I said, 'The Philistines are about to come down on me in Gilgal, and I haven't yet come before God asking for his help.' So I took things into my own hands, and sacrificed the burnt offering."


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"That was a fool thing to do," Samuel said to Saul. "If you had kept the appointment that your God commanded, by now God would have set a firm and lasting foundation under your kingly rule over Israel.


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As it is, your kingly rule is already falling to pieces. God is out looking for your replacement right now. This time he'll do the choosing. When he finds him, he'll appoint him leader of his people. And all because you didn't keep your appointment with God!"


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At that, Samuel got up and left Gilgal. What army there was left followed Saul into battle. They went into the hills from Gilgal toward Gibeah in Benjamin. Saul looked over and assessed the soldiers still with him—a mere six hundred!


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Saul, his son Jonathan, and the soldiers who had remained made camp at Geba (Gibeah) of Benjamin. The Philistines were camped at Micmash.


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Three squads of raiding parties were regularly sent out from the Philistine camp. One squadron was assigned to the Ophrah road going toward Shual country;


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another was assigned to the Beth Horon road; the third took the border road that rimmed the Valley of Hyenas.


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There wasn't a blacksmith to be found anywhere in Israel. The Philistines made sure of that—"Lest those Hebrews start making swords and spears."


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That meant that the Israelites had to go down among the Philistines to keep their farm tools—plowshares and mattocks, axes and sickles—sharp and in good repair.


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So when the battle of Micmash was joined, there wasn't a sword or spear to be found anywhere in Israel—except for Saul and his son Jonathan; they were both well-armed.


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Later that day, Jonathan, Saul's son, said to his armor bearer, "Come on, let's go over to the Philistine garrison patrol on the other side of the pass." But he didn't tell his father.


