# verses

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I will bring the sword against you, executing vengeance for the covenant; and if you withdraw within your cities, I will send pestilence among you, and you shall be delivered into enemy hands.


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When I break your staff of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in a single oven, and they shall dole out your bread by weight; and though you eat, you shall not be satisfied.


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I will destroy your high places and cut down your incense-altars; I will heap your carcasses on the carcasses of your idols. I will abhor you.


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I will lay your cities waste, will make your sanctuaries desolate, and I will not smell your pleasing odours.


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And you I will scatter among the nations, and I will unsheathe the sword against you; your land shall be a desolation, and your cities a waste.


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Then the land shall enjoy its sabbath years as long as it lies desolate, while you are in the land of your enemies; then the land shall rest, and enjoy its sabbath years.


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As long as it lies desolate, it shall have the rest it did not have on your sabbaths when you were living on it.


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And as for those of you who survive, I will send faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; the sound of a driven leaf shall put them to flight, and they shall flee as one flees from the sword, and they shall fall though no one pursues.


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They shall stumble over one another, as if to escape a sword, though no one pursues; and you shall have no power to stand against your enemies.


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And those of you who survive shall languish in the land of your enemies because of their iniquities; also they shall languish because of the iniquities of their ancestors.


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But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their ancestors, in that they committed treachery against me and, moreover, that they continued hostile to me—


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so that I, in turn, continued hostile to them and brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and they make amends for their iniquity,


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then will I remember my covenant with Jacob; I will remember also my covenant with Isaac and also my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.


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For the land shall be deserted by them, and enjoy its sabbath years by lying desolate without them, while they shall make amends for their iniquity, because they dared to spurn my ordinances, and they abhorred my statutes.


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Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not spurn them, or abhor them so as to destroy them utterly and break my covenant with them; for I am the Lord their God;


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but I will remember in their favour the covenant with their ancestors whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, to be their God: I am the Lord.


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These are the statutes and ordinances and laws that the Lord established between himself and the people of Israel on Mount Sinai through Moses.


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Speak to the people of Israel and say to them: When a person makes an explicit vow to the Lord concerning the equivalent for a human being,


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the equivalent for a male shall be: from twenty to sixty years of age the equivalent shall be fifty shekels of silver by the sanctuary shekel.


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If the age is from five to twenty years of age, the equivalent is twenty shekels for a male and ten shekels for a female.


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If the age is from one month to five years, the equivalent for a male is five shekels of silver, and for a female the equivalent is three shekels of silver.


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And if the person is sixty years old or over, then the equivalent for a male is fifteen shekels, and for a female ten shekels.


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If any cannot afford the equivalent, they shall be brought before the priest and the priest shall assess them; the priest shall assess them according to what each one making a vow can afford.


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If it concerns an animal that may be brought as an offering to the Lord, any such that may be given to the Lord shall be holy.


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Another shall not be exchanged or substituted for it, either good for bad or bad for good; and if one animal is substituted for another, both that one and its substitute shall be holy.


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If it concerns any unclean animal that may not be brought as an offering to the Lord, the animal shall be presented before the priest.


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The priest shall assess it: whether good or bad, according to the assessment of the priest, so it shall be.


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If a person consecrates a house to the Lord, the priest shall assess it: whether good or bad, as the priest assesses it, so it shall stand.


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And if the one who consecrates the house wishes to redeem it, one-fifth shall be added to its assessed value, and it shall revert to the original owner.


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If a person consecrates to the Lord any inherited land-holding, its assessment shall be in accordance with its seed requirements: fifty shekels of silver to a homer of barley seed.


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but if the field is consecrated after the jubilee, the priest shall compute the price for it according to the years that remain until the year of jubilee, and the assessment shall be reduced.


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And if the one who consecrates the field wishes to redeem it, then one-fifth shall be added to its assessed value, and it shall revert to the original owner;


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but if the field is not redeemed, or if it has been sold to someone else, it shall no longer be redeemable.


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But when the field is released in the jubilee, it shall be holy to the Lord as a devoted field; it becomes the priest’s holding.


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If someone consecrates to the Lord a field that has been purchased, which is not a part of the inherited land-holding,


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the priest shall compute for it the proportionate assessment up to the year of jubilee, and the assessment shall be paid as of that day, a sacred donation to the Lord.


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In the year of jubilee the field shall return to the one from whom it was bought, whose holding the land is.


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A firstling of animals, however, which as a firstling belongs to the Lord, cannot be consecrated by anyone; whether ox or sheep, it is the Lord’s.


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If it is an unclean animal, it shall be ransomed at its assessment, with one-fifth added; if it is not redeemed, it shall be sold at its assessment.


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Nothing that a person owns that has been devoted to destruction for the Lord, be it human or animal, or inherited land-holding, may be sold or redeemed; every devoted thing is most holy to the Lord.


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All tithes from the land, whether the seed from the ground or the fruit from the tree, are the Lord’s; they are holy to the Lord.


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All tithes of herd and flock, every tenth one that passes under the shepherd’s staff, shall be holy to the Lord.


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Let no one inquire whether it is good or bad, or make substitution for it; if one makes substitution for it, then both it and the substitute shall be holy and cannot be redeemed.


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The First Census of Israel The Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying:


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Take a census of the whole congregation of Israelites, in their clans, by ancestral houses, according to the number of names, every male individually;


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from twenty years old and upwards, everyone in Israel able to go to war. You and Aaron shall enrol them, company by company.


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From the sons of Joseph: from Ephraim, Elishama son of Ammihud; from Manasseh, Gamaliel son of Pedahzur.


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These were the ones chosen from the congregation, the leaders of their ancestral tribes, the heads of the divisions of Israel.


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and on the first day of the second month they assembled the whole congregation together. They registered themselves in their clans, by their ancestral houses, according to the number of names from twenty years old and upwards, individually,


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The descendants of Reuben, Israel’s firstborn, their lineage, in their clans, by their ancestral houses, according to the number of names, individually, every male from twenty years old and upwards, everyone able to go to war:


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The descendants of Simeon, their lineage, in their clans, by their ancestral houses, those of them that were numbered, according to the number of names, individually, every male from twenty years old and upwards, everyone able to go to war:


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The descendants of Gad, their lineage, in their clans, by their ancestral houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upwards, everyone able to go to war:


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The descendants of Judah, their lineage, in their clans, by their ancestral houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upwards, everyone able to go to war:


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The descendants of Issachar, their lineage, in their clans, by their ancestral houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upwards, everyone able to go to war:


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The descendants of Zebulun, their lineage, in their clans, by their ancestral houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upwards, everyone able to go to war:


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The descendants of Joseph, namely, the descendants of Ephraim, their lineage, in their clans, by their ancestral houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upwards, everyone able to go to war:


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The descendants of Manasseh, their lineage, in their clans, by their ancestral houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upwards, everyone able to go to war:


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The descendants of Benjamin, their lineage, in their clans, by their ancestral houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upwards, everyone able to go to war:


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The descendants of Dan, their lineage, in their clans, by their ancestral houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upwards, everyone able to go to war:


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The descendants of Asher, their lineage, in their clans, by their ancestral houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upwards, everyone able to go to war:


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The descendants of Naphtali, their lineage, in their clans, by their ancestral houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upwards, everyone able to go to war:


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These are those who were enrolled, whom Moses and Aaron enrolled with the help of the leaders of Israel, twelve men, each representing his ancestral house.


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So the whole number of the Israelites, by their ancestral houses, from twenty years old and upwards, everyone able to go to war in Israel—


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Only the tribe of Levi you shall not enrol, and you shall not take a census of them with the other Israelites.


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Rather you shall appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of the covenant, and over all its equipment, and over all that belongs to it; they are to carry the tabernacle and all its equipment, and they shall tend it, and shall camp around the tabernacle.


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When the tabernacle is to set out, the Levites shall take it down; and when the tabernacle is to be pitched, the Levites shall set it up. And any outsider who comes near shall be put to death.


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but the Levites shall camp around the tabernacle of the covenant, so that there may be no wrath on the congregation of the Israelites; and the Levites shall perform the guard duty of the tabernacle of the covenant.


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The Israelites shall camp each in their respective regiments, under ensigns by their ancestral houses; they shall camp facing the tent of meeting on every side.


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Those to camp on the east side towards the sunrise shall be of the regimental encampment of Judah by companies. The leader of the people of Judah shall be Nahshon son of Amminadab,


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Those to camp next to him shall be the tribe of Issachar. The leader of the Issacharites shall be Nethanel son of Zuar,


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The total enrolment of the camp of Judah, by companies, is one hundred and eighty-six thousand four hundred. They shall set out first on the march.


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On the south side shall be the regimental encampment of Reuben by companies. The leader of the Reubenites shall be Elizur son of Shedeur,


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And those to camp next to him shall be the tribe of Simeon. The leader of the Simeonites shall be Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai,


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The total enrolment of the camp of Reuben, by companies, is one hundred and fifty-one thousand four hundred and fifty. They shall set out second.


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The tent of meeting, with the camp of the Levites, shall set out in the centre of the camps; they shall set out just as they camp, each in position, by their regiments.


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On the west side shall be the regimental encampment of Ephraim by companies. The leader of the people of Ephraim shall be Elishama son of Ammihud,


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Next to him shall be the tribe of Manasseh. The leader of the people of Manasseh shall be Gamaliel son of Pedahzur,


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The total enrolment of the camp of Ephraim, by companies, is one hundred and eight thousand one hundred. They shall set out third on the march.


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On the north side shall be the regimental encampment of Dan by companies. The leader of the Danites shall be Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai,


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Those to camp next to him shall be the tribe of Asher. The leader of the Asherites shall be Pagiel son of Ochran,


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The total enrolment of the camp of Dan is one hundred and fifty-seven thousand six hundred. They shall set out last, by companies.


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This was the enrolment of the Israelites by their ancestral houses; the total enrolment in the camps by their companies was six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty.


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The Israelites did just as the Lord had commanded Moses: They camped by regiments, and they set out the same way, everyone by clans, according to ancestral houses.


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The Sons of Aaron This is the lineage of Aaron and Moses at the time when the Lord spoke with Moses on Mount Sinai.


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these are the names of the sons of Aaron, the anointed priests, whom he ordained to minister as priests.


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Nadab and Abihu died before the Lord when they offered unholy fire before the Lord in the wilderness of Sinai, and they had no children. Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests in the lifetime of their father Aaron.


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They shall perform duties for him and for the whole congregation in front of the tent of meeting, doing service at the tabernacle;


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they shall be in charge of all the furnishings of the tent of meeting, and attend to the duties for the Israelites as they do service at the tabernacle.


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You shall give the Levites to Aaron and his descendants; they are unreservedly given to him from among the Israelites.


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But you shall make a register of Aaron and his descendants; it is they who shall attend to the priesthood, and any outsider who comes near shall be put to death.


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I hereby accept the Levites from among the Israelites as substitutes for all the firstborn that open the womb among the Israelites. The Levites shall be mine,


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for all the firstborn are mine; when I killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I consecrated for my own all the firstborn in Israel, both human and animal; they shall be mine. I am the Lord.


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Enrol the Levites by ancestral houses and by clans. You shall enrol every male from a month old and upwards.


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The sons of Merari by their clans: Mahli and Mushi. These are the clans of the Levites, by their ancestral houses.


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To Gershon belonged the clan of the Libnites and the clan of the Shimeites; these were the clans of the Gershonites.


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Their enrolment, counting all the males from a month old and upwards, was seven thousand five hundred.


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The responsibility of the sons of Gershon in the tent of meeting was to be the tabernacle, the tent with its covering, the screen for the entrance of the tent of meeting,


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the hangings of the court, the screen for the entrance of the court that is around the tabernacle and the altar, and its cords—all the service pertaining to these.


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To Kohath belonged the clan of the Amramites, the clan of the Izharites, the clan of the Hebronites, and the clan of the Uzzielites; these are the clans of the Kohathites.


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Counting all the males, from a month old and upwards, there were eight thousand six hundred, attending to the duties of the sanctuary.


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Their responsibility was to be the ark, the table, the lampstand, the altars, the vessels of the sanctuary with which the priests minister, and the screen—all the service pertaining to these.


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Eleazar son of Aaron the priest was to be chief over the leaders of the Levites, and to have oversight of those who had charge of the sanctuary.


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To Merari belonged the clan of the Mahlites and the clan of the Mushites: these are the clans of Merari.


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The head of the ancestral house of the clans of Merari was Zuriel son of Abihail; they were to camp on the north side of the tabernacle.


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The responsibility assigned to the sons of Merari was to be the frames of the tabernacle, the bars, the pillars, the bases, and all their accessories—all the service pertaining to these;


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Those who were to camp in front of the tabernacle on the east—in front of the tent of meeting towards the east—were Moses and Aaron and Aaron’s sons, having charge of the rites within the sanctuary, whatever had to be done for the Israelites; and any outsider who came near was to be put to death.


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The total enrolment of the Levites whom Moses and Aaron enrolled at the commandment of the Lord, by their clans, all the males from a month old and upwards, was twenty-two thousand.


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The Redemption of the Firstborn Then the Lord said to Moses: Enrol all the firstborn males of the Israelites, from a month old and upwards, and count their names.


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But you shall accept the Levites for me—I am the Lord—as substitutes for all the firstborn among the Israelites, and the livestock of the Levites as substitutes for all the firstborn among the livestock of the Israelites.


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The total enrolment, all the firstborn males from a month old and upwards, counting the number of names, was twenty-two thousand two hundred and seventy-three.


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Accept the Levites as substitutes for all the firstborn among the Israelites, and the livestock of the Levites as substitutes for their livestock; and the Levites shall be mine. I am the Lord.


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As the price of redemption of the two hundred and seventy-three of the firstborn of the Israelites, over and above the number of the Levites,


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you shall accept five shekels apiece, reckoning by the shekel of the sanctuary, a shekel of twenty gerahs.


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So Moses took the redemption money from those who were over and above those redeemed by the Levites;


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from the firstborn of the Israelites he took the money, one thousand three hundred and sixty-five shekels, reckoned by the shekel of the sanctuary;


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and Moses gave the redemption money to Aaron and his sons, according to the word of the Lord, as the Lord had commanded Moses.


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Take a census of the Kohathites separate from the other Levites, by their clans and their ancestral houses,


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from thirty years old up to fifty years old, all who qualify to do work relating to the tent of meeting.


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When the camp is to set out, Aaron and his sons shall go in and take down the screening curtain, and cover the ark of the covenant with it;


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then they shall put on it a covering of fine leather, and spread over that a cloth all of blue, and shall put its poles in place.


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Over the table of the bread of the Presence they shall spread a blue cloth, and put on it the plates, the dishes for incense, the bowls, and the flagons for the drink-offering; the regular bread also shall be on it;


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then they shall spread over them a crimson cloth, and cover it with a covering of fine leather, and shall put its poles in place.


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They shall take a blue cloth, and cover the lampstand for the light, with its lamps, its snuffers, its trays, and all the vessels for oil with which it is supplied;


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and they shall put it with all its utensils in a covering of fine leather, and put it on the carrying-frame.


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Over the golden altar they shall spread a blue cloth, and cover it with a covering of fine leather, and shall put its poles in place;


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and they shall take all the utensils of the service that are used in the sanctuary, and put them in a blue cloth, and cover them with a covering of fine leather, and put them on the carrying-frame.


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and they shall put on it all the utensils of the altar, which are used for the service there, the firepans, the forks, the shovels, and the basins, all the utensils of the altar; and they shall spread on it a covering of fine leather, and shall put its poles in place.


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When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, as the camp sets out, after that the Kohathites shall come to carry these, but they must not touch the holy things, or they will die. These are the things of the tent of meeting that the Kohathites are to carry.


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Eleazar son of Aaron the priest shall have charge of the oil for the light, the fragrant incense, the regular grain-offering, and the anointing-oil, the oversight of all the tabernacle and all that is in it, in the sanctuary and in its utensils.


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This is how you must deal with them in order that they may live and not die when they come near to the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in and assign each to a particular task or burden.


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But the Kohathites must not go in to look on the holy things even for a moment; otherwise they will die.


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from thirty years old up to fifty years old you shall enrol them, all who qualify to do work in the tent of meeting.


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They shall carry the curtains of the tabernacle, and the tent of meeting with its covering, and the outer covering of fine leather that is on top of it, and the screen for the entrance of the tent of meeting,


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and the hangings of the court, and the screen for the entrance of the gate of the court that is around the tabernacle and the altar, and their cords, and all the equipment for their service; and they shall do all that needs to be done with regard to them.


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All the service of the Gershonites shall be at the command of Aaron and his sons, in all that they are to carry, and in all that they have to do; and you shall assign to their charge all that they are to carry.


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This is the service of the clans of the Gershonites relating to the tent of meeting, and their responsibilities are to be under the oversight of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.


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from thirty years old up to fifty years old you shall enrol them, everyone who qualifies to do the work of the tent of meeting.


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This is what they are charged to carry, as the whole of their service in the tent of meeting: the frames of the tabernacle, with its bars, pillars, and bases,


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and the pillars of the court all around with their bases, pegs, and cords, with all their equipment and all their related service; and you shall assign by name the objects that they are required to carry.


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This is the service of the clans of the Merarites, the whole of their service relating to the tent of meeting, under the hand of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.


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Census of the Levites So Moses and Aaron and the leaders of the congregation enrolled the Kohathites, by their clans and their ancestral houses,


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from thirty years old up to fifty years old, everyone who qualified for work relating to the tent of meeting;


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This was the enrolment of the clans of the Kohathites, all who served at the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron enrolled according to the commandment of the Lord by Moses.


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from thirty years old up to fifty years old, everyone who qualified for work relating to the tent of meeting—


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This was the enrolment of the clans of the Gershonites, all who served at the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron enrolled according to the commandment of the Lord.


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This is the enrolment of the clans of the Merarites, whom Moses and Aaron enrolled according to the commandment of the Lord by Moses.


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All those who were enrolled of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron and the leaders of Israel enrolled, by their clans and their ancestral houses,


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from thirty years old up to fifty years old, everyone who qualified to do the work of service and the work of bearing burdens relating to the tent of meeting,


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According to the commandment of the Lord through Moses they were appointed to their several tasks of serving or carrying; thus they were enrolled by him, as the Lord commanded Moses.


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Command the Israelites to put out of the camp everyone who is leprous, or has a discharge, and everyone who is unclean through contact with a corpse;


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you shall put out both male and female, putting them outside the camp; they must not defile their camp, where I dwell among them.


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The Israelites did so, putting them outside the camp; as the Lord had spoken to Moses, so the Israelites did.


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Speak to the Israelites: When a man or a woman wrongs another, breaking faith with the Lord, that person incurs guilt


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and shall confess the sin that has been committed. The person shall make full restitution for the wrong, adding one-fifth to it, and giving it to the one who was wronged.


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If the injured party has no next-of-kin to whom restitution may be made for the wrong, the restitution for wrong shall go to the Lord for the priest, in addition to the ram of atonement with which atonement is made for the guilty party.


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Among all the sacred donations of the Israelites, every gift that they bring to the priest shall be his.


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if a man has had intercourse with her but it is hidden from her husband, so that she is undetected though she has defiled herself, and there is no witness against her since she was not caught in the act;


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if a spirit of jealousy comes on him, and he is jealous of his wife who has defiled herself; or if a spirit of jealousy comes on him, and he is jealous of his wife, though she has not defiled herself;


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then the man shall bring his wife to the priest. And he shall bring the offering required for her, one-tenth of an ephah of barley flour. He shall pour no oil on it and put no frankincense on it, for it is a grain-offering of jealousy, a grain-offering of remembrance, bringing iniquity to remembrance.


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the priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel, and take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water.


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The priest shall set the woman before the Lord, dishevel the woman’s hair, and place in her hands the grain-offering of remembrance, which is the grain-offering of jealousy. In his own hand the priest shall have the water of bitterness that brings the curse.


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Then the priest shall make her take an oath, saying, ‘If no man has lain with you, if you have not turned aside to uncleanness while under your husband’s authority, be immune to this water of bitterness that brings the curse.


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But if you have gone astray while under your husband’s authority, if you have defiled yourself and some man other than your husband has had intercourse with you’—


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let the priest make the woman take the oath of the curse and say to the woman—‘the Lord make you an execration and an oath among your people, when the Lord makes your uterus drop, your womb discharge;


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now may this water that brings the curse enter your bowels and make your womb discharge, your uterus drop!’ And the woman shall say, ‘Amen. Amen.’


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He shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that brings the curse, and the water that brings the curse shall enter her and cause bitter pain.


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The priest shall take the grain-offering of jealousy out of the woman’s hand, and shall elevate the grain-offering before the Lord and bring it to the altar;


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and the priest shall take a handful of the grain-offering, as its memorial portion, and turn it into smoke on the altar, and afterwards shall make the woman drink the water.


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When he has made her drink the water, then, if she has defiled herself and has been unfaithful to her husband, the water that brings the curse shall enter into her and cause bitter pain, and her womb shall discharge, her uterus drop, and the woman shall become an execration among her people.


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But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, then she shall be immune and be able to conceive children.


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This is the law in cases of jealousy, when a wife, while under her husband’s authority, goes astray and defiles herself,


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or when a spirit of jealousy comes on a man and he is jealous of his wife; then he shall set the woman before the Lord, and the priest shall apply this entire law to her.


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Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When either men or women make a special vow, the vow of a nazirite, to separate themselves to the Lord,


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they shall separate themselves from wine and strong drink; they shall drink no wine vinegar or other vinegar, and shall not drink any grape juice or eat grapes, fresh or dried.


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All their days as nazirites they shall eat nothing that is produced by the grape-vine, not even the seeds or the skins.


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All the days of their nazirite vow no razor shall come upon the head; until the time is completed for which they separate themselves to the Lord, they shall be holy; they shall let the locks of the head grow long.


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Even if their father or mother, brother or sister, should die, they may not defile themselves; because their consecration to God is upon the head.


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If someone dies very suddenly nearby, defiling the consecrated head, then they shall shave the head on the day of their cleansing; on the seventh day they shall shave it.


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On the eighth day they shall bring two turtle-doves or two young pigeons to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting,


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and the priest shall offer one as a sin-offering and the other as a burnt-offering, and make atonement for them, because they incurred guilt by reason of the corpse. They shall sanctify the head that same day,


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and separate themselves to the Lord for their days as nazirites, and bring a male lamb a year old as a guilt-offering. The former time shall be void, because the consecrated head was defiled.


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This is the law for the nazirites when the time of their consecration has been completed: they shall be brought to the entrance of the tent of meeting,


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and they shall offer their gift to the Lord, one male lamb a year old without blemish as a burnt-offering, one ewe lamb a year old without blemish as a sin-offering, one ram without blemish as an offering of well-being,


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and a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of choice flour mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers spread with oil, with their grain-offering and their drink-offerings.


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and shall offer the ram as a sacrifice of well-being to the Lord, with the basket of unleavened bread; the priest also shall make the accompanying grain-offering and drink-offering.


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Then the nazirites shall shave the consecrated head at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and shall take the hair from the consecrated head and put it on the fire under the sacrifice of well-being.


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The priest shall take the shoulder of the ram, when it is boiled, and one unleavened cake out of the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them in the palms of the nazirites, after they have shaved the consecrated head.


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Then the priest shall elevate them as an elevation-offering before the Lord; they are a holy portion for the priest, together with the breast that is elevated and the thigh that is offered. After that the nazirites may drink wine.


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This is the law for the nazirites who take a vow. Their offering to the Lord must be in accordance with the nazirite vow, apart from what else they can afford. In accordance with whatever vow they take, so they shall do, following the law for their consecration.


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Offerings of the Leaders On the day when Moses had finished setting up the tabernacle, and had anointed and consecrated it with all its furnishings, and had anointed and consecrated the altar with all its utensils,


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the leaders of Israel, heads of their ancestral houses, the leaders of the tribes, who were over those who were enrolled, made offerings.


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They brought their offerings before the Lord, six covered wagons and twelve oxen, a wagon for every two of the leaders, and for each one an ox; they presented them before the tabernacle.


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Accept these from them, that they may be used in performing the service of the tent of meeting, and give them to the Levites, to each according to his service.


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and four wagons and eight oxen he gave to the Merarites, according to their service, under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.


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But to the Kohathites he gave none, because they were charged with the care of the holy things that had to be carried on the shoulders.


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The leaders also presented offerings for the dedication of the altar at the time when it was anointed; the leaders presented their offering before the altar.


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The Lord said to Moses: They shall present their offerings, one leader each day, for the dedication of the altar.


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The one who presented his offering on the first day was Nahshon son of Amminadab, of the tribe of Judah;


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his offering was one silver plate weighing one hundred and thirty shekels, one silver basin weighing seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of choice flour mixed with oil for a grain-offering;


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and for the sacrifice of well-being, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Nahshon son of Amminadab.


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he presented for his offering one silver plate weighing one hundred and thirty shekels, one silver basin weighing seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of choice flour mixed with oil for a grain-offering;


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and for the sacrifice of well-being, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Nethanel son of Zuar.


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and for the sacrifice of well-being, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Eliab son of Helon.


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and for the sacrifice of well-being, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Elizur son of Shedeur.


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and for the sacrifice of well-being, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai.


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and for the sacrifice of well-being, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Eliasaph son of Deuel.


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and for the sacrifice of well-being, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Elishama son of Ammihud.


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and for the sacrifice of well-being, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Gamaliel son of Pedahzur.


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and for the sacrifice of well-being, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Abidan son of Gideoni.


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and for the sacrifice of well-being, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai.


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and for the sacrifice of well-being, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Pagiel son of Ochran.


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and for the sacrifice of well-being, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Ahira son of Enan.


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This was the dedication-offering for the altar, at the time when it was anointed, from the leaders of Israel: twelve silver plates, twelve silver basins, twelve golden dishes,


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each silver plate weighing one hundred and thirty shekels and each basin seventy, all the silver of the vessels two thousand four hundred shekels according to the shekel of the sanctuary,


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the twelve golden dishes, full of incense, weighing ten shekels apiece according to the shekel of the sanctuary, all the gold of the dishes being one hundred and twenty shekels;


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all the livestock for the burnt-offering twelve bulls, twelve rams, twelve male lambs a year old, with their grain-offering; and twelve male goats for a sin-offering;


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and all the livestock for the sacrifice of well-being twenty-four bulls, the rams sixty, the male goats sixty, the male lambs a year old sixty. This was the dedication-offering for the altar, after it was anointed.


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When Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with the Lord, he would hear the voice speaking to him from above the mercy-seat that was on the ark of the covenant from between the two cherubim; thus it spoke to him.


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Speak to Aaron and say to him: When you set up the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light in front of the lampstand.


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Aaron did so; he set up its lamps to give light in front of the lampstand, as the Lord had commanded Moses.


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Now this was how the lampstand was made, out of hammered work of gold. From its base to its flowers, it was hammered work; according to the pattern that the Lord had shown Moses, so he made the lampstand.


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Thus you shall do to them, to cleanse them: sprinkle the water of purification on them, have them shave their whole body with a razor and wash their clothes, and so cleanse themselves.


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Then let them take a young bull and its grain-offering of choice flour mixed with oil, and you shall take another young bull for a sin-offering.


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You shall bring the Levites before the tent of meeting, and assemble the whole congregation of the Israelites.


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and Aaron shall present the Levites before the Lord as an elevation-offering from the Israelites, that they may perform the service of the Lord.


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The Levites shall lay their hands on the heads of the bulls, and he shall offer one for a sin-offering and the other for a burnt-offering to the Lord, to make atonement for the Levites.


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Then you shall have the Levites stand before Aaron and his sons, and you shall present them as an elevation-offering to the Lord.


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Thereafter the Levites may go in to perform service at the tent of meeting, once you have cleansed them and presented them as an elevation-offering.


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For they are unreservedly given to me from among the Israelites; I have taken them for myself, in place of all that open the womb, the firstborn of all the Israelites.


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For all the firstborn among the Israelites are mine, both human and animal. On the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I consecrated them for myself,


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Moreover, I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and his sons from among the Israelites, to do the service for the Israelites at the tent of meeting, and to make atonement for the Israelites, in order that there may be no plague among the Israelites for coming too close to the sanctuary.


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Moses and Aaron and the whole congregation of the Israelites did with the Levites accordingly; the Israelites did with the Levites just as the Lord had commanded Moses concerning them.


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The Levites purified themselves from sin and washed their clothes; then Aaron presented them as an elevation-offering before the Lord, and Aaron made atonement for them to cleanse them.


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Thereafter the Levites went in to perform their service in the tent of meeting in attendance on Aaron and his sons. As the Lord had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they dealt with them.


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This applies to the Levites: from twenty-five years old and upwards they shall begin to do duty in the service of the tent of meeting;


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They may assist their brothers in the tent of meeting in carrying out their duties, but they shall perform no service. Thus you shall deal with the Levites in assigning their duties.


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The Passover at Sinai The Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying:


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On the fourteenth day of this month, at twilight, you shall keep it at its appointed time; according to all its statutes and all its regulations you shall keep it.


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They kept the passover in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at twilight, in the wilderness of Sinai. Just as the Lord had commanded Moses, so the Israelites did.


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Now there were certain people who were unclean through touching a corpse, so that they could not keep the passover on that day. They came before Moses and Aaron on that day,


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and said to him, ‘Although we are unclean through touching a corpse, why must we be kept from presenting the Lord’s offering at its appointed time among the Israelites?’


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Speak to the Israelites, saying: Anyone of you or your descendants who is unclean through touching a corpse, or is away on a journey, shall still keep the passover to the Lord.


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In the second month on the fourteenth day, at twilight, they shall keep it; they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.


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They shall leave none of it until morning, nor break a bone of it; according to all the statute for the passover they shall keep it.


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But anyone who is clean and is not on a journey, and yet refrains from keeping the passover, shall be cut off from the people for not presenting the Lord’s offering at its appointed time; such a one shall bear the consequences for the sin.


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Any alien residing among you who wishes to keep the passover to the Lord shall do so according to the statute of the passover and according to its regulation; you shall have one statute for both the resident alien and the native.


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The Cloud and the Fire On the day the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the covenant; and from evening until morning it was over the tabernacle, having the appearance of fire.


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Whenever the cloud lifted from over the tent, then the Israelites would set out; and in the place where the cloud settled down, there the Israelites would camp.


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At the command of the Lord the Israelites would set out, and at the command of the Lord they would camp. As long as the cloud rested over the tabernacle, they would remain in camp.


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Even when the cloud continued over the tabernacle for many days, the Israelites would keep the charge of the Lord, and would not set out.


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Sometimes the cloud would remain for a few days over the tabernacle, and according to the command of the Lord they would remain in camp; then according to the command of the Lord they would set out.


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Sometimes the cloud would remain from evening until morning; and when the cloud lifted in the morning, they would set out, or if it continued for a day and a night, when the cloud lifted they would set out.


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Whether it was two days, or a month, or a longer time, that the cloud continued over the tabernacle, resting upon it, the Israelites would remain in camp and would not set out; but when it lifted they would set out.


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At the command of the Lord they would camp, and at the command of the Lord they would set out. They kept the charge of the Lord, at the command of the Lord by Moses.


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Make two silver trumpets; you shall make them of hammered work; and you shall use them for summoning the congregation, and for breaking camp.


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When both are blown, the whole congregation shall assemble before you at the entrance of the tent of meeting.


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But if only one is blown, then the leaders, the heads of the tribes of Israel, shall assemble before you.


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when you blow a second alarm, the camps on the south side shall set out. An alarm is to be blown whenever they are to set out.


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The sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow the trumpets; this shall be a perpetual institution for you throughout your generations.


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When you go to war in your land against the adversary who oppresses you, you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets, so that you may be remembered before the Lord your God and be saved from your enemies.


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Also on your days of rejoicing, at your appointed festivals, and at the beginnings of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt-offerings and over your sacrifices of well-being; they shall serve as a reminder on your behalf before the Lord your God: I am the Lord your God.


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Departure from Sinai In the second year, in the second month, on the twentieth day of the month, the cloud lifted from over the tabernacle of the covenant.


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Then the Israelites set out by stages from the wilderness of Sinai, and the cloud settled down in the wilderness of Paran.


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The standard of the camp of Judah set out first, company by company, and over the whole company was Nahshon son of Amminadab.


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Then the tabernacle was taken down, and the Gershonites and the Merarites, who carried the tabernacle, set out.


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Next the standard of the camp of Reuben set out, company by company; and over the whole company was Elizur son of Shedeur.


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Then the Kohathites, who carried the holy things, set out; and the tabernacle was set up before their arrival.


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Next the standard of the Ephraimite camp set out, company by company, and over the whole company was Elishama son of Ammihud.


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Then the standard of the camp of Dan, acting as the rearguard of all the camps, set out, company by company, and over the whole company was Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai.


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Moses said to Hobab son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, ‘We are setting out for the place of which the Lord said, “I will give it to you”; come with us, and we will treat you well; for the Lord has promised good to Israel.’


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He said, ‘Do not leave us, for you know where we should camp in the wilderness, and you will serve as eyes for us.


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So they set out from the mount of the Lord on three days’ journey with the ark of the covenant of the Lord going before them for three days’ journey, to seek out a resting-place for them,


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Whenever the ark set out, Moses would say, ‘Arise, O Lord, let your enemies be scattered, and your foes flee before you.’


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And whenever it came to rest, he would say, ‘Return, O Lord of the ten thousand thousands of Israel.’


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Complaining in the Desert Now when the people complained in the hearing of the Lord about their misfortunes, the Lord heard it and his anger was kindled. Then the fire of the Lord burned against them, and consumed some outlying parts of the camp.


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The rabble among them had a strong craving; and the Israelites also wept again, and said, ‘If only we had meat to eat!


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We remember the fish we used to eat in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic;


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The people went around and gathered it, ground it in mills or beat it in mortars, then boiled it in pots and made cakes of it; and the taste of it was like the taste of cakes baked with oil.


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Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, all at the entrances of their tents. Then the Lord became very angry, and Moses was displeased.


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So Moses said to the Lord, ‘Why have you treated your servant so badly? Why have I not found favour in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me?


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Did I conceive all this people? Did I give birth to them, that you should say to me, “Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a sucking child, to the land that you promised on oath to their ancestors”?


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Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they come weeping to me and say, “Give us meat to eat!”


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If this is the way you are going to treat me, put me to death at once—if I have found favour in your sight—and do not let me see my misery.’


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The Seventy Elders So the Lord said to Moses, ‘Gather for me seventy of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them; bring them to the tent of meeting, and have them take their place there with you.


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I will come down and talk with you there; and I will take some of the spirit that is on you and put it on them; and they shall bear the burden of the people along with you so that you will not bear it all by yourself.


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And say to the people: Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat; for you have wailed in the hearing of the Lord, saying, “If only we had meat to eat! Surely it was better for us in Egypt.” Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you shall eat.


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


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But Moses said, ‘The people I am with number six hundred thousand on foot; and you say, “I will give them meat, that they may eat for a whole month”!


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Are there enough flocks and herds to slaughter for them? Are there enough fish in the sea to catch for them?’


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The Lord said to Moses, ‘Is the Lord’s power limited? Now you shall see whether my word will come true for you or not.’


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So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord; and he gathered seventy elders of the people, and placed them all around the tent.


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Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took some of the spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders; and when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But they did not do so again.


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Two men remained in the camp, one named Eldad, and the other named Medad, and the spirit rested on them; they were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent, and so they prophesied in the camp.


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And Joshua son of Nun, the assistant of Moses, one of his chosen men, said, ‘My lord Moses, stop them!’


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But Moses said to him, ‘Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!’


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The Quails Then a wind went out from the Lord, and it brought quails from the sea and let them fall beside the camp, about a day’s journey on this side and a day’s journey on the other side, all around the camp, about two cubits deep on the ground.


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So the people worked all that day and night and all the next day, gathering the quails; the least anyone gathered was ten homers; and they spread them out for themselves all around the camp.


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But while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was consumed, the anger of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord struck the people with a very great plague.


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So that place was called Kibroth-hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had the craving.


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Aaron and Miriam Jealous of Moses While they were at Hazeroth, Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married (for he had indeed married a Cushite woman);


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and they said, ‘Has the Lord spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also?’ And the Lord heard it.


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Suddenly the Lord said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, ‘Come out, you three, to the tent of meeting.’ So the three of them came out.


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Then the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud, and stood at the entrance of the tent, and called Aaron and Miriam; and they both came forward.


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And he said, ‘Hear my words: When there are prophets among you, I the Lord make myself known to them in visions; I speak to them in dreams.


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With him I speak face to face—clearly, not in riddles; and he beholds the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?’


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When the cloud went away from over the tent, Miriam had become leprous, as white as snow. And Aaron turned towards Miriam and saw that she was leprous.


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Then Aaron said to Moses, ‘Oh, my lord, do not punish us for a sin that we have so foolishly committed.


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Do not let her be like one stillborn, whose flesh is half consumed when it comes out of its mother’s womb.’


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But the Lord said to Moses, ‘If her father had but spat in her face, would she not bear her shame for seven days? Let her be shut out of the camp for seven days, and after that she may be brought in again.’


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So Miriam was shut out of the camp for seven days; and the people did not set out on the march until Miriam had been brought in again.


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‘Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites; from each of their ancestral tribes you shall send a man, every one a leader among them.’


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So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran, according to the command of the Lord, all of them leading men among the Israelites.


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These were the names of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses changed the name of Hoshea son of Nun to Joshua.


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Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said to them, ‘Go up there into the Negeb, and go up into the hill country,


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and see what the land is like, and whether the people who live in it are strong or weak, whether they are few or many,


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and whether the land they live in is good or bad, and whether the towns that they live in are unwalled or fortified,


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and whether the land is rich or poor, and whether there are trees in it or not. Be bold, and bring some of the fruit of the land.’ Now it was the season of the first ripe grapes.


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They went up into the Negeb, and came to Hebron; and Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the Anakites, were there. (Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)


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And they came to the Wadi Eshcol, and cut down from there a branch with a single cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a pole between two of them. They also brought some pomegranates and figs.


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That place was called the Wadi Eshcol, because of the cluster that the Israelites cut down from there.


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And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the Israelites in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; they brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land.


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And they told him, ‘We came to the land to which you sent us; it flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.


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Yet the people who live in the land are strong, and the towns are fortified and very large; and besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there.


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The Amalekites live in the land of the Negeb; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live by the sea, and along the Jordan.’


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But Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, ‘Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.’


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Then the men who had gone up with him said, ‘We are not able to go up against this people, for they are stronger than we are.’


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So they brought to the Israelites an unfavourable report of the land that they had spied out, saying, ‘The land that we have gone through as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people that we saw in it are of great size.


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There we saw the Nephilim (the Anakites come from the Nephilim); and to ourselves we seemed like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.’


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And all the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron; the whole congregation said to them, ‘Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness!


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Why is the Lord bringing us into this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become booty; would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?’


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Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the Israelites.


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


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and said to all the congregation of the Israelites, ‘The land that we went through as spies is an exceedingly good land.


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If the Lord is pleased with us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey.


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Only, do not rebel against the Lord; and do not fear the people of the land, for they are no more than bread for us; their protection is removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.’


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But the whole congregation threatened to stone them. Then the glory of the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting to all the Israelites.


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And the Lord said to Moses, ‘How long will this people despise me? And how long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them?


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I will strike them with pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.’


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Moses Intercedes for the People But Moses said to the Lord, ‘Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for in your might you brought up this people from among them,


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and they will tell the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you, O Lord, are in the midst of this people; for you, O Lord, are seen face to face, and your cloud stands over them and you go in front of them, in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night.


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“It is because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land he swore to give them that he has slaughtered them in the wilderness.”


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And now, therefore, let the power of the Lord be great in the way that you promised when you spoke, saying,


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“The Lord is slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the parents upon the children to the third and the fourth generation.”


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Forgive the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just as you have pardoned this people, from Egypt even until now.’


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none of the people who have seen my glory and the signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have tested me these ten times and have not obeyed my voice,


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shall see the land that I swore to give to their ancestors; none of those who despised me shall see it.


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But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed me wholeheartedly, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it.


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Now, since the Amalekites and the Canaanites live in the valleys, turn tomorrow and set out for the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.’


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How long shall this wicked congregation complain against me? I have heard the complaints of the Israelites, which they complain against me.


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your dead bodies shall fall in this very wilderness; and of all your number, included in the census, from twenty years old and upwards, who have complained against me,


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not one of you shall come into the land in which I swore to settle you, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.


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But your little ones, who you said would become booty, I will bring in, and they shall know the land that you have despised.


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And your children shall be shepherds in the wilderness for forty years, and shall suffer for your faithlessness, until the last of your dead bodies lies in the wilderness.


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According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, for every day a year, you shall bear your iniquity, forty years, and you shall know my displeasure.’


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I the Lord have spoken; surely I will do thus to all this wicked congregation gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall come to a full end, and there they shall die.


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And the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation complain against him by bringing a bad report about the land—


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But Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh alone remained alive, of those men who went to spy out the land.


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They rose early in the morning and went up to the heights of the hill country, saying, ‘Here we are. We will go up to the place that the Lord has promised, for we have sinned.’


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Do not go up, for the Lord is not with you; do not let yourselves be struck down before your enemies.


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For the Amalekites and the Canaanites will confront you there, and you shall fall by the sword; because you have turned back from following the Lord, the Lord will not be with you.’


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But they presumed to go up to the heights of the hill country, even though the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and Moses, had not left the camp.


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Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and defeated them, pursuing them as far as Hormah.


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Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When you come into the land you are to inhabit, which I am giving you,


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and you make an offering by fire to the Lord from the herd or from the flock—whether a burnt-offering or a sacrifice, to fulfil a vow or as a freewill-offering or at your appointed festivals—to make a pleasing odour for the Lord,


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then whoever presents such an offering to the Lord shall present also a grain-offering, one-tenth of an ephah of choice flour, mixed with one-fourth of a hin of oil.


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Moreover, you shall offer one-fourth of a hin of wine as a drink-offering with the burnt-offering or the sacrifice, for each lamb.


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For a ram, you shall offer a grain-offering, two-tenths of an ephah of choice flour mixed with one-third of a hin of oil;


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When you offer a bull as a burnt-offering or a sacrifice, to fulfil a vow or as an offering of well-being to the Lord,


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then you shall present with the bull a grain-offering, three-tenths of an ephah of choice flour, mixed with half a hin of oil,


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and you shall present as a drink-offering half a hin of wine, as an offering by fire, a pleasing odour to the Lord.


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Every native Israelite shall do these things in this way, in presenting an offering by fire, a pleasing odour to the Lord.


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An alien who lives with you, or who takes up permanent residence among you, and wishes to offer an offering by fire, a pleasing odour to the Lord, shall do as you do.


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As for the assembly, there shall be for both you and the resident alien a single statute, a perpetual statute throughout your generations; you and the alien shall be alike before the Lord.


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From your first batch of dough you shall present a loaf as a donation; you shall present it just as you present a donation from the threshing-floor.


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Throughout your generations you shall give to the Lord a donation from the first of your batch of dough.


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But if you unintentionally fail to observe all these commandments that the Lord has spoken to Moses—


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everything that the Lord has commanded you by Moses, from the day the Lord gave commandment and thereafter, throughout your generations—


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then if it was done unintentionally without the knowledge of the congregation, the whole congregation shall offer one young bull for a burnt-offering, a pleasing odour to the Lord, together with its grain-offering and its drink-offering, according to the ordinance, and one male goat for a sin-offering.


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The priest shall make atonement for all the congregation of the Israelites, and they shall be forgiven; it was unintentional, and they have brought their offering, an offering by fire to the Lord, and their sin-offering before the Lord, for their error.


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All the congregation of the Israelites shall be forgiven, as well as the aliens residing among them, because the whole people was involved in the error.


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And the priest shall make atonement before the Lord for the one who commits an error, when it is unintentional, to make atonement for the person, who then shall be forgiven.


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For both the native among the Israelites and the alien residing among them—you shall have the same law for anyone who acts in error.


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But whoever acts high-handedly, whether a native or an alien, affronts the Lord, and shall be cut off from among the people.


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Because of having despised the word of the Lord and broken his commandment, such a person shall be utterly cut off and bear the guilt.


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Penalty for Violating the Sabbath When the Israelites were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the sabbath day.


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Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘The man shall be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him outside the camp.’


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The whole congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.


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Speak to the Israelites, and tell them to make fringes on the corners of their garments throughout their generations and to put a blue cord on the fringe at each corner.


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You have the fringe so that, when you see it, you will remember all the commandments of the Lord and do them, and not follow the lust of your own heart and your own eyes.


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I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the Lord your God.


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Revolt of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram Now Korah son of Izhar son of Kohath son of Levi, along with Dathan and Abiram sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth—descendants of Reuben—took


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two hundred and fifty Israelite men, leaders of the congregation, chosen from the assembly, well-known men, and they confronted Moses.


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They assembled against Moses and against Aaron, and said to them, ‘You have gone too far! All the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. So why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?’


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Then he said to Korah and all his company, ‘In the morning the Lord will make known who is his, and who is holy, and who will be allowed to approach him; the one whom he will choose he will allow to approach him.


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and tomorrow put fire in them, and lay incense on them before the Lord; and the man whom the Lord chooses shall be the holy one. You Levites have gone too far!’


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Is it too little for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, to allow you to approach him in order to perform the duties of the Lord’s tabernacle, and to stand before the congregation and serve them?


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He has allowed you to approach him, and all your brother Levites with you; yet you seek the priesthood as well!


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Therefore you and all your company have gathered together against the Lord. What is Aaron that you rail against him?’


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Is it too little that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness, that you must also lord it over us?


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It is clear you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, or given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Would you put out the eyes of these men? We will not come!’


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Moses was very angry and said to the Lord, ‘Pay no attention to their offering. I have not taken one donkey from them, and I have not harmed any one of them.’


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And Moses said to Korah, ‘As for you and all your company, be present tomorrow before the Lord, you and they and Aaron;


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and let each one of you take his censer, and put incense on it, and each one of you present his censer before the Lord, two hundred and fifty censers; you also, and Aaron, each his censer.’


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So each man took his censer, and they put fire in the censers and laid incense on them, and they stood at the entrance of the tent of meeting with Moses and Aaron.


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Then Korah assembled the whole congregation against them at the entrance of the tent of meeting. And the glory of the Lord appeared to the whole congregation.


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They fell on their faces, and said, ‘O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one person sin and you become angry with the whole congregation?’


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He said to the congregation, ‘Turn away from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, or you will be swept away for all their sins.’


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So they got away from the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram; and Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the entrance of their tents, together with their wives, their children, and their little ones.


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And Moses said, ‘This is how you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works; it has not been of my own accord:


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If these people die a natural death, or if a natural fate comes on them, then the Lord has not sent me.


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But if the Lord creates something new, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up, with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you shall know that these men have despised the Lord.’


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The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, along with their households—everyone who belonged to Korah and all their goods.


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So they with all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol; the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly.


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Tell Eleazar son of Aaron the priest to take the censers out of the blaze; then scatter the fire far and wide.


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For the censers of these sinners have become holy at the cost of their lives. Make them into hammered plates as a covering for the altar, for they presented them before the Lord and they became holy. Thus they shall be a sign to the Israelites.


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So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers that had been presented by those who were burned; and they were hammered out as a covering for the altar—


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a reminder to the Israelites that no outsider, who is not of the descendants of Aaron, shall approach to offer incense before the Lord, so as not to become like Korah and his company—just as the Lord had said to him through Moses.


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On the next day, however, the whole congregation of the Israelites rebelled against Moses and against Aaron, saying, ‘You have killed the people of the Lord.’


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And when the congregation had assembled against them, Moses and Aaron turned towards the tent of meeting; the cloud had covered it and the glory of the Lord appeared.


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‘Get away from this congregation, so that I may consume them in a moment.’ And they fell on their faces.


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Moses said to Aaron, ‘Take your censer, put fire on it from the altar and lay incense on it, and carry it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them. For wrath has gone out from the Lord; the plague has begun.’


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So Aaron took it as Moses had ordered, and ran into the middle of the assembly, where the plague had already begun among the people. He put on the incense, and made atonement for the people.


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Those who died by the plague were fourteen thousand seven hundred, besides those who died in the affair of Korah.


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Speak to the Israelites, and get twelve staffs from them, one for each ancestral house, from all the leaders of their ancestral houses. Write each man’s name on his staff,


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and write Aaron’s name on the staff of Levi. For there shall be one staff for the head of each ancestral house.


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And the staff of the man whom I choose shall sprout; thus I will put a stop to the complaints of the Israelites that they continually make against you.


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Moses spoke to the Israelites; and all their leaders gave him staffs, one for each leader, according to their ancestral houses, twelve staffs; and the staff of Aaron was among theirs.


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When Moses went into the tent of the covenant on the next day, the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted. It put forth buds, produced blossoms, and bore ripe almonds.


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Then Moses brought out all the staffs from before the Lord to all the Israelites; and they looked, and each man took his staff.


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And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Put back the staff of Aaron before the covenant, to be kept as a warning to rebels, so that you may make an end of their complaints against me, or else they will die.’


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Responsibility of Priests and Levites The Lord said to Aaron: You and your sons and your ancestral house with you shall bear responsibility for offences connected with the sanctuary, while you and your sons alone shall bear responsibility for offences connected with the priesthood.


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So bring with you also your brothers of the tribe of Levi, your ancestral tribe, in order that they may be joined to you, and serve you while you and your sons with you are in front of the tent of the covenant.


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They shall perform duties for you and for the whole tent. But they must not approach either the utensils of the sanctuary or the altar, otherwise both they and you will die.


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They are attached to you in order to perform the duties of the tent of meeting, for all the service of the tent; no outsider shall approach you.


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You yourselves shall perform the duties of the sanctuary and the duties of the altar, so that wrath may never again come upon the Israelites.


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It is I who now take your brother Levites from among the Israelites; they are now yours as a gift, dedicated to the Lord, to perform the service of the tent of meeting.


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But you and your sons with you shall diligently perform your priestly duties in all that concerns the altar and the area behind the curtain. I give your priesthood as a gift; any outsider who approaches shall be put to death.


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The Priests’ Portion The Lord spoke to Aaron: I have given you charge of the offerings made to me, all the holy gifts of the Israelites; I have given them to you and your sons as a priestly portion due to you in perpetuity.


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This shall be yours from the most holy things, reserved from the fire: every offering of theirs that they render to me as a most holy thing, whether grain-offering, sin-offering, or guilt-offering, shall belong to you and your sons.


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This also is yours: I have given to you, together with your sons and daughters, as a perpetual due, whatever is set aside from the gifts of all the elevation-offerings of the Israelites; everyone who is clean in your house may eat them.


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All the best of the oil and all the best of the wine and of the grain, the choice produce that they give to the Lord, I have given to you.


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The first fruits of all that is in their land, which they bring to the Lord, shall be yours; everyone who is clean in your house may eat of it.


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The first issue of the womb of all creatures, human and animal, which is offered to the Lord, shall be yours; but the firstborn of human beings you shall redeem, and the firstborn of unclean animals you shall redeem.


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Their redemption price, reckoned from one month of age, you shall fix at five shekels of silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary (that is, twenty gerahs).


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But the firstborn of a cow, or the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat, you shall not redeem; they are holy. You shall dash their blood on the altar, and shall turn their fat into smoke as an offering by fire for a pleasing odour to the Lord;


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but their flesh shall be yours, just as the breast that is elevated and as the right thigh are yours.


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All the holy offerings that the Israelites present to the Lord I have given to you, together with your sons and daughters, as a perpetual due; it is a covenant of salt for ever before the Lord for you and your descendants as well.


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Then the Lord said to Aaron: You shall have no allotment in their land, nor shall you have any share among them; I am your share and your possession among the Israelites.


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To the Levites I have given every tithe in Israel for a possession in return for the service that they perform, the service in the tent of meeting.


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From now on the Israelites shall no longer approach the tent of meeting, or else they will incur guilt and die.


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But the Levites shall perform the service of the tent of meeting, and they shall bear responsibility for their own offences; it shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations. But among the Israelites they shall have no allotment,


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because I have given to the Levites as their portion the tithe of the Israelites, which they set apart as an offering to the Lord. Therefore I have said of them that they shall have no allotment among the Israelites.


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You shall speak to the Levites, saying: When you receive from the Israelites the tithe that I have given you from them for your portion, you shall set apart an offering from it to the Lord, a tithe of the tithe.


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It shall be reckoned to you as your gift, the same as the grain of the threshing-floor and the fullness of the wine press.


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Thus you also shall set apart an offering to the Lord from all the tithes that you receive from the Israelites; and from them you shall give the Lord’s offering to the priest Aaron.


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Out of all the gifts to you, you shall set apart every offering due to the Lord; the best of all of them is the part to be consecrated.


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Say also to them: When you have set apart the best of it, then the rest shall be reckoned to the Levites as produce of the threshing-floor, and as produce of the wine press.


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You may eat it in any place, you and your households; for it is your payment for your service in the tent of meeting.


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You shall incur no guilt by reason of it, when you have offered the best of it. But you shall not profane the holy gifts of the Israelites, on pain of death.


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This is a statute of the law that the Lord has commanded: Tell the Israelites to bring you a red heifer without defect, in which there is no blemish and on which no yoke has been laid.


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You shall give it to the priest Eleazar, and it shall be taken outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence.


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The priest Eleazar shall take some of its blood with his finger and sprinkle it seven times towards the front of the tent of meeting.


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Then the heifer shall be burned in his sight; its skin, its flesh, and its blood, with its dung, shall be burned.


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The priest shall take cedar wood, hyssop, and crimson material, and throw them into the fire in which the heifer is burning.


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Then the priest shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterwards he may come into the camp; but the priest shall remain unclean until evening.


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The one who burns the heifer shall wash his clothes in water and bathe his body in water; he shall remain unclean until evening.


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Then someone who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and deposit them outside the camp in a clean place; and they shall be kept for the congregation of the Israelites for the water for cleansing. It is a purification-offering.


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The one who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening. This shall be a perpetual statute for the Israelites and for the alien residing among them.


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They shall purify themselves with the water on the third day and on the seventh day, and so be clean; but if they do not purify themselves on the third day and on the seventh day, they will not become clean.


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All who touch a corpse, the body of a human being who has died, and do not purify themselves, defile the tabernacle of the Lord; such persons shall be cut off from Israel. Since water for cleansing was not dashed on them, they remain unclean; their uncleanness is still on them.


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This is the law when someone dies in a tent: everyone who comes into the tent, and everyone who is in the tent, shall be unclean for seven days.


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Whoever in the open field touches one who has been killed by a sword, or who has died naturally, or a human bone, or a grave, shall be unclean for seven days.


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For the unclean they shall take some ashes of the burnt purification-offering, and running water shall be added in a vessel;


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then a clean person shall take hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle it on the tent, on all the furnishings, on the persons who were there, and on whoever touched the bone, the slain, the corpse, or the grave.


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The clean person shall sprinkle the unclean ones on the third day and on the seventh day, thus purifying them on the seventh day. Then they shall wash their clothes and bathe themselves in water, and at evening they shall be clean.


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Any who are unclean but do not purify themselves, those persons shall be cut off from the assembly, for they have defiled the sanctuary of the Lord. Since the water for cleansing has not been dashed on them, they are unclean.


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It shall be a perpetual statute for them. The one who sprinkles the water for cleansing shall wash his clothes, and whoever touches the water for cleansing shall be unclean until evening.


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Whatever the unclean person touches shall be unclean, and anyone who touches it shall be unclean until evening.


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The Waters of Meribah The Israelites, the whole congregation, came into the wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people stayed in Kadesh. Miriam died there, and was buried there.


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Now there was no water for the congregation; so they gathered together against Moses and against Aaron.


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The people quarrelled with Moses and said, ‘Would that we had died when our kindred died before the Lord!


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Why have you brought the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness for us and our livestock to die here?


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Why have you brought us up out of Egypt, to bring us to this wretched place? It is no place for grain, or figs, or vines, or pomegranates; and there is no water to drink.’


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Then Moses and Aaron went away from the assembly to the entrance of the tent of meeting; they fell on their faces, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them.


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Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and your brother Aaron, and command the rock before their eyes to yield its water. Thus you shall bring water out of the rock for them; thus you shall provide drink for the congregation and their livestock.


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Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, ‘Listen, you rebels, shall we bring water for you out of this rock?’


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Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his staff; water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their livestock drank.


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But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ‘Because you did not trust in me, to show my holiness before the eyes of the Israelites, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.’


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These are the waters of Meribah, where the people of Israel quarrelled with the Lord, and by which he showed his holiness.


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Passage through Edom Refused Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, ‘Thus says your brother Israel: You know all the adversity that has befallen us:


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how our ancestors went down to Egypt, and we lived in Egypt for a long time; and the Egyptians oppressed us and our ancestors;


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and when we cried to the Lord, he heard our voice, and sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt; and here we are in Kadesh, a town on the edge of your territory.


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Now let us pass through your land. We will not pass through field or vineyard, or drink water from any well; we will go along the King’s Highway, not turning aside to the right hand or to the left until we have passed through your territory.’


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The Israelites said to him, ‘We will stay on the highway; and if we drink of your water, we and our livestock, then we will pay for it. It is only a small matter; just let us pass through on foot.’


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But he said, ‘You shall not pass through.’ And Edom came out against them with a large force, heavily armed.


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The Death of Aaron They set out from Kadesh, and the Israelites, the whole congregation, came to Mount Hor.


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‘Let Aaron be gathered to his people. For he shall not enter the land that I have given to the Israelites, because you rebelled against my command at the waters of Meribah.


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strip Aaron of his vestments, and put them on his son Eleazar. But Aaron shall be gathered to his people, and shall die there.’


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Moses stripped Aaron of his vestments, and put them on his son Eleazar; and Aaron died there on the top of the mountain. Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain.


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When all the congregation saw that Aaron had died, all the house of Israel mourned for Aaron for thirty days.


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The Bronze Serpent When the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who lived in the Negeb, heard that Israel was coming by the way of Atharim, he fought against Israel and took some of them captive.


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Then Israel made a vow to the Lord and said, ‘If you will indeed give this people into our hands, then we will utterly destroy their towns.’


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The Lord listened to the voice of Israel, and handed over the Canaanites; and they utterly destroyed them and their towns; so the place was called Hormah.


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From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; but the people became impatient on the way.


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The people spoke against God and against Moses, ‘Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food.’


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Then the Lord sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died.


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The people came to Moses and said, ‘We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord to take away the serpents from us.’ So Moses prayed for the people.


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And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.’


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So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live.


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They set out from Oboth, and camped at Iye-abarim, in the wilderness bordering Moab towards the sunrise.


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From there they set out, and camped on the other side of the Arnon, in the wilderness that extends from the boundary of the Amorites; for the Arnon is the boundary of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites.


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From there they continued to Beer; that is the well of which the Lord said to Moses, ‘Gather the people together, and I will give them water.’


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the well that the leaders sank, that the nobles of the people dug, with the sceptre, with the staff.’ From the wilderness to Mattanah,


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and from Bamoth to the valley lying in the region of Moab by the top of Pisgah that overlooks the waste-land.


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‘Let me pass through your land; we will not turn aside into field or vineyard; we will not drink the water of any well; we will go by the King’s Highway until we have passed through your territory.’


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But Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through his territory. Sihon gathered all his people together, and went out against Israel to the wilderness; he came to Jahaz, and fought against Israel.


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Israel put him to the sword, and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, as far as to the Ammonites; for the boundary of the Ammonites was strong.


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Israel took all these towns, and Israel settled in all the towns of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all its villages.


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For Heshbon was the city of King Sihon of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and captured all his land as far as the Arnon.


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Therefore the ballad-singers say, ‘Come to Heshbon, let it be built; let the city of Sihon be established.


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For fire came out from Heshbon, flame from the city of Sihon. It devoured Ar of Moab, and swallowed up the heights of the Arnon.


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Woe to you, O Moab! You are undone, O people of Chemosh! He has made his sons fugitives, and his daughters captives, to an Amorite king, Sihon.


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Moses sent to spy out Jazer; and they captured its villages, and dispossessed the Amorites who were there.


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King Og Defeated Then they turned and went up the road to Bashan; and King Og of Bashan came out against them, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei.


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But the Lord said to Moses, ‘Do not be afraid of him; for I have given him into your hand, with all his people, and all his land. You shall do to him as you did to King Sihon of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon.’


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So they killed him, his sons, and all his people, until there was no survivor left; and they took possession of his land.


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Balak Summons Balaam to Curse Israel The Israelites set out, and camped in the plains of Moab across the Jordan from Jericho.


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Moab was in great dread of the people, because they were so numerous; Moab was overcome with fear of the people of Israel.


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And Moab said to the elders of Midian, ‘This horde will now lick up all that is around us, as an ox licks up the grass of the field.’ Now Balak son of Zippor was king of Moab at that time.


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He sent messengers to Balaam son of Beor at Pethor, which is on the Euphrates, in the land of Amaw, to summon him, saying, ‘A people has come out of Egypt; they have spread over the face of the earth, and they have settled next to me.


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Come now, curse this people for me, since they are stronger than I; perhaps I shall be able to defeat them and drive them from the land; for I know that whomsoever you bless is blessed, and whomsoever you curse is cursed.’


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So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the fees for divination in their hand; and they came to Balaam, and gave him Balak’s message.


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He said to them, ‘Stay here tonight, and I will bring back word to you, just as the Lord speaks to me’; so the officials of Moab stayed with Balaam.


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“A people has come out of Egypt and has spread over the face of the earth; now come, curse them for me; perhaps I shall be able to fight against them and drive them out.”’


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God said to Balaam, ‘You shall not go with them; you shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.’


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So Balaam rose in the morning, and said to the officials of Balak, ‘Go to your own land, for the Lord has refused to let me go with you.’


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They came to Balaam and said to him, ‘Thus says Balak son of Zippor: “Do not let anything hinder you from coming to me;


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for I will surely do you great honour, and whatever you say to me I will do; come, curse this people for me.”’


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But Balaam replied to the servants of Balak, ‘Although Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the command of the Lord my God, to do less or more.


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That night God came to Balaam and said to him, ‘If the men have come to summon you, get up and go with them; but do only what I tell you to do.’


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Balaam, the Donkey, and the Angel God’s anger was kindled because he was going, and the angel of the Lord took his stand in the road as his adversary. Now he was riding on the donkey, and his two servants were with him.


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The donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road, with a drawn sword in his hand; so the donkey turned off the road, and went into the field; and Balaam struck the donkey, to turn it back on to the road.


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Then the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, with a wall on either side.


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When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it scraped against the wall, and scraped Balaam’s foot against the wall; so he struck it again.


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Then the angel of the Lord went ahead, and stood in a narrow place, where there was no way to turn either to the right or to the left.


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When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it lay down under Balaam; and Balaam’s anger was kindled, and he struck the donkey with his staff.


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Then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and it said to Balaam, ‘What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?’


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Balaam said to the donkey, ‘Because you have made a fool of me! I wish I had a sword in my hand! I would kill you right now!’


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But the donkey said to Balaam, ‘Am I not your donkey, which you have ridden all your life to this day? Have I been in the habit of treating you in this way?’ And he said, ‘No.’


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Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road, with his drawn sword in his hand; and he bowed down, falling on his face.


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The angel of the Lord said to him, ‘Why have you struck your donkey these three times? I have come out as an adversary, because your way is perverse before me.


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The donkey saw me, and turned away from me these three times. If it had not turned away from me, surely I would by now have killed you and let it live.’


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Then Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, ‘I have sinned, for I did not know that you were standing in the road to oppose me. Now therefore, if it is displeasing to you, I will return home.’


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The angel of the Lord said to Balaam, ‘Go with the men; but speak only what I tell you to speak.’ So Balaam went on with the officials of Balak.


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When Balak heard that Balaam had come, he went out to meet him at Ir-moab, on the boundary formed by the Arnon, at the farthest point of the boundary.


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Balak said to Balaam, ‘Did I not send to summon you? Why did you not come to me? Am I not able to honour you?’


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Balaam said to Balak, ‘I have come to you now, but do I have power to say just anything? The word God puts in my mouth, that is what I must say.’


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Balaam’s First Oracle On the next day Balak took Balaam and brought him up to Bamoth-baal; and from there he could see part of the people of Israel.


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23 Then Balaam said to Balak, ‘Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.’


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Then Balaam said to Balak, ‘Stay here beside your burnt-offerings while I go aside. Perhaps the Lord will come to meet me. Whatever he shows me I will tell you.’ And he went to a bare height.


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Then God met Balaam; and Balaam said to him, ‘I have arranged the seven altars, and have offered a bull and a ram on each altar.’


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So he returned to Balak, who was standing beside his burnt-offerings with all the officials of Moab.


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Then Balaam uttered his oracle, saying: ‘Balak has brought me from Aram, the king of Moab from the eastern mountains: “Come, curse Jacob for me; Come, denounce Israel!”


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For from the top of the crags I see him, from the hills I behold him. Here is a people living alone, and not reckoning itself among the nations!


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Who can count the dust of Jacob, or number the dust-cloud of Israel? Let me die the death of the upright, and let my end be like his!’


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Then Balak said to Balaam, ‘What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, but now you have done nothing but bless them.’


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Balaam’s Second Oracle So Balak said to him, ‘Come with me to another place from which you may see them; you shall see only part of them, and shall not see them all; then curse them for me from there.’


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


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The Lord met Balaam, put a word into his mouth, and said, ‘Return to Balak, and this is what you shall say.’


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When he came to him, he was standing beside his burnt-offerings with the officials of Moab. Balak said to him, ‘What has the Lord said?’


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God is not a human being, that he should lie, or a mortal, that he should change his mind. Has he promised, and will he not do it? Has he spoken, and will he not fulfil it?


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He has not beheld misfortune in Jacob; nor has he seen trouble in Israel. The Lord their God is with them, acclaimed as a king among them.


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Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, no divination against Israel; now it shall be said of Jacob and Israel, “See what God has done!”


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Look, a people rising up like a lioness, and rousing itself like a lion! It does not lie down until it has eaten the prey and drunk the blood of the slain.’


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So Balak said to Balaam, ‘Come now, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will please God that you may curse them for me from there.’


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Balaam’s Third Oracle Now Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, so he did not go, as at other times, to look for omens, but set his face towards the wilderness.


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and he uttered his oracle, saying: ‘The oracle of Balaam son of Beor, the oracle of the man whose eye is clear,


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the oracle of one who hears the words of God, who sees the vision of the Almighty, who falls down, but with eyes uncovered:


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Like palm groves that stretch far away, like gardens beside a river, like aloes that the Lord has planted, like cedar trees beside the waters.


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Water shall flow from his buckets, and his seed shall have abundant water, his king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted.


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God, who brings him out of Egypt, is like the horns of a wild ox for him; he shall devour the nations that are his foes and break their bones. He shall strike with his arrows.


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He crouched, he lay down like a lion, and like a lioness; who will rouse him up? Blessed is everyone who blesses you, and cursed is everyone who curses you.’


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Then Balak’s anger was kindled against Balaam, and he struck his hands together. Balak said to Balaam, ‘I summoned you to curse my enemies, but instead you have blessed them these three times.


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Now be off with you! Go home! I said, “I will reward you richly”, but the Lord has denied you any reward.’


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“If Balak should give me his house full of silver and gold, I would not be able to go beyond the word of the Lord, to do either good or bad of my own will; what the Lord says, that is what I will say”?


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So now, I am going to my people; let me advise you what this people will do to your people in days to come.’


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Balaam’s Fourth Oracle So he uttered his oracle, saying: ‘The oracle of Balaam son of Beor, the oracle of the man whose eye is clear,


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the oracle of one who hears the words of God, and knows the knowledge of the Most High, who sees the vision of the Almighty, who falls down, but with his eyes uncovered:


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I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near— a star shall come out of Jacob, and a sceptre shall rise out of Israel; it shall crush the borderlands of Moab, and the territory of all the Shethites.


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Then he looked on Amalek, and uttered his oracle, saying: ‘First among the nations was Amalek, but its end is to perish for ever.’


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Then he looked on the Kenite, and uttered his oracle, saying: ‘Enduring is your dwelling-place, and your nest is set in the rock;


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But ships shall come from Kittim and shall afflict Asshur and Eber; and he also shall perish for ever.’


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Worship of Baal of Peor While Israel was staying at Shittim, the people began to have sexual relations with the women of Moab.


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These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods.


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The Lord said to Moses, ‘Take all the chiefs of the people, and impale them in the sun before the Lord, in order that the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from Israel.’


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And Moses said to the judges of Israel, ‘Each of you shall kill any of your people who have yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor.’


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Just then one of the Israelites came and brought a Midianite woman into his family, in the sight of Moses and in the sight of the whole congregation of the Israelites, while they were weeping at the entrance of the tent of meeting.


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When Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he got up and left the congregation. Taking a spear in his hand,


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he went after the Israelite man into the tent, and pierced the two of them, the Israelite and the woman, through the belly. So the plague was stopped among the people of Israel.


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‘Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has turned back my wrath from the Israelites by manifesting such zeal among them on my behalf that in my jealousy I did not consume the Israelites.


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It shall be for him and for his descendants after him a covenant of perpetual priesthood, because he was zealous for his God, and made atonement for the Israelites.”’


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The name of the slain Israelite man, who was killed with the Midianite woman, was Zimri son of Salu, head of an ancestral house belonging to the Simeonites.


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The name of the Midianite woman who was killed was Cozbi daughter of Zur, who was the head of a clan, an ancestral house in Midian.


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for they have harassed you by the trickery with which they deceived you in the affair of Peor, and in the affair of Cozbi, the daughter of a leader of Midian, their sister; she was killed on the day of the plague that resulted from Peor.’


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A Census of the New Generation After the plague the Lord said to Moses and to Eleazar son of Aaron the priest,


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‘Take a census of the whole congregation of the Israelites, from twenty years old and upwards, by their ancestral houses, everyone in Israel able to go to war.’


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Moses and Eleazar the priest spoke with them in the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho, saying,


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‘Take a census of the people, from twenty years old and upwards’, as the Lord commanded Moses. The Israelites, who came out of the land of Egypt, were:


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Reuben, the firstborn of Israel. The descendants of Reuben: of Hanoch, the clan of the Hanochites; of Pallu, the clan of the Palluites;


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These are the clans of the Reubenites; the number of those enrolled was forty-three thousand seven hundred and thirty.


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The descendants of Eliab: Nemuel, Dathan, and Abiram. These are the same Dathan and Abiram, chosen from the congregation, who rebelled against Moses and Aaron in the company of Korah, when they rebelled against the Lord,


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and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up along with Korah, when that company died, when the fire devoured two hundred and fifty men; and they became a warning.


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The descendants of Simeon by their clans: of Nemuel, the clan of the Nemuelites; of Jamin, the clan of the Jaminites; of Jachin, the clan of the Jachinites;


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The children of Gad by their clans: of Zephon, the clan of the Zephonites; of Haggi, the clan of the Haggites; of Shuni, the clan of the Shunites;


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The descendants of Judah by their clans were: of Shelah, the clan of the Shelanites; of Perez, the clan of the Perezites; of Zerah, the clan of the Zerahites.


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The descendants of Perez were: of Hezron, the clan of the Hezronites; of Hamul, the clan of the Hamulites.


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The descendants of Issachar by their clans: of Tola, the clan of the Tolaites; of Puvah, the clan of the Punites;


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The descendants of Zebulun by their clans: of Sered, the clan of the Seredites; of Elon, the clan of the Elonites; of Jahleel, the clan of the Jahleelites.


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These are the clans of the Zebulunites; the number of those enrolled was sixty thousand five hundred.


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The descendants of Manasseh: of Machir, the clan of the Machirites; and Machir was the father of Gilead; of Gilead, the clan of the Gileadites.


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These are the descendants of Gilead: of Iezer, the clan of the Iezerites; of Helek, the clan of the Helekites;


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


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These are the descendants of Ephraim according to their clans: of Shuthelah, the clan of the Shuthelahites; of Becher, the clan of the Becherites; of Tahan, the clan of the Tahanites.


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These are the clans of the Ephraimites: the number of those enrolled was thirty-two thousand five hundred. These are the descendants of Joseph by their clans.


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The descendants of Benjamin by their clans: of Bela, the clan of the Belaites; of Ashbel, the clan of the Ashbelites; of Ahiram, the clan of the Ahiramites;


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And the sons of Bela were Ard and Naaman: of Ard, the clan of the Ardites; of Naaman, the clan of the Naamites.


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These are the descendants of Benjamin by their clans; the number of those enrolled was forty-five thousand six hundred.


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These are the descendants of Dan by their clans: of Shuham, the clan of the Shuhamites. These are the clans of Dan by their clans.


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The descendants of Asher by their families: of Imnah, the clan of the Imnites; of Ishvi, the clan of the Ishvites; of Beriah, the clan of the Beriites.


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Of the descendants of Beriah: of Heber, the clan of the Heberites; of Malchiel, the clan of the Malchielites.


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These are the clans of the Asherites: the number of those enrolled was fifty-three thousand four hundred.


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The descendants of Naphtali by their clans: of Jahzeel, the clan of the Jahzeelites; of Guni, the clan of the Gunites;


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These are the Naphtalites by their clans: the number of those enrolled was forty-five thousand four hundred.


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This was the number of the Israelites enrolled: six hundred and one thousand seven hundred and thirty.


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To a large tribe you shall give a large inheritance, and to a small tribe you shall give a small inheritance; every tribe shall be given its inheritance according to its enrolment.


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But the land shall be apportioned by lot; according to the names of their ancestral tribes they shall inherit.


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This is the enrolment of the Levites by their clans: of Gershon, the clan of the Gershonites; of Kohath, the clan of the Kohathites; of Merari, the clan of the Merarites.


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These are the clans of Levi: the clan of the Libnites, the clan of the Hebronites, the clan of the Mahlites, the clan of the Mushites, the clan of the Korahites. Now Kohath was the father of Amram.


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The name of Amram’s wife was Jochebed daughter of Levi, who was born to Levi in Egypt; and she bore to Amram: Aaron, Moses, and their sister Miriam.


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The number of those enrolled was twenty-three thousand, every male one month old and upwards; for they were not enrolled among the Israelites because there was no allotment given to them among the Israelites.


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These were those enrolled by Moses and Eleazar the priest, who enrolled the Israelites in the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho.


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Among these there was not one of those enrolled by Moses and Aaron the priest, who had enrolled the Israelites in the wilderness of Sinai.


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For the Lord had said of them, ‘They shall die in the wilderness.’ Not one of them was left, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.


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The Daughters of Zelophehad Then the daughters of Zelophehad came forward. Zelophehad was son of Hepher son of Gilead son of Machir son of Manasseh son of Joseph, a member of the Manassite clans. The names of his daughters were: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.


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They stood before Moses, Eleazar the priest, the leaders, and all the congregation, at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and they said,


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‘Our father died in the wilderness; he was not among the company of those who gathered themselves together against the Lord in the company of Korah, but died for his own sin; and he had no sons.


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Why should the name of our father be taken away from his clan because he had no son? Give to us a possession among our father’s brothers.’


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The daughters of Zelophehad are right in what they are saying; you shall indeed let them possess an inheritance among their father’s brothers and pass the inheritance of their father on to them.


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You shall also say to the Israelites, ‘If a man dies, and has no son, then you shall pass his inheritance on to his daughter.


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And if his father has no brothers, then you shall give his inheritance to the nearest kinsman of his clan, and he shall possess it. It shall be for the Israelites a statute and ordinance, as the Lord commanded Moses.’


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Joshua Appointed Moses’ Successor The Lord said to Moses, ‘Go up this mountain of the Abarim range, and see the land that I have given to the Israelites.


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because you rebelled against my word in the wilderness of Zin when the congregation quarrelled with me. You did not show my holiness before their eyes at the waters.’ (These are the waters of Meribath-kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.)


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who shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in, so that the congregation of the Lord may not be like sheep without a shepherd.’


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So the Lord said to Moses, ‘Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay your hand upon him;


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have him stand before Eleazar the priest and all the congregation, and commission him in their sight.


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But he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire for him by the decision of the Urim before the Lord; at his word they shall go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he and all the Israelites with him, the whole congregation.’


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So Moses did as the Lord commanded him. He took Joshua and had him stand before Eleazar the priest and the whole congregation;


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Command the Israelites, and say to them: My offering, the food for my offerings by fire, my pleasing odour, you shall take care to offer to me at its appointed time.


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And you shall say to them, This is the offering by fire that you shall offer to the Lord: two male lambs a year old without blemish, daily, as a regular offering.


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also one-tenth of an ephah of choice flour for a grain-offering, mixed with one-fourth of a hin of beaten oil.


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It is a regular burnt-offering, ordained at Mount Sinai for a pleasing odour, an offering by fire to the Lord.


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Its drink-offering shall be one-fourth of a hin for each lamb; in the sanctuary you shall pour out a drink-offering of strong drink to the Lord.


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The other lamb you shall offer at twilight with a grain-offering and a drink-offering like the one in the morning; you shall offer it as an offering by fire, a pleasing odour to the Lord.


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Sabbath Offerings On the sabbath day: two male lambs a year old without blemish, and two-tenths of an ephah of choice flour for a grain-offering, mixed with oil, and its drink-offering—


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this is the burnt-offering for every sabbath, in addition to the regular burnt-offering and its drink-offering.


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Monthly Offerings At the beginnings of your months you shall offer a burnt-offering to the Lord: two young bulls, one ram, seven male lambs a year old without blemish;


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also three-tenths of an ephah of choice flour for a grain-offering, mixed with oil, for each bull; and two-tenths of choice flour for a grain-offering, mixed with oil, for the one ram;


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and one-tenth of choice flour mixed with oil as a grain-offering for every lamb—a burnt-offering of pleasing odour, an offering by fire to the Lord.


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Their drink-offerings shall be half a hin of wine for a bull, one-third of a hin for a ram, and one-fourth of a hin for a lamb. This is the burnt-offering of every month throughout the months of the year.


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And there shall be one male goat for a sin-offering to the Lord; it shall be offered in addition to the regular burnt-offering and its drink-offering.


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Offerings at Passover On the fourteenth day of the first month there shall be a passover-offering to the Lord.


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And on the fifteenth day of this month is a festival; for seven days shall unleavened bread be eaten.


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You shall offer an offering by fire, a burnt-offering to the Lord: two young bulls, one ram, and seven male lambs a year old; see that they are without blemish.


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Their grain-offering shall be of choice flour mixed with oil: three-tenths of an ephah shall you offer for a bull, and two-tenths for a ram;


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You shall offer these in addition to the burnt-offering of the morning, which belongs to the regular burnt-offering.


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In the same way you shall offer daily, for seven days, the food of an offering by fire, a pleasing odour to the Lord; it shall be offered in addition to the regular burnt-offering and its drink-offering.


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Offerings at the Festival of Weeks On the day of the first fruits, when you offer a grain-offering of new grain to the Lord at your festival of weeks, you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not work at your occupations.


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You shall offer a burnt-offering, a pleasing odour to the Lord: two young bulls, one ram, seven male lambs a year old.


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Their grain-offering shall be of choice flour mixed with oil, three-tenths of an ephah for each bull, two-tenths for one ram,


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In addition to the regular burnt-offering with its grain-offering, you shall offer them and their drink-offering. They shall be without blemish.


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Offerings at the Festival of Trumpets On the first day of the seventh month you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not work at your occupations. It is a day for you to blow the trumpets,


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and you shall offer a burnt-offering, a pleasing odour to the Lord: one young bull, one ram, seven male lambs a year old without blemish.


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Their grain-offering shall be of choice flour mixed with oil, three-tenths of one ephah for the bull, two-tenths for the ram,


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These are in addition to the burnt-offering of the new moon and its grain-offering, and the regular burnt-offering and its grain-offering, and their drink-offerings, according to the ordinance for them, a pleasing odour, an offering by fire to the Lord.


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Offerings on the Day of Atonement On the tenth day of this seventh month you shall have a holy convocation, and deny yourselves; you shall do no work.


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You shall offer a burnt-offering to the Lord, a pleasing odour: one young bull, one ram, seven male lambs a year old. They shall be without blemish.


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Their grain-offering shall be of choice flour mixed with oil, three-tenths of an ephah for the bull, two-tenths for the one ram,


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


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Offerings at the Festival of Booths On the fifteenth day of the seventh month you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not work at your occupations. You shall celebrate a festival to the Lord for seven days.


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You shall offer a burnt-offering, an offering by fire, a pleasing odour to the Lord: thirteen young bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old. They shall be without blemish.


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Their grain-offering shall be of choice flour mixed with oil, three-tenths of an ephah for each of the thirteen bulls, two-tenths for each of the two rams,


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also one male goat for a sin-offering, in addition to the regular burnt-offering, its grain-offering and its drink-offering.


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with the grain-offering and the drink-offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, as prescribed in accordance with their number;


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also one male goat for a sin-offering, in addition to the regular burnt-offering and its grain-offering, and their drink-offerings.


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also one male goat for a sin-offering, in addition to the regular burnt-offering and its grain-offering and its drink-offering.


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also one male goat for a sin-offering, in addition to the regular burnt-offering, its grain-offering, and its drink-offerings.


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also one male goat for a sin-offering, besides the regular burnt-offering, its grain-offering, and its drink-offering.


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You shall offer a burnt-offering, an offering by fire, a pleasing odour to the Lord: one bull, one ram, seven male lambs a year old without blemish,


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and the grain-offering and the drink-offerings for the bull, for the ram, and for the lambs, as prescribed in accordance with their number;


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These you shall offer to the Lord at your appointed festivals, in addition to your votive offerings and your freewill-offerings, as your burnt-offerings, your grain-offerings, your drink-offerings, and your offerings of well-being.


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Vows Made by Women Then Moses said to the heads of the tribes of the Israelites: This is what the Lord has commanded.


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When a man makes a vow to the Lord, or swears an oath to bind himself by a pledge, he shall not break his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.


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When a woman makes a vow to the Lord, or binds herself by a pledge, while within her father’s house, in her youth,


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and her father hears of her vow or her pledge by which she has bound herself, and says nothing to her; then all her vows shall stand, and any pledge by which she has bound herself shall stand.


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But if her father expresses disapproval to her at the time that he hears of it, no vow of hers, and no pledge by which she has bound herself, shall stand; and the Lord will forgive her, because her father had expressed to her his disapproval.


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If she marries, while obligated by her vows or any thoughtless utterance of her lips by which she has bound herself,


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and her husband hears of it and says nothing to her at the time that he hears, then her vows shall stand, and her pledges by which she has bound herself shall stand.


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But if, at the time that her husband hears of it, he expresses disapproval to her, then he shall nullify the vow by which she was obligated, or the thoughtless utterance of her lips, by which she bound herself; and the Lord will forgive her.


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(But every vow of a widow or of a divorced woman, by which she has bound herself, shall be binding upon her.)


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and her husband heard it and said nothing to her, and did not express disapproval to her, then all her vows shall stand, and any pledge by which she bound herself shall stand.


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But if her husband nullifies them at the time that he hears them, then whatever proceeds out of her lips concerning her vows, or concerning her pledge of herself, shall not stand. Her husband has nullified them, and the Lord will forgive her.


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Any vow or any binding oath to deny herself, her husband may allow to stand, or her husband may nullify.


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But if her husband says nothing to her from day to day, then he validates all her vows, or all her pledges, by which she is obligated; he has validated them, because he said nothing to her at the time that he heard of them.


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These are the statutes that the Lord commanded Moses concerning a husband and his wife, and a father and his daughter while she is still young and in her father’s house.


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So Moses said to the people, ‘Arm some of your number for the war, so that they may go against Midian, to execute the Lord’s vengeance on Midian.


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So out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand from each tribe were conscripted, twelve thousand armed for battle.


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Moses sent them to the war, a thousand from each tribe, along with Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest, with the vessels of the sanctuary and the trumpets for sounding the alarm in his hand.


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They killed the kings of Midian: Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian, in addition to others who were slain by them; and they also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword.


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The Israelites took the women of Midian and their little ones captive; and they took all their cattle, their flocks, and all their goods as booty.


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Then they brought the captives and the booty and the spoil to Moses, to Eleazar the priest, and to the congregation of the Israelites, at the camp on the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.


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Return from the War Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders of the congregation went to meet them outside the camp.


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Moses became angry with the officers of the army, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, who had come from service in the war.


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These women here, on Balaam’s advice, made the Israelites act treacherously against the Lord in the affair of Peor, so that the plague came among the congregation of the Lord.


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Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known a man by sleeping with him.


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Camp outside the camp for seven days; whoever of you has killed any person or touched a corpse, purify yourselves and your captives on the third and on the seventh day.


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You shall purify every garment, every article of skin, everything made of goats’ hair, and every article of wood.’


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Eleazar the priest said to the troops who had gone to battle: ‘This is the statute of the law that the Lord has commanded Moses:


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everything that can withstand fire, shall be passed through fire, and it shall be clean. Nevertheless it shall also be purified with the water for purification; and whatever cannot withstand fire, shall be passed through the water.


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You must wash your clothes on the seventh day, and you shall be clean; afterwards you may come into the camp.’


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‘You and Eleazar the priest and the heads of the ancestral houses of the congregation make an inventory of the booty captured, both human and animal.


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Divide the booty into two parts, between the warriors who went out to battle and all the congregation.


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From the share of the warriors who went out to battle, set aside as tribute for the Lord one item out of every five hundred, whether persons, oxen, donkeys, sheep, or goats.


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But from the Israelites’ half you shall take one out of every fifty, whether persons, oxen, donkeys, sheep, or goats—all the animals—and give them to the Levites who have charge of the tabernacle of the Lord.’


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The booty remaining from the spoil that the troops had taken totalled six hundred and seventy-five thousand sheep,


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The half-share, the portion of those who had gone out to war, was in number three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep and goats,


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Moses gave the tribute, the offering for the Lord, to Eleazar the priest, as the Lord had commanded Moses.


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From the Israelites’ half Moses took one of every fifty, both of persons and of animals, and gave them to the Levites who had charge of the tabernacle of the Lord; as the Lord had commanded Moses.


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Then the officers who were over the thousands of the army, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, approached Moses,


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and said to Moses, ‘Your servants have counted the warriors who are under our command, and not one of us is missing.


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And we have brought the Lord’s offering, what each of us found, articles of gold, armlets and bracelets, signet rings, ear-rings, and pendants, to make atonement for ourselves before the Lord.’


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And all the gold of the offering that they offered to the Lord, from the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, was sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels.


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So Moses and Eleazar the priest received the gold from the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it into the tent of meeting as a memorial for the Israelites before the Lord.


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Conquest and Division of Transjordan Now the Reubenites and the Gadites owned a very great number of cattle. When they saw that the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead was a good place for cattle,


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the Gadites and the Reubenites came and spoke to Moses, to Eleazar the priest, and to the leaders of the congregation, saying,


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the land that the Lord subdued before the congregation of Israel—is a land for cattle; and your servants have cattle.’


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They continued, ‘If we have found favour in your sight, let this land be given to your servants for a possession; do not make us cross the Jordan.’


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But Moses said to the Gadites and to the Reubenites, ‘Shall your brothers go to war while you sit here?


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Why will you discourage the hearts of the Israelites from going over into the land that the Lord has given them?


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When they went up to the Wadi Eshcol and saw the land, they discouraged the hearts of the Israelites from going into the land that the Lord had given them.


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“Surely none of the people who came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upwards, shall see the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, because they have not unreservedly followed me—


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none except Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua son of Nun, for they have unreservedly followed the Lord.”


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And the Lord’s anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them wander in the wilderness for forty years, until all the generation that had done evil in the sight of the Lord had disappeared.


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And now you, a brood of sinners, have risen in place of your fathers, to increase the Lord’s fierce anger against Israel!


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If you turn away from following him, he will again abandon them in the wilderness; and you will destroy all this people.’


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Then they came up to him and said, ‘We will build sheepfolds here for our flocks, and towns for our little ones,


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but we will take up arms as a vanguard before the Israelites, until we have brought them to their place. Meanwhile our little ones will stay in the fortified towns because of the inhabitants of the land.


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We will not inherit with them on the other side of the Jordan and beyond, because our inheritance has come to us on this side of the Jordan to the east.’


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and all those of you who bear arms cross the Jordan before the Lord, until he has driven out his enemies from before him


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and the land is subdued before the Lord—then after that you may return and be free of obligation to the Lord and to Israel, and this land shall be your possession before the Lord.


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But if you do not do this, you have sinned against the Lord; and be sure your sin will find you out.


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Our little ones, our wives, our flocks, and all our livestock shall remain there in the towns of Gilead;


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but your servants will cross over, everyone armed for war, to do battle for the Lord, just as my lord orders.’


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So Moses gave command concerning them to Eleazar the priest, to Joshua son of Nun, and to the heads of the ancestral houses of the Israelite tribes.


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And Moses said to them, ‘If the Gadites and the Reubenites, everyone armed for battle before the Lord, will cross over the Jordan with you and the land shall be subdued before you, then you shall give them the land of Gilead for a possession;


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but if they will not cross over with you armed, they shall have possessions among you in the land of Canaan.’


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We will cross over armed before the Lord into the land of Canaan, but the possession of our inheritance shall remain with us on this side of the Jordan.’


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Moses gave to them—to the Gadites and to the Reubenites and to the half-tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph—the kingdom of King Sihon of the Amorites and the kingdom of King Og of Bashan, the land and its towns, with the territories of the surrounding towns.


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Nebo, and Baal-meon (some names being changed), and Sibmah; and they gave names to the towns that they rebuilt.


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The descendants of Machir son of Manasseh went to Gilead, captured it, and dispossessed the Amorites who were there;


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The Stages of Israel’s Journey from Egypt These are the stages by which the Israelites went out of the land of Egypt in military formation under the leadership of Moses and Aaron.


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Moses wrote down their starting points, stage by stage, by command of the Lord; and these are their stages according to their starting places.


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They set out from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the day after the passover the Israelites went out boldly in the sight of all the Egyptians,


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while the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn, whom the Lord had struck down among them. The Lord executed judgements even against their gods.


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They set out from Etham, and turned back to Pi-hahiroth, which faces Baal-zephon; and they camped before Migdol.


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They set out from Pi-hahiroth, passed through the sea into the wilderness, went a three days’ journey in the wilderness of Etham, and camped at Marah.


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They set out from Marah and came to Elim; at Elim there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped there.


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Aaron the priest went up Mount Hor at the command of the Lord and died there in the fortieth year after the Israelites had come out of the land of Egypt, on the first day of the fifth month.


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The Canaanite, the king of Arad, who lived in the Negeb in the land of Canaan, heard of the coming of the Israelites.


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They set out from the mountains of Abarim and camped in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho;


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Directions for the Conquest of Canaan In the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:


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you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, destroy all their figured stones, destroy all their cast images, and demolish all their high places.


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You shall apportion the land by lot according to your clans; to a large one you shall give a large inheritance, and to a small one you shall give a small inheritance; the inheritance shall belong to the person on whom the lot falls; according to your ancestral tribes you shall inherit.


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But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those whom you let remain shall be as barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides; they shall trouble you in the land where you are settling.


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Command the Israelites, and say to them: When you enter the land of Canaan (this is the land that shall fall to you for an inheritance, the land of Canaan, defined by its boundaries),


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your south sector shall extend from the wilderness of Zin along the side of Edom. Your southern boundary shall begin from the end of the Dead Sea on the east;


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your boundary shall turn south of the ascent of Akrabbim, and cross to Zin, and its outer limit shall be south of Kadesh-barnea; then it shall go on to Hazar-addar, and cross to Azmon;


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For the western boundary, you shall have the Great Sea and its coast; this shall be your western boundary.


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from Mount Hor you shall mark it out to Lebo-hamath, and the outer limit of the boundary shall be at Zedad;


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then the boundary shall extend to Ziphron, and its end shall be at Hazar-enan; this shall be your northern boundary.


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and the boundary shall continue down from Shepham to Riblah on the east side of Ain; and the boundary shall go down, and reach the eastern slope of the sea of Chinnereth;


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and the boundary shall go down to the Jordan, and its end shall be at the Dead Sea. This shall be your land with its boundaries all round.


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Moses commanded the Israelites, saying: This is the land that you shall inherit by lot, which the Lord has commanded to give to the nine tribes and to the half-tribe;


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for the tribe of the Reubenites by their ancestral houses and the tribe of the Gadites by their ancestral houses have taken their inheritance, and also the half-tribe of Manasseh;


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the two tribes and the half-tribe have taken their inheritance beyond the Jordan at Jericho eastwards, towards the sunrise.


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These are the names of the men who shall apportion the land to you for inheritance: the priest Eleazar and Joshua son of Nun.


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These were the ones whom the Lord commanded to apportion the inheritance for the Israelites in the land of Canaan.


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Cities for the Levites In the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:


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Command the Israelites to give, from the inheritance that they possess, towns for the Levites to live in; you shall also give to the Levites pasture lands surrounding the towns.


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The towns shall be theirs to live in, and their pasture lands shall be for their cattle, for their livestock, and for all their animals.


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The pasture lands of the towns, which you shall give to the Levites, shall reach from the wall of the town outwards a thousand cubits all around.


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You shall measure, outside the town, for the east side two thousand cubits, for the south side two thousand cubits, for the west side two thousand cubits, and for the north side two thousand cubits, with the town in the middle; this shall belong to them as pasture land for their towns.


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The towns that you give to the Levites shall include the six cities of refuge, where you shall permit a slayer to flee, and in addition to them you shall give forty-two towns.


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And as for the towns that you shall give from the possession of the Israelites, from the larger tribes you shall take many, and from the smaller tribes you shall take few; each, in proportion to the inheritance that it obtains, shall give of its towns to the Levites.


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then you shall select cities to be cities of refuge for you, so that a slayer who kills a person without intent may flee there.


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The cities shall be for you a refuge from the avenger, so that the slayer may not die until there is a trial before the congregation.


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you shall designate three cities beyond the Jordan, and three cities in the land of Canaan, to be cities of refuge.


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These six cities shall serve as refuge for the Israelites, for the resident or transient alien among them, so that anyone who kills a person without intent may flee there.


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Concerning Murder and Blood-Revenge But anyone who strikes another with an iron object, and death ensues, is a murderer; the murderer shall be put to death.


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Or anyone who strikes another with a stone in hand that could cause death, and death ensues, is a murderer; the murderer shall be put to death.


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Or anyone who strikes another with a weapon of wood in hand that could cause death, and death ensues, is a murderer; the murderer shall be put to death.


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The avenger of blood is the one who shall put the murderer to death; when they meet, the avenger of blood shall execute the sentence.


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Likewise, if someone pushes another from hatred, or hurls something at another, lying in wait, and death ensues,


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or in enmity strikes another with the hand, and death ensues, then the one who struck the blow shall be put to death; that person is a murderer; the avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death when they meet.


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or, while handling any stone that could cause death, unintentionally drops it on another and death ensues, though they were not enemies, and no harm was intended,


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then the congregation shall judge between the slayer and the avenger of blood, in accordance with these ordinances;


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and the congregation shall rescue the slayer from the avenger of blood. Then the congregation shall send the slayer back to the original city of refuge. The slayer shall live in it until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil.


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and is found by the avenger of blood outside the bounds of the city of refuge, and is killed by the avenger, no blood-guilt shall be incurred.


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For the slayer must remain in the city of refuge until the death of the high priest; but after the death of the high priest the slayer may return home.


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These things shall be a statute and ordinance for you throughout your generations wherever you live.


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If anyone kills another, the murderer shall be put to death on the evidence of witnesses; but no one shall be put to death on the testimony of a single witness.


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Moreover, you shall accept no ransom for the life of a murderer who is subject to the death penalty; a murderer must be put to death.


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Nor shall you accept ransom for one who has fled to a city of refuge, enabling the fugitive to return to live in the land before the death of the high priest.


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You shall not pollute the land in which you live; for blood pollutes the land, and no expiation can be made for the land, for the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it.


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You shall not defile the land in which you live, in which I also dwell; for I the Lord dwell among the Israelites.


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Marriage of Female Heirs The heads of the ancestral houses of the clans of the descendants of Gilead son of Machir son of Manasseh, of the Josephite clans, came forward and spoke in the presence of Moses and the leaders, the heads of the ancestral houses of the Israelites;


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they said, ‘The Lord commanded my lord to give the land for inheritance by lot to the Israelites; and my lord was commanded by the Lord to give the inheritance of our brother Zelophehad to his daughters.


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But if they are married into another Israelite tribe, then their inheritance will be taken from the inheritance of our ancestors and added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry; so it will be taken away from the allotted portion of our inheritance.


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And when the jubilee of the Israelites comes, then their inheritance will be added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they have married; and their inheritance will be taken from the inheritance of our ancestral tribe.’


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Then Moses commanded the Israelites according to the word of the Lord, saying, ‘The descendants of the tribe of Joseph are right in what they are saying.


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This is what the Lord commands concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, “Let them marry whom they think best; only it must be into a clan of their father’s tribe that they are married,


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so that no inheritance of the Israelites shall be transferred from one tribe to another; for all Israelites shall retain the inheritance of their ancestral tribes.


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Every daughter who possesses an inheritance in any tribe of the Israelites shall marry one from the clan of her father’s tribe, so that all Israelites may continue to possess their ancestral inheritance.


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No inheritance shall be transferred from one tribe to another; for each of the tribes of the Israelites shall retain its own inheritance.”’


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Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, married sons of their father’s brothers.


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


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These are the commandments and the ordinances that the Lord commanded through Moses to the Israelites in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.


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Events at Horeb Recalled These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan—in the wilderness, on the plain opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Di-zahab.


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In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses spoke to the Israelites just as the Lord had commanded him to speak to them.


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


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Resume your journey, and go into the hill country of the Amorites as well as into the neighbouring regions—the Arabah, the hill country, the Shephelah, the Negeb, and the sea coast—the land of the Canaanites and the Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates.


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See, I have set the land before you; go in and take possession of the land that I swore to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them and to their descendants after them.’


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


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Choose for each of your tribes individuals who are wise, discerning, and reputable to be your leaders.’


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So I took the leaders of your tribes, wise and reputable individuals, and installed them as leaders over you, commanders of thousands, commanders of hundreds, commanders of fifties, commanders of tens, and officials, throughout your tribes.


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I charged your judges at that time: ‘Give the members of your community a fair hearing, and judge rightly between one person and another, whether citizen or resident alien.


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You must not be partial in judging: hear out the small and the great alike; you shall not be intimidated by anyone, for the judgement is God’s. Any case that is too hard for you, bring to me, and I will hear it.’


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Israel’s Refusal to Enter the Land Then, just as the Lord our God had ordered us, we set out from Horeb and went through all that great and terrible wilderness that you saw, on the way to the hill country of the Amorites, until we reached Kadesh-barnea.


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


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See, the Lord your God has given the land to you; go up, take possession, as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has promised you; do not fear or be dismayed.’


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All of you came to me and said, ‘Let us send men ahead of us to explore the land for us and bring back a report to us regarding the route by which we should go up and the cities we will come to.’


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They set out and went up into the hill country, and when they reached the Valley of Eshcol they spied it out


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and gathered some of the land’s produce, which they brought down to us. They brought back a report to us, and said, ‘It is a good land that the Lord our God is giving us.’


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you grumbled in your tents and said, ‘It is because the Lord hates us that he has brought us out of the land of Egypt, to hand us over to the Amorites to destroy us.


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Where are we heading? Our kindred have made our hearts fail by reporting, “The people are stronger and taller than we are; the cities are large and fortified up to heaven! We actually saw there the offspring of the Anakim!”’


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The Lord your God, who goes before you, is the one who will fight for you, just as he did for you in Egypt before your very eyes,


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and in the wilderness, where you saw how the Lord your God carried you, just as one carries a child, all the way that you travelled until you reached this place.


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who goes before you on the way to seek out a place for you to camp, in fire by night, and in the cloud by day, to show you the route you should take.’


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‘Not one of these—not one of this evil generation—shall see the good land that I swore to give to your ancestors,


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except Caleb son of Jephunneh. He shall see it, and to him and to his descendants I will give the land on which he set foot, because of his complete fidelity to the Lord.’


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Joshua son of Nun, your assistant, shall enter there; encourage him, for he is the one who will secure Israel’s possession of it.


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And as for your little ones, who you thought would become booty, your children, who today do not yet know right from wrong, they shall enter there; to them I will give it, and they shall take possession of it.


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You answered me, ‘We have sinned against the Lord! We are ready to go up and fight, just as the Lord our God commanded us.’ So all of you strapped on your battle gear, and thought it easy to go up into the hill country.


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The Lord said to me, ‘Say to them, “Do not go up and do not fight, for I am not in the midst of you; otherwise you will be defeated by your enemies.”’


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Although I told you, you would not listen. You rebelled against the command of the Lord and presumptuously went up into the hill country.


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The Amorites who lived in that hill country then came out against you and chased you as bees do. They beat you down in Seir as far as Hormah.


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When you returned and wept before the Lord, the Lord would neither heed your voice nor pay you any attention.


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2 we journeyed back into the wilderness, in the direction of the Red Sea, as the Lord had told me, and skirted Mount Seir for many days.


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and charge the people as follows: You are about to pass through the territory of your kindred, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, so be very careful


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not to engage in battle with them, for I will not give you even so much as a foot’s length of their land, since I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession.


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You shall purchase food from them for money, so that you may eat; and you shall also buy water from them for money, so that you may drink.


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Surely the Lord your God has blessed you in all your undertakings; he knows your going through this great wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing.’


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So we passed by our kin, the descendants of Esau who live in Seir, leaving behind the route of the Arabah, and leaving behind Elath and Ezion-geber. When we had headed out along the route of the wilderness of Moab,


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the Lord said to me: ‘Do not harass Moab or engage them in battle, for I will not give you any of its land as a possession, since I have given Ar as a possession to the descendants of Lot.’


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Moreover, the Horim had formerly inhabited Seir, but the descendants of Esau dispossessed them, destroying them and settling in their place, as Israel has done in the land that the Lord gave them as a possession.)


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And the length of time we had travelled from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed the Wadi Zered was thirty-eight years, until the entire generation of warriors had perished from the camp, as the Lord had sworn concerning them.


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Indeed, the Lord’s own hand was against them, to root them out from the camp, until all had perished.


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When you approach the frontier of the Ammonites, do not harass them or engage them in battle, for I will not give the land of the Ammonites to you as a possession, because I have given it to the descendants of Lot.’


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(It also is usually reckoned as a land of Rephaim. Rephaim formerly inhabited it, though the Ammonites call them Zamzummim,


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a strong and numerous people, as tall as the Anakim. But the Lord destroyed them from before the Ammonites so that they could dispossess them and settle in their place.


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He did the same for the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir, by destroying the Horim before them so that they could dispossess them and settle in their place even to this day.


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As for the Avvim, who had lived in settlements in the vicinity of Gaza, the Caphtorim, who came from Caphtor, destroyed them and settled in their place.)


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‘Proceed on your journey and cross the Wadi Arnon. See, I have handed over to you King Sihon the Amorite of Heshbon, and his land. Begin to take possession by engaging him in battle.


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This day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you upon the peoples everywhere under heaven; when they hear report of you, they will tremble and be in anguish because of you.’


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Defeat of King Sihon So I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to King Sihon of Heshbon with the following terms of peace:


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‘If you let me pass through your land, I will travel only along the road; I will turn aside neither to the right nor to the left.


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You shall sell me food for money, so that I may eat, and supply me water for money, so that I may drink. Only allow me to pass through on foot—


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just as the descendants of Esau who live in Seir have done for me and likewise the Moabites who live in Ar—until I cross the Jordan into the land that the Lord our God is giving us.’


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But King Sihon of Heshbon was not willing to let us pass through, for the Lord your God had hardened his spirit and made his heart defiant in order to hand him over to you, as he has now done.


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The Lord said to me, ‘See, I have begun to give Sihon and his land over to you. Begin now to take possession of his land.’


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the Lord our God gave him over to us; and we struck him down, along with his offspring and all his people.


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At that time we captured all his towns, and in each town we utterly destroyed men, women, and children. We left not a single survivor.


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Only the livestock we kept as spoil for ourselves, as well as the plunder of the towns that we had captured.


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From Aroer on the edge of the Wadi Arnon (including the town that is in the wadi itself) as far as Gilead, there was no citadel too high for us. The Lord our God gave everything to us.


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You did not encroach, however, on the land of the Ammonites, avoiding the whole upper region of the Wadi Jabbok as well as the towns of the hill country, just as the Lord our God had charged.


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Defeat of King Og When we headed up the road to Bashan, King Og of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, for battle at Edrei.


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The Lord said to me, ‘Do not fear him, for I have handed him over to you, along with his people and his land. Do to him as you did to King Sihon of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon.’


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So the Lord our God also handed over to us King Og of Bashan and all his people. We struck him down until not a single survivor was left.


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At that time we captured all his towns; there was no citadel that we did not take from them—sixty towns, the whole region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan.


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All these were fortress towns with high walls, double gates, and bars, besides a great many villages.


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And we utterly destroyed them, as we had done to King Sihon of Heshbon, in each city utterly destroying men, women, and children.


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So at that time we took from the two kings of the Amorites the land beyond the Jordan, from the Wadi Arnon to Mount Hermon


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all the towns of the tableland, the whole of Gilead, and all of Bashan, as far as Salecah and Edrei, towns of Og’s kingdom in Bashan.


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(Now only King Og of Bashan was left of the remnant of the Rephaim. In fact his bed, an iron bed, can still be seen in Rabbah of the Ammonites. By the common cubit it is nine cubits long and four cubits wide.)


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As for the land that we took possession of at that time, I gave to the Reubenites and Gadites the territory north of Aroer that is on the edge of the Wadi Arnon, as well as half the hill country of Gilead with its towns,


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and I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh the rest of Gilead and all of Bashan, Og’s kingdom. (The whole region of Argob: all that portion of Bashan used to be called a land of Rephaim;


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Jair the Manassite acquired the whole region of Argob as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and he named them—that is, Bashan—after himself, Havvoth-jair, as it is to this day.)


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And to the Reubenites and the Gadites I gave the territory from Gilead as far as the Wadi Arnon, with the middle of the wadi as a boundary, and up to the Jabbok, the wadi being the boundary of the Ammonites;


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the Arabah also, with the Jordan and its banks, from Chinnereth down to the sea of the Arabah, the Dead Sea, with the lower slopes of Pisgah on the east.


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At that time, I charged you as follows: ‘Although the Lord your God has given you this land to occupy, all your troops shall cross over armed as the vanguard of your Israelite kin.


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Only your wives, your children, and your livestock—I know that you have much livestock—shall stay behind in the towns that I have given to you.


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When the Lord gives rest to your kindred, as to you, and they too have occupied the land that the Lord your God is giving them beyond the Jordan, then each of you may return to the property that I have given to you.’


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And I charged Joshua as well at that time, saying: ‘Your own eyes have seen everything that the Lord your God has done to these two kings; so the Lord will do to all the kingdoms into which you are about to cross.


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‘O Lord God, you have only begun to show your servant your greatness and your might; what god in heaven or on earth can perform deeds and mighty acts like yours!


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But the Lord was angry with me on your account and would not heed me. The Lord said to me, ‘Enough from you! Never speak to me of this matter again!


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Go up to the top of Pisgah and look around you to the west, to the north, to the south, and to the east. Look well, for you shall not cross over this Jordan.


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But charge Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, because it is he who shall cross over at the head of this people and who shall secure their possession of the land that you will see.’


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Moses Commands Obedience So now, Israel, give heed to the statutes and ordinances that I am teaching you to observe, so that you may live to enter and occupy the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you.


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You must neither add anything to what I command you nor take away anything from it, but keep the commandments of the Lord your God with which I am charging you.


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You have seen for yourselves what the Lord did with regard to the Baal of Peor—how the Lord your God destroyed from among you everyone who followed the Baal of Peor,


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See, just as the Lord my God has charged me, I now teach you statutes and ordinances for you to observe in the land that you are about to enter and occupy.


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You must observe them diligently, for this will show your wisdom and discernment to the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and discerning people!’


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And what other great nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before you today?


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But take care and watch yourselves closely, so as neither to forget the things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children’s children—


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how you once stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, when the Lord said to me, ‘Assemble the people for me, and I will let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me as long as they live on the earth, and may teach their children to do so’;


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you approached and stood at the foot of the mountain while the mountain was blazing up to the very heavens, shrouded in dark clouds.


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Then the Lord spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words but saw no form; there was only a voice.


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He declared to you his covenant, which he charged you to observe, that is, the ten commandments; and he wrote them on two stone tablets.


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And the Lord charged me at that time to teach you statutes and ordinances for you to observe in the land that you are about to cross into and occupy.


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Since you saw no form when the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire, take care and watch yourselves closely,


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so that you do not act corruptly by making an idol for yourselves, in the form of any figure—the likeness of male or female,


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the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air,


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the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth.


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And when you look up to the heavens and see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the host of heaven, do not be led astray and bow down to them and serve them, things that the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples everywhere under heaven.


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But the Lord has taken you and brought you out of the iron-smelter, out of Egypt, to become a people of his very own possession, as you are now.


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The Lord was angry with me because of you, and he vowed that I should not cross the Jordan and that I should not enter the good land that the Lord your God is giving for your possession.


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For I am going to die in this land without crossing over the Jordan, but you are going to cross over to take possession of that good land.


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So be careful not to forget the covenant that the Lord your God made with you, and not to make for yourselves an idol in the form of anything that the Lord your God has forbidden you.


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When you have had children and children’s children, and become complacent in the land, if you act corruptly by making an idol in the form of anything, thus doing what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, and provoking him to anger,


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I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that you will soon utterly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to occupy; you will not live long on it, but will be utterly destroyed.


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The Lord will scatter you among the peoples; only a few of you will be left among the nations where the Lord will lead you.


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There you will serve other gods made by human hands, objects of wood and stone that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.


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From there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find him if you search after him with all your heart and soul.


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In your distress, when all these things have happened to you in time to come, you will return to the Lord your God and heed him.


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Because the Lord your God is a merciful God, he will neither abandon you nor destroy you; he will not forget the covenant with your ancestors that he swore to them.


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For ask now about former ages, long before your own, ever since the day that God created human beings on the earth; ask from one end of heaven to the other: has anything so great as this ever happened or has its like ever been heard of?


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Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by terrifying displays of power, as the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes?


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To you it was shown so that you would acknowledge that the Lord is God; there is no other besides him.


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From heaven he made you hear his voice to discipline you. On earth he showed you his great fire, while you heard his words coming out of the fire.


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And because he loved your ancestors, he chose their descendants after them. He brought you out of Egypt with his own presence, by his great power,


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driving out before you nations greater and mightier than yourselves, to bring you in, giving you their land for a possession, as it is still today.


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So acknowledge today and take to heart that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.


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Keep his statutes and his commandments, which I am commanding you today for your own well-being and that of your descendants after you, so that you may long remain in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for all time.


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Cities of Refuge East of the Jordan Then Moses set apart on the east side of the Jordan three cities


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to which a homicide could flee, someone who unintentionally kills another person, the two not having been at enmity before; the homicide could flee to one of these cities and live:


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


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These are the decrees and the statutes and ordinances that Moses spoke to the Israelites when they had come out of Egypt,


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beyond the Jordan in the valley opposite Beth-peor, in the land of King Sihon of the Amorites, who reigned at Heshbon, whom Moses and the Israelites defeated when they came out of Egypt.


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They occupied his land and the land of King Og of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites on the eastern side of the Jordan:


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together with all the Arabah on the east side of the Jordan as far as the Sea of the Arabah, under the slopes of Pisgah.


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The Ten Commandments Moses convened all Israel, and said to them: Hear, O Israel, the statutes and ordinances that I am addressing to you today; you shall learn them and observe them diligently.


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Not with our ancestors did the Lord make this covenant, but with us, who are all of us here alive today.


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(At that time I was standing between the Lord and you to declare to you the words of the Lord; for you were afraid because of the fire and did not go up the mountain.) And he said:


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You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and fourth generation of those who reject me,


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But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, or your son or your daughter, or your male or female slave, or your ox or your donkey, or any of your livestock, or the resident alien in your towns, so that your male and female slave may rest as well as you.


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Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the sabbath day.


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Honour your father and your mother, as the Lord your God commanded you, so that your days may be long and that it may go well with you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.


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Neither shall you covet your neighbour’s wife. Neither shall you desire your neighbour’s house, or field, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbour.


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Moses the Mediator of God’s Will These words the Lord spoke with a loud voice to your whole assembly at the mountain, out of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, and he added no more. He wrote them on two stone tablets, and gave them to me.


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When you heard the voice out of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you approached me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders;


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and you said, ‘Look, the Lord our God has shown us his glory and greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the fire. Today we have seen that God may speak to someone and the person may still live.


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So now why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer, we shall die.


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For who is there of all flesh that has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of fire, as we have, and remained alive?


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Go near, you yourself, and hear all that the Lord our God will say. Then tell us everything that the Lord our God tells you, and we will listen and do it.’


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The Lord heard your words when you spoke to me, and the Lord said to me: ‘I have heard the words of this people, which they have spoken to you; they are right in all that they have spoken.


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If only they had such a mind as this, to fear me and to keep all my commandments always, so that it might go well with them and with their children for ever!


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But you, stand here by me, and I will tell you all the commandments, the statutes and the ordinances, that you shall teach them, so that they may do them in the land that I am giving them to possess.’


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You must therefore be careful to do as the Lord your God has commanded you; you shall not turn to the right or to the left.


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You must follow exactly the path that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live, and that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land that you are to possess.


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The Great Commandment Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the ordinances—that the Lord your God charged me to teach you to observe in the land that you are about to cross into and occupy,


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so that you and your children and your children’s children may fear the Lord your God all the days of your life, and keep all his decrees and his commandments that I am commanding you, so that your days may be long.


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Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe them diligently, so that it may go well with you, and so that you may multiply greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has promised you.


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You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.


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Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise.


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Caution against Disobedience When the Lord your God has brought you into the land that he swore to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—a land with fine, large cities that you did not build,


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houses filled with all sorts of goods that you did not fill, hewn cisterns that you did not hew, vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant—and when you have eaten your fill,


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take care that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.


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because the Lord your God, who is present with you, is a jealous God. The anger of the Lord your God would be kindled against you and he would destroy you from the face of the earth.


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You must diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and his decrees, and his statutes that he has commanded you.


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Do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, so that it may go well with you, and so that you may go in and occupy the good land that the Lord swore to your ancestors to give you,


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When your children ask you in time to come, ‘What is the meaning of the decrees and the statutes and the ordinances that the Lord our God has commanded you?’


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then you shall say to your children, ‘We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.


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The Lord displayed before our eyes great and awesome signs and wonders against Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his household.


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He brought us out from there in order to bring us in, to give us the land that he promised on oath to our ancestors.


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Then the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our lasting good, so as to keep us alive, as is now the case.


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If we diligently observe this entire commandment before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us, we will be in the right.’


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A Chosen People When the Lord your God brings you into the land that you are about to enter and occupy, and he clears away many nations before you—the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations mightier and more numerous than you—


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and when the Lord your God gives them over to you and you defeat them, then you must utterly destroy them. Make no covenant with them and show them no mercy.


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Do not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons,


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for that would turn away your children from following me, to serve other gods. Then the anger of the Lord would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly.


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But this is how you must deal with them: break down their altars, smash their pillars, hew down their sacred poles, and burn their idols with fire.


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For you are a people holy to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on earth to be his people, his treasured possession.


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It was not because you were more numerous than any other people that the Lord set his heart on you and chose you—for you were the fewest of all peoples.


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It was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath that he swore to your ancestors, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.


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Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who maintains covenant loyalty with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,


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and who repays in their own person those who reject him. He does not delay but repays in their own person those who reject him.


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Therefore, observe diligently the commandment—the statutes and the ordinances—that I am commanding you today.


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Blessings for Obedience If you heed these ordinances, by diligently observing them, the Lord your God will maintain with you the covenant loyalty that he swore to your ancestors;


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he will love you, bless you, and multiply you; he will bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your cattle and the issue of your flock, in the land that he swore to your ancestors to give you.


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You shall be the most blessed of peoples, with neither sterility nor barrenness among you or your livestock.


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The Lord will turn away from you every illness; all the dread diseases of Egypt that you experienced, he will not inflict on you, but he will lay them on all who hate you.


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You shall devour all the peoples that the Lord your God is giving over to you, showing them no pity; you shall not serve their gods, for that would be a snare to you.


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the great trials that your eyes saw, the signs and wonders, the mighty hand and the outstretched arm by which the Lord your God brought you out. The Lord your God will do the same to all the peoples of whom you are afraid.


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Moreover, the Lord your God will send the pestilence against them, until even the survivors and the fugitives are destroyed.


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The Lord your God will clear away these nations before you little by little; you will not be able to make a quick end of them, otherwise the wild animals would become too numerous for you.


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But the Lord your God will give them over to you, and throw them into great panic, until they are destroyed.


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He will hand their kings over to you and you shall blot out their name from under heaven; no one will be able to stand against you, until you have destroyed them.


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The images of their gods you shall burn with fire. Do not covet the silver or the gold that is on them and take it for yourself, because you could be ensnared by it; for it is abhorrent to the Lord your God.


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Do not bring an abhorrent thing into your house, or you will be set apart for destruction like it. You must utterly detest and abhor it, for it is set apart for destruction.


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A Warning Not to Forget God in Prosperity This entire commandment that I command you today you must diligently observe, so that you may live and increase, and go in and occupy the land that the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors.


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Remember the long way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, in order to humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commandments.


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He humbled you by letting you hunger, then by feeding you with manna, with which neither you nor your ancestors were acquainted, in order to make you understand that one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.


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For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with flowing streams, with springs and underground waters welling up in valleys and hills,


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a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey,


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a land where you may eat bread without scarcity, where you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron and from whose hills you may mine copper.


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Take care that you do not forget the Lord your God, by failing to keep his commandments, his ordinances, and his statutes, which I am commanding you today.


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and when your herds and flocks have multiplied, and your silver and gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied,


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then do not exalt yourself, forgetting the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery,


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who led you through the great and terrible wilderness, an arid waste-land with poisonous snakes and scorpions. He made water flow for you from flint rock,


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and fed you in the wilderness with manna that your ancestors did not know, to humble you and to test you, and in the end to do you good.


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But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, so that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your ancestors, as he is doing today.


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If you do forget the Lord your God and follow other gods to serve and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish.


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Like the nations that the Lord is destroying before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God.


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The Consequences of Rebelling against God Hear, O Israel! You are about to cross the Jordan today, to go in and dispossess nations larger and mightier than you, great cities, fortified to the heavens,


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a strong and tall people, the offspring of the Anakim, whom you know. You have heard it said of them, ‘Who can stand up to the Anakim?’


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Know then today that the Lord your God is the one who crosses over before you as a devouring fire; he will defeat them and subdue them before you, so that you may dispossess and destroy them quickly, as the Lord has promised you.


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When the Lord your God thrusts them out before you, do not say to yourself, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the Lord has brought me in to occupy this land’; it is rather because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is dispossessing them before you.


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It is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you are going in to occupy their land; but because of the wickedness of those nations that the Lord your God is dispossessing them before you, in order to fulfil the promise that the Lord made on oath to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.


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Know, then, that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to occupy because of your righteousness; for you are a stubborn people.


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Remember and do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness; you have been rebellious against the Lord from the day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place.


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Even at Horeb you provoked the Lord to wrath, and the Lord was so angry with you that he was ready to destroy you.


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When I went up the mountain to receive the stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant that the Lord made with you, I remained on the mountain for forty days and forty nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water.


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And the Lord gave me the two stone tablets written with the finger of God; on them were all the words that the Lord had spoken to you at the mountain out of the fire on the day of the assembly.


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At the end of forty days and forty nights the Lord gave me the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant.


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Then the Lord said to me, ‘Get up, go down quickly from here, for your people whom you have brought from Egypt have acted corruptly. They have been quick to turn from the way that I commanded them; they have cast an image for themselves.’


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Let me alone that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation mightier and more numerous than they.’


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So I turned and went down from the mountain, while the mountain was ablaze; the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands.


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Then I saw that you had indeed sinned against the Lord your God, by casting for yourselves an image of a calf; you had been quick to turn from the way that the Lord had commanded you.


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Then I lay prostrate before the Lord as before, for forty days and forty nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all the sin you had committed, provoking the Lord by doing what was evil in his sight.


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For I was afraid that the anger that the Lord bore against you was so fierce that he would destroy you. But the Lord listened to me that time also.


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The Lord was so angry with Aaron that he was ready to destroy him, but I interceded also on behalf of Aaron at that same time.


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Then I took the sinful thing you had made, the calf, and burned it with fire and crushed it, grinding it thoroughly, until it was reduced to dust; and I threw the dust of it into the stream that runs down the mountain.


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And when the Lord sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, ‘Go up and occupy the land that I have given you’, you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God, neither trusting him nor obeying him.


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Throughout the forty days and forty nights that I lay prostrate before the Lord when the Lord intended to destroy you,


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I prayed to the Lord and said, ‘Lord God, do not destroy the people who are your very own possession, whom you redeemed in your greatness, whom you brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand.


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Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; pay no attention to the stubbornness of this people, their wickedness and their sin,


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otherwise the land from which you have brought us might say, “Because the Lord was not able to bring them into the land that he promised them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to let them die in the wilderness.”


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For they are the people of your very own possession, whom you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm.’


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The Second Pair of Tablets At that time the Lord said to me, ‘Carve out two tablets of stone like the former ones, and come up to me on the mountain, and make an ark of wood.


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I will write on the tablets the words that were on the former tablets, which you smashed, and you shall put them in the ark.’


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So I made an ark of acacia wood, cut two tablets of stone like the former ones, and went up the mountain with the two tablets in my hand.


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Then he wrote on the tablets the same words as before, the ten commandments that the Lord had spoken to you on the mountain out of the fire on the day of the assembly; and the Lord gave them to me.


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So I turned and came down from the mountain, and put the tablets in the ark that I had made; and there they are, as the Lord commanded me.


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(The Israelites journeyed from Beeroth-bene-jaakan to Moserah. There Aaron died, and there he was buried; his son Eleazar succeeded him as priest.


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At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to minister to him, and to bless in his name, to this day.


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Therefore Levi has no allotment or inheritance with his kindred; the Lord is his inheritance, as the Lord your God promised him.)


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I stayed on the mountain for forty days and forty nights, as I had done the first time. And once again the Lord listened to me. The Lord was unwilling to destroy you.


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The Lord said to me, ‘Get up, go on your journey at the head of the people, that they may go in and occupy the land that I swore to their ancestors to give them.’


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The Essence of the Law So now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? Only to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul,


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and to keep the commandments of the Lord your God and his decrees that I am commanding you today, for your own well-being.


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Although heaven and the heaven of heavens belong to the Lord your God, the earth with all that is in it,


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yet the Lord set his heart in love on your ancestors alone and chose you, their descendants after them, out of all the peoples, as it is today.


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For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who is not partial and takes no bribe,


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who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and who loves the strangers, providing them with food and clothing.


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You shall fear the Lord your God; him alone you shall worship; to him you shall hold fast, and by his name you shall swear.


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He is your praise; he is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome things that your own eyes have seen.


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Your ancestors went down to Egypt seventy persons; and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars in heaven.


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Rewards for Obedience You shall love the Lord your God, therefore, and keep his charge, his decrees, his ordinances, and his commandments always.


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Remember today that it was not your children (who have not known or seen the discipline of the Lord your God), but it is you who must acknowledge his greatness, his mighty hand and his outstretched arm,


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what he did to the Egyptian army, to their horses and chariots, how he made the water of the Red Sea flow over them as they pursued you, so that the Lord has destroyed them to this day;


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and what he did to Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab son of Reuben, how in the midst of all Israel the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, along with their households, their tents, and every living being in their company;


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Keep, then, this entire commandment that I am commanding you today, so that you may have strength to go in and occupy the land that you are crossing over to occupy,


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and so that you may live long in the land that the Lord swore to your ancestors to give to them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.


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For the land that you are about to enter to occupy is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you sow your seed and irrigate by foot like a vegetable garden.


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But the land that you are crossing over to occupy is a land of hills and valleys, watered by rain from the sky,


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a land that the Lord your God looks after. The eyes of the Lord your God are always on it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.


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If you will only heed his every commandment that I am commanding you today—loving the Lord your God, and serving him with all your heart and with all your soul—


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then he will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the later rain, and you will gather in your grain, your wine, and your oil;


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for then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you and he will shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain and the land will yield no fruit; then you will perish quickly from the good land that the Lord is giving you.


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You shall put these words of mine in your heart and soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and fix them as an emblem on your forehead.


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Teach them to your children, talking about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise.


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so that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land that the Lord swore to your ancestors to give them, as long as the heavens are above the earth.


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If you will diligently observe this entire commandment that I am commanding you, loving the Lord your God, walking in all his ways, and holding fast to him,


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then the Lord will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations larger and mightier than yourselves.


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Every place on which you set foot shall be yours; your territory shall extend from the wilderness to the Lebanon and from the River, the river Euphrates, to the Western Sea.


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No one will be able to stand against you; the Lord your God will put the fear and dread of you on all the land on which you set foot, as he promised you.


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and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn from the way that I am commanding you today, to follow other gods that you have not known.


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When the Lord your God has brought you into the land that you are entering to occupy, you shall set the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal.


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As you know, they are beyond the Jordan, some distance to the west, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah, opposite Gilgal, beside the oak of Moreh.


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When you cross the Jordan to go in to occupy the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and when you occupy it and live in it,


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Pagan Shrines to Be Destroyed These are the statutes and ordinances that you must diligently observe in the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has given you to occupy all the days that you live on the earth.


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You must demolish completely all the places where the nations whom you are about to dispossess served their gods, on the mountain heights, on the hills, and under every leafy tree.


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Break down their altars, smash their pillars, burn their sacred poles with fire, and hew down the idols of their gods, and thus blot out their name from their places.


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But you shall seek the place that the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes as his habitation to put his name there. You shall go there,


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bringing there your burnt-offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and your donations, your votive gifts, your freewill-offerings, and the firstlings of your herds and flocks.


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And you shall eat there in the presence of the Lord your God, you and your households together, rejoicing in all the undertakings in which the Lord your God has blessed you.


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When you cross over the Jordan and live in the land that the Lord your God is allotting to you, and when he gives you rest from your enemies all around so that you live in safety,


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then you shall bring everything that I command you to the place that the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his name: your burnt-offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and your donations, and all your choice votive gifts that you vow to the Lord.


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And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you together with your sons and your daughters, your male and female slaves, and the Levites who reside in your towns (since they have no allotment or inheritance with you).


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A Prescribed Place of Worship Take care that you do not offer your burnt-offerings at any place you happen to see.


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But only at the place that the Lord will choose in one of your tribes—there you shall offer your burnt-offerings and there you shall do everything I command you.


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Yet whenever you desire you may slaughter and eat meat within any of your towns, according to the blessing that the Lord your God has given you; the unclean and the clean may eat of it, as they would of gazelle or deer.


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Nor may you eat within your towns the tithe of your grain, your wine, or your oil, the firstlings of your herds or your flocks, any of your votive gifts that you vow, your freewill-offerings, or your donations;


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these you shall eat in the presence of the Lord your God at the place that the Lord your God will choose, you together with your son and your daughter, your male and female slaves, and the Levites resident in your towns, rejoicing in the presence of the Lord your God in all your undertakings.


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When the Lord your God enlarges your territory, as he has promised you, and you say, ‘I am going to eat some meat’, because you wish to eat meat, you may eat meat whenever you have the desire.


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If the place where the Lord your God will choose to put his name is too far from you, and you slaughter as I have commanded you any of your herd or flock that the Lord has given you, then you may eat within your towns whenever you desire.


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Indeed, just as gazelle or deer is eaten, so you may eat it; the unclean and the clean alike may eat it.


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Only be sure that you do not eat the blood; for the blood is the life, and you shall not eat the life with the meat.


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Do not eat it, so that all may go well with you and your children after you, because you do what is right in the sight of the Lord.


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But the sacred donations that are due from you, and your votive gifts, you shall bring to the place that the Lord will choose.


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You shall present your burnt-offerings, both the meat and the blood, on the altar of the Lord your God; the blood of your other sacrifices shall be poured out beside the altar of the Lord your God, but the meat you may eat.


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Be careful to obey all these words that I command you today, so that it may go well with you and with your children after you for ever, because you will be doing what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.


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Warning against Idolatry When the Lord your God has cut off before you the nations whom you are about to enter to dispossess them, when you have dispossessed them and live in their land,


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take care that you are not ensnared into imitating them, after they have been destroyed before you: do not inquire concerning their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations worship their gods? I also want to do the same.’


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You must not do the same for the Lord your God, because every abhorrent thing that the Lord hates they have done for their gods. They would even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods.


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You must diligently observe everything that I command you; do not add to it or take anything from it.


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and the omens or the portents declared by them take place, and they say, ‘Let us follow other gods’ (whom you have not known) ‘and let us serve them’,


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you must not heed the words of those prophets or those who divine by dreams; for the Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you indeed love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul.


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The Lord your God you shall follow, him alone you shall fear, his commandments you shall keep, his voice you shall obey, him you shall serve, and to him you shall hold fast.


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But those prophets or those who divine by dreams shall be put to death for having spoken treason against the Lord your God—who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery—to turn you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.


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If anyone secretly entices you—even if it is your brother, your father’s son or your mother’s son, or your own son or daughter, or the wife you embrace, or your most intimate friend—saying, ‘Let us go and worship other gods’, whom neither you nor your ancestors have known,


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any of the gods of the peoples that are around you, whether near you or far away from you, from one end of the earth to the other,


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you must not yield to or heed any such persons. Show them no pity or compassion and do not shield them.


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But you shall surely kill them; your own hand shall be first against them to execute them, and afterwards the hand of all the people.


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Stone them to death for trying to turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.


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that scoundrels from among you have gone out and led the inhabitants of the town astray, saying, ‘Let us go and worship other gods’, whom you have not known,


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then you shall inquire and make a thorough investigation. If the charge is established that such an abhorrent thing has been done among you,


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you shall put the inhabitants of that town to the sword, utterly destroying it and everything in it—even putting its livestock to the sword.


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All of its spoil you shall gather into its public square; then burn the town and all its spoil with fire, as a whole burnt-offering to the Lord your God. It shall remain a perpetual ruin, never to be rebuilt.


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Do not let anything devoted to destruction stick to your hand, so that the Lord may turn from his fierce anger and show you compassion, and in his compassion multiply you, as he swore to your ancestors,


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if you obey the voice of the Lord your God by keeping all his commandments that I am commanding you today, doing what is right in the sight of the Lord your God.


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Pagan Practices Forbidden You are children of the Lord your God. You must not lacerate yourselves or shave your forelocks for the dead.


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For you are a people holy to the Lord your God; it is you the Lord has chosen out of all the peoples on earth to be his people, his treasured possession.


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Any animal that divides the hoof and has the hoof cloven in two, and chews the cud, among the animals, you may eat.


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Yet of those that chew the cud or have the hoof cloven you shall not eat these: the camel, the hare, and the rock-badger, because they chew the cud but do not divide the hoof; they are unclean for you.


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And the pig, because it divides the hoof but does not chew the cud, is unclean for you. You shall not eat their meat, and you shall not touch their carcasses.


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You shall not eat anything that dies of itself; you may give it to aliens residing in your towns for them to eat, or you may sell it to a foreigner. For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.


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Regulations concerning Tithes Set apart a tithe of all the yield of your seed that is brought in yearly from the field.


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In the presence of the Lord your God, in the place that he will choose as a dwelling for his name, you shall eat the tithe of your grain, your wine, and your oil, as well as the firstlings of your herd and flock, so that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always.


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But if, when the Lord your God has blessed you, the distance is so great that you are unable to transport it, because the place where the Lord your God will choose to set his name is too far away from you,


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then you may turn it into money. With the money secure in hand, go to the place that the Lord your God will choose;


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spend the money for whatever you wish—oxen, sheep, wine, strong drink, or whatever you desire. And you shall eat there in the presence of the Lord your God, you and your household rejoicing together.


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As for the Levites resident in your towns, do not neglect them, because they have no allotment or inheritance with you.


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Every third year you shall bring out the full tithe of your produce for that year, and store it within your towns;


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the Levites, because they have no allotment or inheritance with you, as well as the resident aliens, the orphans, and the widows in your towns, may come and eat their fill so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work that you undertake.


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And this is the manner of the remission: every creditor shall remit the claim that is held against a neighbour, not exacting it from a neighbour who is a member of the community, because the Lord’s remission has been proclaimed.


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From a foreigner you may exact it, but you must remit your claim on whatever any member of your community owes you.


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There will, however, be no one in need among you, because the Lord is sure to bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you as a possession to occupy,


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if only you will obey the Lord your God by diligently observing this entire commandment that I command you today.


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When the Lord your God has blessed you, as he promised you, you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow; you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you.


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If there is among you anyone in need, a member of your community in any of your towns within the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted towards your needy neighbour.


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Be careful that you do not entertain a mean thought, thinking, ‘The seventh year, the year of remission, is near’, and therefore view your needy neighbour with hostility and give nothing; your neighbour might cry to the Lord against you, and you would incur guilt.


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Give liberally and be ungrudging when you do so, for on this account the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake.


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Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, ‘Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbour in your land.’


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If a member of your community, whether a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you and works for you for six years, in the seventh year you shall set that person free.


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Provide liberally out of your flock, your threshing-floor, and your wine press, thus giving to him some of the bounty with which the Lord your God has blessed you.


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Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; for this reason I lay this command upon you today.


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But if he says to you, ‘I will not go out from you’, because he loves you and your household, since he is well off with you,


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then you shall take an awl and thrust it through his earlobe into the door, and he shall be your slave for ever. You shall do the same with regard to your female slave.


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Do not consider it a hardship when you send them out from you free persons, because for six years they have given you services worth the wages of hired labourers; and the Lord your God will bless you in all that you do.


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The Firstborn of Livestock Every firstling male born of your herd and flock you shall consecrate to the Lord your God; you shall not do work with your firstling ox nor shear the firstling of your flock.


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You shall eat it, you together with your household, in the presence of the Lord your God year by year at the place that the Lord will choose.


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But if it has any defect—any serious defect, such as lameness or blindness—you shall not sacrifice it to the Lord your God;


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The Passover Reviewed Observe the month of Abib by keeping the passover to the Lord your God, for in the month of Abib the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night.


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You shall offer the passover sacrifice to the Lord your God, from the flock and the herd, at the place that the Lord will choose as a dwelling for his name.


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You must not eat with it anything leavened. For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread with it—the bread of affliction—because you came out of the land of Egypt in great haste, so that all the days of your life you may remember the day of your departure from the land of Egypt.


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No leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory for seven days; and none of the meat of what you slaughter on the evening of the first day shall remain until morning.


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You are not permitted to offer the passover sacrifice within any of your towns that the Lord your God is giving you.


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But at the place that the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his name, only there shall you offer the passover sacrifice, in the evening at sunset, the time of day when you departed from Egypt.


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You shall cook it and eat it at the place that the Lord your God will choose; the next morning you may go back to your tents.


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For six days you shall continue to eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a solemn assembly for the Lord your God, when you shall do no work.


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The Festival of Weeks Reviewed You shall count seven weeks; begin to count the seven weeks from the time the sickle is first put to the standing grain.


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Then you shall keep the festival of weeks to the Lord your God, contributing a freewill-offering in proportion to the blessing that you have received from the Lord your God.


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Rejoice before the Lord your God—you and your sons and your daughters, your male and female slaves, the Levites resident in your towns, as well as the strangers, the orphans, and the widows who are among you—at the place that the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his name.


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The Festival of Booths Reviewed You shall keep the festival of booths for seven days, when you have gathered in the produce from your threshing-floor and your wine press.


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Rejoice during your festival, you and your sons and your daughters, your male and female slaves, as well as the Levites, the strangers, the orphans, and the widows resident in your towns.


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For seven days you shall keep the festival to the Lord your God at the place that the Lord will choose; for the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all your undertakings, and you shall surely celebrate.


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Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose: at the festival of unleavened bread, at the festival of weeks, and at the festival of booths. They shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed;


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all shall give as they are able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God that he has given you.


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Municipal Judges and Officers You shall appoint judges and officials throughout your tribes, in all your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, and they shall render just decisions for the people.


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You must not distort justice; you must not show partiality; and you must not accept bribes, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of those who are in the right.


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Justice, and only justice, you shall pursue, so that you may live and occupy the land that the Lord your God is giving you.


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Forbidden Forms of Worship You shall not plant any tree as a sacred pole beside the altar that you make for the Lord your God;


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You must not sacrifice to the Lord your God an ox or a sheep that has a defect, anything seriously wrong; for that is abhorrent to the Lord your God.


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If there is found among you, in one of your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, a man or woman who does what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, and transgresses his covenant


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by going to serve other gods and worshipping them—whether the sun or the moon or any of the host of heaven, which I have forbidden—


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and if it is reported to you or you hear of it, and you make a thorough inquiry, and the charge is proved true that such an abhorrent thing has occurred in Israel,


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then you shall bring out to your gates that man or that woman who has committed this crime and you shall stone the man or woman to death.


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On the evidence of two or three witnesses the death sentence shall be executed; a person must not be put to death on the evidence of only one witness.


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The hands of the witnesses shall be the first raised against the person to execute the death penalty, and afterwards the hands of all the people. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.


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Legal Decisions by Priests and Judges If a judicial decision is too difficult for you to make between one kind of bloodshed and another, one kind of legal right and another, or one kind of assault and another—any such matters of dispute in your towns—then you shall immediately go up to the place that the Lord your God will choose,


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where you shall consult with the levitical priests and the judge who is in office in those days; they shall announce to you the decision in the case.


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Carry out exactly the decision that they announce to you from the place that the Lord will choose, diligently observing everything they instruct you.


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You must carry out fully the law that they interpret for you or the ruling that they announce to you; do not turn aside from the decision that they announce to you, either to the right or to the left.


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As for anyone who presumes to disobey the priest appointed to minister there to the Lord your God, or the judge, that person shall die. So you shall purge the evil from Israel.


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Limitations of Royal Authority When you have come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, ‘I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me’,


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you may indeed set over you a king whom the Lord your God will choose. One of your own community you may set as king over you; you are not permitted to put a foreigner over you, who is not of your own community.


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Even so, he must not acquire many horses for himself, or return the people to Egypt in order to acquire more horses, since the Lord has said to you, ‘You must never return that way again.’


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And he must not acquire many wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away; also silver and gold he must not acquire in great quantity for himself.


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When he has taken the throne of his kingdom, he shall have a copy of this law written for him in the presence of the levitical priests.


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It shall remain with him and he shall read in it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, diligently observing all the words of this law and these statutes,


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neither exalting himself above other members of the community nor turning aside from the commandment, either to the right or to the left, so that he and his descendants may reign long over his kingdom in Israel.


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Privileges of Priests and Levites The levitical priests, the whole tribe of Levi, shall have no allotment or inheritance within Israel. They may eat the sacrifices that are the Lord’s portion


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but they shall have no inheritance among the other members of the community; the Lord is their inheritance, as he promised them.


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This shall be the priests’ due from the people, from those offering a sacrifice, whether an ox or a sheep: they shall give to the priest the shoulder, the two jowls, and the stomach.


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The first fruits of your grain, your wine, and your oil, as well as the first of the fleece of your sheep, you shall give him.


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For the Lord your God has chosen Levi out of all your tribes, to stand and minister in the name of the Lord, him and his sons for all time.


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If a Levite leaves any of your towns, from wherever he has been residing in Israel, and comes to the place that the Lord will choose (and he may come whenever he wishes),


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then he may minister in the name of the Lord his God, like all his fellow-Levites who stand to minister there before the Lord.


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They shall have equal portions to eat, even though they have income from the sale of family possessions.


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Child-Sacrifice, Divination, and Magic Prohibited When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you must not learn to imitate the abhorrent practices of those nations.


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No one shall be found among you who makes a son or daughter pass through fire, or who practises divination, or is a soothsayer, or an augur, or a sorcerer,


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For whoever does these things is abhorrent to the Lord; it is because of such abhorrent practices that the Lord your God is driving them out before you.


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Although these nations that you are about to dispossess do give heed to soothsayers and diviners, as for you, the Lord your God does not permit you to do so.


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A New Prophet Like Moses The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you shall heed such a prophet.


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This is what you requested of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said: ‘If I hear the voice of the Lord my God any more, or ever again see this great fire, I will die.’


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I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their own people; I will put my words in the mouth of the prophet, who shall speak to them everything that I command.


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Anyone who does not heed the words that the prophet shall speak in my name, I myself will hold accountable.


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But any prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, or who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded the prophet to speak—that prophet shall die.’


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If a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord but the thing does not take place or prove true, it is a word that the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; do not be frightened by it.


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Laws concerning the Cities of Refuge When the Lord your God has cut off the nations whose land the Lord your God is giving you, and you have dispossessed them and settled in their towns and in their houses,


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You shall calculate the distances and divide into three regions the land that the Lord your God gives you as a possession, so that any homicide can flee to one of them.


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Now this is the case of a homicide who might flee there and live, that is, someone who has killed another person unintentionally when the two had not been at enmity before:


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Suppose someone goes into the forest with another to cut wood, and when one of them swings the axe to cut down a tree, the head slips from the handle and strikes the other person who then dies; the killer may flee to one of these cities and live.


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But if the distance is too great, the avenger of blood in hot anger might pursue and overtake and put the killer to death, although a death sentence was not deserved, since the two had not been at enmity before.


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If the Lord your God enlarges your territory, as he swore to your ancestors—and he will give you all the land that he promised your ancestors to give you,


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provided you diligently observe this entire commandment that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God and walking always in his ways—then you shall add three more cities to these three,


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so that the blood of an innocent person may not be shed in the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, thereby bringing blood-guilt upon you.


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But if someone at enmity with another lies in wait and attacks and takes the life of that person, and flees into one of these cities,


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then the elders of the killer’s city shall send to have the culprit taken from there and handed over to the avenger of blood to be put to death.


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Show no pity; you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, so that it may go well with you.


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Property Boundaries You must not move your neighbour’s boundary marker, set up by former generations, on the property that will be allotted to you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess.


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Law concerning Witnesses A single witness shall not suffice to convict a person of any crime or wrongdoing in connection with any offence that may be committed. Only on the evidence of two or three witnesses shall a charge be sustained.


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then both parties to the dispute shall appear before the Lord, before the priests and the judges who are in office in those days,


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and the judges shall make a thorough inquiry. If the witness is a false witness, having testified falsely against another,


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then you shall do to the false witness just as the false witness had meant to do to the other. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.


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The rest shall hear and be afraid, and a crime such as this shall never again be committed among you.


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Rules of Warfare When you go out to war against your enemies, and see horses and chariots, an army larger than your own, you shall not be afraid of them; for the Lord your God is with you, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.


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and shall say to them: ‘Hear, O Israel! Today you are drawing near to do battle against your enemies. Do not lose heart, or be afraid, or panic, or be in dread of them;


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for it is the Lord your God who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to give you victory.’


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Then the officials shall address the troops, saying, ‘Has anyone built a new house but not dedicated it? He should go back to his house, or he might die in the battle and another dedicate it.


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Has anyone planted a vineyard but not yet enjoyed its fruit? He should go back to his house, or he might die in the battle and another be first to enjoy its fruit.


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Has anyone become engaged to a woman but not yet married her? He should go back to his house, or he might die in the battle and another marry her.’


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The officials shall continue to address the troops, saying, ‘Is anyone afraid or disheartened? He should go back to his house, or he might cause the heart of his comrades to fail like his own.’


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When the officials have finished addressing the troops, then the commanders shall take charge of them.


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If it accepts your terms of peace and surrenders to you, then all the people in it shall serve you in forced labour.


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You may, however, take as your booty the women, the children, livestock, and everything else in the town, all its spoil. You may enjoy the spoil of your enemies, which the Lord your God has given you.


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Thus you shall treat all the towns that are very far from you, which are not towns of the nations here.


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But as for the towns of these peoples that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, you must not let anything that breathes remain alive.


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You shall annihilate them—the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites—just as the Lord your God has commanded,


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so that they may not teach you to do all the abhorrent things that they do for their gods, and you thus sin against the Lord your God.


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If you besiege a town for a long time, making war against it in order to take it, you must not destroy its trees by wielding an axe against them. Although you may take food from them, you must not cut them down. Are trees in the field human beings that they should come under siege from you?


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You may destroy only the trees that you know do not produce food; you may cut them down for use in building siege-works against the town that makes war with you, until it falls.


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Law concerning Murder by Persons Unknown If, in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess, a body is found lying in open country, and it is not known who struck the person down,


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then your elders and your judges shall come out to measure the distances to the towns that are near the body.


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The elders of the town nearest the body shall take a heifer that has never been worked, one that has not pulled in the yoke;


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the elders of that town shall bring the heifer down to a wadi with running water, which is neither ploughed nor sown, and shall break the heifer’s neck there in the wadi.


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Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come forward, for the Lord your God has chosen them to minister to him and to pronounce blessings in the name of the Lord, and by their decision all cases of dispute and assault shall be settled.


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All the elders of that town nearest the body shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the wadi,


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Absolve, O Lord, your people Israel, whom you redeemed; do not let the guilt of innocent blood remain in the midst of your people Israel.’ Then they will be absolved of blood-guilt.


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So you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from your midst, because you must do what is right in the sight of the Lord.


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Female Captives When you go out to war against your enemies, and the Lord your God hands them over to you and you take them captive,


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discard her captive’s garb, and shall remain in your house for a full month, mourning for her father and mother; after that you may go in to her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife.


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But if you are not satisfied with her, you shall let her go free and not sell her for money. You must not treat her as a slave, since you have dishonoured her.


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The Right of the Firstborn If a man has two wives, one of them loved and the other disliked, and if both the loved and the disliked have borne him sons, the firstborn being the son of the one who is disliked,


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then on the day when he wills his possessions to his sons, he is not permitted to treat the son of the loved as the firstborn in preference to the son of the disliked, who is the firstborn.


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He must acknowledge as firstborn the son of the one who is disliked, giving him a double portion of all that he has; since he is the first issue of his virility, the right of the firstborn is his.


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Rebellious Children If someone has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey his father and mother, who does not heed them when they discipline him,


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then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his town at the gate of that place.


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They shall say to the elders of his town, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.’


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Then all the men of the town shall stone him to death. So you shall purge the evil from your midst; and all Israel will hear, and be afraid.


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Miscellaneous Laws When someone is convicted of a crime punishable by death and is executed, and you hang him on a tree,


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his corpse must not remain all night upon the tree; you shall bury him that same day, for anyone hung on a tree is under God’s curse. You must not defile the land that the Lord your God is giving you for possession.


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You shall not watch your neighbour’s ox or sheep straying away and ignore them; you shall take them back to their owner.


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If the owner does not reside near you or you do not know who the owner is, you shall bring it to your own house, and it shall remain with you until the owner claims it; then you shall return it.


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You shall do the same with a neighbour’s donkey; you shall do the same with a neighbour’s garment; and you shall do the same with anything else that your neighbour loses and you find. You may not withhold your help.


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You shall not see your neighbour’s donkey or ox fallen on the road and ignore it; you shall help to lift it up.


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A woman shall not wear a man’s apparel, nor shall a man put on a woman’s garment; for whoever does such things is abhorrent to the Lord your God.


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If you come on a bird’s nest, in any tree or on the ground, with fledglings or eggs, with the mother sitting on the fledglings or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young.


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Let the mother go, taking only the young for yourself, in order that it may go well with you and you may live long.


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When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof; otherwise you might have blood-guilt on your house, if anyone should fall from it.


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You shall not sow your vineyard with a second kind of seed, or the whole yield will have to be forfeited, both the crop that you have sown and the yield of the vineyard itself.


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Laws concerning Sexual Relations Suppose a man marries a woman, but after going in to her, he dislikes her


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and makes up charges against her, slandering her by saying, ‘I married this woman; but when I lay with her, I did not find evidence of her virginity.’


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The father of the young woman and her mother shall then submit the evidence of the young woman’s virginity to the elders of the city at the gate.


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The father of the young woman shall say to the elders: ‘I gave my daughter in marriage to this man but he dislikes her;


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now he has made up charges against her, saying, “I did not find evidence of your daughter’s virginity.” But here is the evidence of my daughter’s virginity.’ Then they shall spread out the cloth before the elders of the town.


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they shall fine him one hundred shekels of silver (which they shall give to the young woman’s father) because he has slandered a virgin of Israel. She shall remain his wife; he shall not be permitted to divorce her as long as he lives.


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then they shall bring the young woman out to the entrance of her father’s house and the men of her town shall stone her to death, because she committed a disgraceful act in Israel by prostituting herself in her father’s house. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.


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If a man is caught lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman as well as the woman. So you shall purge the evil from Israel.


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If there is a young woman, a virgin already engaged to be married, and a man meets her in the town and lies with her,


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you shall bring both of them to the gate of that town and stone them to death, the young woman because she did not cry for help in the town and the man because he violated his neighbour’s wife. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.


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But if the man meets the engaged woman in the open country, and the man seizes her and lies with her, then only the man who lay with her shall die.


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You shall do nothing to the young woman; the young woman has not committed an offence punishable by death, because this case is like that of someone who attacks and murders a neighbour.


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Since he found her in the open country, the engaged woman may have cried for help, but there was no one to rescue her.


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If a man meets a virgin who is not engaged, and seizes her and lies with her, and they are caught in the act,


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the man who lay with her shall give fifty shekels of silver to the young woman’s father, and she shall become his wife. Because he violated her he shall not be permitted to divorce her as long as he lives.


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Those Excluded from the Assembly No one whose testicles are crushed or whose penis is cut off shall be admitted to the assembly of the Lord.


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Those born of an illicit union shall not be admitted to the assembly of the Lord. Even to the tenth generation, none of their descendants shall be admitted to the assembly of the Lord.


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No Ammonite or Moabite shall be admitted to the assembly of the Lord. Even to the tenth generation, none of their descendants shall be admitted to the assembly of the Lord,


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because they did not meet you with food and water on your journey out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam son of Beor, from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you.


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(Yet the Lord your God refused to heed Balaam; the Lord your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loved you.)


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You shall not abhor any of the Edomites, for they are your kin. You shall not abhor any of the Egyptians, because you were an alien residing in their land.


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The children of the third generation that are born to them may be admitted to the assembly of the Lord.


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Sanitary, Ritual, and Humanitarian Precepts When you are encamped against your enemies you shall guard against any impropriety.


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If one of you becomes unclean because of a nocturnal emission, then he shall go outside the camp; he must not come within the camp.


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When evening comes, he shall wash himself with water, and when the sun has set, he may come back into the camp.


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With your utensils you shall have a trowel; when you relieve yourself outside, you shall dig a hole with it and then cover up your excrement.


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Because the Lord your God travels along with your camp, to save you and to hand over your enemies to you, therefore your camp must be holy, so that he may not see anything indecent among you and turn away from you.


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They shall reside with you, in your midst, in any place they choose in any one of your towns, wherever they please; you shall not oppress them.


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None of the daughters of Israel shall be a temple prostitute; none of the sons of Israel shall be a temple prostitute.


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You shall not bring the fee of a prostitute or the wages of a male prostitute into the house of the Lord your God in payment for any vow, for both of these are abhorrent to the Lord your God.


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You shall not charge interest on loans to another Israelite, interest on money, interest on provisions, interest on anything that is lent.


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On loans to a foreigner you may charge interest, but on loans to another Israelite you may not charge interest, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all your undertakings in the land that you are about to enter and possess.


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If you make a vow to the Lord your God, do not postpone fulfilling it; for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and you would incur guilt.


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Whatever your lips utter you must diligently perform, just as you have freely vowed to the Lord your God with your own mouth.


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If you go into your neighbour’s vineyard, you may eat your fill of grapes, as many as you wish, but you shall not put any in a container.


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If you go into your neighbour’s standing grain, you may pluck the ears with your hand, but you shall not put a sickle to your neighbour’s standing grain.


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Laws concerning Marriage and Divorce Suppose a man enters into marriage with a woman, but she does not please him because he finds something objectionable about her, and so he writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house; she then leaves his house


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Then suppose the second man dislikes her, writes her a bill of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house (or the second man who married her dies);


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her first husband, who sent her away, is not permitted to take her again to be his wife after she has been defiled; for that would be abhorrent to the Lord, and you shall not bring guilt on the land that the Lord your God is giving you as a possession.


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Miscellaneous Laws When a man is newly married, he shall not go out with the army or be charged with any related duty. He shall be free at home for one year, to be happy with the wife whom he has married.


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No one shall take a mill or an upper millstone in pledge, for that would be taking a life in pledge.


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If someone is caught kidnapping another Israelite, enslaving or selling the Israelite, then that kidnapper shall die. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.


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Guard against an outbreak of a leprous skin disease by being very careful; you shall carefully observe whatever the levitical priests instruct you, just as I have commanded them.


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When you make your neighbour a loan of any kind, you shall not go into the house to take the pledge.


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You shall wait outside, while the person to whom you are making the loan brings the pledge out to you.


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You shall give the pledge back by sunset, so that your neighbour may sleep in the cloak and bless you; and it will be to your credit before the Lord your God.


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You shall not withhold the wages of poor and needy labourers, whether other Israelites or aliens who reside in your land in one of your towns.


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You shall pay them their wages daily before sunset, because they are poor and their livelihood depends on them; otherwise they might cry to the Lord against you, and you would incur guilt.


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Parents shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their parents; only for their own crimes may persons be put to death.


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You shall not deprive a resident alien or an orphan of justice; you shall not take a widow’s garment in pledge.


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Remember that you were a slave in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this.


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When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be left for the alien, the orphan, and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all your undertakings.


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When you beat your olive trees, do not strip what is left; it shall be for the alien, the orphan, and the widow.


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When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, do not glean what is left; it shall be for the alien, the orphan, and the widow.


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Suppose two persons have a dispute and enter into litigation, and the judges decide between them, declaring one to be in the right and the other to be in the wrong.


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If the one in the wrong deserves to be flogged, the judge shall make that person lie down and be beaten in his presence with the number of lashes proportionate to the offence.


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Forty lashes may be given but not more; if more lashes than these are given, your neighbour will be degraded in your sight.


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Levirate Marriage When brothers reside together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the deceased shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her husband’s brother shall go in to her, taking her in marriage, and performing the duty of a husband’s brother to her,


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and the firstborn whom she bears shall succeed to the name of the deceased brother, so that his name may not be blotted out of Israel.


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But if the man has no desire to marry his brother’s widow, then his brother’s widow shall go up to the elders at the gate and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to perpetuate his brother’s name in Israel; he will not perform the duty of a husband’s brother to me.’


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Then the elders of his town shall summon him and speak to him. If he persists, saying, ‘I have no desire to marry her’,


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then his brother’s wife shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, pull his sandal off his foot, spit in his face, and declare, ‘This is what is done to the man who does not build up his brother’s house.’


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Various Commands If men get into a fight with one another, and the wife of one intervenes to rescue her husband from the grip of his opponent by reaching out and seizing his genitals,


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You shall have only a full and honest weight; you shall have only a full and honest measure, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.


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how he attacked you on the way, when you were faint and weary, and struck down all who lagged behind you; he did not fear God.


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Therefore when the Lord your God has given you rest from all your enemies on every hand, in the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; do not forget.


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First Fruits and Tithes When you have come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, and you possess it, and settle in it,


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you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket and go to the place that the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his name.


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You shall go to the priest who is in office at that time, and say to him, ‘Today I declare to the Lord your God that I have come into the land that the Lord swore to our ancestors to give us.’


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When the priest takes the basket from your hand and sets it down before the altar of the Lord your God,


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you shall make this response before the Lord your God: ‘A wandering Aramean was my ancestor; he went down into Egypt and lived there as an alien, few in number, and there he became a great nation, mighty and populous.


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we cried to the Lord, the God of our ancestors; the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression.


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The Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with a terrifying display of power, and with signs and wonders;


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So now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground that you, O Lord, have given me.’ You shall set it down before the Lord your God and bow down before the Lord your God.


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Then you, together with the Levites and the aliens who reside among you, shall celebrate with all the bounty that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house.


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When you have finished paying all the tithe of your produce in the third year (which is the year of the tithe), giving it to the Levites, the aliens, the orphans, and the widows, so that they may eat their fill within your towns,


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then you shall say before the Lord your God: ‘I have removed the sacred portion from the house, and I have given it to the Levites, the resident aliens, the orphans, and the widows, in accordance with your entire commandment that you commanded me; I have neither transgressed nor forgotten any of your commandments:


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I have not eaten of it while in mourning; I have not removed any of it while I was unclean; and I have not offered any of it to the dead. I have obeyed the Lord my God, doing just as you commanded me.


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Look down from your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless your people Israel and the ground that you have given us, as you swore to our ancestors—a land flowing with milk and honey.’


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Concluding Exhortation This very day the Lord your God is commanding you to observe these statutes and ordinances; so observe them diligently with all your heart and with all your soul.


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Today you have obtained the Lord’s agreement: to be your God; and for you to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, his commandments, and his ordinances, and to obey him.


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Today the Lord has obtained your agreement: to be his treasured people, as he promised you, and to keep his commandments;


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for him to set you high above all nations that he has made, in praise and in fame and in honour; and for you to be a people holy to the Lord your God, as he promised.


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The Inscribed Stones and Altar on Mount Ebal Then Moses and the elders of Israel charged all the people as follows: Keep the entire commandment that I am commanding you today.


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On the day that you cross over the Jordan into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall set up large stones and cover them with plaster.


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You shall write on them all the words of this law when you have crossed over, to enter the land that the Lord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you.


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So when you have crossed over the Jordan, you shall set up these stones, about which I am commanding you today, on Mount Ebal, and you shall cover them with plaster.


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And you shall build an altar there to the Lord your God, an altar of stones on which you have not used an iron tool.


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You must build the altar of the Lord your God of unhewn stones. Then offer up burnt-offerings on it to the Lord your God,


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Then Moses and the levitical priests spoke to all Israel, saying: Keep silence and hear, O Israel! This very day you have become the people of the Lord your God.


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Therefore obey the Lord your God, observing his commandments and his statutes that I am commanding you today.


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When you have crossed over the Jordan, these shall stand on Mount Gerizim for the blessing of the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin.


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‘Cursed be anyone who makes an idol or casts an image, anything abhorrent to the Lord, the work of an artisan, and sets it up in secret.’ All the people shall respond, saying, ‘Amen!’


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‘Cursed be anyone who deprives the alien, the orphan, and the widow of justice.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen!’


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‘Cursed be anyone who lies with his father’s wife, because he has violated his father’s rights.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen!’


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‘Cursed be anyone who lies with his sister, whether the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen!’


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‘Cursed be anyone who does not uphold the words of this law by observing them.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen!’


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Blessings for Obedience If you will only obey the Lord your God, by diligently observing all his commandments that I am commanding you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth;


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Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb, the fruit of your ground, and the fruit of your livestock, both the increase of your cattle and the issue of your flock.


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The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you; they shall come out against you one way, and flee before you seven ways.


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The Lord will command the blessing upon you in your barns, and in all that you undertake; he will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.


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The Lord will establish you as his holy people, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in his ways.


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All the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you.


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The Lord will make you abound in prosperity, in the fruit of your womb, in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your ground in the land that the Lord swore to your ancestors to give you.


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The Lord will open for you his rich storehouse, the heavens, to give the rain of your land in its season and to bless all your undertakings. You will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow.


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The Lord will make you the head, and not the tail; you shall be only at the top, and not at the bottom—if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I am commanding you today, by diligently observing them,


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and if you do not turn aside from any of the words that I am commanding you today, either to the right or to the left, following other gods to serve them.


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Warnings against Disobedience But if you will not obey the Lord your God by diligently observing all his commandments and decrees, which I am commanding you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you:


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Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb, the fruit of your ground, the increase of your cattle, and the issue of your flock.


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The Lord will send upon you disaster, panic, and frustration in everything you attempt to do, until you are destroyed and perish quickly, on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken me.


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The Lord will make the pestilence cling to you until it has consumed you from the land that you are entering to possess.


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The Lord will afflict you with consumption, fever, inflammation, with fiery heat and drought, and with blight and mildew; they shall pursue you until you perish.


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The Lord will change the rain of your land into powder, and only dust shall come down upon you from the sky until you are destroyed.


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The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you shall go out against them one way and flee before them seven ways. You shall become an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.


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Your corpses shall be food for every bird of the air and animal of the earth, and there shall be no one to frighten them away.


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The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt, with ulcers, scurvy, and itch, of which you cannot be healed.


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you shall grope about at noon as blind people grope in darkness, but you shall be unable to find your way; and you shall be continually abused and robbed, without anyone to help.


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You shall become engaged to a woman, but another man shall lie with her. You shall build a house, but not live in it. You shall plant a vineyard, but not enjoy its fruit.


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Your ox shall be butchered before your eyes, but you shall not eat of it. Your donkey shall be stolen in front of you, and shall not be restored to you. Your sheep shall be given to your enemies, without anyone to help you.


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Your sons and daughters shall be given to another people, while you look on; you will strain your eyes looking for them all day but be powerless to do anything.


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A people whom you do not know shall eat up the fruit of your ground and of all your labours; you shall be continually abused and crushed,


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The Lord will strike you on the knees and on the legs with grievous boils of which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head.


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The Lord will bring you, and the king whom you set over you, to a nation that neither you nor your ancestors have known, where you shall serve other gods, of wood and stone.


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You shall become an object of horror, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples where the Lord will lead you.


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You shall carry much seed into the field but shall gather little in, for the locust shall consume it.


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You shall plant vineyards and dress them, but you shall neither drink the wine nor gather the grapes, for the worm shall eat them.


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You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself with the oil, for your olives shall drop off.


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You shall have sons and daughters, but they shall not remain yours, for they shall go into captivity.


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Aliens residing among you shall ascend above you higher and higher, while you shall descend lower and lower.


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They shall lend to you but you shall not lend to them; they shall be the head and you shall be the tail.


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All these curses shall come upon you, pursuing and overtaking you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the Lord your God, by observing the commandments and the decrees that he commanded you.


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Because you did not serve the Lord your God joyfully and with gladness of heart for the abundance of everything,


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therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and lack of everything. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you.


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The Lord will bring a nation from far away, from the end of the earth, to swoop down on you like an eagle, a nation whose language you do not understand,


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It shall consume the fruit of your livestock and the fruit of your ground until you are destroyed, leaving you neither grain, wine, and oil, nor the increase of your cattle and the issue of your flock, until it has made you perish.


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It shall besiege you in all your towns until your high and fortified walls, in which you trusted, come down throughout your land; it shall besiege you in all your towns throughout the land that the Lord your God has given you.


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In the desperate straits to which the enemy siege reduces you, you will eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of your own sons and daughters whom the Lord your God has given you.


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Even the most refined and gentle of men among you will begrudge food to his own brother, to the wife whom he embraces, and to the last of his remaining children,


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giving to none of them any of the flesh of his children whom he is eating, because nothing else remains to him, in the desperate straits to which the enemy siege will reduce you in all your towns.


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She who is the most refined and gentle among you, so gentle and refined that she does not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground, will begrudge food to the husband whom she embraces, to her own son, and to her own daughter,


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begrudging even the afterbirth that comes out from between her thighs, and the children that she bears, because she is eating them in secret for lack of anything else, in the desperate straits to which the enemy siege will reduce you in your towns.


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If you do not diligently observe all the words of this law that are written in this book, fearing this glorious and awesome name, the Lord your God,


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then the Lord will overwhelm both you and your offspring with severe and lasting afflictions and grievous and lasting maladies.


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He will bring back upon you all the diseases of Egypt, of which you were in dread, and they shall cling to you.


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Every other malady and affliction, even though not recorded in the book of this law, the Lord will inflict on you until you are destroyed.


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Although once you were as numerous as the stars in heaven, you shall be left few in number, because you did not obey the Lord your God.


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And just as the Lord took delight in making you prosperous and numerous, so the Lord will take delight in bringing you to ruin and destruction; you shall be plucked off the land that you are entering to possess.


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The Lord will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other; and there you shall serve other gods, of wood and stone, which neither you nor your ancestors have known.


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Among those nations you shall find no ease, no resting-place for the sole of your foot. There the Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and a languishing spirit.


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Your life shall hang in doubt before you; night and day you shall be in dread, with no assurance of your life.


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In the morning you shall say, ‘If only it were evening!’ and at evening you shall say, ‘If only it were morning!’—because of the dread that your heart shall feel and the sights that your eyes shall see.


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The Lord will bring you back in ships to Egypt, by a route that I promised you would never see again; and there you shall offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but there will be no buyer.


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These are the words of the covenant that the Lord commanded Moses to make with the Israelites in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant that he had made with them at Horeb.


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The Covenant Renewed in Moab Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land,


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I have led you for forty years in the wilderness. The clothes on your back have not worn out, and the sandals on your feet have not worn out;


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you have not eaten bread, and you have not drunk wine or strong drink—so that you may know that I am the Lord your God.


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When you came to this place, King Sihon of Heshbon and King Og of Bashan came out against us for battle, but we defeated them.


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We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.


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Therefore diligently observe the words of this covenant, in order that you may succeed in everything that you do.


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You stand assembled today, all of you, before the Lord your God—the leaders of your tribes, your elders, and your officials, all the men of Israel,


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your children, your women, and the aliens who are in your camp, both those who cut your wood and those who draw your water—


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to enter into the covenant of the Lord your God, sworn by an oath, which the Lord your God is making with you today;


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in order that he may establish you today as his people, and that he may be your God, as he promised you and as he swore to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.


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I am making this covenant, sworn by an oath, not only with you who stand here with us today before the Lord our God,


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You know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the midst of the nations through which you passed.


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You have seen their detestable things, the filthy idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold, that were among them.


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It may be that there is among you a man or woman, or a family or tribe, whose heart is already turning away from the Lord our God to serve the gods of those nations. It may be that there is among you a root sprouting poisonous and bitter growth.


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All who hear the words of this oath and bless themselves, thinking in their hearts, ‘We are safe even though we go our own stubborn ways’ (thus bringing disaster on moist and dry alike)—


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the Lord will be unwilling to pardon them, for the Lord’s anger and passion will smoke against them. All the curses written in this book will descend on them, and the Lord will blot out their names from under heaven.


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The Lord will single them out from all the tribes of Israel for calamity, in accordance with all the curses of the covenant written in this book of the law.


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The next generation, your children who rise up after you, as well as the foreigner who comes from a distant country, will see the devastation of that land and the afflictions with which the Lord has afflicted it—


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all its soil burned out by sulphur and salt, nothing planted, nothing sprouting, unable to support any vegetation, like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord destroyed in his fierce anger—


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they and indeed all the nations will wonder, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land? What caused this great display of anger?’


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They will conclude, ‘It is because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.


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They turned and served other gods, worshipping them, gods whom they had not known and whom he had not allotted to them;


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so the anger of the Lord was kindled against that land, bringing on it every curse written in this book.


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The Lord uprooted them from their land in anger, fury, and great wrath, and cast them into another land, as is now the case.’


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The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the revealed things belong to us and to our children for ever, to observe all the words of this law.


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God’s Fidelity Assured When all these things have happened to you, the blessings and the curses that I have set before you, if you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you,


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and return to the Lord your God, and you and your children obey him with all your heart and with all your soul, just as I am commanding you today,


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then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you, gathering you again from all the peoples among whom the Lord your God has scattered you.


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Even if you are exiled to the ends of the world, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there he will bring you back.


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The Lord your God will bring you into the land that your ancestors possessed, and you will possess it; he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your ancestors.


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Moreover, the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, in order that you may live.


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The Lord your God will put all these curses on your enemies and on the adversaries who took advantage of you.


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and the Lord your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all your undertakings, in the fruit of your body, in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your soil. For the Lord will again take delight in prospering you, just as he delighted in prospering your ancestors,


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when you obey the Lord your God by observing his commandments and decrees that are written in this book of the law, because you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.


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Exhortation to Choose Life Surely, this commandment that I am commanding you today is not too hard for you, nor is it too far away.


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It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?’


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Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross to the other side of the sea for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?’


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If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess.


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But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them,


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I declare to you today that you shall perish; you shall not live 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 that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live,


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loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the Lord swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.


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he said to them: ‘I am now a hundred and twenty years old. I am no longer able to get about, and the Lord has told me, “You shall not cross over this Jordan.”


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The Lord your God himself will cross over before you. He will destroy these nations before you, and you shall dispossess them. Joshua also will cross over before you, as the Lord promised.


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The Lord will do to them as he did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when he destroyed them.


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The Lord will give them over to you and you shall deal with them in full accord with the command that I have given to you.


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Be strong and bold; have no fear or dread of them, because it is the Lord your God who goes with you; he will not fail you or forsake you.’


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Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel: ‘Be strong and bold, for you are the one who will go with this people into the land that the Lord has sworn to their ancestors to give them; and you will put them in possession of it.


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It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.’


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The Law to Be Read Every Seventh Year Then Moses wrote down this law, and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel.


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Moses commanded them: ‘Every seventh year, in the scheduled year of remission, during the festival of booths,


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when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing.


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Assemble the people—men, women, and children, as well as the aliens residing in your towns—so that they may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God and to observe diligently all the words of this law,


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and so that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, as long as you live in the land that you are crossing over the Jordan to possess.’


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Moses and Joshua Receive God’s Charge The Lord said to Moses, ‘Your time to die is near; call Joshua and present yourselves in the tent of meeting, so that I may commission him.’ So Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves in the tent of meeting,


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and the Lord appeared at the tent in a pillar of cloud; the pillar of cloud stood at the entrance to the tent.


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The Lord said to Moses, ‘Soon you will lie down with your ancestors. Then this people will begin to prostitute themselves to the foreign gods in their midst, the gods of the land into which they are going; they will forsake me, breaking my covenant that I have made with them.


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My anger will be kindled against them on that day. I will forsake them and hide my face from them; they will become easy prey, and many terrible troubles will come upon them. On that day they will say, “Have not these troubles come upon us because our God is not in our midst?”


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On that day I will surely hide my face on account of all the evil they have done by turning to other gods.


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Now therefore write this song, and teach it to the Israelites; put it in their mouths, in order that this song may be a witness for me against the Israelites.


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For when I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I promised on oath to their ancestors, and they have eaten their fill and grown fat, they will turn to other gods and serve them, despising me and breaking my covenant.


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And when many terrible troubles come upon them, this song will confront them as a witness, because it will not be lost from the mouths of their descendants. For I know what they are inclined to do even now, before I have brought them into the land that I promised them on oath.’


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Then the Lord commissioned Joshua son of Nun and said, ‘Be strong and bold, for you shall bring the Israelites into the land that I promised them; I will be with you.’


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‘Take this book of the law and put it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God; let it remain there as a witness against you.


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For I know well how rebellious and stubborn you are. If you already have been so rebellious towards the Lord while I am still alive among you, how much more after my death!


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Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officials, so that I may recite these words in their hearing and call heaven and earth to witness against them.


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For I know that after my death you will surely act corruptly, turning aside from the way that I have commanded you. In time to come trouble will befall you, because you will do what is evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger through the work of your hands.’


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The Song of Moses Then Moses recited the words of this song, to the very end, in the hearing of the whole assembly of Israel:


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May my teaching drop like the rain, my speech condense like the dew; like gentle rain on grass, like showers on new growth.


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The Rock, his work is perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God, without deceit, just and upright is he;


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Do you thus repay the Lord, O foolish and senseless people? Is not he your father, who created you, who made you and established you?


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Remember the days of old, consider the years long past; ask your father, and he will inform you; your elders, and they will tell you.


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When the Most High apportioned the nations, when he divided humankind, he fixed the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the gods;


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He sustained him in a desert land, in a howling wilderness waste; he shielded him, cared for him, guarded him as the apple of his eye.


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As an eagle stirs up its nest, and hovers over its young; as it spreads its wings, takes them up, and bears them aloft on its pinions,


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He set him upon the heights of the land, and fed him with produce of the field; he nursed him with honey from the crags, with oil from flinty rock;


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curds from the herd, and milk from the flock, with fat of lambs and rams; Bashan bulls and goats, together with the choicest wheat— you drank fine wine from the blood of grapes.


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Jacob ate his fill; Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked. You grew fat, bloated, and gorged! He abandoned God who made him, and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation.


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They sacrificed to demons, not God, to deities they had never known, to new ones recently arrived, whom your ancestors had not feared.


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He said: I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end will be; for they are a perverse generation, children in whom there is no faithfulness.


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They made me jealous with what is no god, provoked me with their idols. So I will make them jealous with what is no people, provoke them with a foolish nation.


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For a fire is kindled by my anger, and burns to the depths of Sheol; it devours the earth and its increase, and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.


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wasting hunger, burning consumption, bitter pestilence. The teeth of beasts I will send against them, with venom of things crawling in the dust.


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In the street the sword shall bereave, and in the chambers terror, for young man and woman alike, nursing child and old grey head.


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but I feared provocation by the enemy, for their adversaries might misunderstand and say, ‘Our hand is triumphant; it was not the Lord who did all this.’


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How could one have routed a thousand, and two put a myriad to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, the Lord had given them up?


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Their vine comes from the vine-stock of Sodom, from the vineyards of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of poison, their clusters are bitter;


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Vengeance is mine, and recompense, for the time when their foot shall slip; because the day of their calamity is at hand, their doom comes swiftly.


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Indeed the Lord will vindicate his people, have compassion on his servants, when he sees that their power is gone, neither bond nor free remaining.


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who ate the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their libations? Let them rise up and help you, let them be your protection!


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See now that I, even I, am he; there is no god besides me. I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and no one can deliver from my hand.


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when I whet my flashing sword, and my hand takes hold on judgement; I will take vengeance on my adversaries, and will repay those who hate me.


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I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh— with the blood of the slain and the captives, from the long-haired enemy.


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Praise, O heavens, his people, worship him, all you gods! For he will avenge the blood of his children, and take vengeance on his adversaries; he will repay those who hate him, and cleanse the 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 to them: ‘Take to heart all the words that I am giving in witness against you today; give them as a command to your children, so that they may diligently observe all the words of this law.


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This is no trifling matter for you, but rather your very life; through it you may live long in the land that you are crossing over the Jordan to possess.’


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‘Ascend this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, across from Jericho, and view the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites for a possession;


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you shall die there on the mountain that you ascend and shall be gathered to your kin, as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his kin;


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because both of you broke faith with me among the Israelites at the waters of Meribath-kadesh in the wilderness of Zin, by failing to maintain my holiness among the Israelites.


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Although you may view the land from a distance, you shall not enter it—the land that I am giving to the Israelites.’


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Moses’ Final Blessing on Israel This is the blessing with which Moses, the man of God, blessed the Israelites before his death.


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He said: The Lord came from Sinai, and dawned from Seir upon us; he shone forth from Mount Paran. With him were myriads of holy ones; at his right, a host of his own.


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Indeed, O favourite among peoples, all his holy ones were in your charge; they marched at your heels, accepted direction from you.


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There arose a king in Jeshurun, when the leaders of the people assembled— the united tribes of Israel.


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And this he said of Judah: O Lord, give heed to Judah, and bring him to his people; strengthen his hands for him, and be a help against his adversaries.


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And of Levi he said: Give to Levi your Thummim, and your Urim to your loyal one, whom you tested at Massah, with whom you contended at the waters of Meribah;


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who said of his father and mother, ‘I regard them not’; he ignored his kin, and did not acknowledge his children. For they observed your word, and kept your covenant.


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They teach Jacob your ordinances, and Israel your law; they place incense before you, and whole burnt-offerings on your altar.


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Bless, O Lord, his substance, and accept the work of his hands; crush the loins of his adversaries, of those that hate him, so that they do not rise again.


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Of Benjamin he said: The beloved of the Lord rests in safety— the High God surrounds him all day long— the beloved rests between his shoulders.


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And of Joseph he said: Blessed by the Lord be his land, with the choice gifts of heaven above, and of the deep that lies beneath;


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with the choice gifts of the earth and its fullness, and the favour of the one who dwells on Sinai. Let these come on the head of Joseph, on the brow of the prince among his brothers.


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A firstborn bull—majesty is his! His horns are the horns of a wild ox; with them he gores the peoples, driving them to the ends of the earth; such are the myriads of Ephraim, such the thousands of Manasseh.


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They call peoples to the mountain; there they offer the right sacrifices; for they suck the affluence of the seas and the hidden treasures of the sand.


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And of Gad he said: Blessed be the enlargement of Gad! Gad lives like a lion; he tears at arm and scalp.


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He chose the best for himself, for there a commander’s allotment was reserved; he came at the head of the people, he executed the justice of the Lord, and his ordinances for Israel.


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And of Naphtali he said: O Naphtali, sated with favour, full of the blessing of the Lord, possess the west and the south.


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And of Asher he said: Most blessed of sons be Asher; may he be the favourite of his brothers, and may he dip his foot in oil.


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There is none like God, O Jeshurun, who rides through the heavens to your help, majestic through the skies.


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He subdues the ancient gods, shatters the forces of old; he drove out the enemy before you, and said, ‘Destroy!’


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So Israel lives in safety, untroubled is Jacob’s abode in a land of grain and wine, where the heavens drop down dew.


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Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord, the shield of your help, and the sword of your triumph! Your enemies shall come fawning to you, and you shall tread on their backs.


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Moses Dies and Is Buried in the Land of Moab Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho, and the Lord showed him the whole land: Gilead as far as Dan,


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The Lord said to him, ‘This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, “I will give it to your descendants”; I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not cross over there.’


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He was buried in a valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor, but no one knows his burial place to this day.


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Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died; his sight was unimpaired and his vigour had not abated.


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The Israelites wept for Moses in the plains of Moab for thirty days; then the period of mourning for Moses was ended.


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Joshua son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, because Moses had laid his hands on him; and the Israelites obeyed him, doing as the Lord had commanded Moses.


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He was unequalled for all the signs and wonders that the Lord sent him to perform in the land of Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his servants and his entire land,


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and for all the mighty deeds and all the terrifying displays of power that Moses performed in the sight of all Israel.


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God’s Commission to Joshua After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, saying,


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‘My servant Moses is dead. Now proceed to cross the Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the Israelites.


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From the wilderness and the Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, to the Great Sea in the west shall be your territory.


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No one shall be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you.


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Be strong and courageous; for you shall put this people in possession of the land that I swore to their ancestors to give them.


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Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to act in accordance with all the law that my servant Moses commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, so that you may be successful wherever you go.


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This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth; you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to act in accordance with all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall be successful.


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I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.’


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‘Pass through the camp, and command the people: “Prepare your provisions; for in three days you are to cross over the Jordan, to go in to take possession of the land that the Lord your God gives you to possess.”’


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‘Remember the word that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, saying, “The Lord your God is providing you a place of rest, and will give you this land.”


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Your wives, your little ones, and your livestock shall remain in the land that Moses gave you beyond the Jordan. But all the warriors among you shall cross over armed before your kindred and shall help them,


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until the Lord gives rest to your kindred as well as to you, and they too take possession of the land that the Lord your God is giving them. Then you shall return to your own land and take possession of it, the land that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you beyond the Jordan to the east.’


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They answered Joshua: ‘All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go.


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Just as we obeyed Moses in all things, so we will obey you. Only may the Lord your God be with you, as he was with Moses!


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Whoever rebels against your orders and disobeys your words, whatever you command, shall be put to death. Only be strong and courageous.’


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Spies Sent to Jericho Then Joshua son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying, ‘Go, view the land, especially Jericho.’ So they went, and entered the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab, and spent the night there.


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Then the king of Jericho sent orders to Rahab, ‘Bring out the men who have come to you, who entered your house, for they have come only to search out the whole land.’


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But the woman took the two men and hid them. Then she said, ‘True, the men came to me, but I did not know where they came from.


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And when it was time to close the gate at dark, the men went out. Where the men went I do not know. Pursue them quickly, for you can overtake them.’


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She had, however, brought them up to the roof and hidden them with the stalks of flax that she had laid out on the roof.


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So the men pursued them on the way to the Jordan as far as the fords. As soon as the pursuers had gone out, the gate was shut.


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and said to the men: ‘I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that dread of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt in fear before you.


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For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites that were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed.


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As soon as we heard it, our hearts failed, and there was no courage left in any of us because of you. The Lord your God is indeed God in heaven above and on earth below.


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Now then, since I have dealt kindly with you, swear to me by the Lord that you in turn will deal kindly with my family. Give me a sign of good faith


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that you will spare my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death.’


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The men said to her, ‘Our life for yours! If you do not tell this business of ours, then we will deal kindly and faithfully with you when the Lord gives us the land.’


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Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was on the outer side of the city wall and she resided within the wall itself.


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She said to them, ‘Go towards the hill country, so that the pursuers may not come upon you. Hide yourselves there for three days, until the pursuers have returned; then afterwards you may go on your way.’


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if we invade the land and you do not tie this crimson cord in the window through which you let us down, and you do not gather into your house your father and mother, your brothers, and all your family.


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If any of you go out of the doors of your house into the street, they shall be responsible for their own death, and we shall be innocent; but if a hand is laid upon any who are with you in the house, we shall bear the responsibility for their death.


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But if you tell this business of ours, then we shall be released from this oath that you made us swear to you.’


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She said, ‘According to your words, so be it.’ She sent them away and they departed. Then she tied the crimson cord in the window.


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They departed and went into the hill country and stayed there for three days, until the pursuers returned. The pursuers had searched all along the way and found nothing.


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Then the two men came down again from the hill country. They crossed over, came to Joshua son of Nun, and told him all that had happened to them.


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They said to Joshua, ‘Truly the Lord has given all the land into our hands; moreover, all the inhabitants of the land melt in fear before us.’


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Israel Crosses the Jordan Early in the morning Joshua rose and set out from Shittim with all the Israelites, and they came to the Jordan. They camped there before crossing over.


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and commanded the people, ‘When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God being carried by the levitical priests, then you shall set out from your place. Follow it,


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so that you may know the way you should go, for you have not passed this way before. Yet there shall be a space between you and it, a distance of about two thousand cubits; do not come any nearer to it.’


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Then Joshua said to the people, ‘Sanctify yourselves; for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.’


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To the priests Joshua said, ‘Take up the ark of the covenant, and pass on in front of the people.’ So they took up the ark of the covenant and went in front of the people.


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The Lord said to Joshua, ‘This day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, so that they may know that I will be with you as I was with Moses.


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You are the one who shall command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, “When you come to the edge of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.”’


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Joshua said, ‘By this you shall know that among you is the living God who without fail will drive out from before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites:


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When the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan flowing from above shall be cut off; they shall stand in a single heap.’


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When the people set out from their tents to cross over the Jordan, the priests bearing the ark of the covenant were in front of the people.


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Now the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest. So when those who bore the ark had come to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the edge of the water,


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the waters flowing from above stood still, rising up in a single heap far off at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan, while those flowing towards the sea of the Arabah, the Dead Sea, were wholly cut off. Then the people crossed over opposite Jericho.


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While all Israel were crossing over on dry ground, the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, until the entire nation finished crossing over the Jordan.


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Twelve Stones Set Up at Gilgal When the entire nation had finished crossing over the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua:


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and command them, “Take twelve stones from here out of the middle of the Jordan, from the place where the priests’ feet stood, carry them over with you, and lay them down in the place where you camp tonight.”’


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Then Joshua summoned the twelve men from the Israelites, whom he had appointed, one from each tribe.


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Joshua said to them, ‘Pass on before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan, and each of you take up a stone on his shoulder, one for each of the tribes of the Israelites,


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so that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, “What do those stones mean to you?”


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then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off in front of the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the Israelites a memorial for ever.’


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The Israelites did as Joshua commanded. They took up twelve stones out of the middle of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, as the Lord told Joshua, carried them over with them to the place where they camped, and laid them down there.


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(Joshua set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the covenant had stood; and they are there to this day.)


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The priests who bore the ark remained standing in the middle of the Jordan, until everything was finished that the Lord commanded Joshua to tell the people, according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua. The people crossed over in haste.


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As soon as all the people had finished crossing over, the ark of the Lord, and the priests, crossed over in front of the people.


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The Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh crossed over armed before the Israelites, as Moses had ordered them.


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About forty thousand armed for war crossed over before the Lord to the plains of Jericho for battle.


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On that day the Lord exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they stood in awe of him, as they had stood in awe of Moses, all the days of his life.


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When the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the Lord came up from the middle of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests’ feet touched dry ground, the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and overflowed all its banks, as before.


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The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they camped in Gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho.


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saying to the Israelites, ‘When your children ask their parents in time to come, “What do these stones mean?”


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For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you crossed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we crossed over,


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so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, and so that you may fear the Lord your God for ever.’


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The New Generation Circumcised When all the kings of the Amorites beyond the Jordan to the west, and all the kings of the Canaanites by the sea, heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan for the Israelites until they had crossed over, their hearts failed, and there was no longer any spirit in them, because of the Israelites.


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At that time the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelites a second time.’


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This is the reason why Joshua circumcised them: all the males of the people who came out of Egypt, all the warriors, had died during the journey through the wilderness after they had come out of Egypt.


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Although all the people who came out had been circumcised, yet all the people born on the journey through the wilderness after they had come out of Egypt had not been circumcised.


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For the Israelites travelled for forty years in the wilderness, until all the nation, the warriors who came out of Egypt, perished, not having listened to the voice of the Lord. To them the Lord swore that he would not let them see the land that he had sworn to their ancestors to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey.


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So it was their children, whom he raised up in their place, that Joshua circumcised; for they were uncircumcised, because they had not been circumcised on the way.


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When the circumcising of all the nation was done, they remained in their places in the camp until they were healed.


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The Lord said to Joshua, ‘Today I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt.’ And so that place is called Gilgal to this day.


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The Passover at Gilgal While the Israelites were encamped in Gilgal they kept the passover in the evening on the fourteenth day of the month in the plains of Jericho.


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On the day after the passover, on that very day, they ate the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain.


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The manna ceased on the day they ate the produce of the land, and the Israelites no longer had manna; they ate the crops of the land of Canaan that year.


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Joshua’s Vision Once when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing before him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went to him and said to him, ‘Are you one of us, or one of our adversaries?’


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He replied, ‘Neither; but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.’ And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshipped, and he said to him, ‘What do you command your servant, my lord?’


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The commander of the army of the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy.’ And Joshua did so.


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Jericho Taken and Destroyed Now Jericho was shut up inside and out because of the Israelites; no one came out and no one went in.


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You shall march around the city, all the warriors circling the city once. Thus you shall do for six days,


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with seven priests bearing seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, the priests blowing the trumpets.


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When they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, as soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and all the people shall charge straight ahead.’


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So Joshua son of Nun summoned the priests and said to them, ‘Take up the ark of the covenant, and have seven priests carry seven trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark of the Lord.’


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To the people he said, ‘Go forward and march around the city; have the armed men pass on before the ark of the Lord.’


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As Joshua had commanded the people, the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the Lord went forward, blowing the trumpets, with the ark of the covenant of the Lord following them.


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And the armed men went before the priests who blew the trumpets; the rearguard came after the ark, while the trumpets blew continually.


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To the people Joshua gave this command: ‘You shall not shout or let your voice be heard, nor shall you utter a word, until the day I tell you to shout. Then you shall shout.’


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So the ark of the Lord went around the city, circling it once; and they came into the camp, and spent the night in the camp.


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The seven priests carrying the seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the Lord passed on, blowing the trumpets continually. The armed men went before them, and the rearguard came after the ark of the Lord, while the trumpets blew continually.


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On the second day they marched around the city once and then returned to the camp. They did this for six days.


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On the seventh day they rose early, at dawn, and marched around the city in the same manner seven times. It was only on that day that they marched around the city seven times.


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And at the seventh time, when the priests had blown the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, ‘Shout! For the Lord has given you the city.


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The city and all that is in it shall be devoted to the Lord for destruction. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall live, because she hid the messengers we sent.


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As for you, keep away from the things devoted to destruction, so as not to covet and take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel an object for destruction, bringing trouble upon it.


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But all silver and gold, and vessels of bronze and iron, are sacred to the Lord; they shall go into the treasury of the Lord.’


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So the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown. As soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpets, they raised a great shout, and the wall fell down flat; so the people charged straight ahead into the city and captured it.


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Then they devoted to destruction by the edge of the sword all in the city, both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys.


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Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, ‘Go into the prostitute’s house, and bring the woman out of it and all who belong to her, as you swore to her.’


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So the young men who had been spies went in and brought Rahab out, along with her father, her mother, her brothers, and all who belonged to her—they brought all her kindred out—and set them outside the camp of Israel.


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They burned down the city, and everything in it; only the silver and gold, and the vessels of bronze and iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord.


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But Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, Joshua spared. Her family has lived in Israel ever since. For she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.


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Joshua then pronounced this oath, saying, ‘Cursed before the Lord be anyone who tries to build this city—this Jericho! At the cost of his firstborn he shall lay its foundation, and at the cost of his youngest he shall set up its gates!’


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The Sin of Achan and Its Punishment But the Israelites broke faith in regard to the devoted things: Achan son of Carmi son of Zabdi son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things; and the anger of the Lord burned against the Israelites.


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Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth-aven, east of Bethel, and said to them, ‘Go up and spy out the land.’ And the men went up and spied out Ai.


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Then they returned to Joshua and said to him, ‘Not all the people need go up; about two or three thousand men should go up and attack Ai. Since they are so few, do not make the whole people toil up there.’


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The men of Ai killed about thirty-six of them, chasing them from outside the gate as far as Shebarim and killing them on the slope. The hearts of the people failed and turned to water.


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Then Joshua tore his clothes, and fell to the ground on his face before the ark of the Lord until the evening, he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads.


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Joshua said, ‘Ah, Lord God! Why have you brought this people across the Jordan at all, to hand us over to the Amorites so as to destroy us? Would that we had been content to settle beyond the Jordan!


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The Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it, and surround us, and cut off our name from the earth. Then what will you do for your great name?’


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Israel has sinned; they have transgressed my covenant that I imposed on them. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have acted deceitfully, and they have put them among their own belongings.


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Therefore the Israelites are unable to stand before their enemies; they turn their backs to their enemies, because they have become a thing devoted for destruction themselves. I will be with you no more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you.


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Proceed to sanctify the people, and say, “Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow; for thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘There are devoted things among you, O Israel; you will be unable to stand before your enemies until you take away the devoted things from among you.’


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In the morning therefore you shall come forward tribe by tribe. The tribe that the Lord takes shall come near by clans, the clan that the Lord takes shall come near by households, and the household that the Lord takes shall come near one by one.


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And the one who is taken as having the devoted things shall be burned with fire, together with all that he has, for having transgressed the covenant of the Lord, and for having done an outrageous thing in Israel.”’


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So Joshua rose early in the morning, and brought Israel near tribe by tribe, and the tribe of Judah was taken.


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He brought near the clans of Judah, and the clan of the Zerahites was taken; and he brought near the clan of the Zerahites, family by family, and Zabdi was taken.


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And he brought near his household one by one, and Achan son of Carmi son of Zabdi son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken.


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Then Joshua said to Achan, ‘My son, give glory to the Lord God of Israel and make confession to him. Tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me.’


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And Achan answered Joshua, ‘It is true; I am the one who sinned against the Lord God of Israel. This is what I did:


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when I saw among the spoil a beautiful mantle from Shinar, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels, then I coveted them and took them. They now lie hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.’


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So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and there it was, hidden in his tent with the silver underneath.


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They took them out of the tent and brought them to Joshua and all the Israelites; and they spread them out before the Lord.


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Then Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan son of Zerah, with the silver, the mantle, and the bar of gold, with his sons and daughters, with his oxen, donkeys, and sheep, and his tent and all that he had; and they brought them up to the Valley of Achor.


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Joshua said, ‘Why did you bring trouble on us? The Lord is bringing trouble on you today.’ And all Israel stoned him to death; they burned them with fire, cast stones on them,


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and raised over him a great heap of stones that remains to this day. Then the Lord turned from his burning anger. Therefore that place to this day is called the Valley of Achor.


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Ai Captured by a Stratagem and Destroyed Then the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Do not fear or be dismayed; take all the fighting men with you, and go up now to Ai. See, I have handed over to you the king of Ai with his people, his city, and his land.


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You shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king; only its spoil and its livestock you may take as booty for yourselves. Set an ambush against the city, behind it.’


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So Joshua and all the fighting men set out to go up against Ai. Joshua chose thirty thousand warriors and sent them out by night


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with the command, ‘You shall lie in ambush against the city, behind it; do not go very far from the city, but all of you stay alert.


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I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. When they come out against us, as before, we shall flee from them.


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They will come out after us until we have drawn them away from the city; for they will say, “They are fleeing from us, as before.” While we flee from them,


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you shall rise up from the ambush and seize the city; for the Lord your God will give it into your hand.


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And when you have taken the city, you shall set the city on fire, doing as the Lord has ordered; see, I have commanded you.’


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So Joshua sent them out; and they went to the place of ambush, and lay between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai; but Joshua spent that night in the camp.


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In the morning Joshua rose early and mustered the people, and went up, with the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai.


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All the fighting men who were with him went up, and drew near before the city, and camped on the north side of Ai, with a ravine between them and Ai.


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Taking about five thousand men, he set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city.


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So they stationed the forces, the main encampment that was north of the city and its rearguard west of the city. But Joshua spent that night in the valley.


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When the king of Ai saw this, he and all his people, the inhabitants of the city, hurried out early in the morning to the meeting-place facing the Arabah to meet Israel in battle; but he did not know that there was an ambush against him behind the city.


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And Joshua and all Israel made a pretence of being beaten before them, and fled in the direction of the wilderness.


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So all the people who were in the city were called together to pursue them, and as they pursued Joshua they were drawn away from the city.


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There was not a man left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel; they left the city open, and pursued Israel.


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Then the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Stretch out the sword that is in your hand towards Ai; for I will give it into your hand.’ And Joshua stretched out the sword that was in his hand towards the city.


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As soon as he stretched out his hand, the troops in ambush rose quickly out of their place and rushed forward. They entered the city, took it, and at once set the city on fire.


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So when the men of Ai looked back, the smoke of the city was rising to the sky. They had no power to flee this way or that, for the people who fled to the wilderness turned back against the pursuers.


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When Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city and that the smoke of the city was rising, then they turned back and struck down the men of Ai.


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And the others came out from the city against them; so they were surrounded by Israelites, some on one side, and some on the other; and Israel struck them down until no one was left who survived or escaped.


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When Israel had finished slaughtering all the inhabitants of Ai in the open wilderness where they pursued them, and when all of them to the very last had fallen by the edge of the sword, all Israel returned to Ai, and attacked it with the edge of the sword.


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For Joshua did not draw back his hand, with which he stretched out the sword, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.


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Only the livestock and the spoil of that city Israel took as their booty, according to the word of the Lord that he had issued to Joshua.


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And he hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening; and at sunset Joshua commanded, and they took his body down from the tree, threw it down at the entrance of the gate of the city, and raised over it a great heap of stones, which stands there to this day.


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just as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the Israelites, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, ‘an altar of unhewn stones, on which no iron tool has been used’; and they offered on it burnt-offerings to the Lord, and sacrificed offerings of well-being.


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And there, in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written.


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All Israel, alien as well as citizen, with their elders and officers and their judges, stood on opposite sides of the ark in front of the levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, half of them in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded at the first, that they should bless the people of Israel.


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And afterwards he read all the words of the law, blessings and curses, according to all that is written in the book of the law.


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There was not a word of all that Moses commanded that Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, and the women, and the little ones, and the aliens who resided among them.


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The Gibeonites Save Themselves by Trickery Now when all the kings who were beyond the Jordan in the hill country and in the lowland all along the coast of the Great Sea towards Lebanon—the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites—heard of this,


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they on their part acted with cunning: they went and prepared provisions, and took worn-out sacks for their donkeys, and wineskins, worn-out and torn and mended,


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with worn-out, patched sandals on their feet, and worn-out clothes; and all their provisions were dry and mouldy.


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They went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal, and said to him and to the Israelites, ‘We have come from a far country; so now make a treaty with us.’


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But the Israelites said to the Hivites, ‘Perhaps you live among us; then how can we make a treaty with you?’


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They said to Joshua, ‘We are your servants.’ And Joshua said to them, ‘Who are you? And where do you come from?’


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They said to him, ‘Your servants have come from a very far country, because of the name of the Lord your God; for we have heard a report of him, of all that he did in Egypt,


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and of all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, King Sihon of Heshbon, and King Og of Bashan who lived in Ashtaroth.


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So our elders and all the inhabitants of our country said to us, “Take provisions in your hand for the journey; go to meet them, and say to them, ‘We are your servants; come now, make a treaty with us.’”


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Here is our bread; it was still warm when we took it from our houses as our food for the journey, on the day we set out to come to you, but now, see, it is dry and mouldy;


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these wineskins were new when we filled them, and see, they are burst; and these garments and sandals of ours are worn out from the very long journey.’


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And Joshua made peace with them, guaranteeing their lives by a treaty; and the leaders of the congregation swore an oath to them.


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But when three days had passed after they had made a treaty with them, they heard that they were their neighbours and were living among them.


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So the Israelites set out and reached their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath-jearim.


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But the Israelites did not attack them, because the leaders of the congregation had sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel. Then all the congregation murmured against the leaders.


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But all the leaders said to all the congregation, ‘We have sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel, and now we must not touch them.


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This is what we will do to them: We will let them live, so that wrath may not come upon us, because of the oath that we swore to them.’


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The leaders said to them, ‘Let them live.’ So they became hewers of wood and drawers of water for all the congregation, as the leaders had decided concerning them.


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Joshua summoned them, and said to them, ‘Why did you deceive us, saying, “We are very far from you”, while in fact you are living among us?


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Now therefore you are cursed, and some of you shall always be slaves, hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God.’


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They answered Joshua, ‘Because it was told to your servants for a certainty that the Lord your God had commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land before you; so we were in great fear for our lives because of you, and did this thing.


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But on that day Joshua made them hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar of the Lord, to continue to this day, in the place that he should choose.


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The Sun Stands Still When King Adoni-zedek of Jerusalem heard how Joshua had taken Ai, and had utterly destroyed it, doing to Ai and its king as he had done to Jericho and its king, and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were among them,


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he became greatly frightened, because Gibeon was a large city, like one of the royal cities, and was larger than Ai, and all its men were warriors.


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So King Adoni-zedek of Jerusalem sent a message to King Hoham of Hebron, to King Piram of Jarmuth, to King Japhia of Lachish, and to King Debir of Eglon, saying,


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‘Come up and help me, and let us attack Gibeon; for it has made peace with Joshua and with the Israelites.’


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Then the five kings of the Amorites—the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon—gathered their forces, and went up with all their armies and encamped against Gibeon, and made war against it.


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And the Gibeonites sent to Joshua at the camp in Gilgal, saying, ‘Do not abandon your servants; come up to us quickly, and save us, and help us; for all the kings of the Amorites who live in the hill country are gathered against us.’


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The Lord said to Joshua, ‘Do not fear them, for I have handed them over to you; not one of them shall stand before you.’


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And the Lord threw them into a panic before Israel, who inflicted a great slaughter on them at Gibeon, chased them by the way of the ascent of Beth-horon, and struck them down as far as Azekah and Makkedah.


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As they fled before Israel, while they were going down the slope of Beth-horon, the Lord threw down huge stones from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died; there were more who died because of the hailstones than the Israelites killed with the sword.


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On the day when the Lord gave the Amorites over to the Israelites, Joshua spoke to the Lord; and he said in the sight of Israel, ‘Sun, stand still at Gibeon, and Moon, in the valley of Aijalon.’


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And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, until the nation took vengeance on their enemies. Is this not written in the Book of Jashar? The sun stopped in mid-heaven, and did not hurry to set for about a whole day.


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There has been no day like it before or since, when the Lord heeded a human voice; for the Lord fought for Israel.


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but do not stay there yourselves; pursue your enemies, and attack them from the rear. Do not let them enter their towns, for the Lord your God has given them into your hand.’


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When Joshua and the Israelites had finished inflicting a very great slaughter on them, until they were wiped out, and when the survivors had entered into the fortified towns,


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all the people returned safe to Joshua in the camp at Makkedah; no one dared to speak against any of the Israelites.


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They did so, and brought the five kings out to him 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 brought the kings out to Joshua, Joshua summoned all the Israelites, and said to the chiefs of the warriors who had gone with him, ‘Come near, put your feet on the necks of these kings.’ Then they came near and put their feet on their necks.


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And Joshua said to them, ‘Do not be afraid or dismayed; be strong and courageous; for thus the Lord will do to all the enemies against whom you fight.’


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Afterwards Joshua struck them down and put them to death, and he hung them on five trees. And they hung on the trees until evening.


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At sunset Joshua commanded, and they took them down from the trees and threw them into the cave where they had hidden themselves; they set large stones against the mouth of the cave, which remain to this very day.


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Joshua took Makkedah on that day, and struck it and its king with the edge of the sword; he utterly destroyed every person in it; he left no one remaining. And he did to the king of Makkedah as he had done to the king of Jericho.


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The Lord gave it also and its king into the hand of Israel; and he struck it with the edge of the sword, and every person in it; he left no one remaining in it; and he did to its king as he had done to the king of Jericho.


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Next Joshua passed on from Libnah, and all Israel with him, to Lachish, and laid siege to it, and assaulted it.


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The Lord gave Lachish into the hand of Israel, and he took it on the second day, and struck it with the edge of the sword, and every person in it, as he had done to Libnah.


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Then King Horam of Gezer came up to help Lachish; and Joshua struck him and his people, leaving him no survivors.


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From Lachish Joshua passed on with all Israel to Eglon; and they laid siege to it, and assaulted it;


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and they took it that day, and struck it with the edge of the sword; and every person in it he utterly destroyed that day, as he had done to Lachish.


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and took it, and struck it with the edge of the sword, and its king and its towns, and every person in it; he left no one remaining, just as he had done to Eglon, and utterly destroyed it with every person in it.


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and he took it with its king and all its towns; they struck them with the edge of the sword, and utterly destroyed every person in it; he left no one remaining, just as he had done to Hebron, and, as he had done to Libnah and its king, so he did to Debir and its king.


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So Joshua defeated the whole land, the hill country and the Negeb and the lowland and the slopes, and all their kings; he left no one remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the Lord God of Israel commanded.


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And Joshua defeated them from Kadesh-barnea to Gaza, and all the country of Goshen, as far as Gibeon.


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Joshua took all these kings and their land at one time, because the Lord God of Israel fought for Israel.


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The United Kings of Northern Canaan Defeated When King Jabin of Hazor heard of this, he sent to King Jobab of Madon, to the king of Shimron, to the king of Achshaph,


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and to the kings who were in the northern hill country, and in the Arabah south of Chinneroth, and in the lowland, and in Naphoth-dor on the west,


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to the Canaanites in the east and the west, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, and the Jebusites in the hill country, and the Hivites under Hermon in the land of Mizpah.


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They came out, with all their troops, a great army, in number like the sand on the seashore, with very many horses and chariots.


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All these kings joined their forces, and came and camped together at the waters of Merom, to fight with Israel.


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And the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Do not be afraid of them, for tomorrow at this time I will hand over all of them, slain, to Israel; you shall hamstring their horses, and burn their chariots with fire.’


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So Joshua came suddenly upon them with all his fighting force, by the waters of Merom, and fell upon them.


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And the Lord handed them over to Israel, who attacked them and chased them as far as Great Sidon and Misrephoth-maim, and eastwards as far as the valley of Mizpeh. They struck them down, until they had left no one remaining.


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And Joshua did to them as the Lord commanded him; he hamstrung their horses, and burned their chariots with fire.


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Joshua turned back at that time, and took Hazor, and struck its king down with the sword. Before that time Hazor was the head of all those kingdoms.


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And they put to the sword all who were in it, utterly destroying them; there was no one left who breathed, and he burned Hazor with fire.


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And all the towns of those kings, and all their kings, Joshua took, and struck them with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them, as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded.


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All the spoil of these towns, and the livestock, the Israelites took for their booty; but all the people they struck down with the edge of the sword, until they had destroyed them, and they did not leave any who breathed.


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As the Lord had commanded his servant Moses, so Moses commanded Joshua, and so Joshua did; he left nothing undone of all that the Lord had commanded Moses.


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Summary of Joshua’s Conquests So Joshua took all that land: the hill country and all the Negeb and all the land of Goshen and the lowland and the Arabah and the hill country of Israel and its lowland,


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from Mount Halak, which rises towards Seir, as far as Baal-gad in the valley of Lebanon below Mount Hermon. He took all their kings, struck them down, and put them to death.


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There was not a town that made peace with the Israelites, except the Hivites, the inhabitants of Gibeon; all were taken in battle.


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For it was the Lord’s doing to harden their hearts so that they would come against Israel in battle, in order that they might be utterly destroyed, and might receive no mercy, but be exterminated, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.


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At that time Joshua came and wiped out the Anakim from the hill country, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, and from all the hill country of Judah, and from all the hill country of Israel; Joshua utterly destroyed them with their towns.


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None of the Anakim was left in the land of the Israelites; some remained only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod.


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So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the Lord had spoken to Moses; and Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their tribal allotments. And the land had rest from war.


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The Kings Conquered by Moses Now these are the kings of the land, whom the Israelites defeated, whose land they occupied beyond the Jordan towards the east, from the Wadi Arnon to Mount Hermon, with all the Arabah eastwards:


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King Sihon of the Amorites who lived at Heshbon, and ruled from Aroer, which is on the edge of the Wadi Arnon, and from the middle of the valley as far as the river Jabbok, the boundary of the Ammonites, that is, half of Gilead,


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and the Arabah to the Sea of Chinneroth eastwards, and in the direction of Beth-jeshimoth, to the sea of the Arabah, the Dead Sea, southwards to the foot of the slopes of Pisgah;


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and ruled over Mount Hermon and Salecah and all Bashan to the boundary of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and over half of Gilead to the boundary of King Sihon of Heshbon.


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Moses, the servant of the Lord, and the Israelites defeated them; and Moses the servant of the Lord gave their land for a possession to the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh.


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The Kings Conquered by Joshua The following are the kings of the land whom Joshua and the Israelites defeated on the west side of the Jordan, from Baal-gad in the valley of Lebanon to Mount Halak, that rises towards Seir (and Joshua gave their land to the tribes of Israel as a possession according to their allotments,


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in the hill country, in the lowland, in the Arabah, in the slopes, in the wilderness, and in the Negeb, the land of the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites):


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The Parts of Canaan Still Unconquered Now Joshua was old and advanced in years; and the Lord said to him, ‘You are old and advanced in years, and very much of the land still remains to be possessed.


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This is the land that still remains: all the regions of the Philistines, and all those of the Geshurites


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(from the Shihor, which is east of Egypt, northwards to the boundary of Ekron, it is reckoned as Canaanite; there are five rulers of the Philistines, those of Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron), and those of the Avvim


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in the south; all the land of the Canaanites, and Mearah that belongs to the Sidonians, to Aphek, to the boundary of the Amorites,


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and the land of the Gebalites, and all Lebanon, towards the east, from Baal-gad below Mount Hermon to Lebo-hamath,


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all the inhabitants of the hill country from Lebanon to Misrephoth-maim, even all the Sidonians. I will myself drive them out from before the Israelites; only allot the land to Israel for an inheritance, as I have commanded you.


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Now therefore divide this land for an inheritance to the nine tribes and the half-tribe of Manasseh.’


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The Territory East of the Jordan With the other half-tribe of Manasseh, the Reubenites and the Gadites received their inheritance, which Moses gave them, beyond the Jordan eastwards, as Moses the servant of the Lord gave them:


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from Aroer, which is on the edge of the Wadi Arnon, and the town that is in the middle of the valley, and all the tableland from Medeba as far as Dibon;


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and all the cities of King Sihon of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, as far as the boundary of the Ammonites;


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and Gilead, and the region of the Geshurites and Maacathites, and all Mount Hermon, and all Bashan to Salecah;


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all the kingdom of Og in Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth and in Edrei (he alone was left of the survivors of the Rephaim); these Moses had defeated and driven out.


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Yet the Israelites did not drive out the Geshurites or the Maacathites; but Geshur and Maacath live within Israel to this day.


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To the tribe of Levi alone Moses gave no inheritance; the offerings by fire to the Lord God of Israel are their inheritance, as he said to them.


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The Territory of Reuben Moses gave an inheritance to the tribe of the Reubenites according to their clans.


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Their territory was from Aroer, which is on the edge of the Wadi Arnon, and the town that is in the middle of the valley, and all the tableland by Medeba;


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with Heshbon, and all its towns that are in the tableland; Dibon, and Bamoth-baal, and Beth-baal-meon,


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that is, all the towns of the tableland, and all the kingdom of King Sihon of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, whom Moses defeated with the leaders of Midian, Evi and Rekem and Zur and Hur and Reba, as princes of Sihon, who lived in the land.


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Along with the rest of those they put to death, the Israelites also put to the sword Balaam son of Beor, who practised divination.


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And the border of the Reubenites was the Jordan and its banks. This was the inheritance of the Reubenites according to their families, with their towns and villages.


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The Territory of Gad Moses gave an inheritance also to the tribe of the Gadites, according to their families.


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Their territory was Jazer, and all the towns of Gilead, and half the land of the Ammonites, to Aroer, which is east of Rabbah,


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and in the valley Beth-haram, Beth-nimrah, Succoth, and Zaphon, the rest of the kingdom of King Sihon of Heshbon, the Jordan and its banks, as far as the lower end of the Sea of Chinnereth, eastwards beyond the Jordan.


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The Territory of the Half-Tribe of Manasseh (East) Moses gave an inheritance to the half-tribe of Manasseh; it was allotted to the half-tribe of the Manassites according to their families.


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Their territory extended from Mahanaim, through all Bashan, the whole kingdom of King Og of Bashan, and all the settlements of Jair, which are in Bashan, sixty towns,


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and half of Gilead, and Ashtaroth, and Edrei, the towns of the kingdom of Og in Bashan; these were allotted to the people of Machir son of Manasseh according to their clans—for half the Machirites.


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These are the inheritances that Moses distributed in the plains of Moab, beyond the Jordan east of Jericho.


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But to the tribe of Levi Moses gave no inheritance; the Lord God of Israel is their inheritance, as he said to them.


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The Distribution of Territory West of the Jordan These are the inheritances that the Israelites received in the land of Canaan, which the priest Eleazar, and Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the families of the tribes of the Israelites distributed to them.


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For Moses had given an inheritance to the two and a half tribes beyond the Jordan; but to the Levites he gave no inheritance among them.


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For the people of Joseph were two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim; and no portion was given to the Levites in the land, but only towns to live in, with their pasture lands for their flocks and herds.


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Hebron Allotted to Caleb Then the people of Judah came to Joshua at Gilgal; and Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, ‘You know what the Lord said to Moses the man of God in Kadesh-barnea concerning you and me.


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I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land; and I brought him an honest report.


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But my companions who went up with me made the heart of the people fail; yet I wholeheartedly followed the Lord my God.


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And Moses swore on that day, saying, “Surely the land on which your foot has trodden shall be an inheritance for you and your children for ever, because you have wholeheartedly followed the Lord my God.”


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And now, as you see, the Lord has kept me alive, as he said, these forty-five years since the time that the Lord spoke this word to Moses, while Israel was journeying through the wilderness; and here I am today, eighty-five years old.


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I am still as strong today as I was on the day that Moses sent me; my strength now is as my strength was then, for war, and for going and coming.


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So now give me this hill country of which the Lord spoke on that day; for you heard on that day how the Anakim were there, with great fortified cities; it may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall drive them out, as the Lord said.’


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So Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day, because he wholeheartedly followed the Lord, the God of Israel.


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Now the name of Hebron formerly was Kiriath-arba; this Arba was the greatest man among the Anakim. And the land had rest from war.


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The Territory of Judah The lot for the tribe of the people of Judah according to their families reached southwards to the boundary of Edom, to the wilderness of Zin at the farthest south.


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it goes out southwards of the ascent of Akrabbim, passes along to Zin, and goes up south of Kadesh-barnea, along by Hezron, up to Addar, makes a turn to Karka,


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passes along to Azmon, goes out by the Wadi of Egypt, and comes to its end at the sea. This shall be your southern boundary.


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And the eastern boundary is the Dead Sea, to the mouth of the Jordan. And the boundary on the north side runs from the bay of the sea at the mouth of the Jordan;


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and the boundary goes up to Beth-hoglah, and passes along north of Beth-arabah; and the boundary goes up to the Stone of Bohan, Reuben’s son;


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and the boundary goes up to Debir from the Valley of Achor, and so northwards, turning towards Gilgal, which is opposite the ascent of Adummim, which is on the south side of the valley; and the boundary passes along to the waters of En-shemesh, and ends at En-rogel;


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then the boundary goes up by the valley of the son of Hinnom at the southern slope of the Jebusites (that is, Jerusalem); and the boundary goes up to the top of the mountain that lies over against the valley of Hinnom, on the west, at the northern end of the valley of Rephaim;


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then the boundary extends from the top of the mountain to the spring of the Waters of Nephtoah, and from there to the towns of Mount Ephron; then the boundary bends around to Baalah (that is, Kiriath-jearim);


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and the boundary circles west of Baalah to Mount Seir, passes along to the northern slope of Mount Jearim (that is, Chesalon), and goes down to Beth-shemesh, and passes along by Timnah;


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the boundary goes out to the slope of the hill north of Ekron, then the boundary bends around to Shikkeron, and passes along to Mount Baalah, and goes out to Jabneel; then the boundary comes to an end at the sea.


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And the western boundary was the Mediterranean with its coast. This is the boundary surrounding the people of Judah according to their families.


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Caleb Occupies His Portion According to the commandment of the Lord to Joshua, he gave to Caleb son of Jephunneh a portion among the people of Judah, Kiriath-arba, that is, Hebron (Arba was the father of Anak).


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And Caleb drove out from there the three sons of Anak: Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak.


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From there he went up against the inhabitants of Debir; now the name of Debir formerly was Kiriath-sepher.


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And Caleb said, ‘Whoever attacks Kiriath-sepher and takes it, to him I will give my daughter Achsah as wife.’


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When she came to him, she urged him to ask her father for a field. As she dismounted from her donkey, Caleb said to her, ‘What do you want?’


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She said to him, ‘Give me a present; since you have set me in the land of the Negeb, give me springs of water as well.’ So Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.


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The Towns of Judah This is the inheritance of the tribe of the people of Judah according to their families.


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The towns belonging to the tribe of the people of Judah in the extreme south, towards the boundary of Edom, were Kabzeel, Eder, Jagur,


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Ashdod, its towns and its villages; Gaza, its towns and its villages; to the Wadi of Egypt, and the Great Sea with its coast.


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But the people of Judah could not drive out the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem; so the Jebusites live with the people of Judah in Jerusalem to this day.


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The Territory of Ephraim The allotment of the Josephites went from the Jordan by Jericho, east of the waters of Jericho, into the wilderness, going up from Jericho into the hill country to Bethel;


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then it goes down westwards to the territory of the Japhletites, as far as the territory of Lower Beth-horon, then to Gezer, and it ends at the sea.


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The territory of the Ephraimites by their families was as follows: the boundary of their inheritance on the east was Ataroth-addar as far as Upper Beth-horon,


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and the boundary goes from there to the sea; on the north is Michmethath; then on the east the boundary makes a turn towards Taanath-shiloh, and passes along beyond it on the east to Janoah,


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From Tappuah the boundary goes westwards to the Wadi Kanah, and ends at the sea. Such is the inheritance of the tribe of the Ephraimites by their families,


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together with the towns that were set apart for the Ephraimites within the inheritance of the Manassites, all those towns with their villages.


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They did not, however, drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer: so the Canaanites have lived within Ephraim to this day but have been made to do forced labour.


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The Other Half-Tribe of Manasseh (West) Then allotment was made to the tribe of Manasseh, for he was the firstborn of Joseph. To Machir the firstborn of Manasseh, the father of Gilead, were allotted Gilead and Bashan, because he was a warrior.


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And allotments were made to the rest of the tribe of Manasseh, by their families, Abiezer, Helek, Asriel, Shechem, Hepher, and Shemida; these were the male descendants of Manasseh son of Joseph, by their families.


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Now Zelophehad son of Hepher son of Gilead son of Machir son of Manasseh had no sons, but only daughters; and these are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.


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They came before the priest Eleazar and Joshua son of Nun and the leaders, and said, ‘The Lord commanded Moses to give us an inheritance along with our male kin.’ So according to the commandment of the Lord he gave them an inheritance among the kinsmen of their father.


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Thus there fell to Manasseh ten portions, besides the land of Gilead and Bashan, which is on the other side of the Jordan,


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because the daughters of Manasseh received an inheritance along with his sons. The land of Gilead was allotted to the rest of the Manassites.


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The territory of Manasseh reached from Asher to Michmethath, which is east of Shechem; then the boundary goes along southwards to the inhabitants of En-tappuah.


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The land of Tappuah belonged to Manasseh, but the town of Tappuah on the boundary of Manasseh belonged to the Ephraimites.


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Then the boundary went down to the Wadi Kanah. The towns here, to the south of the wadi, among the towns of Manasseh, belong to Ephraim. Then the boundary of Manasseh goes along the north side of the wadi and ends at the sea.


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The land to the south is Ephraim’s and that to the north is Manasseh’s, with the sea forming its boundary; on the north Asher is reached, and on the east Issachar.


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Within Issachar and Asher, Manasseh had Beth-shean and its villages, Ibleam and its villages, the inhabitants of Dor and its villages, the inhabitants of En-dor and its villages, the inhabitants of Taanach and its villages, and the inhabitants of Megiddo and its villages (the third is Naphath).


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Yet the Manassites could not take possession of those towns; but the Canaanites continued to live in that land.


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But when the Israelites grew strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labour, but did not utterly drive them out.


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The Tribe of Joseph Protests The tribe of Joseph spoke to Joshua, saying, ‘Why have you given me but one lot and one portion as an inheritance, since we are a numerous people, whom all along the Lord has blessed?’


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And Joshua said to them, ‘If you are a numerous people, go up to the forest, and clear ground there for yourselves in the land of the Perizzites and the Rephaim, since the hill country of Ephraim is too narrow for you.’


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The tribe of Joseph said, ‘The hill country is not enough for us; yet all the Canaanites who live in the plain have chariots of iron, both those in Beth-shean and its villages and those in the Valley of Jezreel.’


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Then Joshua said to the house of Joseph, to Ephraim and Manasseh, ‘You are indeed a numerous people, and have great power; you shall not have one lot only,


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but the hill country shall be yours, for though it is a forest, you shall clear it and possess it to its farthest borders; for you shall drive out the Canaanites, though they have chariots of iron, and though they are strong.’


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The Territories of the Remaining Tribes Then the whole congregation of the Israelites assembled at Shiloh, and set up the tent of meeting there. The land lay subdued before them.


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So Joshua said to the Israelites, ‘How long will you be slack about going in and taking possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has given you?


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Provide three men from each tribe, and I will send them out that they may begin to go throughout the land, writing a description of it with a view to their inheritances. Then come back to me.


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They shall divide it into seven portions, Judah continuing in its territory on the south, and the house of Joseph in their territory on the north.


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You shall describe the land in seven divisions and bring the description here to me; and I will cast lots for you here before the Lord our God.


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The Levites have no portion among you, for the priesthood of the Lord is their heritage; and Gad and Reuben and the half-tribe of Manasseh have received their inheritance beyond the Jordan eastwards, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave them.’


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So the men started on their way; and Joshua charged those who went to write the description of the land, saying, ‘Go throughout the land and write a description of it, and come back to me; and I will cast lots for you here before the Lord in Shiloh.’


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So the men went and traversed the land and set down in a book a description of it by towns in seven divisions; then they came back to Joshua in the camp at Shiloh,


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and Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before the Lord; and there Joshua apportioned the land to the Israelites, to each a portion.


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The Territory of Benjamin The lot of the tribe of Benjamin according to its families came up, and the territory allotted to it fell between the tribe of Judah and the tribe of Joseph.


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On the north side their boundary began at the Jordan; then the boundary goes up to the slope of Jericho on the north, then up through the hill country westwards; and it ends at the wilderness of Beth-aven.


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From there the boundary passes along southwards in the direction of Luz, to the slope of Luz (that is, Bethel), then the boundary goes down to Ataroth-addar, on the mountain that lies south of Lower Beth-horon.


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Then the boundary goes in another direction, turning on the western side southwards from the mountain that lies to the south, opposite Beth-horon, and it ends at Kiriath-baal (that is, Kiriath-jearim), a town belonging to the tribe of Judah. This forms the western side.


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The southern side begins at the outskirts of Kiriath-jearim; and the boundary goes from there to Ephron, to the spring of the Waters of Nephtoah;


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then the boundary goes down to the border of the mountain that overlooks the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is at the northern end of the valley of Rephaim; and it then goes down the valley of Hinnom, south of the slope of the Jebusites, and downwards to En-rogel;


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then it bends in a northerly direction going on to En-shemesh, and from there goes to Geliloth, which is opposite the ascent of Adummim; then it goes down to the Stone of Bohan, Reuben’s son;


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then the boundary passes on to the north of the slope of Beth-hoglah; and the boundary ends at the northern bay of the Dead Sea, at the south end of the Jordan: this is the southern border.


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The Jordan forms its boundary on the eastern side. This is the inheritance of the tribe of Benjamin, according to its families, boundary by boundary all round.


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Now the towns of the tribe of Benjamin according to their families were Jericho, Beth-hoglah, Emek-keziz,


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Zela, Haeleph, Jebus (that is, Jerusalem), Gibeah, and Kiriath-jearim—fourteen towns with their villages. This is the inheritance of the tribe of Benjamin according to its families.


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The Territory of Simeon The second lot came out for Simeon, for the tribe of Simeon, according to its families; its inheritance lay within the inheritance of the tribe of Judah.


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together with all the villages all around these towns as far as Baalath-beer, Ramah of the Negeb. This was the inheritance of the tribe of Simeon according to its families.


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The inheritance of the tribe of Simeon formed part of the territory of Judah; because the portion of the tribe of Judah was too large for them, the tribe of Simeon obtained an inheritance within their inheritance.


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The Territory of Zebulun The third lot came up for the tribe of Zebulun, according to its families. The boundary of its inheritance reached as far as Sarid;


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then its boundary goes up westwards, and on to Maralah, and touches Dabbesheth, then the wadi that is east of Jokneam;


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from Sarid it goes in the other direction eastwards towards the sunrise to the boundary of Chisloth-tabor; from there it goes to Daberath, then up to Japhia;


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from there it passes along on the east towards the sunrise to Gath-hepher, to Eth-kazin, and going on to Rimmon it bends towards Neah;


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This is the inheritance of the tribe of Zebulun, according to its families—these towns with their villages.


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The Territory of Issachar The fourth lot came out for Issachar, for the tribe of Issachar, according to its families.


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the boundary also touches Tabor, Shahazumah, and Beth-shemesh, and its boundary ends at the Jordan—sixteen towns with their villages.


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This is the inheritance of the tribe of Issachar, according to its families—the towns with their villages.


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then it turns eastwards, goes to Beth-dagon, and touches Zebulun and the valley of Iphtah-el northwards to Beth-emek and Neiel; then it continues in the north to Cabul,


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then the boundary turns to Ramah, reaching to the fortified city of Tyre; then the boundary turns to Hosah, and it ends at the sea; Mahalab, Achzib,


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This is the inheritance of the tribe of Asher according to its families—these towns with their villages.


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The Territory of Naphtali The sixth lot came out for the tribe of Naphtali, for the tribe of Naphtali, according to its families.


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And its boundary ran from Heleph, from the oak in Zaanannim, and Adami-nekeb, and Jabneel, as far as Lakkum; and it ended at the Jordan;


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then the boundary turns westwards to Aznoth-tabor, and goes from there to Hukkok, touching Zebulun at the south, and Asher on the west, and Judah on the east at the Jordan.


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This is the inheritance of the tribe of Naphtali according to its families—the towns with their villages.


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When the territory of the Danites was lost to them, the Danites went up and fought against Leshem, and after capturing it and putting it to the sword, they took possession of it and settled in it, calling Leshem, Dan, after their ancestor Dan.


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This is the inheritance of the tribe of Dan, according to their families—these towns with their villages.


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Joshua’s Inheritance When they had finished distributing the several territories of the land as inheritances, the Israelites gave an inheritance among them to Joshua son of Nun.


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By command of the Lord they gave him the town that he asked for, Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim; he rebuilt the town, and settled in it.


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These are the inheritances that the priest Eleazar and Joshua son of Nun and the heads of the families of the tribes of the Israelites distributed by lot at Shiloh before the Lord, at the entrance of the tent of meeting. So they finished dividing the land.


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so that anyone who kills a person without intent or by mistake may flee there; they shall be for you a refuge from the avenger of blood.


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The slayer shall flee to one of these cities and shall stand at the entrance of the gate of the city, and explain the case to the elders of that city; then the fugitive shall be taken into the city, and given a place, and shall remain with them.


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And if the avenger of blood is in pursuit, they shall not give up the slayer, because the neighbour was killed by mistake, there having been no enmity between them before.


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The slayer shall remain in that city until there is a trial before the congregation, until the death of the one who is high priest at the time: then the slayer may return home, to the town in which the deed was done.”’


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So they set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, and Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the hill country of Judah.


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And beyond the Jordan east of Jericho, they appointed Bezer in the wilderness on the tableland, from the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead, from the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan, from the tribe of Manasseh.


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These were the cities designated for all the Israelites, and for the aliens residing among them, that anyone who killed a person without intent could flee there, so as not to die by the hand of the avenger of blood, until there was a trial before the congregation.


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Cities Allotted to the Levites Then the heads of the families of the Levites came to the priest Eleazar and to Joshua son of Nun and to the heads of the families of the tribes of the Israelites;


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they said to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, ‘The Lord commanded through Moses that we be given towns to live in, along with their pasture lands for our livestock.’


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So by command of the Lord the Israelites gave to the Levites the following towns and pasture lands out of their inheritance.


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The lot came out for the families of the Kohathites. So those Levites who were descendants of Aaron the priest received by lot thirteen towns from the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin.


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The rest of the Kohathites received by lot ten towns from the families of the tribe of Ephraim, from the tribe of Dan, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.


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The Gershonites received by lot thirteen towns from the families of the tribe of Issachar, from the tribe of Asher, from the tribe of Naphtali, and from the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan.


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The Merarites according to their families received twelve towns from the tribe of Reuben, the tribe of Gad, and the tribe of Zebulun.


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These towns and their pasture lands the Israelites gave by lot to the Levites, as the Lord had commanded through Moses.


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which went to the descendants of Aaron, one of the families of the Kohathites who belonged to the Levites, since the lot fell to them first.


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They gave them Kiriath-arba (Arba being the father of Anak), that is Hebron, in the hill country of Judah, along with the pasture lands around it.


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But the fields of the town and its villages had been given to Caleb son of Jephunneh as his holding.


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To the descendants of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron, the city of refuge for the slayer, with its pasture lands, Libnah with its pasture lands,


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Ain with its pasture lands, Juttah with its pasture lands, and Beth-shemesh with its pasture lands—nine towns out of these two tribes.


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As to the rest of the Kohathites belonging to the Kohathite families of the Levites, the towns allotted to them were out of the tribe of Ephraim.


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To them were given Shechem, the city of refuge for the slayer, with its pasture lands in the hill country of Ephraim, Gezer with its pasture lands,


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Out of the half-tribe of Manasseh: Taanach with its pasture lands, and Gath-rimmon with its pasture lands—two towns.


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To the Gershonites, one of the families of the Levites, were given out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Golan in Bashan with its pasture lands, the city of refuge for the slayer, and Beeshterah with its pasture lands—two towns.


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Out of the tribe of Naphtali: Kedesh in Galilee with its pasture lands, the city of refuge for the slayer, Hammoth-dor with its pasture lands, and Kartan with its pasture lands—three towns.


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The towns of the several families of the Gershonites were in all thirteen, with their pasture lands.


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To the rest of the Levites—the Merarite families—were given out of the tribe of Zebulun: Jokneam with its pasture lands, Kartah with its pasture lands,


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Out of the tribe of Gad: Ramoth in Gilead with its pasture lands, the city of refuge for the slayer, Mahanaim with its pasture lands,


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As for the towns of the several Merarite families, that is, the remainder of the families of the Levites, those allotted to them were twelve in all.


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The towns of the Levites within the holdings of the Israelites were in all forty-eight towns with their pasture lands.


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Thus the Lord gave to Israel all the land that he swore to their ancestors that he would give them; and having taken possession of it, they settled there.


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And the Lord gave them rest on every side just as he had sworn to their ancestors; not one of all their enemies had withstood them, for the Lord had given all their enemies into their hands.


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Not one of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.


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The Eastern Tribes Return to Their Territory Then Joshua summoned the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh,


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and said to them, ‘You have observed all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, and have obeyed me in all that I have commanded you;


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you have not forsaken your kindred these many days, down to this day, but have been careful to keep the charge of the Lord your God.


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And now the Lord your God has given rest to your kindred, as he promised them; therefore turn and go to your tents in the land where your possession lies, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you on the other side of the Jordan.


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Take good care to observe the commandment and instruction that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to keep his commandments, and to hold fast to him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.’


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Now to one half of the tribe of Manasseh Moses had given a possession in Bashan; but to the other half Joshua had given a possession beside their fellow-Israelites in the land west of the Jordan. And when Joshua sent them away to their tents and blessed them,


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he said to them, ‘Go back to your tents with much wealth, and with very much livestock, with silver, gold, bronze, and iron, and with a great quantity of clothing; divide the spoil of your enemies with your kindred.’


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So the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh returned home, parting from the Israelites at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go to the land of Gilead, their own land of which they had taken possession by command of the Lord through Moses.


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A Memorial Altar East of the Jordan When they came to the region near the Jordan that lies in the land of Canaan, the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh built there an altar by the Jordan, an altar of great size.


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The Israelites heard that the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh had built an altar at the frontier of the land of Canaan, in the region near the Jordan, on the side that belongs to the Israelites.


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And when the people of Israel heard of it, the whole assembly of the Israelites gathered at Shiloh, to make war against them.


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Then the Israelites sent the priest Phinehas son of Eleazar to the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead,


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and with him ten chiefs, one from each of the tribal families of Israel, every one of them the head of a family among the clans of Israel.


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They came to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh in the land of Gilead, and they said to them,


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‘Thus says the whole congregation of the Lord, “What is this treachery that you have committed against the God of Israel in turning away today from following the Lord, by building yourselves an altar today in rebellion against the Lord?


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Have we not had enough of the sin at Peor from which even yet we have not cleansed ourselves, and for which a plague came upon the congregation of the Lord,


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that you must turn away today from following the Lord! If you rebel against the Lord today, he will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel tomorrow.


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But now, if your land is unclean, cross over into the Lord’s land where the Lord’s tabernacle now stands, and take for yourselves a possession among us; only do not rebel against the Lord, or rebel against us by building yourselves an altar other than the altar of the Lord our God.


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Did not Achan son of Zerah break faith in the matter of the devoted things, and wrath fell upon all the congregation of Israel? And he did not perish alone for his iniquity!”’


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Then the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh said in answer to the heads of the families of Israel,


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‘The Lord, God of gods! The Lord, God of gods! He knows; and let Israel itself know! If it was in rebellion or in breach of faith towards the Lord, do not spare us today


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for building an altar to turn away from following the Lord; or if we did so to offer burnt-offerings or grain-offerings or offerings of well-being on it, may the Lord himself take vengeance.


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No! We did it from fear that in time to come your children might say to our children, “What have you to do with the Lord, the God of Israel?


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For the Lord has made the Jordan a boundary between us and you, you Reubenites and Gadites; you have no portion in the Lord.” So your children might make our children cease to worship the Lord.


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but to be a witness between us and you, and between the generations after us, that we do perform the service of the Lord in his presence with our burnt-offerings and sacrifices and offerings of well-being; so that your children may never say to our children in time to come, ‘You have no portion in the Lord.’”


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And we thought, If this should be said to us or to our descendants in time to come, we could say, “Look at this copy of the altar of the Lord, which our ancestors made, not for burnt-offerings, nor for sacrifice, but to be a witness between us and you.”


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Far be it from us that we should rebel against the Lord, and turn away this day from following the Lord by building an altar for burnt-offering, grain-offering, or sacrifice, other than the altar of the Lord our God that stands before his tabernacle!’


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When the priest Phinehas and the chiefs of the congregation, the heads of the families of Israel who were with him, heard the words that the Reubenites and the Gadites and the Manassites spoke, they were satisfied.


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The priest Phinehas son of Eleazar said to the Reubenites and the Gadites and the Manassites, ‘Today we know that the Lord is among us, because you have not committed this treachery against the Lord; now you have saved the Israelites from the hand of the Lord.’


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Then the priest Phinehas son of Eleazar and the chiefs returned from the Reubenites and the Gadites in the land of Gilead to the land of Canaan, to the Israelites, and brought back word to them.


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The report pleased the Israelites; and the Israelites blessed God and spoke no more of making war against them, to destroy the land where the Reubenites and the Gadites were settled.


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The Reubenites and the Gadites called the altar Witness; ‘For’, said they, ‘it is a witness between us that the Lord is God.’


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Joshua Exhorts the People A long time afterwards, when the Lord had given rest to Israel from all their enemies all around, and Joshua was old and well advanced in years,


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Joshua summoned all Israel, their elders and heads, their judges and officers, and said to them, ‘I am now old and well advanced in years;


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and you have seen all that the Lord your God has done to all these nations for your sake, for it is the Lord your God who has fought for you.


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I have allotted to you as an inheritance for your tribes those nations that remain, along with all the nations that I have already cut off, from the Jordan to the Great Sea in the west.


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The Lord your God will push them back before you, and drive them out of your sight; and you shall possess their land, as the Lord your God promised you.


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Therefore be very steadfast to observe and do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, turning aside from it neither to the right nor to the left,


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so that you may not be mixed with these nations left here among you, or make mention of the names of their gods, or swear by them, or serve them, or bow yourselves down to them,


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For the Lord has driven out before you great and strong nations; and as for you, no one has been able to withstand you to this day.


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One of you puts to flight a thousand, since it is the Lord your God who fights for you, as he promised you.


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For if you turn back, and join the survivors of these nations left here among you, and intermarry with them, so that you marry their women and they yours,


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know assuredly that the Lord your God will not continue to drive out these nations before you; but they shall be a snare and a trap for you, a scourge on your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land that the Lord your God has given you.


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‘And now I am about to go the way of all the earth, and you know in your hearts and souls, all of you, that not one thing has failed of all the good things that the Lord your God promised concerning you; all have come to pass for you, not one of them has failed.


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But just as all the good things that the Lord your God promised concerning you have been fulfilled for you, so the Lord will bring upon you all the bad things, until he has destroyed you from this good land that the Lord your God has given you.


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If you transgress the covenant of the Lord your God, which he enjoined on you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and you shall perish quickly from the good land that he has given to you.’


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The Tribes Renew the Covenant Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and summoned the elders, the heads, the judges, and the officers of Israel; and they presented themselves before God.


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And Joshua said to all the people, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Long ago your ancestors—Terah and his sons Abraham and Nahor—lived beyond the Euphrates and served other gods.


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Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the River and led him through all the land of Canaan and made his offspring many. I gave him Isaac;


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and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I gave Esau the hill country of Seir to possess, but Jacob and his children went down to Egypt.


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Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt with what I did in its midst; and afterwards I brought you out.


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When I brought your ancestors out of Egypt, you came to the sea; and the Egyptians pursued your ancestors with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea.


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When they cried out to the Lord, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and made the sea come upon them and cover them; and your eyes saw what I did to Egypt. Afterwards you lived in the wilderness for a long time.


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Then I brought you to the land of the Amorites, who lived on the other side of the Jordan; they fought with you, and I handed them over to you, and you took possession of their land, and I destroyed them before you.


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Then King Balak, son of Zippor of Moab, set out to fight against Israel. He sent and invited Balaam son of Beor to curse you,


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When you went over the Jordan and came to Jericho, the citizens of Jericho fought against you, and also the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; and I handed them over to you.


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I sent the hornet ahead of you, which drove out before you the two kings of the Amorites; it was not by your sword or by your bow.


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I gave you a land on which you had not laboured, and towns that you had not built, and you live in them; you eat the fruit of vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.


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‘Now therefore revere the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness; put away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.


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Now if you are unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.’


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for it is the Lord our God who brought us and our ancestors up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight. He protected us along all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed;


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and the Lord drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God.’


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But Joshua said to the people, ‘You cannot serve the Lord, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins.


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If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm, and consume you, after having done you good.’


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Then Joshua said to the people, ‘You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord, to serve him.’ And they said, ‘We are witnesses.’


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He said, ‘Then put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.’


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So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made statutes and ordinances for them at Shechem.


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Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God; and he took a large stone, and set it up there under the oak in the sanctuary of the Lord.


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Joshua said to all the people, ‘See, this stone shall be a witness against us; for it has heard all the words of the Lord that he spoke to us; therefore it shall be a witness against you, if you deal falsely with your God.’


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Death of Joshua and Eleazar After these things Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being one hundred and ten years old.


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They buried him in his own inheritance at Timnath-serah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.


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Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua and had known all the work that the Lord did for Israel.


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The bones of Joseph, which the Israelites had brought up from Egypt, were buried at Shechem, in the portion of ground that Jacob had bought from the children of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for one hundred pieces of money; it became an inheritance of the descendants of Joseph.


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Eleazar son of Aaron died; and they buried him at Gibeah, the town of his son Phinehas, which had been given him in the hill country of Ephraim.


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Israel’s Failure to Complete the Conquest of Canaan After the death of Joshua, the Israelites inquired of the Lord, ‘Who shall go up first for us against the Canaanites, to fight against them?’


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Judah said to his brother Simeon, ‘Come up with me into the territory allotted to me, that we may fight against the Canaanites; then I too will go with you into the territory allotted to you.’ So Simeon went with him.


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Then Judah went up and the Lord gave the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand; and they defeated ten thousand of them at Bezek.


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They came upon Adoni-bezek at Bezek, and fought against him, and defeated the Canaanites and the Perizzites.


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Adoni-bezek said, ‘Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off used to pick up scraps under my table; as I have done, so God has paid me back.’ They brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.


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Then the people of Judah fought against Jerusalem and took it. They put it to the sword and set the city on fire.


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Afterwards the people of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites who lived in the hill country, in the Negeb, and in the lowlands.


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Judah went against the Canaanites who lived in Hebron (the name of Hebron was formerly Kiriath-arba); and they defeated Sheshai and Ahiman and Talmai.


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From there they went against the inhabitants of Debir (the name of Debir was formerly Kiriath-sepher).


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Then Caleb said, ‘Whoever attacks Kiriath-sepher and takes it, I will give him my daughter Achsah as wife.’


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And Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, took it; and he gave him his daughter Achsah as wife.


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She said to him, ‘Give me a present; since you have set me in the land of the Negeb, give me also Gulloth-mayim.’ So Caleb gave her Upper Gulloth and Lower Gulloth.


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The descendants of Hobab the Kenite, Moses’ father-in-law, went up with the people of Judah from the city of palms into the wilderness of Judah, which lies in the Negeb near Arad. Then they went and settled with the Amalekites.


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Judah went with his brother Simeon, and they defeated the Canaanites who inhabited Zephath, and devoted it to destruction. So the city was called Hormah.


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The Lord was with Judah, and he took possession of the hill country, but could not drive out the inhabitants of the plain, because they had chariots of iron.


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But the Benjaminites did not drive out the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem; so the Jebusites have lived in Jerusalem among the Benjaminites to this day.


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When the spies saw a man coming out of the city, they said to him, ‘Show us the way into the city, and we will deal kindly with you.’


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So he showed them the way into the city; and they put the city to the sword, but they let the man and all his family go.


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So the man went to the land of the Hittites and built a city, and named it Luz; that is its name to this day.


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Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shean and its villages, or Taanach and its villages, or the inhabitants of Dor and its villages, or the inhabitants of Ibleam and its villages, or the inhabitants of Megiddo and its villages; but the Canaanites continued to live in that land.


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When Israel grew strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labour, but did not in fact drive them out.


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And Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer; but the Canaanites lived among them in Gezer.


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Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, or the inhabitants of Nahalol; but the Canaanites lived among them, and became subject to forced labour.


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Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Acco, or the inhabitants of Sidon, or of Ahlab, or of Achzib, or of Helbah, or of Aphik, or of Rehob;


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but the Asherites lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; for they did not drive them out.


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Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh, or the inhabitants of Beth-anath, but lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; nevertheless the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and of Beth-anath became subject to forced labour for them.


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The Amorites pressed the Danites back into the hill country; they did not allow them to come down to the plain.


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The Amorites continued to live in Har-heres, in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim, but the hand of the house of Joseph rested heavily on them, and they became subject to forced labour.


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Israel’s Disobedience Now the angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, ‘I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you into the land that I had promised to your ancestors. I said, “I will never break my covenant with you.


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For your part, do not make a covenant with the inhabitants of this land; tear down their altars.” But you have not obeyed my command. See what you have done!


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So now I say, I will not drive them out before you; but they shall become adversaries to you, and their gods shall be a snare to you.’


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When the angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the Israelites, the people lifted up their voices and wept.


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Death of Joshua When Joshua dismissed the people, the Israelites all went to their own inheritances to take possession of the land.


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The people worshipped the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the Lord had done for Israel.


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So they buried him within the bounds of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.


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Moreover, that whole generation was gathered to their ancestors, and another generation grew up after them, who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.


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Israel’s Unfaithfulness Then the Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and worshipped the Baals;


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and they abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt; they followed other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were all around them, and bowed down to them; and they provoked the Lord to anger.


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So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers who plundered them, and he sold them into the power of their enemies all around, so that they could no longer withstand their enemies.


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Whenever they marched out, the hand of the Lord was against them to bring misfortune, as the Lord had warned them and sworn to them; and they were in great distress.


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Yet they did not listen even to their judges; for they lusted after other gods and bowed down to them. They soon turned aside from the way in which their ancestors had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the Lord; they did not follow their example.


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Whenever the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge, and he delivered them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the Lord would be moved to pity by their groaning because of those who persecuted and oppressed them.


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But whenever the judge died, they would relapse and behave worse than their ancestors, following other gods, worshipping them and bowing down to them. They would not drop any of their practices or their stubborn ways.


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So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel; and he said, ‘Because this people have transgressed my covenant that I commanded their ancestors, and have not obeyed my voice,


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In order to test Israel, whether or not they would take care to walk in the way of the Lord as their ancestors did,


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the Lord had left those nations, not driving them out at once, and had not handed them over to Joshua.


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Nations Remaining in the Land Now these are the nations that the Lord left to test all those in Israel who had no experience of any war in Canaan


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(it was only that successive generations of Israelites might know war, to teach those who had no experience of it before):


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the five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-hermon as far as Lebo-hamath.


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They were for the testing of Israel, to know whether Israel would obey the commandments of the Lord, which he commanded their ancestors by Moses.


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So the Israelites lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites;


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and they took their daughters as wives for themselves, and their own daughters they gave to their sons; and they worshipped their gods.


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Othniel The Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, forgetting the Lord their God, and worshipping the Baals and the Asherahs.


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Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of King Cushan-rishathaim of Aram-naharaim; and the Israelites served Cushan-rishathaim for eight years.


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But when the Israelites cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for the Israelites, who delivered them, Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother.


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The spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel; he went out to war, and the Lord gave King Cushan-rishathaim of Aram into his hand; and his hand prevailed over Cushan-rishathaim.


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Ehud The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord strengthened King Eglon of Moab against Israel, because they had done what was evil in the sight of the Lord.


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In alliance with the Ammonites and the Amalekites, he went and defeated Israel; and they took possession of the city of palms.


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But when the Israelites cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up for them a deliverer, Ehud son of Gera, the Benjaminite, a left-handed man. The Israelites sent tribute by him to King Eglon of Moab.


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Ehud made for himself a sword with two edges, a cubit in length; and he fastened it on his right thigh under his clothes.


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When Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he sent the people who carried the tribute on their way.


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But he himself turned back at the sculptured stones near Gilgal, and said, ‘I have a secret message for you, O king.’ So the king said, ‘Silence!’ and all his attendants went out from his presence.


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Ehud came to him, while he was sitting alone in his cool roof-chamber, and said, ‘I have a message from God for you.’ So he rose from his seat.


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Then Ehud reached with his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into Eglon’s belly;


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the hilt also went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, for he did not draw the sword out of his belly; and the dirt came out.


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Then Ehud went out into the vestibule, and closed the doors of the roof-chamber on him, and locked them.


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After he had gone, the servants came. When they saw that the doors of the roof-chamber were locked, they thought, ‘He must be relieving himself in the cool chamber.’


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So they waited until they were embarrassed. When he still did not open the doors of the roof-chamber, they took the key and opened them. There was their lord lying dead on the floor.


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When he arrived, he sounded the trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim; and the Israelites went down with him from the hill country, having him at their head.


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He said to them, ‘Follow after me; for the Lord has given your enemies the Moabites into your hand.’ So they went down after him, and seized the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites, and allowed no one to cross over.


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At that time they killed about ten thousand of the Moabites, all strong, able-bodied men; no one escaped.


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Shamgar After him came Shamgar son of Anath, who killed six hundred of the Philistines with an ox-goad. He too delivered Israel.


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So the Lord sold them into the hand of King Jabin of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; the commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-ha-goiim.


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Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help; for he had nine hundred chariots of iron, and had oppressed the Israelites cruelly for twenty years.


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She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the Israelites came up to her for judgement.


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She sent and summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, ‘The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you, “Go, take position at Mount Tabor, bringing ten thousand from the tribe of Naphtali and the tribe of Zebulun.


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I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, to meet you by the Wadi Kishon with his chariots and his troops; and I will give him into your hand.”’


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Barak said to her, ‘If you will go with me, I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go.’


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And she said, ‘I will surely go with you; nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.’ Then Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh.


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Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; and ten thousand warriors went up behind him; and Deborah went up with him.


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Now Heber the Kenite had separated from the other Kenites, that is, the descendants of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, and had encamped as far away as Elon-bezaanannim, which is near Kedesh.


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Sisera called out all his chariots, nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the troops who were with him, from Harosheth-ha-goiim to the Wadi Kishon.


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Then Deborah said to Barak, ‘Up! For this is the day on which the Lord has given Sisera into your hand. The Lord is indeed going out before you.’ So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand warriors following him.


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And the Lord threw Sisera and all his chariots and all his army into a panic before Barak; Sisera got down from his chariot and fled away on foot,


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while Barak pursued the chariots and the army to Harosheth-ha-goiim. All the army of Sisera fell by the sword; no one was left.


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Now Sisera had fled away on foot to the tent of Jael wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between King Jabin of Hazor and the clan of Heber the Kenite.


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Jael came out to meet Sisera, and said to him, ‘Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me; have no fear.’ So he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug.


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Then he said to her, ‘Please give me a little water to drink; for I am thirsty.’ So she opened a skin of milk and gave him a drink and covered him.


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He said to her, ‘Stand at the entrance of the tent, and if anybody comes and asks you, “Is anyone here?” say, “No.”’


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But Jael wife of Heber took a tent-peg, and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple, until it went down into the ground—he was lying fast asleep from weariness—and he died.


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Then, as Barak came in pursuit of Sisera, Jael went out to meet him, and said to him, ‘Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking.’ So he went into her tent; and there was Sisera lying dead, with the tent-peg in his temple.


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Then the hand of the Israelites bore harder and harder on King Jabin of Canaan, until they destroyed King Jabin of Canaan.


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‘Hear, O kings; give ear, O princes; to the Lord I will sing, I will make melody to the Lord, the God of Israel.


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‘Lord, when you went out from Seir, when you marched from the region of Edom, the earth trembled, and the heavens poured, the clouds indeed poured water.


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‘In the days of Shamgar son of Anath, in the days of Jael, caravans ceased and travellers kept to the byways.


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The peasantry prospered in Israel, they grew fat on plunder, because you arose, Deborah, arose as a mother in Israel.


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When new gods were chosen, then war was in the gates. Was shield or spear to be seen among forty thousand in Israel?


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My heart goes out to the commanders of Israel who offered themselves willingly among the people. Bless the Lord.


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‘Tell of it, you who ride on white donkeys, you who sit on rich carpets, and you who walk by the way.


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To the sound of musicians at the watering-places, there they repeat the triumphs of the Lord, the triumphs of his peasantry in Israel. ‘Then down to the gates marched the people of the Lord.


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‘Awake, awake, Deborah! Awake, awake, utter a song! Arise, Barak, lead away your captives, O son of Abinoam.


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Then down marched the remnant of the noble; the people of the Lord marched down for him against the mighty.


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From Ephraim they set out into the valley, following you, Benjamin, with your kin; from Machir marched down the commanders, and from Zebulun those who bear the marshal’s staff;


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the chiefs of Issachar came with Deborah, and Issachar faithful to Barak; into the valley they rushed out at his heels. Among the clans of Reuben there were great searchings of heart.


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Why did you tarry among the sheepfolds, to hear the piping for the flocks? Among the clans of Reuben there were great searchings of heart.


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Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan; and Dan, why did he abide with the ships? Asher sat still at the coast of the sea, settling down by his landings.


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‘The kings came, they fought; then fought the kings of Canaan, at Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo; they got no spoils of silver.


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The torrent Kishon swept them away, the onrushing torrent, the torrent Kishon. March on, my soul, with might!


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‘Curse Meroz, says the angel of the Lord, curse bitterly its inhabitants, because they did not come to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty.


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She put her hand to the tent-peg and her right hand to the workmen’s mallet; she struck Sisera a blow, she crushed his head, she shattered and pierced his temple.


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He sank, he fell, he lay still at her feet; at her feet he sank, he fell; where he sank, there he fell dead.


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‘Out of the window she peered, the mother of Sisera gazed through the lattice: “Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why tarry the hoofbeats of his chariots?”


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“Are they not finding and dividing the spoil?— A girl or two for every man; spoil of dyed stuffs for Sisera, spoil of dyed stuffs embroidered, two pieces of dyed work embroidered for my neck as spoil?”


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‘So perish all your enemies, O Lord! But may your friends be like the sun as it rises in its might.’ And the land had rest for forty years.


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The Midianite Oppression The Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hand of Midian for seven years.


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The hand of Midian prevailed over Israel; and because of Midian the Israelites provided for themselves hiding-places in the mountains, caves and strongholds.


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For whenever the Israelites put in seed, the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the east would come up against them.


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They would encamp against them and destroy the produce of the land, as far as the neighbourhood of Gaza, and leave no sustenance in Israel, and no sheep or ox or donkey.


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For they and their livestock would come up, and they would even bring their tents, as thick as locusts; neither they nor their camels could be counted; so they wasted the land as they came in.


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Thus Israel was greatly impoverished because of Midian; and the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help.


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the Lord sent a prophet to the Israelites; and he said to them, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I led you up from Egypt, and brought you out of the house of slavery;


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and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians, and from the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you, and gave you their land;


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and I said to you, “I am the Lord your God; you shall not pay reverence to the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.” But you have not given heed to my voice.’


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The Calling of Gideon Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the oak at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, as his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press, to hide it from the Midianites.


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Gideon answered him, ‘But sir, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our ancestors recounted to us, saying, “Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?” But now the Lord has cast us off, and given us into the hand of Midian.’


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Then the Lord turned to him and said, ‘Go in this might of yours and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian; I hereby commission you.’


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He responded, ‘But sir, how can I deliver Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.’


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The Lord said to him, ‘But I will be with you, and you shall strike down the Midianites, every one of them.’


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Then he said to him, ‘If now I have found favour with you, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me.


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Do not depart from here until I come to you, and bring out my present, and set it before you.’ And he said, ‘I will stay until you return.’


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So Gideon went into his house and prepared a kid, and unleavened cakes from an ephah of flour; the meat he put in a basket, and the broth he put in a pot, and brought them to him under the oak and presented them.


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The angel of God said to him, ‘Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and put them on this rock, and pour out the broth.’ And he did so.


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Then the angel of the Lord reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes; and fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes; and the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight.


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Then Gideon perceived that it was the angel of the Lord; and Gideon said, ‘Help me, Lord God! For I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.’


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Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord, and called it, The Lord is peace. To this day it still stands at Ophrah, which belongs to the Abiezrites.


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That night the Lord said to him, ‘Take your father’s bull, the second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that belongs to your father, and cut down the sacred pole that is beside it;


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and build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of the stronghold here, in proper order; then take the second bull, and offer it as a burnt-offering with the wood of the sacred pole that you shall cut down.’


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So Gideon took ten of his servants, and did as the Lord had told him; but because he was too afraid of his family and the townspeople to do it by day, he did it by night.


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Gideon Destroys the Altar of Baal When the townspeople rose early in the morning, the altar of Baal was broken down, and the sacred pole beside it was cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar that had been built.


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So they said to one another, ‘Who has done this?’ After searching and inquiring, they were told, ‘Gideon son of Joash did it.’


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Then the townspeople said to Joash, ‘Bring out your son, so that he may die, for he has pulled down the altar of Baal and cut down the sacred pole beside it.’


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But Joash said to all who were arrayed against him, ‘Will you contend for Baal? Or will you defend his cause? Whoever contends for him shall be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because his altar has been pulled down.’


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Therefore on that day Gideon was called Jerubbaal, that is to say, ‘Let Baal contend against him’, because he pulled down his altar.


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Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the east came together, and crossing the Jordan they encamped in the Valley of Jezreel.


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But the spirit of the Lord took possession of Gideon; and he sounded the trumpet, and the Abiezrites were called out to follow him.


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He sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, and they too were called out to follow him. He also sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they went up to meet them.


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The Sign of the Fleece Then Gideon said to God, ‘In order to see whether you will deliver Israel by my hand, as you have said,


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I am going to lay a fleece of wool on the threshing-floor; if there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will deliver Israel by my hand, as you have said.’


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And it was so. When he rose early next morning and squeezed the fleece, he wrung enough dew from the fleece to fill a bowl with water.


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Then Gideon said to God, ‘Do not let your anger burn against me, let me speak one more time; let me, please, make trial with the fleece just once more; let it be dry only on the fleece, and on all the ground let there be dew.’


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Gideon Surprises and Routs the Midianites Then Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the troops that were with him rose early and encamped beside the spring of Harod; and the camp of Midian was north of them, below the hill of Moreh, in the valley.


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The Lord said to Gideon, ‘The troops with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand. Israel would only take the credit away from me, saying, “My own hand has delivered me.”


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Now therefore proclaim this in the hearing of the troops, “Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return home.”’ Thus Gideon sifted them out; twenty-two thousand returned, and ten thousand remained.


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Then the Lord said to Gideon, ‘The troops are still too many; take them down to the water and I will sift them out for you there. When I say, “This one shall go with you”, he shall go with you; and when I say, “This one shall not go with you”, he shall not go.’


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So he brought the troops down to the water; and the Lord said to Gideon, ‘All those who lap the water with their tongues, as a dog laps, you shall put to one side; all those who kneel down to drink, putting their hands to their mouths, you shall put to the other side.’


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The number of those that lapped was three hundred; but all the rest of the troops knelt down to drink water.


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Then the Lord said to Gideon, ‘With the three hundred that lapped I will deliver you, and give the Midianites into your hand. Let all the others go to their homes.’


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So he took the jars of the troops from their hands, and their trumpets; and he sent all the rest of Israel back to their own tents, but retained the three hundred. The camp of Midian was below him in the valley.


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and you shall hear what they say, and afterwards your hands shall be strengthened to attack the camp.’ Then he went down with his servant Purah to the outposts of the armed men that were in the camp.


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The Midianites and the Amalekites and all the people of the east lay along the valley as thick as locusts; and their camels were without number, countless as the sand on the seashore.


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When Gideon arrived, there was a man telling a dream to his comrade; and he said, ‘I had a dream, and in it a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian, and came to the tent, and struck it so that it fell; it turned upside down, and the tent collapsed.’


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And his comrade answered, ‘This is no other than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, a man of Israel; into his hand God has given Midian and all the army.’


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When Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he worshipped; and he returned to the camp of Israel, and said, ‘Get up; for the Lord has given the army of Midian into your hand.’


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After he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and put trumpets into the hands of all of them, and empty jars, with torches inside the jars,


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he said to them, ‘Look at me, and do the same; when I come to the outskirts of the camp, do as I do.


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When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then you also blow the trumpets around the whole camp, and shout, “For the Lord and for Gideon!”’


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So Gideon and the hundred who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, when they had just set the watch; and they blew the trumpets and smashed the jars that were in their hands.


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So the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the jars, holding in their left hands the torches, and in their right hands the trumpets to blow; and they cried, ‘A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!’


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Every man stood in his place all around the camp, and all the men in camp ran; they cried out and fled.


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When they blew the three hundred trumpets, the Lord set every man’s sword against his fellow and against all the army; and the army fled as far as Beth-shittah towards Zererah, as far as the border of Abel-meholah, by Tabbath.


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And the men of Israel were called out from Naphtali and from Asher and from all Manasseh, and they pursued after the Midianites.


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Then Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill country of Ephraim, saying, ‘Come down against the Midianites and seize the waters against them, as far as Beth-barah, and also the Jordan.’ So all the men of Ephraim were called out, and they seized the waters as far as Beth-barah, and also the Jordan.


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They captured the two captains of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb; they killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb they killed at the wine press of Zeeb, as they pursued the Midianites. They brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon beyond the Jordan.


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Gideon’s Triumph and Vengeance Then the Ephraimites said to him, ‘What have you done to us, not to call us when you went to fight against the Midianites?’ And they upbraided him violently.


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So he said to them, ‘What have I done now in comparison with you? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer?


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God has given into your hands the captains of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb; what have I been able to do in comparison with you?’ When he said this, their anger against him subsided.


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Then Gideon came to the Jordan and crossed over, he and the three hundred who were with him, exhausted and famished.


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So he said to the people of Succoth, ‘Please give some loaves of bread to my followers, for they are exhausted, and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.’


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But the officials of Succoth said, ‘Do you already have in your possession the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna, that we should give bread to your army?’


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Gideon replied, ‘Well then, when the Lord has given Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, I will trample your flesh on the thorns of the wilderness and on briers.’


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From there he went up to Penuel, and made the same request of them; and the people of Penuel answered him as the people of Succoth had answered.


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Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their army, about fifteen thousand men, all who were left of all the army of the people of the east; for one hundred and twenty thousand men bearing arms had fallen.


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So Gideon went up by the caravan route east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and attacked the army; for the army was off its guard.


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Zebah and Zalmunna fled; and he pursued them and took the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and threw all the army into a panic.


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he caught a young man, one of the people of Succoth, and questioned him; and he listed for him the officials and elders of Succoth, seventy-seven people.


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Then he came to the people of Succoth, and said, ‘Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me, saying, “Do you already have in your possession the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna, that we should give bread to your troops who are exhausted?”’


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So he took the elders of the city and he took thorns of the wilderness and briers and with them he trampled the people of Succoth.


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Then he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, ‘What about the men whom you killed at Tabor?’ They answered, ‘As you are, so were they, every one of them; they resembled the sons of a king.’


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And he replied, ‘They were my brothers, the sons of my mother; as the Lord lives, if you had saved them alive, I would not kill you.’


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So he said to Jether his firstborn, ‘Go, kill them!’ But the boy did not draw his sword, for he was afraid, because he was still a boy.


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Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, ‘You come and kill us; for as the man is, so is his strength.’ So Gideon proceeded to kill Zebah and Zalmunna; and he took the crescents that were on the necks of their camels.


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Gideon’s Idolatry Then the Israelites said to Gideon, ‘Rule over us, you and your son and your grandson also; for you have delivered us out of the hand of Midian.’


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Gideon said to them, ‘I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; the Lord will rule over you.’


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Then Gideon said to them, ‘Let me make a request of you; each of you give me an ear-ring he has taken as booty.’ (For the enemy had golden ear-rings, because they were Ishmaelites.)


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‘We will willingly give them,’ they answered. So they spread a garment, and each threw into it an ear-ring he had taken as booty.


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The weight of the golden ear-rings that he requested was one thousand seven hundred shekels of gold (apart from the crescents and the pendants and the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian, and the collars that were on the necks of their camels).


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Gideon made an ephod of it and put it in his town, in Ophrah; and all Israel prostituted themselves to it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and to his family.


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So Midian was subdued before the Israelites, and they lifted up their heads no more. So the land had rest for forty years in the days of Gideon.


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Then Gideon son of Joash died at a good old age, and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash at Ophrah of the Abiezrites.


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As soon as Gideon died, the Israelites relapsed and prostituted themselves with the Baals, making Baal-berith their god.


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The Israelites did not remember the Lord their God, who had rescued them from the hand of all their enemies on every side;


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and they did not exhibit loyalty to the house of Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) in return for all the good that he had done to Israel.


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Abimelech Attempts to Establish a Monarchy Now Abimelech son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem to his mother’s kinsfolk and said to them and to the whole clan of his mother’s family,


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‘Say in the hearing of all the lords of Shechem, “Which is better for you, that all seventy of the sons of Jerubbaal rule over you, or that one rule over you?” Remember also that I am your bone and your flesh.’


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So his mother’s kinsfolk spoke all these words on his behalf in the hearing of all the lords of Shechem; and their hearts inclined to follow Abimelech, for they said, ‘He is our brother.’


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They gave him seventy pieces of silver out of the temple of Baal-berith with which Abimelech hired worthless and reckless fellows, who followed him.


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He went to his father’s house at Ophrah, and killed his brothers the sons of Jerubbaal, seventy men, on one stone; but Jotham, the youngest son of Jerubbaal, survived, for he hid himself.


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Then all the lords of Shechem and all Beth-millo came together, and they went and made Abimelech king, by the oak of the pillar at Shechem.


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The Parable of the Trees When it was told to Jotham, he went and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim, and cried aloud and said to them, ‘Listen to me, you lords of Shechem, so that God may listen to you.


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The trees once went out to anoint a king over themselves. So they said to the olive tree, “Reign over us.”


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The olive tree answered them, “Shall I stop producing my rich oil by which gods and mortals are honoured, and go to sway over the trees?”


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But the fig tree answered them, “Shall I stop producing my sweetness and my delicious fruit, and go to sway over the trees?”


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But the vine said to them, “Shall I stop producing my wine that cheers gods and mortals, and go to sway over the trees?”


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And the bramble said to the trees, “If in good faith you are anointing me king over you, then come and take refuge in my shade; but if not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon.”


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‘Now therefore, if you acted in good faith and honour when you made Abimelech king, and if you have dealt well with Jerubbaal and his house, and have done to him as his actions deserved—


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but you have risen up against my father’s house this day, and have killed his sons, seventy men on one stone, and have made Abimelech, the son of his slave-woman, king over the lords of Shechem, because he is your kinsman—


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if, I say, you have acted in good faith and honour towards Jerubbaal and towards his house this day, then rejoice in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you;


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but if not, let fire come out from Abimelech, and devour the lords of Shechem, and Beth-millo; and let fire come out from the lords of Shechem, and from Beth-millo, and devour Abimelech.’


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But God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the lords of Shechem; and the lords of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech.


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This happened so that the violence done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might be avenged and their blood be laid on their brother Abimelech, who killed them, and on the lords of Shechem, who strengthened his hands to kill his brothers.


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So, out of hostility to him, the lords of Shechem set ambushes on the mountain tops. They robbed all who passed by them along that way; and it was reported to Abimelech.


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When Gaal son of Ebed moved into Shechem with his kinsfolk, the lords of Shechem put confidence in him.


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They went out into the field and gathered the grapes from their vineyards, trod them, and celebrated. Then they went into the temple of their god, ate and drank, and ridiculed Abimelech.


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Gaal son of Ebed said, ‘Who is Abimelech, and who are we of Shechem, that we should serve him? Did not the son of Jerubbaal and Zebul his officer serve the men of Hamor father of Shechem? Why then should we serve him?


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If only this people were under my command! Then I would remove Abimelech; I would say to him, “Increase your army, and come out.”’


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He sent messengers to Abimelech at Arumah, saying, ‘Look, Gaal son of Ebed and his kinsfolk have come to Shechem, and they are stirring up the city against you.


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Then early in the morning, as soon as the sun rises, get up and rush on the city; and when he and the troops that are with him come out against you, you may deal with them as best you can.’


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So Abimelech and all the troops with him got up by night and lay in wait against Shechem in four companies.


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When Gaal son of Ebed went out and stood in the entrance of the gate of the city, Abimelech and the troops with him rose from the ambush.


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And when Gaal saw them, he said to Zebul, ‘Look, people are coming down from the mountain tops!’ And Zebul said to him, ‘The shadows on the mountains look like people to you.’


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Gaal spoke again and said, ‘Look, people are coming down from Tabbur-erez, and one company is coming from the direction of Elon-meonenim.’


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Then Zebul said to him, ‘Where is your boast now, you who said, “Who is Abimelech, that we should serve him?” Are not these the troops you made light of? Go out now and fight with them.’


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So Abimelech resided at Arumah; and Zebul drove out Gaal and his kinsfolk, so that they could not live on at Shechem.


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he took his troops and divided them into three companies, and lay in wait in the fields. When he looked and saw the people coming out of the city, he rose against them and killed them.


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Abimelech and the company that was with him rushed forward and stood at the entrance of the gate of the city, while the two companies rushed on all who were in the fields and killed them.


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Abimelech fought against the city all that day; he took the city, and killed the people that were in it; and he razed the city and sowed it with salt.


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When all the lords of the Tower of Shechem heard of it, they entered the stronghold of the temple of El-berith.


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So Abimelech went up to Mount Zalmon, he and all the troops that were with him. Abimelech took an axe in his hand, cut down a bundle of brushwood, and took it up and laid it on his shoulder. Then he said to the troops with him, ‘What you have seen me do, do quickly, as I have done.’


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So every one of the troops cut down a bundle and following Abimelech put it against the stronghold, and they set the stronghold on fire over them, so that all the people of the Tower of Shechem also died, about a thousand men and women.


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But there was a strong tower within the city, and all the men and women and all the lords of the city fled to it and shut themselves in; and they went to the roof of the tower.


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Abimelech came to the tower, and fought against it, and came near to the entrance of the tower to burn it with fire.


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Immediately he called to the young man who carried his armour and said to him, ‘Draw your sword and kill me, so people will not say about me, “A woman killed him.”’ So the young man thrust him through, and he died.


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Thus God repaid Abimelech for the crime he committed against his father in killing his seventy brothers;


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and God also made all the wickedness of the people of Shechem fall back on their heads, and on them came the curse of Jotham son of Jerubbaal.


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Tola and Jair After Abimelech, Tola son of Puah son of Dodo, a man of Issachar, who lived at Shamir in the hill country of Ephraim, rose to deliver Israel.


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He had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys; and they had thirty towns, which are in the land of Gilead, and are called Havvoth-jair to this day.


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Oppression by the Ammonites The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, worshipping the Baals and the Astartes, the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites, and the gods of the Philistines. Thus they abandoned the Lord, and did not worship him.


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So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the Ammonites,


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and they crushed and oppressed the Israelites that year. For eighteen years they oppressed all the Israelites that were beyond the Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead.


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The Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah and against Benjamin and against the house of Ephraim; so that Israel was greatly distressed.


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So the Israelites cried to the Lord, saying, ‘We have sinned against you, because we have abandoned our God and have worshipped the Baals.’


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And the Lord said to the Israelites, ‘Did I not deliver you from the Egyptians and from the Amorites, from the Ammonites and from the Philistines?


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The Sidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites oppressed you; and you cried to me, and I delivered you out of their hand.


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And the Israelites said to the Lord, ‘We have sinned; do to us whatever seems good to you; but deliver us this day!’


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So they put away the foreign gods from among them and worshipped the Lord; and he could no longer bear to see Israel suffer.


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Then the Ammonites were called to arms, and they encamped in Gilead; and the Israelites came together, and they encamped at Mizpah.


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The commanders of the people of Gilead said to one another, ‘Who will begin the fight against the Ammonites? He shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.’


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Jephthah Now Jephthah the Gileadite, the son of a prostitute, was a mighty warrior. Gilead was the father of Jephthah.


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Gilead’s wife also bore him sons; and when his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah away, saying to him, ‘You shall not inherit anything in our father’s house; for you are the son of another woman.’


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Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob. Outlaws collected around Jephthah and went raiding with him.


