# verses

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 the earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss, while a mighty wind swept over the waters.


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 God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." Thus evening came, and morning followed-- the first day.


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 Then God said, "Let there be a dome in the middle of the waters, to separate one body of water from the other." And so it happened:


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 Then God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered into a single basin, so that the dry land may appear." And so it happened: the water under the sky was gathered into its basin, and the dry land appeared.


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 God called the dry land "the earth," and the basin of the water he called "the sea." God saw how good it was.


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 Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth vegetation: every kind of plant that bears seed and every kind of fruit tree on earth that bears fruit with its seed in it." And so it happened:


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 the earth brought forth every kind of plant that bears seed and every kind of fruit tree on earth that bears fruit with its seed in it. God saw how good it was.


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 Then God said: "Let there be lights in the dome of the sky, to separate day from night. Let them mark the fixed times, the days and the years,


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 God made the two great lights, the greater one to govern the day, and the lesser one to govern the night; and he made the stars.


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 to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. God saw how good it was.


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 Then God said, "Let the water teem with an abundance of living creatures, and on the earth let birds fly beneath the dome of the sky." And so it happened:


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 God created the great sea monsters and all kinds of swimming creatures with which the water teems, and all kinds of winged birds. God saw how good it was,


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 and God blessed them, saying, "Be fertile, multiply, and fill the water of the seas; and let the birds multiply on the earth."


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 Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth all kinds of living creatures: cattle, creeping things, and wild animals of all kinds." And so it happened:


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 God made all kinds of wild animals, all kinds of cattle, and all kinds of creeping things of the earth. God saw how good it was.


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 Then God said: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and the cattle, and over all the wild animals and all the creatures that crawl on the ground."


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 God blessed them, saying: "Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all the living things that move on the earth."


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 God also said: "See, I give you every seed-bearing plant all over the earth and every tree that has seed-bearing fruit on it to be your food;


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 and to all the animals of the land, all the birds of the air, and all the living creatures that crawl on the ground, I give all the green plants for food." And so it happened.


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 God looked at everything he had made, and he found it very good. Evening came, and morning followed-- the sixth day.


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 Since on the seventh day God was finished with the work he had been doing, he rested on the seventh day from all the work he had undertaken.


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 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work he had done in creation.


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 Such is the story of the heavens and the earth at their creation. At the time when the LORD God made the earth and the heavens--


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 while as yet there was no field shrub on earth and no grass of the field had sprouted, for the LORD God had sent no rain upon the earth and there was no man to till the soil,


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 the LORD God formed man out of the clay of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and so man became a living being.


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 Then the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and he placed there the man whom he had formed.


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 Out of the ground the LORD God made various trees grow that were delightful to look at and good for food, with the tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and bad.


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 The name of the first is the Pishon; it is the one that winds through the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.


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 The name of the third river is the Tigris; it is the one that flows east of Asshur. The fourth river is the Euphrates.


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 The LORD God then took the man and settled him in the garden of Eden, to cultivate and care for it.


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 except the tree of knowledge of good and bad. From that tree you shall not eat; the moment you eat from it you are surely doomed to die."


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 The LORD God said: "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a suitable partner for him."


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 So the LORD God formed out of the ground various wild animals and various birds of the air, and he brought them to the man to see what he would call them; whatever the man called each of them would be its name.


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 The man gave names to all the cattle, all the birds of the air, and all the wild animals; but none proved to be the suitable partner for the man.


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 So the LORD God cast a deep sleep on the man, and while he was asleep, he took out one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.


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 The LORD God then built up into a woman the rib that he had taken from the man. When he brought her to the man,


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 the man said: "This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; This one shall be called 'woman,' for out of 'her man' this one has been taken."


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 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one body.


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 Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the animals that the LORD God had made. The serpent asked the woman, "Did God really tell you not to eat from any of the trees in the garden?"


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 it is only about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, 'You shall not eat it or even touch it, lest you die.'"


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 No, God knows well that the moment you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods who know what is good and what is bad."


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 The woman saw that the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.


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 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.


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 When they heard the sound of the LORD God moving about in the garden at the breezy time of the day, the man and his wife hid themselves from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.


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 Then he asked, "Who told you that you were naked? You have eaten, then, from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat!"


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 The man replied, "The woman whom you put here with me-- she gave me fruit from the tree, so I ate it."


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 The LORD God then asked the woman, "Why did you do such a thing?" The woman answered, "The serpent tricked me into it, so I ate it."


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 Then the LORD God said to the serpent: "Because you have done this, you shall be banned from all the animals and from all the wild creatures; On your belly shall you crawl, and dirt shall you eat all the days of your life.


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 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel."


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 To the woman he said: "I will intensify the pangs of your childbearing; in pain shall you bring forth children. Yet your urge shall be for your husband, and he shall be your master."


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 To the man he said: "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat, "Cursed be the ground because of you! In toil shall you eat its yield all the days of your life.


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 By the sweat of your face shall you get bread to eat, Until you return to the ground, from which you were taken; For you are dirt, and to dirt you shall return."


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 Then the LORD God said: "See! The man has become like one of us, knowing what is good and what is bad! Therefore, he must not be allowed to put out his hand to take fruit from the tree of life also, and thus eat of it and live forever."


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 The LORD God therefore banished him from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he had been taken.


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 When he expelled the man, he settled him east of the garden of Eden; and he stationed the cherubim and the fiery revolving sword, to guard the way to the tree of life.


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 The man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, "I have produced a man with the help of the LORD."


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 while Abel, for his part, brought one of the best firstlings of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering,


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 If you do well, you can hold up your head; but if not, sin is a demon lurking at the door: his urge is toward you, yet you can be his master."


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 Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let us go out in the field." When they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.


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 Then the LORD asked Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" He answered, "I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?"


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 The LORD then said: "What have you done! Listen: your brother's blood cries out to me from the soil!


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 Therefore you shall be banned from the soil that opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand.


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 If you till the soil, it shall no longer give you its produce. You shall become a restless wanderer on the earth."


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 Since you have now banished me from the soil, and I must avoid your presence and become a restless wanderer on the earth, anyone may kill me at sight."


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 "Not so!" the LORD said to him. "If anyone kills Cain, Cain shall be avenged sevenfold." So the LORD put a mark on Cain, lest anyone should kill him at sight.


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 Cain had relations with his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. Cain also became the founder of a city, which he named after his son Enoch.


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 To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad became the father of Mehujael; Mehujael became the father of Methusael, and Methusael became the father of Lamech.


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 Zillah, on her part, gave birth to Tubalcain, the ancestor of all who forge instruments of bronze and iron. The sister of Tubalcain was Naamah.


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 Lamech said to his wives: "Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; wives of Lamech, listen to my utterance: I have killed a man for wounding me, a boy for bruising me.


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 Adam again had relations with his wife, and she gave birth to a son whom she called Seth. "God has granted me more offspring in place of Abel," she said, "because Cain slew him."


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 To Seth, in turn, a son was born, and he named him Enosh. At that time men began to invoke the LORD by name.


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 This is the record of the descendants of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God;


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 Adam was one hundred and thirty years old when he begot a son in his likeness, after his image; and he named him Seth.


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 Seth lived eight hundred and seven years after the birth of Enosh, and he had other sons and daughters.


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 Enosh lived eight hundred and fifteen years after the birth of Kenan, and he had other sons and daughters.


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 Kenan lived eight hundred and forty years after the birth of Mahalalel, and he had other sons and daughters.


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 Mahalalel lived eight hundred and thirty years after the birth of Jared, and he had other sons and daughters.


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 Enoch lived three hundred years after the birth of Methuselah, and he had other sons and daughters.


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 Methuselah lived seven hundred and eighty-two years after the birth of Lamech, and he had other sons and daughters.


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 and named him Noah, saying, "Out of the very ground that the LORD has put under a curse, this one shall bring us relief from our work and the toil of our hands."


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 Lamech lived five hundred and ninety-five years after the birth of Noah, and he had other sons and daughters.


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 the sons of heaven saw how beautiful the daughters of man were, and so they took for their wives as many of them as they chose.


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 Then the LORD said: "My spirit shall not remain in man forever, since he is but flesh. His days shall comprise one hundred and twenty years."


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 At that time the Nephilim appeared on earth (as well as later), after the sons of heaven had intercourse with the daughters of man, who bore them sons. They were the heroes of old, the men of renown.


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 When the LORD saw how great was man's wickedness on earth, and how no desire that his heart conceived was ever anything but evil,


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 So the LORD said: "I will wipe out from the earth the men whom I have created, and not only the men, but also the beasts and the creeping things and the birds of the air, for I am sorry that I made them."


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 he said to Noah: "I have decided to put an end to all mortals on earth; the earth is full of lawlessness because of them. So I will destroy them and all life on earth.


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 "Make yourself an ark of gopherwood, put various compartments in it, and cover it inside and out with pitch.


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 This is how you shall build it: the length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits.


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 Make an opening for daylight in the ark, and finish the ark a cubit above it. Put an entrance in the side of the ark, which you shall make with bottom, second and third decks.


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 I, on my part, am about to bring the flood (waters) on the earth, to destroy everywhere all creatures in which there is the breath of life; everything on earth shall perish.


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 But with you I will establish my covenant; you and your sons, your wife and your sons' wives, shall go into the ark.


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 Of all other living creatures you shall bring two into the ark, one male and one female, that you may keep them alive with you.


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 Of all kinds of birds, of all kinds of beasts, and of all kinds of creeping things, two of each shall come into the ark with you, to stay alive.


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 Moreover, you are to provide yourself with all the food that is to be eaten, and store it away, that it may serve as provisions for you and for them."


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 Then the LORD said to Noah: "Go into the ark, you and all your household, for you alone in this age have I found to be truly just.


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 Of every clean animal, take with you seven pairs, a male and its mate; and of the unclean animals, one pair, a male and its mate;


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 likewise, of every clean bird of the air, seven pairs, a male and a female, and of all the unclean birds, one pair, a male and a female. Thus you will keep their issue alive over all the earth.


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 Seven days from now I will bring rain down on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and so I will wipe out from the surface of the earth every moving creature that I have made."


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 Together with his sons, his wife, and his sons' wives, Noah went into the ark because of the waters of the flood.


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 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month: it was on that day that All the fountains of the great abyss burst forth, and the floodgates of the sky were opened.


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 On the precise day named, Noah and his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of Noah's sons had entered the ark,


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 together with every kind of wild beast, every kind of domestic animal, every kind of creeping thing of the earth, and every kind of bird.


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 Those that entered were male and female, and of all species they came, as God had commanded Noah. Then the LORD shut him in.


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 The flood continued upon the earth for forty days. As the waters increased, they lifted the ark, so that it rose above the earth.


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 Higher and higher above the earth rose the waters, until all the highest mountains everywhere were submerged,


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 All creatures that stirred on earth perished: birds, cattle, wild animals, and all that swarmed on the earth, as well as all mankind.


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 The LORD wiped out every living thing on earth: man and cattle, the creeping things and the birds of the air; all were wiped out from the earth. Only Noah and those with him in the ark were left.


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 and then God remembered Noah and all the animals, wild and tame, that were with him in the ark. So God made a wind sweep over the earth, and the waters began to subside.


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 The fountains of the abyss and the floodgates of the sky were closed, and the downpour from the sky was held back.


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 Gradually the waters receded from the earth. At the end of one hundred and fifty days, the waters had so diminished


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 that, in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.


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 The waters continued to diminish until the tenth month, and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains appeared.


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 and he sent out a raven, to see if the waters had lessened on the earth. It flew back and forth until the waters dried off from the earth.


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 But the dove could find no place to alight and perch, and it returned to him in the ark, for there was water all over the earth. Putting out his hand, he caught the dove and drew it back to him inside the ark.


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 In the evening the dove came back to him, and there in its bill was a plucked-off olive leaf! So Noah knew that the waters had lessened on the earth.


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 He waited still another seven days and then released the dove once more; and this time it did not come back.


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 In the six hundred and first year of Noah's life, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the water began to dry up on the earth. Noah then removed the covering of the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was drying up.


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 Bring out with you every living thing that is with you-- all bodily creatures, be they birds or animals or creeping things of the earth-- and let them abound on the earth, breeding and multiplying on it."


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 and all the animals, wild and tame, all the birds, and all the creeping creatures of the earth left the ark, one kind after another.


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 Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and choosing from every clean animal and every clean bird, he offered holocausts on the altar.


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 WHEN the LORD smelled the sweet odor, he said to himself: "Never again will I doom the earth because of man, since the desires of man's heart are evil from the start; nor will I ever again strike down all living beings, as I have done.


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 As long as the earth lasts, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, Summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."


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 Dread fear of you shall come upon all the animals of the earth and all the birds of the air, upon all the creatures that move about on the ground and all the fishes of the sea; into your power they are delivered.


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 Every creature that is alive shall be yours to eat; I give them all to you as I did the green plants.


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 For your own lifeblood, too, I will demand an accounting: from every animal I will demand it, and from man in regard to his fellow man I will demand an accounting for human life.


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 If anyone sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; For in the image of God has man been made.


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 and with every living creature that was with you: all the birds, and the various tame and wild animals that were with you and came out of the ark.


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 I will establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all bodily creatures be destroyed by the waters of a flood; there shall not be another flood to devastate the earth."


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 God added: "This is the sign that I am giving for all ages to come, of the covenant between me and you and every living creature with you:


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 I will recall the covenant I have made between me and you and all living beings, so that the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all mortal beings.


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 As the bow appears in the clouds, I will see it and recall the everlasting covenant that I have established between God and all living beings-- all mortal creatures that are on earth."


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 God told Noah: "This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all mortal creatures that are on earth."


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 The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.)


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 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father's nakedness, and he told his two brothers outside about it.


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 Shem and Japheth, however, took a robe, and holding it on their backs, they walked backward and covered their father's nakedness; since their faces were turned the other way, they did not see their father's nakedness.


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 These are the descendants of Noah's sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, to whom sons were born after the flood.


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 These are the descendants of Japheth, and from them sprang the maritime nations, in their respective lands-- each with its own language-- by their clans within their nations.


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 The descendants of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The descendants of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan.


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 He was a mighty hunter by the grace of the LORD; hence the saying, "Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter by the grace of the LORD."


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 the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Afterward, the clans of the Canaanites spread out,


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 so that the Canaanite borders extended from Sidon all the way to Gerar, near Gaza, and all the way to Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, near Lasha.


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 These are the descendants of Ham, according to their clans and languages, by their lands and nations.


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 To Shem also, Japheth's oldest brother and the ancestor of all the children of Eber, sons were born.


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 To Eber two sons were born: the name of the first was Peleg, for in his time the world was divided; and the name of his brother was Joktan.


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 These are the descendants of Shem, according to their clans and languages by their lands and nations.


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 These are the groupings of Noah's sons, according to their origins and by their nations. From these the other nations of the earth branched out after the flood.


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 While men were migrating in the east, they came upon a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there.


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 They said to one another, "Come, let us mold bricks and harden them with fire." They used bricks for stone, and bitumen for mortar.


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 Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky, and so make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered all over the earth."


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 Then the LORD said: "If now, while they are one people, all speaking the same language, they have started to do this, nothing will later stop them from doing whatever they presume to do.


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 Let us then go down and there confuse their language, so that one will not understand what another says."


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 That is why it was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the speech of all the world. It was from that place that he scattered them all over the earth.


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 This is the record of the descendants of Shem. When Shem was one hundred years old, he became the father of Arpachshad, two years after the flood.


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 Arpachshad lived four hundred and three years after the birth of Shelah, and he had other sons and daughters.


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 Shelah lived four hundred and three years after the birth of Eber, and he had other sons and daughters.


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 Eber lived four hundred and thirty years after the birth of Peleg, and he had other sons and daughters.


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 Peleg lived two hundred and nine years after the birth of Reu, and he had other sons and daughters.


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 Reu lived two hundred and seven years after the birth of Serug, and he had other sons and daughters.


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 Nahor lived one hundred and nineteen years after the birth of Terah, and he had other sons and daughters.


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 This is the record of the descendants of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran, and Haran became the father of Lot.


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 Abram and Nahor took wives; the name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife was Milcah, daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and Iscah.


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 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot, son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and brought them out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to go to the land of Canaan. But when they reached Haran, they settled there.


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 The LORD said to Abram: "Go forth from the land of your kinsfolk and from your father's house to a land that I will show you.


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 "I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.


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 I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. All the communities of the earth shall find blessing in you."


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 Abram went as the LORD directed him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.


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 Abram took his wife Sarai, his brother's son Lot, all the possessions that they had accumulated, and the persons they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan,


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 Abram passed through the land as far as the sacred place at Shechem, by the terebinth of Moreh. (The Canaanites were then in the land.)


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 The LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your descendants I will give this land." So Abram built an altar there to the LORD who had appeared to him.


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 From there he moved on to the hill country east of Bethel, pitching his tent with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. He built an altar there to the LORD and invoked the LORD by name.


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 There was famine in the land; so Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, since the famine in the land was severe.


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 When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai: "I know well how beautiful a woman you are.


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 When the Egyptians see you, they will say, 'She is his wife'; then they will kill me, but let you live.


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 Please say, therefore, that you are my sister, so that it may go well with me on your account and my life may be spared for your sake."


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 When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw how beautiful the woman was; and when Pharaoh's courtiers saw her,


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 On her account it went very well with Abram, and he received flocks and herds, male and female slaves, male and female asses, and camels.


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 Then Pharaoh summoned Abram and said to him: "How could you do this to me! Why didn't you tell me she was your wife?


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 Why did you say, 'She is my sister,' so that I took her for my wife? Here, then, is your wife. Take her and be gone!"


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 Then Pharaoh gave men orders concerning him, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and all that belonged to him.


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 From Egypt Abram went up to the Negeb with his wife and all that belonged to him, and Lot accompanied him.


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 From the Negeb he traveled by stages toward Bethel, to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had formerly stood,


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 so that the land could not support them if they stayed together; their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together.


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 There were quarrels between the herdsmen of Abram's livestock and those of Lot's. (At this time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were occupying the land.)


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 So Abram said to Lot: "Let there be no strife between you and me, or between your herdsmen and mine, for we are kinsmen.


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 Is not the whole land at your disposal? Please separate from me. If you prefer the left, I will go to the right; if you prefer the right, I will go to the left."


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 Lot looked about and saw how well watered the whole Jordan Plain was as far as Zoar, like the LORD'S own garden, or like Egypt. (This was before the LORD had destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.)


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 Lot, therefore, chose for himself the whole Jordan Plain and set out eastward. Thus they separated from each other;


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 Abram stayed in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the Plain, pitching his tents near Sodom.


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 After Lot had left, the LORD said to Abram: "Look about you, and from where you are, gaze to the north and south, east and west;


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 I will make your descendants like the dust of the earth; if anyone could count the dust of the earth, your descendants too might be counted.


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 Abram moved his tents and went on to settle near the terebinth of Mamre, which is at Hebron. There he built an altar to the LORD.


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 In the days of..., Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim


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 made war on Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar).


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 In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings allied with him came and defeated the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim,


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 They then turned back and came to Enmishpat (that is, Kadesh), and they subdued the whole country both of the Amalekites and of the Amorites who dwelt in Hazazon-tamar.


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 Thereupon the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) marched out, and in the Valley of Siddim they went into battle against them:


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 against Chedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goiim, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar-- four kings against five.


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 Now the Valley of Siddim was full of bitumen pits; and as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, they fell into these, while the rest fled to the mountains.


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 The victors seized all the possessions and food supplies of Sodom and Gomorrah and then went their way,


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 A fugitive came and brought the news to Abram the Hebrew, who was camping at the terebinth of Mamre the Amorite, a kinsman of Eshcol and Aner; these were in league with Abram.


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 When Abram heard that his nephew had been captured, he mustered three hundred and eighteen of his retainers, born in his house, and went in pursuit as far as Dan.


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 He and his party deployed against them at night, defeated them, and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus.


text:
 He recovered all the possessions, besides bringing back his kinsman Lot and his possessions, along with the women and the other captives.


text:
 When Abram returned from his victory over Chedorlaomer and the kings who were allied with him, the king of Sodom went out to greet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King's Valley).


text:
 Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine, and being a priest of God Most High, he blessed Abram with these words:


text:
 And blessed be God Most High, who delivered your foes into your hand." Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.


text:
 But Abram replied to the king of Sodom: "I have sworn to the LORD, God Most High, the creator of heaven and earth,


text:
 that I would not take so much as a thread or a sandal strap from anything that is yours, lest you should say, 'I made Abram rich.'


text:
 Nothing for me except what my servants have used up and the share that is due to the men who joined me-- Aner, Eshcol and Mamre; let them take their share."


text:
 Some time after these events, this word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: "Fear not, Abram! I am your shield; I will make your reward very great."


text:
 But Abram said, "O Lord GOD, what good will your gifts be, if I keep on being childless and have as my heir the steward of my house, Eliezer?"


text:
 Then the word of the LORD came to him: "No, that one shall not be your heir; your own issue shall be your heir."


text:
 He took him outside and said: "Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can. Just so," he added, "shall your descendants be."


text:
 He then said to him, "I am the LORD who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land as a possession."


text:
 He answered him, "Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old she-goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtle-dove, and a young pigeon."


text:
 He brought him all these, split them in two, and placed each half opposite the other; but the birds he did not cut up.


text:
 As the sun was about to set, a trance fell upon Abram, and a deep, terrifying darkness enveloped him.


text:
 Then the LORD said to Abram: "Know for certain that your descendants shall be aliens in a land not their own, where they shall be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years.


text:
 But I will bring judgment on the nation they must serve, and in the end they will depart with great wealth.


text:
 In the fourth time-span the others shall come back here; the wickedness of the Amorites will not have reached its full measure until then."


text:
 When the sun had set and it was dark, there appeared a smoking brazier and a flaming torch, which passed between those pieces.


text:
 It was on that occasion that the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying: "To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the Great River (the Euphrates),


text:
 Abram's wife Sarai had borne him no children. She had, however, an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar.


text:
 Sarai said to Abram: "The LORD has kept me from bearing children. Have intercourse, then, with my maid; perhaps I shall have sons through her." Abram heeded Sarai's request.


text:
 Thus, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, his wife Sarai took her maid, Hagar the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his concubine.


text:
 He had intercourse with her, and she became pregnant. When she became aware of her pregnancy, she looked on her mistress with disdain.


text:
 So Sarai said to Abram: "You are responsible for this outrage against me. I myself gave my maid to your embrace; but ever since she became aware of her pregnancy, she has been looking on me with disdain. May the LORD decide between you and me!"


text:
 Abram told Sarai: "Your maid is in your power. Do to her whatever you please." Sarai then abused her so much that Hagar ran away from her.


text:
 and he asked, "Hagar, maid of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?" She answered, "I am running away from my mistress, Sarai."


text:
 I will make your descendants so numerous," added the LORD'S messenger, "that they will be too many to count.


text:
 Besides," the LORD'S messenger said to her: "You are now pregnant and shall bear a son; you shall name him Ishmael, For the LORD has heard you, God has answered you.


text:
 He shall be a wild ass of a man, his hand against everyone, and everyone's hand against him; In opposition to all his kin shall he encamp."


text:
 To the LORD who spoke to her she gave a name, saying, "You are the God of Vision"; she meant, "Have I really seen God and remained alive after my vision?"


text:
 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said: "I am God the Almighty. Walk in my presence and be blameless.


text:
 No longer shall you be called Abram; your name shall be Abraham, for I am making you the father of a host of nations.


text:
 I will maintain my covenant with you and your descendants after you throughout the ages as an everlasting pact, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.


text:
 I will give to you and to your descendants after you the land in which you are now staying, the whole land of Canaan, as a permanent possession; and I will be their God."


text:
 God also said to Abraham: "On your part, you and your descendants after you must keep my covenant throughout the ages.


text:
 This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you that you must keep: every male among you shall be circumcised.


text:
 Circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and that shall be the mark of the covenant between you and me.


text:
 Throughout the ages, every male among you, when he is eight days old, shall be circumcised, including houseborn slaves and those acquired with money from any foreigner who is not of your blood.


text:
 Yes, both the houseborn slaves and those acquired with money must be circumcised. Thus my covenant shall be in your flesh as an everlasting pact.


text:
 If a male is uncircumcised, that is, if the flesh of his foreskin has not been cut away, such a one shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant."


text:
 God further said to Abraham: "As for your wife Sarai, do not call her Sarai; her name shall be Sarah.


text:
 I will bless her, and I will give you a son by her. Him also will I bless; he shall give rise to nations, and rulers of peoples shall issue from him."


text:
 Abraham prostrated himself and laughed as he said to himself, "Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Or can Sarah give birth at ninety?"


text:
 God replied: "Nevertheless, your wife Sarah is to bear you a son, and you shall call him Isaac. I will maintain my covenant with him as an everlasting pact, to be his God and the God of his descendants after him.


text:
 As for Ishmael, I am heeding you: I hereby bless him. I will make him fertile and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall become the father of twelve chieftains, and I will make of him a great nation.


text:
 Then Abraham took his son Ishmael and all his slaves, whether born in his house or acquired with his money-- every male among the members of Abraham's household-- and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins on that same day, as God had told him to do.


text:
 and all the male members of his household, including the slaves born in his house or acquired with his money from foreigners, were circumcised with him.


text:
 The LORD appeared to Abraham by the terebinth of Mamre, as he sat in the entrance of his tent, while the day was growing hot.


text:
 Looking up, he saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he ran from the entrance of the tent to greet them; and bowing to the ground,


text:
 Now that you have come this close to your servant, let me bring you a little food, that you may refresh yourselves; and afterward you may go on your way." "Very well," they replied, "do as you have said."


text:
 Abraham hastened into the tent and told Sarah, "Quick, three seahs of fine flour! Knead it and make rolls."


text:
 He ran to the herd, picked out a tender, choice steer, and gave it to a servant, who quickly prepared it.


text:
 Then he got some curds and milk, as well as the steer that had been prepared, and set these before them; and he waited on them under the tree while they ate.


text:
 One of them said, "I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah will then have a son." Sarah was listening at the entrance of the tent, just behind him.


text:
 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years, and Sarah had stopped having her womanly periods.


text:
 So Sarah laughed to herself and said, "Now that I am so withered and my husband is so old, am I still to have sexual pleasure?"


text:
 But the LORD said to Abraham: "Why did Sarah laugh and say, 'Shall I really bear a child, old as I am?'


text:
 Is anything too marvelous for the LORD to do? At the appointed time, about this time next year, I will return to you, and Sarah will have a son."


text:
 The men set out from there and looked down toward Sodom; Abraham was walking with them, to see them on their way.


text:
 now that he is to become a great and populous nation, and all the nations of the earth are to find blessing in him?


text:
 Indeed, I have singled him out that he may direct his sons and his posterity to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD may carry into effect for Abraham the promises he made about him."


text:
 that I must go down and see whether or not their actions fully correspond to the cry against them that comes to me. I mean to find out."


text:
 Suppose there were fifty innocent people in the city; would you wipe out the place, rather than spare it for the sake of the fifty innocent people within it?


text:
 Far be it from you to do such a thing, to make the innocent die with the guilty, so that the innocent and the guilty would be treated alike! Should not the judge of all the world act with justice?"


text:
 The LORD replied, "If I find fifty innocent people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake."


text:
 Abraham spoke up again: "See how I am presuming to speak to my Lord, though I am but dust and ashes!


text:
 What if there are five less than fifty innocent people? Will you destroy the whole city because of those five?" "I will not destroy it," he answered, "if I find forty-five there."


text:
 But Abraham persisted, saying, "What if only forty are found there?" He replied, "I will forebear doing it for the sake of the forty."


text:
 Then he said, "Let not my Lord grow impatient if I go on. What if only thirty are found there?" He replied, "I will forebear doing it if I can find but thirty there."


text:
 Still he went on, "Since I have thus dared to speak to my Lord, what if there are no more than twenty?" "I will not destroy it," he answered, "for the sake of the twenty."


text:
 But he still persisted: "Please, let not my Lord grow angry if I speak up this last time. What if there are at least ten there?" "For the sake of those ten," he replied, "I will not destroy it."


text:
 The two angels reached Sodom in the evening, as Lot was sitting at the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he got up to greet them; and bowing down with his face to the ground,


text:
 he said, "Please, gentlemen, come aside into your servant's house for the night, and bathe your feet; you can get up early to continue your journey." But they replied, "No, we shall pass the night in the town square."


text:
 He urged them so strongly, however, that they turned aside to his place and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking cakes without leaven, and they dined.


text:
 Before they went to bed, all the townsmen of Sodom, both young and old-- all the people to the last man-- closed in on the house.


text:
 They called to Lot and said to him, "Where are the men who came to your house tonight? Bring them out to us that we may have intimacies with them."


text:
 I have two daughters who have never had intercourse with men. Let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them as you please. But don't do anything to these men, for you know they have come under the shelter of my roof."


text:
 They replied, "Stand back! This fellow," they sneered, "came here as an immigrant, and now he dares to give orders! We'll treat you worse than them!" With that, they pressed hard against Lot, moving in closer to break down the door.


text:
 at the same time they struck the men at the entrance of the house, one and all, with such a blinding light that they were utterly unable to reach the doorway.


text:
 Then the angels said to Lot: "Who else belongs to you here? Your sons (sons-in-law) and your daughters and all who belong to you in the city-- take them away from it!


text:
 We are about to destroy this place, for the outcry reaching the LORD against those in the city is so great that he has sent us to destroy it."


text:
 So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had contracted marriage with his daughters. "Get up and leave this place," he told them; "the LORD is about to destroy the city." But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.


text:
 As dawn was breaking, the angels urged Lot on, saying, "On your way! Take with you your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city."


text:
 When he hesitated, the men, by the LORD'S mercy, seized his hand and the hands of his wife and his two daughters and led them to safety outside the city.


text:
 As soon as they had been brought outside, he was told: "Flee for your life! Don't look back or stop anywhere on the Plain. Get off to the hills at once, or you will be swept away."


text:
 "You have already thought enough of your servant to do me the great kindness of intervening to save my life. But I cannot flee to the hills to keep the disaster from overtaking me, and so I shall die.


text:
 Look, this town ahead is near enough to escape to. It's only a small place. Let me flee there-- it's a small place, isn't it?-- that my life may be saved."


text:
 "Well, then," he replied, "I will also grant you the favor you now ask. I will not overthrow the town you speak of.


text:
 Hurry, escape there! I cannot do anything until you arrive there." That is why the town is called Zoar.


text:
 at the same time the LORD rained down sulphurous fire upon Sodom and Gomorrah (from the LORD out of heaven).


text:
 He overthrew those cities and the whole Plain, together with the inhabitants of the cities and the produce of the soil.


text:
 As he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and the whole region of the Plain, he saw dense smoke over the land rising like fumes from a furnace.


text:
 Thus it came to pass: when God destroyed the Cities of the Plain, he was mindful of Abraham by sending Lot away from the upheaval by which God overthrew the cities where Lot had been living.


text:
 Since Lot was afraid to stay in Zoar, he and his two daughters went up from Zoar and settled in the hill country, where he lived with his two daughters in a cave.


text:
 The older one said to the younger: "Our father is getting old, and there is not a man on earth to unite with us as was the custom everywhere.


text:
 Come, let us ply our father with wine and then lie with him, that we may have offspring by our father."


text:
 So that night they plied their father with wine, and the older one went in and lay with her father; but he was not aware of her lying down or her getting up.


text:
 Next day the older one said to the younger: "Last night it was I who lay with my father. Let us ply him with wine again tonight, and then you go in and lie with him, that we may both have offspring by our father."


text:
 So that night, too, they plied their father with wine, and then the younger one went in and lay with him; but again he was not aware of her lying down or her getting up.


text:
 The older one gave birth to a son whom she named Moab, saying, "From my father." He is the ancestor of the Moabites of today.


text:
 The younger one, too, gave birth to a son, and she named him Ammon, saying, "The son of my kin." He is the ancestor of the Ammonites of today.


text:
 Abraham journeyed on to the region of the Negeb, where he settled between Kadesh and Shur. While he stayed in Gerar,


text:
 But God came to Abimelech in a dream one night and said to him, "You are about to die because of the woman you have taken, for she has a husband."


text:
 Abimelech, who had not approached her, said: "O Lord, would you slay a man even though he is innocent?


text:
 He himself told me, 'She is my sister,' and she herself also stated, 'He is my brother.' I did it in good faith and with clean hands."


text:
 God answered him in the dream: "Yes, I know you did it in good faith. In fact, it was I who kept you from sinning against me; that is why I did not let you touch her.


text:
 Therefore, return the man's wife-- as a spokesman he will intercede for you-- that your life may be saved. If you do not return her, you can be sure that you and all who are yours will certainly die."


text:
 Early the next morning Abimelech called all his court officials and informed them of everything that had happened, and the men were horrified.


text:
 Then Abimelech summoned Abraham and said to him: "How could you do this to us! What wrong did I do to you that you should have brought such monstrous guilt on me and my kingdom? You have treated me in an intolerable way.


text:
 "I was afraid," answered Abraham, "because I thought there would surely be no fear of God in this place, and so they would kill me on account of my wife.


text:
 Besides, she is in truth my sister, but only my father's daughter, not my mother's; and so she became my wife.


text:
 When God sent me wandering from my father's house, I asked her: 'Would you do me this favor? In whatever place we come to, say that I am your brother.'"


text:
 Then Abimelech took flocks and herds and male and female slaves and gave them to Abraham; and after he restored his wife Sarah to him,


text:
 To Sarah he said: "See, I have given your brother a thousand shekels of silver. Let that serve you as a vindication before all who are with you; your honor has been preserved with everyone."


text:
 Abraham then interceded with God, and God restored health to Abimelech, that is, to his wife and his maidservants, so that they could bear children;


text:
 Who would have told Abraham," she added, "that Sarah would nurse children! Yet I have borne him a son in his old age."


text:
 so she demanded of Abraham: "Drive out that slave and her son! No son of that slave is going to share the inheritance with my son Isaac!"


text:
 But God said to Abraham: "Do not be distressed about the boy or about your slave woman. Heed the demands of Sarah, no matter what she is asking of you; for it is through Isaac that descendants shall bear your name.


text:
 As for the son of the slave woman, I will make a great nation of him also, since he too is your offspring."


text:
 Early the next morning Abraham got some bread and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. Then, placing the child on her back, he sent her away. As she roamed aimlessly in the wilderness of Beer-sheba,


text:
 and then went and sat down opposite him, about a bowshot away; for she said to herself, "Let me not watch to see the child die." As she sat opposite him, he began to cry.


text:
 God heard the boy's cry, and God's messenger called to Hagar from heaven: "What is the matter, Hagar? Don't be afraid; God has heard the boy's cry in this plight of his.


text:
 Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. She went and filled the skin with water, and then let the boy drink.


text:
 About that time Abimelech, accompanied by Phicol, the commander of his army, said to Abraham: "God is with you in everything you do.


text:
 Therefore, swear to me by God at this place that you will not deal falsely with me or with my progeny and posterity, but will act as loyally toward me and the land in which you stay as I have acted toward you."


text:
 "I have no idea who did that," Abimelech replied. "In fact, you never told me about it, nor did I ever hear of it until now."


text:
 Abraham answered, "The seven ewe lambs you shall accept from me that thus I may have your acknowledgment that the well was dug by me."


text:
 When they had thus made the pact in Beer-sheba, Abimelech, along with Phicol, the commander of his army, left and returned to the land of the Philistines.


text:
 Some time after these events, God put Abraham to the test. He called to him, "Abraham!" "Ready!" he replied.


text:
 Then God said: "Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. There you shall offer him up as a holocaust on a height that I will point out to you."


text:
 Early the next morning Abraham saddled his donkey, took with him his son Isaac, and two of his servants as well, and with the wood that he had cut for the holocaust, set out for the place of which God had told him.


text:
 Then he said to his servants: "Both of you stay here with the donkey, while the boy and I go on over yonder. We will worship and then come back to you."


text:
 Thereupon Abraham took the wood for the holocaust and laid it on his son Isaac's shoulders, while he himself carried the fire and the knife.


text:
 As the two walked on together, Isaac spoke to his father Abraham. "Father!" he said. "Yes, son," he replied. Isaac continued, "Here are the fire and the wood, but where is the sheep for the holocaust?"


text:
 "Son," Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the sheep for the holocaust." Then the two continued going forward.


text:
 When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. Next he tied up his son Isaac, and put him on top of the wood on the altar.


text:
 "Do not lay your hand on the boy," said the messenger. "Do not do the least thing to him. I know now how devoted you are to God, since you did not withhold from me your own beloved son."


text:
 As Abraham looked about, he spied a ram caught by its horns in the thicket. So he went and took the ram and offered it up as a holocaust in place of his son.


text:
 and said: "I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you acted as you did in not withholding from me your beloved son,


text:
 I will bless you abundantly and make your descendants as countless as the stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore; your descendants shall take possession of the gates of their enemies,


text:
 and in your descendants all the nations of the earth shall find blessing-- all this because you obeyed my command.''


text:
 Abraham then returned to his servants, and they set out together for Beer-sheba, where Abraham made his home.


text:
 She died in Kiriatharba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham performed the customary mourning rites for her.


text:
 "Although I am a resident alien among you, sell me from your holdings a piece of property for a burial ground, that I may bury my dead wife."


text:
 listen to us! You are an elect of God among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our burial sites. None of us would deny you his burial ground for the burial of your dead."


text:
 while he appealed to them: "If you will allow me room for burial of my dead, listen to me! Intercede for me with Ephron, son of Zohar, asking him


text:
 to sell me the cave of Machpelah that he owns; it is at the edge of his field. Let him sell it to me in your presence, at its full price, for a burial place."


text:
 Now Ephron was present with the Hittites. So Ephron the Hittite replied to Abraham in the hearing of the Hittites who sat on his town council:


text:
 "Please, sir, listen to me! I give you both the field and the cave in it; in the presence of my kinsmen I make this gift. Bury your dead!"


text:
 But Abraham, after bowing low before the local citizens, addressed Ephron in the hearing of these men:


text:
 "Ah, if only you would please listen to me! I will pay you the price of the field. Accept it from me, that I may bury my dead there."


text:
 sir, listen to me! A piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver-- what is that between you and me, as long as you can bury your dead?"


text:
 Abraham accepted Ephron's terms; he weighed out to him the silver that Ephron had stipulated in the hearing of the Hittites, four hundred shekels of silver at the current market value.


text:
 Thus Ephron's field in Machpelah, facing Mamre, together with its cave and all the trees anywhere within its limits, was conveyed


text:
 After this transaction, Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave of the field of Machpelah, facing Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan.


text:
 Abraham said to the senior servant of his household, who had charge of all his possessions: "Put your hand under my thigh,


text:
 and I will make you swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not procure a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I live,


text:
 The servant asked him: "What if the woman is unwilling to follow me to this land? Should I then take your son back to the land from which you migrated?"


text:
 "The LORD, the God of heaven, who took me from my father's house and the land of my kin, and who confirmed by oath the promise he then made to me, 'I will give this land to your descendants'-- he will send his messenger before you, and you will obtain a wife for my son there.


text:
 If the woman is unwilling to follow you, you will be released from this oath. But never take my son back there!"


text:
 So the servant put his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and swore to him in this undertaking.


text:
 The servant then took ten of his master's camels, and bearing all kinds of gifts from his master, he made his way to the city of Nahor in Aram Naharaim.


text:
 Near evening, at the time when women go out to draw water, he made the camels kneel by the well outside the city.


text:
 Then he prayed: "LORD, God of my master Abraham, let it turn out favorably for me today and thus deal graciously with my master Abraham.


text:
 if I say to a girl, 'Please lower your jug, that I may drink,' and she answers, 'Take a drink, and let me give water to your camels, too,' let her be the one whom you have decided upon for your servant Isaac. In this way I shall know that you have dealt graciously with my master."


text:
 He had scarcely finished these words when Rebekah (who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Abraham's brother Nahor) came out with a jug on her shoulder.


text:
 The girl was very beautiful, a virgin, untouched by man. She went down to the spring and filled her jug. As she came up,


text:
 "Take a drink, sir," she replied, and quickly lowering the jug onto her hand, she gave him a drink.


text:
 When she had let him drink his fill, she said, "I will draw water for your camels, too, until they have drunk their fill."


text:
 With that, she quickly emptied her jug into the drinking trough and ran back to the well to draw more water, until she had drawn enough for all the camels.


text:
 The man watched her the whole time, silently waiting to learn whether or not the LORD had made his errand successful.


text:
 When the camels had finished drinking, the man took out a gold ring weighing half a shekel, which he fastened on her nose, and two gold bracelets weighing ten shekels, which he put on her wrists.


text:
 Then he asked her: "Whose daughter are you? Tell me, please. And is there room in your father's house for us to spend the night?"


text:
 saying: "Blessed be the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not let his constant kindness toward my master fail. As for myself also, the LORD has led me straight to the house of my master's brother."


text:
 As soon as he saw the ring and the bracelets on his sister Rebekah and heard her words about what the man had said to her, Laban rushed outside to the man at the spring. When he reached him, he was still standing by the camels at the spring.


text:
 So he said to him: "Come, blessed of the LORD! Why are you staying outside when I have made the house ready for you, as well as a place for the camels?"


text:
 The man then went inside; and while the camels were being unloaded and provided with straw and fodder, water was brought to bathe his feet and the feet of the men who were with him.


text:
 But when the table was set for him, he said, "I will not eat until I have told my tale." "Do so," they replied.


text:
 "The LORD has blessed my master so abundantly that he has become a wealthy man; he has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male and female slaves, and camels and asses.


text:
 My master's wife Sarah bore a son to my master in her old age, and he has given him everything he owns.


text:
 My master put me under oath, saying: 'You shall not procure a wife for my son among the daughters of the Canaanites in whose land I live;


text:
 he replied: 'The LORD, in whose presence I have always walked, will send his messenger with you and make your errand successful, and so you will get a wife for my son from my own kindred of my father's house.


text:
 Then you shall be released from my ban. If you visit my kindred and they refuse you, then, too, you shall be released from my ban.'


text:
 "When I came to the spring today, I prayed: 'LORD, God of my master Abraham, may it be your will to make successful the errand I am engaged on!


text:
 While I stand here at the spring, if I say to a young woman who comes out to draw water, Please give me a little water from your jug,


text:
 and she answers, Not only may you have a drink, but I will give water to your camels, too-- let her be the woman whom the LORD has decided upon for my master's son.'


text:
 "I had scarcely finished saying this prayer to myself when Rebekah came out with a jug on her shoulder. After she went down to the spring and drew water, I said to her, 'Please let me have a drink.'


text:
 She quickly lowered the jug she was carrying and said, 'Take a drink, and let me bring water for your camels, too.' So I drank, and she watered the camels also.


text:
 When I asked her, 'Whose daughter are you?' she answered, 'The daughter of Bethuel, son of Nahor, borne to Nahor by Milcah.' So I put the ring on her nose and the bracelets on her wrists.


text:
 Then I bowed down in worship to the LORD, blessing the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me on the right road to obtain the daughter of my master's kinsman for his son.


text:
 If, therefore, you have in mind to show true loyalty to my master, let me know; but if not, let me know that, too. I can then proceed accordingly."


text:
 Laban and his household said in reply: "This thing comes from the LORD; we can say nothing to you either for or against it.


text:
 Here is Rebekah, ready for you; take her with you, that she may become the wife of your master's son, as the LORD has said."


text:
 Then he brought out objects of silver and gold and articles of clothing and presented them to Rebekah; he also gave costly presents to her brother and mother.


text:
 After he and the men with him had eaten and drunk, they spent the night there. When they were up the next morning, he said, "Give me leave to return to my master."


text:
 Her brother and mother replied, "Let the girl stay with us a short while, say ten days; after that she may go."


text:
 But he said to them, "Do not detain me, now that the LORD has made my errand successful; let me go back to my master."


text:
 At this they allowed their sister Rebekah and her nurse to take leave, along with Abraham's servant and his men.


text:
 Invoking a blessing on Rebekah, they said: "Sister, may you grow into thousands of myriads; And may your descendants gain possession of the gates of their enemies!"


text:
 Then Rebekah and her maids started out; they mounted their camels and followed the man. So the servant took Rebekah and went on his way.


text:
 One day toward evening he went out... in the field, and as he looked around, he noticed that camels were approaching.


text:
 and asked the servant, "Who is the man out there, walking through the fields toward us?" "That is my master," replied the servant. Then she covered herself with her veil.


text:
 Then Isaac took Rebekah into his tent; he married her, and thus she became his wife. In his love for her Isaac found solace after the death of his mother Sarah.


text:
 Jokshan became the father of Sheba and Dedan. The descendants of Dedan were the Asshurim, the Letushim, and the Leummim.


text:
 The descendants of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All of these were descendants of Keturah.


text:
 To his sons by concubinage, however, he made grants while he was still living, as he sent them away eastward, to the land of Kedem, away from his son Isaac.


text:
 Then he breathed his last, dying at a ripe old age, grown old after a full life; and he was taken to his kinsmen.


text:
 His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron, son of Zohar the Hittite, which faces Mamre,


text:
 These are the descendants of Abraham's son Ishmael, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah's slave, bore to Abraham.


text:
 These are the names of Ishmael's sons, listed in the order of their birth: Nebaioth (Ishmael's firstborn), Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam,


text:
 These are the sons of Ishmael, their names by their villages and encampments; twelve chieftains of as many tribal groups.


text:
 The span of Ishmael's life was one hundred and thirty-seven years. After he had breathed his last and died, he was taken to his kinsmen.


text:
 The Ishmaelites ranged from Havilah-by-Shur, which is on the border of Egypt, all the way to Asshur; and each of them pitched camp in opposition to his various kinsmen.


text:
 Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram and the sister of Laban the Aramean.


text:
 Isaac entreated the LORD on behalf of his wife, since she was sterile. The LORD heard his entreaty, and Rebekah became pregnant.


text:
 But the children in her womb jostled each other so much that she exclaimed, "If this is to be so, what good will it do me!" She went to consult the LORD,


text:
 and he answered her: "Two nations are in your womb, two peoples are quarreling while still within you; But one shall surpass the other, and the older shall serve the younger."


text:
 The first to emerge was reddish, and his whole body was like a hairy mantle; so they named him Esau.


text:
 His brother came out next, gripping Esau's heel; so they named him Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when they were born.


text:
 As the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man who lived in the open; whereas Jacob was a simple man, who kept to his tents.


text:
 He said to Jacob, "Let me gulp down some of that red stuff; I'm starving." (That is why he was called Edom.)


text:
 Jacob then gave him some bread and the lentil stew; and Esau ate, drank, got up, and went his way. Esau cared little for his birthright.


text:
 There was a famine in the land (distinct from the earlier one that had occurred in the days of Abraham), and Isaac went down to Abimelech, king of the Philistines in Gerar.


text:
 The LORD appeared to him and said: "Do not go down to Egypt, but continue to camp wherever in this land I tell you.


text:
 Stay in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your descendants I will give all these lands, in fulfillment of the oath that I swore to your father Abraham.


text:
 I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and give them all these lands, and in your descendants all the nations of the earth shall find blessing--


text:
 this because Abraham obeyed me, keeping my mandate (my commandments, my ordinances, and my instructions)."


text:
 When the men of the place asked questions about his wife, he answered, "She is my sister." He was afraid, if he called her his wife, the men of the place would kill him on account of Rebekah, since she was very beautiful.


text:
 But when he had been there for a long time, Abimelech, king of the Philistines, happened to look out of a window and was surprised to see Isaac fondling his wife Rebekah.


text:
 He called for Isaac and said: "She must certainly be your wife! How could you have said, 'She is my sister'?" Isaac replied, "I thought I might lose my life on her account."


text:
 "How could you do this to us!" exclaimed Abimelech. "It would have taken very little for one of the men to lie with your wife, and you would have thus brought guilt upon us!"


text:
 Abimelech therefore gave this warning to all his men: "Anyone who molests this man or his wife shall forthwith be put to death."


text:
 Isaac sowed a crop in that region and reaped a hundredfold the same year. Since the LORD blessed him,


text:
 He acquired such flocks and herds, and so many work animals, that the Philistines became envious of him.


text:
 (The Philistines had stopped up and filled with dirt all the wells that his father's servants had dug back in the days of his father Abraham.)


text:
 (Isaac reopened the wells which his father's servants had dug back in the days of his father Abraham and which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham's death; he gave them the same names that his father had given them.)


text:
 the shepherds of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's servants, saying, "The water belongs to us!" So the well was called Esek, because they had challenged him there.


text:
 When he had moved on from there, he dug still another well; but over this one they did not quarrel. It was called Rehoboth, because he said, "The LORD has now given us ample room, and we shall flourish in the land."


text:
 The same night the LORD appeared to him and said: "I am the God of your father Abraham. You have no need to fear, since I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham."


text:
 So he built an altar there and invoked the LORD by name. After he had pitched his tent there, his servants began to dig a well nearby.


text:
 Abimelech had meanwhile come to him from Gerar, accompanied by Ahuzzath, his councilor, and Phicol, the general of his army.


text:
 Isaac asked them, "Why have you come to me, seeing that you hate me and have driven me away from you?"


text:
 They answered: "We are convinced that the LORD is with you, so we propose that there be a sworn agreement between our two sides-- between you and us. Let us make a pact with you:


text:
 you shall not act unkindly toward us, just as we have not molested you, but have always acted kindly toward you and have let you depart in peace. Henceforth, 'The LORD'S blessing be upon you!'"


text:
 Early the next morning they exchanged oaths. Then Isaac bade them farewell, and they departed from him in peace.


text:
 That same day Isaac's servants came and brought him news about the well they had been digging; they told him, "We have reached water!"


text:
 When Esau was forty years old, he married Judith, daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, daughter of Elon the Hivite.


text:
 When Isaac was so old that his eyesight had failed him, he called his older son Esau and said to him, "Son!" "Yes, father!" he replied.


text:
 Take your gear, therefore-- your quiver and bow-- and go out into the country to hunt some game for me.


text:
 With your catch prepare an appetizing dish for me, such as I like, and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my special blessing before I die."


text:
 Rebekah had been listening while Isaac was speaking to his son Esau. So when Esau went out into the country to hunt some game for his father,


text:
 'Bring me some game and with it prepare an appetizing dish for me to eat, that I may give you my blessing with the LORD'S approval before I die.'


text:
 Go to the flock and get me two choice kids. With these I will prepare an appetizing dish for your father, such as he likes.


text:
 Suppose my father feels me? He will think I am making sport of him, and I shall bring on myself a curse instead of a blessing."


text:
 His mother, however, replied: "Let any curse against you, son, fall on me! Just do as I say. Go and get me the kids."


text:
 So Jacob went and got them and brought them to his mother; and with them she prepared an appetizing dish, such as his father liked.


text:
 Rebekah then took the best clothes of her older son Esau that she had in the house, and gave them to her younger son Jacob to wear;


text:
 Bringing them to his father, Jacob said, "Father!" "Yes?" replied Isaac. "Which of my sons are you?"


text:
 Jacob answered his father: "I am Esau, your first-born. I did as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your special blessing."


text:
 But Isaac asked, "How did you succeed so quickly, son?" He answered, "The LORD, your God, let things turn out well with me."


text:
 Isaac then said to Jacob, "Come closer, son, that I may feel you, to learn whether you really are my son Esau or not."


text:
 So Jacob moved up closer to his father. When Isaac felt him, he said, "Although the voice is Jacob's, the hands are Esau's."


text:
 (He failed to identify him because his hands were hairy, like those of his brother Esau; so in the end he gave him his blessing.)


text:
 Then Isaac said, "Serve me your game, son, that I may eat of it and then give you my blessing." Jacob served it to him, and Isaac ate; he brought him wine, and he drank.


text:
 As Jacob went up and kissed him, Isaac smelled the fragrance of his clothes. With that, he blessed him, saying, "Ah, the fragrance of my son is like the fragrance of a field that the LORD has blessed!


text:
 "May God give to you of the dew of the heavens And of the fertility of the earth abundance of grain and wine.


text:
 "Let peoples serve you, and nations pay you homage; Be master of your brothers, and may your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be those who curse you, and blessed be those who bless you."


text:
 Jacob had scarcely left his father, just after Isaac had finished blessing him, when his brother Esau came back from his hunt.


text:
 Then he too prepared an appetizing dish with his game, and bringing it to his father, he said, "Please, father, eat some of your son's game, that you may then give me your special blessing."


text:
 With that, Isaac was seized with a fit of uncontrollable trembling. "Who was it, then," he asked, "that hunted game and brought it to me? I finished eating it just before you came, and I blessed him. Now he must remain blessed!"


text:
 On hearing his father's words, Esau burst into loud, bitter sobbing. "Father, bless me too!" he begged.


text:
 Esau exclaimed, "He has been well named Jacob! He has now supplanted me twice! First he took away my birthright, and now he has taken away my blessing." Then he pleaded, "Haven't you saved a blessing for me?"


text:
 Isaac replied: "I have already appointed him your master, and I have assigned to him all his kinsmen as his slaves; besides, I have enriched him with grain and wine. What then can I do for you, son?"


text:
 But Esau urged his father, "Have you only that one blessing, father? Bless me too!" Isaac, however, made no reply; and Esau wept aloud.


text:
 Finally Isaac spoke again and said to him: "Ah, far from the fertile earth shall be your dwelling; far from the dew of the heavens above!


text:
 "By your sword you shall live, and your brother you shall serve; But when you become restive, you shall throw off his yoke from your neck."


text:
 Esau bore Jacob a grudge because of the blessing his father had given him. He said to himself, "When the time of mourning for my father comes, I will kill my brother Jacob."


text:
 When Rebekah got news of what her older son Esau had in mind, she called her younger son Jacob and said to him: "Listen! Your brother Esau intends to settle accounts with you by killing you.


text:
 (until your brother's anger against you subsides) and he forgets what you did to him. Then I will send for you and bring you back. Must I lose both of you in a single day?"


text:
 Rebekah said to Isaac: "I am disgusted with life because of the Hittite women. If Jacob also should marry a Hittite woman, a native of the land, like these women, what good would life be to me?"


text:
 Isaac therefore called Jacob, greeted him with a blessing, and charged him: "You shall not marry a Canaanite woman!


text:
 Go now to Paddan-aram, to the home of your mother's father Bethuel, and there choose a wife for yourself from among the daughters of your uncle Laban.


text:
 May God Almighty bless you and make you fertile, multiply you that you may become an assembly of peoples.


text:
 May he extend to you and your descendants the blessing he gave to Abraham, so that you may gain possession of the land where you are staying, which he assigned to Abraham."


text:
 Then Isaac sent Jacob on his way; he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramean, and brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.


text:
 Esau noted that Isaac had blessed Jacob when he sent him to Paddan-aram to get himself a wife there, charging him, as he gave him his blessing, not to marry a Canaanite woman,


text:
 so he went to Ishmael, and in addition to the wives he had, married Mahalath, the daughter of Abraham's son Ishmael and sister of Nebaioth.


text:
 When he came upon a certain shrine, as the sun had already set, he stopped there for the night. Taking one of the stones at the shrine, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep at that spot.


text:
 Then he had a dream: a stairway rested on the ground, with its top reaching to the heavens; and God's messengers were going up and down on it.


text:
 And there was the LORD standing beside him and saying: "I, the LORD, am the God of your forefather Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you are lying I will give to you and your descendants.


text:
 These shall be as plentiful as the dust of the earth, and through them you shall spread out east and west, north and south. In you and your descendants all the nations of the earth shall find blessing.


text:
 Know that I am with you; I will protect you wherever you go, and bring you back to this land. I will never leave you until I have done what I promised you."


text:
 When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he exclaimed, "Truly, the LORD is in this spot, although I did not know it!"


text:
 In solemn wonder he cried out: "How awesome is this shrine! This is nothing else but an abode of God, and that is the gateway to heaven!"


text:
 Early the next morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head, set it up as a memorial stone, and poured oil on top of it.


text:
 Jacob then made this vow: "If God remains with me, to protect me on this journey I am making and to give me enough bread to eat and clothing to wear,


text:
 This stone that I have set up as a memorial stone shall be God's abode. Of everything you give me, I will faithfully return a tenth part to you."


text:
 Looking about, he saw a well in the open country, with three droves of sheep huddled near it, for droves were watered from that well. A large stone covered the mouth of the well.


text:
 Only when all the shepherds were assembled there could they roll the stone away from the mouth of the well and water the flocks. Then they would put the stone back again over the mouth of the well.


text:
 He inquired further, "Is he well?" "He is," they answered; "and here comes his daughter Rachel with his flock."


text:
 Then he said: "There is still much daylight left; it is hardly the time to bring the animals home. Why don't you water the flocks now, and then continue pasturing them?"


text:
 "We cannot," they replied, "until all the shepherds are here to roll the stone away from the mouth of the well; only then can we water the flocks."


text:
 While he was still talking with them, Rachel arrived with her father's sheep; she was the one who tended them.


text:
 As soon as Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of his uncle Laban, with the sheep of his uncle Laban, he went up, rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well, and watered his uncle's sheep.


text:
 When Laban heard the news about his sister's son Jacob, he hurried out to meet him. After embracing and kissing him, he brought him to his house. Jacob then recounted to Laban all that had happened,


text:
 and Laban said to him, "You are indeed my flesh and blood." After Jacob had stayed with him a full month,


text:
 Laban said to him: "Should you serve me for nothing just because you are a relative of mine? Tell me what your wages should be."


text:
 Since Jacob had fallen in love with Rachel, he answered Laban, "I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel."


text:
 So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, yet they seemed to him but a few days because of his love for her.


text:
 Then Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife, that I may consummate my marriage with her, for my term is now completed."


text:
 At nightfall he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and Jacob consummated the marriage with her.


text:
 In the morning Jacob was amazed: it was Leah! So he cried out to Laban: "How could you do this to me! Was it not for Rachel that I served you? Why did you dupe me?"


text:
 "It is not the custom in our country," Laban replied, "to marry off a younger daughter before an older one.


text:
 Finish the bridal week for this one, and then I will give you the other too, in return for another seven years of service with me."


text:
 Jacob agreed. He finished the bridal week for Leah, and then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel in marriage.


text:
 Jacob then consummated his marriage with Rachel also, and he loved her more than Leah. Thus he remained in Laban's service another seven years.


text:
 Leah conceived and bore a son, and she named him Reuben; for she said, "It means, 'The LORD saw my misery; now my husband will love me.'"


text:
 She conceived again and bore a son, and said, "It means, 'The LORD heard that I was unloved,' and therefore he has given me this one also"; so she named him Simeon.


text:
 Again she conceived and bore a son, and she said, "Now at last my husband will become attached to me, since I have now borne him three sons"; that is why she named him Levi.


text:
 Once more she conceived and bore a son, and she said, "This time I will give grateful praise to the LORD"; therefore she named him Judah. Then she stopped bearing children.


text:
 When Rachel saw that she failed to bear children to Jacob, she became envious of her sister. She said to Jacob, "Give me children or I shall die!"


text:
 She replied, "Here is my maidservant Bilhah. Have intercourse with her, and let her give birth on my knees, so that I too may have offspring, at least through her."


text:
 Rachel said, "God has vindicated me; indeed he has heeded my plea and given me a son." Therefore she named him Dan.


text:
 and Rachel said, "I engaged in a fateful struggle with my sister, and I prevailed." So she named him Naphtali.


text:
 When Leah saw that she had ceased to bear children, she gave her maidservant Zilpah to Jacob as a consort.


text:
 One day, during the wheat harvest, when Reuben was out in the field, he came upon some mandrakes which he brought home to his mother Leah. Rachel asked Leah, "Please let me have some of your son's mandrakes."


text:
 Leah replied, "Was it not enough for you to take away my husband, that you must now take my son's mandrakes too?" "Very well, then!" Rachel answered. "In exchange for your son's mandrakes, Jacob may lie with you tonight."


text:
 That evening, when Jacob came home from the fields, Leah went out to meet him. "You are now to come in with me," she told him, "because I have paid for you with my son's mandrakes." So that night he slept with her,


text:
 Leah then said, "God has given me my reward for having let my husband have my maidservant"; so she named him Issachar.


text:
 and she said, "God has brought me a precious gift. This time my husband will offer me presents, now that I have borne him six sons"; so she named him Zebulun.


text:
 Let me have my wives, for whom I served you, and my children, too, that I may depart. You know very well the service that I have rendered you."


text:
 Laban answered him: "If you will please.... "I have learned through divination that it is because of you that God has blessed me.


text:
 the little you had before I came has grown into very much, since the LORD'S blessings came upon you in my company. Therefore I should now do something for my own household as well."


text:
 "What should I pay you?" Laban asked. Jacob answered: "You do not have to pay me anything outright. I will again pasture and tend your flock, if you do this one thing for me:


text:
 go through your whole flock today and remove from it every dark animal among the sheep and every spotted or speckled one among the goats. Only such animals shall be my wages.


text:
 In the future, whenever you check on these wages of mine, let my honesty testify against me: any animal in my possession that is not a speckled or spotted goat, or a dark sheep, got there by theft!"


text:
 That same day Laban removed the streaked and spotted he-goats and all the speckled and spotted she-goats, all those with some white on them, as well as the fully dark-colored sheep; these he left... in charge of his sons.


text:
 Then he put a three days' journey between himself and Jacob, while Jacob continued to pasture the rest of Laban's flock.


text:
 Jacob, however, got some fresh shoots of poplar, almond and plane trees, and he made white stripes in them by peeling off the bark down to the white core of the shoots.


text:
 The rods that he had thus peeled he then set upright in the watering troughs, so that they would be in front of the animals that drank from the troughs. When the animals were in heat as they came to drink,


text:
 The sheep, on the other hand, Jacob kept apart, and he set these animals to face the streaked or fully dark-colored animals of Laban. Thus he produced special flocks of his own, which he did not put with Laban's flock.


text:
 Moreover, whenever the hardier animals were in heat, Jacob would set the rods in the troughs in full view of these animals, so that they mated by the rods;


text:
 but with the weaker animals he would not put the rods there. So the feeble animals would go to Laban, but the sturdy ones to Jacob.


text:
 Thus the man grew increasingly prosperous, and he came to own not only large flocks but also male and female servants and camels and asses.


text:
 Jacob learned that Laban's sons were saying, "Jacob has taken everything that belonged to our father, and he has accumulated all this wealth of his by using our father's property."


text:
 Then the LORD said to Jacob, "Return to the land of your fathers, where you were born, and I will be with you."


text:
 There he said to them: "I have noticed that your father's attitude toward me is not as it was in the past; but the God of my father has been with me.


text:
 yet your father cheated me and changed my wages time after time. God, however, did not let him do me any harm.


text:
 Whenever your father said, 'The speckled animals shall be your wages,' the entire flock would bear speckled young; whenever he said, 'The streaked animals shall be your wages,' the entire flock would bear streaked young.


text:
 Once, in the breeding season, I had a dream in which I saw mating he-goats that were streaked, speckled and mottled.


text:
 Then he said: 'Note well. All the he-goats in the flock, as they mate, are streaked, speckled and mottled, for I have seen all the things that Laban has been doing to you.


text:
 I am the God who appeared to you in Bethel, where you anointed a memorial stone and made a vow to me. Up, then! Leave this land and return to the land of your birth.'"


text:
 Are we not regarded by him as outsiders? He not only sold us; he has even used up the money that he got for us!


text:
 All the wealth that God reclaimed from our father really belongs to us and our children. Therefore, do just as God has told you."


text:
 and he drove off with all his livestock and all the property he had acquired in Paddan-aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan.


text:
 Now Laban had gone away to shear his sheep, and Rachel had meanwhile appropriated her father's household idols.


text:
 Thus he made his escape with all that he had. Once he was across the Euphrates, he headed for the highlands of Gilead.


text:
 Taking his kinsmen with him, he pursued him for seven days until he caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead.


text:
 But that night God appeared to Laban the Aramean in a dream and warned him, "Take care not to threaten Jacob with any harm!"


text:
 When Laban overtook Jacob, Jacob's tents were pitched in the highlands; Laban also pitched his tents there, on Mount Gilead.


text:
 "What do you mean," Laban demanded of Jacob, "by hoodwinking me and carrying off my daughters like war captives?


text:
 Why did you dupe me by stealing away secretly? You should have told me, and I would have sent you off with merry singing to the sound of tambourines and harps.


text:
 You did not even allow me a parting kiss to my daughters and grandchildren! What you have now done is a senseless thing.


text:
 I have it in my power to harm all of you; but last night the God of your father said to me, 'Take care not to threaten Jacob with any harm!'


text:
 Granted that you had to leave because you were desperately homesick for your father's house, why did you steal my gods?"


text:
 "I was frightened," Jacob replied to Laban, "at the thought that you might take your daughters away from me by force.


text:
 But as for your gods, the one you find them with shall not remain alive! If, with my kinsmen looking on, you identify anything here as belonging to you, take it." Jacob, of course, had no idea that Rachel had stolen the idols.


text:
 Laban then went in and searched Jacob's tent and Leah's tent, as well as the tents of the two maidservants; but he did not find the idols. Leaving Leah's tent, he went into Rachel's.


text:
 Now Rachel had taken the idols, put them inside a camel cushion, and seated herself upon them. When Laban had rummaged through the rest of her tent without finding them,


text:
 Rachel said to her father, "Let not my lord feel offended that I cannot rise in your presence; a woman's period is upon me." So, despite his search, he did not find his idols.


text:
 Jacob, now enraged, upbraided Laban. "What crime or offense have I committed," he demanded, "that you should hound me so fiercely?


text:
 Now that you have ransacked all my things, have you found a single object taken from your belongings? If so, produce it here before your kinsmen and mine, and let them decide between us two.


text:
 "In the twenty years that I was under you, no ewe or she-goat of yours ever miscarried, and I have never feasted on a ram of your flock.


text:
 I never brought you an animal torn by wild beasts; I made good the loss myself. You held me responsible for anything stolen by day or night.


text:
 How often the scorching heat ravaged me by day, and the frost by night, while sleep fled from my eyes!


text:
 Of the twenty years that I have now spent in your household, I slaved fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flock, while you changed my wages time after time.


text:
 If my ancestral God, the God of Abraham and the Awesome One of Isaac, had not been on my side, you would now have sent me away empty-handed. But God saw my plight and the fruits of my toil, and last night he gave judgment."


text:
 Laban replied to Jacob: "The women are mine, their children are mine, and the flocks are mine; everything you see belongs to me. But since these women are my daughters, I will now do something for them and for the children they have borne.


text:
 Jacob said to his kinsmen, "Gather some stones." So they got some stones and made a mound; and they had a meal there at the mound.


text:
 "This mound," said Laban, "shall be a witness from now on between you and me." That is why it was named Galeed--


text:
 and also Mizpah, for he said: "May the LORD keep watch between you and me when we are out of each other's sight.


text:
 If you mistreat my daughters, or take other wives besides my daughters, remember that even though no one else is about, God will be witness between you and me."


text:
 Laban said further to Jacob: "Here is this mound, and here is the memorial stone that I have set up between you and me.


text:
 This mound shall be witness, and this memorial stone shall be witness, that, with hostile intent, neither may I pass beyond this mound into your territory, nor may you pass beyond it into mine.


text:
 May the God of Abraham and the god of Nahor (their ancestral deities) maintain justice between us!" Jacob took the oath by the Awesome One of Isaac.


text:
 He then offered a sacrifice on the mountain and invited his kinsmen to share in the meal. When they had eaten, they passed the night on the mountain.


text:
 Early the next morning, Laban kissed his grandchildren and his daughters goodbye; then he set out on his journey back home,


text:
 with this message: "Thus shall you say to my lord Esau: 'Your servant Jacob speaks as follows: I have been staying with Laban and have been detained there until now.


text:
 I own cattle, asses and sheep, as well as male and female servants. I am sending my lord this information in the hope of gaining your favor.'"


text:
 When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, "We reached your brother Esau. He is now coming to meet you, accompanied by four hundred men."


text:
 Jacob was very much frightened. In his anxiety, he divided the people who were with him, as well as his flocks, herds and camels, into two camps.


text:
 "If Esau should attack and overwhelm one camp," he reasoned, "the remaining camp may still survive."


text:
 Then he prayed: "O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac! You told me, O LORD, 'Go back to the land of your birth, and I will be good to you.'


text:
 I am unworthy of all the acts of kindness that you have loyally performed for your servant: although I crossed the Jordan here with nothing but my staff, I have now grown into two companies.


text:
 Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau! Otherwise I fear that when he comes he will strike me down and slay the mothers and children.


text:
 You yourself said, 'I will be very good to you, and I will make your descendants like the sands of the sea, which are too numerous to count.'"


text:
 After passing the night there, Jacob selected from what he had with him the following presents for his brother Esau:


text:
 He put these animals in charge of his servants, in separate droves, and he told the servants, "Go on ahead of me, but keep a space between one drove and the next."


text:
 To the servant in the lead he gave this instruction: "When my brother Esau meets you, he may ask you, 'Whose man are you? Where are you going? To whom do these animals ahead of you belong?'


text:
 Then you shall answer, 'They belong to your brother Jacob, but they have been sent as a gift to my lord Esau; and Jacob himself is right behind us.'"


text:
 He gave similar instructions to the second servant and the third and to all the others who followed behind the droves, namely: "Thus and thus shall you say to Esau, when you reach him;


text:
 and be sure to add, 'Your servant Jacob is right behind us.'" For Jacob reasoned, "If I first appease him with gifts that precede me, then later, when I face him, perhaps he will forgive me."


text:
 In the course of that night, however, Jacob arose, took his two wives, with the two maidservants and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.


text:
 When the man saw that he could not prevail over him, he struck Jacob's hip at its socket, so that the hip socket was wrenched as they wrestled.


text:
 The man then said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak." But Jacob said, "I will not let you go until you bless me."


text:
 Then the man said, "You shall no longer be spoken of as Jacob, but as Israel, because you have contended with divine and human beings and have prevailed."


text:
 Jacob then asked him, "Do tell me your name, please." He answered, "Why should you want to know my name?" With that, he bade him farewell.


text:
 Jacob named the place Peniel, "Because I have seen God face to face," he said, "yet my life has been spared."


text:
 That is why, to this day, the Israelites do not eat the sciatic muscle that is on the hip socket, inasmuch as Jacob's hip socket was struck at the sciatic muscle.


text:
 Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming, accompanied by four hundred men. So he divided his children among Leah, Rachel and the two maidservants,


text:
 putting the maids and their children first, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph last.


text:
 When Esau looked about, he saw the women and children. "Who are these with you?" he asked. Jacob answered, "They are the children whom God has graciously bestowed on your servant."


text:
 next, Leah and her children came forward and bowed low; lastly, Rachel and her children came forward and bowed low.


text:
 Then Esau asked, "What did you intend with all those droves that I encountered?" Jacob answered, "It was to gain my lord's favor."


text:
 "No, I beg you!" said Jacob. "If you will do me the favor, please accept this gift from me, since to come into your presence is for me like coming into the presence of God, now that you have received me so kindly.


text:
 Do accept the present I have brought you; God has been generous toward me, and I have an abundance." Since he so urged him, Esau accepted.


text:
 But Jacob replied: "As my lord can see, the children are frail. Besides, I am encumbered with the flocks and herds, which now have sucklings; if overdriven for a single day, the whole flock will die.


text:
 Let my lord, then, go on ahead of me, while I proceed more slowly at the pace of the livestock before me and at the pace of my children, until I join my lord in Seir."


text:
 Esau replied, "Let me at least put at your disposal some of the men who are with me." But Jacob said, "For what reason? Please indulge me in this, my lord."


text:
 Jacob journeyed to Succoth. There he built a home for himself and made booths for his livestock. That is why the place was called Succoth.


text:
 Having thus come from Paddan-aram, Jacob arrived safely at the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, and he encamped in sight of the city.


text:
 The plot of ground on which he had pitched his tent he bought for a hundred pieces of bullion from the descendants of Hamor, the founder of Shechem.


text:
 When Shechem, son of Hamor the Hivite, who was chief of the region, saw her, he seized her and lay with her by force.


text:
 Since he was strongly attracted to Dinah, daughter of Jacob, indeed was really in love with the girl, he endeavored to win her affection.


text:
 Meanwhile, Jacob heard that Shechem had defiled his daughter Dinah; but since his sons were out in the fields with his livestock, he held his peace until they came home.


text:
 just as Jacob's sons were coming in from the fields. When they heard the news, the men were shocked and seethed with indignation. What Shechem had done was an outrage in Israel; such a thing could not be tolerated.


text:
 Hamor appealed to them, saying: "My son Shechem has his heart set on your daughter. Please give her to him in marriage.


text:
 Thus you can live among us. The land is open before you; you can settle and move about freely in it, and acquire landed property here."


text:
 Then Shechem, too, appealed to Dinah's father and brothers: "Do me this favor, and I will pay whatever you demand of me.


text:
 No matter how high you set the bridal price, I will pay you whatever you ask; only give me the maiden in marriage."


text:
 Jacob's sons replied to Shechem and his father Hamor with guile, speaking as they did because their sister Dinah had been defiled.


text:
 "We could not do such a thing," they said, "as to give our sister to an uncircumcised man; that would be a disgrace for us.


text:
 We will agree with you only on this condition, that you become like us by having every male among you circumcised.


text:
 Then we will give you our daughters and take yours in marriage; we will settle among you and become one kindred people with you.


text:
 But if you do not comply with our terms regarding circumcision, we will take our daughter and go away."


text:
 The young man lost no time in acting in the matter, since he was deeply in love with Jacob's daughter. Moreover he was more highly respected than anyone else in his clan.


text:
 So Hamor and his son Shechem went to their town council and thus presented the matter to their fellow townsmen:


text:
 "These men are friendly toward us. Let them settle in the land and move about in it freely; there is ample room in the country for them. We can marry their daughters and give our daughters to them in marriage.


text:
 But the men will agree to live with us and form one kindred people with us only on this condition, that every male among us be circumcised as they themselves are.


text:
 Would not the livestock they have acquired-- all their animals-- then be ours? Let us, therefore, give in to them, so that they may settle among us."


text:
 All the able-bodied men of the town agreed with Hamor and his son Shechem, and all the males, including every able-bodied man in the community, were circumcised.


text:
 On the third day, while they were still in pain, Dinah's full brothers Simeon and Levi, two of Jacob's sons, took their swords, advanced against the city without any trouble, and massacred all the males.


text:
 After they had put Hamor and his son Shechem to the sword, they took Dinah from Shechem's house and left.


text:
 Then the other sons of Jacob followed up the slaughter and sacked the city in reprisal for their sister Dinah's defilement.


text:
 They carried off all their wealth, their women, and their children, and took for loot whatever was in the houses.


text:
 Jacob said to Simeon and Levi: "You have brought trouble upon me by making me loathsome to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. I have so few men that, if these people unite against me and attack me, I and my family will be wiped out."


text:
 God said to Jacob: "Go up now to Bethel. Settle there and build an altar there to the God who appeared to you while you were fleeing from your brother Esau."


text:
 So Jacob told his family and all the others who were with him: "Get rid of the foreign gods that you have among you; then purify yourselves and put on fresh clothes.


text:
 We are now to go up to Bethel, and I will build an altar there to the God who answered me in my hour of distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone."


text:
 They therefore handed over to Jacob all the foreign gods in their possession and also the rings they had in their ears.


text:
 Then, as they set out, a terror from God fell upon the towns round about, so that no one pursued the sons of Jacob.


text:
 Thus Jacob and all the people who were with him arrived in Luz (that is, Bethel) in the land of Canaan.


text:
 There he built an altar and named the place Bethel, for it was there that God had revealed himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother.


text:
 Death came to Rebekah's nurse Deborah; she was buried under the oak below Bethel, and so it was called Allonbacuth.


text:
 God said to him: "You whose name is Jacob shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name." Thus he was named Israel.


text:
 God also said to him: "I am God Almighty; be fruitful and multiply. A nation, indeed an assembly of nations, shall stem from you, and kings shall issue from your loins.


text:
 The land I once gave to Abraham and Isaac I now give to you; And to your descendants after you will I give this land."


text:
 On the site where God had spoken with him, Jacob set up a memorial stone, and upon it he made a libation and poured out oil.


text:
 Then they departed from Bethel; but while they still had some distance to go on the way to Ephrath, Rachel began to be in labor and to suffer great distress.


text:
 When her pangs were most severe, her midwife said to her, "Have no fear! This time, too, you have a son."


text:
 With her last breath-- for she was at the point of death-- she called him Ben-oni; his father, however, named him Benjamin.


text:
 Jacob set up a memorial stone on her grave, and the same monument marks Rachel's grave to this day.


text:
 While Israel was encamped in that region, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father's concubine. When Israel heard of it, he was greatly offended. The sons of Jacob were now twelve.


text:
 the sons of Leah's maid Zilpah: Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram.


text:
 Jacob went home to his father Isaac at Mamre, in Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had stayed.


text:
 then he breathed his last. After a full life, he died as an old man and was taken to his kinsmen. His sons Esau and Jacob buried him.


text:
 Esau took his wives from among the Canaanite women: Adah, daughter of Elon the Hittite; Oholibamah, granddaughter through Anah of Zibeon the Hivite;


text:
 and Oholibamah bore Jeush, Jalam and Korah. These are the sons of Esau who were born to him in the land of Canaan.


text:
 Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all the members of his household, as well as his livestock comprising various animals and all the property he had acquired in the land of Canaan, and went to the land of Seir, out of the way of his brother Jacob.


text:
 Their possessions had become too great for them to dwell together, and the land in which they were staying could not support them because of their livestock.


text:
 These are the names of Esau's sons: Eliphaz, son of Esau's wife Adah; and Reuel, son of Esau's wife Basemath.


text:
 (Esau's son Eliphaz had a concubine Timna, and she bore Amalek to Eliphaz.) These are the descendants of Esau's wife Adah.


text:
 The sons of Reuel were Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These are the descendants of Esau's wife Basemath.


text:
 The descendants of Esau's wife Oholibamah-- granddaughter through Anah of Zibeon-- whom she bore to Esau were Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.


text:
 The following are the clans of Esau's descendants. The descendants of Eliphaz, Esau's first-born: the clans of Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz,


text:
 Korah, Gatam, and Amalek. These are the clans of Eliphaz in the land of Edom; they are descended from Adah.


text:
 The descendants of Esau's son Reuel: the clans of Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These are the clans of Reuel in the land of Edom; they are descended from Esau's wife Basemath.


text:
 The descendants of Esau's wife Oholibamah: the clans of Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These are the clans of Esau's wife Oholibamah, daughter of Anah.


text:
 The following are the descendants of Seir the Horite, the original settlers in the land: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah,


text:
 Zibeon's descendants were Aiah and Anah. (He is the Anah who found water in the desert while he was pasturing the asses of his father Zibeon.)


text:
 The following are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the Israelites.


text:
 When Jobab died, Husham, from the land of the Temanites, succeeded him as king. He defeated the Midianites in the country of Moab; the name of his city was Avith.


text:
 When Baal-hanan died, Hadar succeeded him as king; the name of his city was Pau. (His wife's name was Mehetabel; she was the daughter of Matred, son of Mezahab.)


text:
 The following are the names of the clans of Esau individually according to their subdivisions and localities: the clans of Timna, Alvah, Jetheth,


text:
 Magdiel, and Iram. These are the clans of the Edomites, according to their settlements in their territorial holdings. (Esau was the father of the Edomites.)


text:
 This is his family history. When Joseph was seventeen years old, he was tending the flocks with his brothers; he was an assistant to the sons of his father's wives Bilhah and Zilpah, and he brought his father bad reports about them.


text:
 Israel loved Joseph best of all his sons, for he was the child of his old age; and he had made him a long tunic.


text:
 When his brothers saw that their father loved him best of all his sons, they hated him so much that they would not even greet him.


text:
 There we were, binding sheaves in the field, when suddenly my sheaf rose to an upright position, and your sheaves formed a ring around my sheaf and bowed down to it."


text:
 "Are you really going to make yourself king over us?" his brothers asked him. "Or impose your rule on us?" So they hated him all the more because of his talk about his dreams.


text:
 Then he had another dream, and this one, too, he told to his brothers. "I had another dream," he said; "this time, the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me."


text:
 When he also told it to his father, his father reproved him. "What is the meaning of this dream of yours?" he asked. "Can it be that I and your mother and your brothers are to come and bow to the ground before you?"


text:
 Israel said to Joseph, "Your brothers, you know, are tending our flocks at Shechem. Get ready; I will send you to them." "I am ready," Joseph answered.


text:
 "Go then," he replied; "see if all is well with your brothers and the flocks, and bring back word." So he sent him off from the valley of Hebron. When Joseph reached Shechem,


text:
 a man met him as he was wandering about in the fields. "What are you looking for?" the man asked him.


text:
 "I am looking for my brothers," he answered. "Could you please tell me where they are tending the flocks?"


text:
 The man told him, "They have moved on from here; in fact, I heard them say, 'Let us go on to Dothan.'" So Joseph went after his brothers and caught up with them in Dothan.


text:
 Come on, let us kill him and throw him into one of the cisterns here; we could say that a wild beast devoured him. We shall then see what comes of his dreams."


text:
 Instead of shedding blood," he continued, "just throw him into that cistern there in the desert; but don't kill him outright." His purpose was to rescue him from their hands and restore him to his father.


text:
 They then sat down to their meal. Looking up, they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, their camels laden with gum, balm and resin to be taken down to Egypt.


text:
 Rather, let us sell him to these Ishmaelites, instead of doing away with him ourselves. After all, he is our brother, our own flesh." His brothers agreed.


text:
 They sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. Some Midianite traders passed by, and they pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and took him to Egypt.


text:
 Then they sent someone to bring the long tunic to their father, with the message: "We found this. See whether it is your son's tunic or not."


text:
 He recognized it and exclaimed: "My son's tunic! A wild beast has devoured him! Joseph has been torn to pieces!"


text:
 Though his sons and daughters tried to console him, he refused all consolation, saying, "No, I will go down mourning to my son in the nether world." Thus did his father lament him.


text:
 The Midianites, meanwhile, sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, a courtier of Pharaoh and his chief steward.


text:
 About that time Judah parted from his brothers and pitched his tent near a certain Adullamite named Hirah.


text:
 Then Judah said to Onan, "Unite with your brother's widow, in fulfillment of your duty as brother-in-law, and thus preserve your brother's line."


text:
 Onan, however, knew that the descendants would not be counted as his; so whenever he had relations with his brother's widow, he wasted his seed on the ground, to avoid contributing offspring for his brother.


text:
 Thereupon Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, "Stay as a widow in your father's house until my son Shelah grows up"-- for he feared that Shelah also might die like his brothers. So Tamar went to live in her father's house.


text:
 Years passed, and Judah's wife, the daughter of Shua, died. After Judah completed the period of mourning, he went up to Timnah for the shearing of his sheep, in company with his friend Hirah the Adullamite.


text:
 she took off her widow's garb, veiled her face by covering herself with a shawl, and sat down at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the way to Timnah; for she was aware that, although Shelah was now grown up, she had not been given to him in marriage.


text:
 So he went over to her at the roadside, and not realizing that she was his daughter-in-law, he said, "Come, let me have intercourse with you." She replied, "What will you pay me for letting you have intercourse with me?"


text:
 He answered, "I will send you a kid from the flock." "Very well," she said, "provided you leave a pledge until you send it."


text:
 Judah asked, "What pledge am I to give to you?" She answered, "Your seal and cord, and the staff you carry." So he gave them to her and had intercourse with her, and she conceived by him.


text:
 Judah sent the kid by his friend the Adullamite to recover the pledge from the woman; but he could not find her.


text:
 So he asked the men of the place, "Where is the temple prostitute, the one by the roadside in Enaim?" But they answered, "There has never been a temple prostitute here."


text:
 He went back to Judah and told him, "I could not find her; and besides, the men of the place said there was no temple prostitute there."


text:
 "Let her keep the things," Judah replied; "otherwise we shall become a laughingstock. After all, I did send her the kid, even though you were unable to find her."


text:
 About three months later, Judah was told that his daughter-in-law Tamar had played the harlot and was then with child from her harlotry. "Bring her out," cried Judah; "she shall be burned."


text:
 But as they were bringing her out, she sent word to her father-in-law, "It is by the man to whom these things belong that I am with child. Please verify," she added, "whose seal and cord and whose staff these are."


text:
 Judah recognized them and said, "She is more in the right than I am, since I did not give her to my son Shelah." But he had no further relations with her.


text:
 While she was giving birth, one infant put out his hand; and the midwife, taking a crimson thread, tied it on his hand, to note that this one came out first.


text:
 But as he withdrew his hand, his brother came out; and she said, "What a breach you have made for yourself!" So he was called Perez.


text:
 When Joseph was taken down to Egypt, a certain Egyptian (Potiphar, a courtier of Pharaoh and his chief steward) bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him there.


text:
 But since the LORD was with him, Joseph got on very well and was assigned to the household of his Egyptian master.


text:
 he took a liking to Joseph and made him his personal attendant; he put him in charge of his household and entrusted to him all his possessions.


text:
 From the moment that he put him in charge of his household and all his possessions, the LORD blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake; in fact, the LORD'S blessing was on everything he owned, both inside the house and out.


text:
 Having left everything he owned in Joseph's charge, he gave no thought, with Joseph there, to anything but the food he ate. Now Joseph was strikingly handsome in countenance and body.


text:
 But he refused. "As long as I am here," he told her, "my master does not concern himself with anything in the house, but has entrusted to me all he owns.


text:
 He wields no more authority in this house than I do, and he has withheld from me nothing but yourself, since you are his wife. How, then, could I commit so great a wrong and thus stand condemned before God?"


text:
 Although she tried to entice him day after day, he would not agree to lie beside her, or even stay near her.


text:
 One such day, when Joseph came into the house to do his work, and none of the household servants were then in the house,


text:
 she laid hold of him by his cloak, saying, "Lie with me!" But leaving the cloak in her hand, he got away from her and ran outside.


text:
 she screamed for her household servants and told them, "Look! my husband has brought in a Hebrew slave to make sport of us! He came in here to lie with me, but I cried out as loud as I could.


text:
 Then she told him the same story: "The Hebrew slave whom you brought here broke in on me, to make sport of me.


text:
 As soon as the master heard his wife's story about how his slave had treated her, he became enraged.


text:
 He seized Joseph and threw him into the jail where the royal prisoners were confined. But even while he was in prison,


text:
 the LORD remained with Joseph; he showed him kindness by making the chief jailer well-disposed toward him.


text:
 The chief jailer put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners in the jail, and everything that had to be done there was done under his management.


text:
 The chief jailer did not concern himself with anything at all that was in Joseph's charge, since the LORD was with him and brought success to all he did.


text:
 and he put them in custody in the house of the chief steward (the same jail where Joseph was confined).


text:
 The chief steward assigned Joseph to them, and he became their attendant. After they had been in custody for some time,


text:
 the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt who were confined in the jail both had dreams on the same night, each dream with its own meaning.


text:
 So he asked Pharaoh's courtiers who were with him in custody in his master's house, "Why do you look so sad today?"


text:
 They answered him, "We have had dreams, but there is no one to interpret them for us." Joseph said to them, "Surely, interpretations come from God. Please tell the dreams to me."


text:
 Then the chief cupbearer told Joseph his dream. "In my dream," he said, "I saw a vine in front of me,


text:
 and on the vine were three branches. It had barely budded when its blossoms came out, and its clusters ripened into grapes.


text:
 Pharaoh's cup was in my hand; so I took the grapes, pressed them out into his cup, and put it in Pharaoh's hand."


text:
 within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your post. You will be handing Pharaoh his cup as you formerly used to do when you were his cupbearer.


text:
 So if you will still remember, when all is well with you, that I was here with you, please do me the favor of mentioning me to Pharaoh, to get me out of this place.


text:
 The truth is that I was kidnaped from the land of the Hebrews, and here I have not done anything for which I should have been put into a dungeon."


text:
 When the chief baker saw that Joseph had given this favorable interpretation, he said to him: "I too had a dream. In it I had three wicker baskets on my head;


text:
 in the top one were all kinds of bakery products for Pharaoh, but the birds were pecking at them out of the basket on my head."


text:
 within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and have you impaled on a stake, and the birds will be pecking the flesh from your body."


text:
 And in fact, on the third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday, when he gave a banquet to all his staff, with his courtiers around him, he lifted up the heads of the chief cupbearer and chief baker.


text:
 Behind them seven other cows, ugly and gaunt, came up out of the Nile; and standing on the bank of the Nile beside the others,


text:
 He fell asleep again and had another dream. He saw seven ears of grain, fat and healthy, growing on a single stalk.


text:
 and the seven thin ears swallowed up the seven fat, healthy ears. Then Pharaoh woke up, to find it was only a dream.


text:
 Next morning his spirit was agitated. So he summoned all the magicians and sages of Egypt and recounted his dreams to them; but no one could interpret his dreams for him.


text:
 Then the chief cupbearer spoke up and said to Pharaoh: "On this occasion I am reminded of my negligence.


text:
 Once, when Pharaoh was angry, he put me and the chief baker in custody in the house of the chief steward.


text:
 There with us was a Hebrew youth, a slave of the chief steward; and when we told him our dreams, he interpreted them for us and explained for each of us the meaning of his dream.


text:
 And it turned out just as he had told us: I was restored to my post, but the other man was impaled."


text:
 Pharaoh therefore had Joseph summoned, and they hurriedly brought him from the dungeon. After he shaved and changed his clothes, he came into Pharaoh's presence.


text:
 Pharaoh then said to him: "I had certain dreams that no one can interpret. But I hear it said of you that the moment you are told a dream you can interpret it."


text:
 Behind them came seven other cows, scrawny, most ill-formed and gaunt. Never have I seen such ugly specimens as these in all the land of Egypt!


text:
 But when they had consumed them, no one could tell that they had done so, because they looked as ugly as before. Then I woke up.


text:
 and the seven thin ears swallowed up the seven healthy ears. I have spoken to the magicians, but none of them can give me an explanation."


text:
 Joseph said to Pharaoh: "Both of Pharaoh's dreams have the same meaning. God has thus foretold to Pharaoh what he is about to do.


text:
 The seven healthy cows are seven years, and the seven healthy ears are seven years-- the same in each dream.


text:
 So also, the seven thin, ugly cows that came up after them are seven years, as are the seven thin, wind-blasted ears; they are seven years of famine.


text:
 but these will be followed by seven years of famine, when all the abundance in the land of Egypt will be forgotten. When the famine has ravaged the land,


text:
 no trace of the abundance will be found in the land because of the famine that follows it-- so utterly severe will that famine be.


text:
 That Pharaoh had the same dream twice means that the matter has been reaffirmed by God and that God will soon bring it about.


text:
 "Therefore, let Pharaoh seek out a wise and discerning man and put him in charge of the land of Egypt.


text:
 Pharaoh should also take action to appoint overseers, so as to regiment the land during the seven years of abundance.


text:
 They should husband all the food of the coming good years, collecting the grain under Pharaoh's authority, to be stored in the towns for food.


text:
 This food will serve as a reserve for the country against the seven years of famine that are to follow in the land of Egypt, so that the land may not perish in the famine."


text:
 "Could we find another like him," Pharaoh asked his officials, "a man so endowed with the spirit of God?"


text:
 So Pharaoh said to Joseph: "Since God has made all this known to you, no one can be as wise and discerning as you are.


text:
 You shall be in charge of my palace, and all my people shall dart at your command. Only in respect to the throne shall I outrank you.


text:
 With that, Pharaoh took off his signet ring and put it on Joseph's finger. He had him dressed in robes of fine linen and put a gold chain about his neck.


text:
 He then had him ride in the chariot of his vizier, and they shouted "Abrek!" before him. Thus was Joseph installed over the whole land of Egypt.


text:
 "I, Pharaoh, proclaim," he told Joseph, "that without your approval no one shall move hand or foot in all the land of Egypt."


text:
 Pharaoh also bestowed the name of Zaphnath-paneah on Joseph, and he gave him in marriage Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of Heliopolis.


text:
 Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. After Joseph left Pharaoh's presence, he traveled throughout the land of Egypt.


text:
 he husbanded all the food of these years of plenty that the land of Egypt was enjoying and stored it in the towns, placing in each town the crops of the fields around it.


text:
 Joseph garnered grain in quantities like the sands of the sea, so vast that at last he stopped measuring it, for it was beyond measure.


text:
 Before the famine years set in, Joseph became the father of two sons, borne to him by Asenath, daughter of Potiphera, priest of Heliopolis.


text:
 He named his first-born Manasseh, meaning, "God has made me forget entirely the sufferings I endured at the hands of my family";


text:
 the seven years of famine set in, just as Joseph had predicted. Although there was famine in all the other countries, food was available throughout the land of Egypt.


text:
 When hunger came to be felt throughout the land of Egypt and the people cried to Pharaoh for bread, Pharaoh directed all the Egyptians to go to Joseph and do whatever he told them.


text:
 When the famine had spread throughout the land, Joseph opened all the cities that had grain and rationed it to the Egyptians, since the famine had gripped the land of Egypt.


text:
 In fact, all the world came to Joseph to obtain rations of grain, for famine had gripped the whole world.


text:
 When Jacob learned that grain rations were available in Egypt, he said to his sons: "Why do you keep gaping at one another?


text:
 I hear," he went on, "that rations of grain are available in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us, that we may stay alive rather than die of hunger."


text:
 It was only Joseph's full brother Benjamin that Jacob did not send with the rest, for he thought some disaster might befall him.


text:
 Thus, since there was famine in the land of Canaan also, the sons of Israel were among those who came to procure rations.


text:
 It was Joseph, as governor of the country, who dispensed the rations to all the people. When Joseph's brothers came and knelt down before him with their faces to the ground,


text:
 he recognized them as soon as he saw them. But he concealed his own identity from them and spoke sternly to them. "Where do you come from?" he asked them. They answered, "From the land of Canaan, to procure food."


text:
 he was reminded of the dreams he had about them. He said to them: "You are spies. You have come to see the nakedness of the land."


text:
 "We your servants," they said, "were twelve brothers, sons of a certain man in Canaan; but the youngest one is at present with our father, and the other one is gone."


text:
 This is how you shall be tested: unless your youngest brother comes here, I swear by the life of Pharaoh that you shall not leave here.


text:
 So send one of your number to get your brother, while the rest of you stay here under arrest. Thus shall your words be tested for their truth; if they are untrue, as Pharaoh lives, you are spies!"


text:
 If you have been honest, only one of your brothers need be confined in this prison, while the rest of you may go and take home provisions for your starving families.


text:
 But you must come back to me with your youngest brother. Your words will thus be verified, and you will not die." To this they agreed.


text:
 To one another, however, they said: "Alas, we are being punished because of our brother. We saw the anguish of his heart when he pleaded with us, yet we paid no heed; that is why this anguish has now come upon us."


text:
 "Didn't I tell you," broke in Reuben, "not to do wrong to the boy? But you wouldn't listen! Now comes the reckoning for his blood."


text:
 They did not know, of course, that Joseph understood what they said, since he spoke with them through an interpreter.


text:
 But turning away from them, he wept. When he was able to speak to them again, he had Simeon taken from them and bound before their eyes.


text:
 Then Joseph gave orders to have their containers filled with grain, their money replaced in each one's sack, and provisions given them for their journey. After this had been done for them,


text:
 At the night encampment, when one of them opened his bag to give his donkey some fodder, he was surprised to see his money in the mouth of his bag.


text:
 "My money has been returned!" he cried out to his brothers. "Here it is in my bag!" At that their hearts sank. Trembling, they asked one another, "What is this that God has done to us?"


text:
 When they got back to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them.


text:
 "The man who is lord of the country," they said, "spoke to us sternly and put us in custody as if we were spying on the land.


text:
 There were twelve of us brothers, sons of the same father; but one is gone, and the youngest one is at present with our father in the land of Canaan.'


text:
 Then the man who is lord of the country said to us: 'This is how I shall know if you are honest men: leave one of your brothers with me, while the rest of you go home with rations for your starving families.


text:
 When you come back to me with your youngest brother, and I know that you are honest men and not spies, I will restore your brother to you, and you may move about freely in the land.'"


text:
 When they were emptying their sacks, there in each one's sack was his moneybag! At the sight of their moneybags, they and their father were dismayed.


text:
 Their father Jacob said to them: "Must you make me childless? Joseph is gone, and Simeon is gone, and now you would take away Benjamin! Why must such things always happen to me?"


text:
 Then Reuben told his father: "Put him in my care, and I will bring him back to you. You may kill my own two sons if I do not return him to you."


text:
 But Jacob replied: "My son shall not go down with you. Now that his full brother is dead, he is the only one left. If some disaster should befall him on the journey you must make, you would send my white head down to the nether world in grief."


text:
 So when they had used up all the rations they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, "Go back and procure us a little more food."


text:
 But Judah replied: "The man strictly warned us, 'You shall not appear in my presence unless your brother is with you.'


text:
 But if you are not willing, we will not go down, because the man told us, 'You shall not appear in my presence unless your brother is with you.'"


text:
 Israel demanded, "Why did you bring this trouble on me by telling the man that you had another brother?"


text:
 They answered: "The man kept asking about ourselves and our family: 'Is your father still living? Do you have another brother?' We had to answer his questions. How could we know that he would say, 'Bring your brother down here'?"


text:
 Then Judah urged his father Israel: "Let the boy go with me, that we may be off and on our way if you and we and our children are to keep from starving to death.


text:
 I myself will stand surety for him. You can hold me responsible for him. If I fail to bring him back, to set him in your presence, you can hold it against me forever.


text:
 Their father Israel then told them: "If it must be so, then do this: Put some of the land's best products in your baggage and take them down to the man as gifts: some balm and honey, gum and resin, and pistachios and almonds.


text:
 Also take extra money along, for you must return the amount that was put back in the mouths of your bags; it may have been a mistake.


text:
 May God Almighty dispose the man to be merciful toward you, so that he may let your other brother go, as well as Benjamin. As for me, if I am to suffer bereavement, I shall suffer it."


text:
 So the men got the gifts, took double the amount of money with them, and, accompanied by Benjamin, were off on their way down to Egypt to present themselves to Joseph.


text:
 When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he told his head steward, "Take these men into the house, and have an animal slaughtered and prepared, for they are to dine with me at noon."


text:
 But on being led to his house, they became apprehensive. "It must be," they thought, "on account of the money put back in our bags the first time, that we are taken inside; they want to use it as a pretext to attack us and take our donkeys and seize us as slaves."


text:
 But when we arrived at a night's encampment and opened our bags, there was each man's money in the mouth of his bag-- our money in the full amount! We have now brought it back.


text:
 We have brought other money to procure food with. We do not know who put the first money in our bags."


text:
 "Be at ease," he replied; "you have no need to fear. Your God and the God of your father must have put treasures in your bags for you. As for your money, I received it." With that, he led Simeon out to them.


text:
 The steward then brought the men inside Joseph's house. He gave them water to bathe their feet, and got fodder for their donkeys.


text:
 Then they set out their gifts to await Joseph's arrival at noon, for they had heard that they were to dine there.


text:
 When Joseph came home, they presented him with the gifts they had brought inside, while they bowed down before him to the ground.


text:
 After inquiring how they were, he asked them, "And how is your aged father, of whom you spoke? Is he still in good health?"


text:
 "Your servant our father is thriving and still in good health," they said, as they bowed respectfully.


text:
 When Joseph's eye fell on his full brother Benjamin, he asked, "Is this your youngest brother, of whom you told me?" Then he said to him, "May God be gracious to you, my boy!"


text:
 With that, Joseph had to hurry out, for he was so overcome with affection for his brother that he was on the verge of tears. He went into a private room and wept there.


text:
 After washing his face, he reappeared and, now in control of himself, gave the order, "Serve the meal."


text:
 It was served separately to him, to the brothers, and to the Egyptians who partook of his board. (Egyptians may not eat with Hebrews; that is abhorrent to them.)


text:
 When they were seated by his directions according to their age, from the oldest to the youngest, they looked at one another in amazement;


text:
 and as portions were brought to them from Joseph's table, Benjamin's portion was five times as large as anyone else's. So they drank freely and made merry with him.


text:
 Then Joseph gave his head steward these instructions: "Fill the men's bags with as much food as they can carry, and put each man's money in the mouth of his bag.


text:
 In the mouth of the youngest one's bag put also my silver goblet, together with the money for his rations." The steward carried out Joseph's instructions.


text:
 They had not gone far out of the city when Joseph said to his head steward: "Go at once after the men! When you overtake them, say to them, 'Why did you repay good with evil? Why did you steal the silver goblet from me?


text:
 It is the very one from which my master drinks and which he uses for divination. What you have done is wrong.'"


text:
 they remonstrated with him: "How can my lord say such things? Far be it from your servants to do such a thing!


text:
 We even brought back to you from the land of Canaan the money that we found in the mouths of our bags. Why, then, would we steal silver or gold from your master's house?


text:
 If any of your servants is found to have the goblet, he shall die, and as for the rest of us, we shall become my lord's slaves."


text:
 But he replied, "Even though it ought to be as you propose, only the one who is found to have it shall become my slave, and the rest of you shall be exonerated."


text:
 and when a search was made, starting with the oldest and ending with the youngest, the goblet turned up in Benjamin's bag.


text:
 At this, they tore their clothes. Then, when each man had reloaded his donkey, they returned to the city.


text:
 As Judah and his brothers reentered Joseph's house, he was still there; so they flung themselves on the ground before him.


text:
 "How could you do such a thing?" Joseph asked them. "You should have known that such a man as I could discover by divination what happened."


text:
 Judah replied: "What can we say to my lord? How can we plead or how try to prove our innocence? God has uncovered your servants' guilt. Here we are, then, the slaves of my lord-- the rest of us no less than the one in whose possession the goblet was found."


text:
 "Far be it from me to act thus!" said Joseph. "Only the one in whose possession the goblet was found shall become my slave; the rest of you may go back safe and sound to your father."


text:
 Judah then stepped up to him and said: "I beg you, my lord, let your servant speak earnestly to my lord, and do not become angry with your servant, for you are the equal of Pharaoh.


text:
 So we said to my lord, 'We have an aged father, and a young brother, the child of his old age. This one's full brother is dead, and since he is the only one by that mother who is left, his father dotes on him.'


text:
 We replied to my lord, 'The boy cannot leave his father; his father would die if he were to leave him.'


text:
 But you told your servants, 'Unless your youngest brother comes back with you, you shall not come into my presence again.'


text:
 So we reminded him, 'We cannot go down there; only if our youngest brother is with us can we go, for we may not see the man if our youngest brother is not with us.'


text:
 One of them, however, disappeared, and I had to conclude that he must have been torn to pieces by wild beasts; I have not seen him since.


text:
 If you now take this one away from me too, and some disaster befalls him, you will send my white head down to the nether world in grief.'


text:
 "If then the boy is not with us when I go back to your servant my father, whose very life is bound up with his, he will die as soon as he sees that the boy is missing;


text:
 Besides, I, your servant, got the boy from his father by going surety for him, saying, 'If I fail to bring him back to you, father, you can hold it against me forever.'


text:
 Let me, your servant, therefore, remain in place of the boy as the slave of my lord, and let the boy go back with his brothers.


text:
 How could I go back to my father if the boy were not with me? I could not bear to see the anguish that would overcome my father."


text:
 Joseph could no longer control himself in the presence of all his attendants, so he cried out, "Have everyone withdraw from me!" Thus no one else was about when he made himself known to his brothers.


text:
 "I am Joseph," he said to his brothers. "Is my father still in good health?" But his brothers could give him no answer, so dumbfounded were they at him.


text:
 "Come closer to me," he told his brothers. When they had done so, he said: "I am your brother Joseph, whom you once sold into Egypt.


text:
 But now do not be distressed, and do not reproach yourselves for having sold me here. It was really for the sake of saving lives that God sent me here ahead of you.


text:
 For two years now the famine has been in the land, and for five more years tillage will yield no harvest.


text:
 God, therefore, sent me on ahead of you to ensure for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives in an extraordinary deliverance.


text:
 So it was not really you but God who had me come here; and he has made of me a father to Pharaoh, lord of all his household, and ruler over the whole land of Egypt.


text:
 "Hurry back, then, to my father and tell him: 'Thus says your son Joseph: God has made me lord of all Egypt; come to me without delay.


text:
 You will settle in the region of Goshen, where you will be near me-- you and your children and grandchildren, your flocks and herds, and everything that you own.


text:
 Since five years of famine still lie ahead, I will provide for you there, so that you and your family and all that are yours may not suffer want.'


text:
 Surely, you can see for yourselves, and Benjamin can see for himself, that it is I, Joseph, who am speaking to you.


text:
 Tell my father all about my high position in Egypt and what you have seen. But hurry and bring my father down here."


text:
 Thereupon he flung himself on the neck of his brother Benjamin and wept, and Benjamin wept in his arms.


text:
 Joseph then kissed all his brothers, crying over each of them; and only then were his brothers able to talk with him.


text:
 When the news reached Pharaoh's palace that Joseph's brothers had come, Pharaoh and his courtiers were pleased.


text:
 So Pharaoh told Joseph: "Say to your brothers: 'This is what you shall do: Load up your animals and go without delay to the land of Canaan.


text:
 There get your father and your families, and then come back here to me; I will assign you the best land in Egypt, where you will live off the fat of the land.'


text:
 Instruct them further: 'Do this. Take wagons from the land of Egypt for your children and your wives and to transport your father on your way back here.


text:
 Do not be concerned about your belongings, for the best in the whole land of Egypt shall be yours.'"


text:
 The sons of Israel acted accordingly. Joseph gave them the wagons, as Pharaoh had ordered, and he supplied them with provisions for the journey.


text:
 He also gave to each of them fresh clothing, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred shekels of silver and five sets of garments.


text:
 Moreover, what he sent to his father was ten jackasses loaded with the finest products of Egypt and ten jennies loaded with grain and bread and other provisions for his journey.


text:
 When they told him, "Joseph is still alive-- in fact, it is he who is ruler of all the land of Egypt," he was dumbfounded; he could not believe them.


text:
 But when they recounted to him all that Joseph had told them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent for his transport, the spirit of their father Jacob revived.


text:
 Israel set out with all that was his. When he arrived at Beer-sheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.


text:
 There God, speaking to Israel in a vision by night, called, "Jacob! Jacob!" "Here I am," he answered.


text:
 Then he said: "I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make you a great nation.


text:
 Not only will I go down to Egypt with you; I will also bring you back here, after Joseph has closed your eyes."


text:
 So Jacob departed from Beer-sheba, and the sons of Israel put their father and their wives and children on the wagons that Pharaoh had sent for his transport.


text:
 They took with them their livestock and the possessions they had acquired in the land of Canaan. Thus Jacob and all his descendants migrated to Egypt.


text:
 His sons and his grandsons, his daughters and his granddaughters-- all his descendants-- he took with him to Egypt.


text:
 These are the names of the Israelites, Jacob and his descendants, who migrated to Egypt. Reuben, Jacob's first-born,


text:
 The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah-- but Er and Onan had died in the land of Canaan; and the sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul.


text:
 These were the sons whom Leah bore to Jacob in Paddan-aram, along with his daughter Dinah-- thirty-three persons in all, male and female.


text:
 The sons of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, and Beriah, with their sister Serah; and the sons of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel.


text:
 These were the descendants of Zilpah, whom Laban had given to his daughter Leah; these she bore to Jacob-- sixteen persons in all.


text:
 In the land of Egypt Joseph became the father of Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, daughter of Potiphera, priest of Heliopolis, bore to him.


text:
 These were the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban had given to his daughter Rachel; these she bore to Jacob-- seven persons in all.


text:
 Jacob's people who migrated to Egypt-- his direct descendants, not counting the wives of Jacob's sons-- numbered sixty-six persons in all.


text:
 Together with Joseph's sons who were born to him in Egypt-- two persons-- all the people comprising Jacob's family who had come to Egypt amounted to seventy persons in all.


text:
 Israel had sent Judah ahead to Joseph, so that he might meet him in Goshen. On his arrival in the region of Goshen,


text:
 Joseph hitched the horses to his chariot and rode to meet his father Israel in Goshen. As soon as he saw him, he flung himself on his neck and wept a long time in his arms.


text:
 And Israel said to Joseph, "At last I can die, now that I have seen for myself that Joseph is still alive."


text:
 Joseph then said to his brothers and his father's household: "I will go and inform Pharaoh, telling him: 'My brothers and my father's household, whose home is in the land of Canaan, have come to me.


text:
 The men are shepherds, having long been keepers of livestock; and they have brought with them their flocks and herds, as well as everything else they own.'


text:
 you must answer, 'We your servants, like our ancestors, have been keepers of livestock from the beginning until now,' in order that you may stay in the region of Goshen, since all shepherds are abhorrent to the Egyptians."


text:
 Joseph went and told Pharaoh, "My father and my brothers have come from the land of Canaan, with their flocks and herds and everything else they own; and they are now in the region of Goshen."


text:
 When Pharaoh asked them what their occupation was, they answered, "We, your servants, like our ancestors, are shepherds.


text:
 We have come," they continued, "in order to stay in this country, for there is no pasture for your servants' flocks in the land of Canaan, so severe has the famine been there. Please, therefore, let your servants settle in the region of Goshen."


text:
 Pharaoh said to Joseph, "They may settle in the region of Goshen; and if you know any of them to be qualified, you may put them in charge of my own livestock." Thus, when Jacob and his sons came to Joseph in Egypt, and Pharaoh, king of Egypt, heard about it, Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Now that your father and brothers have come to you,


text:
 Then Joseph brought his father Jacob and presented him to Pharaoh. After Jacob had paid his respects to Pharaoh,


text:
 Jacob replied: "The years I have lived as a wayfarer amount to a hundred and thirty. Few and hard have been these years of my life, and they do not compare with the years that my ancestors lived as wayfarers."


text:
 As Pharaoh had ordered, Joseph settled his father and brothers and gave them holdings in Egypt on the pick of the land, in the region of Rameses.


text:
 And Joseph sustained his father and brothers and his father's whole household, down to the youngest, with food.


text:
 Since there was no food in any country because of the extreme severity of the famine, and the lands of Egypt and Canaan were languishing from hunger,


text:
 Joseph gathered in, as payment for the rations that were being dispensed, all the money that was to be found in Egypt and Canaan, and he put it in Pharaoh's palace.


text:
 When all the money in Egypt and Canaan was spent, all the Egyptians came to Joseph, pleading, "Give us food or we shall perish under your eyes; for our money is gone."


text:
 "Since your money is gone," replied Joseph, "give me your livestock, and I will sell you bread in return for your livestock."


text:
 So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and he sold them food in return for their horses, their flocks of sheep and herds of cattle, and their donkeys. Thus he got them through that year with bread in exchange for all their livestock.


text:
 When that year ended, they came to him in the following one and said: "We cannot hide from my lord that, with our money spent and our livestock made over to my lord, there is nothing left to put at my lord's disposal except our bodies and our farm land.


text:
 Why should we and our land perish before your very eyes? Take us and our land in exchange for food, and we will become Pharaoh's slaves and our land his property; only give us seed, that we may survive and not perish, and that our land may not turn into a waste."


text:
 Thus Joseph acquired all the farm land of Egypt for Pharaoh, since with the famine too much for them to bear, every Egyptian sold his field; so the land passed over to Pharaoh,


text:
 Only the priests' lands Joseph did not take over. Since the priests had a fixed allowance from Pharaoh and lived off the allowance Pharaoh had granted them, they did not have to sell their land.


text:
 Joseph told the people: "Now that I have acquired you and your land for Pharaoh, here is your seed for sowing the land.


text:
 But when the harvest is in, you must give a fifth of it to Pharaoh, while you keep four-fifths as seed for your fields and as food for yourselves and your families (and as food for your children)."


text:
 "You have saved our lives!" they answered. "We are grateful to my lord that we can be Pharaoh's slaves."


text:
 Thus Joseph made it a law for the land in Egypt, which is still in force, that a fifth of its produce should go to Pharaoh. Only the land of the priests did not pass over to Pharaoh.


text:
 Thus Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the region of Goshen. There they acquired property, were fertile, and increased greatly.


text:
 Jacob lived in the land of Egypt for seventeen years; the span of his life came to a hundred and forty-seven years.


text:
 When the time approached for Israel to die, he called his son Joseph and said to him: "If you really wish to please me, put your hand under my thigh as a sign of your constant loyalty to me; do not let me be buried in Egypt.


text:
 "I will do as you say," he replied. But his father demanded, "Swear it to me!" So Joseph swore to him. Then Israel bowed at the head of the bed.


text:
 Some time afterward, Joseph was informed, "Your father is failing." So he took along with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.


text:
 Jacob then said to Joseph: "God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessing me,


text:
 he said, 'I will make you fertile and numerous and raise you into an assembly of tribes, and I will give this land to your descendants after you as a permanent possession.'


text:
 Your two sons, therefore, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I joined you here, shall be mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine as much as Reuben and Simeon are mine.


text:
 Progeny born to you after them shall remain yours; but their heritage shall be recorded in the names of their two brothers.


text:
 I do this because, when I was returning from Paddan, your mother Rachel died, to my sorrow, during the journey in Canaan, while we were still a short distance from Ephrath; and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem)."


text:
 "They are my sons," Joseph answered his father, "whom God has given me here." "Bring them to me," said his father, "that I may bless them."


text:
 (Now Israel's eyes were dim from age, and he could not see well.) When Joseph brought his sons close to him, he kissed and embraced them.


text:
 Then Israel said to Joseph, "I never expected to see your face again, and now God has allowed me to see your descendants as well!"


text:
 Then Joseph took the two, Ephraim with his right hand, to Israel's left, and Manasseh with his left hand, to Israel's right, and led them to him.


text:
 But Israel, crossing his hands, put out his right hand and laid it on the head of Ephraim, although he was the younger, and his left hand on the head of Manasseh, although he was the first-born.


text:
 Then he blessed them with these words: "May the God in whose ways my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, The God who has been my shepherd from my birth to this day,


text:
 The Angel who has delivered me from all harm, bless these boys That in them my name be recalled, and the names of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, And they may become teeming multitudes upon the earth!"


text:
 When Joseph saw that his father had laid his right hand on Ephraim's head, this seemed wrong to him; so he took hold of his father's hand, to remove it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's,


text:
 saying, "That is not right, father; the other one is the first-born; lay your right hand on his head!"


text:
 But his father resisted. "I know it, son," he said, "I know. That one too shall become a tribe, and he too shall be great. Nevertheless, his younger brother shall surpass him, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations."


text:
 So when he blessed them that day and said, "By you shall the people of Israel pronounce blessings; may they say, 'God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh,'" he placed Ephraim before Manasseh.


text:
 Then Israel said to Joseph: "I am about to die. But God will be with you and will restore you to the land of your fathers.


text:
 As for me, I give to you, as to the one above his brothers, Shechem, which I captured from the Amorites with my sword and bow."


text:
 Jacob called his sons and said: "Gather around, that I may tell you what is to happen to you in days to come.


text:
 "You, Reuben, my first-born, my strength and the first fruit of my manhood, excelling in rank and excelling in power!


text:
 Unruly as water, you shall no longer excel, for you climbed into your father's bed and defiled my couch to my sorrow.


text:
 Let not my soul enter their council, or my spirit be joined with their company; For in their fury they slew men, in their willfulness they maimed oxen.


text:
 Cursed be their fury so fierce, and their rage so cruel! I will scatter them in Jacob, disperse them throughout Israel.


text:
 "You, Judah, shall your brothers praise-- your hand on the neck of your enemies; the sons of your father shall bow down to you.


text:
 Judah, like a lion's whelp, you have grown up on prey, my son. He crouches like a lion recumbent, the king of beasts-- who would dare rouse him?


text:
 The scepter shall never depart from Judah, or the mace from between his legs, While tribute is brought to him, and he receives the people's homage.


text:
 He tethers his donkey to the vine, his purebred ass to the choicest stem. In wine he washes his garments his robe in the blood of grapes.


text:
 "Zebulun shall dwell by the seashore (This means a shore for ships), and his flank shall be based on Sidon.


text:
 When he saw how good a settled life was, and how pleasant the country, He bent his shoulder to the burden and became a toiling serf.


text:
 Let Dan be a serpent by the roadside, a horned viper by the path, That bites the horse's heel, so that the rider tumbles backward.


text:
 But each one's bow remained stiff, as their arms were unsteady, By the power of the Mighty One of Jacob, because of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,


text:
 The God of your father, who helps you, God Almighty, who blesses you, With the blessings of the heavens above, the blessings of the abyss that crouches below, The blessings of breasts and womb,


text:
 the blessings of fresh grain and blossoms, The blessings of the everlasting mountains, the delights of the eternal hills. May they rest on the head of Joseph, on the brow of the prince among his brothers.


text:
 "Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; mornings he devours the prey, and evenings he distributes the spoils."


text:
 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said about them, as he bade them farewell and gave to each of them an appropriate message.


text:
 Then he gave them this charge: "Since I am about to be taken to my kindred, bury me with my fathers in the cave that lies in the field of Ephron the Hittite,


text:
 the cave in the field of Machpelah, facing on Mamre, in the land of Canaan, the field that Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite for a burial ground.


text:
 There Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried, and so are Isaac and his wife Rebekah, and there, too, I buried Leah--


text:
 When Jacob had finished giving these instructions to his sons, he drew his feet into the bed, breathed his last, and was taken to his kindred.


text:
 they spent forty days at it, for that is the full period of embalming; and the Egyptians mourned him for seventy days.


text:
 When that period of mourning was over, Joseph spoke to Pharaoh's courtiers. "Please do me this favor," he said, "and convey to Pharaoh this request of mine.


text:
 Since my father, at the point of death, made me promise on oath to bury him in the tomb that he had prepared for himself in the land of Canaan, may I go up there to bury my father and then come back?"


text:
 So Joseph left to bury his father; and with him went all of Pharaoh's officials who were senior members of his court and all the other dignitaries of Egypt,


text:
 as well as Joseph's whole household, his brothers, and his father's household; only their children and their flocks and herds were left in the region of Goshen.


text:
 When they arrived at Goren-ha-atad, which is beyond the Jordan, they held there a very great and solemn memorial service; and Joseph observed seven days of mourning for his father.


text:
 When the Canaanites who inhabited the land saw the mourning at Goren-ha-atad, they said, "This is a solemn funeral the Egyptians are having." That is why the place was named Abel-mizraim. It is beyond the Jordan.


text:
 They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field of Machpelah, facing on Mamre, the field that Abraham had bought for a burial ground from Ephron the Hittite.


text:
 After Joseph had buried his father he returned to Egypt, together with his brothers and all who had gone up with him for the burial of his father.


text:
 Now that their father was dead, Joseph's brothers became fearful and thought, "Suppose Joseph has been nursing a grudge against us and now plans to pay us back in full for all the wrong we did him!"


text:
 'You shall say to Joseph, Jacob begs you to forgive the criminal wrongdoing of your brothers, who treated you so cruelly.' Please, therefore, forgive the crime that we, the servants of your father's God, committed." When they spoke these words to him, Joseph broke into tears.


text:
 Even though you meant harm to me, God meant it for good, to achieve his present end, the survival of many people.


text:
 Therefore have no fear. I will provide for you and for your children." By thus speaking kindly to them, he reassured them.


text:
 He saw Ephraim's children to the third generation, and the children of Manasseh's son Machir were also born on Joseph's knees.


text:
 Joseph said to his brothers: "I am about to die. God will surely take care of you and lead you out of this land to the land that he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."


text:
 Then, putting the sons of Israel under oath, he continued, "When God thus takes care of you, you must bring my bones up with you from this place."


text:
 Joseph died at the age of a hundred and ten. He was embalmed and laid to rest in a coffin in Egypt.


text:
 These are the names of the sons of Israel who, accompanied by their households, migrated with Jacob into Egypt:


text:
 But the Israelites were fruitful and prolific. They became so numerous and strong that the land was filled with them.


text:
 He said to his subjects, "Look how numerous and powerful the Israelite people are growing, more so than we ourselves!


text:
 Come, let us deal shrewdly with them to stop their increase; otherwise, in time of war they too may join our enemies to fight against us, and so leave our country."


text:
 Accordingly, taskmasters were set over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labor. Thus they had to build for Pharaoh the supply cities of Pithom and Raamses.


text:
 Yet the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread. The Egyptians, then, dreaded the Israelites


text:
 making life bitter for them with hard work in mortar and brick and all kinds of field work-- the whole cruel fate of slaves.


text:
 "When you act as midwives for the Hebrew women and see them giving birth, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, she may live."


text:
 The midwives, however, feared God; they did not do as the king of Egypt had ordered them, but let the boys live.


text:
 So the king summoned the midwives and asked them, "Why have you acted thus, allowing the boys to live?"


text:
 The midwives answered Pharaoh, "The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women. They are robust and give birth before the midwife arrives."


text:
 Pharaoh then commanded all his subjects, "Throw into the river every boy that is born to the Hebrews, but you may let all the girls live."


text:
 When she could hide him no longer, she took a papyrus basket, daubed it with bitumen and pitch, and putting the child in it, placed it among the reeds on the river bank.


text:
 Pharaoh's daughter came down to the river to bathe, while her maids walked along the river bank. Noticing the basket among the reeds, she sent her handmaid to fetch it.


text:
 On opening it, she looked, and lo, there was a baby boy, crying! She was moved with pity for him and said, "It is one of the Hebrews' children."


text:
 Then his sister asked Pharaoh's daughter, "Shall I go and call one of the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?"


text:
 Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will repay you." The woman therefore took the child and nursed it.


text:
 When the child grew, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, who adopted him as her son and called him Moses; for she said, "I drew him out of the water."


text:
 On one occasion, after Moses had grown up, when he visited his kinsmen and witnessed their forced labor, he saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his own kinsmen.


text:
 The next day he went out again, and now two Hebrews were fighting! So he asked the culprit, "Why are you striking your fellow Hebrew?"


text:
 But he replied, "Who has appointed you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?" Then Moses became afraid and thought, "The affair must certainly be known."


text:
 Pharaoh, too, heard of the affair and sought to put him to death. But Moses fled from him and stayed in the land of Midian. As he was seated there by a well,


text:
 seven daughters of a priest of Midian came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father's flock.


text:
 But some shepherds came and drove them away. Then Moses got up and defended them and watered their flock.


text:
 When they returned to their father Reuel, he said to them, "How is it you have returned so soon today?"


text:
 They answered, "An Egyptian saved us from the interference of the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock!"


text:
 "Where is the man?" he asked his daughters. "Why did you leave him there? Invite him to have something to eat."


text:
 A long time passed, during which the king of Egypt died. Still the Israelites groaned and cried out because of their slavery. As their cry for release went up to God,


text:
 Meanwhile Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. Leading the flock across the desert, he came to Horeb, the mountain of God.


text:
 There an angel of the LORD appeared to him in fire flaming out of a bush. As he looked on, he was surprised to see that the bush, though on fire, was not consumed.


text:
 So Moses decided, "I must go over to look at this remarkable sight, and see why the bush is not burned."


text:
 When the LORD saw him coming over to look at it more closely, God called out to him from the bush, "Moses! Moses!" He answered, "Here I am."


text:
 God said, "Come no nearer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.


text:
 I am the God of your father," he continued, "the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob." Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.


text:
 But the LORD said, "I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt and have heard their cry of complaint against their slave drivers, so I know well what they are suffering.


text:
 Therefore I have come down to rescue them from the hands of the Egyptians and lead them out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey, the country of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.


text:
 So indeed the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have truly noted that the Egyptians are oppressing them.


text:
 But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and lead the Israelites out of Egypt?"


text:
 He answered, "I will be with you; and this shall be your proof that it is I who have sent you: when you bring my people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this very mountain."


text:
 "But," said Moses to God, "when I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' if they ask me, 'What is his name?' what am I to tell them?"


text:
 God replied, "I am who am." Then he added, "This is what you shall tell the Israelites: I AM sent me to you."


text:
 God spoke further to Moses, "Thus shall you say to the Israelites: The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. "This is my name forever; this is my title for all generations.


text:
 "Go and assemble the elders of the Israelites, and tell them: The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, has appeared to me and said: I am concerned about you and about the way you are being treated in Egypt;


text:
 so I have decided to lead you up out of the misery of Egypt into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey.


text:
 "Thus they will heed your message. Then you and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him: The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has sent us word. Permit us, then, to go a three days' journey in the desert, that we may offer sacrifice to the LORD, our God.


text:
 I will stretch out my hand, therefore, and smite Egypt by doing all kinds of wondrous deeds there. After that he will send you away.


text:
 I will even make the Egyptians so well-disposed toward this people that, when you leave, you will not go empty-handed.


text:
 Every woman shall ask her neighbor and her house guest for silver and gold articles and for clothing to put on your sons and daughters. Thus you will despoil the Egyptians."


text:
 "But," objected Moses, "suppose they will not believe me, nor listen to my plea? For they may say, 'The LORD did not appear to you.'"


text:
 The LORD then said, "Throw it on the ground." When he threw it on the ground it was changed into a serpent, and Moses shied away from it.


text:
 "Now, put out your hand," the LORD said to him, "and take hold of its tail." So he put out his hand and laid hold of it, and it became a staff in his hand.


text:
 "This will take place so that they may believe," he continued, "that the LORD, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, did appear to you."


text:
 Again the LORD said to him, "Put your hand in your bosom." He put it in his bosom, and when he withdrew it, to his surprise his hand was leprous, like snow.


text:
 The LORD then said, "Now, put your hand back in your bosom." Moses put his hand back in his bosom, and when he withdrew it, to his surprise it was again like the rest of his body.


text:
 "If they will not believe you, nor heed the message of the first sign, they should believe the message of the second.


text:
 And if they will not believe even these two signs, nor heed your plea, take some water from the river and pour it on the dry land. The water you take from the river will become blood on the dry land."


text:
 Moses, however, said to the LORD, "If you please, LORD, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past, nor recently, nor now that you have spoken to your servant; but I am slow of speech and tongue."


text:
 The LORD said to him, "Who gives one man speech and makes another deaf and dumb? Or who gives sight to one and makes another blind? Is it not I, the LORD?


text:
 Then the LORD became angry with Moses and said, "Have you not your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know that he is an eloquent speaker. Besides, he is now on his way to meet you.


text:
 When he sees you, his heart will be glad. You are to speak to him, then, and put the words in his mouth. I will assist both you and him in speaking and will teach the two of you what you are to do.


text:
 After this Moses returned to his father-in-law Jethro and said to him, "Let me go back, please, to my kinsmen in Egypt, to see whether they are still living." Jethro replied, "Go in peace."


text:
 In Midian the LORD said to Moses, "Go back to Egypt, for all the men who sought your life are dead."


text:
 So Moses took his wife and his sons, and started back to the land of Egypt, with them riding the ass. The staff of God he carried with him.


text:
 The LORD said to him, "On your return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have put in your power. I will make him obstinate, however, so that he will not let the people go.


text:
 Hence I tell you: Let my son go, that he may serve me. If you refuse to let him go, I warn you, I will kill your son, your first-born."


text:
 On the journey, at a place where they spent the night, the Lord came upon Moses and would have killed him.


text:
 But Zipporah took a piece of flint and cut off her son's foreskin and, touching his person, she said, "You are a spouse of blood to me."


text:
 The LORD said to Aaron, "Go into the desert to meet Moses." So he went, and when they met at the mountain of God, Aaron kissed him.


text:
 Moses informed him of all the LORD had said in sending him, and of the various signs he had enjoined upon him.


text:
 Aaron told them everything the LORD had said to Moses, and he performed the signs before the people.


text:
 The people believed, and when they heard that the LORD was concerned about them and had seen their affliction, they bowed down in worship.


text:
 After that, Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Let my people go, that they may celebrate a feast to me in the desert."


text:
 Pharaoh answered, "Who is the LORD, that I should heed his plea to let Israel go? I do not know the LORD; even if I did, I would not let Israel go."


text:
 They replied, "The God of the Hebrews has sent us word. Let us go a three days' journey in the desert, that we may offer sacrifice to the LORD, our God; otherwise he will punish us with pestilence or the sword."


text:
 The king of Egypt answered them, "What do you mean, Moses and Aaron, by taking the people away from their work? Off to your labor!


text:
 Look how numerous the people of the land are already," continued Pharaoh, "and yet you would give them rest from their labor!"


text:
 "You shall no longer supply the people with straw for their brickmaking as you have previously done. Let them go and gather straw themselves!


text:
 Yet you shall levy upon them the same quota of bricks as they have previously made. Do not reduce it. They are lazy; that is why they are crying, 'Let us go to offer sacrifice to our God.'


text:
 Increase the work for the men, so that they keep their mind on it and pay no attention to lying words."


text:
 So the taskmasters and foremen of the people went out and told them, "Thus says Pharaoh: I will not provide you with straw.


text:
 Go and gather the straw yourselves, wherever you can find it. Yet there must not be the slightest reduction in your work."


text:
 while the taskmasters kept driving them on, saying, "Finish your work, the same daily amount as when your straw was supplied."


text:
 The foremen of the Israelites, whom the taskmasters of Pharaoh had placed over them, were beaten, and were asked, "Why have you not completed your prescribed amount of bricks yesterday and today, as before?"


text:
 Then the Israelite foremen came and made this appeal to Pharaoh: "Why do you treat your servants in this manner?


text:
 No straw is supplied to your servants, and still we are told to make bricks. Look how your servants are beaten! It is you who are at fault."


text:
 Pharaoh answered, "It is just because you are lazy that you keep saying, 'Let us go and offer sacrifice to the LORD.'


text:
 Off to work, then! Straw shall not be provided for you, but you must still deliver your quota of bricks."


text:
 The Israelite foremen knew they were in a sorry plight, having been told not to reduce the daily amount of bricks.


text:
 they said to them, "The LORD look upon you and judge! You have brought us into bad odor with Pharaoh and his servants and have put a sword in their hands to slay us."


text:
 Moses again had recourse to the LORD and said, "Lord, why do you treat this people so badly? And why did you send me on such a mission?


text:
 Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has maltreated this people of yours, and you have done nothing to rescue them."


text:
 Then the LORD answered Moses, "Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh. Forced by my mighty hand, he will send them away; compelled by my outstretched arm, he will drive them from his land."


text:
 As God the Almighty I appeared to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but my name, LORD, I did not make known to them.


text:
 I also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they were living as aliens.


text:
 And now that I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are treating as slaves, I am mindful of my covenant.


text:
 Therefore, say to the Israelites: I am the LORD. I will free you from the forced labor of the Egyptians and will deliver you from their slavery. I will rescue you by my outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment.


text:
 I will take you as my own people, and you shall have me as your God. You will know that I, the LORD, am your God when I free you from the labor of the Egyptians


text:
 and bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I will give it to you as your own possession-- I, the LORD!"


text:
 But when Moses told this to the Israelites, they would not listen to him because of their dejection and hard slavery.


text:
 But Moses protested to the LORD, "If the Israelites would not listen to me, how can it be that Pharaoh will listen to me, poor speaker that I am!"


text:
 Still, the LORD, to bring the Israelites out of Egypt, spoke to Moses and Aaron and gave them his orders regarding both the Israelites and Pharaoh, king of Egypt.


text:
 These are the heads of the ancestral houses. The sons of Reuben, the first-born of Israel, were Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron and Carmi; these are the clans of Reuben.


text:
 The sons of Simeon were Jenuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar and Shaul, who was the son of a Canaanite woman; these are the clans of Simeon.


text:
 The names of the sons of Levi, in their genealogical order, are Gershon, Kohath and Merari. Levi lived one hundred and thirty-seven years.


text:
 The sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel. Kohath lived one hundred and thirty-three years.


text:
 Amram married his aunt Jochebed, who bore him Aaron, Moses and Miriam. Amram lived one hundred and thirty-seven years.


text:
 Aaron married Amminadab's daughter, Elisheba, the sister of Nahshon; she bore him Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.


text:
 Aaron's son, Eleazar, married one of Putiel's daughters, who bore him Phinehas. These are the heads of the ancestral clans of the Levites.


text:
 This is the Aaron and this the Moses to whom the LORD said, "Lead the Israelites from the land of Egypt, company by company."


text:
 These are the ones who spoke to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to bring the Israelites out of Egypt-- the same Moses and Aaron.


text:
 But Moses protested to the LORD, "Since I am a poor speaker, how can it be that Pharaoh will listen to me?"


text:
 The LORD answered him, "See! I have made you as God to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother shall act as your prophet.


text:
 You shall tell him all that I command you. In turn, your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites leave his land.


text:
 Yet I will make Pharaoh so obstinate that, despite the many signs and wonders that I will work in the land of Egypt,


text:
 he will not listen to you. Therefore I will lay my hand on Egypt and by great acts of judgment I will bring the hosts of my people, the Israelites, out of the land of Egypt,


text:
 so that the Egyptians may learn that I am the LORD, as I stretch out my hand against Egypt and lead the Israelites out of their midst."


text:
 "If Pharaoh demands that you work a sign or wonder, you shall say to Aaron: Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh, and it will be changed into a snake."


text:
 Then Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did as the LORD had commanded. Aaron threw his staff down before Pharaoh and his servants, and it was changed into a snake.


text:
 Pharaoh, in turn, summoned wise men and sorcerers, and they also, the magicians of Egypt, did likewise by their magic arts.


text:
 Each one threw down his staff, and it was changed into a snake. But Aaron's staff swallowed their staffs.


text:
 Tomorrow morning, when he sets out for the water, go and present yourself by the river bank, holding in your hand the staff that turned into a serpent.


text:
 Say to him: The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you with the message: Let my people go to worship me in the desert. But as yet you have not listened.


text:
 The LORD now says: This is how you shall know that I am the LORD. I will strike the water of the river with the staff I hold, and it shall be changed into blood.


text:
 The fish in the river shall die, and the river itself shall become so polluted that the Egyptians will be unable to drink its water."


text:
 The LORD then said to Moses, "Say to Aaron: Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt-- their streams and canals and pools, all their supplies of water-- that they may become blood. Throughout the land of Egypt there shall be blood, even in the wooden pails and stone jars."


text:
 Moses and Aaron did as the LORD had commanded. Aaron raised his staff and struck the waters of the river in full view of Pharaoh and his servants, and all the water of the river was changed into blood.


text:
 The fish in the river died, and the river itself became so polluted that the Egyptians could not drink its water. There was blood throughout the land of Egypt.


text:
 But the Egyptian magicians did the same by their magic arts. So Pharaoh remained obstinate and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had foretold.


text:
 All the Egyptians had to dig in the neighborhood of the river for drinking water, since they could not drink the river water.


text:
 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh and tell him: Thus says the LORD: Let my people go to worship me.


text:
 The river will teem with frogs. They will come up into your palace and into your bedroom and onto your bed, into the houses of your servants, too, and your subjects, even into your ovens and your kneading bowls.


text:
 The LORD then told Moses, "Say to Aaron: Stretch out your hand and your staff over the streams and canals and pools, to make frogs overrun the land of Egypt."


text:
 Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt.


text:
 But the magicians did the same by their magic arts. They, too, made frogs overrun the land of Egypt.


text:
 Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, "Pray the LORD to remove the frogs from me and my subjects, and I will let the people go to offer sacrifice to the LORD."


text:
 Moses answered Pharaoh, "Do me the favor of appointing the time when I am to pray for you and your servants and your subjects, that the frogs may be taken away from you and your houses and be left only in the river."


text:
 "Tomorrow," said Pharaoh. Then Moses replied, "It shall be as you have said, so that you may learn that there is none like the LORD, our God.


text:
 The frogs shall leave you and your houses, your servants and your subjects; only in the river shall they be left."


text:
 After Moses and Aaron left Pharaoh's presence, Moses implored the LORD to fulfill the promise he had made to Pharaoh about the frogs;


text:
 But when Pharaoh saw that there was a respite, he became obdurate and would not listen to them, just as the LORD had foretold.


text:
 Thereupon the LORD said to Moses, "Tell Aaron to stretch out his staff and strike the dust of the earth, that it may be turned into gnats throughout the land of Egypt."


text:
 They did so. Aaron stretched out his hand, and with his staff he struck the dust of the earth, and gnats came upon man and beast. The dust of the earth was turned into gnats throughout the land of Egypt.


text:
 Though the magicians tried to bring forth gnats by their magic arts, they could not do so. As the gnats infested man and beast,


text:
 the magicians said to Pharaoh, "This is the finger of God." Yet Pharaoh remained obstinate and would not listen to them, just as the LORD had foretold.


text:
 Again the LORD told Moses, "Early tomorrow morning present yourself to Pharaoh when he goes forth to the water, and say to him: Thus says the LORD: Let my people go to worship me.


text:
 If you will not let my people go, I warn you, I will loose swarms of flies upon you and your servants and your subjects and your houses. The houses of the Egyptians and the very ground on which they stand shall be filled with swarms of flies.


text:
 But on that day I will make an exception of the land of Goshen: there shall be no flies where my people dwell, that you may know that I am the LORD in the midst of the earth.


text:
 I will make this distinction between my people and your people. This sign shall take place tomorrow."


text:
 This the LORD did. Thick swarms of flies entered the house of Pharaoh and the houses of his servants; throughout Egypt the land was infested with flies.


text:
 Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said to them, "Go and offer sacrifice to your God in this land."


text:
 But Moses replied, "It is not right to do so, for the sacrifices we offer to the LORD, our God, are an abomination to the Egyptians. If before their very eyes we offer sacrifices which are an abomination to them, will not the Egyptians stone us?


text:
 We must go a three days' journey in the desert to offer sacrifice to the LORD, our God, as he commands us."


text:
 "Well, then," said Pharaoh, "I will let you go to offer sacrifice to the LORD, your God, in the desert, provided that you do not go too far away and that you pray for me."


text:
 Moses answered, "As soon as I leave your presence I will pray to the LORD that the flies may depart tomorrow from Pharaoh and his servants and his subjects. Pharaoh, however, must not play false again by refusing to let the people go to offer sacrifice to the LORD."


text:
 and the LORD did as Moses had asked. He removed the flies from Pharaoh and his servants and subjects. Not one remained.


text:
 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh and tell him: Thus says the LORD, the God of the Hebrews: Let my people go to worship me.


text:
 I warn you, the LORD will afflict all your livestock in the field-- your horses, asses, camels, herds and flocks-- with a very severe pestilence.


text:
 But the LORD will distinguish between the livestock of Israel and that of Egypt, so that none belonging to the Israelites will die."


text:
 And on the next day the LORD did so. All the livestock of the Egyptians died, but not one beast belonging to the Israelites.


text:
 But though Pharaoh's messengers informed him that not even one beast belonging to the Israelites had died, he still remained obdurate and would not let the people go.


text:
 Then the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "Take a double handful of soot from a furnace, and in the presence of Pharaoh let Moses scatter it toward the sky.


text:
 It will then turn into fine dust over the whole land of Egypt and cause festering boils on man and beast throughout the land."


text:
 So they took soot from a furnace and stood in the presence of Pharaoh. Moses scattered it toward the sky, and it caused festering boils on man and beast.


text:
 The magicians could not stand in Moses' presence, for there were boils on the magicians no less than on the rest of the Egyptians.


text:
 But the LORD made Pharaoh obstinate, and he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had foretold to Moses.


text:
 Then the LORD told Moses, "Early tomorrow morning present yourself to Pharaoh and say to him: Thus says the LORD, the God of the Hebrews: Let my people go to worship me,


text:
 or this time I will hurl all my blows upon you and your servants and your subjects, that you may know that there is none like me anywhere on earth.


text:
 For by now I would have stretched out my hand and struck you and your subjects with such pestilence as would wipe you from the earth.


text:
 But this is why I have spared you: to show you my power and to make my name resound throughout the earth!


text:
 I warn you, then, tomorrow at this hour I will rain down such fierce hail as there has never been in Egypt from the day the nation was founded up to the present.


text:
 Therefore, order all your livestock and whatever else you have in the open fields to be brought to a place of safety. Whatever man or beast remains in the fields and is not brought to shelter shall die when the hail comes upon them."


text:
 Some of Pharaoh's servants feared the warning of the LORD and hurried their servants and livestock off to shelter.


text:
 Others, however, did not take the warning of the LORD to heart and left their servants and livestock in the fields.


text:
 The LORD then said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand toward the sky, that hail may fall upon the entire land of Egypt, on man and beast and every growing thing in the land of Egypt."


text:
 When Moses stretched out his staff toward the sky, the LORD sent forth hail and peals of thunder. Lightning flashed toward the earth, and the LORD rained down hail upon the land of Egypt;


text:
 and lightning constantly flashed through the hail, such fierce hail as had never been seen in the land since Egypt became a nation.


text:
 It struck down every man and beast that was in the open throughout the land of Egypt; it beat down every growing thing and splintered every tree in the fields.


text:
 Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said to them, "I have sinned again! The LORD is just; it is I and my subjects who are at fault.


text:
 Pray to the LORD, for we have had enough of God's thunder and hail. Then I will let you go; you need stay no longer."


text:
 Moses replied, "As soon as I leave the city I will extend my hands to the LORD; the thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail. Thus you shall learn that the earth is the LORD'S.


text:
 When Moses had left Pharaoh's presence and had gone out of the city, he extended his hands to the LORD. Then the thunder and the hail ceased, and the rain no longer poured down upon the earth.


text:
 But Pharaoh, seeing that the rain and hail and thunder had ceased, sinned again: he with his servants became obdurate,


text:
 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh, for I have made him and his servants obdurate in order that I may perform these signs of mine among them


text:
 and that you may recount to your son and grandson how ruthlessly I dealt with the Egyptians and what signs I wrought among them, so that you may know that I am the LORD."


text:
 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and told him, "Thus says the LORD, the God of the Hebrews: How long will you refuse to submit to me? Let my people go to worship me.


text:
 They shall cover the ground, so that the ground itself will not be visible. They shall eat up the remnant you saved unhurt from the hail, as well as all the foliage that has since sprouted in your fields.


text:
 They shall fill your houses and the houses of your servants and of all the Egyptians; such a sight your fathers or grandfathers have not seen from the day they first settled on this soil up to the present day." With that he turned and left Pharaoh.


text:
 But Pharaoh's servants said to him, "How long must he be a menace to us? Let the men go to worship the LORD, their God. Do you not yet realize that Egypt is being destroyed?"


text:
 So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh, who said to them, "You may go and worship the LORD, your God. But how many of you will go?"


text:
 "Young and old must go with us," Moses answered, "our sons and daughters as well as our flocks and herds must accompany us. That is what a feast of the LORD means to us."


text:
 "The LORD help you," Pharaoh replied, "if I ever let your little ones go with you! Clearly, you have some evil in mind.


text:
 No, no! Just you men can go and worship the LORD. After all, that is what you want." With that they were driven from Pharaoh's presence.


text:
 The LORD then said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt, that locusts may swarm over it and eat up all the vegetation and whatever the hail has left."


text:
 So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and the LORD sent an east wind blowing over the land all that day and all that night. At dawn the east wind brought the locusts.


text:
 They swarmed over the whole land of Egypt and settled down on every part of it. Never before had there been such a fierce swarm of locusts, nor will there ever be.


text:
 They covered the surface of the whole land, till it was black with them. They ate up all the vegetation in the land and the fruit of whatever trees the hail had spared. Nothing green was left on any tree or plant throughout the land of Egypt.


text:
 Hastily Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, "I have sinned against the LORD, your God, and against you.


text:
 But now, do forgive me my sin once more, and pray the LORD, your God, to take at least this deadly pest from me."


text:
 and the LORD changed the wind to a very strong west wind, which took up the locusts and hurled them into the Red Sea. But though not a single locust remained within the confines of Egypt,


text:
 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand toward the sky, that over the land of Egypt there may be such intense darkness that one can feel it."


text:
 So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and there was dense darkness throughout the land of Egypt for three days.


text:
 Men could not see one another, nor could they move from where they were, for three days. But all the Israelites had light where they dwelt.


text:
 Pharaoh then summoned Moses and Aaron and said, "Go and worship the LORD. Your little ones, too, may go with you. But your flocks and herds must remain."


text:
 Hence, our livestock also must go with us. Not an animal must be left behind. Some of them we must sacrifice to the LORD, our God, but we ourselves shall not know which ones we must sacrifice to him until we arrive at the place itself."


text:
 "Leave my presence," Pharaoh said to him, "and see to it that you do not appear before me again! The day you appear before me you shall die!"


text:
 Then the LORD told Moses, "One more plague will I bring upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt. After that he will let you depart. In fact, he will not merely let you go; he will drive you away.


text:
 Instruct your people that every man is to ask his neighbor, and every woman her neighbor, for silver and gold articles and for clothing."


text:
 The LORD indeed made the Egyptians well-disposed toward the people; Moses himself was very highly regarded by Pharaoh's servants and the people in the land of Egypt.


text:
 Every first-born in this land shall die, from the first-born of Pharaoh on the throne to the first-born of the slave-girl at the handmill, as well as all the first-born of the animals.


text:
 Then there shall be loud wailing throughout the land of Egypt, such as has never been, nor will ever be again.


text:
 But among the Israelites and their animals not even a dog shall growl, so that you may know how the LORD distinguishes between the Egyptians and the Israelites.


text:
 All these servants of yours shall then come down to me, and prostrate before me, they shall beg me, 'Leave us, you and all your followers!' Only then will I depart." With that he left Pharaoh's presence in hot anger.


text:
 The LORD said to Moses, "Pharaoh refuses to listen to you that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt."


text:
 Thus, although Moses and Aaron performed these various wonders in Pharaoh's presence, the LORD made Pharaoh obstinate, and he would not let the Israelites leave his land.


text:
 "This month shall stand at the head of your calendar; you shall reckon it the first month of the year.


text:
 Tell the whole community of Israel: On the tenth of this month every one of your families must procure for itself a lamb, one apiece for each household.


text:
 If a family is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join the nearest household in procuring one and shall share in the lamb in proportion to the number of persons who partake of it.


text:
 The lamb must be a year-old male and without blemish. You may take it from either the sheep or the goats.


text:
 You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, and then, with the whole assembly of Israel present, it shall be slaughtered during the evening twilight.


text:
 They shall take some of its blood and apply it to the two doorposts and the lintel of every house in which they partake of the lamb.


text:
 None of it must be kept beyond the next morning; whatever is left over in the morning shall be burned up.


text:
 "This is how you are to eat it: with your loins girt, sandals on your feet and your staff in hand, you shall eat like those who are in flight. It is the Passover of the LORD.


text:
 For on this same night I will go through Egypt, striking down every first-- born of the land, both man and beast, and executing judgment on all the gods of Egypt-- I, the LORD!


text:
 But the blood will mark the houses where you are. Seeing the blood, I will pass over you; thus, when I strike the land of Egypt, no destructive blow will come upon you.


text:
 "This day shall be a memorial feast for you, which all your generations shall celebrate with pilgrimage to the LORD, as a perpetual institution.


text:
 For seven days you must eat unleavened bread. From the very first day you shall have your houses clear of all leaven. Whoever eats leavened bread from the first day to the seventh shall be cut off from Israel.


text:
 On the first day you shall hold a sacred assembly, and likewise on the seventh. On these days you shall not do any sort of work, except to prepare the food that everyone needs.


text:
 "Keep, then, this custom of the unleavened bread. Since it was on this very day that I brought your ranks out of the land of Egypt, you must celebrate this day throughout your generations as a perpetual institution.


text:
 From the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month until the evening of the twenty-first day of this month you shall eat unleavened bread.


text:
 For seven days no leaven may be found in your houses. Anyone, be he a resident alien or a native, who eats leavened food shall be cut off from the community of Israel.


text:
 Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, "Go and procure lambs for your families, and slaughter them as Passover victims.


text:
 Then take a bunch of hyssop, and dipping it in the blood that is in the basin, sprinkle the lintel and the two doorposts with this blood. But none of you shall go outdoors until morning.


text:
 For the LORD will go by, striking down the Egyptians. Seeing the blood on the lintel and the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over that door and not let the destroyer come into your houses to strike you down.


text:
 Thus, you must also observe this rite when you have entered the land which the LORD will give you as he promised.


text:
 you shall reply, 'This is the Passover sacrifice of the LORD, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt; when he struck down the Egyptians, he spared our houses.'" Then the people bowed down in worship,


text:
 At midnight the LORD slew every first-born in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh on the throne to the first-born of the prisoner in the dungeon, as well as all the first-born of the animals.


text:
 Pharaoh arose in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians; and there was loud wailing throughout Egypt, for there was not a house without its dead.


text:
 During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, "Leave my people at once, you and the Israelites with you! Go and worship the LORD as you said.


text:
 Take your flocks, too, and your herds, as you demanded, and be gone; and you will be doing me a favor."


text:
 The Egyptians likewise urged the people on, to hasten their departure from the land; they thought that otherwise they would all die.


text:
 The people, therefore, took their dough before it was leavened, in their kneading bowls wrapped in their cloaks on their shoulders.


text:
 The Israelites did as Moses had commanded: they asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing.


text:
 The LORD indeed had made the Egyptians so well-disposed toward the people that they let them have whatever they asked for. Thus did they despoil the Egyptians.


text:
 The Israelites set out from Rameses for Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, not counting the children.


text:
 A crowd of mixed ancestry also went up with them, besides their livestock, very numerous flocks and herds.


text:
 Since the dough they had brought out of Egypt was not leavened, they baked it into unleavened loaves. They had been rushed out of Egypt and had no opportunity even to prepare food for the journey.


text:
 At the end of four hundred and thirty years, all the hosts of the LORD left the land of Egypt on this very date.


text:
 This was a night of vigil for the LORD, as he led them out of the land of Egypt; so on this same night all the Israelites must keep a vigil for the LORD throughout their generations.


text:
 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "These are the regulations for the Passover. No foreigner may partake of it.


text:
 However, any slave who has been bought for money may partake of it, provided you have first circumcised him.


text:
 It must be eaten in one and the same house; you may not take any of its flesh outside the house. You shall not break any of its bones.


text:
 If any aliens living among you wish to celebrate the Passover of the LORD, all the males among them must first be circumcised, and then they may join in its observance just like the natives. But no man who is uncircumcised may partake of it.


text:
 "Consecrate to me every first-born that opens the womb among the Israelites, both of man and beast, for it belongs to me."


text:
 Moses said to the people, "Remember this day on which you came out of Egypt, that place of slavery. It was with a strong hand that the LORD brought you away. Nothing made with leaven must be eaten.


text:
 Therefore, it is in this month that you must celebrate this rite, after the LORD, your God, has brought you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites and Jebusites, which he swore to your fathers he would give you, a land flowing with milk and honey.


text:
 For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and the seventh day shall also be a festival to the LORD.


text:
 Only unleavened bread may be eaten during the seven days; no leaven and nothing leavened may be found in all your territory.


text:
 On this day you shall explain to your son, 'This is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.'


text:
 It shall be as a sign on your hand and as a reminder on your forehead; thus the law of the LORD will ever be on your lips, because with a strong hand the LORD brought you out of Egypt.


text:
 "When the LORD, your God, has brought you into the land of the Canaanites, which he swore to you and your fathers he would give you,


text:
 you shall dedicate to the LORD every son that opens the womb; and all the male firstlings of your animals shall belong to the LORD.


text:
 Every first-born of an ass you shall redeem with a sheep. If you do not redeem it, you shall break its neck. Every first-born son you must redeem.


text:
 If your son should ask you later on, 'What does this mean?' you shall tell him, 'With a strong hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, that place of slavery.


text:
 When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the LORD killed every first-born in the land of Egypt, every first-born of man and of beast. That is why I sacrifice to the LORD everything of the male sex that opens the womb, and why I redeem every first-born of my sons.'


text:
 Let this, then, be as a sign on your hand and as a pendant on your forehead: with a strong hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt."


text:
 Now, when Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the Philistines' land, though this was the nearest; for he thought, should the people see that they would have to fight, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.


text:
 Instead, he rerouted them toward the Red Sea by way of the desert road. In battle array the Israelites marched out of Egypt.


text:
 Moses also took Joseph's bones along, for Joseph had made the Israelites swear solemnly that, when God should come to them, they would carry his bones away with them.


text:
 The LORD preceded them, in the daytime by means of a column of cloud to show them the way, and at night by means of a column of fire to give them light. Thus they could travel both day and night.


text:
 Neither the column of cloud by day nor the column of fire by night ever left its place in front of the people.


text:
 "Tell the Israelites to turn about and camp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. You shall camp in front of Baal-zephon, just opposite, by the sea.


text:
 Pharaoh will then say, 'The Israelites are wandering about aimlessly in the land. The desert has closed in on them.'


text:
 Thus will I make Pharaoh so obstinate that he will pursue them. Then I will receive glory through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD." This the Israelites did.


text:
 When it was reported to the king of Egypt that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his servants changed their minds about them. "What have we done!" they exclaimed. "Why, we have released Israel from our service!"


text:
 So obstinate had the LORD made Pharaoh that he pursued the Israelites even while they were marching away in triumph.


text:
 The Egyptians, then, pursued them; Pharaoh's whole army, his horses, chariots and charioteers, caught up with them as they lay encamped by the sea, at Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.


text:
 Pharaoh was already near when the Israelites looked up and saw that the Egyptians were on the march in pursuit of them. In great fright they cried out to the LORD.


text:
 And they complained to Moses, "Were there no burial places in Egypt that you had to bring us out here to die in the desert? Why did you do this to us? Why did you bring us out of Egypt?


text:
 Did we not tell you this in Egypt, when we said, 'Leave us alone. Let us serve the Egyptians'? Far better for us to be the slaves of the Egyptians than to die in the desert."


text:
 But Moses answered the people, "Fear not! Stand your ground, and you will see the victory the LORD will win for you today. These Egyptians whom you see today you will never see again.


text:
 And you, lift up your staff and, with hand outstretched over the sea, split the sea in two, that the Israelites may pass through it on dry land.


text:
 But I will make the Egyptians so obstinate that they will go in after them. Then I will receive glory through Pharaoh and all his army, his chariots and charioteers.


text:
 The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I receive glory through Pharaoh and his chariots and charioteers."


text:
 The angel of God, who had been leading Israel's camp, now moved and went around behind them. The column of cloud also, leaving the front, took up its place behind them,


text:
 so that it came between the camp of the Egyptians and that of Israel. But the cloud now became dark, and thus the night passed without the rival camps coming any closer together all night long.


text:
 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the LORD swept the sea with a strong east wind throughout the night and so turned it into dry land. When the water was thus divided,


text:
 the Israelites marched into the midst of the sea on dry land, with the water like a wall to their right and to their left.


text:
 The Egyptians followed in pursuit; all Pharaoh's horses and chariots and charioteers went after them right into the midst of the sea.


text:
 In the night watch just before dawn the LORD cast through the column of the fiery cloud upon the Egyptian force a glance that threw it into a panic;


text:
 and he so clogged their chariot wheels that they could hardly drive. With that the Egyptians sounded the retreat before Israel, because the LORD was fighting for them against the Egyptians.


text:
 Then the LORD told Moses, "Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may flow back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and their charioteers."


text:
 So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at dawn the sea flowed back to its normal depth. The Egyptians were fleeing head on toward the sea, when the LORD hurled them into its midst.


text:
 As the water flowed back, it covered the chariots and the charioteers of Pharaoh's whole army which had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not a single one of them escaped.


text:
 But the Israelites had marched on dry land through the midst of the sea, with the water like a wall to their right and to their left.


text:
 Thus the LORD saved Israel on that day from the power of the Egyptians. When Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the seashore


text:
 and beheld the great power that the LORD had shown against the Egyptians, they feared the LORD and believed in him and in his servant Moses.


text:
 Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the LORD: I will sing to the LORD, for he is gloriously triumphant; horse and chariot he has cast into the sea.


text:
 My strength and my courage is the LORD, and he has been my savior. He is my God, I praise him; the God of my father, I extol him.


text:
 Pharaoh's chariots and army he hurled into the sea; the elite of his officers were submerged in the Red Sea.


text:
 In your great majesty you overthrew your adversaries; you loosed your wrath to consume them like stubble.


text:
 At a breath of your anger the waters piled up, the flowing waters stood like a mound, the flood waters congealed in the midst of the sea.


text:
 The enemy boasted, "I will pursue and overtake them; I will divide the spoils and have my fill of them; I will draw my sword; my hand shall despoil them!"


text:
 Who is like to you among the gods, O LORD? Who is like to you, magnificent in holiness? O terrible in renown, worker of wonders,


text:
 In your mercy you led the people you redeemed; in your strength you guided them to your holy dwelling.


text:
 Then were the princes of Edom dismayed; trembling seized the chieftains of Moab; All the dwellers in Canaan melted away;


text:
 terror and dread fell upon them. By the might of your arm they were frozen like stone, while your people, O LORD, passed over, while the people you had made your own passed over.


text:
 And you brought them in and planted them on the mountain of your inheritance-- the place where you made your seat, O LORD, the sanctuary, O LORD, which your hands established.


text:
 They sang thus because Pharaoh's horses and chariots and charioteers had gone into the sea, and the LORD made the waters of the sea flow back upon them, though the Israelites had marched on dry land through the midst of the sea.


text:
 The prophetess Miriam, Aaron's sister, took a tambourine in her hand, while all the women went out after her with tambourines, dancing;


text:
 and she led them in the refrain: Sing to the LORD, for he is gloriously triumphant; horse and chariot he has cast into the sea.


text:
 Then Moses led Israel forward from the Red Sea, and they marched out to the desert of Shur. After traveling for three days through the desert without finding water,


text:
 they arrived at Marah, where they could not drink the water, because it was too bitter. Hence this place was called Marah.


text:
 he appealed to the LORD, who pointed out to him a certain piece of wood. When he threw this into the water, the water became fresh.It was here that the LORD, in making rules and regulations for them, put them to the test.


text:
 "If you really listen to the voice of the LORD, your God," he told them, "and do what is right in his eyes: if you heed his commandments and keep all his precepts, I will not afflict you with any of the diseases with which I afflicted the Egyptians; for I, the LORD, am your healer."


text:
 Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped there near the water.


text:
 Having set out from Elim, the whole Israelite community came into the desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departure from the land of Egypt.


text:
 The Israelites said to them, "Would that we had died at the LORD'S hand in the land of Egypt, as we sat by our fleshpots and ate our fill of bread! But you had to lead us into this desert to make the whole community die of famine!"


text:
 Then the LORD said to Moses, "I will now rain down bread from heaven for you. Each day the people are to go out and gather their daily portion; thus will I test them, to see whether they follow my instructions or not.


text:
 On the sixth day, however, when they prepare what they bring in, let it be twice as much as they gather on the other days."


text:
 So Moses and Aaron told all the Israelites, "At evening you will know that it was the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt;


text:
 and in the morning you will see the glory of the LORD, as he heeds your grumbling against him. But what are we that you should grumble against us?


text:
 When the LORD gives you flesh to eat in the evening," continued Moses, "and in the morning your fill of bread, as he heeds the grumbling you utter against him, what then are we? Your grumbling is not against us, but against the LORD."


text:
 Then Moses said to Aaron, "Tell the whole Israelite community: Present yourselves before the LORD, for he has heard your grumbling."


text:
 When Aaron announced this to the whole Israelite community, they turned toward the desert, and lo, the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud!


text:
 "I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them: In the evening twilight you shall eat flesh, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread, so that you may know that I, the LORD, am your God."


text:
 and when the dew evaporated, there on the surface of the desert were fine flakes like hoarfrost on the ground.


text:
 On seeing it, the Israelites asked one another, "What is this?" for they did not know what it was. But Moses told them, "This is the bread which the LORD has given you to eat.


text:
 "Now, this is what the LORD has commanded. So gather it that everyone has enough to eat, an omer for each person, as many of you as there are, each man providing for those of his own tent."


text:
 But when they measured it out by the omer, he who had gathered a large amount did not have too much, and he who had gathered a small amount did not have too little. They so gathered that everyone had enough to eat.


text:
 But they would not listen to him. When some kept a part of it over until the following morning, it became wormy and rotten. Therefore Moses was displeased with them.


text:
 Morning after morning they gathered it, till each had enough to eat; but when the sun grew hot, the manna melted away.


text:
 On the sixth day they gathered twice as much food, two omers for each person. When all the leaders of the community came and reported this to Moses,


text:
 he told them, "That is what the LORD prescribed. Tomorrow is a day of complete rest, the sabbath, sacred to the LORD. You may either bake or boil the manna, as you please; but whatever is left put away and keep for the morrow."


text:
 Moses then said, "Eat it today, for today is the sabbath of the LORD. On this day you will not find any of it on the ground.


text:
 On the other six days you can gather it, but on the seventh day, the sabbath, none of it will be there."


text:
 Still, on the seventh day some of the people went out to gather it, although they did not find any.


text:
 Take note! The LORD has given you the sabbath. That is why on the sixth day he gives you food for two days. On the seventh day everyone is to stay home and no one is to go out."


text:
 The Israelites called this food manna. It was like coriander seed, but white, and it tasted like wafers made with honey.


text:
 Moses said, "This is what the LORD has commanded. Keep an omerful of manna for your descendants, that they may see what food I gave you to eat in the desert when I brought you out of the land of Egypt."


text:
 Moses then told Aaron, "Take an urn and put an omer of manna in it. Then place it before the LORD in safekeeping for your descendants."


text:
 The Israelites ate this manna for forty years, until they came to settled land; they ate manna until they reached the borders of Canaan.


text:
 From the desert of Sin the whole Israelite community journeyed by stages, as the LORD directed, and encamped at Rephidim. Here there was no water for the people to drink.


text:
 They quarreled, therefore, with Moses and said, "Give us water to drink." Moses replied, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the LORD to a test?"


text:
 Here, then, in their thirst for water, the people grumbled against Moses, saying, "Why did you ever make us leave Egypt? Was it just to have us die here of thirst with our children and our livestock?"


text:
 So Moses cried out to the LORD, "What shall I do with this people? A little more and they will stone me!"


text:
 The LORD answered Moses, "Go over there in front of the people, along with some of the elders of Israel, holding in your hand, as you go, the staff with which you struck the river.


text:
 I will be standing there in front of you on the rock in Horeb. Strike the rock, and the water will flow from it for the people to drink." This Moses did, in the presence of the elders of Israel.


text:
 The place was called Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled there and tested the LORD, saying, "Is the LORD in our midst or not?"


text:
 Moses, therefore, said to Joshua, "Pick out certain men, and tomorrow go out and engage Amalek in battle. I will be standing on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand."


text:
 So Joshua did as Moses told him: he engaged Amalek in battle after Moses had climbed to the top of the hill with Aaron and Hur.


text:
 As long as Moses kept his hands raised up, Israel had the better of the fight, but when he let his hands rest, Amalek had the better of the fight.


text:
 Moses' hands, however, grew tired; so they put a rock in place for him to sit on. Meanwhile Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other, so that his hands remained steady till sunset.


text:
 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Write this down in a document as something to be remembered, and recite it in the ears of Joshua: I will completely blot out the memory of Amalek from under the heavens."


text:
 for he said, "The LORD takes in hand his banner; the LORD will war against Amalek through the centuries."


text:
 Now Moses' father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for his people Israel: how the LORD had brought Israel out of Egypt.


text:
 and her two sons. One of these was called Gershom; for he said, "I am a stranger in a foreign land."


text:
 The other was called Eliezer; for he said, "My father's God is my helper; he has rescued me from Pharaoh's sword."


text:
 Together with Moses' wife and sons, then, his father-in-law Jethro came to him in the desert where he was encamped near the mountain of God,


text:
 and he sent word to Moses, "I, Jethro, your father-in-law, am coming to you, along with your wife and her two sons."


text:
 Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, bowed down before him, and kissed him. Having greeted each other, they went into the tent.


text:
 Moses then told his father-in-law of all that the LORD had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for the sake of Israel, and of all the hardships they had had to endure on their journey, and how the LORD had come to their rescue.


text:
 Jethro rejoiced over all the goodness that the LORD had shown Israel in rescuing them from the hands of the Egyptians.


text:
 "Blessed be the LORD," he said, "who has rescued his people from the hands of Pharaoh and the Egyptians.


text:
 Now I know that the LORD is a deity great beyond any other; for he took occasion of their being dealt with insolently to deliver the people from the power of the Egyptians."


text:
 Then Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, brought a holocaust and other sacrifices to God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to participate with Moses' father-in-law in the meal before God.


text:
 The next day Moses sat in judgment for the people, who waited about him from morning until evening.


text:
 When his father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he inquired, "What sort of thing is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone while all the people have to stand about you from morning till evening?"


text:
 Whenever they have a disagreement, they come to me to have me settle the matter between them and make known to them God's decisions and regulations."


text:
 "You will surely wear yourself out, and not only yourself but also these people with you. The task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone.


text:
 Now, listen to me, and I will give you some advice, that God may be with you. Act as the people's representative before God, bringing to him whatever they have to say.


text:
 Enlighten them in regard to the decisions and regulations, showing them how they are to live and what they are to do.


text:
 But you should also look among all the people for able and God-fearing men, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain, and set them as officers over groups of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.


text:
 Let these men render decisions for the people in all ordinary cases. More important cases they should refer to you, but all the lesser cases they can settle themselves. Thus, your burden will be lightened, since they will bear it with you.


text:
 If you do this, when God gives you orders you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied."


text:
 He picked out able men from all Israel and put them in charge of the people as officers over groups of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.


text:
 They rendered decisions for the people in all ordinary cases. The more difficult cases they referred to Moses, but all the lesser cases they settled themselves.


text:
 In the third month after their departure from the land of Egypt, on its first day, the Israelites came to the desert of Sinai.


text:
 After the journey from Rephidim to the desert of Sinai, they pitched camp. While Israel was encamped here in front of the mountain,


text:
 Moses went up the mountain to God. Then the LORD called to him and said, "Thus shall you say to the house of Jacob;


text:
 tell the Israelites: You have seen for yourselves how I treated the Egyptians and how I bore you up on eagle wings and brought you here to myself.


text:
 Therefore, if you hearken to my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my special possession, dearer to me than all other people, though all the earth is mine.


text:
 You shall be to me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation. That is what you must tell the Israelites."


text:
 So Moses went and summoned the elders of the people. When he set before them all that the LORD had ordered him to tell them,


text:
 the people all answered together, "Everything the LORD has said, we will do." Then Moses brought back to the LORD the response of the people.


text:
 The LORD also told him, "I am coming to you in a dense cloud, so that when the people hear me speaking with you, they may always have faith in you also." When Moses, then, had reported to the LORD the response of the people,


text:
 the LORD added, "Go to the people and have them sanctify themselves today and tomorrow. Make them wash their garments


text:
 and be ready for the third day; for on the third day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai before the eyes of all the people.


text:
 Set limits for the people all around the mountain, and tell them: Take care not to go up the mountain, or even to touch its base. If anyone touches the mountain, he must be put to death.


text:
 No hand shall touch him; he must be stoned to death or killed with arrows. Such a one, man or beast, must not be allowed to live. Only when the ram's horn resounds may they go up to the mountain."


text:
 Then Moses came down from the mountain to the people and had them sanctify themselves and wash their garments.


text:
 On the morning of the third day there were peals of thunder and lightning, and a heavy cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled.


text:
 But Moses led the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stationed themselves at the foot of the mountain.


text:
 Mount Sinai was all wrapped in smoke, for the LORD came down upon it in fire. The smoke rose from it as though from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently.


text:
 The trumpet blast grew louder and louder, while Moses was speaking and God answering him with thunder.


text:
 When the LORD came down to the top of Mount Sinai, he summoned Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up to him.


text:
 Then the LORD told Moses, "Go down and warn the people not to break through toward the LORD in order to see him; otherwise many of them will be struck down.


text:
 The priests, too, who approach the LORD must sanctify themselves; else he will vent his anger upon them."


text:
 Moses said to the LORD, "The people cannot go up to Mount Sinai, for you yourself warned us to set limits around the mountain to make it sacred."


text:
 The LORD repeated, "Go down now! Then come up again along with Aaron. But the priests and the people must not break through to come up to the LORD; else he will vent his anger upon them."


text:
 You shall not carve idols for yourselves in the shape of anything in the sky above or on the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth;


text:
 you shall not bow down before them or worship them. For I, the LORD, your God, am a jealous God, inflicting punishment for their fathers' wickedness on the children of those who hate me, down to the third and fourth generation;


text:
 but bestowing mercy down to the thousandth generation, on the children of those who love me and keep my commandments.


text:
 "You shall not take the name of the LORD, your God, in vain. For the LORD will not leave unpunished him who takes his name in vain.


text:
 but the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD, your God. No work may be done then either by you, or your son or daughter, or your male or female slave, or your beast, or by the alien who lives with you.


text:
 In six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the LORD has blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.


text:
 "Honor your father and your mother, that you may have a long life in the land which the LORD, your God, is giving you.


text:
 "You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male or female slave, nor his ox or ass, nor anything else that belongs to him."


text:
 When the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the trumpet blast and the mountain smoking, they all feared and trembled. So they took up a position much farther away


text:
 and said to Moses, "You speak to us, and we will listen; but let not God speak to us, or we shall die."


text:
 Moses answered the people, "Do not be afraid, for God has come to you only to test you and put his fear upon you, lest you should sin."


text:
 The LORD told Moses, "Thus shall you speak to the Israelites: You have seen for yourselves that I have spoken to you from heaven.


text:
 Do not make anything to rank with me; neither gods of silver nor gods of gold shall you make for yourselves.


text:
 "An altar of earth you shall make for me, and upon it you shall sacrifice your holocausts and peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In whatever place I choose for the remembrance of my name I will come to you and bless you.


text:
 If you make an altar of stone for me, do not build it of cut stone, for by putting a tool to it you desecrate it.


text:
 When you purchase a Hebrew slave, he is to serve you for six years, but in the seventh year he shall be given his freedom without cost.


text:
 If he comes into service alone, he shall leave alone; if he comes with a wife, his wife shall leave with him.


text:
 But if his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the woman and her children shall remain the master's property and the man shall leave alone.


text:
 If, however, the slave declares, 'I am devoted to my master and my wife and children; I will not go free,'


text:
 his master shall bring him to God and there, at the door or doorpost, he shall pierce his ear with an awl, thus keeping him as his slave forever.


text:
 But if her master, who had destined her for himself, dislikes her, he shall let her be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to a foreigner, since he has broken faith with her.


text:
 If he does not grant her these three things, she shall be given her freedom absolutely, without cost to her.


text:
 He, however, who did not hunt a man down, but caused his death by an act of God, may flee to a place which I will set apart for this purpose.


text:
 But when a man kills another after maliciously scheming to do so, you must take him even from my altar and put him to death.


text:
 "When men quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone or with his fist, not mortally, but enough to put him in bed,


text:
 the one who struck the blow shall be acquitted, provided the other can get up and walk around with the help of his staff. Still, he must compensate him for his enforced idleness and provide for his complete cure.


text:
 "When a man strikes his male or female slave with a rod so hard that the slave dies under his hand, he shall be punished.


text:
 If, however, the slave survives for a day or two, he is not to be punished, since the slave is his own property.


text:
 "When men have a fight and hurt a pregnant woman, so that she suffers a miscarriage, but no further injury, the guilty one shall be fined as much as the woman's husband demands of him, and he shall pay in the presence of the judges.


text:
 "When a man strikes his male or female slave in the eye and destroys the use of the eye, he shall let the slave go free in compensation for the eye.


text:
 If he knocks out a tooth of his male or female slave, he shall let the slave go free in compensation for the tooth.


text:
 "When an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox must be stoned; its flesh may not be eaten. The owner of the ox, however, shall go unpunished.


text:
 But if an ox was previously in the habit of goring people and its owner, though warned, would not keep it in; should it then kill a man or a woman, not only must the ox be stoned, but its owner also must be put to death.


text:
 If, however, a fine is imposed on him, he must pay in ransom for his life whatever amount is imposed on him.


text:
 But if it is a male or a female slave that it gores, he must pay the owner of the slave thirty shekels of silver, and the ox must be stoned.


text:
 "When a man uncovers or digs a cistern and does not cover it over again, should an ox or an ass fall into it,


text:
 the owner of the cistern must make good by restoring the value of the animal to its owner; the dead animal, however, he may keep.


text:
 "When one man's ox hurts another's ox so badly that it dies, they shall sell the live ox and divide this money as well as the dead animal equally between them.


text:
 But if it was known that the ox was previously in the habit of goring and its owner would not keep it in, he must make full restitution, an ox for an ox; but the dead animal he may keep.


text:
 "When a man steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters or sells it, he shall restore five oxen for the one ox, and four sheep for the one sheep.


text:
 "(If a thief is caught in the act of housebreaking and beaten to death, there is no bloodguilt involved.


text:
 But if after sunrise he is thus beaten, there is bloodguilt.) He must make full restitution. If he has nothing, he shall be sold to pay for his theft.


text:
 If what he stole is found alive in his possession, be it an ox, an ass or a sheep, he shall restore two animals for each one stolen.


text:
 "When a man is burning over a field or a vineyard, if he lets the fire spread so that it burns in another's field, he must make restitution with the best produce of his own field or vineyard.


text:
 If the fire spreads further, and catches on to thorn bushes, so that shocked grain or standing grain or the field itself is burned up, the one who started the fire must make full restitution.


text:
 "When a man gives money or an article to another for safekeeping and it is stolen from the latter's house, the thief, if caught, must make twofold restitution.


text:
 If the thief is not caught, the owner of the house shall be brought to God, to swear that he himself did not lay hands on his neighbor's property.


text:
 In every question of dishonest appropriation, whether it be about an ox, or an ass, or a sheep, or a garment, or anything else that has disappeared, where another claims that the thing is his, both parties shall present their case before God; the one whom God convicts must make twofold restitution to the other.


text:
 "When a man gives an ass, or an ox, or a sheep, or any other animal to another for safekeeping, if it dies, or is maimed or snatched away, without anyone witnessing the fact,


text:
 the custodian shall swear by the LORD that he did not lay hands on his neighbor's property; the owner must accept the oath, and no restitution is to be made.


text:
 If it has been killed by a wild beast, let him bring it as evidence, and he need not make restitution for the mangled animal.


text:
 "When a man borrows an animal from his neighbor, if it is maimed or dies while the owner is not present, the man must make restitution.


text:
 But if the owner is present, he need not make restitution. If it was hired, this was covered by the price of its hire.


text:
 "When a man seduces a virgin who is not betrothed, and lies with her, he shall pay her marriage price and marry her.


text:
 If her father refuses to give her to him, he must still pay him the customary marriage price for virgins.


text:
 "You shall not molest or oppress an alien, for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt.


text:
 My wrath will flare up, and I will kill you with the sword; then your own wives will be widows, and your children orphans.


text:
 "If you lend money to one of your poor neighbors among my people, you shall not act like an extortioner toward him by demanding interest from him.


text:
 for this cloak of his is the only covering he has for his body. What else has he to sleep in? If he cries out to me, I will hear him; for I am compassionate.


text:
 "You shall not delay the offering of your harvest and your press. You shall give me the first-born of your sons.


text:
 You must do the same with your oxen and your sheep; for seven days the firstling may stay with its mother, but on the eighth day you must give it to me.


text:
 "You shall be men sacred to me. Flesh torn to pieces in the field you shall not eat; throw it to the dogs.


text:
 "You shall not repeat a false report. Do not join the wicked in putting your hand, as an unjust witness, upon anyone.


text:
 Neither shall you allege the example of the many as an excuse for doing wrong, nor shall you, when testifying in a lawsuit, side with the many in perverting justice.


text:
 When you notice the ass of one who hates you lying prostrate under its burden, by no means desert him; help him, rather, to raise it up.


text:
 You shall keep away from anything dishonest. The innocent and the just you shall not put to death, nor shall you acquit the guilty.


text:
 Never take a bribe, for a bribe blinds even the most clear-sighted and twists the words even of the just.


text:
 You shall not oppress an alien; you well know how it feels to be an alien, since you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt.


text:
 But the seventh year you shall let the land lie untilled and unharvested, that the poor among you may eat of it and the beasts of the field may eat what the poor leave. So also shall you do in regard to your vineyard and your olive grove.


text:
 "For six days you may do your work, but on the seventh day you must rest, that your ox and your ass may also have rest, and that the son of your maidservant and the alien may be refreshed.


text:
 Give heed to all that I have told you. "Never mention the name of any other god; it shall not be heard from your lips.


text:
 You shall keep the feast of Unleavened Bread. As I have commanded you, you must eat unleavened bread for seven days at the prescribed time in the month of Abib, for it was then that you came out of Egypt. No one shall appear before me empty-handed.


text:
 You shall also keep the feast of the grain harvest with the first of the crop that you have sown in the field; and finally, the feast at the fruit harvest at the end of the year, when you gather in the produce from the fields.


text:
 "You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread; nor shall the fat of my feast be kept overnight till the next day.


text:
 The choicest first fruits of your soil you shall bring to the house of the LORD, your God. "You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk.


text:
 "See, I am sending an angel before you, to guard you on the way and bring you to the place I have prepared.


text:
 Be attentive to him and heed his voice. Do not rebel against him, for he will not forgive your sin. My authority resides in him.


text:
 If you heed his voice and carry out all I tell you, I will be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes.


text:
 "My angel will go before you and bring you to the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites; and I will wipe them out.


text:
 Therefore, you shall not bow down in worship before their gods, nor shall you make anything like them; rather, you must demolish them and smash their sacred pillars.


text:
 The LORD, your God, you shall worship; then I will bless your food and drink, and I will remove all sickness from your midst;


text:
 "I will have the fear of me precede you, so that I will throw into panic every nation you reach. I will make all your enemies turn from you in flight,


text:
 and ahead of you I will send hornets to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way.


text:
 But not in one year will I drive them all out before you; else the land will become so desolate that the wild beasts will multiply against you.


text:
 Instead, I will drive them out little by little before you, until you have grown numerous enough to take possession of the land.


text:
 I will set your boundaries from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the River; all who dwell in this land I will hand over to you to be driven out of your way.


text:
 They must not abide in your land, lest they make you sin against me by ensnaring you into worshiping their gods."


text:
 Moses himself was told, "Come up to the LORD, you and Aaron, with Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. You shall all worship at some distance,


text:
 but Moses alone is to come close to the LORD; the others shall not come too near, and the people shall not come up at all with Moses."


text:
 When Moses came to the people and related all the words and ordinances of the LORD, they all answered with one voice, "We will do everything that the LORD has told us."


text:
 Moses then wrote down all the words of the LORD and, rising early the next day, he erected at the foot of the mountain an altar and twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel.


text:
 Then, having sent certain young men of the Israelites to offer holocausts and sacrifice young bulls as peace offerings to the LORD,


text:
 Taking the book of the covenant, he read it aloud to the people, who answered, "All that the LORD has said, we will heed and do."


text:
 Then he took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, saying, "This is the blood of the covenant which the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words of his."


text:
 and they beheld the God of Israel. Under his feet there appeared to be sapphire tilework, as clear as the sky itself.


text:
 The LORD said to Moses, "Come up to me on the mountain and, while you are there, I will give you the stone tablets on which I have written the commandments intended for their instruction."


text:
 The elders, however, had been told by him, "Wait here for us until we return to you. Aaron and Hur are staying with you. If anyone has a complaint, let him refer the matter to them."


text:
 The glory of the LORD settled upon Mount Sinai. The cloud covered it for six days, and on the seventh day he called to Moses from the midst of the cloud.


text:
 But Moses passed into the midst of the cloud as he went up on the mountain; and there he stayed for forty days and forty nights.


text:
 "Tell the Israelites to take up a collection for me. From every man you shall accept the contribution that his heart prompts him to give me.


text:
 This Dwelling and all its furnishings you shall make exactly according to the pattern that I will now show you.


text:
 "You shall make an ark of acacia wood, two and a half cubits long, one and a half cubits wide, and one and a half cubits high.


text:
 Cast four gold rings and fasten them on the four supports of the ark, two rings on one side and two on the opposite side.


text:
 "You shall then make a propitiatory of pure gold, two cubits and a half long, and one and a half cubits wide.


text:
 The cherubim shall have their wings spread out above, covering the propitiatory with them; they shall be turned toward each other, but with their faces looking toward the propitiatory.


text:
 This propitiatory you shall then place on top of the ark. In the ark itself you are to put the commandments which I will give you.


text:
 There I will meet you and there, from above the propitiatory, between the two cherubim on the ark of the commandments, I will tell you all the commands that I wish you to give the Israelites.


text:
 "You shall also make a table of acacia wood, two cubits long, a cubit wide, and a cubit and a half high.


text:
 You shall also make four rings of gold for it and fasten them at the four corners, one at each leg,


text:
 Of pure gold you shall make its plates and cups, as well as its pitchers and bowls for pouring libations.


text:
 "You shall make a lampstand of pure beaten gold-- its shaft and branches-- with its cups and knobs and petals springing directly from it.


text:
 Six branches are to extend from the sides of the lampstand, three branches on one side, and three on the other.


text:
 On one branch there are to be three cups, shaped like almond blossoms, each with its knob and petals; on the opposite branch there are to be three cups, shaped like almond blossoms, each with its knob and petals; and so for the six branches that extend from the lampstand.


text:
 Their knobs and branches shall so spring from it that the whole will form but a single piece of pure beaten gold.


text:
 You shall then make seven lamps for it and so set up the lamps that they shed their light on the space in front of the lampstand.


text:
 "The Dwelling itself you shall make out of sheets woven of fine linen twined and of violet, purple and scarlet yarn, with cherubim embroidered on them.


text:
 The length of each shall be twenty-eight cubits, and the width four cubits; all the sheets shall be of the same size.


text:
 Make loops of violet yarn along the edge of the end sheet in one set, and the same along the edge of the end sheet in the other set.


text:
 There are to be fifty loops along the edge of the end sheet in the first set, and fifty loops along the edge of the corresponding sheet in the second set, and so placed that the loops are directly opposite each other.


text:
 Then make fifty clasps of gold, with which to join the two sets of sheets, so that the Dwelling forms one whole.


text:
 Eleven such sheets are to be made; the length of each shall be thirty cubits, and the width four cubits: all eleven sheets shall be of the same size.


text:
 Sew five of the sheets, edge to edge, into one set, and the other six sheets into another set. Use the sixth sheet double at the front of the tent.


text:
 Make fifty loops along the edge of the end sheet in one set, and fifty loops along the edge of the end sheet in the second set.


text:
 There will be an extra half sheet of tent covering, which shall be allowed to hang down over the rear of the Dwelling.


text:
 Likewise, the sheets of the tent will have an extra cubit's length to be left hanging down on either side of the Dwelling to protect it.


text:
 Over the tent itself you shall make a covering of rams' skins dyed red, and above that, a covering of tahash skins.


text:
 Each board shall have two arms that shall serve to fasten the boards in line. In this way all the boards of the Dwelling are to be made.


text:
 with forty silver pedestals under the twenty boards, so that there are two pedestals under each board, at its two arms;


text:
 These two shall be double at the bottom, and likewise double at the top, to the first ring. That is how both boards in the corners are to be made.


text:
 Thus, there shall be in the rear eight boards, with their sixteen silver pedestals, two pedestals under each board.


text:
 Plate the boards with gold, and make gold rings on them as holders for the bars, which are also to be plated with gold.


text:
 "You shall have a veil woven of violet, purple and scarlet yarn, and of fine linen twined, with cherubim embroidered on it.


text:
 It is to be hung on four gold-plated columns of acacia wood, which shall have hooks of gold and shall rest on four silver pedestals.


text:
 Hang the veil from clasps. The ark of the commandments you shall bring inside, behind this veil which divides the holy place from the holy of holies.


text:
 "Outside the veil you shall place the table and the lampstand, the latter on the south side of the Dwelling, opposite the table, which is to be put on the north side.


text:
 For the entrance of the tent make a variegated curtain of violet, purple and scarlet yarn and of fine linen twined.


text:
 Make five columns of acacia wood for this curtain; have them plated with gold, with their hooks of gold; and cast five bronze pedestals for them.


text:
 "You shall make an altar of acacia wood, on a square, five cubits long and five cubits wide; it shall be three cubits high.


text:
 At the four corners there are to be horns, so made that they spring directly from the altar. You shall then plate it with bronze.


text:
 Make pots for removing the ashes, as well as shovels, basins, forks and fire pans, all of which shall be of bronze.


text:
 Make a grating of bronze network for it; this to have four bronze rings, one at each of its four corners.


text:
 These poles are to be put through the rings, so that they are on either side of the altar when it is carried.


text:
 "You shall also make a court for the Dwelling. On the south side the court shall have hangings a hundred cubits long, woven of fine linen twined,


text:
 with twenty columns and twenty pedestals of bronze; the hooks and bands on the columns shall be of silver.


text:
 On the north side there shall be similar hangings, a hundred cubits long, with twenty columns and twenty pedestals of bronze; the hooks and bands on the columns shall be of silver.


text:
 On the west side, across the width of the court, there shall be hangings, fifty cubits long, with ten columns and ten pedestals.


text:
 On one side there shall be hangings to the extent of fifteen cubits, with three columns and three pedestals;


text:
 on the other side there shall be hangings to the extent of fifteen cubits, with three columns and three pedestals.


text:
 "At the entrance of the court there shall be a variegated curtain, twenty cubits long, woven of violet, purple and scarlet yarn and of fine linen twined. It shall have four columns and four pedestals.


text:
 The enclosure of the court is to be one hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide, and five cubits high. Fine linen twined must be used, and the pedestals must be of bronze.


text:
 All the fittings of the Dwelling, whatever be their use, as well as all its tent pegs and all the tent pegs of the court, must be of bronze.


text:
 "You shall order the Israelites to bring you clear oil of crushed olives, to be used for the light, so that you may keep lamps burning regularly.


text:
 From evening to morning Aaron and his sons shall maintain them before the LORD in the meeting tent, outside the veil which hangs in front of the commandments. This shall be a perpetual ordinance for the Israelites throughout their generations.


text:
 "From among the Israelites have your brother Aaron, together with his sons Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, brought to you, that they may be my priests.


text:
 Therefore, to the various expert workmen whom I have endowed with skill, you shall give instructions to make such vestments for Aaron as will set him apart for his sacred service as my priest.


text:
 These are the vestments they shall make: a breastpiece, an ephod, a robe, a brocaded tunic, a miter and a sash. In making these sacred vestments which your brother Aaron and his sons are to wear in serving as my priests,


text:
 "The ephod they shall make of gold thread and of violet, purple and scarlet yarn, embroidered on cloth of fine linen twined.


text:
 The embroidered belt of the ephod shall extend out from it and, like it, be made of gold thread, of violet, purple and scarlet yarn, and of fine linen twined.


text:
 six of their names on one stone, and the other six on the other stone, in the order of their birth.


text:
 As a gem-cutter engraves a seal, so shall you have the two stones engraved with the names of the sons of Israel and then mounted in gold filigree work.


text:
 Set these two stones on the shoulder straps of the ephod as memorial stones of the sons of Israel. Thus Aaron shall bear their names on his shoulders as a reminder before the LORD.


text:
 as well as two chains of pure gold, twisted like cords, and fasten the cordlike chains to the filigree rosettes.


text:
 "The breastpiece of decision you shall also have made, embroidered like the ephod with gold thread and violet, purple and scarlet yarn on cloth of fine linen twined.


text:
 On it you shall mount four rows of precious stones: in the first row, a carnelian, a topaz and an emerald;


text:
 in the fourth row, a chrysolite, an onyx and a jasper. These stones are to be mounted in gold filigree work,


text:
 twelve of them to match the names of the sons of Israel, each stone engraved like a seal with the name of one of the twelve tribes.


text:
 you shall then make two rings of gold for it and fasten them to the two upper ends of the breastpiece.


text:
 the other two ends of the cords being fastened in front to the two filigree rosettes which are attached to the shoulder straps of the ephod.


text:
 Make two other rings of gold and put them on the two lower ends of the breastpiece, on its edge that faces the ephod.


text:
 Then make two more rings of gold and fasten them to the bottom of the shoulder straps next to where they join the ephod in front, just above its embroidered belt.


text:
 Violet ribbons shall bind the rings of the breastpiece to the rings of the ephod, so that the breastpiece will stay right above the embroidered belt of the ephod and not swing loose from it.


text:
 "Whenever Aaron enters the sanctuary, he will thus bear the names of the sons of Israel on the breastpiece of decision over his heart as a constant reminder before the LORD.


text:
 In this breastpiece of decision you shall put the Urim and Thummim, that they may be over Aaron's heart whenever he enters the presence of the LORD. Thus he shall always bear the decisions for the Israelites over his heart in the LORD'S presence.


text:
 It shall have an opening for the head in the center, and around this opening there shall be a selvage, woven as at the opening of a shirt, to keep it from being torn.


text:
 All around the hem at the bottom you shall make pomegranates, woven of violet, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen twined, with gold bells between them;


text:
 Aaron shall wear it when ministering, that its tinkling may be heard as he enters and leaves the LORD'S presence in the sanctuary; else he will die.


text:
 "You shall also make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it, as on a seal engraving, 'Sacred to the LORD.'


text:
 This plate is to be tied over the miter with a violet ribbon in such a way that it rests on the front of the miter,


text:
 over Aaron's forehead. Since Aaron bears whatever guilt the Israelites may incur in consecrating any of their sacred gifts, this plate must always be over his forehead, so that they may find favor with the LORD.


text:
 "The tunic of fine linen shall be brocaded. The miter shall be made of fine linen. The sash shall be of variegated work.


text:
 "Likewise, for the glorious adornment of Aaron's sons you shall have tunics and sashes and turbans made.


text:
 With these you shall clothe your brother Aaron and his sons. Anoint and ordain them, consecrating them as my priests.


text:
 You must also make linen drawers for them, to cover their naked flesh from their loins to their thighs.


text:
 Aaron and his sons shall wear them whenever they go into the meeting tent or approach the altar to minister in the sanctuary, lest they incur guilt and die. This shall be a perpetual ordinance for him and for his descendants.


text:
 "This is the rite you shall perform in consecrating them as my priests. Procure a young bull and two unblemished rams.


text:
 Aaron and his sons you shall also bring to the entrance of the meeting tent, and there wash them with water.


text:
 Take the vestments and clothe Aaron with the tunic, the robe of the ephod, the ephod itself, and the breastpiece, fastening the embroidered belt of the ephod around him.


text:
 gird them with the sashes, and tie the turbans on them. Thus shall the priesthood be theirs by perpetual law, and thus shall you ordain Aaron and his sons.


text:
 "Now bring forward the bullock in front of the meeting tent. There Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on its head.


text:
 Take some of its blood and with your finger put it on the horns of the altar. All the rest of the blood you shall pour out at the base of the altar.


text:
 All the fat that covers its inner organs, as well as the lobe of its liver and its two kidneys, together with the fat that is on them, you shall take and burn on the altar.


text:
 But the flesh and hide and offal of the bullock you must burn up outside the camp, since this is a sin offering.


text:
 Cut the ram into pieces; its inner organs and shanks you shall first wash, and then put them with the pieces and with the head.


text:
 The entire ram shall then be burned on the altar, since it is a holocaust, a sweet-smelling oblation to the LORD.


text:
 slaughter it. Some of its blood you shall take and put on the tip of Aaron's right ear and on the tips of his sons' right ears and on the thumbs of their right hands and the great toes of their right feet. Splash the rest of the blood on all the sides of the altar.


text:
 Then take some of the blood that is on the altar, together with some of the anointing oil, and sprinkle this on Aaron and his vestments, as well as on his sons and their vestments, that his sons and their vestments may be sacred.


text:
 "Now, from this ram you shall take its fat: its fatty tail, the fat that covers its inner organs, the lobe of its liver, its two kidneys with the fat that is on them, and its right thigh, since this is the ordination ram;


text:
 then, out of the basket of unleavened food that you have set before the LORD, you shall take one of the loaves of bread, one of the cakes made with oil, and one of the wafers.


text:
 All these things you shall put into the hands of Aaron and his sons, so that they may wave them as a wave offering before the LORD.


text:
 After you have received them back from their hands, you shall burn them on top of the holocaust on the altar as a sweet-smelling oblation to the LORD.


text:
 Finally, take the breast of Aaron's ordination ram and wave it as a wave offering before the LORD; this is to be your own portion.


text:
 "Thus shall you set aside the breast of whatever wave offering is waved, as well as the thigh of whatever raised offering is raised up, whether this be the ordination ram or anything else belonging to Aaron or to his sons.


text:
 Such things are due to Aaron and his sons from the Israelites by a perpetual ordinance as a contribution. From their peace offerings, too, the Israelites shall make a contribution, their contribution to the LORD.


text:
 "The sacred vestments of Aaron shall be passed down to his descendants, that in them they may be anointed and ordained.


text:
 The descendant who succeeds him as priest and who is to enter the meeting tent to minister in the sanctuary shall be clothed with them for seven days.


text:
 At the entrance of the meeting tent Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram and the bread that is in the basket.


text:
 They themselves are to eat of these things by which atonement was made at their ordination and consecration; but no layman may eat of them, since they are sacred.


text:
 If some of the flesh of the ordination sacrifice or some of the bread remains over on the next day, this remnant must be burned up; it is not to be eaten, since it is sacred.


text:
 Carry out all these orders in regard to Aaron and his sons just as I have given them to you. "Seven days you shall spend in ordaining them,


text:
 sacrificing a bullock each day as a sin offering, to make atonement. Thus also shall you purge the altar in making atonement for it; you shall anoint it in order to consecrate it.


text:
 Seven days you shall spend in making atonement for the altar and in consecrating it. Then the altar will be most sacred, and whatever touches it will become sacred.


text:
 "Now, this is what you shall offer on the altar: two yearling lambs as the sacrifice established for each day;


text:
 With the first lamb there shall be a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a fourth of a hin of oil of crushed olives and, as its libation, a fourth of a hin of wine.


text:
 The other lamb you shall offer at the evening twilight, with the same cereal offering and libation as in the morning. You shall offer this as a sweet-smelling oblation to the LORD.


text:
 Throughout your generations this established holocaust shall be offered before the LORD at the entrance of the meeting tent, where I will meet you and speak to you.


text:
 Thus I will consecrate the meeting tent and the altar, just as I also consecrate Aaron and his sons to be my priests.


text:
 They shall know that I, the LORD, am their God who brought them out of the land of Egypt, so that I, the LORD, their God, might dwell among them.


text:
 with a square surface, a cubit long, a cubit wide, and two cubits high, with horns that spring directly from it.


text:
 Its grate on top, its walls on all four sides, and its horns you shall plate with pure gold. Put a gold molding around it.


text:
 Underneath the molding you shall put gold rings, two on one side and two on the opposite side, as holders for the poles used in carrying it.


text:
 This altar you are to place in front of the veil that hangs before the ark of the commandments where I will meet you.


text:
 and again in the evening twilight, when he lights the lamps, he shall burn incense. Throughout your generations this shall be the established incense offering before the LORD.


text:
 On this altar you shall not offer up any profane incense, or any holocaust or cereal offering; nor shall you pour out a libation upon it.


text:
 Once a year Aaron shall perform the atonement rite on its horns. Throughout your generations this atonement is to be made once a year with the blood of the atoning sin offering. This altar is most sacred to the LORD."


text:
 "When you take a census of the Israelites who are to be registered, each one, as he is enrolled, shall give the LORD a forfeit for his life, so that no plague may come upon them for being registered.


text:
 Everyone who enters the registered group must pay a half-shekel, according to the standard of the sanctuary shekel, twenty gerahs to the shekel. This payment of a half-shekel is a contribution to the LORD.


text:
 Everyone of twenty years or more who enters the registered group must give this contribution to the LORD.


text:
 The rich need not give more, nor shall the poor give less, than a half-shekel in this contribution to the LORD to pay the forfeit for their lives.


text:
 When you receive this forfeit money from the Israelites, you shall donate it to the service of the meeting tent, that there it may be the Israelites' reminder before the LORD, of the forfeit paid for their lives."


text:
 "For ablutions you shall make a bronze laver with a bronze base. Place it between the meeting tent and the altar, and put water in it.


text:
 When they are about to enter the meeting tent, they must wash with water, lest they die. Likewise when they approach the altar in their ministry, to offer an oblation to the LORD,


text:
 they must wash their hands and feet, lest they die. This shall be a perpetual ordinance for him and his descendants throughout their generations."


text:
 "Take the finest spices: five hundred shekels of free-flowing myrrh; half that amount, that is, two hundred and fifty shekels, of fragrant cinnamon; two hundred and fifty shekels of fragrant cane;


text:
 five hundred shekels of cassia-all according to the standard of the sanctuary shekel; together with a hin of olive oil;


text:
 To the Israelites you shall say: As sacred anointing oil this shall belong to me throughout your generations.


text:
 It may not be used in any ordinary anointing of the body, nor may you make any other oil of a like mixture. It is sacred, and shall be treated as sacred by you.


text:
 Whoever prepares a perfume like this, or whoever puts any of this on a layman, shall be cut off from his kinsmen."


text:
 The LORD told Moses, "Take these aromatic substances: storax and onycha and galbanum, these and pure frankincense in equal parts;


text:
 and blend them into incense. This fragrant powder, expertly prepared, is to be salted and so kept pure and sacred.


text:
 Grind some of it into fine dust and put this before the commandments in the meeting tent where I will meet you. This incense shall be treated as most sacred by you.


text:
 You may not make incense of a like mixture for yourselves; you must treat it as sacred to the LORD.


text:
 Whoever makes an incense like this for his own enjoyment of its fragrance, shall be cut off from his kinsmen."


text:
 and I have filled him with a divine spirit of skill and understanding and knowledge in every craft:


text:
 As his assistant I have appointed Oholiab, son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. I have also endowed all the experts with the necessary skill to make all the things I have ordered you to make:


text:
 the meeting tent, the ark of the commandments with the propitiatory on top of it, all the furnishings of the tent,


text:
 the table with its appurtenances, the pure gold lampstand with all its appurtenances, the altar of incense,


text:
 the service cloths, the sacred vestments for Aaron the priest, the vestments for his sons in their ministry,


text:
 the anointing oil, and the fragrant incense for the sanctuary. All these things they shall make just as I have commanded you."


text:
 "You must also tell the Israelites: Take care to keep my sabbaths, for that is to be the token between you and me throughout the generations, to show that it is I, the LORD, who make you holy.


text:
 Therefore, you must keep the sabbath as something sacred. Whoever desecrates it shall be put to death. If anyone does work on that day, he must be rooted out of his people.


text:
 Six days there are for doing work, but the seventh day is the sabbath of complete rest, sacred to the LORD. Anyone who does work on the sabbath day shall be put to death.


text:
 So shall the Israelites observe the sabbath, keeping it throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant.


text:
 Between me and the Israelites it is to be an everlasting token; for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, but on the seventh day he rested at his ease."


text:
 When the LORD had finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of the commandments, the stone tablets inscribed by God's own finger.


text:
 When the people became aware of Moses' delay in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said to him, "Come, make us a god who will be our leader; as for the man Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him."


text:
 Aaron replied, "Have your wives and sons and daughters take off the golden earrings they are wearing, and bring them to me."


text:
 who accepted their offering, and fashioning this gold with a graving tool, made a molten calf. Then they cried out, "This is your God, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt."


text:
 On seeing this, Aaron built an altar before the calf and proclaimed, "Tomorrow is a feast of the LORD."


text:
 Early the next day the people offered holocausts and brought peace offerings. Then they sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to revel.


text:
 With that, the LORD said to Moses, "Go down at once to your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, for they have become depraved.


text:
 They have soon turned aside from the way I pointed out to them, making for themselves a molten calf and worshiping it, sacrificing to it and crying out, 'This is your God, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt!'


text:
 "Let me alone, then, that my wrath may blaze up against them to consume them. Then I will make of you a great nation."


text:
 But Moses implored the LORD, his God, saying, "Why, O LORD, should your wrath blaze up against your own people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with such great power and with so strong a hand?


text:
 Why should the Egyptians say, 'With evil intent he brought them out, that he might kill them in the mountains and exterminate them from the face of the earth'? Let your blazing wrath die down; relent in punishing your people.


text:
 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, and how you swore to them by your own self, saying, 'I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky; and all this land that I promised, I will give your descendants as their perpetual heritage.'"


text:
 Moses then turned and came down the mountain with the two tablets of the commandments in his hands, tablets that were written on both sides, front and back;


text:
 Now, when Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting, he said to Moses, "That sounds like a battle in the camp."


text:
 But Moses answered, "It does not sound like cries of victory, nor does it sound like cries of defeat; the sounds that I hear are cries of revelry."


text:
 As he drew near the camp, he saw the calf and the dancing. With that, Moses' wrath flared up, so that he threw the tablets down and broke them on the base of the mountain.


text:
 Taking the calf they had made, he fused it in the fire and then ground it down to powder, which he scattered on the water and made the Israelites drink.


text:
 Moses asked Aaron, "What did this people ever do to you that you should lead them into so grave a sin?" Aaron replied, "Let not my lord be angry.


text:
 They said to me, 'Make us a god to be our leader; as for the man Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.'


text:
 So I told them, 'Let anyone who has gold jewelry take it off.' They gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and this calf came out."


text:
 he stood at the gate of the camp and cried, "Whoever is for the LORD, let him come to me!" All the Levites then rallied to him,


text:
 and he told them, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Put your sword on your hip, every one of you! Now go up and down the camp, from gate to gate, and slay your own kinsmen, your friends and neighbors!"


text:
 The Levites carried out the command of Moses, and that day there fell about three thousand of the people.


text:
 Then Moses said, "Today you have been dedicated to the LORD, for you were against your own sons and kinsmen, to bring a blessing upon yourselves this day."


text:
 On the next day Moses said to the people, "You have committed a grave sin. I will go up to the LORD, then; perhaps I may be able to make atonement for your sin."


text:
 So Moses went back to the LORD and said, "Ah, this people has indeed committed a grave sin in making a god of gold for themselves!


text:
 If you would only forgive their sin! If you will not, then strike me out of the book that you have written."


text:
 Now, go and lead the people whither I have told you. My angel will go before you. When it is time for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin."


text:
 The LORD told Moses, "You and the people whom you have brought up from the land of Egypt, are to go up from here to the land which I swore to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob I would give to their descendants.


text:
 Driving out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, I will send an angel before you


text:
 to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I myself will not go up in your company, because you are a stiff-necked people; otherwise I might exterminate you on the way."


text:
 The LORD said to Moses, "Tell the Israelites: You are a stiff-necked people. Were I to go up in your company even for a moment, I would exterminate you. Take off your ornaments, therefore; I will then see what I am to do with you."


text:
 The tent, which was called the meeting tent, Moses used to pitch at some distance away, outside the camp. Anyone who wished to consult the LORD would go to this meeting tent outside the camp.


text:
 Whenever Moses went out to the tent, the people would all rise and stand at the entrance of their own tents, watching Moses until he entered the tent.


text:
 As Moses entered the tent, the column of cloud would come down and stand at its entrance while the LORD spoke with Moses.


text:
 On seeing the column of cloud stand at the entrance of the tent, all the people would rise and worship at the entrance of their own tents.


text:
 The LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as one man speaks to another. Moses would then return to the camp, but his young assistant, Joshua, son of Nun, would not move out of the tent.


text:
 Moses said to the LORD, "You, indeed, are telling me to lead this people on; but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, 'You are my intimate friend,' and also, 'You have found favor with me.'


text:
 Now, if I have found favor with you, do let me know your ways so that, in knowing you, I may continue to find favor with you. Then, too, this nation is, after all, your own people."


text:
 For how can it be known that we, your people and I, have found favor with you, except by your going with us? Then we, your people and I, will be singled out from every other people on the earth."


text:
 The LORD said to Moses, "This request, too, which you have just made, I will carry out, because you have found favor with me and you are my intimate friend."


text:
 He answered, "I will make all my beauty pass before you, and in your presence I will pronounce my name, 'LORD'; I who show favors to whom I will, I who grant mercy to whom I will.


text:
 When my glory passes I will set you in the hollow of the rock and will cover you with my hand until I have passed by.


text:
 The LORD said to Moses, "Cut two stone tablets like the former, that I may write on them the commandments which were on the former tablets that you broke.


text:
 Get ready for tomorrow morning, when you are to go up Mount Sinai and there present yourself to me on the top of the mountain.


text:
 No one shall come up with you, and no one is even to be seen on any part of the mountain; even the flocks and the herds are not to go grazing toward this mountain."


text:
 Moses then cut two stone tablets like the former, and early the next morning he went up Mount Sinai as the LORD had commanded him, taking along the two stone tablets.


text:
 Thus the LORD passed before him and cried out, "The LORD, the LORD, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity,


text:
 continuing his kindness for a thousand generations, and forgiving wickedness and crime and sin; yet not declaring the guilty guiltless, but punishing children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation for their fathers' wickedness!"


text:
 Then he said, "If I find favor with you, O Lord, do come along in our company. This is indeed a stiff-necked people; yet pardon our wickedness and sins, and receive us as your own."


text:
 "Here, then," said the LORD, "is the covenant I will make. Before the eyes of all your people I will work such marvels as have never been wrought in any nation anywhere on earth, so that this people among whom you live may see how awe-inspiring are the deeds which I, the LORD, will do at your side.


text:
 But you, on your part, must keep the commandments I am giving you today. "I will drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.


text:
 Take care, therefore, not to make a covenant with these inhabitants of the land that you are to enter; else they will become a snare among you.


text:
 Do not make a covenant with the inhabitants of that land; else, when they render their wanton worship to their gods and sacrifice to them, one of them may invite you and you may partake of his sacrifice.


text:
 Neither shall you take their daughters as wives for your sons; otherwise, when their daughters render their wanton worship to their gods, they will make your sons do the same.


text:
 "You shall keep the feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days at the prescribed time in the month of Abib you are to eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you; for in the month of Abib you came out of Egypt.


text:
 "To me belongs every first-born male that opens the womb among all your livestock, whether in the herd or in the flock.


text:
 The firstling of an ass you shall redeem with one of the flock; if you do not redeem it, you must break its neck. The first-born among your sons you shall redeem. "No one shall appear before me empty-handed.


text:
 "For six days you may work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; on that day you must rest even during the seasons of plowing and harvesting.


text:
 "You shall keep the feast of Weeks with the first of the wheat harvest; likewise, the feast at the fruit harvest at the close of the year.


text:
 Since I will drive out the nations before you to give you a large territory, there will be no one to covet your land when you go up three times a year to appear before the LORD, your God.


text:
 "You shall not offer me the blood of sacrifice with leavened bread, nor shall the sacrifice of the Passover feast be kept overnight for the next day.


text:
 "The choicest first fruits of your soil you shall bring to the house of the LORD, your God. "You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk."


text:
 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Write down these words, for in accordance with them I have made a covenant with you and with Israel."


text:
 So Moses stayed there with the LORD for forty days and forty nights, without eating any food or drinking any water, and he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.


text:
 As Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the commandments in his hands, he did not know that the skin of his face had become radiant while he conversed with the LORD.


text:
 When Aaron, then, and the other Israelites saw Moses and noticed how radiant the skin of his face had become, they were afraid to come near him.


text:
 Only after Moses called to them did Aaron and all the rulers of the community come back to him. Moses then spoke to them.


text:
 Later on, all the Israelites came up to him, and he enjoined on them all that the LORD had told him on Mount Sinai.


text:
 Whenever Moses entered the presence of the LORD to converse with him, he removed the veil until he came out again. On coming out, he would tell the Israelites all that had been commanded.


text:
 Then the Israelites would see that the skin of Moses' face was radiant; so he would again put the veil over his face until he went in to converse with the LORD.


text:
 Moses assembled the whole Israelite community and said to them, "This is what the LORD has commanded to be done.


text:
 On six days work may be done, but the seventh day shall be sacred to you as the sabbath of complete rest to the LORD. Anyone who does work on that day shall be put to death.


text:
 Take up among you a collection for the LORD. Everyone, as his heart prompts him, shall bring, as a contribution to the LORD, gold, silver and bronze;


text:
 the altar of incense, with its poles; the anointing oil, and the fragrant incense; the entrance curtain for the entrance of the Dwelling;


text:
 the altar of holocausts, with its bronze grating, its poles, and all its appurtenances; the laver, with its base;


text:
 the hangings of the court, with their columns and pedestals; the curtain for the entrance of the court;


text:
 the service cloths for use in the sanctuary; the sacred vestments for Aaron, the priest, and the vestments worn by his sons in their ministry."


text:
 everyone, as his heart suggested and his spirit prompted, brought a contribution to the LORD for the construction of the meeting tent, for all its services, and for the sacred vestments.


text:
 Both the men and the women, all as their heart prompted them, brought brooches, earrings, rings, necklaces and various other gold articles. Everyone who could presented an offering of gold to the LORD.


text:
 Everyone who happened to have violet, purple or scarlet yarn, fine linen or goat hair, rams' skins dyed red or tahash skins, brought them.


text:
 Whoever could make a contribution of silver or bronze offered it to the LORD; and everyone who happened to have acacia wood for any part of the work, brought it.


text:
 All the women who were expert spinners brought hand-spun violet, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen thread.


text:
 Every Israelite man and woman brought to the LORD such voluntary offerings as they thought best, for the various kinds of work which the LORD had commanded Moses to have done.


text:
 Moses said to the Israelites, "See, the LORD has chosen Bezalel, son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah,


text:
 He has also given both him and Oholiab, son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, the ability to teach others.


text:
 He has endowed them with skill to execute all types of work: engraving, embroidering, the making of variegated cloth of violet, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen thread, weaving, and all other arts and crafts.


text:
 "Bezalel, therefore, will set to work with Oholiab and with all the experts whom the LORD has endowed with skill and understanding in knowing how to execute all the work for the service of the sanctuary, just as the LORD has commanded."


text:
 Moses then called Bezalel and Oholiab and all the other experts whom the LORD had endowed with skill, men whose hearts moved them to come and take part in the work.


text:
 They received from Moses all the contributions which the Israelites had brought for establishing the service of the sanctuary. Still, morning after morning the people continued to bring their voluntary offerings to Moses.


text:
 Thereupon the experts who were executing the various kinds of work for the sanctuary, all left the work they were doing,


text:
 and told Moses, "The people are bringing much more than is needed to carry out the work which the LORD has commanded us to do."


text:
 Moses, therefore, ordered a proclamation to be made throughout the camp: "Let neither man nor woman make any more contributions for the sanctuary." So the people stopped bringing their offerings;


text:
 The various experts who were executing the work, made the Dwelling with its ten sheets woven of fine linen twined, having cherubim embroidered on them with violet, purple and scarlet yarn.


text:
 The length of each sheet was twenty-eight cubits, and the width four cubits; all the sheets were of the same size.


text:
 Loops of violet yarn were made along the edge of the end sheet in the first set, and the same along the edge of the end sheet in the second set.


text:
 Fifty loops were thus put on one inner sheet, and fifty loops on the inner sheet in the other set, with the loops directly opposite each other.


text:
 Then fifty clasps of gold were made, with which the sheets were joined so that the Dwelling formed one whole.


text:
 The length of each sheet was thirty cubits and the width four cubits; all eleven sheets were the same size.


text:
 Five of these sheets were sewed edge to edge into one set; and the other six sheets into another set.


text:
 Fifty loops were made along the edge of the end sheet in one set, and fifty loops along the edge of the corresponding sheet in the other set.


text:
 A covering for the tent was made of rams' skins dyed red, and above that, a covering of tahash skins.


text:
 Each board had two arms, fastening them in line. In this way all the boards of the Dwelling were made.


text:
 with forty silver pedestals under the twenty boards, so that there were two pedestals under each board, at its two arms;


text:
 These were double at the bottom, and likewise double at the top, to the first ring. That is how both boards in the corners were made.


text:
 Thus, there were in the rear eight boards, with their sixteen silver pedestals, two pedestals under each board.


text:
 The boards were plated with gold, and gold rings were made on them as holders for the bars, which were also plated with gold.


text:
 The veil was woven of violet, purple and scarlet yarn, and of fine linen twined, with cherubim embroidered on it.


text:
 Four gold-plated columns of acacia wood, with gold hooks, were made for it, and four silver pedestals were cast for them.


text:
 The curtain for the entrance of the tent was made of violet, purple and scarlet yarn, and of fine linen twined, woven in a variegated manner.


text:
 Its five columns, with their hooks as well as their capitals and bands, were plated with gold; their five pedestals were of bronze.


text:
 Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood, two and a half cubits long, one and a half cubits wide, and one and a half cubits high.


text:
 Four gold rings were cast and put on its four supports, two rings for one side and two for the opposite side.


text:
 one cherub fastened at one end, the other at the other end, springing directly from the propitiatory at its two ends.


text:
 The cherubim had their wings spread out above, covering the propitiatory with them. They were turned toward each other, but with their faces looking toward the propitiatory.


text:
 The table was made of acacia wood, two cubits long, one cubit wide, and one and a half cubits high.


text:
 The vessels that were set on the table, its plates and cups, as well as its pitchers and bowls for pouring libations, were of pure gold.


text:
 The lampstand was made of pure beaten gold-- its shaft and branches as well as its cups and knobs and petals springing directly from it.


text:
 On one branch there were three cups, shaped like almond blossoms, each with its knob and petals; on the opposite branch there were three cups, shaped like almond blossoms, each with its knob and petals; and so for the six branches that extended from the lampstand.


text:
 The knobs and branches sprang so directly from it that the whole formed but a single piece of pure beaten gold.


text:
 The altar of incense was made of acacia wood, on a square, a cubit long, a cubit wide, and two cubits high, having horns that sprang directly from it.


text:
 Its grate on top, its walls on all four sides, and its horns were plated with pure gold; and a molding of gold was put around it.


text:
 Underneath the molding gold rings were placed, two on one side and two on the opposite side, as holders for the poles to carry it.


text:
 The altar of holocausts was made of acacia wood, on a square, five cubits long and five cubits wide; its height was three cubits.


text:
 At the four corners horns were made that sprang directly from the altar. The whole was plated with bronze.


text:
 All the utensils of the altar, the pots, shovels, basins, forks and fire pans, were likewise made of bronze.


text:
 A grating of bronze network was made for the altar and placed round it, on the ground, half as high as the altar itself.


text:
 The poles were put through the rings on the sides of the altar for carrying it. The altar was made in the form of a hollow box.


text:
 The bronze laver, with its bronze base, was made from the mirrors of the women who served at the entrance of the meeting tent.


text:
 The court was made as follows. On the south side of the court there were hangings, woven of fine linen twined, a hundred cubits long,


text:
 with twenty columns and twenty pedestals of bronze, the hooks and bands of the columns being of silver.


text:
 On the north side there were similar hangings, one hundred cubits long, with twenty columns and twenty pedestals of bronze, the hooks and bands of the columns being of silver.


text:
 On the west side there were hangings, fifty cubits long, with ten columns and ten pedestals, the hooks and bands of the columns being of silver.


text:
 Toward one side there were hangings to the extent of fifteen cubits, with three columns and three pedestals; toward the other side,


text:
 beyond the entrance of the court, there were likewise hangings to the extent of fifteen cubits, with three columns and three pedestals.


text:
 The pedestals of the columns were of bronze, while the hooks and bands of the columns were of silver; the capitals were silver-plated, and all the columns of the court were banded with silver.


text:
 At the entrance of the court there was a variegated curtain, woven of violet, purple and scarlet yarn and of fine linen twined, twenty cubits long and five cubits wide, in keeping with the hangings of the court.


text:
 The following is an account of the various amounts used on the Dwelling, the Dwelling of the commandments, drawn up at the command of Moses by the Levites under the direction of Ithamar, son of Aaron the priest.


text:
 However, it was Bezalel, son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, who made all that the Lord commanded Moses,


text:
 and he was assisted by Oholiab, son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, who was an engraver, an embroiderer, and a weaver of variegated cloth of violet, purple and scarlet yarn and of fine linen.


text:
 All the gold used in the entire construction of the sanctuary, having previously been given as an offering, amounted to twenty-nine talents and seven hundred and thirty shekels, according to the standard of the sanctuary shekel.


text:
 The amount of the silver received from the community was one hundred talents and one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five shekels, according to the standard of the sanctuary shekel;


text:
 one bekah apiece, that is, a half-shekel apiece, according to the standard of the sanctuary shekel, was received from every man of twenty years or more who entered the registered group; the number of these was six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty men.


text:
 One hundred talents of silver were used for casting the pedestals of the sanctuary and the pedestals of the veil, one talent for each pedestal, or one hundred talents for the one hundred pedestals.


text:
 The remaining one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five shekels were used for making the hooks on the columns, for plating the capitals, and for banding them with silver.


text:
 The bronze, given as an offering, amounted to seventy talents and two thousand four hundred shekels.


text:
 With this were made the pedestals at the entrance of the meeting tent, the bronze altar with its bronze gratings and all the appurtenances of the altar,


text:
 the pedestals around the court, the pedestals at the entrance of the court, and all the tent pegs for the Dwelling and for the court around it.


text:
 With violet, purple and scarlet yarn were woven the service cloths for use in the sanctuary, as well as the sacred vestments for Aaron, as the LORD had commanded Moses.


text:
 The ephod was woven of gold thread and of violet, purple and scarlet yarn and of fine linen twined.


text:
 Gold was first hammered into gold leaf and then cut up into threads, which were woven with the violet, purple and scarlet yarn into an embroidered pattern on the fine linen.


text:
 The embroidered belt on the ephod extended out from it, and like it, was made of gold thread, of violet, purple and scarlet yarn, and of fine linen twined, as the LORD had commanded Moses.


text:
 The onyx stones were prepared and mounted in gold filigree work; they were engraved like seal engravings with the names of the sons of Israel.


text:
 These stones were set on the shoulder straps of the ephod as memorial stones of the sons of Israel, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.


text:
 The breastpiece was embroidered like the ephod, with gold thread and violet, purple and scarlet yarn on cloth of fine linen twined.


text:
 Four rows of precious stones were mounted on it: in the first row a carnelian, a topaz and an emerald;


text:
 These stones were twelve, to match the names of the sons of Israel, and each stone was engraved like a seal with the name of one of the twelve tribes.


text:
 together with two gold filigree rosettes and two gold rings. The two rings were fastened to the two upper ends of the breastpiece.


text:
 The other two ends of the two chains were fastened in front to the two filigree rosettes, which were attached to the shoulder straps of the ephod.


text:
 Two other gold rings were made and put on the two lower ends of the breastpiece, on the edge facing the ephod.


text:
 Two more gold rings were made and fastened to the bottom of the two shoulder straps next to where they joined the ephod in front, just above its embroidered belt.


text:
 Violet ribbons bound the rings of the breastpiece to the rings of the ephod, so that the breastpiece stayed right above the embroidered belt of the ephod and did not swing loose from it. All this was just as the LORD had commanded Moses.


text:
 with an opening in its center like the opening of a shirt, with selvage around the opening to keep it from being torn.


text:
 At the hem of the robe pomegranates were made of violet, purple and scarlet yarn and of fine linen twined;


text:
 first a bell, then a pomegranate, and thus alternating all around the hem of the robe which was to be worn in performing the ministry-- all this, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.


text:
 the miter of fine linen; the ornate turbans of fine linen; drawers of linen (of fine linen twined);


text:
 and sashes of variegated work made of fine linen twined and of violet, purple and scarlet yarn, as the LORD had commanded Moses.


text:
 The plate of the sacred diadem was made of pure gold and inscribed, as on a seal engraving: "Sacred to the LORD."


text:
 Thus the entire work of the Dwelling of the meeting tent was completed. The Israelites did the work just as the LORD had commanded Moses.


text:
 They then brought to Moses the Dwelling, the tent with all its appurtenances, the clasps, the boards, the bars, the columns, the pedestals,


text:
 the pure gold lampstand with its lamps set up on it and with all its appurtenances, the oil for the light,


text:
 the golden altar, the anointing oil, the fragrant incense; the curtain for the entrance of the tent,


text:
 the altar of bronze with its bronze grating, its poles and all its appurtenances, the laver with its base,


text:
 the hangings of the court with their columns and pedestals, the curtain for the entrance of the court with its ropes and tent pegs, all the equipment for the service of the Dwelling of the meeting tent;


text:
 the service cloths for use in the sanctuary, the sacred vestments for Aaron the priest, and the vestments to be worn by his sons in their ministry.


text:
 Put the golden altar of incense in front of the ark of the commandments, and hang the curtain at the entrance of the Dwelling.


text:
 "Take the anointing oil and anoint the Dwelling and everything in it, consecrating it and all its furnishings, so that it will be sacred.


text:
 Anoint the altar of holocausts and all its appurtenances, consecrating it, so that it will be most sacred.


text:
 "Then bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the meeting tent, and there wash them with water.


text:
 As you have anointed their father, anoint them also as my priests. Thus, by being anointed, shall they receive a perpetual priesthood throughout all future generations."


text:
 It was Moses who erected the Dwelling. He placed its pedestals, set up its boards, put in its bars, and set up its columns.


text:
 He spread the tent over the Dwelling and put the covering on top of the tent, as the LORD had commanded him.


text:
 He took the commandments and put them in the ark; he placed poles alongside the ark and set the propitiatory upon it.


text:
 He brought the ark into the Dwelling and hung the curtain veil, thus screening off the ark of the commandments, as the LORD had commanded him.


text:
 He placed the lampstand in the meeting tent, opposite the table, on the south side of the Dwelling,


text:
 He put the altar of holocausts in front of the entrance of the Dwelling of the meeting tent, and offered holocausts and cereal offerings on it, as the LORD had commanded him.


text:
 for they washed themselves whenever they went into the meeting tent or approached the altar, as the LORD had commanded Moses.


text:
 Finally, he set up the court around the Dwelling and the altar and hung the curtain at the entrance of the court. Thus Moses finished all the work.


text:
 Moses could not enter the meeting tent, because the cloud settled down upon it and the glory of the LORD filled the Dwelling.


text:
 In the daytime the cloud of the LORD was seen over the Dwelling; whereas at night, fire was seen in the cloud by the whole house of Israel in all the stages of their journey.


text:
 "Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When any one of you wishes to bring an animal offering to the LORD, such an offering must be from the herd or from the flock.


text:
 "If his holocaust offering is from the herd, it must be a male without blemish. To find favor with the LORD, he shall bring it to the entrance of the meeting tent


text:
 and there lay his hand on the head of the holocaust, so that it may be acceptable to make atonement for him.


text:
 He shall then slaughter the bull before the LORD, but Aaron's sons, the priests, shall offer up its blood by splashing it on the sides of the altar which is at the entrance of the meeting tent.


text:
 After Aaron's sons, the priests, have put some burning embers on the altar and laid some wood on them,


text:
 they shall lay the pieces of meat, together with the head and the suet, on top of the wood and embers on the altar.


text:
 The inner organs and the shanks, however, the offerer shall first wash with water. The priest shall then burn the whole offering on the altar as a holocaust, a sweet-smelling oblation to the LORD.


text:
 "If his holocaust offering is from the flock, that is, a sheep or a goat, he must bring a male without blemish.


text:
 This he shall slaughter before the LORD at the north side of the altar. Then Aaron's sons, the priests, shall splash its blood on the sides of the altar.


text:
 When the offerer has cut it up into pieces, the priest shall lay these, together with the head and suet, on top of the wood and the fire on the altar.


text:
 The inner organs and the shanks, however, the offerer shall first wash with water. The priest shall offer them up and then burn the whole offering on the altar as a holocaust, a sweet-smelling oblation to the LORD.


text:
 "If he offers a bird as a holocaust to the LORD, he shall choose a turtledove or a pigeon as his offering.


text:
 Having brought it to the altar where it is to be burned, the priest shall snap its head loose and squeeze out its blood against the side of the altar.


text:
 Then, having split the bird down the middle without separating the halves, the priest shall burn it on the altar, over the wood on the fire, as a holocaust, a sweet-smelling oblation to the LORD.


text:
 "When anyone wishes to bring a cereal offering to the LORD, his offering must consist of fine flour. He shall pour oil on it and put frankincense over it.


text:
 When he has brought it to Aaron's sons, the priests, one of them shall take a handful of this fine flour and oil, together with all the frankincense, and this he shall burn on the altar as a token offering, a sweet-smelling oblation to the LORD.


text:
 The rest of the cereal offering belongs to Aaron and his sons. It is a most sacred oblation to the LORD.


text:
 "When the cereal offering you present is baked in an oven, it must be in the form of unleavened cakes made of fine flour mixed with oil, or of unleavened wafers spread with oil.


text:
 If you present a cereal offering that is fried on a griddle, it must be of fine flour mixed with oil and unleavened.


text:
 If you present a cereal offering that is prepared in a pot, it must be of fine flour, deep-fried in oil.


text:
 A cereal offering that is made in any of these ways you shall bring to the LORD, offering it to the priest, who shall take it to the altar.


text:
 Its token offering the priest shall then lift from the cereal offering and burn on the altar as a sweet-smelling oblation to the LORD.


text:
 "Every cereal offering that you present to the LORD shall be unleavened, for you shall not burn any leaven or honey as an oblation to the LORD.


text:
 Such you may indeed present to the LORD in the offering of first fruits, but they are not to be placed on the altar for a pleasing odor.


text:
 However, every cereal offering that you present to the LORD shall be seasoned with salt. Do not let the salt of the covenant of your God be lacking from your cereal offering. On every offering you shall offer salt.


text:
 "If you present a cereal offering of first fruits to the LORD, you shall offer it in the form of fresh grits of new ears of grain, roasted by fire.


text:
 For its token offering the priest shall then burn some of the grits and oil, together with all the frankincense, as an oblation to the LORD.


text:
 "If someone in presenting a peace offering makes his offering from the herd, he may offer before the LORD either a male or a female animal, but it must be without blemish.


text:
 He shall lay his hand on the head of his offering, and then slaughter it at the entrance of the meeting tent; but Aaron's sons, the priests, shall splash its blood on the sides of the altar.


text:
 From the peace offering he shall offer as an oblation to the LORD the fatty membrane over the inner organs, and all the fat that adheres to them,


text:
 as well as the two kidneys, with the fat on them near the loins, and the lobe of the liver, which he shall sever above the kidneys.


text:
 All this Aaron's sons shall then burn on the altar with the holocaust, on the wood over the fire, as a sweet-smelling oblation to the LORD.


text:
 "If the peace offering he presents to the LORD is from the flock, he may offer either a male or a female animal, but it must be without blemish.


text:
 and after laying his hand on the head of his offering, he shall slaughter it before the meeting tent; but Aaron's sons shall splash its blood on the sides of the altar.


text:
 As an oblation to the LORD he shall present the fat of the peace offering: the whole fatty tail, which he must sever close to the spine, the fatty membrane over the inner organs, and all the fat that adheres to them,


text:
 as well as the two kidneys, with the fat on them near the loins, and the lobe of the liver, which he must sever above the kidneys.


text:
 and after laying his hand on its head, he shall slaughter it before the meeting tent; but Aaron's sons shall splash its blood on the sides of the altar.


text:
 From it he shall offer as an oblation to the LORD the fatty membrane over the inner organs, and all the fat that adheres to them,


text:
 All this the priest shall burn on the altar as the food of the sweet-smelling oblation. All the fat belongs to the LORD.


text:
 This shall be a perpetual ordinance for your descendants wherever they may dwell. You shall not partake of any fat or any blood."


text:
 "Tell the Israelites: When a person inadvertently commits a sin against some command of the LORD by doing one of the forbidden things,


text:
 if it is the anointed priest who thus sins and thereby makes the people also become guilty, he shall present to the LORD a young, unblemished bull as a sin offering for the sin he committed.


text:
 Bringing the bullock to the entrance of the meeting tent, before the LORD, he shall lay his hand on its head and slaughter it before the LORD.


text:
 The anointed priest shall then take some of the bullock's blood and bring it into the meeting tent,


text:
 where, dipping his finger in the blood, he shall sprinkle it seven times before the LORD, toward the veil of the sanctuary.


text:
 The priest shall also put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense which is before the LORD in the meeting tent. The rest of the bullock's blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar of holocausts which is at the entrance of the meeting tent.


text:
 From the sin-offering bullock he shall remove all the fat: the fatty membrane over the inner organs, and all the fat that adheres to them,


text:
 This is the same as is removed from the ox of the peace offering; and the priest shall burn it on the altar of holocausts.


text:
 in short, the whole bullock, shall be brought outside the camp to a clean place where the ashes are deposited and there be burned up in a wood fire. At the place of the ash heap, there it must be burned.


text:
 "If the whole community of Israel inadvertently and without even being aware of it does something that the LORD has forbidden and thus makes itself guilty,


text:
 should it later on become known that the sin was committed, the community shall present a young bull as a sin offering. They shall bring it before the meeting tent,


text:
 and here, before the LORD, the elders of the community shall lay their hands on the bullock's head. When the bullock has been slaughtered before the LORD,


text:
 and dipping his finger in the blood, he shall sprinkle it seven times before the LORD, toward the veil.


text:
 He shall also put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense which is before the LORD in the meeting tent. The rest of the blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar of holocausts which is at the entrance of the meeting tent.


text:
 doing with this bullock just as he did with the other sin-offering bullock. Thus the priest shall make atonement for them, and they will be forgiven.


text:
 This bullock must also be brought outside the camp and burned, just as has been prescribed for the other one. This is the sin offering for the community.


text:
 "Should a prince commit a sin inadvertently by doing one of the things which are forbidden by some commandment of the LORD, his God, and thus become guilty,


text:
 if later on he learns of the sin he committed, he shall bring as his offering an unblemished male goat.


text:
 Having laid his hands on its head, he shall slaughter the goat as a sin offering before the LORD, in the place where the holocausts are slaughtered.


text:
 The priest shall then take some of the blood of the sin offering on his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of holocausts. The rest of the blood he shall pour out at the base of this altar.


text:
 All of the fat he shall burn on the altar like the fat of the peace offering. Thus the priest shall make atonement for the prince's sin, and it will be forgiven.


text:
 "If a private person commits a sin inadvertently by doing one of the things which are forbidden by the commandments of the LORD, and thus becomes guilty,


text:
 should he later on learn of the sin he committed, he shall bring an unblemished she-goat as the offering for his sin.


text:
 Having laid his hand on the head of the sin offering, he shall slaughter it at the place of the holocausts.


text:
 The priest shall then take some of its blood on his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of holocausts. The rest of the blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar.


text:
 All the fat shall be removed, just as the fat is removed from the peace offering, and the priest shall burn it on the altar for an odor pleasing to the LORD. Thus the priest shall make atonement for him, and he will be forgiven.


text:
 Having laid his hand on its head, he shall slaughter this sin offering in the place where the holocausts are slaughtered.


text:
 The priest shall then take some of the blood of the sin offering on his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of holocausts. The rest of the blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar.


text:
 All the fat shall be removed, just as the fat is removed from the peace-offering lamb, and the priest shall burn it on the altar with the other oblations of the LORD. Thus the priest shall make atonement for the man's sin, and it will be forgiven.


text:
 "If any person refuses to give the information which, as a witness of something he has seen or learned, he has been adjured to give, and thus commits a sin and has guilt to bear;


text:
 or if someone, without being aware of it, touches any unclean thing, as the carcass of an unclean wild animal, or that of an unclean domestic animal, or that of an unclean swarming creature, and thus becomes unclean and guilty;


text:
 or if someone, without being aware of it, touches some human uncleanness, whatever kind of uncleanness this may be, and then recognizes his guilt;


text:
 or if someone, without being aware of it, rashly utters an oath to do good or evil, such as men are accustomed to utter rashly, and then recognizes that he is guilty of such an oath;


text:
 and as his sin offering for the sin he has committed he shall bring to the LORD a female animal from the flock, a ewe lamb or a she-goat. The priest shall then make atonement for his sin.


text:
 "If, however, he cannot afford an animal of the flock, he shall bring to the LORD as the sin offering for his sin two turtledoves or two pigeons, one for a sin offering and the other for a holocaust.


text:
 He shall bring them to the priest, who shall offer the one for the sin offering first. Snapping its head loose at the neck, yet without breaking it off completely,


text:
 he shall sprinkle some of the blood of the sin offering against the side of the altar. The rest of the blood shall be squeezed out against the base of the altar. Such is the offering for sin.


text:
 The other bird shall be offered as a holocaust in the usual way. Thus the priest shall make atonement for the sin the man committed, and it will be forgiven.


text:
 "If he is unable to afford even two turtledoves or two pigeons, he shall present as a sin offering for his sin one tenth of an ephah of fine flour. He shall not put oil or frankincense on it, because it is a sin offering.


text:
 When he has brought it to the priest, the latter shall take a handful of this flour as a token offering, and this he shall burn as a sin offering on the altar with the other oblations of the LORD.


text:
 Thus the priest shall make atonement for the sin that the man committed in any of the above cases, and it will be forgiven. The rest of the flour, like the cereal offerings, shall belong to the priest."


text:
 "If someone commits a sin by inadvertently cheating in the LORD'S sacred dues, he shall bring to the LORD as his guilt offering an unblemished ram from the flock, valued at two silver shekels according to the standard of the sanctuary shekel.


text:
 He shall also restore what he has sinfully withheld from the sanctuary, adding to it a fifth of its value. This is to be given to the priest, who shall then make atonement for him with the guilt-offering ram, and he will be forgiven.


text:
 "If someone, without being aware of it, commits such a sin by doing one of the things which are forbidden by some commandment of the LORD, that he incurs guilt for which he must answer,


text:
 he shall bring as a guilt offering to the priest an unblemished ram of the flock of the established value. The priest shall then make atonement for the fault which was unwittingly committed, and it will be forgiven.


text:
 "If someone commits a sin of dishonesty against the LORD by denying his neighbor a deposit or a pledge for a stolen article, or by otherwise retaining his neighbor's goods unjustly,


text:
 or if, having found a lost article, he denies the fact and swears falsely about it with any of the sinful oaths that men make in such cases,


text:
 he shall therefore, since he has incurred guilt by his sin, restore the thing that was stolen or unjustly retained by him or the deposit left with him or the lost article he found


text:
 or whatever else he swore falsely about; on the day of his guilt offering he shall make full restitution of the thing itself, and in addition, give the owner one fifth of its value.


text:
 As his guilt offering he shall bring to the LORD an unblemished ram of the flock of the established value. When he has presented this as his guilt offering to the priest,


text:
 the latter shall make atonement for him before the LORD, and he will be forgiven whatever guilt he may have incurred."


text:
 "Give Aaron and his sons the following command: This is the ritual for holocausts. The holocaust is to remain on the hearth of the altar all night until the next morning, and the fire is to be kept burning on the altar.


text:
 The priest, clothed in his linen robe and wearing linen drawers on his body, shall take away the ashes to which the fire has reduced the holocaust on the altar, and lay them at the side of the altar.


text:
 Then, having taken off these garments and put on other garments, he shall carry the ashes to a clean place outside the camp.


text:
 The fire on the altar is to be kept burning; it must not go out. Every morning the priest shall put firewood on it. On this he shall lay out the holocaust and burn the fat of the peace offerings.


text:
 "This is the ritual of the cereal offering. One of Aaron's sons shall first present it before the LORD, in front of the altar.


text:
 Then he shall take from it a handful of its fine flour and oil, together with all the frankincense that is on it, and this he shall burn on the altar as its token offering, a sweet-smelling oblation to the LORD.


text:
 The rest of it Aaron and his sons may eat; but it must be eaten in the form of unleavened cakes and in a sacred place: in the court of the meeting tent they shall eat it.


text:
 It shall not be baked with leaven. I have given it to them as their portion from the oblations of the LORD; it is most sacred, like the sin offering and the guilt offering.


text:
 All the male descendants of Aaron may partake of it as their rightful share in the oblations of the LORD perpetually throughout your generations. Whatever touches the oblations becomes sacred."


text:
 "This is the offering that Aaron and his sons shall present to the LORD (on the day he is anointed): one tenth of an ephah of fine flour for the established cereal offering, half in the morning and half in the evening.


text:
 It shall be well kneaded and fried in oil on a griddle when you bring it in. Having broken the offering into pieces, you shall present it as a sweet-smelling oblation to the LORD.


text:
 Aaron's descendant who succeeds him as the anointed priest shall do likewise. This is a perpetual ordinance: for the Lord the whole offering shall be burned.


text:
 "Tell Aaron and his sons: This is the ritual for sin offerings. At the place where holocausts are slaughtered, there also, before the LORD, shall the sin offering be slaughtered. It is most sacred.


text:
 The priest who presents the sin offering may partake of it; but it must be eaten in a sacred place, in the court of the meeting tent.


text:
 Whatever touches its flesh shall become sacred. If any of its blood is spilled on a garment, the stained part must be washed in a sacred place.


text:
 A clay vessel in which it has been cooked shall thereafter be broken; if it is cooked in a bronze vessel, this shall be scoured afterward and rinsed with water.


text:
 But no one may partake of any sin offering of which some blood has been brought into the meeting tent to make atonement in the sanctuary; such an offering must be burned up in the fire.


text:
 At the place where the holocausts are slaughtered, there also shall the guilt offering be slaughtered. Its blood shall be splashed on the sides of the altar.


text:
 All of its fat shall be taken from it and offered up: the fatty tail, the fatty membrane over the inner organs,


text:
 as well as the two kidneys with the fat on them near the loins, and the lobe of the liver, which must be severed above the kidneys.


text:
 All this the priest shall burn on the altar as an oblation to the LORD. This is the guilt offering.


text:
 All the males of the priestly line may partake of it; but it must be eaten in a sacred place, since it is most sacred.


text:
 "Because the sin offering and the guilt offering are alike, both having the same ritual, the guilt offering likewise belongs to the priest who makes atonement with it.


text:
 Similarly, the priest who offers a holocaust for someone may keep for himself the hide of the holocaust that he has offered.


text:
 Also, every cereal offering that is baked in an oven or deep-fried in a pot or fried on a griddle shall belong to the priest who offers it,


text:
 whereas all cereal offerings that are offered up dry or mixed with oil shall belong to all of Aaron's sons without distinction.


text:
 When anyone makes a peace offering in thanksgiving, together with his thanksgiving sacrifice he shall offer unleavened cakes mixed with oil, unleavened wafers spread with oil, and cakes made of fine flour mixed with oil and well kneaded.


text:
 His offering shall also include loaves of leavened bread along with the victim of his peace offering for thanksgiving.


text:
 From each of his offerings he shall present one portion as a contribution to the LORD; this shall belong to the priest who splashes the blood of the peace offering.


text:
 "The flesh of the thanksgiving sacrifice shall be eaten on the day it is offered; none of it may be kept till the next day.


text:
 However, if the sacrifice is a votive or a free-will offering, it should indeed be eaten on the day the sacrifice is offered, but what is left over may be eaten on the next day.


text:
 Should any flesh from the sacrifice be left over on the third day, it must be burned up in the fire.


text:
 If, therefore, any of the flesh of the peace offering is eaten on the third day, it shall not win favor for him nor shall it be reckoned to his credit; rather, it shall be considered as refuse, and anyone who eats of it shall have his guilt to bear.


text:
 Should the flesh touch anything unclean, it may not be eaten, but shall be burned up in the fire. "All who are clean may partake of this flesh.


text:
 If, however, someone while in a state of uncleanness eats any of the flesh of a peace offering belonging to the LORD, that person shall be cut off from his people.


text:
 Likewise, if someone touches anything unclean, whether the uncleanness be of human or of animal origin or from some loathsome crawling creature, and then eats of a peace offering belonging to the LORD, that person, too, shall be cut off from his people."


text:
 Although the fat of an animal that has died a natural death or has been killed by wild beasts may be put to any other use, you may not eat it.


text:
 If anyone eats the fat of an animal from which an oblation is made to the LORD, such a one shall be cut off from his people.


text:
 "Tell the Israelites: He who presents a peace offering to the LORD shall bring a part of it as his special offering to him,


text:
 carrying in with his own hands the oblations to the LORD. The fat is to be brought in, together with the breast, which is to be waved as a wave offering before the LORD.


text:
 Moreover, from your peace offering you shall give to the priest the right leg as a raised offering.


text:
 The descendant of Aaron who offers up the blood and fat of the peace offering shall have the right leg as his portion,


text:
 for from the peace offerings of the Israelites I have taken the breast that is waved and the leg that is raised up, and I have given them to Aaron, the priest, and to his sons by a perpetual ordinance as a contribution from the Israelites."


text:
 This is the priestly share from the oblations of the LORD, allotted to Aaron and his sons on the day he called them to be the priests of the LORD;


text:
 on the day he anointed them the LORD ordered the Israelites to give them this share by a perpetual ordinance throughout their generations.


text:
 This is the ritual for holocausts, cereal offerings, sin offerings, guilt offerings, (ordination offerings) and peace offerings,


text:
 which the LORD enjoined on Moses at Mount Sinai at the time when he commanded the Israelites in the wilderness of Sinai to bring their offerings to the LORD.


text:
 "Take Aaron and his sons, together with the vestments, the anointing oil, the bullock for a sin offering, the two rams, and the basket of unleavened food.


text:
 And Moses did as the LORD had commanded. When the community had assembled at the entrance of the meeting tent,


text:
 Then he put the tunic on Aaron, girded him with the sash, clothed him with the robe, placed the ephod on him, and girded him with the embroidered belt of the ephod, fastening it around him.


text:
 and put the miter on his head, attaching the gold plate, the sacred diadem, over the front of the miter, at his forehead, as the LORD had commanded him to do.


text:
 Then he sprinkled some of this oil seven times on the altar, and anointed the altar, with all its appurtenances, and the laver, with its base, thus consecrating them.


text:
 Moses likewise brought forward Aaron's sons, clothed them with tunics, girded them with sashes, and put turbans on them, as the LORD had commanded him to do.


text:
 When he had brought forward the bullock for a sin offering, Aaron and his sons laid their hands on its head.


text:
 Then Moses slaughtered it, and taking some of its blood, with his finger he put it on the horns around the altar, thus purifying the altar. He also made atonement for the altar by pouring out the blood at its base when he consecrated it.


text:
 Taking all the fat that was over the inner organs, as well as the lobe of the liver and the two kidneys with their fat, Moses burned them on the altar.


text:
 The bullock, however, with its hide and flesh and offal he burned in the fire outside the camp, as the LORD had commanded him to do.


text:
 then, having washed the inner organs and the shanks with water, he also burned these remaining parts of the ram on the altar as a holocaust, a sweet-smelling oblation to the LORD, as the LORD had commanded him to do.


text:
 Then he brought forward the second ram, the ordination ram, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on its head.


text:
 When he had slaughtered it, Moses took some of its blood and put it on the tip of Aaron's right ear, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot.


text:
 Moses had the sons of Aaron also come forward, and he put some of the blood on the tips of their right ears, on the thumbs of their right hands, and on the big toes of their right feet. The rest of the blood he splashed on the sides of the altar.


text:
 He then took the fat: the fatty tail and all the fat over the inner organs, the lobe of the liver and the two kidneys with their fat, and likewise the right leg;


text:
 from the basket of unleavened food that was set before the LORD he took one unleavened cake, one loaf of bread made with oil, and one wafer; these he placed on top of the portions of fat and the right leg.


text:
 He then put all these things into the hands of Aaron and his sons, whom he had wave them as a wave offering before the LORD.


text:
 When he had received them back, Moses burned them with the holocaust on the altar as the ordination offering, a sweet-smelling oblation to the LORD.


text:
 He then took the breast and waved it as a wave offering before the LORD; this was Moses' own portion of the ordination ram. All this was in keeping with the LORD'S command to Moses.


text:
 Taking some of the anointing oil and some of the blood that was on the altar, Moses sprinkled with it Aaron and his vestments, as well as his sons and their vestments, thus consecrating both Aaron and his vestments and his sons and their vestments.


text:
 Finally, Moses said to Aaron and his sons, "Boil the flesh at the entrance of the meeting tent, and there eat it with the bread that is in the basket of the ordination offering, in keeping with the command I have received: 'Aaron and his sons shall eat of it.'


text:
 Moreover, you are not to depart from the entrance of the meeting tent for seven days, until the days of your ordination are completed; for your ordination is to last for seven days.


text:
 Hence you must remain at the entrance of the meeting tent day and night for seven days, carrying out the prescriptions of the LORD; otherwise, you shall die; for this is the command I have received."


text:
 and said to Aaron, "Take a calf for a sin offering and a ram for a holocaust, both without blemish, and offer them before the LORD.


text:
 Tell the elders of Israel, too: Take a he-goat for a sin offering, a calf and a lamb, both unblemished yearlings, for a holocaust,


text:
 and an ox and a ram for a peace offering, to sacrifice them before the LORD, along with a cereal offering mixed with oil; for today the LORD will reveal himself to you."


text:
 So they brought what Moses had ordered. When the whole community had come forward and stood before the LORD,


text:
 Moses said, "This is what the LORD orders you to do, that the glory of the LORD may be revealed to you.


text:
 Come up to the altar," Moses then told Aaron, "and offer your sin offering and your holocaust in atonement for yourself and for your family; then present the offering of the people in atonement for them, as the LORD has commanded."


text:
 When his sons presented the blood to him, he dipped his finger in the blood and put it on the horns of the altar. The rest of the blood he poured out at the base of the altar.


text:
 He then burned on the altar the fat, the kidneys and the lobe of the liver that were taken from the sin offering, as the LORD had commanded Moses;


text:
 Then Aaron slaughtered his holocaust. When his sons brought him the blood, he splashed it on all sides of the altar.


text:
 Having washed the inner organs and the shanks, he burned these also with the holocaust on the altar.


text:
 Thereupon he had the people's offering brought up. Taking the goat that was for the people's sin offering, he slaughtered it and offered it up for sin as before.


text:
 Then he brought forward the holocaust, other than the morning holocaust, and offered it in the usual manner.


text:
 Finally he slaughtered the ox and the ram, the peace offering of the people. When his sons brought him the blood, Aaron splashed it on all sides of the altar.


text:
 The portions of fat from the ox and from the ram, the fatty tail, the fatty membrane over the inner organs, the two kidneys, with the fat that is on them, and the lobe of the liver,


text:
 having first waved the breasts and the right legs as a wave offering before the LORD, in keeping with the LORD'S command to Moses.


text:
 Aaron then raised his hands over the people and blessed them. When he came down from offering the sin offering and holocaust and peace offering,


text:
 Moses and Aaron went into the meeting tent. On coming out they again blessed the people. Then the glory of the LORD was revealed to all the people.


text:
 Fire came forth from the LORD'S presence and consumed the holocaust and the remnants of the fat on the altar. Seeing this, all the people cried out and fell prostrate.


text:
 During this time Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers and, strewing incense on the fire they had put in them, they offered up before the LORD profane fire, such as he had not authorized.


text:
 Fire therefore came forth from the LORD'S presence and consumed them, so that they died in his presence.


text:
 Moses then said to Aaron, "This is as the LORD said: Through those who approach me I will manifest my sacredness; In the sight of all the people I will reveal my glory." But Aaron said nothing.


text:
 Then Moses summoned Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Aaron's uncle Uzziel, with the order, "Come, remove your kinsmen from the sanctuary and carry them to a place outside the camp."


text:
 Moses said to Aaron and his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, "Do not bare your heads or tear your garments, lest you bring not only death on yourselves but God's wrath also on the whole community. Your kinsmen, the rest of the house of Israel, shall mourn for those whom the LORD'S fire has smitten;


text:
 but do not you go beyond the entry of the meeting tent, else you shall die; for the anointing oil of the LORD is upon you." So they did as Moses told them.


text:
 "When you are to go to the meeting tent, you and your sons are forbidden under pain of death, by a perpetual ordinance throughout your generations, to drink any wine or strong drink.


text:
 You must be able to distinguish between what is sacred and what is profane, between what is clean and what is unclean;


text:
 Moses said to Aaron and his surviving sons, Eleazar and Ithamar, "Take the cereal offering left over from the oblations of the LORD, and eat it beside the altar in the form of unleavened cakes. Since it is most sacred,


text:
 you must eat it in a sacred place. This is your due from the oblations of the LORD, and that of your sons; such is the command I have received.


text:
 With your sons and daughters you shall also eat the breast of the wave offering and the leg of the raised offering, in a clean place; for these have been assigned to you and your children as your due from the peace offerings of the Israelites.


text:
 The leg of the raised offering and the breast of the wave offering shall first be brought in with the oblations, the fatty portions, that are to be waved as a wave offering before the LORD. Then they shall belong to you and your children by a perpetual ordinance, as the LORD has commanded."


text:
 When Moses inquired about the goat of the sin offering, he discovered that it had all been burned. So he was angry with the surviving sons of Aaron, Eleazar and Ithamar, and said,


text:
 "Why did you not eat the sin offering in the sacred place, since it is most sacred? It has been given to you that you might bear the guilt of the community and make atonement for them before the LORD.


text:
 If its blood was not brought into the inmost part of the sanctuary, you should certainly have eaten the offering in the sanctuary, in keeping with the command I had received."


text:
 Aaron answered Moses, "Even though they presented their sin offering and holocaust before the LORD today, yet this misfortune has befallen me. Had I then eaten of the sin offering today, would it have been pleasing to the LORD?"


text:
 But you shall not eat any of the following that only chew the cud or only have hoofs: the camel, which indeed chews the cud, but does not have hoofs and is therefore unclean for you;


text:
 the rock badger, which indeed chews the cud, but does not have hoofs and is therefore unclean for you;


text:
 the hare, which indeed chews the cud, but does not have hoofs and is therefore unclean for you; and the pig,


text:
 which does indeed have hoofs and is cloven-footed, but does not chew the cud and is therefore unclean for you.


text:
 Their flesh you shall not eat, and their dead bodies you shall not touch; they are unclean for you.


text:
 "Of the various creatures that live in the water, you may eat the following: whatever in the seas or in river waters has both fins and scales you may eat.


text:
 But of the various creatures that crawl or swim in the water, whether in the sea or in the rivers, all those that lack either fins or scales are loathsome for you,


text:
 and you shall treat them as loathsome. Their flesh you shall not eat, and their dead bodies you shall loathe.


text:
 "Of the birds, these you shall loathe and, as loathsome, they shall not be eaten: the eagle, the vulture, the osprey,


text:
 But of the various winged insects that walk on all fours you may eat those that have jointed legs for leaping on the ground;


text:
 hence of these you may eat the following: the various kinds of locusts, the various kinds of grasshoppers, the various kinds of katydids, and the various kinds of crickets.


text:
 "Such is the uncleanness that you contract, that everyone who touches their dead bodies shall be unclean until evening,


text:
 and everyone who picks up any part of their dead bodies shall wash his garments and be unclean until evening.


text:
 All hoofed animals that are not cloven-footed or do not chew the cud are unclean for you; everyone who touches them becomes unclean.


text:
 Of the various quadrupeds, all those that walk on paws are unclean for you; everyone who touches their dead bodies shall be unclean until evening,


text:
 and everyone who picks up their dead bodies shall wash his garments and be unclean until evening. Such is their uncleanness for you.


text:
 "Of the creatures that swarm on the ground, the following are unclean for you: the rat, the mouse, the various kinds of lizards,


text:
 Among the various swarming creatures, these are unclean for you. Everyone who touches them when they are dead shall be unclean until evening.


text:
 Everything on which one of them falls when dead becomes unclean. Any such article that men use, whether it be an article of wood, cloth, leather or goat hair, must be put in water and remain unclean until evening, when it again becomes clean.


text:
 Should any of these creatures fall into a clay vessel, everything in it becomes unclean, and the vessel itself you must break.


text:
 Any solid food that was in contact with water, and any liquid that men drink, in any such vessel become unclean.


text:
 Any object on which one of their dead bodies falls, becomes unclean; if it is an oven or a jar-stand, this must be broken to pieces; they are unclean and shall be treated as unclean by you.


text:
 However, a spring or a cistern for collecting water remains clean; but whoever touches the dead body becomes unclean.


text:
 "When one of the animals that you could otherwise eat, dies of itself, anyone who touches its dead body shall be unclean until evening;


text:
 and anyone who eats of its dead body shall wash his garments and be unclean until evening; so also, anyone who removes its dead body shall wash his garments and be unclean until evening.


text:
 Whether it crawls on its belly, goes on all fours, or has many legs, you shall eat no swarming creature: they are loathsome.


text:
 Do not make yourselves loathsome or unclean with any swarming creature through being contaminated by them.


text:
 For I, the LORD, am your God; and you shall make and keep yourselves holy, because I am holy. You shall not make yourselves unclean, then, by any swarming creature that crawls on the ground.


text:
 Since I, the LORD, brought you up from the land of Egypt that I might be your God, you shall be holy, because I am holy.


text:
 "This is the law for animals and birds and for all the creatures that move about in the water or swarm on the ground,


text:
 that you may distinguish between the clean and the unclean, between creatures that may be eaten and those that may not be eaten."


text:
 "Tell the Israelites: When a woman has conceived and gives birth to a boy, she shall be unclean for seven days, with the same uncleanness as at her menstrual period.


text:
 and then she shall spend thirty-three days more in becoming purified of her blood; she shall not touch anything sacred nor enter the sanctuary till the days of her purification are fulfilled.


text:
 If she gives birth to a girl, for fourteen days she shall be as unclean as at her menstruation, after which she shall spend sixty-six days in becoming purified of her blood.


text:
 "When the days of her purification for a son or for a daughter are fulfilled, she shall bring to the priest at the entrance of the meeting tent a yearling lamb for a holocaust and a pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering.


text:
 The priest shall offer them up before the LORD to make atonement for her, and thus she will be clean again after her flow of blood. Such is the law for the woman who gives birth to a boy or a girl child.


text:
 If, however, she cannot afford a lamb, she may take two turtledoves or two pigeons, the one for a holocaust and the other for a sin offering. The priest shall make atonement for her, and thus she will again be clean."


text:
 "If someone has on his skin a scab or pustule or blotch which appears to be the sore of leprosy, he shall be brought to Aaron, the priest, or to one of the priests among his descendants,


text:
 who shall examine the sore on his skin. If the hair on the sore has turned white and the sore itself shows that it has penetrated below the skin, it is indeed the sore of leprosy; the priest, on seeing this, shall declare the man unclean.


text:
 If, however, the blotch on the skin is white, but does not seem to have penetrated below the skin, nor has the hair turned white, the priest shall quarantine the stricken man for seven days.


text:
 On the seventh day the priest shall again examine him. If he judges that the sore has remained unchanged and has not spread on the skin, the priest shall quarantine him for another seven days,


text:
 and once more examine him on the seventh day. If the sore is now dying out and has not spread on the skin, the priest shall declare the man clean; it was merely eczema. The man shall wash his garments and so become clean.


text:
 But if, after he has shown himself to the priest to be declared clean, the eczema spreads at all on his skin, he shall once more show himself to the priest.


text:
 Should the priest, on examining it, find that the eczema has indeed spread on the skin, he shall declare the man unclean; it is leprosy.


text:
 Should the priest, on examining him, find that there is a white scab on the skin which has turned the hair white and that there is raw flesh in it,


text:
 it is skin leprosy that has long developed. The priest shall declare the man unclean without first quarantining him, since he is certainly unclean.


text:
 If leprosy breaks out on the skin and, as far as the priest can see, covers all the skin of the stricken man from head to foot,


text:
 should the priest then, on examining him, find that the leprosy does cover his whole body, he shall declare the stricken man clean; since it has all turned white, the man is clean.


text:
 on observing the raw flesh, the priest shall declare him unclean, because raw flesh is unclean; it is leprosy.


text:
 should the latter, on examining him, find that the sore has indeed turned white, he shall declare the stricken man clean, and thus he will be clean.


text:
 should now in the place of the boil have a white scab or a pink blotch, he shall show himself to the priest.


text:
 If the latter, on examination, sees that it is deeper than the skin and that the hair has turned white, he shall declare the man unclean; it is the sore of leprosy that has broken out in the boil.


text:
 But if the priest, on examining him, finds that there is no white hair in it and that it is not deeper than the skin and is already dying out, the priest shall quarantine him for seven days.


text:
 But if the blotch remains in its place without spreading, it is merely the scar of the boil; the priest shall therefore declare him clean.


text:
 "If a man had a burn on his skin, and the proud flesh of the burn now becomes a pink or a white blotch,


text:
 the priest shall examine it. If the hair has turned white on the blotch and this seems to have penetrated below the skin, it is leprosy that has broken out in the burn; the priest shall therefore declare him unclean and stricken with leprosy.


text:
 But if the priest, on examining it, finds that there is no white hair on the blotch and that this is not deeper than the skin and is already dying out, the priest shall quarantine him for seven days.


text:
 Should the priest, when examining it on the seventh day, find that it has spread at all on the skin, he shall declare the man unclean and stricken with leprosy.


text:
 But if the blotch remains in its place without spreading on the skin and is already dying out, it is merely the scab of the burn; the priest shall therefore declare the man clean, since it is only the scar of the burn.


text:
 should the priest, on examining it, find that the sore has penetrated below the skin and that there is fine yellow hair on it, the priest shall declare the person unclean, for this is scall, a leprous disease of the head or cheek.


text:
 But if the priest, on examining the scall sore, finds that it has not penetrated below the skin, though the hair on it may not be black, the priest shall quarantine the person with scall sore for seven days,


text:
 and on the seventh day again examine the sore. If the scall has not spread and has no yellow hair on it and does not seem to have penetrated below the skin,


text:
 the man shall shave himself, but not on the diseased spot. Then the priest shall quarantine him for another seven days.


text:
 If the priest, when examining the scall on the seventh day, finds that it has not spread on the skin and that it has not penetrated below the skin, he shall declare the man clean; the latter shall wash his garments, and thus he will be clean.


text:
 the priest shall again examine it. If the scall has indeed spread on the skin, he need not look for yellow hair; the man is surely unclean.


text:
 If, however, he judges that the scall has remained in its place and that black hair has grown on it, the disease has been healed; the man is clean, and the priest shall declare him clean.


text:
 the priest shall make an examination. If the blotches on the skin are white and already dying out, it is only tetter that has broken out on the skin, and the person therefore is clean.


text:
 So too, if he loses the hair on the front of his head, he is not unclean merely because of his bald forehead.


text:
 But when there is a pink sore on his bald crown or bald forehead, it is leprosy that is breaking out there.


text:
 The priest shall examine him; and if the scab on the sore of the bald spot has the same pink appearance as that of skin leprosy of the fleshy part of the body,


text:
 the man is leprous and unclean, and the priest shall declare him unclean by reason of the sore on his head.


text:
 "The one who bears the sore of leprosy shall keep his garments rent and his head bare, and shall muffle his beard; he shall cry out, 'Unclean, unclean!'


text:
 As long as the sore is on him he shall declare himself unclean, since he is in fact unclean. He shall dwell apart, making his abode outside the camp.


text:
 if the infection on the garment or hide, or on the woven or knitted material, or on any leather article is greenish or reddish, the thing is indeed infected with leprosy and must be shown to the priest.


text:
 "On the seventh day the priest shall again examine the infection. If it has spread on the garment, or on the woven or knitted material, or on the leather, whatever be its use, the infection is malignant leprosy, and the article is unclean.


text:
 He shall therefore burn up the garment, or the woven or knitted material of wool or linen, or the leather article, whatever it may be, which is infected; since it has malignant leprosy, it must be destroyed by fire.


text:
 But if the priest, on examining the infection, finds that it has not spread on the garment, or on the woven or knitted material, or on the leather article,


text:
 he shall give orders to have the infected article washed and then quarantined for another seven days.


text:
 "Then the priest shall again examine the infected article after it has been washed. If the infection has not changed its appearance, even though it may not have spread, the article is unclean and shall be destroyed by fire.


text:
 But if the priest, on examining the infection, finds that it is dying out after the washing, he shall tear the infected part out of the garment, or the leather, or the woven or knitted material.


text:
 If, however, the infection again appears on the garment, or on the woven or knitted material, or on the leather article, it is still virulent and the thing infected shall be destroyed by fire.


text:
 But if, after the washing, the infection has left the garment, or the woven or knitted material, or the leather article, the thing shall be washed a second time, and thus it will be clean.


text:
 This is the law for leprous infection on a garment of wool or linen, or on woven or knitted material, or on any leather article, to determine whether it is clean or unclean."


text:
 "This is the law for the victim of leprosy at the time of his purification. He shall be brought to the priest,


text:
 who is to go outside the camp to examine him. If the priest finds that the sore of leprosy has healed in the leper,


text:
 he shall order the man who is to be purified, to get two live, clean birds, as well as some cedar wood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop.


text:
 The priest shall then order him to slay one of the birds over an earthen vessel with spring water in it.


text:
 Taking the living bird with the cedar wood, the scarlet yarn and the hyssop, the priest shall dip them all in the blood of the bird that was slain over the spring water,


text:
 and then sprinkle seven times the man to be purified from his leprosy. When he has thus purified him, he shall let the living bird fly away over the countryside.


text:
 The man being purified shall then wash his garments and shave off all his hair and bathe in water; only when he is thus made clean may he come inside the camp; but he shall still remain outside his tent for seven days.


text:
 On the seventh day he shall again shave off all the hair of his head, his beard, his eyebrows, and any other hair he may have, and also wash his garments and bathe his body in water; and so he will be clean.


text:
 "On the eighth day he shall take two unblemished male lambs, one unblemished yearling ewe lamb, three tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil for a cereal offering, and one log of oil.


text:
 The priest who performs the purification ceremony shall place the man who is being purified, as well as all these offerings, before the LORD at the entrance of the meeting tent.


text:
 Taking one of the male lambs, the priest shall present it as a guilt offering, along with the log of oil, waving them as a wave offering before the LORD.


text:
 (This lamb he shall slaughter in the sacred place where the sin offering and the holocaust are slaughtered; because, like the sin offering, the guilt offering belongs to the priest and is most sacred.)


text:
 Then the priest shall take some of the blood of the guilt offering and put it on the tip of the man's right ear, the thumb of his right hand, and the big toe of his right foot.


text:
 Of the oil left in his hand the priest shall put some on the tip of the man's right ear, the thumb of his right hand, and the big toe of his right foot, over the blood of the guilt offering.


text:
 The rest of the oil in his hand the priest shall put on the head of the man being purified. Thus shall the priest make atonement for him before the LORD.


text:
 Only after he has offered the sin offering in atonement for the man's uncleanness shall the priest slaughter the holocaust


text:
 and offer it, together with the cereal offering, on the altar before the LORD. When the priest has thus made atonement for him, the man will be clean.


text:
 "If a man is poor and cannot afford so much, he shall take one male lamb for a guilt offering, to be used as a wave offering in atonement for himself, one tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil for a cereal offering, a log of oil,


text:
 and two turtledoves or pigeons, which he can more easily afford, the one as a sin offering and the other as a holocaust.


text:
 On the eighth day of his purification he shall bring them to the priest, at the entrance of the meeting tent before the LORD.


text:
 Taking the guilt-offering lamb, along with the log of oil, the priest shall wave them as a wave offering before the LORD.


text:
 When he has slaughtered the guilt-offering lamb, he shall take some of its blood, and put it on the tip of the right ear of the man being purified, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot.


text:
 Some of the oil in his hand the priest shall also put on the tip of the man's right ear, the thumb of his right hand, and the big toe of his right foot, over the blood of the guilt offering.


text:
 The rest of the oil in his hand the priest shall put on the man's head. Thus shall he make atonement for him before the LORD.


text:
 the priest shall offer up one as a sin offering and the other as a holocaust, along with the cereal offering. Thus shall the priest make atonement before the LORD for the man who is to be purified.


text:
 "When you come into the land of Canaan, which I am giving you to possess, if I put a leprous infection on any house of the land you occupy,


text:
 the owner of the house shall come and report to the priest, 'It looks to me as if my house were infected.'


text:
 The priest shall then order the house to be cleared out before he goes in to examine the infection, lest everything in the house become unclean. Only after this is he to go in to examine the house.


text:
 If the priest, on examining it, finds that the infection on the walls of the house consists of greenish or reddish depressions which seem to go deeper than the surface of the wall,


text:
 On the seventh day the priest shall return to examine the house again. If he finds that the infection has spread on the walls,


text:
 The whole inside of the house shall then be scraped, and the mortar that has been scraped off shall be dumped in an unclean place outside the city.


text:
 Then new stones shall be brought and put in the place of the old stones, and new mortar shall be made and plastered on the house.


text:
 "If the infection breaks out once more after the stones have been pulled out and the house has been scraped and replastered,


text:
 the priest shall come again; and if he finds that the infection has spread in the house, it is corrosive leprosy, and the house is unclean.


text:
 It shall be pulled down, and all its stones, beams and mortar shall be hauled away to an unclean place outside the city.


text:
 If the priest finds, when he comes to examine the house, that the infection has in fact not spread after the plastering, he shall declare the house clean, since the infection has been healed.


text:
 Then, taking the cedar wood, the hyssop and the scarlet yarn, together with the living bird, he shall dip them all in the blood of the slain bird and the spring water, and sprinkle the house seven times.


text:
 Thus shall he purify the house with the bird's blood and the spring water, along with the living bird, the cedar wood, the hyssop, and the scarlet yarn.


text:
 He shall then let the living bird fly away over the countryside outside the city. When he has thus made atonement for it, the house will be clean.


text:
 so that it may be manifest when there is a state of uncleanness and when a state of cleanness. This is the law for leprosy."


text:
 "Speak to the Israelites and tell them: Every man who is afflicted with a chronic flow from his private parts is thereby unclean.


text:
 Such is his uncleanness from this flow that it makes no difference whether the flow drains off or is blocked up; his uncleanness remains.


text:
 Any bed on which the man afflicted with the flow lies, is unclean, and any piece of furniture on which he sits, is unclean.


text:
 Whoever sits on a piece of furniture on which the afflicted man was sitting, shall wash his garments, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.


text:
 Whoever touches the body of the afflicted man shall wash his garments, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.


text:
 If the afflicted man spits on a clean man, the latter shall wash his garments, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.


text:
 Whoever touches anything that was under him shall be unclean until evening; whoever lifts up any such thing shall wash his garments, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.


text:
 Anyone whom the afflicted man touches with unrinsed hands shall wash his garments, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.


text:
 Earthenware touched by the afflicted man shall be broken; and every wooden article shall be rinsed with water.


text:
 "When a man who has been afflicted with a flow becomes free of his affliction, he shall wait seven days for his purification. Then he shall wash his garments and bathe his body in fresh water, and so he will be clean.


text:
 On the eighth day he shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons, and going before the LORD, to the entrance of the meeting tent, he shall give them to the priest,


text:
 who shall offer them up, the one as a sin offering and the other as a holocaust. Thus shall the priest make atonement before the LORD for the man's flow.


text:
 "When a man has an emission of seed, he shall bathe his whole body in water and be unclean until evening.


text:
 Any piece of cloth or leather with seed on it shall be washed with water and be unclean until evening.


text:
 "When a woman has her menstrual flow, she shall be in a state of impurity for seven days. Anyone who touches her shall be unclean until evening.


text:
 Whoever touches any article of furniture on which she was sitting, shall wash his garments, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.


text:
 If a man dares to lie with her, he contracts her impurity and shall be unclean for seven days; every bed on which he then lies also becomes unclean.


text:
 "When a woman is afflicted with a flow of blood for several days outside her menstrual period, or when her flow continues beyond the ordinary period, as long as she suffers this unclean flow she shall be unclean, just as during her menstrual period.


text:
 Any bed on which she lies during such a flow becomes unclean, as it would during her menstruation, and any article of furniture on which she sits becomes unclean just as during her menstruation.


text:
 Anyone who touches them becomes unclean; he shall wash his garments, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.


text:
 "If she becomes freed from her affliction, she shall wait seven days, and only then is she to be purified.


text:
 On the eighth day she shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons and bring them to the priest at the entrance of the meeting tent.


text:
 The priest shall offer up one of them as a sin offering and the other as a holocaust. Thus shall the priest make atonement before the LORD for her unclean flow.


text:
 "You shall warn the Israelites of their uncleanness, lest by defiling my Dwelling, which is in their midst, their uncleanness be the cause of their death.


text:
 "This is the law for the man who is afflicted with a chronic flow, or who has an emission of seed, and thereby becomes unclean;


text:
 as well as for the woman who has her menstrual period, or who is afflicted with a chronic flow; the law for male and female; and also for the man who lies with an unclean woman."


text:
 After the death of Aaron's two sons, who died when they approached the LORD'S presence, the LORD spoke to Moses


text:
 and said to him, "Tell your brother Aaron that he is not to come whenever he pleases into the sanctuary, inside the veil, in front of the propitiatory on the ark; otherwise, when I reveal myself in a cloud above the propitiatory, he will die.


text:
 Only in this way may Aaron enter the sanctuary. He shall bring a young bullock for a sin offering and a ram for a holocaust.


text:
 He shall wear the sacred linen tunic, with the linen drawers next his flesh, gird himself with the linen sash and put on the linen miter. But since these vestments are sacred, he shall not put them on until he has first bathed his body in water.


text:
 From the Israelite community he shall receive two male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a holocaust.


text:
 The goat that is determined by lot for the LORD, Aaron shall bring in and offer up as a sin offering.


text:
 But the goat determined by lot for Azazel he shall set alive before the LORD, so that with it he may make atonement by sending it off to Azazel in the desert.


text:
 "Thus shall Aaron offer up the bullock, his sin offering, to atone for himself and for his family. When he has slaughtered it,


text:
 he shall take a censer full of glowing embers from the altar before the LORD, as well as a double handful of finely ground fragrant incense, and bringing them inside the veil,


text:
 there before the LORD he shall put incense on the fire, so that a cloud of incense may cover the propitiatory over the commandments; else he will die.


text:
 Taking some of the bullock's blood, he shall sprinkle it with his finger on the fore part of the propitiatory and likewise sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times in front of the propitiatory.


text:
 "Then he shall slaughter the people's sin-offering goat, and bringing its blood inside the veil, he shall do with it as he did with the bullock's blood, sprinkling it on the propitiatory and before it.


text:
 Thus he shall make atonement for the sanctuary because of all the sinful defilements and faults of the Israelites. He shall do the same for the meeting tent, which is set up among them in the midst of their uncleanness.


text:
 No one else may be in the meeting tent from the time he enters the sanctuary to make atonement until he departs. When he has made atonement for himself and his household, as well as for the whole Israelite community,


text:
 he shall come out to the altar before the LORD and make atonement for it also. Taking some of the bullock's and the goat's blood, he shall put it on the horns around the altar,


text:
 and with his finger sprinkle some of the blood on it seven times. Thus he shall render it clean and holy, purged of the defilements of the Israelites.


text:
 "When he has completed the atonement rite for the sanctuary, the meeting tent and the altar, Aaron shall bring forward the live goat.


text:
 Laying both hands on its head, he shall confess over it all the sinful faults and transgressions of the Israelites, and so put them on the goat's head. He shall then have it led into the desert by an attendant.


text:
 Since the goat is to carry off their iniquities to an isolated region, it must be sent away into the desert.


text:
 "After Aaron has again gone into the meeting tent, he shall strip off and leave in the sanctuary the linen vestments he had put on when he entered there.


text:
 After bathing his body with water in a sacred place, he shall put on his vestments, and then come out and offer his own and the people's holocaust, in atonement for himself and for the people,


text:
 "The man who has led away the goat for Azazel shall wash his garments and bathe his body in water; only then may he enter the camp.


text:
 The sin-offering bullock and goat whose blood was brought into the sanctuary to make atonement, shall be taken outside the camp, where their hides and flesh and offal shall be burned up in the fire.


text:
 The one who burns them shall wash his garments and bathe his body in water; only then may he enter the camp.


text:
 "This shall be an everlasting ordinance for you: on the tenth day of the seventh month every one of you, whether a native or a resident alien, shall mortify himself and shall do no work.


text:
 Since on this day atonement is made for you to make you clean, so that you may be cleansed of all your sins before the LORD,


text:
 by everlasting ordinance it shall be a most solemn sabbath for you, on which you must mortify yourselves.


text:
 "This atonement is to be made by the priest who has been anointed and ordained to the priesthood in succession to his father. He shall wear the linen garments, the sacred vestments,


text:
 and make atonement for the sacred sanctuary, the meeting tent and the altar, as well as for the priests and all the people of the community.


text:
 This, then, shall be an everlasting ordinance for you: once a year atonement shall be made for all the sins of the Israelites." Thus was it done, as the LORD had commanded Moses.


text:
 "Speak to Aaron and his sons, as well as to all the Israelites, and tell them: This is what the LORD has commanded.


text:
 without first bringing it to the entrance of the meeting tent to present it as an offering to the LORD in front of his Dwelling, shall be judged guilty of bloodshed; and for this, such a man shall be cut off from among his people.


text:
 Therefore, such sacrifices as they used to offer up in the open field the Israelites shall henceforth offer to the LORD, bringing them to the priest at the entrance of the meeting tent and sacrificing them there as peace offerings to the LORD.


text:
 The priest shall splash the blood on the altar of the LORD at the entrance of the meeting tent and there burn the fat for an odor pleasing to the LORD.


text:
 No longer shall they offer their sacrifices to the satyrs to whom they used to render their wanton worship. This shall be an everlasting ordinance for them and their descendants.


text:
 "Tell them, therefore: Anyone, whether of the house of Israel or of the aliens residing among them, who offers a holocaust or sacrifice


text:
 without bringing it to the entrance of the meeting tent to offer it to the LORD, shall be cut off from his kinsmen.


text:
 And if anyone, whether of the house of Israel or of the aliens residing among them, partakes of any blood, I will set myself against that one who partakes of blood and will cut him off from among his people.


text:
 Since the life of a living body is in its blood, I have made you put it on the altar, so that atonement may thereby be made for your own lives, because it is the blood, as the seat of life, that makes atonement.


text:
 That is why I have told the Israelites: No one among you, not even a resident alien, may partake of blood.


text:
 "Anyone hunting, whether of the Israelites or of the aliens residing among them, who catches an animal or a bird that may be eaten, shall pour out its blood and cover it with earth.


text:
 Since the life of every living body is its blood, I have told the Israelites: You shall not partake of the blood of any meat. Since the life of every living body is its blood, anyone who partakes of it shall be cut off.


text:
 "Everyone, whether a native or an alien, who eats of an animal that died of itself or was killed by a wild beast, shall wash his garments, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening, and then he will be clean.


text:
 You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you once lived, nor shall you do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you; do not conform to their customs.


text:
 My decrees you shall carry out, and my statutes you shall take care to follow. I, the LORD, am your God.


text:
 Keep, then, my statutes and decrees, for the man who carries them out will find life through them. I am the LORD.


text:
 You shall not disgrace your father by having intercourse with your mother. Besides, since she is your own mother, you shall not have intercourse with her.


text:
 You shall not have intercourse with your father's wife, for that would be a disgrace to your father.


text:
 You shall not have intercourse with your sister, your father's daughter or your mother's daughter, whether she was born in your own household or born elsewhere.


text:
 You shall not have intercourse with your son's daughter or with your daughter's daughter, for that would be a disgrace to your own family.


text:
 You shall not have intercourse with the daughter whom your father's wife bore to him, since she, too, is your sister.


text:
 You shall not disgrace your father's brother by being intimate with his wife, since she, too, is your aunt.


text:
 You shall not have intercourse with your daughter-in-law; she is your son's wife, and therefore you shall not disgrace her.


text:
 You shall not have intercourse with your brother's wife, for that would be a disgrace to your brother.


text:
 You shall not have intercourse with a woman and also with her daughter, nor shall you marry and have intercourse with her son's daughter or her daughter's daughter; this would be shameful, because they are related to her.


text:
 While your wife is still living you shall not marry her sister as her rival; for thus you would disgrace your first wife.


text:
 "You shall not approach a woman to have intercourse with her while she is unclean from menstruation.


text:
 You shall not offer any of your offspring to be immolated to Molech, thus profaning the name of your God. I am the LORD.


text:
 You shall not have carnal relations with an animal, defiling yourself with it; nor shall a woman set herself in front of an animal to mate with it; such things are abhorrent.


text:
 "Do not defile yourselves by any of these things by which the nations whom I am driving out of your way have defiled themselves.


text:
 Because their land has become defiled, I am punishing it for its wickedness, by making it vomit out its inhabitants.


text:
 You, however, whether natives or resident aliens, must keep my statutes and decrees forbidding all such abominations


text:
 otherwise the land will vomit you out also for having defiled it, just as it vomited out the nations before you.


text:
 Heed my charge, then, not to defile yourselves by observing the abominable customs that have been observed before you. I, the LORD, am your God."


text:
 it must be eaten on the very day of your sacrifice or on the following day. Whatever is left over until the third day shall be burned up in the fire.


text:
 whoever eats of it then shall pay the penalty for having profaned what is sacred to the LORD. Such a one shall be cut off from his people.


text:
 "When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not be so thorough that you reap the field to its very edge, nor shall you glean the stray ears of grain.


text:
 Likewise, you shall not pick your vineyard bare, nor gather up the grapes that have fallen. These things you shall leave for the poor and the alien. I, the LORD, am your God.


text:
 "You shall not defraud or rob your neighbor. You shall not withhold overnight the wages of your day laborer.


text:
 You shall not curse the deaf, or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but you shall fear your God. I am the LORD.


text:
 "You shall not act dishonestly in rendering judgment. Show neither partiality to the weak nor deference to the mighty, but judge your fellow men justly.


text:
 You shall not go about spreading slander among your kinsmen; nor shall you stand by idly when your neighbor's life is at stake. I am the LORD.


text:
 "You shall not bear hatred for your brother in your heart. Though you may have to reprove your fellow man, do not incur sin because of him.


text:
 Take no revenge and cherish no grudge against your fellow countrymen. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.


text:
 "Keep my statutes: do not breed any of your domestic animals with others of a different species; do not sow a field of yours with two different kinds of seed; and do not put on a garment woven with two different kinds of thread.


text:
 "If a man has carnal relations with a female slave who has already been living with another man but has not yet been redeemed or given her freedom, they shall be punished but not put to death, because she is not free.


text:
 The man, moreover, shall bring to the entrance of the meeting tent a ram as his guilt offering to the LORD.


text:
 With this ram the priest shall make atonement before the LORD for the sin he has committed, and it will be forgiven him.


text:
 "When you come into the land and plant any fruit tree there, first look upon its fruit as if it were uncircumcised. For three years, while its fruit remains uncircumcised, it may not be eaten.


text:
 In the fourth year, however, all of its fruit shall be sacred to the LORD as a thanksgiving feast to him.


text:
 Not until the fifth year may you eat its fruit. Thus it will continue its yield for you. I, the LORD, am your God.


text:
 "You shall not degrade your daughter by making a prostitute of her; else the land will become corrupt and full of lewdness.


text:
 "Do not go to mediums or consult fortune-tellers, for you will be defiled by them. I, the LORD, am your God.


text:
 "Stand up in the presence of the aged, and show respect for the old; thus shall you fear your God. I am the LORD.


text:
 You shall treat the alien who resides with you no differently than the natives born among you; have the same love for him as for yourself; for you too were once aliens in the land of Egypt. I, the LORD, am your God.


text:
 You shall have a true scale and true weights, an honest ephah and an honest hin. I, the LORD, am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.


text:
 "Tell the Israelites: Anyone, whether an Israelite or an alien residing in Israel, who gives any of his offspring to Molech shall be put to death. Let his fellow citizens stone him.


text:
 I myself will turn against such a man and cut him off from the body of his people; for in giving his offspring to Molech, he has defiled my sanctuary and profaned my holy name.


text:
 Even if his fellow citizens connive at such a man's crime of giving his offspring to Molech, and fail to put him to death,


text:
 I myself will set my face against that man and his family and will cut off from their people both him and all who join him in his wanton worship of Molech.


text:
 Should anyone turn to mediums and fortune-tellers and follow their wanton ways, I will turn against such a one and cut him off from his people.


text:
 "Anyone who curses his father or mother shall be put to death; since he has cursed his father or mother, he has forfeited his life.


text:
 If a man commits adultery with his neighbor's wife, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death.


text:
 If a man disgraces his father by lying with his father's wife, both the man and his stepmother shall be put to death; they have forfeited their lives.


text:
 If a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall be put to death; since they have committed an abhorrent deed, they have forfeited their lives.


text:
 If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them shall be put to death for their abominable deed; they have forfeited their lives.


text:
 If a man marries a woman and her mother also, the man and the two women as well shall be burned to death for their shameful conduct, so that such shamefulness may not be found among you.


text:
 If a man has carnal relations with an animal, the man shall be put to death, and the animal shall be slain.


text:
 If a woman goes up to any animal to mate with it, the woman and the animal shall be slain; let them both be put to death; their lives are forfeit.


text:
 If a man consummates marriage with his sister or his half-sister, they shall be publicly cut off from their people for this shameful deed; the man shall pay the penalty of having had intercourse with his own sister.


text:
 If a man lies in sexual intercourse with a woman during her menstrual period, both of them shall be cut off from their people, because they have laid bare the flowing fountain of her blood.


text:
 You shall not have intercourse with your mother's sister or your father's sister; whoever does so shall pay the penalty of incest.


text:
 If a man disgraces his uncle by having intercourse with his uncle's wife, the man and his aunt shall pay the penalty by dying childless.


text:
 If a man marries his brother's wife and thus disgraces his brother, they shall be childless because of this incest.


text:
 "Be careful to observe all my statutes and all my decrees; otherwise the land where I am bringing you to dwell will vomit you out.


text:
 Do not conform, therefore, to the customs of the nations whom I am driving out of your way, because all these things that they have done have filled me with disgust for them.


text:
 But to you I have said: Their land shall be your possession, a land flowing with milk and honey. I am giving it to you as your own, I, the LORD, your God, who have set you apart from the other nations.


text:
 You, too, must set apart, then, the clean animals from the unclean, and the clean birds from the unclean, so that you may not be contaminated with the uncleanness of any beast or bird or of any swarming creature in the land that I have set apart for you.


text:
 To me, therefore, you shall be sacred; for I, the LORD, am sacred, I, who have set you apart from the other nations to be my own.


text:
 "A man or a woman who acts as a medium or fortune-teller shall be put to death by stoning; they have no one but themselves to blame for their death."


text:
 The LORD said to Moses, "Speak to Aaron's sons, the priests, and tell them: None of you shall make himself unclean for any dead person among his people,


text:
 or his maiden sister, who is of his own family while she remains unmarried; for these he may make himself unclean.


text:
 But for a sister who has married out of his family he shall not make himself unclean; this would be a profanation.


text:
 "The priests shall not make bare the crown of the head, nor shave the edges of the beard, nor lacerate the body.


text:
 To their God they shall be sacred, and not profane his name; since they offer up the oblations of the LORD, the food of their God, they must be holy.


text:
 "A priest shall not marry a woman who has been a prostitute or has lost her honor, nor a woman who has been divorced by her husband; for the priest is sacred to his God.


text:
 Honor him as sacred who offers up the food of your God; treat him as sacred, because I, the LORD, who have consecrated him, am sacred.


text:
 "A priest's daughter who loses her honor by committing fornication and thereby dishonors her father also, shall be burned to death.


text:
 "The most exalted of the priests, upon whose head the anointing oil has been poured and who has been ordained to wear the special vestments, shall not bare his head or rend his garments,


text:
 or leave the sanctuary; otherwise he will profane the sanctuary of his God, for with the anointing oil upon him, he is dedicated to his God, to me, the LORD.


text:
 Not a widow or a woman who has been divorced or a woman who has lost her honor as a prostitute, but a virgin, taken from his own people, shall he marry;


text:
 "Speak to Aaron and tell him: None of your descendants, of whatever generation, who has any defect shall come forward to offer up the food of his God.


text:
 Therefore, he who has any of the following defects may not come forward: he who is blind, or lame, or who has any disfigurement or malformation,


text:
 No descendant of Aaron the priest who has any such defect may draw near to offer up the oblations of the LORD; on account of his defect he may not draw near to offer up the food of his God.


text:
 He may, however, partake of the food of his God: of what is most sacred as well as of what is sacred.


text:
 Only, he may not approach the veil nor go up to the altar on account of his defect; he shall not profane these things that are sacred to me, for it is I, the LORD, who make them sacred."


text:
 "Tell Aaron and his sons to respect the sacred offerings which the Israelites consecrate to me; else they will profane my holy name. I am the LORD.


text:
 "Tell them: If any one of you, or of your descendants in any future generation, dares, while he is in a state of uncleanness, to draw near the sacred offerings which the Israelites consecrate to the LORD, such a one shall be cut off from my presence. I am the LORD.


text:
 "No descendant of Aaron who is stricken with leprosy, or who suffers from a flow, may eat of these sacred offerings, unless he again becomes clean. Moreover, if anyone touches a person who has become unclean by contact with a corpse, or if anyone has had an emission of seed,


text:
 or if anyone touches any swarming creature or any man whose uncleanness, of whatever kind it may be, is contagious,


text:
 the one who touches such as these shall be unclean until evening and may not eat of the sacred portions until he has first bathed his body in water,


text:
 then, when the sun sets, he again becomes clean. Only then may he eat of the sacred offerings, which are his food.


text:
 He shall not make himself unclean by eating of any animal that has died of itself or has been killed by wild beasts. I am the LORD.


text:
 "They shall keep my charge and not do wrong in this matter; else they will die for their profanation. I am the LORD who have consecrated them.


text:
 But if a priest's daughter is widowed or divorced and, having no children, returns to her father's house, she may then eat of her father's food as in her youth. No layman, however, may eat of it.


text:
 If such a one eats of a sacred offering through inadvertence, he shall make restitution to the priest for the sacred offering, with an increment of one fifth of the amount.


text:
 The sacred offerings which the Israelites contribute to the LORD the priests shall not allow to be profaned


text:
 nor in the eating of the sacred offering shall they bring down guilt that must be punished; it is I, the LORD, who make them sacred."


text:
 "Speak to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites, and tell them: When anyone of the house of Israel, or any alien residing in Israel, who wishes to offer a sacrifice, brings a holocaust as a votive offering or as a free-will offering to the LORD,


text:
 When anyone presents a peace offering to the LORD from the herd or the flock in fulfillment of a vow, or as a free-will offering, if it is to find acceptance, it must be unblemished; it shall not have any defect.


text:
 One that is blind or crippled or maimed, or one that has a running sore or mange or ringworm, you shall not offer to the LORD; do not put such an animal on the altar as an oblation to the LORD.


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 An ox or a sheep that is in any way ill-proportioned or stunted you may indeed present as a free-will offering, but it will not be acceptable as a votive offering.


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 One that has its testicles bruised or crushed or torn out or cut off you shall not offer to the LORD. You shall neither do this in your own land


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 nor receive from a foreigner any such animals to offer up as the food of your God; since they are deformed or defective, they will not be acceptable for you."


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 "When an ox or a lamb or a goat is born, it shall remain with its mother for seven days; only from the eighth day onward will it be acceptable, to be offered as an oblation to the LORD.


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 Whenever you offer a thanksgiving sacrifice to the LORD, so offer it that it may be acceptable for you;


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 it must, therefore, be eaten on the same day; none of it shall be left over until the next day. I am the LORD.


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 and do not profane my holy name; in the midst of the Israelites I, the LORD, must be held as sacred. It is I who made you sacred


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 "Speak to the Israelites and tell them: The following are the festivals of the LORD, my feast days, which you shall celebrate with a sacred assembly.


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 "For six days work may be done; but the seventh day is the sabbath rest, a day for sacred assembly, on which you shall do no work. The sabbath shall belong to the LORD wherever you dwell.


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 "These, then, are the festivals of the LORD which you shall celebrate at their proper time with a sacred assembly.


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 The fifteenth day of this month is the LORD'S feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread.


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 On each of the seven days you shall offer an oblation to the LORD. Then on the seventh day you shall again hold a sacred assembly and do no sort of work."


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 "Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you come into the land which I am giving you, and reap your harvest, you shall bring a sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest,


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 who shall wave the sheaf before the LORD that it may be acceptable for you. On the day after the sabbath the priest shall do this.


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 On this day, when your sheaf is waved, you shall offer to the LORD for a holocaust an unblemished yearling lamb.


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 Its cereal offering shall be two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, as a sweet-smelling oblation to the LORD; and its libation shall be a fourth of a hin of wine.


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 Until this day, when you bring your God this offering, you shall not eat any bread or roasted grain or fresh kernels. This shall be a perpetual statute for you and your descendants wherever you dwell.


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 "Beginning with the day after the sabbath, the day on which you bring the wave-offering sheaf, you shall count seven full weeks,


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 and then on the day after the seventh week, the fiftieth day, you shall present the new cereal offering to the LORD.


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 For the wave offering of your first fruits to the LORD, you shall bring with you from wherever you live two loaves of bread made of two tenths of an ephah of fine flour and baked with leaven.


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 Besides the bread, you shall offer to the LORD a holocaust of seven unblemished yearling lambs, one young bull, and two rams, along with their cereal offering and libations, as a sweet-smelling oblation to the LORD.


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 The priest shall wave the bread of the first fruits and the two lambs as a wave offering before the LORD; these shall be sacred to the LORD and belong to the priest.


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 On this same day you shall by proclamation have a sacred assembly, and no sort of work may be done. This shall be a perpetual statute for you and your descendants wherever you dwell.


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 "When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not be so thorough that you reap the field to its very edge, nor shall you glean the stray ears of your grain. These things you shall leave for the poor and the alien. I, the LORD, am your God."


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 "Tell the Israelites: On the first day of the seventh month you shall keep a sabbath rest, with a sacred assembly and with the trumpet blasts as a reminder;


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 "The tenth of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement, when you shall hold a sacred assembly and mortify yourselves and offer an oblation to the LORD.


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 On this day you shall not do any work, because it is the Day of Atonement, when atonement is made for you before the LORD, your God.


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 but shall keep a sabbath of complete rest and mortify yourselves. Beginning on the evening of the ninth of the month, you shall keep this sabbath of yours from evening to evening."


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 "Tell the Israelites: The fifteenth day of this seventh month is the LORD'S feast of Booths, which shall continue for seven days.


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 For seven days you shall offer an oblation to the LORD, and on the eighth day you shall again hold a sacred assembly and offer an oblation to the LORD. On that solemn closing you shall do no sort of work.


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 "These, therefore, are the festivals of the LORD on which you shall proclaim a sacred assembly, and offer as an oblation to the LORD holocausts and cereal offerings, sacrifices and libations, as prescribed for each day,


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 in addition to those of the LORD'S sabbaths, your donations, your various votive offerings and the free-will offerings that you present to the LORD.


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 "On the fifteenth day, then, of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the produce of the land, you shall celebrate a pilgrim feast of the LORD for a whole week. The first and the eighth day shall be days of complete rest.


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 On the first day you shall gather foliage from majestic trees, branches of palms and boughs of myrtles and of valley poplars, and then for a week you shall make merry before the LORD, your God.


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 By perpetual statute for you and your descendants you shall keep this pilgrim feast of the LORD for one whole week in the seventh month of the year.


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 that your descendants may realize that, when I led the Israelites out of the land of Egypt, I made them dwell in booths. I, the LORD, am your God."


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 "Order the Israelites to bring you clear oil of crushed olives for the light, so that you may keep lamps burning regularly.


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 In the meeting tent, outside the veil that hangs in front of the commandments, Aaron shall set up the lamps to burn before the LORD regularly, from evening till morning. Thus, by a perpetual statute for you and your descendants,


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 "You shall take fine flour and bake it into twelve cakes, using two tenths of an ephah of flour for each cake.


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 On each pile put some pure frankincense, which shall serve as an oblation to the LORD, a token offering for the bread.


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 Regularly on each sabbath day this bread shall be set out afresh before the LORD, offered on the part of the Israelites by an everlasting agreement.


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 It shall belong to Aaron and his sons, who must eat it in a sacred place, since, as something most sacred among the various oblations to the LORD, it is his by perpetual right."


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 Among the Israelites there was a man born of an Israelite mother (Shelomith, daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan) and an Egyptian father.


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 This man quarreled publicly with another Israelite and cursed and blasphemed the LORD'S name. So the people brought him to Moses,


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 "Take the blasphemer outside the camp, and when all who heard him have laid their hands on his head, let the whole community stone him.


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 whoever blasphemes the name of the LORD shall be put to death. The whole community shall stone him; alien and native alike must be put to death for blaspheming the LORD'S name.


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 Limb for limb, eye for eye, tooth for tooth! The same injury that a man gives another shall be inflicted on him in return.


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 When Moses told this to the Israelites, they took the blasphemer outside the camp and stoned him; they carried out the command that the LORD had given Moses.


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 "Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you enter the land that I am giving you, let the land, too, keep a sabbath for the LORD.


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 For six years you may sow your field, and for six years prune your vineyard, gathering in their produce.


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 But during the seventh year the land shall have a complete rest, a sabbath for the LORD, when you may neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard.


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 The aftergrowth of your harvest you shall not reap, nor shall you pick the grapes of your untrimmed vines in this year of sabbath rest for the land.


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 While the land has its sabbath, all its produce will be food equally for you yourself and for your male and female slaves, for your hired help and the tenants who live with you,


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 "Seven weeks of years shall you count-- seven times seven years-- so that the seven cycles amount to forty-nine years.


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 Then, on the tenth day of the seventh month let the trumpet resound; on this, the Day of Atonement, the trumpet blast shall re-echo throughout your land.


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 This fiftieth year you shall make sacred by proclaiming liberty in the land for all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, when every one of you shall return to his own property, every one to his own family estate.


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 In this fiftieth year, your year of jubilee, you shall not sow, nor shall you reap the aftergrowth or pick the grapes from the untrimmed vines.


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 Since this is the jubilee, which shall be sacred for you, you may not eat of its produce, except as taken directly from the field.


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 On the basis of the number of years since the last jubilee shall you purchase the land from him; and so also, on the basis of the number of years for crops, shall he sell it to you.


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 When the years are many, the price shall be so much the more; when the years are few, the price shall be so much the less. For it is really the number of crops that he sells you.


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 "Observe my precepts and be careful to keep my regulations, for then you will dwell securely in the land.


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 The land will yield its fruit and you will have food in abundance, so that you may live there without worry.


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 Therefore, do not say, 'What shall we eat in the seventh year, if we do not then sow or reap our crop?'


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 I will bestow such blessings on you in the sixth year that there will then be crop enough for three years.


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 When you sow in the eighth year, you will continue to eat from the old crop; and even into the ninth year, when the crop comes in, you will still have the old to eat from.


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 "The land shall not be sold in perpetuity; for the land is mine, and you are but aliens who have become my tenants.


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 When one of your countrymen is reduced to poverty and has to sell some of his property, his closest relative, who has the right to redeem it, may go and buy back what his kinsman has sold.


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 If, however, the man has no relative to redeem his land, but later on acquires sufficient means to buy it back in his own name,


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 he shall make a deduction from the price in proportion to the number of years since the sale, and then pay back the balance to the one to whom he sold it, so that he may thus regain his own property.


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 But if he does not acquire sufficient means to buy back his land, what he has sold shall remain in the possession of the purchaser until the jubilee, when it must be released and returned to its original owner.


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 "When someone sells a dwelling in a walled town, he has the right to buy it back during the time of one full year from its sale.


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 But if such a house in a walled town has not been redeemed at the end of a full year, it shall belong in perpetuity to the purchaser and his descendants; nor shall it be released in the jubilee.


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 However, houses in villages that are not encircled by walls shall be considered as belonging to the surrounding farm land; they may be redeemed at any time, and in the jubilee they must be released.


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 "In levitical cities the Levites shall always have the right to redeem the town houses that are their property.


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 Any town house of the Levites in their cities that had been sold and not redeemed, shall be released in the jubilee; for the town houses of the Levites are their hereditary property in the midst of the Israelites.


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 Moreover, the pasture land belonging to their cities shall not be sold at all; it must always remain their hereditary property.


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 "When one of your fellow countrymen is reduced to poverty and is unable to hold out beside you, extend to him the privileges of an alien or a tenant, so that he may continue to live with you.


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 Do not exact interest from your countryman either in money or in kind, but out of fear of God let him live with you.


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 I, the LORD, am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.


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 "When, then, your countryman becomes so impoverished beside you that he sells you his services, do not make him work as a slave.


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 Rather, let him be like a hired servant or like your tenant, working with you until the jubilee year,


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 when he, together with his children, shall be released from your service and return to his kindred and to the property of his ancestors.


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 Since those whom I brought out of the land of Egypt are servants of mine, they shall not be sold as slaves to any man.


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 "Slaves, male and female, you may indeed possess, provided you buy them from among the neighboring nations.


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 You may also buy them from among the aliens who reside with you and from their children who are born and reared in your land. Such slaves you may own as chattels,


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 and leave to your sons as their hereditary property, making them perpetual slaves. But you shall not lord it harshly over any of the Israelites, your kinsmen.


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 "When one of your countrymen is reduced to such poverty that he sells himself to a wealthy alien who has a permanent or a temporary residence among you, or to one of the descendants of an immigrant family,


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 even after he has thus sold his services he still has the right of redemption; he may be redeemed by one of his own brothers,


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 or by his uncle or cousin, or by some other relative or fellow clansman; or, if he acquires the means, he may redeem himself.


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 With his purchaser he shall compute the years from the sale to the jubilee, distributing the sale price over these years as though he had been hired as a day laborer.


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 the fewer years there are left before the jubilee year, the more he has to his credit; in proportion to his years of service shall he pay his ransom.


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 The alien shall treat him as a servant hired on an annual basis, and he shall not lord it over him harshly under your very eyes.


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 If he is not thus redeemed, he shall nevertheless be released, together with his children, in the jubilee year.


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 For to me the Israelites belong as servants; they are servants of mine, because I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I, the LORD, your God.


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 "Do not make false gods for yourselves. You shall not erect an idol or a sacred pillar for yourselves, nor shall you set up a stone figure for worship in your land; for I, the LORD, am your God.


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 I will give you rain in due season, so that the land will bear its crops, and the trees their fruit;


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 your threshing will last till vintage time, and your vintage till the time for sowing, and you will have food to eat in abundance, so that you may dwell securely in your land.


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 I will establish peace in the land, that you may lie down to rest without anxiety. I will rid the country of ravenous beasts, and keep the sword of war from sweeping across your land.


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 Five of you will put a hundred of your foes to flight, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand of them, till they are cut down by your sword.


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 I will look with favor upon you, and make you fruitful and numerous, as I carry out my covenant with you.


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 So much of the old crops will you have stored up for food that you will have to discard them to make room for the new.


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 for it is I, the LORD, your God, who brought you out of the land of the Egyptians and freed you from their slavery, breaking the yoke they had laid upon you and letting you walk erect.


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 if you reject my precepts and spurn my decrees, refusing to obey all my commandments and breaking my covenant,


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 then I, in turn, will give you your deserts. I will punish you with terrible woes-- with wasting and fever to dim the eyes and sap the life. You will sow your seed in vain, for your enemies will consume the crop.


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 I will turn against you, till you are beaten down before your enemies and lorded over by your foes. You will take to flight though no one pursues you.


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 to break your haughty confidence. I will make the sky above you as hard as iron, and your soil as hard as bronze,


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 "If then you become defiant in your unwillingness to obey me, I will multiply my blows another sevenfold, as your sins deserve.


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 I will unleash the wild beasts against you, to rob you of your children and wipe out your livestock, till your population dwindles away and your roads become deserted.


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 I will make the sword, the avenger of my covenant, sweep over you. Though you then huddle together in your walled cities, I will send in pestilence among you, till you are forced to surrender to the enemy.


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 And as I cut off your supply of bread, ten women will need but one oven for baking all the bread they dole out to you in rations-- not enough food to still your hunger.


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 I, also, will meet you with fiery defiance and will chastise you with sevenfold fiercer punishment for your sins,


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 I will demolish your high places, overthrow your incense stands, and cast your corpses on those of your idols. In my abhorrence of you,


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 I will lay waste your cities and devastate your sanctuaries, refusing to accept your sweet-smelling offerings.


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 So devastated will I leave the land that your very enemies who come to live there will stand aghast at the sight of it.


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 You yourselves I will scatter among the nations at the point of my drawn sword, leaving your countryside desolate and your cities deserted.


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 Then shall the land retrieve its lost sabbaths during all the time it lies waste, while you are in the land of your enemies; then shall the land have rest and make up for its sabbaths


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 during all the time that it lies desolate, enjoying the rest that you would not let it have on the sabbaths when you lived there.


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 "Those of you who survive in the lands of their enemies I will make so fainthearted that, if leaves rustle behind them, they will flee headlong, as if from the sword, though no one pursues them;


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 stumbling over one another as if to escape a weapon, while no one is after them-- so helpless will you be to take a stand against your foes!


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 Those of you who survive in the lands of their enemies will waste away for their own and their fathers' guilt.


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 "Thus they will have to confess that they and their fathers were guilty of having rebelled against me and of having defied me,


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 so that I, too, had to defy them and bring them into their enemies' land. Then, when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they make amends for their guilt,


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 I will remember my covenant with Jacob, my covenant with Isaac, and my covenant with Abraham; and of the land, too, I will be mindful.


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 But the land must first be rid of them, that in its desolation it may make up its lost sabbaths, and that they, too, may make good the debt of their guilt for having spurned my precepts and abhorred my statutes.


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 Yet even so, even while they are in their enemies' land, I will not reject or spurn them, lest, by wiping them out, I make void my covenant with them; for I, the LORD, am their God.


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 I will remember them because of the covenant I made with their forefathers, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt under the very eyes of the Gentiles, that I, the LORD, might be their God."


text:
 These are the precepts, decrees and laws which the LORD had Moses promulgate on Mount Sinai in the pact between himself and the Israelites.


text:
 "Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When anyone fulfills a vow of offering one or more persons to the LORD, who are to be ransomed at a fixed sum of money,


text:
 for persons between the ages of twenty and sixty, the fixed sum, in sanctuary shekels, shall be fifty silver shekels for a man,


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 for persons between the ages of five and twenty, the fixed sum shall be twenty shekels for a youth, and ten for a maiden;


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 for persons between the ages of one month and five years, the fixed sum shall be five silver shekels for a boy, and three for a girl;


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 for persons of sixty or more, the fixed sum shall be fifteen shekels for a man, and ten for a woman.


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 However, if the one who took the vow is too poor to meet the fixed sum, the person must be set before the priest, who shall determine the sum for his ransom in keeping with the means of the one who made the vow.


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 "If the offering vowed to the LORD is an animal that may be sacrificed, every such animal, when vowed to the LORD, becomes sacred.


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 The offerer shall not present a substitute for it by exchanging either a better for a worse one or a worse for a better one. If he attempts to offer one animal in place of another, both the original and its substitute shall be treated as sacred.


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 If the animal vowed to the LORD is unclean and therefore unfit for sacrifice, it must be set before the priest,


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 who shall determine its value in keeping with its good or bad qualities, and the value set by the priest shall stand.


text:
 "When someone dedicates his house as sacred to the LORD, the priest shall determine its value in keeping with its good or bad points, and the value set by the priest shall stand.


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 If the one who dedicated his house wishes to redeem it, he shall pay one fifth more than the price thus established, and then it will again be his.


text:
 "If the object which someone dedicates to the LORD is a piece of his hereditary land, its valuation shall be made according to the amount of seed required to sow it, the acreage sown with a homer of barley seed being valued at fifty silver shekels.


text:
 If the dedication of a field is made at the beginning of a jubilee period, the full valuation shall hold;


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 but if it is some time after this, the priest shall estimate its money value according to the number of years left until the next jubilee year, with a corresponding rebate on the valuation.


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 If the one who dedicated his field wishes to redeem it, he shall pay one fifth more than the price thus established, and so reclaim it.


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 but at the jubilee it shall be released as sacred to the LORD; like a field that is doomed, it shall become priestly property.


text:
 "If the field that some man dedicates to the LORD is one he had purchased and not a part of his hereditary property,


text:
 the priest shall compute its value in proportion to the number of years until the next jubilee, and on the same day the price thus established shall be given as sacred to the LORD;


