Reference: Pentateuch
American
The five books the books of Moses; that is, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. See articles on those books, and also MOSES.
Easton
the five-fold volume, consisting of the first five books of the Old Testament. This word does not occur in Scripture, nor is it certainly known when the roll was thus divided into five portions Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. Probably that was done by the LXX. translators. Some modern critics speak of a Hexateuch, introducing the Book of Joshua as one of the group. But this book is of an entirely different character from the other books, and has a different author. It stands by itself as the first of a series of historical books beginning with the entrance of the Israelites into Canaan. (See Joshua.)
The books composing the Pentateuch are properly but one book, the "Law of Moses," the "Book of the Law of Moses," the "Book of Moses," or, as the Jews designate it, the "Torah" or "Law." That in its present form it "proceeds from a single author is proved by its plan and aim, according to which its whole contents refer to the covenant concluded between Jehovah and his people, by the instrumentality of Moses, in such a way that everything before his time is perceived to be preparatory to this fact, and all the rest to be the development of it. Nevertheless, this unity has not been stamped upon it as a matter of necessity by the latest redactor: it has been there from the beginning, and is visible in the first plan and in the whole execution of the work.", Keil, Einl. i.d. A. T.
A certain school of critics have set themselves to reconstruct the books of the Old Testament. By a process of "scientific study" they have discovered that the so-called historical books of the Old Testament are not history at all, but a miscellaneous collection of stories, the inventions of many different writers, patched together by a variety of editors! As regards the Pentateuch, they are not ashamed to attribute fraud, and even conspiracy, to its authors, who sought to find acceptance to their work which was composed partly in the age of Josiah, and partly in that of Ezra and Nehemiah, by giving it out to be the work of Moses! This is not the place to enter into the details of this controversy. We may say frankly, however, that we have no faith in this "higher criticism." It degrades the books of the Old Testament below the level of fallible human writings, and the arguments on which its speculations are built are altogether untenable.
The evidences in favour of the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch are conclusive. We may thus state some of them briefly:
(1.) These books profess to have been written by Moses in the name of God (7/14/type/hcsb'>Ex 17:14; 24:3-4,7; 32:7-10,30-34; 34:27; Le 26:46; 27:34; De 31:9,24-25).
(2.) This also is the uniform and persistent testimony of the Jews of all sects in all ages and countries (comp. Jos 8:31-32; 1Ki 2:3; Jer 7:22; Ezr 6:18; Ne 8:1; Mal 4:4; Mt 22:24; Ac 15:21).
(3.) Our Lord plainly taught the Mosaic authorship of these books (Mt 5:17-18; 19:8; 22:31-32; 23:2; Mr 10:9; 12:26; Lu 16:31; 20:37; 24:26-27,44; Joh 3:14; 5:45-46,47; 6:32,49; 7:19,22). In the face of this fact, will any one venture to allege either that Christ was ignorant of the composition of the Bible, or that, knowing the true state of the case, he yet encouraged the people in the delusion they clung to?
(4.) From the time of Joshua down to the time of Ezra there is, in the intermediate historical books, a constant reference to the Pentateuch as the "Book of the Law of Moses." This is a point of much importance, inasmuch as the critics deny that there is any such reference; and hence they deny the historical character of the Pentateuch. As regards the Passover, e.g., we find it frequently spoken of or alluded to in the historical books following the Pentateuch, showing that the "Law of Moses" was then certainly known. It was celebrated in the time of Joshua (Jos 5:10, cf. Jos 4:19), Hezekiah (2Ch 30), Josiah (2Ki 23; 2Ch 35), and Zerubbabel (Ezr 6:19-22), and is referred to in such passages as 2Ki 23:22; 2Ch 35:18; 1Ki 9:25 ("three times in a year"); 2Ch 8:13. Similarly we might show frequent references to the Feast of Tabernacles and other Jewish institutions, although we do not admit that any valid argument can be drawn from the silence of Scripture in such a case. An examination of the following texts, 1Ki 2:9; 2Ki 14:6; 2Ch 23:18; 25:4; 34:14; Ezr 3:2; 7:6; Da 9:11,13, will also plainly show that the "Law of Moses" was known during all these centuries.
Granting that in the time of Moses there existed certain oral traditions or written records and documents which he was divinely led to make use of in his history, and that his writing was revised by inspired successors, this will fully account for certain peculiarities of expression which critics have called "anachronisms" and "contradictions," but in no way militates against the doctrine that Moses was the original author of the whole of the Pentateuch. It is not necessary for us to affirm that the whole is an original composition; but we affirm that the evidences clearly demonstrate that Moses was the author of those books which have come down to us bearing his name. The Pentateuch is certainly the basis and necessary preliminary of the whole of the Old Testament history and literature. (See Deuteronomy.)
See Verses Found in Dictionary
The Lord then said to Moses, "Write this down on a scroll as a reminder and recite it to Joshua: I will completely blot out the memory of Amalek under heaven."
Moses came and told the people all the commands of the Lord and all the ordinances. Then all the people responded with a single voice, "We will do everything that the Lord has commanded." And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. He rose early the next morning and set up an altar and 12 pillars for the 12 tribes of Israel at the base of the mountain.
He then took the covenant scroll and read [it] aloud to the people. They responded, "We will do and obey everything that the Lord has commanded."
The Lord spoke to Moses: "Go down at once! For your people you brought up from the land of Egypt have acted corruptly. They have quickly turned from the way I commanded them; they have made for themselves an image of a calf. They have bowed down to it, sacrificed to it, and said, 'Israel, this is your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.' " read more. The Lord also said to Moses: "I have seen this people, and they are indeed a stiff-necked people. Now leave Me alone, so that My anger can burn against them and I can destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation."
The following day Moses said to the people, "You have committed a great sin. Now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I will be able to pay for your sin." So Moses returned to the Lord and said, "Oh, this people has committed a great sin; they have made for themselves a god of gold. read more. Now if You would only forgive their sin. But if not, please erase me from the book You have written." The Lord replied to Moses: "Whoever has sinned against Me I will erase from My book. Now go, lead the people to the place I told you about; see, My angel will go before you. But on the day I settle accounts, I will hold them accountable for their sin."
The Lord also said to Moses, "Write down these words, for I have made a covenant with you and with Israel based on these words."
These are the statutes, ordinances, and laws the Lord established between Himself and the Israelites through Moses on Mount Sinai.
These are the commands the Lord gave Moses for the Israelites on Mount Sinai.
Moses wrote down this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the Lord's covenant, and to all the elders of Israel.
When Moses had finished writing down on a scroll every single word of this law, he commanded the Levites who carried the ark of the Lord's covenant,
The people came up from the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and camped at Gilgal on the eastern limits of Jericho.
While the Israelites camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, they kept the Passover on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month.
just as Moses the Lord's servant had commanded the Israelites. He built it according to what is written in the book of the law of Moses: an altar of uncut stones on which no iron tool has been used. Then they offered burnt offerings to the Lord and sacrificed fellowship offerings on it. There on the stones, Joshua copied the law of Moses, which he had written in the presence of the Israelites.
So don't let him go unpunished, for you are a wise man. You know how to deal with him to bring his gray head down to Sheol with blood."
No such Passover had ever been kept from the time of the judges who judged Israel through the entire time of the kings of Israel and Judah.
following the daily requirement for offerings according to the commandment of Moses for Sabbaths, New Moons, and the three annual appointed festivals: the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks, and the Festival of Booths.
Jeshua son of Jozadak and his brothers the priests along with Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and his brothers began to build the altar of Israel's God in order to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God.
They also appointed the priests by their divisions and the Levites by their groups to the service of God in Jerusalem, according to what is written in the book of Moses. The exiles observed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month. read more. All of the priests and Levites were ceremonially clean, because they had purified themselves. They killed the Passover lamb for themselves, their priestly brothers, and all the exiles. The Israelites who had returned from exile ate [it], together with all who had separated themselves from the uncleanness of the Gentiles of the land in order to worship the Lord, the God of Israel. They observed the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days with joy, because the Lord had made them joyful, having changed the Assyrian king's attitude toward them, so that he supported them in the work on the house of the God of Israel.
came up from Babylon. He was a scribe skilled in the law of Moses,(F) which Yahweh, the God of Israel, had given. The king had granted him everything he requested because the hand of Yahweh his God was on him.
all the people gathered together at the square in front of the Water Gate. They asked Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses that the Lord had given Israel.
for when I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak with them or command them concerning burnt offering and sacrifice.
All Israel has broken Your law and turned away, refusing to obey You. The promised cursewritten in the law of Moses, the servant of God, has been poured out on us because we have sinned against Him.
Just as it is written in the law of Moses, all this disaster has come on us, yet we have not appeased the Lord our God by turning from our injustice and paying attention to Your truth.
"Remember the instruction of Moses My servant, the statutes and ordinances I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel.
"Don't assume that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For I assure you: Until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or one stroke of a letter will pass from the law until all things are accomplished.
He told them, "Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because of the hardness of your hearts. But it was not like that from the beginning.
"Teacher, Moses said, if a man dies, having no children, his brother is to marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.
Now concerning the resurrection of the dead, haven't you read what was spoken to you by God: I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob ? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living."
"The scribes and the Pharisees are seated in the chair of Moses.
Therefore what God has joined together, man must not separate."
Now concerning the dead being raised-haven't you read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the burning bush, how God spoke to him: I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob ?
"But he told him, 'If they don't listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded if someone rises from the dead.' "
Moses even indicated [in the passage] about the burning bush that the dead are raised, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.
Didn't the Messiah have to suffer these things and enter into His glory?" Then beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He interpreted for them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.
Then He told them, "These are My words that I spoke to you while I was still with you-that everything written about Me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled."
Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,
Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, because he wrote about Me. read more. But if you don't believe his writings, how will you believe My words?"
Jesus said to them, "I assure you: Moses didn't give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the real bread from heaven.
Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.
Didn't Moses give you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law! Why do you want to kill Me?"
"Consider this: Moses has given you circumcision-not that it comes from Moses but from the fathers-and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath.
For since ancient times, Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, and he is read aloud in the synagogues every Sabbath day."
Fausets
(See MOSES; LAW; GENESIS; EXODUS; LEVITICUS; NUMBERS; DEUTERONOMY.) A term meaning "five volumes" (teuchos in Alexandrian Greek "a book"); applied to the first five books of the Bible, in Tertullian and Origen. "The book of the law" in De 34:12; 29:21; 30:10; 31:26; "the book of the law of Moses," Jos 23:6; Ne 8:1; in Ezr 7:6, "the law of Moses," "the book of Moses" (Ezr 6:18). The Jews now call it Torah "the law," literally, the directory in Lu 24:27 "Moses" stands for his book.
The division into five books is probably due to the Septuagint, for the names of the five books, Genesis, Exodus, etc., are Greek not Hebrew. The Jews name each book from its first word; the Pentateuch forms one roll, divided, not into books, but into larger and smaller sections Parshiyoth and Sedorim. They divide its precepts into 248 positive, and 365 negative, 248 being the number of parts the rabbis assign the body, 365 the days of the year. As a mnemonic they carry a square cloth with fringes (tsitsit = 600 in Hebrew) consisting of eight threads and five knots, 613 in all. The five of the Pentateuch answer to the five books of the psalter, and the five megilloth of the hagiographa (Song, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther).
MOSES' AUTHORSHIP. After the battle with Amalek (Ex 17:14) "Jehovah said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in the Book," implying there was a regular account kept in a well known book. Also Ex 24:4, "Moses wrote all the words of Jehovah"; (Ex 34:27) "Jehovah said unto Moses, Write thou these words" distinguished from Ex 34:28, "He (Jehovah) wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments" (Ex 34:1). Nu 33:2 "Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys by the commandment of Jehovah." In De 17:18-19, the king is required to "write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests, the Levites"; and De 31:9-11, "Moses wrote this law and delivered it unto the priests, the son of Levi," who should "at the end of every seven years read this law before all Israel in their hearing"; and De 31:24," Moses made an end of writing the words of this law in a book," namely, the whole Pentateuch ("the law," Mt 22:40; Ga 4:21), "and commanded the Levites ... put it in the side of the ark that it may be a witness against thee," as it proved under Josiah.
The two tables of the Decalogue were IN the ark (1Ki 8:9); the book of the law, the Pentateuch, was laid up in the holy of holies, close by the ark, probably in a chest (2Ki 22:8,18-19). The book of the law thus written by Moses and handed to the priests ends at De 31:23; the rest of the book of Deuteronomy is an appendix added after Moses' death by another hand, excepting the song and blessing, Moses' own composition. Moses speaks of "this law" and "the book of this law" as some definite volume which he had written for his people (De 28:61; 29:19-20,29). He uses the third person of himself, as John does in the New Testament He probably dictated much of it to Joshua or some scribe, who subsequently added the account of Moses' death and a few explanatory insertions. The recension by Ezra (and the great synagogue, Buxtori "Tiberius," 1:10, Tertullian De Cultu Fem. 3, Jerome ad Helvid.) may have introduced the further explanations which appear post Mosaic.
Moses probably uses patriarchal documents, as e.g. genealogies for Genesis; these came down through Shem and Abraham to Joseph and Israel in Egypt. That writing existed ages before Moses is proved by the tomb of Chnumhotep at Benihassan, of the twelfth dynasty, representing a scribe presenting to the governor a roll of papyrus covered with inscriptions dated the sixth year of Osirtasin II long before the Exodus. The papyrus found by M. Prisse in the hieratic character is considered the oldest of existing manuscripts and is attributed to a prince of the fifth dynasty; weighed down with age, he invokes Osiris to enable him to give mankind the fruits of his long experience. It contains two treatises, the first, of 12 pages, the end of a work of which the former part is lost, the second by a prince, son of the king next before Assa, in whose reign the work was composed. The Greek alphabet borrows its names of letters and order from the Semitic; those names have a meaning in Semitic, none in Greek Tradition made Cadmus ("the Eastern") introduce them into Greece from Phoenicia (Herodot. 5:58).
Joshua took a Hittite city, Kirjath Sepher, "the city of the book" (Jos 15:15), and changed the name to Debir of kindred meaning. Pertaour, a scribe under Rameses the Great, in an Iliadlike poem engraved on the walls of Karnak mentions Chirapsar, of the Khota or Hittites, a writer of books. From the terms for "write," "book," "ink," being in all Semitic dialects, it follows they must have been known to the earliest Shemites before they branched off into various tribes and nations. Moses, Israel's wise leader, would therefore be sure to commit to writing their laws, their wonderful antecedents and ancestry, and the Divine promises from the beginning connected with them, and their fulfillment in Egypt, in the Exodus, and in the wilderness, in order to evoke their national spirit. Israel would certainly have a written history at a time when the Hittites among whom Israel settled were writers.
Moreover, from Joshua downward the Old Testament books abound in references to the laws, history, and words of Moses, as such, universally accepted. They are ordered to be read continually (Jos 1:7-8); "all the law which Moses My servant commanded ... this book of the law" (Jos 8:31,34; 23:6). In Jos 1:3-8,13-18 the words of De 11:24-25; 31:6-12, and De 3:18-20 Nu 32:20-28, are quoted. Israel's constitution in church and state accords with that established by Moses. The priesthood is in Aaron's family (Jos 14:1). "Eleazar," Aaron's son, succeeds to his father's exalted position and with Joshua divides the land (Jos 21:1), as Nu 34:17 ordained; the Levites discharge their duties, scattered among the tribes and having 48 cities, as Jehovah by Moses commanded (Nu 35:7). So the tabernacle made by Moses is set up at Shiloh (Jos 18:1). The sacrifices (Jos 8:31; 22:23,27,29) are those enjoined (Leviticus 1; 2; 3).
The altar built (Jos 8:30-31; Ex 20:25) is "as Moses commanded ... in the book of the law of Moses." Compare also as to the ark, Jos 3:3,6,8; 7:6; circumcision, Jos 5:2; Passover, Jos 5:10; with the Pentateuch. There is the same general assembly or congregation and princes (9/18/type/hcsb'>Jos 9:18-21; 20:6,9; 22:30; Ex 16:22); the same elders of Israel (Jos 7:6; De 31:9); elders of the city (De 25:8; Jos 20:4); judges and officers (Jos 8:33; De 16:18); heads of thousands (Jos 22:21; Nu 1:16). Bodies taken down from hanging (Jos 8:29; 10:27; De 21:23). No league with Canaan (Joshua 9; Ex 23:32). Cities of refuge (Joshua 20; Nu 35:11-15; De 4:41-43; 19:2-7). Inheritance to Zelophebad's daughters (Jos 17:3; Numbers 27; 36).
So in Judges Moses' laws are referred to (Jg 2:1-3,11-12,20; 6/8/type/hcsb'>6:8-10; 20:2,6,13; De 13:6,12-14; 22:21). The same law and worship appear in Judges as in Pentateuch. Judah takes the lead (Jg 1:2; 20:18; Ge 49:8; Nu 2:3; 10:14). The judge's office is as Moses defined it (De 17:9). Gideon recognizes the theocracy, as Moses ordained (Jg 8:22-23; Ex 19:5-6; De 17:14,20; 33:5). The tabernacle is at Shiloh (Jg 18:31); Israel goes up to the house of God and consults the high priest with Urim and Thummim (Jg 20:23,26-28; Ex 28:30; Nu 27:21; De 12:5). The ephod is the priest's garment (Jg 8:27; 17:5; 18:14-17).
The Levites scattered through Israel are the recognized ministers (Jg 17:7-13; 19:1-2). Circumcision is Israel's distinguishing badge (Jg 14:3; 15:18). Historical rereferences to the Pentateuch abound (Jg 1:16,20,23; 2:1,10; 6:13), especially Jg 11:15-27 epitomizes Numbers 20; 21; De 2:1-8,26-34; compare the language Jg 2 with Ex 34:13; Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 28; De 7:2,8; 12:3; Jg 5:4-5 with De 33:2; 32:16-17. In the two books of Samuel the law and Pentateuch are the basis. Eli, high priest, is sprung from Aaron through Ithamar (1Ch 24:3; 2Sa 8:17; 1Ki 2:27). The transfer from Eli's descendants back to Eleazar's line fulfills Nu 25
See Verses Found in Dictionary
Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, all the earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth."
Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, all the earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth." So God created man in His own image; He created him in the image of God; He created them male and female. read more. God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth."
Then the Lord God formed the man out of the dust from the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being. The Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there He placed the man He had formed. read more. The Lord God caused to grow out of the ground every tree pleasing in appearance and good for food, including the tree of life in the midst of the garden, as well as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
The Lord God caused to grow out of the ground every tree pleasing in appearance and good for food, including the tree of life in the midst of the garden, as well as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A river went out from Eden to water the garden. From there it divided and became the source of four rivers. read more. The name of the first is Pishon, which encircles the entire land of the Havilah, where there is gold. Gold from that land is pure; bdellium and onyx are also there. The name of the second river is Gihon, which encircles the entire land of Cush. The name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows to the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. The Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it. And the Lord God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree of the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die."
Then the Lord God said to the serpent: Because you have done this, you are cursed more than any livestock and more than any wild animal. You will move on your belly and eat dust all the days of your life.
I will require the life of every animal and every man for your life and your blood. I will require the life of each man's brother for a man's life.
Then Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine; he was a priest to God Most High.
He took him outside and said, "Look at the sky and count the stars, if you are able to count them." Then He said to him, "Your offspring will be that [numerous]."
In the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure."
They struck the men who were at the door of the house, both young and old, with a blinding light so that they were unable to find the door.
After this, his brother came out grasping Esau's heel with his hand. So he was named Jacob. Isaac was 60 years old when they were born.
He reached a certain place and spent the night there because the sun had set. He took one of the stones from the place, put it there at his head, and lay down in that place.
but you didn't even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters. You have acted foolishly.
Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak.
While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father's concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard about it. Jacob had 12 sons:
These are Zibeon's sons: Aiah and Anah. This was the Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness while he was pasturing the donkeys of his father Zibeon.
When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made everything he did successful,
The warden did not bother with anything under Joseph's authority, because the Lord was with him, and the Lord made everything that he did successful.
Then they said to each other, "It is plain that we are being punished for what we did to our brother. We saw his deep distress when he pleaded with us, but we would not listen. That is why this trouble has come to us."
If we had not wasted time, we could have come back twice by now."
Israel said to Joseph, "I never expected to see your face [again], but now God has even let me see your offspring."
Turbulent as water, you will no longer excel, because you got into your father's bed and you defiled it-he got into my bed.
May I never enter their council; may I never join their assembly. For in their anger they kill men, and on a whim they hamstring oxen.
Judah, your brothers will praise you. Your hand will be on the necks of your enemies; your father's sons will bow down to you.
and made their lives bitter with difficult labor in brick and mortar, and in all kinds of fieldwork. They ruthlessly imposed all this work on them.
But when she could no longer hide him, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with asphalt and pitch. She placed the child in it and set it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile.
Then He continued, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God.
"Don't continue to supply the people with straw for making bricks, as before. They must go and gather straw for themselves. But require the same quota of bricks from them as they were making before; do not reduce it. For they are slackers-that is why they are crying out, 'Let us go and sacrifice to our God.'
Now get to work. No straw will be given to you, but you must produce the same quantity of bricks."
When you enter the land that the Lord will give you as He promised, you are to observe this ritual. When your children ask you, 'What does this ritual mean to you?' read more. you are to reply, 'It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, for He passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians and spared our homes.' " So the people bowed down and worshiped.
The Lord spoke to Moses: "Consecrate every firstborn male to Me, the firstborn from every womb among the Israelites, both man and animal; it is Mine." read more. Then Moses said to the people, "Remember this day when you came out of Egypt, out of the place of slavery, for the Lord brought you out of here by the strength of [His] hand. Nothing leavened may be eaten. Today, in the month of Abib, you are leaving. When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites, and Jebusites, which He swore to your fathers that He would give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, you must carry out this ritual in this month.
The Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to lead them on their way during the day and in a pillar of fire to give them light at night, so that they could travel day or night.
Lord, who is like You among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, revered with praises, performing wonders?
On the sixth day they gathered twice as much food, four quarts apiece, and all the leaders of the community came and reported [this] to Moses.
Moses said to Joshua, "Select some men for us, and go fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the hilltop with God's staff in my hand."
The Lord then said to Moses, "Write this down on a scroll as a reminder and recite it to Joshua: I will completely blot out the memory of Amalek under heaven."
Now Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, had taken in Zipporah, Moses' wife, after he had sent her back,
"You will certainly wear out both yourself and these people who are with you, because the task is too heavy for you. You can't do it alone.
Now if you will listen to Me and carefully keep My covenant, you will be My own possession out of all the peoples, although all the earth is Mine,
Now if you will listen to Me and carefully keep My covenant, you will be My own possession out of all the peoples, although all the earth is Mine, and you will be My kingdom of priests and My holy nation. These are the words that you are to say to the Israelites."
On the third day, when morning came, there was thunder and lightning, a thick cloud on the mountain, and a loud trumpet sound, so that all the people in the camp shuddered.
but showing faithful love to a thousand [generations] of those who love Me and keep My commands.
If you make a stone altar for Me, you must not build it out of cut stones. If you use your chisel on it, you will defile it.
"If you lend money to My people-to the poor person among you, you must not be like a moneylender to him; you must not charge him interest.
"You must not hold back [offerings from] your harvest or your vats. Give Me the firstborn of your sons.
You must not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and corrupts the words of the righteous.
"Pay strict attention to everything I have said to you. You must not invoke the names of other gods; they must not be heard on your lips.
"I am going to send an Angel before you to protect you on the way and bring you to the place I have prepared. Be attentive to Him and listen to His voice. Do not defy Him, because He will not forgive your acts of rebellion, for My name is in Him read more. But if you will carefully obey Him and do everything I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes. For My Angel will go before you and bring you to [the land of] the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out.
You must not make a covenant with them or their gods.
And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. He rose early the next morning and set up an altar and 12 pillars for the 12 tribes of Israel at the base of the mountain. Then he sent out young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed bulls as fellowship offerings to the Lord.
Also make 50 gold clasps and join the curtains together with the clasps, so that the tabernacle may be a single unit.
Make horns for it on its four corners; the horns are to be of one piece. Overlay it with bronze.
"You are to command the Israelites to bring you pure oil from crushed olives for the light, in order to keep the lamp burning continually. In the tent of meeting outside the veil that is in front of the testimony, Aaron and his sons are to tend the lamp from evening until morning before the Lord. This is to be a permanent statute for the Israelites throughout their generations.
Place the Urim and Thummim in the breastpiece for decisions, so that they will also be over Aaron's heart whenever he comes before the Lord. Aaron will continually carry the [means of] decisions for the Israelites over his heart before the Lord.
"You are to weave the tunic from fine linen, make a turban of fine linen, and make an embroidered sash. Make tunics, sashes, and headbands for Aaron's sons to [give them] glory and beauty. read more. Put these on your brother Aaron and his sons; then anoint, ordain, and consecrate them, so that they may serve Me as priests. Make them linen undergarments to cover [their] naked bodies; they must extend from the waist to the thighs.
"This is what you are to offer regularly on the altar every day: two year-old lambs.
"Once a year Aaron is to perform the purification rite on the horns of the altar. Throughout your generations he is to perform the purification rite for it once a year, with the blood of the sin offering for atonement. The altar is especially holy to the Lord."
Aaron and his sons must wash their hands and feet from the basin. Whenever they enter the tent of meeting or approach the altar to minister by burning up an offering to the Lord, they must wash with water so that they will not die.
Prepare from these a holy anointing oil, a scented blend, the work of a perfumer; it will be holy anointing oil.
Anoint Aaron and his sons and consecrate them to serve Me as priests.
"Tell the Israelites: You must observe My Sabbaths, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, so that you will know that I am the Lord who sets you apart.
The Levites did as Moses commanded, and about 3,000 men fell dead that day among the people.
The Lord said to Moses, "Cut two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.
Then the Lord passed in front of him and proclaimed: Yahweh-Yahweh is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in faithful love and truth,
Observe what I command you today. I am going to drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.
Instead, you must tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, and chop down their Asherah poles.
For I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your territory. No one will covet your land when you go up three times a year to appear before the Lord your God.
The Lord also said to Moses, "Write down these words, for I have made a covenant with you and with Israel based on these words." Moses was there with the Lord 40 days and 40 nights; he did not eat bread or drink water. He wrote down on the tablets the words of the covenant-the Ten Commandments.
He made the bronze basin and its stand from the [bronze] mirrors of the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting.
"Then bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance to the tent of meeting and wash them with water. Clothe Aaron with the holy garments, anoint him, and consecrate him, so that he can serve Me as a priest. read more. Have his sons come forward and clothe them in tunics. Anoint them just as you anointed their father, so that they may also serve Me as priests. Their anointing will serve to inaugurate a permanent priesthood for them throughout their generations."
He will tear it open by its wings without dividing [the bird]. Then the priest is to burn it on the altar on top of the burning wood. It is a burnt offering, a fire offering of a pleasing aroma to the Lord.
"No grain offering that you present to the Lord is to be made with yeast, for you are not to burn any yeast or honey as a fire offering to the Lord.
The priest must apply some of the blood to the horns of the altar of fragrant incense that is before the Lord in the tent of meeting. He must pour out the rest of the bull's blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering that is at the entrance to the tent of meeting.
Then he must bring his restitution offering to the Lord: an unblemished ram from the flock, according to your valuation, as a restitution offering to the priest. In this way the priest will make atonement on his behalf before the Lord, and he will be forgiven for anything he may have done to incur guilt."
Any grain offering that is baked in an oven, or prepared in a pan or on a griddle, belongs to the priest who presents it; it is his.
If he presents it for thanksgiving, in addition to the thanksgiving sacrifice, he is to present unleavened cakes mixed with olive oil, unleavened wafers coated with oil, and well-kneaded cakes of fine flour mixed with oil. He is to present as his offering cakes of leavened bread, with his thanksgiving sacrifice of fellowship.
You must distinguish between the holy and the common, and the clean and the unclean,
He will remain unclean as long as he has the infection; he is unclean. He must live alone in a place outside the camp.
"When you enter the land of Canaan that I am giving you as a possession, and I place a mildew contamination in a house in the land you possess,
Everyone who touches any furniture she was sitting on is to wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will remain unclean until evening.
The Lord said to Moses: "Tell your brother Aaron that he may not come whenever he wants into the holy place behind the veil in front of the mercy seat on the ark or else he will die, because I appear in the cloud above the mercy seat.
Do not follow the practices of the land of Egypt, where you used to live, or follow the practices of the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. You must not follow their customs.
"Do not defile yourselves by any of these [practices], for the nations I am driving out before you have defiled themselves by all these things. The land has become defiled, so I am punishing it for its sin, and the land will vomit out its inhabitants. read more. But you are to keep My statutes and ordinances. You must not commit any of these abominations-not the native or the foreigner who lives among you. For the men who were in the land prior to you have committed all these abominations, and the land has become defiled. If you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it has vomited out the nations that were before you.
You must not go about spreading slander among your people; you must not jeopardize your neighbor's life; I am the Lord.
"When you come into the land and plant any kind of tree for food, you are to consider the fruit forbidden. It will be forbidden to you for three years; it is not to be eaten.
"You must not act unfairly in measurements of length, weight, or volume. You are to have honest balances, honest weights, an honest dry measure, and an honest liquid measure; I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.
"You are to keep all My statutes and all My ordinances, and do them, so that the land where I am bringing you to live will not vomit you out.
Therefore you must distinguish the clean animal from the unclean one, and the unclean bird from the clean one. You are not to make yourselves detestable by any land animal, bird, or whatever crawls on the ground; I have set these apart as unclean for you.
"Tell Aaron and his sons to deal respectfully with the holy offerings of the Israelites that they have consecrated to Me, so they do not profane My holy name; I am the Lord.
"Speak to Aaron, his sons, and all the Israelites and tell them: Any man of the house of Israel or of the foreign residents in Israel who presents his offering-whether they present freewill gifts or payment of vows to the Lord as burnt offerings- must offer an unblemished male from the cattle, sheep, or goats in order for you to be accepted. read more. You are not to present anything that has a defect, because it will not be accepted on your behalf. "When a man presents a fellowship sacrifice to the Lord to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering from the herd or flock, it has to be unblemished to be acceptable; there must be no defect in it.
"Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you enter the land I am giving you and reap its harvest, you are to bring the first sheaf of your harvest to the priest.
"Command the Israelites to bring you pure oil of beaten olives for the light, so that the lamp will burn regularly. Aaron is to tend it regularly from evening until morning before the Lord outside the veil of the testimony in the tent of meeting. This is a permanent statute throughout your generations.
The Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai: "Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you enter the land I am giving you, the land will observe a Sabbath to the Lord.
I will appoint My blessing for you in the sixth year, so that it will produce a crop sufficient for three years.
"The land is not to be permanently sold because it is Mine, and you are only foreigners and temporary residents on My land.
"The land is not to be permanently sold because it is Mine, and you are only foreigners and temporary residents on My land.
Do not profit or take interest from him, but fear your God and let your brother live among you.
"If your brother among you becomes destitute and sells himself to you, you must not force him to do slave labor.
I also will devastate the land, so that your enemies who come to live there will be appalled by it. But I will scatter you among the nations, and I will draw a sword [to chase] after you. So your land will become desolate, and your cities will become ruins. read more. "Then the land will make up for its Sabbath [years] during the time it lies desolate, while you are in the land of your enemies. At that time the land will rest and make up for its Sabbaths. As long as it lies desolate, it will have the rest it did not have during your Sabbaths when you lived there.
These are the statutes, ordinances, and laws the Lord established between Himself and the Israelites through Moses on Mount Sinai.
These are the commands the Lord gave Moses for the Israelites on Mount Sinai.
These are the men called from the community; they are leaders of their ancestral tribes, the heads of Israel's clans."
Judah's military divisions will camp on the east side toward the sunrise under their banner. The leader of the descendants of Judah is Nahshon son of Amminadab.
The Lord instructed Moses: "Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When a man or woman makes a special vow, a Nazirite vow, to consecrate himself to the Lord, read more. he is to abstain from wine and beer. He must not drink vinegar made from wine or from beer. He must not drink any grape juice or eat fresh grapes or raisins. He is not to eat anything produced by the grapevine, from seeds to skin, during his vow. "You must not cut his hair throughout the time of his vow of consecration. He must be holy until the time is completed during which he consecrates himself to the Lord; he is to let the hair of his head grow long. He must not go near a dead body during the time he consecrates himself to the Lord. He is not to defile himself for his father or mother, or his brother or sister, when they die, because the hair consecrated to his God is on his head. He is holy to the Lord during the time of consecration. "If someone suddenly dies near him, defiling his consecrated head of hair, he must shave his head on the day of his purification; he is to shave it on the seventh day. On the eighth day he is to bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest at the entrance to the tent of meeting. The priest is to offer one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering to make atonement on behalf of the Nazirite, since he sinned because of the corpse. On that day he must consecrate his head [again]. He is to rededicate his time of consecration to the Lord and to bring a year-old male lamb as a restitution offering. But do not count the previous period, because his consecrated hair became defiled. "This is the law of the Nazirite: On the day his time of consecration is completed, he must be brought to the entrance to the tent of meeting. He is to present an offering to the Lord of one unblemished year-old male lamb as a burnt offering, one unblemished year-old female lamb as a sin offering, one unblemished ram as a fellowship offering, along with their grain offerings and drink offerings, and a basket of unleavened cakes made from fine flour mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers coated with oil. "The priest is to present [these] before the Lord and sacrifice the Nazirite's sin offering and burnt offering. He will also offer the ram as a fellowship sacrifice to the Lord, together with the basket of unleavened bread. Then the priest will offer the accompanying grain offering and drink offering. "The Nazirite is to shave his consecrated head at the entrance to the tent of meeting, take the hair from his head, and put [it] on the fire under the fellowship sacrifice. The priest is to take the boiled shoulder from the ram, one unleavened cake from the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and put [them] into the hands of the Nazirite after he has shaved his consecrated head. The priest is to wave them as a presentation offering before the Lord. It is a holy portion for the priest, in addition to the breast of the presentation offering and the thigh of the contribution. After that, the Nazirite may drink wine. "This is the ritual of the Nazirite who vows his offering to the Lord for his consecration, in addition to whatever else he can afford; he must fulfill whatever vow he makes in keeping with the ritual for his consecration."
the Lord look with favor on you and give you peace.
This is what you must do to them for their purification: Sprinkle them with the purification water. Have them shave their entire bodies and wash their clothes, and so purify themselves.
You are to sound the trumpets over your burnt offerings and your fellowship sacrifices and on your joyous occasions, your appointed festivals, and the beginning of each of your months. They will serve as a reminder for you before your God: I am the Lord your God."
The military divisions of the camp of Judah with their banner set out first, and Nahshon son of Amminadab was over Judah's divisions.
Whenever the ark set out, Moses would say: Arise, Lord! Let Your enemies be scattered, and those who hate You flee from Your presence.
So they gave a negative report to the Israelites about the land they had scouted: "The land we passed through to explore is one that devours its inhabitants, and all the people we saw in it are men of great size.
and said to the entire Israelite community: "The land we passed through and explored is an extremely good land. If the Lord is pleased with us, He will bring us into this land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and give it to us.
So the men Moses sent to scout out the land, and who returned and incited the entire community to complain about him by spreading a bad report about the land-
"Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you enter the land I am giving you to settle in,
"Speak to the Israelites and tell them: After you enter the land where I am bringing you,
Now Korah son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, with Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took
Then the Lord spoke to Aaron, "Look, I have put you in charge of the contributions brought to Me. As for all the holy offerings of the Israelites, I have given them to you and your sons as a portion and a perpetual statute. A portion of the holiest offerings [kept] from the fire will be yours; every one of their offerings that they give Me, whether the grain offering, sin offering, or restitution offering will be most holy for you and your sons. read more. You are to eat it as a most holy offering. Every male may eat it; it is to be holy to you. "The contribution of their gifts also belongs to you. I have given all the Israelites' presentation offerings to you and to your sons and daughters as a perpetual statute. Every ceremonially clean person in your house may eat it. I am giving you all the best of the fresh olive oil, new wine, and grain, which the Israelites give to the Lord as their firstfruits. The firstfruits of all that is in their land, which they bring to the Lord, belong to you. Every clean person in your house may eat them. "Everything in Israel that is permanently dedicated [to the Lord] belongs to you. The firstborn of every living thing, man or animal, presented to the Lord belongs to you. But you must certainly redeem the firstborn of man, and redeem the firstborn of an unclean animal. You will pay the redemption price for a month-old male according to your valuation: five shekels of silver by the standard sanctuary shekel, which is 20 gerahs. "However, you must not redeem the firstborn of an ox, a sheep, or a goat; they are holy. You are to sprinkle their blood on the altar and burn their fat as a fire offering for a pleasing aroma to the Lord. But their meat belongs to you. It belongs to you like the breast of the presentation offering and the right thigh. "I give to you and to your sons and daughters all the holy contributions that the Israelites present to the Lord as a perpetual statute. It is a perpetual covenant of salt before the Lord for you as well as your offspring."
You will not incur guilt because of it once you have presented the best part of it, but you must not defile the Israelites' holy offerings, so that you will not die."
for I will greatly honor you and do whatever you ask me. So please come and put a curse on these people for me!' "
Who has counted the dust of Jacob or numbered the dust clouds of Israel? Let me die the death of the upright; let the end of my [life] be like theirs.
The Lord spoke to Moses, "Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has turned back My wrath from the Israelites because he was zealous among them with My zeal, so that I did not destroy the Israelites in My zeal. read more. Therefore declare: I grant him My covenant of peace. It will be a covenant of perpetual priesthood for him and his descendants, because he was zealous for his God and made atonement for the Israelites."
who will go out before them and come back in before them, and who will bring them out and bring them in, so that the Lord's community won't be like sheep without a shepherd."
He will stand before Eleazar who will consult the Lord for him with the decision of the Urim. He and all the Israelites with him, even the entire community, will go out and come back in at his command."
And say to them: This is the fire offering you are to present to the Lord: "Each day [present] two unblemished year-old male lambs as a regular burnt offering. Offer one lamb in the morning and the other lamb at twilight,
Moses replied to them, "If you do this-if you arm yourselves for battle before the Lord, and every one of your armed men crosses the Jordan before the Lord until He has driven His enemies from His presence, read more. and the land is subdued before the Lord-afterwards you may return and be free from obligation to the Lord and to Israel. And this land will belong to you as a possession before the Lord. But if you don't do this, you will certainly sin against the Lord; be sure your sin will catch up with you. Build cities for your dependents and folds for your flocks, but do what you have promised." The Gadites and Reubenites answered Moses, "Your servants will do just as my lord commands. Our little children, wives, livestock, and all our animals will remain here in the cities of Gilead, but your servants are equipped for war before the Lord and will go across to the battle as my lord orders." So Moses gave orders about them to Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the family leaders of the Israelite tribes.
At the Lord's command, Moses wrote down the starting points for the stages of their journey; these are the stages [listed] by their starting points:
"Command the Israelites and say to them: When you enter the land of Canaan, it will be allotted to you as an inheritance with these borders:
"These are the names of the men who are to distribute the land as an inheritance for you: Eleazar the priest and Joshua son of Nun.
"Command the Israelites to give cities out of their hereditary property for the Levites to live in and pastureland around the cities. The cities will be for them to live in, and their pasturelands will be for their herds, flocks, and all their [other] animals. read more. The pasturelands of the cities you are to give the Levites [will extend] from the city wall 500 yards on every side. Measure 1,000 yards outside the city for the east side, 1,000 yards for the south side, 1,000 yards for the west side, and 1,000 yards for the north side, with the city in the center. This will belong to them as pasturelands for the cities. "The cities you give the Levites will include six cities of refuge, which you must provide so that the one who kills someone may flee there; in addition to these, give 42 [other] cities. The total number of cities you give the Levites will be 48, along with their pasturelands.
The total number of cities you give the Levites will be 48, along with their pasturelands. Of the cities that you give from the Israelites' territory, you should take more from a larger [tribe] and less from a smaller one. Each [tribe] is to give some of its cities to the Levites in proportion to the inheritance it receives." read more. The Lord said to Moses, "Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, designate cities to serve as cities of refuge for you, so that a person who kills someone unintentionally may flee there.
designate cities to serve as cities of refuge for you, so that a person who kills someone unintentionally may flee there. You will have the cities as a refuge from the avenger, so that the one who kills someone will not die until he stands trial before the assembly.
You will have the cities as a refuge from the avenger, so that the one who kills someone will not die until he stands trial before the assembly. The cities you select will be your six cities of refuge.
The cities you select will be your six cities of refuge. Select three cities across the Jordan and three cities in the land of Canaan to be cities of refuge.
Select three cities across the Jordan and three cities in the land of Canaan to be cities of refuge. These six cities will serve as a refuge for the Israelites and for the foreigner or temporary resident among them, so that anyone who kills a person unintentionally may flee there.
These six cities will serve as a refuge for the Israelites and for the foreigner or temporary resident among them, so that anyone who kills a person unintentionally may flee there. "If anyone strikes a person with an iron object and death results, he is a murderer; the murderer must be put to death. read more. If a man has in his hand a stone capable of causing death and strikes another man and he dies, the murderer must be put to death. If a man has in his hand a wooden object capable of causing death and he dies, the murderer must be put to death. The avenger of blood himself is to kill the murderer; when he finds him, he is to kill him. Likewise, if anyone in hatred pushes a person or throws [an object] at him with malicious intent and he dies, or if in hostility he strikes him with his hand and he dies, the one who struck him must be put to death; he is a murderer. The avenger of blood is to kill the murderer when he finds him. "But if anyone suddenly pushes a person without hostility or throws any object at him without malicious intent or drops a stone without looking that could kill a person and he dies, but he was not his enemy and wasn't trying to harm him, the assembly is to judge between the slayer and the avenger of blood according to these ordinances. The assembly is to protect the one who kills someone from the hand of the avenger of blood. Then the assembly will return him to the city of refuge he fled to, and he must live there until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil. "If the one who kills someone ever goes outside the border of the city of refuge he fled to, and the avenger of blood finds him outside the border of his city of refuge and kills him, the avenger will not be guilty of bloodshed, for the one who killed a person was supposed to live in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest. Only after the death of the high priest may the one who has killed a person return to the land he possesses. These [instructions] will be a statutory ordinance for you throughout your generations wherever you live. "If anyone kills a person, the murderer is to be put to death based on the word of witnesses. But no one is to be put to death based on the testimony of one witness.
"If anyone kills a person, the murderer is to be put to death based on the word of witnesses. But no one is to be put to death based on the testimony of one witness. You are not to accept a ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of killing someone; he must be put to death. read more. Neither should you accept a ransom for the person who flees to his city of refuge, allowing him to return and live in the land before the death of the [high] priest. "Do not defile the land where you are, for bloodshed defiles the land, and there can be no atonement for the land because of the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of the person who shed it.
"Do not defile the land where you are, for bloodshed defiles the land, and there can be no atonement for the land because of the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of the person who shed it. Do not make the land unclean where you live and where I reside; for I, the Lord, reside among the Israelites."
Do not make the land unclean where you live and where I reside; for I, the Lord, reside among the Israelites."
Any daughter who possesses an inheritance from an Israelite tribe must marry someone from the clan of her ancestral tribe, so that each of the Israelites will possess the inheritance of his fathers.
These are the commands and ordinances the Lord commanded the Israelites through Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan [across from] Jericho.
"Then we turned back and headed for the wilderness by way of the Red Sea, as the Lord had told me, and we traveled around the hill country of Seir for many days. The Lord then said to me, read more. 'You've been traveling around this hill country long enough; turn north. Command the people: You are about to travel through the territory of your brothers, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, so you must be very careful. Don't fight with them, for I will not give you any of their land, not even an inch of it, because I have given Esau the hill country of Seir as [his] possession. You may purchase food from them with silver, so that you may eat, and buy water from them to drink. For the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this immense wilderness. The Lord your God has been with you this past 40 years, and you have lacked nothing.' "So we bypassed our brothers, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. [We turned] away from the Arabah road and from Elath and Ezion-geber. We traveled along the road to the Wilderness of Moab.
"So I sent messengers with an offer of peace to Sihon king of Heshbon from the Wilderness of Kedemoth, saying, 'Let us travel through your land; we will keep strictly to the highway. We will not turn to the right or the left. read more. You can sell us food in exchange for silver so we may eat, and give us water for silver so we may drink. Only let us travel through on foot, just as the descendants of Esau who live in Seir did for us, and the Moabites who live in Ar, until we cross the Jordan into the land the Lord our God is giving us.' But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us travel through his land, for the Lord your God made his spirit stubborn and his heart obstinate in order to hand him over to you, as has now taken place. "Then the Lord said to me, 'See, I have begun to give Sihon and his land to you. Begin to take possession of it.' So Sihon and his whole army came out against us for battle at Jahaz. The Lord our God handed him over to us, and we defeated him, his sons, and his whole army. At that time we captured all his cities and completely destroyed the people of every city, including the women and children. We left no survivors.
"I commanded you at that time: The Lord your God has given you this land to possess. All your fighting men will cross over in battle formation ahead of your brothers the Israelites. But your wives, young children, and livestock-I know that you have a lot of livestock-will remain in the cities I have given you read more. until the Lord gives rest to your brothers as He has to you, and they also take possession of the land the Lord your God is giving them across the Jordan. Then each of you may return to his possession that I have given you.
"Now, Israel, listen to the statutes and ordinances I am teaching you to follow, so that you may live, enter, and take possession of the land the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. You must not add anything to what I command you or take anything away from it, so that you may keep the commands of the Lord your God I am giving you.
But you who have remained faithful to the Lord your God are all alive today.
Then Moses set apart three cities across the Jordan to the east, where one could flee who committed manslaughter and killed his neighbor accidentally without previously hating him. He could flee to one of these cities and stay alive: read more. Bezer in the wilderness on the plateau land, belonging to the Reubenites; Ramoth in Gilead, belonging to the Gadites; or Golan in Bashan, belonging to the Manassites.
"When the Lord your God brings you into the land He swore to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that He would give you-a [land with] large and beautiful cities that you did not build,
"When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess, and He drives out many nations before you-the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and powerful than you- and when the Lord your God delivers them over to you and you defeat them, you must completely destroy them. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy.
But because the Lord loved you and kept the oath He swore to your fathers, He brought you out with a strong hand and redeemed you from the place of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know that Yahweh your God is God, the faithful God who keeps His gracious covenant loyalty for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commands.
He led you through the great and terrible wilderness with its poisonous snakes and scorpions, a thirsty land where there was no water. He brought water out of the flintlike rock for you.
"Listen, Israel: Today you are about to cross the Jordan to go and drive out nations greater and stronger than you [with] large cities fortified to the heavens.
The heavens, indeed the highest heavens, belong to the Lord your God, as does the earth and everything in it.
Therefore, circumcise your hearts and don't be stiff-necked any longer.
Every place the sole of your foot treads will be yours. Your territory will extend from the wilderness to Lebanon and from the Euphrates River to the Mediterranean Sea. No one will be able to stand against you; the Lord your God will put fear and dread of you in all the land where you set foot, as He has promised you.
Tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, burn up their Asherah poles, cut down the carved images of their gods, and wipe out their names from every place.
Instead, you must go to the place the Lord your God chooses from all your tribes to put His name for His dwelling. You are to bring there your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tenths and personal contributions, your vow offerings and freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks.
When you cross the Jordan and live in the land the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and He gives you rest from all the enemies around you and you live in security,
You must be careful to do everything I command you; do not add anything to it or take anything away from it.
"If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you embrace, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, 'Let us go and worship other gods'-which neither you nor your fathers have known,
"If you hear it said about one of your cities the Lord your God is giving you to live in, that wicked men have sprung up among you, led the inhabitants of their city astray, and said, 'Let us go and worship other gods,' which you have not known, read more. you are to inquire, investigate, and interrogate thoroughly. If the report turns out to be true that this detestable thing has happened among you,
"At the end of [every] three years, bring a tenth of all your produce for that year and store [it] within your gates.
"Appoint judges and officials for your tribes in all your towns the Lord your God is giving you. They are to judge the people with righteous judgment. Do not deny justice or show partiality [to anyone]. Do not accept a bribe, for it blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.
Do not deny justice or show partiality [to anyone]. Do not accept a bribe, for it blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.
You are to go to the Levitical priests and to the judge who presides at that time. Ask, and they will give you a verdict in the case.
"When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, take possession of it, live in it, and say, 'We want to appoint a king over us like all the nations around us,'
"When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, take possession of it, live in it, and say, 'We want to appoint a king over us like all the nations around us,'
However, he must not acquire many horses for himself or send the people back to Egypt to acquire many horses, for the Lord has told you, 'You are never to go back that way again.'
When he is seated on his royal throne, he is to write a copy of this instruction for himself on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests.
When he is seated on his royal throne, he is to write a copy of this instruction for himself on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. It is to remain with him, and he is to read from it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to observe all the words of this instruction, and to do these statutes.
It is to remain with him, and he is to read from it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to observe all the words of this instruction, and to do these statutes. Then his heart will not be exalted above his countrymen, he will not turn from this command to the right or the left, and he and his sons will continue ruling many years over Israel.
"The Levitical priests, the whole tribe of Levi, will have no portion or inheritance with Israel. They will eat the Lord's fire offerings; that is their inheritance.
you are to set apart three cities for yourselves within the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess. You are to determine the distances and divide the land the Lord your God is granting you as an inheritance into three regions, so that anyone who commits manslaughter can flee to these cities. read more. "Here is the law concerning a case of someone who kills a person and flees there to save his life, having killed his neighbor accidentally without previously hating him: If he goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut timber, and his hand swings the ax to chop down a tree, but the blade flies off the handle and strikes his neighbor so that he dies, that person may flee to one of these cities and live. Otherwise, the avenger of blood in the heat of his anger might pursue the one who committed manslaughter, overtake him because the distance is great, and strike him dead. Yet he did not deserve to die, since he did not previously hate his neighbor. This is why I am commanding you to set apart three cities for yourselves.
"The officers are to address the army, 'Has any man built a new house and not dedicated it? Let him leave and return home. Otherwise, he may die in battle and another man dedicate it.
you are not to leave his corpse on the tree overnight but are to bury him that day, for anyone hung [on a tree] is under God's curse. You must not defile the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.
they will bring the woman to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city will stone her to death. For she has committed an outrage in Israel by being promiscuous in her father's house. You must purge the evil from you.
If the guilty party deserves to be flogged, the judge will make him lie down and be flogged in his presence with the number [of lashes] appropriate for his crime.
"Do not muzzle an ox while it treads out grain.
The elders of his city will summon him and speak with him. If he persists and says, 'I don't want to marry her,'
"You must not have two different weights in your bag, one heavy and one light.
I have not eaten any of it while in mourning, or removed any of it while unclean, or offered any of it for the dead. I have obeyed the Lord my God; I have done all You commanded me.
At the time you cross the Jordan into the land the Lord your God is giving you, you must set up large stones and cover them with plaster. Write all the words of this law on the stones after you cross to enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you.
Write all the words of this law on the stones after you cross to enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you.
Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will not eat any of it. Your donkey will be taken away from you and not returned to you. Your flock will be given to your enemies, and no one will help you.
"The Lord will bring you and your king that you have appointed to a nation neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you will worship other gods, of wood and stone.
The Lord will bring a nation from far away, from the ends of the earth, to swoop down on you like an eagle, a nation whose language you don't understand,
"If you are not careful to obey all the words of this law, which are written in this scroll, by fearing this glorious and awesome name-Yahweh, your God-
The Lord will also inflict you with every sickness and plague not recorded in the book of this law, until you are destroyed.
Then the Lord will scatter you among all peoples from one end of the earth to the other, and there you will worship other gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known. You will find no peace among those nations, and there will be no resting place for the sole of your foot. There the Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and a despondent spirit. read more. Your life will hang in doubt before you. You will be in dread night and day, never certain of survival. In the morning you will say, 'If only it were evening!' and in the evening you will say, 'If only it were morning!'-because of the dread you will have in your heart and because of what you will see. The Lord will take you back in ships to Egypt by a route that I said you would never see again. There you will sell yourselves to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy [you]."
When someone hears the words of this oath, he may bless himself in his mind, thinking, 'I will have peace even though I follow my [own] stubborn heart.' This will lead to the destruction of the well-watered [land] as well as the dry [land]. The Lord will not be willing to forgive him. Instead, His anger and jealousy will burn against that person, and every curse written in this scroll will descend on him. The Lord will blot out his name under heaven, read more. and single him out for harm from all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant written in this book of the law.
The hidden things belong to the Lord our God, but the revealed things belong to us and our children forever, so that we may follow all the words of this law.
The Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the hearts of your descendants, and you will love Him with all your heart and all your soul, so that you will live.
when you obey the Lord your God by keeping His commands and statutes that are written in this book of the law and return to Him with all your heart and all your soul.
Be strong and courageous; don't be terrified or afraid of them. For it is the Lord your God who goes with you; He will not leave you or forsake you." Moses then summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, "Be strong and courageous, for you will go with this people into the land the Lord swore to give to their fathers. You will enable them to take possession of it. read more. The Lord is the One who will go before you. He will be with you; He will not leave you or forsake you. Do not be afraid or discouraged." Moses wrote down this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the Lord's covenant, and to all the elders of Israel.
Moses wrote down this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the Lord's covenant, and to all the elders of Israel.
Moses wrote down this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the Lord's covenant, and to all the elders of Israel. Moses commanded them, "At the end of [every] seven years, at the appointed time in the year of debt cancellation, during the Festival of Booths,
Moses commanded them, "At the end of [every] seven years, at the appointed time in the year of debt cancellation, during the Festival of Booths,
Moses commanded them, "At the end of [every] seven years, at the appointed time in the year of debt cancellation, during the Festival of Booths, when all Israel assembles in the presence of the Lord your God at the place He chooses, you are to read this law aloud before all Israel.
when all Israel assembles in the presence of the Lord your God at the place He chooses, you are to read this law aloud before all Israel.
when all Israel assembles in the presence of the Lord your God at the place He chooses, you are to read this law aloud before all Israel. Gather the people-men, women, children, and foreigners living within your gates-so that they may listen and learn to fear the Lord your God and be careful to follow all the words of this law.
Gather the people-men, women, children, and foreigners living within your gates-so that they may listen and learn to fear the Lord your God and be careful to follow all the words of this law. Then their children who do not know [the law] will listen and learn to fear the Lord your God as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess."
The Lord commissioned Joshua son of Nun, "Be strong and courageous, for you will bring the Israelites into the land I swore to them, and I will be with you." When Moses had finished writing down on a scroll every single word of this law,
"Take this book of the law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, so that it may remain there as a witness against you.
"Take this book of the law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, so that it may remain there as a witness against you.
But the Lord's portion is His people, Jacob, His own inheritance. He found him in a desolate land, in a barren, howling wilderness; He surrounded him, cared for him, and guarded him as the pupil of His eye.
They provoked His jealousy with foreign gods; they enraged Him with detestable practices. They sacrificed to demons, not God, to gods they had not known, new gods that had just arrived, which your fathers did not fear.
He will say: "Where are their gods, the 'rock' they found refuge in? Who ate the fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their drink offerings? Let them rise up and help you; let it be a shelter for you.
He said: The Lord came from Sinai and appeared to them from Seir; He shone [on them] from Mount Paran and came with ten thousand holy ones, with lightning from His right hand for them.
He said: The Lord came from Sinai and appeared to them from Seir; He shone [on them] from Mount Paran and came with ten thousand holy ones, with lightning from His right hand for them.
So He became King in Jeshurun when the leaders of the people gathered with the tribes of Israel.
They summon the peoples to a mountain; there they offer acceptable sacrifices. For they draw from the wealth of the seas and the hidden treasures of the sand.
There is none like the God of Jeshurun, who rides the heavens to your aid on the clouds in His majesty.
and for all the mighty [acts of] power and terrifying deeds that Moses performed in the sight of all Israel.
I have given you every place where the sole of your foot treads, just as I promised Moses. Your territory will be from the wilderness and Lebanon to the great Euphrates River-all the land of the Hittites-and west to the Mediterranean Sea. read more. No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live. I will be with you, just as I was with Moses. I will not leave you or forsake you. "Be strong and courageous, for you will distribute the land I swore to their fathers to give them as an inheritance. Above all, be strong and very courageous to carefully observe the whole instruction My servant Moses commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right or the left, so that you will have success wherever you go.
Above all, be strong and very courageous to carefully observe the whole instruction My servant Moses commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right or the left, so that you will have success wherever you go. This book of instruction must not depart from your mouth; you are to recite it day and night, so that you may carefully observe everything written in it. For then you will prosper and succeed in whatever you do.
This book of instruction must not depart from your mouth; you are to recite it day and night, so that you may carefully observe everything written in it. For then you will prosper and succeed in whatever you do.
"Remember what Moses the Lord's servant commanded you when he said, 'The Lord your God will give you rest, and He will give you this land.' Your wives, young children, and livestock may remain in the land Moses gave you on this side of the Jordan. But your fighting men must cross over in battle formation ahead of your brothers and help them read more. until the Lord gives our brothers rest, as [He has given] you, and they too possess the land the Lord your God is giving them. You may then return to the land of your inheritance and take possession of what Moses the Lord's servant gave you on the east side of the Jordan." They answered Joshua, "Everything you have commanded us we will do, and everywhere you send us we will go. We will obey you, just as we obeyed Moses in everything. And may the Lord your God be with you, as He was with Moses. Anyone who rebels against your order and does not obey your words in all that you command him, will be put to death. Above all, be strong and courageous!"
and commanded the people: "When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God carried by the Levitical priests, you must break camp and follow it.
Then he said to the priests, "Take the ark of the covenant and go on ahead of the people." So they carried the ark of the covenant and went ahead of them.
Command the priests carrying the ark of the covenant: 'When you reach the edge of the waters, stand in the Jordan.' "
At that time the Lord said to Joshua, "Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelite men again."
While the Israelites camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, they kept the Passover on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month.
Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell before the ark of the Lord with his face to the ground until evening, as did the elders of Israel; they all put dust on their heads.
Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell before the ark of the Lord with his face to the ground until evening, as did the elders of Israel; they all put dust on their heads.
He hung [the body of] the king of Ai on a tree until evening, and at sunset Joshua commanded that they take his body down from the tree. They threw it down at the entrance of the city gate and put a large pile of rocks over it, which remains to this day. At that time Joshua built an altar on Mount Ebal to the Lord, the God of Israel,
At that time Joshua built an altar on Mount Ebal to the Lord, the God of Israel, just as Moses the Lord's servant had commanded the Israelites. He built it according to what is written in the book of the law of Moses: an altar of uncut stones on which no iron tool has been used. Then they offered burnt offerings to the Lord and sacrificed fellowship offerings on it.
just as Moses the Lord's servant had commanded the Israelites. He built it according to what is written in the book of the law of Moses: an altar of uncut stones on which no iron tool has been used. Then they offered burnt offerings to the Lord and sacrificed fellowship offerings on it.
just as Moses the Lord's servant had commanded the Israelites. He built it according to what is written in the book of the law of Moses: an altar of uncut stones on which no iron tool has been used. Then they offered burnt offerings to the Lord and sacrificed fellowship offerings on it.
just as Moses the Lord's servant had commanded the Israelites. He built it according to what is written in the book of the law of Moses: an altar of uncut stones on which no iron tool has been used. Then they offered burnt offerings to the Lord and sacrificed fellowship offerings on it. There on the stones, Joshua copied the law of Moses, which he had written in the presence of the Israelites. read more. All Israel, foreigner and citizen alike, with their elders, officers, and judges, stood on either side of the ark of the Lord's covenant facing the Levitical priests who carried it. As Moses the Lord's servant had commanded earlier, half of them were in front of Mount Gerizim and half in front of Mount Ebal, to bless the people of Israel. Afterwards, Joshua read aloud all the words of the law-the blessings as well as the curses-according to all that is written in the book of the law.
But the Israelites did not attack them, because the leaders of the community had sworn an oath to them by the Lord, the God of Israel. Then the whole community grumbled against the leaders. All the leaders answered them, "We have sworn an oath to them by the Lord, the God of Israel, and now we cannot touch them. read more. This is how we will treat them: we will let them live, so that no wrath will fall on us because of the oath we swore to them." They also said, "Let them live." So the Gibeonites became woodcutters and water carriers for the whole community, as the leaders had promised them.
At sunset Joshua commanded that they be taken down from the treesand thrown into the cave where they had hidden. Then large stones were placed against the mouth of the cave, and the stones are there to this day.
The Israelites received these portions that Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the families of the Israelite tribes gave them in the land of Canaan.
From there he marched against the inhabitants of Debir whose name used to be Kiriath-sepher,
Now Zelophehad son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh, had no sons, only daughters. These are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.
The entire Israelite community assembled at Shiloh where it set up the tent of meeting there; the land had been subdued by them.
When someone flees to one of these cities, stands at the entrance of the city gate, and states his case before the elders of that city, they are to bring him into the city and give him a place to live among them.
He is to stay in that city until he stands trial before the assembly and until the death of the high priest serving at that time. Then the one who committed manslaughter may return home to his own city from which he fled.' "
These are the cities appointed for all the Israelites and foreigners among them, so that anyone who kills a person unintentionally may flee there and not die at the hand of the avenger of blood until he stands before the assembly.
The heads of the Levite families approached Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the families of the Israelite tribes.
The Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh answered the leaders of the Israelite clans,
that we have built for ourselves an altar to turn away from Him. May the Lord Himself hold us accountable if [we intended] to offer burnt offerings and grain offerings on it, or to sacrifice fellowship offerings on it.
Instead, it is to be a witness between us and you, and between the generations after us, so that we may carry out the worship of the Lord in His presence with our burnt offerings, sacrifices, and fellowship offerings. Then in the future, your descendants will not be able to say to our descendants, 'You have no share in the Lord!'
We would never rebel against the Lord or turn away from Him today by building an altar for burnt offering, grain offering, or sacrifice, other than the altar of the Lord our God, which is in front of His tabernacle." When Phinehas the priest and the community leaders, the heads of Israel's clans who were with him, heard what the descendants of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh had to say, they were pleased.
A long time after the Lord had given Israel rest from all the enemies around them, Joshua was old, getting on in years.
"Be very strong, and continue obeying all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, so that you do not turn from it to the right or left
"Be very strong, and continue obeying all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, so that you do not turn from it to the right or left
The Lord answered, "Judah is to go. I have handed the land over to him."
The descendants of the Kenite, Moses' father-in-law, had gone up with the men of Judah from the City of Palms to the Wilderness of Judah, which was in the Negev of Arad. They went to live among the people.
Judah gave Hebron to Caleb, just as Moses had promised. Then Caleb drove out the three sons of Anak who lived there.
The Angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bochim and said, "I brought you out of Egypt and led you into the land I had promised to your fathers. I also said: I will never break My covenant with you.
The Angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bochim and said, "I brought you out of Egypt and led you into the land I had promised to your fathers. I also said: I will never break My covenant with you. You are not to make a covenant with the people who are living in this land, and you are to tear down their altars.But you have not obeyed Me. What is this you have done? read more. Therefore, I now say: I will not drive out these people before you. They will be thornsin your sides, and their gods will be a trap to you."
That whole generation was also gathered to their ancestors. After them another generation rose up who did not know the Lord or the works He had done for Israel. The Israelites did what was evil in the Lord's sight. They worshiped the Baals read more. and abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt. They went after other gods from the surrounding peoples and bowed down to them. They infuriated the Lord,
The Lord's anger burned against Israel, and He declared, "Because this nation has violated My covenant that I made with their fathers and disobeyed Me,
Lord, when You came from Seir, when You marched from the fields of Edom, the earth trembled, the heavens poured [rain], the clouds poured water. The mountains melted before the Lord, even Sinai before the Lord, the God of Israel.
the Lord sent a prophet to them. He said to them, "This is what the Lord God of Israel says: 'I brought you out of Egypt and out of the place of slavery. I delivered you from the power of Egypt and the power of all who oppressed you. I drove them out before you and gave you their land. read more. I said to you: I am the Lord your God. Do not fear the gods of the Amorites whose land you live in. But you did not obey Me.' "
Gideon said to Him, "Please Sir, if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened? And where are all His wonders that our fathers told us about? They said, 'Hasn't the Lord brought us out of Egypt?' But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to Midian."
Then the Israelites said to Gideon, "Rule over us, you as well as your sons and your grandsons, for you delivered us from the power of Midian." But Gideon said to them, "I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; the Lord will rule over you."
Gideon made an ephod from all this and put it in Ophrah, his hometown. Then all Israel prostituted themselves with it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his household.
to tell him, "This is what Jephthah says: Israel did not take away the land of Moab or the land of the Ammonites. But when they came from Egypt, Israel traveled through the wilderness to the Red Sea and came to Kadesh. read more. Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, 'Please let us travel through your land,' but the king of Edom would not listen. They also sent [messengers] to the king of Moab, but he refused. So Israel stayed in Kadesh. "Then they traveled through the wilderness and around the lands of Edom and Moab. They came to the east side of the land of Moab and camped on the other side of the Arnon but did not enter into the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was the boundary of Moab. "Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, king of Heshbon. Israel said to him, 'Please let us travel through your land to our country,' but Sihon did not trust Israel. Instead, Sihon gathered all his people, camped at Jahaz, and fought with Israel. Then the Lord God of Israel handed over Sihon and all his people to Israel, and they defeated them. So Israel took possession of the entire land of the Amorites who lived in that country. They took possession of all the territory of the Amorites from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the wilderness to the Jordan. "The Lord God of Israel has now driven out the Amorites before His people Israel, but will you drive us out? Isn't it true that you may possess whatever your god Chemosh drives out for you, and we may possess everything the Lord our God drives out before us? Now are you any better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever contend with Israel or fight against them? While Israel lived 300 years in Heshbon and its villages, in Aroer and its villages, and in all the cities that are on the banks of the Arnon, why didn't you take them back at that time? I have not sinned against you, but you have wronged me by fighting against me. Let the Lord [who is] the Judge decide today between the Israelites and the Ammonites."
But his father and mother said to him, "Can't you find a young woman among your relatives or among any of our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines for a wife?" But Samson told his father, "Get her for me, because I want her."
He became very thirsty and called out to the Lord: "You have accomplished this great victory through Your servant. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?"
This man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and household idols, and installed one of his sons to be his priest.
There was a young man, a Levite, from Bethlehem in Judah, who resided within the clan of Judah. The man left the town of Bethlehem in Judah to settle wherever he could find a place. On his way he came to Micah's home in the hill country of Ephraim. read more. "Where do you come from?" Micah asked him. He answered him, "I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I'm going to settle wherever I can find a place. Micah replied, "Stay with me and be my father and priest, and I will give you four ounces of silver a year, along with your clothing and provisions." So the Levite went in and agreed to stay with the man, and the young man became like one of his sons. Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest and lived in Micah's house. Then Micah said, "Now I know that the Lord will be good to me, because a Levite has become my priest."
The five men who had gone to spy out the land of Laish told their brothers, "Did you know that there are an ephod, household gods, and a carved image overlaid with silver in these houses? Now think about what you should do." So they detoured there and went to the house of the young Levite at the home of Micah and greeted him. read more. The 600 Danite men were standing by the entrance of the gate, armed with their weapons of war. Then the five men who had gone to spy out the land went in and took the carved image overlaid with silver, the ephod, and the household idols, while the priest was standing by the entrance of the gate with the 600 men armed with weapons of war.
So they set up for themselves Micah's carved image that he had made, [and it was there] as long as the house of God was in Shiloh.
In those days, when there was no king in Israel, a Levite living in a remote part of the hill country of Ephraim acquired a woman from Bethlehem in Judah as his concubine. But she was unfaithful to him and left him for her father's house in Bethlehem in Judah. She was there for a period of four months.
The leaders of all the people and of all the tribes of Israel presented themselves in the assembly of God's people: 400,000 armed foot soldiers.
Then I took my concubine and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout Israel's territory, because they committed a horrible shame in Israel.
Hand over the perverted men in Gibeah so we can put them to death and eradicate evil from Israel." But the Benjaminites would not obey their fellow Israelites.
They set out, went to Bethel, and inquired of God. The Israelites asked, "Who is to go first to fight for us against the Benjaminites?" And the Lord answered, "Judah will be first."
They went up, wept before the Lord until evening, and inquired of Him: "Should we again fight against our brothers the Benjaminites?" And the Lord answered: "Fight against them."
The whole Israelite army went to Bethel where they wept and sat before the Lord. They fasted that day until evening and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to the Lord. Then the Israelites inquired of the Lord. In those days, the ark of the covenant of God was there, read more. and Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, was serving before it. The Israelites asked: "Should we again fight against our brothers the Benjaminites or should we stop?" The Lord answered: "Fight, because I will hand them over to you tomorrow."
Eli's sons were wicked men; they had no regard for the Lord or for the priests' share [of the sacrifices] from the people. When any man offered a sacrifice, the priest's servant would come with a three-pronged meat fork while the meat was boiling read more. and plunge it into the container or kettle or caldron or cooking pot. The priest would claim for himself whatever the meat fork brought up. This is the way they treated all the Israelites who came there to Shiloh.
Each year his mother made him a little robe and took it to him when she went with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice.
Now Eli was very old. He heard about everything his sons were doing to all Israel and how they were sleeping with the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting.
Before the lamp of God had gone out, Samuel was lying down in the tabernacle of the Lord where the ark of God was located.
Therefore, I have sworn to Eli's family: The iniquity of Eli's family will never be wiped out by either sacrifice or offering."
When the troops returned to the camp, the elders of Israel asked, "Why did the Lord let us be defeated today by the Philistines? Let's bring the ark of the Lord's covenant from Shiloh. Then it will go with us and save us from the hand of our enemies." So the people sent [men] to Shiloh to bring back the ark of the covenant of the Lord of Hosts, who dwells [between] the cherubim. Eli's two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.
Woe to us, who will rescue us from the hand of these magnificent gods? These are the gods that slaughtered the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness.
Woe to us, who will rescue us from the hand of these magnificent gods? These are the gods that slaughtered the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness.
When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell backwards off the chair by the city gate, and since he was old and heavy, his neck broke and he died. Eli had judged Israel 40 years.
She named the boy Ichabod, saying, "The glory has departed from Israel," referring to the capture of the ark of God and to [the deaths of] her father-in-law and her husband. "The glory has departed from Israel," she said, "because the ark of God has been captured."
When the people of Ashdod got up early the next morning, there was Dagon, fallen with his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and returned him to his place. But when they got up early the next morning, there was Dagon, fallen with his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord. [This time], both Dagon's head and the palms of his hands were broken off and lying on the threshold. Only Dagon's torso remained. read more. That is why, to this day, the priests of Dagon and everyone who enters the temple of Dagon in Ashdod do not step on Dagon's threshold. The Lord severely oppressed the people of Ashdod, terrorizing and afflicting the people of Ashdod and its territory with tumors. When the men of Ashdod saw what was happening, they said, "The ark of Israel's God must not stay here with us, because His hand is severe against us and our god Dagon."
The Levites removed the ark of the Lord, along with the box containing the gold objects, and placed them on the large rock. That day the men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and made sacrifices to the Lord.
God struck down the men of Beth-shemesh because they looked inside the ark of the Lord.He struck down 70 men [out of] 50,000 men. The people wept because the Lord struck them with a great slaughter.
God struck down the men of Beth-shemesh because they looked inside the ark of the Lord.He struck down 70 men [out of] 50,000 men. The people wept because the Lord struck them with a great slaughter.
Then he would return to Ramah because his home was there, he judged Israel there, and he had built an altar to the Lord there.
However, his sons did not walk in his ways-they turned toward dishonest gain, took bribes, and perverted justice.
They said to him, "Look, you are old, and your sons do not follow your example. Therefore, appoint a king to judge us the same as all the other nations have." When they said, "Give us a king to judge us," Samuel considered their demand sinful, so he prayed to the Lord.
They are doing the same thing to you that they have done to Me, since the day I brought them out of Egypt until this day, abandoning Me and worshiping other gods.
If you go quickly, you can catch up with him before he goes to the high place to eat. The people won't eat until he comes because he must bless the sacrifice; after that, the guests can eat. Go up immediately-you can find him now."
Afterwards, go ahead of me to Gilgal. I will come to you to offer burnt offerings and to sacrifice fellowship offerings. Wait seven days until I come to you and show you what to do."
Afterwards, go ahead of me to Gilgal. I will come to you to offer burnt offerings and to sacrifice fellowship offerings. Wait seven days until I come to you and show you what to do."
So all the people went to Gilgal, and there in the Lord's presence they made Saul king. There they sacrificed fellowship offerings in the Lord's presence, and Saul and all the men of Israel greatly rejoiced.
"When Jacob went to Egypt, your ancestors cried out to the Lord, and He sent them Moses and Aaron, who led your ancestors out of Egypt and settled them in this place.
So Saul said, "Bring me the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings." Then he offered the burnt offering.
So Saul said, "Bring me the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings." Then he offered the burnt offering. Just as he finished offering the burnt offering, Samuel arrived. So Saul went out to greet him,
He warned the Kenites, "Since you showed kindness to all the Israelites when they came out of Egypt, go on and leave! Get away from the Amalekites, or I'll sweep you away with them." So the Kenites withdrew from the Amalekites.
Samuel asked, "How can I go? Saul will hear [about it] and kill me!" The Lord answered, "Take a young cow with you and say, 'I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.' Then invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will let you know what you are to do. You are to anoint for Me the one I indicate to you." read more. Samuel did what the Lord directed and went to Bethlehem. When the elders of the town met him, they trembled and asked, "Do you come in peace?" "In peace," he replied. "I've come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice." Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.
Now, may my lord the king please hear the words of his servant: If it is the Lord who has incited you against me, then may He accept an offering. But if it is people, may they be cursed in the presence of the Lord, for today they have driven me away from sharing in the inheritance of the Lord saying, 'Go and worship other gods.'
He built an altar to the Lord there and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then the Lord answered prayer on behalf of the land, and the plague on Israel ended.
and keep your obligation to the Lord your God to walk in His ways and to keep His statutes, commandments, judgments, and testimonies. This is written in the law of Moses, so that you will have success in everything you do and wherever you turn,
However, the people were sacrificing on the high places, because until that time a temple for the Lord's name had not been built.
The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there because it was the most famous high place. He offered 1,000 burnt offerings on that altar.
Solomon [began to] build the temple for the Lord in the four hundred eightieth year after the Israelites came out from the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of his reign over Israel, in the second month, in the month of Ziv.
Nothing was in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had put there at Horeb,where the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites when they came out of the land of Egypt.
If these people regularly go to offer sacrifices in the Lord's temple in Jerusalem, the heart of these people will return to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah. They will murder me and go back to the king of Judah." So the king sought advice. Then he made two gold calves, and he said to the people, "Going to Jerusalem is too difficult for you. Israel, here is your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt."
Jeroboam made a festival in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, like the festival in Judah. He offered sacrifices on the altar; he made this offering in Bethel to sacrifice to the calves he had set up. He also stationed in Bethel the priests for the high places he had set up. He offered sacrifices on the altar he had set up in Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, the month he had decided on his own. He made a festival for the Israelites, offered sacrifices on the altar, and burned incense.
But Naboth said to Ahab, "I will never give my fathers' inheritance to you."
One of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, "Your servant, my husband, has died. You know that your servant feared the Lord. Now the creditor is coming to take my two children as his slaves."
He brought out the king's son, put the crown on him, gave him the testimony,and made him king. They anointed him and clapped their hands and cried, "Long live the king!"
Then the king of Assyria brought [people] from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim and settled them in place of the Israelites in the cities of Samaria. The settlers took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities.
So one of the priests they had deported came and lived in Bethel, and he began to teach them how they should fear the Lord.
He removed the high places and shattered the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherah [poles]. He broke into pieces the bronze snake that Moses made, for the Israelites burned incense to it up to that time. He called it Nehushtan.
He held fast to the Lord and did not turn from following Him but kept the commandments the Lord had commanded Moses.
Hilkiah the high priest told Shaphan the court secretary, "I have found the book of the law in the Lord's temple," and he gave the book to Shaphan, who read it.
Hilkiah the high priest told Shaphan the court secretary, "I have found the book of the law in the Lord's temple," and he gave the book to Shaphan, who read it. Then Shaphan the court secretary went to the king and reported, "Your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the temple and have put it into the hand of those doing the work-those who oversee the Lord's temple." read more. Then Shaphan the court secretary told the king, "Hilkiah the priest has given me a book," and Shaphan read it in the presence of the king. When the king heard the words of the book of the law, he tore his clothes. Then he commanded Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Achbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the court secretary, and the king's servant Asaiah: "Go and inquire of the Lord for me, the people, and all Judah about the instruction in this book that has been found. For great is the Lord's wrath that is kindled against us because our ancestors have not obeyed the words of this book in order to do everything written about us."
"Go and inquire of the Lord for me, the people, and all Judah about the instruction in this book that has been found. For great is the Lord's wrath that is kindled against us because our ancestors have not obeyed the words of this book in order to do everything written about us." So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to the prophetess Huldah, wife of Shallum son of Tikvah, son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe. She lived in Jerusalem in the Second District. They spoke with her.
Say this to the king of Judah who sent you to inquire of the Lord: This is what the Lord God of Israel says: As for the words that you heard, because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they would become a desolation and a curse, and because you have torn your clothes and wept before Me, I Myself have heard you-declares the Lord.
So the king sent [messengers], and they gathered to him all the elders of Jerusalem and Judah. Then the king went to the Lord's temple with all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, as well as the priests and the prophets-all the people from the youngest to the oldest. As they listened, he read all the words of the book of the covenant that had been found in the Lord's temple. read more. Next, the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant in the presence of the Lord to follow the Lord and to keep His commandments, His decrees, and His statutes with all his mind and with all his heart, and to carry out the words of this covenant that were written in this book; all the people agreed to the covenant. Then the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the second rank and the doorkeepers to bring out of the Lord's temple all the articles made for Baal, Asherah, and the whole heavenly host. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel
Kohath's sons: his son Amminadab, his son Korah, his son Assir, his son Elkanah, his son Ebiasaph, his son Assir, read more. his son Tahath, his son Uriel, his son Uzziah, and his son Shaul. Elkanah's sons: Amasai and Ahimoth, his son Elkanah, his son Zophai, his son Nahath, his son Eliab, his son Jeroham, and his son Elkanah. Samuel's sons: his firstborn Joel, and his second son Abijah.
Together with Zadok from the sons of Eleazar and Ahimelech from the sons of Ithamar, David divided them according to the assigned duties of their service.
They taught throughout Judah, [having] the book of the Lord's instruction with them. They went throughout the towns of Judah and taught the people.
But when he became strong, he grew arrogant and it led to his own destruction. He acted unfaithfully against the Lord his God by going into the Lord's sanctuary to burn incense on the incense altar. Azariah the priest, along with 80 brave priests of the Lord, went in after him. read more. They took their stand against King Uzziah and said, "Uzziah, you have no right to offer incense to the Lord-only the consecrated priests, the descendants of Aaron, have the right to offer incense. Leave the sanctuary, for you have acted unfaithfully! You will not receive honor from the Lord God." Uzziah, with a censer in his hand to offer incense, was enraged. But when he became enraged with the priests, in the presence of the priests in the Lord's temple beside the altar of incense, a skin disease broke out on his forehead. Then Azariah the chief priest and all the priests turned to him and saw that he was diseased on his forehead. They rushed him out of there. He himself also hurried to get out because the Lord had afflicted him. So King Uzziah was diseased to the time of his death. He lived in quarantinewith a serious skin disease and was excluded from access to the Lord's temple, while his son Jotham was over the king's household governing the people of the land.
When they brought out the money that had been deposited in the Lord's temple, Hilkiah the priest found the book of the law of the Lord [written] by the hand of Moses.
Josiah observed the Lord's Passover and slaughtered the Passover [lambs] on the fourteenth day of the first month. He appointed the priests to their responsibilities and encouraged them to serve in the Lord's temple. read more. He said to the Levites who taught all Israel the holy things of the Lord, "Put the holy ark in the temple built by Solomon son of David king of Israel. Since you do not have to carry it on your shoulders, now serve the Lord your God and His people Israel.
Slaughter the Passover [lambs], consecrate yourselves, and make preparations for your brothers to carry out the word of the Lord through Moses."
They also appointed the priests by their divisions and the Levites by their groups to the service of God in Jerusalem, according to what is written in the book of Moses.
came up from Babylon. He was a scribe skilled in the law of Moses,(F) which Yahweh, the God of Israel, had given. The king had granted him everything he requested because the hand of Yahweh his God was on him.
Whoever did not come within three days would forfeit all his possessions, according to the decision of the leaders and elders, and would be excluded from the assembly of the exiles.
all the people gathered together at the square in front of the Water Gate. They asked Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses that the Lord had given Israel.
While he was facing the square in front of the Water Gate, he read out of it from daybreak until noon before the men, the women, and those who could understand. All the people listened attentively to the book of the law.
Ezra read out of the book of the law of God every day, from the first day to the last. The Israelites celebrated the feast for seven days, and on the eighth day there was an assembly, according to the ordinance.
Even one of the sons of Jehoiada, son of Eliashib the high priest, had become a son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite. So I drove him away from me.
He is like a tree planted beside streams of water that bears its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.
Offer sacrifices in righteousness and trust in the Lord. Many are saying, "Who can show us anything good?" Look on us with favor, Lord.
You made him lord over the works of Your hands; You put everything under his feet: all the sheep and oxen, as well as animals in the wild, read more. birds of the sky, and fish of the sea passing through the currents of the seas.
For the One who seeks an accounting for bloodshed remembers them; He does not forget the cry of the afflicted.
The sorrows of those who take another [god] for themselves multiply; I will not pour out their drink offerings of blood, and I will not speak their names with my lips. Lord, You are my portion and my cup [of blessing]; You hold my future. read more. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.
Guard me as the apple of Your eye; hide me in the shadow of Your wings
The earth and everything in it, the world and its inhabitants, belong to the Lord;
"Hear my prayer, Lord, and listen to my cry for help; do not be silent at my tears. For I am a foreigner residing with You, a sojourner like all my fathers.
God arises. His enemies scatter, and those who hate Him flee from His presence.
Sing to God! Sing praises to His name. Exalt Him who rides on the clouds - His name is Yahweh-and rejoice before Him.
God, when You went out before Your people, when You marched through the desert, Selah the earth trembled, and the skies poured down [rain] before God, the God of Sinai, before God, the God of Israel.
God's chariots are tens of thousands, thousands and thousands; the Lord is among them in the sanctuary as He was at Sinai.
Listen, Shepherd of Israel, who guides Joseph like a flock; You who sit enthroned [on] the cherubim, rise up
Lord, there is no one like You among the gods, and there are no works like Yours.
God, arrogant people have attacked me; a gang of ruthless men seeks my life. They have no regard for You. But You, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abundant in faithful love and truth.
But from eternity to eternity the Lord's faithful love is toward those who fear Him, and His righteousness toward the grandchildren of those who keep His covenant, who remember to observe His instructions.
The Lord has sworn an oath and will not take it back: "Forever, You are a priest like Melchizedek."
It is like fine oil on the head, running down on the beard, running down Aaron's beard, on his robes.
Honor the Lord with your possessions and with the first produce of your entire harvest;
She is a tree of life to those who embrace her, and those who hold on to her are happy.
The one who conceals hatred has lying lips, and whoever spreads slander is a fool.
Dishonest scales are detestable to the Lord, but an accurate weight is His delight.
A gossip goes around revealing a secret, but the trustworthy keeps a confidence.
Differing weights and varying measures- both are detestable to the Lord.
Differing weights are detestable to the Lord, and dishonest scales are unfair.
Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes straw and as dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will become like something rotten and their blossoms will blow away like dust, for they have rejected the instruction of the Lord of Hosts, and they have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
And if the document is given to one who cannot read and he is asked to read it, he will say, "I can't read."
They are a rebellious people, deceptive children, children who do not obey the Lord's instruction.
The word of the Lord came to me: "Go and announce directly to Jerusalem that this is what the Lord says: I remember the loyalty of your youth, your love as a bride- how you followed Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. read more. Israel was holy to the Lord, the firstfruits of His harvest. All who ate of it found themselves guilty; disaster came on them." [This is] the Lord's declaration. Hear the word of the Lord, house of Jacob and all families of the house of Israel. Here is what the Lord says: What fault did your fathers find in Me that they went so far from Me, followed worthless idols, and became worthless themselves? They stopped asking: Where is the Lord who brought us from the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and ravines, through a land of drought and darkness, a land no one traveled through and where no one lived?
They stopped asking: Where is the Lord who brought us from the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and ravines, through a land of drought and darkness, a land no one traveled through and where no one lived? I brought you to a fertile land to eat its fruit and bounty, but after you entered, you defiled My land; you made My inheritance detestable. read more. The priests quit asking: Where is the Lord? The experts in the law no longer knew Me, and the rulers rebelled against Me. The prophets prophesied by Baal and followed useless idols.
The priests quit asking: Where is the Lord? The experts in the law no longer knew Me, and the rulers rebelled against Me. The prophets prophesied by Baal and followed useless idols.
But where are your gods you made for yourself? Let them rise up and save you in your time of disaster if they can, for your gods are as numerous as your cities, Judah.
I am about to bring a nation from far away against you, house of Israel. [This is]*The bracketed text has been added for clarity. the Lord's declaration. It is an established nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know and whose speech you do not understand.
How can you claim: We are wise; the law of the Lord is with us? In fact, the lying pen of scribes has produced falsehood.
Father and mother are treated with contempt, and the foreign resident is exploited within you. The fatherless and widow are oppressed in you. You despise My holy things and profane My Sabbaths. read more. There are men within you who slander in order to shed blood. People who [live] in you eat at the mountain [shrines]; they commit immoral acts within you. Men within you have sexual intercourse with [their] father's wife, and violate women during their menstrual impurity. One man within you commits an abomination with his neighbor's wife; another wickedly defiles his daughter-in-law; and [yet] another violates his sister, his father's daughter. People who [live] in you accept bribes in order to shed blood. You take interest and profit [on a loan] and brutally extort your neighbors. You have forgotten Me." [This is] the declaration of the Lord God .
Her priests do violence to My law and profane My holy things. They make no distinction between the holy and the common, and they do not explain the difference between the clean and the unclean. They disregard My Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.
There I will give her vineyards back to her and make the Valley of Achor into a gateway of hope. There she will respond as [she did] in the days of her youth, as in the day she came out of the land of Egypt.
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will reject you from serving as My priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your sons.
But they, like Adam, have violated the covenant; there they have betrayed Me.
[Put] the horn to your mouth! One like an eagle comes against the house of the Lord, because they transgress My covenant and rebel against My law.
Though I were to write out for him ten thousand points of My law, they would be regarded as something alien.
When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son.
In the womb he grasped his brother's heel, and as an adult he wrestled with God. Jacob struggled with the Angel and prevailed; he wept and sought His favor. He found him at Bethel, and there He spoke with him.
The Lord says: I will not relent from punishing Judah for three crimes, even four, because they have rejected the law of the Lord and have not kept His statutes. The lies that their ancestors followed have led them astray.
And I brought you from the land of Egypt and led you 40 years in the wilderness in order to possess the land of the Amorite. I raised up some of your sons as prophets and some of your young men as Nazirites. Is this not the case, Israelites? [This is]*The bracketed text has been added for clarity. the Lord's declaration. read more. But you made the Nazirites drink wine and commanded the prophets: Do not prophesy.
Listen to this message that the Lord has spoken against you, Israelites, against the entire clan that I brought from the land of Egypt:
I will punish the altars of Bethel on the day I punish Israel for its crimes; the horns of the altar will be cut off and fall to the ground.
Come to Bethel and rebel; rebel even more at Gilgal! Bring your sacrifices every morning, your tenths every three days. Offer leavened bread as a thank offering, and loudly proclaim your freewill offerings, for that is what you Israelites love [to do]! [This is]*The bracketed text has been added for clarity. the Lord's declaration.
Indeed, I brought you up from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from that place of slavery. I sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam ahead of you. My people, remember what Balak king of Moab proposed, what Balaam son of Beor answered him, and [what happened] from Acacia Grove to Gilgal, so that you may acknowledge the Lord's righteous acts.
Shepherd Your people with Your staff, the flock that is Your possession. They live alone in a scrubland, surrounded by pastures. Let them graze in Bashan and Gilead as in ancient times.
You will show loyalty to Jacob and faithful love to Abraham, as You swore to our fathers from days long ago.
But He answered, "It is written: Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. "
Jesus told him, "It is also written: Do not test the Lord your God. "
Then Jesus told him, "Go away, Satan! For it is written: Worship the Lord your God, and serve only Him. "
Then Pharisees and scribes came from Jerusalem to Jesus and asked, "Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they don't wash their hands when they eat!" read more. He answered them, "And why do you break God's commandment because of your tradition? For God said: Honor your father and your mother; and, The one who speaks evil of father or mother must be put to death. But you say, 'Whoever tells his father or mother, "Whatever benefit you might have received from me is a gift [committed to the temple]"- he does not have to honor his father.' In this way, you have revoked God's word because of your tradition. Hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you when he said: These people honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. They worship Me in vain, teaching as doctrines the commands of men. "
"Haven't you read," He replied, "that He who created them in the beginning made them male and female , and He also said: For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh ?
"Why then," they asked Him, "did Moses command [us] to give divorce papers and to send her away?" He told them, "Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because of the hardness of your hearts. But it was not like that from the beginning.
Jesus answered them, "You are deceived, because you don't know the Scriptures or the power of God.
All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commandments."
But Jesus told them, "He wrote this commandment for you because of the hardness of your hearts.
and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh.
Now concerning the dead being raised-haven't you read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the burning bush, how God spoke to him: I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob ?
"But Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.'
"But he told him, 'If they don't listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded if someone rises from the dead.' "
"Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother has a wife, and dies childless, his brother should take the wife and produce offspring for his brother.
Moses even indicated [in the passage] about the burning bush that the dead are raised, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.
Then beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He interpreted for them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.
Then beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He interpreted for them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.
Then He told them, "These are My words that I spoke to you while I was still with you-that everything written about Me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled." Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.
for although the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, because he wrote about Me.
So they collected them and filled 12 baskets with the pieces from the five barley loaves that were left over by those who had eaten.
In the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do You say?"
Your father Abraham was overjoyed that he would see My day; he saw it and rejoiced."
Moses said: The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from among your brothers. You must listen to Him in everything He will say to you.
And Philip said, "If you believe with all your heart you may." And he replied, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God."]
Since I have obtained help that comes from God, to this day I stand and testify to both small and great, saying nothing else than what the prophets and Moses said would take place-
Tell me, you who want to be under the law, don't you hear the law?
By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain [did]. By this he was approved as a righteous man, because God approved his gifts, and even though he is dead, he still speaks through this.
These all died in faith without having received the promises, but they saw them from a distance, greeted them, and confessed that they were foreigners and temporary residents on the earth. Now those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. read more. If they had been remembering that land they came from, they would have had opportunity to return. But they now aspire to a better land-a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.
By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter and chose to suffer with the people of God rather than to enjoy the short-lived pleasure of sin. read more. For he considered reproach for the sake of the Messiah to be greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, since his attention was on the reward. By faith he left Egypt behind, not being afraid of the king's anger, for he persevered, as one who sees Him who is invisible.
Hastings
Morish
The Greek name given to the first five books of the O.T., which are also called 'the five books of Moses.' The many references to and quotations from them in other parts of the scripture, and allusions to them by Christ under the name of Moses, show plainly that Moses was the inspired writer of them, except of course the small portion that records his death and burial. See MOSES.
Watsons
PENTATEUCH. This word, which is derived from the Greek ???????????, from ?????, five, and ??????, a volume, signifies the collection of the five books of Moses, which are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. That the Jews have acknowledged the authenticity of the Pentateuch, from the present time back to the era of their return from the Babylonish captivity, a period of more than two thousand three hundred years, admits not a possibility of doubt. The five books of Moses have been during that period constantly placed at the head of the Jewish sacred volume, and divided into fixed portions, one of which was read and explained in their synagogues, not only every Sabbath with the other Scriptures, but in many places twice a week, and not unfrequently every evening, when they alone were read. They have been received as divinely inspired by every Jewish sect, even by the Sadducees, who questioned the divinity of the remaining works of the Old Testament. In truth, the veneration of the Jews for their Scriptures, and above all for the Pentateuch, seems to have risen almost to a superstitious reverence. Extracts from the Mosaic law were written on pieces of parchment, and placed on the borders of their garments, or round their wrists and foreheads: nay, they at a later period counted, with the minutest exactness, not only the chapters and paragraphs, but the words and letters, which each book of their Scriptures contains. Thus also the translation, first of the Pentateuch, and afterward of the remaining works of the Old Testament, into Greek, for the use of the Alexandrian Jews, disseminated this sacred volume over a great part of the civilized world, in the language most universally understood, and rendered it accessible to the learned and inquisitive in every country; so as to preclude all suspicion that it could be materially altered by either Jews or Christians, to support their respective opinions as to the person and character of the Messiah; the substance of the text being, by this translation, fixed and authenticated at least two hundred and seventy years before the appearance of our Lord.
But, long previous to the captivity, two particular examples, deserving peculiar attention, occur in the Jewish history, of the public and solemn homage paid to the sacredness of the Mosaic law as promulgated in the Pentateuch; and which, by consequence, afford the fullest testimony to the authenticity of the Pentateuch itself: the one in the reign of Hezekiah, while the separate kingdoms of Judah and Israel still subsisted; and the other in the reign of his great grandson Josiah, subsequent to the captivity of Israel. In the former we see the pious monarch of Judah assembling the priests and Levites and the rulers of the people; to deplore with him the trespasses of their fathers against the divine law, to acknowledge the justice of those chastisements which, according to the prophetic warnings of that law, had been inflicted upon them; to open the house of God which his father had impiously shut, and restore the true worship therein according to the Mosaic ritual, 2Ki 18; 2Ch 29; 30; with the minutest particulars of which he complied, in the sin-offerings and the peace- offerings which, in conjunction with his people, he offered for the kingdom and the sanctuary and the people, to make atonement to God for them and for all Israel; restoring the service of God as it had been performed in the purest times. "And Hezekiah," says the sacred narrative, "rejoiced, and all the people, that God had prepared the people; for the thing was done suddenly," 2Ch 29:36; immediately on the king's accession to the throne, on the first declaration of his pious resolution. How clear a proof does this exhibit of the previous existence and clearly acknowledged authority of those laws which the Pentateuch contains!
But a yet more remarkable part of this transaction still remains. At this time Hoshea was king of Israel, and so far disposed to countenance the worship of the true God, that he appears to have made no opposition to the pious zeal of Hezekiah; who, with the concurrence of the whole congregation which he had assembled, sent out letters and made a proclamation, not only to his own people of Judah, 2Ch 30:1, "but to Ephraim and Manasseh and all Israel, from Beersheba even unto Dan, that they should come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, to keep the passover unto the Lord God of Israel; saying, Ye children of Israel, turn again to the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and he will return to the remnant of you who are escaped out of the hands of the kings of Assyria; and be not ye like your fathers and your brethren, which trespassed against the Lord God of their fathers, who therefore gave them up to desolation as ye see. Now be ye not stiff-necked, as your fathers were; but yield yourselves unto the Lord, and enter into his sanctuary which he hath sanctified for ever, and serve the Lord your God, that the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you. So the posts passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh even unto Zebulun," 2Ch 30:6, &c.
Now, can we conceive that such an attempt as this could have been made, if the Pentateuch containing the Mosaic code had not been as certainly recognised through the ten tribes of Israel as in the kingdom of Judah? The success was exactly such as we might reasonably expect if it were so acknowledged; for, though many of the ten tribes laughed to scorn and mocked the messengers of Hezekiah, who invited them to the solemnity of the passover, from the impious contempt which through long disuse they had conceived for it. "Nevertheless," says the sacred narrative, "divers of Asher and Manasseh and of Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem; and there assembled at Jerusalem much people, to keep the feast of unleavened bread in the second month, a very great congregation; and they killed the passover, and the priests and Levites stood in their places after their manner, according to the law of Moses, the man of God. So there was great joy in Jerusalem; for since the time of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel, there was not the like at Jerusalem: and when all this was finished, all Israel that were present went out to the cities of Judah, and brake the images in pieces, and cut down the groves, and threw down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, until they had utterly destroyed them all," 2Ch 30:11; 31. Can any clearer proof than this be desired of the constant and universal acknowledgment of the divine authority of the Pentateuch throughout the entire nation of the Jews, notwithstanding the idolatries and corruptions which so often prevented its receiving such obedience as that acknowledgment ought to have produced? The argument from this certain antiquity of the Pentateuch, a copy of which existed in the old Samaritan character as well as in the modern Hebrew, is most conclusive as to the numerous prophecies of Christ, and the future and present condition of the Jews which it contains. These are proved to have been delivered many ages before they were accomplished; they could be only the result of divine prescience, and the uttering of them by Moses proves therefore the inspiration and the authority of his writings. See LAW, and See MOSES.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
Then Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced over how God had prepared the people, for it had come about suddenly.
Then Hezekiah sent [word] throughout all Israel and Judah, and he also wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh to come to the Lord's temple in Jerusalem to observe the Passover of the Lord God of Israel.
So the couriers went throughout Israel and Judah with letters from the hand of the king and his officials, and according to the king's command, saying, "Israelites, return to the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel so that He may return to those of you who remain, who have escaped from the grasp of the kings of Assyria.
But some from Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem.