Table of Contents

- John

- Matthew

- Mark

- Luke

- Romans

- I Corinthians

- II Corinthians

- Galatians

- Ephesians

- Philippians

- Colossians

- I Thessalonians

- II Thessalonians

- I Timothy

- II Timothy

- Titus

- Philemon

- Hebrews

- James

- I Peter

- II Peter

- I John

- II John

- III John

- Jude

- Revelation

- Genesis

- Exodus

- Leviticus

- Numbers

- Deuteronomy

- Joshua

- Judges

- Ruth

- I Samuel

- II Samuel

- I Kings

- II Kings

- I Chronicles

- II Chronicles

- Ezra

- Nehemiah

- Esther

- I Maccabees

- Job

- Psalms

- Proverbs

- Ecclesiastes

- Song of Songs

- Sirach

- Isaiah

- Jeremiah

- Lamentations

- Ezekiel

- Daniel

- Hosea

- Joel

- Amos

- Obadiah

- Jonah

- Micah

- Nahum

- Habakkuk

- Zephaniah

- Haggai

- Zechariah

- Malachi

- Appendix

- Notes

UPDV TM

Updated Bible Version

2.17

Version Number: 2.17 (May 31, 2018)

Copyright © 2003–2018 by Greg Abrams

United States of America

This Bible may be copied but not modified.

See appendix for copyright & trademark details.

Internet Website: www.updated.org

John

According to John

1  In the beginning was the Speech, and the Speech was with God, and the Speech was God.[1] 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into existence through him; and without him nothing came into existence. That which has come to exist 4 in him was life; and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness; and the darkness did not apprehend it. 6 There came a man, sent from God, whose name was John. 7 The same came for witness, that he might bear witness of the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but [came] that he might bear witness of the light. 9 There was the true light, which lights every man, coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world came into existence through him, and the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and those who were his own did not receive him. 12 But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become sons[2] of God, to those who believe on his name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

14 And the Speech became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw his glory, glory as an only begotten from a father, full of grace and truth. 15 John bears witness of him, and cries out, saying, This was he of whom I said, He who comes after me has become ahead of me: for he was before me. 16 For of his fullness we all received, and grace for grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared [him].

19 And this is the witness of John, when the Jews from Jerusalem sent to him priests and Levites to ask him, Who are you? 20 And he confessed, and did not deny; and he confessed, I am not the Christ. 21 And they asked him, What then? Are you Elijah? And he says, I am not. Are you the prophet? And he answered, No. 22 They said therefore to him, Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say of yourself? 23 He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of Yahweh, as Isaiah the prophet said. 24 And they had been sent from the Pharisees. 25 And they asked him, and said to him, Why then do you baptize, if you are not the Christ, neither Elijah, neither the prophet? 26 John answered them, saying, I baptize in water. Among you+ stands one whom you+ don't know, 27 [even] he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to unloose. 28 These things were done in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

29 On the next day he sees Jesus coming to him, and says, Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, After me comes a man who has become ahead of me: for he was before me. 31 And I didn't know him; but that he should be made manifest to Israel, for this cause I came baptizing in water. 32 And John bore witness, saying, I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven; and it stayed on him. 33 And I didn't know him: but he who sent me to baptize in water, he said to me, On whomever you will see the Spirit descending, and staying on him, the same is he who baptizes in the Holy Spirit. 34 And I have seen, and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.

35 Again on the next day John was standing, and two of his disciples; 36 and he looked on Jesus as he walked, and says, Look, the Lamb of God! 37 And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. 38 And Jesus turned, and looked at them following, and says to them, What do you+ seek? And they said to him, Rabbi (which is to say, being interpreted, Teacher), where do you stay? 39 He says to them, Come, and you+ will see. They came therefore and saw where he stayed; and they stayed with him that day: it was about the tenth hour. 40 One of the two who heard John [speak], and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. 41 He finds first his own brother Simon, and says to him, We have found the Messiah (which is, being interpreted, Christ). 42 He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked on him, and said, You are Simon the son of John: you will be called Cephas (which is by interpretation, Peter).

43 On the next day he was minded to go forth into Galilee, and he finds Philip: and Jesus says to him, Follow me. 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, of the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip finds Nathaniel, and says to him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. 46 And Nathaniel said to him, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip says to him, Come and see. 47 Jesus saw Nathaniel coming to him, and says of him, Look, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile! 48 Nathaniel says to him, From where do you know me? Jesus answered and said to him, Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you. 49 Nathaniel answered him, Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are King of Israel. 50 Jesus answered and said to him, Because I said to you, I saw you underneath the fig tree, you believe? You will see greater things than these. 51 And he says to him, Truly, truly, I say to you+, You+ will see the heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.

2  And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there: 2 and Jesus also was invited, and his disciples, to the marriage. 3 And when the wine failed, the mother of Jesus says to him, They have no wine. 4 And Jesus says to her, Woman, what have I to do with you? My hour is not yet come. 5 His mother says to the servants, Whatever he says to you+, do it. 6 Now there were six waterpots of stone set there after the Jews' manner of purifying, containing about twenty or thirty gallons each.[3] 7 Jesus says to them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. 8 And he says to them, Draw out now, and bear to the ruler of the feast. And they bore it. 9 And when the ruler of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and didn't know from where it was (but the servants that had drawn the water knew), the ruler of the feast calls the bridegroom, 10 and says to him, Every man sets on first the good wine; and when [men] have drank freely, [then] that which is worse: you have kept the good wine until now. 11 This beginning of his signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested his glory; and his disciples believed on him. 12 After this he went down to Capernaum, he, and his mother, and his brothers, and his disciples; and they did not stay there many days.

13 And the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 And he found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: 15 and he made a scourge of cords, and cast all out of the temple, both the sheep and the oxen; and he poured out the changers' money, and overthrew their tables; 16 and to those who sold the doves he said, Take these things from here; don't make my Father's house a house of merchandise. 17 His disciples remembered that it was written, Zeal for your house will eat me up. 18 The Jews therefore answered and said to him, What sign do you show to us, seeing that you do these things? 19 Jesus answered and said to them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. 20 The Jews therefore said, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and will you raise it up in three days? 21 But he spoke of the temple of his body. 22 When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he spoke this; and they believed the Scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.

23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed on his name, watching his signs which he did. 24 But Jesus did not trust himself to them, for that he knew all men, 25 and because he did not need that anyone should bear witness concerning man; for he himself knew what was in man.

3  Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: 2 the same came to him by night, and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do, except God be with him. 3 Jesus answered and said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, Except one be born anew, he can't see the kingdom of God. 4 Nicodemus says to him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb, and be born? 5 Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, Except one be born of water and spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, You+ must be born anew. 8 The wind blows where it will, and you hear its voice, but do not know from where it comes, and where it goes: so is everyone who is born of the Spirit. 9 Nicodemus answered and said to him, How can these things be? 10 Jesus answered and said to him, Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not understand these things? 11 Truly, truly, I say to you, We speak that which we know, and bear witness of that which we have seen; and you+ do not receive our witness. 12 If I told you+ earthly things and you+ do not believe, how will you+ believe if I tell you+ heavenly things? 13 And no one has ascended into heaven, but he who descended out of heaven, the Son of Man. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; 15 that whoever believes may in him have eternal life.

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes on him should not perish, but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through him. 18 He who believes on him is not judged: but he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil. 20 For everyone who participates in evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his works should be reproved. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his works may be made manifest, that they have been worked in God.

22 After these things Jesus and his disciples came into the land of Judea; and there he spent some time with them, and baptized. 23 And John also was baptizing in Aenon near to Salim, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized. 24 For John was not yet cast into prison.

25 There arose therefore a questioning on the part of John's disciples with a Jew about purifying. 26 And they came to John, and said to him, Rabbi, he who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have borne witness, look, the same baptizes, and all men come to him. 27 John answered and said, A man cannot receive anything, except it has been given him from heaven. 28 You+ yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but, that I am sent before him. 29 He who has the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is made full. 30 He must increase, but I must decrease.

31 He who comes from above is above all: he who is of the earth is of the earth, and of the earth he speaks: he who comes from heaven is above all. 32 What he has seen and heard, of that he bears witness; and no man receives his witness. 33 He who has received his witness has set his seal to [this], that God is true. 34 For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God: for he does not give the Spirit by measure. 35 The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into his hand. 36 He who believes on the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God stays on him.

4  But when Jesus knew that many Pharisees heard that he was making many disciples, [even] more than John,[4] 2 because it was not Jesus alone who was baptizing but [also] his disciples,[5] 3 he left Judea and departed again into Galilee. 4 And he must surely pass through Samaria.

5 So he comes to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph: 6 and Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. 7 There comes a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus says to her, Give me a drink. 8 For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. 9 The Samaritan woman therefore says to him, How is it that you, being a Jew, ask me for a drink, being a Samaritan woman? For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. 10 Jesus answered and said to her, If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that says to you, Give me a drink; you would have asked of him, and he would have given you living water.[6] 11 The woman says to him, Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from where then do you have that living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself, and his sons, and his cattle? 13 Jesus answered and said to her, Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again: 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of living water forever.[7] 15 The woman says to him, Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, neither come all the way here to draw.

16 He says to her, Go, call your husband, and come here. 17 The woman answered and said to him, I have no husband. Jesus says to her, You said well, I have no husband: 18 for you have had five husbands; and he whom you now have is not your husband: this you have said truly. 19 The woman says to him, Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped in this mountain; and you+ say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. 21 Jesus says to her, Woman, believe me, the hour comes, when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, will you+ worship the Father. 22 You+ worship that which you+ don't know: we worship that which we know; for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth: for such does the Father seek to be his worshipers. 24 God is spirit: and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. 25 The woman says to him, I know that Messiah comes (he who is called Christ): when he has come, he will declare to us all things. 26 Jesus says to her, I am he who speaks to you.

27 And on this his disciples came; and they marveled that he was speaking with a woman; yet no man said, What do you seek? Or, Why do you speak with her? 28 So the woman left her waterpot, and went away into the city, and says to the men, 29 Come, see a man, who told me all things that I ever did: can this be the Christ? 30 They went out of the city, and were coming to him.

31 In the meanwhile the disciples prayed him, saying, Rabbi, eat. 32 But he said to them, I have meat to eat that you+ do not know. 33 The disciples therefore said one to another, Has any man brought him [anything] to eat? 34 Jesus says to them, My meat is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work. 35 Don't you+ say, There are yet four months, and [then] comes the harvest? Look, I say to you+, Lift up your+ eyes, and look at the fields, that they are white to harvest. 36 Already he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit to eternal life; that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. 37 For in this is the saying true, One sows, and another reaps. 38 I sent you+ to reap that for which you+ have not labored: others have labored, and you+ have entered into their labor.

39 And from that city many of the Samaritans believed on him because of the word of the woman, who testified, He told me all things that [ever] I did. 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they implored him to stay with them: and he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his word; 42 and they said to the woman, Now we believe, not because of your speaking: for we have heard for ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.

43 And after the two days he went forth from there into Galilee. 44 For Jesus himself testified, that a prophet has no honor in his own country. 45 So when he came into Galilee, the Galileans received him, having seen all the things that he did in Jerusalem at the feast: for they also went to the feast.

46 He came therefore again to Cana of Galilee, where he made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum. 47 When he heard that Jesus came out of Judea into Galilee, he went to him, and implored [him] that he would come down, and heal his son; for he was at the point of death. 48 Jesus therefore said to him, Except you+ see signs and wonders, you+ will in no way believe. 49 The nobleman says to him, Sir, come down before my child dies. 50 Jesus says to him, Go your way; your son lives. The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way. 51 And as he was now going down, his slaves met him, saying, that his boy lived. 52 So he inquired of them the hour when he began to amend. They said therefore to him, Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him. 53 So the father knew that [it was] at that hour in which Jesus said to him, Your son lives: and himself believed, and his whole house. 54 Now this is again the second sign that Jesus did, having come out of Judea into Galilee.

5  After these things there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep [gate] a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethzatha, having five porches. 3 In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, [and] withered.[8]

5 And a certain man was there, who had been thirty and eight years in his infirmity. 6 When Jesus saw him lying, and knew that he had been [sick] now a long time, he says to him, Do you want to be made whole? 7 The sick man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steps down before me. 8 Jesus says to him, Arise, take up your bed, and walk. 9 And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed and walked.

Now it was the Sabbath on that day. 10 So the Jews said to him who was cured, It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed. 11 But he answered them, He who made me whole, the same said to me, Take up your bed, and walk. 12 They asked him, Who is the man who said to you, Take up [your bed], and walk? 13 But he who was healed did not know who it was; for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being in the place. 14 After these things Jesus finds him in the temple, and said to him, Look, you are made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing befall you. 15 The man went away, and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him whole. 16 And for this cause the Jews persecuted Jesus, because he did these things on the Sabbath. 17 But Jesus answered them, My Father works even until now, and I work. 18 For this cause therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also called God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

19 Jesus therefore answered and said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you+, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father doing: for whatever things he does, these the Son also does in like manner. 20 For the Father loves the Son, and shows him all things that himself does: and greater works than these he will show him, that you+ may marvel. 21 For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom he will. 22 For neither does the Father judge any man, but he has given all judgment to the Son; 23 that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.

24 Truly, truly, I say to you+, He who hears my word, and believes him who sent me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. 25 Truly, truly, I say to you+, The hour comes, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, even so he gave to the Son also to have life in himself: 27 and he gave him authority to execute judgment, because he is Son of Man. 28 Don't marvel at this: for the hour comes, in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice, 29 and will come forth; those who have done good, to the resurrection of life; and those who have participated in evil, to the resurrection of judgment. 30 I can of myself do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is righteous; because I don't seek my own will, but the will of him who sent me.

31 If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. 32 It is another who bears witness of me; and I know that the witness which he witnesses of me is true. 33 You+ have sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. 34 But the witness which I receive is not from man: nevertheless I say these things, that you+ may live.[9] 35 He was the lamp that burns and shines; and you+ were willing to rejoice for a season in his light. 36 But the witness which I have is greater than [that of] John; for the works which the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father has sent me. 37 And the Father who sent me, he has borne witness of me. You+ have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his form. 38 And you+ do not have his word staying in you+: for whom he sent, him you+ do not believe. 39 You+ search the Scriptures, because you+ think that in them you+ have eternal life; and those are the ones which bear witness of me; 40 and you+ will not come to me, that you+ may have life.

41 I do not receive glory from men. 42 But I know you+, that you+ do not have the love of God in yourselves. 43 I have come in my Father's name, and you+ do not receive me: if another will come in his own name, him you+ will receive. 44 How can you+ believe, who receive glory one of another, and the glory that [comes] from the only God, you+ do not seek? 45 Do not think that I will accuse you+ to the Father: there is one who accuses you+, [even] Moses, on whom you+ have set your+ hope. 46 For if you+ believed Moses, you+ would believe me; for he wrote of me. 47 But if you+ do not believe his writings, how will you+ believe my words?

6  After these things Jesus went away to the other side of the sea of Galilee, which is [the sea] of Tiberias. 2 And a great multitude followed him, because they were watching the signs which he did on those who were sick. 3 And Jesus went up into the mountain, and there he sat with his disciples. 4 Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand.

5 Jesus therefore lifting up his eyes, and seeing that a great multitude comes to him, says to Philip, From where are we to buy bread, that these may eat? 6 And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do. 7 Philip answered him, 200 denarii[10] of bread is not sufficient for them, that each may take a little. 8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, says to him, 9 There is a lad here, who has five barley loaves, and two fish: but what are these among so many? 10 Jesus said, Make the people sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. 11 Jesus therefore took the loaves; and having given thanks, he distributed to those who were set down; likewise also of the fish as much as they would. 12 And when they were filled, he says to his disciples, Gather up the broken pieces which remain over, that nothing be lost. 13 So they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with broken pieces from the five barley loaves, which remained over to those who had eaten. 14 When therefore the men saw the sign which he did, they said, This is of a truth the prophet who comes into the world. 15 Jesus therefore perceiving that they were about to come and take him by force, to make him king, withdrew again into the mountain himself alone.

16 And when evening came, his disciples went down to the sea; 17 and they entered into a boat, and were going over the sea to Capernaum. And it was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. 18 And the sea was rising by reason of a great wind that blew. 19 When therefore they had rowed about three or three and a half miles,[11] they see Jesus walking on the sea, and drawing near to the boat: and they were afraid. 20 But he says to them, It is I; don't be afraid. 21 They were willing therefore to receive him into the boat: and immediately the boat was at the land where they were going.

22 On the next day the multitude that stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other boat there, except one, and that Jesus didn't enter with his disciples into the boat, but [that] his disciples went away alone. 23 Other boats came from Tiberias near to the place where they ate the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24 When the multitude therefore saw that Jesus was not there, neither his disciples, they themselves got into the boats, and came to Capernaum, seeking Jesus. 25 And when they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, Rabbi, when did you come here?

26 Jesus answered them and said, Truly, truly, I say to you+, You+ seek me, not because you+ saw signs, but because you+ ate of the loaves, and were filled. 27 Don't work for the food which perishes, but for the food which stays alive forever,[12] which the Son of Man will give to you+: for him the Father, [even] God, has sealed. 28 They said therefore to him, What must we do, that we may work the works of God? 29 Jesus answered and said to them, This is the work of God, that you+ believe on him whom he has sent.

30 They said therefore to him, What then do you do for a sign, that we may see, and believe you? What work do you do? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, He gave them bread out of heaven to eat. 32 Jesus therefore said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you+, Has not Moses given you+ the bread out of heaven? But my Father gives you+ the true bread out of heaven. 33 For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world. 34 They said therefore to him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. 35 Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life: he who comes to me will not hunger, and he who believes on me will never thirst.

36 But I said to you+, that you+ have seen me, and yet do not believe. 37 All that which the Father gives me will come to me; and him who comes to me I will in no way cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that of all that which he has given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone looking at the Son, and believing on him, should have eternal life; and I will raise him up on the last day.

41 The Jews therefore murmured concerning him, because he said, I am the bread which came down out of heaven. 42 And they said, Isn't this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, I have come down out of heaven? 43 Jesus answered and said to them, Do not murmur among yourselves. 44 No man can come to me, except the Father who sent me draws him: and I will raise him up in the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, And they will all be taught of God. Everyone who has heard from the Father, and has learned, comes to me. 46 Not that any man has seen the Father, except he who is from God, he has seen the Father. 47 Truly, truly, I say to you+, He who believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your+ fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, that a man may eat of it, and not die. 51 I am the living bread which came down out of heaven: if any man eats of this bread, he will live forever: yes and the bread which I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world.

52 The Jews therefore strove one with another, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? 53 Jesus therefore said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you+, Except you+ eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you+ don't have life in yourselves. 54 He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. 56 He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood stays in me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father; so he who eats of me, he also will live because of me. 58 This is the bread which came down out of heaven: not as the fathers ate, and died; he who eats this bread will live forever. 59 These things he said in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum.

60 Many therefore of his disciples, when they heard [this], said, This is a hard saying; who can hear it? 61 But Jesus knowing in himself that his disciples murmured at this, said to them, Does this cause you+ to stumble? 62 [What] then if you+ should see the Son of Man ascending where he was before? 63 It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh profits nothing: the words that I have spoken to you+ are spirit, and are life. 64 But there are some of you+ who do not believe. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that did not believe, and who it was that should deliver him up. 65 And he said, For this cause I have said to you+, that no man can come to me, except it is given to him of the Father.

66 On this many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. 67 Jesus said therefore to the twelve, Do you+ also want to go away? 68 Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? you have the word of eternal life.[13] 69 And we have believed and know that you are the Holy One of God. 70 Jesus answered them, Did not I choose you+ the twelve, and one of you+ is the devil? 71 Now he spoke of Judas [the son] of Simon Iscariot, for it was he who should deliver him up, [being] one of the twelve.

7  And after these things Jesus walked in Galilee: for he would not walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill him. 2 Now the feast of the Jews, the feast of tabernacles, was at hand. 3 His brothers therefore said to him, Depart from here, and go into Judea, that your disciples also may see your works which you do. 4 For no man does anything in secret, and himself seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, manifest yourself to the world. 5 For even his brothers did not believe on him. 6 Jesus therefore says to them, My time is not yet come; but your+ time is always ready. 7 The world can't hate you+; but me it hates, because I testify of it, that its works are evil. 8 You+ go up to the feast: I do not go up to this feast; because my time is not yet fulfilled. 9 And having said these things, he stayed in Galilee.

10 But when his brothers went up to the feast, then he went up also, not publicly, but as it were in secret. 11 The Jews therefore sought him at the feast, and said, Where is he? 12 And there was much murmuring among the multitudes concerning him: some said, He is a good man; but others said, Not so, but he leads the multitude astray. 13 Yet no man spoke openly of him for fear of the Jews.

14 But when the feast was already halfway through, Jesus went up into the temple, and taught. 15 The Jews therefore marveled, saying, How does this man know letters, having never learned? 16 Jesus therefore answered them, and said, My teaching is not mine, but his that sent me. 17 If any man wills to do his will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God, or [whether] I speak from myself. 18 He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory: but he who seeks the glory of him who sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him. 19 Has not Moses given you+ the law? And [yet] none of you+ does the law. Why do you+ seek to kill me? 20 The multitude answered, You have a demon: who seeks to kill you? 21 Jesus answered and said to them, I did one work, and all of you+ marvel because of it. 22 Moses has given you+ circumcision—not that it is of Moses, but of the fathers—and on the Sabbath you+ circumcise a man. 23 If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, that the law of Moses may not be broken; are you+ angry with me, because I made a man every bit whole on the Sabbath? 24 Do not judge according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment.

25 Some therefore of them of Jerusalem said, Isn't this he whom they seek to kill? 26 And look, he speaks openly, and they say nothing to him. Can it be that the rulers indeed know that this is the Christ? 27 Nevertheless we know this man from where he is: but when the Christ comes, no one knows from where he is. 28 Jesus therefore cried in the temple, teaching and saying, You+ both know me, and know from where I am; and I have not come of myself, but he who sent me is true, whom you+ don't know. 29 I know him; because I am from him, and he sent me. 30 They sought therefore to take him: and no man laid his hand on him, because his hour was not yet come. 31 But of the multitude many believed on him; and they said, When the Christ will come, will he do more signs than those which this man has done? 32 The Pharisees heard the multitude murmuring these things concerning him; and the chief priests and the Pharisees sent attendants to take him. 33 Jesus therefore said, Yet a little while I am with you+, and I go to him who sent me. 34 You+ will seek me, and will not find me: and where I am, you+ cannot come. 35 The Jews therefore said among themselves, Where will this man go that we will not find him? Will he go to the Dispersion among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks? 36 What is this word that he said, You+ will seek me, and will not find me; and where I am, you+ cannot come?[14]

40 [Some] of the multitude therefore, when they heard these words, said, This is of a truth the prophet. 41 Others said, This is the Christ. But some said, What, does the Christ come out of Galilee? 42 Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes of the seed of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was? 43 So there arose a division in the multitude because of him. 44 And some of them would have taken him; but no man laid hands on him.

45 The attendants therefore came to the chief priests and Pharisees; and they said to them, Why didn't you+ bring him? 46 The attendants answered, Never did man so speak. 47 The Pharisees therefore answered them, Are you+ also led astray? 48 Has any of the rulers believed on him, or of the Pharisees? 49 But this multitude that doesn't know the law are accursed. 50 Nicodemus, he who came to him before, being one of them, says to them, 51 Does our law judge a man, except it first hear from him and know what he does? 52 They answered and said to him, Are you also of Galilee? Search, and see that out of Galilee rises no prophet.[15]

8  12 Again therefore Jesus spoke to them, saying, I am the light of the world: he who follows me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life. 13 The Pharisees therefore said to him, You bear witness of yourself; your witness is not true. 14 Jesus answered and said to them, Even if I bear witness of myself, my witness is true; for I know from where I came, and where I go; but you+ don't know from where I come, or where I go. 15 You+ judge after the flesh; I judge no man. 16 Yes and if I judge, my judgment is true; for I am not alone, but I and the Father who sent me. 17 Yes and in your+ law it is written, that the witness of two men is true. 18 I am he who bears witness of myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness of me. 19 They said therefore to him, Where is your Father? Jesus answered, You+ know neither me, nor my Father: if you+ knew me, you+ would know my Father also. 20 These words he spoke in the treasury, as he taught in the temple: and no man took him; because his hour was not yet come.

21 He said therefore again to them, I go away, and you+ will seek me, and will die in your+ sin: where I go, you+ can't come. 22 The Jews therefore said, Will he kill himself, that he says, Where I go, you+ can't come? 23 And he said to them, You+ are from beneath; I am from above: you+ are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 I said therefore to you+, that you+ will die in your+ sins: for except you+ believe that I am [he], you+ will die in your+ sins. 25 They said therefore to him, Who are you? Jesus said to them, Even that which I have also spoken to you+ from the beginning. 26 I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you+: nevertheless he who sent me is true; and the things which I heard from him, these I speak to the world. 27 They didn't perceive that he spoke to them of the Father. 28 Jesus therefore said to them, When you+ have lifted up the Son of Man, then you+ will know that I am [he], and [that] I do nothing of myself, but as the Father taught me, I speak these things. 29 And he who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone; for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.

30 As he spoke these things, many believed on him. 31 Jesus therefore said to those Jews who had believed him, If you+ stay in my word, [then] you+ are truly my disciples; 32 and you+ will know the truth, and the truth will make you+ free.

33 They answered to him, We are Abraham's seed, and have never yet served as any man's slaves: how do you say, You+ will be made free? 34 Jesus answered them, Truly, truly, I say to you+, Everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. 35 And the slave doesn't stay in the house forever: the son stays forever. 36 If therefore the Son will make you+ free, you+ will be free indeed. 37 I know that you+ are Abraham's seed; yet you+ seek to kill me, because my word has no place in you+. 38 I speak the things which I have seen from the Father. And you+ therefore, [should] do the things which you+ heard from the Father.[16]

39 They answered and said to him, Our father is Abraham. Jesus says to them, If you+ were Abraham's children, you+ would be doing the works of Abraham. 40 But now you+ seek to kill me, a man who has told you+ the truth, which I heard from God: Abraham did not do this. 41 You+ do the works of your+ father. Therefore they said to him, We were not born of fornication; we have one Father, [even] God. 42 Jesus said to them, If God were your+ Father, you+ would love me: for I came forth and have come from God; for neither have I come of myself, but he sent me. 43 Why don't you+ understand my speech? [Even] because you+ can't hear my word. 44 You+ are of the father the devil, and the desires of your+ father it is your+ will to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and did not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of lies.[17] 45 But because I say the truth, you+ don't believe me. 46 Which of you+ convicts me of sin? If I say truth, why don't you+ believe me? 47 He who is of God hears the words of God: for this cause you+ do not hear [them], because you+ are not of God.

48 The Jews answered and said to him, Do we not say well that you are a Samaritan, and have a demon? 49 Jesus answered, I do not have a demon; but I honor my Father, and you+ dishonor me. 50 But I don't seek my own glory: there is one who seeks and judges. 51 Truly, truly, I say to you+, If a man keeps my word, he will never see death. 52 Therefore the Jews said to him, Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and the prophets; and you say, If a man keeps my word, he will never taste of death. 53  Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died: whom do you make yourself? 54 Jesus answered, If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing: it is my Father who glorifies me; of whom you+ say, He is our God; 55 and you+ have not known him: but I know him; and if I should say, I don't know him, I will be like you+, a liar: but I know him, and keep his word. 56 Your+ father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it, and was glad. 57 The Jews therefore said to him, You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham? 58 Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you+, Before Abraham was born, I am. 59 They took up stones therefore to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple.

9  And as he passed by, he saw a man blind from his birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, saying, Rabbi, who sinned, this man, or his parents, that he should be born blind? 3 Jesus answered, Neither did this man sin, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. 4 We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day: the night comes, when no man can work. 5 When I am in the world, I am the light of the world. 6 When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and anointed his eyes with the clay, 7 and said to him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam (which is by interpretation, Sent). He went away therefore, and washed, and came seeing.

8 The neighbors therefore, and those who saw him previously, that he was a beggar, said, Isn't this he who sat and begged? 9 Others said, It is he: others said, No, but he is like him. He said, I am [he]. 10 They said therefore to him, How then were your eyes opened? 11 He answered, The man who is called Jesus made clay, and anointed my eyes, and said to me, Go to Siloam, and wash: so I went away and washed, and I received sight. 12 And they said to him, Where is he? He says, I don't know.

13 They bring to the Pharisees him who previously was blind. 14 Now it was the Sabbath on the day when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes. 15 Again therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he received his sight. And he said to them, He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see. 16 Some therefore of the Pharisees said, This man is not from God, because he doesn't keep the Sabbath. But others said, How can a man who is a sinner do such signs? And there was a division among them. 17 They say therefore to the blind man again, What do you say of him, in that he opened your eyes? And he said, He is a prophet.

18 The Jews therefore did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind, and had received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight, 19 and asked them, saying, Is this your+ son, who you+ say was born blind? How then does he now see? 20 His parents therefore answered and said, We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind: 21 but how he now sees, we don't know; or who opened his eyes, we don't know: ask him; he is of age; he will speak for himself. 22 These things his parents said, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man should confess him [to be] Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue. 23 Therefore his parents said, He is of age; ask him.

24 So they called a second time the man who was blind, and said to him, Give glory to God: we know that this man is a sinner. 25 He therefore answered, Whether he is a sinner, I don't know: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see. 26 They said therefore to him, What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes? 27 He answered them, I told you+ even now, and you+ did not hear; why do you+ want to hear it again? Do you+ also want to become his disciples? 28 And they reviled him, and said, You are his disciple; but we are disciples of Moses. 29 We know that God has spoken to Moses: but as for this man, we don't know where he is from. 30 The man answered and said to them, Therefore, in this is the marvel, that you+ don't know where he is from, and [yet] he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not hear sinners: but if any man is a worshiper of God, and does his will, him he hears. 32 Never was it heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing. 34 They answered and said to him, You were altogether born in sins, and do you teach us? And they cast him out.

35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and finding him, he said, Do you believe in the Son of Man? 36 He answered and said, And who is he, Lord, that I may believe on him? 37 Jesus said to him, You have both seen him, and it is he who speaks with you. 38 And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshiped him. 39 And Jesus said, For judgment I came into this world, that those who don't see may see; and that those who see may become blind. 40 Those of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things, and said to him, Are we also blind? 41 Jesus said to them, If you+ were blind, you+ would have no sin: but now you+ say, We see: your+ sin stays.

10  Truly, truly, I say to you+, He who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. 2 But he who enters in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the porter opens; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out. 4 When he has put forth all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. 5 And a stranger they will not follow, but will flee from him: for they don't know the voice of strangers. 6 This parable Jesus spoke to them: but they didn't understand what things they were which he spoke to them.

7 Jesus therefore said again, Truly, truly, I say to you+, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. 9 I am the door; by me if any man enters in, he will live,[18] and will go in and go out, and will find pasture. 10 The thief does not come, but that he may steal, and kill, and destroy: I came that they may have life, and may have [it] abundantly. 11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd lays down his soul for the sheep. 12 He who is a hired worker, and not a shepherd, whose sheep are not his own, watches the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep, and flees, and the wolf snatches them, and scatters [them]: 13 [he flees] because he is a hired worker, and does not care for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd; and I know my own, and my own know me, 15 even as the Father knows me, and I know the Father; and I lay down my soul for the sheep. 16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: I must also bring them, and they will hear my voice; and they will become one flock, one shepherd. 17 Therefore the Father loves me, because I lay down my soul, that I may take it again. 18 No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment I received from my Father.

19 There arose a division again among the Jews because of these words. 20 And many of them said, He has a demon, and is insane; why do you+ hear him? 21 Others said, These are not the sayings of one possessed with a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?

22 Then came the feast of the dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, 23 and Jesus was walking in the temple in Solomon's porch. 24 The Jews therefore came around him, and said to him, How long do you take away our soul in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly. 25 Jesus answered them, I told you+, and you+ do not believe: the works that I do in my Father's name, these bear witness of me. 26 But you+ do not believe, because you+ are not of my sheep. 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28 and I give to them eternal life; and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 What my Father has given to me is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch out of the Father's hand. 30 I and the Father are one.

31 The Jews took up stones again to stone him. 32 Jesus answered them, Many good works I have shown you+ from the Father; for which of those works do you+ stone me? 33 The Jews answered him, For a good work we don't stone you, but for blasphemy; and because you, being a man, make yourself God. 34 Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your+ law, I said, You+ are gods?[19] 35 If he called them gods,[20] to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture can't be broken), 36 do you+ say of him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, You blaspheme; because I said, I am [the] Son of God? 37 If I don't do the works of my Father, don't believe me. 38 But if I do them, though you+ don't believe me, believe the works: that you+ may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father. 39 Therefore they sought again to take him: and he went forth out of their hand.

40 And he went away again beyond the Jordan into the place where John was at the first baptizing; and there he stayed. 41 And many came to him; and they said, John indeed did no sign: but all things whatever John spoke of this man were true. 42 And many believed on him there.

11  Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, of the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 And it was that Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. 3 The sisters therefore sent to him, saying, Lord, look, he whom you love is sick. 4 But when Jesus heard it, he said, This sickness is not to death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified by it. 5 Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. 6 When therefore he heard that he was sick, he stayed at that time two days in the place where he was. 7 Then after this he says to the disciples, Let us go into Judea again. 8 The disciples say to him, Rabbi, the Jews were but now seeking to stone you; and do you go there again? 9 Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If a man walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. 10 But if a man walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.

11 These things he spoke: and after this he says to them, Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. 12 The disciples therefore said to him, Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover. 13 Now Jesus had spoken of his death: but they thought that he spoke of taking rest in sleep. 14 Then Jesus therefore said to them plainly, Lazarus is dead. 15 And I am glad for your+ sakes that I was not there, to the intent you+ may believe; nevertheless let us go to him. 16 Thomas therefore, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow-disciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him.

17 So when Jesus came, he found that he had been in the tomb four days' [time] already.[21] 18 Now Bethany was near to Jerusalem, about two miles away;[22] 19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary, to console them concerning their brother. 20 Martha therefore, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him: but Mary still sat in the house. 21 Martha therefore said to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 And even now I know that, whatever you will ask of God, God will give you. 23 Jesus says to her, Your brother will rise again. 24 Martha says to him, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day. 25 Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he who believes on me, though he dies, yet he will live; 26 and whoever lives and believes on me will never die. Do you believe this? 27 She says to him, Yes, Lord: I have believed that you are the Christ, the Son of God, [even] he who comes into the world.

28 And when she had said this, she went away, and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Teacher is here, and calls you. 29 And she, when she heard it, arose quickly, and went to him. 30 (Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha met him.) 31 The Jews then who were with her in the house, and were consoling her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up quickly and went out, followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there.

32 Mary therefore, when she came where Jesus was, and saw him, fell down at his feet, saying to him, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews [also] weeping who came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, 34 and said, Where have you+ laid him? They say to him, Lord, come and see. 35 Jesus wept. 36 The Jews therefore said, Look at how he loved him! 37 But some of them said, Could not this man, who opened the eyes of him who was blind, have caused that this man also should not die?

38 Jesus therefore again groaning in himself comes to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39 Jesus says, Take+ away the stone. Martha, the sister of him who was dead, says to him, Lord, by this time the body decays; for he has been [dead] four days' [time].[23] 40 Jesus says to her, Did I not say to you, that, if you believed, you should see the glory of God? 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank you that you heard me. 42 And I knew that you hear me always: but because of the multitude that stands around I said it, that they may believe that you sent me. 43 And when he had thus spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. 44 He who was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave-clothes; and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus says to them, Loose him, and let him go.

45 Many therefore of the Jews, who came to Mary and saw that which he did, believed on him. 46 But some of them went away to the Pharisees, and told them the things which Jesus had done. 47 The chief priests therefore and the Pharisees gathered a Sanhedrin, and said, What do we do? This man does many signs. 48 If we leave him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation. 49 But a certain one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, You+ know nothing at all, 50 nor do you+ take account that it is expedient for you+ that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish. 51 Now this he did not say of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation; 52 and not for the nation only, but that he might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. 53 So from that day forth they took counsel that they might put him to death. 54 Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews, but departed from there into the country near to the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim; and there he stayed with the disciples.

55 Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand: and many went up to Jerusalem out of the country before the Passover, to purify themselves. 56 They sought therefore for Jesus, and spoke one with another, as they stood in the temple, What do you+ think? That he will not come to the feast? 57 Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given commandment, that, if any man knew where he was, he should show it, that they might take him.

12  Jesus therefore six days before the Passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus raised from the dead. 2 So they made him a supper there: and Martha served; but Lazarus was one of those who sat to eat with him.

3 Mary therefore took a pound of ointment of pure nard, very precious, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair:[24] and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment. 4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, that should deliver him up, says, 5 Why wasn't this ointment sold for 300 denarii,[25] and given to the poor? 6 Now this he said, not because he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and having the bag took away what was put in it. 7 Jesus therefore said, Allow her to keep it against the day of my burying. 8 For the poor you+ always have with you+; but me you+ do not always have.

9 The large crowd therefore of the Jews learned that he was there: and they came, not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom he had raised from the dead. 10 But the chief priests took counsel that they might put Lazarus also to death; 11 because by reason of him many of the Jews went away, and believed on Jesus.

12 On the next day the great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, 13 took the branches of the palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried out, Hosanna: Blessed [is] he who comes, the King of Israel, in the name of Yahweh.[26]

14 And Jesus, having found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written, 15 Don't be afraid, daughter of Zion: look, your King comes, sitting on a donkey's colt. 16 These things his disciples did not understand at the first: but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things to him. 17 The multitude therefore that was with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb, and raised him from the dead, bore witness. 18 For this cause also the multitude went and met him, for that they heard that he had done this sign. 19 The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, Look at how you+ prevail nothing: look, the world has gone after him.

20 Now there were certain Greeks among those who went up to worship at the feast: 21 these therefore came to Philip, who was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, Sir, we want to see Jesus. 22 Philip comes and tells Andrew: Andrew comes, and Philip, and they tell Jesus. 23 And Jesus answers them, saying, The hour has come, that the Son of Man should be glorified. 24 Truly, truly, I say to you+, Except a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it stays alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 He who loves his soul loses it; and he who hates his soul in this world will keep it to eternal life. 26 If any man serves me, let him follow me; and where I am, there will also my servant be: if any man serves me, the Father will honor him.

27 Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. But for this cause I came to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name. There came therefore a voice out of heaven, [saying,] I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. 29 The multitude therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it had thundered: others said, An angel has spoken to him. 30 Jesus answered and said, This voice has not come for my sake, but for your+ sakes. 31 Now is the judgment of this world: now will the prince of this world be cast out. 32 And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself. 33 But this he said, signifying by what manner of death he should die.

34 The multitude therefore answered him, We have heard out of the law that the Christ stays forever: and how do you say, The Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man? 35 Jesus therefore said to them, Yet a little while is the light among you+. Walk while you+ have the light, that darkness does not overtake you+: and he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes. 36 While you+ have the light, believe on the light, that you+ may become sons of light. These things Jesus spoke, and he departed and hid himself from them.

37 But though he had done so many signs before them, yet they didn't believe on him: 38 that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke, "Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of Yahweh been revealed?" 39 For this cause they could not believe, for Isaiah said again, 40 "He has blinded their eyes, and he hardened their heart; Lest they should see with their eyes, and perceive with their heart, And should turn, And I should heal them." 41 Isaiah said these things, because he saw his glory; and he spoke of him. 42 Nevertheless even of the rulers many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess [it], lest they should be put out of the synagogue: 43 for they loved the glory of men more than the glory of God.

44 And Jesus cried and said, He who believes on me, does not believe on me, but on him who sent me. 45 And he who looks at me looks at him who sent me. 46 I have come a light into the world, that whoever believes on me may not stay in the darkness. 47 And if any man hears my sayings, and does not keep them, I do not judge him: for I didn't come to judge the world, but to save the world. 48 He who rejects me, and does not receive my sayings, has one who judges him: the word that I spoke, the same will judge him in the last day. 49 For I did not speak from myself; but the Father who sent me, he has given me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. 50 And I know that his commandment is eternal life: the things therefore which I speak, even as the Father has said to me, so I speak.

13  Now before the feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that his hour came that he should depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2 And during supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas [the son] of Simon Iscariot, to deliver him up, 3 [Jesus], knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he came forth from God, and goes to God, 4 rises from supper, and lays aside his garments; and he took a towel, and girded himself. 5 Then he pours water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which he was girded. 6 So he comes to Simon Peter. He says to him, Lord, do you wash my feet? 7 Jesus answered and said to him, What I do you don't know now; but you will understand hereafter. 8 Peter says to him, You will never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I don't wash you, you have no part with me. 9 Simon Peter says to him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. 10 Jesus says to him, He who is bathed doesn't need to wash except for the feet, but is clean every bit: and you+ are clean, but not all. 11 For he knew him who should deliver him up; therefore he said, You+ are not all clean.

12 So when he had washed their feet, and taken his garments, and sat down again, he said to them, Do you+ know what I have done to you+? 13 You+ call me, The Teacher, and, The Lord: and you+ say well; for so I am. 14 If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your+ feet, you+ also ought to wash one another's feet. 15 For I have given you+ an example, that you+ also should do as I have done to you+. 16 Truly, truly, I say to you+, A slave is not greater than his lord; neither one who is sent greater than he who sent him. 17 If you+ know these things, blessed are you+ if you+ do them. 18 I don't speak of all of you+: I know whom I have chosen: but that the Scripture may be fulfilled, He who eats my bread lifted up his heel against me. 19 From now on I tell you+ before it comes to pass, that, when it has come to pass, you+ may believe that I am [he]. 20 Truly, truly, I say to you+, He who receives whomever I send receives me; and he who receives me receives him who sent me.

21 When Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in the spirit, and testified, and said, Truly, truly, I say to you+, that one of you+ will deliver me up. 22 The disciples looked one on another, doubting of whom he spoke. 23 There was at the table reclining in Jesus' bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved. 24 Simon Peter therefore beckons to him, to ask who it might be that he is talking about. 25 Therefore leaning back, as he was, on Jesus' breast, says to him, Lord, who is it? 26 Jesus answers, It is he, for whom I will dip the sop, and give it him. So when he had dipped the sop, he takes and gives it to Judas, [the son] of Simon Iscariot. 27 And after the sop, then Satan entered into him. Jesus therefore says to him, What you do, do quickly. 28 Now no man at the table knew for what intent he spoke this to him. 29 For some thought, because Judas had the bag, that Jesus said to him, Buy what things we have need of for the feast; or, that he should give something to the poor. 30 He then having received the sop went out right away: and it was night.

31 When therefore he had gone out, Jesus says, Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him; 32 If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and right away he will glorify him. 33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you+. You+ will seek me: and as I said to the Jews, Where I go, you+ can't come; so now I say to you+. 34 A new commandment I give to you+, that you+ love one another; even as I have loved you+, that you+ also love one another. 35 By this will all men know that you+ are my disciples, if you+ have love one to another.

36 Simon Peter says to him, Lord, where do you go? Jesus answered him, Where I go, you can't follow me now; but you will follow afterward. 37 Peter says to him, Lord, why can't I follow you even now? I will lay down my soul for you. 38 Jesus answers, Will you lay down your soul for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, The rooster will not crow, until you have denied me thrice.

14  Don't let your+ heart be troubled: believe in God, believe also in me. 2 In my Father's house are many places to stay; if it were not so, would I tell you+ that I go to prepare a place for you+? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you+, I come again, and will receive you+ to myself; that where I am, [there] you+ may be also. 4 And where I go, you+ know the way. 5 Thomas says to him, Lord, we don't know where you are going; how can we know the way? 6 Jesus says to him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one comes to the Father, but by me. 7 If you+ have known me, you+ will also know my Father: and from now on you+ know him, and have seen him. 8 Philip says to him, Lord, show us the Father, and it suffices us. 9 Jesus says to him, Have I been so long time with you+, and don't you know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father; how do you say, Show us the Father? 10 Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I say to you+ I don't speak from myself: but the Father staying in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: otherwise believe for the very works' sake. 12 Truly, truly, I say to you+, He who believes on me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater [works] than these he will do; because I go to the Father. 13 And whatever you+ will ask in my name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you+ will ask me anything in my name, I will do [it].

15 If you+ love me, you+ will keep my commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and he will give you+ another Supporter, that he may be with you+ forever, 17 [even] the Spirit of truth: whom the world can't receive; for it does not see him, neither knows him: you+ know him; for he stays with you+, and will be in you+. 18 I will not leave you+ desolate: I come to you+. 19 Yet a little while, and the world sees me no more; but you+ see me: because I live, you+ will live also. 20 In that day you+ will know that I am in my Father, and you+ in me, and I in you+. 21 He who has my commandments, and keeps them, it is he who loves me: and he who loves me will be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. 22 Judas (not Iscariot) says to him, Lord, and what has come to pass that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world? 23 Jesus answered and said to him, If a man loves me, he will keep my word: and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make a place to stay with him. 24 He who does not love me does not keep my words: and the word which you+ hear is not mine, but the Father's who sent me.

25 These things I have spoken to you+, while [yet] staying with you+. 26 But the Spirit, the Supporter,[27] whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you+ all things, and bring to your+ remembrance all that I said to you+. 27 Peace I leave with you+; my peace I give to you+: not as the world gives, I give to you+. Don't let your+ heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful. 28 You+ heard how I said to you+, I go away, and I come to you+. If you+ loved me, you+ would have rejoiced, because I go to the Father: for the Father is greater than I. 29 And now I have told you+ before it comes to pass, that, when it has come to pass, you+ may believe. 30 I will no more speak much with you+, for the prince of the world comes: and he has nothing in me; 31 but that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father commanded me, even so I do. Arise, let us go from here.

15  I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes it away: and every [branch] that bears fruit, he cleanses it, that it may bear more fruit. 3 Already you+ are clean because of the word which I have spoken to you+. 4 Stay in me, and I in you+. As the branch can't bear fruit of itself, except it stays in the vine; so neither can you+, except you+ stay in me. 5 I am the vine, you+ are the branches: He who stays in me, and I in him, the same bears much fruit: for apart from me you+ can do nothing. 6 If a man does not stay in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you+ stay in me, and my words stay in you+, ask whatever you+ will, and it will be done to you+. 8 In this is my Father glorified, that you+ may bear much fruit and may be my disciples. 9 Even as the Father has loved me, I also have loved you+: stay+ in my love. 10 If you+ keep my commandments, you+ will stay in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and stay in his love.

11 These things I have spoken to you+, that my joy may be in you+, and [that] your+ joy may be made full. 12 This is my commandment, that you+ love one another, even as I have loved you+. 13 Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. 14 You+ are my friends, if you+ do the things which I command you+. 15 No longer do I call you+ slaves; for the slave doesn't know what his lord does: but I have called you+ friends; for all things that I heard from my Father I have made known to you+. 16 You+ did not choose me, but I chose you+, and appointed you+, that you+ should go and bear fruit, and [that] your+ fruit should stay: that whatever you+ will ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you+. 17 These things I command you+, that you+ may love one another.

18 If the world hates you+, you+ know that it has hated me before [it hated] you+. 19 If you+ were of the world, the world would love its own: but because you+ are not of the world, but I chose you+ out of the world, therefore the world hates you+. 20 Remember the word that I said to you+, A slave is not greater than his lord. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you+; if they kept my word, they will keep yours+ also. 21 But all these things they will do to you+ for my name's sake, because they don't know him who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they had not had sin: but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 He who hates me hates my Father also. 24 If I had not done among them the works which none other did, they had not had sin: but now they have both seen and hated both me and my Father. 25 But [this comes to pass], that the word may be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.

26 When the Supporter has come, whom I will send to you+ from the Father, [even] the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness of me: 27 and you+ also bear witness, because you+ have been with me from the beginning.

16  These things I have spoken to you+, that you+ should not be caused to stumble. 2 They will put you+ out of the synagogues: yes, the hour comes, that whoever kills you+ will think that he offers service to God. 3 And these things they will do, because they haven't known the Father, nor me. 4 But these things I have spoken to you+, that when their hour has come, you+ may remember them, how that I told you+. And these things I didn't say to you+ from the beginning, because I was with you+. 5 But now I go to him who sent me; and none of you+ asks me, Where do you go? 6 But because I have spoken these things to you+, sorrow has filled your+ heart. 7 Nevertheless I tell you+ the truth: It is expedient for you+ that I go away; for if I don't go away, the Supporter will not come to you+; but if I go, I will send him to you+. 8 And he, when he has come, will convict the world in respect of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 of sin, because they do not believe on me; 10 of righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you+ see me no more; 11 of judgment, because the prince of this world has been judged.

12 I have yet many things to say to you+, but you+ can't bear them now. 13 Nevertheless when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you+ into all the truth: for he will not speak from himself; but whatever he will hear, he will speak: and he will declare to you+ the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me: for he will take of mine, and will declare [it] to you+. 15 All things that the Father has are mine: therefore I said, that he takes of mine, and will declare [it] to you+.

16 A little while, and you+ see me no more; and again a little while, and you+ will see me. 17 [Some] of his disciples therefore said one to another, What is this that he says to us, A little while, and you+ don't see me; and again a little while, and you+ will see me: and, Because I go to the Father? 18 They said therefore, What is this that he says, A little while? We don't know what he says. 19 Jesus perceived that they were desirous to ask him, and he said to them, Do you+ inquire among yourselves concerning this, that I said, A little while, and you+ don't see me, and again a little while, and you+ will see me? 20 Truly, truly, I say to you+, that you+ will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice: you+ will be sorrowful, but your+ sorrow will be turned into joy. 21 A woman when she is in travail has sorrow, because her hour has come: but when she is delivered of the child, she remembers no more the anguish, for the joy that a man is born into the world. 22 And you+ therefore now have sorrow: but I will see you+ again, and your+ heart will rejoice, and your+ joy no one takes away from you+. 23 And in that day you+ will ask me no question. Truly, truly, I say to you+, If you+ will ask anything of the Father in my name, he will give it you+. 24 Until now have you+ asked nothing in my name: ask, and you+ will receive, that your+ joy may be made full.

25 These things I have spoken to you+ in dark sayings: the hour comes, when I will no more speak to you+ in dark sayings, but will tell you+ plainly of the Father. 26 In that day you+ will ask in my name: and I don't say to you+, that I will pray the Father for you+; 27 for the Father himself loves you+, because you+ have loved me, and have believed that I came forth from God. 28 I came out from the Father, and have come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father. 29 His disciples say, Look, now you speak plainly, and speak no dark saying. 30 Now we know that you know all things, and don't need that any man should ask you: by this we believe that you came forth from God. 31 Jesus answered them, Do you+ now believe? 32 Look, the hour comes, yes, has come, that you+ will be scattered, every man to his own, and will leave me alone: and [yet] I am not alone, because the Father is with me. 33 These things I have spoken to you+, that in me you+ may have peace. In the world you+ have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

17  These things Jesus spoke; and lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said, Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son, that the Son may glorify you: 2 even as you gave him authority over all flesh, that to all whom you have given him, he should give eternal life. 3 And this is eternal life, that they should know you the only true God, and him whom you sent, [even] Jesus Christ. 4 I glorified you on the earth, having accomplished the work which you have given me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me with your own self with the glory which I had with you before the world was.

6 I manifested your name to the men whom you gave me out of the world: they were yours, and you gave them to me; and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that all things that you have given me are from you: 8 for the words which you gave me I have given to them; and they received [them], and knew of a truth that I came forth from you, and they believed that you sent me. 9 I pray for them: I don't pray for the world, but for those whom you have given me; for they are yours: 10 and all things that are mine are yours, and yours are mine: and I am glorified in them. 11 And I am no more in the world, and these are in the world, and I come to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we [are]. 12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name which you have given me: and I guarded them, and not one of them perished, but the son of perdition; that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 13 But now I come to you; and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy made full in themselves. 14 I have given them your word; and the world hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15 I don't pray that you should take them from the world, but that you should keep them from the evil [one]. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth: your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, even so I sent them into the world. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.

20 Neither for these only do I pray, but for them also that believe on me through their word; 21 that they may all be one; even as you, Father, [are] in me, and I in you; that they also may be in us; that the world may believe that you sent me. 22 And the glory which you have given me I have given to them; that they may be one, even as we [are] one; 23 I in them, and you in me, that they may be perfected into one; that the world may know that you sent me, and loved them, even as you loved me. 24 Father, [about] what[28] you have given me, I desire that where I am those also may be with me, that they may see my glory, which you have given me: for you loved me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, the world didn't know you, but I knew you; and these knew that you sent me; 26 and I made known to them your name, and will make it known; that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I in them.

18  When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Kidron, where a garden was, into which he entered, himself and his disciples. 2 Now Judas also, who delivered him up, knew the place: for Jesus often resorted there with his disciples. 3 Judas then, having received the battalion [of soldiers], and attendants from the chief priests and from the Pharisees, comes there with lanterns and torches and weapons. 4 Jesus therefore, knowing all the things that were coming upon him, went forth, and says to them, Whom do you+ seek? 5 They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. He says to them, I am [he]. And Judas also, who delivered him up, was standing with them. 6 When therefore he said to them, I am [he], they went backward, and fell to the ground. 7 Again therefore he asked them, Whom do you+ seek? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. 8 Jesus answered, I told you+ that I am [he]; if therefore you+ seek me, let these go their way: 9 that the word might be fulfilled which he spoke, Of those whom you have given me I lost not one. 10 Simon Peter therefore having a sword drew it, and struck the high priest's slave, and cut off his right ear. Now the slave's name was Malchus. 11 Jesus therefore said to Peter, Put up the sword into the sheath: the cup which the Father has given me, shall I not drink it?

12 So the battalion and the colonel, and the attendants of the Jews, seized Jesus and bound him, 13 and led him to Annas first; for he was father in law to Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. 14 Now Caiaphas was he who gave counsel to the Jews, that it was expedient that one man should die for the people.

15 And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and [so did] another disciple. Now that disciple was known to the high priest, and entered in with Jesus into the court of the high priest; 16 but Peter was standing at the door outside. So the other disciple, known to the high priest, went out and spoke to her who kept the door, and brought in Peter. 17 The female slave therefore who kept the door says to Peter, Are you also [one] of this man's disciples? He says, I am not. 18 Now the slaves and the attendants were standing [there], having made a fire of coals; for it was cold; and they were warming themselves: and Peter also was with them, standing and warming himself.

19 The high priest therefore asked Jesus of his disciples, and of his teaching. 20 Jesus answered him, I have spoken openly to the world; I ever taught in synagogues, and in the temple, where all the Jews come together; and in secret I spoke nothing. 21 Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard [me], what I spoke to them: look, these know the things which I said. 22 And when he had said this, one of the attendants standing by struck Jesus with his hand, saying, Do you answer the high priest so? 23 Jesus answered him, If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil: but if well, why do you strike me? 24 Annas therefore sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.

25 Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. They said therefore to him, Are you also [one] of his disciples? He denied, and said, I am not. 26 One of the slaves of the high priest, being a kinsman of him whose ear Peter cut off, says, Didn't I see you in the garden with him? 27 Peter therefore denied again: and right away the rooster crowed.

28 They lead Jesus therefore from Caiaphas into the Praetorium: and it was early; and they themselves didn't enter into the Praetorium, that they might not be defiled, but might eat the Passover. 29 Pilate therefore went out to them, and says, What accusation do you+ bring against this man? 30 They answered and said to him, If this man were not an evildoer, we should not have delivered him up to you. 31 Pilate therefore said to them, Take him yourselves, and judge him according to your+ law. The Jews said to him, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death: 32 that the word of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spoke, signifying by what manner of death he should die. 33 Pilate therefore entered again into the Praetorium, and called Jesus, and said to him, Are you the King of the Jews? 34 Jesus answered, Do you say this of yourself, or did others tell it to you concerning me? 35 Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered you to me: what have you done? 36 Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then my attendants would fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now my kingdom is not from here. 37 Pilate therefore said to him, Are you a king then? Jesus answered, You say that I am a king. To this end I have been born, and to this end I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice. 38 Pilate says to him, What is truth?

And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and says to them, I find no crime in him. 39 But you+ have a custom, that I should release to you+ one at the Passover: do you+ want therefore that I release to you+ the King of the Jews? 40 They cried out therefore again, saying, Not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber.  19  Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him. 2 And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and arrayed him in a purple garment; 3 and they came to him, and said, Hail, King of the Jews! And they struck him with their hands. 4 And Pilate went out again, and says to them, Look, I bring him out to you+, that you+ may know that I find no crime in him. 5 Jesus therefore came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple garment. And [Pilate] says to them, Look, the man! 6 When therefore the chief priests and the attendants saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify [him], crucify [him]! Pilate says to them, Take him yourselves, and crucify him: for I find no crime in him. 7 The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by that law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.

8 When Pilate therefore heard this saying, he was the more afraid; 9 and he entered into the Praetorium again, and says to Jesus, Where are you from? But Jesus gave him no answer. 10 Pilate therefore says to him, Don't you speak to me? Don't you know that I have power to release you, and have power to crucify you? 11 Jesus answered him, You would have no power against me, except it were given you from above: therefore he who delivered me to you has greater sin. 12 On this Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend: everyone who makes himself a king speaks against Caesar. 13 When Pilate therefore heard these words, he brought Jesus out, and sat down on the judgment-seat at a place called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. 14 Now it was the Preparation of the Passover: it was about the sixth hour. And he says to the Jews, Look, your+ King! 15 They therefore cried out, Away with [him], away with [him], crucify him! Pilate says to them, Shall I crucify your+ King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar. 16 Then therefore he delivered him to them to be crucified.

They took Jesus therefore: 17 and he went out, bearing the cross for himself, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew Golgotha: 18 where they crucified him, and with him two others, [one] on each side, and between them [was] Jesus. 19 And Pilate wrote a title also, and put it on the cross. And there was written, JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. 20 This title therefore read many of the Jews, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near to the city; and it was written in Hebrew, [and] in Latin, [and] in Greek. 21 The chief priests of the Jews therefore said to Pilate, Do not write, The King of the Jews; but, that he said, I am King of the Jews. 22 Pilate answered, What I have written I have written.

23 The soldiers therefore, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments and made four parts, to each soldier a part; and also the coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. 24 They said therefore one to another, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it will be: that the Scripture might be fulfilled, which says, They parted my garments among them, And on my vesture they cast lots. 25 These things therefore the soldiers did. But there were standing by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the [wife] of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by whom he loved, he says to his mother, Woman, here is your son. 27 Then he says to the disciple, Here is your mother. And from that hour the disciple took her to his own [home].

28 After this Jesus, knowing that all things are now finished, that the Scripture might be accomplished, says, I thirst. 29 There was set there a vessel full of vinegar: so they put a sponge full of the vinegar on hyssop, and brought it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and delivered up his spirit.

31 The Jews therefore, because it was the Preparation, that the bodies should not stay on the cross on the Sabbath (for the day of that Sabbath was a high [day]), asked of Pilate that their legs might be broken, and [that] they might be taken away. 32 The soldiers therefore came, and broke the legs of the first, and of the other that was crucified with him: 33 but when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they did not break his legs: 34 nevertheless one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and immediately there came out blood and water.

35 And he who has seen has borne witness, and his witness is true: and he knows that he says true, that you+ also may believe.[29]

__________________________

Matthew

According to Matthew

1       The Book of the Generation of Jesus Christ,

Son of David,

Son of Abraham.[30]

2      Abraham begot[31] Isaac;

and Isaac begot Jacob;

and Jacob begot Judah and his brothers;

3      and Judah begot Perez and Zerah from Tamar;

and Perez begot Hezron;

and Hezron begot Ram;

4      and Ram begot Amminadab;

and Amminadab begot Nahshon;

and Nahshon begot Salmon;

5      and Salmon begot Boaz from Rahab;

and Boaz begot Obed from Ruth;

and Obed begot Jesse;

6      and Jesse begot David the king.

And David begot Solomon from the wife of Uriah;[32]

7      and Solomon begot Rehoboam;

and Rehoboam begot Abijah;

and Abijah begot Asaph;

8      and Asaph begot Jehoshaphat;

and Jehoshaphat begot Joram;

and Joram begot Uzziah;

9      and Uzziah begot Jotham;

and Jotham begot Ahaz;

and Ahaz begot Hezekiah;

10      and Hezekiah begot Manasseh;

and Manasseh begot Amos;

and Amos begot Josiah;

11      and Josiah begot Jehoiachin and his brothers

at the Babylonian Exile.

12      And after the Babylonian Exile,

Jehoiachin begot Shealtiel;

and Shealtiel begot Zerubbabel;

13      and Zerubbabel begot Abiud;

and Abiud begot Eliakim;

and Eliakim begot Azor;

14      and Azor begot Zadok;

and Zadok begot Achim;

and Achim begot Eliud;

15      and Eliud begot Eleazar;

and Eleazar begot Matthan;

and Matthan begot Jacob;

16      and Jacob begot Joseph;

and Joseph begot Jesus, who is called Christ, from Mary.[33]

17 So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the Babylonian Exile were fourteen generations, and from the Babylonian Exile to the Christ were fourteen generations.

2  Now it came to pass in the days of Herod, King of Judea, in the highpriesthood of Caiaphas, there came a certain man named John baptizing a baptism of repentance 2 who was known as being from the kindred of Aaron the priest, son of Zacharias and Elizabeth.[34] 3 And John had a garment of camel's hair, and a leather loincloth about his loins; and his food was locusts and wild honey. 4 Then Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him; 5 and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

6 And he said, I indeed baptize you+ in water to repentance: but he who comes after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to bear: he will baptize you+ in the Holy Spirit and [in] fire: 7 whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing-floor; and he will gather his wheat into the garner, but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire.

8 Then Jesus comes from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized of him. 9 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up immediately from the water: and look, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming upon him; 1^0 and look, a voice out of the heavens, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

3  Then Jesus was led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tried by the devil. 2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he afterward was hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to him, If you are the Son of God, say that these stones may become bread. 4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man will not live by bread alone. 5 Then the devil takes him into the holy city; and he set him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and says to him, If you are the Son of God, cast yourself down: for it is written, He will give his angels charge concerning you: and, On their hands they will bear you up, Lest perhaps you dash your foot against a stone. 7 Jesus said to him, Again it is written, You will not make trial of Yahweh your God. 8 Again, the devil takes him to an exceedingly high mountain, and shows him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 9 and he said to him, All these things I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me. 10 Then Jesus says to him, Go, Satan: for it is written, You will worship Yahweh your God, and you will serve only him. 11 Then the devil leaves him; and look, angels came and were serving him.

12 Now when he heard that John was delivered up, he withdrew into Galilee. 13 For Herod had laid hold on John, and bound him, and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife. 14 For John said to him, It is not lawful for you to have her. 15 And when he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet.

4  From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent+; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

2 And walking by the sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishers. 3 And he says to them, Come+ after me, and I will make you+ fishers of men. And they immediately left the nets, and followed him. 4 And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the [son] of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, preparing their nets; and he called them. 5 And they immediately left the boat and their father, and followed him.

6 And they go into Capernaum; and right away on the Sabbath day he entered into the synagogue and taught. 7 And they were astonished at his teaching: for he taught them as [one] having authority, and not as their scribes. 8 And right away there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, 9 saying, What do we have to do with you, Jesus you Nazarene? Have you come to destroy us? I know you who you are, the Holy One of God. 10 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold your peace, and come out of him. 11 And the unclean spirit, tearing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. 12 And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying, What is this? A new teaching! With authority he commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him. 13 And the report of him went out right away everywhere into all the region around Galilee.

14 And when Jesus came into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother lying sick of a fever. 15 And he touched her hand, and the fever left her; and she arose, and served him.

16 And when evening came, they brought to him many possessed with demons: and he cast out the spirits and healed all who were sick.

17 And there came to him a leper. And he fell on his face, and implored him, saying, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. 18 And he stretched forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be made clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. 19 And Jesus says to him, See you tell no man; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony to them.

20 And they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said to the sick of the palsy, Child, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven. 21 And look, certain of the scribes said to themselves, This man blasphemes. 22 And Jesus seeing their thoughts said, Why do you+ think evil in your+ hearts? 23 For which is easier, to say, Your sins are forgiven; or to say, Arise, and walk? 24 But that you+ may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins—then he says to the sick of the palsy, Arise, and take up your bed, and go to your house. 25 And he arose, and departed to his house. 26 But when the multitudes saw it, they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion.

27 And as Jesus passed by from there, he saw a man, called Matthew, sitting at the place of toll: and he says to him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him. 28 And it came to pass, as he sat to eat in the house, look, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples. 29 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples, Why does your+ Teacher eat with the publicans and sinners? 30 But when he heard it, he said, Those who are whole have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners.

31 Then the disciples of John come to him, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples don't fast? 32 And Jesus said to them, Can the sons of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come, when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast. 33 And no man puts a piece of undressed cloth on an old garment; for that which should fill it up takes from the garment, and a worse tear is made. 34 Neither do [men] put new wine into old wineskins: else the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins perish: but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.

5  At that season Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the grainfields; and his disciples were hungry and began to pluck ears and to eat. 2 But the Pharisees, when they saw it, said to him, Look, your disciples do that which it is not lawful to do on the Sabbath. 3 But he said to them, Have you+ not read what David did, when he was hungry, and those who were with him; 4 how he entered into the house of God, and they ate the showbread, which it was not lawful for him to eat, neither for those who were with him, but only for the priests? 5 And he said to them, The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath: 6 so that the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.

7 And he departed from there, and went into their synagogue: 8 and look, a man having a withered hand. And they watched him to see if he would heal on the Sabbath day; so that they might accuse him. 9 And he said to them, Is it lawful on the Sabbath day to do good, or to do harm? To save a life, or to kill? 10 But they held their peace. 11 Then he says to the man, Stretch forth your hand. And he stretched it forth; and it was restored whole, as the other. 12 But the Pharisees went out, and took counsel against him, how they might destroy him.

13 And Jesus withdrew from there: and great multitudes from Galilee and Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and [from] beyond the Jordan followed him. 14 And the report of him went forth into all Syria: and they brought to him all who were sick, held with diverse diseases and torments, and possessed with demons, and epileptic, and palsied; and he healed them.

6  And it came to pass in these days, that he went out into the mountain to pray; and he continued all night in prayer to God. 2 And when it was day, he called his disciples; and he chose from them twelve: 3 Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; and James the [son] of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip, and Bartholomew; 4 Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the [son] of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, who also delivered him up.

5 And he came down with them, and stood on a level place with a great multitude of his disciples and the people who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said,

6 Blessed [are] you+ poor:

for yours+ is the kingdom of God.

7 Blessed [are] you+ who hunger now:

for you+ will be filled.

8 Blessed [are] you+ who weep now:

for you+ will laugh.

9 Blessed are you+, when men will hate you+,

and when they will separate you+ [from their company],

and reproach you+,

and cast out your+ name as evil,

for the Son of Man's sake.

10 Rejoice in that day, and leap [for joy]:

for look, your+ reward is great in heaven;

for in the same manner their fathers did to the prophets.

11 But woe to you+ who are rich!

For you+ have received your+ consolation.

12 Woe to you+, you+ who are full now!

For you+ will hunger.

13 Woe [to you+], you+ who laugh now!

For you+ will mourn and weep.

14 Woe [to you+], when all men will speak well of you+!

For in the same manner their fathers did to the false prophets.

15 But I say to you+ who hear,

16 Love your+ enemies,

do good to those who hate you+,

17 bless those who curse you+,

pray for those who despitefully use you+.

18 To him who strikes you on the [one] cheek

offer also the other;

19 and from him who takes away your cloak

don't withhold your coat also.

20 Give to everyone who asks you;

and of him who takes away your goods

don't ask [for them] back.

21 And as you+ would that men should do to you+,

do+ to them likewise.

22 And if you+ love those who love you+,

what thanks do you+ have?

For even sinners love those who love them.

23 For even if you+ do good to those who do good to you+,

what thanks do you+ have?

Even sinners do the same.

24 And if you+ lend to them of whom you+ hope to receive,

what thanks is it to you+?

Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive again as much.

25 But love your+ enemies, and do [them] good, and lend, never despairing; and your+ reward will be great, and you+ will be sons of the Most High: for he is kind toward the unthankful and evil. 26 Be+ merciful, even as your+ Father is merciful. 27 And do not judge, and you+ will not be judged: and do not condemn, and you+ will not be condemned: release, and you+ will be released: 28 give, and it will be given to you+; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, they will give into your+ bosom. For with what measure you+ mete it will be measured to you+ again.

7  And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these words, he entered into Capernaum. 2 And there came to him a captain,[35] imploring him, 3 and saying, Lord, my [young] slave lies in the house sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. 4 And he says to him, I will come and heal him. 5 And the captain answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof; but only say the word, and my [young] slave will be healed. 6 For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this one, Go, and he goes; and to another, Come, and he comes; and to my slave, Do this, and he does it. 7 And when Jesus heard it, he marveled, and said to those who followed, Truly I say to you+, I have found no one with such faith in Israel. 8 And Jesus said to the captain, Go your way; as you have believed, [so] be it done to you. And his [young] slave was healed in that hour.

9 Now when John heard in the prison the works of the Christ, he sent through his disciples 10 and said to him, Are you he who comes, or do we look for another? 11 And Jesus answered and said to them, Go and tell John the things which you+ hear and see: 12 the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. 13 And blessed is he, whoever will find no occasion of stumbling in me.

14 And as these went their way, Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John, What did you+ go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken with the wind? 15 But what did you+ go out to see? A man clothed in soft [raiment]? Look, those who wear soft [raiment] are in kings' houses. 16 But why did you+ go out? To see a prophet? Yes, I say to you+, and much more than a prophet. 17 This is he, of whom it is written, Look, I send my messenger before your face, Who will prepare your way before you.

18 Truly I say to you+, Among those who are born of women there has not arisen a greater than John the Baptist; yet, he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

19 But to what shall I liken this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces, who call to their fellows 20 and say, We piped to you+, and you+ did not dance; we wailed, and you+ did not mourn. 21 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He has a demon. 22 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, Look, a gluttonous man and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners! And wisdom is acknowledged as right by her children.[36]

23 Now when Herod's birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced in the middle [of those present], and pleased Herod. 24 Therefore he promised with an oath to give her whatever she should ask. 25 And she, being put forward by her mother, says, Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist. 26 And being grieved, the king, because of his oaths and because of those who sat to eat with him, he commanded it to be given; 27 and he sent and beheaded John in the prison. 28 And his head was brought on a platter, and given to the girl:[37] and she brought it to her mother. 29 And his disciples came, and took up the corpse, and buried him.[38]

30 And Jesus went about all the cities and the villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing all manner of disease and all manner of sickness.

31 And Jesus came into a house. And the multitude came together, so that they could not so much as eat bread. 32 While he was yet speaking to the multitudes, look, his mother and his brothers stood outside, seeking to speak to him. 33 And one said to him, Look, your mother and your brothers stand outside, seeking to speak to you. 34 But he answered and said to him that told him, Who is my mother? And who are my brothers? 35 And looking on those around him, he said, Here are my mother and my brothers. 36 For whoever will do the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother, and sister, and mother.

8  On that day Jesus went out of the house. 2 And there were gathered to him great multitudes.

3 And he spoke to them many things in parables, saying, Look, the sower went forth to sow; 4 and as he sowed, some [seeds] fell by the wayside, and the birds came and devoured them: 5 and others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much earth: and right away they sprang up, because they had no deepness of earth: 6 and when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. 7 And others fell on the thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked them: 8 and others fell on the good ground, and yielded fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 He who has ears, let him hear.

10 And the disciples came, and said to him, Why do you speak to them in parables? 11 And he answered and said to them, To you+ it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. 12 For whoever has, to him will be given, and he will have abundance: but whoever does not have, from him will be taken away even that which he has. 13 Therefore I speak to them in parables; because seeing they don't see, and hearing they don't hear, neither do they understand.

14 Then hear+ the parable of the sower. 15 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, [then] the evil [one] comes, and snatches away that which has been sown in his heart. This is he who was sown by the wayside. 16 And he who was sown on the rocky places, this is he who hears the word, and right away with joy receives it; 17 yet he does not have root in himself, but endures for awhile; and when tribulation or persecution rises because of the word, right away he stumbles. 18 And he who was sown among the thorns, this is he who hears the word; and the care of the age, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. 19 And he who was sown on the good ground, this is he who hears the word, and understands it; who truly bears fruit, and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

20 He set another parable before the multitudes,[39] saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field: 21 but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed weeds also among the wheat, and went away. 22 But when the blade sprang up and brought forth fruit, then appeared the weeds also. 23 And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field? From where then has it weeds? 24 And he said to them, A hostile man has done this. And the slaves say to him, Will you then that we go and gather them up? 25 But he says, No; lest perhaps while you+ gather up the weeds, you+ root up the wheat with them. 26 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather up first the weeds, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn.

27 Another parable he set before them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: 28 which indeed is less than all seeds; but when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the heaven come and lodge in its branches.

29 Another parable he spoke to them; The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, until it was all leavened.

30 All these things Jesus spoke in parables to the multitudes; and without a parable he spoke nothing to them.

31 Then he left the multitudes, and went into the house: and his disciples came to him, saying, Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field. 32 And he answered and said, He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; 33 and the field is the world; and the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the weeds are the sons of the evil [one]; 34 and the enemy that sowed them is the devil: and the harvest is the very end of the age; and the reapers are angels. 35 As therefore the weeds are gathered up and burned with fire; so it will be in the very end of the age. 36 The Son of Man will send forth his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all things that cause stumbling, and those who do iniquity, 37 and will cast them into the furnace of fire. 38 Then will the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

9  Now it came to pass on one of those days, that he gave commandment to depart to the other side.

2 And when he had entered into the boat, his disciples followed him. 3 And look, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the boat was covered with the waves: but he was asleep. 4 And they came to him, and awoke him, saying, Save, Lord; we perish. 5 And he says to them, Why are you+ fearful, O you+ of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm. 6 And the men marveled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?

7 And when he came to the other side into the country of the Gadarenes, there met him a man possessed with demons coming forth out of the tombs who was so strong that no man could bind him.

8 And Jesus said to him, Come forth, you unclean spirit, out of the man. 9 And he cried out, saying, What have I to do with you, Jesus, you Son of the Most High God? I urge you, don't torment me. 10 And Jesus asked him, What is your name? 11 And he says to him, My name is Legion; for we are many.

12 Now there was far off from them a herd of many swine being shepherded. 13 And they implored him, saying, If you cast us out, send us away into the herd of swine. 14 And he said to them, Go. And they came out, and went into the swine: and look, the whole herd rushed down the steep into the sea, and perished in the waters. 15 And those who shepherded them fled, and went away into the city, and told everything, and what was befallen to him who was possessed with demons. 16 And look, all the city came out to meet Jesus: and when they saw him, they implored [him] that he would depart from their borders.

17 And he entered into a boat, and crossed over.

18 And there came a ruler, and fell at his feet, saying, My daughter is at the point of death: come and lay your hands on her, and she will live. 19 And Jesus arose, and followed him, and [so did] his disciples.

20 And look, a woman, who had a discharge of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: 21 for she said to herself, If I do but touch his garment, I will be made whole. 22 But Jesus turning and seeing her said, Daughter, be of good cheer; your faith has made you whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour.

23 And when Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the flute-players, and the crowd making a tumult, 24 he said, Do not weep; for the girl is not dead, but sleeps. And they laughed him to scorn. 25 But when the crowd was put forth, he entered in, and took her by the hand; and the girl arose. 26 And the news of this went forth into all that land.

27 And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed from there. 28 And coming into his own country he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, From where has this man this wisdom, and these mighty works? 29 Isn't this the carpenter's son? Isn't his mother called Mary? And his brothers, James, and Joseph, and Simon, and Judas? 30 And his sisters, are they not all with us? From where then has this man all these things? 31 And they were offended in him. But Jesus said to them, A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country, and in his own house. 32 And he did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.

10  And Jesus called the twelve together, and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases. 2 And he sent them forth to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick. 3 And he said to them, Take nothing for your+ journey, neither staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; neither have two coats each. 4 And into whatever house you+ enter, there stay, and from there depart. 5 And as many as do not receive you+, when you+ depart from that city, shake off the dust from your+ feet for a testimony against them. 6 And they departed, and went throughout the villages, preaching the good news, and healing everywhere.

7 At that season Herod the tetrarch heard the report concerning Jesus, 8 and said to his [household] slaves, This is John the Baptist; he has risen from the dead; and therefore these powers work in him.

9 And the apostles gathered themselves together to Jesus; and they told him all things that they had done, and that they had taught. 10 And he says to them, You+ come yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest awhile. For there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat. 11 And they went away in the boat to a desert place apart. 12 And [the people] saw them going, and many knew [them], and they ran together there on foot from all the cities, and outwent them.

13 And he came forth and saw a great multitude, and he had compassion on them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and he began to teach them many things.

14 And when evening came, the disciples came to him, saying, The place is desert, and the time is already past; send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves food. 15 But Jesus said to them, They have no need to go away; you+ give them to eat. 16 And they say to him, We have here but five loaves, and two fish. 17 And he said, Bring them here to me. 18 And having commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass, having taken the five loaves and the two fish, [and] having looked up to heaven, he blessed. And having broken the loaves, he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples [gave] to the multitudes. 19 And they all ate, and were filled: and they took up that which remained over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. 20 And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

21 And right away he constrained the disciples to enter into the boat, and to go before him to the other side, until he should send the multitudes away. 22 And after he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into the mountain apart to pray: and when evening came, he was there alone. 23 But the boat was now a long distance[40] away from the land, distressed by the waves; for the wind was contrary. 24 And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. 25 And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a ghost; and they cried out for fear. 26 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; don't be afraid. 27 And when he got up into the boat, the wind ceased.

28 And when they had crossed over, they came to the land, to Gennesaret. 29 And when the men of that place knew him, they sent into all around that region, and brought to him all who were sick; 30 and they implored him that they might only touch the border of his garment: and as many as touched were made whole.

11  Then Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem come to Jesus, saying, 2 Why do your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they don't wash their hands when they eat bread. 3 And he answered and said to them, Why do you+ also transgress the commandment of God because of your+ tradition? 4 For God said, Honor your father and your mother: and, He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him die the death. 5 But you+ say, Whoever will say to his father or his mother, That with which you might have been profited by me is given [to God]; 6 he will not honor his father. And you+ have made void the word of God because of your+ tradition. 7 You+ hypocrites, Isaiah prophesied well of you+, saying, 8 This people honors me with their lips; But their heart is far from me. 9 But in vain they worship me, Teaching [as their] doctrines the precepts of men. 10 And he called to him the multitude, and said to them, Hear+, and understand+: 11 There is nothing from outside the man, that going into him can defile him; but the things which proceed out of the man are those that defile the man.

12 Then his disciples asked of him the parable. 13 And he said to them, Are you+ so without understanding also? 14 Don't you+ perceive, that whatever from outside goes into the man, [it] can't defile him; because it does not go into his heart, but into his belly, and goes out into the latrine? 15 That which proceeds out of the man, that defiles the man. 16 For from inside, out of the heart of men, evil thoughts proceed, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, greed, wickednesses, deceit, sexual immorality, an evil eye, railing, pride, foolishness: 17 all these evil things proceed from inside, and defile the man.

18 A good tree is not able to produce evil fruit, neither is a corrupt tree [able] to produce good fruit: for the tree is known by its fruit. For men do not gather grapes of thorns, nor do they gather figs of thistles. 19 The good man out of his good treasure brings forth good things: and the evil man out of his evil treasure brings forth evil things.[41]

20 And Jesus went out from there, and withdrew into the parts of Tyre and Sidon.

21 And look, a woman, whose little daughter had an unclean spirit, having heard of him, came and fell down at his feet. Now the woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by race. 22 And she implored him that he would cast forth the demon out of her daughter. 23 And he said to her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children's bread and cast it to the dogs. 24 But she answered and says to him, Lord, even the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs. 25 And he said to her, For this saying go your way; the demon has gone out of your daughter. 26 And she went away to her house, and found the child laid on the bed, and the demon gone out.

27 And Jesus departed from there, and came near to the sea of Galilee; and he went up into the mountain, and sat there. 28 And there came to him great multitudes, having with them the lame, blind, maimed, mute, and many others, and they cast them down at his feet; and he healed them: 29 insomuch that the multitude wondered, when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed whole, and the lame walking, and the blind seeing: and they glorified God.

30 And Jesus called to him his disciples, and said, I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days and have nothing to eat: and I don't want to send them away fasting, lest perhaps they faint on the way. 31 And the disciples say to him, From where should we have so many loaves in a desert place as to fill so great a multitude? 32 And Jesus said to them, How many loaves do you+ have? And they said, Seven, and a few small fish. 33 And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground; 34 and he took the seven loaves and the fish; and he gave thanks and broke, and gave to the disciples, and the disciples to the multitudes. 35 And they all ate, and were filled: and they took up that which remained over of the broken pieces, seven baskets full. 36 And those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children. 37 And he sent away the multitudes, and entered into the boat, and came into the borders of Magadan.

38 And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and trying him asked him to show them a sign from heaven. 39 But he answered and said to them, 40 An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and there will no sign be given to it, but the sign of Jonah. And he left them, and departed.

41 And the disciples came to the other side and forgot to take bread. 42 And Jesus said to them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. 43 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, We took no bread. 44 And Jesus perceiving it said, O you+ of little faith, why do you+ reason among yourselves, because you+ have no bread? 45 Do you+ not yet perceive, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets you+ took up? 46 Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets you+ took up? 47 How is it that you+ do not perceive that I did not speak to you+ concerning bread? But beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

12  Now when Jesus came into the parts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Who do men say that the Son of Man is? 2 And they said, Some [say] John the Baptist; some, Elijah; and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. 3 He says to them, But who do you+ say that I am? 4 And Simon Peter answered and said, You are the Christ. 5 Then he charged the disciples that they should tell no man.

6 From that time Jesus began to show to his disciples, that he must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and the third day be raised up. 7 And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from you, Lord: this will never happen to you. 8 But he turned, and said to Peter, Get behind me, Satan: you are a stumbling-block to me: for you do not mind the things of God, but the things of men. 9 Then Jesus said to his disciples, If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. 10 For whoever would save his soul will lose it: and whoever will lose his soul for my sake will find it. 11 For what will a man be profited, if he will gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 12 For the Son of Man will come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he will render to each man according to his activity.

13 Truly I say to you+, There are some of those who stand here, who will in no way taste of death, until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.

14 And after six days Jesus takes with him Peter, and James, and John his brother, and brings them up into a high mountain apart: 15 and he was transfigured before them; and his face shone as the sun, and his garments became white as the light. 16 And look, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah talking with him. 17 And Peter answered, and said to Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if you will, I will make here three tabernacles; one for you, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah. 18 While he was yet speaking, look, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and look, a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear+ him. 19 And then they saw no one, except Jesus only.

20 And as they were coming down from the mountain, he charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen, except when the Son of Man should have risen again from the dead. 21 And they kept the saying, questioning among themselves what the rising again from the dead should mean. 22 And they asked him, saying, [How is it] that the scribes say that Elijah must first come? 23 And he said to them, Elijah indeed comes first, and restores all things: and how is it written of the Son of Man, that he should suffer many things and be set at nothing? 24 But I say to you+, that Elijah has come, and they have also done to him whatever they would, even as it is written of him.

13  And when they had come to the multitude, there came to him a man, kneeling to him, and saying, 2 Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is epileptic, and suffers grievously; for he often falls into the fire, and often into the water. 3 And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not cure him. 4 And Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you+? How long shall I bear with you+? Bring him here to me. 5 And Jesus rebuked him; and the demon went out of him: and the boy was cured from that hour.

6 And while they were gathering together in Galilee, Jesus said to them, The Son of Man will be delivered up into the hands of men; 7 and they will kill him, and the third day he will be raised up. And they were exceedingly sorry.

8 And there arose a reasoning among them, which of them might be the greatest. 9 But Jesus knowing the reasoning of their heart, took a little child, and set him by his side, 10 and said to them, Whoever will receive this little child in my name receives me: and whoever will receive me receives him who sent me: for he who is least among all of you+, the same is great.

11 But whoever will cause one of these little ones to stumble, it is profitable for him that a great millstone should be hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea. 12 It is impossible but that occasions of stumbling should come; but woe to him, through whom the occasion comes! 13 And if your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off: it is good for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having your two hands to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire. 14 And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off: it is good for you to enter into life lame, rather than having your two feet to be cast into hell. 15 And if your eye causes you to stumble, cast it out: it is good for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into the hell of fire.

16 And there came a scribe, and said to him, Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go. 17 And Jesus says to him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven [have] nests; but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head. 18 And another of his disciples said to him, Lord, allow me first to go and bury my father. 19 But Jesus says to him, Follow me; and leave the dead to bury their own dead.

14  And Jesus[42] appointed seventy-two others, and sent them forth to preach the kingdom of heaven is at hand, and to heal the sick. And he said to them, 2 The harvest indeed is plenteous, but the workers are few. Pray+ therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he send forth workers into his harvest. 3 Go your+ ways; Look, I send you+ forth as sheep among wolves. 4 Carry neither wallet, nor bag, nor sandals: 5 for the worker is worthy of his food.

6 And into whatever city or village you+ will enter, search out who in it is worthy; and stay there until you+ go forth. 7 And as you+ enter into the house, greet it. 8 And if the house is worthy, let your+ peace come upon it: but if it is not worthy, let your+ peace return to you+. 9 He who receives you+ receives me, and he who receives me receives him who sent me.[43] 10 And whoever will not receive you+, nor hear your+ words, as you+ go forth out of that house or that city, shake off the dust of your+ feet. 1^1 Truly I say to you+, It will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city.

12 Then he began to upbraid the cities in which most of his mighty works were done, because they did not repent. 13 Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon which were done in you+, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 14 But I say to you+, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you+. 15 And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will go down to Hades.

16 And the seventy-two returned with joy, saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name. 17 And he said to them, I watched Satan fallen as lightning from heaven. 18 Look, I have given you+ authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing will in any wise hurt you+. 19 Nevertheless don't rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you+; but rejoice that your+ names are written in heaven.

20 At that season Jesus answered and said, 21 I thank you, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you hid these things from the wise and understanding, and revealed them to juveniles: 22 yes, Father, for so it was well-pleasing in your sight. 23 All things have been delivered to me of my Father: and no one knows the Son, except the Father; neither does any know the Father, except the Son, and he to whomever the Son wills to reveal [him].

24 And turning to the disciples, he said, Blessed [are] the eyes which see the things that you+ see; and the ears which hear the things that you+ hear. 25 For truly I say to you+, that many prophets and righteous men desired to see the things which you+ see, and did not see them; and to hear the things which you+ hear, and did not hear them.

26 And it came to pass, as he was praying in a certain place, that when he ceased, one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray, even as John also taught his disciples. 27 And he said to them, When you+ pray, say,

28      Father, Hallowed be your name.

2^9      Your kingdom come.

30      Give us this day our daily bread.

3^1      And forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

3^2      And don't bring us into temptation.

33 And I say to you+,

Ask, and it will be given to you+;

Seek, and you+ will find;

Knock, and it will be opened to you+:

3^4 For everyone who asks receives; and

He who seeks finds; and

To him who knocks it will be opened.

3^5 Or what man is there of you+, who, if his son will ask him for a loaf, will give him a stone; 3^6 or if he will ask for a fish, will give him a serpent? 3^7 If you+ then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your+ children, how much more will your+ Father who is in heaven give good [things] to those who ask him?

15  Then was brought to him one possessed with a demon, blind and mute: and he healed him, insomuch that the mute man spoke and saw. 2 And all the multitudes were amazed, and said, Can this be the son of David? 3 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This man does not cast out demons, but by Beelzebul the prince of the demons. 4 And knowing their thoughts he said to them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself will not stand: 5 and if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand? 6 And if I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your+ sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your+ judges. 7 But if I by the Spirit of God cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you+. 8 Or how can one enter into the house of the strong [man], and spoil his goods, except he first binds the strong [man]? And then he will spoil his house. 9 He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters. 10 Therefore I say to you+, Every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven to men; but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 11 And whoever will speak a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever will speak against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, neither in this age, nor in that which is to come.

12 But the unclean spirit, when he has gone out of the man, passes through waterless places, seeking rest, and does not find it. 13 Then he says, I will return into my house from where I came out; and when he has come, he finds it empty, swept, and garnished. 14 Then he goes, and takes with himself seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first.

15 Then certain of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, Teacher, we want to see a sign from you. 16 But he answered and said to them, An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet. 17 The men of Nineveh will stand up in the judgment with this generation, and will condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and look, a greater than Jonah is here. 18 The queen of the south will rise up in the judgment with this generation, and will condemn it: for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and look, a greater than Solomon is here.

19 Now as he spoke, a Pharisee asks him to dine with him: and he went in, and sat down to meat. 20 And when the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that he had not first bathed himself before dinner. 21 And the Lord said to him, Now you+ Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the platter, but inside you+ are full from extortion and lack of self-control.[44] 22 You blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup, that its outside may become clean also.

23 Woe to you+ Pharisees! For you+ tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law, justice, and mercy, and faith: but these you+ ought to have done, and not to have left the other undone.

24 Woe to you+ Pharisees! For you+ love the chief seats in the synagogues, and the salutations in the marketplaces.

25 Woe to you+! For you+ are as the tombs which do not appear, and the men who walk over [them] do not know it.

26 And one of the lawyers answering says to him, Teacher, in saying this you reproach us also.

27 And he said, Woe to you+ lawyers also! For you+ bind loads that are heavy and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but you+ yourselves will not move them with one of your+  fingers.

28 Woe to you+! For you+ build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the tombs of the righteous, 29 and say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in the blood of the prophets. 30 Therefore you+ witness to yourselves, that you+ are sons of those who slew the prophets. 31 You+ fill up then the measure of your+ fathers.

32 Therefore, look, I send to you+ prophets, and wise men, and scribes: some of them you+ will kill and persecute: 33 that on you+ may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of Abel the righteous to the blood of Zachariah, who perished between the sanctuary and the altar. 34 Truly I say to you+, All these things will come upon this generation.

35 And when he came out from there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press on [him] vehemently, and to provoke him to speak of many things; 36 laying wait for him, to catch something out of his mouth.

37 In the mean time, when the multitude was gathered together, he began to say to his disciples first of all, 38 Don't fear them: for there is nothing covered, that will not be revealed; and hid, that will not be known. 39 What I tell you+ in the darkness, speak+ in the light; and what you+ hear in the ear, proclaim on the housetops. 40 A city set on a hill can't be hid. 41 Neither do [men] light a lamp, and put it under the bushel, but on the lampstand; and it shines to all who are in the house.

42 And don't be afraid of those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. 43 Are not two sparrows sold for an assarion? [45] and not one of them will fall on the ground without your+ Father: 44 but the very hairs of your+ head are all numbered. 45 Don't be afraid therefore: you+ are of more value than many sparrows.

46 Everyone therefore who will confess me before men, I will also confess him before my Father who is in heaven. 47 But whoever will deny me before men, I will also deny him before my Father who is in heaven.

48 Don't think that I came to send peace on the earth: I didn't come to send peace, but a sword. 49 For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law: 50 and a man's foes [will be] those of his own household.

16  And one out of the multitude said to him, Teacher, bid my brother divide the inheritance with me. 2 But he said to him, Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you+? 3 And he said to them, Take heed, and keep yourselves from all greed: for a man's life does not consist in the abundance of the things which he possesses.

4 And he spoke a parable to them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: 5 and he reasoned to himself, saying, What shall I do, because I don't have a place to bestow my fruits? 6 And he said, I will do this: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there I will bestow all my grain and my goods. 7 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have much goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry. 8 But God said to him, You foolish one, this [is] the night they demand back your soul from you; and the things which you have prepared, whose will they be? 9 So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

10 And he said to his disciples, Therefore I say to you+, Don't be anxious for your+ soul, what you+ will eat, or what you+ will drink; nor yet for your+ body, what you+ will put on. Is not the soul more than food, and the body than clothing? 11 Look at the birds of the heaven, that they do not sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; and your+ heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you+ of much more value than they? 12 And which of you+ by being anxious can add one cubit to the measure of his life? 13 And why are you+ anxious concerning clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they do not toil, neither do they spin: 14 yet I say to you+, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 15 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is [here], and tomorrow is cast into the oven, [will he] not much more [clothe] you+, O you+ of little faith? 16 Therefore don't be anxious, saying, What shall we eat? Or, What shall we drink? Or, With what shall we be clothed? 17 For after all these things the Gentiles seek; for your+ heavenly Father knows that you+ have need of all these things. 18 But seek+ first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things will be added to you+.

19 Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on the earth, where moth consumes, and where thieves break through: 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth does not consume, neither do thieves break through: 21 for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

22 Let your+ loins be girded about, and your+ lamps burning; 23 and be+ yourselves like men looking for their lord, when he will return from the marriage feast; that, when he comes and knocks, they may right away open to him. 24 Blessed are those slaves, whom the lord when he comes will find watching: truly I say to you+, that he will gird himself, and make them sit down to meat, and will come and serve them. 25 And if he will come in the second watch, and if in the third, and find [them] so, blessed are those [slaves].

26 But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what watch the thief was coming, he would have watched, and would not have allowed his house to be broken through. 27 Therefore you+ also be ready; for in an hour that you+ do not think the Son of Man comes.

28 Who then is the faithful and wise slave, whom his lord has set over his household, to give them their food in due season? 29 Blessed is that slave, whom his lord when he comes will find so doing. 30 Truly I say to you+, that he will set him over all that he has. 31 But if that evil slave says in his heart, My lord tarries; 32 and begins to beat his fellow slaves, and to eat and drink, and to be drunk; 33 the lord of that slave will come in a day when he does not expect, and in an hour when he does not know, 34 and will cut him apart, and appoint his portion with the unfaithful.

35 For as [were] the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 36 For as in those days which were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, 37 and they didn't know until the flood came, and took them all away; so also will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38 Then will two men be in the field; one is taken, and one is left: 39 two women [will be] grinding at the mill; one is taken, and one is left.

40 And he went on his way through cities and villages, teaching, and journeying on to Jerusalem.

17  And one said to him, Lord, are there few who are saved? And he said to them, 2 Strive to enter in by the narrow door: for many, I say to you+, will seek to enter in, and will not be able. 3 When once the master of the house has risen up, and has shut to the door, and you+ begin to stand outside, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us; and he will answer and say to you+, I don't know you+ or where you+ are from. 4 Then you+ will begin to say, We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets; 5 and he will speak, saying to you+, I don't know you+ or where you+ are from; depart from me, all you+ workers of iniquity.

6 Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

7 Everyone therefore who hears these words of mine, and does them, will be likened to a wise man, who built his house on the rock: 8 and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house; and it did not fall: for it was founded on the rock. 9 And everyone who hears these words of mine, and does not do them, will be likened to a foolish man, who built his house on the sand: 10 and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and struck against that house; and it fell: and great was its fall.[46]

11 And I say to you+, that many will come from the east and the west, and will sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven: 12 but the sons of the kingdom will be cast forth into the outer darkness: there will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.

13 In that very hour there came certain Pharisees, saying to him, Get out, and go from here: for Herod wants to kill you. 14 And he said to them, Go and say to that fox, Look, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third [day] I am perfected. 15 Nevertheless I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the [day] following: for it cannot be that a prophet perishes out of Jerusalem.

16 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that kills the prophets, and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and you+ did not want [to]! 17 Look, your+ house is left to you+.[47] 18 For I say to you+, You+ will not see me from now on, until you+ will say, Blessed [is] he who comes in the name of Yahweh.

19 And it came to pass, when he went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees on a Sabbath to eat bread, that they were watching him. 20 And look, there was before him a certain man who had the dropsy. 21 And Jesus answering spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not? 22 But they held their peace. And he took him, and healed him, and let him go. 23 And he said to them, What man will there be of you+, that will have one sheep, and if this falls into a pit on the Sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out? 24 And they could not answer again to these things.

25 And he spoke a parable to those who were invited, when he marked how they chose out the chief seats; saying to them, 26 When you are invited of any man to a marriage feast, don't sit down in the chief seat; lest perhaps a more honorable man than you be invited of him, 27 and he who invited you and him will come and say to you, Give this man place; and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. 28 But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place; that when he who has invited you comes, he may say to you, Friend, go up higher: then you will have glory in the presence of all who sit at meat with you. 29 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled; and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

30 And he said to him also that had invited him, When you make a dinner or a supper, do not call your friends, nor your brothers, nor your kinsmen, nor rich neighbors; lest perhaps they also bid you again, and a recompense be made you. 31 But when you make a feast, bid the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: 32 and you will be blessed; because they don't have [the means] to recompense you: for you will be recompensed in the resurrection of the just. 33 And when one of those who sat to eat with him heard these things, he said to him, Blessed is he who will eat bread in the kingdom of God.

34 But he said to him, A certain man made a great supper; and he invited many: 35 and he sent forth his slave at supper time to say to those who were invited, Come; for [all] things are now ready. 36 And they all with one [consent] began to make excuses. The first said to him, I have bought a field, and I must surely go out and see it; I pray you have me excused. 37 And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them; I pray you have me excused. 38 And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I can't come. 39 And the slave came, and told his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his slave, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and maimed and blind and lame. 40 And the slave said, Lord, what you commanded is done, and yet there is room. 41 And the lord said to the slave, Go out into the highways and hedges, and constrain [them] to come in, that my house may be filled. 42 For I say to you+, that none of those men who were invited will taste of my supper.

18  Now there went with him great multitudes: and he turned, and said to them, 2 He who loves father or mother more than me can't be my disciple; and he who loves son or daughter more than me can't be my disciple. 3 And he who does not take his cross and follow after me, is not worthy of me.

4 For which of you+, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has [the means] to complete it? 5 Lest perhaps, when he has laid a foundation, and is not able to finish, all who watch begin to mock him, 6 saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish. 7 Or what king, as he goes to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and take counsel whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 8 Otherwise, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends an ambassador, and asks the [conditions] of peace. 9 So therefore whoever he is of you+ who does not renounce all that he has, he can't be my disciple.

10 Salt therefore is good: but if the salt has lost its savor, how will it be salted? It is from then on good for nothing, but to be cast out and trodden under foot of men.

19  Now all the publicans and sinners were drawing near to him to hear him. 2 And both the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, This man receives sinners, and eats with them. 3 And he spoke to them this parable, saying, 4 What do you+ think? If any man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine, and go to search for that which goes astray? 5 And if he happens to find it, truly I say to you+, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety and nine which have not gone astray. 6 I say to you+, that even so there will be joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, [more] than over ninety and nine righteous persons, who need no repentance.

7 And he said, A certain man had two sons: 8 and the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of [your] substance that falls to me. And he divided to them his living. 9 And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together and took his journey into a far country; and there he wasted his substance with riotous living. 10 And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that country; and he began to be in want. 11 And he went and stuck [close] to one of the citizens of that country; and he sent him into his fields to shepherd swine. 12 And he desired to have filled his belly with the pods that the swine ate: and no man gave to him. 13 But when he came to himself he said, How many hired workers of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish here with hunger! 14 I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight: 15 I am no more worthy to be called your+ son: make me as one of your hired workers. 16 And he arose, and came to his father.

17 But while he was yet far off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. 18 And the son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight: I am no more worthy to be called your son. 19 But the father said to his slaves, Bring forth quickly the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and sandals on his feet: 20 and bring the fatted calf, [and] kill it, and let us eat, and make merry: 21 for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.

22 Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 23 And he called to him one of the [household] slaves, and inquired what these things might be. 24 And he said to him, Your brother has come; and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has received him safe and sound. 25 But he was angry, and would not go in: and his father came out, and entreated him. 26 But he answered and said to his father, Look, these many years I serve you as a slave, and I never transgressed a commandment of yours; and [yet] you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends: 27 but when this your son came, who has devoured your living with prostitutes, you killed for him the fatted calf. 28 And he said to him, Child, you are ever with me, and all that is mine is yours. 29 But it was meet to make merry and be glad: for this your brother was dead, and is alive [again]; and [was] lost, and is found.

20  And he said also to the disciples, There was a certain rich man, who had a steward; and the same was accused to him that he was wasting his goods. 2 And he called him, and said to him, What is this that I hear of you? Render the account of your stewardship; for you can no longer be steward. 3 And the steward said to himself, What shall I do, seeing that my lord takes away the stewardship from me? I don't have strength to dig; I am ashamed to beg. 4 I have resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. 5 And calling to him each one of his lord's debtors, he said to the first, How much do you owe to my lord? 6 And he said, A hundred measures of oil. And he said to him, Take your bond, and sit down quickly and write fifty. 7 Then he said to another, And how much do you owe? And he said, A hundred measures of wheat. He says to him, Take your bond, and write eighty. 8 And his lord commended the unrighteous steward because he had done wisely: for the sons of this age are for their own generation wiser than the sons of the light. 9 And I say to you+, Make to yourselves friends by means of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when it will fail, they may receive you+ into the eternal tabernacles.

10 He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much: and he who is unrighteous in a very little is unrighteous also in much. 11 If therefore you+ haven't been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your+ trust the true [riches]? 12 And if you+ haven't been faithful in that which is another's, who will give you+ that which is your+ own?

13 No man can serve as a slave to two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or he will hold to one, and despise the other. You+ can't serve as a slave to God and mammon.

14 And the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things; and they scoffed at him. 15 And he said to them, You+ are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men; but God knows your+ hearts: for that which is exalted among men is disgusting in the sight of God.

16 And being asked by the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God comes, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God does not come with observation: 17 If therefore they will say to you+, Look, he is in the wilderness; don't go forth: Look, he is in the inner chambers; don't believe [it]. 18 For as the lightning comes forth from the east, and is seen even to the west; so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

19 Wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together.

20 And he arose from there and comes into the borders of Judea and beyond the Jordan: and multitudes come together to him again; and, as he was accustomed, he taught them again.

21 And Pharisees came to him, and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to divorce [his] wife? trying him. 22 And he answered and said to them, What did Moses command you+? 23 And they said, Moses allowed to write a bill of divorce, and to divorce. 24 But Jesus said to them, For your+ hardness of heart he wrote you+ this commandment. 25 But from the beginning of the creation, Male and female he made them. 26 For this cause will a man leave his father and mother, and will stick to his wife; 27 and the two will become one flesh: so that they are no more two, but one flesh. 28 What therefore God has joined together, let man not separate. 29 And in the house the disciples asked him again of this matter. 30 And he says to them, Everyone who divorces his wife, and marries another, commits adultery.

31 Then there were brought to him little children, that he should touch them: and the disciples rebuked them. 32 But Jesus said, Allow the little children to come to me, and don't forbid them: for to such belongs the kingdom of God. 33 Truly I say to you+, Whoever will not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he will in no way enter in it.

34 And as he was going forth into the way, one ran to him, and knelt to him, and asked him, Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? 35 And Jesus said to him, Why do you call me good? None is good but one, God. 36 You know the commandments, Do not kill, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and your mother. 37 And he said to him, Teacher, all these things I have observed from my youth. 38 And Jesus looking on him loved him, and said to him, One thing you lack: go, sell whatever you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me. 39 But his countenance fell at the saying, and he went away sorrowful: for he was one who had great possessions.

40 And Jesus looked around, and says to his disciples, How hardly will those who have riches enter into the kingdom of God! 41 And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus answers again, and says to them, Children, how hard it is to enter into the kingdom of God! 42 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. 43 And they were exceedingly astonished, saying to themselves, Then who can be saved? 44 Jesus looking on them says, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for all things are possible with God. 45 Peter began to say to him, Look, we have left all, and have followed you. 46 Jesus said, Truly I say to you+, There is no man who has left house, or brothers, or sisters, or mother, or father, or children, or lands, for the sake of me, and for the sake of the good news, 47 but he [who] will receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brothers, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the age to come eternal life. But many [who are] first will be last; and the last first.

21  And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples apart, and on the way he said to them, 2 Look, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes; and they will condemn him to death, 3 and will deliver him to the Gentiles; and they will mock him, and will spit on him, and will scourge him, and will kill him; and the third day he will be raised up.

4 And as they drew near to Jericho, a great multitude followed him. 5 And look, a blind man sitting by the wayside, when he heard that Jesus was passing by, cried out, saying, Have mercy on me, Jesus, Son of David. 6 And the multitude rebuked him, that he should hold his peace: but he cried out the more, saying, Have mercy on me, Son of David. 7 And Jesus stood still, and called him, and said, What do you want that I should do to you? 8 He says to him, Lord, that I may receive my sight. 9 And Jesus said to him, Receive your sight; your faith has made you whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed him.

10 And he entered and was passing through Jericho. 11 And look, a man called by name Zacchaeus; and he was a chief publican, and he was rich. 12 And he sought to see Jesus who he was; and could not for the crowd, because he was little of stature. 13 And he ran on before, and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him: for he was to pass that way. 14 And when he came to the place, Jesus looked up, and said to him, Zacchaeus, hurry, and come down; for today I must stay at your house. 15 And he hurried, and came down, and received him joyfully. 16 And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, He has gone in to lodge with a man who is a sinner. 17 And Zacchaeus stood, and said to the Lord, Look, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have wrongfully exacted anything of any man, I restore fourfold. 18 And Jesus said to him, Today has salvation come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. 19 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.

20 And as they heard these things, he added and spoke a parable, because he was near to Jerusalem, and [because] they supposed that the kingdom of God was immediately to appear.

21 He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country, to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. 22 And he called ten slaves of his, and gave them ten minas,[48] and said to them, Trade+ until I come. 23 But his citizens hated him, and sent an ambassador after him, saying, We will not have this man reign over us. 24 And it came to pass, when he came back again, having received the kingdom, that he commanded these slaves, to whom he had given the money, to be called to him, that he might know what they had gained by trading. 25 And the first came before him, saying, Lord, your mina has made ten minas more. 26 And he said to him, Well done, you good slave: because you were found faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities. 27 And the second came, saying, Your mina, Lord, has made five minas. 28 And he said to him also, You also be over five cities. 29 And another came, saying, Lord, look, [here is] your mina, which I kept laid up in a napkin: 30 for I feared you, because you are an austere man: you take up that which you did not lay down, and reap that which you did not sow. 31 He says to him, Out of your own mouth I will judge you, you wicked slave. You knew that I am an austere man, taking up that which I did not lay down, and reaping that which I did not sow; 32 then why didn't you give my money into the bank, and I at my coming should have collected it with interest? 33 And he said to those who stood by, Take away from him the mina, and give it to him who has the ten minas. 34 And they said to him, Lord, he has ten minas. 35 I say to you+, that to everyone who has will be given; but from him who has not, even that which he has will be taken away. 36 But these enemies of mine, who did not want that I should reign over them, bring here, and slay them before me.

22  And when they drew near to Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, to the mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, Go into the village that is across from you+, and right away you+ will find a colt tied: loose him, and bring him to me. 3 And if anyone says anything to you+, you+ will say, The Lord has need of him; and right away he will send him. 4 And the disciples went, and did even as Jesus appointed them, 5 and brought the colt, and put their garments on him; and he sat on him. 6 And many spread their garments in the way; and others cut branches from the trees, and spread them in the way. 7 And those who went before him, and who followed, cried, saying, Hosanna: Blessed [is] he who comes in the name of Yahweh; Hosanna in the highest.

8 And he entered into Jerusalem, into the temple; and when he had looked around on all things, it being now evening, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

9 Now in the morning as he returned to the city, he was hungry. 10 And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he came to it, and found nothing on it, but leaves only; and he says to it, No longer from you will there be fruit, forever. And his disciples heard it.

11 And Jesus entered into the temple, and cast out all those who sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money-changers, and the seats of those who sold the doves; 12 and he says to them, It is written, My house will be called a house of prayer: but you+ make it a den of robbers. 13 And when evening came they went forth out of the city.

14 And as they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away from the roots. 15 And Peter calling to remembrance says to him, Rabbi, look, the fig tree which you cursed is withered away. 16 And Jesus answering says to them, Have faith in God. 17 Truly I say to you+, Whoever will say to this mountain, Be taken up and cast into the sea; and will not doubt in his heart, but will believe that what he says comes to pass; he will have it. 18 Therefore I say to you+, All things that you+ pray and ask for, believe that you+ receive them, and you+ will have them.

19 And when he came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, By what authority do you do these things? And who gave you this authority? 20 And Jesus answered and said to them, I also will ask you+ one question, which if you+ tell me, I likewise will tell you+ by what authority I do these things. 21 The baptism of John, from where was it? From heaven or from men? And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we will say, From heaven; he will say to us, Why then did you+ not believe him? 22 But if we will say, From men; we fear the multitude; for all hold John as a prophet. 23 And they answered Jesus, and said, We don't know. He also said to them, Neither do I tell you+ by what authority I do these things.

24 And he spoke to them in parables, saying, There was a man who was a householder, who planted a vineyard, and set a hedge about it, and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into another country. 25 And when the season of the fruits drew near, he sent his slaves to the husbandmen, to receive his fruits. 26 And the husbandmen took his slaves, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. 27 Again, he sent other slaves more than the first: and they did to them in like manner. 28 But afterward he sent to them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. 29 But the husbandmen, when they saw the son, said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and take his inheritance. 30 And they took him, and killed him, and cast him forth out of the vineyard. 31 What therefore will the lord of the vineyard do? 32 He will come and destroy the husbandmen, and will give the vineyard to others. 33 Have you+ not read even this Scripture, The stone which the builders rejected, The same was made the head of the corner; This was from Yahweh, And it is marvelous in our eyes?

34 And when they heard his parables, they perceived that he spoke of them. 35 And when they sought to lay hold on him, they feared the multitudes.

23  Then they send to him certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians, that they might catch him in [his] talk. 2 And when they had come, they say to him, Teacher, we know that you are true, and teach the way of God in truth, and do not care about [what] anyone [thinks]: for you do not regard the person of men. 3 Tell us therefore, What do you think? Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not? 4 But Jesus perceived their hypocrisy, and said, Why do you+ make trial of me? 5 Show me the tribute money. And they brought to him a denarius.[49] 6 And he says to them, Whose is this image and superscription? 7 They say to him, Caesar's. Then he says to them, Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's; and to God the things that are God's. 8 And when they heard it, they marveled.

9 And there came to him Sadducees, those who say that there is no resurrection: and they asked him, 10 saying, Teacher, Moses said, If a man dies, having no children, his brother will marry his wife, and raise up seed to his brother. 11 Now there were with us seven brothers: and the first married and deceased, and having no seed, left his wife to his brother; 12 in like manner the second also, and the third, to the seventh. 13 And after them all, the woman died. 14 In the resurrection therefore whose wife will she be of the seven? For they all had her. 15 But Jesus answered and said to them, Is it not for this cause that you+ err, that you+ don't know the Scriptures, nor the power of God? 16 For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as angels in heaven. 17 But as concerning the dead, that they are raised; have you+ not read in the Book of Moses, in [the place concerning] the Bush, how God spoke to him, saying, 18 I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not [the God] of the dead, but of the living.

19 And one of the scribes came, and heard them questioning together, and having seeing that he answered them well, asked him, What commandment is the first of all? 20 Jesus answered, The first is, Hear, O Israel; Yahweh our God, Yahweh is one: 21 and you will love Yahweh your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. 22 The second is this, You will love your fellow man as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. 23 And no man after that dared ask him any question.

24 And as Jesus taught in the temple, he said, How do the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David? 25 David himself said in the Holy Spirit, Yahweh said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, Until I set your enemies under your feet. 26 David himself calls him Lord; and how is he his son? And the large crowd heard him gladly.

27 And in his teaching he said, Beware of the scribes, who desire to walk in long robes, and [to have] salutations in the marketplaces, 28 and chief seats in the synagogues, and chief places at feasts: 29 those who devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers; these will receive greater condemnation.

24  And Jesus went out from the temple, and was going on his way; and his disciples came to him to show him the buildings of the temple. 2 But he answered and said to them, Do you+ not see all these things? Truly I say to you+, There will not be left here one stone on another, that will not be thrown down.

3 And as he sat on the mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, Tell us, when will these things be? And what [will be] the sign of your coming, and of the very end of the age? 4 And Jesus answered and said to them, Take heed that no man leads you+ astray. 5 For many will come in my name, saying, I am the Christ; and will lead many astray. 6 And you+ will hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that you+ are not troubled: for [these things] must surely come to pass; but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there will be famines and earthquakes in diverse places. 8 But all these things are the beginning of travail.

9 But beware of men: for they will deliver you+ up to Sanhedrins, and in their synagogues they will scourge you+; 10 yes and before governors and kings you+ will be brought for my sake, for a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. 11 But when they deliver you+ up, don't be anxious how or what you+ will speak: for it will be given you+ in that hour what you+ will speak. 12 For it is not you+ who speak, but the Spirit of your+ Father who speaks in you+. 13 And brother will deliver up brother to death, and the father his child: and children will rise up against parents, and cause them to be put to death. 14 And you+ will be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he who endures to the end, the same will be saved.

15 When therefore you+ see the detestable thing[50] of desolation (let him who reads understand), 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains: 17 let him who is on the housetop not go down to take out the things that are in his house: 18 and let him who is in the field not return back to take his cloak. 19 But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who nurse in those days! 20 And pray+ that your+ flight not be in the winter. 21 For then will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, nor will ever be. 22 And except those days had been shortened, no flesh would have been saved: but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened. 23 Then if any man says to you+, Look, here is the Christ, or, Look, there; don't believe [it]. 24 For there will arise false Christs, and false prophets, and will show great signs and wonders; so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. 25 But take+ heed: I have told you+ all things beforehand.

26 But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give her light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 27 And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. 28 And then he will send forth the angels, and will gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.

29 Now from the fig tree learn her parable: when her branch has now become tender, and puts forth its leaves, you+ know that the summer is near; 30 even so you+ also, when you+ see all these things, you+ know that he is near, [even] at the doors. 31 Truly I say to you+, This generation will not pass away, until all these things are accomplished. 32 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

25  Now after two days will be the Passover, 2 and the chief priests, and the elders of the people were gathered together, to the court of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas; 3 and they took counsel together that they might take Jesus by subtlety, and kill him. 4 But they said, Not during the feast, lest a tumult arise among the people.

5 Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, 6 there came to him a woman having an alabaster cruse of exceedingly precious ointment, and she poured it on his head, as he sat to eat. 7 But when the disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this waste? 8 For this [ointment] might have been sold for much, and given to the poor. 9 But Jesus perceiving it said to them, Why do you+ trouble the woman? For she has worked a good work on me. 10 For you+ always have the poor with you+; but me you+ do not always have. 11 For in that she poured this ointment on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. 12 Truly I say to you+, Wherever this good news will be preached in the whole world, that also which this woman has done will be spoken of for a memorial of her.

13 Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests, that he might deliver him to them. 14 And they, when they heard it, were glad, and promised to give him money. 15 And from that time he sought opportunity to deliver him [to them].

16 Now on the first [day] of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, Where do you want us to make ready for you to eat the Passover? 17 And he said, Go into the city to such a man, and say to him, The Teacher says, My time is at hand; I keep the Passover at your house with my disciples. 18 And the disciples did as Jesus appointed them; and they made ready the Passover.

19 Now when evening came, he was sitting at meat with the twelve; 20 and as they were eating, he said, Truly I say to you+, that one of you+ will deliver me up. 21 And they were exceedingly sorrowful, and began to say to him each one, Is it I, Lord? 22 And he answered and said, He who dipped his hand with me in the dish, the same will deliver me up. 23 The Son of Man goes, even as it is written of him: but woe to that man through whom the Son of Man is delivered up! Good were it for that man if he had not been born.

24 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it; and he gave to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. 25 And he took a cup, and gave thanks, and gave to them, saying, 26 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. 27 But I say to you+, I will not drink from now on of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you+ in my Father's kingdom.

28 Then came to him the sons of Zebedee, asking a certain thing of him. 29 And he said to them, What do you+ want? They say to him, Say that we may sit, one at your right hand, and one at your left hand, in your kingdom. 30 But Jesus answered and said, You+ don't know what you+ ask. Are you+ able to drink the cup that I am about to drink? They say to him, We are able. 31 He says to them, My cup indeed you+ will drink: but to sit at my right hand, and on [my] left hand, this is not mine to give; but [it is for those] for whom it has been prepared.

32 And when the ten heard it, they were moved with indignation concerning the two brothers. 33 But Jesus called them to him, and said, The kings of the Gentiles have lordship over them; and those who have authority over them are called Benefactors. 34 But you+ [will] not [be] so: but he who is the greater among you+, let him become as the younger; and he who is chief, as he who serves. 35 For which is greater, he who sits at meat, or he who serves? Isn't it he who sits at meat? But I am among you+ as he who serves.

36 But you+ are those who have continued with me in my trials; 37 and I appoint to you+, even as my Father appointed to me, a kingdom, 38 that you+ may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom; and you+ will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

39 Then Jesus says to them, All you+ will be offended in me this night: for it is written, I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered abroad. 40 But Peter answered and said to him, If all will be offended in you, I will never be offended. 41 Jesus said to him, Truly I say to you, that this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me thrice. 42 Peter says to him, Even if I must die with you, [yet] I will not deny you. Likewise also said all the disciples.

26  Then Jesus comes with them to a place called Gethsemane, and says to his disciples, Sit+ here, while I go yonder and pray. 2 And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very troubled. 3 Then he says to them, My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death: stay+ here, and watch with me. 4 And he went forward a little, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass away from me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. 5 And he comes to the disciples, and finds them sleeping, and says to Peter, What, could you+ not watch with me one hour? 6 Watch and pray, that you+ don't enter into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. 7 Again a second time he went away, and prayed, saying, My Father, if this cannot pass away, except I drink it, your will be done. 8 And he came again and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. 9 And he left them again, and went away, and prayed a third time, saying again the same words. 10 Then he comes to the disciples, and says to them, Are you+ still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is delivered up into the hands of sinners. 11 Arise, let us be going: look, he is at hand who delivers me up.

12 And while he yet spoke, look, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and elders of the people. 13 Now he that delivered him up gave them a sign, saying, Whomever I will kiss, that is he: take him. 14 And right away he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, Rabbi; and kissed him. 15 Then they came and laid hands on Jesus, and took him. 16 And look, one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and struck the slave of the high priest, and took off his ear. 17 Jesus says to him, Return your sword to its place.[51] 18 Then Jesus said to the multitudes, Have you+ come out as against a robber with swords and staves to seize me? I sat daily in the temple teaching, and you+ did not take me. 19 But all this has come to pass, that the Scriptures might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples left him, and fled.

20 And those who had taken Jesus led him away to [the house of] Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were gathered together. 21 But Peter followed him from far off, to the court of the high priest, and entered in, and sat with the attendants, to see the end. 22 Now the chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin sought witness against Jesus, that they might put him to death; 23 and they did not find it, though many false witnesses came. But afterward, two came forward 24 who said, This man said, I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days. 25 And the high priest stood up, and said to him, Do you answer nothing? What is it which these witness against you? 26 But Jesus held his peace. And the high priest said to him, Tell us whether you are the Christ, the Son of God. 27 Jesus says to him, You have said. And you+ will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven. 28 Then the high priest rent his garments, saying, He has spoken blasphemy: what further need do we have of witnesses? Look, now you+ have heard the blasphemy. 29 What do you+ think? They answered and said, He is worthy of death. 30 Then they spat in his face and buffeted him. And some struck him with the palms of their hands, 31 saying, Prophesy to us, Christ. Who is he that struck you?

32 Now Peter was sitting outside in the court: and a female slave came to him, saying, You also were with Jesus the Galilean. 33 But he denied before them all, saying, I don't know what you say. 34 And when he had gone out into the porch, another [female slave] saw him, and she says to those who were there, This man was with Jesus of Nazareth. 35 And again he denied with an oath, I don't know the man. 36 And after a little while those who stood by came and said to Peter, Of a truth you also are [one] of them; for your speech makes you known. 37 Then he began to curse and to swear, I don't know the man. And right away the rooster crowed. 38 And Peter remembered the word which Jesus had said, Before the rooster crows, you will deny me thrice. And he went out, and wept bitterly.

27  Now when morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death: 2 and they bound him, and led him away, and delivered him up to Pilate the governor.

3 Now Jesus was standing before the governor: and the governor asked him, saying, Are you the King of the Jews? And Jesus said, You say. 4 And when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing. 5 Then Pilate says to him, Don't you hear how many things they witness against you? 6 And he gave him no answer, not even to one word: insomuch that the governor marveled greatly.

7 Now at the feast the governor would usually release to the multitude one prisoner, whom they wanted. 8 And they had then a notable prisoner, called Barabbas. 9 When therefore they were gathered together, Pilate said to them, Whom do you+ want that I release to you+? Barabbas or Jesus? 10 And they said, Barabbas. 11 Pilate says to them, What then shall I do to Jesus? They all say, Let him be crucified. 12 And he said, Why, what evil has he done? But they cried out exceedingly, saying, Let him be crucified. 13 So when Pilate saw that he prevailed nothing, 14 he released to them Barabbas; but Jesus he scourged and delivered to be crucified.

15 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium, and gathered to him the whole battalion.[52] 16 And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe. 17 And they platted a crown of thorns and put it on his head; and they knelt down before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! 18 And they spat on him, and took the reed and struck him on the head. 19 And when they had mocked him, they took off from him the robe, and put on him his garments, and led him away to crucify him. 20 And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: they compelled him to go [with them], that he might bear his cross.

21 And when they had come to a place called Golgotha, that is to say, The place of a skull, 22 they offered him wine mingled with gall: but he did not receive it. 23 And when they had crucified him, they parted his garments among them, casting lots; 24 and they sat and watched him there. 25 And they set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS. 26 Then there are crucified with him two robbers, one on the right and one on the left. 27 And those who passed by railed on him, wagging their heads, 28 and saying, You who destroy the temple, and build it in three days: save yourself, if you are the Son of God, and come down from the cross. 29 In like manner also the chief priests mocking [him], with the scribes and elders, said, 30 He saved others; himself he can't save. He is the King of Israel; let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe on him. 31 He trusts on God; let him deliver [him] now, if he desires him: for he said, I am the Son of God. 32 And the robbers also who were crucified with him cast on him the same reproach.

33 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. 34 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani? That is, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 35 And some of those who stood there, when they heard it, said, This man calls Elijah. 36 And immediately one of them ran, and took a sponge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink. 37 And the rest said, Let [him] be; let us see whether Elijah comes to save him. 38 And Jesus cried again with a loud voice, and yielded up his spirit. 39 And look, the veil of the temple was rent from top to bottom in two.

40 Now the captain who was watching Jesus, when he saw what happened, said, Truly this was the Son of God. 41 And many women were there watching from far, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, serving him: 42 among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.

43 And when evening came, there came a rich man from Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus' disciple: 44 this man went to Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded it to be given up. 45 And Joseph took the body, and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 46 and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb, and departed. 47 And Mary Magdalene was there, and the other Mary, sitting across from the tomb.

28  Now late on the Sabbath day, as it began to dawn toward the first [day] of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. 2 And look, an angel appeared. His appearance was as lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 3 And the angel said to the women, Don't be+ afraid; for I know that you+ seek Jesus, who has been crucified. 4 He is not here; for he is risen, even as he said. Come, see the place where he was lying. 5 And they departed quickly from the tomb with fear, and fled.

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Mark

According to Mark

1  The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 2 Even as it is written in Isaiah the prophet, Look, I send my messenger before your face, Who will prepare your way; 3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make+ ready the way of Yahweh, Make his paths straight; 4 John the Baptist came in the wilderness and was preaching a baptism of repentance to remission of sins. 5 And all the country of Judea, and all those of Jerusalem went out to him; and they were baptized of him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6 And John was clothed with camel's hair, and [had] a leather loincloth about his loins, and ate locusts and wild honey. 7 And he preached, saying, There comes after me he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose. 8 I baptized you+ in water; but he will baptize you+ in the Holy Spirit.

9 And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in the Jordan. 10 And immediately coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens rent apart, and the Spirit as a dove descending on him: 11 and a voice came out of the heavens, You are my beloved Son, in you I am well pleased.

12 And right away the Spirit drives him forth into the wilderness. 13 And he was in the wilderness forty days tried by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels were serving him.

14 Now after John was delivered up, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the good news of God, 15 and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent+, and believe+ in the good news.

16 And passing along by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net in the sea; for they were fishers. 17 And Jesus said to them, Come+ after me, and I will make you+ to become fishers of men. 18 And immediately they left the nets, and followed him. 19 And going on a little further, he saw James the [son] of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the boat preparing the nets. 20 And immediately he called them: and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired workers, and went after him.

21 And they go into Capernaum; and right away on the Sabbath day he entered into the synagogue and taught. 22 And they were astonished at his teaching: for he taught them as having authority, and not as the scribes.

23 And right away there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, 24 saying, What do we have to do with you, Jesus you Nazarene? Have you come to destroy us? I know you who you are, the Holy One of God. 25 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold your peace, and come out of him. 26 And the unclean spirit, tearing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. 27 And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying, What is this? A new teaching! With authority he commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him. 28 And the report of him went out right away everywhere into all the region around Galilee.

29 And right away, when they had come out of the synagogue, they came into the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 30 Now Simon's wife's mother lay sick of a fever; and right away they tell him of her: 31 and he came and took her by the hand, and raised her up; and the fever left her, and she served them.

32 And at evening, when the sun set, they brought to him all who were sick, and those who were possessed with demons. 33 And all the city was gathered together at the door. 34 And he healed many who were sick with diverse diseases, and cast out many demons; and he didn't allow the demons to speak, because they knew him.

35 And in the morning, a great while before day, he rose up and went out, and departed into a desert place, and there prayed. 36 And Simon and those who were with him followed after him; 37 and they found him, and say to him, All are seeking you. 38 And he says to them, Let us go elsewhere into the next towns, that I may preach there also; for to this end I came forth. 39 And he went into their synagogues throughout all Galilee, preaching and casting out demons.

40 And there comes to him a leper, imploring him, and kneeling down, and saying to him, If you will, you can make me clean. 41 And being moved with compassion, he stretched forth his hand, and touched him, and says to him, I will; be made clean. 42 And immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was made clean. 43 And he strictly charged him, and immediately sent him out, 44 and says to him, See [that] you say nothing to any man: but go show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing the things which Moses commanded, for a testimony to them. 45 But he went out, and began to publish it much, and to spread abroad the matter, insomuch that Jesus could no more openly enter into a city, but was outside in desert places: and they came to him from every quarter.

2  And when he entered again into Capernaum after some days, it was heard that he was at home. 2 And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room [for them], no, not even about the door: and he spoke the word to them.

3 And they come, bringing to him a man sick of the palsy, borne of four. 4 And not being able to bring [the man] to him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed on which the sick of the palsy lay. 5 And Jesus seeing their faith says to the sick of the palsy, Child, your sins are forgiven. 6 But there were certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts, 7 Why does this man thus speak? He blasphemes. Who can forgive sins but one, God? 8 And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they so reasoned to themselves, says to them, Why do you+ reason these things in your+ hearts? 9 Which is easier, to say to the sick of the palsy, Your sins are forgiven; or to say, Arise, and take up your bed, and walk? 10 But that you+ may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins—he says to the sick of the palsy: 11 I say to you, Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house. 12 And he arose, and immediately took up the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion.

13 And he went forth again by the seaside; and all the multitude resorted to him, and he taught them. 14 And as he passed by, he saw Levi the [son] of Alphaeus sitting at the place of toll, and he says to him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him. 15 And it comes to pass, that he was sitting at meat in his house, and many publicans and sinners sat down with Jesus and his disciples: for there were many, and they followed him. 16 And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with the sinners and publicans, said to his disciples, [How is it] that he eats with publicans and sinners? 17 And when Jesus heard it, he says to them, Those who are whole have no need of a physician, but those who are sick: I didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners.

18 And John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting: and they come and say to him, Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples don't fast? 19 And Jesus said to them, Can the sons of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they can't fast. 20 But the days will come, when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day. 21 No man sews a piece of undressed cloth on an old garment: else that which should fill it up takes from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. 22 And no man puts new wine into old wineskins; else the wine will burst the skins, and the wine perishes, and the skins: but [they put] new wine into fresh wineskins.

23 And it came to pass, that he was going on the Sabbath day through the grainfields; and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears. 24 And the Pharisees said to him, Look, why do they do on the Sabbath day that which is not lawful? 25 And he says to them, Did you+ never read what David did, when he had need, and was hungry, he, and those who were with him? 26 How he entered into the house of God when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the showbread, which it is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and gave also to those who were with him? 27 And he said to them, The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath: 28 so that the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.

3  And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there who had his hand withered. 2 And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the Sabbath day; that they might accuse him. 3 And he says to the man who had his hand withered, Stand in the middle [of the synagogue]. 4 And he says to them, Is it lawful on the Sabbath day to do good, or to do harm? To save a soul, or to kill? But they held their peace. 5 And when he had looked around on them with anger, being grieved at the hardening of their heart, he says to the man, Stretch forth [your] hand. And he stretched it forth; and his hand was restored. 6 And the Pharisees went out, and right away with the Herodians gave counsel against him, how they might destroy him.

7 And Jesus with his disciples withdrew to the sea: and a great multitude from Galilee followed; and from Judea, 8 and from Jerusalem, and from Idumea, and beyond the Jordan, and about Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, hearing what great things he did, came to him. 9 And he spoke to his disciples, that a little boat should wait on him because of the crowd, lest they should throng him: 10 for he had healed many; insomuch that as many as had plagues pressed on him that they might touch him. 11 And the unclean spirits, whenever they looked at him, fell down before him, and cried, saying, You are the Son of God. 12 And he charged them much that they should not make him known.

13 And he goes up into the mountain, and calls to him whom he himself wanted; and they went to him. 14 And he appointed twelve, whom he also named apostles, that they might be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach, 15 and to have authority to cast out demons. 16 And he appointed the twelve: and he gave the name Peter to Simon; 17 and James the [son] of Zebedee, and John the brother of James; and he gave them the name Boanerges, which is, Sons of thunder: 18 and Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the [son] of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Cananaean, 19 and Judas Iscariot, who also delivered him up.

20 And he comes into a house. And the multitude comes together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread. 21 And when his friends heard it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself. 22 And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, He has Beelzebul, and, By the prince of the demons he casts out the demons. 23 And he called them to him, and said to them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 And if a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom can't stand. 25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26 And if Satan has risen up against himself, and is divided, he can't stand, but has an end. 27 But no one can enter into the house of the strong [man], and spoil his goods, except he first binds the strong [man]; and then he will spoil his house. 28 Truly I say to you+, All their sins will be forgiven to the sons of men, and their blasphemies by whichever they will blaspheme: 29 but whoever will blaspheme against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin: 30 because they said, He has an unclean spirit.

31 And his mother and his brothers come; and, standing outside, they sent to him, calling him. 32 And a multitude was sitting about him; and they say to him, Look, your mother and your brothers and your sisters[53] outside seek for you. 33 And he answers them, and says, Who is my mother and my brothers? 34 And looking around on those who sat around him, he says, Here are my mother and my brothers. 35 For whoever will do the will of God, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.

4  And again he began to teach by the seaside. And there is gathered to him a very great multitude, so that he entered into a boat, and sat in the sea; and all the multitude were by the sea on the land.

2 And he taught them many things in parables, and said to them in his teaching, 3 Listen: Look, the sower went forth to sow: 4 and it came to pass, as he sowed, some [seed] fell by the wayside, and the birds came and devoured it. 5 And other [seed] fell on the rocky [ground], where it did not have much earth; and right away it sprang up, because it had no deepness of earth: 6 and when the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. 7 And other [seed] fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. 8 And others fell into the good ground, and yielded fruit, growing up and increasing; and brought forth, thirtyfold, and sixtyfold, and a hundredfold. 9 And he said, Who has ears to hear, let him hear.

10 And when he was alone, those who were about him with the twelve asked of him the parables. 11 And he said to them, To you+ is given the mystery of the kingdom of God: but to those who are outside, all things are done in parables: 12 that seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest perhaps they should turn again, and it should be forgiven them.

13 And he says to them, Do you+ not know this parable? And how will you+ know all the parables? 14 The sower sows the word. 15 And these are those by the wayside, where the word is sown; and when they have heard, right away Satan comes, and takes away the word which has been sown in them. 16 And these are those who are sown on the rocky [places], who, when they have heard the word, right away receive it with joy; 17 and they have no root in themselves, but endure for awhile; then, when tribulation or persecution rises because of the word, right away they stumble. 18 And others are those who are sown among the thorns; these are those who have heard the word, 19 and the cares of the age, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. 20 And those are the ones who were sown on the good ground: such as hear the word, and accept it, and bear fruit, thirtyfold, and sixtyfold, and a hundredfold.

21 And he said to them, Is the lamp brought to be put under the bushel, or under the bed, [and] not to be put on the lampstand? 22 For there is nothing hid, except that it should be manifested; neither was [anything] made secret, but that it should come to light. 23 If any man has ears to hear, let him hear. 24 And he said to them, Take heed what you+ hear: with what measure you+ mete it will be measured to you+; and more will be given to you+. 25 For he who has, to him will be given: and he who has not, from him will be taken away even that which he has.

26 And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed on the earth; 27 and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should spring up and grow, he doesn't know how. 28 The earth bears fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. 29 But when the fruit is [ready to] deliver,[54] right away he puts forth the sickle, because the harvest has come. 30 And he said, How shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or in what parable shall we set it forth? 31 It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown on the earth, though it is less than all the seeds that are on the earth, 32 yet when it is sown, grows up, and becomes greater than all the herbs, and puts out great branches; so that the birds of the heaven can lodge under its shadow.

33 And with many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; 34 and without a parable he did not speak to them: but privately to his own disciples he expounded all things.

35 And on that day, when evening came, he says to them, Let us go over to the other side. 36 And leaving the multitude, they take him with them, even as he was, in the boat. And other boats were with him. 37 And there rises a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the boat, insomuch that the boat was now filling. 38 And he himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion: and they wake him, and say to him, Teacher, don't you care that we perish? 39 And he awoke, and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40 And he said to them, Why are you+ fearful? Have you+ not yet faith? 41 And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?

5  And they came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gerasenes. 2 And when he came out of the boat, right away there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, 3 who had his dwelling in the tombs: and no man could anymore bind him, no, not with a chain; 4 because he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been rent apart by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: and no man had strength to tame him. 5 And always, night and day, in the tombs and in the mountains, he was crying out, and cutting himself with stones. 6 And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshiped him; 7 and crying out with a loud voice, he says, What have I to do with you, Jesus, you Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, don't torment me. 8 For he said to him, Come forth, you unclean spirit, out of the man. 9 And he asked him, What is your name? And he says to him, My name is Legion;[55] for we are many. 10 And he implored him much that he would not send them away out of the country.

11 Now there was there on the mountain side a great herd of swine being shepherded. 12 And they implored him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them. 13 And he gave them leave. And the unclean spirits came out, and entered into the swine: and the herd rushed down the steep into the sea, [in number] about two thousand; and they were drowned in the sea. 14 And those who shepherded them fled, and told it in the city, and in the country. And they came to see what it was that had come to pass. 15 And they come to Jesus, and look at him who was possessed with demons sitting, clothed and in his right mind, [even] him who had the legion: and they were afraid. 16 And those who saw it declared to them how it befell him who was possessed with demons, and concerning the swine. 17 And they began to urge him to depart from their borders.

18 And as he was entering into the boat, he who had been possessed with demons implored him that he might be with him. 19 And he did not allow him, but says to him, Go to your house to your friends, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and [how] he had mercy on you. 20 And he went his way, and began to publish in Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him: and all men marveled. 21 And when Jesus had crossed over again in the boat to the other side, a great multitude was gathered to him; and he was by the sea.

22 And there comes one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and seeing him, he falls at his feet, 23 and implores him much, saying, My little daughter is at the point of death: [I pray you], that you come and lay your hands on her, that she may be made whole, and live. 24 And he went with him; and a great multitude followed him, and they thronged him.

25 And a woman, who had a discharge of blood twelve years, 26 and had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and had not been getting better, but rather grew worse, 27 having heard about Jesus, came in the crowd behind, and touched his garment. 28 For she said, If I touch but his garments, I will be made whole. 29 And immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her plague. 30 And immediately Jesus, perceiving in himself that the power [proceeding] from him had gone forth, turned him about in the crowd, and said, Who touched my garments? 31 And his disciples said to him, You see the multitude thronging you, and you say, Who touched me? 32 And he looked around to see her who had done this thing. 33 But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what had been done to her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth. 34 And he said to her, Daughter, your faith has made you whole; go in peace, and be whole of your plague.

35 While he yet spoke, they come from the ruler of the synagogue's [house], saying, Your daughter is dead: why do you trouble the Teacher any further? 36 But Jesus, not heeding the word spoken, says to the ruler of the synagogue, Don't be afraid, only believe. 37 And he allowed no man to follow with him, except Peter, and James, and John the brother of James. 38 And they come to the house of the ruler of the synagogue; and he sees a tumult, and [many] weeping and wailing greatly. 39 And when he had entered in, he says to them, Why do you+ make a tumult, and weep? The child is not dead, but sleeps. 40 And they laughed him to scorn. But he, having put them all forth, takes the father of the child and her mother and those who were with him, and goes in where the child was. 41 And taking the child by the hand, he says to her, Talitha koum; which is, being interpreted, Girl, I say to you, Arise. 42 And immediately the girl rose up, and walked; for she was twelve years old. And they were amazed immediately with a great amazement. 43 And he charged them much that no man should know this: and he commanded that [something] should be given her to eat.

6  And he went out from there; and he comes into his own country; and his disciples follow him. 2 And when the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From where has this man these things? And, What [is] the wisdom that is given to this man, and [what is the meaning of] such mighty works being done by his hands? 3 Isn't this the son of the carpenter and Mary,[56] and the brother of James, and Joses, and Judas, and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended in him. 4 And Jesus said to them, A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house. 5 And he could there do no mighty work, except that he laid his hands on a few sick folk, and healed them. 6 And he marveled because of their unbelief. And he went around the surrounding villages teaching.

7 And he calls to him the twelve, and began to send them forth by two and two; and he gave them authority over the unclean spirits; 8 and he charged them that they should take nothing for [their] journey, except a staff only; no bread, no bag, no money in their belt; 9 but [he said], fasten on sandals and don't put on two coats. 10 And he said to them, Wherever you+ enter into a house, stay there until you+ depart from there. 11 And whatever place will not receive you+, and they do not hear you+, as you+ go forth from there, shake off the dust that is under your+ feet for a testimony to them. 12 And they went out, and preached that [men] should repent. 13 And they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick, and healed them.

14 And King Herod heard [of it], for his name had become known. And they said, John the Baptist is risen from the dead, and therefore do these powers work in him. 15 But others said, It is Elijah. And others said, [It is] a prophet, [even] as one of the prophets. 16 But Herod, when he heard [of it], said, John, whom I beheaded, he is risen. 17 For Herod himself had sent forth and laid hold on John, and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife; for he had married her. 18 For John said to Herod, It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife. 19 And Herodias set herself against him, and desired to kill him; and she could not; 20 for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and kept him safe. And when he heard him, he was much perplexed; and he heard him gladly.

21 And when a convenient day came, that Herod on his birthday made a supper to his lords, and the generals,[57] and the chief men of Galilee; 22 and when the daughter of Herodias herself came in and danced, she pleased Herod and those who sat to eat with him; the king said to the girl,[58] Ask of me whatever you will, and I will give it to you. 23 And he emphatically swore to her, Whatever you will ask of me, I will give it you, to the half of my kingdom. 24 And she went out, and said to her mother, What shall I ask? And she said, The head of John the Baptist. 25 And she came in right away in a hurry to the king, and asked, saying, I want that you forthwith give me on a platter the head of John the Baptist. 26 And the king was exceedingly sorry; but for the sake of his oaths, and of those who sat to eat, he would not reject her. 27 And right away the king sent forth a soldier of his guard, and commanded to bring his head: and he went and beheaded him in the prison, 28 and brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl; and the girl gave it to her mother. 29 And when his disciples heard [of it], they came and took up his corpse, and laid it in a tomb.

30 And the apostles gather themselves together to Jesus; and they told him all things that they had done, and that they had taught. 31 And he says to them, You+ come yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest awhile. For there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat. 32 And they went away in the boat to a desert place apart. 33 And [the people] saw them going, and many knew [them], and they ran together there on foot from all the cities, and outwent them.

34 And he came forth and saw a great multitude, and he had compassion on them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and he began to teach them many things. 35 And when the day was now far spent, his disciples came to him, and said, The place is desert, and the day is now far spent; 36 send them away, that they may go into the surrounding country and villages, and buy themselves something to eat. 37 But he answered and said to them, You+ give them to eat. And they say to him, Shall we go and buy 200 denarii worth[59] of bread, and give them to eat? 38 And he says to them, How many loaves do you+ have? Go [and] see. And when they knew, they say, Five, and two fish. 39 And he commanded them that all should sit down by companies on the green grass. 40 And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds, and by fifties. 41 And he took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and broke the loaves; and he gave to his disciples to set before them; and the two fish he divided among them all. 42 And they all ate, and were filled. 43 And they took up broken pieces, twelve basketfuls, and also of the fish. 44 And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men. 45 And right away he constrained his disciples to enter into the boat, and to go before [him] to the other side to Bethsaida, while he himself sends the multitude away. 46 And after he had taken leave of them, he departed into the mountain to pray.

47 And when evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea,[60] and he alone on the land. 48 And seeing them distressed in rowing, for the wind was contrary to them, about the fourth watch of the night he comes to them, walking on the sea; and he would have passed by them: 49 but they, when they saw him walking on the sea, supposed that it was a ghost, and cried out; 50 for they all saw him, and were troubled. But he immediately spoke with them, and says to them, Be of good cheer: it is I; don't be afraid. 51 And he went up to them into the boat; and the wind ceased: and they were very amazed in themselves beyond measure; 52 for they didn't understand concerning the loaves, but their heart was hardened.

53 And when they had crossed over, they came to the land to Gennesaret, and moored to the shore. 54 And when they had come out of the boat, immediately [the people] knew him, 55 and ran around that whole region, and began to carry about on their beds those who were sick, where they heard he was. 56 And wherever he entered, into villages, or into cities, or into the country, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and implored him that they might touch if it were but the border of his garment: and as many as touched him were made whole.

7  And there are gathered together to him the Pharisees, and certain of the scribes, who had come from Jerusalem, 2 and had seen that some of his disciples ate their bread with common hands, that is unwashed. 3 —For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands diligently, don't eat, holding the tradition of the elders; 4 and [when they come] from the marketplace, except they bathe themselves, they don't eat; and many other things there are, which they have received to hold, washings of cups, and pots, and bronze vessels, and beds.— 5 And the Pharisees and the scribes ask him, Why don't your disciples walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with common hands? 6 And he said to them, Isaiah prophesied well of you+ hypocrites, as it is written, This people honors me with their lips, But their heart is far from me. 7 But in vain they worship me, Teaching [as their] doctrines the precepts of men. 8 You+ leave the commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of men. 9 And he said to them, Full well do you+ reject the commandment of God, that your+ tradition might be established. 10 For Moses said, Honor your father and your mother; and, He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him die the death: 11 but you+ say, If a man will say to his father or his mother, That with which you might have been profited by me is Corban, that is to say, Given [to God]; 12 you+ no longer allow him to do anything for his father or his mother; 13 making void the word of God by your+ tradition, which you+ have delivered: and many such like things you+ do. 14 And he called to him the multitude again, and said to them, Hear me all of you+, and understand: 15 there is nothing from outside the man, that going into him can defile him; but the things which proceed out of the man are those that defile the man.[61] 17 And when he had entered into the house from the multitude, his disciples asked of him the parable. 18 And he says to them, Are you+ so without understanding also? Don't you+ perceive, that whatever from outside goes into the man, [it] can't defile him; 19 because it does not go into his heart, but into his belly, and goes out into the latrine? [This he said], making all meats clean. 20 And he said, That which proceeds out of the man, that defiles the man. 21 For from inside, out of the heart of men, evil thoughts proceed, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, 22 greed, wickednesses, deceit, sexual immorality, an evil eye, railing, pride, foolishness: 23 all these evil things proceed from inside, and defile the man.

24 And from there he arose, and went away into the borders of Tyre. And he entered into a house, and would have no man know it; and he could not be hid. 25 But right away a woman, whose little daughter had an unclean spirit, having heard of him, came and fell down at his feet. 26 Now the woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by race. And she implored him that he would cast forth the demon out of her daughter. 27 And he said to her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children's bread and cast it to the dogs. 28 But she answered and says to him, Lord, even the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs. 29 And he said to her, For this saying go your way; the demon has gone out of your daughter. 30 And she went away to her house, and found the child laid on the bed, and the demon gone out.

31 And again he went out from the borders of Tyre, and came through Sidon to the sea of Galilee, through the middle of the borders of Decapolis. 32 And they bring to him one who was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech; and they urge him to lay his hand on him. 33 And he took him aside from the multitude privately, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat, and touched his tongue; 34 and looking up to heaven, he sighed, and says to him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened. 35 And immediately his ears were opened, and the bond of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke plain. 36 And he charged them that they should tell no man: but the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal they published it. 37 And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, He has done all things well; he makes even the deaf to hear, and the mute to speak.

8  In those days, there was again a great multitude. And [since] they had nothing to eat, he called the disciples, [and] says to them, 2 I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days, and have nothing to eat: 3 and if I send them away fasting to their home, they will faint on the way; and some of them have come from afar. 4 And his disciples answered him, From where will one be able to fill these men with bread here in a desert place? 5 And he asked them, How many loaves do you+ have? And they said, Seven. 6 And he commands the multitude to sit down on the ground: and he took the seven loaves, and having given thanks, he broke, and gave to his disciples, to set before them; and they set them before the multitude. 7 And they had a few small fish: and having blessed them, he commanded to set these also before them. 8 And they ate, and were filled: and they took up, of broken pieces that remained over, seven baskets. 9 And they were about four thousand: and he sent them away. 10 And right away he entered into the boat with his disciples, and came into the parts of Dalmanutha.

11 And the Pharisees came forth, and began to question with him, seeking of him a sign from heaven, trying him. 12 And he sighed deeply in his spirit, and says, Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly I say to you+, There will no sign be given to this generation. 13 And he left them, and again entering into [the boat] departed to the other side. 14 And they forgot to take bread; and they did not have in the boat with them more than one loaf.

15 And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod. 16 And they discussed one with another that they have no bread. 17 And Jesus perceiving it says to them, Why discuss that you+ have no bread? Do you+ not yet perceive, neither understand? Do you+ have your+ heart hardened? 18 Having eyes, don't you+ see? And having ears, don't you+ hear? And don't you+ remember? 19 When I broke the five loaves among the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you+ take up? They say to him, Twelve. 20 When [I broke] the seven among the four thousand, how many basketfuls of broken pieces did you+ take up? And they say to him, Seven. 21 And he said to them, Do you+ not yet understand?

22 And they come to Bethsaida. And they bring to him a blind man, and urge him to touch him. 23 And he took hold of the blind man by the hand, and brought him out of the village; and when he had spit on his eyes, and laid his hands on him, he asked him, Do you see anything? 24 And he looked up, and said, I see men; for I see [them] as trees, walking. 25 Then again he laid his hands on his eyes; and he looked steadfastly, and was restored, and saw all things clearly. 26 And he sent him away to his home, saying, Do not even enter into the village.

27 And Jesus went forth, and his disciples, into the villages of Caesarea Philippi: and on the way he asked his disciples, saying to them, Who do men say that I am? 28 And they told him, saying, John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but others, One of the prophets. 29 And he asked them, But who do you+ say that I am? Peter answers and says to him, You are the Christ. 30 And he charged them that they should tell no man of him.

31 And he began to teach them, that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders, and the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 And he spoke the saying openly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him. 33 But he turning about, and seeing his disciples, rebuked Peter, and says, Get behind me, Satan; for you do not mind the things of God, but the things of men. 34 And he called to him the multitude with his disciples, and said to them, If any man wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save his soul will lose it; and whoever will lose his soul for the sake of me and the good news will save it. 36 For what does it profit a man, to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? 37 For what should a man give in exchange for his soul? 38 For whoever will be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man also will be ashamed of him, when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.  9  And he said to them, Truly I say to you+, There are some here of those who stand, who will in no way taste of death, until they see the kingdom of God come with power.

2 And after six days Jesus takes with him Peter, and James, and John, and brings them up into a high mountain apart by themselves: and he was transfigured before them; 3 and his garments became glistering, exceedingly white, so as no fuller on earth can whiten them. 4 And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses: and they were talking with Jesus. 5 And Peter answers and says to Jesus, Rabbi, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for you, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah. 6 For he didn't know what to answer; for they became exceedingly afraid. 7 And there came a cloud overshadowing them: and there came a voice out of the cloud, This is my beloved Son: hear+ him. 8 And suddenly looking around, they saw no one anymore, except Jesus only with themselves.

9 And as they were coming down from the mountain, he charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen, except when the Son of Man should have risen again from the dead. 10 And they kept the saying, questioning among themselves what the rising again from the dead should mean. 11 And they asked him, saying, [How is it] that the scribes say that Elijah must first come? 12 And he said to them, Elijah indeed comes first, and restores all things: and how is it written of the Son of Man, that he should suffer many things and be set at nothing? 13 But I say to you+, that Elijah has come, and they have also done to him whatever they would, even as it is written of him.

14 And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great multitude about them, and scribes questioning with them. 15 And right away all the multitude, when they saw him, were greatly amazed, and running to him greeted him. 16 And he asked them, What do you+ question with them?

17 And one of the multitude answered him, Teacher, I brought to you my son, who has a mute spirit; 18 and wherever it takes him, it dashes him down: and he foams, and grinds his teeth, and becomes stiff: and I spoke to your disciples that they should cast it out; and they were not able. 19 And he answers them and says, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you+? How long shall I bear with you+? Bring him to me. 20 And they brought him to him: and when he saw him, immediately the spirit tore him grievously; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming. 21 And he asked his father, How much time is it since this has come to him? And he said, From a child. 22 And often it has cast him both into the fire and into the waters, to destroy him: but if you can do anything, have compassion on us, and help us. 23 And Jesus said to him, If you can! All things are possible to him who believes. 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out, and said, I believe; help my unbelief.

25 And when Jesus saw that a multitude came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to him, You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him, and enter into him no more. 26 And having cried out, and torn him much, he came out: and [the boy] became as one dead; insomuch that most said, He is dead. 27 But Jesus took him by the hand, and raised him up; and he arose. 28 And when he came into the house, his disciples asked him privately, [How is it] that we could not cast it out? 29 And he said to them, This kind can come out by nothing, except by prayer.

30 And they went forth from there, and passed through Galilee; and he did not want that any man should know it. 31 For he taught his disciples, and said to them, The Son of Man is delivered up into the hands of men, and they will kill him; and when he is killed, after three days he will rise again. 32 But they didn't understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him.

33 And they came to Capernaum: and when he was in the house he asked them, What were you+ reasoning on the way? 34 But they held their peace: for they had disputed one with another on the way, who [was] the greatest. 35 And he sat down, and called the twelve; and he says to them, If any man would be first, he will be last of all, and servant of all. 36 And he took a little child, and set the child among them: and taking the child in his arms, he said to them, 37 Whoever will receive one of such little children in my name, receives me: and whoever receives me, does not receive me, but him who sent me.

38 John said to him, Teacher, we saw one casting out demons in your name; and we forbade him, because he didn't follow us. 39 But Jesus said, Don't forbid him: for there is no man who will do a mighty work in my name, and be able quickly to speak evil of me. 40 For he who is not against us is for us. 41 For whoever will give you+ a cup of water to drink, because you+ are Christ's, truly I say to you+, he will in no way lose his reward.

42 And whoever will cause one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it were better for him if a great millstone were put around his neck, and he were cast into the sea. 43 And if your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off: it is good for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having your two hands to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire.[62] 45 And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off: it is good for you to enter into life lame, rather than having your two feet to be cast into hell.[63] 47 And if your eye causes you to stumble, cast it out: it is good for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell; 48 where their worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched. 49 For everyone will be salted with fire. 50 Salt is good: but if the salt has lost its saltness, how will you+ season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace one with another.

10  And he arose from there, and comes into the borders of Judea and beyond the Jordan: and multitudes come together to him again; and, as he was accustomed, he taught them again.

2 And Pharisees came to him, and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to divorce [his] wife? trying him. 3 And he answered and said to them, What did Moses command you+? 4 And they said, Moses allowed to write a bill of divorce, and to divorce. 5 But Jesus said to them, For your+ hardness of heart he wrote you+ this commandment. 6 But from the beginning of the creation, Male and female he made them. 7 For this cause will a man leave his father and mother, and will stick to his wife; 8 and the two will become one flesh: so that they are no more two, but one flesh. 9 What therefore God has joined together, let man not separate. 10 And in the house the disciples asked him again of this matter. 11 And he says to them, Whoever divorces his wife, and marries another, commits adultery against her: 12 and if she herself divorced her husband, and marries another, she commits adultery.

13 And they were bringing to him little children, that he should touch them: and the disciples rebuked them. 14 But when Jesus saw it, he was moved with indignation, and said to them, Allow the little children to come to me; don't forbid them: for to such belongs the kingdom of God. 15 Truly I say to you+, Whoever will not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he will in no way enter in it. 16 And he took them in his arms, and blessed them, laying his hands on them.

17 And as he was going forth into the way, one ran to him, and knelt to him, and asked him, Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? 18 And Jesus said to him, Why do you call me good? None is good but one, God. 19 You know the commandments, Do not kill, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother. 20 And he said to him, Teacher, all these things I have observed from my youth. 21 And Jesus looking on him loved him, and said to him, One thing you lack: go, sell whatever you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me. 22 But his countenance fell at the saying, and he went away sorrowful: for he was one who had great possessions.

23 And Jesus looked around, and says to his disciples, How hardly will those who have riches enter into the kingdom of God! 24 And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus answers again, and says to them, Children, how hard it is to enter into the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. 26 And they were exceedingly astonished, saying to themselves, Then who can be saved? 27 Jesus looking on them says, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for all things are possible with God. 28 Peter began to say to him, Look, we have left all, and have followed you. 29 Jesus said, Truly I say to you+, There is no man who has left house, or brothers, or sisters, or mother, or father, or children, or lands, for the sake of me, and for the sake of the good news, 30 but he [who] will receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brothers, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the age to come eternal life. 31 But many [who are] first will be last; and the last first.

32 And they were on the way, going up to Jerusalem; and Jesus was going before them: and they were amazed; and those who followed were afraid. And he took again the twelve, and began to tell them the things that were to happen to him, 33 [saying,] Look, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes; and they will condemn him to death, and will deliver him to the Gentiles: 34 and they will mock him, and will spit on him, and will scourge him, and will kill him; and after three days he will rise again.

35 And there come near to him James and John, the sons of Zebedee, saying to him, Teacher, we want that you should do for us whatever we will ask of you. 36 And he said to them, What do you+ want that I should do for you+? 37 And they said to him, Grant to us that we may sit, one on your right hand, and one on [your] left hand, in your glory. 38 But Jesus said to them, You+ don't know what you+ ask. Are you+ able to drink the cup that I drink? Or to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? 39 And they said to him, We are able. And Jesus said to them, The cup that I drink you+ will drink; and with the baptism that I am baptized with that you+ will be baptized: 40 but to sit at my right hand or at [my] left hand is not mine to give; but [it is for them] for whom it has been prepared.

41 And when the ten heard it, they began to be moved with indignation concerning James and John. 42 And Jesus called them to him, and says to them, You+ know that those who are accounted to rule over the Gentiles lord it over them; and their great ones exercise authority over them. 43 But it is not so among you+: but whoever would become great among you+, will be your+ servant; 44 and whoever would be first among you+, will be slave of all. 45 For the Son of Man also did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his soul a ransom for many.

46 And they come to Jericho: and as he went out from Jericho, with his disciples and a great multitude, the son of Timaeus, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the wayside. 47 And when he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. 48 And many rebuked him, that he should hold his peace: but he cried out the more a great deal, Son of David, have mercy on me. 49 And Jesus stood still, and said, Call+ him. And they call the blind man, saying to him, Be of good cheer: rise, he calls you. 50 And he, casting away his garment, sprang up, and came to Jesus. 51 And Jesus answered him, and said, What do you want that I should do to you? And the blind man said to him, Rabboni, that I may receive my sight. 52 And Jesus said to him, Go your way; your faith has made you whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed him in the way.

11  And when they draw near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount of Olives, he sends two of his disciples, 2 and says to them, Go your+ way into the village that is across from you+: and right away as you+ enter into it, you+ will find a colt tied, on which no man ever yet sat; loose him, and bring him. 3 And if anyone says to you+, Why do you+ do this? say+, The Lord has need of him; and right away he will send him back here. 4 And they went away, and found a colt tied at the door outside in the open street; and they loose him. 5 And certain of those who stood there said to them, What do you+ do, loosing the colt? 6 And they said to them even as Jesus had said: and they let them go. 7 And they bring the colt to Jesus, and cast on him their garments; and he sat on him. 8 And many spread their garments on the way; and others branches, which they had cut from the fields. 9 And those who went before, and those who followed, cried, Hosanna; Blessed [is] he who comes in the name of Yahweh: 10 Blessed [is] the kingdom that comes, [the kingdom] of our father David: Hosanna in the highest. 11 And he entered into Jerusalem, into the temple; and when he had looked around on all things, it being now evening, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

12 And on the next day, when they had come out from Bethany, he was hungry. 13 And seeing a fig tree far off having leaves, he came, if perhaps he might find anything on it: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for it wasn't the season of figs. 14 And he answered and said to it, No man eat fruit from you from now on forever. And his disciples heard it.

15 And they come to Jerusalem: and he entered into the temple, and began to cast out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money-changers, and the seats of those who sold the doves; 16 and he would not allow that any man should carry a vessel through the temple. 17 And he taught, and said to them, Is it not written, My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations? But you+ have made it a den of robbers. 18 And the chief priests and the scribes heard it, and sought how they might destroy him: for they feared him, for all the multitude was astonished at his teaching. 19 And when evening came they went forth out of the city.

20 And as they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away from the roots. 21 And Peter calling to remembrance says to him, Rabbi, look, the fig tree which you cursed is withered away. 22 And Jesus answering says to them, Have faith in God. 23 Truly I say to you+, Whoever will say to this mountain, Be taken up and cast into the sea; and will not doubt in his heart, but will believe that what he says comes to pass; he will have it. 24 Therefore I say to you+, All things that you+ pray and ask for, believe that you+ receive them, and you+ will have them.

25 And whenever you+ stand praying, forgive, if you+ have anything against anyone; that your+ Father also who is in heaven may forgive you+ your+ trespasses.[64]

27 And they come again to Jerusalem: and as he was walking in the temple, there come to him the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders; 28 and they said to him, By what authority do you do these things? Or who gave you this authority to do these things? 29 And Jesus said to them, I will ask of you+ one question, and answer me, and I will tell you+ by what authority I do these things. 30 The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or from men? Answer me. 31 And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we will say, From heaven; he will say, Why then did you+ not believe him? 32 But should we say, From men—they feared the multitude: for all truly held John to be a prophet. 33 And they answered Jesus and say, We don't know. And Jesus says to them, Neither do I tell you+ by what authority I do these things.

12  And he began to speak to them in parables. A man planted a vineyard, and set a hedge about it, and dug a pit for the wine press, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into another country. 2 And at the season he sent to the husbandmen a slave, that he might receive from the husbandmen of the fruits of the vineyard. 3 And they took him, and beat him, and sent him away empty. 4 And again he sent to them another slave; and him they wounded in the head, and handled shamefully. 5 And he sent another; and him they killed: and many others; beating some, and killing some. 6 He had yet one, a beloved son: he sent him last to them, saying, They will reverence my son. 7 But those husbandmen said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours. 8 And they took him, and killed him, and cast him forth out of the vineyard. 9 What therefore will the lord of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the husbandmen, and will give the vineyard to others. 10 Have you+ not read even this Scripture: The stone which the builders rejected, The same was made the head of the corner; 11 This was from Yahweh, And it is marvelous in our eyes? 12 And they sought to lay hold on him; and they feared the multitude; for they perceived that he spoke the parable against them: and they left him, and went away.

13 And they send to him certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians, that they might catch him in talk. 14 And when they had come, they say to him, Teacher, we know that you are true, and do not care about [what] anyone [thinks]; for you do not regard the person of men, but of a truth teach the way of God: Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not? Shall we give, or shall we not give? 15 But he, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, Why do you+ make trial of me? Bring me a denarius,[65] that I may see it. 16 And they brought it. And he says to them, Whose is this image and superscription? And they said to him, Caesar's. 17 And Jesus said to them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. And they marveled greatly at him.

18 And there come to him Sadducees, who say that there is no resurrection; and they asked him, saying, 19 Teacher, Moses wrote to us, If a man's brother dies, and leaves a wife behind him, and leaves no child, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed to his brother. 20 There were seven brothers: and the first took a wife, and dying left no seed; 21 and the second took her, and died, leaving no seed behind him; and the third likewise: 22 and the seven left no seed. Last of all the woman also died. 23 In the resurrection, when they will rise, whose wife will she be of them? For the seven had her as wife. 24 Jesus said to them, Is it not for this cause that you+ err, that you+ don't know the Scriptures, nor the power of God? 25 For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as angels in heaven. 26 But as concerning the dead, that they are raised; have you+ not read in the Book of Moses, in [the place concerning] the Bush, how God spoke to him, saying, I [am] the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? 27 He is not the God of the dead, but of the living: you+ do greatly err.

28 And one of the scribes came, and heard them questioning together, and having seeing that he answered them well, asked him, What commandment is the first of all? 29 Jesus answered, The first is, Hear, O Israel; Yahweh our God, Yahweh is one: 30 and you will love Yahweh your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. 31 The second is this, You will love your fellow man as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. 32 And the scribe said to him, Of a truth, Teacher, you have well said that he is one; and there is no other but he: 33 and to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength, and to love his fellow man as himself, is much more than all whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices. 34 And when Jesus saw that he answered with understanding, he said to him, You are not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that dared ask him any question.

35 And Jesus answered and said, as he taught in the temple, How do the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David? 36 David himself said in the Holy Spirit, Yahweh said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, Until I set your enemies under your feet. 37 David himself calls him Lord; and how is he his son? And the large crowd heard him gladly. 38 And in his teaching he said, Beware of the scribes, who desire to walk in long robes, and [to have] salutations in the marketplaces, 39 and chief seats in the synagogues, and chief places at feasts: 40 those who devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers; these will receive greater condemnation.

41 And he sat down opposite the treasury, and watched how the multitude cast money into the treasury: and many who were rich cast in much. 42 And there came a poor widow, and she cast in two lepta, which make a quadrans.[66] 43 And he called to him his disciples, and said to them, Truly I say to you+, This poor widow cast in more than all those who are casting into the treasury: 44 for they all cast in of their superfluity; but she of her want cast in all that she had, [even] all her living.

13  And as he went forth out of the temple, one of his disciples says to him, Teacher, look, what manner of stones and what manner of buildings! 2 And Jesus said to him, Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone on another, which will not be thrown down.

3 And as he sat on the mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately, 4 Tell us, when will these things be? And what [will be] the sign when these things are all about to be accomplished? 5 And Jesus began to say to them, Take heed that no man leads you+ astray. 6 Many will come in my name, saying, I am [he]; and will lead many astray. 7 And when you+ will hear of wars and rumors of wars, don't be troubled: [these things] must surely come to pass; but the end is not yet. 8 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in diverse places; there will be famines: these things are the beginning of travail.

9 But you+ take heed to yourselves. They will deliver you+ up to Sanhedrins; and in synagogues you+ will be beaten; and before governors and kings you+ will stand for my sake, for a testimony to them. 10 And the good news must first be preached to all the nations. 11 And when they lead you+ [to judgment], and deliver you+ up, don't be anxious beforehand what you+ will speak: but whatever will be given you+ in that hour, that speak+; for it is not you+ who speak, but the Holy Spirit. 12 And brother will deliver up brother to death, and the father his child; and children will rise up against parents, and cause them to be put to death. 13 And you+ will be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he who endures to the end, the same will be saved.

14 But when you+ see the detestable thing[67] of desolation standing where it ought not (let him who reads understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains: 15 and let him who is on the housetop not go down, nor enter in, to take anything out of his house: 16 and let him who is in the field not return back to take his cloak. 17 But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who nurse in those days! 18 And pray+ that it is not in the winter. 19 For those days will be tribulation, such as there has not been the like from the beginning of the creation which God created until now, and never will be. 20 And except Yahweh had shortened the days, no flesh would have been saved; but for the elect's sake, whom he chose, he shortened the days. 21 And then if any man will say to you+, Look, here is the Christ; or, Look, there; don't believe [it]: 22 for there will arise false Christs and false prophets, and will show signs and wonders, that they may lead astray, if possible, the elect. 23 But take+ heed: I have told you+ all things beforehand.

24 But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give her light, 25 and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers that are in the heavens will be shaken. 26 And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. 27 And then he will send forth the angels, and will gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.

28 Now from the fig tree learn her parable: when her branch has now become tender, and puts forth its leaves, you+ know that the summer is near; 29 even so you+ also, when you+ see these things coming to pass, know+ that it is near, [even] at the doors. 30 Truly I say to you+, This generation will not pass away, until all these things be accomplished. 31 Heaven and earth will pass away: but my words will definitely not pass away.

32 But of that day or that hour knows no one, not even the angels in heaven nor even the Son, but the Father. 33 Take+ heed, watch+: for you+ don't know when the time is. 34 [It is] as [when] a man, sojourning in another country, having left his house, and given authority to his slaves, to each one his work, commanded also the porter to watch. 35 Watch therefore: for you+ don't know when the lord of the house comes, whether at evening, or at midnight, or at rooster crowing, or in the morning; 36 lest coming suddenly he find you+ sleeping. 37 And what I say to you+ I say to all, Watch.

14  Now after two days it was going to be [the feast of] the Passover and the unleavened bread: and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take him with subtlety, and kill him: 2 for they said, Not during the feast, lest perhaps there will be a tumult of the people.

3 And while he was in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat to eat, there came a woman having an alabaster cruse of ointment of pure nard very costly; [and] she broke the cruse, and poured it over his head. 4 But there were some who had indignation among themselves, [saying,] To what purpose has this waste of the ointment been made? 5 For this ointment might have been sold for over 300 denarii,[68] and given to the poor. And they murmured against her. 6 But Jesus said, Leave her alone; why do you+ trouble her? She has worked a good work on me. 7 For you+ always have the poor with you+, and whenever you+ want you+ can do them good: but me you+ do not always have. 8 She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for the burying. 9 And truly I say to you+, Wherever the good news will be preached throughout the whole world, that also which this woman has done will be spoken of for a memorial of her. 10 And Judas Iscariot, he who was one of the twelve, went away to the chief priests, that he might deliver him to them. 11 And they, when they heard it, were glad, and promised to give him money. And he sought how he might conveniently deliver him [to them].

12 And on the first day of unleavened bread, when they sacrificed the Passover, his disciples say to him, Where do you want us to go and make ready that you may eat the Passover? 13 And he sends two of his disciples, and says to them, Go into the city, and there will meet you+ a man bearing a pitcher of water: follow him; 14 and wherever he will enter in, say to the master of the house, The Teacher says, Where is my guest-chamber, where I will eat the Passover with my disciples? 15 And he will himself show you+ a large upper room furnished [and] ready: and there make ready for us. 16 And the disciples went forth, and came into the city, and found as he had said to them: and they made ready the Passover. 17 And when it was evening he comes with the twelve.

18 And as they sat and were eating, Jesus said, Truly I say to you+, One of you+ will deliver me up, [even] he who eats with me. 19 They began to be sorrowful, and to say to him one by one, Is it I? 20 And he said to them, [It is] one of the twelve, he who dips with me in the dish. 21 For the Son of Man goes, even as it is written of him: but woe to that man through whom the Son of Man is delivered up! [It would have been] good for that man if he had not been born. 22 And as they were eating, he took bread, and when he had blessed, he broke it, and gave to them, and said, Take+: this is my body. 23 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave to them: and they all drank of it. 24 And he said to them, This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. 25 Truly I say to you+, I will no more drink of the fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God. 26 And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the mount of Olives. 27 And Jesus says to them, All you+ will be offended: for it is written, I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered abroad.[69] 29 But Peter said to him, Although all will be offended, yet I will not. 30 And Jesus says to him, Truly I say to you, that you today, [even] this night, before the rooster crows twice, will deny me thrice. 31 But he spoke vehemently, If I must die with you, I will definitely not deny you. And in like manner also they all said.

32 And they come to a place which was named Gethsemane: and he says to his disciples, Sit+ here, while I pray. 33 And he takes with him Peter and James and John, and began to be greatly amazed, and very troubled. 34 And he says to them, My soul is exceedingly sorrowful even to death: stay+ here, and watch+. 35 And he went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass away from him. 36 And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible to you; remove this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what you will. 37 And he comes, and finds them sleeping, and says to Peter, Simon, do you sleep? Couldn't you watch one hour? 38 Watch and pray, that you+ don't enter into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. 39 And again he went away, and prayed, saying the same words. 40 And again he came, and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy; and they didn't know what to answer him. 41 And he comes the third time, and says to them, Are you+ still sleeping and resting? It is enough; the hour has come; look, the Son of Man is delivered up into the hands of sinners. 42 Arise, let us be going: look, he who delivers me up is at hand.

43 And immediately, while he yet spoke, comes Judas, one of the twelve, and with him a multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. 44 Now he that delivered him up had given them a token, saying, Whomever I will kiss, that is he; take him, and lead him away safely. 45 And when he came, immediately he came to him, and says, Rabbi; and kissed him. 46 And they laid hands on him, and took him. 47 But a certain one of those who stood by drew his sword, and struck the slave of the high priest, and took off his ear. 48 And Jesus answered and said to them, Have you+ come out, as against a robber, with swords and staves to seize me? 49 I was daily with you+ in the temple teaching, and you+ didn't take me: but [this is done] that the Scriptures might be fulfilled. 50 And they all left him, and fled. 51 And a certain young man followed with him, having a linen cloth cast about him, over [his] naked [body]: and they lay hold on him; 52 but he left the linen cloth, and fled naked.

53 And they led Jesus away to the high priest: and there come together all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes. 54 And Peter had followed him far off, even inside, into the court of the high priest; and he was sitting with the attendants, and warming himself in the light [of the fire]. 55 Now the chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin sought witness against Jesus to put him to death; and did not find it. 56 For many bore false witness against him, and their witness didn't agree together. 57 And there stood up some, and bore false witness against him, saying, 58 We heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another made without hands. 59 And even so their witness did not agree together. 60 And the high priest stood up in the middle [of the Sanhedrin], and asked Jesus, saying, Do you answer nothing? What is it which these witness against you? 61 But he held his peace, and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him, and says to him, Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? 62 And Jesus said, I am: and you+ will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven. 63 And the high priest rent his clothes, and says, What further need do we have of witnesses? 64 You+ have heard the blasphemy: what do you+ think? And they all condemned him to be worthy of death. 65 And some began to spit on him, and to cover his face, and to buffet him, and to say to him, Prophesy: and the attendants received him with blows of their hands.

66 And as Peter was beneath in the court, there comes one of the female slaves of the high priest; 67 and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked on him, and says, You also were with the Nazarene, [even] Jesus. 68 But he denied, saying, I neither know, nor understand what you say: and he went out into the porch; and the rooster crowed. 69 And the slave saw him, and she began again to say to those who stood by, This is [one] of them. 70 But he again denied it. And after a little while again those who stood by said to Peter, Of a truth you are [one] of them; for you are a Galilean. 71 But he began to curse, and to swear, I don't know this man of whom you+ speak. 72 And right away the second time the rooster crowed. And Peter called to mind the word, how that Jesus said to him, Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me thrice. And when he thought on it, he wept.

15  And right away in the morning the chief priests with the elders and scribes, and the whole Sanhedrin, held a consultation, and bound Jesus, and carried him away, and delivered him up to Pilate. 2 And Pilate asked him, Are you the King of the Jews? And answering he says to him, You say. 3 And the chief priests accused him of many things. 4 And Pilate again asked him, saying, Do you answer nothing? Look how many things they accuse you of. 5 But Jesus no more answered anything; insomuch that Pilate marveled.

6 Now at the feast he used to release to them one prisoner, whom they asked of him. 7 And there was one called Barabbas, [lying] bound with those who had made insurrection, men who in the insurrection had committed murder. 8 And the multitude went up and began to ask him [to do] as he usually did for them. 9 And Pilate answered them, saying, Do you+ want that I release to you+ the King of the Jews? 10 For he perceived that for envy the chief priests had delivered him up. 11 But the chief priests stirred up the multitude, that he should rather release Barabbas to them. 12 And Pilate again answered and said to them, Then what do you+ want me to do [with him] whom you+ call the King of the Jews? 13 And they cried out again, Crucify him. 14 And Pilate said to them, Why, what evil has he done? But they cried out exceedingly, Crucify him. 15 And Pilate, wishing to content the multitude, released to them Barabbas, and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged him, to be crucified.

16 And the soldiers led him away inside the court, which is the Praetorium; and they call together the whole battalion. 17 And they clothe him with purple, and platting a crown of thorns, they put it on him; 18 and they began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews! 19 And they struck his head with a reed, and spat on him, and bowing their knees worshiped him. 20 And when they had mocked him, they took off from him the purple, and put on him his garments. And they lead him out to crucify him. 21 And they compel one passing by, Simon of Cyrene, coming from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to go [with them], that he might bear his cross. 22 And they bring him to the place Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, The place of a skull. 23 And they offered him wine mingled with myrrh: but he did not receive it. 24 And they crucify him, and part his garments among them, casting lots on them, what each should take. 25 And it was the third hour, and they crucified him. 26 And the superscription of his accusation was written over, THE KING OF THE JEWS. 27 And with him they crucify two robbers; one on his right and one on his left.[70] 29 And those who passed by railed on him, wagging their heads, and saying, Ha! You who destroys the temple, and builds it in three days, 30 save yourself, and come down from the cross. 31 In like manner also the chief priests mocking [him] among themselves with the scribes said, He saved others; himself he can't save. 32 Let the Christ, the King of Israel, now come down from the cross, that we may see and believe. And those who were crucified with him reproached him.

33 And when the sixth hour came, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani? Which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 35 And some of those who stood by, when they heard it, said, Look, he calls Elijah. 36 And one ran, and filling a sponge full of vinegar, put it on a reed, and gave him to drink, saying, Let [him] be; let us see whether Elijah comes to take him down. 37 And Jesus uttered a loud voice, and breathed his last. 38 And the veil of the temple was rent in two from the top to the bottom. 39 And when the captain, who stood by across from him, saw that he so breathed his last, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God. 40 And there were also women watching from far: among whom [were] both Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome; 41 who, when he was in Galilee, followed him, and were serving him; and many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.

42 And when evening was now come, because it was the Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, 43 there came Joseph of Arimathaea, a councilor of honorable estate, who also himself was looking for the kingdom of God; and he boldly went in to Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus. 44 And Pilate marveled if he were already dead: and calling to him the captain, he asked him whether he had been any while dead. 45 And when he learned it of the captain, he granted the corpse to Joseph. 46 And he bought a linen cloth, and taking him down, wound him in the linen cloth, and laid him in a tomb which had been cut out of a rock; and he rolled a stone against the door of the tomb. 47 And Mary Magdalene and Mary the [mother] of Joses looked at where he was laid.

16  And when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the [mother] of James, and Salome, bought spices, that they might come and anoint him. 2 And very early on the first day of the week, they come to the tomb when the sun was risen. 3 And they were saying among themselves, Who will roll us away the stone from the door of the tomb? 4 And looking up, they see that the stone has been rolled back: for it was exceedingly great. 5 And entering into the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, arrayed in a white robe; and they were amazed. 6 And he says to them, Don't be amazed: you+ seek Jesus, the Nazarene, who has been crucified: he is risen; he is not here: look, the place where they laid him![71] 8 And they went out, and fled from the tomb; for trembling and astonishment had come upon them. And they said nothing to anyone; for they were afraid.[72]

__________________________

Luke

According to Luke

3  Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, 2 in the highpriesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. 3 And he came into all the region around the Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance to remission of sins; 4 as it is written in the Book of the Words of Isaiah the Prophet, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make+ ready the way of Yahweh, Make his paths straight. 5 Every valley will be filled, And every mountain and hill will be brought low; And the crooked will become straight, And the rough ways smooth; 6 And all flesh will see the salvation of God.[73]

7 He said therefore to the multitudes that went out to be baptized of him, You+ offspring of vipers, who warned you+ to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and don't begin to say to yourselves, We have Abraham as our father: for I say to you+, that God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham. 9 And even now the ax also lies at the root of the trees: every tree therefore that does not bring forth good fruit is cut down, and cast into the fire.

10 And the multitudes asked him, saying, What then must we do? 11 And he answered and said to them, He who has two coats, let him impart to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise. 12 And there came also publicans to be baptized, and they said to him, Teacher, what must we do? 13 And he said to them, Collect no more than that which is appointed you+. 14 And soldiers also asked him, saying, And we, what must we do? And he said to them, Extort from no man by violence, neither accuse [anyone] wrongfully; and be content with your+ wages.

15 And as the people were in expectation, and all men reasoned in their hearts concerning John, whether perhaps he might be the Christ; 16 John answered, saying to them all, I indeed baptize you+ in water; but there comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to unloose: he will baptize you+ in the Holy Spirit and [in] fire: 17 whose fan is in his hand, thoroughly to cleanse his threshing-floor, and to gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire. 18 With many other exhortations therefore he preached good news to the people; 19 but Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by him for Herodias his brother's wife, and for all the evil things which Herod had done, 20 added this also to them all, that he shut up John in prison.

21 Now it came to pass, when all the people were baptized, that, Jesus also having been baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened, 22 and the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily form, as a dove, on him, and a voice came out of heaven, You are my beloved Son; in you I am well pleased.

23 And Jesus was about thirty years of age.

He was known as:[74]

the son of Joseph,

the [son] of Eli,

24      the [son] of Matthat,

the [son] of Levi,

the [son] of Melchi,

the [son] of Jannai,

the [son] of Joseph,

25      the [son] of Mattathias,

the [son] of Amos,

the [son] of Nahum,

the [son] of Esli,

the [son] of Naggai,

26      the [son] of Maath,

the [son] of Mattathias,

the [son] of Semein,

the [son] of Josech,

the [son] of Joda,

27      the [son] of Joanan,

the [son] of Rhesa,

the [son] of Zerubbabel,

the [son] of Shealtiel,

the [son] of Neri,

28      the [son] of Melchi,

the [son] of Addi,

the [son] of Cosam,

the [son] of Elmadam,

the [son] of Er,

29      the [son] of Jesus,

the [son] of Eliezer,

the [son] of Jorim,

the [son] of Matthat,

the [son] of Levi,

30      the [son] of Symeon,

the [son] of Judas,

the [son] of Joseph,

the [son] of Jonam,

the [son] of Eliakim,

31      the [son] of Melea,

the [son] of Menna,

the [son] of Mattatha,

the [son] of Nathan,

the [son] of David,

32      the [son] of Jesse,

the [son] of Obed,

the [son] of Boaz,

the [son] of Sala,

the [son] of Nahshon,

33      the [son] of Amminadab,

the [son] of Admin,

the [son] of Arni,

the [son] of Hezron,

the [son] of Perez,

the [son] of Judah,

34      the [son] of Jacob,

the [son] of Isaac,

the [son] of Abraham,

the [son] of Terah,

the [son] of Nahor,

35      the [son] of Serug,

the [son] of Reu,

the [son] of Peleg,

the [son] of Eber,

the [son] of Shelah,

36      the [son] of Cainan,

the [son] of Arphaxad,

the [son] of Shem,

the [son] of Noah,

the [son] of Lamech,

37      the [son] of Methuselah,

the [son] of Enoch,

the [son] of Jared,

the [son] of Mahalaleel,

the [son] of Cainan,

38      the [son] of Enos,

the [son] of Seth,

the [son] of Adam,

the [son] of God.

4  And Jesus returned from the Jordan, and was led in the Spirit in the wilderness 2 during forty days, being tried by the devil. And he ate nothing in those days: and when they were completed, he was hungry. 3 And the devil said to him, If you are the Son of God, command this stone that it become bread. 4 And Jesus answered to him, It is written, Man will not live by bread alone. 5 And he led him up, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6 And the devil said to him, To you I will give all this authority, and the glory of them: for it has been delivered to me; and to whomever I will I give it. 7 If you therefore will worship before me, it will all be yours. 8 And Jesus answered and said to him, It is written, You will worship Yahweh your God, and you will serve only him. 9 And he led him to Jerusalem, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, If you are the Son of God, cast yourself down from here: 10 for it is written, He will give his angels charge concerning you, to guard you: 11 and, On their hands they will bear you up, Lest perhaps you dash your foot against a stone. 12 And Jesus answering said to him, It is said, You will not make trial of Yahweh your God. 13 And when the devil had completed every trial, he departed from him for a season.

14 And Jesus returned[75] into Galilee: and news went out concerning him through all the surrounding region. 15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.[76]

16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and he entered, as his custom was, into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. 17 And there was delivered to him the Book of the Prophet Isaiah. And he unrolled[77] the book, and found the place where it was written, 18 The Spirit of Yahweh is on me, Because he anointed me to preach good news to the poor: He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovering of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are bruised, 19 To proclaim the acceptable year of Yahweh. 20 And he closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down: and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 And he began to say to them, Today has this Scripture been fulfilled in your+ ears. 22 And all bore him witness, and wondered at the words of grace which proceeded out of his mouth: and they said, Isn't this Joseph's son? 23 And he said to them, Doubtless you+ will say to me this parable, Physician, heal yourself: whatever we have heard done at Capernaum, do also here in your own country. 24 And he said, Truly I say to you+, No prophet is acceptable in his own country. 25 But of a truth I say to you+, There were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up for three years and six months, when there came a great famine over all the land; 26 and to none of them was Elijah sent, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian. 28 And they were all filled with wrath in the synagogue, as they heard these things; 29 and they rose up, and cast him forth out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw him down headlong. 30 But he passing through among them went his way.[78]

31 And he came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. And he was teaching them on the Sabbath day: 32 and they were astonished at his teaching; for his word was with authority.

33 And in the synagogue there was a man, who had a spirit of an unclean demon; and he cried out with a loud voice, 34 Ah! What do we have to do with you, Jesus you Nazarene? Have you come to destroy us? I know you who you are, the Holy One of God. 35 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold your peace, and come out of him. And when the demon had thrown him down in the middle [of the synagogue], he came out of him, having done him no hurt. 36 And amazement came upon all, and they spoke together, one with another, saying, What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out. 37 And there went forth a rumor concerning him into every place around the region.[79]

38 And he rose up from the synagogue, and entered into the house of Simon. And Simon's wife's mother was held with a great fever; and they implored him for her. 39 And he stood over her, and rebuked the fever; and it left her: and immediately she rose up and served them.

40 And when the sun was setting, all those who had any sick with diverse diseases brought them to him; and he laid his hands on each one of them, and healed them. 41 And demons also came out from many, crying out, and saying, You are the Son of God. And rebuking them, he did not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ.

42 And when it was day, he came out and went into a desert place: and the multitudes sought after him, and came to him, and tried to keep him, that he should not go from them. 43 But he said to them, I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also: for therefore I was sent. 44 And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea.

5  Now it came to pass, while the multitude pressed on him and heard the word of God, that he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret; 2 and he saw two boats standing by the lake: but the fishermen had gone out of them, and were washing their nets. 3 And he entered into one of the boats, which was Simon's, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the multitudes out of the boat.

4 And when he had left speaking, he said to Simon, Put out into the deep, and let down your+ nets for a catch. 5 And Simon answered and said, Master, we toiled all night, and took nothing: but at your word I will let down the nets. 6 And when they had done this, they enclosed a great multitude of fish; and their nets were breaking; 7 and they beckoned to their sharers[80] in the other boat, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But Simon Peter, when he saw it, fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord. 9 For he was amazed, and all who were with him, at the catch of the fish which they had taken; 10 and so were also James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, Don't be afraid; from now on you will catch men. 11 And when they had brought their boats to land, they left all, and followed him.

12 And it came to pass, while he was in one of the cities, look, a man full of leprosy: and when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face, and implored him, saying, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. 13 And he stretched forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be made clean. And immediately the leprosy departed from him. 14 And he charged him to tell no man: but go your way, and show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing, according to as Moses commanded, for a testimony to them. 15 But so much the more went abroad the report concerning him: and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed of their infirmities. 16 But he withdrew himself in the deserts, and prayed.

17 And it came to pass on one of those days, that he was teaching; and there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, who had come out of every village of Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem: and the power of Yahweh was with him to heal.

18 And look, men bring on a bed a man who was palsied: and they sought to bring him in, and to lay him before him. 19 And not finding by what [way] they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went up to the housetop, and let him down through the tiles with his couch into the middle [of everyone] before Jesus. 20 And seeing their faith, he said, Man, your sins are forgiven you. 21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this that speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone? 22 But Jesus perceiving their reasonings, answered and said to them, Why do you+ reason in your+ hearts? 23 Which is easier, to say, Your sins are forgiven you; or to say, Arise and walk? 24 But that you+ may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins—he said to him who was palsied: I say to you, Arise, and take up your couch, and go to your house. 25 And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that on which he lay, and departed to his house, glorifying God. 26 And amazement took hold on all, and they glorified God; and they were filled with fear, saying, We have seen strange things today.

27 And after these things he went forth, and noticed a publican, named Levi, sitting at the place of toll, and said to him, Follow me. 28 And he forsook all, and rose up and followed him. 29 And Levi made him a great feast in his house: and there was a great multitude of publicans and of others who were sitting at meat with them. 30 And the Pharisees and their scribes murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do you+ eat and drink with the publicans and sinners? 31 And Jesus answering said to them, Those who are in health have no need of a physician; but those who are sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. 33 And they said to him, The disciples of John fast often, and make supplications; likewise also the [disciples] of the Pharisees; but yours eat and drink. 34 And Jesus said to them, Can you+ make the sons of the bride-chamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? 35 But the days will come; and when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, then they will fast in those days. 36 And he spoke also a parable to them: No man rends a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment; else he will tear the new, and also the piece from the new will not agree with the old. 37 And no man puts new wine into old wineskins; else the new wine will burst the skins, and itself will be spilled, and the skins will perish. 38 But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. 39 And no man having drank old [wine] desires new; for he says, The old is good.

6  Now it came to pass on a Sabbath, that he was going through the grainfields; and his disciples plucked and ate the ears, rubbing them in their hands. 2 But certain of the Pharisees said, Why do you+ do that which is not lawful on the Sabbath day? 3 And Jesus answering them said, Have you+ not read even this, what David did, when he was hungry, he, and those who were with him; 4 how he entered into the house of God, and took and ate the showbread, and gave to those who were with him; which it is not lawful to eat except for the priests alone? 5 And he said to them, The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.

6 And it came to pass on another Sabbath, that he entered into the synagogue and taught: and there was a man there, and his right hand was withered. 7 And the scribes and the Pharisees watched him, whether he would heal on the Sabbath; that they might find how to accuse him. 8 But he knew their thoughts; and he said to the man who had his hand withered, Rise up, and stand in the middle [of the synagogue]. And he arose and stood. 9 And Jesus said to them, I ask you+, Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good, or to do harm? To save a soul, or to destroy it? 10 And he looked around on them all, and said to him, Stretch forth your hand. And he did [so]: and his hand was restored. 11 But they were filled with madness; and communed one with another what they might do to Jesus. 12 And it came to pass in these days, that he went out into the mountain to pray; and he continued all night in prayer to God.

13 And when it was day, he called his disciples; and he chose from them twelve, whom also he named apostles: 14 Simon, whom he also named Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James and John, and Philip and Bartholomew, 15 and Matthew and Thomas, and James [the son] of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot, 16 and Judas [the son] of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor; 17 and he came down with them, and stood on a level place, and a great multitude of his disciples, and a great number of the people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, 18 who came to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were healed. 19 And all the multitude sought to touch him; for power came forth from him, and healed [them] all.

20 And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said,

Blessed [are] you+ poor:

For yours+ is the kingdom of God.

21 Blessed [are] you+ who hunger now:

For you+ will be filled.

Blessed [are] you+ who weep now:

For you+ will laugh.

22 Blessed are you+, when men will hate you+,

And when they will separate you+ [from their company],

And reproach you+,

And cast out your+ name as evil,

For the Son of Man's sake.

23 Rejoice in that day, and leap [for joy]:

For look, your+ reward is great in heaven;

For in the same manner their fathers did to the prophets.

24 But woe to you+ who are rich!

For you+ have received your+ consolation.

25 Woe to you+, you+ who are full now!

For you+ will hunger.

Woe [to you+], you+ who laugh now!

For you+ will mourn and weep.

26 Woe [to you+], when all men will speak well of you+!

For in the same manner their fathers did to the false prophets.

27 But I say to you+ who hear, Love your+ enemies, do good to those who hate you+, 28 bless those who curse you+, pray for those who despitefully use you+. 29 To him who strikes you on the [one] cheek offer also the other; and from him who takes away your cloak don't withhold your coat also. 30 Give to everyone who asks you; and of him who takes away your goods don't ask [for them] back. 31 And as you+ would that men should do to you+, do+ to them likewise. 32 And if you+ love those who love you+, what thanks do you+ have? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 For even if you+ do good to those who do good to you+, what thanks do you+ have? Even sinners do the same. 34 And if you+ lend to them of whom you+ hope to receive, what thanks is it to you+? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive again as much. 35 But love your+ enemies, and do [them] good, and lend, never despairing; and your+ reward will be great, and you+ will be sons of the Most High: for he is kind toward the unthankful and evil. 36 Be+ merciful, even as your+ Father is merciful. 37 And do not judge, and you+ will not be judged: and do not condemn, and you+ will not be condemned: release, and you+ will be released: 38 give, and it will be given to you+; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, they will give into your+ bosom. For with what measure you+ mete it will be measured to you+ again.

39 And he spoke also a parable to them, Can the blind guide the blind? Will they not both fall into a pit? 40 The disciple is not above his teacher: but everyone when he is fully trained will be as his teacher. 41 And why do you look at the mote that is in your brother's eye, but don't consider the beam that is in your own eye? 42 How can you say to your brother, Brother, let me cast out the mote that is in your eye, when you yourself don't look at the beam that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to cast out the mote that is in your brother's eye.

43 For there is no good tree producing corrupt fruit; nor again a corrupt tree producing good fruit. 44 For each tree is known by its own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush do they gather grapes. 45 The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth that which is good; and the evil [man] out of the evil [treasure] brings forth that which is evil: for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

46 And why call+ me, Lord, Lord, and not do the things which I say? 47 Everyone who comes to me, and hears my words, and does them, I will show you+ to whom he is like: 48 he is like a man building a house, who dug and went deep, and laid a foundation on the rock: and when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house, and could not shake it: because it had been well built. 49 But he who hears [my words], and does not [do them], is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation; against which the stream broke, and immediately it fell in; and the ruin of that house was great.

7  After he had ended all his sayings in the ears of the people, he entered into Capernaum. 2 And a certain captain's slave, who was dear to him, was sick and at the point of death. 3 And when he heard concerning Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him that he would come and save his slave. 4 And they, when they came to Jesus, implored him earnestly, saying, He is worthy that you should do this for him; 5 for he loves our nation, and himself built us our synagogue. 6 And Jesus went with them. And when he was now not far from the house, the captain sent friends, saying to him, Lord, don't trouble yourself; for I am not worthy that you should come under my roof: 7 therefore neither did I think myself worthy to come to you: but say the word, and let my [young] slave be healed. 8 For I also am a man set under authority, having under myself soldiers: and I say to this one, Go, and he goes; and to another, Come, and he comes; and to my slave, Do this, and he does it. 9 And when Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turned and said to the multitude that followed him, I say to you+, I haven't found so great faith, no, not in Israel. 10 And those who were sent, returning to the house, found the slave whole.

11 And it came to pass soon afterward, that he went to a city called Nain; and his disciples went with him, and a great multitude. 12 Now when he drew near to the gate of the city, look, there was carried out one who was dead, the only begotten son of his mother, and she was a widow: and many people of the city were with her. 13 And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said to her, Do not weep. 14 And he came near and touched the bier: and the bearers stood still. And he said, Young man, I say to you, Arise. 15 And he who was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he gave him to his mother. 16 And fear took hold on all: and they glorified God, saying, A great prophet has arisen among us: and, God has visited his people. 17 And this report went forth concerning him in the whole of Judea, and all the surrounding region.

18 And the disciples of John told him of all these things. And John calling to him two of his disciples, 19 sent them to the Lord, saying, Are you he who comes, or do we look for another? 20 And when the men had come to him, they said, John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, Are you he who comes, or do we look for another? 21 In that hour he cured many of diseases and plagues and evil spirits; and on many who were blind he bestowed sight. 22 And he answered and said to them, Go and tell John the things which you+ have seen and heard; the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. 23 And blessed is he, whoever will find no occasion of stumbling in me.

24 And when the messengers of John were departed, he began to say to the multitudes concerning John, What did you+ go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken with the wind? 25 But what did you+ go out to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Look, those who are gorgeously appareled, and live delicately, are in kings' courts. 26 But what did you+ go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you+, and much more than a prophet. 27 This is he of whom it is written, Look, I send my messenger before your face, Who will prepare your way before you. 28 I say to you+, Among those who are born of women there is none greater than John: yet he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.

29 And all the people when they heard, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John. 30 But the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected for themselves the counsel of God, not being baptized of him. 31 To what then shall I liken the men of this generation, and to what are they like? 32 They are like children who sit in the marketplace, and call one to another; who say, We piped to you+, and you+ did not dance; we wailed, and you+ did not weep. 33 For John the Baptist has come eating no bread nor drinking wine; and you+ say, He has a demon. 34 The Son of Man has come eating and drinking; and you+ say, Look, a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners! 35 And wisdom is acknowledged as right by all her children.

36 And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he entered into the Pharisee's house, and sat down to meat. 37 And look, a woman who was in the city, a sinner; and when she knew that he was sitting at meat in the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster cruse of ointment, 38 and standing behind at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. 39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he spoke to himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have perceived who and what manner of woman this is who touches him, that she's a sinner. 40 And Jesus answering said to him, Simon, I have somewhat to say to you. And he says, Teacher, say on. 41 A certain lender had two debtors: the one owed 500 denarii, and the other 50 [denarii].[81] 42 When they did not have [that with which] to pay, he forgave them both. Which of them therefore will love him most? 43 Simon answered and said, He, I suppose, to whom he forgave the most. And he said to him, You have rightly judged. 44 And turning to the woman, he said to Simon, Do you see this woman? I entered into your house, you gave me no water for my feet: but she has wet my feet with her tears, and wiped them with her hair. 45 You gave me no kiss: but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss my feet. 46 You did not anoint my head with oil: but she has anointed my feet with ointment. 47 Therefore I say to you, Her sins which have been forgiven are many, for she loved much; but to whom little is forgiven, [the same] loves little. 48 And he said to her, Your sins are forgiven. 49 And those who sat to eat with him began to say to themselves, Who is this that even forgives sins? 50 And he said to the woman, Your faith has saved you; go in peace.

8  And it came to pass soon afterward, that he went about through cities and villages, proclaiming and preaching [the good news about] the kingdom of God, and with him the twelve, 2 and certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary that was called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, 3 and Joanna the wife of Chuzas Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others, who were serving them out of their substance.

4 And when a great multitude came together, and they of every city resorted to him, he spoke by a parable: 5 The sower went forth to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trodden under foot, and the birds of the heaven devoured it. 6 And other fell on the rock; and as soon as it grew, it withered away, because it had no moisture. 7 And other fell among the thorns; and the thorns grew with it, and choked it. 8 And other fell into the good ground, and grew, and brought forth fruit a hundredfold. As he said these things, he cried, He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

9 And his disciples asked him what this parable might be. 10 And he said, To you+ it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to the rest in parables; that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand. 11 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. 12 And those by the wayside are the ones who have heard; then the devil comes, and takes away the word from their heart, that they may not believe and be saved. 13 And those on the rock [are] they who, when they have heard, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who for awhile believe, and in time of trial fall away. 14 And that which fell among the thorns, these are those who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of [this] life, and bring no fruit to perfection. 15 And that in the good ground, these are such as in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, hold it fast, and bring forth fruit with patience. 16 And no man, when he has lit a lamp, covers it with a vessel, or puts it under a bed; but puts it on a lampstand, that those who enter in may see the light. 17 For nothing is hid, that will not be made manifest; nor [anything] secret, that will not be known and come to light. 18 Take heed therefore how you+ hear: for whoever has, to him will be given; and whoever does not have, from him will be taken away even that which he thinks he has.

19 And there came to him his mother and brothers, and they could not come at him for the crowd. 20 And it was told him, Your mother and your brothers stand outside, desiring to see you. 21 But he answered and said to them, My mother and my brothers are these who hear the word of God, and do it.

22 Now it came to pass on one of those days, that he entered into a boat, himself and his disciples; and he said to them, Let us go over to the other side of the lake: and they launched forth. 23 But as they sailed he fell asleep: and there came down a storm of wind on the lake; and they were filling [with water], and were in jeopardy. 24 And they came to him, and awoke him, saying, Master, master, we perish. And he awoke, and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water: and they ceased, and there was a calm. 25 And he said to them, Where is your+ faith? And being afraid they marveled, saying one to another, Who then is this, that he commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him? 26 And they arrived at the country of the Gerasenes, which is across from Galilee.

27 And when he came forth on the land, there met him a certain man out of the city, who had demons; and for a long time he had worn no clothes, and did not stay in [any] house, but in the tombs. 28 And when he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, What have I to do with you, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I urge you, don't torment me. 29 For he commanded the unclean spirit to come out from the man. For oftentimes it had seized him: and he was kept under guard, and bound with chains and fetters; and breaking the bands apart, he was driven by the demon into the deserts. 30 And Jesus asked him, What is your name? And he said, Legion;[82] for many demons went into him. 31 And they entreated him that he would not command them to depart into the abyss. 32 Now there was there a herd of many swine being shepherded on the mountain: and they entreated him that he would give them leave to enter into them. And he gave them leave. 33 And the demons came out from the man, and entered into the swine: and the herd rushed down the steep into the lake, and were drowned.

34 And when those who shepherded them saw what had come to pass, they fled, and told it in the city and in the country. 35 And they went out to see what had come to pass; and they came to Jesus, and found the man, from whom the demons went out, sitting, clothed and in his right mind, at the feet of Jesus: and they were afraid. 36 And those who saw it told them how he who was possessed with demons was made whole. 37 And all the people around the country of the Gerasenes asked him to depart from them; for they were held with great fear: and he entered into a boat, and returned. 38 But the man from whom the demons had gone out prayed him that he might be with him: but he sent him away, saying, 39 Return to your house, and declare how much God has done for you. And he went his way, publishing throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.

40 And as Jesus returned, the multitude welcomed him; for they were all waiting for him. 41 And look, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue: and he fell down at Jesus' feet, and implored him to come into his house; 42 for he had an only begotten daughter, about twelve years of age, and she was dying. But as he went the multitudes thronged him.

43 And a woman having a discharge of blood twelve years, who had spent all her living on physicians, unable to be healed by anyone, 44 came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: and immediately the discharge of her blood stopped. 45 And Jesus said, Who is it that touched me? And when all denied, Peter said, Master, the multitudes press you and crush [you]. 46 But Jesus said, Someone did touch me; for I perceived that power had gone forth from me. 47 And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before him declared in the presence of all the people for what cause she touched him, and how she was healed immediately. 48 And he said to her, Daughter, your faith has made you whole; go in peace.

49 While he yet spoke, there comes one from the ruler of the synagogue's [house], saying, Your daughter is dead; Don't trouble the Teacher any longer. 50 But Jesus hearing it, answered him, Don't be afraid: only believe, and she will be made whole. 51 And when he came to the house, he didn't allow any man to enter in with him, except Peter, and John, and James, and the girl's father and her mother. 52 And all were weeping, and bewailing her: but he said, Do not weep; for she is not dead, but sleeps. 53 And they laughed him to scorn, knowing that she was dead. 54 But he, taking her by the hand, called, saying, Girl, arise. 55 And her spirit returned, and she rose up immediately: and he commanded that [something] be given her to eat. 56 And her parents were amazed: but he charged them to tell no man what had been done.

9  And he called the twelve together, and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases. 2 And he sent them forth to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick. 3 And he said to them, Take nothing for your+ journey, neither staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; neither have two coats each. 4 And into whatever house you+ enter, there stay, and from there depart. 5 And as many as do not receive you+, when you+ depart from that city, shake off the dust from your+ feet for a testimony against them. 6 And they departed, and went throughout the villages, preaching the good news, and healing everywhere.

7 Now Herod the tetrarch heard of all that was done: and he was much perplexed, because it was said by some, that John was risen from the dead; 8 and by some, that Elijah had appeared; and by others, that one of the old prophets was risen again. 9 But Herod said, John I beheaded: but who is this, about whom I hear such things? And he sought to see him.

10 And the apostles, when they returned, declared to him what things they had done. And he took them, and withdrew apart to a city called Bethsaida. 11 But the multitudes perceiving it followed him: and he welcomed them, and spoke to them of the kingdom of God, and those who had need of healing he cured.

12 And the day began to wear away; and the twelve came, and said to him, Send the multitude away, that they may go into the surrounding villages and country, and lodge, and get provisions: for we are here in a desert place. 13 But he said to them, You+ give them to eat. And they said, We have no more than five loaves and two fish; except we should go and buy food for all this people. 14 For they were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, Make them sit down in companies, about fifty each. 15 And they did so, and made them all sit down. 16 And he took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he blessed them, and broke; and gave to the disciples to set before the multitude. 17 And they ate, and were all filled: and there was taken up that which remained over to them of broken pieces, twelve baskets.

18 And it came to pass, as he was praying apart, the disciples were with him: and he asked them, saying, Who do the multitudes say that I am? 19 And they answering said, John the Baptist; but others [say], Elijah; and others, that one of the old prophets has risen again. 20 And he said to them, But who do you+ say that I am? And Peter answering said, The Christ of God. 21 But he charged them, and commanded [them] to tell this to no man; 22 saying, The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and the third day be raised up. 23 And he said to all, If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. 24 For whoever would save his soul will lose it; but whoever will lose his soul for my sake, the same will save it. 25 For what is a man profited, if he gain the whole world, and lose or forfeit his own self? 26 For whoever will be ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed, when he comes in his own glory, and [the glory] of the Father, and of the holy angels. 27 But I tell you+ of a truth, There are some of those who stand here, who will in no way taste of death, until they see the kingdom of God.

28 And it came to pass about eight days after these sayings, that he took with him Peter and John and James, and went up into the mountain to pray. 29 And as he was praying, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment [became] white [and] dazzling. 30 And look, there talked with him two men, who were Moses and Elijah; 31 who appeared in glory, and spoke of his decease which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. 32 Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep: but when they were fully awake, they saw his glory, and the two men who stood with him. 33 And it came to pass, as they were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for you, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah: not knowing what he said. 34 And while he said these things, there came a cloud, and overshadowed them: and they feared as they entered into the cloud. 35 And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my Son, the chosen one: hear+ him. 36 And when the voice came, Jesus was found alone. And they held their peace, and told no man in those days any of the things which they had seen. 37 And it came to pass, on the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great multitude met him.

38 And look, a man from the multitude cried, saying, Teacher, I urge you to look at my son; for he is my only begotten: 39 and look, a spirit takes him, and he suddenly cries out; and it tears him that he foams, and it harshly departs from him, bruising him intensely. 40 And I implored your disciples to cast it out; and they could not. 41 And Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you+, and bear with you+? Bring your son here. 42 And as he was yet coming, the demon dashed him down, and tore [him] grievously. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, and healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. 43 And they were all astonished at the majesty of God. But while all were marveling at all the things which he did, he said to his disciples, 44 Let these words sink into your+ ears: for the Son of Man will be delivered up into the hands of men. 45 But they didn't understand this saying, and it was concealed from them, that they should not perceive it; and they were afraid to ask him about this saying.

46 And there arose a reasoning among them, which of them might be the greatest. 47 But Jesus knowing the reasoning of their heart, took a little child, and set him by his side, 48 and said to them, Whoever will receive this little child in my name receives me: and whoever will receive me receives him who sent me: for he who is least among all of you+, the same is great. 49 And John answered and said, Master, we saw one casting out demons in your name; and we forbade him, because he does not follow with us. 50 But Jesus said to him, Don't forbid [him]: for he who is not against you+ is for you+.

51 And it came to pass, when the days were well-near come that he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, 52 and sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him. 53 And they did not receive him, because his face was [as though he were] going to Jerusalem. 54 And when the disciples James and John saw [this], they said, Lord, do you want us to bid fire to come down from heaven, and consume them? 55 But he turned, and rebuked them. 56 And they went to another village.

57 And as they went on the way, a certain man said to him, I will follow you wherever you go. 58 And Jesus said to him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven [have] nests; but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head. 59 And he said to another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, allow me first to go and bury my father. 60 But he said to him, Leave the dead to bury their own dead; but go you and publish abroad the kingdom of God. 61 And another also said, I will follow you, Lord; but first allow me to bid farewell to those who are at my house. 62 But Jesus said to him, No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.

10  Now after these things the Lord appointed seventy-two others, and sent them two by two before his face into every city and place, where he himself was about to come. 2 And he said to them, The harvest indeed is plenteous, but the workers are few: pray+ therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he send forth workers into his harvest. 3 Go your+ ways; look, I send you+ forth as lambs among wolves. 4 Carry no wallet, no bag, no sandals; and greet no man on the way. 5 And into whatever house you+ will enter, first say, Peace [be] to this house. 6 And if a son of peace be there, your+ peace will rest on him: but if not, it will turn to you+ again. 7 And stay in that same house, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the worker is worthy of his wages. Don't go from house to house. 8 And into whatever city you+ enter, and they receive you+, eat such things as are set before you+: 9 and heal the sick who are in it, and say to them, The kingdom of God has come near to you+. 10 But into whatever city you+ will enter, and they do not receive you+, go out into its streets and say, 11 Even the dust from your+ city, that sticks to our feet, we wipe off against you+: nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near. 12 I say to you+, It will be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that city.

13 Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, which were done in you+, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 14 But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the judgment than for you+. 15 And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will go down to Hades. 16 He who hears you+ hears me; and he who rejects you+ rejects me; and he who rejects me rejects him who sent me.

17 And the seventy-two returned with joy, saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name. 18 And he said to them, I watched Satan fallen as lightning from heaven. 19 Look, I have given you+ authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing will in any wise hurt you+. 20 Nevertheless don't rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you+; but rejoice that your+ names are written in heaven.

21 In that same hour he[83] said, I thank you, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you hid these things from the wise and understanding, and revealed them to juveniles: yes, Father; for so it was well-pleasing in your sight. 22 All things have been delivered to me of my Father: and no one knows who the Son is, except the Father; and who the Father is, except the Son, and he to whomever the Son wills to reveal [him]. 23 And turning to the disciples, he said privately, Blessed [are] the eyes which see the things that you+ see: 24 for I say to you+, that many prophets and kings desired to see the things which you+ see, and did not see them; and to hear the things which you+ hear, and did not hear them.

25 And look, a certain lawyer stood up and made trial of him, saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? 26 And he said to him, What is written in the law? How do you read [it]? 27 And answering he said, You will love Yahweh your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your fellow man as yourself. 28 And he said to him, You have answered right: do this, and you will live. 29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, And who is my fellow man?

30 Jesus replying said, A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho; and he fell among robbers, who both stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 And by chance a certain priest was going down that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 And in like manner a Levite also, when he came to the place, and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he was moved with compassion, 34 and came to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring on [them] oil and wine; and he set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 And on the next day he took out two denarii,[84] and gave them to the host, and said, Take care of him; and whatever you spend more, I, when I come back again, will repay you. 36 Which of these three, do you think, had been the fellow man of him who fell among the robbers? 37 And he said, He who showed mercy on him. And Jesus said to him, Go, and you do likewise.

38 Now as they went on their way, he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at the Lord's feet, and heard his word. 40 But Martha was cumbered about much service; and she came up to him, and said, Lord, don't you care that my sister left me to serve alone? Then tell her to help me. 41 But the Lord answered and said to her, Martha, Martha, you are anxious and upset about many things: 42 but one thing is needful: for Mary has chosen the good part, which will not be taken away from her.

11  And it came to pass, as he was praying in a certain place, that when he ceased, one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray, even as John also taught his disciples. 2 And he said to them, When you+ pray, say, Father, Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. 3 Give us day by day our daily bread. 4 And forgive us our sins; for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And bring us not into temptation.

5 And he said to them, Which of you+ will have a friend, and will go to him at midnight, and say to him, Friend, lend me three loaves; 6 for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him; 7 and he from inside will answer and say, Don't trouble me: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I can't rise and give you. 8 I say to you+, Though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will arise and give him as many as he needs. 9 And I say to you+, Ask, and it will be given you+; seek, and you+ will find; knock, and it will be opened to you+. 10 For everyone who asks receives; and he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks it will be opened. 11 And of which of you+ who is a father will his son ask for a fish, and he for a fish gives him a serpent? 12 Or [if] he will ask an egg, will he give him a scorpion? 13 If you+ then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your+ children, how much more will [your+] heavenly Father give good [things][85] to those who ask him.

14 And he was casting out a demon, and it was mute. And it came to pass, when the demon was gone out, the mute man spoke; and the multitudes marveled. 15 But some of them said, By Beelzebul the prince of the demons he casts out demons. 16 And others, trying [him], sought of him a sign from heaven. 17 But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house [divided] against a house falls. 18 And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? because you+ say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul. 19 And if I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your+ sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your+ judges. 20 But, if by the finger of God I cast out demons, then has the kingdom of God come upon you+. 21 When the strong [man] fully armed guards his own court, his goods are in peace: 22 but when a stronger than he will come upon him, and overcome him, he takes from him his whole armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoils. 23 He who is not with me is against me; and he who does not gather with me scatters.

24 When the unclean spirit goes out of the man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest and not finding [any]. Then it says, I will turn back to my house from where I came out. 25 And when it comes, it finds it swept and garnished. 26 Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more evil than itself; and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first.

27 And it came to pass, as he said these things, a certain woman out of the multitude lifted up her voice, and said to him, Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that nursed you. 28 But he said, On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God, and keep it.

29 And when the multitudes were gathering together to him, he began to say, This generation is an evil generation: it seeks after a sign; and there will be no sign given to it but the sign of Jonah. 30 For even as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will also the Son of Man be to this generation. 31 The queen of the south will rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and will condemn them: for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and look, a greater than Solomon is here. 32 The men of Nineveh will stand up in the judgment with this generation, and will condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and look, a greater than Jonah is here.

33 No man, when he has lit a lamp, puts it in a cellar, neither under the bushel, but on the lampstand, that those which enter in may see the light. 34 The lamp of your body is your eye: when your eye is single, your whole body also is full of light; but when it is evil, your body also is full of darkness. 35 Look therefore whether the light that is in you is not darkness. 36 If therefore your whole body is full of light, having no dark part, it will be wholly full of light, as when the lamp with its bright shining gives you light.

37 Now as he spoke, a Pharisee asks him to dine with him: and he went in, and sat down to meat. 38 And when the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that he had not first bathed himself before dinner. 39 And the Lord said to him, Now you+ the Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the platter; but your+ inward part is full of extortion and wickedness. 40 You+ foolish ones, did not he who made the outside make the inside also? 41 But clean those things which are inside; and look, all of you+ is clean.[86] 42 But woe to you+ Pharisees! For you+ tithe mint and dill[87] and every herb, and pass over justice and the love of God: but these you+ ought to have done, and not to neglect the others. 43 Woe to you+ Pharisees! For you+ love the chief seats in the synagogues, and the salutations in the marketplaces. 44 Woe to you+! For you+ are as the tombs which do not appear, and the men who walk over [them] do not know it. 45 And one of the lawyers answering says to him, Teacher, in saying this you reproach us also.

46 And he said, Woe to you+ lawyers also! For you+ load men with loads grievous to be borne, and you+ yourselves don't touch the loads with one of your+ fingers. 47 Woe to you+! For you+ build the tombs of the prophets, and your+ fathers killed them. 48 So you+ are witnesses and give your+ approval to the works of your+ fathers: for they killed them, and you+ build [their tombs]. 49 Therefore the wisdom of God also said, I will send to them prophets and apostles; and [some] of them they will kill and persecute; 50 that the blood of all the prophets, having been shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation; 51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zachariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary: yes, I say to you+, it will be required of this generation. 52 Woe to you+ lawyers! For you+ took away the key of knowledge: you+ didn't enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you+ hindered. 53 And when he came out from there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press on [him] vehemently, and to provoke him to speak of many things; 54 laying wait for him, to catch something out of his mouth.

12  In the mean time, when the tens of thousands of the multitude were gathered together, insomuch that they trod one on another, he began to say to his disciples first of all, Take heed to yourselves [and stay away] from the leaven which is the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. 2 But there is nothing covered up, that will not be revealed; and hid, that will not be known. 3 Therefore whatever you+ have said in the darkness will be heard in the light; and what you+ have spoken in the ear in the inner chambers will be proclaimed on the housetops.

4 And I say to you+ my friends, Don't be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. 5 But I will warn you+ whom you+ will fear: Fear him, who after he has killed has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you+, Fear him. 6 Are not five sparrows sold for two assaria? [88] and not one of them is forgotten in the sight of God. 7 But the very hairs of your+ head are all numbered. Don't be afraid: you+ are of more value than many sparrows.

8 And I say to you+, Everyone who will confess me before men, the Son of Man will also confess him before the angels of God: 9 but he who denies me in the presence of men will be denied in the presence of the angels of God. 10 And everyone who will speak a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him: but to him who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit it will not be forgiven. 11 And when they bring you+ before the synagogues, and the rulers, and the authorities, don't be anxious how or what you+ will answer, or what you+ will say: 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you+ in that very hour what you+ ought to say.

13 And one out of the multitude said to him, Teacher, bid my brother divide the inheritance with me. 14 But he said to him, Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you+? 15 And he said to them, Take heed, and keep yourselves from all greed: for a man's life does not consist in the abundance of the things which he possesses.

16 And he spoke a parable to them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: 17 and he reasoned to himself, saying, What shall I do, because I don't have a place to bestow my fruits? 18 And he said, I will do this: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there I will bestow all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have much goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry. 20 But God said to him, You foolish one, this [is] the night they demand back your soul from you; and the things which you have prepared, whose will they be? 21 So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

22 And he said to his disciples, Therefore I say to you+, Don't be anxious for [your+] soul, what you+ will eat; nor yet for [your+] body, what you+ will put on. 23 For the soul is more than the food, and the body than the clothing. 24 Consider the ravens, that they do not sow, neither reap; which have no store-chamber nor barn; and God feeds them: of how much more value are you+ than the birds! 25 And which of you+ by being anxious can add a cubit to the measure of his life? 26 If then you+ are not able to do even that which is least, why are you+ anxious concerning the rest? 27 Consider the lilies, how they grow: they do not toil, neither do they spin; yet I say to you+, Even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 28 But if God so clothes the grass in the field, which today is [here], and tomorrow is cast into the oven; how much more [he will clothe] you+, O you+ of little faith? 29 And don't you+ seek what you+ will eat, and what you+ will drink, neither be+ of doubtful mind. 30 For all these things the nations of the world seek after: but your+ Father knows that you+ have need of these things. 31 Yet seek+ his kingdom, and these things will be added to you+. 32 Don't be afraid, little flock; for it is your+ Father's good pleasure to give you+ the kingdom. 33 Sell that which you+ have, and give alms; make for yourselves wallets which do not wear out, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief draws near, neither moth destroys. 34 For where your+ treasure is, there will your+ heart be also.

35 Let your+ loins be girded about, and your+ lamps burning; 36 and be+ yourselves like men looking for their lord, when he will return from the marriage feast; that, when he comes and knocks, they may right away open to him. 37 Blessed are those slaves, whom the lord when he comes will find watching: truly I say to you+, that he will gird himself, and make them sit down to meat, and will come and serve them. 38 And if he will come in the second watch, and if in the third, and find [them] so, blessed are those [slaves]. 39 But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken through. 40 You+ also be ready: for in an hour that you+ do not think the Son of Man comes.

41 And Peter said, Lord, do you speak this parable to us, or even to all? 42 And the Lord said, Who then is the faithful and wise steward, whom his lord will set over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season? 43 Blessed is that slave, whom his lord when he comes will find so doing. 44 Of a truth I say to you+, that he will set him over all that he has. 45 But if that slave will say in his heart, My lord delays his coming; and will begin to beat the male slaves and the female slaves, and to eat and drink, and to be drunk; 46 the lord of that slave will come in a day when he does not expect, and in an hour when he does not know, and will cut him apart, and appoint his portion with the unfaithful. 47 And that slave, who knew his lord's will, and did not make ready, nor did according to his will, will be beaten with many [stripes]; 48 but he who did not know, and did things worthy of stripes, will be beaten with few [stripes]. And to whomever much is given, of him will much be required: and to whom they commit much, of him they will ask the more.

49 I came to cast fire on the earth; and how I want that it were already kindled! 50 But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how I am straitened until it is accomplished! 51 Do you+ think that I have come to give peace in the earth? I tell you+, No; but rather division: 52 for there will be from now on five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. 53 They will be divided, father against son, and son against father; mother against daughter, and daughter against her mother; mother in law against her daughter in law, and daughter in law against her mother in law.

54 And he said to the multitudes also, When you+ see the cloud rising in the west, right away you+ say, There comes a shower; and so it comes to pass. 55 And when [you+ see] a south wind blowing, you+ say, There will be a scorching heat; and it comes to pass. 56 You+ hypocrites, you+ know how to interpret the face of the earth and the heaven; but how is it that you+ don't know how to interpret this time?

57 And why even of yourselves don't you+ judge what is right? 58 For as you are going with your adversary before the magistrate, on the way work hard to be released from him; lest perhaps he drag you to the judge, and the judge will deliver you to the officer, and the officer will cast you into prison. 59 I say to you, You will by no means come out from there, until you have paid the very last lepton.[89]

13  Now there were some present at that very season who told him of the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And he answered and said to them, Do you+ think that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans, because they have suffered these things? 3 I tell you+, No: but, except you+ repent, you+ will all in like manner perish. 4 Or those eighteen, on whom the tower in Siloam fell, and killed them, do you+ think that they were offenders above all the men who dwell in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you+, No: but, except you+ repent, you+ will all likewise perish. 6 And he spoke this parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came seeking fruit on it, and found none. 7 And he said to the vinedresser, Look, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: therefore cut it down; why does it also cumber the ground? 8 And answering he says to him, Lord, leave it alone this year also, until I will dig about it, and dung it: 9 and if it bears fruit from then on, [very well]; but if not, you will cut it down.

10 And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath day. 11 And look, a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years; and she was bowed together, and could in no way lift herself up. 12 And when Jesus saw her, he called her, and said to her, Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity. 13 And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. 14 And the ruler of the synagogue, being moved with indignation because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, answered and said to the multitude, There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the day of the Sabbath. 15 But the Lord answered him, and said, You+ hypocrites, does not each of you+ on the Sabbath loose his ox or his donkey from the stall, and lead him away to watering? 16 And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan had bound, look, [these] eighteen years, to have been loosed from this bond on the day of the Sabbath? 17 And as he said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame: and all the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.

18 He said therefore, To what is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I liken it? 19 It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and cast into his own garden; and it grew, and became a tree; and the birds of the heaven lodged in its branches. 20 And again he said, To what shall I liken the kingdom of God? 21 It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, until it was all leavened. 22 And he went on his way through cities and villages, teaching, and journeying on to Jerusalem.

23 And one said to him, Lord, are there few who are saved? And he said to them, 24 Strive to enter in by the narrow door: for many, I say to you+, will seek to enter in, and will not be able. 25 When once the master of the house has risen up, and has shut to the door, and you+ begin to stand outside, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, open to us; and he will answer and say to you+, I don't know you+ or where you+ are from. 26 Then you+ will begin to say, We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets; 27 and he will speak, saying to you+, I don't know you+ or where you+ are from; depart from me, all you+ workers of iniquity. 28 There will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth, when you+ will see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and yourselves cast forth outside. 29 And they will come from the east and west, and from the north and south, and will sit down in the kingdom of God. 30 And look, there are last who will be first, and there are first who will be last.

31 In that very hour there came certain Pharisees, saying to him, Get out, and go from here: for Herod wants to kill you. 32 And he said to them, Go and say to that fox, Look, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third [day] I am perfected. 33 Nevertheless I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the [day] following: for it cannot be that a prophet perishes out of Jerusalem. 34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that kills the prophets, and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, even as a hen [gathers] her own brood under her wings, and you+ did not want [to]! 35 Look, your+ house is left to you+: and I say to you+, You+ will not see me until the time comes when you+ will say, Blessed [is] he who comes in the name of Yahweh.

14  And it came to pass, when he went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees on a Sabbath to eat bread, that they were watching him.

2 And look, there was before him a certain man who had the dropsy. 3 And Jesus answering spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not? 4 But they held their peace. And he took him, and healed him, and let him go. 5 And he said to them, Which of you+ will have a son or an ox fallen into a well, and will not immediately draw him up on a Sabbath day? 6 And they could not answer again to these things.

7 And he spoke a parable to those who were invited, when he marked how they chose out the chief seats; saying to them, 8 When you are invited of any man to a marriage feast, don't sit down in the chief seat; lest perhaps a more honorable man than you be invited of him, 9 and he who invited you and him will come and say to you, Give this man place; and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. 10 But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place; that when he who has invited you comes, he may say to you, Friend, go up higher: then you will have glory in the presence of all who sit at meat with you. 11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled; and he who humbles himself will be exalted. 12 And he said to him also who had invited him, When you make a dinner or a supper, do not call your friends, nor your brothers, nor your kinsmen, nor rich neighbors; lest perhaps they also bid you again, and a recompense be made you. 13 But when you make a feast, bid the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: 14 and you will be blessed; because they don't have [the means] to recompense you: for you will be recompensed in the resurrection of the just. 15 And when one of those who sat to eat with him heard these things, he said to him, Blessed is he who will eat bread in the kingdom of God.

16 But he said to him, A certain man made a great supper; and he invited many: 17 and he sent forth his slave at supper time to say to those who were invited, Come; for [all] things are now ready. 18 And they all with one [consent] began to make excuses. The first said to him, I have bought a field, and I must surely go out and see it; I pray you have me excused. 19 And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them; I pray you have me excused. 20 And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I can't come. 21 And the slave came, and told his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his slave, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and maimed and blind and lame. 22 And the slave said, Lord, what you commanded is done, and yet there is room. 23 And the lord said to the slave, Go out into the highways and hedges, and constrain [them] to come in, that my house may be filled. 24 For I say to you+, that none of those men who were invited will taste of my supper.

25 Now there went with him great multitudes: and he turned, and said to them, 26 If any man comes to me, and does not hate his own father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brothers, and sisters, yes, and his own soul also, he can't be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross, and come after me, can't be my disciple.

28 For which of you+, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has [the means] to complete it? 29 Lest perhaps, when he has laid a foundation, and is not able to finish, all who watch begin to mock him, 30 saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish. 31 Or what king, as he goes to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and take counsel whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 Otherwise, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends an ambassador, and asks the [conditions] of peace. 33 So therefore whoever he is of you+ who does not renounce all that he has, he can't be my disciple. 34 Salt therefore is good: but if even the salt has lost its savor, how will it be seasoned? 35 It is fit neither for the land nor for the dunghill: [men] cast it out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

15  Now all the publicans and sinners were drawing near to him to hear him. 2 And both the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, This man receives sinners, and eats with them.

3 And he spoke to them this parable, saying, 4 What man of you+, having a hundred sheep, and having lost one of them, does not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost. 7 I say to you+, that even so there will be joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, [more] than over ninety and nine righteous persons, who need no repentance. 8 Or what woman having ten drachmas,[90] if she loses one, does not light a lamp, and sweep the house, and seek diligently until she finds it? 9 And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, Rejoice with me, for I have found the drachma which I had lost. 10 Even so, I say to you+, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.

11 And he said, A certain man had two sons: 12 and the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of [your] substance that falls to me. And he divided to them his living. 13 And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together and took his journey into a far country; and there he wasted his substance with riotous living. 14 And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that country; and he began to be in want. 15 And he went and stuck [close] to one of the citizens of that country; and he sent him into his fields to shepherd swine. 16 And he desired to have filled his belly with the pods that the swine ate: and no man gave to him. 17 But when he came to himself he said, How many hired workers of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish here with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight: 19 I am no more worthy to be called your son: make me as one of your hired workers. 20 And he arose, and came to his father.

But while he was yet far off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight: I am no more worthy to be called your son. 22 But the father said to his slaves, Bring forth quickly the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and sandals on his feet: 23 and bring the fatted calf, [and] kill it, and let us eat, and make merry: 24 for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.

25 Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 And he called to him one of the [household] slaves, and inquired what these things might be. 27 And he said to him, Your brother has come; and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has received him safe and sound. 28 But he was angry, and would not go in: and his father came out, and entreated him. 29 But he answered and said to his father, Look, these many years I serve you as a slave, and I never transgressed a commandment of yours; and [yet] you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends: 30 but when this your son came, who has devoured your living with prostitutes, you killed for him the fatted calf. 31 And he said to him, Child, you are ever with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 But it was meet to make merry and be glad: for this your brother was dead, and is alive [again]; and [was] lost, and is found.

16  And he said also to the disciples, There was a certain rich man, who had a steward; and the same was accused to him that he was wasting his goods. 2 And he called him, and said to him, What is this that I hear of you? Render the account of your stewardship; for you can no longer be steward. 3 And the steward said to himself, What shall I do, seeing that my lord takes away the stewardship from me? I don't have strength to dig; I am ashamed to beg. 4 I have resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. 5 And calling to him each one of his lord's debtors, he said to the first, How much do you owe to my lord? 6 And he said, A hundred measures of oil. And he said to him, Take your bond, and sit down quickly and write fifty. 7 Then he said to another, And how much do you owe? And he said, A hundred measures of wheat. He says to him, Take your bond, and write eighty. 8 And his lord commended the unrighteous steward because he had done wisely: for the sons of this age are for their own generation wiser than the sons of the light. 9 And I say to you+, Make to yourselves friends by means of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when it will fail, they may receive you+ into the eternal tabernacles. 10 He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much: and he who is unrighteous in a very little is unrighteous also in much. 11 If therefore you+ haven't been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your+ trust the true [riches]? 12 And if you+ haven't been faithful in that which is another's, who will give you+ that which is your+ own? 13 No household slave can serve as a slave to two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or he will hold to one, and despise the other. You+ can't serve as a slave to God and mammon.

14 And the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things; and they scoffed at him. 15 And he said to them, You+ are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men; but God knows your+ hearts: for that which is exalted among men is disgusting in the sight of God.

16 The law and the prophets [were] until John: from that time the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and every man enters violently into it. 17 But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for one tittle of the law to fall. 18 Everyone who divorces his wife, and marries another, commits adultery: and he who marries her who has been divorced from a husband commits adultery.

19 Now there was a certain rich man, and he was clothed in purple and fine linen, faring sumptuously every day: 20 and a certain beggar named Lazarus was laid at his gate, full of sores, 21 and desiring to be fed with the [crumbs] that fell from the rich man's table; yes, even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and that he was carried away by the angels into Abraham's bosom: and the rich man also died, and was buried. 23 And in Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and sees Abraham far off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am in anguish in this flame. 25 But Abraham said, Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things: but now here he is comforted, and you are in anguish. 26 And besides all this, between us and you+ there is a great gulf fixed, that those who would pass from here to you+ may not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us. 27 And he said, I pray you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father's house; 28 for I have five brothers; that he may testify to them, lest they also come into this place of torment. 29 But Abraham says, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. 30 And he said, No, father Abraham: but if one go to them from the dead, they will repent. 31 And he said to him, If they don't hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, if one would rise from the dead.

17  And he said to his disciples, It is impossible but that occasions of stumbling should come; but woe to him, through whom they come! 2 It were well for him if a millstone were put around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, rather than that he should cause one of these little ones to stumble. 3 Take heed to yourselves: if your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. 4 And if he sins against you seven times in the day, and seven times turn again to you, saying, I repent; you will forgive him. 5 And the apostles said to the Lord, Increase our faith. 6 And the Lord said, If you+ had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you+ would say to this sycamine tree, Be rooted up, and be planted in the sea; and it would obey you+.

7 But who is there of you+, having a slave plowing or shepherding, that will say to him, when he has come in from the field, Come right away and sit down to meat; 8 and will not rather say to him, Make ready [that] with which I may sup, and gird yourself, and serve me, until I have eaten and drank; and afterward you will eat and drink? 9 Does he thank the slave because he did the things that were commanded? 10 Even so you+ also, when you+ will have done all the things that are commanded you+, say, We are unprofitable slaves; we have done that which it was our duty to do.

11 And it came to pass, as they were on the way to Jerusalem, that he was passing through between the borders of Samaria and Galilee. 12 And as he entered into a certain village, ten men who were lepers met him, who stood far off: 13 and they lifted up their voices, saying, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. 14 And when he saw them, he said to them, Go and show yourselves to the priests. And it came to pass, as they went, they were cleansed. 15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, with a loud voice glorifying God; 16 and he fell on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. 17 And Jesus answering said, Were not the ten cleansed? But where are the nine? 18 Were there none found that returned to give glory to God, except this stranger? 19 And he said to him, Arise, and go your way: your faith has made you whole.

20 And being asked by the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God comes, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God does not come with observation: 21 neither will they say, Look, here! Or, There! For look, the kingdom of God is inside you+. 22 And he said to the disciples, The days will come, when you+ will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you+ will not see it. 23 And they will say to you+, Look, there! Or, Look, here! Don't go away, nor follow after [them]: 24 for as the lightning, when it flashes out of the one part under the heaven, shines to the other part under heaven; so will the Son of Man be in his day. 25 But first he must suffer many things and be rejected of this generation. 26 And as it came to pass in the days of Noah, even so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man. 27 They ate, they drank, they married, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. 28 Likewise even as it came to pass in the days of Lot; they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; 29 but in the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all: 30 after the same manner it will be in the day that the Son of Man is revealed. 31 In that day, he who will be on the housetop, and his goods in the house, let him not go down to take them away: and let him who is in the field likewise not return back. 32 Remember Lot's wife. 33 Whoever will seek to gain his soul will lose it: but whoever will lose [his soul] will preserve it. 34 I say to you+, In that night there will be two men on one bed; the one will be taken, and the other will be left. 35 There will be two women grinding together; the one will be taken, and the other will be left.[91] 37 And answering they say to him, Where, Lord? And he said to them, Where the body [is], there will the eagles also be gathered together.

18  And he spoke a parable to them to the end that they ought always to pray, and not to faint; 2 saying, There was in a city a judge, who didn't fear God, and didn't regard man: 3 and there was a widow in that city; and she came often to him, saying, Avenge me of my adversary. 4 And he would not for awhile: but after these things he said to himself, Though I don't fear God, nor regard man; 5 yet because this widow troubles me, I will avenge her, lest she wear me out by her continual coming. 6 And the Lord said, Hear what the unrighteous judge says. 7 And will not God avenge his elect, that cry to him day and night, and [yet] he is long-suffering over them? 8 I say to you+, that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?

9 And he spoke also this parable to certain ones, who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and set all others at nothing: 10 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. 11 The Pharisee stood and prayed these things to himself, God, I thank you, that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. 12 I fast twice in the week; I give tithes of all that I get. 13 But the publican, standing far off, would not lift up so much as his eyes to heaven, but struck his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me a sinner. 14 I say to you+, This man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled; but he who humbles himself will be exalted.

15 And they were bringing to him also their babies, that he should touch them: but when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. 16 But Jesus called them to him, saying, Allow the little children to come to me, and don't forbid them: for to such belongs the kingdom of God. 17 Truly I say to you+, Whoever will not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he will in no way enter in it.

18 And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? 19 And Jesus said to him, Why do you call me good? None is good but one, God. 20 You know the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother. 21 And he said, All these things I have observed from youth. 22 And when Jesus heard it, he said to him, One thing you lack yet: sell all that you have, and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me. 23 But when he heard these things, he became exceedingly sorrowful; for he was very rich. 24 And Jesus seeing him become exceedingly sorrowful said, How hard it is for those having riches to enter into the kingdom of God! 25 For it is easier for a camel to enter in through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. 26 And those who heard it said, Then who can be saved? 27 But he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God. 28 And Peter said, Look, we have left our own, and followed you. 29 And he said to them, Truly I say to you+, There is no man who has left house, or wife, or brothers, or parents, or children, for the kingdom of God's sake, 30 who will not receive manifold more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.

31 And he took to him the twelve, and said to them, Look, we go up to Jerusalem, and all the things that are written through the prophets will be accomplished to the Son of Man. 32 For he will be delivered up to the Gentiles, and will be mocked, and shamefully treated, and spit on: 33 and they will scourge and kill him: and the third day he will rise again. 34 And they understood none of these things; and this saying was hid from them, and they didn't perceive the things that were said.

35 And it came to pass, as he drew near to Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the wayside begging: 36 and hearing a multitude going by, he inquired what this might be. 37 And they told him, that Jesus of Nazareth passes by. 38 And he cried out, saying, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. 39 And those who went before rebuked him, that he should hold his peace: but he cried out the more a great deal, Son of David, have mercy on me. 40 And Jesus stood, and commanded him to be brought to him: and when he came near, he asked him, 41 What do you want that I should do to you? And he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight. 42 And Jesus said to him, Receive your sight: your faith has made you whole. 43 And immediately he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God: and all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.

19  And he entered and was passing through Jericho. 2 And look, a man called by name Zacchaeus; and he was a chief publican, and he was rich. 3 And he sought to see Jesus who he was; and could not for the crowd, because he was little of stature. 4 And he ran on before, and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him: for he was to pass that way. 5 And when he came to the place, Jesus looked up, and said to him, Zacchaeus, hurry, and come down; for today I must stay at your house. 6 And he hurried, and came down, and received him joyfully. 7 And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, He has gone in to lodge with a man who is a sinner. 8 And Zacchaeus stood, and said to the Lord, Look, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have wrongfully exacted anything of any man, I restore fourfold. 9 And Jesus said to him, Today has salvation come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost. 11 And as they heard these things, he added and spoke a parable, because he was near to Jerusalem, and [because] they supposed that the kingdom of God was immediately to appear.

12 He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country, to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. 13 And he called ten slaves of his, and gave them ten minas,[92] and said to them, Trade+ until I come. 14 But his citizens hated him, and sent an ambassador after him, saying, We will not have this man reign over us. 15 And it came to pass, when he came back again, having received the kingdom, that he commanded these slaves, to whom he had given the money, to be called to him, that he might know what they had gained by trading. 16 And the first came before him, saying, Lord, your mina has made ten minas more. 17 And he said to him, Well done, you good slave: because you were found faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities. 18 And the second came, saying, Your mina, Lord, has made five minas. 19 And he said to him also, You also be over five cities. 20 And another came, saying, Lord, look, [here is] your mina, which I kept laid up in a napkin: 21 for I feared you, because you are an austere man: you take up that which you did not lay down, and reap that which you did not sow. 22 He says to him, Out of your own mouth I will judge you, you wicked slave. You knew that I am an austere man, taking up that which I did not lay down, and reaping that which I did not sow; 23 then why didn't you give my money into the bank, and I at my coming should have collected it with interest? 24 And he said to those who stood by, Take away from him the mina, and give it to him who has the ten minas. 25 And they said to him, Lord, he has ten minas. 26 I say to you+, that to everyone who has will be given; but from him who has not, even that which he has will be taken away. 27 But these enemies of mine, who did not want that I should reign over them, bring here, and slay them before me. 28 And when he had thus spoken, he went on before, going up to Jerusalem.

29 And it came to pass, when he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called, of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, 30 saying, Go your+ way into the village across from [you+]; in which as you+ enter you+ will find a colt tied, on which no man ever yet sat: and having loosed him, bring him. 31 And if anyone asks you+, Why do you+ loose him? Thus you+ will say, The Lord has need of him. 32 And those who were sent, went away, and found even as he had said to them. 33 And as they were loosing the colt, its owners said to them, Why do you+ loose the colt? 34 And they said, The Lord has need of him. 35 And they brought him to Jesus: and they threw their garments on the colt, and set Jesus on it. 36 And as he went, they spread their garments in the way.

37 And as he was now drawing near, [even] at the descent of the mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works which they had seen; 38 saying, Blessed [is] he who comes, the King, in the name of Yahweh: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest. 39 And some of the Pharisees from the multitude said to him, Teacher, rebuke your disciples. 40 And he answered and said, I tell you+, if these will hold their peace, the stones will cry out.

41 And when he drew near, he saw the city and wept over it, 42 saying, If you had known in this day, even you, the things which belong to peace! But now they are hid from your eyes. 43 For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will cast up a bank about you, and circle you round, and keep you in on every side, 44 and will dash you to the ground, and your children inside you; and they will not leave in you one stone on another; because you didn't know the time of your visitation.

45 And he entered into the temple, and began to cast out those who sold, 46 saying to them, It is written, And my house will be a house of prayer: but you+ have made it a den of robbers. 47 And he was teaching daily in the temple. But the chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people sought to destroy him: 48 and they could not find what they might do; for the people all hung on him, listening.

20  And it came to pass, on one of the days, as he was teaching the people in the temple, and preaching the good news, there came upon him the chief priests and the scribes with the elders; 2 and they spoke, saying to him, Tell us: By what authority do you do these things? Or who is he who gave you this authority? 3 And he answered and said to them, I also will ask you+ a question; and tell me: 4 The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or from men? 5 And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we will say, From heaven; he will say, Why didn't you+ believe him? 6 But if we will say, From men; all the people will stone us: for they are persuaded that John was a prophet. 7 And they answered, that they didn't know from where [it was]. 8 And Jesus said to them, Neither do I tell you+ by what authority I do these things.

9 And he began to speak to the people this parable: A certain man planted a vineyard, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into another country for a long time. 10 And at the season he sent to the husbandmen a slave, that they should give him of the fruit of the vineyard: but the husbandmen beat him, and sent him away empty. 11 And he sent yet another slave: and him also they beat, and handled him shamefully, and sent him away empty. 12 And he sent yet a third: and him also they wounded, and cast him forth. 13 And the lord of the vineyard said, What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; it may be they will reverence him. 14 But when the husbandmen saw him, they reasoned one with another, saying, This is the heir; let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours. 15 And they cast him forth out of the vineyard, and killed him. What therefore will the lord of the vineyard do to them? 16 He will come and destroy these husbandmen, and will give the vineyard to others. And when they heard it, they said, God forbid. 17 But he looked on them, and said, What then is this that is written, The stone which the builders rejected, The same was made the head of the corner? 18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it will fall, it will scatter him as dust. 19 And the scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him in that very hour; and they feared the people: for they perceived that he spoke this parable against them.

20 And they watched him, and sent forth spies, who feigned themselves to be righteous, that they might take hold of his speech, so as to deliver him up to the rule and to the authority of the governor. 21 And they asked him, saying, Teacher, we know that you say and teach rightly, and do not accept the person [of any], but of a truth teach the way of God: 22 Is it lawful for us to give tax to Caesar, or not? 23 But he perceived their craftiness, and said to them, 24 Show me a denarius.[93] Whose image and superscription does it have? And they said, Caesar's. 25 And he said to them, Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. 26 And they were not able to take hold of what he said before the people: and they marveled at his answer, and held their peace.

27 And there came to him certain of the Sadducees, those denying that there is a resurrection; 28 and they asked him, saying, Teacher, Moses wrote to us, that if a man's brother dies, having a wife, and he is childless, his brother should take the wife, and raise up seed to his brother. 29 There were therefore seven brothers: and the first took a wife, and died childless; 30 and the second: 31 and the third took her; and likewise the seven also left no children, and died. 32 Afterward the woman also died. 33 Therefore in the resurrection, whose wife of them will the woman be? For the seven had her as wife. 34 And Jesus said to them, The sons of this age marry, and are given in marriage: 35 but those who are accounted worthy to attain to that age, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: 36 for neither can they die anymore: for they are equal to the angels; and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. 37 But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in [the place concerning] the bush, when he calls Yahweh the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. 38 Now he is not the God of the dead, but of the living: for all live to him. 39 And certain of the scribes answering said, Teacher, you have said well. 40 For they didn't dare anymore ask him any question.

41 And he said to them, How do they say that the Christ is David's son? 42 For David himself says in the Book of Psalms, Yahweh said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, 43 Until I make your enemies the footstool of your feet. 44 David therefore calls him Lord, and how is he his son?

45 And in the hearing of all the people he said to his disciples, 46 Beware of the scribes, who desire to walk in long robes, and love salutations in the marketplaces, and chief seats in the synagogues, and chief places at feasts; 47 who devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers: these will receive greater condemnation.

21  And he looked up, and saw the rich men who were casting their gifts into the treasury. 2 And he saw a certain poor widow casting in there two lepta.[94] 3 And he said, Of a truth I say to you+, This poor widow cast in more than all of them: 4 for all these of their superfluity cast in to the gifts; but she of her want cast in all the living that she had.

5 And as some spoke of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and offerings, he said, 6 As for these things which you+ are looking at, the days will come, in which there will not be left one stone on another, that will not be thrown down.

7 And they asked him, saying, Teacher, when therefore will these things be? And what [will be] the sign when these things are about to come to pass? 8 And he said, Take heed that you+ are not led astray: for many will come in my name, saying, I am [he]; and, The time is at hand: don't go+ after them. 9 And when you+ will hear of wars and tumults, don't be terrified: for these things must surely come to pass first; but the end is not immediately. 10 Then he said to them, Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; 11 and there will be great earthquakes, and in diverse places famines and pestilences; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. 12 But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you+, and will persecute you+, delivering you+ up to the synagogues and prisons, bringing you+ before kings and governors for my name's sake. 13 It will turn out to you+ for a testimony. 14 Settle it therefore in your+ hearts, not to meditate beforehand how to answer: 15 for I will give you+ a mouth and wisdom, which all your+ adversaries will not be able to withstand or to gainsay. 16 But you+ will be delivered up even by parents, and brothers, and kinsfolk, and friends; and [some] of you+ they will cause to be put to death. 17 And you+ will be hated of all men for my name's sake. 18 And not a hair of your+ head will perish. 19 In your+ patience you+ win your+ souls.

20 But when you+ see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that her desolation is at hand. 21 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains; and let those who are inside her[95] depart out; and don't let those who are in the country enter into her. 22 For these are days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. 23 Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who nurse in those days! For there will be great distress on the land, and wrath to this people. 24 And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations: and Jerusalem will be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.

25 And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars; and on the earth distress of nations, in perplexity for the roaring of the sea and the billows; 26 men fainting for fear, and for expectation of the things which are coming upon the world: for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 27 And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 But when these things begin to come to pass, look up, and lift up your+ heads; because your+ redemption draws near.

29 And he spoke to them a parable: Look at the fig tree, and all the trees: 30 when they now shoot forth, you+ see it and know of your+ own selves that the summer is now near. 31 Even so you+ also, when you+ see these things coming to pass, know+ that the kingdom of God is near. 32 Truly I say to you+, This generation will not pass away, until all things be accomplished. 33 Heaven and earth will pass away: but my words will not pass away.

34 But take heed to yourselves, lest perhaps your+ hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that day come upon you+ suddenly as a snare: 35 for [so] it will come upon all those who dwell on the face of all the earth. 36 But watch+ at every season, making supplication, that you+ may prevail to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.

37 And every day he was teaching in the temple; and every night he went out, and lodged in the mount that is called of Olives. 38 And all the people came early in the morning to him in the temple, to hear him.

22  Now the feast of unleavened bread drew near, which is called the Passover. 2 And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might put him to death; for they feared the people. 3 And Satan entered into Judas who was called Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve. 4 And he went away, and communed with the chief priests and captains, how he might deliver him to them. 5 And they were glad, and covenanted to give him money. 6 And he consented, and sought opportunity to deliver him to them in the absence of the multitude.

7 And the day of unleavened bread came, on which the Passover must be sacrificed. 8 And he sent Peter and John, saying, Go and make ready for us the Passover, that we may eat. 9 And they said to him, Where do you want us to make ready? 10 And he said to them, Look, when you+ have entered into the city, there will meet you+ a man bearing a pitcher of water; follow him into the house into which he goes. 11 And you+ will say to the master of the house, The Teacher says to you, Where is the guestchamber, where I will eat the Passover with my disciples? 12 And he will show you+ a large upper room furnished: there make ready. 13 And they went, and found as he had said to them: and they made ready the Passover.

14 And when the hour came, he sat down, and the apostles with him. 15 And he said to them, With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you+ before I suffer: 16 for I say to you+, I will not eat it, until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. 17 And he received a cup, and when he had given thanks, he said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves: 18 for I say to you+, I will not drink from now on of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God will come. 19 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and gave to them, saying, This is my body which is given for you+: this do in remembrance of me. 20 And the cup in like manner after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood, [even] that which is poured out for you+. 21 But look, the hand of him who delivers me up is with me on the table. 22 For the Son of Man indeed goes, as it has been determined: but woe to that man through whom he is delivered up! 23 And they began to question among themselves, which of them it might be that should participate in this thing.

24 And there arose also a contention among them, which of them was accounted to be greatest. 25 And he said to them, The kings of the Gentiles have lordship over them; and those who have authority over them are called Benefactors. 26 But you+ [will] not [be] so: but he who is the greater among you+, let him become as the younger; and he who is chief, as he who serves. 27 For which is greater, he who sits at meat, or he who serves? Isn't it he who sits at meat? But I am among you+ as he who serves. 28 But you+ are those who have continued with me in my trials; 29 and I appoint to you+, even as my Father appointed to me, a kingdom, 30 that you+ may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom; and you+ will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

31 Simon, Simon, look, Satan asked to have you+, that he might sift you+ as wheat: 32 but I made supplication for you, that your faith does not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, establish your brothers. 33 And he said to him, Lord, I am ready to go both to prison and to death with you. 34 And he said, I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day, until you have thrice denied that you know me.

35 And he said to them, When I sent you+ forth without wallet, and bag, and sandals, did you+ lack anything? And they said, Nothing. 36 And he said to them, But now, he who has a wallet, let him take it, and likewise a bag; and he who has none, let him sell his cloak, and buy a sword. 37 For I say to you+, that this which is written must be fulfilled in me, And he was reckoned with transgressors: for that which concerns me has fulfillment. 38 And they said, Lord, look, here are two swords. And he said to them, It is enough.

39 And he came out, and went, as his custom was, to the mount of Olives; and the disciples also followed him. 40 And when he was at the place, he said to them, Pray that you+ do not enter into temptation. 41 And he was parted from them about a stone's cast; and he knelt down and prayed, 42 saying, Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but yours, be done.[96] 45 And when he rose up from his prayer, he came to the disciples, and found them sleeping for sorrow, 46 and said to them, Why do you+ sleep? Rise and pray, that you+ do not enter into temptation.

47 While he yet spoke, look, a multitude, and he who was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them; and he drew near to Jesus to kiss him. 48 But Jesus said to him, Judas, do you deliver up the Son of Man with a kiss? 49 And when those who were about him saw what would follow, they said, Lord, shall we strike with the sword? 50 And a certain one of them struck the slave of the high priest, and took off his right ear. 51 But Jesus answered and said, Allow+ [them] thus far. And he touched his ear, and healed him. 52 And Jesus said to the chief priests, and captains of the temple, and elders, that had come upon him, As upon a robber, did you+ come out with swords and staves? 53 When I was daily with you+ in the temple, you+ did not stretch forth your+ hands against me: but this is your+ hour, and the power of darkness.

54 And they seized him, and led him [away], and brought him into the high priest's house. But Peter followed far off. 55 And when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the court, and had sat down together, Peter sat among them. 56 And a certain female slave seeing him as he sat in the light [of the fire], and looking steadfastly on him, said, This man also was with him. 57 But he denied, saying, Woman, I don't know him. 58 And after a little while another saw him, and said, You also are [one] of them. But Peter said, Man, I am not. 59 And after the space of about one hour another confidently affirmed, saying, Of a truth this man also was with him; for he is a Galilean. 60 But Peter said, Man, I don't know what you say. And immediately, while he yet spoke, the rooster crowed. 61 And the Lord turned, and looked on Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how that he said to him, Before the rooster crows this day you will deny me thrice. 62 And he went out, and wept bitterly.

63 And the men who held [Jesus] mocked him, and beat him. 64 And they blindfolded him, and asked, saying, Prophesy: who is he that struck you? 65 And many other things they spoke against him, reviling him.

66 And as soon as it was day, the assembly of the elders of the people was gathered together, both chief priests and scribes; and they led him away into their Sanhedrin, 67 saying, If you are the Christ, tell us. But he said to them, If I tell you+, you+ will not believe: 68 and if I ask [you+], you+ will not answer. 69 But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God. 70 And they all said, Are you then the Son of God? And he said to them, You+ say that I am. 71 And they said, What further need do we have of witness? For we ourselves have heard from his own mouth.

23  And the whole company of them rose up, and brought him before Pilate. 2 And they began to accuse him, saying, We found this man perverting our nation, and forbidding to give taxes to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ a king. 3 And Pilate asked him, saying, Are you the King of the Jews? And he answered him and said, You say. 4 And Pilate said to the chief priests and the multitudes, I find no fault in this man. 5 But they were the more urgent, saying, He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, and beginning from Galilee even to this place.

6 But when Pilate heard it, he asked whether the man were a Galilean. 7 And when he knew that he was of Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who himself also was at Jerusalem in these days. 8 Now when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceedingly glad: for he was of a long time desirous to see him, because he had heard concerning him; and he hoped to see some miracle done by him. 9 And he questioned him in many words; but he answered him nothing. 10 And the chief priests and the scribes stood, vehemently accusing him.

11 And Herod with his soldiers also set him at nothing, and mocked him, and arraying him in gorgeous apparel sent him back to Pilate. 12 And Herod and Pilate became friends with each other that very day: for before they were at enmity between themselves.

13 And Pilate called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people, 14 and said to them, You+ brought to me this man, as one who perverts the people: and look, I, having examined him before you+, found no fault in this man concerning those things of which you+ accuse him: 15 no, nor yet Herod: for he sent him back to us; and look, he has been participating in nothing worthy of death. 16 I will therefore chastise him, and release him.[97] 18 But they cried out all together, saying, Away with this man, and release to us Barabbas:— 19 one who for a certain insurrection made in the city, and for murder, was cast into prison. 20 And Pilate spoke to them again, desiring to release Jesus; 21 but they shouted, saying, Crucify, crucify him. 22 And he said to them the third time, Why, what evil has this man done? I have found no cause of death in him: I will therefore chastise him and release him. 23 But they were urgent with loud voices, asking that he might be crucified. And their voices prevailed. 24 And Pilate gave sentence that what they asked for should be done. 25 And he released him who for insurrection and murder had been cast into prison, whom they asked for; but Jesus he delivered up to their will. 26 And when they led him away, they laid hold on one Simon of Cyrene, coming from the country, and laid on him the cross, to bear it after Jesus.

27 And there followed him a great multitude of the people, and of women who bewailed and lamented him. 28 But Jesus turning to them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your+ children. 29 For look, the days are coming, in which they will say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed. 30 Then they will begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us. 31 For if they do these things in the green tree, what will be done in the dry?

32 And there were also two others, criminals, led with him to be put to death. 33 And when they came to the place which is called The skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on the right and one on the left. 34 And parting his garments among them, they cast lots.[98] 35 And the people stood watching. And the rulers also scoffed at him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if this is the Christ of God, his chosen. 36 And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him, offering him vinegar, 37 and saying, If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself. 38 And there was also a superscription over him, THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.[99]

44 And it was now about the sixth hour, and a darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, 45 the sun's light failing: and the veil of the temple was rent in the middle. 46 And Jesus cried with a loud voice and breathed his last. 49 And the women who followed with him from Galilee, stood far off, seeing these things.[100]

50 And look, a man named Joseph, who was a councilor, 51 [a man] of Arimathaea, who was looking for the kingdom of God: 52 this man went to Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus. 53 And he took it down, and wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid him in a tomb that was cut in stone, where man had never yet lain. 54 And it was the day of the Preparation, and the Sabbath drew on. 55 And the women, who had come with him out of Galilee, followed after, and looked at the tomb, and how his body was laid.

24  But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, bringing spices. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. 3 And they entered in, and did not find the body. 4 And it came to pass, while they were perplexed thereabout, look, a man stood by them in white apparel: 5 and as they were frightened, he said to them, 6 He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spoke to you+ when he was yet in Galilee. 8 And they 9 returned from the tomb.[101]

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Romans

To the Romans

1  Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, a called[102] apostle, separated to the good news of God, 2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures, 3 concerning his Son, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, 4 who was declared the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, 5 through whom we received grace and apostleship, to obedience of faith among all the nations, for his name's sake; 6 among whom you+ are also, [the] called of Jesus Christ: 7 to all who are in Rome, beloved of God, [the] called saints: Grace to you+ and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you+, that your+ faith is proclaimed throughout the whole world. 9 For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the good news of his Son, how I unceasingly remember you+ 10 always in my prayers making request, if by any means now at length I may be prospered by the will of God to come to you+. 11 For I long to see you+, that I may impart to you+ some spiritual gift, to the end you+ may be established; 12 that is, that I with you+ may be comforted in you+, each of us by the other's faith, both yours+ and mine. 13 And I would not have you+ ignorant, brothers, that oftentimes I purposed to come to you+ (and was hindered until now), that I might have some fruit in you+ also, even as in the rest of the Gentiles. 14 I am debtor both to Greeks and to Barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. 15 So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the good news to you+ also who are in Rome.

16 For I am not ashamed of the good news: for it is the power of God to salvation to everyone who believes; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. 17 For in it is revealed a righteousness of God from faith to faith: as it is written, But the righteous will live by faith.

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hinder the truth in unrighteousness; 19 because that which is known of God is manifest in them; for God manifested it to them. 20 For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, [even] his everlasting power and divinity; that they may be without excuse: 21 because knowing God, they did not glorify him as God or give thanks; but became vain in their reasonings, and their senseless heart was darkened. 22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things.

24 Therefore God delivered them up in the desires of their hearts to impurity, that their bodies should be shamed among themselves: 25 they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creation rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

26 For this cause God delivered them up to immoral sexual passions of shame: for even their women changed the natural use into what is against nature: 27 and likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, became passionate with each other, men with men, shamefully having sex together, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was due.

28 And even as they did not approve to have God in [their] knowledge, God delivered them up to a disapproved mind, to do those things which are not fitting; 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malignity; whisperers, 30 backbiters, hateful to God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, unmerciful: 32 who, knowing the ordinance of God, that those who participate in such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but also give their approval to those who participate in them.

2  Therefore you are without excuse, O man, whoever you are that judge: for in what you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge participate in the same things. 2 And we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who participate in such things. 3 And reckon this, O man, who judge those who participate in such things, and do the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? 4 Or do you despise the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? 5 But after your hardness and impenitent heart treasure up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; 6 who will render to every man according to his works: 7 to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and incorruption, eternal life: 8 but to those who are factious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, [will be] wrath and indignation, 9 tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who works evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Greek; 10 but glory and honor and peace to every man who works good, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek: 11 for there is no favoritism with God. 12 For as many as have sinned without the law will also perish without the law: and as many as have sinned under the law will be judged by the law; 13 for not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law will be justified; 14 (for when Gentiles who don't have the law do by nature the things of the law, these, not having the law, are the law to themselves; 15 in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness with them, and their thoughts one with another accusing or excusing [them]); 16 in the day when God judges the secrets of men, according to my good news, by Christ Jesus.

17 But if you bear the name of a Jew, and rest on the law, and glory in God, 18 and know his will, and approve the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law, 19 and are confident that you yourself are a guide of the blind, a light of those who are in darkness, 20 a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of juveniles, having in the law the form of knowledge and of the truth; 21 you therefore who teach another, don't you teach yourself? You who preach a man should not steal, do you steal? 22 You who say a man should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who detest idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who glory in the law, through your transgression of the law do you dishonor God? 24 For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you+, even as it is written. 25 For circumcision indeed profits, if you participate in the law: but if you are a transgressor of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. 26 If therefore the uncircumcision keeps the ordinances of the law, will not his uncircumcision be reckoned for circumcision? 27 And will not the uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfills the law, judge you, who with the letter and circumcision are a transgressor of the law? 28 For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh: 29 but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

3  What advantage then has the Jew? Or what is the profit of circumcision? 2 Much in every way: first of all, because they were entrusted with the oracles of God. 3 What then? If some were without faith, will their want of faith make of no effect the faithfulness of God? 4 God forbid: yes, let God be found true, but every man a liar; according to as it is written, That you might be justified in your words, And might prevail when you come into judgment.

5 But if our unrighteousness commends the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who visits with wrath? (I speak after the manner of men.) 6 God forbid: for then how will God judge the world? 7 But if the truth of God through my lie abounded to his glory, why am I also still judged as a sinner? 8 And why not (as we are slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say), Let us do evil, that good may come? Whose condemnation is just. 9 What then? Are we better than they? No, in no way: for we before laid to the charge both of Jews and Greeks, that they are all under sin; 10 as it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one; 11 There is none who understands, There is none who seeks after God; 12 They have all turned aside, they have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not so much as one: 13 Their throat is an open tomb; With their tongues they have used deceit: The poison of asps is under their lips: 14 Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: 15 Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 Destruction and misery are in their ways; 17 And the way of peace they have not known: 18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.

19 Now we know that whatever things the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law; that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may be brought under the judgment of God: 20 because by the works of the law will no flesh be justified in his sight; for through the law [comes] the knowledge of sin.

21 But now apart from the law a righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; 22 even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all those who believe; for there is no distinction; 23 for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God; 24 being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25 whom God set forth [to be] a propitiation, through faith, in his blood, to show his righteousness because of the passing over of the sins done previously, in the forbearance of God; 26 for the showing, [I say], of his righteousness at this present season: that he might himself be just, and the justifier of him who has faith in Jesus. 27 Where then is the glorying? It is excluded. By what manner of law? Of works? No: but by a law of faith. 28 For we reckon that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. 29 Or is God [the God] of Jews only? Is he not [the God] of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also: 30 since there is [only] one God, he will justify the circumcision by faith, and the uncircumcision through faith.

31 Do we then make the law of no effect through faith? God forbid: no, we establish the law.

4  What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, has found according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something of which to glory; but not toward God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him for righteousness. 4 Now to him who works, the wages aren't reckoned as of grace, but as of debt. 5 But to him who does not work, but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned for righteousness. 6 Even as David also pronounces blessing on the man, to whom God reckons righteousness apart from works, 7 [saying,] Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, And whose sins are covered. 8 Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not reckon.

9 Is this blessing then pronounced on the circumcision, or on the uncircumcision also? For we say, To Abraham his faith was reckoned for righteousness. 10 How then was it reckoned? When he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision: 11 and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while he was in uncircumcision: that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are in uncircumcision, that righteousness might be reckoned to them also; 12 and the father of circumcision to them who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham which he had in uncircumcision. 13 For not through the law was the promise to Abraham or to his seed that he should be heir of the world, but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void, and the promise is made of no effect: 15 for the law works wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there transgression. 16 For this cause [it is] of faith, that [it may be] according to grace; to the end that the promise may be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all 17 (as it is written, A father of many nations I have made you) before him whom he believed, [even] God, who gives life to the dead, and calls the things that are not, as though they were. 18 Who in hope believed against hope, to the end that he might become a father of many nations, according to that which had been spoken, So will your seed be. 19 And without being weakened in faith he considered his own body now as good as dead (he being about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah's womb; 20 yet, looking to the promise of God, he didn't waver through unbelief, but waxed strong through faith, giving glory to God, 21 and being fully assured that what he had promised, he was able also to perform. 22 Therefore also it was reckoned to him for righteousness. 23 Now it wasn't written for his sake alone, that it was reckoned to him; 24 but for our sake also, to whom it will be reckoned, who believe on him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, 25 who was delivered up for our trespasses, and was raised for our justification.

5  Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; 2 through whom also we have had our access by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only so, but we also rejoice in our tribulations: knowing that tribulation works steadfastness; 4 and steadfastness, approvedness; and approvedness, hope: 5 and hope does not put to shame; because the love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. 6 For while we were yet weak, in due season Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: for perhaps for the good man someone would even dare to die. 8 But God commends his own love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, shall we be saved from the wrath [of God] through him. 10 For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, shall we be saved by his life; 11 and not only so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

12 Therefore, as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin; and so death passed to all men, for that all sinned:— 13 for until the law sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned after the likeness of Adam's transgression, who is a figure of him who was to come. 15 But not as the trespass, so also [is] the gift. For if by the trespass of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God, and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. 16 And not as through one who sinned, [so] is the gift: for the judgment [came] of one to condemnation, but the gift [came] of many trespasses to justification. 17 For if, by the trespass of the one, death reigned through the one; much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, [even] Jesus Christ. 18 So then as through one trespass [the judgment came] to all men to condemnation; even so through one act of righteousness [the gift came] to all men to justification of life. 19 For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the one will the many be made righteous. 20 And the law came in besides, that the trespass might abound; but where sin abounded, grace abounded more exceedingly: 21 that, as sin reigned in death, even so might grace reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

6  What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2 God forbid. We who died to sin, how shall we any longer live in it? 3 Or are you+ ignorant that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death: that like Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have become united with [him] in the likeness of his death, we will be also [in the likeness] of his resurrection; 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with [him], that the body of sin might be done away, it no longer to serve us as slaves to sin; 7 for he who has died is justified from sin. 8 But if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him; 9 knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dies no more; death no more has dominion over him. 10 For the death that he died, he died to sin once: but the life that he lives, he lives to God. 11 Even so reckon+ also yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

12 Don't let sin therefore reign in your+ mortal body, that you+ should obey its desires: 13 neither present your+ members to sin [as] instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God, as alive from the dead, and your+ members [as] instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin will not have dominion over you+: for you+ are not under law, but under grace.

15 What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under law, but under grace? God forbid. 16 Don't you+ know, that to whom you+ present yourselves [as] slaves to obedience, his slaves you+ are whom you+ obey; whether of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God, that, whereas you+ were slaves of sin, you+ became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you+ were delivered; 18 and being made free from sin, you+ were made a slave to righteousness. 19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your+ flesh: for as you+ presented your+ members [as] slaves to impurity and to iniquity to iniquity, even so now present your+ members [as] slaves to righteousness to sanctification. 20 For when you+ were slaves of sin, you+ were free in regard of righteousness. 21 What fruit then did you+ have at that time in the things of which you+ are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now being made free from sin and being made slaves to God, you+ have your+ fruit to sanctification, and the end eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

7  Or are you+ ignorant, brothers (for I speak to men who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man for as long as he lives? 2 For the woman who has a husband is bound by law to the husband while he lives; but if the husband dies, she is discharged from the law of the husband. 3 So then if, while the husband lives, she is joined to another man, she will be called an adulteress: but if the husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is no adulteress, though she is joined to another man. 4 Therefore, my brothers, you+ also were made dead to the law through the body of Christ; that you+ should be joined to another, to him who was raised from the dead, that we might bring forth fruit to God. 5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were through the law, worked in our members to bring forth fruit to death. 6 But now we have been discharged from the law, having died to that in which we were held, in order to serve us as slaves in newness of the spirit, and not in oldness of the letter.

7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nevertheless, I had not known sin, except through the law: for I had not known coveting, except the law had said, You will not covet: 8 but sin, finding occasion, worked in me through the commandment all manner of coveting: for apart from the law sin [is] dead. 9 And I was alive apart from the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, 10 and I died, and the commandment, which [was] to life, this I found [to be] to death: 11 for sin, finding occasion, through the commandment beguiled me, and through it slew me. 12 So that the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and righteous, and good. 13 Did then that which is good become death to me? God forbid. But sin, that it might be shown to be sin, by working death to me through that which is good; —that through the commandment sin might become exceedingly sinful. 14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15 For that which I do, I don't know: for what I do not want, that I participate in; but what I hate, that I do. 16 But if what I do not want, that I do, I consent to the law that it is good. 17 So now I no longer am the one who does it, but sin which dwells in me. 18 For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing: for to want is present with me, but to do that which is good [is] not. 19 For the good which I want, I do not: but the evil which I do not want, that I participate in. 20 But if I do what I do not want, I no longer am the one who does it, but sin which dwells in me. 21 I find then the law, that, to me who would do good, evil is present. 22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23 but I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and capturing me in the law of sin which is in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me out of the body of this death? 25 But thanks to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then I of myself with the mind, indeed, serve as a slave to the law of God; but with the flesh, to the law of sin.

8  There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made you free from the law of sin and of death. 3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: 4 that the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us, who don't walk after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 5 For those who are after the flesh mind the things of the flesh; but those who are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. 6 For the mind of the flesh is death; but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace: 7 because the mind of the flesh is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be: 8 and those who are in the flesh can't please God. 9 But you+ are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you+. But if any man does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not of his. 10 And if Christ is in you+, the body is dead because of sin; but the spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you+, he who raised up Christ from the dead will give life also to your+ mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you+.

12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh: 13 for if you+ live after the flesh, you+ must die; but if by the Spirit you+ put to death the activities of the body, you+ will live. 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For you+ didn't receive the spirit of slavery again to fear; but you+ received the spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, Abba, Father. 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit, that we are children of God: 17 and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with [him], that we may be also glorified with [him].

18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which will be revealed toward us. 19 For the earnest expectation of the creation waits for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but by reason of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself also will be delivered from the slavery of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now. 23 And not only so, but ourselves also, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan inside ourselves, waiting for [our] adoption, [to wit,] the redemption of our body. 24 For in hope were we saved: but hope that is seen is not hope: for who hopes for that which he sees? 25 But if we hope for that which we don't see, [then] we wait for it with patience.

26 And in like manner the Spirit also helps our infirmity: for we don't know how to pray as we ought; but the Spirit himself makes intercession for [us] with groanings which can't be uttered; 27 and he who searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because he makes intercession for the saints according to [the will of] God. 28 And we know that to those who love God all things work together for good, to those who are called according to [his] purpose. 29 For whom he foreknew, he also preappointed [to be] conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers: 30 and whom he preappointed, those he also called: and whom he called, those he also justified: and whom he justified, those he also glorified.

31 What then shall we say to these things? If God [is] for us, who [is] against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how will he not also with him freely give us all things? 33 Who will lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God who justifies; 34 who is he that condemns? It is Christ Jesus who died, and what's more, who was raised, who also is at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. 35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 Even as it is written, For your sake we are killed all the day long; We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

9  I say the truth in Christ, I do not lie, my conscience bearing witness with me in the Holy Spirit, 2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing pain in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brothers' sake, my kinsmen according to the flesh: 4 who are Israelites; whose is the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service [of God], and the promises; 5 whose are the fathers, and of whom is Christ as concerning the flesh. May God, who is over all, be blessed forever. Amen.

6 But [it is] not as though the word of God has come to nothing. For they are not all Israel, who are of Israel: 7 neither, because they are Abraham's seed, are they all children: but, In Isaac will your seed be called. 8 That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God; but the children of the promise are reckoned for a seed. 9 For this is a word of promise, According to this season I will come, and Sarah will have a son. 10 And not only so; but Rebecca also having conceived by one, [even] by our father Isaac— 11 for [the children] not being yet born, neither having participated in anything good or bad, that the purpose of God according to election might stay, 12 not of works, but of him who calls, it was said to her, The elder will serve as a slave to the younger. 13 According to as it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.

14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. 15 For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. 16 So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who has mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, For this very purpose I raised you up, that I might show in you my power, and that my name might be published abroad in all the earth. 18 So then he has mercy on whom he wants, and he hardens whom he wants.

19 You will say then to me, Why then does he still find fault? For who withstands his will? 20 On the contrary, O man, who are you that reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, Why did you make me thus? 21 Or has not the potter a right over the clay, from the same lump to make one part a vessel to honor, and another to shame? 22 What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much long-suffering vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: 23 and that he might make known the riches of his glory on vessels of mercy, which he prepared in advance to glory, 24 [even] us, whom he also called, not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles? 25 As he says also in Hosea, I will call that my people, which was not my people; And her beloved, that was not beloved. 26 And it will be, [that] in the place where it was said to them, You+ are not my people, There they will be called sons of the living God.

27 And Isaiah cries concerning Israel, If the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, it is the remnant that will be saved: 28 for the Lord will execute [his] word on the earth, finishing it and cutting it short. 29 And, as Isaiah has said before, Except Yahweh of hosts[103] had left us a seed, We had become as Sodom, and had been made like Gomorrah.

30 What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, who did not follow after righteousness, attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith: 31 but Israel, following after a law of righteousness, did not arrive at [that] law. 32 Why? Because [they sought it] not by faith, but as it were by works. They stumbled at the stone of stumbling; 33 even as it is written, Look, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense: And he who believes on him will not be put to shame.

10  Brothers, my heart's desire and my supplication to God is for them, that they may be saved. 2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. 4 For Christ is the end of the law to righteousness to everyone who believes. 5 For Moses describes the righteousness which is of the law, That the man who does those things will live by them. 6 But the righteousness which is of faith says thus, Don't say in your heart, Who will ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down:) 7 or, Who will descend into the abyss? (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead.) 8 But what does it say? The word is near you, in your mouth, and in your heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach: 9 that if you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and will believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart man believes to righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made to salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, Whoever believes on him will not be put to shame. 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek: for the same [Lord] is Lord of all, and is rich to all who call on him: 13 for, Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved. 14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how will they believe in him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? 15 And how will they preach, except they be sent? According to as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!

16 But they did not all listen to the good news. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our report? 17 So belief [comes] of hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. 18 But I say, Is it the case that they have not heard? On the contrary, Their sound went out into all the earth, And their words to the ends of the world.

19 But I say, Did Israel not know? First Moses says, I will provoke you+ to jealousy with that which is no nation, With a nation void of understanding I will anger you+.

20 And Isaiah is very bold, and says, I was found by those who did not seek me; I became manifest to those who did not ask of me.

21 But as to Israel he says, All the day long I spread out my hands to a disobedient and opposing people.

11  I say then, Did God cast off his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God did not cast off his people which he foreknew. Or don't you+ know what the Scripture says of Elijah? How he pleads with God against Israel: 3 Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have dug down your altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my soul. 4 But what does the answer of God say to him? I have left for myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to Baal. 5 Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. 6 But if it is by grace, it is no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. 7 What then? That which Israel seeks for, that he did not obtain; but the election obtained it, and the rest were hardened: 8 according to as it is written, God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear, to this very day. 9 And David says, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, And a stumbling block, and a recompense to them: 10 Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, And bow down their back always.

11 I say then, Did they stumble that they might fall? God forbid: but by their fall salvation [has come] to the Gentiles, to provoke them to jealousy. 12 Now if their fall is the riches of the world, and their loss the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fullness. 13 But I speak to you+ who are Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle of Gentiles, I glorify my service; 14 if by any means I may provoke to jealousy [those who are] my flesh, and may save some of them. 15 For if the casting away of them [is] the reconciling of the world, what [will] the receiving [of them be], but life from the dead? 16 And if the first fruit is holy, so is the lump: and if the root is holy, so are the branches. 17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them, and became copartners with them of the root of the fatness of the olive tree; 18 do not glory over the branches: but if you glory, it is not you that bear the root, but the root you. 19 You will say then, Branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in. 20 Very well; by their unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by your faith. Don't be highminded, but fear: 21 for if God didn't spare the natural branches, lest neither will he spare you. 22 See then the goodness and severity of God: toward those who fell, severity; but toward you, God's goodness, if you continue in his goodness: otherwise you also will be cut off. 23 And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again. 24 For if you were cut out of that which is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree; how much more will these, which are the natural [branches], be grafted into their own olive tree.

25 For I would not, brothers, have you+ ignorant of this mystery, lest you+ be wise in your+ own conceits, that a hardening in part has befallen Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; 26 and so all Israel will be saved: even as it is written, There will come out of Zion the Deliverer; He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob: 27 And this is my covenant to them, When I will take away their sins.

28 As concerning the good news, they are enemies for your+ sake: but as concerning the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sake. 29 For the gifts and the calling of God are not repented of. 30 For as you+ in time past were disobedient to God, but now have obtained mercy by their disobedience, 31 even so have these also now been disobedient, that by the mercy shown to you+ they also may now obtain mercy. 32 For God has shut up all to disobedience, that he might have mercy on all.

33 Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past tracing out! 34 For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor? 35 Or who has first given to him, and it will be recompensed to him again? 36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things. To him [be] the glory forever. Amen.

12  I urge you+ therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your+ bodies, a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, [which is] your+ spiritual service. 2 And don't be fashioned according to this age: but be transformed by the renewing of the mind, that you+ may prove what the will of God is—that [which is] good and acceptable and perfect.

3 For I say, through the grace that was given me, to every man who is among you+, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but so to think as to think soberly, according to as God has dealt to each man a measure of faith. 4 For even as we have many members in one body, and all the members don't have the same activity: 5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and severally members one of another. 6 And having gifts differing according to the grace that was given to us, whether prophecy, [let us prophesy] according to the proportion of our faith; 7 or service, [let us give ourselves] to service; or he who teaches, to his teaching; 8 or he who exhorts, to his exhorting: he who gives, [let him do it] with liberality; he who rules, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil; stick to that which is good. 10 In love of the brothers be tenderly affectioned one to another; in honor preferring one another; 11 in diligence not slothful; fervent in spirit; serving as slaves to the Lord; 12 rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing steadfastly in prayer; 13 sharing to the necessities of the saints; given to the love for strangers. 14 Bless those who persecute you+; bless, and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep. 16 Be of the same mind one toward another. Don't set your+ mind on high things, but condescend to things that are lowly. Don't be wise in your+ own conceits. 17 Render to no man evil for evil. Take thought for things honorable in the sight of all men. 18 If it is possible, as much as in you+ lies, be at peace with all men. 19 Don't avenge yourselves, beloved, but give place to the wrath [of God]: for it is written, Vengeance belongs to me; I will recompense, says the Lord. 20 But if your enemy hungers, feed him; if he thirsts, give him to drink: for in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head. 21 Don't be overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

13  Let every soul be in subjection to the higher powers: for there is no power but of God; and the [powers] that be are appointed of God. 2 Therefore he who resists the power, withstands the ordinance of God: and those who withstand will receive to themselves judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to the good work, but to the evil. And do you want to not fear the power? Do that which is good, and you will have praise from the same: 4 for he is a servant of God to you for good. But if you do that which is evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword for nothing: for he is a servant of God, an avenger for wrath to him who participates in evil. 5 Therefore [you+] must surely be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also because of conscience. 6 For this cause you+ pay taxes also; for they are ministers of God's service, attending continually on this very thing. 7 Render to all their dues: tax to whom tax [is due]; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor.

8 Owe no man anything, except to love one another: for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For this, You will not commit adultery, You will not kill, You will not steal, You will not covet, and if there be any other commandment, it is summed up in this word, namely, You will love your fellow man as yourself. 10 Love works no ill to his fellow man: love therefore is the fulfillment of the law.

11 And this, knowing the season, that already it is time for you+ to awake out of sleep: for now is salvation nearer to us than when we believed. 12 The night is far spent, and the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. 13 Let us walk becomingly, as in the day; not in reveling and drunkenness, not in promiscuity and sexual immorality, not in strife and jealousy. 14 But put+ on the Lord Jesus Christ, and don't make provision for the flesh, to [fulfill] the desires [of it].

14  But him who is weak in faith receive to yourselves, [yet] not for decision of scruples. 2 One man has faith to eat all things: but he who is weak eats herbs. 3 Don't let him who eats set at nothing him who does not eat; and don't let him who does not eat judge him who eats: for God has received him. 4 Who are you that judges the household slave of another? To his own lord he stands or falls. Yes, he will be made to stand; for the Lord has power to make him stand. 5 For one man esteems one day above another: another esteems every day [alike]. Let each be fully assured in his own mind. 6 He who regards the day, regards it to the Lord: and he who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks. 7 For none of us lives to himself, and none dies to himself. 8 For whether we live, we live to the Lord; or whether we die, we die to the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. 9 For to this end Christ died and lived [again], that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living. 10 But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you set at nothing your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment-seat of God. 11 For it is written, As I live, says the Lord, to me every knee will bow, And every tongue will confess to God.

12 So then each of us will give account of himself to God.

13 Let us not therefore judge one another anymore: but judge+ this rather, that no man put a stumbling block in his brother's way, or an occasion of falling. 14 I know, and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is common of itself: except that to him who accounts anything to be common, to him it is common. 15 For if because of meat your brother is grieved, you walk no longer in love. Don't destroy with your meat him for whom Christ died. 16 Don't let then your+ good be evil spoken of: 17 for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18 For he who in this [way] is serving as a slave to Christ is well-pleasing to God, and approved of men. 19 So then let us follow after things which make for peace, and things by which we may edify one another. 20 Don't overthrow the work of God for meat's sake. All things indeed are clean; nevertheless it is evil for that man who eats with offense. 21 It is good not to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor [to do anything] by which your brother stumbles. 22 The faith which you have, you have to yourself before God. Happy is he who does not judge himself in that which he approves. 23 But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because [he eats] not of faith; and whatever is not of faith is sin.

15  Now we who are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. 2 Let each of us please his fellow man for that which is good, to edifying. 3 For Christ also didn't please himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me. 4 For whatever things were written previously were written for our learning, that through patience and through comfort of the Scriptures we might have hope. 5 Now the God of patience and of comfort grant you+ to be of the same mind one with another according to Christ Jesus: 6 that with one accord you+ may with one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 7 Therefore receive to yourselves one another, even as Christ also received you+, to the glory of God. 8 For I say that Christ has been made a servant of the circumcision for the truth of God, that he might confirm the promises [given] to the fathers, 9 and that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, Therefore I will give praise to you among the Gentiles, And sing to your name.

10 And again he says, Rejoice, you+ Gentiles, with his people.

11 And again, Praise the Lord, all you+ Gentiles; And let all the peoples praise him.

12 And again, Isaiah says, There will be the root of Jesse, And he who rises to rule over the Gentiles; On him will the Gentiles hope.

13 Now may the God of hope fill you+ with all joy and peace in believing, that you+ may abound in hope, in the power of the Holy Spirit.

14 And I myself also am persuaded of you+, my brothers, that you+ yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another. 15 But I write the more boldly to you+ in some measure, as putting you+ again in remembrance, because of the grace that was given to me by God, 16 that I should be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, ministering the good news of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be made acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Spirit. 17 Therefore I have glorying in Christ Jesus in things pertaining to God. 18 For I will not dare to speak of any things except those which Christ worked through me, for the obedience of the Gentiles, by word and deed, 19 in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit of God; so that from Jerusalem, and around [Jerusalem] even to Illyricum, I have fully preached the good news of Christ; 20 yes, making it my aim so to preach the good news, not where Christ was [already] named, that I might not build on another man's foundation; 21 but, according to as it is written, To those whom it was not told about him, they will see. And they who have not heard will understand.

22 Therefore also I was hindered these many times from coming to you+: 23 but now, having no more any place in these regions, and having these many years a longing to come to you+, 24 whenever I go to Spain (for I hope to see you+ in my journey, and to be brought on my way to there by you+, if first in some measure I will have been satisfied with your+ company)— 25 but now, [I say,] I go to Jerusalem, serving the saints. 26 For it has been the good pleasure of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor among the saints who are at Jerusalem. 27 Yes, it has been their good pleasure; and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles shared in their spiritual things, they owe it [to them] also to minister to them in carnal things. 28 When therefore I have accomplished this, and have sealed to them this fruit, I will go on by you+ to Spain. 29 And I know that, when I come to you+, I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ.

30 Now I urge you+, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the love of the Spirit, that you+ strive together with me in your+ prayers to God for me; 31 that I may be delivered from those who are disobedient in Judea, and [that] my service which [I have] for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints; 32 that I may come to you+ in joy through the will of God, and together with you+ find rest. 33 Now the God of peace be with all of you+. Amen.

16  I commend to you+ Phoebe, our sister, and who is a servant[104] of the church that is at Cenchreae: 2 that you+ receive her in the Lord, worthily of the saints, and that you+ assist her in whatever matter she may have need of you+: for she herself also has been a helper of many, and of my own self.

3 Greet Prisca and Aquila my coworkers in Christ Jesus, 4 who laid down their own necks for my soul; to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles: 5 and [greet] the church that is in their house. Greet Epaenetus my beloved, who is the first fruits of Asia to Christ. 6 Greet Mary, who bestowed much labor on you+. 7 Greet Andronicus and Junias, my kinsmen, and my fellow-prisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also have been in Christ before me. 8 Greet Ampliatus my beloved in the Lord. 9 Greet Urbanus our coworker in Christ, and Stachys my beloved. 10 Greet Apelles the approved in Christ. Greet those who are of the [household] of Aristobulus. 11 Greet Herodion my kinsman. Greet those of the [household] of Narcissus, who are in the Lord. 12 Greet Tryphaena and Tryphosa, who labor in the Lord. Greet Persis the beloved, who labored much in the Lord. 13 Greet Rufus the chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine. 14 Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brothers who are with them. 15 Greet Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints who are with them. 16 Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you+.

17 Now I urge you+, brothers, mark those who are causing the divisions and occasions of stumbling, contrary to the doctrine which you+ learned: and turn away from them. 18 For those who are such do not serve as slaves to our Lord Christ, but to their own belly; and by their smooth and fair speech they beguile the hearts of the blameless. 19 For your+ obedience has come abroad to all men. I rejoice therefore over you+: but I would have you+ wise to that which is good, and simple to that which is evil. 20 And the God of peace will bruise Satan under your+ feet shortly.

The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you+.

21 Timothy my coworker greets you+; and Lucius and Jason and Sosipater, my kinsmen. 22 I Tertius, who write the letter, greet you+ in the Lord. 23 Gaius my host, and of the whole church, greets you+. Erastus the treasurer of the city greets you+, and Quartus the brother.[105]

25 Now to him who is able to establish you+ according to my good news and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept in silence through eternal times, 26 but now is manifested, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, is made known to all the nations to obedience of faith: 27 to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever. Amen.

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I Corinthians

To the Corinthians I

1  Paul, a called[106] apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, 2 to the church of God which is at Corinth, [even] those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, [the] called saints, with all who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, their [Lord] and ours: 3 Grace to you+ and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

4 I thank my God always concerning you+, for the grace of God which was given you+ in Christ Jesus; 5 that in everything you+ were enriched in him, in all utterance and all knowledge; 6 even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you+: 7 so that you+ come behind in no gift; waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ; 8 who will also confirm you+ to the end, [that you+ are] unreproveable in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, through whom you+ were called into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

10 Now I urge you+, brothers, through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you+ speak the same thing, and [that] there be no divisions among you+; but [that] you+ are completely joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. 11 For it has been signified to me concerning you+, my brothers, by those [who are of the household] of Chloe, that there are contentions among you+. 12 Now this I mean, that each of you+ says, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. 13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you+? Or were you+ baptized into the name of Paul? 14 I thank God that I baptized none of you+, except Crispus and Gaius; 15 lest any man should say that you+ were baptized into my name. 16 And I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I don't know whether I baptized any other. 17 For Christ didn't send me to baptize, but to preach the good news: not in wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made void.

18 For the word of the cross is to those who perish foolishness; but to us who are saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And the discernment of the discerning I will bring to nothing. 20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For seeing that in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom didn't know God, it was God's good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save those who believe. 22 Seeing that Jews ask for signs, and Greeks seek after wisdom: 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness; 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

26 For look at your+ calling, brothers, that not many wise after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, [are called]: 27 but God chose the foolish things of the world, that he might put to shame those who are wise; and God chose the weak things of the world, that he might put to shame the things that are strong; 28 and the base things of the world, and the things that are despised, God chose, the things that are not, that he might bring to nothing the things that are: 29 that no flesh should glory before God. 30 But of him are you+ in Christ Jesus, who was made to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption: 31 that, according to as it is written, He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.

2  And I, brothers, when I came to you+, did not come with excellency of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you+ the testimony of God. 2 For I determined not to know anything among you+, except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. 3 And I was with you+ in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. 4 And my speech and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: 5 that your+ faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

6 We speak wisdom, however, among those who are full-grown: yet a wisdom not of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing: 7 but we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, [even] the [wisdom] that has been hidden, which God predetermined before the ages to our glory: 8 which none of the rulers of this age has known: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory: 9 but as it is written, Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have they entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love him. 10 But to us God revealed [them] through the Spirit: for the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 11 For who among men knows the things of a man, except the spirit of the man, which is in him? Even so the things of God none knows, except the Spirit of God. 12 But we received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is from God; that we might know the things that were freely given to us of God. 13 Which things also we speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Spirit teaches; combining spiritual things with spiritual [words]. 14 Now the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness to him; and he can't know them, because they are spiritually judged. 15 But he who is spiritual judges all things, and he himself is judged of no man. 16 For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

3  And I, brothers, could not speak to you+ as to spiritual, but as to carnal, as to juveniles in Christ. 2 I fed you+ with milk, not with meat; for you+ were not yet able [to bear it]: no, not even now are you+ able; 3 for you+ are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you+ jealousy and strife, are you+ not carnal, and do you+ not walk after the manner of men? 4 For when one says, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are you+ not men? 5 What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you+ believed; and to each as the Lord gave. 6 I planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. 7 So then neither is he who plants anything, neither he who waters; but God who gives the increase. 8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one: but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. 9 For we are God's coworkers: you+ are God's husbandry, God's building.

10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise masterbuilder I laid a foundation; and another builds on it. But let each take heed how he builds on it. 11 For another foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 But if any man builds on the foundation gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, stubble; 13 each man's work will be made manifest: for the day will declare it, because it is revealed in fire; and the fire itself will prove each man's work of what sort it is. 14 If any man's work that he built on it stays, he will receive a reward. 15 If any man's work will be burned, he will suffer loss: but he himself will be saved; yet so as through fire.

16 Don't you+ know that you+ are a temple of God, and [that] the Spirit of God dwells in you+? 17 If any man destroys the temple of God, him will God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, and such are you+.

18 Let no man deceive himself. If any man thinks that he is wise among you+ in this age, let him become a fool, that he may become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He who takes the wise in their craftiness: 20 and again, The Lord knows the reasonings of the wise, that they are useless. 21 Therefore let no one glory in men. For all things are yours+; 22 whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours+; 23 and you+ are Christ's; and Christ is God's.

4  Let a man so account of us, as of attendants of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2 Here, moreover, it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful. 3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you+, or of man's judgment: yes, I do not judge my own self. 4 For I know nothing against myself; yet I am not hereby justified: but he who judges me is the Lord. 5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and make manifest the counsels of the hearts; and then each will have his praise from God.

6 Now these things, brothers, I have in a figure transferred to myself and Apollos for your+ sakes; that in us you+ might learn not [to go] beyond the things which are written; that no one of you+ is puffed up for the one against the other. 7 For who makes you to differ? And what do you have that you did not receive? But if you did receive it, why do you glory as if you had not received it? 8 Already you+ are filled, already you+ have become rich, you+ have come to reign without us: yes and I would that you+ did reign, that we also might reign with you+. 9 For, I think, God has set forth us the apostles last of all, as men doomed to death: for we are made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and men. 10 We are fools for Christ's sake, but you+ are wise in Christ; we are weak, but you+ are strong; you+ have glory, but we have dishonor. 11 Even to this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling-place; 12 and we toil, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure; 13 being defamed, we entreat: we are made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things, even until now.

14 I do not write these things to shame you+, but to admonish you+ as my beloved children. 15 For though you+ have ten thousand tutors in Christ, yet [you+ have] not many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I begot you+ through the good news. 16 I urge you+ therefore, be+ imitators of me. 17 For this cause I have sent to you+ Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, who will put you+ in remembrance of my ways which are in Christ Jesus, even as I teach everywhere in every church. 18 Now some are puffed up, as though I were not coming to you+. 19 But I will come to you+ shortly, if the Lord wills; and I will know, not the word of those who are puffed up, but the power. 20 For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. 21 What do you+ want? Shall I come to you+ with a rod, or in love and a spirit of gentleness?

5  It is actually reported that there is fornication among you+, and such fornication as is not even among the Gentiles, that one [of you+] has his father's wife. 2 And you+ are puffed up, and did not rather mourn, that he who had participated in this deed might be taken away from among you+. 3 For I truly, being absent in body but present in spirit, have already as though I were present judged him who has so worked this thing, 4 in the name of our Lord Jesus, you+ being gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5 to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. 6 Your+ glorying is not good. Don't you+ know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 7 Purge out the old leaven, that you+ may be a new lump, even as you+ are unleavened. For our Passover also has been sacrificed, [even] Christ: 8 therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

9 I wrote to you+ in my letter not to associate with fornicators; 10 not at all [meaning] with the fornicators of this world, or with the greedy and extortioners, or with idolaters; for then you+ must needs go out of the world: 11 but as it is, I wrote to you+ not to associate with any man who is named a brother if he is a fornicator, or greedy, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; do not even eat with such a one. 12 For what have I to do with judging those who are outside? Do not you+ judge those who are inside? 13 But those who are outside God will judge. Put away the wicked man from among yourselves.

6  Dare any of you+, having a matter against the other, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? 2 Or don't you+ know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is judged by you+, are you+ unworthy to judge the smallest matters? 3 Don't you+ know that we will judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life? 4 If then you+ have to judge things pertaining to this life, do you+ set them to judge who are of no account in the church? 5 I say [this] to move you+ to shame. What, can't there be [found] among you+ one wise man who will be able to decide between his brothers, 6 but brother goes to law with brother, and that before unbelievers? 7 Therefore already it is altogether a defect in you+, that you+ have lawsuits one with another. Why not rather take wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? 8 No, but you+ yourselves do wrong, and defraud, and that [your+] brothers. 9 Or don't you+ know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Don't be deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate,[107] nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you+: but you+ were washed, but you+ were sanctified, but you+ were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God.

12 All things are lawful for me; but not all things are expedient. All things are lawful for me; but I will not be brought under the power of any. 13 Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God will bring to nothing both it and them. But the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body: 14 and God both raised the Lord, and will raise up us through his power. 15 Don't you+ know that your+ bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ, and make them members of a prostitute? God forbid. 16 Or don't you+ know that he who sticks to the prostitute is one body? For, The two, he says, will become one flesh. 17 But he who sticks to the Lord is one spirit. 18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man does is outside the body; but he who commits fornication sins against his own body. 19 Or don't you+ know that your+ body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you+, whom you+ have from God? And you+ are not your+ own; 20 for you+ were bought with a price: glorify God therefore in your+ body.

7  Now concerning the things of which you+ wrote: It is good for a man not to have any sex with a woman.[108] 2 But, because of fornications, let each have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband. 3 Let the husband render to the wife her due: and likewise also the wife to the husband. 4 The wife does not have power over her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband does not have power over his own body, but the wife. 5 Do not deprive+ one another, except it is by consent for a season, that you+ may give yourselves to prayer, and may be together again, that Satan does not tempt you+ because of your+ lack of self-control. 6 But this I say by way of concession, not of commandment. 7 Yet I would that all men were even as I myself. Nevertheless each has his own gift from God, one after this manner, and another after that.

8 But I say to those who have never married and to the widowed, It is good for them if they stay even as I. 9 But if they do not have self-control, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn. 10 But to those who have married I give charge, [yes] not I, but the Lord, A wife is not to separate from a husband. 11 But should she separate, let her stay unmarried, or let her be reconciled to the husband. And, A husband is not to leave a wife. 12 But to the rest say I, not the Lord: If any brother has an unbelieving wife, and she gives her approval to dwell with him, let him not leave her. 13 And if any wife has an unbelieving husband, and he gives his approval to dwell with her, let her not leave the husband. 14 For the unbelieving husband has been accepted in the wife, and the unbelieving wife has been accepted in the brother: otherwise your+ children would be unaccepted; but as it is they are accepted.[109] 15 Yet if the unbelieving separates, let him separate: the brother or the sister has not been bound in such [cases]: but God has called you+ in peace. 16 For how do you know, O wife, whether you will save the husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save the wife? 17 Only as the Lord has distributed to each, as God has called each, so let him walk. And so I direct in all the churches. 18 Was any man called being circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Has any been called in uncircumcision? Let him not be circumcised. 19 Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing; but the keeping of the commandments of God. 20 Let each stay in that calling in which he was called. 21 Were you called being a slave? Do not care about it: but, if you can become free, use rather [the opportunity to be free]. 22 For he who was called in the Lord being a slave, is the Lord's freedman: likewise he who was called being free, is Christ's slave. 23 You+ were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men. 24 Brothers, let each, [in that calling] in which he was called, stay in this with God.

25 Now concerning the virgins I have no commandment of the Lord: but I give my judgment, as one who has obtained mercy of the Lord to be trustworthy. 26 I think therefore that this is good by reason of the distress that is on us, [namely,] that it is good for a man to be as he is. 27 Are you betrothed to a wife? Do not seek to break it off. Are you no longer betrothed to a wife? Do not seek a wife.[110] 28 But should you marry [the virgin], you have not sinned; and if the virgin marries, she has not sinned. Yet such will have tribulation in the flesh: and I would spare you+. 29 But this I say, brothers, the time is shortened, that from now on both those who have wives may be as though they had none; 30 and those who weep, as though they did not weep; and those who rejoice, as though they did not rejoice; and those who buy, as though they did not possess; 31 and those who use the world, as not using it to the full: for the fashion of this world passes away. 32 But I would have you+ to be free from cares. He who is unmarried is careful for the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord: 33 but he who is married is careful for the things of the world, how he may please the wife, 34 and is divided. [So] also the unmarried woman and the virgin is careful for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in the body and in the spirit: but she who is married is careful for the things of the world, how she may please the husband. 35 And this I say for your+ own profit; not that I may cast a snare on you+, but for that which is seemly, and that you+ may attend on the Lord without distraction. 36 But if any man thinks that he behaves himself unseemly toward his virgin, if she is past the flower of her age, and if need so requires, let him do what he will; he does not sin; let them marry. 37 But he who stands steadfast in his heart, having no necessity, but has power as concerning his own will, and has determined this in his own heart, to keep his own virgin [pure], will do well. 38 So then both he who marries his own virgin does well; and he who does not marry will do better. 39 A wife is bound for as long as her husband lives; but if the husband is dead, she is free to be married to whom she wants; only in the Lord. 40 But she is happier if she stays as she is, after my judgment: and I think that I also have the Spirit of God.

8  Now concerning things sacrificed to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. 2 If any man thinks that he knows anything, he doesn't know yet as he ought to know; 3 but if any man loves God, the same is known by him. 4 Concerning therefore the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that no idol is [anything] in the world, and that there is no God but one. 5 For though there are those that are called gods, whether in heaven or on earth; as there are many gods, and many lords; 6 yet to us there is one God the Father, of whom are all things, and we to him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we through him. 7 Nevertheless there is not in all men that knowledge: but some, being used until now to the idol, eat as [of] a thing sacrificed to an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled. 8 But food will not commend us to God: neither, if we don't eat, are we the worse; nor, if we eat, are we the better. 9 But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours+ become a stumbling block to the weak. 10 For if a man sees you who has knowledge sitting at meat in an idol's temple, will not his conscience, if he is weak, be emboldened to eat things sacrificed to idols? 11 For through your knowledge he who is weak perishes, the brother for whose sake Christ died. 12 And thus, sinning against the brothers, and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you+ sin against Christ. 13 Therefore, if meat causes my brother to stumble, I will eat no flesh forevermore, that I do not cause my brother to stumble.

9  Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are not you+ my work in the Lord? 2 If to others I am not an apostle, yet at least I am to you+; for the seal of my apostleship are you+ in the Lord. 3 My defense to those who examine me is this. 4 Do we have no right to eat and to drink? 5 Do we have no right to lead about a wife who is a sister,[111] even as the rest of the apostles, and the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas? 6 Or only I and Barnabas, do we not have a right to forbear working? 7 What soldier ever serves at his own charges? Who plants a vineyard, and does not eat its fruit? Or who shepherds a flock, and does not eat of the milk of the flock? 8 Do I speak these things after the manner of men or doesn't the law also say the same? 9 For it is written in the law of Moses, You will not muzzle the ox when he treads out the corn. Is it for the oxen that God cares, 10 or does he say it assuredly for our sake? Yes, for our sake it was written: because he who plows ought to plow in hope, and he who threshes, [to thresh] in hope of partaking. 11 If we sowed to you+ spiritual things, is it a great matter if we will reap your+ carnal things? 12 If others partake of [this] right over you+, do not we yet more? Nevertheless we did not use this right; but we bear all things, that we may cause no hindrance to the good news of Christ. 13 Don't you+ know that those who work about sacred things eat [of] the things of the temple, [and] those who wait on the altar have their portion with the altar? 14 Even so the Lord directed that those who proclaim the good news should live of the good news. 15 But I have used none of these things: and I do not write these things that it may be so done in my case; for [it was] good for me rather to die, than that any man should make my glorying void. 16 For if I preach the good news, I have nothing to glory of; for necessity is laid on me; for woe is to me, if I do not preach the good news. 17 For if I participate in this of my own will, I have a reward: but if not of my own will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me. 18 What then is my reward? That, when I preach the good news, I may make the good news without charge, so as not to use to the full my right in the good news. 19 For though I was free from all [men], I became a slave to all, that I might gain the more. 20 And to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, not being myself under the law, that I might gain those who are under the law; 21 to those who are without the law, as without the law, not being without the law of God, but under the law of Christ, that I might gain those who are without the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, that I might gain the weak: I have become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some. 23 And I do all things for the sake of the good news, that I may be a copartner of it. 24 Don't you+ know that those who run in a race[112] all run, but one receives the prize? Even so run; that you+ may attain. 25 And every man who strives in the games exercises self-control in all things. Now they [do it] to receive a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. 26 I therefore so run, as not uncertainly; so I fight, not as beating the air: 27 but I buffet my body, and bring it into slavery: lest by any means, after I have preached to others, I myself should be disapproved.

10  For I would not, brothers, have you+ ignorant, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; 2 and were all baptized to Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 3 and all ate the same spiritual food; 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink: for they drank of a spiritual rock that followed them: and the rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless with most of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. 6 Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. 7 Neither be+ idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. 8 Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and 23,000 fell in one day. 9 Neither let us make trial of Christ, as some of them made trial, and perished by the serpents. 10 Neither murmur+, as some of them murmured, and perished by the destroyer. 11 Now these things happened to them by way of example; and they were written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the [past] ages[113] have come. 12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. 13 No trial has taken you+ but such as man can bear: but God is faithful, who will not allow you+ to be tried above what you+ are able; but will with the trial also make the way of escape, that you+ may be able to endure it.

14 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. 15 I speak as to wise men; you+ judge what I say. 16 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a communion of the body of Christ? 17 seeing that we, who are many, are one bread, one body: for we all partake of the one bread. 18 Look at Israel after the flesh: are not those who eat the sacrifices partners with the altar? 19 What do I say then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20 But [I say], that the things which they sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to God: and I don't want you+ to be partners with demons. 21 You+ can't drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of demons: you+ can't partake of the table of the Lord, and of the table of demons. 22 Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

23 All things are lawful; but not all things are expedient. All things are lawful; but not all things edify. 24 Let no man seek his own, but of another. 25 Whatever is sold in the food market,[114] eat, asking no question for the sake of conscience; 26 for the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness of it. 27 If someone who does not believe bids you+ [to a feast], and you+ are disposed to go; whatever is set before you+, eat, asking no question for the sake of conscience. 28 But if someone says to you+, This has been offered in sacrifice. Do not eat, for the sake of him who showed it and of conscience: 29 conscience, I say, not your own, but the other's; for why is my liberty judged by another conscience? 30 If I partake with thankfulness, why am I evil spoken of for that for which I give thanks? 31 Whether therefore you+ eat, or drink, or whatever you+ do, do all to the glory of God. 32 Give no occasion of stumbling, either to Jews, or to Greeks, or to the church of God: 33 even as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the [profit] of the many, that they may be saved.  11  Be+ imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ.

2 Now I praise you+ that you+ remember me in all things, and hold fast the traditions, even as I delivered them to you+. 3 But I would have you+ know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God. 4 Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonors his head. 5 But every woman praying or prophesying with her head unveiled dishonors her head; for it is one and the same thing as if she were shaven. 6 For if a woman is not veiled, let her also be shorn: but if it is a shame to a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be veiled. 7 For a man indeed ought not to have his head veiled, since he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man. 8 For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man: 9 for neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man: 10 for this cause ought the woman to have [a sign of] authority on her head, because of the angels. 11 Nevertheless, neither is the woman without the man, nor the man without the woman, in the Lord. 12 For as the woman is of the man, so is the man also by the woman; but all things are of God. 13 Judge+ in yourselves: is it seemly that a woman prays to God unveiled? 14 Does not even nature itself teach you+, that, if a man has long hair, it is a shame to him? 15 But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given to her for a covering. 16 But if any man seems to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God.

17 But in giving you+ this charge, I do not praise you+, that you+ come together not for the better but for the worse. 18 For first of all, when you+ come together in the church, I hear that divisions exist among you+; and I partly believe it. 19 For there must also be factions among you+, that those who are approved may also be made manifest among you+. 20 When therefore you+ assemble yourselves together, it is not possible to eat the Lord's supper: 21 for in your+ eating each takes before [another] his own supper; and one is hungry, and another is drunk. 22 What, don't you+ have houses to eat and to drink in? Or do you+ despise the church of God, and put them to shame who do not have? What shall I say to you+? Shall I praise you+? In this I do not praise you+. 23 For I received of the Lord that which also I delivered to you+, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was delivered up took bread; 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, This is my body, which is for you+: this do in remembrance of me. 25 In like manner also the cup, after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood: this do, as often as you+ drink [it], in remembrance of me. 26 For as often as you+ eat this bread, and drink the cup, you+ proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. 27 Therefore whoever will eat the bread or drink the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, will be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. 28 But let a man prove himself, and so let him eat of the bread, and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself, if he does not discern the body. 30 For this cause many among you+ are weak and sickly, and not a few sleep. 31 But if we discerned ourselves, we should not be judged. 32 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are chastened, that we may not be condemned with the world. 33 Therefore, my brothers, when you+ come together to eat, wait one for another. 34 If any man is hungry, let him eat at home; that your+ coming together not be to judgment. And the rest I will set in order whenever I come.

12  Now concerning spiritual [gifts], brothers, I would not have you+ ignorant. 2 You+ know that when you+ were Gentiles [you+ were] led away to those mute idols, however you+ might be led. 3 Therefore I make known to you+, that no man speaking in the Spirit of God says, Accursed[115] Jesus; and no man can say, Lord Jesus, but in the Holy Spirit.

4 Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 And there are diversities of servings, and the same Lord. 6 And there are diversities of workings, but the same God, who works all things in all. 7 But to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit to profit as well. 8 For to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom; and to another the word of knowledge, according to the same Spirit: 9 to another faith, in the same Spirit; and to another gifts of healings, in the one Spirit; 10 and to another workings of miracles; and to another prophecy; and to another discernings of spirits: to another [diverse] kinds of tongues; and to another the interpretation of tongues: 11 but the one and the same Spirit works all these, dividing to each individually even as he wills.

12 For as the body is one, and has many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free; and were all made to drink of one Spirit. 14 For the body is not one member, but many. 15 If the foot will say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; it is not therefore not of the body. 16 And if the ear will say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; it is not therefore not of the body. 17 If the whole body is an eye, where is the hearing? If the whole is hearing, where is the smelling? 18 But now God has set the members each one of them in the body, even as it pleased him. 19 And if there is only one member, where is the body? 20 But now there are many members, but one body. 21 And the eye can't say to the hand, I have no need of you: or again the head to the feet, I have no need of you+. 22 No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be more feeble are necessary: 23 and those [parts] of the body, which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor; and our uncomely [parts] have more abundant comeliness; 24 whereas our comely [parts] have no need: but God tempered the body together, giving more abundant honor to that [part] which lacked; 25 that there should be no schism in the body; but [that] the members should have the same care one for another. 26 And whether one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. 27 Now you+ are the body of Christ, and severally members of it. 28 And God has set some in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, [diverse] kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all [workers of] miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? 31 But desire earnestly the greater gifts.

And moreover a most excellent way I show to you+.  13  If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but don't have love, I have become sounding bronze, or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have [the gift of] prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I bestow all my goods to feed [the poor], and if I deliver up my body that I may boast, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. 4 Love suffers long, it is kind. Love does not envy. Love does not vaunt itself, is not puffed up, 5 does not behave itself unseemly, does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take account of evil; 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails: but if [there are] prophecies, they will be done away; if [there are] tongues, they will cease; if [there is] knowledge, it will be done away. 9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; 10 but when that which is perfect has come, that which is in part will be done away. 11 When I was a juvenile, I spoke as a juvenile, I felt as a juvenile, I thought as a juvenile: now that I have become a man, I have put away juvenile things. 12 For now we see in a mirror, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then I will know fully even as also I was fully known. 13 But now these three stay: faith, hope, and love; and the greatest of these is love.

14  Follow after love; yet desire earnestly spiritual [gifts], yet even better that you+ may prophesy. 2 For he who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men, but to God; for no man understands; but in the spirit he speaks mysteries. 3 But he who prophesies speaks to men edification, and exhortation, and consolation. 4 He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself; but he who prophesies edifies the church. 5 Now I would have all of you+ speak with tongues, yet even better that you+ should prophesy: and greater is he who prophesies than he who speaks with tongues, except he interprets, that the church may receive edifying. 6 But now, brothers, if I come to you+ speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you+, unless I speak to you+ either by way of revelation, or of knowledge, or of prophesying, or of teaching? 7 Even things without life, giving a voice, whether pipe or harp, if they don't give a distinction in the sounds, how will it be known what is piped or harped? 8 For if the trumpet gives an uncertain voice, who will prepare himself for war? 9 So also you+, unless you+ utter by the tongue speech easy to understand, how will it be known what is spoken? For you+ will be speaking into the air. 10 There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and no [kind] is without significance. 11 If then I don't know the meaning of the voice, I will be to him who speaks a barbarian, and he who speaks will be a barbarian to me. 12 So also you+, since you+ are zealous of spiritual [gifts], seek that you+ may abound to the edifying of the church. 13 Therefore let him who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret. 14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful. 15 What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also. 16 Or else if you bless in the spirit, how will he who fills the place of the unlearned say the Amen at your giving of thanks, seeing he doesn't know what you say? 17 For you truly give thanks well, but the other is not edified. 18 I thank God, I speak with tongues more than all of you+: 19 nevertheless in the church I would rather speak five words with my understanding, that I might instruct others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue.

20 Brothers, don't be children in mind: yet in malice be+ babes, but in mind be men. 21 In the law it is written, By men of strange tongues and by the lips of strangers I will speak to this people; and not even thus will they hear me, says the Lord. 22 Therefore tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe, but to the unbelieving: but prophesying [is for a sign], not to the unbelieving, but to those who believe. 23 If therefore the whole church is assembled together and all speak with tongues, and unlearned or unbelieving men come in, will they not say that you+ are insane? 24 But if all prophesy, and an unbelieving or unlearned one comes in, he is reproved by all, he is judged by all; 25 the secrets of his heart are made manifest; and so he will fall down on his face and worship God, declaring that God is among you+ indeed.

26 What is it then, brothers? When you+ come together, each has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done to edifying. 27 If any man speaks in a tongue, [let it be] by two, or at the most three, and [that] in turn; and let one interpret: 28 but if there is no interpreter, let him keep silent in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God. 29 And let the prophets speak [by] two or three, and let the others discern. 30 But if a revelation is made to another sitting by, let the first keep silent. 31 For you+ can all prophesy one at a time, that all may learn, and all may be exhorted; 32 and the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets; 33 for God is not [a God] of confusion, but of peace.

As in all the churches of the saints, 34 let the women keep silent in the churches: for it is not permitted to them to speak; but let them be in subjection, as also the law says. 35 And if they want to learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home: for it is shameful for a woman to speak in the church. 36 What? Was it from you+ that the word of God went forth? Or did it come to you+ alone?

37 If any man thinks himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him take knowledge of the things which I write to you+, that they are the commandment of the Lord. 38 But if any man ignores [this], he is [to be] ignored.

39 Therefore, my brothers, desire earnestly to prophesy, and do not forbid to speak with tongues. 40 But let all things be done decently and in order.

15  Now I make known to you+, brothers, the good news which I preached to you+, which also you+ received, in which also you+ stand, 2 by which also you+ are saved. For what reason did I preach the good news to you+? Unless you+ hold fast [to it], you+ believed for nothing. 3 For I delivered to you+ first of all that which also I received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; 4 and that he was buried; and that he has been raised on the third day according to the Scriptures; 5 and that he appeared to Cephas; then to the twelve; 6 then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at once, of whom the greater part stay[116] until now, but some have fallen asleep; 7 then he appeared to James; then to all the apostles; 8 and last of all, as to the [child] untimely born, he appeared to me also. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, who am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed on me was not found vain; but I labored more abundantly than all of them: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. 11 Whether then [it is] I or they, so we preach, and so you+ believed.

12 Now if Christ is preached that he has been raised from the dead, how do some say among you+ that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, neither has Christ been raised: 14 and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is also vain, [and] your+ faith is also vain. 15 Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we witnessed of God that he raised up Christ: whom he did not raise up, if indeed the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised: 17 and if Christ has not been raised, your+ faith [is] useless; you+ are yet in your+ sins. 18 Then they also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If we have only hoped in Christ in this life, we are of all men most pitiable.

20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. 21 For since by man [came] death, by man [came] also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ will all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits; then those who are Christ's, at his coming. 24 Then [comes] the end, when he will deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he will have abolished all rule and all authority and power. 25 For he must reign, until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy that will be abolished is death. 27 For, He put all things in subjection under his feet. But when he says, All things are put in subjection, it is evident that he is excepted who subjected all things to him. 28 And when all things have been subjected to him, then will the Son also himself be subjected to him who subjected all things to him, that God may be all in all.

29 Or else what will they do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why then are they baptized for them? 30 Why do we also stand in jeopardy every hour? 31 I protest by that glorying in you+, brothers, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. 32 If after the manner of men I fought with beasts at Ephesus, what does it profit me? If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. 33 Don't be deceived: Evil company corrupts good morals. 34 Awake to soberness righteously, and don't sin; for some have no knowledge of God: I speak [this] to move you+ to shame.

35 But someone will say, How are the dead raised? And with what manner of body do they come? 36 You foolish one, that which you yourself sow is not quickened except it dies: 37 and that which you sow, you do not sow the body that will be, but a bare grain, it may be of wheat, or of some other kind; 38 but God gives it a body even as it pleased him, and to each seed a body of its own. 39 All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one [flesh] of men, and another flesh of beasts, and another flesh of birds, and another of fish. 40 There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the [glory] of the terrestrial is another. 41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory. 42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: 43 it is sown in shame; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: 44 it is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual [body]. 45 So also it is written, The first man Adam became a living soul. The last Adam [became] a life-giving spirit. 46 Nevertheless that is not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; then that which is spiritual. 47 The first man is of the earth, made of dust: the second man is of heaven. 48 As is the earthly, such are they also who are earthly: and as is the heavenly, such are they also who are heavenly. 49 And as we have borne the image of the earthly, we will also bear the image of the heavenly.

50 Now this I say, brothers, that flesh and blood can't inherit the kingdom of God; neither does corruption inherit incorruption. 51 Look, I tell you+ a mystery: We all will not sleep, but we will all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 But when this corruptible will have put on incorruption, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? 56 The sting of death is sin; and the power of sin is the law: 57 but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be+ steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, since you+ know that your+ labor is not vain in the Lord.

16  Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I gave order to the churches of Galatia, so you+ also do. 2 On the first day of the week let each of you+ lay by him in store, as he may prosper, that no collections be made when I come. 3 And when I arrive, whomever you+ will approve, I will send them with letters to carry your+ bounty to Jerusalem: 4 and if it is meet for me to go also, they will go with me. 5 But I will come to you+, when I will have passed through Macedonia; for I pass through Macedonia; 6 but with you+ it may be that I will stay, or even winter, that you+ may set me forward on my journey wherever I go. 7 For I do not wish to see you+ now by the way; for I hope to tarry awhile with you+, if the Lord permits. 8 But I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost; 9 for a great and effectual door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.

10 Now if Timothy comes, see that he is with you+ without fear; for he works the work of the Lord, as I also do: 11 let no man therefore despise him. But set him forward on his journey in peace, that he may come to me: for I expect him with the brothers. 12 But as concerning Apollos the brother, I implored him much to come to you+ with the brothers: and it was not at all [his] will to come now; but he will come when he will have opportunity.

13 Watch+, stand fast+ in the faith, be+ manly, be+ strong. 14 Let all that you+ do be done in love.

15 Now I urge you+, brothers (you+ know the house of Stephanas, that it is the first fruits of Achaia, and that they have set themselves in service to the saints), 16 that you+ also be in subjection to such, and to everyone who helps in the work and labors. 17 And I rejoice at the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus: for that which was lacking on your+ part they supplied. 18 For they refreshed my spirit and yours+: acknowledge+ therefore those who are such.

19 The churches of Asia greet you+. Aquila and Prisca greet you+ much in the Lord, with the church that is in their house. 20 All the brothers greet you+. Greet one another with a holy kiss.

21 The salutation of me Paul with my own hand. 22 If any man does not love the Lord, let him be accursed. Maranatha. 23 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you+. 24 My love be with all of you+ in Christ Jesus.

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II Corinthians

To the Corinthians II

1  Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia: 2 Grace to you+ and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

3 Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort; 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, through the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted of God. 5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound to us, even so our comfort also abounds through Christ. 6 But whether we are afflicted, it is for your+ comfort and salvation; or whether we are comforted, it is for your+ comfort, which works in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: 7 and our hope for you+ is steadfast; knowing that, as you+ are partners of the sufferings, so also are you+ of the comfort. 8 For we would not have you+ ignorant, brothers, concerning our affliction which befell [us] in Asia, that we were exceedingly weighed down, beyond our power, insomuch that we despaired even of life: 9 yes, we ourselves have had the sentence of death inside ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead: 10 who delivered us out of so great a death, and will deliver: on whom we have set our hope that he will also still deliver us; 11 you+ also helping together on our behalf by your+ supplication; that, for the gift bestowed on us by means of many, thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf.

12 For our glorying is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and sincerity of God, and not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we behaved ourselves in the world, and more abundantly toward you+. 13 For we write no other things to you+, than what you+ read or even acknowledge, and I hope you+ will acknowledge to the end: 14 as also you+ did acknowledge us in part, that we are your+ glorying, even as you+ also are ours, in the day of our Lord Jesus.

15 And in this confidence I was minded to come first to you+, that you+ might have a second benefit; 16 and by you+ to pass into Macedonia, and again from Macedonia to come to you+, and of you+ to be set forward on my journey to Judea. 17 When I therefore was thus minded, did I show fickleness? Or the things that I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, that with me there should be the yes yes and the no no? 18 But as God is faithful, our word toward you+ is not yes and no. 19 For God's Son, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you+ by us, [even] by me and Silvanus and Timothy, was not yes and no, but in him is yes. 20 For however many are the promises of God, in him is the yes: therefore also through him is the Amen, to the glory of God through us. 21 Now he who establishes us with you+ in Christ, and anointed us, is God; 22 who also sealed us, and gave [us] the security deposit of the Spirit in our hearts.

23 But I call God for a witness on my soul, that to spare you+ I forbare to come to Corinth. 24 Not that we have lordship over your+ faith, but are coworkers of your+ joy: for in faith you+ stand fast.  2  But I determined this for myself, that I would not come again to you+ with sorrow. 2 For if I make you+ sorry, who then is he who makes me glad but he who is made sorry by me? 3 And I wrote this very thing, lest, when I came, I should have sorrow from them of whom I ought to rejoice; having confidence in all of you+, that my joy is [the joy] of all of you+. 4 For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you+ with many tears; not that you+ should be made sorry, but that you+ might know the love which I have more abundantly to you+.

5 But if any has caused sorrow, he has caused sorrow, not to me, but in part (that I press not too heavily) to all of you+. 6 Sufficient to such a one is this punishment which was [inflicted] by the many; 7 so that on the contrary you+ should rather forgive him and comfort him, lest by any means such a one should be swallowed up with too much sorrow. 8 Therefore I urge you+ to confirm [your+] love toward him. 9 For to this end also I wrote, that I might know the proof of you+, whether you+ are obedient in all things. 10 But to whom you+ forgive anything, I [forgive] also: for what I also have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, for your+ sakes [I have forgiven it] in the presence of Christ; 11 that no advantage may be gained over us by Satan: for we are not ignorant of his devices.

12 Now when I came to Troas for the good news of Christ, and when a door was opened to me in the Lord, 13 I had no relief for my spirit, because I did not find Titus my brother: but taking my leave of them, I went forth into Macedonia.

14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and makes manifest through us the savor of his knowledge in every place. 15 For we are a sweet savor of Christ to God, in those who are saved, and in those who perish; 16 to the one a savor from death to death; to the other a savor from life to life. And who is sufficient for these things? 17 For we are not as the many, corrupting the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God, we speak in Christ.

3  Are we beginning again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as do some, letters of commendation to you+ or from you+? 2 Our letter is you+, written in our hearts, known and read by all men; 3 being made manifest that you+ are a letter of Christ, served by us, not written with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in tables [that are] hearts of flesh. 4 And such confidence we have through Christ toward God: 5 not that we are sufficient of ourselves, to account anything as from ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God; 6 who also made us sufficient as servants of a new covenant; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter kills, but the spirit gives life. 7 But if the service of death, written, [and] engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look steadfastly on the face of Moses for the glory of his face; which [glory] was passing away: 8 how will not rather the service of the spirit be with glory? 9 For if in the service of condemnation [there is] glory, much rather does the service of righteousness exceed in glory. 10 For truly that which has been made glorious has not been made glorious in this respect, by reason of the glory that surpasses. 11 For if that which passes away [was] with glory, much more that which stays [is] in glory.

12 Having therefore such a hope, we use great boldness of speech, 13 and [are] not as Moses, [who] put a veil on his face, that the sons of Israel should not look steadfastly on the end of that which was passing away: 14 but their minds were hardened. For until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil stays, not being unveiled, because it is in Christ that it is removed. 15 But to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. 16 But upon turning[117] to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, [there] is liberty. 18 But all of us, with unveiled face looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit.

4  Therefore seeing we have this service even as we obtained mercy, we do not faint: 2 but we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by the manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. 3 And even if our good news is veiled, it is veiled in those who perish: 4 in whom the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the good news of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn [on them]. 5 For we preach not ourselves, but Jesus Christ the Lord, and ourselves as your+ slaves for Jesus' sake. 6 Seeing it is God, who said, Light will shine out of darkness, who shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God, and not from ourselves; 8 [we are] pressed on every side, yet not straitened; perplexed, yet not to despair; 9 pursued, yet not forsaken; struck down, yet not destroyed; 10 always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body. 11 For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So then death works in us, but life in you+. 13 But having the same spirit of faith, according to that which is written, I believed, and therefore I spoke; we also believe, and therefore we also speak; 14 knowing that he who raised up the Lord Jesus will raise us up also with Jesus, and will present us with you+. 15 For all things [are] for your+ sakes, that the grace, being multiplied through the many, may cause the thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.

16 Therefore we do not faint; but though our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is renewed day by day. 17 For our light affliction, which is for the moment, works for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory; 18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

5  For we know that if the earthly house of our tabernacle is dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens. 2 For truly in this we groan, longing to be clothed on with our habitation which is from heaven: 3 if so be that being unclothed we will not be found naked. 4 For indeed we who are in this tabernacle groan, being burdened; not that we want to be unclothed, but that we want to be clothed, that what is mortal may be swallowed up of life. 5 Now he who worked us for this very thing is God, who gave to us the security deposit of the Spirit. 6 Being therefore always of good courage, and knowing that, while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord. 7 For we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 We are of good courage, I say, and are willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be at home with the Lord. 9 Therefore we also make it our aim, whether at home or absent, to be well-pleasing to him. 10 For we must all be made manifest before the judgment-seat of Christ; that each may receive the things [done] in the body, according to what he has participated in, whether [it is] good or bad.

11 Knowing therefore the fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are made manifest to God; and I hope that we are made manifest also in your+ consciences. 12 We are not again commending ourselves to you+, but [speak] as giving you+ occasion of glorying on our behalf, that you+ may have the means to answer those who glory in appearance, and not in heart. 13 For whether we are beside ourselves, it is to God; or whether we are of sober mind, it is to you+. 14 For the love of Christ constrains us; because we thus judge, that one died for all, therefore all died; 15 and he died for all, that those who live should no longer live to themselves, but to him who for their sakes died and rose again. 16 Therefore we from now on know no man after the flesh: even though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now we know [him so] no more. 17 Therefore if any man is in Christ, [he is] a new creation: the old things are passed away; look, they have become new. 18 But all things are of God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and gave to us the service of reconciliation; 19 to wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not reckoning to them their trespasses, and having committed to us the word of reconciliation.

20 We are ambassadors therefore on behalf of Christ, as though God were entreating by us: we urge [you+] on behalf of Christ, be+ reconciled to God. 21 Him who knew no sin he made [to be] sin on our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

6  And working together [with him] we entreat also that you+ do not receive the grace of God in vain 2 (for he says, At an acceptable time I listened to you, And in a day of salvation I helped you: look, now is the acceptable time; look, now is the day of salvation): 3 giving no occasion of stumbling in anything, that our service not be blamed; 4 but in everything commending ourselves, as servants of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, 5 in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in fasts; 6 in pureness, in knowledge, in long-suffering, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in unfeigned love, 7 in the word of truth, in the power of God; by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, 8 by glory and shame, by evil report and good report; as deceivers, and [yet] true; 9 as unknown, and [yet] well known; as dying, and look, we live; as chastened, and not killed; 10 as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and [yet] possessing all things.

11 Our mouth is open to you+, O Corinthians, our heart is enlarged. 12 You+ are not straitened in us, but you+ are straitened in your+ own affections. 13 Now for a recompense in like kind—I speak as to [my] children—be+ also enlarged.

14 Don't be unequally yoked with unbelievers: for what fellowship have righteousness and iniquity? Or what communion has light with darkness? 15 And what concord has Christ with Belial?[118] Or what portion has a believer with an unbeliever? 16 And what agreement has a temple of God with idols? For we are a temple of the living God; even as God said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they will be my people. 17 Therefore Come+ out from among them, and be+ separate, says the Lord, And touch no unclean thing; And I will receive you+, 18 And will be to you+ a Father, And you+ will be to me sons and daughters, says Yahweh of hosts.  7  Having therefore these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

2 Open your+ hearts to us: we wronged no man, we corrupted no man, we took advantage of no man. 3 I don't say it to condemn [you+]: for I have said before, that you+ are in our hearts to die together and live together. 4 Great is my boldness of speech toward you+, great is my glorying on your+ behalf: I am filled with comfort, I overflow with joy in all our affliction.

5 For even when we had come into Macedonia our flesh had no relief, but [we were] afflicted on every side; outside [were] fightings, inside [were] fears. 6 Nevertheless he who comforts the lowly, [even] God, comforted us by the coming of Titus; 7 and not by his coming only, but also by the comfort with which he was comforted in you+, while he told us your+ longing, your+ mourning, your+ zeal for me; so that I rejoiced yet more. 8 For though I made you+ sorry with my letter, I do not regret it: though I did regret [it] (for I see that that letter made you+ sorry, though but for a season), 9 I now rejoice, not that you+ were made sorry, but that you+ were made sorry to repentance; for you+ were made sorry after a godly sort, that you+ might suffer loss by us in nothing. 10 For godly sorrow works repentance to salvation, [a repentance] which brings no regret: but the sorrow of the world works death. 11 For look, this very same thing, that you+ were made sorry after a godly sort, what earnest care it worked in you+, yes what clearing of yourselves, yes what indignation, yes what fear, yes what longing, yes what zeal, yes what avenging! In everything you+ approved yourselves to be pure in the matter. 12 So although I wrote to you+, [I wrote] not for his cause who did the wrong, nor for his cause who suffered the wrong, but that your+ earnest care for us might be made manifest to you+ in the sight of God. 13 Therefore we have been comforted: and in our comfort we joyed the more exceedingly for the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by all of you+. 14 For if in anything I have gloried to him on your+ behalf, I was not put to shame; but as we spoke all things to you+ in truth, so our glorying also which I made before Titus was found to be truth. 15 And his affection is more abundantly toward you+, while he remembers the obedience of all of you+, how with fear and trembling you+ received him. 16 I rejoice that in everything I am of good courage concerning you+.

8  Moreover, brothers, we make known to you+ the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia; 2 how that in much proof of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded to the riches of their liberality. 3 For according to their power, I bear witness, yes and beyond their power, [they gave] of their own accord, 4 imploring us with much entreaty in regard of this grace and the fellowship in the service to the saints: 5 and [this], not as we had hoped, but first they gave their own selves to the Lord, and to us through the will of God. 6 Insomuch that we exhorted Titus, that as he had made a beginning before, so he would also complete in you+ this grace also. 7 But as you+ abound in everything, [in] faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and [in] all earnestness, and [in] our love to you+, [see] that you+ abound in this grace also. 8 I don't speak by way of commandment, but as proving through the earnestness of others the sincerity also of your+ love. 9 For you+ know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your+ sakes he became poor, that you+ through his poverty might become rich. 10 And in this I give [my] judgment: for this is expedient for you+, who were the first to make a beginning a year ago, not only to do, but also to will. 11 But now complete the doing also; that as [there was] the readiness to will, so [there may be] the completion also out of your+ ability. 12 For if the readiness is there, [it is] acceptable according to as [a man] has, not according to as [he] has not. 13 For not that others may be eased [and] you+ distressed; but by equality: 14 your+ abundance at this present time for their want, that their abundance also may become for your+ want; that there may be equality: 15 as it is written, He who [gathered] much had nothing over; and he who [gathered] little had no lack.

16 But thanks be to God, who put the same earnest care for you+ into the heart of Titus. 17 For he accepted indeed our exhortation; but being himself very earnest, he went forth to you+ of his own accord. 18 And we have sent together with him the brother whose praise in the good news [is spread] through all the churches; 19 and not only so, but who was also appointed by the churches as our travel companion in [the matter of] this grace, which is being provided by us to the glory of the same Lord, and [to show] our readiness: 20 avoiding this, that any man should blame us in [the matter of] this bounty which is being provided by us: 21 for we take thought for things honorable, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men. 22 And we have sent with them our brother, whom we have many times proved earnest in many things, but now much more earnest, by reason of the great confidence which [he has] in you+. 23 Whether [any inquire] about Titus, [he is] my partner and [my] coworker toward you+; or our brothers, [they are] the messengers of the churches, [they are] the glory of Christ. 24 Therefore show+ to them in the face of the churches the proof of your+ love, and of our glorying on your+ behalf.

9  For as concerning the service to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you+: 2 for I know your+ readiness, of which I glory on your+ behalf to them of Macedonia, that Achaia has been prepared for a year past; and your+ zeal has stirred up very many of them. 3 But I have sent the brothers, that our glorying on your+ behalf may not be made void in this respect; that, even as I said, you+ may be prepared: 4 lest by any means, if there come with me any of Macedonia and find you+ unprepared, we—not to mention you+—should be put to shame in this confidence. 5 I thought it necessary therefore to entreat the brothers, that they would go before to you+, and make up beforehand your+ aforepromised bounty, that the same might be ready as a matter of bounty, and not of extortion.

6 But this [I say], He who sows sparingly will reap also sparingly; and he who sows bountifully will reap also bountifully. 7 [Let] each [do] according to as he has purposed in his heart: not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you+; that you+, having always all sufficiency in everything, may abound to every good work: 9 as it is written, He has scattered abroad, he has given to the poor; His righteousness stays forever.

10 And he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food, will supply and multiply your+ seed for sowing, and increase the fruits of your+ righteousness: 11 you+ being enriched in everything to all liberality, which works through us thanksgiving to God. 12 For the providing of this service of the ministry not only fills up the measure of the wants of the saints, but abounds also through many thanksgivings to God; 13 seeing that through the proving [of you+] by this service they glorify God for the obedience of your+ confession to the good news of Christ, and for the liberality of [your+] contribution to them and to all; 14 while they themselves also, with supplication on your+ behalf, long after you+ by reason of the exceeding grace of God in you+. 15 Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift.

10  Now I Paul myself entreat you+ by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, I who in your+ presence am lowly among you+, but being absent am of good courage toward you+: 2 yes, I urge you+, that I may not when present show courage with the confidence with which I count to be bold against some, who count of us as if we walked according to the flesh. 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the casting down of strongholds, casting down imaginations, 5 and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ; 6 and being in readiness to avenge all disobedience, when your+ obedience will be made full. 7 You+ look at the things that are before your+ face. If any man trusts in himself that he is Christ's, let him consider this again with himself, that, even as he is Christ's, so also are we. 8 For even though I should glory somewhat abundantly concerning our authority, which the Lord gave for building you+ up, and not for casting you+ down, I will not be put to shame: 9 that I may not seem as if I would terrify you+ by my letters. 10 For, His letters, they say, are weighty and strong; but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account. 11 Let such a one reckon this, that, what we are in word by letters when we are absent, such [are we] also in deed when we are present. 12 For we are not bold to number or compare ourselves with certain of those who commend themselves: but they themselves, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves with themselves, are without understanding. 13 But we will not glory beyond [our] measure, but according to the measure of the province which God apportioned to us as a measure, to reach even to you+. 14 For we do not stretch ourselves too much, as though we did not reach to you+: for we came even as far as to you+ in the good news of Christ: 15 not glorying beyond [our] measure, [that is,] in other men's labors; but having hope that, as your+ faith grows, we will be magnified in you+ according to our province to [further] abundance, 16 so as to preach the good news even to the parts beyond you+, [and] not to glory in another's province in regard of things ready to our hand. 17 But he who glories, let him glory in the Lord. 18 For [it is] not he who commends himself [who] is approved, but whom the Lord commends.

11  Would that you+ could bear with me in a little foolishness: but indeed you+ do bear with me. 2 For I am jealous over you+ with a godly jealousy: for I espoused you+ to one husband, that I might present you+ [as] a pure virgin to Christ. 3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve in his craftiness, your+ minds should be corrupted from the simplicity and the purity that is toward Christ. 4 For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we did not preach, or you+ receive a different spirit which you+ did not receive, or a different good news which you+ did not accept, you+ endure well. 5 For I reckon that I am not a bit behind the very chiefest apostles. 6 But though [I am] unskilled in speaking, yet [I am] not [unskilled] in knowledge; certainly, in every way we have made [this] manifest to you+ in all things. 7 Or did I commit a sin in abasing myself that you+ might be exalted, because I preached to you+ the good news of God for nothing? 8 I robbed other churches, taking wages to serve you+; 9 and when I was present with you+ and was in want, I was not a burden on any man; for the brothers, when they came from Macedonia, supplied the measure of my want; and in everything I kept myself from being burdensome to you+, and [so] I will keep [myself]. 10 As the truth of Christ is in me, no man will stop me of this glorying in the regions of Achaia. 11 Why? Because I do not love you+? God knows. 12 But what I do, I will continue to do, that I may cut off occasion from those who desire an occasion; that in what they glory, they may be found even as we. 13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, fashioning themselves into apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder; for even Satan fashions himself into an angel of light. 15 It is no great thing therefore if his servants also fashion themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.

16 I say again, Let no man think me foolish; but if [you+ do], yet receive me as foolish, that I also may glory a little. 17 That which I speak, I don't speak after the Lord, but as in foolishness, in this confidence of glorying. 18 Seeing that many glory after the flesh, I will glory also. 19 For you+ bear with the foolish gladly, being wise [yourselves]. 20 For you+ bear with a man, if he brings you+ into slavery, if he devours you+, if he takes you+ [captive], if he exalts himself, if he strikes you+ on the face. 21 I speak by way of shame, as though we had been weak. Yet in what any is bold (I speak in foolishness), I am bold also. 22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I. 23 Are they servants of Christ? (I speak as one beside himself) I more; in labors more abundantly, in prisons more abundantly, in stripes above measure, in deaths often. 24 Of the Jews five times I received forty [stripes] less one. 25 Thrice I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; 26 [in] journeyings often, [in] perils of rivers, [in] perils of robbers, [in] perils from [my] countrymen, [in] perils from the Gentiles, [in] perils in the city, [in] perils in the wilderness, [in] perils in the sea, [in] perils among false brothers; 27 [in] labor and travail, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fasts often, in cold and nakedness. 28 Besides those things that are outside, there is that which presses on me daily, anxiety for all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is caused to stumble, and I do not burn [with distress]? 30 If I must surely glory, I will glory of the things that concern my weakness. 31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, he who is blessed forevermore knows that I do not lie. 32 In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king guarded the city of the Damascenes in order to take me: 33 and through a window I was let down in a basket by the wall, and escaped his hands.

12  I must surely glory, though it is not expedient; but I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. 2 I know a man in Christ, fourteen years ago (whether in the body, I don't know; or whether out of the body, I don't know; God knows), such a one caught up even to the third heaven. 3 And I know such a man (whether in the body, or apart from the body, I don't know; God knows), 4 how that he was caught up into Paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. 5 On behalf of such a one I will glory: but on my own behalf I will not glory, except in [my] weaknesses. 6 For if I should desire to glory, I will not be foolish; for I will speak the truth: but I forbear, lest any man should account of me above that which he sees me [to be], or hears from me. 7 And by reason of the exceeding greatness of the revelations, that I should not be exalted too much, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, that I should not be exalted too much. 8 Concerning this thing I implored the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. 9 And he has said to me, My grace is sufficient for you: for [my] power is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest on me. 10 Therefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions and distresses, for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then I am strong.

11 I have become foolish: you+ compelled me; for I ought to have been commended of you+: for in nothing was I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I am nothing. 12 Truly the signs of an apostle were worked among you+ in all patience, both by signs and wonders, and mighty works. 13 For what is there in which you+ were made inferior to the rest of the churches, except [it is] that I myself was not a burden to you+? Forgive me this wrong.

14 Look, this is the third time I am ready to come to you+; and I will not be a burden to you+: for I don't seek yours+, but you+: for the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children. 15 And I will most gladly spend and be spent for your+ souls. If I love you+ more abundantly, am I loved the less? 16 But let it be so, I did not myself burden you+; but, being crafty, I caught you+ with guile. 17 Did I take advantage of you+ by any one of them whom I have sent to you+? 18 I exhorted Titus, and I sent the brother with him. Did Titus take any advantage of you+? Did we not walk in the same spirit? [Did we] not [walk] in the same steps?

19 You+ think all this time that we are excusing ourselves to you+. In the sight of God we speak in Christ. But all things, beloved, [are] for your+ edifying. 20 For I fear, lest by any means, when I come, I should find you+ not such as I want, and should myself be found of you+ such as you+ do not want; lest by any means [there should be] strife, jealousy, wraths, factions, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults; 21 lest again when I come my God should humble me before you+, and I should mourn for many of those who have sinned before, and didn't repent of the impurity and fornication and sexual immorality in which they participated.

13  This is the third time I am coming to you+. At the mouth of two witnesses or three will every word be established. 2 I have said beforehand, and I do say beforehand, as when I was present the second time, so now, being absent, to those who have sinned before, and to all the rest, that, if I come again, I will not spare; 3 seeing that you+ seek a proof of Christ who speaks in me; who toward you+ is not weak, but is powerful in you+: 4 for he was crucified through weakness, yet he lives through the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we will live with him through the power of God toward you+. 5 Try yourselves, whether you+ are in the faith; approve yourselves. Or don't you+ know as to yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you+? Unless indeed you+ are disapproved. 6 But I hope that you+ will know that we are not disapproved. 7 Now we pray to God that you+ do no evil; not that we may appear approved, but that you+ may do that which is honorable, though we may be as disapproved. 8 For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. 9 For we rejoice, when we are weak, and you+ are strong: this we also pray for, even your+ restoration. 10 For this cause I write these things while absent, that I may not when present deal sharply, according to the authority which the Lord gave me for building up, and not for casting down.

11 Finally, brothers, farewell. Be restored; be comforted; be of the same mind; live in peace: and the God of love and peace will be with you+. 12 Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you+.

13 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with all of you+.[119]

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Galatians

To the Galatians

1  Paul, an apostle (not from men, neither through man, but through Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead), 2 and all the brothers who are with me, to the churches of Galatia: 3 Grace to you+ and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us out of this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father: 5 to whom [be] the glory forever and ever. Amen.

6 I marvel that you+ are so quickly turning away from him who called you+ in the grace of Christ to a different [message of] good news, 7 which is not another: only there are some who trouble you+, and would distort the good news of Christ. 8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you+ good news other than that which we preached to you+, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so I say now again, If any man preaches to you+ good news other than that which you+ received, let him be accursed. 10 For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still pleasing men, I should not be a slave of Christ.

11 For I make known to you+, brothers, as concerning the good news which was preached by me, that it is not after man. 12 For neither did I receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but [it came to me] through revelation of Jesus Christ. 13 For you+ have heard of my manner of life in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and made havoc of it: 14 and I advanced in the Jews' religion beyond many of my own age among my countrymen, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers. 15 But when it was the good pleasure of God, who separated me, [even] from my mother's womb, and called me through his grace, 16 to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach [the good news of] him among the Gentiles; right away I did not confer with flesh and blood: 17 neither did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me: but I went away into Arabia; and again I returned to Damascus.

18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas, and tarried with him fifteen days. 19 But I saw none of the other apostles, except James the Lord's brother. 20 Now concerning the things which I write to you+, look, before God, I don't lie. 21 Then I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. 22 And I was still unknown by face to the churches of Judea which were in Christ: 23 but they only heard it said, He who once persecuted us now preaches [the good news of] the faith of which he once made havoc; 24 and they glorified God in me.

2  Then after the space of fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus also with me. 2 And I went up by revelation; and I laid before them the good news which I preach among the Gentiles but privately before them who were of repute, lest by any means I should be running, or had run, in vain. 3 But not even Titus who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised: 4 and that because of the false brothers secretly brought in, who came in secretly to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into slavery: 5 to whom we gave place in the way of subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the good news might continue with you+. 6 But from those who were reputed to be somewhat—whatever they were, it makes no matter to me: God does not accept man's person—they, I say, who were of repute imparted nothing to me: 7 but on the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the good news of the uncircumcision, even as Peter with [the good news] of the circumcision 8 (for he who worked for Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision worked for me also to the Gentiles); 9 and when they perceived the grace that was given to me, James and Cephas and John, they who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcision; 10 only [they wanted] that we should remember the poor; which very thing I was also zealous to do.

11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I resisted him to the face, because he stood condemned. 12 For before some came from James, he ate with the Gentiles; but when they came, he drew back and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. 13 And the rest of the Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy. 14 But when I saw that they did not walk uprightly according to the truth of the good news, I said to Cephas before [them] all, If you, being a Jew, live as do the Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, how do you compel the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?

15 We being Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, 16 yet knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we believed on Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the law: because by the works of the law will no flesh be justified. 17 But if, while we sought to be justified in Christ, we ourselves also were found sinners, is Christ a servant of sin? God forbid. 18 For if I build up again those things which I destroyed, I prove myself a transgressor. 19 For I through the law died to the law, that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; 20 and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me: and that [life] which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, [the faith] which is in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered himself up for me. 21 I do not make void the grace of God: for if righteousness is through the law, then Christ died for nothing.

3  O foolish Galatians, who bewitched you+, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was openly set forth crucified? 2 This only I would learn from you+, Did you+ receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 3 Are you+ so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you+ now perfected in the flesh? 4 Did you+ suffer so many things for nothing? If it is indeed for nothing. 5 He therefore who supplies to you+ the Spirit, and works miracles among you+, [does he do it] by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 6 Even as Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him for righteousness. 7 Know therefore that those who are of faith, the same are sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the good news beforehand to Abraham, [saying,] In you will all the nations be blessed. 9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with the faithful Abraham. 10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse: for it is written, Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things that are written in the Book of the Law, to do them. 11 Now that no man is justified by the law before God, is evident: for, The righteous will live by faith; 12 and the law is not of faith; but, He who does them will live in them. 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us; for it is written, Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree: 14 that on the Gentiles might come the blessing of Abraham in Christ Jesus; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

15 Brothers, I speak after the manner of men: Though it is but a man's covenant, yet when it has been confirmed, no one makes it void, or adds thereto. 16 Now to Abraham were the promises spoken, and to his seed. He does not say, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to your seed, which is Christ. 17 Now this I say: A covenant confirmed beforehand by God, the law, which came four hundred and thirty years after, does not disannul, so as to make the promise of no effect. 18 For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no more of promise: but God has granted it to Abraham by promise. 19 What then is the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the seed should come to whom the promise has been made; [and it was] directed through angels by the hand of a mediator. 20 Now a mediator is not [a mediator] of one; but God is one. 21 Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could bring life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. 22 But the Scripture shut up all things under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

23 But before faith came, we were kept in ward under the law, shut up to the faith which should afterward be revealed. 24 So that the law has become our tutor [to bring us] to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. 26 For you+ are all sons of God, through faith, in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you+ as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ. 28 There can be neither Jew nor Greek, there can be neither slave nor free, there can be no male and female; for you+ are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you+ are Christ's, then are you+ Abraham's seed, heirs according to promise.

4  But I say that so long as the heir is a juvenile, he differs nothing from a slave though he is lord of all; 2 but is under guardians and stewards until the day appointed of the father. 3 So we also, when we were juveniles, were being made slaves under the rudiments of the world: 4 but when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 that he might redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. 6 And because you+ are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. 7 So that you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.

8 Nevertheless at that time, not knowing God, you+ served as slaves to those that by nature are no gods: 9 but now that you+ have come to know God, and what's more, to be known by God, how do you+ turn back again to the weak and beggarly rudiments, to which you+ desire to serve as slaves over again? 10 You+ observe days, and months, and seasons, and years. 11 I am afraid of you+, lest by any means I have bestowed labor on you+ for nothing.

12 I urge you+, brothers, become as I [am], for I also [have become] as you+ [are]. You+ did me no wrong: 13 but you+ know that because of an infirmity of the flesh I preached the good news to you+ the first time: 14 and that which was a trial to you+ in my flesh you+ did not despise, nor reject; but you+ received me as an angel of God, [even] as Christ Jesus. 15 Where then is that blessedness of yours? For I bear you+ witness, that, if possible, you+ would have plucked out your+ eyes and given them to me. 16 So then have I become your+ enemy, by telling you+ the truth? 17 They zealously seek you+ in no good way; no, they desire to shut you+ out, that you+ may seek them. 18 But it is good to be zealously sought in a good matter at all times, and not only when I am present with you+. 19 My children, of whom I am again in travail until Christ be formed in you+— 20 but I could wish to be present with you+ now, and to change my tone; for I am perplexed about you+.

21 Tell me, you+ who desire to be under the law, don't you+ hear the law? 22 For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman, and one by the free woman. 23 Nevertheless the [son] by the slave woman is born after the flesh; but the [son] by the free woman [is born] through promise. 24 Which things contain an allegory: for these [women] are two covenants; one from mount Sinai, bearing children to slavery, which is Hagar. 25 Now this Hagar is mount Sinai in Arabia and answers to the Jerusalem that now is: for she works as a slave along with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem that is above is free, which is our mother. 27 For it is written, Rejoice, you barren who do not bear; Break forth and cry, you who do not travail: For more are the children of the desolate than of her who has the husband.

28 Now you+, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29 But as then he who was born after the flesh persecuted him [that was born] after the Spirit, so also it is now. 30 Nevertheless what does the Scripture say? Cast out the slave woman and her son: for the son of the slave woman will not inherit with the son of the free woman. 31 Therefore, brothers, we are not children of a slave woman, but of the free woman.

5  For freedom Christ set us free: stand fast therefore, and don't be entangled again in a yoke of slavery.

2 Look, I Paul say to you+, that, if you+ receive circumcision, Christ will profit you+ nothing. 3 Yes, I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. 4 You+ are severed from Christ, you+ who would be justified by the law; you+ have fallen away from grace. 5 For we through the Spirit by faith wait for the hope of righteousness. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision avails anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith working through love. 7 You+ were running well; who hindered you+ that you+ should not obey the truth? 8 This persuasion [is] not from him who calls you+. 9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump. 10 I have confidence toward you+ in the Lord, that you+ will be none otherwise minded: but he who troubles you+ will bear his judgment, whoever he is. 11 But I, brothers, if I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted? Then the stumbling-block of the cross has been done away. 12 I would that those who unsettle you+ would even go beyond circumcision.

13 For you+, brothers, were called for freedom; only [do] not [use] your+ freedom for an occasion to the flesh, but through love serve as slaves to one another. 14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, [even] in this: You will love your fellow man as yourself. 15 But if you+ bite and devour one another, take heed that you+ are not consumed one of another.

16 But I say, Walk by the Spirit, and you+ will not fulfill the desire of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are contrary the one to the other; that you+ may not do the things that you+ want. 18 But if you+ are led by the Spirit, you+ are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are [these]: fornication, impurity, sexual immorality, 20 idolatry, witchcraft, enmities, strife, jealousy, wraths, factions, divisions, parties, 21 envyings, drunkenness, revelings, and things similar to these; of which I forewarn you+, even as I did forewarn you+, that those who participate in such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 meekness, self-control; against such there is no law. 24 And those who are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

25 If we live by the Spirit, by the Spirit let us also walk. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

6  Brothers, even if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you+ who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; looking to yourself, lest you also be tempted. 2 Bear+ one another's burdens, and so you+ will fulfill the law of Christ. 3 For if a man thinks himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4 But let each prove his own work, and then he will have his glorying in regard of himself alone, and not in another. 5 For each will bear his own load.

6 But let him who is taught the word share with him who teaches in all good things. 7 Don't be deceived; God is not mocked: for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. 8 For he who sows to his own flesh will of the flesh reap corruption; but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap eternal life. 9 And let us not be weary in well-doing: for in due season we will reap, if we do not faint. 10 So then, as we have opportunity, let us work that which is good toward all men, and especially toward those who are of the household of the faith.

11 See with how large letters I write to you+ with my own hand. 12 As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they compel you+ to be circumcised; only that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. 13 For not even they who receive circumcision do themselves keep the law; but they desire to have you+ circumcised, that they may glory in your+ flesh. 14 But far be it from me to glory, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 15 For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. 16 And as many as will walk by this rule, peace [be] on them, and mercy, and on the Israel of God.

17 From now on let no man trouble me; for I bear branded on my body the marks of Jesus.

18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your+ spirit, brothers. Amen.

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Ephesians

To the Ephesians

1  Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus, and the faithful in Christ Jesus: 2 Grace to you+ and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

3 Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly [places] in Christ: 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish before him in love: 5 having preappointed us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 to the praise of the glory of his grace, which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved: 7 in whom we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in him 10 to a dispensation of the fullness of the times, to sum up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens, and the things on the earth; in him, [I say,] 11 in whom also we were made a heritage, having been preappointed according to the purpose of him who works all things after the counsel of his will; 12 to the end that we should be to the praise of his glory, we who had before hoped in Christ: 13 in whom you+ also, having heard the word of the truth, the good news of your+ salvation, —in whom, having also believed, you+ were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 which is a security deposit of our inheritance, to the redemption of [God's] own possession, to the praise of his glory.

15 For this cause I also, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which is among you+, and the love which [you+ show] toward all the saints, 16 do not cease to give thanks for you+, making mention [of you+] in my prayers; 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you+ a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him; 18 having the eyes of your+ heart enlightened, that you+ may know what is the hope of his calling, what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of his power in us who believe, according to that working of the strength of his might 20 which he worked in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly [places], 21 far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come: 22 and he put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all things in all.

2  And you+ [he made alive], when you+ were dead through your+ trespasses and sins, 2 in which you+ once walked according to the age of this world, according to the prince of the powers of the air, of the spirit that now works in the sons of disobedience; 3 among whom we also all once lived in the desires of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest:— 4 but God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you+ have been saved), 6 and raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly [places], in Christ Jesus: 7 that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus: 8 for by grace you+ have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, [it is] the gift of God; 9 not of works, that no man should boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared in advance that we should walk in them.

11 Therefore remember, that once you+, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called Circumcision, in the flesh, made by hands; 12 that you+ were at that time separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you+ who once were far off are made near in the blood of Christ. 14 For he is our peace, who made both one, and in his flesh broke down the middle wall of partition, the enmity. 15 Having abolished the law of commandments [contained] in ordinances; that he might create in himself the two into one new man, [so] making peace; 16 and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, having slain the enmity in himself: 17 and he came and preached [the good news of] peace to you+ who were far off, and peace to those who were near: 18 for through him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you+ are no more strangers and sojourners, but you+ are fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God, 20 being built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief corner stone; 21 in whom each building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord; 22 in whom you+ also are built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

3  For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you+ Gentiles— 2 if indeed you+ have heard of the dispensation of that grace of God which was given to me toward you+; 3 how that by revelation was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in few words, 4 by which, when you+ read, you+ can perceive my understanding in the mystery of Christ; 5 which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; 6 [to wit,] that the Gentiles are fellow-heirs, and fellow-members of the body, and fellow-partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the good news, 7 of which I was made a servant, according to the gift of that grace of God which was given me according to the working of his power. 8 To me, who am less than the least of all saints, was this grace given, to preach to the Gentiles [the good news of] the unsearchable riches of Christ; 9 and to make all men see what is the dispensation of the mystery which since the [past] ages has been hid in God who created all things; 10 to the intent that now to the principalities and the powers in the heavenly [places] might be made known through the church the manifold wisdom of God, 11 according to the purpose of the ages which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord: 12 in whom we have boldness and access in confidence through our faith in him. 13 Therefore I ask that you+ may not faint at my tribulations for you+, which are your+ glory.

14 For this cause I bow my knees to the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that he would grant you+, according to the riches of his glory, that you+ may be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inward man; 17 that Christ may dwell in your+ hearts through faith; to the end that you+, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be strong to apprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, that you+ may be filled to all the fullness of God.

20 Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, 21 to him [be] the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all the generations of forever and ever.[120] Amen.

4  I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you+ to walk worthily of the calling with which you+ were called, 2 with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love; 3 being diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 [There is] one body, and one Spirit, even as also you+ were called in one hope of your+ calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all. 7 But to each one of us was the grace given according to the measure of the gift of Christ. 8 Therefore he says, When he ascended on high, he led captivity captive, he gave gifts to men. 9 (Now this, He ascended, what is it but that he also descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is the same also that ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) 11 And he gave some [to be] apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12 for the preparing of the saints, to the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ: 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a full-grown man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ: 14 that we may no longer be juveniles, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error; 15 but speaking truth in love, may grow up in all things into him, who is the head, [even] Christ; 16 from whom all the body being joined and knit together through that which every joint supplies, according to the working in [due] measure of each individual part, makes the increase of the body to the building up of itself in love.

17 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you+ no longer walk as the Gentiles also walk, in the vanity of their mind, 18 being darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their heart; 19 who, feeling no more pain, delivered themselves up to sexual immorality, to work all impurity with greed. 20 But you+ did not so learn Christ; 21 if indeed you+ heard him, and were taught in him, even as truth is in Jesus: 22 that you+ put away, as concerning your+ former manner of life, the old man, that waxes corrupt after the desires of deceit; 23 and that you+ are renewed in the spirit of your+ mind, 24 and put on the new man, that after God has been created in righteousness and holiness of truth.

25 Therefore, putting away falsehood, speak+ truth each one with his fellow man: for we are members one of another. 26 Be+ angry, and don't sin: don't let the sun go down on your+ wrath: 27 neither give place to the devil. 28 Let him who stole steal no more: and even better, let him labor, working with his own hands the thing that is good, that he may have something to give to him who has need. 29 Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your+ mouth, but such as is good for edifying as the need may be, that it may give grace to those who hear. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you+ were sealed to the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and railing, be put away from you+, with all malice: 32 and be+ kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, even as God also in Christ forgave you+.

5  Be+ therefore imitators of God, as beloved children; 2 and walk in love, even as Christ also loved us, and delivered himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for an odor of a sweet smell.

3 But fornication, all impurity, or greed, don't let it even be named among you+, as becomes saints; 4 nor filthiness, nor foolish talking, or jesting, which are not befitting: but rather giving of thanks. 5 For this you+ know for sure, that anyone who is a fornicator, or unclean, or greedy (that is, an idolater) has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Let no man deceive you+ with empty words: for because of these things the wrath of God comes on the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore don't be+ partakers with them; 8 for you+ were once darkness, but are now light in the Lord: walk as children of light, 9 —for the fruit of the light is in all goodness and righteousness and truth— 10 proving what is well-pleasing to the Lord; 11 and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, and even better, reprove them as well; 12 for the things which are done by them in secret it is a shame even to speak of. 13 But all things when they are reproved are made manifest by the light, 14 for everything that is made manifest is light. Therefore [he] says, Awake, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.

15 Look therefore carefully how you+ walk, not as unwise, but as wise; 16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore don't be+ foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And don't be drunk with wine, in which is riot, but be filled with the Spirit; 19 speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your+ heart to the Lord; 20 giving thanks always for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; 21 subjecting yourselves one to another in the fear of Christ.

22 Wives, [be in subjection] to your+ own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, [being] himself the savior of the body. 24 But as the church is subject to Christ, so [let] the wives also [be] to their husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your+ wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and delivered himself up for it; 26 that he might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word, 27 that he might present the church to himself a glorious [church], not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. 28 Even so ought husbands also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself: 29 for no man ever hated his own flesh; but nourishes and cherishes it, even as Christ also the church; 30 because we are members of his body. 31 For this cause will a man leave his father and mother, and will stick to his wife; and the two will become one flesh. 32 This mystery is great: but I speak in regard of Christ and of the church. 33 Nevertheless, let each one of you+ also love his own wife even as himself; but the wife should fear her husband.

6  Children, obey your+ parents in the Lord: for this is right. 2 Honor your father and mother (which is the first commandment with promise), 3 that it may be well with you, and you may live long on the earth. 4 And, you+ fathers, do not provoke your+ children to wrath: but nurture them in the chastening and admonition of the Lord.

5 Slaves, be obedient to those who according to the flesh are your+ masters, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your+ heart, as to Christ; 6 not in the way of eyeservice, as men-pleasers; but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the soul; 7 with goodwill serving as slaves, as to the Lord, and not to men: 8 knowing that whatever good thing each one does, the same he will receive again from the Lord, whether slave or free. 9 And, you+ masters, do the same things to them, and forbear threatening: knowing that he who is both their Master and yours+ is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you+ may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual [hosts] of wickedness in the heavenly [places]. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you+ may be able to withstand in the evil day, and, having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having girded your+ loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having fastened your+ feet in the foundation of the good news of peace; 16 as well taking up the shield of faith, with which you+ will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil [one]. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: 18 with all prayer and supplication praying at all seasons in the Spirit, and watching thereto in all perseverance and supplication for all the saints, 19 and on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in opening my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the good news, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

21 But that you+ also may know my affairs, what I participate in, Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will make known to you+ all things: 22 whom I have sent to you+ for this very purpose, that you+ may know our state, and that he may comfort your+ hearts.

23 Peace be to the brothers, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 24 Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with [a love] incorruptible.

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Philippians

To the Philippians

1  Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and servants:[121] 2 Grace to you+ and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

3 I thank my God on all my remembrance of you+, 4 always in every supplication of mine on behalf of all of you+ making my supplication with joy, 5 for your+ fellowship in furtherance of the good news from the first day until now; 6 being confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you+ will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus: 7 even as it is right for me to be thus minded on behalf of all of you+, because I have you+ in my heart, inasmuch as, both in my bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the good news, all of you+ are copartners with me of grace. 8 For God is my witness, how I long after all of you+ in the tender mercies of Christ Jesus. 9 And this I pray, that your+ love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and all discernment; 10 so that you+ may approve the things that are excellent; that you+ may be sincere and void of offense to the day of Christ; 11 being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

12 Now I would have you+ know, brothers, that the things [which happened] to me have fallen out rather to the progress of the good news; 13 so that my bonds became manifest in Christ throughout the whole praetorian guard, and to all the rest; 14 and that most of the brothers in the Lord, being confident through my bonds, are more abundantly bold to speak the word without fear. 15 Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of goodwill. 16 The ones [that preach] from love know that I am set for the defense of the good news; 17 but, the ones [that] proclaim Christ insincerely from faction, think to raise up affliction for me in my bonds. 18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice. 19 For I know that this will turn out to my salvation, through your+ supplication and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, 20 according to my earnest expectation and hope, that in nothing will I be put to shame, but [that] with all boldness, as always, [so] now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life, or by death. 21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 But if to live in the flesh, —[if] this will bring fruit from my work, then what I will choose I don't know. 23 But I am in a strait between the two, having the desire to depart and be with Christ; for it is very far better: 24 yet to stay in the flesh is more needful for your+ sake. 25 And having this confidence, I know that I will stay, yes, and stay with all of you+, for your+ progress and joy in the faith; 26 that your+ glorying may abound in Christ Jesus in me through my presence with you+ again. 27 Only let your+ manner of life be worthy of the good news of Christ: that, whether I come and see you+ or am absent, I may hear of your+ state, that you+ stand fast in one spirit, one soul, struggling for the faith of the good news; 28 and in nothing frightened by the adversaries: which is for them an evident token of perdition, but of your+ salvation, and that from God; 29 because to you+ it has been granted in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer in his behalf: 30 having the same conflict which you+ saw in me, and now hear to be in me.

2  If there is therefore any exhortation in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and compassions, 2 make my joy full, that you+ are of the same mind, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind; 3 [doing] nothing through faction or through vainglory, but in lowliness of mind each counting one another better than himself; 4 each of you+ not looking to his own things, but each of you+ also to the things of others. 5 Have this mind in you+, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6 who, existing in the form of God, did not consider making full use of his equality with God, 7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being made in the likeness of men; 8 and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient [even] to death, yes, the death of the cross. 9 Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name; 10 that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of [those] in heaven and [those] on earth and [those] under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess, The Lord Jesus Christ, to the glory of God the Father.

12 So then, my beloved, even as you+ have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your+ own salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who works in you+ both to will and to work, for his good pleasure. 14 Do all things without murmurings and questionings; 15 that you+ may become blameless and harmless, children of God without blemish in the middle of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you+ are seen as lights in the world, 16 holding forth the word of life; that I may have something of which to glory in the day of Christ, that I did not run in vain neither labor in vain. 17 Yes, and if I am offered on the sacrifice and ministry of your+ faith, I joy, and rejoice with all of you+: 18 and in the same manner do you+ also joy, and rejoice with me.

19 But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy shortly to you+, that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your+ state. 20 For I have no man likeminded, who will care truly for your+ state. 21 For they all seek their own, not the things of Jesus Christ. 22 But you+ know the proof of him, that, as a child [to] a father, he served as a slave with me in furtherance of the good news. 23 Therefore I hope to send him forthwith, as soon as I will see how it will go with me: 24 but I trust in the Lord that I myself also will come shortly. 25 But I counted it necessary to send to you+ Epaphroditus, my brother and coworker and fellow-soldier, and your+ messenger and minister to my need; 26 since he longed after all of you+, and was very troubled, because you+ had heard that he was sick: 27 for indeed he was sick near to death: but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, that I might not have sorrow on sorrow. 28 I have sent him therefore the more diligently, that, when you+ see him again, you+ may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful. 29 Receive him therefore in the Lord with all joy; and hold such in honor: 30 because for the work of Christ he came near to death, hazarding his soul to supply that which was lacking in your+ ministry toward me.

3  Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you+, to me indeed is not irksome, but for you+ it is safe. 2 Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the concision: 3 for we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God, and glory in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh: 4 though I myself might have confidence even in the flesh: if any other man thinks to have confidence in the flesh, I yet more: 5 circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as concerning the law, a Pharisee; 6 as concerning zeal, persecuting the church; as concerning the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless. 7 Nevertheless what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 8 But on the contrary, I also count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and regard them as crap, that I may gain Christ, 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, [even] that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith: 10 that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming conformed to his death; 11 if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. 12 Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect: but I press on, if also I may lay hold on that for which also I was laid hold on by Christ Jesus. 13 Brothers, I don't count myself to have laid hold: but one thing [I do], forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before, 14 I press on toward the goal to the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, be thus minded: and if in anything you+ are otherwise minded, this also God will reveal to you+: 16 only, to what we have attained, by that same [rule] let us walk.

17 Brothers, be+ imitators together of me, and observe those who so walk even as you+ have us for an example. 18 For many walk, of whom I told you+ often, and now tell you+ even weeping, [that they are] the enemies of the cross of Christ: 19 whose end is perdition, whose god is the belly, and [whose] glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things. 20 For our citizenship is in heaven; from where we also wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ: 21 who will fashion anew the body of our humiliation, [that it may be] conformed to the body of his glory, according to the working by which he is able even to subject all things to himself.

4  Therefore, my brothers beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my beloved. 2 I exhort Euodia, and I exhort Syntyche, to be of the same mind in the Lord. 3 Yes, I urge you also, true yokefellow, help these women, for they struggled with me in the good news, with Clement also, and the rest of my coworkers, whose names are in the Book of Life.

4 Rejoice in the Lord always: again I will say, Rejoice. 5 Let your+ forbearance be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. 6 In nothing be anxious; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your+ requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will guard your+ hearts and your+ thoughts in Christ Jesus.

8 Finally, brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are honorable, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report; if there is any virtue, and if there is any praise, think on these things. 9 The things which you+ both learned and received and heard and saw in me, participate in these things: and the God of peace will be with you+.

10 But I rejoice in the Lord greatly, that now at length you+ have revived your+ thought for me; in which you+ did indeed take thought, but you+ lacked opportunity. 11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatever state I am, to be content in it. 12 I know how to be abased, and I know also how to abound: in everything and in all things I have learned the secret both to be filled and to be hungry, both to abound and to be in want. 13 I can do all things in him who strengthens me. 14 Nevertheless you+ did well that you+ had fellowship with my affliction. 15 And you+ yourselves also know, you+ Philippians, that in the beginning of the good news, when I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving but you+ only; 16 for even in Thessalonica you+ sent once and again to my need. 17 Not that I seek for the gift; but I seek for the fruit that increases to your+ account. 18 But I have all things, and abound: I am filled, having received from Epaphroditus the things [that came] from you+, an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God. 19 And my God will supply every need of yours+ according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. 20 Now to our God and Father [be] the glory forever and ever. Amen.

21 Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me greet you+. 22 All the saints greet you+, especially those who are of Caesar's household.

23 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your+ spirit.

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Colossians

To the Colossians

1  Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 2 to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ [who are] at Colossae: Grace to you+ and peace from God our Father.

3 We give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you+, 4 having heard of your+ faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which you+ have toward all the saints, 5 because of the hope which is laid up for you+ in the heavens, of which you+ heard before in the word of the truth of the good news, 6 which has come to you+; even as it is also in all the world bearing fruit and increasing, as [it does] in you+ also, since the day you+ heard and knew the grace of God in truth; 7 even as you+ learned of Epaphras our beloved fellow slave, who is a faithful servant of Christ on your+ behalf, 8 who also declared to us your+ love in the Spirit.

9 For this cause we also, since the day we heard [it], do not cease to pray and make request for you+, that you+ may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 to walk worthily of the Lord to all pleasing, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all power, according to the might of his glory, to all patience and long-suffering with joy; 12 giving thanks to the Father, who made you+ meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; 13 who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love; 14 in whom we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins: 15 who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; 16 for in him were all things created, in the heavens and on the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through him, and to him; 17 and he is before all things, and in him all things consist. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. 19 For it was the good pleasure [of the Father] that in him should all the fullness dwell; 20 and through him to reconcile all things to himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross; through him, whether things on the earth, or things in the heavens. 21 And you+, being in time past alienated and enemies in your+ mind in your+ evil works, 22 yet now he has reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you+ holy and without blemish and unreproveable before him: 23 if indeed you+ continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the good news which you+ heard, which was preached in all creation under heaven; of which I Paul was made a servant.

24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your+ sake, and fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church; 25 of which I was made a servant, according to the dispensation of God which was given me toward you+, to fulfill the word of God, 26 [even] the mystery which has been hid since the ages and since the generations: but now it has been manifested to his saints, 27 to whom God was pleased to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you+, the hope of glory: 28 whom we proclaim, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ; 29 to which I labor also, striving according to his working, which works in me mightily.

2  For I would have you+ know how greatly I strive for you+, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh; 2 that their hearts may be comforted, they being knit together in love, and to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, that they may know the mystery of God, [even] Christ, 3 in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden. 4 This I say, that no one may delude you+ with persuasiveness of speech. 5 For though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you+ in the spirit, joying and seeing your+ order, and the steadfastness of your+ faith in Christ.

6 As therefore you+ received Christ Jesus the Lord, [so] walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, and established in your+ faith, even as you+ were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

8 Take heed lest there will be anyone who makes spoil of you+ through his philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ: 9 for in him dwells all the fullness of Deity bodily, 10 and in him you+ are made full, who is the head of all principality and power: 11 in whom you+ were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ; 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you+ were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And you+, being dead in your+ trespasses and the uncircumcision of your+ flesh, you+, he made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses; 14 having blotted out the bond written in ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us: and he has taken it out from between [him and us], nailing it to the cross; 15 having despoiled the principalities and the powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

16 Let no man therefore judge you+ in meat and in drink, or in respect of a feast day or a new moon or a Sabbath day: 17 which are a shadow of the things to come; but the body is Christ's. 18 Let no man rob you+ of your+ prize by a voluntary humility and worshiping of the angels, dwelling in the things which he has seen, puffed up for nothing by his fleshly mind, 19 and not holding fast the Head, from whom all the body, being supplied and knit together through the joints and bands, increases with the increase of God.

20 If you+ died with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you+ subject yourselves to ordinances, 21 Don't handle, nor taste, nor touch 22 (all which things are to perish with the using), after the precepts and doctrines of men? 23 Which things indeed have a show of wisdom in do-it-yourself religion, and humility, and severity to the body; [but are] not of any value against the indulgence of the flesh.

3  If then you+ were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your+ mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth. 3 For you+ died, and your+ life is hid with Christ in God. 4 When Christ will be manifested, [who is] your+ life, then you+ will also be manifested with him in glory.

5 Put to death therefore your+ members which are on the earth: fornication, impurity, immoral sexual passion, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry; 6 because of these things the wrath of God comes on the sons of disobedience: 7 in which you+ also once walked, when you+ lived in these things; 8 but now do you+ also put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, railing, shameful speaking out of your+ mouth: 9 do not lie one to another; seeing that you+ have put off the old man with his activities, 10 and have put on the new man, who is being renewed to knowledge after the image of him who created him: 11 where there can't be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all things, and in all.

12 Put on therefore, as God's elect, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, long-suffering; 13 forbearing one another, and forgiving each other, if any man has a complaint against any; even as the Lord forgave you+, so also [should] you+: 14 and above all these things [put on] love, which is the bond of perfectness. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your+ hearts, to the which you+ also were called in one body; and be+ thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you+ richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms [and] hymns [and] spiritual songs, singing with grace in your+ hearts to God. 17 And whatever you+ do, in word or in deed, [do] all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

18 Wives, be in subjection to your+ husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19 Husbands, love your+ wives, and do not be bitter against them. 20 Children, obey your+ parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing in the Lord. 21 Fathers, do not provoke your+ children, that they not be discouraged. 22 Slaves, obey in all things those who are your+ masters according to the flesh; not with eye-service, as men-pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing the Lord: 23 whatever you+ do, work from the soul, as to the Lord, and not to men; 24 knowing that from the Lord you+ will receive the recompense of the inheritance: you+ serve as slaves to the Lord Christ. 25 For he who does wrong will receive again for the wrong that he has done: and there is no favoritism.  4  Masters, render to your+ slaves that which is just and equal; knowing that you+ also have a Master in heaven.

2 Continue steadfastly in prayer, watching in it with thanksgiving; 3 as well praying for us also, that God may open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds; 4 that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak. 5 Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. 6 Let your+ speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you+ may know how you+ ought to answer each one. 7 All my affairs Tychicus will make known to you+, the beloved brother and faithful servant and fellow slave in the Lord: 8 whom I have sent to you+ for this very purpose, that you+ may know our state, and that he may comfort your+ hearts; 9 together with Onesimus, the faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you+. They will make known to you+ all things that [are done] here.

10 Aristarchus my fellow-prisoner greets you+, and Mark, the cousin of Barnabas (concerning whom you+ received commandments; if he comes to you+, receive him), 11 and Jesus who is called Justus, who are of the circumcision: these [are my] only coworkers to the kingdom of God, men who have been a comfort to me. 12 Epaphras, who is one of you+, a slave of Christ Jesus, greets you+, always striving for you+ in his prayers, that you+ may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God. 13 For I bear him witness, that he has much labor for you+, and for them in Laodicea, and for them in Hierapolis. 14 Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas greet you+. 15 Greet the brothers who are in Laodicea, and Nymphas and the church that is in her house. 16 And when this letter has been read among you+, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and that you+ also read the letter from Laodicea. 17 And say to Archippus, Take heed to the service which you have received in the Lord, that you fulfill it.

18 The salutation of me Paul with my own hand. Remember my bonds. Grace be with you+.

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I Thessalonians

To the Thessalonians I

1  Paul, and Silvanus, and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you+ and peace.

2 We give thanks to God always for all of you+, making mention [of you+] in our prayers without ceasing, 3 remembering your+ work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, before our God and Father; 4 knowing, brothers beloved by God, your+ election, 5 how that our good news did not come to you+ in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance; even as you+ know what manner of men we showed ourselves among you+ for your+ sake. 6 And you+ became imitators of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit; 7 so that you+ became an example to all who believe in Macedonia and in Achaia. 8 For from you+ has sounded forth the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your+ faith toward God has gone forth; so that we don't need to speak anything. 9 For they themselves report concerning us what manner of entering in we had to you+; and how you+ turned to God from idols, to serve as slaves to a living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, [even] Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come.

2  For yourselves, brothers, know our entering in to you+, that it has not been found vain: 2 but having suffered before and been shamefully treated, as you+ know, at Philippi, we waxed bold in our God to speak to you+ the good news of God in much conflict. 3 For our exhortation [is] not of error, nor of impurity, nor in guile: 4 but even as we have been approved of God to be entrusted with the good news, so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God who proves our hearts. 5 For neither at any time did we come in words of flattery, as you+ know, nor in a cloak of greed, God is witness; 6 nor seeking glory of men, neither from you+ nor from others. 7 We could have been a burden as apostles of Christ. But we became juveniles among you+, as when a nurse cherishes her own children: 8 even so, being affectionately desirous of you+, we were well pleased to impart to you+, not the good news of God only, but also our own souls, because you+ became very dear to us. 9 For you+ remember, brothers, our labor and travail: working night and day, that we might not burden any of you+, we preached to you+ the good news of God. 10 You+ are witnesses, and God [also], how holily and righteously and unblamably we became toward you+ who believe: 11 as you+ know how we [dealt with] each one of you+, as a father with his own children, 12 exhorting you+, and encouraging, and testifying, to the end that you+ should walk worthily of God, who calls you+ into his own kingdom and glory.

13 And for this cause we also thank God without ceasing, that, when you+ received from us the word of the message, [even the word] of God, you+ accepted [it] not [as] the word of men, but, as it is in truth, the word of God, which also works in you+ who believe. 14 For you+, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus: for you+ also suffered the same things of your+ own countrymen, even as they did of the Jews; 15 who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove out us, and do not please God, and are contrary to all men; 16 forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved; to fill up their sins always: but the wrath has come upon them to the uttermost.

17 But we, brothers, being bereaved of you+ for a short season, in presence not in heart, endeavored the more exceedingly to see your+ face with great desire: 18 because we wanted to come to you+, I Paul once and again; and Satan hindered us. 19 For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of glorying? Are not even you+, before our Lord Jesus at his coming? 20 For you+ are our glory and our joy.

3  Therefore when we could no longer forbear, we thought it good to be left behind at Athens alone; 2 and sent Timothy, our brother and coworker under God in the good news of Christ, to establish you+, and to comfort [you+] concerning your+ faith; 3 that no man be moved by these afflictions; for yourselves know that hereunto we are appointed. 4 For truly, when we were with you+, we told you+ beforehand that we are to suffer affliction; even as it came to pass, and you+ know. 5 For this cause I also, when I could no longer forbear, sent that I might know your+ faith, lest by any means the tempter had tempted you+, and our labor should be in vain. 6 But when Timothy came even now to us from you+, and brought us good news about your+ faith and love, and that you+ have good remembrance of us always, longing to see us, even as we also [to see] you+; 7 for this cause, brothers, we were comforted over you+ in all our distress and affliction through your+ faith: 8 for now we live, if you+ stand fast in the Lord. 9 For what thanksgiving can we render again to God for you+, for all the joy with which we joy for your+ sakes before our God; 10 night and day praying exceedingly that we may see your+ face, and may provide that which is lacking in your+ faith?

11 Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you+: 12 and the Lord make you+ to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we also [do] toward you+; 13 to the end he may establish your+ hearts unblamable in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. Amen.

4  Finally then, brothers, we urge and exhort you+ in the Lord Jesus, that, as you+ received of us how you+ ought to walk and to please God, even as you+ do walk, that you+ abound more and more. 2 For you+ know what charge we gave you+ through the Lord Jesus. 3 For this is the will of God, [even] your+ sanctification, that you+ abstain from fornication; 4 that each of you+ know how to possess himself of his own vessel[122] in sanctification and honor, 5 not by immoral sexual passion, even as the Gentiles who don't know God; 6 that no man transgress and take advantage of his brother in this matter:[123] because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as also we forewarned you+ and testified. 7 For God called us not for impurity, but in sanctification. 8 Therefore he who rejects, rejects not man, but God, who also gives his Holy Spirit to you+.

9 But concerning love of the brothers you+ have no need that one write to you+: for you+ yourselves are taught of God to love one another; 10 for indeed you+ do it toward all the brothers who are in all Macedonia. But we exhort you+, brothers, that you+ abound more and more; 11 and that you+ make it your aim to be quiet, and to participate in your+ own [things], and to work with your+ own hands, even as we charged you+; 12 that you+ may walk becomingly toward those who are outside, and may have need of nothing.

13 But we would not have you+ ignorant, brothers, concerning those who fall asleep; that you+ do not sorrow, even as the rest, who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so those also who have fallen asleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15 For this we say to you+ by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left to the coming of the Lord, will in no way precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ will rise first; 17 then we who are alive, who are left, will together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.

5  But concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you+ have no need that anything be written to you+. 2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. 3 When they are saying, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes on them, as travail on a pregnant woman; and they will in no way escape. 4 But you+, brothers, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you+ as a thief: 5 for you+ are all sons of light, and sons of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness; 6 so then let us not sleep, as do the rest, but let us watch and be sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep in the night; and those who are drunk, are drunk in the night. 8 But let us, since we are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. 9 For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to the obtaining of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, that, whether we are awake or asleep, we should live together with him. 11 Therefore exhort one another, and build each other up, even as also you+ do.

12 But we urge you+, brothers, to know those who labor among you+, and are over you+ in the Lord, and admonish you+; 13 and to esteem them exceedingly highly in love for their work's sake. Be at peace among yourselves. 14 And we exhort you+, brothers, admonish the disorderly, encourage the fainthearted, support the weak, be long-suffering toward all. 15 See that none render to anyone evil for evil; but always follow after that which is good, both one toward another, and toward all. 16 Rejoice always; 17 pray without ceasing; 18 in everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus toward you+. 19 Do not quench the Spirit; 20 do not despise prophesyings; 21 but prove all things; hold fast that which is good; 22 abstain from every form of evil.

23 And may the God of peace himself sanctify you+ wholly; and may your+ spirit and soul and body be preserved entire, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 Faithful is he who calls you+, who will also do it.

25 Brothers, pray also for us.

26 Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss. 27 I adjure you+ by the Lord that this letter be read to all the brothers.

28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you+.

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II Thessalonians

To the Thessalonians II

1  Paul, and Silvanus, and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ; 2 Grace to you+ and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

3 We are bound to give thanks to God always for you+, brothers, even as it is meet, for that your+ faith grows exceedingly, and the love of each one of all you+ toward one another abounds; 4 so that we ourselves glory in you+ in the churches of God for your+ patience and faith in all your+ persecutions and in the afflictions which you+ endure; 5 [which is] a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God; to the end that you+ may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you+ also suffer: 6 since it is a righteous thing with God to recompense affliction to those who afflict you+, 7 and to you+ who are afflicted rest with us, at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with the angels of his power in flaming fire, 8 rendering vengeance to those who do not know God, and to those who do not obey the good news of our Lord Jesus: 9 who will pay a penalty of eternal destruction away from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might, 10 when he will come to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at in all those who believed (because our testimony to you+ was believed) in that day. 11 To which end we also pray always for you+, that our God may count you+ worthy of your+ calling, and fulfill every desire of goodness and [every] work of faith, with power; 12 that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you+, and you+ in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

2  Now we urge you+, brothers, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together to him; 2 to the end that you+ are not quickly shaken from your+ mind, nor yet be troubled, either by spirit, or by word, or by letter as from us, as that the day of the Lord is just at hand; 3 let no man beguile you+ in any wise: for [it will not be,] except the falling away comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of perdition, 4 he who opposes and exalts himself against all that is called God or that is worshiped; so that he sits in the temple of God, setting himself forth as God. 5 Don't you+ remember, that, when I was yet with you+, I told you+ these things? 6 And now you+ know that which restrains, to the end that he may be revealed in his own season. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness does already work: only [there is] one who restrains now, until he is removed. 8 And then will be revealed the lawless one, whom the Lord Jesus will slay with the breath of his mouth, and bring to nothing by the manifestation of his coming; 9 [even he], whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, 10 and with all deceit of unrighteousness for those who perish; because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this cause God sends them a working of error, that they should believe a lie: 12 that all who did not believe the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness, would be judged.

13 But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you+, brothers beloved of the Lord, for that God chose you+ from the beginning to salvation in sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: 14 to which he also called you+ through our good news, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15 So then, brothers, stand fast, and hold the traditions which you+ were taught, whether by word, or by letter of ours.

16 Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, 17 comfort your+ hearts and establish them in every good work and word.

3  Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may run and be glorified, even as also [it is] with you+; 2 and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and evil men; for all do not have faith. 3 But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you+, and guard you+ from the evil [one]. 4 And we have confidence in the Lord concerning you+, that you+ both do and will do the things which we command. 5 And may the Lord direct your+ hearts into the love of God, and into the patience of Christ.

6 Now we command you+, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you+ withdraw yourselves from every brother who walks disorderly, and not after the tradition which they received of us. 7 For you+ yourselves know how you+ ought to imitate us: for we did not behave ourselves disorderly among you+; 8 neither did we eat bread for nothing at any man's hand, but in labor and travail, working night and day, that we might not burden any of you+: 9 not because we don't have the right, but to make ourselves an example to you+, that you+ should imitate us. 10 For even when we were with you+, this we commanded you+, If any will not work, neither let him eat. 11 For we hear of some who walk among you+ disorderly, who don't work at all, but are busybodies. 12 Now those who are such we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ, that they work with quietness, and eat their own bread. 13 But you+, brothers, don't be weary in well-doing. 14 And if any man does not obey our word by this letter, note that man, that you+ do not associate with him, to the end that he may be ashamed. 15 And [yet] do not count as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.

16 Now may the Lord of peace himself give you+ peace at all times in all ways. The Lord be with all of you+.

17 The salutation of me Paul with my own hand, which is the token in every letter: so I write. 18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with all of you+.

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I Timothy

To Timothy I

1  Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus according to the commandment of God our Savior, and Christ Jesus our hope; 2 to Timothy, my true child in faith: Grace, mercy, peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

3 As I exhorted you to tarry at Ephesus, when I was going into Macedonia, that you might charge certain men not to teach a different doctrine, 4 neither to give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause questionings, rather than a dispensation of God which is in faith; [so do I now]. 5 But the end of the charge is love out of a pure heart and a good conscience and faith unfeigned: 6 from which things some having swerved have turned aside to vain talking; 7 desiring to be teachers of the law, though they understand neither what they say, nor what they confidently affirm. 8 But we know that the law is good, if a man uses it lawfully, 9 as knowing this, that law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and unruly, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, 10 for fornicators, for homosexuals, for menstealers, for liars, for false swearers, and if there be any other thing contrary to the sound doctrine; 11 according to the good news of the glory of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.

12 I thank him who enabled me, [even] Christ Jesus our Lord, for that he counted me faithful, appointing me to [his] service; 13 though I was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: nevertheless I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief; 14 and the grace of our Lord abounded exceedingly with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. 15 Faithful is the saying, and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief: 16 nevertheless for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me as chief might Jesus Christ show forth all his long-suffering, for an example of those who should thereafter believe on him to eternal life. 17 Now to the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, [be] honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. 18 This charge I commit to you, my child Timothy, according to the prophecies which led the way to you, that by them you may war the good warfare; 19 holding faith and a good conscience; which some having thrust from them made shipwreck concerning the faith: 20 of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I delivered to Satan, that they might be taught not to blaspheme.

2  I exhort therefore, first of all, that supplications, prayers, intercessions, thanksgivings, be made for all men; 2 for kings and all who are in high place; that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and gravity. 3 This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior; 4 who would have all men to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is [only] one God, and [only] one mediator between God and men, [the] man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself a ransom for all; the testimony [to be borne] in its own times; 7 to which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I speak the truth, I don't lie), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

8 I desire therefore that the men pray in every place, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and disputing. 9 In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefastness and sobriety; not with braided hair, and gold or pearls or costly raiment; 10 but (which becomes women professing godliness) through good works. 11 Let a woman learn in quietness with all subjection. 12 But I do not permit a woman to teach, nor to have dominion over a man, but to be in quietness. 13 For Adam was first formed, then Eve; 14 and Adam was not beguiled, but the woman being beguiled has fallen into transgression: 15 but she will be saved through her childbearing, if they stay in faith and love and sanctification with sobriety.

3  Faithful is the saying, If a man seeks the office of overseer, he desires a good work. 2 The overseer therefore must be without reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, orderly, given to hospitality, apt to teach; 3 no brawler, no striker; but gentle, not contentious, no lover of money; 4 one who rules well his own house, having [his] children in subjection with all gravity; 5 (but if a man doesn't know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?) 6 not a novice, lest being puffed up he fall into the condemnation of the devil. 7 Moreover he must have good testimony from those who are outside; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. 8 Servants[124] in like manner [must be] grave, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of monetary gain; 9 holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. 10 And let these also first be proved; then let them serve, if they are blameless. 11 Women in like manner [must be] grave, not slanderers, temperate, faithful in all things. 12 Let servants be husbands of one wife, ruling [their] children and their own houses well. 13 For they having served well gain to themselves a good standing, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.

14 These things I write to you, hoping to come to you shortly; 15 but if I tarry long, that you may know how men ought to behave themselves in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. 16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness; He who was manifested in the flesh, Justified in the spirit, Seen of angels, Preached among the nations, Believed on in the world, Received up in glory.

4  But the Spirit says expressly, that in later times some will fall away from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 through the hypocrisy of men who speak lies, branded in their own conscience as with a hot iron; 3 forbidding to marry, [and commanding] to abstain from meats, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, if it is received with thanksgiving: 5 for it is sanctified through the word of God and prayer.

6 If you put the brothers in mind of these things, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, nourished in the words of the faith, and of the good doctrine which you have followed [until now]: 7 but refuse profane and old wives' fables. And exercise yourself to godliness: 8 for bodily exercise is profitable for a little; but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life which now is, and of that which is to come. 9 Faithful is the saying, and worthy of all acceptance. 10 For to this end we labor and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe. 11 These things command and teach. 12 Let no man despise your youth; but be an example to those who believe, in word, in manner of life, in love, in faith, in purity. 13 Until I come, give heed to reading, to exhortation, to teaching. 14 Don't neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the group of elders. 15 Be diligent in these things; give yourself wholly to them; that your progress may be manifest to all. 16 Take heed to yourself, and to your teaching. Continue in these things; for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.

5  Don't rebuke an elder, but exhort him as a father; the younger men as brothers: 2 the elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, in all purity. 3 Honor widows who are widows indeed. 4 But if any widow has children or grandchildren, let them learn first to show piety toward their own family, and to repay their parents: for this is acceptable in the sight of God. 5 Now she who is a widow indeed, and desolate, has her hope set on God, and continues in supplications and prayers night and day. 6 But she who gives herself to pleasure is dead while she lives. 7 These things also command, that they may be without reproach. 8 But if any does not provide for his own, and especially his own household, he has denied the faith, and is worse than an unbeliever. 9 Let none be enrolled as a widow under threescore years old, [having been] the wife of one man, 10 well reported of for good works; if she has brought up children, if she has used hospitality to strangers, if she has washed the saints' feet, if she has relieved the afflicted, if she has diligently followed every good work. 11 But younger widows refuse: for when their sexual desires overcome their dedication to Christ, they desire to marry; 12 having condemnation, because they have rejected their first pledge. 13 And besides they learn also [to be] idle, going about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not. 14 I desire therefore that the younger [widows] marry, bear children, rule the household, give no occasion to the adversary for reviling: 15 for some already turned aside after Satan. 16 If any woman who believes has widows, let her relieve them, and don't let the church be burdened; that it may relieve those who are widows indeed.

17 Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and in teaching. 18 For the Scripture says, You will not muzzle the ox when he treads out the corn. And, The worker is worthy of his wages. 19 Against an elder don't receive an accusation, except on [the basis of] two or three witnesses. 20 Those who sin reprove in the sight of all, that the rest also may be in fear. 21 I charge [you] in the sight of God, and Christ Jesus, and the elect angels, that you observe these things without prejudice, doing nothing by partiality. 22 Lay hands hastily on no man, neither share in other men's sins: keep yourself pure. 23 Be no longer a drinker of water, but use a little wine for your stomach's sake and your often infirmities. 24 Some men's sins are evident, going before to judgment; and some men also they follow after. 25 In like manner also there are good works that are evident; and such that are otherwise can't be hid.

6  Let as many as are slaves under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor, that the name of God and the doctrine not be blasphemed. 2 And those who have believing masters, don't let them despise them, because they are brothers; but let them serve as better slaves, because those who partake of the benefit are believing and beloved. These things teach and exhort.

3 If any man teaches a different doctrine, and does not consent to sound words, [even] the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; 4 he is puffed up, knowing nothing, but doting about questionings and disputes of words, from which comes envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, 5 wranglings of men corrupted in mind and defrauded of the truth, supposing that godliness is a way of gain. 6 But godliness with contentment is great gain: 7 for we brought nothing into the world, neither can we carry anything out; 8 but having food and covering we will be content with this. 9 But those who are minded to be rich fall into a temptation and a snare and many foolish and hurtful desires, such as drown men in destruction and perdition. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil: which some reaching after have been led astray from the faith, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

11 But you, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith, lay hold on the eternal life, to which you were called and confessed the good confession in the sight of many witnesses. 13 I charge you in the sight of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed the good confession; 14 that you keep the commandment, without spot, without reproach, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: 15 which in its own times he will show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; 16 who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light; whom no man has seen, nor can see: to whom [be] honor and power eternal. Amen.

17 Charge those who are rich in this present age, not to be highminded, nor have their hope set on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy; 18 that they do good, that they be rich in good works, that they be ready to distribute, willing to communicate; 19 laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on the life which is [life] indeed.

20 O Timothy, guard that which is committed to [you], turning away from the profane babblings and oppositions of the knowledge which is falsely so called; 21 which some professing have erred concerning the faith.

Grace be with you+.

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II Timothy

To Timothy II

1  Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, according to the promise of the life which is in Christ Jesus, 2 to Timothy, my beloved child: Grace, mercy, peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

3 I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers in a pure conscience, how unceasing is my remembrance of you in my supplications, night and day 4 longing to see you, remembering your tears, that I may be filled with joy; 5 having been reminded of the unfeigned faith that is in you; which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois, and your mother Eunice; and, I am persuaded, in you also. 6 For which cause I put you in remembrance that you stir up the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For God did not give us a spirit of fearfulness; but of power and love and discipline. 8 Therefore don't be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but suffer hardship with the good news according to the power of God; 9 who saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before eternal times, 10 but has now been manifested by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light through the good news, 11 to which I was appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher. 12 For which cause I suffer also these things: yet I am not ashamed; for I know him whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to guard that which I have committed to him against that day. 13 Hold the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. 14 That good thing which was committed to [you] guard through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.

15 This you know, that all who are in Asia turned away from me; of whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes. 16 The Lord grant mercy to the house of Onesiphorus: for he often refreshed me, and wasn't ashamed of my chain; 17 but, when he was in Rome, he sought me diligently, and found me 18 (the Lord grant to him to find mercy of the Lord in that day); and in how many things he served at Ephesus, you know very well.

2  You therefore, my child, be strengthened in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2 And the things which you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit the same to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also. 3 Suffer hardship with [me], as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No soldier on service entangles himself in the affairs of [this] life; that he may please him who enrolled him as a soldier. 5 And if also a man contends in the games, he is not crowned, except he has contended lawfully. 6 The husbandman who labors must be the first to partake of the fruits. 7 Consider what I say; for the Lord will give you understanding in all things. 8 Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, of the seed of David, according to my good news: 9 in which I suffer hardship to bonds, as a criminal; but the word of God is not bound. 10 Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sake, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. 11 Faithful is the saying: For if we died with him, we will also live with him: 12 if we endure, we will also reign with him: if we will deny him, he also will deny us: 13 if we are faithless, he stays faithful; for he can't deny himself.

14 Of these things put them in remembrance, charging [them] in the sight of God, that they are not to strive about words, to no profit, to the subverting of those who hear. 15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, an unashamed worker, correctly handling the word of truth. 16 But shun profane babblings: for they will proceed further in ungodliness, 17 and their word will eat as does a gangrene: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus; 18 men who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already, and overthrow the faith of some. 19 Nevertheless the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, The Lord knows those who are his: and, Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness. 20 Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honor, and some to shame. 21 If a man therefore purges himself from these, he will be a vessel to honor, sanctified, meet for the master's use, prepared to every good work. 22 But flee youthful lusts, and follow after righteousness, faith, love, peace, with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. 23 But foolish and ignorant questionings refuse, knowing that they gender strifes. 24 And the Lord's slave must not strive, but be gentle toward all, apt to teach, forbearing, 25 in meekness correcting those who oppose themselves; if perhaps God may give them repentance to the knowledge of the truth, 26 and they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to his will.

3  But know this, that in the last days grievous times will come. 2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, haughty, railers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 without natural affection, implacable, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, no lovers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, puffed up, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God; 5 holding a form of godliness, but having denied its power: from these also turn away. 6 For of these are those who creep into houses, and take captive silly women laden with sins, led away by diverse desires, 7 ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 8 And even as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also withstand the truth; men corrupted in mind, disapproved concerning the faith. 9 But they will proceed no further: for their folly will be evident to all men, as theirs also came to be. 10 But you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, long-suffering, love, patience, 11 persecutions, sufferings; what things befell me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: and out of them all the Lord delivered me. 12 Yes, and all who would live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. 13 But evil men and impostors will wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 But you stay in the things which you have learned and have been assured of, knowing of whom you have learned them; 15 and that from a baby you have known the sacred writings which are able to make you wise to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture [is] inspired of God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness: 17 that the man of God may be complete, furnished completely to every good work.

4  I charge [you] in the sight of God, and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2 preach the word; be urgent in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering and teaching. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure the sound doctrine; but, having itching ears, will heap to themselves teachers after their own desires; 4 and will turn away their ears from the truth, and turn aside to fables. 5 But be sober in all things, suffer hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your service. 6 For I am already being offered, and the time of my departure has come. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith: 8 from now on there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me at that day; and not to me only, but also to all those who have loved his appearing.

9 Be diligent to come shortly to me: 10 for Demas forsook me, having loved this present age, and went to Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. 11 Only Luke is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with you; for he is useful to me in [my] service. 12 But Tychicus I sent to Ephesus. 13 The cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus, bring when you come, and the books, especially the parchments. 14 Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil: the Lord will render to him according to his works: 15 of whom you also beware; for he greatly withstood our words. 16 At my first defense no one took my part, but all forsook me: may it not be laid to their account. 17 But the Lord stood by me, and strengthened me; that through me the message might be fully proclaimed, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. 18 The Lord will deliver me from every evil work, and will save me to his heavenly kingdom: to whom [be] the glory forever and ever. Amen.

19 Greet Prisca and Aquila, and the house of Onesiphorus. 20 Erastus stayed at Corinth: but Trophimus I left at Miletus sick. 21 Be diligent to come before winter. Eubulus greets you, and Pudens, and Linus, and Claudia, and all the brothers.

22 The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you+.

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Titus

To Titus

1  Paul, a slave of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness, 2 in hope of eternal life, which God, who can't lie, promised before eternal times; 3 but in his own seasons manifested his word in the message, with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior; 4 to Titus, my true child after a common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.

5 For this cause I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that were wanting, and appoint elders in every city, as I gave you charge; 6 if any man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having children who believe, who are not accused of riot or unruly. 7 For the overseer must be blameless, as God's steward; not self-willed, not soon angry, no brawler, no striker, not greedy of monetary gain; 8 but given to hospitality, a lover of good, sober-minded, just, holy, self-controlled; 9 holding to the faithful word which is according to the teaching, that he may be able both to exhort in the sound doctrine, and to convict the gainsayers.

10 For there are also many unruly men, vain talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, 11 whose mouths must be stopped; men who overthrow whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for greed of monetary gain's sake. 12 One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, idle gluttons. 13 This testimony is true. For which cause reprove them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, 14 not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men who turn away from the truth. 15 To the pure all things are pure: but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but both their mind and their conscience are defiled. 16 They profess that they know God; but by their works they deny him, being disgusting, and disobedient, and to every good work disapproved.

2  But you speak the things which befit the sound doctrine: 2 that aged men be temperate, grave, sober-minded, sound in faith, in love, in patience: 3 that aged women likewise be reverent in demeanor, not slanderers, not enslaved to much wine, teachers of that which is good; 4 that they may train the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, 5 [to be] sober-minded, chaste, workers at home, kind, being in subjection to their own husbands, that the word of God not be blasphemed: 6 the younger men likewise exhort to be sober-minded: 7 in all things showing yourself an example of good works; in your doctrine [showing] uncorruptness, gravity, 8 sound speech, that can't be condemned; that he who is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of us. 9 [Exhort] slaves to be in subjection to their own masters, [and] to be well-pleasing [to them] in all things; not opposing; 10 not purloining, but showing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things. 11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, 12 instructing us, to the intent that, denying ungodliness and worldly desires, we should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present age; 13 looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of Jesus Christ, our great God and Savior; 14 who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify to himself a people for his own possession, zealous of good works.

15 These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no man despise you.

3  Put them in mind to be in subjection to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to every good work, 2 to speak evil of no man, not to be contentious, to be gentle, showing all meekness toward all men. 3 For we also once were foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving as slaves to diverse desires and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. 4 But when the kindness of God our Savior, and his love toward man, appeared, 5 not by works [done] in righteousness, which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy he saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, 6 which he poured out on us richly, through Jesus Christ our Savior; 7 that, being justified by his grace, we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. 8 Faithful is the saying, and concerning these things I desire that you affirm confidently, to the end that those who have believed God may be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men: 9 but shun foolish questionings, and genealogies, and strifes, and fightings about the law; for they are unprofitable and useless. 10 A factious man after a first and second admonition refuse; 11 knowing that such a one is perverted, and sins, being self-condemned.

12 When I will send Artemas to you, or Tychicus, be diligent to come to me to Nicopolis: for there I have determined to winter. 13 Set forward Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey diligently, that nothing is wanting to them. 14 And let our [people] also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they not be unfruitful.

15 All who are with me greet you. Greet those who love us in faith.

Grace be with all of you+.

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Philemon

To Philemon

1  Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, to Philemon our beloved and coworker, 2 and to Apphia our sister, and to Archippus our fellow-soldier, and to the church in your house: 3 Grace to you+ and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

4 I thank my God always, making mention of you in my prayers, 5 hearing of your love, and of the faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus, and toward all the saints; 6 that the fellowship of your faith may become effectual, in the knowledge of every good thing which is in us, to Christ. 7 For I had much joy and comfort in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother.

8 Therefore, though I have all boldness in Christ to enjoin you [to do] that which is befitting, 9 yet for love's sake I rather urge, being such a one as Paul the aged, and now a prisoner also of Christ Jesus: 10 I urge you for my child, whom I have begotten in my bonds, Onesimus, 11 who once was unprofitable to you, but now is profitable both to you and to me: 12 whom I have sent back to you in his own person, that is, my very heart: 13 whom I was hoping to keep with me, that in your behalf he might serve me in the bonds of the good news: 14 but without your mind I would do nothing; that your goodness should not be as of necessity, but of free will. 15 For perhaps he was therefore parted [from you] for a season, that you should have him forever; 16 no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a brother beloved, especially to me, but how much rather to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord. 17 If then you count me a partner, receive him as [you would] me. 18 But if he has wronged you at all, or owes [you] anything, put that to my account; 19 I Paul write it with my own hand, I will repay it: that I should not have to say to you that you owe to me even your own self besides. 20 Yes, brother, let me have joy of you in the Lord: refresh my heart in Christ.

21 Having confidence in your obedience I write to you, knowing that you will do even beyond what I say. 22 But as well, also prepare a lodging for me: for I hope that through your+ prayers I will be granted to you+.

23 Epaphras, my fellow-prisoner in Christ Jesus, greets you; 24 [and so do] Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my coworkers.

25 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your+ spirit.

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Hebrews

To the Hebrews

1  God, having of old time spoken to the fathers in the prophets by diverse portions and in diverse manners, 2 has at the end of these days spoken to us in [his] Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the ages; 3 who being the radiance of his glory, and the very image of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had made purification of sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high; 4 having become by so much better than the angels, as he has inherited a more excellent name than they. 5 For to which of the angels did he say at any time, You are my Son, This day I have begotten you? And again, I will be to him a Father, And he will be to me a Son?

6 And when he again brings in the firstborn into the world he says, And let all the angels of God worship him. 7 And of the angels he says, Who makes his angels winds, And his ministers a flame of fire:

8 but of the Son [he says], Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; And the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. 9 You have loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your peers.[125]

10 And, You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the works of your hands: 11 They will perish; but you continue: And they will all wear out as does a garment; 12 And as a mantle you will roll them up, As a garment, and they will be changed: But you are the same, And your years will not fail.

13 But of which of the angels has he said at any time, Sit at my right hand, Until I make your enemies the footstool of your feet?

14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to do service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?

2  Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things that were heard, lest perhaps we drift away [from them]. 2 For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward; 3 how shall we escape, if we neglect so great a salvation? Which having at the first been spoken through the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard; 4 God also bearing witness with them, both by signs and wonders, and by manifold powers, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to his own will.

5 For not to angels did he subject the world to come, of which we speak. 6 But one has somewhere testified, saying, What is man, that you are mindful of him? Or the son of man, that you visit him? 7 You made him a little lower than the angels; You crowned him with glory and honor. 8 You put all things in subjection under his feet.

For in that he subjected all things to him, he left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we do not see yet all things subjected to him. 9 But we see him who has been made a little lower than the angels, [even] Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that by the grace of God he should taste of death for every [man]. 10 For it was fitting for him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the author of their salvation perfect through sufferings. 11 For both he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brothers, 12 saying, I will declare your name to my brothers, Among the congregation I will sing your praise.

13 And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, Look, I and the children whom God has given me. 14 Since then the children have shared in flesh and blood, he also himself in like manner partook of the same; that through death he might bring to nothing him who had the power of death, that is, the devil; 15 and might deliver all those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to slavery. 16 For truly not to angels does he give help, but he gives help to the seed of Abraham. 17 Therefore it behooved him in all things to be made like his brothers, that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 18 For in that he himself has suffered being tried, he is able to help those who are being tried.

3  Therefore, holy brothers, sharers of a heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, [even] Jesus; 2 who was faithful to him who appointed him, as also was Moses in all his house. 3 For he has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by so much as he who built the house has more honor than the house. 4 For every house is built by someone; but he who built all things is God. 5 And Moses indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant,[126] for a testimony of those things which were afterward to be spoken; 6 but Christ as a son, over his house; whose house we are, if we hold fast our boldness and the glorying of our hope. 7 Therefore, even as the Holy Spirit says, Today if you+ will hear his voice, 8 Do not harden your+ hearts, as in the provocation, Like in the day of the trial in the wilderness, 9 Where your+ fathers tried [me] by proving [me], and saw my works. 10 Therefore, for forty years I was displeased with this generation, And said, They always err in their heart: But they did not know my ways; 11 As I swore in my wrath, They will not enter into my rest.

12 Take heed, brothers, lest perhaps there will be in any one of you+ an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living God: 13 but exhort one another day by day, so long as it is called Today; lest any one of you+ be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin: 14 for we have become sharers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm to the end: 15 while it is said, Today if you+ will hear his voice, Do not harden your+ hearts, as in the provocation.

16 For who, when they heard, provoked? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt by Moses? 17 And with whom was he displeased forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did he swear that they should not enter into his rest, but to those who were disobedient? 19 And we see that they were not able to enter in because of unbelief.

4  Let us fear therefore, lest perhaps, a promise being left of entering into his rest, any one of you+ should seem to have come short of it. 2 For indeed we have had good news preached to us, even as they also [did]: but the word of hearing did not profit those who were not united in the faith with those who heard. 3 For we who have believed do enter into that rest; even as he has said, As I swore in my wrath, They will not enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For he has said somewhere of the seventh [day] on this wise, And God rested on the seventh day from all his works; 5 and in this [place] again, They will not enter into my rest.

6 Seeing therefore it remains that some should enter into it, and they to whom the good news was formerly preached failed to enter in because of disobedience, 7 he again defines a certain day, Today, saying in David so long a time afterward (even as has been said before), Today if you+ will hear his voice, Do not harden your+ hearts.

8 For if Joshua had given them rest, he would not have spoken afterward of another day. 9 There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God. 10 For he who has entered into his rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from his. 11 Let us therefore be diligent to enter into that rest, that no man fall after the same example of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart. 13 And there is no creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and laid open before the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

14 Having then a great high priest, who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who can't be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but one who has been in all points tried like [we are, yet] without sin. 16 Let us therefore draw near with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and may find grace to help [us] in time of need.

5  For every high priest, being taken from among men, is appointed for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins: 2 who can bear gently with the ignorant and erring, for that he himself also is surrounded by infirmity; 3 and by reason of it is bound, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins. 4 And no man takes the honor to himself, but when he is called of God, even as was Aaron. 5 So Christ also did not glorify himself to be made a high priest, but he who spoke to him, You are my Son, This day I have begotten you: 6 as he says also in another [place], You are a priest forever After the order of Melchizedek.

7 Who in the days of his flesh, having offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears to him who was able to save him from death, and having been heard for his godly fear, 8 though he was a Son, yet learned obedience by the things which he suffered; 9 and having been made perfect, he became to all those who obey him the author of eternal salvation; 10 named of God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.

11 Of whom we have many things to say, and hard of interpretation, seeing you+ have become dull of hearing. 12 For when by reason of the time you+ ought to be teachers, you+ have need again that someone teach you+ the rudiments of the first principles of the oracles of God; and have become such as have need of milk, and not of solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes of milk is without experience of the word of righteousness; for he is a juvenile. 14 But solid food is for full-grown men, [even] those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern good and evil.

6  Therefore leaving the doctrine of the first principles of Christ, let us press on to perfection; not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, 2 of teaching of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. 3 And this we will do, if God permits. 4 For as concerning those who were once enlightened and tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made sharers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the age to come, 6 and [then] fell away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. 7 For the land which has drank the rain that comes often on it, and brings forth herbs meet for them for whose sake it is also tilled, receives blessing from God: 8 but if it bears thorns and thistles, it is disapproved and near to a curse; whose end is to be burned.

9 But we are persuaded of you+, beloved, better things that follow salvation, though we thus speak: 10 for God is not unrighteous to forget your+ work and the love which you+ showed toward his name, in that you+ served the saints, and still do serve. 11 And we desire that each of you+ may show the same diligence to the fullness of hope even to the end: 12 that you+ are not sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

13 For when God made promise to Abraham, since he could swear by none greater, he swore by himself, 14 saying, Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you. 15 And thus, having patiently endured, he obtained the promise. 16 For men swear by the greater: and in every dispute of theirs the oath is final for confirmation. 17 In which God, being minded to show more abundantly to the heirs of the promise the immutability of his counsel, interposed with an oath; 18 that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have a strong encouragement, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope[127] set before us: 19 which we have as an anchor of the soul; both sure and steadfast; and entering into that which is inside the veil; 20 where as a forerunner Jesus entered for us, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

7  For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of God Most High, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, 2 to whom also Abraham divided a tenth part of all (being first, by interpretation, King of righteousness, and then also King of Salem, which is, King of peace; 3 without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God), stays a priest continually.

4 Now consider how great this man was, to whom even Abraham, the patriarch, gave a tenth out of the chief spoils. 5 And they indeed of the sons of Levi who receive the priest's office have commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brothers, though these have come out of the loins of Abraham: 6 but he whose genealogy is not counted from them has taken tithes of Abraham, and has blessed him who has the promises. 7 But without any dispute the less is blessed of the better. 8 And here men who die receive tithes; but there one, of whom it is witnessed that he lives. 9 And, so to say, through Abraham even Levi, who receives tithes, has paid tithes; 10 for he was yet in the loins of his father, when Melchizedek met him.

11 Now if there was perfection through the Levitical priesthood (for under it has the people received the law), what further need [was there] that another priest should arise after the order of Melchizedek, and not be reckoned after the order of Aaron? 12 For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law. 13 For he of whom these things are said belongs to another tribe, from which no man has given attendance at the altar. 14 For it is evident that our Lord has sprung out of Judah; as to which tribe Moses spoke nothing concerning priests. 15 And [what we say] is yet more abundantly evident, if after the likeness of Melchizedek there rises another priest, 16 who has been made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life: 17 for it is witnessed [of him], You are a priest forever After the order of Melchizedek.

18 For there is a disannulling of a foregoing commandment because of its weakness and unprofitableness 19 (for the law made nothing perfect), and a bringing in thereupon of a better hope, through which we draw near to God. 20 And inasmuch as [it is] not without the taking of an oath 21 (for they indeed have been made priests without an oath; but he with an oath by him who says of him, The Lord swore and will not repent, You are a priest forever);

22 by so much also has Jesus become the surety of a better covenant. 23 And they indeed have been made priests many in number, because by death they are hindered from staying [as priest]: 24 but he, because he stays forever, has his priesthood unchangeable. 25 Therefore also he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, seeing he ever lives to make intercession for them.

26 For such was indeed fitting for us [as] a high priest, holy, blameless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; 27 who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins, and then for the [sins] of the people: for this he did once for all, when he offered up himself. 28 For the law appoints men high priests, having infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was after the law, [appoints] a Son, perfected forever.

8  Now in the things which we are saying the chief point [is this]: We have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, 2 a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man. 3 For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices: therefore it is necessary that this [high priest] also have somewhat to offer. 4 Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, seeing there are those who offer the gifts according to the law; 5 who serve [that which is] a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, even as Moses is warned [of God] when he is about to make the tabernacle: for, See, he says, that you make all things according to the pattern that was shown to you in the mount. 6 But now he has obtained a more excellent ministry, by so much as he is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises. 7 For if that first [covenant] had been faultless, then would no place have been sought for a second. 8 For finding fault with them, he says, Look, the days come, says the Lord, That I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; 9 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers In the day that I took them by the hand to lead them forth out of the land of Egypt; For they did not continue in my covenant, And I did not regard them, says the Lord. 10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel After those days, says the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, And on their heart also I will write them: And I will be to them a God, And they will be to me a people: 11 And they will not teach every man his fellow-citizen, And every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: For all will know me, From the least to the greatest of them. 12 For I will be merciful to their iniquities, And their sins I will remember no more.

13 In that he says, New, he has made the first obsolete. But that which is becoming obsolete and growing old is near to vanishing away.

9  Now even the first [covenant] also had ordinances of divine service, and its sanctuary, [a sanctuary] of this world. 2 For there was a tabernacle prepared, the first, in which [were] the lampstand, and the table, and the showbread; which is called the Holy place. 3 And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holy of holies; 4 having a golden altar of incense, and the ark of the covenant overlaid around with gold, in which [was] a golden pot holding the manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant; 5 and above it cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy-seat; of which things we can't now speak severally. 6 Now these things having been thus prepared, the priests go in continually into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the services; 7 but into the second the high priest alone, once in the year, not without blood, which he offers for himself, and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance: 8 the Holy Spirit this signifying, that the way into the holy place has not yet been made manifest, while the first tabernacle is yet standing; 9 which [is] a figure for the time present; according to which are offered both gifts and sacrifices that can't, as concerning the conscience, make the worshiper perfect, 10 [being] only (with meats and drinks and diverse washings) carnal ordinances, imposed until a time of reformation.

11 But Christ having come [as] high priest of the good things that have come, through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation, 12 nor yet through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, entered in once for all into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled, sanctify to the cleanness of the flesh: 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse our conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 15 And for this cause he is the mediator of a new covenant, that a death having taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. 16 For where a testament is, there must of necessity be the death of him who made it. 17 For a testament is of force where there has been death: for it does never avail while he who made it lives. 18 Therefore even the first [covenant] has not been dedicated without blood. 19 For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of the calves and the goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, 20 saying, This is the blood of the covenant which God commanded toward you+. 21 Moreover the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry he sprinkled in like manner with the blood. 22 And according to the law, I may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and apart from shedding of blood there is no remission.

23 It was necessary therefore that the copies of the things in the heavens should be cleansed with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ didn't enter into a holy place made with hands, like in pattern to the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear before the face of God for us: 25 nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest enters into the holy place year by year with blood not his own; 26 or else he must have often suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once at the very end of the [past] ages[128] he has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 And inasmuch as it is appointed to men once to die, and after this [comes] judgment; 28 so Christ also, having been once offered to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, apart from sin, to those who wait for him, to salvation.

10  For the law having a shadow of the good [things] to come, not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make perfect those who draw near. 2 Or else would they not have ceased to be offered? Because the worshipers, having been once cleansed, would have had no more consciousness of sins. 3 But in those [sacrifices] there is a remembrance made of sins year by year. 4 For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. 5 Therefore when he comes into the world, he says, Sacrifice and offering you did not want, But you prepared a body for me; 6 In whole burnt-offerings and [sacrifices] for sin you had no pleasure: 7 Then I said, Look, I have come (In the roll of the book it is written of me) To do your will, O God.

8 Saying above, Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt-offerings and [sacrifices] for sin you did not want, neither had pleasure in them (which are offered according to the law), 9 then he has said, Look, I have come to do your will. He takes away the first, that he may establish the second. 10 By whose will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 11 And every priest indeed stands day by day ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, the which can never take away sins: 12 but he, when he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God; 13 from now on expecting until his enemies are made the footstool of his feet. 14 For by one offering he has perfected forever those who are sanctified. 15 And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after he has said, 16 This is the covenant that I will make with them After those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws on their heart, And on their mind also I will write them; [then he says,] 17 And their sins and their iniquities I will remember no more.

18 Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.

19 Having therefore, brothers, boldness to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the way which he dedicated for us, a new and living way, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; 21 and [having] a great priest over the house of God; 22 let us draw near with a true heart in fullness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled[129] from an evil conscience, and having our body washed in pure water, 23 let us hold fast the confession of the unwavering hope;[130] for he who promised is faithful: 24 and let us consider one another to provoke to love and good works; 25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting [one another]; and so much the more, as you+ see the day drawing near.

26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which will devour the adversaries. 28 A man who has set at nothing Moses' law dies without compassion on [the word of] two or three witnesses: 29 of how much sorer punishment, do you+ think, he will be judged worthy, who has trodden under foot the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the covenant with which he was sanctified a common thing, and has done despite to the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, Vengeance belongs to me, I will recompense. And again, The Lord will judge his people. 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

32 But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after you+ were enlightened, you+ endured a great conflict of sufferings; 33 partly, being made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, becoming partners with those who were so used. 34 For you+ both had compassion on those who were in bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your+ possessions, knowing that you+ yourselves have a better possession and a staying one. 35 Do not cast away therefore your+ boldness, which has great recompense of reward. 36 For you+ have need of patience, that, having done the will of God, you+ may receive the promise. 37 For yet a very little while, He who comes will come, and will not tarry. 38 But my righteous one will live by faith: And if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.

39 But we are not of those who shrink back to perdition; but of those who have faith to the saving of the soul.

11  Now faith is assurance of [things] hoped for, a conviction of things not seen. 2 For in this the elders had witness borne to them. 3 By faith we understand that the ages have been provided by the word of God, so that what is seen has not been made out of things which appear. 4 By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he had witness borne to him that he was righteous, God bearing witness in respect of his gifts: and through it he being dead yet speaks. 5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and he was not found, because God translated him: for he has had witness borne to him that before his translation he had been well-pleasing to God: 6 And without faith it is impossible to be well-pleasing [to him]; for he who comes to God must believe that he is, and [that] he is a rewarder of those who seek after him. 7 By faith Noah, being warned [of God] concerning things not seen as yet, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; through which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. 8 By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed to go out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he went. 9 By faith he became a sojourner in the land of promise, as in a [land] not his own, dwelling in tents, with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: 10 for he looked for the city which has the foundations, whose craftsman and builder is God. 11 By faith even Sarah herself, who was barren, received power to conceive seed when she was past age, since she counted him faithful who had promised: 12 therefore also there sprang of one, and him as good as dead, [so many] as the stars of heaven in multitude, and as the sand, which is by the seashore, innumerable.

13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 14 For those who say such things make it manifest that they are seeking after a country of their own. 15 And if indeed they had been mindful of that [country] from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But now they desire a better [country], that is, a heavenly: therefore God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God; for he has prepared for them a city.

17 By faith Abraham, being tried, offered up Isaac: and he who had gladly received the promises was offering up his only begotten; 18 [even he] to whom it was said, In Isaac will your seed be called: 19 accounting that God [is] able to raise up, even from the dead; from where he did also in a figure receive him back. 20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even concerning things to come. 21 By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph; and worshiped, [leaning] on the top of his staff. 22 By faith Joseph, when his end was near, made mention of the departure of the sons of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones. 23 By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months by his fathers, because they saw he was a goodly child; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment. 24 By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; 25 choosing rather to share ill treatment with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; 26 accounting the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt: for he looked to the recompense of reward. 27 By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible. 28 By faith he kept the Passover, and the sprinkling of the blood, that the destroyer of the firstborn should not touch them. 29 By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were swallowed up. 30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they had been circled for seven days. 31 By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, having received the spies with peace.

32 And what shall I say more? For the time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah; of David and Samuel and the prophets: 33 who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, waxed mighty in war, turned to flight armies of aliens. 35 Women received their dead by a resurrection: and others were tortured, not accepting their deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: 36 and others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: 37 they were stoned, they were sawn apart, they were slain with the sword: they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated 38 (of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves, and the holes of the earth. 39 And these all, having had witness borne to them through their faith, did not receive the promise, 40 God having provided some better thing concerning us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.

12  Therefore let us also, seeing we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight, and the sin which does so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus the author and perfecter of [our] faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider him who has endured such opposing of sinners against himself, that you+ do not wax weary, fainting in your+ souls. 4 You+ have not yet resisted to blood, striving against sin: 5 and you+ have forgotten the exhortation which reasons with you+ as with sons, My son, do not regard lightly the chastening of the Lord, Nor faint when you are reproved of him; 6 For whom the Lord loves he chastens, And scourges every son whom he receives.

7 It is for chastening that you+ endure; God deals with you+ as with sons; for what son is there whom [his] father does not chasten? 8 But if you+ are without chastening, of which all have been made sharers, then you+ are bastards, and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we had the fathers of our flesh to chasten us, and we gave them reverence: and shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live? 10 For they indeed for a few days chastened [us] as seemed good to them; but he for [our] profit, that [we] may be partakers of his holiness. 11 And all chastening seems for the present not to be joyous but grievous; yet afterward it yields peaceful fruit to those who have been exercised by it, [even the fruit] of righteousness. 12 Therefore lift up the hands that hang down, and the palsied knees; 13 and make straight paths for your+ feet, that that which is lame not be turned out of the way, but rather be healed.

14 Follow after peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no man will see the Lord: 15 looking carefully lest [there be] any man who falls short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble [you+], and by it many be defiled; 16 lest [there be] any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one mess of meat sold his own birthright. 17 For you+ know that even when he afterward desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected; for he found no place for a change of mind [in his father], though he sought it diligently with tears.

18 For you+ have not come to [a mount] that might be touched, and that burned with fire, and to blackness, and darkness, and tempest, 19 and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which [voice] those who heard entreated that no word more should be spoken to them; 20 for they could not endure that which was enjoined, If even a beast touches the mountain, it will be stoned; 21 and so fearful was the appearance, [that] Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake: 22 but you+ have come to mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to tens of thousands[131] of angels in a festive gathering, 23 and to the church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24 and to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better than [that of] Abel. 25 See that you+ do not refuse him who speaks. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned [them] on earth, much more [will] we [not escape] who turn away from him who [warns] from heaven: 26 whose voice then shook the earth: but now he has promised, saying, Yet once more I will make to tremble not the earth only, but also the heaven. 27 And this [word], Yet once more, signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that have been made, that those things which are not shaken may stay. 28 Therefore, receiving a kingdom that can't be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may offer service well-pleasing to God with reverence and awe: 29 for our God is a consuming fire.

13  Let the love for the brothers stay. 2 Do not forget the love for strangers: for by this some have unknowingly received angels as guests. 3 Remember those who are in bonds, as bound with them; those who are ill-treated, as being yourselves also in the body. 4 [Let] marriage [be] had in honor among all, and [let] the bed [be] undefiled: for fornicators and adulterers God will judge. 5 Be+ free from the love of money; content with such things as you+ have: for he himself has said, I will never fail you, neither will I ever forsake you. 6 So that with good courage we say, The Lord is my helper; and I will not fear: What will man do to me?

7 Remember those who had the rule over you+, men who spoke to you+ the word of God; and considering the issue of their life, imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ [is] the same yesterday and today, and forever. 9 Don't be carried away by diverse and strange teachings: for it is good that the heart be established by grace; not by meats, in which those who are occupied in them were not profited. 10 We have an altar, of which they have no right to eat who serve the tabernacle. 11 For the bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest [as an offering] for sin, are burned outside the camp. 12 Therefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people through his own blood, suffered outside the gate. 13 Let us therefore go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. 14 For we do not have a city that stays here, but we seek after [the city] which is to come. 15 Through him then let us offer up a sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of lips which make confession to his name. 16 But to do good and to communicate do not forget: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. 17 Obey those who have the rule over you+, and submit [to them]: for they watch in behalf of your+ souls, as those who will give account; that they may do this with joy, and not with grief: for this [would be] unprofitable for you+.

18 Pray for us: for we are persuaded that we have a good conscience, desiring to live honorably in all things. 19 And I exhort [you+] the more exceedingly to do this, that I may be restored to you+ the sooner.

20 Now may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep with the blood of an eternal covenant, [even] our Lord Jesus, 21 provide you+ with every good thing to do his will, working in us that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom [be] the glory forever and ever. Amen.

22 But I exhort you+, brothers, bear with the word of exhortation: for I have written to you+ in few words. 23 Know+ that our brother Timothy has been set at liberty; with whom, if he comes shortly, I will see you+.

24 Greet all those who have the rule over you+, and all the saints. They of Italy greet you+.

25 Grace be with all of you+.

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James

James

1  James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are of the Dispersion: Greetings.

2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you+ fall into manifold trials; 3 knowing that the proving of your+ faith works patience. 4 And let patience have [its] perfect work, that you+ may be perfect and entire, lacking in nothing.

5 But if any of you+ lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and does not upbraid; and it will be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, doubting nothing: for he who doubts is like the surge of the sea driven by the wind and tossed. 7 For do not let that man think that he will receive anything of the Lord; 8 a man who is double-minded, unstable in all his ways.

9 But let the brother who is lowly[132] glory in his high [position]; 10 and the rich, in his low [position]: because as the flower of the grass he will pass away. 11 For the sun rises with the scorching wind, and withers the grass; and its flower falls, and the grace of its fashion perishes: so also will the rich man fade away in his ventures.[133]

12 Blessed is the man who endures trial; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which [the Lord] promised to those who love him. 13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God; for God can't be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no man: 14 but each man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own desire, and enticed. 15 Then the desire, when it has conceived, bears sin: and the sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. 16 Don't be deceived, my beloved brothers. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the lights [of heaven]; with whom there is neither shift in position, nor shadow that is cast by turning. 18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

19 You+ know [this], my beloved brothers. But let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: 20 for the wrath of man does not work the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore putting away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your+ souls. 22 But be+ doers of the word, and not hearers only, deluding your+ own selves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his natural face in a mirror: 24 for he looks at himself, and goes away, and right away forgets what manner of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law, the [law] of liberty, and stays [with it], not being a hearer that forgets but a doer that works, this man will be blessed in his doing. 26 If any man thinks himself to be religious, while he doesn't bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this man's religion is useless. 27 Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, [and] to keep himself unspotted from the world.

2  My brothers, don't show favoritism in the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, [the Lord] of glory. 2 For if there comes into your+ synagogue a man with a gold ring, in fine clothing, and there comes in also a poor man in vile clothing; 3 and you+ have regard to him who wears the fine clothing, and say, You sit here in a good place; and you+ say to the poor man, You stand, or sit there under my footstool; 4 don't you+ then make distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? 5 Listen, my beloved brothers; did not God choose those who are poor as to the world [to be] rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he promised to those who love him? 6 But you+ have dishonored the poor man. Don't the rich oppress you+, and themselves drag you+ into court? 7 Don't they blaspheme the honorable name by which you+ are called? 8 Nevertheless if you+ fulfill the royal law, according to the Scripture, You will love your fellow man as yourself, you+ do well: 9 but if you+ show favoritism, you+ commit sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever will keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one [point], he has become guilty of all. 11 For he who said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if you do not commit adultery, but kill, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12 So speak+, and so do+, as men who are to be judged by a law of liberty. 13 For judgment [is] without mercy to him who has shown no mercy: mercy glories against judgment.

14 What does it profit, my brothers, if a man says he has faith, but doesn't have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and may be in lack of daily food, 16 and one of you+ says to them, Go in peace, be+ warmed and filled; and yet you+ don't give them the things needful to the body; what does it profit? 17 Even so faith, if it doesn't have works, is dead in itself. 18 Yes, a man will say, You have faith, and I have works: show me your faith apart from [your] works, and I by my works will show you [my] faith. 19 You believe that there is [only] one God; you do well: the demons also believe, and shudder. 20 But do you want to know, O vain man, that faith apart from works is barren? 21 Wasn't Abraham our father justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? 22 You see that faith was working with his works, and by works was faith made perfect; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him for righteousness; and he was called the friend of God. 24 You+ see that by works a man is justified, and not only by faith. 25 And in like manner wasn't also Rahab the prostitute justified by works, in that she received the messengers, and sent them out another way? 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead.

3  Don't many [of you+] be teachers, my brothers, knowing that we will receive heavier judgment. 2 For in many things we all stumble. If any doesn't stumble in word, the same is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body also. 3 Now if we put the horses' bridles into their mouths that they may obey us, we turn about their whole body also. 4 Look, the ships also, though they are so great and are driven by rough winds, are yet turned about by a very small rudder, where the impulse of the helmsman[134] wills. 5 So the tongue also is a little member, and boasts great things. Look, how much wood is kindled by how small a fire! 6 And the tongue is a fire: the world of iniquity among our members is the tongue, which defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the wheel of nature, and is set on fire by hell. 7 For every kind of beasts and birds, of creeping things and things in the sea, is tamed, and has been tamed by mankind: 8 but the tongue no man can tame; [it is] a restless evil, [it is] full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless the Lord and Father; and with it we curse men, who are made after the likeness of God: 10 out of the same mouth comes forth blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. 11 Does the fountain send forth from the same opening sweet [water] and bitter? 12 Can a fig tree, my brothers, yield olives, or a vine figs? Neither [can] salt water yield sweet.

13 Who is wise and understanding among you+? Let him show, by his good life, his works in meekness of wisdom. 14 But if you+ have bitter jealousy and faction in your+ heart, don't glory and don't lie against the truth. 15 This wisdom is not [a wisdom] that comes down from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. 16 For where jealousy and faction are, there is confusion and every vile action. 17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceful, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without variance, without hypocrisy. 18 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.

4  From where [come] wars and from where [come] fightings among you+? Don't [they come] from here, [even] of your+ pleasures that war in your+ members? 2 You+ lust and don't have; so you+ kill. And you+ covet and cannot obtain; so you+ fight and war. You+ don't have, because you+ don't ask. 3 You+ ask, and don't receive, because you+ ask amiss, that you+ may spend [it] in your+ pleasures. 4 You+ adulteresses, don't you+ know that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore would be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you+ think that in vain the Scripture says, The spirit which he made to dwell in us longingly desires to [the point of] envy? 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore [the Scripture] says, God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. 7 Be subject therefore to God; but resist the devil, and he will flee from you+. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you+. Cleanse your+ hands, you+ sinners; and purify your+ hearts, you+ double-minded. 9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your+ laughter be turned to mourning, and your+ joy to heaviness. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will exalt you+.

11 Don't speak one against another, brothers. He who speaks against a brother, or judges his brother, speaks against the law, and judges the law: but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge. 12 There is [only] one lawgiver and judge, the one who is able to save and to destroy: but who are you that judge your fellow man?

13 Come now, you+ who say, Today or tomorrow we will go into this city, and spend a year there, and trade, and will gain: 14 whereas you+ don't know what will be on the next day. What is your+ life? For you+ are a vapor that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away. 15 Instead you+ ought to say, If the Lord wills, we will both live, and do this or that. 16 But now you+ glory in your+ vauntings: all such glorying is evil. 17 To him therefore who knows to do good, and doesn't do it, to him it is sin.

5  Come now, you+ rich, weep and howl for your+ miseries that are coming upon you+. 2 Your+ riches are corrupted, and your+ garments are moth-eaten. 3 Your+ gold and your+ silver are corroded; and their corrosion will be for a testimony against you+, and will eat your+ flesh as fire. You+ have laid up your+ treasure in the last days. 4 Look, the wages of the workers who mowed your+ fields, which you+ kept back by fraud, cries out: and the cries of those who reaped have entered into the ears of Yahweh of hosts. 5 You+ have lived delicately on the earth, and taken your+ pleasure; you+ have nourished your+ hearts in a day of slaughter. 6 You+ have condemned, you+ have killed the righteous; he does not resist you+.

7 Be patient therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. Look, the husbandman waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it, until it receives the early and latter rain. 8 Be+ also patient; establish your+ hearts: for the coming of the Lord is at hand. 9 Don't murmur, brothers, one against another, that you+ are not judged: look, the judge stands before the doors. 10 Take, brothers, for an example of suffering and of patience, the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 Look, we call blessed those who endured: you+ have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, how that the Lord is full of pity, and merciful.

12 But above all things, my brothers, don't swear, neither by the heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath: but let your+ yes be yes, and your+ no, no; that you+ may not fall under judgment.

13 Is any among you+ suffering? Let him pray. Is any cheerful? Let him sing praise. 14 Is any among you+ sick? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: 15 and the prayer of faith will save him who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, it will be forgiven him. 16 Confess therefore your+ sins one to another, and pray one for another, that you+ may be healed. The supplication of a righteous man avails much in its working. 17 Elijah was a man of like passions with us, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain; and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again; and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.

19 My brothers, if any among you+ errs from the truth, and one converts him; 20 let him know, that he who converts a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death, and will cover a multitude of sins.

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I Peter

1  Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the elect who are sojourners of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, to obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you+ and peace be multiplied.

3 Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy begot us again to a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you+, 5 who by the power of God are guarded through faith to a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In which you+ greatly rejoice, though now for a little while it is necessary for you+ to have been put to grief in manifold trials, 7 that the proof of your+ faith, [being] more precious than gold that perishes though it is proved by fire, may be found to praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ: 8 whom not having seen you+ love; on whom, though now you+ do not see him, yet believing, you+ rejoice greatly with joy unspeakable and full of glory: 9 receiving the end of your+ faith, [even] the salvation of [your+] souls. 10 Concerning which salvation the prophets sought and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that [should come] to you+: 11 searching what [time] or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did point to, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glories that should follow them. 12 To whom it was revealed, that not to themselves, but to you+, they were providing these things, which now have been announced to you+ through those who preached the good news to you+ by the Holy Spirit sent forth from heaven; which things angels desire to look into.

13 Therefore girding up the loins of your+ mind, be sober and set your+ hope perfectly on the grace that is to be brought to you+ at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 14 as sons of obedience, not fashioning yourselves according to your+ former desires in [the time of] your+ ignorance: 15 but like he who called you+ is holy, be+ yourselves also holy in all manner of living; 16 because it is written, You+ will be holy; for I am holy. 17 And if you+ call on him as Father, who without favoritism judges according to each man's work, pass the time of your+ sojourning in fear: 18 knowing that you+ were redeemed from your+ useless manner of life handed down from your+ fathers, not with corruptible things, silver or gold; 19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, [even the blood] of Christ: 20 who was foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, but was manifested at the end of the times for your+ sake, 21 who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead, and gave him glory; so that your+ faith and hope might be in God. 22 Seeing you+ have purified your+ souls in your+ obedience to the truth to unfeigned love of the brothers, love one another fervently from a pure heart: 23 having been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which lives and stays. 24 For, All flesh is as grass, And all its glory as the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls: 25 But the word of the Lord stays forever. And this is the word of good news which was preached to you+.

2  Putting away therefore all wickedness, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, 2 as newborn babies, long for the spiritual milk which is without guile, that you+ may grow by it to salvation; 3 if you+ have tasted that the Lord is gracious: 4 to whom coming, a living stone, rejected indeed of men, but with God elect, precious, 5 you+ also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 Because it is contained in Scripture, Look, I lay in Zion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: And he who believes on him will not be put to shame.

7 For you+ therefore who believe is the preciousness: but for those who disbelieve, The stone which the builders rejected, The same was made the head of the corner; 8 and, A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; for they stumble at the word, being disobedient: to which also they were appointed. 9 But you+ are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for [God's] own possession, that you+ may show forth the excellencies of him who called you+ out of darkness into his marvelous light: 10 who in time past were no people, but now are the people of God: who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

11 Beloved, I urge you+ as sojourners and pilgrims, to abstain from fleshly desires, which war against the soul; 12 having your+ behavior seemly among the Gentiles; that, in what they speak against you+ as evildoers, they may by your+ good works, which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.

13 Be subject to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether to the king, as supreme; 14 or to governors, as sent by him for vengeance on evildoers and for praise to those who do well. 15 For so is the will of God, that by doing good you+ should put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: 16 as free, and not using your+ freedom for a cloak of wickedness, but as slaves of God. 17 Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king. 18 Household slaves, [be] in subjection to your+ masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. 19 For this is acceptable, if for conscience toward God a man endures griefs, suffering wrongfully. 20 For what glory is it, if, when you+ sin, and are buffeted [for it], you+ will take it patiently? But if, when you+ do good, and suffer [for it], you+ will take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. 21 For hereunto were you+ called: because Christ also suffered for you+, leaving you+ an example, that you+ should follow his steps: 22 who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: 23 who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, did not threaten; but delivered [himself] to him who judges righteously: 24 who his own self bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live to righteousness; by whose stripes you+ were healed. 25 For you+ were like sheep that go astray; but have now been returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your+ souls.

3  In like manner, you+ wives, [be] in subjection to your+ own husbands; that, even if any do not obey the word, they may without the word be gained by the behavior of their wives; 2 watching your+ chaste behavior [coupled] with fear. 3 Whose [adorning] let it not be the outward adorning of braiding the hair, and of wearing jewels of gold, or of putting on apparel; 4 but [let it be] the hidden man of the heart, in the incorruptible [apparel] of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. 5 For after this manner previously the holy women also, who hoped in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection to their own husbands: 6 as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. You+ became her children—doing good and not being put in fear by any terror.

7 You+ husbands, in like manner, dwell with [your+ wives] according to knowledge, giving honor to the woman, as to the weaker vessel, as being also joint-heirs of the grace of life; to the end that your+ prayers not be hindered.

8 Finally, all of you+ [be] likeminded, compassionate, loving as brothers, tenderhearted, humbleminded: 9 not rendering evil for evil, or reviling for reviling; but on the contrary blessing; for hereunto were you+ called, that you+ should inherit a blessing. 10 For, He who would love life, And see good days, Let him refrain his tongue from evil, And his lips that they speak no guile: 11 And let him turn away from evil, and do good; Let him seek peace, and pursue it. 12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, And his ears to their supplication: But the face of the Lord is on those who do evil.

13 And who is he that will harm you+, if you+ are zealous of that which is good? 14 But even if you+ should suffer for righteousness' sake, blessed [are you+]: and don't be afraid of their fear, neither be troubled; 15 but sanctify in your+ hearts the Lord Christ: [being] ready always to give answer to every man who asks you+ a reason concerning the hope that is in you+, 16 yet with meekness and fear, having a good conscience; that, in what you+ are spoken against, they may be put to shame who revile your+ good manner of life in Christ. 17 For it is better, if the will of God should so will, that you+ suffer for doing good than for doing evil. 18 Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you+ to God; being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; 19 in which also he went and preached to the spirits in prison, 20 who previously were disobedient, when the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water: 21 which also after a true likeness does now save you+, [even] baptism, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the interrogation of a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ; 22 who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven; angels and authorities and powers being made subject to him.

4  Forasmuch then as Christ suffered in the flesh, you+ arm yourselves also with the same mind; for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin; 2 that you+ no longer should live the rest of your+ time in the flesh to the desires of men, but to the will of God. 3 For the time past may suffice to have worked the desire of the Gentiles, and to have walked in sexual immorality, erotic desires, winebibbings, revelings, carousings, and horrible idolatries: 4 in which they think it strange that you+ do not run with [them] into the same excess of riot, speaking evil of [you+]: 5 who will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6 For to this end was the good news preached even to the dead, that they might be judged indeed according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.

7 But the end of all things is at hand: be+ therefore of sound mind, and be sober to prayer: 8 above all things being fervent in your+ love among yourselves; for love covers a multitude of sins: 9 using hospitality one to another without murmuring: 10 according to as each has received a gift, serving [with] it among yourselves, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God; 11 if any man speaks, [speaking] as it were oracles of God; if any man serves, [serving] as of the strength which God supplies: that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, whose is the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

12 Beloved, don't think it strange concerning the fiery trial among you+, which comes on you+ to prove you+, as though a strange thing happened to you+: 13 but insomuch as you+ share in Christ's sufferings, rejoice; that at the revelation of his glory also you+ may rejoice with exceeding joy. 14 If you+ are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed [are you+]; because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you+. 15 For let none of you+ suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or an evildoer, or as a meddler in other men's matters: 16 but if [a man suffers] as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God in this respect. 17 For the time [has come] for judgment to begin at the house of God: and if [it begins] first at us, what [will be] the end of those who do not obey the good news of God? 18 And if the righteous is scarcely saved, where will the ungodly and sinner appear? 19 Therefore let them also that suffer according to the will of God commit their souls in well-doing to a faithful Creator.

5  To the elders who are among you+ I exhort, who am a fellow-elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, who am also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed: 2 Shepherd the flock of God which is among you+, exercising the oversight, not of constraint, but willingly, according to God; nor yet for greed of monetary gain, but eagerly; 3 neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you+, but making yourselves examples to the flock. 4 And when the chief Shepherd will be manifested, you+ will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away. 5 Likewise, you+ younger, be subject to the elder. Yes, all of you+ gird yourselves with humility, to serve one another: for God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. 6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you+ in due time; 7 casting all your+ anxiety on him, because he cares for you+. 8 Be sober, be watchful: your+ adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour: 9 whom withstand steadfast in your+ faith, knowing that the same sufferings are accomplished among your+ brotherhood in the world. 10 And the God of all grace, who called you+ to his eternal glory in Christ, after you+ have suffered a little while, will himself restore, establish, strengthen, [and] firmly set [you+]. 11 To him [be] the dominion forever. Amen.

12 By Silvanus, our faithful brother, as I account [him], I have written to you+ briefly, exhorting, and testifying that this is the true grace of God: stand+ fast in it. 13 She who is in Babylon, elect together with [you+], greets you+; and [so does] Mark my son. 14 Greet one another with a kiss of love.

Peace be to all of you+ who are in Christ.

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II Peter

1  Simon Peter, a slave and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained a like precious faith with us in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, our God and Savior. 2 Grace to you+ and peace be multiplied in the knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord; 3 seeing that his divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and virtue; 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and exceedingly great promises; that through these you+ may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world by desire. 5 Yes, and for this very cause adding on your+ part all diligence, in your+ faith supply virtue; and in [your+] virtue knowledge; 6 and in [your+] knowledge self-control; and in [your+] self-control patience; and in [your+] patience godliness; 7 and in [your+] godliness brotherly kindness; and in [your+] brotherly kindness love. 8 For if these things are yours+ and abound, they make you+ to not be idle nor unfruitful to the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these things is blind, seeing only what is near, having forgotten the cleansing from his old sins. 10 Therefore, brothers, be the more diligent to make your+ calling and election sure: for if you+ do these things, you+ will never stumble: 11 for thus will be richly supplied to you+ the entrance into the eternal kingdom of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

12 Therefore I will be ready always to put you+ in remembrance of these things, though you+ know them, and are established in the truth which is with [you+]. 13 And I think it right, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you+ up by putting you+ in remembrance; 14 knowing that the putting off of my tabernacle comes swiftly, even as our Lord Jesus Christ signified to me. 15 Yes, I will be diligent that at every time you+ may be able after my decease to call these things to remembrance. 16 For we did not follow cunningly devised fables, when we made known to you+ the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when there was borne such a voice to him by the Majestic Glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: 18 and this voice we [ourselves] heard borne out of heaven, when we were with him in the holy mount. 19 And we have the word of prophecy [made] more sure; to which you+ do well that you+ take heed, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns, and the day-star arises in your+ hearts: 20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of private interpretation. 21 For no prophecy ever came by the will of man: but men spoke from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit.

2  But there arose false prophets also among the people, as among you+ also there will be false teachers, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, denying even the Master who bought them, bringing on themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their sexual immorality; by reason of whom the way of the truth will be evil spoken of. 3 And in greed they will with feigned words make merchandise of you+: whose sentence now from of old does not linger, and their destruction does not slumber. 4 For if God did not spare angels who sinned, but cast them down to Tartarus,[135] and delivered them to chains of darkness, to be reserved to judgment; 5 and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah with seven others, a preacher of righteousness, when he brought a flood on the world of the ungodly; 6 and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, having made them an example to those coming who should live ungodly; 7 and delivered righteous Lot, very distressed by the sexual immorality of the wicked 8 (for that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed [his] righteous soul from day to day with [their] lawless deeds): 9 the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of trial, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment to the day of judgment; 10 but chiefly those who walk after the flesh in the desire of defilement, and despise dominion. Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble to rail at dignities: 11 whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not bring a railing judgment against them before the Lord. 12 But these, as creatures without reason, born mere animals to be taken and destroyed, railing in matters of which they are ignorant, will in their destroying surely be destroyed, 13 suffering wrong as the wages of wrongdoing; [men] that count it pleasure to revel in the daytime, spots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions while they feast with you+; 14 having eyes full of adultery, and that can't cease from sin; enticing unstedfast souls; having a heart exercised in greed; sons of cursing; 15 having forsaken the right way, they went astray, having followed the way of Balaam the [son] of Bosor, who loved the wages of wrongdoing; 16 but he was rebuked for his own transgression: a mute donkey spoke with man's voice and restrained the madness of the prophet. 17 These are springs without water, and mists driven by a storm; for whom the blackness of darkness has been reserved. 18 For, uttering great swelling [words] of vanity, they entice in the desires of the flesh, by sexual immorality, those who are truly escaping from the ones who live in error; 19 promising them liberty, while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for to whom a man is overcome, to this one he has been made a slave. 20 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in it and overcome, the last state has become worse with them than the first. 21 For it were better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. 22 It has happened to them according to the true proverb, The dog turning to his own vomit again, and the sow that had washed to wallowing in the mire.

3  This is now, beloved, the second letter that I write to you+; and in both of them I stir up your+ sincere mind by putting you+ in remembrance; 2 that you+ should remember the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your+ apostles: 3 knowing this first, that in the last days mockers will come with mockery, walking after their own desires, 4 and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? For, from the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. 5 For this they willfully forget, that there were heavens from of old, and an earth compacted out of water and amid water, by the word of God; 6 by whom the world that then was, being overflowed in water, perished: 7 but the heavens that now are, and the earth, by the same word have been stored up for fire, being reserved against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

8 But do not forget this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness; but is long-suffering toward you+, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief; in the which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are in it will not be found.[136] 11 Seeing that these things are thus all to be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you+ to be in [all] holy living and godliness, 12 looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God, by reason of which the heavens being on fire will be dissolved, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? 13 But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.

14 Therefore, beloved, seeing that you+ look for these things, be diligent that you+ may be found in peace, without spot and blameless in his sight. 15 And account that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given to him, wrote to you+; 16 as also in all the letters, he speaks in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which the ignorant and unstedfast will wrest, as also the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. 17 You+ therefore, beloved, knowing [these things] beforehand, beware lest, being carried away with the error of the wicked, you+ fall from your+ own steadfastness. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. To him [be] the glory both now and forever.

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I John

1  That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes, that which we saw, and our hands handled, concerning the word of life 2 —and the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you+ the life, the eternal [life], which was with the Father, and was manifested to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we declare to you+ also, that you+ also may have fellowship with us: yes, and our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ: 4 and these things we write, that our joy may be made full.

5 And this is the message which we have heard from him and announce to you+, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in the darkness, we lie, and don't do the truth. 7 If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

2  My little children, these things I write to you+ that you+ may not sin. And if any man sins, we have a supporter with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 2 and he is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the whole world. 3 And hereby we know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 He who says, I know him, and doesn't keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; 5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly has the love of God been perfected. Hereby we know that we are in him: 6 he who says he stays in him ought himself also to walk even as he walked.

7 Beloved, I don't write a new commandment to you+, but an old commandment which you+ had from the beginning: the old commandment is the word which you+ heard. 8 Again, a new commandment I write to you+, which thing is true in him and in you+; because the darkness is passing away, and the true light already shines. 9 He who says he is in the light and hates his brother, is in the darkness even until now. 10 He who loves his brother stays in the light, and there is no occasion of stumbling in him. 11 But he who hates his brother is in the darkness, and walks in the darkness, and doesn't know where he goes, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

12 I write to you+, [my] little children, because your+ sins are forgiven you+ for his name's sake. 13 I write to you+, fathers, because you+ know him who is from the beginning. I write to you+, young men, because you+ have overcome the evil one. 14 I have written to you+, little children, because you+ know the Father. I have written to you+, fathers, because you+ know him who is from the beginning. I have written to you+, young men, because you+ are strong, and the word of God stays in you+, and you+ have overcome the evil one. 15 Don't love the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the vainglory of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17 And the world passes away, and its desire: but he who does the will of God stays forever.

18 Little children, it is the last hour: and as you+ heard that antichrist comes, even now have there arisen many antichrists; therefore we know that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have stayed with us: but [they went out], that they might be made manifest that all of them are not of us. 20 And you+ have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you+ know. 21 I have not written to you+ because you+ don't know the truth, but because you+ do know it, and because no lie is of the truth. 22 Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, [even] he who denies the Father and the Son. 23 Whoever denies the Son, the same doesn't have the Father: he who confesses the Son has the Father also. 24 As for you+, let that stay in you+ which you+ heard from the beginning. If that which you+ heard from the beginning stays in you+, you+ also will stay in the Son, and in the Father. 25 And this is the promise which he promised us, [even] the eternal life. 26 These things I have written to you+ concerning those who would lead you+ astray. 27 And as for you+, the anointing which you+ received of him stays in you+, and you+ don't need that anyone teach you+; but as his anointing teaches you+ concerning all things, and is true, and is no lie, and even as it taught you+, you+ stay in him. 28 And now, [my] little children, stay in him; that, when he is manifested, we may have boldness, and not be ashamed before him at his coming. 29 If you+ know that he is righteous, you+ know that everyone also who does righteousness is begotten of him.

3  Look at what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God; and [such] we are. For this cause the world doesn't know us, because it did not know him. 2 Beloved, we are now children of God, and it is not yet made manifest what we will be. We know that, if he will be manifested, we will be like him; for we will see him even as he is. 3 And everyone who has this hope [set] on him purifies himself, even as he is pure. 4 Everyone who does sin, also does lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. 5 And you+ know that he was manifested to take away sins; and in him is no sin. 6 Whoever stays in him doesn't sin: whoever sins has neither seen him nor known him. 7 [My] little children, let no man lead you+ astray: he who does righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous: 8 he who does sin is of the devil; for the devil sins from the beginning. To this end was the Son of God manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. 9 Whoever is begotten of God does not sin, because his seed stays in him: and he can't sin, because he is begotten of God. 10 In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: anyone not doing righteousness is not of God, neither is he who is not loving his brother. 11 For this is the message which you+ heard from the beginning, that we should love one another: 12 not as Cain [who] was of the evil one, and slew his brother. And why did he slay him? Because his works were evil, and his brother's righteous.

13 And don't marvel, brothers, if the world hates you+. 14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. He who does not love stays in death. 15 Whoever hates his brother is a murderer: and you+ know that any murderer does not have eternal life staying in him. 16 Hereby we know love, because he laid down his soul for us: and we ought to lay down our souls for the brothers. 17 But whoever has the world's goods, and looks at his brother in need, and shuts up his compassion from him, how does the love of God stay in him? 18 [My] little children, let us not love in word, neither with the tongue; but in deed and truth. 19 And hereby we will know that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before him: 20 because if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. 21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have boldness toward God; 22 and whatever we ask we receive of him, because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight. 23 And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, even as he gave us commandment. 24 And he who keeps his commandments stays in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he stays in us, by the Spirit whom he gave us.

4  Beloved, don't believe every spirit, but prove the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 Hereby you+ know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God: 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not of God: and this is the [spirit] of the antichrist, of which you+ have heard that it comes; and now it is in the world already. 4 You+ are of God, [my] little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he who is in you+ than he who is in the world. 5 They are of the world: therefore they speak [as] of the world, and the world hears them. 6 We are of God: he who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and everyone who loves is begotten of God, and knows God. 8 He who doesn't love doesn't know God; for God is love. 9 In this was the love of God manifested in us, that God has sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son [to be] the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No man has seen God at any time: if we love one another, God stays in us, and his love is perfected in us: 13 hereby we know that we stay in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and bear witness that the Father has sent the Son [to be] the Savior of the world. 15 Whoever will confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God stays in him, and he in God. 16 And we know and have believed the love which God has in us. God is love; and he who stays in love stays in God, and God stays in him. 17 In this love has been made perfect with us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as he is, even so are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love: but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has punishment; and he who fears has not been made perfect in love. 19 We love, because he first loved us. 20 If a man says, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar: for he who doesn't love his brother whom he has seen, can't love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from him, that he who loves God love his brother also.

5  Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is begotten of God: and whoever loves him who begot loves him also who is begotten of him. 2 Hereby we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and do his commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. 4 For whatever is begotten of God overcomes the world: and this is the victory that has overcome the world, [even] our faith. 5 And who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? 6 This is he who came through water and blood: Jesus Christ; not in the water only, but in the water and in the blood. And the Spirit is who bears witness, because the Spirit is the truth. 7 For there are three who bear witness,[137] 8 the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and the three are in [agreement as] one.[138] 9 If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for the witness of God is this, that he has borne witness concerning his Son. 10 He who believes on the Son of God, has the witness in him. He who does not believe God, has made him a liar; because he has not believed in the witness that God has borne concerning his Son. 11 And the witness is this, that God gave to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 He who has the Son, has the life; he who does not have the Son of God, does not have the life. 13 These things I have written to you+, that you+ may know that you+ have eternal life, [even] to you+ who believe on the name of the Son of God. 14 And this is the boldness which we have toward him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us: 15 and if we know that he hears us whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions which we have asked of him. 16 If any man sees his brother sinning a sin not to death, he will ask, and [God] will give him life—for those who sin not to death. There is sin to death: [but] that's not what I am saying he should ask about. 17 All unrighteousness is sin: and there is sin not to death.

18 We know that whoever is begotten of God does not sin; but he who was begotten of God keeps himself, and the evil one does not touch him. 19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the evil one. 20 And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding, that we may know him who is true, and we are in him who is true, [even] in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life. 21 [My] little children, guard yourselves from idols.

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II John

1  The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth; and not I only, but also all those who know the truth; 2 for the truth's sake which stays in us, and it will be with us forever: 3 Grace, mercy, peace will be with us, from God the Father, and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.

4 I rejoice greatly that I have found [certain] of your children walking in truth, even as we received commandment from the Father. 5 And now I urge you, lady, not as though I wrote to you a new commandment, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another. 6 And this is love, that we should walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, even as you+ heard from the beginning, that you+ should walk in it. 7 For many deceivers have gone forth into the world: those who do not confess that Jesus Christ came in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist. 8 Look to yourselves, that you+ don't lose the things which we have worked for, but that you+ receive a full reward. 9 Whoever goes onward and doesn't stay in the teaching of Christ, doesn't have God: he who stays in the teaching, the same has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you+, and doesn't bring this teaching, don't receive him into [your+] house, and give him no greeting: 11 for he who gives him greeting shares in his evil works.

12 Having many things to write to you+, I would not [write them] with paper and ink: but I hope to come to you+, and to speak face to face, that our joy may be made full. 13 The children of your elect sister greet you.

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III John

1  The elder to Gaius the beloved, whom I love in truth.

2 Beloved, I pray that in all things you may prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers. 3 For I rejoiced greatly, when brothers came and bore witness to your truth, even as you walk in truth. 4 I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in truth.

5 Beloved, you do a faithful work in whatever you do toward those who are brothers and strangers as well; 6 who bore witness to your love before the church: whom you will do well to set forward on their journey worthily of God: 7 because for the sake of the Name they went forth, taking nothing of the Gentiles. 8 We therefore ought to welcome such, that we may be coworkers for the truth.

9 I wrote somewhat to the church: but Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence among them, doesn't receive us. 10 Therefore, if I come, I will bring to remembrance his works which he does, talking foolishly against us with wicked words. And not content with this, he doesn't receive the brothers either, and he forbids and casts out of the church those who would. 11 Beloved, don't imitate that which is evil, but that which is good. He who does good is of God: he who does evil has not seen God. 12 Demetrius has the witness of all [men], and of the truth itself: yes, we also bear witness; and you know that our witness is true.

13 I had many things to write to you, but I am unwilling to write [them] to you with ink and pen: 14 but I hope shortly to see you, and we will speak face to face. 15 Peace [be] to you. The friends greet you. Greet the friends by name.

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Jude

1  Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to the called, who have been loved in God the Father and have been kept in Jesus Christ: 2 Mercy to you+ and peace and love be multiplied.

3 Beloved, while I was giving all diligence to write to you+ of our common salvation, I was constrained to write to you+ exhorting you+ to contend earnestly for the faith which was once delivered to the saints. 4 For some men[139] have infiltrated you+. They were written about long ago to this condemnation: ungodly men, changing the grace of our God into sexual immorality, and denying our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

5 Now I desire to put you+ in remembrance, though you+ have once and for all known [this], that Jesus having saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward[140] destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And angels who did not keep their own principality, but left their proper habitation, he has kept in everlasting bonds under darkness to the judgment of the great day. 7 As Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, which committed sexual immorality and homosexuality[141] as do these [men], are set forth as an example, serving a penalty of eternal fire. 8 Yet likewise these [men] also in their dreamings defile the flesh, and set at nothing dominion, and rail at dignities. 9 But Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, did not dare bring against him a railing judgment, but said, The Lord rebuke you. 10 But these [men] rail at whatever things they don't know: and what they understand naturally, like the creatures without reason, in these things they are destroyed. 11 Woe to them! For they went in the way of Cain, and ran riotously in the error of Balaam for wages, and perished in the opposing of Korah. 12 These [men] are the ones who are hidden rocks[142] in your+ love-feasts when they feast with you+ without fear, shepherding themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; 13 Wild waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the blackness of darkness has been reserved forever. 14 And to these [men] also Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, Look, the Lord came with tens of thousands of his holy ones, 15 to execute judgment on all, and to convict every soul of all their works of ungodliness which they have done in an ungodly manner, and of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. 16 These [men] are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own desires, and their mouth speaks great swelling [words], sweet talking so they can take advantage.

17 But you+, beloved, remember+ the words which have been spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; 18 that they said to you+ in the last time there will be mockers, walking after their own ungodly desires. 19 These [men] are the ones who make separations, sensual, not having the Spirit. 20 But you+, beloved, building up yourselves on your+ most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. 22 And on some have mercy, who are in doubt; 23 and some save, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.

24 Now to him who is able to guard you+ from stumbling, and to set you+ before the presence of his glory without blemish in exceeding joy, 25 to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, [be] glory, majesty, dominion and power, before all the age, and now, and to all the ages. Amen.

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Revelation

The Revelation to John

1  The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his slaves, [even] the things which must shortly come to pass: and he sent and signified [it] by his angel to his slave John; 2 who bore witness of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, [even] of all things that he saw. 3 Blessed is he who reads, and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and keep the things that are written in it: for the time is at hand.

4 John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you+ and peace, from Him Who Is and Who Was and Who Is To Come;[143] and from the seven Spirits who are before his throne; 5 and from Jesus Christ, [who is] the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us, and loosed us from our sins by his blood; 6 and he made us [to be] a kingdom, [to be] priests to his God and Father; to him [be] the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. 7 Look, he comes with the clouds; and every eye will see him, and those who pierced him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over him. Even so, Amen.

8 I am the Alpha and the Omega, says Yahweh God, He Who Is and Who Was and Who Is To Come, the Almighty.

9 I John, your+ brother and copartner with you+ in the tribulation and kingdom and patience [which are] in Jesus, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet 11 saying, What you see, write in a book and send [it] to the seven churches: to Ephesus, and to Smyrna, and to Pergamum, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea. 12 And I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands; 13 and among the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girded about at the breasts with a golden belt. 14 And his head and his hair were white as white wool, [white] as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; 15 and his feet like burnished bronze, as if it had been refined in a furnace; and his voice as the voice of many waters. 16 And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shines in his strength. 17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as one dead. And he laid his right hand on me, saying, Don't be afraid; I am the first and the last, 18 and the Living one; and I became dead, and look, I am alive forever and ever, and I have the keys of death and of Hades. 19 Write therefore the things which you saw, and the things which are, and the things which will come to pass after these things; 20 the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven lampstands are seven churches.

2  To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These things says he who holds the seven stars in his right hand, he who walks among the seven golden lampstands: 2 I know your works, and your toil and patience, and that you can't bear evil men, and tried those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and found them false; 3 and you have patience and did bear for my name's sake, and have not grown weary. 4 But I have [this] against you, that you left your first love. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent and do the first works; or else I come to you, and will move your lampstand out of its place, except you repent. 6 But this you have, that you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God.

8 And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: These things says the first and the last, who became dead, and lived [again]: 9 I know your tribulation, and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews, and they are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. 10 Don't at all fear the things which you are about to suffer: look, the devil is about to cast some of you+ into prison, that you+ may be tried; and you+ will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful to death, and I will give you the crown of life. 11 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt of the second death.

12 And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: These things says he who has the sharp two-edged sword: 13 I know where you dwell, [even] where the throne of Satan is; and you hold fast my name, and did not deny my faith, even in the days of Antipas my witness, my faithful one, who was killed among you+, where Satan dwells. 14 But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication. 15 So you have also some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans in like manner. 16 Repent therefore; or else I come to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of my mouth. 17 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written, which no one knows but he who receives it.

18 And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: These things says the Son of God, who has his eyes like a flame of fire, and his feet are like burnished bronze: 19 I know your works, and your love and faith and service and patience, and that your last works are more than the first. 20 But I have [this] against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess; and she teaches and seduces my slaves to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed to idols. 21 And I gave her time that she should repent; and she does not want to repent of her fornication. 22 Look, I cast her into a bed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of her works. 23 And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches will know that I am he who searches the minds and hearts: and I will give to each one of you+ according to your+ works. 24 But to you+ I say, to the rest who are in Thyatira, as many as do not have this teaching, who don't know the deep things of Satan, as they say; I cast on you+ no other burden. 25 Nevertheless that which you+ have, hold fast until I come. 26 And he who overcomes, and he who keeps my works to the end, to him I will give authority over the nations: 27 and he will shepherd them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to shivers; 28 as I also have received of my Father: and I will give him the morning star. 29 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

3  And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: These things says he who has the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars: I know your works, that you have a name that you live, and you are dead. 2 Be watchful, and establish the things that remain, which were ready to die: for I have not found your works perfected before my God. 3 Remember therefore how you have received and heard; and keep [it], and repent. If therefore you will not watch, I will come as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you. 4 But you have a few names in Sardis who did not defile their garments: and they will walk with me in white; for they are worthy. 5 He who overcomes will thus be arrayed in white garments; and I will in no way blot his name out of the Book of Life, and I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels. 6 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

7 And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These things says he who is holy, he who is true, he who has the key of David, he who opens and none will shut, and who shuts and none opens: 8 I know your works (look, I have set before you a door opened, which none can shut), that you have a little power, and kept my word, and did not deny my name. 9 Look, I give of the synagogue of Satan, of those who say they are Jews, and they are not, but lie; look, I will make them to come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you. 10 Because you kept the word of my patience, I also will keep you from the hour of trial, that [hour] which is to come upon the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth. 11 I come quickly: hold fast that which you have, that no one takes your crown. 12 He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will go out from there no more: and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God, and my own new name. 13 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

14 And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These things says the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God: 15 I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot: I would you were cold or hot. 16 So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spew you out of my mouth. 17 Because you say, I am wealthy, and have become rich, and have need of nothing; and don't know that you are the wretched one and miserable and poor and blind and naked: 18 I counsel you to buy of me gold refined by fire, that you may become rich; and white garments, that you may clothe yourself, and [that] the shame of your nakedness not be made manifest; and eyesalve to anoint your eyes, that you may see. 19 As many as I love, I reprove and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. 20 Look, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hears my voice and opens the door, then I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. 21 He who overcomes, I will give to him to sit down with me in my throne, as I also overcame, and sat down with my Father in his throne. 22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

4  After these things I looked, and saw a door opened in heaven, and the first voice that I heard, [a voice] as of a trumpet speaking with me, one saying, Come up here, and I will show you the things which must come to pass hereafter. 2 Immediately I was in the Spirit: and look, there was a throne set in heaven, and one sitting on the throne; 3 and he who sat [was] to look at like a jasper stone and a sardius: and [there was] a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald to look at. 4 And around the throne [were] four and twenty thrones: and on the thrones [I saw] four and twenty elders sitting, arrayed in white garments; and on their heads crowns of gold. 5 And out of the throne proceed lightnings and voices and thunders. And [there were] seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God; 6 and before the throne, as it were a sea of glass like crystal; and among the throne, and around the throne, four living creatures full of eyes before and behind. 7 And the first creature [was] like a lion, and the second creature like a calf, and the third creature had a face as of a man, and the fourth creature [was] like a flying eagle. 8 And the four living creatures, having each one of them six wings, are full of eyes around and inside: and they have no rest day and night, saying,

Holy, holy, holy, [is] Yahweh, the God of hosts, He Who Was and Who Is and Who Is To Come.

9 And when the living creatures will give glory and honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne, to him who lives forever and ever, 10 the four and twenty elders will fall down before him who sits on the throne, and will worship him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying,

11 Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive the glory and the honor and the power: for you created all things, and because of your will they were, and were created.

5  And I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a book written on the inside and on the back, sealed up with seven seals. 2 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a great voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose its seals? 3 And no one in the heaven, or on the earth, or under the earth, was able to open the book, or to look on it. 4 And I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open the book, or to look on it: 5 and one of the elders says to me, Don't weep; look, the Lion that is of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome to open the book and its seven seals. 6 And I saw among the throne and of the four living creatures, and among the elders, a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, having seven horns, and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth. 7 And he came, and he takes [it] out of the right hand of him who sat on the throne. 8 And when he had taken the book, the four living creatures and the four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sing a new song, saying,

Worthy are you to take the book, and to open its seals: for you were slain, and purchased to God with your blood [men] of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation, 10 and made them [to be] to our God a kingdom and priests; and they will reign on the earth.

11 And I saw, and I heard a voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was tens of thousands of tens of thousands, and thousands of thousands; 12 saying with a great voice,

Worthy is the Lamb that has been slain to receive the power, and riches, and wisdom, and might, and honor, and glory, and blessing.

13 And every created thing which is in the heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and on the sea, and all things that are in them, I heard saying,

To him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, [be] the blessing, and the honor, and the glory, and the dominion, forever and ever.

14 And the four living creatures said, Amen. And the elders fell down and worshiped.

6  And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder, Come. 2 And I looked, and saw a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and there was given to him a crown: and he came forth conquering, and to conquer.

3 And when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, Come. 4 And another [horse] came forth, a red horse: and to him who sat on it, it was given to take peace from the earth, and that they will slay one another: and there was given to him a great sword.

5 And when he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, Come. And I looked, and saw a black horse; and he who sat on it had a balance in his hand. 6 And I heard as it were a voice among the four living creatures saying, A measure of wheat for a denarius,[144] and three measures of barley for a denarius; and don't hurt the oil and the wine.

7 And when he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, Come. 8 And I looked, and saw a pale horse: and he who sat on him, his name was Death; and Hades followed with him. And there was given to them authority over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with famine, and with death, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

9 And when he opened the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: 10 and they cried with a great voice, saying, How long, O Sovereign Yahweh, Holy and True, do you not judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? 11 And there was given to each of them a white robe; and it was said to them, that they should rest yet for a little time, until their fellow slaves also and their brothers, who should be killed even as they were, should have fulfilled [their course].

12 And I saw when he opened the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the whole moon became as blood; 13 and the stars of the heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts her unripe figs when she is shaken of a great wind. 14 And the heaven was removed as a scroll when it is rolled up; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. 15 And the kings of the earth, and the princes, and the generals, and the rich, and the strong, and all—slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains; 16 and they say to the mountains and to the rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: 17 for the great day of their wrath has come; and who is able to stand?

7  After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that no wind should blow on the earth, or on the sea, or on any tree. 2 And I saw another angel ascend from the sunrising, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a great voice to the four angels to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, 3 saying, Do not hurt the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, until we will have sealed the slaves of our God on their foreheads. 4 And I heard the number of those who were sealed, a hundred and forty and four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of the sons of Israel: 5 Of the tribe of Judah [were] sealed twelve thousand; Of the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand; Of the tribe of Gad twelve thousand; 6 Of the tribe of Asher twelve thousand; Of the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand; Of the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand; 7 Of the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand; Of the tribe of Levi twelve thousand; Of the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand; 8 Of the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand; Of the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand; Of the tribe of Benjamin [were] sealed twelve thousand.

9 After these things I looked, and saw a great multitude, which no man could number, out of every nation and of [all] tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, arrayed in white robes, and palms in their hands; 10 and they cry with a great voice, saying,

Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.

11 And all the angels were standing around the throne, and [about] the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell before the throne on their faces, and worshiped God, 12 saying,

Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might, [be] to our God forever and ever. Amen.

13 And one of the elders answered, saying to me, These who are arrayed in the white robes, who are they, and where did they come from? 14 And I say to him, My lord, you know. And he said to me, These are those who come out of the great tribulation, and they washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15 Therefore they are before the throne of God; and they serve him day and night in his temple: and he who sits on the throne will spread his tabernacle over them. 16 They will hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; neither will the sun strike on them, nor any heat: 17 for the Lamb that is in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to fountains of waters of life: and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

8  And when he opened the seventh seal, there followed a silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. 2 And I saw the seven angels who stand before God; and there were given to them seven trumpets.

3 And another angel came and was standing over the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given to him much incense, that he should add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne. 4 And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel's hand. 5 And the angel takes the censer; and he filled it with the fire of the altar, and cast it on the earth: and there followed thunders, and voices, and lightnings, and an earthquake.

6 And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.

7 And the first sounded, and there followed hail and fire, mingled with blood, and they were cast on the earth: and the third part of the earth was burned up, and the third part of the trees was burned up, and all green grass was burned up.

8 And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood; 9 and there died the third part of the creatures having souls in the sea; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.

10 And the third angel sounded, and there fell from heaven a great star, burning as a torch, and it fell on the third part of the rivers, and on the fountains of the waters; 11 and the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.

12 And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was struck, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; that the third part of them should be darkened, and the day should not shine for the third part of it, and the night in like manner.

13 And I saw, and I heard an eagle, flying in mid heaven, saying with a great voice, Woe, woe, woe, for those who dwell on the earth, by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, who are yet to sound.

9  And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven fallen to the earth: and there was given to him the key of the pit of the abyss. 2 And he opened the pit of the abyss; and there went up a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. 3 And out of the smoke came forth locusts on the earth; and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power. 4 And it was said to them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree, but only such men as do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5 And it was given them that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when it strikes a man. 6 And in those days men will seek death, and will in no way find it; and they will desire to die, and death flees from them. 7 And the likenesses of the locusts were like horses prepared for war; and on their heads as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as men's faces. 8 And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as [the teeth] of lions. 9 And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots, of many horses rushing to war. 10 And they have tails like scorpions, and stings; and in their tails is their power to hurt men five months. 11 They have over them as king the angel of the abyss: his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek [tongue] he has the name Apollyon.

12 The first Woe is past: look, there come yet two Woes hereafter.

13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, 14 one saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, Loose the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates. 15 And the four angels were loosed, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, that they should kill the third part of men. 16 And the number of the armies of the horsemen was 200 million:[145] I heard the number of them. 17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and those who sat on them, having breastplates [as] of fire and of hyacinth and of brimstone: and the heads of the horses are as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths proceeds fire and smoke and brimstone. 18 By these three plagues was the third part of men killed, by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone, which proceeded out of their mouths. 19 For the power of the horses is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails are like serpents, and have heads; and with them they hurt. 20 And even the rest of men, who were not killed with these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and the idols of gold, and of silver, and of bronze, and of stone, and of wood; which can neither see, nor hear, nor walk: 21 and they did not repent of their murders, nor of their witchcraft, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.

10  And I saw another strong angel coming down out of heaven, arrayed with a cloud; and the rainbow was on his head, and his face was as the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire; 2 and he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot on the sea, and his left on the earth; 3 and he cried with a great voice, as a lion roars: and when he cried, the seven thunders uttered their voices. 4 And when the seven thunders uttered [their voices], I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying, Seal up the things which the seven thunders uttered, and do not write them. 5 And the angel who I saw standing on the sea and on the earth lifted up his right hand to heaven, 6 and swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created the heaven and the things that are in it, and the earth and the things that are in it, and the sea and the things that are in it, that there will be delay no longer: 7 but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then is finished the mystery of God, according to the good news which he declared to his slaves the prophets. 8 And the voice which I heard from heaven, [I heard it] again speaking with me, and saying, Go, take the book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the earth. 9 And I went to the angel, saying to him that he should give me the little book. And he says to me, Take it, and eat it up; and it will make your belly bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey. 10 And I took the little book out of the angel's hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and when I had eaten it, my belly was made bitter. 11 And they say to me, You must prophesy again over many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.

11  And there was given me a reed like a rod: and one said, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and the barrier within it.[146] 2 And the court which is outside the temple leave out, and do not measure it; for it has been given to the nations: and they will tread the holy city under foot forty and two months. 3 And I will give to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. 4 These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands, who stand before the Lord of the earth. 5 And if any man desires to hurt them, fire proceeds out of their mouth and devours their enemies; and if any man will desire to hurt them, in this manner must he be killed. 6 These have the power to shut the heaven, that it not rain during the days of their prophecy: and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with every plague, as often as they will desire. 7 And when they will have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, and overcome them, and kill them. 8 And their dead bodies [lie] in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. 9 And from among the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations do [men] look at their dead bodies three days and a half, and do not allow their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb. 10 And those who dwell on the earth rejoice over them, and make merry; and they will send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth. 11 And after the three days and a half the breath of life from God entered into them, and they stood on their feet; and great fear fell on those who watched them. 12 And they heard a great voice from heaven saying to them, Come up here. And they went up into heaven in the cloud; and their enemies watched them. 13 And in that hour there was a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell; and there were killed in the earthquake seven thousand names of men: and the rest were frightened, and gave glory to the God of heaven.

14 The second Woe is past: look, the third Woe comes quickly.

15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there followed great voices in heaven, and they said,

The kingdom of the world has become [the kingdom] of our Lord, and of his Christ: and he will reign forever and ever.

16 And the four and twenty elders, who sit before God on their thrones, fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 saying,

We give you thanks, O Yahweh, the God of hosts, who are and who were; because you have taken your great power, and you have begun to reign. 18 And the nations were angry, and your wrath came, and the time of the dead to be judged, and [the time] to give their reward to your slaves the prophets, and to the saints, and to those who fear your name, the small and the great; and to destroy those who destroy the earth.

19 And the temple of God that is in heaven was opened; and there was seen in his temple the ark of his covenant; and there followed lightnings, and voices, and thunders, and an earthquake, and great hail.

12  And a great sign was seen in heaven: a woman arrayed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; 2 and she was pregnant; and she cries out, travailing in birth, and in pain to be delivered. 3 And there was seen another sign in heaven: and look, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. 4 And his tail draws the third part of the stars of heaven, and casts them to the earth: and the dragon stands before the woman who is about to be delivered, that when she is delivered he may devour her child. 5 And she was delivered of a son, a man child, who is to shepherd all the nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up to God, and to his throne. 6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared of God, that there they may nourish her a thousand two hundred and threescore days.

7 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels [going forth] to war with the dragon; and the dragon warred and his angels; 8 And they did not prevail, neither was their place found anymore in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was cast down, the old serpent, he who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world; he was cast down to the earth, and his angels were cast down with him. 10 And I heard a great voice in heaven, saying,

Now has come the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ: for the accuser of our brothers is cast down, who accuses them before our God day and night. 11 And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony; and they did not love their soul even to death. 12 Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you+ who dwell in them. Woe for the earth and for the sea: because the devil has gone down to you+, having great wrath, knowing that he has but a short time.

13 And when the dragon saw that he was cast down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who brought forth the man [child]. 14 And there were given to the woman the two wings of the great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. 15 And the serpent cast out of his mouth after the woman water as a river, that he might cause her to be carried away by the stream. 16 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed up the river which the dragon cast out of his mouth. 17 And the dragon waxed angry with the woman, and went away to make war with the rest of her seed, those who keep the commandments of God, and hold the testimony of Jesus. 18 And he was standing on the sand of the sea.

13  And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns ten diadems, and on his heads names of blasphemy. 2 And the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were as [the feet] of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his throne, and great authority. 3 And [I saw] one of his heads as though it had been struck to death; and his death-stroke was healed: and the whole earth wondered after the beast; 4 and they worshiped the dragon, because he gave his authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, Who is like the beast? And who is able to war with him? 5 And there was given to him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and there was given to him authority to continue forty and two months. 6 And he opened his mouth for blasphemies against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, [even] those who dwell in the heaven. 7 And it was given to him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and there was given to him authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation. 8 And all who dwell on the earth will worship him, [everyone] whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the Book of Life of the Lamb that has been slain. 9 If any man has an ear, let him hear. 10 If any man [is] for captivity, into captivity he goes: if any man [is] to be killed with the sword, with the sword he will be killed. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.

11 And I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke as a dragon. 12 And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his sight. And he makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose death-stroke was healed. 13 And he does great signs, that he should even make fire to come down out of heaven on the earth in the sight of men. 14 And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by reason of the signs which it was given him to do in the sight of the beast; saying to those who dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast who has the stroke of the sword and lived. 15 And it was given to him to give spirit to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as should not worship the image of the beast should be killed. 16 And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free and the slaves, that there be given them a mark on their right hand, or on their forehead; 17 and that no man should be able to buy or to sell, except he who has the mark, [even] the name of the beast or the number of his name. 18 Here is wisdom. He who has understanding, let him count the number of the beast; for it is the number of a man: and his number is Six hundred and sixty-six.

14  And I looked, and saw the Lamb standing on the mount Zion, and with him a hundred and forty and four thousand, having his name, and the name of his Father, written on their foreheads. 2 And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and the voice which I heard [was] as [the voice] of harpers harping with their harps: 3 and they sing as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four living creatures and the elders: and no man could learn the song except the hundred and forty and four thousand, [even] those who had been purchased out of the earth. 4 These are those who were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These [are] those who follow the Lamb wherever he may go. These were purchased from among men, [to be] the first fruits to God and to the Lamb. 5 And in their mouth was found no lie: they are without blemish.

6 And I saw another angel flying in mid heaven, having eternal good news to proclaim to those who dwell on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people; 7 and he says with a great voice, Fear God, and give him glory; for the hour of his judgment has come: and worship him who made the heaven and the earth and sea and fountains of waters.

8 And another, a second angel, followed, saying, Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, that has made all the nations to drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.

9 And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a great voice, If any man worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead, or on his hand, 10 he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed undiluted in the cup of his anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: 11 and the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; and they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name. 12 Here is the patience of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying, Write, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on: yes, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; for their works follow with them.

14 And I looked, and saw a white cloud; and on the cloud [I saw] one sitting like a son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. 15 And another angel came out from the temple, crying with a great voice to him who sat on the cloud, Send forth your sickle, and reap: for the hour to reap has come; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. 16 And he who sat on the cloud cast his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped.

17 And another angel came out from the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. 18 And another angel came out from the altar, he who has power over fire; and he called with a great voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, Send forth your sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. 19 And the angel cast his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vintage of the earth, and cast it into the wine press of the great wrath of God. 20 And the wine press was trodden outside the city, and there came out blood from the wine press, even to the bridles of the horses, as far as 184 miles.[147]

15  And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having seven plagues, [which are] the last, for in them is finished the wrath of God.

2 And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire; and those who come off victorious from the beast, and from his image, and from the number of his name, standing by the sea of glass, having harps of God. 3 And they sing the song of Moses the slave of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying,

Great and marvelous are your works, Yahweh, the God of hosts; righteous and true are your ways, King of the nations. 4 Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you only are holy; for all the nations will come and worship before you; for your righteous acts have been made manifest.

5 And after these things I saw, and the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened: 6 and there came out from the temple the seven angels who had the seven plagues, arrayed with pure bright linen, and girded about their breasts with golden belts. 7 And one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God, who lives forever and ever. 8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and none was able to enter into the temple, until the seven plagues of the seven angels should be finished.

16  And I heard a great voice out of the temple, saying to the seven angels, Go+, and pour out the seven bowls of the wrath of God into the earth.

2 And the first went, and poured out his bowl into the earth; and it became a noisome and grievous sore on the men who had the mark of the beast, and who worshiped his image.

3 And the second poured out his bowl into the sea; and it became blood as of a dead man; and every living soul in the sea died.

4 And the third poured out his bowl into the rivers and the fountains of the waters; and it became blood. 5 And I heard the angel of the waters saying, Righteous are you, the one who is and the one who was, the Holy One, because you judged these things: 6 for they poured out the blood of saints and prophets, and blood you have given them to drink: they are worthy. 7 And I heard the altar saying, Yes, O Yahweh, the God of hosts, true and righteous are your judgments.

8 And the fourth poured out his bowl on the sun; and it was given to it to scorch men with fire. 9 And men were scorched with great heat: and they blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues; and they did not repent to give him glory.

10 And the fifth poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast; and his kingdom was darkened; and they gnawed their tongues for pain, 11 and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores; and they did not repent of their works.

12 And the sixth poured out his bowl on the great river, the Euphrates; and its water was dried up, that the way might be made ready for the kings who [come] from the sunrising. 13 And I saw [coming] out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits, as it were frogs: 14 for they are spirits of demons, working signs; which go forth to the kings of the whole world, to gather them together to the war of the great day of the God of hosts. 15 Look, I come as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see him shamefully exposed. 16 And they gathered them together into the place which is called in Hebrew Har-magedon.

17 And the seventh poured out his bowl on the air; and there came forth a great voice out of the temple, from the throne, saying, It is done: 18 and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunders; and there was a great earthquake, of such that had not been since man had been on the earth, so great an earthquake, so mighty. 19 And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and Babylon the great was remembered in the sight of God, to give to her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. 20 And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. 21 And great hail, [every stone] about the weight of a talent, comes down out of heaven on men: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for its plague is exceedingly great.

17  And there came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls, and spoke with me, saying, Come here, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute that sits on many waters; 2 with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and those who dwell in the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication. 3 And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness: and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet-colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. 4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and decked with gold and precious stone and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of detestable things, even the unclean things of her fornication, 5 and on her forehead a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF THE PROSTITUTES AND OF THE DETESTABLE THINGS OF THE EARTH. 6 And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I wondered with a great wonder. 7 And the angel said to me, Why did you wonder? I will tell you the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns. 8 The beast that you saw was, and is not; and is about to come up out of the abyss, and goes into perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will wonder, [they] whose name has not been written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast, how that he was, and is not, and will come. 9 Here is the mind that has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sits: and they are seven kings; 10 the five have fallen, the one is, the other is not yet come; and when he comes, he must stay a little while. 11 And the beast that was, and is not, is himself also an eighth, and is of the seven; and he goes into perdition. 12 And the ten horns that you saw are ten kings, who have received no kingdom as yet; but they receive authority as kings, with the beast, for one hour. 13 These have one mind, and they give their power and authority to the beast. 14 These will war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings; and they who are with him are called and chosen and faithful. 15 And he says to me, The waters which you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. 16 And the ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will hate the prostitute, and will make her desolate and naked, and will eat her flesh, and will burn her completely with fire. 17 For God put in their hearts to do his mind, and to come to one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God should be accomplished. 18 And the woman whom you saw is the great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth.

18  After these things I saw another angel coming down out of heaven, having great authority; and the earth was lightened with his glory. 2 And he cried with a mighty voice, saying, Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, and has become a dwelling place of demons, and a hold of every unclean spirit, and a hold of every unclean bird, and and a hold of every unclean and hateful beast. 3 Because from the wine of the wrath of her fornication, all the nations have drank; and the kings of the earth committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth became rich by the power of her wantonness.

4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come forth, my people, out of her, that you+ have no fellowship with her sins, and that you+ do not receive of her plagues: 5 for her sins have stuck even to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. 6 Render to her even as she rendered, and double [to her] the double according to her works: in the cup which she mixed, mix to her double. 7 However much she glorified herself, and waxed wanton, so much give her of torment and mourning: for she says in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and will in no way see mourning. 8 Therefore in one day her plagues will come, death, and mourning, and famine; and she will be completely burned with fire; for strong is Yahweh, the God who judged her. 9 And the kings of the earth, who committed fornication and lived wantonly with her, will weep and wail over her, when they look at the smoke of her burning, 10 standing far off for the fear of her torment, saying, Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the strong city! For in one hour is your judgment come. 11 And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her, for no man buys their merchandise anymore; 12 merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stone, and pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet; and all thyine wood, and every vessel of ivory, and every vessel made of most precious wood, and of bronze, and iron, and marble; 13 and cinnamon, and spice, and incense, and ointment, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and cattle, and sheep; and [merchandise] of horses and chariots and slaves—even souls of men.[148] 14 And the fruits which your soul desired are gone from you, and all things that were dainty and sumptuous have perished from you, and they will find them no more at all. 15 The merchants of these things, who were made rich by her, will stand far off for the fear of her torment, weeping and mourning; 16 saying, Woe, woe, the great city, she who was arrayed in fine linen and purple and scarlet, and decked with gold and precious stone and pearl! 17 For in one hour such great wealth is made desolate. And every shipmaster, and everyone who sails anywhere, and mariners, and as many as gain their living by sea, stood far off, 18 and cried out as they looked on the smoke of her burning, saying, What [city] is like the great city? 19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried out, weeping and mourning, saying, Woe, woe, the great city, in which all who had their ships in the sea were made rich by reason of her costliness! For in one hour is she made desolate. 20 Rejoice over her, you heaven, and you+ saints, and you+ apostles, and you+ prophets; for God has judged your+ judgment on her.

21 And a strong angel took up a stone as it were a great millstone and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with a mighty fall will Babylon, the great city, be cast down, and will be found no more at all. 22 And the voice of harpers and minstrels and flute-players and trumpeters will be heard no more at all in you; and no craftsman, of whatever craft, will be found anymore at all in you; and the voice of a mill will be heard no more at all in you; 23 and the light of a lamp will shine no more at all in you; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride will be heard no more at all in you: for your merchants were the princes of the earth; for with your witchcraft were all the nations deceived. 24 And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all who have been slain on the earth.

19  After these things I heard as it were a great voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying,

Hallelujah;[149] Salvation, and glory, and power, belong to our God: 2 for true and righteous are his judgments; for he has judged the great prostitute, her who corrupted the earth with her fornication, and he has avenged the blood of his slaves at her hand.

3 And a second time they say, Hallelujah. And her smoke goes up forever and ever. 4 And the four and twenty elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sits on the throne, saying, "Amen, Hallelujah."

5 And a voice came forth from the throne, saying,

Give praise to our God, all you+ his slaves, and you+ who fear him, the small and the great.

6 And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunders, saying,

Hallelujah: for Yahweh our God, the Almighty, has begun to reign. 7 Let us rejoice and be exceedingly glad, and let us give the glory to him: for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his wife has made herself ready. 8 And it was given to her that she should array herself in fine linen, bright [and] pure: for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.

9 And he says to me, Write, Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he says to me, These are true words of God. 10 And I fell down before his feet to worship him. And he says to me, Don't do it: I am a fellow slave with you and with your brothers who hold the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

11 And I saw the heaven opened; and look, a white horse, and he who sat on it called Faithful and True; and in righteousness he judges and makes war. 12 And his eyes [are] as a flame of fire, and on his head [are] many diadems; and he has a name written which no one knows but he himself. 13 And in the word of God his name is also called, He [who is] arrayed in a garment dipped in blood.[150] 14 And the armies which are in heaven followed him on white horses, clothed in fine linen, white [and] pure. 15 And out of his mouth proceeds a sharp sword, that with it he should strike the nations: and he will shepherd them with a rod of iron: and he treads the wine press of the fierceness of the wrath of the God of hosts. 16 And he has on his garment and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.

17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in mid heaven, Come [and] be gathered together to the great supper of God; 18 that you+ may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of generals, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, and small and great.

19 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him who sat on the horse, and against his army. 20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet who did the signs in his sight, with which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image: both of them were cast alive into the lake of fire that burns with brimstone: 21 and the rest were killed with the sword of him who sat on the horse, [even the sword] which came forth out of his mouth: and all the birds were filled with their flesh.

20  And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. 2 And he laid hold on the dragon, the old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, 3 and cast him into the abyss, and shut [it], and sealed [it] over him, that he should deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years should be finished: after this he must be loosed for a little time.

4 And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them: and [I saw] the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God, and such as did not worship the beast, neither his image, and did not receive the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they lived, and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5 The rest of the dead did not live until the thousand years should be finished. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection: over these the second death has no power; but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and will reign with him [for] the thousand years.

7 And when the thousand years are finished, Satan will be loosed out of his prison, 8 and will come forth to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to the war: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. 9 And they went up over the width of the earth, and surrounded the camp of the saints, and the beloved city: and fire came down out of heaven, and devoured them. 10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where are also the beast and the false prophet; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

11 And I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne; and books were opened: and another book was opened, which is [the Book] of Life: and the dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it; and death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 14 And death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, [even] the lake of fire. 15 And if any was not found written in the Book of Life, he was cast into the lake of fire.

21  And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away; and the sea is no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a great voice out of the throne saying, Look, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they will be his peoples, and God himself with them, he will be their God: 4 and he will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death will be no more; neither will there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, anymore: because the first things are passed away. 5 And he who sits on the throne said, Look, I make all things new. And he says, Write: for these words are faithful and true. 6 And he said to me, They have come to pass. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to him who is thirsty of the fountain of the water of life freely. 7 He who overcomes will inherit these things; and I will be his God, and he will be my son. 8 But for the fearful, and unbelieving, and those who have become disgusting, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, their part [will be] in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone; which is the second death.

9 And there came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls, who were laden with the seven last plagues; and he spoke with me, saying, Come here, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb. 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, 11 having the glory of God: her light was like a most precious stone, as it were a jasper stone, clear as crystal: 12 having a wall great and high; having twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels; and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel: 13 on the east were three gates; and on the north three gates; and on the south three gates; and on the west three gates. 14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. 15 And he who spoke with me had for a measure a golden reed to measure the city, and her gates, and her wall. 16 And the city lies foursquare, and her length is also as great as the width: and he measured the city with the reed, 1,380 miles:[151] her length and width and height are equal. 17 And he measured her wall, a hundred and forty and four cubits, [according to] the measure of a man, that is, of an angel. 18 And the building of her wall was jasper: and the city was pure gold, like pure glass. 19 The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, chalcedony; the fourth, emerald; 20 the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprase; the eleventh, jacinth; the twelfth, amethyst. 21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each one of the several gates was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. 22 And I saw no temple in her: for Yahweh, the God of hosts, and the Lamb, are her temple. 23 And the city has no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine on her: for the glory of God lightened her, and her lamp [is] the Lamb. 24 And the nations will walk amid her light: and the kings of the earth bring their glory into her. 25 And her gates will in no way be shut by day (for there will be no night there): 26 and they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into her: 27 and there will in no way enter into her anything common, or anyone who does disgusting things or lies: but only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life.  22  And he showed me a river of water of life, bright as crystal, that proceeds out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, 2 in the midst of her street. And on this side of the river and on that was a tree of life that bears fruit twelve [times per year], every month yielding its fruit: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 And there will be no curse anymore: and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in her: and his slaves will serve him; 4 and they will see his face; and his name [will be] on their foreheads. 5 And there will be no more night; and they need no light of lamp, neither light of sun; for Yahweh God will give them light: and they will reign forever and ever.

6 And he said to me, These words are faithful and true: and Yahweh, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent his angel to show to his slaves the things which must shortly come to pass. 7 And look, I come quickly. Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.

8 And I John am he who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed me these things. 9 And he says to me, Don't do it: I am a fellow slave with you and with your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book: worship God.

10 And he says to me, Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book; for the time is at hand. 11 He who is unrighteous, let him do unrighteousness still: and he who is filthy, let him be made filthy still: and he who is righteous, let him do righteousness still: and he who is holy, let him be made holy still. 12 Look, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to render to each man according to as his work is. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. 14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right [to come] to the tree of life, and may enter in by the gates into the city. 15 Outside are the homosexuals, and the sorcerers, and the fornicators, and the murderers, and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and makes a lie.[152]

16 I Jesus have sent my angel to testify to you+ these things for the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright, the morning star.

17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And he who hears, let him say, Come. And he who is thirsty, let him come: he who will, let him take the water of life freely.

18 I testify to every man who hears the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man will add to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book: 19 and if any man will take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life, and out of the holy city, which are written in this book.

20 He who testifies these things says, Yes: I come quickly. Amen: come, Lord Jesus.

21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all.

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Genesis

1  In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 And the earth was waste and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep: and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. 3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.[153]

6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. 7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.

9 And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. 10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters he called Seas: and God saw that it was good. 11 And God said, Let the earth put forth grass, herbs yielding seed, [and] fruit-trees bearing fruit after their kind, in which is their seed, on the earth: and it was so. 12 And the earth brought forth grass, herbs yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, in which is their seed, after their kind: and God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening and there was morning, a third day.

14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years: 15 and let them be for lights in the firmament of heaven to give light on the earth: and it was so. 16 And God made the two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night and the stars. 17 And God set them in the firmament of heaven to give light on the earth, 18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.

20 And God said, Let the waters swarm with swarms of living souls[154], and let birds fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. 21 And God created the great sea-monsters, and every living soul that moves, with which the waters swarmed, after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind: and God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth. 23 And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.

24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth living souls after their kind, cattle, and creeping things, and beasts of the earth after their kind: and it was so. 25 And God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind: and God saw that it was good. 26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. 27 And God created the man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them: and God said to them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. 29 And God said, Look, I have given you+ every herb yielding seed, which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you+ it will be for food: 30 and to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the heavens, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is a living soul, [I have given] every green herb for food: and it was so. 31 And God saw everything that he had made, and, look, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

2  And the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God finished his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3 And God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it; because in it he rested from all his work which God had created and made.

4 These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that Yahweh God made earth and heaven. 5 And no plant of the field was yet in the earth, and no herb of the field had yet sprung up; for Yahweh God had not caused it to rain on the earth: and the man was not [there] to till the ground; 6 but there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. 7 And Yahweh God formed the man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living soul. 8 And Yahweh God planted a garden eastward, in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 And out of the ground Yahweh God made every tree to grow that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 10 And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it was parted, and became four heads. 11 The name of the first is Pishon: that is it which circles the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; 12 and the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone. 13 And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that circles the whole land of Cush. 14 And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it, which goes in front of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. 15 And Yahweh God took the man, and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. 16 And Yahweh God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat: 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you will not eat of it: for in the day that you eat of it you will surely die.

18 And Yahweh God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make a matching helper for him. 19 And out of the ground Yahweh God formed every beast of the field, and every bird of the heavens; and brought them to the man to see what he would call them: and whatever the man called every living soul, that was its name. 20 And the man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the heavens, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there wasn't found a matching helper for him. 21 And Yahweh God caused a deep sleep to fall on the man, and he slept; and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead of it: 22 and the rib, which Yahweh God had taken from the man, he made a woman, and brought her to the man. 23 And the man said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she will be called a woman, because she was taken out of a man. 24 Therefore will a man leave his father and his mother, and will stick to his wife: and they will be one flesh. 25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

3  Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which Yahweh God had made. And he said to the woman, has God really said, You+ will not eat of any tree of the garden? 2 And the woman said to the serpent, Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat: 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, You+ will not eat of it, neither will you+ touch it, or else you+ will die. 4 And the serpent said to the woman, You+ will not surely die: 5 for God knows that in the day you+ eat of it, then your+ eyes will be opened, and you+ will be as God, knowing good and evil. 6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit, and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. 7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig-leaves together, and made themselves aprons. 8 And they heard the voice of Yahweh God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Yahweh God among the trees of the garden.

9 And Yahweh God called to the man, and said to him, Where are you? 10 And he said, I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. 11 And he said, Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree, of which I commanded you that you should not eat? 12 And the man said, The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate. 13 And Yahweh God said to the woman, What is this you have done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I ate. 14 And Yahweh God said to the serpent, Because you have done this, cursed are you above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; on your belly you will go, and dust you will eat all the days of your life: 15 and I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed: he will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel.

16 To the woman he said, I will greatly multiply your pain and your conception; in pain you will bring forth sons; and your desire will be to your husband, and he will rule over you.

17 And to Adam he said, Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree, of which I commanded you, saying, You will not eat of it: cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you will eat of it all the days of your life; 18 thorns also and thistles it will bring forth to you; and you will eat the herb of the field; 19 in the sweat of your face you will eat bread, until you return to the ground; for out of it were you taken: for dust you are, and to dust you will return. 20 And the man called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living. 21 And Yahweh God made for Adam and for his wife coats of skins, and clothed them.

22 And Yahweh God said, Look, the man has become as one of us, to know good and evil; and now, so that he doesn't put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever— 23 therefore Yahweh God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. 24 So he drove out the man; and he caused the Cherubim, and the flame of a sword which turned every way, to stay at the east of the garden of Eden to keep the way of the tree of life.

4  And the man had sex[155] with his wife Eve; and she became pregnant, and gave birth to Cain, and said, I have gotten a man with [the help of] Yahweh. 2 And again she bore his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. 3 And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering to Yahweh. 4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstborns of his flock and of its fat. And Yahweh had respect to Abel and to his offering: 5 but to Cain and to his offering he did not have respect. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. 6 And Yahweh said to Cain, Why are you angry? And why is your countenance fallen? 7 If you do well, will it not be lifted up? And if you do not well, sin is crouching at the door: and to you will be its desire, but you will rule over it. 8 And Cain told Abel his brother. And it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.

9 And Yahweh said to Cain, Where is Abel your brother? And he said, I don't know: am I my brother's keeper? 10 And he said, What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries to me from the ground. 11 And now cursed are you from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand; 12 from now on when you till the ground, it will not yield its strength to you; you will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth. 13 And Cain said to Yahweh, My punishment is greater than I can bear. 14 Look, you have driven me out this day from the face of the ground; and from your face I will be hid; and I will be a fugitive and a wanderer in the earth; and it will come to pass, that whoever finds me will slay me. 15 And Yahweh said to him, Therefore whoever slays Cain, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold. And Yahweh appointed a sign for Cain, lest anyone finding him should strike him.

16 And Cain went out from the presence of Yahweh, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden. 17 And Cain had sex with his wife; and she became pregnant, and gave birth to Enoch: and he built a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch. 18 And to Enoch was born Irad: and Irad begot Mehujael: and Mehujael begot Methushael; and Methushael begot Lamech. 19 And Lamech took to him two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. 20 And Adah bore Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents and [have] cattle. 21 And his brother's name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and pipe. 22 And Zillah, she also bore Tubal-cain, the forger of every cutting instrument of bronze and iron: and the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah. 23 And Lamech said to his wives: Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; You+ wives of Lamech, listen to my speech: For I have slain a man for wounding me, And a young man for bruising me: 24 If Cain will be avenged sevenfold, Truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.

25 And Adam had sex with his wife; and she bore a son, and named him Seth. For, [she said], God has appointed me another seed instead of Abel; for Cain slew him. 26 And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he named him Enosh. Then it was begun to call on the name of Yahweh.

5  This is the Book of the Generations of Adam. In the day that God created Adam, in the likeness of God he made him; 2 male and female he created them, and blessed them, and called their name Man, in the day when they were created. 3 And Adam lived 130 years, and begot [a son] in his own likeness, after his image; and named him Seth: 4 and the days of Adam after he begot Seth were 800 years: and he begot sons and daughters. 5 And all the days that Adam lived were 930 years: and he died.

6 And Seth lived 105 years, and begot Enosh: 7 and Seth lived after he begot Enosh 807 years, and begot sons and daughters: 8 and all the days of Seth were 912 years: and he died.

9 And Enosh lived ninety years, and begot Kenan. 10 And Enosh lived after he begot Kenan 815 years, and begot sons and daughters: 11 and all the days of Enosh were 905 years: and he died.

12 And Kenan lived seventy years, and begot Mahalalel: 13 and Kenan lived after he begot Mahalalel 840 years, and begot sons and daughters: 14 and all the days of Kenan were 910 years: and he died.

15 And Mahalalel lived sixty-five years, and begot Jared: 16 And Mahalalel lived after he begot Jared 830 years, and begot sons and daughters: 17 and all the days of Mahalalel were 895 years: and he died.

18 And Jared lived 162 years, and begot Enoch: 19 and Jared lived after he begot Enoch 800 years, and begot sons and daughters: 20 And all the days of Jared were 962 years: and he died.

21 And Enoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Methuselah: 22 and Enoch walked with God after he begot Methuselah 300 years, and begot sons and daughters: 23 and all the days of Enoch were 365 years: 24 and Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.

25 And Methuselah lived 187 years, and begot Lamech: 26 and Methuselah lived after he begot Lamech 782 years, and begot sons and daughters. 27 And all the days of Methuselah were 969 years: and he died.

28 And Lamech lived 182 years, and begot a son: 29 and he named him Noah, saying, This same will comfort us in our work and in the toil of our hands, [which comes] because of the ground which Yahweh has cursed. 30 And Lamech lived after he begot Noah 595 years, and begot sons and daughters: 31 And all the days of Lamech were 777 years: and he died.

32 And Noah was 500 years old: And Noah begot Shem, Ham, and Japheth.  6  And it came to pass, when man began to multiply on the face of the ground, and daughters were born to them, 2 that the sons of God saw the daughters of man that they were fair; and they took for themselves wives of all who they chose. 3 And Yahweh said, My spirit will not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh: and his days will be 120 years. 4 The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man, and they bore [children] to them: the same were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.

5 And Yahweh saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And it repented Yahweh that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. 7 And Yahweh said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the ground; both man and beast, and creeping things, and birds of the heavens; for it repents me that I have made them. 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of Yahweh.

9 These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, [and] perfect in his generations: Noah walked with God. 10 And Noah begot three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 11 And the earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 And God saw the earth, and, look, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.

13 And God said to Noah, The end of all flesh has come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, look, I will destroy them from the earth. 14 Make an ark of gopher wood. You will make the ark with a series of compartments,[156] and will pitch it inside and outside with pitch. 15 And this is how you will make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, the width of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. 16 You will make a light to the ark, and to a cubit you will finish it upward; and the door of the ark you will set in its side; with lower, second, and third stories you will make it. 17 And I, look, I do bring the flood of waters on the earth, to destroy all flesh, in which is the breath of life, from under heaven; everything that is in the earth will die. 18 But I will establish my covenant with you; and you will come into the ark, you, and your sons, and your wife, and your sons' wives with you. 19 And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort you will bring into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they will be male and female. 20 Of the birds after their kind, and of the cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every sort will come to you, to keep them alive. 21 And you take to yourself of all food that is eaten, and gather it to you; and it will be for food for you, and for them. 22 Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so he did.

7  And Yahweh said to Noah, Come you and all your house into the ark; for you I have seen righteous before me in this generation. 2 Of every clean beast you will take to you seven and seven, the male and his female; and of the beasts that are not clean two, the male and his female: 3 of the birds also of the heavens, seven and seven, male and female, to keep seed alive on the face of all the earth. 4 For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain on the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living thing that I have made I will destroy from off the face of the ground. 5 And Noah did according to all that Yahweh commanded him.

6 And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood was on the earth. 7 And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood. 8 Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground, 9 there went in two and two to Noah into the ark, male and female, as God commanded Noah. 10 And it came to pass after the seven days, that the waters of the flood were on the earth. 11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. 12 And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights.

13 In the very same day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark; 14 they, and every beast after its kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort. 15 And they went in to Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh in which is the breath of life. 16 And those that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God commanded him: and Yahweh shut him in. 17 And the flood was forty days on the earth; and the waters increased, and bore up the ark, and it was lifted up above the earth. 18 And the waters prevailed, and increased greatly on the earth; and the ark went on the face of the waters. 19 And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth; and all the high mountains that were under the whole heaven were covered. 20 Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered. 21 And all flesh died that moved on the earth, both birds, and cattle, and beasts, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and all of man: 22 all in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, of all that was on the dry land, died. 23 And every living thing was destroyed that was on the face of the ground, from man to cattle, to creeping things, and to birds of the heavens; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only was left, and those that were with him in the ark. 24 And the waters prevailed on the earth a hundred and fifty days.

8  And God remembered Noah, and all the beasts, and all the cattle that were with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided; 2 the fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was kept back; 3 and the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of a hundred and fifty days the waters decreased. 4 And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat. 5 And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen.

6 And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made: 7 and he sent forth a raven, and it went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth. 8 And he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground; 9 but the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned to him to the ark; for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: and he put forth his hand, and took her, and brought her in to him into the ark. 10 And he waited yet another seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark; 11 and the dove came in to him at evening; and, look, in her mouth an olive-leaf plucked off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth. 12 And he waited yet another seven days, and sent forth the dove; and she did not return again to him anymore.

13 And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and noticed that the face of the ground was dried. 14 And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dry.

15 And God spoke to Noah, saying, 16 Go forth from the ark, you, and your wife, and your sons, and your sons' wives with you. 17 Bring forth with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh, both birds, and cattle, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply on the earth. 18 And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him: 19 every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, whatever moves on the earth, after their families, went forth out of the ark.

20 And Noah built an altar to Yahweh, and took of every clean beast, and of every clean bird, and offered burnt-offerings on the altar. 21 And Yahweh smelled the sweet savor; and Yahweh said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground anymore for man's sake, because the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again strike anymore everything living, as I have done. 22 While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night will not cease.

9  And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth. 2 And the fear of you+ and the dread of you+ will be on every beast of the earth, and on every bird of the heavens; With all by which the ground teems, and all the fish of the sea, into your+ hand they are delivered. 3 Every moving thing that lives will be food for you+, as I have given you+ everything of the green herb. 4 But flesh with its soul, [which is] its blood, you+ will not eat. 5 And surely your+ blood, [the blood] of your+ souls, I will require; At the hand of every beast I will require it. And at the hand of man, even at the hand of every man's brother, I will require the soul of man. 6 Whoever sheds man's blood, by man will his blood be shed: For in the image of God he made man. 7 And you+, be fruitful and multiply; Bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply in it.

8 And God spoke to Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, 9 And I, look, I establish my covenant with you+, and with your+ seed after you+; 10 and with every living soul that is with you+, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you+, from all those coming out of the ark to all the beasts of the earth.[157] 11 And I will establish my covenant with you+; neither will all flesh be cut off anymore by the waters of the flood; neither will there anymore be a flood to destroy the earth. 12 And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you+ and every living soul that is with you+, for perpetual generations: 13 I have set my bow in the cloud, and it will be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. 14 And it will come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow will be seen in the cloud, 15 and I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you+ and every living soul of all flesh; and the waters will no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 And the bow will be in the cloud; and I will look at it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living soul of all flesh that is on the earth. 17 And God said to Noah, This is the token of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.

18 And the sons of Noah, that went forth from the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan. 19 These three were the sons of Noah: and of these was the whole earth spread over.

20 And Noah began to be a husbandman, and planted a vineyard: 21 and he drank of the wine, and was drunk. And he was uncovered inside his tent. 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. 23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it on both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father. And their faces were backward, and they did not see their father's nakedness. 24 And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his youngest son had done to him. 25 And he said, Cursed be Canaan; A slave of slaves he will be to his brothers. 26 And he said, Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Shem; And let Canaan be his slave. 27 God enlarge Japheth, And let him stay in the tents of Shem; And let Canaan be his slave.

28 And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. 29 And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: And he died.

10  Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, [namely], of Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and to them were sons born after the flood.

2 The sons of Japheth: Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras. 3 And the sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah. 4 And the sons of Javan: Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Rodanim. 5 Of these were the isles of the nations divided in their lands, every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.

6 And the sons of Ham: Cush, and Mizraim, and Put, and Canaan. 7 And the sons of Cush: Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabteca; and the sons of Raamah: Sheba, and Dedan. 8 And Cush begot Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. 9 He was a mighty hunter before Yahweh: therefore it is said, Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before Yahweh. 10 And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, and Accad—all of them in the land of Shinar. 11 Out of that land he went forth into Assyria, and built Nineveh, and Rehoboth-ir, and Calah, 12 and Resen between Nineveh and Calah (the same is the great city). 13 And Mizraim begot Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim, 14 and Pathrusim, and Casluhim (from where went forth the Philistines), and Caphtorim.

15 And Canaan begot Sidon his firstborn, and Heth, 16 and the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgashite, 17 and the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite, 18 and the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanite spread abroad. 19 And the border of the Canaanite was from Sidon, as you go toward Gerar, to Gaza; as you go toward Sodom and Gomorrah and Admah and Zeboiim, to Lasha. 20 These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, in their nations.

21 And to Shem, the father of all the sons of Eber, the elder brother of Japheth, to him also were sons born. 22 The sons of Shem: Elam, and Asshur, and Arpachshad, and Lud, and Aram. 23 And the sons of Aram: Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash. 24 And Arpachshad begot Shelah; and Shelah begot Eber. 25 And to Eber were born two sons: The name of the one was Peleg. For in his days was the earth divided. And his brother's name was Joktan. 26 And Joktan begot Almodad, and Sheleph, and Hazarmaveth, and Jerah, 27 and Hadoram, and Uzal, and Diklah, 28 and Obal, and Abimael, and Sheba, 29 and Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab: all these were the sons of Joktan. 30 And their dwelling was from Mesha, as you go toward Sephar, the mountain of the east. 31 These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations.

32 These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and of these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.

11  And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech. 2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. 3 And they said one to another, Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and they had slime for mortar. 4 And they said, Come, let us build us a city, and a tower, whose top [may reach] to heaven, and let us make us a name; or else we will be scattered abroad on the face of the whole earth. 5 And Yahweh came down to see the city and the tower, which the sons of man[158] built. 6 And Yahweh said, Look, they are one people, and they all have one language; and this is what they begin to do: and now nothing will be withheld from them, which they purpose to do. 7 Come, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. 8 So Yahweh scattered them abroad from there on the face of all the earth: and they left off building the city. 9 Therefore the name of it was called Babel; because there Yahweh confounded the language of all the earth: and from there Yahweh scattered them abroad on the face of all the earth.

10 These are the generations of Shem. Shem was a hundred years old, and begot Arpachshad two years after the flood. 11 And Shem lived after he begot Arpachshad five hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.

12 And Arpachshad lived five and thirty years, and begot Shelah. 13 And Arpachshad lived after he begot Shelah four hundred and three years, and begot sons and daughters.

14 And Shelah lived thirty years, and begot Eber: 15 and Shelah lived after he begot Eber four hundred and three years, and begot sons and daughters.

16 And Eber lived four and thirty years, and begot Peleg: 17 and Eber lived after he begot Peleg four hundred and thirty years, and begot sons and daughters.

18 And Peleg lived thirty years, and begot Reu: 19 and Peleg lived after he begot Reu two hundred and nine years, and begot sons and daughters.

20 And Reu lived two and thirty years, and begot Serug: 21 and Reu lived after he begot Serug two hundred and seven years, and begot sons and daughters.

22 And Serug lived thirty years, and begot Nahor: 23 and Serug lived after he begot Nahor two hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.

24 And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and begot Terah: 25 and Nahor lived after he begot Terah a hundred and nineteen years, and begot sons and daughters.

26 And Terah lived seventy years, and begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran. 27 Now these are the generations of Terah. Terah begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran. And Haran begot Lot. 28 And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees. 29 And Abram and Nahor took them wives: The name of Abram's wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah. 30 And Sarai was barren; She had no child. 31 And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his son's son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife; and he had them go out from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came to Haran, and dwelt there. 32 And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran.

12  Now Yahweh said to Abram, Get out of your country, and from your kindred, and from your father's house, to the land that I will show you: 2 and I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and you will be a blessing; 3 and I will bless those who bless you, and him who curses you I will curse: and in you will all the families of the earth be blessed. 4 So Abram went, as Yahweh had spoken to him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. 5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls who they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came. 6 And Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land. 7 And Yahweh appeared to Abram, and said, To your seed I will give this land: and there he built an altar to Yahweh, who appeared to him. 8 And he removed from there to the mountain on the east of Beth-el, and pitched his tent, having Beth-el on the west, and Ai on the east: and there he built an altar to Yahweh, and called on the name of Yahweh. 9 And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the South.

10 And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was intense in the land. 11 And it came to pass, when he came near to enter into Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, Now see, I know that you are a beautiful woman to look at: 12 and it will come to pass, when the Egyptians will see you, that they will say, This is his wife: and they will kill me, but they will save you alive. 13 Say, I pray you, you are my sister; that it may be well with me for your sake, and that my soul may live because of you. 14 And it came to pass, that, when Abram came into Egypt, the Egyptians saw the woman that she was very beautiful. 15 And the princes of Pharaoh saw her, and praised her to Pharaoh: and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house. 16 And he dealt well with Abram for her sake: and he had sheep, and oxen, and he-donkeys, and male slaves, and female slaves, and she-donkeys, and camels. 17 And Yahweh plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife. 18 And Pharaoh called Abram, and said, What is this that you have done to me? Why didn't you tell me that she was your wife? 19 Why did you say, She's my sister, so that I took her to be my wife? Now therefore here is your wife, take her, and go your way. 20 And Pharaoh gave men charge concerning him: and they brought him on the way, and his wife, and all that he had.

13  And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the South. 2 And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold. 3 And he went on his journeys from the South even to Beth-el, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Beth-el and Ai, 4 to the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first: and there Abram called on the name of Yahweh. 5 And Lot also, who went with Abram, had flocks, and herds, and tents. 6 And the land wasn't able to bear them, that they might dwell together: for their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together. 7 And there was a strife between the herdsmen of Abram's cattle and the herdsmen of Lot's cattle: and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelt then in the land. 8 And Abram said to Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray you, between me and you, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen; for we are brothers. 9 Isn't the whole land before you? Separate yourself, I pray you, from me. If [you will take] the left hand, then I will go to the right. Or if [you take] the right hand, then I will go to the left. 10 And Lot lifted up his eyes, and saw all the Plain of the Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere, before Yahweh destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, like the garden of Yahweh, like the land of Egypt, as you go to Zoar. 11 So Lot chose for himself all the Plain of the Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other. 12 Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the Plain, and moved his tent as far as Sodom. 13 Now the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners against Yahweh exceedingly.

14 And Yahweh said to Abram, after Lot was separated from him, Lift up now your eyes, and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward: 15 for all the land which you see, to you I will give it, and to your seed forever. 16 And I will make your seed as the dust of the earth: So that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then may your seed also be numbered. 17 Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the width of it; for to you I will give it. 18 And Abram moved his tent, and came and dwelt by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built there an altar to Yahweh.

14  And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim, 2 that they made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (the same is Zoar). 3 All these joined together in the valley of Siddim (the same is the Salt Sea). 4 Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled. 5 And in the fourteenth year came Chedorlaomer, and the kings who were with him, and struck the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, and the Zuzim in Ham, and the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim, 6 and the Horites in their mountain, Seir, to Elparan, which is by the wilderness. 7 And they returned, and came to En-mishpat (the same is Kadesh), and struck all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites, who dwelt in Hazazon-tamar. 8 And there went out the king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (the same is Zoar); and they set the battle in array against them in the valley of Siddim; 9 against Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim, and Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar; four kings against the five. 10 Now the valley of Siddim was full of slime pits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and they fell there, and those who remained fled to the mountain. 11 And they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their victuals, and went their way. 12 And they took Lot, Abram's brother's son, who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed.

13 And there came one who had escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew: now he stayed by the oaks of Mamre, the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and brother of Aner; and these were confederate with Abram. 14 And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he mobilized his trained men, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued as far as Dan. 15 And he divided himself against them by night, he and his slaves, and struck them, and pursued them to Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus. 16 And he brought back all the goods, and also brought back his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.

17 And the king of Sodom went out to meet him, after his return from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, at the valley of Shaveh (the same is the King's Valley). 18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was priest of God Most High. 19 And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth: 20 and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand. And he gave him a tenth of all. 21 And the king of Sodom said to Abram, Give me the souls, and take the goods to yourself. 22 And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lifted up my hand to Yahweh, God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth, 23 that I will not take a thread nor a sandal strap nor anything that is yours, lest you should say, I have made Abram rich: 24 except only that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men who went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre. Let them take their portion.

15  After these things the word of Yahweh came to Abram in a vision, saying, Don't be afraid, Abram: I am your shield, [and] your exceedingly great reward. 2 And Abram said, O Sovereign Yahweh, what will you give me, seeing I go childless, and the son of the inheritance of my house is Eliezer of Damascus? 3 And Abram said, Look, to me you have given no seed: and, see, one born in my house is my heir. 4 And, look, the word of Yahweh came to him, saying, This man will not be your heir; But he who will come forth out of inside you will be your heir. 5 And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them: and he said to him, So will your seed be. 6 And he believed in Yahweh; and he reckoned it to him for righteousness. 7 And he said to him, I am Yahweh who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give you this land to inherit it. 8 And he said, O Sovereign Yahweh, by what shall I know that I will inherit it? 9 And he said to him, Take me a heifer three years old, and a she-goat three years old, and a ram three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon. 10 And he took him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each half opposite the other: but he did not divide the birds. 11 And the birds of prey came down on the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.

12 And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram; and, look, a dread, dark and enormous, fell on him. 13 And he said to Abram, Know for certain that your seed will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them; and they will afflict them four hundred years; 14 and also that nation, whom they will serve, I will judge: and afterward they will come out with great substance. 15 But you will go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried in a good old age. 16 And in the fourth generation they will come here again; for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full. 17 And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, look, a smoking furnace, and a flaming torch that passed between these pieces. 18 In that day Yahweh made a covenant with Abram, saying, To your seed I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates: 19 the Kenite, and the Kenizzite, and the Kadmonite, 20 and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Rephaim, 21 and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Girgashite, and the Jebusite.

16  Now Sarai, Abram's wife, bore him no [children]: and she had a female slave, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. 2 And Sarai said to Abram, Now seeing that Yahweh has restrained me from bearing; go in, I pray you, to my slave; it may be that I will obtain [children] by her. And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. 3 And Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her slave, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to Abram her husband to be his wife. 4 And he went in to Hagar, and she became pregnant: and when she saw that she had become pregnant, her mistress[159] was despised in her eyes. 5 And Sarai said to Abram, My wrong be on you: I gave my slave into your bosom; and when she saw that she had become pregnant, I was despised in her eyes: Yahweh judge between me and you. 6 But Abram said to Sarai, Look, your slave is in your hand; do to her that which is good in your eyes. And Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her face.

7 And the angel of Yahweh found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur. 8 And he said, Hagar, Sarai's slave, where did you come from? And where are you going? And she said, I am fleeing from the face of my mistress Sarai. 9 And the angel of Yahweh said to her, Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hands. 10 And the angel of Yahweh said to her, I will greatly multiply your seed, it will be too many to count. 11 And the angel of Yahweh said to her, Look, you are pregnant, and will give birth to a son; and you will name him Ishmael, because Yahweh has heard your affliction. 12 And he will be [as] a wild donkey among man; his hand [will be] against everyone, and everyone's hand against him; and he will stay across from all his brothers. 13 And she named Yahweh who spoke to her, "El-Roi,": for she said, Do I still see now [even] after my vision? 14 Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; look, it is between Kadesh and Bered.

15 And Hagar bore Abram a son: and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. 16 And Abram was eighty-six years old, when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.

17  And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, Yahweh appeared to Abram, and said to him, I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be perfect. 2 And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly. 3 And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying, 4 As for me, look, my covenant is with you, and you will be the father of a multitude of nations. 5 Neither will your name anymore be called Abram, but your name will be Abraham; for the father of a multitude of nations I have made you. 6 And I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will come out of you. 7 And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your seed after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God to you and to your seed after you. 8 And I will give to you, and to your seed after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.

9 And God said to Abraham, And as for you, you will keep my covenant, you, and your seed after you throughout their generations. 10 This is my covenant, which you+ will keep, between me and you+ and your seed after you: every male among you+ will be circumcised. 11 And you+ will be circumcised in the flesh of your+ foreskin; and it will be a token of a covenant between me and you+. 12 And he who is eight days old will be circumcised among you+, every male throughout your+ generations, he who is born in the house, or bought with silver of any foreigner who is not of your seed. 13 He who is born in your house, and he who is bought with your silver, must surely be circumcised: and my covenant will be in your+ flesh for an everlasting covenant. 14 And the uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that soul will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.

15 And God said to Abraham, As for Sarai your wife, you will not call her name Sarai, but Sarah will be her name. 16 And I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son of her: yes, I will bless her, and she will be [a mother of] nations; kings of peoples will be of her. 17 Then Abraham fell on his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Will a child be born to him who is a hundred years old? And will Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear? 18 And Abraham said to God, Oh that Ishmael might live before you! 19 And God said, No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son; and you will call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his seed after him. 20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: look, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes he will beget, and I will make him a great nation. 21 But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this set time in the next year.

22 And he left off talking with him, and God went up from Abraham. 23 And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all who were born in his house, and all who were bought with his silver, every male among the men of Abraham's house, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the very same day, as God had said to him. 24 And Abraham was ninety years old and nine, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. 25 And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. 26 In the very same day, Abraham was circumcised, and Ishmael his son. 27 And all the men of his house, those born in the house, and those bought with silver of a foreigner, were circumcised with him.

18  And Yahweh appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; 2 and he lifted up his eyes and looked, and noticed three men stood across from him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself to the earth, 3 and said, My lord, if now I have found favor in your sight, don't pass away, I pray you, from your slave: 4 let now a little water be fetched, and wash your+ feet, and rest yourselves under the tree: 5 and I will fetch a morsel of bread, and strengthen your+ heart; after that you+ will pass on: since you+ have come to your+ slave. And they said, Do so, as you have said. 6 And Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, Quickly make ready three seahs of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes. 7 And Abraham ran to the herd, and fetched a tender and good calf, and gave it to the attendant; and he hurried to dress it. 8 And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they ate.

9 And they said to him, Where is Sarah your wife? And he said, Look, in the tent. 10 And he said, I will certainly return to you when the season comes around; and, see, Sarah your wife will have a son. And Sarah heard in the tent door, which was behind him. 11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, [and] well stricken in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. 12 And Sarah laughed inside herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also? 13 And Yahweh said to Abraham, Why did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I certainly bear a child, who am old? 14 Is anything too hard for Yahweh? At the set time I will return to you, when the season comes around, and Sarah will have a son. 15 Then Sarah denied [it], saying, I didn't laugh; for she was afraid. And he said, No; but you did laugh.

16 And the men rose up from there, and looked toward Sodom: and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way. 17 And Yahweh said, Shall I hide from Abraham that which I do; 18 seeing that Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed in him? 19 For I have known him, to the end that he may command his sons and his household after him, that they may keep the way of Yahweh, to do righteousness and justice; to the end that Yahweh may bring on Abraham that which he has spoken of him. 20 And Yahweh said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; 21 I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to its [Sodom's] cry, which has come to me; and if not, I will know.

22 And the men turned from there, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before Yahweh. 23 And Abraham drew near, and said, Will you consume the righteous with the wicked? 24 Perhaps there are fifty righteous inside the city: will you consume and not spare the place for the fifty righteous who are in it? 25 Far be that from you to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be that from you: will not the Judge of all the earth do right? 26 And Yahweh said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous inside the city, then I will spare all the place for their sake. 27 And Abraham answered and said, Seeing now that I have taken on myself to speak to the Lord, who am but dust and ashes: 28 perhaps there will lack five of the fifty righteous: will you destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, I will not destroy it, if I find there forty and five. 29 And he spoke to him yet again, and said, Perhaps there will be forty found there. And he said, I will not do it for the forty's sake. 30 And he said, Oh don't let the Lord be angry, and I will speak: perhaps there will be thirty found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there. 31 And he said, Seeing now that I have taken on myself to speak to the Lord: perhaps there will be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for the twenty's sake. 32 And he said, Oh don't let the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: perhaps ten will be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for the ten's sake. 33 And Yahweh went his way, as soon as he had left off communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned to his place.

19  And the two angels came to Sodom at evening; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot saw them, and rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face to the earth; 2 and he said, Look now, my lords, turn aside, I pray you+, into your+ slave's house, and spend the night, and wash your+ feet, and you+ will rise up early, and go on your+ way. And they said, No; but we will spend the night in the street. 3 And he urged them greatly; and they turned in to him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. 4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter; 5 and they called to Lot, and said to him, Where are the men who came in to you this night? Bring them out to us, that we may have sex with them. 6 And Lot went out the door to them, and shut the door after him. 7 And he said, I pray you+, my brothers, don't act so wickedly. 8 Look now, I have two daughters who haven't had any sex[160] with a man; let me, I pray you+, bring them out to you+, and do to them as is good in your+ eyes: only to these men do nothing, since they have come under the shadow of my roof. 9 And they said, Stand back. And they said, This one fellow came in to sojourn and always judges: now we will deal worse with you, than with them. And they pressed intensely on the man, even Lot, and drew near to break the door. 10 But the men put forth their hand, and brought Lot into the house to them, and shut the door. 11 And they struck the men who were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves to find the door.

12 And the men said to Lot, Whomever belongs to you here, a son-in-law, and your sons, and your daughters, and whomever you have in the city, bring them out of the place: 13 for we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxed great before Yahweh: and Yahweh has sent us to destroy it. 14 And Lot went out, and spoke to his sons-in-law, who married his daughters, and said, Get up, go out of this place; for Yahweh will destroy the city. But he seemed to his sons-in-law as one who mocked. 15 And when the morning arose, the angels then hurried Lot, saying, Arise, take your wife, and your two daughters who are here, or else you will be consumed in the iniquity of the city. 16 But he lingered; and the men laid hold on his hand, and on the hand of his wife, and on the hand of his two daughters, Yahweh being merciful to him; and they brought him forth, and set him outside the city. 17 And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said,[161] Escape for your soul; don't look behind you, neither stop in all the Plain; escape to the mountain, or else you will be consumed. 18 And Lot said to them, Oh, not so, my lord: 19 now see that your slave has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your loving-kindness, which you have shown to me in saving my soul; and I can't escape to the mountain, or else evil will stick to me, and I will die: 20 now see this city that is near to flee to, and it is a little one. Oh let me escape there—isn't it a little one?—and my soul will live. 21 And he said to him, See, I have accepted you concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. 22 Hurry, escape there; for I can't do anything until you have come there. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.[162]

23 The sun was risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar. 24 Then Yahweh rained on Sodom and on Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Yahweh out of heaven; 25 and he overthrew those cities, and all the Plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew on the ground. 26 But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. 27 And Abraham got up early in the morning to the place where he had stood before Yahweh: 28 and he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and over the whole surface of the land (of the [Jordan] valley), and looked, and saw that the smoke of the land went up as the smoke of a furnace.

29 And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the Plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot dwelt.

30 And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters. 31 And the firstborn said to the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man on the earth to come in to us after the manner of all the earth: 32 come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father. 33 And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he didn't know when she lay down, nor when she arose. 34 And it came to pass on the next day, that the firstborn said to the younger, Look, I lay last night with my father: let us make him drink wine this night also; and you go in, and lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father. 35 And they made their father drink wine that night also: and the younger arose, and lay with him; and he didn't know when she lay down, nor when she arose. 36 Thus were both the daughters of Lot pregnant by their father. 37 And the firstborn bore a son, and named him Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites to this day. 38 And the younger, she also bore a son, and named him Ben-ammi: the same is the father of the sons of Ammon to this day.

20  And Abraham journeyed from there toward the land of the South, and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur. And he sojourned in Gerar. 2 And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She's my sister. And Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah. 3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him, Look, you are but a dead man, because of the woman whom you have taken. For she is a man's wife. 4 Now Abimelech had not had any sex with her.[163] And he said, Lord, will you slay even a righteous nation? 5 Didn't he say to me, She's my sister? And she, even she herself said, He's my brother. In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this. 6 And God said to him in the dream, Yes, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also withheld you from sinning against me. Therefore I didn't allow you to have any sex with her.[164] 7 Now therefore restore the man's wife. For he is a prophet, and he will pray for you, and you will live. And if you don't restore her, know that you will surely die, you, and all who are yours.

8 And Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his slaves, and told all these things in their ears. And the men were very afraid. 9 Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said to him, What have you done to us? And in what have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? You have done deeds to me that ought not to be done. 10 And Abimelech said to Abraham, What did you see, that you have done this thing? 11 And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place. And they will slay me for my wife's sake. 12 And moreover she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife: 13 and it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father's house, that I said to her, This is your kindness which you will show to me. At every place where we will come, say of me, He is my brother. 14 And Abimelech took sheep and oxen, and male slaves and female slaves, and gave them to Abraham, and restored Sarah his wife to him. 15 And Abimelech said, Look, my land is before you. Dwell where it pleases you. 16 And to Sarah he said, See, I have given your brother a thousand [shekels of] silver.[165] Look, it is for you a covering of the eyes to all who are with you. And in respect of all you are righted. 17 And Abraham prayed to God. And God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his female slaves. And they gave birth. 18 For Yahweh had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah, Abraham's wife.

21  And Yahweh visited Sarah as he had said, and Yahweh did to Sarah as he had spoken. 2 And Sarah became pregnant, and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. 3 And Abraham called the name of his son that was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac. 4 And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5 And Abraham was a hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born to him. 6 And Sarah said, God has made me laugh. Everyone who hears will laugh with me. 7 And she said, Who would have said to Abraham, that Sarah should nurse sons? For I have borne him a son in his old age.

8 And the child grew, and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. 9 And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking. 10 Therefore she said to Abraham, Cast out this slave and her son. For the son of this slave will not be heir with my son, even with Isaac. 11 And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight on account of his son. 12 And God said to Abraham, Don't let it be grievous in your sight because of the lad, and because of your slave. In all that Sarah says to you, listen to her voice. For in Isaac will your seed be called. 13 And also of the son of the slave I will make into a nation, because he is your seed. 14 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread and a bottle of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and [gave her] the boy, and sent her away. And she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beer-sheba. 15 And the water in the bottle was spent, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs. 16 And she went, and she sat down across from him a good way off, as it were a bowshot. For she said, Don't let me see the child's death. And she sat opposite him, and lifted up her voice, and wept. 17 And God heard the voice of the lad. And the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said to her, What ails you, Hagar? Don't be afraid. For God has heard the voice of the lad where he is. 18 Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in your hand. For I will make him a great nation. 19 And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink. 20 And God was with the lad, and he grew. And he dwelt in the wilderness, and became, as he grew up, an archer. 21 And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran. And his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt.

22 And it came to pass at that time, that Abimelech and Phicol the captain of his host spoke to Abraham, saying, God is with you in all that you do. 23 Now therefore swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my son's son. But according to the kindness that I have done to you, you will do to me, and to the land in which you have sojourned. 24 And Abraham said, I will swear. 25 And Abraham reproved Abimelech because of the well of water, which Abimelech's slaves had violently taken away. 26 And Abimelech said, I don't know who has done this thing. You did not tell me, and I had not heard of it yet, but today. 27 And Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them to Abimelech. And the two made a covenant. 28 And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves. 29 And Abimelech said to Abraham, What do these seven ewe lambs mean which you have set by themselves? 30 And he said, These seven ewe lambs you will take of my hand, that it may be a witness to me, that I have dug this well. 31 Therefore he called that place Beer-sheba. Because there they swore both of them. 32 So they made a covenant at Beer-sheba. And Abimelech rose up, and Phicol the captain of his host, and they returned into the land of the Philistines. 33 And [Abraham] planted a tamarisk tree in Beer-sheba, and there called on the name of Yahweh, the Everlasting God. 34 And Abraham sojourned in the land of the Philistines many days.

22  And it came to pass after these things, that God did prove Abraham, and said to him, Abraham. And he said, Here I am. 2 And he said, Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, even Isaac, and go into the land of Moriah. And offer him there for a burnt-offering on one of the mountains which I will tell you of. 3 And Abraham rose early in the morning, and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son. And he split the wood for the burnt-offering, and rose up, and went to the place of which God had told him. 4 On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place far off. 5 And Abraham said to his young men, You+ remain here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go yonder; and we will worship, and come again to you+. 6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt-offering, and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. And they went both of them together. 7 And Isaac spoke to Abraham his father, and said, My father. And he said, Here I am, my son. And he said, Look, the fire and the wood. But where is the lamb for a burnt-offering? 8 And Abraham said, God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt-offering, my son. So they went both of them together.

9 And they came to the place which God had told him of. And Abraham built the altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar, on the wood. 10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. 11 And the angel of Yahweh called to him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham. And he said, Here I am. 12 And he said, Don't lay your hand on the lad, neither do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, seeing you haven't withheld your son, your only son, from me. 13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and noticed a ram caught in the thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt-offering in the stead of his son. 14 And Abraham called the name of that place Yahweh-jireh. As it is said to this day, On the mount of Yahweh it will be provided. 15 And the angel of Yahweh called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, 16 and said, By myself I have sworn, says Yahweh, because you have done this thing, and haven't withheld your son, your only son, 17 that in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is on the seashore. And your seed will possess the gate of his enemies. 18 And in your seed will all the nations of the earth be blessed. Because you have obeyed my voice. 19 So Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beer-sheba. And Abraham dwelt at Beer-sheba.

20 And it came to pass after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, Look, Milcah, she also has borne sons to your brother Nahor. 21 Uz his firstborn, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram. 22 And Chesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel. 23 And Bethuel begot Rebekah. These eight did Milcah bear to Nahor, Abraham's brother. 24 And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, she also bore Tebah, and Gaham, and Tahash, and Maacah.

23  And the life of Sarah was a hundred and seven and twenty years. 2 And Sarah died in Kiriath-arba (the same is Hebron), in the land of Canaan. And Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her. 3 And Abraham rose up from before his dead, and spoke to the sons of Heth, saying, 4 I am a stranger and a sojourner with you+. Give me a possession of a burying-place with you+, that I may bury my dead out of my sight. 5 And the sons of Heth answered Abraham, saying, 6 Please hear us, my lord. You are a prince of God among us. In the choice of our tombs bury your dead. None of us will withhold from you his tomb that you may bury your dead. 7 And Abraham rose up, and bowed himself to the people of the land, even to the sons of Heth. 8 And he communed with them, saying, If it is in your+ soul that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me, and entreat for me to Ephron the son of Zohar, 9 that he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he has, which is in the end of his field. For the full [price in] silver let him give it to me in the midst of you+ for a possession of a burying-place. 10 Now Ephron was sitting in the midst of the sons of Heth. And Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the audience of the sons of Heth, even of all who went in at the gate of his city, saying, 11 Please, my lord, hear me. The field I give you, and the cave that is in it, I give it you. In the presence of the sons of my people I give it to you. Bury your dead. 12 And Abraham bowed himself down before the people of the land. 13 And he spoke to Ephron in the audience of the people of the land, saying, But if you will, I pray you, hear me. I will give [the price in] silver for the field. Take it of me, and I will bury my dead there. 14 And Ephron answered Abraham, saying, 15 Please my lord, listen to me. A piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver, what is that between me and you? Bury therefore your dead. 16 And Abraham listened to Ephron. And Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver which he had named in the audience of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver [based on the weight that was] current with the merchant.

17 So the field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field, and the cave which was in it, and all the trees that were in the field, that were in all its border round about, were made sure 18 to Abraham for a possession in the presence of the sons of Heth, before all who went in at the gate of his city. 19 And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre (that is Hebron), in the land of Canaan. 20 And the field, and the cave that is in it, were made sure to Abraham for a possession of a burying-place by the sons of Heth.

24  And Abraham was old, [and] well stricken in age. And Yahweh had blessed Abraham in all things. 2 And Abraham said to his slave, the elder of his house, that ruled over all that he had, Put, I pray you, your hand under my thigh. 3 And I will make you swear by Yahweh, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell. 4 But you will go to my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son Isaac. 5 And the slave said to him, Perhaps the woman will not be willing to follow me to this land. Must I bring your son again to the land from where you came? 6 And Abraham said to him, You be careful not to bring my son there again. 7 Yahweh, the God of heaven, who took me from my father's house, and from the land of my nativity, and who spoke to me, and who swore to me, saying, To your seed I will give this land. He will send his angel before you, and you will take a wife for my son from there. 8 And if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be free from this my oath. Only you will not bring my son there again. 9 And the slave put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and swore to him concerning this matter.

10 And the slave took ten camels, of the camels of his master, having all good things of his master's in his hand. And he arose, and went to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor. 11 And he made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water at the time of evening, the time that women go out to draw water. 12 And he said, O Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, send me, I pray you, success this day, and show kindness to my master Abraham. 13 Look, I am standing by the fountain of water. And the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. 14 And let it come to pass, that the damsel to whom I will say, Let down your pitcher, I pray you, that I may drink. And she will say, Drink, and I will give your camels to drink also. Let the same be she who you have appointed for your slave Isaac. And by this will I know that you have shown kindness to my master. 15 And it came to pass, before he had finished speaking, that, look, Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel the son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, with her pitcher on her shoulder. 16 And the damsel was very fair to look at, a virgin, neither had any man had any sex with her. And she went down to the fountain, and filled her pitcher, and came up. 17 And the slave ran to meet her, and said, Give me to drink, I pray you, a little water from your pitcher. 18 And she said, Drink, my lord. And she hurried, and let down her pitcher on her hand, and gave him to drink. 19 And when she was done giving him to drink, she said, I will draw for your camels also, until they are done drinking. 20 And she hurried, and emptied her pitcher into the trough, and ran again to the well to draw, and drew for all his camels. 21 And the man looked steadfastly on her, holding his peace, to know whether Yahweh had made his journey prosperous or not. 22 And it came to pass, as the camels were done drinking, that the man took a golden ring of half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold, 23 and said, Whose daughter are you? Tell me, I pray you. Is there room in your father's house for us to lodge in? 24 And she said to him, I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor. 25 She said moreover to him, We have both straw and fodder enough, and room to lodge in. 26 And the man bowed his head, and worshiped Yahweh. 27 And he said, Blessed be Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his loving-kindness and his truth toward my master. As for me, Yahweh has led me in the way to the house of my master's brothers.

28 And the damsel ran, and told her mother's house according to these words. 29 And Rebekah had a brother, and his name was Laban: and Laban ran out to the man, to the fountain. 30 And it came to pass, when he saw the ring, and the bracelets on his sister's hands, and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying, Thus spoke the man to me. That he came to the man. And, look, he was standing by the camels at the fountain. 31 And he said, Come in, you blessed of Yahweh. Why do you stand outside? For I have prepared the house, and room for the camels. 32 And the man came into the house, and he ungirded the camels. And he gave straw and fodder for the camels, and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him. 33 And there was set food before him to eat. But he said, I will not eat, until I have told my errand. And he said, Speak on. 34 And he said, I am Abraham's slave. 35 And Yahweh has blessed my master greatly. And he has become great. And he has given him flocks and herds, and silver and gold, and male slaves and female slaves, and camels and donkeys. 36 And Sarah my master's wife bore a son to my master when she was old. And to him he has given all that he has. 37 And my master made me swear, saying, You will not take a wife for my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I dwell. 38 But you will go to my father's house, and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son. 39 And I said to my master, Perhaps the woman will not follow me. 40 And he said to me, Yahweh, before whom I walk, will send his angel with you, and prosper your way. And you will take a wife for my son of my kindred, and of my father's house. 41 Then you will be free from my oath, when you come to my kindred. And if they don't give her to you, you will be free from my oath. 42 And I came this day to the fountain, and said, O Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, if now you do prosper my way which I go. 43 Look, I am standing by the fountain of water. And let it come to pass, that the young woman who comes forth to draw, to whom I will say, Give me, I pray you, a little water from your pitcher to drink. 44 And she will say to me, Both drink you, and I will also draw for your camels. Let the same be the woman whom Yahweh has appointed for my master's son. 45 And before I had finished speaking in my heart, look, Rebekah came forth with her pitcher on her shoulder. And she went down to the fountain, and drew. And I said to her, Let me drink, I pray you. 46 And she hurried, and let down her pitcher from her shoulder, and said, Drink, and I will give your camels to drink also. So I drank, and she made the camels to drink also. 47 And I asked her, and said, Whose daughter are you? And she said, The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor's son, whom Milcah bore to him. And I put the ring on her nose, and the bracelets on her hands. 48 And I bowed my head, and worshiped Yahweh, and blessed Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me in the right way to take my master's brother's daughter for his son. 49 And now if you+ will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me. And if not, tell me. That I may turn to the right hand, or to the left.

50 Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, The thing proceeds from Yahweh. We can't speak to you bad or good. 51 Look, Rebekah is before you, take her, and go, and let her be your master's son's wife, as Yahweh has spoken. 52 And it came to pass, that, when Abraham's slave heard their words, he bowed himself down to the earth to Yahweh. 53 And the slave brought forth jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment, and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave precious things to her brother and to her mother. 54 And they ate and drank, he and the men who were with him, and tarried all night. And they rose up in the morning, and he said, Send me away to my master. 55 And her brother and her mother said, Let the damsel remain with us [a few] days, at the least ten. After that she will go. 56 And he said to them, Don't hinder me, seeing Yahweh has prospered my way. Send me away that I may go to my master. 57 And they said, We will call the damsel, and inquire at her mouth. 58 And they called Rebekah, and said to her, Will you go with this man? And she said, I will go. 59 And they sent away Rebekah their sister, and her nurse, and Abraham's slave, and his men. 60 And they blessed Rebekah, and said to her, Our sister, be [the mother] of thousands of ten thousands, and let your seed possess the gate of those who hate them.

61 And Rebekah arose, and her damsels, and they rode on the camels, and followed the man. And the slave took Rebekah, and went his way. 62 And Isaac came from the way of Beer-lahai-roi. For he dwelt in the land of the South. 63 And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at evening. And he lifted up his eyes, and saw, and noticed that there were camels coming. 64 And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she dismounted from the camel. 65 And she said to the slave, Who is this man walking in the field to meet us? And the slave said, It is my master. And she took her veil, and covered herself. 66 And the slave told Isaac all the things that he had done. 67 And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife. And he loved her. And Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.

25  And Abraham took another wife, and her name was Keturah. 2 And she bore him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah. 3 And Jokshan begot Sheba, and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, and Letushim, and Leummim. 4 And the sons of Midian: Ephah, and Epher, and Hanoch, and Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the sons of Keturah. 5 And Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac. 6 But to the sons of the concubines, that Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts. And he sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastward, to the east country. 7 And these are the days of the years of Abraham's life which he lived, 175 years. 8 And Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, old and satisfied, and was gathered to his people. 9 And Isaac and Ishmael his sons buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is before Mamre. 10 The field which Abraham purchased of the sons of Heth. There was Abraham buried, and Sarah his wife. 11 And it came to pass after the death of Abraham, that God blessed Isaac his son. And Isaac dwelt by Beer-lahai-roi.

12 Now these are the generations of Ishmael, Abraham's son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah's slave, bore to Abraham. 13 And these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to their generations: the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebaioth, and Kedar, and Adbeel, and Mibsam, 14 and Mishma, and Dumah, and Massa, 15 Hadad, and Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. 16 These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, by their villages, and by their encampments. Twelve princes according to their nations. 17 And these are the years of the life of Ishmael, a hundred and thirty and seven years. And he gave up the ghost and died, and was gathered to his people. 18 And they stayed from Havilah to Shur that is before Egypt, as you go toward Assyria. He settled across from all his brothers.

19 And these are the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son. Abraham begot Isaac. 20 And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the Syrian, to be his wife. 21 And Isaac entreated Yahweh for his wife, because she was barren. And Yahweh was entreated of him, and Rebekah his wife became pregnant. 22 And the sons struggled together inside her. And she said, If it is so, why is this happening to me? And she went to inquire of Yahweh. 23 And Yahweh said to her, Two nations are in your womb, And two peoples will be separated from inside you. And the one people will be stronger than the other people. And the elder will serve the younger.

24 And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, look, there were twins in her womb. 25 And the first came forth red, all over like a hairy garment. And they named him Esau. 26 And after that came forth his brother, and his hand had a hold on Esau's heel. And his name was called Jacob. And Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.

27 And the boys grew. And Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field. And Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents. 28 Now Isaac loved Esau, because he ate of his venison. And Rebekah loved Jacob. 29 And Jacob boiled pottage. And Esau came in from the field, and he was faint. 30 And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray you, with that same red [pottage]. For I am faint. Therefore his name was called Edom. 31 And Jacob said, First sell me your birthright. 32 And Esau said, Look, I am about to die. And what profit will the birthright be to me? 33 And Jacob said, Swear to me first. And he swore to him. And he sold his birthright to Jacob. 34 And Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils. And he ate and drank, and rose up, and went his way. So Esau despised his birthright.

26  And there was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines, to Gerar. 2 And Yahweh appeared to him, and said, Don't go down into Egypt. Stay in the land which I will tell you of. 3 Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you, and will bless you. For to you, and to your seed, I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. 4 And I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and will give to your seed all these lands. And in your seed will all the nations of the earth be blessed, 5 because Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. 6 And Isaac dwelt in Gerar. 7 And the men of the place asked him of his wife. And he said, She's my sister. For he feared to say, My wife, because the men of the place would kill me for Rebekah since she was fair to look at. 8 And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, look, Isaac was sporting with Rebekah his wife. 9 And Abimelech called Isaac, and said, Look, certainly she's your wife. And how have you said, She's my sister? And Isaac said to him, Because I said if I didn't I would die because of her. 10 And Abimelech said, What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us. 11 And Abimelech charged all the people, saying, He who touches this man or his wife will surely be put to death.

12 And Isaac sowed in that land, and found in the same year a hundredfold. And Yahweh blessed him. 13 And the man waxed great, and grew more and more until he became very great. 14 And he had possessions of flocks, and possessions of herds, and a great household. And the Philistines envied him. 15 Now all the wells which his father's slaves had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped, and filled with earth. 16 And Abimelech said to Isaac, Go from us. For you are much mightier than we. 17 And Isaac departed there, and encamped in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there.

18 And Isaac dug again the wells of water, which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father. For the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham. And he called their names after the names by which his father had called them. 19 And Isaac's slaves dug in the valley, and found there a well of living water.[166] 20 And the herdsmen of Gerar strove with Isaac's herdsmen, saying, The water is ours. And he called the name of the well Esek, because they contended with him. 21 And they dug another well, and they strove for that also. And he called the name of it Sitnah. 22 And he removed from there, and dug another well. And for that they didn't strive. And he called the name of it Rehoboth. And he said, For now Yahweh has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.

23 And he went up from there to Beer-sheba. 24 And Yahweh appeared to him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham your father. Don't be afraid, for I am with you, and will bless you, and multiply your seed for my slave Abraham's sake. 25 And he built an altar there, and called on the name of Yahweh, and pitched his tent there. And there Isaac's slaves dug a well.

26 Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath his friend, and Phicol the captain of his host. 27 And Isaac said to them, Why have you+ come to me, seeing you+ hate me, and have sent me away from you+? 28 And they said, We saw plainly that Yahweh was with you. And we said, Let there now be an oath between us, even between us and you, and let us make a covenant with you, 29 that you will do us no hurt, as we haven't touched you, and as we have done to you nothing but good, and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of Yahweh. 30 And he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. 31 And they rose up early in the morning, and swore one to another. And Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace. 32 And it came to pass the same day, that Isaac's slaves came, and told him concerning the well which they had dug, and said to him, We have found water. 33 And he called it Shibah.[167] Therefore the name of the city is Beer-sheba to this day.

34 And when Esau was forty years old he took as wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite. 35 And they were a grief of mind to Isaac and to Rebekah.

27  And it came to pass, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his elder son, and said to him, My son. And he said to him, Here I am. 2 And he said, Look now, I am old, I don't know the day of my death. 3 Now therefore take, I pray you, your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field, and hunt venison for me. 4 And make savory food for me, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat. That my soul may bless you before I die.

5 And Rebekah heard when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt for venison, and to bring it. 6 And Rebekah spoke to Jacob her son, saying, Look, I heard your father speak to Esau your brother, saying, 7 Bring venison to me, and make savory food for me, that I may eat, and bless you before Yahweh before my death. 8 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that which I command you. 9 Go now to the flock, and fetch me from there two good young goats. And I will make savory food from them for your father, such as he loves. 10 And you will bring it to your father, that he may eat, so that he may bless you before his death. 11 And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, Look, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. 12 Perhaps my father will feel me, and I will seem to him as a deceiver. And I will bring a curse on me, and not a blessing. 13 And his mother said to him, Your curse be on me, my son. Only obey my voice, and go fetch me them. 14 And he went, and fetched, and brought them to his mother. And his mother made savory food, such as his father loved. 15 And Rebekah took the goodly garments of Esau her elder son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son. 16 And she put the skins of the young goats on his hands, and on the smooth of his neck. 17 And she gave the savory food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.

18 And he came to his father, and said, My father. And he said, Here I am. Who are you, my son? 19 And Jacob said to his father, I am Esau your firstborn; I have done according to as you bade me: arise, I pray you, sit and eat of my venison, that your soul may bless me. 20 And Isaac said to his son, How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son? And he said, Because Yahweh your God sent me success. 21 And Isaac said to Jacob, Come near, I pray you, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are my very son Esau or not. 22 And Jacob went near to Isaac his father. And he felt him, and said, The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau. 23 And he did not discern him, because his hands were hairy, as his brother Esau's hands. So he blessed him. 24 And he said, Are you my very son Esau? And he said, I am. 25 And he said, Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son's venison, that my soul may bless you. And he brought it near to him, and he ate. And he brought him wine, and he drank. 26 And his father Isaac said to him, Come near now, and kiss me, my son. 27 And he came near, and kissed him. And he smelled the smell of his raiment, and blessed him, and said, See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which Yahweh has blessed. 28 And God give you of the dew of heaven, And of the fatness of the earth, And plenty of grain and new wine. 29 Let peoples serve you, And nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, And let your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, And blessed be everyone who blesses you.

30 And it came to pass, as soon as Isaac had made an end of blessing Jacob, and Jacob was yet scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting. 31 And he also made savory food, and brought it to his father. And he said to his father, Let my father arise, and eat of his son's venison, that your soul may bless me. 32 And Isaac his father said to him, Who are you? And he said, I am your son, your firstborn, Esau. 33 And Isaac trembled very greatly, and said, Who then is he that has hunted venison, and brought it to me, and I have eaten of all before you came, and have blessed him? Yes, [and] he will be blessed. 34 When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with a very great and bitter cry, and said to his father, Bless me, even me also, O my father. 35 And he said, Your brother came with guile, and has taken away your blessing. 36 And he said, Isn't he rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright. And, look, now he has taken away my blessing. And he said, Have you not reserved a blessing for me? 37 And Isaac answered and said to Esau, Look, I have made him your lord, and all his brothers I have given to him for slaves. And with grain and new wine I have sustained him. And what then shall I do for you, my son? 38 And Esau said to his father, Have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father. And Esau lifted up his voice, and wept. 39 And Isaac his father answered and said to him, Look, of the fatness of the earth will be your dwelling, And of the dew of heaven from above. 40 And by your sword you will live, and you will serve your brother. And it will come to pass, when you will break loose, That you will shake his yoke from off your neck.

41 And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him. And Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand. Then I will slay my brother Jacob. 42 And the words of Esau her elder son were told to Rebekah. And she sent and called Jacob her younger son, and said to him, Look, your brother Esau, as concerning you, comforts himself, [purposing] to kill you. 43 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice. And arise, flee to Laban my brother, to Haran. 44 And tarry with him a few days, until your brother's fury turn away. 45 Until your brother's anger turns away from you, and he forgets that which you have done to him. Then I will send, and fetch you from there. Why should I be bereaved of you+ both in one day?

46 And Rebekah said to Isaac, I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these, of the daughters of the land, what good will my life be to me?

28  And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said to him, You will not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. 2 Arise, go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother's father. And take yourself a wife from there of the daughters of Laban your mother's brother. 3 And God Almighty bless you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, that you may be a company of peoples. 4 And give you the blessing of Abraham, to you, and to your seed with you. That you may inherit the land of your sojournings, which God gave to Abraham. 5 And Isaac sent away Jacob. And he went to Paddan-aram to Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob's and Esau's mother.

6 Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram, to take him a wife from there. And that as he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, You will not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. 7 And that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and had gone to Paddan-aram. 8 And Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan didn't please Isaac his father. 9 And Esau went to Ishmael, and took, besides the wives that he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael Abraham's son, the sister of Nebaioth, to be his wife.

10 And Jacob went out from Beer-sheba, and went toward Haran. 11 And he came upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set. And he took one of the stones of the place, and put it under his head, and lay down in that place to sleep. 12 And he dreamed. And look, a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And look, the angels of God ascending and descending on it. 13 And, look, Yahweh stood above it, and said, I am Yahweh, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie, to you I will give it, and to your seed. 14 And your seed will be as the dust of the earth, and you will spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south. And in you and in your seed will all the families of the earth be blessed. 15 And, look, I am with you, and will keep you, wherever you go, and will bring you again into this land. For I will not leave you, until I have done that which I have spoken to you of. 16 And Jacob awakened out of his sleep, and he said, Surely Yahweh is in this place. And I didn't know it. 17 And he was afraid, and said, How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.

18 And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put under his head, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil on the top of it. 19 And he called the name of that place Beth-el. But the name of the city was Luz at first. 20 And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, 21 so that I come again to my father's house in peace, and Yahweh will be my God, 22 then this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, will be God's house. And of all that you will give me I will surely give the tenth to you.

29  Then Jacob went on his journey, and came to the land of the sons of the east. 2 And he looked, and noticed a well in the field, and saw three flocks of sheep lying there by it. For out of that well they watered the flocks. And the stone on the well's mouth was great. 3 And there were all the flocks gathered. And they rolled the stone from the well's mouth, and watered the sheep, and put the stone again on the well's mouth in its place. 4 And Jacob said to them, My brothers, where are you+ from? And they said, We are of Haran. 5 And he said to them, Do you+ know Laban the son of Nahor? And they said, We know him. 6 And he said to them, Is it well with him? And they said, It is well. And, look, Rachel his daughter comes with the sheep. 7 And he said, Look, it is yet high day, neither is it time that the cattle should be gathered together. Water the sheep, and go and feed them. 8 And they said, We can't, until all the flocks be gathered together, and they roll the stone from the well's mouth. Then we water the sheep. 9 While he was yet speaking with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep. For she shepherded them. 10 And it came to pass, when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother's brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother's brother, that Jacob went near, and rolled the stone from the well's mouth, and watered the flock of Laban his mother's brother. 11 And Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice, and wept. 12 And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's brother, and that he was Rebekah's son. And she ran and told her father.

13 And it came to pass, when Laban heard the news of Jacob his sister's son, that he ran to meet him, and embraced him, and kissed him, and brought him to his house. And he told Laban all these things. 14 And Laban said to him, Surely you are my bone and my flesh. And he remained with him the space of a month. 15 And Laban said to Jacob, Because you are my brother, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what will your wages be? 16 And Laban had two daughters. The name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. 17 And Leah's eyes were tender. But Rachel had a beautiful body and face. 18 And Jacob loved Rachel. And he said, I will serve you seven years for Rachel your younger daughter. 19 And Laban said, It is better that I give her to you, than I should give her to another man. Remain with me. 20 And Jacob served seven years for Rachel. And they were like a few days in his eyes, for the love he had to her.

21 And Jacob said to Laban, Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in to her. 22 And Laban gathered together all the men of the place, and made a feast. 23 And it came to pass in the evening, that he took Leah his daughter, and brought her to him. And he went in to her. 24 And Laban gave Zilpah his female slave to his daughter Leah for a slave. 25 And it came to pass in the morning that, look, it was Leah. And he said to Laban, What is this you have done to me? Didn't I serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you beguiled me? 26 And Laban said, It is not so done in our place, to give the younger before the firstborn. 27 Fulfill the week of this one, and we will give you the other also for the service which you will serve with me yet another seven years. 28 And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week. And he gave him Rachel his daughter as wife. 29 And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his female slave to be her slave. 30 And he went in also to Rachel, and he loved also Rachel more than Leah, and served with him yet another seven years.

31 And Yahweh saw that Leah was hated, and he opened her womb. But Rachel was barren. 32 And Leah became pregnant, and gave birth to a son, and she named him Reuben. For she said, Because Yahweh has looked on my affliction. For now my husband will love me. 33 And she became pregnant again, and gave birth to a son: and said, Because Yahweh has heard that I am hated, he has therefore given me this [son] also. And she named him Simeon. 34 And she became pregnant again, and gave birth to a son. And said, Now this time will my husband be joined to me, because I have borne him three sons. Therefore he named him Levi. 35 And she became pregnant again, and gave birth to a son. And she said, This time I will praise Yahweh. Therefore she named him Judah. And she left off bearing.

30  And when Rachel saw that she did not bear for Jacob, Rachel envied her sister; and she said to Jacob, Give me sons, otherwise I will die. 2 And Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel: and he said, Am I in God's stead, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb? 3 And she said, Look, my slave Bilhah, go in to her; that she may bear on my knees, and I also may obtain [children] by her. 4 And she gave him Bilhah her slave as wife: and Jacob went in to her. 5 And Bilhah became pregnant, and bore Jacob a son. 6 And Rachel said, God has judged me, and has also heard my voice, and has given me a son: therefore she called his name Dan. 7 And Bilhah Rachel's slave became pregnant again, and bore Jacob a second son. 8 And Rachel said, With mighty wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister, and have prevailed: and she named him Naphtali.

9 When Leah saw that she had left off bearing, she took Zilpah her slave, and gave her to Jacob as wife. 10 And Zilpah Leah's slave bore Jacob a son. 11 And Leah said, Fortunate! And she named him Gad. 12 And Zilpah Leah's slave bore Jacob a second son. 13 And Leah said, I am happy! For the daughters will call me happy: and she named him Asher.

14 And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, Give me, I pray you, of your son's mandrakes. 15 And she said to her, Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? And would you take away my son's mandrakes also? And Rachel said, Therefore he will lie with you tonight for your son's mandrakes. 16 And Jacob came from the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said, You must come in to me; for I have surely hired you with my son's mandrakes. And he lay with her that night. 17 And God listened to Leah, and she became pregnant, and bore Jacob a fifth son. 18 And Leah said, God has given me my wages, because I gave my slave to my husband: and she named him Issachar. 19 And Leah became pregnant again, and bore a sixth son to Jacob. 20 And Leah said, God has endowed me with a good dowry; now will my husband dwell with me, because I have borne him six sons: and she named him Zebulun. 21 And afterward she bore a daughter, and named her Dinah. 22 And God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her, and he opened her womb. 23 And she became pregnant, and gave birth to a son: and said, God has taken away my reproach: 24 and she named him Joseph, saying, Yahweh add to me another son.

25 And it came to pass, when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, Send me away, that I may go to my own place, and to my country. 26 Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go: for you know my service with which I have served you. 27 And Laban said to him, If now I have found favor in your eyes, [tarry]: [for] I have used magic and [found that] Yahweh has blessed me for your sake. 28 And he said, Appoint me your wages, and I will give it. 29 And he said to him, You know how I have served you, and how your cattle have fared with me. 30 For you had little before I came, and it has increased to a multitude; and Yahweh has blessed you wherever I turned: and now when shall I provide for my own house also? 31 And he said, What shall I give you? And Jacob said, You will not give me anything: if you will do this thing for me, I will again shepherd your flock and keep it. 32 I will pass through all your flock today, removing from there every speckled and spotted one, and every black one among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats: and [of such] will be my wages. 33 So will my righteousness answer for me hereafter, when you will come concerning my wages that are before you: every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and black among the sheep, that [if found] with me, will be counted stolen. 34 And Laban said, Agreed, let it be according to your word. 35 And he removed that day the he-goats that were ringstreaked and spotted, and all the she-goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white in it, and all the black ones among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons; 36 and he set three days' journey between himself and Jacob: and Jacob shepherded the rest of Laban's flocks.

37 And Jacob took for himself rods of fresh poplar, and of the almond and of the plane-tree. And peeled white streaks in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods. 38 And he set the rods which he had peeled across from the flocks in the gutters in the watering-troughs where the flocks came to drink; and they conceived when they came to drink. 39 And the flocks conceived before the rods, and the flocks brought forth ringstreaked, speckled, and spotted. 40 And Jacob separated the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the ringstreaked and all the black in the flock of Laban: and he put his own droves apart, and didn't put them to Laban's flock. 41 And it came to pass, whenever the stronger of the flock conceived, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the flock in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods; 42 but when the flock was feeble, he didn't put them in: so the feebler were Laban's, and the stronger Jacob's. 43 And the man increased exceedingly, and had large flocks, and female slaves and male slaves, and camels and donkeys.

31  And he heard the words of Laban's sons, saying, Jacob has taken away all that was our father's; and of that which was our father's he has gotten all this glory. 2 And Jacob saw the countenance of Laban, and, look, it was not toward him as formerly. 3 And Yahweh said to Jacob, Return to the land of your fathers, and to your kindred; and I will be with you. 4 And Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field to his flock, 5 and said to them, I see your+ father's countenance, that it is not toward me as formerly; but the God of my father has been with me. 6 And you+ know that with all my power I have served your+ father. 7 And your+ father has deceived me, and changed my wages ten times; but God didn't allow him to hurt me. 8 If he said thus, The speckled will be your wages; then all the flock bore speckled: and if he said thus, The ringstreaked will be your wages; then bore all the flock ringstreaked. 9 Thus God has taken away the cattle of your+ father, and given them to me. 10 And it came to pass at the time that the flock conceived, that I lifted up my eyes, and saw in a dream, and, look, the he-goats which leaped on the flock were ringstreaked, speckled, and grizzled. 11 And the angel of God said to me in the dream, Jacob: and I said, Here I am. 12 And he said, Lift up now your eyes, and see, all the he-goats which leap on the flock are ringstreaked, speckled, and grizzled: for I have seen all that Laban does to you. 13 I am the God of Beth-el, where you anointed a pillar, where you vowed a vow to me: now arise, get out from this land, and return to the land of your nativity. 14 And Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father's house? 15 Aren't we accounted by him as foreigners? For he has sold us, and has also quite devoured our silver. 16 For all the riches which God has taken away from our father, that is ours and our son's: now then, whatever God has said to you, do.

17 Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives on the camels; 18 and he carried away all his cattle, and all his substance which he had gathered, the cattle of his getting, which he had gathered in Paddan-aram, to go to Isaac his father to the land of Canaan. 19 Now Laban was gone to shear his sheep: and Rachel stole the talismans[168] that were her father's. 20 And Jacob stole away unawares to Laban the Syrian, in that he didn't tell him that he fled. 21 So he fled with all that he had; and he rose up, and passed over the River, and set his face toward the mountain of Gilead.

22 And it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled. 23 And he took his brothers with him, and pursued after him seven days' journey; and he stuck [closely] in the mountain of Gilead. 24 And God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream of the night, and said to him, You be careful not to speak to Jacob either good or bad. 25 And Laban came up with Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mountain: and Laban with his brothers encamped in the mountain of Gilead. 26 And Laban said to Jacob, What have you done, that you have stolen away unawares to me, and carried away my daughters as captives of the sword? 27 Why did you flee secretly, and steal away from me, and did not tell me, that I might have sent you away with mirth and with songs, with tabret and with harp; 28 and did not allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters? Now you have done foolishly. 29 It is in the power of my hand to do you+ harm: but the God of your+ father spoke to me last night, saying, You be careful that you don't speak to Jacob either good or bad. 30 And now, [though] you would surely be gone, because you intensely longed after your father's house, [yet] why have you stolen my gods? 31 And Jacob answered and said to Laban, Because I was afraid: for I said if I don't, you will take your daughters from me by force. 32 With whomever you find your gods, he will not live: before our brothers discern for yourself what is yours with me, and take it with you. For Jacob didn't know that Rachel had stolen them.

33 And Laban went into Jacob's tent, and into Leah's tent, and into the tent of the two female slaves; but he didn't find them. And he went out of Leah's tent, and entered into Rachel's tent. 34 Now Rachel had taken the talismans, and put them in the camel's saddle, and sat on them. And Laban felt all about the tent, but didn't find them. 35 And she said to her father, Don't let my lord be angry that I can't rise up before you; for the manner of women is on me. And he searched, but didn't find the talismans.

36 And Jacob was angry, and chode with Laban: and Jacob answered and said to Laban, What is my trespass? What is my sin, that you have hotly pursued after me? 37 Whereas you have felt all about my stuff, what have you found of all your household stuff? Set it here before my brothers and your brothers, that they may judge between us two. 38 These twenty years I have been with you; your ewes and your she-goats haven't cast their young, and the rams of your flocks I have not eaten. 39 That which was torn of beasts I didn't bring to you; I bore the loss of it; of my hand you required it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. 40 Thus I was; in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep fled from my eyes. 41 These twenty years I have been in your house; I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock: and you have changed my wages ten times. 42 Except the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the Fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely now you would have sent me away empty. God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked you last night.

43 And Laban answered and said to Jacob, The daughters are my daughters, and the sons are my sons, and the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine: and what can I do this day to these my daughters, or to their sons whom they have borne? 44 And now come, let us make a covenant, I and you; and let it be for a witness between me and you. 45 And Jacob took a stone, and set it up for a pillar. 46 And Jacob said to his brothers, Gather stones; and they took stones, and made a heap: and they ate there by the heap. 47 And Laban called it Jegar-saha-dutha: but Jacob called it Galeed. 48 And Laban said, This heap is witness between me and you this day. Therefore was the name of it called Galeed: 49 and Mizpah, for he said, Yahweh watch between me and you, when we are absent one from another. 50 If you will afflict my daughters, and if you will take wives besides my daughters, no man is with us; see, God is witness between me and you. 51 And Laban said to Jacob, Look at this heap, and look at the pillar, which I have set between me and you. 52 This heap be witness, and the pillar be witness, that I will not pass over this heap to you, and that you will not pass over this heap and this pillar to me, for harm. 53 May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor judge between us. And Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac. 54 And Jacob offered a sacrifice in the mountain, and called his brothers to eat bread: and they ate bread, and tarried all night in the mountain. 55 And early in the morning Laban rose up, and kissed his sons and his daughters, and blessed them: and Laban departed and returned to his place.  32  And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. 2 And Jacob said when he saw them, This is God's host: and he called the name of that place Mahanaim.

3 And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother to the land of Seir, the field of Edom. 4 And he commanded them, saying, Thus you+ will say to my lord Esau: Thus says your slave Jacob, I have sojourned with Laban, and remained until now: 5 and I have oxen, and donkeys, [and] flocks, and male slaves, and female slaves: and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find favor in your sight. 6 And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to your brother Esau, and moreover he comes to meet you, and four hundred men with him. 7 Then Jacob was greatly afraid and was distressed: and he divided the people that were with him, and the flocks, and the herds, and the camels, into two companies; 8 and he said, If Esau comes to the one company, and strikes it, then the company which is left will escape. 9 And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, O Yahweh, who said to me, Return to your country, and to your kindred, and I will do you good: 10 I am not worthy of the least of all the loving-kindnesses, and of all the truth, which you have shown to your slave; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I have become two companies. 11 Deliver me, I pray you, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him. Or else, he will come and strike me, from mother to sons. 12 And you said, I will surely do you good, and make your seed as the sand of the sea, which will be too many to count.

13 And he lodged there that night, and took of that which he had with him a present for Esau his brother: 14 two hundred she-goats and twenty he-goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 15 thirty milch camels and their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty she-donkeys and ten foals. 16 And he delivered them into the hand of his slaves, every drove by itself, and said to his slaves, Pass over before me, and put a space between drove and drove. 17 And he commanded the foremost, saying, When Esau my brother meets you, and asks you, saying, Whose are you? And where do you go? And whose are these before you? 18 Then you will say [They are] your slave Jacob's; it is a present sent to my lord Esau: and, look, he also is behind us. 19 And he commanded also the second, and the third, and all who followed the droves, saying, In this manner you+ will speak to Esau, when you+ find him; 20 and you+ will say, Moreover, look, your slave Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will appease him with the present that goes before me, and afterward I will see his face; perhaps he will accept me. 21 So the present passed over before him: and he himself lodged that night in the company.

22 And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two female slaves, and his eleven children, and passed over the ford of the Jabbok. 23 And he took them, and sent them over the stream, and sent over that which he had. 24 And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. 25 And when he saw that he didn't prevail against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was strained, as he wrestled with him. 26 And he said, Let me go, for the day breaks. And he said, I will not let you go, except you bless me. 27 And he said to him, What is your name? And he said, Jacob. 28 And he said, Your name will not be Jacob anymore, but Israel: for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed. 29 And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray you, your name. And he said, Why is it that you ask for my name? And he blessed him there. 30 And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for, [he said], I have seen God face to face, and my soul is preserved. 31 And the sun rose on him as he passed over Penuel, and he limped on his thigh. 32 Therefore the sons of Israel don't eat the sinew of the hip which is on the hollow of the thigh, to this day: because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew of the hip.

33  And Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and noticed that Esau was coming, and with him four hundred men. And he divided the children to Leah, and to Rachel, and to the two female slaves. 2 And he put the female slaves and their children first, and Leah and her children after, and Rachel and Joseph last. 3 And he himself passed over before them, and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother. 4 And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept. 5 And he lifted up his eyes, and saw the women and the children; and said, Who are these with you? And he said, The children whom God has graciously given your slave. 6 Then the female slaves came near, they and their children, and they bowed themselves. 7 And Leah also and her children came near, and bowed themselves: and afterward came Joseph near and Rachel, and they bowed themselves. 8 And he said, What do you mean by all this company which I met? And he said, To find favor in the sight of my lord. 9 And Esau said, I have enough, my brother; let that which you have be yours. 10 And Jacob said, No, I pray you, if now I have found favor in your sight, then receive my present at my hand; since I have seen your face, as one sees the face of God, and you were pleased with me. 11 Take, I pray you, my gift that is brought to you; because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough. And he urged him, and he took it. 12 And he said, Let us take our journey, and let us go, and I will go before you. 13 And he said to him, My lord knows that the children are tender, and that the flocks and herds with me have their young: and if they overdrive them one day, all the flocks will die. 14 Let my lord, I pray you, pass over before his slave: and I will lead on gently, according to the pace of the cattle that are before me and according to the pace of the children, until I come to my lord, to Seir. 15 And Esau said, Let me now leave with you some of the folk who are with me. And he said, Why do that? Let me find favor in the sight of my lord. 16 So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir. 17 And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built himself a house, and made booths for his cattle: therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.

18 And Jacob came in peace to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Paddan-aram; and encamped before the city. 19 And he bought the parcel of ground, where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the sons of Hamor, Shechem's father, for a hundred kesitah [of silver]. 20 And he erected there an altar, and called it El-elohe-israel.

34  And Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. 2 And Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her; And he took her, and lay with her, and humbled her. 3 And his soul stuck to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the damsel, and spoke kindly to the damsel. 4 And Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, Get me this damsel as wife. 5 Now Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter; and his sons were with his cattle in the field: and Jacob held his peace until they came. 6 And Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to commune with him. 7 And the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it: and the men were grieved, and they were very angry, because he had wrought folly in Israel in lying with Jacob's daughter; which thing ought not to be done. 8 And Hamor communed with them, saying, The soul of my son Shechem longs for your+ daughter: I pray you+, give her to him as wife. 9 And make+ marriages with us; give your+ daughters to us, and take our daughters to you+. 10 And you+ will dwell with us: and the land will be before you+; dwell and trade in it, and get possessions in it. 11 And Shechem said to her father and to her brothers, Let me find favor in your+ eyes, and what you+ will say to me, I will give. 12 Ask me ever so much dowry and gift, and I will give according to as you+ will say to me: but give me the damsel as wife. 13 And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father with guile, and spoke, because he had defiled Dinah their sister, 14 and said to them, We can't do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised; for that would be a reproach to us. 15 Only on this condition we will consent to you+: if you+ will be as we are, that every male of you+ is circumcised; 16 then we will give our daughters to you+, and we will take your+ daughters to us, and we will dwell with you+, and we will become one people. 17 But if you+ will not listen to us, to be circumcised; then we will take our daughter, and we will be gone.

18 And their words pleased Hamor, and Shechem Hamor's son. 19 And the young man didn't defer to do the thing, because he had delight in Jacob's daughter: and he was honored above all the house of his father. 20 And Hamor and Shechem his son came to the gate of their city, and communed with the men of their city, saying, 21 These men are peaceful with us; so let them dwell in the land, and trade in it; for, look, the land is large enough for them; let us take their daughters to us for wives, and let us give them our daughters. 22 Only on this condition will the men consent to us to dwell with us, to become one people, if every male among us be circumcised, as they are circumcised. 23 Will not their cattle and their substance and all their beasts be ours? Only let us consent to them, and they will dwell with us. 24 And to Hamor and to Shechem his son listened all who went out of the gate of his city; and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city. 25 And it came to pass on the third day, when they were in pain, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, took each man his sword, and came upon the city unawares, and slew all the males. 26 And they slew Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem's house, and went forth. 27 The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister. 28 They took their flocks and their herds and their donkeys, and that which was in the city, and that which was in the field; 29 and all their wealth, and all their little ones and their wives, they captured and plundered, as well as all that was in the houses. 30 And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, You+ have troubled me, to make me stink to the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and, I being few in number, they will gather themselves together against me and strike me; and I will be destroyed, I and my house. 31 And they said, Should he deal with our sister as with a prostitute?

35  And God said to Jacob, Arise, go up to Beth-el, and dwell there: and make there an altar to God, who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother. 2 Then Jacob said to his household, and to all who were with him, Put away the foreign gods that are among you+, and purify yourselves, and change your+ garments: 3 and let us arise, and go up to Beth-el; and I will make there an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went. 4 And they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods which were in their hand, and the rings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem. 5 And they journeyed: and a terror of God was on the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob. 6 So Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan (the same is Beth-el), he and all the people who were with him. 7 And he built there an altar, and called the place El-beth-el; because there God was revealed to him, when he fled from the face of his brother. 8 And Deborah Rebekah's nurse died, and she was buried below Beth-el under the oak: and the name of it was called Allon-bacuth.

9 And God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him. 10 And God said to him, Your name is Jacob: your name will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel will be your name: and he named him Israel. 11 And God said to him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations will be of you, and kings will come out of your loins; 12 and the land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, to you I will give it, and to your seed after you I will give the land. 13 And God went up from him in the place where he spoke with him. 14 And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he spoke with him, a pillar of stone: and he poured out a drink-offering on it, and poured oil on it. 15 And Jacob called the name of the place where God spoke with him, Beth-el.

16 And they journeyed from Beth-el; and there was still some distance to come to Ephrath: and Rachel travailed, and she had hard labor. 17 And it came to pass, when she was in hard labor, that the midwife said to her, Don't be afraid; for now you will have another son. 18 And it came to pass, as her soul was departing (for she died), that she named him Ben-oni: but his father called him Benjamin. 19 And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath (the same is Beth-lehem). 20 And Jacob set up a pillar on her grave: the same is the Pillar of Rachel's grave to this day. 21 And Israel journeyed, and spread his tent beyond the tower of Eder. 22 And it came to pass, while Israel stayed in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine: and Israel heard of it, and it was evil in his eyes.

Now the sons of Jacob were twelve: 23 The sons of Leah: Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun; 24 the sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin; 25 and the sons of Bilhah, Rachel's slave: Dan and Naphtali; 26 and the sons of Zilpah, Leah's slave: Gad and Asher: these are the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Paddan-aram. 27 And Jacob came to Isaac his father to Mamre, to Kiriath-arba (the same is Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac sojourned.

28 And the days of Isaac were 180 years. 29 And Isaac gave up the ghost, and died, and was gathered to his people, old and full of days: and Esau and Jacob his sons buried him.

36  Now these are the generations of Esau (the same is Edom). 2 Esau took his wives of the daughters of Canaan: Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite, 3 and Basemath Ishmael's daughter, sister of Nebaioth. 4 And Adah bore to Esau Eliphaz; and Basemath bore Reuel; 5 and Oholibamah bore Jeush, and Jalam, and Korah: these are the sons of Esau, who were born to him in the land of Canaan. 6 And Esau took his wives, and his sons, and his daughters, and all the souls of his house, and his cattle, and all his beasts, and all his possessions, which he had gathered in the land of Canaan; and went into a land away from his brother Jacob. 7 For their substance was too great for them to dwell together; and the land of their sojournings could not bear them because of their cattle. 8 And Esau dwelt in mount Seir: Esau is Edom.

9 And these are the generations of Esau the father of the Edomites in mount Seir: 10 these are the names of Esau's sons: Eliphaz the son of Adah the wife of Esau, Reuel the son of Basemath the wife of Esau. 11 And the sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, and Gatam, and Kenaz. 12 And Timna was concubine to Eliphaz Esau's son; and she bore to Eliphaz Amalek: these are the sons of Adah, Esau's wife. 13 And these are the sons of Reuel: Nahath, and Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah: these were the sons of Basemath, Esau's wife. 14 And these were the sons of Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon, Esau's wife: and she bore to Esau Jeush, and Jalam, and Korah.

15 These are the chiefs of the sons of Esau: the sons of Eliphaz the firstborn of Esau: chief Teman, chief Omar, chief Zepho, chief Kenaz, 16 chief Gatam, chief Amalek: these are the chiefs who came of Eliphaz in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Adah. 17 And these are the sons of Reuel, Esau's son: chief Nahath, chief Zerah, chief Shammah, chief Mizzah: these are the chiefs who came of Reuel in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Basemath, Esau's wife. 18 And these are the sons of Oholibamah, Esau's wife: chief Jeush, chief Jalam, chief Korah: these are the chiefs who came of Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, Esau's wife. 19 These are the sons of Esau, and these are their chiefs: the same is Edom.

20 These are the sons of Seir the Horite, the inhabitants of the land: Lotan and Shobal and Zibeon and Anah, 21 and Dishon and Ezer and Dishan: these are the chiefs who came of the Horites, the sons of Seir in the land of Edom. 22 And the sons of Lotan were Hori and Heman. And Lotan's sister was Timna. 23 And these are the sons of Shobal: Alvan and Manahath and Ebal, Shepho and Onam. 24 And these are the sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah; this is Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness, as he fed the donkeys of Zibeon his father. 25 And these are the sons of Anah: Dishon and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah. 26 And these are the sons of Dishon: Hemdan and Eshban and Ithran and Cheran. 27 These are the sons of Ezer: Bilhan and Zaavan and Akan. 28 These are the sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran. 29 These are the chiefs who came of the Horites: chief Lotan, chief Shobal, chief Zibeon, chief Anah, 30 chief Dishon, chief Ezer, chief Dishan: these are the chiefs who came of the Horites, according to their chiefs in the land of Seir.

31 And these are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom, before there reigned any king over the sons of Israel. 32 And Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom; and the name of his city was Dinhabah. 33 And Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his stead. 34 And Jobab died, and Husham of the land of the Temanites reigned in his stead. 35 And Husham died, and Hadad the son of Bedad, who struck Midian in the field of Moab, reigned in his stead: and the name of his city was Avith. 36 And Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah reigned in his stead. 37 And Samlah died, and Shaul of Rehoboth by the River reigned in his stead. 38 And Shaul died, and Baal-hanan the son of Achbor reigned in his stead. 39 And Baal-hanan the son of Achbor died, and Hadad reigned in his stead: and the name of his city was Pau; and his wife's name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Me-zahab.

40 And these are the names of the chiefs who came of Esau, according to their families, after their places, by their names: chief Timna, chief Alvah, chief Jetheth, 41 chief Oholibamah, chief Elah, chief Pinon, 42 chief Kenaz, chief Teman, chief Mibzar, 43 chief Magdiel, chief Iram: these are the chiefs of Edom, according to their habitations in the land of their possession. This is Esau, the father of the Edomites.

37  And Jacob dwelt in the land of his father's sojournings, in the land of Canaan. 2 These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was shepherding the flock with his brothers; and he was a lad with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives: and Joseph brought the evil report of them to their father. 3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colors. 4 And his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers; and they hated him, and could not speak peacefully to him.

5 And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brothers: and they hated him all the more. 6 And he said to them, Hear, I pray you+, this dream which I have dreamed: 7 for, look, we were binding sheaves in the field, and see, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and see, your+ sheaves came round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf. 8 And his brothers said to him, Will you indeed reign over us? Or will you indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words. 9 And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it to his brothers, and said, Look, I have dreamed yet a dream: and see, the sun and the moon and eleven stars made obeisance to me. 10 And he told it to his father, and to his brothers; and his father rebuked him, and said to him, What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow down ourselves to you to the earth? 11 And his brothers envied him; but his father kept the saying in mind.

12 And his brothers went to shepherd their father's flock in Shechem. 13 And Israel said to Joseph, Are not your brothers shepherding the flock in Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them. And he said to him, Here I am. 14 And he said to him, Go now, see whether it is well with your brothers, and well with the flock; and bring me word again. So he sent him out of the valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem. 15 And a certain man found him, and, look, he was wandering in the field: and the man asked him, saying, What do you seek? 16 And he said, I am seeking my brothers: tell me, I pray you, where they are shepherding [the flock]. 17 And the man said, They have departed from here; for I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan. And Joseph went after his brothers, and found them in Dothan.

18 And they saw him far off, and before he came near to them, they conspired against him to slay him. 19 And they said one to another, Look, this dreamer comes. 20 Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into one of the pits, and we will say, An evil beast has devoured him: and we will see what will become of his dreams. 21 And Reuben heard it, and delivered him out of their hand, and said, Let us not strike him in the soul. 22 And Reuben said to them, Shed no blood; cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but lay no hand on him: that he might deliver him out of their hand, to restore him to his father. 23 And it came to pass, when Joseph came to his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his coat, the coat of many colors that was on him; 24 and they took him, and cast him into the pit: and the pit was empty, there was no water in it.

25 And they sat down to eat bread: and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and noticed a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt. 26 And Judah said to his brothers, What profit is it if we slay our brother and conceal his blood? 27 Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and don't let our hand be on him; for he is our brother, our flesh. And his brothers listened to him. 28 And there passed by Midianites, merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty [shekels of] silver. And they brought Joseph into Egypt.

29 And Reuben returned to the pit; and, look, Joseph wasn't in the pit; and he rent his clothes. 30 And he returned to his brothers, and said, The child is not; and I, where shall I go? 31 And they took Joseph's coat, and killed a he-goat, and dipped the coat in the blood; 32 and they sent the coat of many colors, and they brought it to their father, and said, This we have found: know now whether it is your son's coat or not. 33 And he knew it, and said, It is my son's coat: an evil beast has devoured him; Joseph is without doubt torn in pieces. 34 And Jacob rent his garments, and put sackcloth on his loins, and mourned for his son many days. 35 And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down to Sheol to my son mourning. And his father wept for him. 36 And the Midianites sold him into Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh's, the captain of the guard.

38  And it came to pass at that time, that Judah went down from his brothers, and turned in to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah. 2 And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua. And he took her, and went in to her. 3 And she became pregnant, and gave birth to a son; and he named him Er. 4 And she became pregnant again, and gave birth to a son; and she named him Onan. 5 And she yet again bore a son, and named him Shelah: and he was at Chezib, when she bore him. 6 And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. 7 And Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of Yahweh. And Yahweh slew him. 8 And Judah said to Onan, Go in to your brother's wife, and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her, and raise up seed to your brother. 9 And Onan knew that the seed would not be his; and it came to pass, whenever he went in to his brother's wife, that he spilled on the ground, lest he should give seed to his brother. 10 And the thing which he did was evil in the sight of Yahweh: and he slew him also. 11 Then said Judah to Tamar his daughter-in-law, Remain a widow in your father's house, until Shelah my son is grown up; for he said, Or else he will also die, like his brothers. And Tamar went and remained in her father's house.

12 And in process of time Shua's daughter, the wife of Judah, died; and Judah was comforted, and went up to his sheep-shearers to Timnah, he and his companion Hirah the Adullamite. 13 And it was told Tamar, saying, Look, your father-in-law goes up to Timnah to shear his sheep. 14 And she put off from her the garments of her widowhood, and covered herself with her veil, and wrapped herself, and sat in the gate of Enaim, which is by the way to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah was grown up, and she wasn't given to him as wife. 15 When Judah saw her, he thought her to be a prostitute; for she had covered her face. 16 And he turned to her by the way, and said, Come, I pray you, let me come in to you: for he didn't know that she was his daughter-in-law. And she said, What will you give me, that you may come in to me? 17 And he said, I will send you a young goat from the flock. And she said, Will you give me a security deposit, until you send it? 18 And he said, What security deposit shall I give you? And she said, Your signet and your cord, and your staff that is in your hand. And he gave them to her, and had sex with her, and she became pregnant by him. 19 And she arose, and went away, and put off her veil from her, and put on the garments of her widowhood. 20 And Judah sent the young goat by the hand of his companion the Adullamite, to receive the security deposit from the woman's hand: but he didn't find her. 21 Then he asked the men of her place, saying, Where is the prostitute, that was at Enaim by the wayside? And they said, There has been no prostitute here. 22 And he returned to Judah, and said, I haven't found her; and also the men of the place said, There has been no prostitute here. 23 And Judah said, Let her take it to her, or else we will be put to shame: look, I sent this young goat, and you haven't found her.

24 And it came to pass about three months after, that it was told Judah, saying, Tamar your daughter-in-law has prostituted; and moreover, look, she's pregnant by prostitution. And Judah said, Bring her forth, and let her be burned. 25 When she was brought forth, she sent to her father-in-law, saying, By the man, whose these are, I am pregnant: and she said, Discern, I pray you, whose are these, the signet, and the cords, and the staff. 26 And Judah acknowledged them, and said, She's more righteous than I; since I didn't give her to Shelah my son. And he didn't have any sex with her again. 27 And it came to pass in the time of her travail, that, look, twins were in her womb. 28 And it came to pass, when she travailed, that one put out a hand: and the midwife took and bound on his hand a scarlet thread, saying, This came out first. 29 And it came to pass, as he drew back his hand, that, look, his brother came out: and she said, Why have you made a breach for yourself? Therefore his name was called Perez. 30 And afterward came out his brother, that had the scarlet thread on his hand: and his name was called Zerah.

39  And Joseph was brought down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh's, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him of the hand of the Ishmaelites, that had brought him down there. 2 And Yahweh was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. 3 And his master saw that Yahweh was with him, and that Yahweh made all that he did to prosper in his hand. 4 And Joseph found favor in his eyes, and he ministered to him: and he made him "Overseer of the House," and all that he had he put into his hand. 5 And it came to pass from the time that he made him overseer in his house, and over all that he had, that Yahweh blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake; and the blessing of Yahweh was on all that he had, in the house and in the field. 6 And he left all that he had in Joseph's hand; and he didn't know anything [that was] with him, except the bread which he ate. And Joseph had a handsome body and face.

7 And it came to pass after these things, that his master's wife cast her eyes on Joseph; and she said, Lie with me. 8 But he refused, and said to his master's wife, Look, my master doesn't know what is with me in the house, and he has put all that he has into my hand: 9 he is not greater in this house than I; neither has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God? 10 And it came to pass, as she spoke to Joseph day by day, that he didn't listen to her to lie by her, to have any sex with her. 11 And it came to pass about this time, that he went into the house to do his work; and there wasn't any man of the men of the house there inside. 12 And she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me: and he left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got out. 13 And it came to pass, when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand, and was fled forth, 14 that she called to the men of her house, and spoke to them, saying, See, he has brought in a Hebrew to us to mock us: he came in to me to lie with me, and I cried with a loud voice: 15 and it came to pass, when he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment by me, and fled, and got out. 16 And she laid up his garment by her, until his master came home. 17 And she spoke to him according to these words, saying, The Hebrew slave, whom you have brought to us, came in to me to mock me: 18 and it came to pass, as I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment by me, and fled out.

19 And it came to pass, when his master heard the words of his wife, which she spoke to him, saying, After this manner did your slave to me; that his wrath was kindled. 20 And Joseph's master took him, and put him into the prison, the place where the king's prisoners were bound: and he was there in the prison. 21 But Yahweh was with Joseph, and showed kindness to him, and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. 22 And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners who were in the prison; and whatever they did there, he was the one who did it. 23 The keeper of the prison didn't look to anything that was under his hand, because Yahweh was with him; and that which he did, Yahweh made it to prosper.

40  And it came to pass after these things, that the cupbearer of the king of Egypt and his baker offended their lord the king of Egypt. 2 And Pharaoh was angry against his two officers, against the chief of the cupbearers, and against the chief of the bakers. 3 And he put them in ward in the house of the captain of the guard, into the prison, the place where Joseph was bound. 4 And the captain of the guard charged Joseph with them, and he ministered to them: and they continued a season in ward. 5 And they dreamed a dream both of them, each man his dream, in one night, each man according to the interpretation of his dream, the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were bound in the prison. 6 And Joseph came in to them in the morning, and saw them, and, look, they were sad. 7 And he asked Pharaoh's officers who were with him in ward in his master's house, saying, Why do you+ look so sad today? 8 And they said to him, We have dreamed a dream, and there is none who can interpret it. And Joseph said to them, Don't interpretations belong to God? Tell it to me, I pray you+.

9 And the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, In my dream, look, a vine was before me; 10 and in the vine were three branches: and it was as though it budded, [and] its blossoms shot forth; [and] its clusters brought forth ripe grapes: 11 and Pharaoh's cup was in my hand; and I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand. 12 And Joseph said to him, This is the interpretation of it: the three branches are three days; 13 within yet three days will Pharaoh lift up your head, and restore you to your office: and you will give Pharaoh's cup into his hand, after the former manner when you were his cupbearer. 14 But have me in your remembrance when it will be well with you, and show kindness, I pray you, to me, and make mention of me to Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house: 15 for indeed I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews: and here also I have done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon.

16 When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said to Joseph, I also was in my dream, and, look, three baskets of white bread were on my head: 17 and in the uppermost basket there was of all manner of baked food for Pharaoh; and the birds ate them out of the basket on my head. 18 And Joseph answered and said, This is its interpretation: the three baskets are three days; 19 within yet three days will Pharaoh lift up your head from off you, and will hang you on a tree; and the birds will eat your flesh from off you. 20 And it came to pass the third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday, that he made a feast to all his slaves: and he lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker among his slaves. 21 And he restored the chief cupbearer to be his cupbearer again; and he gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand: 22 but he hanged the chief baker: as Joseph had interpreted to them. 23 Yet the chief cupbearer didn't remember Joseph, but forgot him.

41  And it came to pass at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh dreamed: and, look, he stood by the river. 2 And, look, there came up out of the river seven kine, well-favored and fat-fleshed; and they pastured in the reed-grass. 3 And, look, seven other kine came up after them out of the river, ill-favored and lean-fleshed, and stood by the other kine on the brink of the river. 4 And the ill-favored and lean-fleshed kine ate up the seven well-favored and fat kine. So Pharaoh awoke. 5 And he slept and dreamed a second time: and, look, seven ears of grain came up on one stalk, rank and good. 6 And, look, seven ears, thin and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them. 7 And the thin ears swallowed up the seven rank and full ears. And Pharaoh awoke, and, look, it was a dream. 8 And it came to pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled; and he sent and called for all the sacred scholars[169] of Egypt, and all its wise men: and Pharaoh told them the things he dreamt; but there was none who could interpret them to Pharaoh.

9 Then the chief cupbearer spoke to Pharaoh, saying, I remember my faults this day: 10 Pharaoh was angry with his slaves, and put me in ward in the house of the captain of the guard, me and the chief baker: 11 and we dreamed a dream in one night, I and he; we dreamed each man according to the interpretation of his dream. 12 And there was with us there a young man, a Hebrew, slave to the captain of the guard; and we told him, and he interpreted to us our dreams; to each man according to his dream he did interpret. 13 And it came to pass, as he interpreted to us, so it was; me he restored to my office, and him he hanged.

14 Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon: and he shaved himself, and changed his raiment, and came in to Pharaoh. 15 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, I have dreamed a dream, and there is none who can interpret it: and I have heard it said of you, that when you hear a dream you can interpret it. 16 And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, It is not in me: God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace. 17 And Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, In my dream, look, I stood on the brink of the river: 18 and see, there came up out of the river seven kine, fat-fleshed and well-favored: and they fed in the reed-grass: 19 and see, seven other kine came up after them, poor and very ill-favored and lean-fleshed, such as I never saw in all the land of Egypt for badness: 20 and the lean and ill-favored kine ate up the first seven fat kine: 21 and when they had eaten them up, it could not be known that they had eaten them; but they were still ill-favored, as at the beginning. So I awoke. 22 And I saw in my dream, and see, seven ears came up on one stalk, full and good: 23 and see, seven ears, withered, thin, [and] blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them: 24 and the thin ears swallowed up the seven good ears: and I told it to the sacred scholars; but there was none who could declare it to me.

25 And Joseph said to Pharaoh, The dream of Pharaoh is one: what God is about to do he has declared to Pharaoh. 26 The seven good kine are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years: the dream is one. 27 And the seven lean and ill-favored kine that came up after them are seven years, and also the seven thin ears blasted with the east wind; they will be seven years of famine. 28 That is the thing which I spoke to Pharaoh: what God is about to do he has shown to Pharaoh. 29 Look, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt: 30 and there will arise after them seven years of famine; and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and the famine will consume the land; 31 and the plenty will not be known in the land by reason of that famine which follows; for it will be very grievous. 32 And the reason the dream was doubled to Pharaoh is because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass. 33 Now therefore let Pharaoh seek out a man discreet and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt. 34 Let Pharaoh do [this], and let him appoint overseers over the land, and take up the fifth part of the land of Egypt in the seven plenteous years. 35 And let them gather all the food of these good years that come, and lay up grain under the hand of Pharaoh for food in the cities, and let them keep it. 36 And the food will be for a store to the land against the seven years of famine, which will be in the land of Egypt; that the land not perish through the famine.

37 And the thing was good in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of all his slaves. 38 And Pharaoh said to his slaves, Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the spirit of God? 39 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, Since God has shown you all of this, there is none so discreet and wise as you: 40 you will be over my house, and according to your mouth will all my people be ruled: I will be greater than you only in the throne. 41 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt. 42 And Pharaoh took off his signet ring from his hand, and put it on Joseph's hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck; 43 and he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried before him, Bow the knee: and he set him over all the land of Egypt. 44 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and without you will no man lift up his hand or his foot in all the land of Egypt. 45 And Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphenath-paneah; and he gave him as wife Asenath, the daughter of Poti-phera priest of On. And Joseph went out over the land of Egypt.

46 And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt. 47 And in the seven plenteous years the earth brought forth by handfuls. 48 And he gathered up all the food of the seven years which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities: the food of the field, which was round about every city, laid he up in the same. 49 And Joseph laid up grain as the sand of the sea, very much, until he left off numbering; for it was without number. 50 And to Joseph were born two sons before the year of famine came, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bore to him. 51 And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: For, [he said], God has made me forget all my toil, and all my father's house. 52 And the name of the second he called Ephraim: For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction. 53 And the seven years of plenty, that was in the land of Egypt, came to an end. 54 And the seven years of famine began to come, according to as Joseph had said: and there was famine in all lands; but in all the land of Egypt there was bread. 55 And when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread: and Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, Go to Joseph; what he says to you+, do. 56 And the famine was over all the face of the earth: and Joseph opened all [the storehouses] among them, and sold grain to the Egyptians; and the famine was intense in the land of Egypt. 57 And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph to buy grain, because the famine was intense in all the earth.

42  Now Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, and Jacob said to his sons, Why do you+ look one on another? 2 And he said, Look, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt: you+ get down there, and buy for us from there; that we may live, and not die. 3 And Joseph's ten brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt. 4 But Benjamin, Joseph's brother, Jacob didn't send with his brothers; for he said, If I do perhaps harm will befall him. 5 And the sons of Israel came to buy among those who came: for the famine was in the land of Canaan. 6 And Joseph was the governor over the land; it was he who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph's brothers came, and bowed down themselves to him with their faces to the earth. 7 And Joseph saw his brothers, and he knew them, but made himself strange to them, and spoke roughly with them; and he said to them. From where do you+ come? And they said, From the land of Canaan to buy food. 8 And Joseph knew his brothers, but they didn't know him. 9 And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them, and said to them, You+ are spies; to see the nakedness of the land you+ have come. 10 And they said to him, No, my lord, but to buy food have your slaves come. 11 We are all sons of one man;[170] we are true men, your slaves are no spies. 12 And he said to them, No, but to see the nakedness of the land you+ have come. 13 And they said, We your slaves are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and, look, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is not. 14 And Joseph said to them, That is it that I spoke to you+, saying, You+ are spies: 15 hereby you+ will be proved: by the life of Pharaoh you+ will not go forth from here, except your+ youngest brother come here. 16 Send one of you+, and let him fetch your+ brother, and you+ will be bound, that your+ words may be proved, whether there is truth in you+: otherwise by the life of Pharaoh surely you+ are spies. 17 And he put them all together into ward three days.

18 And Joseph said to them the third day, Do this, and live: for I fear God: 19 if you+ are true men, let one of your+ brothers be bound in your+ prison-house; but you+ go, carry grain for the famine of your+ houses: 20 and bring your+ youngest brother to me; so will your+ words be verified, and you+ will not die. And they did so. 21 And they said one to another, We are truly guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he pled with us for mercy, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us. 22 And Reuben answered them, saying, Didn't I speak to you+, saying, Don't sin against the child; and you+ would not hear? Therefore also, look, his blood is required. 23 And they didn't know that Joseph understood them; for there was an interpreter between them. 24 And he turned himself about from them, and wept; and he returned to them, and spoke to them, and took Simeon from among them, and bound him before their eyes. 25 Then Joseph commanded to fill their vessels with grain, and to restore every man's silver into his sack, and to give them provisions for the way: and thus was it done to them.

26 And they loaded their donkeys with their grain, and departed there. 27 And as one of them opened his sack to give his donkey fodder in the lodging-place, he noticed his silver; and, look, it was in the mouth of his sack. 28 And he said to his brothers, My silver is restored; and, look, it is even in my sack: and their heart failed them, and they turned trembling one to another, saying, What is this that God has done to us? 29 And they came to Jacob their father to the land of Canaan, and told him all that had befallen them, saying, 30 The man, the lord of the land, spoke roughly with us, and took us for spies of the country. 31 And we said to him, We are true men; we are no spies: 32 we are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is not, and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan. 33 And the man, the lord of the land, said to us, Hereby will I know that you+ are true men: leave one of your+ brothers with me, and take [grain for] the famine of your+ houses, and go your+ way; 34 and bring your+ youngest brother to me: then I will know that you+ are no spies, but that you+ are true men: so I will deliver you+ your+ brother, and you+ will traffic in the land.

35 And it came to pass as they emptied their sacks, that, look, every man's bundle of silver was in his sack: and when they and their father saw their bundles of silver, they were afraid. 36 And Jacob their father said to them, You+ have bereaved me of my children: Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and you+ will take Benjamin away: all these things are against me. 37 And Reuben spoke to his father, saying, Slay my two sons, if I don't bring him to you: deliver him into my hand, and I will bring him to you again. 38 And he said, My son will not go down with you+; for his brother is dead, and he only is left: if harm befall him by the way in which you+ go, then you+ will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol.

43  And the famine was intense in the land. 2 And it came to pass, when they had eaten up the grain which they had brought out of Egypt, their father said to them, Go again, buy us a little food. 3 And Judah spoke to him, saying, The man did solemnly protest to us, saying, You+ will not see my face, except your+ brother be with you+. 4 If you will send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food: 5 but if you will not send him, we will not go down; for the man said to us, You+ will not see my face, except your+ brother be with you+. 6 And Israel said, Why did you+ deal so ill with me, as to tell the man whether you+ had yet a brother? 7 And they said, The man asked straitly concerning ourselves, and concerning our kindred, saying, Is your+ father yet alive? Have you+ [another] brother? And we told him according to the tenor of these words: could we in any wise know that he would say, Bring your+ brother down? 8 And Judah said to Israel his father, Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go; that we may live, and not die, both we, and you, and also our little ones. 9 I will be surety for him; of my hand you will require him: if I don't bring him to you, and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever: 10 for except we had lingered, surely we would have now returned a second time. 11 And their father Israel said to them, If it is so now, do this: take of the choice fruits of the land in your+ vessels, and carry down to the man a present, a little balm, and a little honey, spicery and myrrh, nuts, and almonds; 12 and take double the silver in your+ hand; and the silver that was returned in the mouth of your+ sacks carry again in your+ hand; perhaps it was an oversight: 13 take also your+ brother, and arise, go again to the man: 14 and God Almighty give you+ mercy before the man, that he may release to you+ your+ other brother and Benjamin. And if I be bereaved of my children, I am bereaved. 15 And the men took that present, and they took double the silver in their hand, and Benjamin; and rose up, and went down to Egypt, and stood before Joseph.

16 And when Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house, Bring the men into the house, and slay, and make ready; for the men will dine with me at noon. 17 And the man did as Joseph bade; and the man brought the men to Joseph's house. 18 And the men were afraid, because they were brought to Joseph's house; and they said, Because of the silver that was returned in our sacks at the first time, we are brought in; that he may seek occasion against us, and fall on us, and take us for slaves, and our donkeys. 19 And they came near to the steward of Joseph's house, and they spoke to him at the door of the house, 20 and said, Oh, my lord, we came indeed down at the first time to buy food: 21 and it came to pass, when we came to the lodging-place, that we opened our sacks, and, look, every man's silver was in the mouth of his sack, our silver in full weight: and we have brought it again in our hand. 22 And other silver we have brought down in our hand to buy food: we don't know who put our silver in our sacks. 23 And he said, Peace be to you+, don't be afraid: your+ God, and the God of your+ father, has given you+ treasure in your+ sacks: I had your+ silver. And he brought Simeon out to them. 24 And the man brought the men into Joseph's house, and gave them water, and they washed their feet. And he gave their donkeys fodder. 25 And they made ready the present against Joseph's coming at noon: for they heard that they should eat bread there.

26 And when Joseph came home, they brought him the present which was in their hand into the house, and bowed down themselves to him to the earth. 27 And he asked them of their welfare, and said, Is your+ father well, the old man of whom you+ spoke? Is he yet alive? 28 And they said, Your slave our father is well, he is yet alive. And they bowed the head, and made obeisance. 29 And he lifted up his eyes, and saw Benjamin his brother, his mother's son, and said, Is this your+ youngest brother, of whom you+ spoke to me? And he said, God be gracious to you, my son. 30 And Joseph hurried; for his heart yearned over his brother: and he sought where to weep; and he entered into his chamber, and wept there. 31 And he washed his face, and came out; and he refrained himself, and said, Set on bread. 32 And they set on for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians, that ate with him, by themselves: because the Egyptians might not eat bread with the Hebrews; for that is disgusting to the Egyptians. 33 And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright, and the youngest according to his youth: and the men marveled one with another. 34 And he took [and sent] messes to them from before him: but Benjamin's mess was five times so much as any of theirs. And they drank, and were merry with him.

44  And he commanded the steward of his house, saying, Fill the men's sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put every man's silver in his sack's mouth. 2 And put my cup, the silver cup, in the sack's mouth of the youngest, and his grain silver. And he did according to the word that Joseph had spoken. 3 As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away, they and their donkeys. 4 [And] when they were gone out of the city, and were not yet far off, Joseph said to his steward, Get up, follow after the men; and when you overtake them, say to them, Why have you+ rewarded evil for good? 5 Isn't this that in which my lord drinks, and by which he indeed uses it for magic? You+ have done evil in so doing. 6 And he overtook them, and he spoke to them these words. 7 And they said to him, Why does my lord speak such words as these? Far be it from your slaves that they should do such a thing. 8 Look, the silver, which we found in our sacks' mouths, we brought again to you out of the land of Canaan: how then should we steal out of your lord's house silver or gold? 9 With whomever of your slaves it is found, let him die, and we also will be my lord's slaves. 10 And he said, Now also let it be according to your+ words: he with whom it is found will be my slave; and you+ will be innocent. 11 Then they hurried, and took down every man his sack to the ground, and opened every man his sack. 12 And he searched, [and] began at the eldest, and left off at the youngest: and the cup was found in Benjamin's sack. 13 Then they rent their clothes, and loaded every man his donkey, and returned to the city.

14 And Judah and his brothers came to Joseph's house; and he was yet there: and they fell before him on the ground. 15 And Joseph said to them, What deed is this that you+ have done? Don't you+ know that a man such as I can indeed use magic [to find out]? 16 And Judah said, What shall we say to my lord? What shall we speak? Or how shall we clear ourselves? God has found out the iniquity of your slaves: look, we are my lord's slaves, both we, and he also in whose hand the cup is found. 17 And he said, Far be it from me that I should do so: the man in whose hand the cup is found, he will be my slave but as for you+, you+ get up in peace to your+ father.

18 Then Judah came near to him, and said, Oh, my lord, let your slave, I pray you, speak a word in my lord's ears, and don't let your anger burn against your slave; for you are even as Pharaoh. 19 My lord asked his slaves, saying, Have you+ a father, or a brother? 20 And we said to my lord, We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one; and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother; and his father loves him. 21 And you said to your slaves, Bring him down to me, that I may set my eyes on him. 22 And we said to my lord, The lad can't leave his father: for if he should leave his father, his father would die. 23 And you said to your slaves, Except your+ youngest brother come down with you+, you+ will see my face no more. 24 And it came to pass when we came up to your slave my father, we told him the words of my lord. 25 And our father said, Go again, buy us a little food. 26 And we said, We can't go down: if our youngest brother is with us, then we will go down: for we may not see the man's face, except our youngest brother is with us. 27 And your slave my father said to us, You+ know that my wife bore me two sons: 28 and the one went out from me, and I said, Surely he is torn in pieces; and I haven't seen him since: 29 and if you+ take this one also from me, and harm befalls him, you+ will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol. 30 Now therefore when I come to your slave my father, and the lad is not with us; seeing that his soul is bound to his soul; 31 it will come to pass, when he sees that the lad is not there, that he will die: and your slaves will bring down the gray hairs of your slave our father with sorrow to Sheol. 32 For your slave became surety for the lad to my father, saying, If I don't bring him to you, then I will bear the blame to my father forever. 33 Now therefore, let your slave, I pray you, remain instead of the lad a slave to my lord; and let the lad go up with his brothers. 34 For how shall I go up to my father, if the lad is not with me? Or else, I will see the evil that will come upon my father.

45  Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all those who stood by him; and he cried, Cause every man to go out from me. And there stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself known to his brothers. 2 And he wept aloud: and Egypt heard, and the house of Pharaoh heard. 3 And Joseph said to his brothers, I am Joseph; does my father yet live? And his brothers could not answer him; for they were troubled at his presence. 4 And Joseph said to his brothers, Come near to me, I pray you+. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your+ brother, whom you+ sold into Egypt. 5 And now don't be grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that you+ sold me here: for God sent me before you+ to preserve life. 6 For these two years has the famine been in the land: and there are yet five years, in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. 7 And God sent me before you+ to preserve you+ a remnant in the earth, and to save you+ alive by a great deliverance. 8 So now it wasn't you+ who sent me here, but God: and he has made me "Father of Pharaoh," and "Lord of All His House," and "Ruler Over All The Land of Egypt."[171] 9 You+ hurry, and go up to my father, and say to him, Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt: come down to me, don't tarry; 10 and you will dwell in the land of Goshen, and you will be near to me, you, and your sons, and the sons of your sons, and your flocks, and your herds, and all that you have: 11 and there I will nourish you; for there are yet five years of famine; or else you will come to poverty, you, and your household, and all that you have. 12 And, look, your+ eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth that speaks to you+. 13 And you+ will tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that you+ have seen: and you+ will hurry and bring down my father here. 14 And he fell on his brother Benjamin's neck, and wept; and Benjamin wept on his neck. 15 And he kissed all his brothers, and wept on them: and after that his brothers talked with him.

16 And its report was heard in Pharaoh's house, saying, Joseph's brothers have come: and it pleased Pharaoh well, and his slaves. 17 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, Say to your brothers, You+ do this: lade your+ beasts, and go, you+ get to the land of Canaan; 18 and take your+ father and your+ households, and come to me: and I will give you+ the good of the land of Egypt, and you+ will eat the fat of the land. 19 Now you are commanded, this you+ do: you+ take wagons out of the land of Egypt for your+ little ones, and for your+ wives, and bring your+ father, and come. 20 Also don't regard your+ stuff; for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours+.

21 And the sons of Israel did so: and Joseph gave them wagons, according to the mouth of Pharaoh, and gave them provision for the way. 22 To all of them he gave each man changes of raiment; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred [shekels of] silver, and five changes of raiment. 23 And to his father he sent after this manner: ten donkeys laden with the good things of Egypt, and ten she-donkeys laden with grain and bread and provision for his father by the way. 24 So he sent his brothers away, and they departed: and he said to them, See that you+ don't fall out by the way. 25 And they went up out of Egypt, and came into the land of Canaan to Jacob their father. 26 And they told him, saying, Joseph is yet alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt. And his heart fainted, for he didn't believe them. 27 And they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said to them: and when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived: 28 and Israel said, It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive: I will go and see him before I die.

46  And Israel took his journey with all that he had, and came to Beer-sheba, and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. 2 And God spoke to Israel in visions of the night, and said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Here I am. 3 And he said, I am God, the God of your father: don't be afraid to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of you a great nation: 4 I will go down with you into Egypt; and I will also surely bring you up again: and Joseph will put his hand on your eyes. 5 And Jacob rose up from Beer-sheba: and the sons of Israel carried Jacob their father, and their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him. 6 And they took their cattle, and their goods, which they had gotten in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt, Jacob, and all his seed with him: 7 his sons, and his sons' sons with him, his daughters, and his sons' daughters, and all his seed he brought with him into Egypt.

8 And these are the names of the sons of Israel, who came into Egypt. Jacob and his sons. Reuben, Jacob's firstborn. 9 And the sons of Reuben: Hanoch, and Pallu, and Hezron, and Carmi. 10 And the sons of Simeon: Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanitish woman. 11 And the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. 12 And the sons of Judah: Er, and Onan, and Shelah, and Perez, and Zerah; but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. And the sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul. 13 And the sons of Issachar: Tola, and Puvah, and Jashub, and Shimron. 14 And the sons of Zebulun: Sered, and Elon, and Jahleel. 15 These are the sons of Leah whom she bore to Jacob in Paddan-aram, as well as his daughter Dinah. All the souls of his sons and his daughters were thirty-three.

16 And the sons of Gad: Zephon, and Haggi, Shuni, and Ezbon, Eri, and Arodi, and Areli. 17 And the sons of Asher: Imnah, and Ishvah, and Ishvi, and Beriah, and their sister Serah; and the sons of Beriah: Heber, and Malchiel. 18 These are the sons of Zilpah whom Laban gave to his daughter Leah; and she bore to Jacob these sixteen souls.

19 The sons of Jacob's wife, Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin.[172] 20 And to Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, the daughter of Poti-phera priest of On, bore to him. And the sons of Manasseh: his wife bore Asriel, and his Aramean concubine bore Machir. And Machir begot Gilead. And the sons of Manasseh's brother, Ephraim: Shuthelah and Tahan. And the sons of Shuthelah: Eran. 21 And the sons of Benjamin: Bela, and Becher, and Ashbel; and the sons of Bela were: Gera and Naaman, Ehi and Rosh, and Muppim; and Gera begot Ard. 22 These are the sons of Rachel she bore to Jacob: nineteen souls in all.

23 And the sons of Dan: Hushim. 24 And the sons of Naphtali: Jahzeel, and Guni, and Jezer, and Shillem. 25 These are the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to Rachel his daughter, and these she bore to Jacob: seven souls in all.

26 All the souls who came with Jacob into Egypt, who came out of his loins, excluding Jacob's daughters-in-law, were sixty-six souls in all.[173] 27 And the sons of Joseph, who were born to him in the land of Egypt, were nine souls. All the souls of the house of Jacob, who came with Jacob into Egypt, were seventy-five souls.

28 Jacob sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph, to show Joseph the way to [them in] Goshen; and they came into the land of Goshen. 29 And Joseph made ready his chariot, and went up to meet Israel his father, to Goshen; and he presented himself to him, and fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while. 30 And Israel said to Joseph, Now let me die, since I have seen your face, that you are yet alive. 31 And Joseph said to his brothers, and to his father's house, I will go up, and tell Pharaoh, and will say to him, My brothers, and my father's house, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me; 32 and the men are shepherds, for they have been keepers of cattle; and they have brought their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have. 33 And it will come to pass, when Pharaoh will call you+, and will say, What is your+ occupation? 34 Then you+ will say, Your slaves have been keepers of cattle from our youth even until now, both we, and our fathers: that you+ may dwell in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is disgusting to the Egyptians.

47  Then Joseph went in and told Pharaoh, and said, My father and my brothers, and their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have, have come out of the land of Canaan; and, look, they are in the land of Goshen. 2 And from among his brothers he took five men, and presented them to Pharaoh. 3 And Pharaoh said to his brothers, What is your+ occupation? And they said to Pharaoh, Your slaves are shepherds, both we, and our fathers. 4 And they said to Pharaoh, To sojourn in the land we have come; for there is no pasture for your slaves' flocks; for the famine is intense in the land of Canaan: now therefore, we pray you, let your slaves dwell in the land of Goshen. 5 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, They may dwell in the land of Goshen. And if you know that there are among them capable men, put them in charge of my herds.

And Jacob and his sons came to Egypt to Joseph, and Pharaoh the king of Egypt heard it. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, Your father and your brothers have come to you.[174] 6 Look, the land of Egypt is before you. You may settle your father and your brothers in the best of the land. 7 And Joseph brought in Jacob his father, and set him before Pharaoh: and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. 8 And Pharaoh said to Jacob, How many are the days of the years of your life? 9 And Jacob said to Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty years: few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they haven't attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage. 10 And Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from the presence of Pharaoh. 11 And Joseph placed his father and his brothers, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded. 12 And Joseph nourished his father, and his brothers, and all his father's household, with bread, according to their families.

13 And there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very intense, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine. 14 And Joseph gathered up all the silver that was found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the grain which they bought: and Joseph brought the silver into Pharaoh's house. 15 And when the silver was all spent in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph, and said, Give us bread: for why should we die in your presence? For [we are] out of silver. 16 And Joseph said, Give your+ cattle; and I will give it to you+ for your+ cattle, if [you+ are] out of silver. 17 And they brought their cattle to Joseph; and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for the horses, and for the flocks, and for the herds, and for the donkeys: and he fed them with bread in exchange for all their cattle for that year. 18 And when that year was ended, they came to him the second year, and said to him, We will not hide from my lord, how that our silver is all spent; and the herds of cattle are my lord's; there is nothing left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies, and our lands: 19 why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be slaves to Pharaoh: and give us seed, that we may live, and not die, and that the land not be desolate.

20 So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for the Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine was intense on them: and the land became Pharaoh's. 21 And as for the people, he made them slaves from one end of the border of Egypt even to its other end. 22 Only the land of the priests he didn't buy: for the priests had a portion from Pharaoh, and ate their portion which Pharaoh gave them; therefore they didn't sell their land. 23 Then Joseph said to the people, Look, I have bought you+ this day and your+ land for Pharaoh: look, here is seed for you+, and you+ will sow the land. 24 And it will come to pass at the ingatherings, that you+ will give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four parts will be your+ own, for seed of the field, and for your+ food, and for them of your+ households, and for food for your+ little ones. 25 And they said, You have saved our lives: let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's slaves. 26 And Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth; only the land of the priests alone didn't become Pharaoh's.

27 And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen; and they got possessions in it, and were fruitful, and multiplied exceedingly. 28 And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years: so the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were a hundred forty and seven years. 29 And the time drew near that Israel must die: and he called his son Joseph, and said to him, If now I have found favor in your sight, put, I pray you, your hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me: don't bury me, I pray you, in Egypt; 30 but when I sleep with my fathers, you will carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their burying-place. And he said, I will do as you have said. 31 And he said, Swear to me: and he swore to him. And Israel bowed himself on the head of the bed.

48  And it came to pass after these things, that one said to Joseph, Look, your father is sick: and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. 2 And one told Jacob, and said, Look, your son Joseph comes to you: and Israel strengthened himself, and sat on the bed. 3 And Jacob said to Joseph, God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me, 4 and said to me, Look, I will make you fruitful, and multiply you, and I will make of you a company of peoples, and will give this land to your seed after you for an everlasting possession. 5 And now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you into Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh, even as Reuben and Simeon, will be mine. 6 And your issue, that you beget after them, will be yours; they will be called after the name of their brothers in their inheritance. 7 And as for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died to my sorrow in the land of Canaan in the way, when there was still some distance to come to Ephrath: and I buried her there in the way to Ephrath (the same is Beth-lehem).

8 And Israel saw Joseph's sons, and said, Who are these? 9 And Joseph said to his father, They are my sons, whom God has given me here. And he said, Bring them, I pray you, to me, and I will bless them. 10 Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that he could not see. And he brought them near to him; and he kissed them, and embraced them. 11 And Israel said to Joseph, I had not thought to see your face: and, look, God has let me see your seed also. 12 And Joseph brought them out from between his knees; and he bowed himself with his face to the earth. 13 And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel's left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel's right hand, and brought them near to him. 14 And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it on Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh's head, guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the firstborn. 15 And he blessed Joseph, and said, The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has fed me all my life long to this day, 16 the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth. 17 And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it was evil in his eyes: and he held up his father's hand, to remove it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head. 18 And Joseph said to his father, Not so, my father; for this is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head. 19 And his father refused, and said, I know, my son, I know. He also will become a people, and he also will be great: nevertheless his younger brother will be greater than he, and his seed will become a multitude of nations. 20 And he blessed them that day, saying, In you [Joseph] will Israel bless, saying, God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh. 21 And Israel said to Joseph, Look, I die: but God will be with you+, and bring you+ again to the land of your+ fathers. 22 Moreover I have given to you one portion above your brothers, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.

49  And Jacob called to his sons, and said: gather yourselves together, that I may tell you+ that which will befall you+ in the latter days. 2 Assemble yourselves, and hear, you+ sons of Jacob; And listen to Israel your+ father. 3 Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength; The preeminence of dignity, and the preeminence of power. 4 Boiling over as water, you will not have the preeminence; Because you went up to your father's bed; Then you defiled it: he went up to my couch.

5 Simeon and Levi are brothers; They determined to destroy violently. 6 O my soul, don't come into their council; To their assembly, my glory, don't be united; For in their anger they slew a man, And in their self-will they hocked an ox. 7 Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; And their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, And scatter them in Israel.

8 Judah, you will your brothers praise: Your hand will be on the neck of your enemies; Your father's sons will bow down before you. 9 Judah is a lion's whelp; From the prey, my son, you have gone up: He stooped down, he couched as a lion, And as a lioness; who will rouse him up? 10 The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes: And to him will the obedience of the peoples be. 11 Binding his foal to the vine, And his donkey's colt to the choice vine; He has washed his garments in wine, And his vesture in the blood of grapes: 12 His eyes will be red with wine, And his teeth white with milk.

13 Zebulun will stay at the haven of the sea; And he will be for a haven of ships; And his border will be on Sidon.

14 Issachar is a strong donkey, Couching down between the sheepfolds: 15 And he saw a resting-place that it was good, And the land that it was pleasant; And he bowed his shoulder to bear, And became slave labor.

16 Dan will judge his people, As one of the tribes of Israel. 17 Dan will be a serpent in the way, An adder in the path, That bites the horse's heels, So that his rider falls backward. 18 I have waited for your salvation, O Yahweh. 19 Gad, a troop will press on him; But he will press on their heel.

20 Out of Asher his bread will be fat, And he will yield royal dainties.

21 Naphtali is a hind let loose: He gives goodly words.

22 Joseph is a fruitful bough, A fruitful bough by a fountain; His branches run over the wall. 23 The archers have intensely grieved him because they shot at him, and persecuted him: 24 But his bow remained firm, and the arms of his hands were agile, by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, Israel's shepherd and rock, 25 Even by the God of your father, who will help you, And by the Almighty, who will bless you, With blessings of heaven above, Blessings of the deep that crouches beneath, Blessings of the breasts, and of the womb. 26 The blessings of your father Have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors To the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: They will be on the head of Joseph, And on the top of the head of him who was separate from his brothers.

27 Benjamin is a wolf that ravens: In the morning he will devour the prey, And at evening he will divide the spoil.

28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel: and this is it that their father spoke to them and blessed them; each one, according to the blessing suitable to him, he blessed them. 29 And he charged them, and said to them, I am to be gathered to my relatives: bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, 30 in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a burying-place. 31 There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah: 32 the field and the cave that is in it, which was purchased from the sons of Heth. 33 And when Jacob made an end of charging his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered to his people.

50  And Joseph fell on his father's face, and wept on him, and kissed him. 2 And Joseph commanded his slaves the physicians to embalm his father: and the physicians embalmed Israel. 3 And forty days were fulfilled for him; for so are fulfilled the days of embalming: and the Egyptians wept for him 70 days.

4 And when the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph spoke to the house of Pharaoh, saying, If now I have found favor in your+ eyes, speak, I pray you+, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, 5 My father made me swear, saying, Look, I die: in my grave which I have dug for me in the land of Canaan, there you will bury me. Now therefore let me go up, I pray you, and bury my father, and I will come again. 6 And Pharaoh said, Go up, and bury your father, according to as he made you swear. 7 And Joseph went up to bury his father; and with him went up all the slaves of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, 8 and all the house of Joseph, and his brothers, and his father's house: only their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen. 9 And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen: and it was a very great company. 10 And they came to the threshing-floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, and there they lamented with a very great and intense lamentation: and he made a mourning for his father seven days. 11 And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, This is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians: therefore the name of it was called Abel-mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan. 12 And his sons did to him according to as he commanded them: 13 for his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field, for a possession of a burying-place, of Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre. 14 And Joseph returned into Egypt, he, and his brothers, and all who went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father.

15 And when Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, It may be that Joseph will hate us, and will fully repay us all the evil which we did to him. 16 And they told Joseph the following order, Your father commanded before he died, saying, 17 So you+ will say to Joseph, Forgive, I pray you now, the transgression of your brothers, and their sin, because they did to you evil. And now, we pray you, forgive the transgression of the slaves of the God of your father. And Joseph wept when they spoke to him. 18 And his brothers also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Look, we are your slaves. 19 And Joseph said to them, Don't be afraid: for am I in the place of God? 20 And as for you+, you+ meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save many people alive. 21 Now therefore don't be+ afraid: I will nourish you+, and your+ little ones. And he comforted them, and spoke kindly to them.

22 And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and his father's house: and Joseph lived a hundred and ten years. 23 And Joseph saw Ephraim's sons of the third generation: the sons also of Machir the son of Manasseh were born on Joseph's knees. 24 And Joseph said to his brothers, I die; but God will surely visit you+, and bring you+ up out of this land to the land which he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. 25 And Joseph took an oath of the sons of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you+, and you+ will carry up my bones from here. 26 So Joseph died, being a hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.

__________________________

Exodus

1  Now these are the names of the sons of Israel, who came into Egypt (every man and his household came with Jacob): 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, 3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, 4 Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. 5 And Joseph was in Egypt. And all the souls who came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy-five souls.[175] 6 And Joseph died, and all his brothers, and all that generation. 7 And the sons of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them.

8 Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who didn't know Joseph. 9 And he said to his people, Look, the people of the sons of Israel are more and mightier than we: 10 come, let's deal wisely with them, or else they will multiply, and it will come to pass, that, when war breaks out, they will also join themselves to our enemies, and fight against us, and get up out of the land. 11 Therefore they set over them slave masters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh store-cities, Pithom and Raamses. 12 But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And they were grieved because of the sons of Israel. 13 And the Egyptians made the sons of Israel to serve with rigor: 14 and they made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and in bricks, and in all manner of service in the field, all their service, in which they made them serve with rigor.

15 And the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah: 16 and he said, When you+ do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them on the birth-stool; if it is a son, then you+ will kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she will live. 17 But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men-children alive. 18 And the king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said to them, Why have you+ done this thing, and have saved the men-children alive? 19 And the midwives said to Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are lively, and are delivered before the midwife comes to them. 20 And God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty. 21 And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them households. 22 And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son who is born you+ will cast into the river, and every daughter you+ will save alive.

2  And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took as wife the daughter of Levi. 2 And the woman became pregnant, and gave birth to a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months. 3 And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch; and she put the child in it, and laid it in the flags by the river's brink. 4 And his sister stood far off, to know what would be done to him. 5 And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river; and her maidens walked along by the riverside; and she saw the ark among the flags, and sent her female slave to fetch it. 6 And she opened it, and saw the child: and, look, the baby wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews' children. 7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call you a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you? 8 And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go. And the young woman went and called the child's mother. 9 And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give you your wages. And the woman took the child, and nursed it. 10 And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she named him Moses, and said, Because I drew him out of the water.

11 And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown up, that he went out to his brothers, and looked on their burdens: and he saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his brothers. 12 And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he struck the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand. 13 And he went out the second day, and, look, two men of the Hebrews were striving together: and he said to him who did the wrong, Why do you strike your fellow man? 14 And he said, Who made you as a man, a prince and a judge over us? Do you think to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said, Surely the thing is known. 15 Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and he settled in the land of Midian after having moved to the land of Midian.

And [one day] he sat down by a well. 16 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock. 17 And the shepherds came and drove them away; but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock. 18 And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, How is it that you+ have come so soon today? 19 And they said, An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and moreover he drew water for us, and watered the flock. 20 And he said to his daughters, And where is he? Why is it that you+ have left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread. 21 And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter. 22 And she bore a son, and he named him Gershom; for he said, I have been a sojourner in a foreign land.

23 And it came to pass in the course of those many days, that the king of Egypt died: and the sons of Israel sighed by reason of the slavery, and they cried, and their cry came up to God by reason of the slavery. 24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25 And God saw the sons of Israel, and God took knowledge [of them].

3  Now Moses was shepherding the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the back of the wilderness, and came to the mountain of God, to Horeb. 2 And the angel of Yahweh appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and noticed that the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. 3 And Moses said, I will turn aside now, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. 4 And when Yahweh saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here I am. 5 And he said, Don't come any closer: take off your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground. 6 Moreover he said, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look at God. 7 And Yahweh said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; 8 and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a land good and large, to a land flowing with milk and honey; to the place of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. 9 And now, look, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to me: moreover I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come now therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring forth my people the sons of Israel out of Egypt. 11 And Moses said to God, Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the sons of Israel out of Egypt? 12 And he said, Certainly I will be with you; and this will be the token to you, that I have sent you: when you have brought forth the people out of Egypt, you+ will serve God on this mountain.

13 And Moses said to God, Look, when I come to the sons of Israel, and will say to them, The God of your+ fathers has sent me to you+; and they will say to me, What is his name? What shall I say to them? 14 And God said to Moses, I AM WHO ALWAYS IS: and he said, Thus you will say to the sons of Israel, I AM has sent me to you+.[176] 15 And God said moreover to Moses, Thus you will say to the sons of Israel, Yahweh, the God of your+ fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you+: this is my name forever, and this is my memorial to all generations.[177] 16 Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say to them, Yahweh, the God of your+ fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, I have surely visited you+, and [seen] that which is done to you+ in Egypt: 17 and I have said, I will bring you+ up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, to a land flowing with milk and honey. 18 And they will listen to your voice: and you will come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt, and you+ will say to him, Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us: and now let us go, we pray you, three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to Yahweh our God. 19 And I know that the king of Egypt will not give you+ leave to go, not even with a mighty hand [of God]. 20 And I will put forth my hand, and strike Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst of it: and after that he will let you+ go. 21 And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians: and it will come to pass, that, when you+ go, you+ will not go empty. 22 But every woman will ask of her neighbor, and of her who sojourns in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: and you+ will put them on your+ sons, and on your+ daughters; and you+ will despoil the Egyptians.

4  And Moses answered and said, But, look, they will not believe me, nor listen to my voice; for they will say, Yahweh has not appeared to you. 2 And Yahweh said to him, What is that in your hand? And he said, A rod. 3 And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it. 4 And Yahweh said to Moses, Put forth your hand, and take it by the tail: (and he put forth his hand, and laid hold of it, and it became a rod in his hand:) 5 That they may believe that Yahweh, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you. 6 And Yahweh said furthermore to him, Put now your hand into your bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, look, his hand was leprous, as [white as] snow. 7 And he said, Put your hand into your bosom again. (And he put his hand into his bosom again; and when he took it out of his bosom, look, it was turned again as his [other] flesh.) 8 And it will come to pass, if they will not believe you, neither listen to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign. 9 And it will come to pass, if they will not believe even these two signs, neither listen to your voice, that you will take of the water of the river, and pour it on the dry land: and the water which you take out of the river will become blood on the dry land.

10 And Moses said to Yahweh, Oh, Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before, nor since you have spoken to your slave; for I am slow of mouth, and slow of tongue. 11 And Yahweh said to him, Who has made man's mouth? Or who makes [man] mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, Yahweh? 12 Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth, and teach you what you will speak. 13 And he said, Oh, Lord, send, I pray you, by the hand of him whom you will send. 14 And the anger of Yahweh was kindled against Moses, and he said, Is there not Aaron your brother the Levite? I know that he can speak well. And also, look, he comes forth to meet you: and when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. 15 And you will speak to him, and put the words in his mouth: and I will be with your mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you+ what you+ will do. 16 And he will be your spokesman to the people; and it will come to pass, that he will be to you as a mouth, and you will be to him as God. 17 And you will take in your hand this rod, with which you will do the signs.

18 And Moses went and returned to Jethro his father-in-law, and said to him, Let me go, I pray you, and return to my brothers who are in Egypt, and see whether they be yet alive. And Jethro said to Moses, Go in peace. 19 And Yahweh said to Moses in Midian, Go, return into Egypt; for all the men are dead who sought your soul. 20 And Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them on a donkey, and he returned to the land of Egypt: and Moses took the rod of God in his hand. 21 And Yahweh said to Moses, When you go back into Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have put in your hand: but I will harden his heart and he will not let the people go. 22 And you will say to Pharaoh, Thus says Yahweh, Israel is my son, my firstborn: 23 and I have said to you, Let my son go, that he may serve me; and you have refused to let him go: look, I will slay your son, your firstborn.

24 And it came to pass on the way at the lodging-place, that Yahweh met him, and sought to kill him. 25 Then Zipporah took a flint, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet; and she said, Surely a bridegroom of blood you are to me. 26 So he left him alone. Then she said, A bridegroom of blood [you are], because of the circumcision.

27 And Yahweh said to Aaron, Go into the wilderness to meet Moses. And he went, and met him in the mountain of God, and kissed him. 28 And Moses told Aaron all the words of Yahweh with which he had sent him, and all the signs with which he had charged him. 29 And Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the sons of Israel: 30 and Aaron spoke all the words which Yahweh had spoken to Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people. 31 And the people believed: and when they heard that Yahweh had visited the sons of Israel, and that he had seen their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped.

5  And afterward Moses and Aaron came, and said to Pharaoh, This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness. 2 And Pharaoh said, Who is Yahweh, that I should listen to his voice to let Israel go? I don't know Yahweh, and moreover I will not let Israel go. 3 And they said, The God of the Hebrews has met with us: let us go, we pray you, three days' journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to Yahweh our God, or else he will fall on us with pestilence, or with the sword. 4 And the king of Egypt said to them, Why do you+, Moses and Aaron, take the people away from their works? You+ get to your+ burdens. 5 And Pharaoh said, Look, the people of the land are now many, and you+ make them rest from their burdens. 6 And the same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people, and their officers, saying, 7 You+ will no more give the people straw to make bricks, as before: let them go and gather straw for themselves. 8 And the number of the bricks, which they made before, you+ will lay on them; you+ will not diminish anything of it: for they are idle; therefore they cry, saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God. 9 Let heavier work be laid on the men, that they may labor at it; and don't let them regard lying words.

10 And the taskmasters of the people went out, and their officers, and they spoke to the people, saying, Thus says Pharaoh, I will not give you+ straw. 11 Go yourselves, you+ get straw where you+ can find it: for nothing of your+ work will be diminished. 12 So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. 13 And the taskmasters were urgent saying, Fulfill your+ works, [your+] daily tasks, as when there was straw. 14 And the officers of the sons of Israel, whom Pharaoh's taskmasters had set over them, were beaten, and demanded, Why have you+ not fulfilled your+ task both yesterday and today, in making bricks as before?

15 Then the officers of the sons of Israel came and cried to Pharaoh, saying, Why do you deal thus with your slaves? 16 There is no straw given to your slaves, and they say to us, Make bricks: and, look, your slaves are beaten; and your people will be guilty. 17 But he said, You+ are idle, you+ are idle: therefore you+ say, Let us go and sacrifice to Yahweh. 18 Go therefore now, and work; for there will no straw be given you+, yet you+ will deliver the number of bricks. 19 And the officers of the sons of Israel saw that they were in trouble, when it was said, You+ will not diminish anything from your+ bricks, [your+] daily tasks. 20 And they met Moses and Aaron, who stood in the way, as they came forth from Pharaoh: 21 and they said to them, Yahweh look at you+, and judge: because you+ have made our savor to stink in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his slaves, to put a sword in their hand to slay us.

22 And Moses returned to Yahweh, and said, Lord, why have you dealt ill with this people? Why is it that you have sent me? 23 For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has dealt ill with this people; neither have you delivered your people at all.  6  And Yahweh said to Moses, Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: for with a strong hand [of God] he will let them go, and with a strong hand [of God] he will drive them out of his land.

2 And God spoke to Moses, and said to him, I am Yahweh: 3 and I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty; but by my name Yahweh I was not known to them. 4 And I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their sojournings, in which they sojourned. 5 And moreover I have heard the groaning of the sons of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in slavery; and I have remembered my covenant. 6 Therefore say to the sons of Israel, I am Yahweh, and I will bring you+ out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you+ out of their slavery, and I will redeem you+ with an outstretched arm, and with great judgments: 7 and I will take you+ to be my people, and I will be your+ God; and you+ will know that I am Yahweh your+ God, who brings you+ out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. 8 And I will bring you+ in to the land which I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it to you+ for a heritage: I am Yahweh. 9 And Moses so spoke to the sons of Israel: but they didn't listen to Moses for anguish of spirit, and for cruel slavery.

10 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 11 Go in, speak to Pharaoh king of Egypt, that he let the sons of Israel go out of his land. 12 And Moses spoke before Yahweh, saying, Look, the sons of Israel haven't listened to me; how then will Pharaoh hear me, I who am of uncircumcised lips? 13 And Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, and gave them a charge to the sons of Israel, and to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt.

14 These are the heads of their fathers' houses. The sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel: Hanoch, and Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi; these are the families of Reuben. 15 And the sons of Simeon: Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanitish woman; these are the families of Simeon. 16 And these are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations: Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari; and the years of the life of Levi were a hundred thirty and seven years. 17 The sons of Gershon: Libni and Shimei, according to their families. 18 And the sons of Kohath: Amram, and Izhar, and Hebron, and Uzziel; and the years of the life of Kohath were a hundred thirty and three years. 19 And the sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites according to their generations. 20 And Amram took himself Jochebed his father's sister as wife; and she bore him Aaron and Moses: and the years of the life of Amram were a hundred and thirty and seven years. 21 And the sons of Izhar: Korah, and Nepheg, and Zichri. 22 And the sons of Uzziel: Mishael, and Elzaphan, and Sithri. 23 And Aaron took to himself Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab, the sister of Nahshon, as wife; and she bore him Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. 24 And the sons of Korah: Assir, and Elkanah, and Abiasaph; these are the families of the Korahites. 25 And Eleazar Aaron's son took himself one of the daughters of Putiel as wife; and she bore him Phinehas. These are the heads of the fathers' [houses] of the Levites according to their families. 26 These are that Aaron and Moses, to whom Yahweh said, Bring out the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt according to their hosts. 27 These are those who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring out the sons of Israel from Egypt: these are that Moses and Aaron.

28 And it came to pass on the day when Yahweh spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, 29 that Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, I am Yahweh: speak to Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I speak to you. 30 And Moses said before Yahweh, Look, I am of uncircumcised lips, and how will Pharaoh listen to me?  7  And Yahweh said to Moses, See, I have made you as God to Pharaoh; and Aaron your brother will be your prophet. 2 You will speak all that I command you; and Aaron your brother will speak to Pharaoh, that he let the sons of Israel go out of his land. 3 And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt. 4 But Pharaoh will not listen to you+, and I will lay my hand on Egypt, and bring forth my hosts, my people the sons of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments. 5 And Egypt will know that I am Yahweh, when I stretch forth my hand on Egypt, and bring out the sons of Israel from among them. 6 And Moses and Aaron did so; as Yahweh commanded them, so they did. 7 And Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh.

8 And Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 9 When Pharaoh speaks to you+, saying, Show a wonder for yourselves; then you will say to Aaron, Take your rod, and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it becomes a serpent. 10 And Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and they did so, as Yahweh had commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his slaves, and it became a serpent. 11 Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers: and the sacred scholars of Egypt also did in like manner with their witchcraft. 12 For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods. 13 And Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he didn't listen to them; as Yahweh had spoken.

14 And Yahweh said to Moses, Pharaoh's heart is hardened, he refuses to let the people go. 15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning; see, he goes out to the water; and you will stand by the river's brink to meet him; and the rod which was turned to a serpent you will take in your hand. 16 And you will say to him, Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to you, saying, Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness: and, look, so far you haven't listened. 17 Thus says Yahweh, In this you will know that I am Yahweh: look, I will strike with the rod that is in my hand on the waters which are in the river, and they will be turned to blood. 18 And the fish that are in the river will die, and the river will stink; and the Egyptians will loathe to drink water from the river. 19 And Yahweh said to Moses, Say to Aaron, Take your rod, and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their streams, and over their pools, and over all their ponds of water, that they may become blood; and there will be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.

20 And Moses and Aaron did so, as Yahweh commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and struck the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his slaves; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood. 21 And the fish that were in the river died; and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink water from the river; and the blood was throughout all the land of Egypt. 22 And the sacred scholars of Egypt did in like manner with their magic: and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he didn't listen to them; as Yahweh had spoken. 23 And Pharaoh turned and went into his house, neither did he lay even this to heart. 24 And all the Egyptians dug round about the river for water to drink; for they could not drink of the water of the river. 25 And seven days were fulfilled after Yahweh had struck the river.

8  And Yahweh spoke to Moses, Go in to Pharaoh, and say to him, Thus says Yahweh, Let my people go, that they may serve me. 2 And if you refuse to let them go, look, I will strike all your borders with frogs: 3 and the river will swarm with frogs, which will go up and come into your house, and into your bedchamber, and on your bed, and into the house of your slaves, and on your people, and into your ovens, and into your kneading-troughs: 4 and the frogs will come up both on you, and on your people, and on all your slaves. 5 And Yahweh said to Moses, Say to Aaron, Stretch forth your hand with your rod over the rivers, over the streams, and over the pools, and cause frogs to come up on the land of Egypt. 6 And Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs came up, and covered the land of Egypt. 7 And the sacred scholars did in like manner with their magic, and brought up frogs on the land of Egypt.

8 Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, Entreat Yahweh, that he take away the frogs from me, and from my people; and I will let the people go, that they may sacrifice to Yahweh. 9 And Moses said to Pharaoh, You have this glory over me: for what time shall I entreat for you, and for your slaves, and for your people, that the frogs be destroyed from you and your houses, and remain in the river only? 10 And he said, For tomorrow. And he said, Let it be according to your word; that you may know that there is none like Yahweh our God. 11 And the frogs will depart from you, and from your houses, and from your slaves, and from your people; they will remain in the river only. 12 And Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh: and Moses cried to Yahweh concerning the frogs which he had brought on Pharaoh. 13 And Yahweh did according to the word of Moses; and the frogs died out of the houses, out of the courts, and out of the fields. 14 And they gathered them together in heaps; and the land stank. 15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart, and didn't listen to them, as Yahweh had spoken.

16 And Yahweh said to Moses, Say to Aaron, Stretch out your rod, and strike the dust of the earth, that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt. 17 And they did so; and Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod, and struck the dust of the earth, and there were lice on man and on beast; all the dust of the earth became lice throughout all the land of Egypt. 18 And the sacred scholars did so with their magic to bring forth lice, but they could not: and there were lice on man and on beast. 19 Then the sacred scholars said to Pharaoh, This is the finger of God: and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he didn't listen to them; as Yahweh had spoken.

20 And Yahweh said to Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh; look, he comes forth to the water; and say to him, Thus says Yahweh, Let my people go, that they may serve me. 21 For if you will not let my people go, look, I will send swarms of flies on you, and on your slaves, and on your people, and into your houses: and the houses of the Egyptians will be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground on which they are. 22 And I will set apart in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies will be there; to the end you may know that I am Yahweh in the midst of the earth. 23 And I will put redemption between my people and your people: by tomorrow will this sign be. 24 And Yahweh did so; and there came grievous swarms of flies into the house of Pharaoh, and into his slaves' houses: and in all the land of Egypt the land was corrupted by reason of the swarms of flies.

25 And Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said, Go+, sacrifice to your+ God in the land. 26 And Moses said, It is not right to do so; for we will sacrifice something disgusting of the Egyptians to Yahweh our God: look, if we will sacrifice something disgusting of the Egyptians before their eyes, then will they not stone us? 27 We will go three days' journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to Yahweh our God, as he will command us. 28 And Pharaoh said, I will let you+ go, that you+ may sacrifice to Yahweh your+ God in the wilderness; only you+ will not go very far away: entreat for me. 29 And Moses said, Look, I go out from you, and I will entreat Yahweh that the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his slaves, and from his people, tomorrow: only don't let Pharaoh deal deceitfully anymore in not letting the people go to sacrifice to Yahweh. 30 And Moses went out from Pharaoh, and entreated Yahweh. 31 And Yahweh did according to the word of Moses; and he removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his slaves, and from his people; not one remained. 32 And Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also, and he did not let the people go.

9  Then Yahweh said to Moses, Go in to Pharaoh, and tell him, Thus says Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me. 2 For if you refuse to let them go, and will still hold them, 3 look, the hand of Yahweh is on your cattle which are in the field, on the horses, on the donkeys, on the camels, on the herds, and on the flocks: [there will be] a very grievous pestilence. 4 And Yahweh will make a distinction between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt; and nothing will die of all that belongs to the sons of Israel. 5 And Yahweh appointed a set time, saying, Tomorrow Yahweh will do this thing in the land. 6 And Yahweh did that thing on the next day; and all the cattle of Egypt died; but of the cattle of the sons of Israel not one died. 7 And Pharaoh sent and saw that there wasn't so much as one of the cattle of the Israelites dead. But the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go.

8 And Yahweh said to Moses and to Aaron, Take to yourselves handfuls of ashes of the furnace, and let Moses sprinkle it toward heaven in the sight of Pharaoh. 9 And it will become small dust over all the land of Egypt, and will be a boil breaking forth with sores on man and on beast, throughout all the land of Egypt. 10 And they took ashes of the furnace, and stood before Pharaoh; and Moses sprinkled it up toward heaven; and it became a boil breaking forth with sores on man and on beast. 11 And the sacred scholars could not stand before Moses because of the boils; for the boils were on the sacred scholars, and on all the Egyptians. 12 And Yahweh hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he didn't listen to them, as Yahweh had spoken to Moses.

13 And Yahweh said to Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh, and say to him, Thus says Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me. 14 For this time I will send all my plagues on your heart, and on your slaves, and on your people; that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth. 15 For now I have put forth my hand, and have struck you and your people with pestilence, and you have been cut off from the earth: 16 but in deed for this very cause I have made you to stand, to show you my power, and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth. 17 You still exalt yourself against my people, that you will not let them go. 18 Look, tomorrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as has not been in Egypt since the day it was founded even until now. 19 Now therefore send, hurry in your cattle and all that you have in the field; [for] all of man and beast that will be found in the field, and will not be brought home, the hail will come down on them, and they will die. 20 He who feared the word of Yahweh among the slaves of Pharaoh made his slaves and his cattle flee into the houses. 21 And he who did not regard the word of Yahweh left his slaves and his cattle in the field.

22 And Yahweh said to Moses, Stretch forth your hand toward heaven, that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, on man and on beast, and on every herb of the field, throughout the land of Egypt. 23 And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven: and Yahweh sent thunder and hail, and fire ran down to the earth; and Yahweh rained hail on the land of Egypt. 24 So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, very grievous, such as had not been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. 25 And the hail struck throughout all the land of Egypt all that was in the field, from man to beast; and the hail struck every herb of the field, and broke every tree of the field. 26 Only in the land of Goshen, where the sons of Israel were, there was no hail.

27 And Pharaoh sent, and called for Moses and Aaron, and said to them, I have sinned this time: Yahweh is righteous, and I and my people are wicked. 28 Entreat Yahweh; for there has been enough of [these] mighty thunderings and hail; and I will let you+ go, and you+ will wait no longer. 29 And Moses said to him, As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands to Yahweh; the thunders will cease, neither will there be anymore hail; that you may know that the earth is Yahweh's. 30 But as for you and your slaves, I know that you+ will not yet fear Yahweh God. 31 And the flax and the barley were struck: for the barley was in the ear, and the flax was in bloom. 32 But the wheat and the spelt were not struck: for they were not grown up. 33 And Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh, and spread abroad his hands to Yahweh: and the thunders and hail ceased, and the rain was not poured on the earth. 34 And when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders had ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, he and his slaves. 35 And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the sons of Israel go, as Yahweh had spoken by Moses.

10  And Yahweh said to Moses, Go in to Pharaoh: for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his slaves, that I may show these signs of mine in his midst, 2 and that you may tell in the ears of your son, and of your son's son, what things I have wrought on Egypt, and my signs which I have done among them; that you+ may know that I am Yahweh. 3 And Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and said to him, Thus says Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, that they may serve me. 4 For if you refuse to let my people go, look, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your border: 5 and they will cover the face of the earth, so that one will not be able to see the earth: and they will eat the residue of that which has escaped, which remains to you+ from the hail, and will eat every tree which grows for you+ out of the field: 6 and your houses will be filled, and the houses of all your slaves, and the houses of all the Egyptians; as neither your fathers nor your fathers' fathers have seen, since the day that they were on the earth to this day. And he turned, and went out from Pharaoh. 7 And Pharaoh's slaves said to him, How long will this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve Yahweh their God: Don't you know yet that Egypt is destroyed? 8 And Moses and Aaron were brought again to Pharaoh: and he said to them, Go, serve Yahweh your+ God; but who are those who will go? 9 And Moses said, We will go with our young and with our old; with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds we will go; for we must hold a feast to Yahweh. 10 And he said to them, So be Yahweh with you+, as I will let you+ go, and your+ little ones: look to it; for evil is before you+. 11 Not so: now go, you+ who are [prominent] men,[178] and serve Yahweh; for that is what you+ desire. And he had them driven out from Pharaoh's presence.

12 And Yahweh said to Moses, Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come up on the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the land, even all that the hail has left. 13 And Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and Yahweh brought an east wind on the land all that day, and all the night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts. 14 And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the borders of Egypt; they were very grievous; before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them will be such. 15 For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they ate every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left: and no green thing remained, either tree or herb of the field, through all the land of Egypt. 16 Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in a hurry; and he said, I have sinned against Yahweh your+ God, and against you+. 17 Now therefore forgive, I pray you, my sin only this once, and entreat Yahweh your+ God, that he may take away from me this death only. 18 And he went out from Pharaoh, and entreated Yahweh. 19 And Yahweh turned an exceedingly strong west wind, which took up the locusts, and drove them into the Red Sea; not one locust remained in all the border of Egypt. 20 But Yahweh hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the sons of Israel go.

21 And Yahweh said to Moses, Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt. 22 And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days; 23 they didn't see one another, neither rose anyone from his place for three days: but all the sons of Israel had light in their dwellings. 24 And Pharaoh called to Moses, and said, You+ go, serve Yahweh; only let your+ flocks and your+ herds be left behind: let your+ little ones also go with you+. 25 And Moses said, You must also give into our hand sacrifices and burnt-offerings, that we may sacrifice to Yahweh our God. 26 Our cattle also will go with us; there will not be a hoof left behind: for we must take of them to serve Yahweh our God; and we don't know with what we must serve Yahweh, until we come there. 27 But Yahweh hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let them go. 28 And Pharaoh said to him, You get away from me, take heed to yourself, see my face no more; for in the day you see my face you will die. 29 And Moses said, You have spoken well. I will see your face again no more.

11  And Yahweh said to Moses, Yet one plague more I will bring on Pharaoh, and on Egypt; afterward he will let you+ go from here: when he will let you+ go, he will surely thrust you+ out from here altogether. 2 Speak now in the ears of the people, and let them ask every man of his fellow man, and every woman of her fellow woman, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold. 3 And Yahweh gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh's slaves, and in the sight of the people.

4 And Moses said, Thus says Yahweh, About midnight I will go out into the midst of Egypt: 5 and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the female slave who is behind the mill; and all the firstborn of cattle. 6 And there will be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there has not been, nor will be anymore. 7 But against any of the sons of Israel will not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast: that you+ may know how that Yahweh does make a distinction between the Egyptians and Israel. 8 And all these slaves of yours will come down to me, and bow themselves down to me, saying, You get out, and all the people who follow you: and after that I will go out. And he went out from Pharaoh in hot anger.

9 And Yahweh said to Moses, Pharaoh will not listen to you+; that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt. 10 And Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh: and Yahweh hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the sons of Israel go out of his land.

12  And Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 2 This month will be to you+ the beginning of months: it will be the first month of the year to you+. 3 You+ speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth [day] of this month they will take to them every man a lamb, according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household: 4 and if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his neighbor next to his house will take one according to the number of the souls; according to every man's eating you+ will make your+ count for the lamb. 5 Your+ lamb will be without blemish, a male a year old: you+ will take it from the sheep, or from the goats: 6 and you+ will keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month; and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel will kill it at evening. 7 And they will take of the blood, and put it on the two side-posts and on the lintel, on the houses in which they will eat it. 8 And they will eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; with bitter herbs they will eat it. 9 Don't eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted with fire; its head with its legs and with its insides. 10 And you+ will let nothing of it remain until the morning; but that which remains of it until the morning you+ will burn with fire. 11 And thus you+ will eat it: with your+ loins girded, your+ sandals on your+ feet, and your+ staff in your+ hand; and you+ will eat it in a hurry: it is Yahweh's Passover. 12 For I will go through the land of Egypt in that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from man to beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am Yahweh. 13 And the blood will be to you+ for a token on the houses where you+ are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you+, and there will be no plague on you+ to destroy you+, when I strike the land of Egypt. 14 And this day will be to you+ for a memorial, and you+ will keep it [as] a feast to Yahweh: throughout your+ generations you+ will keep it [as] a feast by an ordinance forever.

15 Seven days you+ will eat unleavened bread; even the first day you+ will put away leaven out of your+ houses: for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul will be cut off from Israel. 16 And in the first day there will be to you+ a holy convocation, and in the seventh day a holy convocation; no manner of work will be done in them, except that which every soul must eat, only that may be done by you+. 17 And you+ will observe the [feast of] unleavened bread; for in this very same day I have brought your+ hosts out of the land of Egypt: therefore you+ will observe this day throughout your+ generations by an ordinance forever. 18 In the first [month], on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you+ will eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at evening. 19 Seven days there will be no leaven found in your+ houses: for whoever eats that which is leavened, that soul will be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a sojourner, or one who is born in the land. 20 You+ will eat nothing leavened; in all your+ habitations you+ will eat unleavened bread.

21 Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said to them, Draw out, and you+ take lambs according to your+ families, and kill the Passover. 22 And you+ will take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two side-posts with the blood that is in the basin; and none of you+ will go out of the door of his house until the morning. 23 For Yahweh will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when he sees the blood on the lintel, and on the two side-posts, Yahweh will pass over the door, and will not allow the destroyer to come in to your+ houses to strike you+. 24 And you+ will observe this thing for an ordinance to you and to your sons forever. 25 And it will come to pass, when you+ come to the land which Yahweh will give you+, according as he has promised, that you+ will keep this service. 26 And it will come to pass, when your+ sons will say to you+, What do you+ mean by this service? 27 Then you+ will say, It is the sacrifice of Yahweh's Passover, who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and worshiped. 28 And the sons of Israel went and did so; as Yahweh had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.

29 And it came to pass at midnight, that Yahweh struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle. 30 And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his slaves, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead. 31 And he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up, you+ get forth from among my people, both you+ and the sons of Israel; and go, serve Yahweh, as you+ have said. 32 Take both your+ flocks and your+ herds, as you+ have said, and be gone; and bless me also. 33 And the Egyptians were urgent on the people, to send them out of the land in a hurry; for they said, We are all dead men. 34 And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading-troughs being bound up in their clothes on their shoulders. 35 And the sons of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they asked of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment. 36 And Yahweh gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. And they despoiled the Egyptians.

37 And the sons of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot who were [able-bodied] men, besides children. 38 And a mixed multitude went up also with them; and flocks, and herds, even very many cattle. 39 And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought forth out of Egypt; for it was not leavened, because they were thrust out of Egypt, and could not tarry, neither had they prepared for themselves any victuals. 40 Now the time that the sons of Israel dwelt in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. 41 And it came to pass at the end of four hundred and thirty years, even the very same day it came to pass, that all the hosts of Yahweh went out from the land of Egypt. 42 It is a night to be much observed to Yahweh for bringing them out from the land of Egypt: this is that night of Yahweh, to be much observed of all the sons of Israel throughout their generations.

43 And Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the Passover: no foreigner will eat of it; 44 but every man's slave who is bought for silver, when you have circumcised him, then he will eat of it. 45 A sojourner and a hired worker will not eat of it. 46 In one house it will be eaten; you will not carry forth anything of the flesh abroad out of the house; neither will you+ break a bone of it. 47 All the congregation of Israel will keep it. 48 And when a stranger sojourns with you, and [before he] keeps the Passover to Yahweh, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he will be as one who is born in the land: but no uncircumcised person will eat of it. 49 One law will be to him who is home-born, and to the stranger who sojourns among you+. 50 Thus did all the sons of Israel; as Yahweh commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did. 51 And it came to pass the very same day, that Yahweh brought the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their hosts.

13  And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2 Sanctify to me all the firstborn, whatever opens the womb among the sons of Israel, both of man and of beast: it is mine.

3 And Moses said to the people, Remember this day, in which you+ came out from Egypt, out of the house of slaves; for by strength of hand Yahweh brought you+ out from this place: there will be no leavened bread eaten. 4 This day you+ go forth in the month Abib. 5 And it will be, when Yahweh will bring you into the land of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, which he swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, that you will keep this service in this month. 6 Seven days you will eat unleavened bread, and in the seventh day will be a feast to Yahweh. 7 Unleavened bread will be eaten throughout the seven days; and there will be no leavened bread seen with you, neither will there be leaven seen with you, in all your borders. 8 And you will tell your son in that day, saying, It is because of that which Yahweh did for me when I came forth out of Egypt. 9 And it will be for a sign to you on your hand, and for a memorial between your eyes, that the law of Yahweh may be in your mouth: for with a strong hand Yahweh has brought you out of Egypt. 10 You will therefore keep this ordinance in its season from year to year.

11 And it will be, when Yahweh will bring you into the land of the Canaanite, as he swore to you and to your fathers, and will give it you, 12 that you will set apart to Yahweh all that opens the womb, and every firstborn which you have that comes of a beast; the males will be Yahweh's. 13 And every firstborn of a donkey you will redeem with a lamb; and if you will not redeem it, then you will break its neck: and all the firstborn of man among your sons you will redeem. 14 And it will be, when your son asks you in time to come, saying, What is this? Then you will say to him, By strength of hand Yahweh brought us out from Egypt, from the house of slaves: 15 and it came to pass, when Pharaoh hardened against letting us go, that Yahweh slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of man to the firstborn of beast: therefore I sacrifice to Yahweh all that opens the womb, being males; but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem. 16 And it will be for a sign on your hand, and for frontlets between your eyes: for by strength of hand Yahweh brought us forth out of Egypt.

17 And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God didn't lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Or else perhaps the people will repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt: 18 but God led the people about, by the way of the wilderness by the Red Sea: and the sons of Israel went up armed out of the land of Egypt. 19 And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him: for he had straitly sworn the sons of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you+; and you+ will carry up my bones away from here with you+. 20 And they took their journey from Succoth, and encamped in Etham, in the edge of the wilderness. 21 And Yahweh went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, to lead them the way, and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light, that they might go by day and by night: 22 the pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night, did not depart from before the people.

14  And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2 Speak to the sons of Israel, that they turn back and encamp before Pihahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, before Baal-zephon: across from it you+ will encamp by the sea. 3 And Pharaoh will say of the sons of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness has shut them in. 4 And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will follow after them; and I will get myself honor on Pharaoh, and on all his host: and the Egyptians will know that I am Yahweh. And they did so. 5 And it was told the king of Egypt that the people had fled: and the heart of Pharaoh and of his slaves was changed toward the people, and they said, What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us? 6 And he made ready his chariot, and took his people with him: 7 and he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over all of them. 8 And Yahweh hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued after the sons of Israel: for the sons of Israel went out with a high hand. 9 And the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses [and] chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pihahiroth, before Baal-zephon.

10 And when Pharaoh drew near, the sons of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, saw that the Egyptians were marching after them; and they were very afraid: and the sons of Israel cried out to Yahweh. 11 And they said to Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you dealt thus with us, to bring us forth out of Egypt? 12 Isn't this the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, Leave us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it were better for us to serve the Egyptians, than we should die in the wilderness. 13 And Moses said to the people, Don't be+ afraid, stand still, and see the salvation of Yahweh, which he will work for you+ today: for the Egyptians whom you+ have seen today, you+ will see them again no more forever. 14 Yahweh will fight for you+, and you+ will hold your+ peace.

15 And Yahweh said to Moses, Why do you cry to me? Speak to the sons of Israel, that they go forward. 16 And you lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea, and divide it: and the sons of Israel will go into the midst of the sea on dry ground. 17 And I, look, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they will go in after them: and I will get myself honor on Pharaoh, and on all his host, on his chariots, and on his horsemen. 18 And the Egyptians will know that I am Yahweh, when I have gotten myself honor on Pharaoh, on his chariots, and on his horsemen. 19 And the angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud removed from before them, and stood behind them: 20 and it came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness. And it lit up the night. And the one didn't come near the other all night.

21 And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and Yahweh caused the sea to go [back] by a strong east wind all the night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. 22 And the sons of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground: and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand, and on their left. 23 And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. 24 And it came to pass in the morning watch, that Yahweh looked forth on the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of cloud, and discomfited the host of the Egyptians. 25 And he locked their chariot wheels, and they were hard to drive; so the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for Yahweh fights for them against the Egyptians.

26 And Yahweh said to Moses, Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the waters may come again on the Egyptians, on their chariots, and on their horsemen. 27 And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and Yahweh overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. 28 And the waters returned, and covered the chariots and the horsemen of the whole host of Pharaoh that went in after them into the sea; not so much as one of them remained. 29 But the sons of Israel walked on dry land in the midst of the sea; and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand, and on their left. 30 Thus Yahweh saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. 31 And Israel saw the great work which Yahweh did on the Egyptians, and the people feared Yahweh: and they believed in Yahweh, and in his slave Moses.

15  Then sang Moses and the sons of Israel this song to Yahweh, and spoke, saying, I will sing to Yahweh, for he has triumphed gloriously: The horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea. 2 Yah[179] is my strength and song, And he has become my salvation: This is my God, and I will praise him; My father's God, and I will exalt him. 3 Yahweh is a man of war: Yahweh is his name. 4 Pharaoh's chariots and his host he has cast into the sea; And his chosen captains are sunk in the Red Sea. 5 The deeps cover them: They went down into the depths like a stone. 6 Your right hand, O Yahweh, is glorious in power, Your right hand, O Yahweh, dashes in pieces the enemy. 7 And in the greatness of your excellency you overthrow those who rise up against you: You send forth your wrath, it consumes them as stubble. 8 And with the blast of your nostrils the waters were piled up, The floods stood upright as a heap; The deeps were congealed in the heart of the sea. 9 The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; My soul will be satisfied on them; I will draw my sword, my hand will destroy them. 10 You blew with your wind, the sea covered them: They sank as lead in the majestic waters. 11 Who is like you, O Yahweh, among the gods? Who is like you, glorious in holiness, awesome in praises, doing wonders? 12 You stretched out your right hand, The earth swallowed them. 13 You in your loving-kindness have led the people that you have redeemed: You have guided them in your strength to your holy habitation. 14 The peoples have heard, they tremble: Pangs have taken hold on the inhabitants of Philistia. 15 Then were the chiefs of Edom dismayed; The mighty men of Moab, trembling takes hold on them: All the inhabitants of Canaan are melted away. 16 Terror and dread falls on them; By the greatness of your arm they are as still as a stone; Until your people pass over, O Yahweh, Until the people pass over who you have purchased. 17 You will bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of your inheritance, The place, O Yahweh, which you have made for you to dwell in, The sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established. 18 Yahweh will reign forever and ever.

19 For the horses of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea, and Yahweh brought back the waters of the sea on them; but the sons of Israel walked on dry land in the midst of the sea. 20 And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances. 21 And Miriam answered them, Sing+ to Yahweh, for he has triumphed gloriously; The horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.

22 And Moses led Israel onward from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water. 23 And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore it was named Marah. 24 And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? 25 And he cried to Yahweh; And Yahweh showed him a tree, and he cast it into the waters, and the waters were made sweet. There he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them; 26 and he said, If you will diligently listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, and will do that which is right in his eyes, and will give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you, which I have put on the Egyptians: for I am Yahweh who heals you.

27 And they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water, and seventy palm-trees: and they encamped there by the waters.

16  And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the sons of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt. 2 And the whole congregation of the sons of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron in the wilderness: 3 and the sons of Israel said to them, Oh that we had died by the hand of Yahweh in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots, when we ate bread to the full; for you+ have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.

4 Then Yahweh said to Moses, Look, I will rain bread from heaven for you+; and the people will go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or not. 5 And it will come to pass on the sixth day, that they will prepare that which they bring in, and it will be twice as much as they gather daily. 6 And Moses and Aaron said to all the sons of Israel, At evening, then you+ will know that Yahweh has brought you+ out from the land of Egypt; 7 and in the morning, then you+ will see the glory of Yahweh; because he hears your+ murmurings against Yahweh: and what are we, that you+ murmur against us? 8 And Moses said, [This will be], when Yahweh will give you+ in the evening flesh to eat, and in the morning bread to the full; because Yahweh hears your+ murmurings which you+ murmur against him: and what are we? Your+ murmurings are not against us, but against Yahweh. 9 And Moses said to Aaron, Say to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, Come near before Yahweh; for he has heard your+ murmurings. 10 And it came to pass, as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the sons of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and saw that the glory of Yahweh appeared in the cloud. 11 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 12 I have heard the murmurings of the sons of Israel: speak to them, saying, At evening you+ will eat flesh, and in the morning you+ will be filled with bread: and you+ will know that I am Yahweh your+ God.

13 And it came to pass at evening, that the quails came up, and covered the camp: and in the morning the dew lay round about the camp. 14 And when the dew that lay was gone up, look, on the face of the wilderness a small round thing, small as the frost on the ground. 15 And when the sons of Israel saw it, they said one to another, What is it? For they didn't know what it was. And Moses said to them, It is the bread which Yahweh has given you+ to eat. 16 This is the thing which Yahweh has commanded, Gather+ of it every man according to his eating; an omer a head, according to the number of your+ souls, you+ will take it, every man for those who are in his tent. 17 And the sons of Israel did so, and gathered some more, some less. 18 And when they measured it with an omer, he who gathered much had nothing over, and he who gathered little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his eating. 19 And Moses said to them, Let no man leave of it until the morning. 20 Notwithstanding they didn't listen to Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and stank: and Moses was angry with them.

21 And they gathered it morning by morning, every man according to his eating: and when the sun waxed hot, it melted. 22 And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one: and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. 23 And he said to them, This is that which Yahweh has spoken, Tomorrow is a solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to Yahweh: bake that which you+ will bake, and boil that which you+ will boil; and all that remains over lay up for yourselves to be kept until the morning. 24 And they laid it up until the morning, as Moses bade: and it did not stink, neither was there any maggot in it. 25 And Moses said, Eat that today; for today is a Sabbath to Yahweh: today you+ will not find it in the field. 26 Six days you+ will gather it; but on the seventh day is the Sabbath, in it there will be none. 27 And it came to pass on the seventh day, that some of the people went out to gather, and they found none. 28 And Yahweh said to Moses, How long do you+ refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? 29 See, since Yahweh has given you+ the Sabbath, therefore he gives you+ on the sixth day the bread of two days; remain+ every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day. 30 So the people rested on the seventh day.

31 And the house of Israel called its name Manna: and it was like coriander seed, white; and the taste of it was like wafers [made] with honey. 32 And Moses said, This is the thing which Yahweh has commanded, Let a full omer of it be kept throughout your+ generations, that they may see the bread with which I fed you+ in the wilderness, when I brought you+ forth from the land of Egypt. 33 And Moses said to Aaron, Take a pot, and put an omerful of manna in it, and lay it up before Yahweh, to be kept throughout your+ generations. 34 As Yahweh commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be kept. 35 And the sons of Israel ate the manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited; they ate the manna, until they came to the borders of the land of Canaan. 36 Now an omer is the tenth part of an ephah.

17  And all the congregation of the sons of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, by their journeys, according to the mouth of Yahweh, and encamped in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink. 2 Therefore the people strove with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said to them, Why do you+ strive with me? Why do you+ try Yahweh? 3 And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Why have you brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our sons and our cattle with thirst? 4 And Moses cried to Yahweh, saying, What shall I do to this people? They are almost ready to stone me. 5 And Yahweh said to Moses, Pass on before the people, and take with you of the elders of Israel; and your rod, with which you struck the river, take in your hand, and go. 6 Look, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you will strike the rock, and there will come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the striving of the sons of Israel, and because they tried Yahweh, saying, Is Yahweh among us, or not?

8 Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim. 9 And Moses said to Joshua, Choose men for us to go out and fight with Amalek: tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand. 10 So Joshua did as Moses told him to fight with Amalek. And Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 11 And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. 12 But Moses' hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat on it; and Aaron and Hur held up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; And his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. 13 And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. 14 And Yahweh said to Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: that I will completely blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. 15 And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Yahweh-nissi; 16 And he said, Since a hand was raised to Yah's throne, Yahweh will be at war with Amalek from generation to generation.

18  Now Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses' father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses, and for Israel his people, how that Yahweh had brought Israel out of Egypt. 2 And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took Zipporah, Moses' wife, after he had sent her away, 3 and her two sons; of whom the name of the one was Gershom; for he said, I have been a sojourner in a foreign land: 4 and the name of the other was Eliezer; for [he said], The God of my father was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh. 5 And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses into the wilderness where he was encamped, at the mount of God: 6 and he said to Moses, I, your father-in-law Jethro, have come to you, and your wife, and her two sons with her. 7 And Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, and did obeisance, and kissed him: and they asked each other of their welfare; and they came into the tent. 8 And Moses told his father-in-law all that Yahweh had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake, all the travail that had come upon them by the way, and how Yahweh delivered them. 9 And Jethro rejoiced for all the goodness which Yahweh had done to Israel, in that he had delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians. 10 And Jethro said, Blessed be Yahweh, who has delivered you+ out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of Pharaoh. 11 Now I know that Yahweh is greater than all gods; indeed, in the very thing through which they dealt proudly against them. 12 And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took a burnt-offering and sacrifices for God: and Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law before God.

13 And it came to pass on the next day, that Moses sat to judge the people: and the people stood about Moses from the morning to the evening. 14 And when Moses' father-in-law saw all that he did to the people, he said, What is this thing that you do to the people? Why do you sit yourself alone, and all the people stand about you from morning to evening? 15 And Moses said to his father-in-law, Because the people come to me to inquire of God: 16 when they have a matter, it comes to me; and I judge between a man and his fellow man, and I make them know the statutes of God, and his laws. 17 And Moses' father-in-law said to him, The thing that you do is not good. 18 You will surely wear away, both you, and this people with you: for the thing is too heavy for you; you are not able to perform it yourself alone. 19 Now listen to my voice, I will give you counsel, and God be with you: be for the people toward God, and you bring the causes to God: 20 and you will teach them the statutes and the laws, and will show them the way in which they must walk, and the work that they must do. 21 Moreover you will provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating unjust gain; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens: 22 and let them judge the people at all seasons: and it will be, that every great matter they will bring to you, but every small matter they will judge themselves: so it will be easier for yourself, and they will bear [the burden] with you. 23 If you will do this thing, and God commands you so, then you will be able to endure, and all this people also will go to their place in peace. 24 So Moses listened to the voice of his father-in-law, and did all that he had said. 25 And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. 26 And they judged the people at all seasons: the hard causes they brought to Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves. 27 And Moses let his father-in-law depart; and he went his way into his own land.

19  In the third month after the sons of Israel had gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day they came into the wilderness of Sinai. 2 And when they had departed from Rephidim, and had come to the wilderness of Sinai, they encamped in the wilderness; and there Israel encamped before the mount. 3 And Moses went up to God, and Yahweh called to him out of the mountain, saying, Thus you will say to the house of Jacob, and tell the sons of Israel: 4 You+ have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you+ on eagles' wings, and brought you+ to myself. 5 Now therefore, if you+ will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then you+ will be my own possession from among all peoples: for all the earth is mine: 6 and you+ will be to me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. These are the words which you will speak to the sons of Israel.

7 And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and set before them all these words which Yahweh commanded him. 8 And all the people answered together, and said, All that Yahweh has spoken we will do. And Moses reported the words of the people to Yahweh. 9 And Yahweh said to Moses, Look, I am coming to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you forever. And Moses told the words of the people to Yahweh. 10 And Yahweh said to Moses, Go to the people, and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments, 11 and be ready against the third day; for the third day Yahweh will come down in the sight of all the people on mount Sinai. 12 And you will set bounds to the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves, that you+ don't go up into the mount, or touch the border of it: whoever touches the mount will be surely put to death: 13 no hand will touch him, but he will surely be stoned, or shot through; whether it is beast or man, he will not live: when the trumpet sounds long, they will come up to the mount. 14 And Moses went down from the mount to the people, and sanctified the people; and they washed their garments. 15 And he said to the people, Be ready against the third day: don't come near a woman.

16 And it came to pass on the third day, when it was morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mount, and the voice of a trumpet exceedingly loud; and all the people who were in the camp trembled. 17 And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount. 18 And mount Sinai, the whole of it, smoked, because Yahweh descended on it in fire; and its smoke ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. 19 And when the voice of the trumpet waxed louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by a voice. 20 And Yahweh came down on mount Sinai, to the top of the mount: and Yahweh called Moses to the top of the mount; and Moses went up. 21 And Yahweh said to Moses, Go down, charge the people, or else they will break through to Yahweh to gaze, and many of them will perish. 22 And let the priests also, that come near to Yahweh, sanctify themselves, or else Yahweh will break forth on them. 23 And Moses said to Yahweh, The people can't come up to mount Sinai: for you charged us, saying, Set bounds about the mount, and sanctify it. 24 And Yahweh said to him, Go, get down; and you will come up, you, and Aaron with you: but don't let the priests and the people break through to come up to Yahweh, or else he will break forth on them. 25 So Moses went down to the people, and told them.

20  And God spoke all these words, saying, 2 I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slaves.

3 You will have no other gods before me.

4 You will not make for yourself a graven image, nor any likeness [of any thing] that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You will not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I Yahweh your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the sons, on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 and showing loving-kindness to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

7 You will not take the name of Yahweh your God in vain; for Yahweh will not hold him innocent who takes his name in vain.

8 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you will labor, and do all your work; 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahweh your God: you will not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your male slave, nor your female slave, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is inside your gates: 11 for in six days Yahweh made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day: therefore Yahweh blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.

12 Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which Yahweh your God gives you.

13 You will not kill.

14 You will not commit adultery.

15 You will not steal.

16 You will not bear false witness against your fellow man.

17 You will not covet your fellow man's house, you will not covet your fellow man's wife, nor his male slave, nor his female slave, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your fellow man's.

18 And all the people perceived the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the voice of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they trembled, and stood far off. 19 And they said to Moses, You speak with us, and we will hear; but don't let God speak with us, or else we will die. 20 And Moses said to the people, Don't be afraid: for God has come to prove you+, and that his fear may be before you+, that you+ don't sin. 21 And the people stood far off, and Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.

22 And Yahweh said to Moses, Thus you will say to the sons of Israel, You+ yourselves have seen that I have talked with you+ from heaven. 23 You+ will not make me [into anything]. Gods of silver or gods of gold you+ will not make for yourselves. 24 An altar of earth you will make to me, and will sacrifice on it your burnt-offerings, and your peace-offerings, your sheep, and your oxen: in every place where I record my name I will come to you and I will bless you. 25 And if you make me an altar of stone, you will not build it of cut stones; for if you lift up your tool on it, you have polluted it. 26 Neither will you go up by steps to my altar, that your nakedness will not be uncovered on it.

21  Now these are the ordinances which you will set before them.

2 If you buy a Hebrew slave, six years he will serve: and in the seventh he will go out free for nothing. 3 If he comes in by himself, he will go out by himself: if he is married, then his wife will go out with him. 4 If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters; the wife and her children will be her master's, and he will go out by himself. 5 But if the slave plainly says, I love my master, my wife, and my sons; I will not go out free: 6 then his master will bring him to the gods,[180] and will bring him to the door, or to the door-post; and his master will bore his ear through with an awl; and he will serve him forever.

7 And if a man sells his daughter to be a slave, she will not go out as the male slaves do. 8 If she doesn't please her master, who has espoused her to himself, then he will let her be redeemed: to sell her to a foreign people he will have no power, seeing he has betrayed her.[181] 9 And if he espouses her to his son, he will deal with her after the manner of daughters. 10 If he takes him another [wife]; her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, he will not diminish. 11 And if he does not do these three things to her, then she will go out for nothing, without silver.

12 He who strikes a man, so that he dies, will surely be put to death. 13 And if a man does not lie in wait, but God delivers [him] into his hand; then I will appoint you a place where he will flee. 14 And if a man comes presumptuously on his fellow man, to slay him with guile; you will take him from my altar, that he may die.

15 And he who strikes his father, or his mother, will be surely put to death.

16 And he who steals a man, and sells him, or if he is found in his hand, he will surely be put to death.

17 And he who curses his father or his mother, will surely be put to death.

18 And if men contend, and a man strikes his fellow man with a stone, or with his fist, and he doesn't die, but keeps his bed; 19 if he rises again, and walks abroad on his staff, then he who struck him will be innocent: he will only pay for the loss of his time, and will cause him to be thoroughly healed.

20 And if a man strikes his male slave, or his female slave, with a rod, and he dies under his hand; he will surely be punished. 21 Notwithstanding, if he continues a day or two, he will not be punished: for he is his silver.

22 And if men strive together, and hurt a pregnant woman so that her children are born prematurely and no harm follows; he will be surely fined, according to as the woman's husband will lay on him; and he will pay as the judges determine. 23 But if any harm follows, then you will give soul for soul, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.

26 And if a man strikes the eye of his male slave, or the eye of his female slave, and destroys it; he will let him go free for his eye's sake. 27 And if he strikes out his male slave's tooth, or his female slave's tooth, he will let him go free for his tooth's sake.

28 And if an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox will be surely stoned, and its flesh will not be eaten; but the owner of the ox will be innocent. 29 But if the ox was in the habit to gore in time past, and it has been testified to its owner, and he has not kept it in, but it has killed a man or a woman, the ox will be stoned, and its owner also will be put to death. 30 If there is laid on him a ransom, then he will give for the redemption of his soul whatever is laid on him. 31 Whether it has gored a son, or has gored a daughter, according to this judgment it will be done to him. 32 If the ox gores a male slave or a female slave, there will be given to their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox will be stoned.

33 And if a man will open a pit, or if a man will dig a pit and not cover it, and an ox or a donkey fall in it, 34 the owner of the pit will make it good; he will give silver to its owner, and the dead [beast] will be his.

35 And if a man's ox hurts his fellow man's ox, so that it dies, then they will sell the live ox, and divide the silver [from the sale] of it: and the dead they will also divide. 36 Or if it is known that the ox was in the habit to gore in time past, and its owner has not kept it in, he will surely pay ox for ox, and the dead [beast] will be his own.

22  If a man will steal an ox, or a sheep, and kill it, or sell it; he will pay five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep. 2 If the thief is found breaking in, and is struck so that he dies, there will be no bloodguiltiness for him. 3 If the sun is risen on him, there will be bloodguiltiness for him; he will make restitution: if he has nothing, then he will be sold for his theft. 4 If the theft is found in his hand alive, whether it is ox, or donkey, or sheep, he will pay double.

5 If a man will cause a field or vineyard to be eaten, and will let his beast loose, and it feeds in another man's field; of the best of his own field, and of the best of his own vineyard, he will make restitution.

6 If fire breaks out, and catches in thorns, so that the shocks of grain, or the standing grain, or the field are consumed; he who kindled the fire will surely make restitution.

7 If a man will deliver to his fellow man silver or stuff to keep, and it is stolen out of the man's house; if the thief is found, he will pay double. 8 If the thief is not found, then the master of the house will come near to the gods,[182] [to see] whether he has not put his hand to his fellow man's goods. 9 For every matter of trespass, whether it is for ox, for donkey, for sheep, for raiment, [or] for any manner of lost thing, of which one says, This is it, the cause of both parties will come before the gods;[183] he whom the gods[184] will condemn will pay double to his fellow man.

10 If a man delivers to his fellow man a donkey, or an ox, or a sheep, or any beast, to keep; and it dies, or is hurt, or driven away, no man seeing it: 11 the oath of Yahweh will be between them both, whether he has not put his hand to his fellow man's goods; and its owner will accept it, and he will not make restitution. 12 But if it is stolen from him, he will make restitution to its owner. 13 If it is torn in pieces, let him bring it for witness: he will not make good that which was torn.

14 And if a man borrows anything of his fellow man, and it is hurt, or dies, its owner not being with it, he will surely make restitution. 15 If its owner is with it, he will not make it good: if it is rented, it is included in its rental payment.

16 And if a man entices a virgin who is not betrothed, and lies with her, he will surely pay a dowry for her to be his wife. 17 If her father completely refuses to give her to him, he will pay silver according to the dowry of virgins.

18 You will not allow a witch to live.

19 Whoever lies with a beast will surely be put to death.

20 Whoever sacrifices to the gods will be completely destroyed. 21 And a sojourner you will not wrong, neither will you oppress him: for you+ were sojourners in the land of Egypt. 22 You+ will not afflict any widow, or fatherless child. 23 If you afflict him at all, and he cries at all to me, I will surely hear his cry; 24 and my wrath will wax hot, and I will kill you+ with the sword; and your+ wives will be widows, and your+ sons fatherless.

25 If you lend silver to any of my people with you who is poor, you will not be to him as a creditor; neither will you+ lay on him interest. 26 If you at all take your fellow man's garment for a pledge, you will restore it to him before the sun goes down: 27 for that is his only covering, it is his garment for his skin: in what will he sleep? And it will come to pass, when he cries to me, that I will hear; for I am gracious.

28 You will not revile the gods,[185] nor curse a ruler of your people. 29 You will not delay to offer of your harvest, and of the outflow of your presses. The firstborn of your sons you will give to me. 30 Likewise you will do with your oxen, [and] with your sheep: seven days it will be with its dam; on the eighth day you will give it to me. 31 And you+ will be holy men to me: therefore you+ will not eat any flesh that is torn of beasts in the field; you+ will cast it to the dogs.

23  You will not take up a false report: don't put your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. 2 You will not follow a multitude to do evil; neither will you speak in a cause to turn aside after a multitude to pervert [justice]: 3 neither will you favor a poor man in his cause.

4 If you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey going astray, you will surely bring it back to him again. 5 If you see the donkey of him who hates you lying under his burden, you will forbear to leave him, you will strengthen [it] with him.

6 You will not pervert the justice [due] to your poor in his cause. 7 Keep far from a false matter; and do not slay the innocent and righteous: for I will not justify the wicked. 8 And you will take no bribe: for a bribe blinds those who have sight, and perverts the words of the righteous. 9 And a sojourner you will not oppress: for you+ know the soul of a sojourner, seeing you+ were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

10 And six years you will sow your land, and will gather in its increase: 11 but the seventh year you will let it rest and lie fallow; that the poor of your people may eat: and what they leave the beast of the field will eat. In like manner you will deal with your vineyard, [and] with your oliveyard. 12 Six days you will do your work, and on the seventh day you will rest; that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your female slave, and the sojourner, may be refreshed. 13 And in all things that I have said to you+ you+ take heed: and make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of your mouth.

14 Three times you will keep a feast to me in the year. 15 The feast of unleavened bread you will keep: seven days you will eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib (for in it you came out from Egypt); and no one will appear before me[186] empty: 16 and the feast of harvest, the first fruits of your labors, which you sow in the field: and the feast of ingathering, at the end of the year, when you gather in your labors out of the field. 17 Three times in the year all your males will appear before the Sovereign Yahweh.[187]

18 You will not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread; neither will the fat of my feast remain all night until the morning. 19 The first of the first fruits of your ground you will bring into the house of Yahweh your God. You will not boil a young goat in it mother's milk.

20 Look, I send an angel before you, to keep you by the way, and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. 21 You+ take heed before him, and listen to his voice; don't provoke him; for he will not pardon your+ transgression: for my name is in him. 22 But if you will indeed listen to his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy to your enemies, and an adversary to your adversaries. 23 For my angel will go before you, and bring you in to the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Canaanite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite: and I will cut them off. 24 You will not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works; but you will completely overthrow them, and break in pieces their pillars. 25 And you+ will serve Yahweh your+ God, and he will bless your bread, and your water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of you. 26 There will be none that cast her young, nor that will be barren, in your land: the number of your days I will fulfill. 27 I will send my terror before you, and will discomfit all the people to whom you will come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. 28 And I will send the hornet before you, which will drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before you. 29 I will not drive them out from before you in one year, or else the land will become desolate, and the beasts of the field will multiply against you. 30 By little and little I will drive them out from before you, until you are increased, and inherit the land. 31 And I will set your border from the Red Sea even to the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the River: for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your+ hand: and you will drive them out before you. 32 You will make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. 33 They will not dwell in your land, or else they will make you sin against me; for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.

24  And he said to Moses, Come up to Yahweh, you, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and you+ worship far off: 2 and Moses alone will come near to Yahweh; but they will not come near; neither will the people go up with him. 3 And Moses came and told the people all the words of Yahweh, and all the ordinances: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which Yahweh has spoken we will do. 4 And Moses wrote all the words of Yahweh, and rose up early in the morning, and built an altar under the mount, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 And he sent young men of the sons of Israel, who offered burnt-offerings, and sacrificed peace-offerings of oxen to Yahweh. 6 And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basins; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. 7 And he took the Book of the Covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that Yahweh has spoken we will do, and be obedient. 8 And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Here is the blood of the covenant, which Yahweh has made with you+ concerning all these words.

9 Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. 10 And they saw the God of Israel; and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and as it were the very heaven for clearness. 11 And on the nobles of the sons of Israel he didn't lay his hand: and they saw God, and ate and drank.

12 And Yahweh said to Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give you the tables of stone, and the law and the commandment, which I have written, that you may teach them. 13 And Moses rose up, and Joshua his minister: and Moses went up into the mount of God. 14 And he said to the elders, You+ tarry here for us, until we come again to you+: and, look, Aaron and Hur are with you+: whoever has a cause, let him come near to them. 15 And Moses went up into the mount, and the cloud covered the mount. 16 And the glory of Yahweh stayed on mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days: and the seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. 17 And the appearance of the glory of Yahweh was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the sons of Israel. 18 And Moses entered into the midst of the cloud, and went up into the mount: and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights.

25  And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2 Speak to the sons of Israel, that they take for me an offering: of every man whose heart makes him willing you+ will take my offering. 3 And this is the offering which you+ will take of them: gold, and silver, and bronze, 4 and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' [hair], 5 and rams' skins dyed red, and sealskins, and acacia wood, 6 oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil, and for the sweet incense, 7 onyx stones, and stones to be set, for the ephod, and for the breastplate. 8 And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may stay among them. 9 According to all that I show you, the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all its furniture, even so you+ will make it.

10 And they will make an ark of acacia wood: two cubits and a half will be its length, and a cubit and a half its width, and a cubit and a half its height. 11 And you will overlay it with pure gold, inside and outside you will overlay it, and will make on it a crown of gold round about. 12 And you will cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in the four feet of it; and two rings will be on the one side of it, and two rings on the other side of it. 13 And you will make poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold. 14 And you will put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, with which to bear the ark. 15 The poles will be in the rings of the ark: they will not be taken from it. 16 And you will put into the ark the testimony which I will give you. 17 And you will make a mercy-seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half [will be] its length, and a cubit and a half its width. 18 And you will make two cherubim of gold; of beaten work you will make them, at the two ends of the mercy-seat. 19 And make one cherub at the one end, and one cherub at the other end: of one piece with the mercy-seat you+ will make the cherubim on the two ends of it. 20 And the cherubim will spread out their wings on high, covering the mercy-seat with their wings, with their faces one to another; toward the mercy-seat will the faces of the cherubim be. 21 And you will put the mercy-seat above on the ark; and in the ark you will put the testimony that I will give you. 22 And there I will meet with you, and I will commune with you from above the mercy-seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give you in commandment to the sons of Israel.

23 And you will make a table of acacia wood: two cubits [will be] its length, and a cubit its width, and a cubit and a half its height. 24 And you will overlay it with pure gold, and make thereto a crown of gold round about. 25 And you will make to it a border of a handbreadth round about; and you will make a golden crown to its border round about. 26 And you will make for it four rings of gold, and put the rings in the four corners that are on the four feet of it. 27 Close by the border will the rings be, for places for the poles to bear the table. 28 And you will make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold, that the table may be borne with them. 29 And you will make its dishes, and its spoons, and its flagons, and its bowls, with which to pour out: of pure gold you will make them. 30 And you will set on the table showbread before me always.

31 And you will make a lampstand of pure gold: of beaten work will the lampstand be made, even its base, and its shaft; its cups, its knops, and its flowers, will be of one piece with it. 32 And there will be six branches going out of its sides; three branches of the lampstand out of the one side of it, and three branches of the lampstand out of the other side of it: 33 three cups made like almond-blossoms in one branch, a knop and a flower; and three cups made like almond-blossoms in the other branch, a knop and a flower: so for the six branches going out of the lampstand: 34 and in the lampstand four cups made like almond-blossoms, its knops, and its flowers; 35 and a knop under two branches of one piece with it, and a knop under two branches of one piece with it, and a knop under two branches of one piece with it, for the six branches going out of the lampstand. 36 Their knops and their branches will be of one piece with it; the whole of it one beaten work of pure gold. 37 And you will make its lamps, seven: and the lamps will be set up and it will give light in front of it. 38 And its snuffers, and its snuffdishes, will be of pure gold. 39 Of a talent of pure gold it will be made, with all these vessels. 40 And see that you make them after their pattern, which has been shown to you in the mount.

26  Moreover you will make the tabernacle with ten curtains; of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, with cherubim the work of the skillful workman you will make them. 2 The length of each curtain will be eight and twenty cubits, and the width of each curtain four cubits: all the curtains will have one measure. 3 Five curtains will be coupled together one to another; and [the other] five curtains will be coupled one to another. 4 And you will make loops of blue on the edge of the one curtain from the selvedge in the coupling; and likewise you will make in the edge of the curtain that is outermost in the second coupling. 5 Fifty loops you will make in the one curtain, and fifty loops you will make in the edge of the curtain that is in the second coupling; the loops will be opposite one to another. 6 And you will make fifty clasps of gold, and couple the curtains one to another with the clasps: and the tabernacle will be one [whole].

7 And you will make curtains of goats' [hair] for a tent over the tabernacle: eleven curtains you will make them. 8 The length of each curtain will be thirty cubits, and the width of each curtain four cubits: the eleven curtains will have one measure. 9 And you will couple five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves, and will double over the sixth curtain in the forefront of the tent. 10 And you will make fifty loops on the edge of the one curtain that is outermost in the coupling, and fifty loops on the edge of the curtain which is joined in a second coupling. 11 And you will make fifty clasps of bronze, and put the clasps into the loops, and couple the tent together, that it may be one. 12 And the overhanging part that remains of the curtains of the tent, the half curtain that remains, will hang over the back of the tabernacle. 13 And the cubit on the one side, and the cubit on the other side, of that which remains in the length of the curtains of the tent, will hang over the sides of the tabernacle on this side and on that side, to cover it. 14 And you will make a covering for the tent of rams' skins dyed red, and a covering of sealskins above.

15 And you will make the boards for the tabernacle of acacia wood, standing up. 16 Ten cubits will be the length of a board, and a cubit and a half the width of each board. 17 Two tenons there will be in each board, joined one to another: thus you will make for all the boards of the tabernacle. 18 And you will make the boards for the tabernacle, twenty boards for the south side southward. 19 And you will make forty sockets of silver under the twenty boards; two sockets under one board for its two tenons, and two sockets under another board for its two tenons. 20 And for the second side of the tabernacle, on the north side, twenty boards, 21 and their forty sockets of silver; two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board. 22 And for the hinder part of the tabernacle westward you will make six boards. 23 And two boards you will make for the corners of the tabernacle in the hinder part. 24 And they will be a pair at the bottom, but joined together at its top to one ring: thus it will be for them both; they will be for the two corners. 25 And there will be eight boards, and their sockets of silver, sixteen sockets; two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board.

26 And you will make bars of acacia wood: five for the boards of the one side of the tabernacle, 27 and five bars for the boards of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the side of the tabernacle, for the hinder part westward. 28 And the middle bar in the midst of the boards will pass through from end to end. 29 And you will overlay the boards with gold, and make their rings of gold for places for the bars: and you will overlay the bars with gold. 30 And you will rear up the tabernacle according to the fashion of it which has been shown to you in the mount.

31 And you will make a veil of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen: with cherubim the work of the skillful workman it will be made. 32 And you will hang it on four pillars of acacia overlaid with gold; their hooks [will be] of gold, on four sockets of silver. 33 And you will hang up the veil under the clasps, and will bring in there inside the veil the ark of the testimony: and the veil will separate to you+ between the holy place and the most holy. 34 And you will put the mercy-seat on the ark of the testimony in the most holy place. 35 And you will set the table outside the veil, and the lampstand across from the table on the side of the tabernacle toward the south: and you will put the table on the north side.

36 And you will make a screen for the door of the Tent, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of the embroiderer. 37 And you will make for the screen five pillars of acacia, and overlay them with gold: their hooks will be of gold: and you will cast five sockets of bronze for them.

27  And you will make the altar of acacia wood, five cubits long, and five cubits broad; the altar will be foursquare: and its height will be three cubits. 2 And you will make its horns on the four corners of it; its horns will be of one piece with it: and you will overlay it with bronze. 3 And you will make its pots to take away its ashes, and its shovels, and its basins, and its flesh-hooks, and its firepans. As for all its vessels, you will make them of bronze. 4 And you will make for it a grating of network of bronze: and on the net you will make four bronze rings in the four corners of it. 5 And you will put it under the ledge around the altar beneath, that the net may reach halfway up the altar. 6 And you will make poles for the altar, poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with bronze. 7 And its poles will be put into the rings, and the poles will be on the two sides of the altar, in bearing it. 8 Hollow with planks you will make it: as it has been shown to you in the mount, so they will make it.

9 And you will make the court of the tabernacle: for the south side southward there will be hangings for the court of fine twined linen a hundred cubits long for one side: 10 and its pillars will be twenty, and their sockets twenty, of bronze; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets [will be] of silver. 11 And likewise for the north side in length there will be hangings a hundred cubits long, and its pillars twenty, and their sockets twenty, of bronze; the hooks of the pillars, and their fillets, of silver. 12 And for the width of the court on the west side will be hangings of fifty cubits; their pillars ten, and their sockets ten. 13 And the width of the court on the east side eastward will be fifty cubits. 14 The hangings for the one side [of the gate] will be fifteen cubits; their pillars three, and their sockets three. 15 And for the other side will be hangings of fifteen cubits; their pillars three, and their sockets three. 16 And for the gate of the court will be a screen of twenty cubits, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of the embroiderer; their pillars four, and their sockets four. 17 All the pillars of the court round about will be filleted with silver; their hooks of silver, and their sockets of bronze. 18 The length of the court will be a hundred cubits, and the width fifty at both ends, and the height five cubits, of fine twined linen, and their sockets of bronze. 19 As for all the instruments of the tabernacle in all its service, and all its pins, and all the pins of the court, they will be of bronze.

20 And you will command the sons of Israel, that they bring to you pure olive oil beaten for the light, to cause a lamp to burn continually. 21 In the tent of meeting, outside the veil which is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons will keep it in order from evening to morning before Yahweh: it will be a statute forever throughout their generations on the behalf of the sons of Israel.

28  And you bring near to you Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, from among the sons of Israel, that he may serve me in the priest's office, even Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron's sons. 2 And you will make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty. 3 And you will speak to all who are wise-hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they make Aaron's garments to sanctify him, that he may serve me in the priest's office. 4 And these are the garments which they will make: a breastplate, and an ephod, and a robe, and a coat of checker work, a turban, and a belt: and they will make holy garments for Aaron your brother, and his sons, that he may serve me in the priest's office. 5 And they will take the gold, and the blue, and the purple, and the scarlet, and the fine linen.

6 And they will make the ephod of gold, of blue, and purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of the skillful workman. 7 It will have two shoulder-pieces joined to it. On its two ends it will be joined together. 8 And the skillfully woven band, which is on it, with which to gird it on, will be like its work [and] of the same piece; of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen. 9 And you will take two onyx stones, and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel: 10 six of their names on the one stone, and the names of the six that remain on the other stone, according to their birth. 11 With the work of an engraver in stone, like the engravings of a signet, you will engrave the two stones, according to the names of the sons of Israel: you will make them to be enclosed in settings of gold. 12 And you will put the two stones on the shoulder-pieces of the ephod, to be stones of memorial for the sons of Israel: and Aaron will bear their names before Yahweh on his two shoulders for a memorial. 13 And you will make settings of gold, 14 and two chains of pure gold; like cords you will make them, of wreathed work: and you will put the wreathed chains on the settings.

15 And you will make a breastplate of judgment, the work of the skillful workman; like the work of an ephod you will make it; of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, you will make it. 16 Foursquare it will be [and] double; a span will be its length, and a span its width. 17 And you will set in it settings of stones, four rows of stones: a row of sardius, topaz, and carbuncle will be the first row; 18 and the second row an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond; 19 and the third row a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst; 20 and the fourth row a beryl, and an onyx, and a jasper: they will be enclosed in gold in their settings. 21 And the stones will be according to the names of the sons of Israel, twelve, according to their names; like the engravings of a signet, every one according to his name, they will be for the twelve tribes. 22 And you will make on the breastplate chains like cords, of wreathed work of pure gold. 23 And you will make on the breastplate two rings of gold, and will put the two rings on the two ends of the breastplate. 24 And you will put the two wreathed chains of gold in the two rings at the ends of the breastplate. 25 And the [other] two ends of the two wreathed chains you will put on the two settings, and put them on the shoulder-pieces of the ephod in its forepart. 26 And you will make two rings of gold, and you will put them on the two ends of the breastplate, on its edge, which is toward the side of the ephod inward. 27 And you will make two rings of gold, and will put them on the two shoulder-pieces of the ephod underneath, in its forepart, close by its coupling, above the skillfully woven band of the ephod. 28 And they will bind the breastplate by its rings to the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, that it may be on the skillfully woven band of the ephod, and that the breastplate may not be loosed from the ephod. 29 And Aaron will bear the names of the sons of Israel in the breastplate of judgment on his heart, when he goes in to the holy place, for a memorial before Yahweh continually. 30 And you will put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim; and they will be on Aaron's heart, when he goes in before Yahweh: and Aaron will bear the judgment of the sons of Israel on his heart before Yahweh continually.

31 And you will make the robe of the ephod all of blue. 32 And it will have a hole for the head in the midst of it: it will have a binding of woven work round about the hole of it, as it were the hole of a coat of mail, that it is not rent. 33 And on the skirts of it you will make pomegranates of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, round about its skirts; and bells of gold between them round about: 34 a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, on the skirts of the robe round about. 35 And it will be on Aaron to minister: and its sound will be heard when he goes in to the holy place before Yahweh, and when he comes out, that he will not die.

36 And you will make a plate of pure gold, and engrave on it, like the engravings of a signet, HOLY TO YAHWEH. 37 And you will put it on a lace of blue, and it will be on the turban; on the forefront of the turban it will be. 38 And it will be on Aaron's forehead, and Aaron will bear the iniquity of the holy things, which the sons of Israel will hallow in all their holy gifts; and it will be always on his forehead, that they may be accepted before Yahweh. 39 And you will weave the coat in checker work of fine linen, and you will make a turban of fine linen, and you will make a belt, the work of the embroiderer.

40 And for Aaron's sons you will make coats, and you will make for them belts, and head-tires you will make for them, for glory and for beauty. 41 And you will put them on Aaron your brother, and on his sons with him, and will anoint them, and consecrate them, and sanctify them, that they may serve me in the priest's office. 42 And you will make them linen breeches to cover the flesh of their nakedness; from the loins even to the thighs they will reach: 43 And they will be on Aaron, and on his sons, when they go in to the tent of meeting, or when they come near to the altar to minister in the holy place; that they will not bear iniquity, and die: it will be a statute forever to him and to his seed after him.

29  And this is the thing that you will do to them to hallow them, to serve me in the priest's office: take one young bull and two rams without blemish, 2 and unleavened bread, and unleavened cakes mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil: of fine wheat flour you will make them. 3 And you will put them into one basket, and bring them in the basket, with the bull and the two rams. 4 And Aaron and his sons you will bring to the door of the tent of meeting, and will wash them with water. 5 And you will take the garments, and put on Aaron the coat, and the robe of the ephod, and the ephod, and the breastplate, and gird him with the skillfully woven band of the ephod; 6 and you will set the turban on his head, and put the holy crown on the turban. 7 Then you will take the anointing oil, and pour it on his head, and anoint him. 8 And you will bring his sons, and put coats on them. 9 And you will gird them with belts and bind head-tires on them: and they will have the priesthood by a perpetual statute: and you will consecrate Aaron and his sons.

10 And you will bring the bull before the tent of meeting: and Aaron and his sons will lay their hands on the head of the bull. 11 And you will kill the bull before Yahweh, at the door of the tent of meeting. 12 And you will take of the blood of the bull, and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger; and you will pour out all the blood at the base of the altar. 13 And you will take all the fat that covers the insides, and the caul on the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, and burn them on the altar. 14 But the flesh of the bull, and its skin, and its dung, you will burn with fire outside the camp: it is a sin-offering.

15 You will also take the one ram; and Aaron and his sons will lay their hands on the head of the ram. 16 And you will slay the ram, and you will take its blood, and sprinkle it round about on the altar. 17 And you will cut the ram into its pieces, and wash its insides, and its legs, and put them with its pieces, and with its head. 18 And you will burn the whole ram on the altar: it is a burnt-offering to Yahweh; it is a sweet savor, an offering made by fire to Yahweh.

19 And you will take the other ram; and Aaron and his sons will lay their hands on the head of the ram. 20 Then you will kill the ram, and take of its blood, and put it on the tip of Aaron's and his sons' right ear, and on the thumb of their right hand, and on the great toe of their right foot, and sprinkle the blood on the altar round about. 21 And you will take of the blood that is on the altar, and of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron, and on his garments, and on his sons, and on the garments of his sons with him: and he will be hallowed, and his garments, and his sons, and his sons' garments with him. 22 Also you will take of the ram the fat, and the fat tail, and the fat that covers the insides, and the caul of the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, and the right thigh (for it is a ram of consecration), 23 and one loaf of bread, and one cake of oiled bread, and one wafer, out of the basket of unleavened bread that is before Yahweh. 24 And you will put the whole on the hands of Aaron, and on the hands of his sons, and will wave them for a wave-offering before Yahweh. 25 And you will take them from their hands, and burn them on the altar on the burnt-offering, for a sweet savor before Yahweh: it is an offering made by fire to Yahweh.

26 And you will take the breast of Aaron's ram of consecration, and wave it for a wave-offering before Yahweh: and it will be your portion. 27 And you will sanctify the breast of the wave-offering, and the thigh of the heave-offering, which is waved, and which is heaved up, of the ram of consecration, even of that which is for Aaron, and of that which is for his sons: 28 and it will be for Aaron and his sons as [their] portion forever from the sons of Israel; for it is a heave-offering: and it will be a heave-offering from the sons of Israel of the sacrifices of their peace-offerings, even their heave-offering to Yahweh.

29 And the holy garments of Aaron will be for his sons after him, to be anointed in them, and to be consecrated in them. 30 Seven days will the son who is priest in his stead put them on, when he comes into the tent of meeting to minister in the holy place.

31 And you will take the ram of consecration, and boil its flesh in a holy place. 32 And Aaron and his sons will eat the flesh of the ram, and the bread that is in the basket, at the door of the tent of meeting. 33 And they will eat those things with which atonement was made, to consecrate [and] to sanctify them: but a stranger will not eat, because they are holy. 34 And if anything of the flesh of the consecration, or of the bread, remains to the morning, then you will burn the remainder with fire: it will not be eaten, because it is holy.

35 And thus you will do to Aaron, and to his sons, according to all that I have commanded you: seven days you will consecrate them. 36 And every day you will offer the bull of sin-offering for atonement: and you will cleanse the altar, when you make atonement for it; and you will anoint it, to sanctify it. 37 Seven days you will make atonement for the altar, and sanctify it: and the altar will be most holy; whatever touches the altar will be holy.

38 Now this is that which you will offer on the altar: two lambs a year old day by day continually. 39 The one lamb you will offer in the morning; and the other lamb you will offer at evening: 40 and with the one lamb a tenth part [of an ephah] of fine flour mingled with the fourth part of a hin of beaten oil, and the fourth part of a hin of wine for a drink-offering. 41 And the other lamb you will offer at evening, and will do thereto according to the meal-offering of the morning, and according to the drink-offering of it, for a sweet savor, an offering made by fire to Yahweh. 42 It will be a continual burnt-offering throughout your+ generations at the door of the tent of meeting before Yahweh, where I will meet with you+, to speak there to you. 43 And there I will meet with the sons of Israel; and [the Tent] will be sanctified by my glory. 44 And I will sanctify the tent of meeting, and the altar: Aaron also and his sons I will sanctify, to serve me in the priest's office. 45 And I will stay among the sons of Israel, and will be their God. 46 And they will know that I am Yahweh their God, who brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, that I might stay among them: I am Yahweh their God.

30  And you will make an altar to burn incense on: of acacia wood you will make it. 2 A cubit will be its length, and a cubit its width; foursquare it will be; and two cubits will be its height: its horns will be of one piece with it. 3 And you will overlay it with pure gold, its top, and its sides round about, and its horns; and you will make to it a crown of gold round about. 4 And two golden rings you will make for it under its crown; on the two ribs of it, on the two sides of it you will make them; and they will be for places for poles with which to bear it. 5 And you will make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold. 6 And you will put it before the veil that is by the ark of the testimony where I will meet with you. 7 And Aaron will burn on it incense of sweet spices: every morning, when he dresses the lamps, he will burn it. 8 And when Aaron lights the lamps at evening, he will burn it, a perpetual incense before Yahweh throughout your+ generations. 9 You+ will offer no strange incense on it, nor burnt-offering, nor meal-offering; and you+ will pour no drink-offering on it. 10 And Aaron will make atonement on the horns of it once in the year; with the blood of the sin-offering of atonement once in the year he will make atonement for it throughout your+ generations: it is most holy to Yahweh.

11 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 12 When you take the sum of the sons of Israel, according to those who are numbered of them, then they will give every man a ransom for his soul to Yahweh, when you number them; that there will be no plague among them, because you number them. 13 This they will give, everyone who passes over to those who are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel is twenty gerahs); half a shekel for an offering to Yahweh. 14 Everyone who passes over to those who are numbered, from twenty years old and upward, will give the offering of Yahweh. 15 The rich will not give more, and the poor will not give less, than the half shekel, when they give the offering of Yahweh, to make atonement for your+ souls. 16 And you will take the atonement silver from the sons of Israel, and will appoint it for the service of the tent of meeting; that it may be a memorial for the sons of Israel before Yahweh, to make atonement for your+ souls.

17 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 18 You will also make a basin of bronze, and its base of bronze, whereat to wash. And you will put it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and you will put water in it. 19 And Aaron and his sons will wash their hands and their feet from it: 20 when they go into the tent of meeting, they will wash with water, that they will not die; or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn an offering made by fire to Yahweh. 21 So they will wash their hands and their feet, that they will not die: and it will be a statute forever to them, even to him and to his seed throughout their generations.

22 Moreover Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 23 You also take to you the chief spices: of flowing myrrh five hundred [shekels], and of sweet cinnamon half so much, even two hundred and fifty, and of sweet calamus two hundred and fifty, 24 and of cassia five hundred, after the shekel of the sanctuary, and of olive oil a hin. 25 And you will make it a holy anointing oil, a perfume compounded after the art of the perfumer: it will be a holy anointing oil. 26 And you will anoint with it the tent of meeting, and the ark of the testimony, 27 and the table and all its vessels, and the lampstand and its vessels, and the altar of incense, 28 and the altar of burnt-offering with all its vessels, and the basin and its base. 29 And you will sanctify them, that they may be most holy: whatever touches them will be holy. 30 And you will anoint Aaron and his sons, and sanctify them, that they may serve me in the priest's office. 31 And you will speak to the sons of Israel, saying, This will be a holy anointing oil to me throughout your+ generations. 32 On the flesh of man it will not be poured, neither will you+ make any like it, according to its composition: it is holy, [and] it will be holy to you+. 33 Whoever compounds any like it, or whoever puts any of it on a stranger, he will be cut off from his people.

34 And Yahweh said to Moses, Take to you sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum; sweet spices with pure frankincense: of each there will be a like weight; 35 and you will make of it incense, a perfume after the art of the perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure [and] holy: 36 and you will beat some of it very small, and put of it before the testimony in the tent of meeting, where I will meet with you: it will be to you+ most holy. 37 And the incense which you will make, according to its composition you+ will not make for yourselves: it will be to you holy for Yahweh. 38 Whoever will make like that, to smell of it, he will be cut off from his people.

31  And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2 See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah: 3 and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, 4 to devise skillful works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in bronze, 5 and in cutting of stones for setting, and in carving of wood, to work in all manner of workmanship. 6 And I, look, I have appointed with him Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan; and in the heart of all who are wise-hearted I have put wisdom, that they may make all that I have commanded you: 7 the tent of meeting, and the ark of the testimony, and the mercy-seat that is thereupon, and all the furniture of the Tent, 8 and the table and its vessels, and the pure lampstand with all its vessels, and the altar of incense, 9 and the altar of burnt-offering with all its vessels, and the basin and its base, 10 and the finely wrought garments, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, to serve in the priest's office, 11 and the anointing oil, and the incense of sweet spices for the holy place: according to all that I have commanded you, they will do.

12 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 13 You speak also to the sons of Israel, saying, Truly you+ will keep my Sabbaths: for it is a sign between me and you+ throughout your+ generations; that you+ may know that I am Yahweh who sanctifies you+. 14 You+ will keep the Sabbath therefore; for it is holy to you+: everyone who profanes it will surely be put to death; for whoever does any work in it, that soul will be cut off from among his people. 15 Six days will work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to Yahweh: whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he will surely be put to death. 16 Therefore the sons of Israel will keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. 17 It is a sign between me and the sons of Israel forever: for in six days Yahweh made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.

18 And he gave to Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him on mount Sinai, the two tables of the testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.

32  And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mount, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron, and said to him, Get up, make us gods, which will go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we don't know what has become of him. 2 And Aaron said to them, Break off the golden rings, which are in the ears of your+ wives, of your+ sons, and of your+ daughters, and bring them to me. 3 And all the people broke off the golden rings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. 4 And he received it at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, and made it [into] a molten calf: and they said, These are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt. 5 And when Aaron saw [this], he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, Tomorrow will be a feast to Yahweh. 6 And they rose up early on the next day, and offered burnt-offerings, and brought peace-offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.

7 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, Go, get down; for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves: 8 they have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it, and have sacrificed to it, and said, These are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt. 9 And Yahweh said to Moses, I have seen this people, and, look, it is a stiff-necked people: 10 now therefore leave me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of you a great nation. 11 And Moses implored Yahweh his God, and said, Yahweh, why does your wrath wax hot against your people, whom you have brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians speak, saying, For evil did he bring them forth, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from your fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against your people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your slaves, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, I will multiply your+ seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of I will give to your+ seed, and they will inherit it forever. 14 And Yahweh repented of the evil which he said he would do to his people.

15 And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, with the two tables of the testimony in his hand; tables that were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other they were written. 16 And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tables. 17 And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp. 18 And he said, It is not the voice of those who shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of those who cry for being overcome; but the noise of those who sing, I am hearing. 19 And it came to pass, as soon as he came near to the camp, that he saw the calf and dancing: and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and broke them beneath the mount. 20 And he took the calf which they had made, and burned it with fire, and ground it to powder, and strewed it on the water, and made the sons of Israel drink of it.

21 And Moses said to Aaron, What did this people to you, that you have brought a great sin on them? 22 And Aaron said, Don't let the anger of my lord wax hot: you know the people, that they are [set] on evil. 23 For they said to me, Make us gods, which will go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we don't know what has become of him. 24 And I said to them, Whoever has any gold, let them break it off: so they gave it to me; and I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf.

25 And when Moses saw that the people were going wild (for Aaron had let them go wild for a derision among their enemies), 26 then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Whoever is on Yahweh's side, [let him come] to me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him. 27 And he said to them, This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, You+ put every man his sword on his thigh, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man those near to him. 28 And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men. 29 And Moses said, You+ have been consecrated today to Yahweh, yes, every man against his son, and against his brother; that he may bestow on you+ a blessing this day.

30 And it came to pass on the next day, that Moses said to the people, You+ have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up to Yahweh; perhaps I will make atonement for your+ sin. 31 And Moses returned to Yahweh, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made themselves gods of gold. 32 Yet now, if you will forgive their sin-; and if not, blot me, I pray you, out of your book which you have written. 33 And Yahweh said to Moses, Whoever has sinned against me, him I will blot out of my book. 34 And now go, lead the people to [the place] of which I have spoken to you: look, my angel will go before you; nevertheless in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin on them. 35 And Yahweh struck the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made.

33  And Yahweh spoke to Moses, Depart, go up from here, you and the people who you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, To your seed I will give it: 2 and I will send an angel before you; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite: 3 [go up] to a land flowing with milk and honey. For I will not go up in the midst of you. For you are a stiff-necked people. If I did, I would consume you in the way. 4 And when the people heard this evil news, they mourned: and no man put on himself his ornaments. 5 And Yahweh said to Moses, Say to the sons of Israel, You+ are a stiff-necked people; if I go up into the midst of you for one moment, I will consume you: therefore now put off your ornaments from you, that I may know what to do to you. 6 And the sons of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments from mount Horeb onward.

7 Now Moses used to take the tent and to pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp; and he called it, The tent of meeting. And it came to pass, that everyone who sought Yahweh went out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp. 8 And it came to pass, when Moses went out to the Tent, that all the people rose up, and stood, every man at his tent door, and looked after Moses, until he was gone into the Tent. 9 And it came to pass, when Moses entered into the Tent, the pillar of cloud descended, and stood at the door of the Tent: and [Yahweh] spoke with Moses. 10 And all the people saw the pillar of cloud stand at the door of the Tent: and all the people rose up and worshiped, every man at his tent door. 11 And Yahweh spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his companion. And he turned again into the camp: but his minister Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart out of the Tent.

12 And Moses said to Yahweh, See, you say to me, Bring up this people: and you haven't let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight. 13 Now therefore, I pray you, if I have found favor in your sight, show me now your ways, that I may know you, to the end that I may find favor in your sight: and consider that this nation is your people. 14 And he said, My presence will go [with you], and I will give you rest. 15 And he said to him, If your presence doesn't go [with me], don't carry us up from here. 16 For in what now will it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in that you go with us, so that we are distinguished, I and your people, from all the people who are on the face of the earth?

17 And Yahweh said to Moses, I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name. 18 And he said, Show me, I pray you, your glory. 19 And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of Yahweh before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. 20 And he said, You can not see my face; for man will not see me and live. 21 And Yahweh said, Look, there is a place by me, and you will stand on the rock: 22 and it will come to pass, while my glory passes by, that I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and will cover you with my hand until I have passed by: 23 and I will take away my hand, and you will see my back; but my face will not be seen.

34  And Yahweh said to Moses, Cut for yourself two tables of stone like the first ones: and I will write on the tables the words that were on the first tables, which you broke. 2 And be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning to mount Sinai, and present yourself there to me on the top of the mount. 3 And no man will come up with you; neither let any man be seen throughout all the mount; neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mount. 4 And he cut two tables of stone like the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up to mount Sinai, as Yahweh had commanded him, and took in his hand two tables of stone. 5 And Yahweh descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of Yahweh. 6 And Yahweh passed by before him, and proclaimed, Yahweh, Yahweh God, merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in loving-kindness and truth, 7 keeping loving-kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin; and that will by no means leave unpunished [the guilty], visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the sons, and on the sons of the sons, on the third and on the fourth generation. 8 And Moses hurried, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped. 9 And he said, If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, let the Lord, I pray you, go in the midst of us; for it is a stiff-necked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.

10 And he said, Look, I make a covenant: before all your people I will do marvels, such as haven't been wrought in all the earth, nor in any nation; and all the people among which you are will see the work of Yahweh; for it is an awesome thing that I do with you. 11 You observe that which I command you this day: look, I drive out before you the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. 12 You be careful not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you go, or else it will be for a snare in the midst of you. 13 But you+ will break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and you+ will cut down their Asherim. 14 For you will worship no other god. For Yahweh, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. 15 Or else, if you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, who prostitute after their gods and sacrifice to their gods, they will call you. And you will eat of their sacrifice. 16 And when you take of their daughters—who prostitute after their gods—to your sons, then their daughters will make your sons prostitute after their gods. 17 You will make yourself no molten gods.

18 The feast of unleavened bread you will keep. Seven days you will eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib; for in the month Abib you came out from Egypt. 19 All that opens the womb is mine; and you will separate the males of all your cattle, the firstborns of cow and sheep. 20 And the firstborn of a donkey you will redeem with a lamb: and if you will not redeem, then you will break its neck. All the firstborn of your sons you will redeem. And none will appear before me[188] empty.

21 Six days you will work, but on the seventh day you will rest: in plowing time and in harvest you will rest. 22 And you will observe the feast of weeks, [even] of the first fruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year's end. 23 Three times in the year will all your males appear before the Sovereign Yahweh,[189] the God of Israel. 24 For I will cast out nations before you, and enlarge your borders: neither will any man desire your land, when you go up to see the face of Yahweh[190] your God three times in the year.

25 You will not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread; neither will the sacrifice of the feast of the Passover be left to the morning. 26 The first of the first fruits of your ground you will bring to the house of Yahweh your God. You will not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.

27 And Yahweh said to Moses, You write these words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel. 28 And he was there with Yahweh forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread, nor drank water. And he wrote on the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.

29 And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of the testimony in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses didn't know that the skin of his face shone by reason of his speaking with him. 30 And when Aaron and all the sons of Israel saw Moses, look, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come near him. 31 And Moses called to them; and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned to him: and Moses spoke to them. 32 And afterward all the sons of Israel came near: and he gave them in commandment all that Yahweh had spoken with him in mount Sinai. 33 And when Moses had done speaking with them, he put a veil on his face. 34 But when Moses went in before Yahweh to speak with him, he took the veil off, until he came out; and he came out, and spoke to the sons of Israel that which he was commanded. 35 And the sons of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face shone: and Moses put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with him.

35  And Moses assembled all the congregation of the sons of Israel, and said to them, These are the words which Yahweh has commanded, that you+ should do them. 2 Six days will work be done; but on the seventh day there will be to you+ a holy day, a Sabbath of solemn rest to Yahweh: whoever does any work in it will be put to death. 3 You+ will kindle no fire throughout your+ habitations on the Sabbath day.

4 And Moses spoke to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, saying, This is the thing which Yahweh commanded, saying, 5 You+ take from among you+ an offering to Yahweh; whoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it, Yahweh's offering: gold, and silver, and bronze, 6 and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' [hair], 7 and rams' skins dyed red, and sealskins, and acacia wood, 8 and oil for the light, and spices for the anointing oil, and for the sweet incense, 9 and onyx stones, and stones to be set, for the ephod, and for the breastplate.

10 And let every wise-hearted man among you+ come, and make all that Yahweh has commanded: 11 the tabernacle, its tent, and its covering, its clasps, and its boards, its bars, its pillars, and its sockets; 12 the ark, and its poles, the mercy-seat, and the veil of the screen; 13 the table, and its poles, and all its vessels, and the showbread; 14 the lampstand also for the light, and its vessels, and its lamps, and the oil for the light; 15 and the altar of incense, and its poles, and the anointing oil, and the sweet incense, and the screen for the door, at the door of the tabernacle; 16 the altar of burnt-offering, with its grating of bronze, its poles, and all its vessels, the basin and its base; 17 the hangings of the court, its pillars, and their sockets, and the screen for the gate of the court; 18 the pins of the tabernacle, and the pins of the court, and their cords; 19 the finely wrought garments, for ministering in the holy place, the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, to serve in the priest's office.

20 And all the congregation of the sons of Israel departed from the presence of Moses. 21 And everyone [of the wise-hearted] whose heart stirred him up came; and everyone whom his spirit made willing brought Yahweh's offering, for the work of the tent of meeting, and for all its service, and for the holy garments. 22 And the men as well as the women, as many as were willing-hearted, brought brooches, and earrings, and signet-rings, and armlets, all jewels of gold; even every man who offered an offering of gold to Yahweh. 23 And every man, with whom was found blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' [hair], and rams' skins dyed red, and sealskins, brought them. 24 Everyone who offered an offering of silver and bronze brought Yahweh's offering; and every man, with whom was found acacia wood for any work of the service, brought it. 25 And all the women who were wise-hearted spun with their hands, and brought that which they had spun, the blue, and the purple, the scarlet, and the fine linen. 26 And all the women whose heart stirred them up in wisdom spun the goats' [hair]. 27 And the rulers brought the onyx stones, and the stones to be set, for the ephod, and for the breastplate; 28 and the spice, and the oil; for the light, and for the anointing oil, and for the sweet incense. 29 The sons of Israel brought a freewill-offering to Yahweh; every man and woman, whose heart made them willing to bring for all the work, which Yahweh had commanded to be made by Moses.

30 And Moses said to the sons of Israel, See, Yahweh has called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. 31 And he has filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship; 32 and to devise skillful works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in bronze, 33 and in cutting of stones for setting, and in carving of wood, to work in all manner of skillful workmanship. 34 And he has put in his heart that he may teach, both he, and Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. 35 He has filled them with wisdom of heart, to work all manner of workmanship, of the engraver, and of the skillful workman, and of the embroiderer, in blue, and in purple, in scarlet, and in fine linen, and of the weaver, even of those who do any workmanship, and of those who devise skillful works.  36  And Bezalel and Oholiab will work, and every wise-hearted man, in whom Yahweh has put wisdom and understanding to know how to work all the work for the service of the sanctuary, according to all that Yahweh has commanded.

2 And Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab, and every wise-hearted man, in whose heart Yahweh had put wisdom, even everyone whose heart stirred him up to come to the work to do it: 3 and they received of Moses all the offering which the sons of Israel had brought for the work of the service of the sanctuary, with which to make it. And they brought yet to him freewill-offerings every morning. 4 And all the wise men, that wrought all the work of the sanctuary, came every man from his work which they wrought. 5 And they spoke to Moses, saying, The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work which Yahweh commanded to make. 6 And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make anymore work for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were kept back from bringing. 7 For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much.

8 And all the wise-hearted men among them who wrought the work made the tabernacle with ten curtains; of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, with cherubim, the work of the skillful workman, [Bezalel] made them. 9 The length of each curtain was eight and twenty cubits, and the width of each curtain four cubits: all the curtains had one measure. 10 And he coupled five curtains one to another: and [the other] five curtains he coupled one to another. 11 And he made loops of blue on the edge of the one curtain from the selvedge in the coupling: likewise he made in the edge of the curtain that was outermost in the second coupling. 12 Fifty loops he made in the one curtain, and fifty loops he made in the edge of the curtain that was in the second coupling: the loops were opposite one to another. 13 And he made fifty clasps of gold, and coupled the curtains one to another with the clasps: so the tabernacle was one.

14 And he made curtains of goats' [hair] for a tent over the tabernacle: eleven curtains he made them. 15 The length of each curtain was thirty cubits, and four cubits the width of each curtain: the eleven curtains had one measure. 16 And he coupled five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves. 17 And he made fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that was outermost in the coupling, and fifty loops he made on the edge of the curtain which was [outermost in] the second coupling. 18 And he made fifty clasps of bronze to couple the tent together, that it might be one. 19 And he made a covering for the tent of rams' skins dyed red, and a covering of sealskins above.

20 And he made the boards for the tabernacle, of acacia wood, standing up. 21 Ten cubits was the length of a board, and a cubit and a half the width of each board. 22 Each board had two tenons, joined one to another: thus he made for all the boards of the tabernacle. 23 And he made the boards for the tabernacle: twenty boards for the south side southward. 24 And he made forty sockets of silver under the twenty boards; two sockets under one board for its two tenons, and two sockets under another board for its two tenons. 25 And for the second side of the tabernacle, on the north side, he made twenty boards, 26 and their forty sockets of silver; two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board. 27 And for the hinder part of the tabernacle westward he made six boards. 28 And two boards he made for the corners of the tabernacle in the hinder part. 29 And they were a pair at the bottom, but they were joined together at its top to one ring: thus he did to both of them in the two corners. 30 And there were eight boards, and their sockets of silver, sixteen sockets; under every board two sockets.

31 And he made bars of acacia wood; five for the boards of the one side of the tabernacle, 32 and five bars for the boards of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the tabernacle for the hinder part westward. 33 And he made the middle bar to pass through in the midst of the boards from the one end to the other. 34 And he overlaid the boards with gold, and made their rings of gold for places for the bars, and overlaid the bars with gold.

35 And he made the veil of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen: with cherubim, the work of the skillful workman, he made it. 36 And he made thereto four pillars of acacia, and overlaid them with gold: their hooks were of gold; And he cast for them four sockets of silver. 37 And he made a screen for the door of the Tent, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of the embroiderer; 38 and the five pillars of it with their hooks: and he overlaid their capitals and their fillets with gold; and their five sockets were of bronze.

37  And Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood: two cubits and a half was the length of it, and a cubit and a half the width of it, and a cubit and a half the height of it: 2 and he overlaid it with pure gold inside and outside, and made a crown of gold to it round about. 3 And he cast for it four rings of gold, in the four feet of it; even two rings on the one side of it, and two rings on the other side of it. 4 And he made poles of acacia wood, and overlaid them with gold. 5 And he put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, to bear the ark. 6 And he made a mercy-seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half [was] its length, and a cubit and a half its width. 7 And he made two cherubim of gold; of beaten work he made them, at the two ends of the mercy-seat; 8 one cherub at the one end, and one cherub at the other end: of one piece with the mercy-seat he made the cherubim at the two ends of it. 9 And the cherubim spread out their wings on high, covering the mercy-seat with their wings, with their faces one to another; toward the mercy-seat were the faces of the cherubim.

10 And he made the table of acacia wood: two cubits [was] its length, and a cubit its width, and a cubit and a half its height: 11 and he overlaid it with pure gold, and made thereto a crown of gold round about. 12 And he made to it a border of a handbreadth round about, and made a golden crown to its border round about. 13 And he cast for it four rings of gold, and put the rings in the four corners that were on the four feet of it. 14 Close by the border were the rings, the places for the poles to bear the table. 15 And he made the poles of acacia wood, and overlaid them with gold, to bear the table. 16 And he made the vessels which were on the table, its dishes, and its spoons, and its bowls, and its flagons, with which to pour out, of pure gold.

17 And he made the lampstand of pure gold: of beaten work he made the lampstand, even its base, and its shaft; its cups, its knops, and its flowers, were of one piece with it: 18 and there were six branches going out of its sides; three branches of the lampstand out of the one side of it, and three branches of the lampstand out of the other side of it: 19 three cups made like almond-blossoms in one branch, a knop and a flower, and three cups made like almond-blossoms in the other branch, a knop and a flower: so for the six branches going out of the lampstand. 20 And in the lampstand were four cups made like almond-blossoms, its knops, and its flowers; 21 and a knop under two branches of one piece with it, and a knop under two branches of one piece with it, and a knop under two branches of one piece with it, for the six branches going out of it. 22 Their knops and their branches were of one piece with it: the whole of it was one beaten work of pure gold. 23 And he made its lamps, seven, and its snuffers, and its snuffdishes, of pure gold. 24 Of a talent of pure gold he made it, and all its vessels.

25 And he made the altar of incense of acacia wood: a cubit was its length, and a cubit its width, foursquare; and two cubits was its height; its horns were of one piece with it. 26 And he overlaid it with pure gold, its top, and its sides round about, and the horns of it: and he made to it a crown of gold round about. 27 And he made for it two golden rings under its crown, on the two ribs of it, on the two sides of it, for places for poles with which to bear it. 28 And he made the poles of acacia wood, and overlaid them with gold. 29 And he made the holy anointing oil, and the pure incense of sweet spices, after the art of the perfumer.

38  And he made the altar of burnt-offering of acacia wood: five cubits was its length, and five cubits its width, foursquare; and three cubits its height. 2 And he made its horns on the four corners of it; its horns were of one piece with it: and he overlaid it with bronze. 3 And he made all the vessels of the altar, the pots, and the shovels, and the basins, the flesh-hooks, and the firepans: all its vessels he made of bronze. 4 And he made for the altar a grating of network of bronze, under the ledge around it beneath, reaching halfway up. 5 And he cast four rings for the four ends of the grating of bronze, to be places for the poles. 6 And he made the poles of acacia wood, and overlaid them with bronze. 7 And he put the poles into the rings on the sides of the altar, with which to bear it; he made it hollow with planks.

8 And he made the basin of bronze, and its base of bronze, of the mirrors of the serving women who served at the door of the tent of meeting.

9 And he made the court: for the south side southward the hangings of the court were of fine twined linen, a hundred cubits; 10 their pillars were twenty, and their sockets twenty, of bronze; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets were of silver. 11 And for the north side a hundred cubits, their pillars twenty, and their sockets twenty, of bronze; the hooks of the pillars, and their fillets, of silver. 12 And for the west side were hangings of fifty cubits, their pillars ten, and their sockets ten; the hooks of the pillars, and their fillets, of silver. 13 And for the east side eastward fifty cubits. 14 The hangings for the one side [of the gate] were fifteen cubits; their pillars three, and their sockets three; 15 and so for the other side: on this hand and that hand by the gate of the court were hangings of fifteen cubits; their pillars three, and their sockets three. 16 All the hangings of the court round about were of fine twined linen. 17 And the sockets for the pillars were of bronze; the hooks of the pillars, and their fillets, of silver; and the overlaying of their capitals, of silver; and all the pillars of the court were filleted with silver. 18 And the screen for the gate of the court was the work of the embroiderer, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen: and twenty cubits was the length, and the height in the width was five cubits, answerable to the hangings of the court. 19 And their pillars were four, and their sockets four, of bronze; their hooks of silver, and the overlaying of their capitals, and their fillets, of silver. 20 And all the pins of the tabernacle, and of the court round about, were of bronze.

21 This is the sum of [the things for] the tabernacle, even the tabernacle of the testimony, as they were counted, according to the mouth of Moses, for the service of the Levites, by the hand of Ithamar, the son of Aaron the priest. 22 And Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that Yahweh commanded Moses. 23 And with him was Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver, and a skillful workman, and an embroiderer in blue, and in purple, and in scarlet, and in fine linen.

24 All the gold that was used for the work in all the work of the sanctuary, even the gold of the offering, was twenty and nine talents, and seven hundred and thirty shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary. 25 And the silver of those who were numbered of the congregation was a hundred talents, and a thousand seven hundred and threescore and fifteen shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary: 26 a beka a head, [that is], half a shekel, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for everyone who passed over to those who were numbered, from twenty years old and upward, for six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty men. 27 And the hundred talents of silver were for casting the sockets of the sanctuary, and the sockets of the veil; a hundred sockets for the hundred talents, a talent for a socket. 28 And of the thousand seven hundred seventy and five [shekels] he made hooks for the pillars, and overlaid their capitals, and made fillets for them. 29 And the bronze of the offering was seventy talents, and two thousand and four hundred shekels. 30 And with it he made the sockets to the door of the tent of meeting, and the bronze altar, and the bronze grating for it, and all the vessels of the altar, 31 and the sockets of the court round about, and the sockets of the gate of the court, and all the pins of the tabernacle, and all the pins of the court round about.

39  And of the blue, and purple, and scarlet, they made finely wrought garments, for ministering in the holy place, and made the holy garments for Aaron; as Yahweh commanded Moses.

2 And he made the ephod of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen. 3 And they beat the gold into thin plates so that they could cut out wires, to work it in the blue, and in the purple, and in the scarlet, and in the fine linen, the work of the skillful workman. 4 They made shoulder-pieces for it, joined together; at the two ends it was joined together. 5 And the skillfully woven band, that was on it, with which to gird it on, was of the same piece [and] like the work of it; of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen; as Yahweh commanded Moses.

6 And they wrought the onyx stones, enclosed in settings of gold, engraved with the engravings of a signet, according to the names of the sons of Israel. 7 And he put them on the shoulder-pieces of the ephod, to be stones of memorial for the sons of Israel; as Yahweh commanded Moses.

8 And he made the breastplate, the work of the skillful workman, like the work of an ephod; of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen. 9 It was foursquare; they made the breastplate double: a span was its length, and a span its width, being double. 10 And they set in it four rows of stones. A row of sardius, topaz, and carbuncle was the first row; 11 and the second row, an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond; 12 and the third row, a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst; 13 and the fourth row, a beryl, an onyx, and a jaspar: they were enclosed in enclosings of gold in their settings. 14 And the stones were according to the names of the sons of Israel, twelve, according to their names; like the engravings of a signet, every one according to his name, for the twelve tribes. 15 And they made on the breastplate chains like cords, of wreathed work of pure gold. 16 And they made two settings of gold, and two gold rings, and put the two rings on the two ends of the breastplate. 17 And they put the two wreathed chains of gold in the two rings at the ends of the breastplate. 18 And the [other] two ends of the two wreathed chains they put on the two settings, and put them on the shoulder-pieces of the ephod, in its forepart. 19 And they made two rings of gold, and put them on the two ends of the breastplate, on its edge, which was toward the side of the ephod inward. 20 And they made two rings of gold, and put them on the two shoulder-pieces of the ephod underneath, in its forepart, close by its coupling, above the skillfully woven band of the ephod. 21 And they bound the breastplate by its rings to the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, that it might be on the skillfully woven band of the ephod, and that the breastplate might not be loosed from the ephod; as Yahweh commanded Moses.

22 And he made the robe of the ephod of woven work, all of blue. 23 And the hole of the robe in the midst of it, as the hole of a coat of mail, with a binding round about the hole of it, that it should not be rent. 24 And they made on the skirts of the robe pomegranates of blue, and purple, and of scarlet. 25 And they made bells of pure gold, and put the bells between the pomegranates on the skirts of the robe round about, between the pomegranates; 26 a bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate, on the skirts of the robe round about, to minister in; as Yahweh commanded Moses.

27 And they made the coats of fine linen of woven work for Aaron, and for his sons, 28 and the turban of fine linen, and the goodly head-tires of fine linen, and the linen breeches of fine twined linen, 29 and the belt of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, the work of the embroiderer; as Yahweh commanded Moses.

30 And they made the plate of the holy crown of pure gold, and wrote on it a writing, like the engravings of a signet, HOLY TO YAHWEH. 31 And they tied to it a lace of blue, to fasten it on the turban above; as Yahweh commanded Moses.

32 Thus was finished all the work of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting: and the sons of Israel did according to all that Yahweh commanded Moses; so they did. 33 And they brought the tabernacle to Moses, the Tent, and all its furniture, its clasps, its boards, its bars, and its pillars, and its sockets; 34 and the covering of rams' skins dyed red, and the covering of sealskins, and the veil of the screen; 35 the ark of the testimony, and its poles, and the mercy-seat; 36 the table, all its vessels, and the showbread; 37 the pure lampstand, its lamps, even the lamps to be set in order, and all its vessels, and the oil for the light; 38 and the golden altar, and the anointing oil, and the sweet incense, and the screen for the door of the Tent; 39 the bronze altar, and its grating of bronze, its poles, and all its vessels, the basin and its base; 40 the hangings of the court, its pillars, and its sockets, and the screen for the gate of the court, its cords, and its pins, and all the instruments of the service of the tabernacle, for the tent of meeting; 41 the finely wrought garments for ministering in the holy place, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, to serve in the priest's office. 42 According to all that Yahweh commanded Moses, so the sons of Israel did all the work. 43 And Moses saw all the work, and, look, they had done it; as Yahweh had commanded, even so they had done it: and Moses blessed them.

40  And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2 On the first day of the first month you will rear up the tabernacle of the tent of meeting. 3 And you will put in it the ark of the testimony, and you will screen the ark with the veil. 4 And you will bring in the table, and set in order the things that are on it; and you will bring in the lampstand, and light its lamps. 5 And you will set the golden altar for incense before the ark of the testimony, and put the screen of the door to the tabernacle. 6 And you will set the altar of burnt-offering before the door of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting. 7 And you will set the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar, and will put water in it. 8 And you will set up the court round about, and hang up the screen of the gate of the court. 9 And you will take the anointing oil, and anoint the tabernacle, and all that is in it, and will hallow it, and all its furniture: and it will be holy. 10 And you will anoint the altar of burnt-offering, and all its vessels, and sanctify the altar: and the altar will be most holy. 11 And you will anoint the basin and its base, and sanctify it. 12 And you will bring Aaron and his sons to the door of the tent of meeting, and will wash them with water. 13 And you will put on Aaron the holy garments; and you will anoint him, and sanctify him, that he may serve me in the priest's office. 14 And you will bring his sons, and put coats on them; 15 and you will anoint them, as you anointed their father, that they may serve me in the priest's office: and their anointing will be to them for an everlasting priesthood throughout their generations. 16 Thus did Moses: according to all that Yahweh commanded him, so he did.

17 And it came to pass in the first month in the second year, on the first day of the month, that the tabernacle was reared up. 18 And Moses reared up the tabernacle, and laid its sockets, and set up its boards, and put in its bars, and reared up its pillars. 19 And he spread the tent over the tabernacle, and put the covering of the tent above on it; as Yahweh commanded Moses. 20 And he took and put the testimony into the ark, and set the poles on the ark, and put the mercy-seat above on the ark: 21 and he brought the ark into the tabernacle, and set up the veil of the screen, and screened the ark of the testimony; as Yahweh commanded Moses. 22 And he put the table in the tent of meeting, on the side of the tabernacle northward, outside the veil. 23 And he set the bread in order on it before Yahweh; as Yahweh commanded Moses. 24 And he put the lampstand in the tent of meeting, across from the table, on the side of the tabernacle southward. 25 And he lit the lamps before Yahweh; as Yahweh commanded Moses. 26 And he put the golden altar in the tent of meeting before the veil: 27 and he burned on it incense of sweet spices; as Yahweh commanded Moses. 28 And he put the screen of the door to the tabernacle. 29 And he set the altar of burnt-offering at the door of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting, and offered on it the burnt-offering and the meal-offering; as Yahweh commanded Moses. 30 And he set the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it, with which to wash. 31 And Moses and Aaron and his sons washed their hands and their feet from it;[191] 32 when they went into the tent of meeting, and when they came near to the altar, they washed; as Yahweh commanded Moses. 33 And he reared up the court round about the tabernacle and the altar, and set up the screen of the gate of the court. So Moses finished the work.

34 Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of Yahweh filled the tabernacle. 35 And Moses wasn't able to enter into the tent of meeting, because the cloud stayed on it, and the glory of Yahweh filled the tabernacle. 36 And when the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the sons of Israel went onward, throughout all their journeys: 37 but if the cloud wasn't taken up, then they didn't journey until the day that it was taken up. 38 For the cloud of Yahweh was on the tabernacle by day, and there was fire in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys.

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Leviticus

1  And Yahweh called to Moses, and spoke to him out of the tent of meeting, saying, 2 Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, If man[192] among you+ offers an oblation to Yahweh, you+ will offer your+ oblation of the cattle, [even] of the herd and of the flock.

3 If his oblation is a burnt-offering of the herd, he will offer it a male without blemish: he will offer it at the door of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before Yahweh. 4 And he will lay his hand on the head of the burnt-offering; and it will be accepted for him to make atonement for him. 5 And he will kill the bull before Yahweh: and Aaron's sons, the priests, will present the blood, and sprinkle the blood round about on the altar that is at the door of the tent of meeting. 6 And he will flay the burnt-offering, and cut it into its pieces. 7 And the sons of Aaron the priest will put fire on the altar, and lay wood in order on the fire; 8 and Aaron's sons, the priests, will lay the pieces, the head, and the fat, in order on the wood that is on the fire which is on the altar: 9 but its insides and its legs he will wash with water: and the priest will burn the whole on the altar, for a burnt-offering, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor to Yahweh.

10 And if his oblation is of the flock, of the sheep, or of the goats, for a burnt-offering; he will offer it a male without blemish. 11 And he will kill it on the side of the altar northward before Yahweh: and Aaron's sons, the priests, will sprinkle its blood on the altar round about. 12 And he will cut it into its pieces, with its head and its fat; and the priest will lay them in order on the wood that is on the fire which is on the altar: 13 but the insides and the legs he will wash with water; and the priest will offer the whole, and burn it on the altar: it is a burnt-offering, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor to Yahweh.

14 And if his oblation to Yahweh is a burnt-offering of birds, then he will offer his oblation of turtledoves, or of young pigeons. 15 And the priest will bring it to the altar, and wring off its head, and burn it on the altar; and its blood will be drained out on the side of the altar; 16 and he will take away its crop with its filth, and cast it beside the altar on the east part, in the place of the ashes: 17 and he will rend it by its wings, [but] will not divide it apart; and the priest will burn it on the altar, on the wood that is on the fire: it is a burnt-offering, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor to Yahweh.

2  And when a soul offers an oblation of a meal-offering to Yahweh, his oblation will be of fine flour; and he will pour oil on it, and put frankincense on it: 2 and he will bring it to Aaron's sons the priests; and he will take thereout his handful of the fine flour of it, and of its oil, with all its frankincense; and the priest will burn [it as] its memorial on the altar, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor to Yahweh: 3 and that which is left of the meal-offering will be Aaron's and his sons': it is a thing most holy of the offerings of Yahweh made by fire.

4 And when you offer an oblation of a meal-offering baked in the oven, it will be unleavened cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, or unleavened wafers anointed with oil. 5 And if your oblation is a meal-offering of the baking-pan, it will be of fine flour unleavened, mingled with oil. 6 You will part it in pieces, and pour oil on it: it is a meal-offering. 7 And if your oblation is a meal-offering of the frying-pan, it will be made of fine flour with oil. 8 And you will bring the meal-offering that is made of these things to Yahweh: and it will be presented to the priest, and he will bring it to the altar. 9 And the priest will take up from the meal-offering its memorial, and will burn it on the altar, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor to Yahweh. 10 And that which is left of the meal-offering will be Aaron's and his sons': it is a thing most holy of the offerings of Yahweh made by fire.

11 No meal-offering, which you+ will offer to Yahweh, will be made with leaven; for you+ will burn no leaven, nor any honey, as an offering made by fire to Yahweh. 12 As an oblation of first [fruits] you+ will offer them to Yahweh: but they will not come up for a sweet savor on the altar. 13 And every oblation of your meal-offering you will season with salt; neither will you allow the salt of the covenant of your God to be lacking from your meal-offering: with all your oblations you will offer salt.

14 And if you offer a meal-offering of first fruits to Yahweh, you will offer for the meal-offering of your first fruits grain in the ear parched with fire, bruised grain of the fresh ear. 15 And you will put oil on it, and lay frankincense on it: it is a meal-offering. 16 And the priest will burn the memorial of it, part of the bruised grain of it, and part of its oil, with all its frankincense: it is an offering made by fire to Yahweh.

3  And if his oblation is a sacrifice of peace-offerings; if he offers of the herd, whether male or female, he will offer it without blemish before Yahweh. 2 And he will lay his hand on the head of his oblation, and kill it at the door of the tent of meeting: and Aaron's sons the priests will sprinkle the blood on the altar round about. 3 And he will offer of the sacrifice of peace-offerings an offering made by fire to Yahweh; the fat that covers the insides, and all the fat that is on the insides, 4 and the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is by the loins, and the caul on the liver, with the kidneys, he will take away. 5 And Aaron's sons will burn it on the altar on the burnt-offering, which is on the wood that is on the fire: it is an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor to Yahweh.

6 And if his oblation for a sacrifice of peace-offerings to Yahweh is of the flock; male or female, he will offer it without blemish. 7 If he offers a lamb for his oblation, then he will offer it before Yahweh; 8 and he will lay his hand on the head of his oblation, and kill it before the tent of meeting: and Aaron's sons will sprinkle its blood on the altar round about. 9 And he will offer of the sacrifice of peace-offerings an offering made by fire to Yahweh; its fat, the entire fat tail, he will take away close by the backbone; and the fat that covers the insides, and all the fat that is on the insides, 10 and the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is by the loins, and the caul on the liver, with the kidneys, he will take away. 11 And the priest will burn it on the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire to Yahweh.

12 And if his oblation is a goat, then he will offer it before Yahweh: 13 and he will lay his hand on the head of it, and kill it before the tent of meeting; and the sons of Aaron will sprinkle its blood on the altar round about. 14 And he will offer of it his oblation, [even] an offering made by fire to Yahweh; the fat that covers the insides, and all the fat that is on the insides, 15 and the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is by the loins, and the caul on the liver, with the kidneys, he will take away. 16 And the priest will burn them on the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire, for a sweet savor; all the fat is Yahweh's. 17 It will be a perpetual statute throughout your+ generations in all your+ dwellings, that you+ will eat neither fat nor blood.

4  And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2 Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, If a soul will sin unintentionally, in any of the things which Yahweh has commanded not to be done, and will do any one of them: 3 if the anointed priest will sin so as to bring guilt on the people, then let him offer for his sin, which he has sinned, a young bull without blemish to Yahweh for a sin-offering. 4 And he will bring the bull to the door of the tent of meeting before Yahweh; and he will lay his hand on the head of the bull, and kill the bull before Yahweh. 5 And the anointed priest will take of the blood of the bull, and bring it to the tent of meeting: 6 and the priest will dip his finger in the blood, and sprinkle of the blood seven times before Yahweh, before the veil of the sanctuary. 7 And the priest will put of the blood on the horns of the altar of sweet incense before Yahweh, which is in the tent of meeting; and all the blood of the bull he will pour out at the base of the altar of burnt-offering, which is at the door of the tent of meeting. 8 And all the fat of the bull of the sin-offering he will take off from it; the fat that covers the insides, and all the fat that is on the insides, 9 and the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is by the loins, and the caul on the liver, with the kidneys, he will take away, 10 as it is taken off from the ox of the sacrifice of peace-offerings: and the priest will burn them on the altar of burnt-offering. 11 And the skin of the bull, and all its flesh, with its head, and with its legs, and its insides, and its dung, 12 even the whole bull he will carry forth outside the camp to a clean place, where the ashes are poured out, and burn it on wood with fire: where the ashes are poured out, it will be burned.

13 And if the whole congregation of Israel should err, and the thing has been hid from the eyes of the assembly, and they have done any of the things which Yahweh has commanded not to be done, and are guilty; 14 when the sin in which they have sinned is known, then the assembly will offer a young bull for a sin-offering, and bring it before the tent of meeting. 15 And the elders of the congregation will lay their hands on the head of the bull before Yahweh; and the bull will be killed before Yahweh. 16 And the anointed priest will bring of the blood of the bull to the tent of meeting: 17 and the priest will dip his finger in the blood, and sprinkle it seven times before Yahweh, before the veil. 18 And he will put of the blood on the horns of the altar which is before Yahweh in the tent of meeting; and all the blood he will pour out at the base of the altar of burnt-offering, which is at the door of the tent of meeting. 19 And all its fat he will take off from it, and burn it on the altar. 20 Thus he will do with the bull; as he did with the bull of the sin-offering, so he will do with this; and the priest will make atonement for them, and they will be forgiven. 21 And he will carry forth the bull outside the camp, and burn it as he burned the first bull: it is the sin-offering for the assembly.

22 When a ruler sins, and does unintentionally any one of all the things which Yahweh his God has commanded not to be done, and is guilty; 23 if his sin, in which he has sinned, is made known to him, he will bring for his oblation a goat, a male without blemish. 24 And he will lay his hand on the head of the goat, and kill it in the place where the burnt-offering will be killed before Yahweh: it is a sin-offering. 25 And the priest will take of the blood of the sin-offering with his finger, and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt-offering; and its blood he will pour out at the base of the altar of burnt-offering. 26 And all its fat he will burn on the altar, as the fat of the sacrifice of peace-offerings; and the priest will make atonement for him as concerning his sin, and he will be forgiven.

27 And if one soul of the common people sins unintentionally, in doing any of the things which Yahweh has commanded not to be done, and will be guilty; 28 if his sin, which he has sinned, is made known to him, then he will bring for his oblation a goat, a female without blemish, for his sin which he has sinned. 29 And he will lay his hand on the head of the sin-offering, and kill the sin-offering in the place of burnt-offering. 30 And the priest will take of its blood with his finger, and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt-offering; and all its blood he will pour out at the base of the altar. 31 And all its fat he will take away, as the fat is taken away from off the sacrifice of peace-offerings; and the priest will burn it on the altar for a sweet savor to Yahweh; and the priest will make atonement for him, and he will be forgiven.

32 And if he brings a lamb as his oblation for a sin-offering, he will bring it a female without blemish. 33 And he will lay his hand on the head of the sin-offering, and kill it for a sin-offering in the place where the burnt-offering will be killed. 34 And the priest will take of the blood of the sin-offering with his finger, and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt-offering; and all its blood he will pour out at the base of the altar: 35 and all its fat he will take away, as the fat of the lamb is taken away from the sacrifice of peace-offerings; and the priest will burn them on the altar, on the offerings of Yahweh made by fire; and the priest will make atonement for him as concerning his sin that he has sinned, and he will be forgiven.

5  And if a soul sins, in that he hears the voice of adjuration, he being a witness, whether he has seen or known, if he does not utter [it], then he will bear his iniquity. 2 Or if a soul touches any unclean thing, whether it is the carcass of an unclean beast, or the carcass of unclean cattle, or the carcass of unclean creeping things, and it was hidden from him, he became unclean, and he will be guilty. 3 Or if he touches the uncleanness of man, whatever his uncleanness is with which he is unclean, and it is hid from him; when he knows of it, then he will be guilty. 4 Or if a soul swears rashly with his lips to do evil, or to do good, whatever man utters rashly with an oath, and it is hid from him; when he knows of it, then he will be guilty in one of these [things]. 5 And it will be, when he will be guilty in one of these [things], that he will confess that in which he has sinned: 6 and he will bring his trespass-offering to Yahweh for his sin which he has sinned, a female from the flock, a lamb or a goat, for a sin-offering; and the priest will make atonement for him as concerning his sin.

7 And if his means are not sufficient for a lamb, then he will bring his trespass-offering for that in which he has sinned, two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, to Yahweh; one for a sin-offering, and the other for a burnt-offering. 8 And he will bring them to the priest, who will offer that which is for the sin-offering first, and wring off its head from its neck, but will not divide it apart: 9 and he will sprinkle of the blood of the sin-offering on the side of the altar; and the rest of the blood will be drained out at the base of the altar: it is a sin-offering. 10 And he will offer the second for a burnt-offering, according to the ordinance; and the priest will make atonement for him as concerning his sin which he has sinned, and he will be forgiven.

11 But if his means are not sufficient for two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, then he will bring his oblation for that in which he has sinned, the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour for a sin-offering: he will put no oil on it, neither will he put any frankincense on it; for it is a sin-offering. 12 And he will bring it to the priest, and the priest will take his handful of it as its memorial, and burn it on the altar, on the offerings of Yahweh made by fire: it is a sin-offering. 13 And the priest will make atonement for him as concerning his sin that he has sinned in any of these things, and he will be forgiven: and it will be the priest's, as the meal-offering.

14 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 15 If a soul commits a trespass, and sins unintentionally, in the holy things of Yahweh; then he will bring his trespass-offering to Yahweh, a ram without blemish out of the flock, according to your estimation in silver by shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for a trespass-offering: 16 and he will make restitution for that which he has done amiss in the holy thing, and will add the fifth part thereto, and give it to the priest; and the priest will make atonement for him with the ram of the trespass-offering, and he will be forgiven.

17 And if a soul sins, and does any of the things which Yahweh has commanded not to be done; though he didn't know it, yet he is guilty, and will bear his iniquity. 18 And he will bring a ram without blemish out of the flock, according to your estimation, for a trespass-offering, to the priest; and the priest will make atonement for him concerning the thing in which he erred unintentionally and didn't know it, and he will be forgiven. 19 It is a trespass-offering: he is certainly guilty before Yahweh.

6  And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2 If a soul sins, and commits a trespass against Yahweh, and deals falsely with his associate[193] in a matter of deposit, or of bargain, or of robbery, or has oppressed his associate, 3 or has found that which was lost, and deals falsely in it, and swears to a lie; in any of all these things that man does, sinning in it; 4 then it will be, if he has sinned, and is guilty, that he will restore that which he took by robbery, or the thing which he has gotten by oppression, or the deposit which was committed to him, or the lost thing which he found, 5 or any thing about which he has sworn falsely; he will even restore it in full, and will add the fifth part more thereto: to him to whom it pertains he will give it, in the day of his being found guilty. 6 And he will bring his trespass-offering to Yahweh, a ram without blemish out of the flock, according to your estimation, for a trespass-offering: 7 and the priest will make atonement for him before Yahweh; and he will be forgiven concerning whatever he does so as to be guilty by it.

8 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 9 Command Aaron and his sons, saying, This is the law of the burnt-offering: the burnt-offering will be on the hearth on the altar all night to the morning; and the fire of the altar will be kept burning on it. 10 And the priest will put on his linen garment, and his linen breeches he will put on his flesh; and he will take up the ashes whereto the fire has consumed the burnt-offering on the altar, and he will put them beside the altar. 11 And he will put off his garments, and put on other garments, and carry forth the ashes outside the camp to a clean place. 12 And the fire on the altar will be kept burning on it, it will not go out; and the priest will burn wood on it every morning: and he will lay the burnt-offering in order on it, and will burn on it the fat of the peace-offerings. 13 Fire will be kept burning on the altar continually; it will not go out.

14 And this is the law of the meal-offering: the sons of Aaron will offer it before Yahweh, before the altar. 15 And he will take up therefrom his handful, of the fine flour of the meal-offering, and of its oil, and all the frankincense which is on the meal-offering, and will burn it on the altar for a sweet savor, as its memorial, to Yahweh. 16 And that which is left of it will Aaron and his sons eat: it will be eaten without leaven in a holy place; in the court of the tent of meeting they will eat it. 17 It will not be baked with leaven. I have given it as their portion of my offerings made by fire; it is most holy, as the sin-offering, and as the trespass-offering. 18 Every male among the sons of Aaron will eat of it, as [his] portion forever throughout your+ generations, from the offerings of Yahweh made by fire: whoever touches them will be holy.

19 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 20 This is the oblation of Aaron and of his sons, which they will offer to Yahweh in the day when he is anointed: the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour for a meal-offering perpetually, half of it in the morning, and half of it in the evening. 21 On a baking-pan it will be made with oil; when it is soaked, you will bring it in: in baked pieces you will offer the meal-offering for a sweet savor to Yahweh. 22 And the anointed priest who will be in his stead from among his sons will offer it: by a statute forever it will be wholly burned to Yahweh. 23 And every meal-offering of the priest will be wholly burnt: it will not be eaten.

24 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 25 Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, This is the law of the sin-offering: in the place where the burnt-offering is killed will the sin-offering be killed before Yahweh: it is most holy. 26 The priest who offers it for sin will eat it: in a holy place it will be eaten, in the court of the tent of meeting. 27 Whatever will touch its flesh will be holy; and when there is sprinkled of its blood on any garment, it will be washed that on which it was sprinkled in a holy place. 28 But the earthen vessel in which it is boiled will be broken; and if it is boiled in a bronze vessel, it will be scoured, and rinsed in water. 29 Every male among the priests will eat of it: it is most holy. 30 And no sin-offering, of which any of the blood is brought into the tent of meeting to make atonement in the holy place, will be eaten: it will be burned with fire.

7  And this is the law of the trespass-offering: it is most holy. 2 In the place where they kill the burnt-offering they will kill the trespass-offering; and its blood he will sprinkle on the altar round about. 3 And he will offer of it all its fat: the fat tail, and the fat that covers the insides, 4 and the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is by the loins, and the caul on the liver, with the kidneys, he will take away; 5 and the priest will burn them on the altar for an offering made by fire to Yahweh: it is a trespass-offering. 6 Every male among the priests will eat of it: it will be eaten in a holy place: it is most holy. 7 As is the sin-offering, so is the trespass-offering; there is one law for them: the priest who makes atonement with it, he will have it. 8 And the priest who offers any man's burnt-offering, even the priest will have to himself the skin of the burnt-offering which he has offered. 9 And every meal-offering that is baked in the oven, and all that is dressed in the frying-pan, and on the baking-pan, will be the priest's that offers it. 10 And every meal-offering, mingled with oil, or dry, will all the sons of Aaron have, one as well as another.

11 And this is the law of the sacrifice of peace-offerings, which one will offer to Yahweh. 12 If he offers it for a thanksgiving, then he will offer with the sacrifice of thanksgiving unleavened cakes mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and cakes mingled with oil, of fine flour soaked. 13 With cakes of leavened bread he will offer his oblation with the sacrifice of his peace-offerings for thanksgiving. 14 And of it he will offer one out of each oblation for a heave-offering to Yahweh; it will be the priest's that sprinkles the blood of the peace-offerings.

15 And the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace-offerings for thanksgiving will be eaten on the day of his oblation; he will not leave any of it until the morning. 16 But if the sacrifice of his oblation is a vow, or a freewill-offering, it will be eaten on the day that he offers his sacrifice; and on the next day that which remains of it will be eaten: 17 but that which remains of the flesh of the sacrifice on the third day will be burned with fire. 18 And if any of the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace-offerings is eaten on the third day, it will not be accepted, neither will it be imputed to him who offers it: it will be contaminated, and the soul who eats of it will bear his iniquity.

19 And the flesh that touches any unclean thing will not be eaten; it will be burned with fire. And as for the flesh, everyone who is clean will eat of it: 20 but the soul who eats of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace-offerings, that pertain to Yahweh, having his uncleanness on him, that soul will be cut off from his people. 21 And when a soul will touch any unclean thing, the uncleanness of man, or unclean beast, or any unclean reptile, and eat of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace-offerings, which pertain to Yahweh, that soul will be cut off from his people.

22 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 23 Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, You+ will eat no fat, of ox, or sheep, or goat. 24 And the fat of that which dies of itself, and the fat of that which is torn of beasts, may be used for any other service; but you+ will in no way eat of it. 25 For whoever eats the fat of the beast, of which men offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh, even the soul who eats it will be cut off from his people. 26 And you+ will eat no manner of blood, whether it is of bird or of beast, in any of your+ dwellings. 27 Any soul that eats any blood, that soul will be cut off from his people.

28 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 29 Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, He who offers the sacrifice of his peace-offerings to Yahweh will bring his oblation to Yahweh out of the sacrifice of his peace-offerings: 30 his own hands will bring the offerings of Yahweh made by fire; the fat with the breast he will bring, that the breast may be waved for a wave-offering before Yahweh. 31 And the priest will burn the fat on the altar; but the breast will be Aaron's and his sons'. 32 And the right thigh you+ will give to the priest for a heave-offering out of the sacrifices of your+ peace-offerings. 33 He among the sons of Aaron who offers the blood of the peace-offerings, and the fat, will have the right thigh for a portion. 34 For the wave-breast and the heave-thigh I have taken of the sons of Israel out of the sacrifices of their peace-offerings, and have given them to Aaron the priest and to his sons as [their] portion forever from the sons of Israel.

35 This is the anointing-portion of Aaron, and the anointing-portion of his sons, out of the offerings of Yahweh made by fire, in the day when he presented them to serve Yahweh in the priest's office; 36 which Yahweh commanded to be given to them of the sons of Israel, in the day that he anointed them. It is [their] portion forever throughout their generations.

37 This is the law of the burnt-offering, of the meal-offering, and of the sin-offering, and of the trespass-offering, and of the consecration, and of the sacrifice of peace-offerings; 38 which Yahweh commanded Moses in mount Sinai, in the day that he commanded the sons of Israel to offer their oblations to Yahweh, in the wilderness of Sinai.

8  And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2 Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments, and the anointing oil, and the bull of the sin-offering, and the two rams, and the basket of unleavened bread; 3 and assemble all the congregation at the door of the tent of meeting. 4 And Moses did as Yahweh commanded him; and the congregation was assembled at the door of the tent of meeting. 5 And Moses said to the congregation, This is the thing which Yahweh has commanded to be done.

6 And Moses brought Aaron and his sons, and washed them with water. 7 And he put on him the coat, and girded him with the belt, and clothed him with the robe, and put the ephod on him, and he girded him with the skillfully woven band of the ephod, and bound it to him with it. 8 And he placed the breastplate on him: and in the breastplate he put the Urim and the Thummim. 9 And he set the turban on his head; and on the turban, in front, he set the golden plate, the holy crown; as Yahweh commanded Moses.

10 And Moses took the anointing oil, and anointed the tabernacle and all that was in it, and sanctified them. 11 And he sprinkled of it on the altar seven times, and anointed the altar and all its vessels, and the basin and its base, to sanctify them. 12 And he poured of the anointing oil on Aaron's head, and anointed him, to sanctify him. 13 And Moses brought Aaron's sons, and clothed them with coats, and girded them with belts, and bound head-tires on them; as Yahweh commanded Moses.

14 And he brought the bull of the sin-offering: and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the bull of the sin-offering. 15 And he slew it; and Moses took blood, and put it on the horns of the altar round about with his finger, and purified the altar, and poured out the blood at the base of the altar, and sanctified it, to make atonement for it. 16 And he took all the fat that was on the insides, and the caul of the liver, and the two kidneys, and their fat; and Moses burned it on the altar. 17 But the bull, and its skin, and its flesh, and its dung, he burned with fire outside the camp; as Yahweh commanded Moses.

18 And he presented the ram of the burnt-offering: and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram. 19 And he killed it; and Moses sprinkled the blood on the altar round about. 20 And he cut the ram into its pieces; and Moses burned the head, and the pieces, and the fat. 21 And he washed the insides and the legs with water; and Moses burned the whole ram on the altar: it was a burnt-offering for a sweet savor: it was an offering made by fire to Yahweh; as Yahweh commanded Moses.

22 And he presented the other ram, the ram of consecration: and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram. 23 And he slew it; and Moses took of its blood, and put it on the tip of Aaron's right ear, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the great toe of his right foot. 24 And he brought Aaron's sons; and Moses put of the blood on the tip of their right ear, and on the thumb of their right hand, and on the great toe of their right foot: and Moses sprinkled the blood on the altar round about. 25 And he took the fat, and the fat tail, and all the fat that was on the insides, and the caul of the liver, and the two kidneys, and their fat, and the right thigh: 26 and out of the basket of unleavened bread, that was before Yahweh, he took one unleavened cake, and one cake of oiled bread, and one wafer, and placed them on the fat, and on the right thigh: 27 and he put the whole on the hands of Aaron, and on the hands of his sons, and waved them for a wave-offering before Yahweh. 28 And Moses took them from off their hands, and burned them on the altar on the burnt-offering: they were a consecration for a sweet savor: it was an offering made by fire to Yahweh. 29 And Moses took the breast, and waved it for a wave-offering before Yahweh: it was Moses' portion of the ram of consecration; as Yahweh commanded Moses.

30 And Moses took of the anointing oil, and of the blood which was on the altar, and sprinkled it on Aaron, on his garments, and on his sons, and on his sons' garments with him, and sanctified Aaron, his garments, and his sons, and his sons' garments with him.

31 And Moses said to Aaron and to his sons, Boil the flesh at the door of the tent of meeting: and there eat it and the bread that is in the basket of consecration, as I commanded, saying, Aaron and his sons will eat it. 32 And that which remains of the flesh and of the bread you+ will burn with fire. 33 And you+ will not go out from the door of the tent of meeting seven days, until the days of your+ consecration are fulfilled: for he will consecrate you+ seven days. 34 As has been done this day, so Yahweh has commanded [you+] to do, to make atonement for you+. 35 And at the door of the tent of meeting you+ will remain day and night seven days, and keep the charge of Yahweh, that you+ will not die: for so I am commanded. 36 And Aaron and his sons did all the things which Yahweh commanded by Moses.

9  And it came to pass on the eighth day, that Moses called Aaron and his sons, and the elders of Israel; 2 and he said to Aaron, Take yourself a calf of the herd for a sin-offering, and a ram for a burnt-offering, without blemish, and offer them before Yahweh. 3 And to the sons of Israel you will speak, saying, Take+ a he-goat for a sin-offering; and a calf and a lamb, both a year old, without blemish, for a burnt-offering; 4 and an ox and a ram for peace-offerings, to sacrifice before Yahweh; and a meal-offering mingled with oil: for today Yahweh appears to you+. 5 And they brought that which Moses commanded before the tent of meeting: and all the congregation drew near and stood before Yahweh. 6 And Moses said, This is the thing which Yahweh commanded that you+ should do: and the glory of Yahweh will appear to you+. 7 And Moses said to Aaron, Draw near to the altar, and offer your sin-offering, and your burnt-offering, and make atonement for yourself, and for the people; and offer the oblation of the people, and make atonement for them; as Yahweh commanded.

8 So Aaron drew near to the altar, and slew the calf of the sin-offering, which was for himself. 9 And the sons of Aaron presented the blood to him; and he dipped his finger in the blood, and put it on the horns of the altar, and poured out the blood at the base of the altar: 10 but the fat, and the kidneys, and the caul from the liver of the sin-offering, he burned on the altar; as Yahweh commanded Moses. 11 And the flesh and the skin he burned with fire outside the camp.

12 And he slew the burnt-offering; and Aaron's sons delivered to him the blood, and he sprinkled it on the altar round about. 13 And they delivered the burnt-offering to him, piece by piece, and the head: and he burned them on the altar. 14 And he washed the insides and the legs, and burned them on the burnt-offering on the altar.

15 And he presented the people's oblation, and took the goat of the sin-offering which was for the people, and slew it, and offered it for sin, like the first. 16 And he presented the burnt-offering, and offered it according to the ordinance. 17 And he presented the meal-offering, and filled his hand therefrom, and burned it on the altar, besides the burnt-offering of the morning.

18 He slew also the ox and the ram, the sacrifice of peace-offerings, which was for the people: and Aaron's sons delivered to him the blood, which he sprinkled on the altar round about, 19 and the fat of the ox and of the ram, the fat tail, and that [fat] which covers [the entrails], and the kidneys, and the caul of the liver: 20 and they put the fat on the breasts, and he burned the fat on the altar: 21 and the breasts and the right thigh Aaron waved for a wave-offering before Yahweh; as Moses commanded.

22 And Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people, and blessed them; and he came down from offering the sin-offering, and the burnt-offering, and the peace-offerings. 23 And Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting, and came out, and blessed the people: and the glory of Yahweh appeared to all the people. 24 And there came forth fire from before Yahweh, and consumed on the altar the burnt-offering and the fat: and when all the people saw it, they shouted, and fell on their faces.

10  And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each of them took his censer, and put fire in it, and laid incense on it, and offered strange fire before Yahweh, which he had not commanded them. 2 And there came forth fire from before Yahweh, and devoured them, and they died before Yahweh. 3 Then Moses said to Aaron, This is it that Yahweh spoke, saying, I will be sanctified in those who come near me, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace. 4 And Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel the uncle of Aaron, and said to them, Draw near, carry your+ brothers from before the sanctuary out of the camp. 5 So they drew near, and carried them in their coats out of the camp, as Moses had said. 6 And Moses said to Aaron, and to Eleazar and to Ithamar, his sons, Don't let the hair of your+ heads go loose, neither rend your+ clothes; that you+ will not die, and that he is not angry with all the congregation: but let your+ brothers, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning which Yahweh has kindled. 7 And you+ will not go out from the door of the tent of meeting, or else you+ will die; for the anointing oil of Yahweh is on you+. And they did according to the word of Moses.

8 And Yahweh spoke to Aaron, saying, 9 Drink no wine nor strong drink, you, nor your sons with you, when you+ go into the tent of meeting, that you+ will not die: it will be a statute forever throughout your+ generations: 10 and that you+ may make a distinction between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean; 11 and that you+ may teach the sons of Israel all the statutes which Yahweh has spoken to them by Moses.

12 And Moses spoke to Aaron, and to Eleazar and to Ithamar, his sons who were left, Take the meal-offering that remains of the offerings of Yahweh made by fire, and eat it without leaven beside the altar; for it is most holy; 13 and you+ will eat it in a holy place, because it is your portion, and your sons' portion, of the offerings of Yahweh made by fire: for so I am commanded. 14 And the wave-breast and the heave-thigh you+ will eat in a clean place, you, and your sons, and your daughters with you: for they are given as your portion, and your sons' portion, out of the sacrifices of the peace-offerings of the sons of Israel. 15 The heave-thigh and the wave-breast they will bring with the offerings made by fire of the fat, to wave it for a wave-offering before Yahweh: and it will be yours, and your sons' with you, as a portion forever; as Yahweh has commanded.

16 And Moses diligently sought the goat of the sin-offering, and noticed that it was burnt: and he was angry with Eleazar and with Ithamar, the sons of Aaron who were left, saying, 17 Why haven't you+ eaten the sin-offering in the place of the sanctuary, seeing it is most holy, and he has given it you+ to bear the iniquity of the congregation, to make atonement for them before Yahweh? 18 Look, the blood of it wasn't brought into the sanctuary inside: you+ should have certainly eaten it in the sanctuary, as I commanded. 19 And Aaron spoke to Moses, Look, this day they have offered their sin-offering and their burnt-offering before Yahweh; and there have befallen me such things as these: and if I had eaten the sin-offering today, would it have been good in the eyes of Yahweh? 20 And when Moses heard [that], it was good in his eyes.

11  And Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying to them, 2 Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, These are the living things which you+ may eat among all the beasts that are on the earth. 3 Whatever parts the hoof, and is clovenfooted, [and] chews the cud, among the beasts, that may you+ eat. 4 Nevertheless these you+ will not eat of those that chew the cud, or of those that part the hoof: the camel, because he chews the cud but doesn't part the hoof, he is unclean to you+. 5 And the coney, because he chews the cud but doesn't part the hoof, he is unclean to you+. 6 And the hare, because she chews the cud but doesn't part the hoof, she is unclean to you+. 7 And the swine, because he parts the hoof, and is clovenfooted, but doesn't chew the cud, he is unclean to you+. 8 Of their flesh you+ will not eat, and their carcasses you+ will not touch; they are unclean to you+.

9 These you+ may eat of all that are in the waters: whatever has fins and scales in the waters, in the seas, and in the rivers, that you+ may eat. 10 And all that don't have fins and scales in the seas, and in the rivers, of all that move in the waters, and of all the living souls that are in the waters, they are detestable to you+, 11 and they will be detestable to you+; you+ will not eat of their flesh, and their carcasses you+ will detest. 12 Whatever doesn't have fins and scales in the waters, that is detestable to you+.

13 And these you+ will detest among the birds; they will not be eaten, they are detestable: the eagle, and the gier-eagle, and the osprey, 14 and the kite, and the falcon after its kind, 15 every raven after its kind, 16 and the ostrich, and the nighthawk, and the seamew, and the hawk after its kind, 17 and the little owl, and the cormorant, and the great owl, 18 and the horned owl, and the pelican, and the vulture, 19 and the stork, the heron after its kind, and the hoopoe, and the bat.

20 All winged creeping things that go on all fours are detestable to you+. 21 Yet these you+ may eat of all winged creeping things that go on all fours, which have legs above their feet, with which to leap on the earth. 22 Even these of those you+ may eat: the locust after its kind, and the bald locust after its kind, and the cricket after its kind, and the grasshopper after its kind. 23 But all winged creeping things, which have four feet, are detestable to you+.

24 And by these you+ will become unclean: whoever touches their carcass will be unclean until the evening; 25 And whoever bears [anything] of their carcass will wash his clothes, and be unclean until the evening. 26 Every beast which parts the hoof, if it is either not clovenfooted, or does not chew the cud, is unclean to you+: everyone who touches them will be unclean. 27 And whatever goes on its paws, among all beasts that go on all fours, they are unclean to you+: whoever touches their carcass will be unclean until the evening. 28 And he who bears the carcass of them will wash his clothes, and be unclean until the evening: they are unclean to you+.

29 And these are unclean to you+ among the creeping things that creep on the earth: the weasel, and the mouse, and the great lizard after its kind, 30 and the gecko, and the land-crocodile, and the lizard, and the sand-lizard, and the chameleon. 31 These are unclean to you+ among all that creep: whoever touches them when they are dead, will be unclean until the evening. 32 And whatever any of them falls on when they are dead, it will be unclean; whether it is any vessel of wood, or raiment, or skin, or sack, whatever vessel it is, with which any work is done, it must be put into water, and it will be unclean until the evening; then it will be clean. 33 And every earthen vessel, into which any of them falls, whatever is in it will be unclean, and it you+ will break. 34 All food [in it] which may be eaten, that on which water comes, will be unclean; and all drink that may be drank in every [such] vessel will be unclean. 35 And every thing on which [any part] of their carcass falls will be unclean; whether oven, or range for pots, it will be broken in pieces: they are unclean, and will be unclean to you+. 36 Nevertheless a fountain or a pit in which is a gathering of water will be clean: but that which touches their carcass will be unclean. 37 And if [anything] of their carcass falls on any sowing seed which is to be sown, it is clean. 38 But if water is put on the seed, and [anything] of their carcass falls on it, it is unclean to you+.

39 And if any beast, of which you+ may eat, dies; he who touches its carcass will be unclean until the evening. 40 And he who eats of the carcass of it will wash his clothes, and be unclean until the evening: he also that bears the carcass of it will wash his clothes, and be unclean until the evening.

41 And every creeping thing that creeps on the earth is detestable; it will not be eaten. 42 Whatever goes on the belly, and whatever goes on all fours, or whatever has many feet, even all creeping things that creep on the earth, you+ will not eat them; for they are detestable. 43 You+ will not make your souls detestable with any creeping thing that creeps, neither will you+ become unclean with them, so that you+ should be defiled by them. 44 For I am Yahweh your+ God: sanctify yourselves therefore, and be+ holy; for I am holy: neither will you+ defile your souls with any manner of creeping thing that moves on the earth. 45 For I am Yahweh who brought you+ up out of the land of Egypt, to be your+ God: you+ will therefore be holy, for I am holy.

46 This is the law of the beast, and of the bird, and of every living soul that moves in the waters, and of every soul that creeps on the earth; 47 to make a distinction between the unclean and the clean, and between the living thing that may be eaten and the living thing that may not be eaten.

12  And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2 Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, If a woman conceives seed, and bears a man-child, then she will be unclean seven days; as in the days of her menstrual impurity she will be unclean. 3 And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin will be circumcised. 4 And she will continue in the blood of [her] purifying three and thirty days; she will touch no hallowed thing, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying are fulfilled. 5 But if she bears a female child, then she will be unclean two weeks, as in her impurity; and she will continue in the blood of [her] purifying threescore and six days.

6 And when the days of her purifying are fulfilled, for a son, or for a daughter, she will bring a lamb a year old for a burnt-offering, and a young pigeon, or a turtledove, for a sin-offering, to the door of the tent of meeting, to the priest: 7 and he will offer it before Yahweh, and make atonement for her; and she will be cleansed from the fountain of her blood. This is the law for her who bears, whether a male or a female. 8 And if her means are not sufficient for a lamb, then she will take two turtledoves, or two young pigeons; the one for a burnt-offering, and the other for a sin-offering: and the priest will make atonement for her, and she will be clean.

13  And Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 2 When man will have in the skin of his flesh a rising, or a scab, or a bright spot, and it becomes in the skin of his flesh the plague of leprosy, then he will be brought to Aaron the priest, or to one of his sons the priests: 3 and the priest will look at the plague in the skin of the flesh: and if the hair in the plague has turned white, and the appearance of the plague is deeper than the skin of his flesh, it is the plague of leprosy; and the priest will look at him, and pronounce him unclean. 4 And if the bright spot is white in the skin of his flesh, and its appearance is not deeper than the skin, and its hair has not turned white, then the priest will shut up [him who has] the plague seven days: 5 and the priest will look at him the seventh day: and see if, in his eyes, the plague has stopped, the plague has not spread in the skin, then the priest will shut him up seven days more: 6 and the priest will look at him again the seventh day; and see if the plague is dim, and the plague has not spread in the skin, then the priest will pronounce him clean: it is a scab: and he will wash his clothes, and be clean. 7 But if the scab spreads abroad in the skin, after he has shown himself to the priest for his cleansing, he will show himself to the priest again: 8 and the priest will look; and see if the scab has spread in the skin, then the priest will pronounce him unclean: it is leprosy.

9 When the plague of leprosy is in man, then he will be brought to the priest; 10 and the priest will look; and see if there is a white rising in the skin, and it has turned the hair white, and there is quick raw flesh in the rising, 11 it is an old leprosy in the skin of his flesh, and the priest will pronounce him unclean: he will not shut him up, for he is unclean. 12 And if the leprosy breaks out abroad in the skin, and the leprosy covers all the skin of [him who has] the plague from his head even to his feet, as far as appears to the priest; 13 then the priest will look; and see if the leprosy has covered all his flesh, he will pronounce [him] clean [who has] the plague: it has all turned white: he is clean. 14 But whenever raw flesh appears in him, he will be unclean. 15 And the priest will look at the raw flesh, and pronounce him unclean: the raw flesh is unclean: it is leprosy. 16 Or if the raw flesh turns again, and has changed to white, then he will come to the priest; 17 and the priest will look at him; and see if the plague has turned into white, then the priest will pronounce [him] clean [who has] the plague: he is clean.

18 And when the flesh has a boil on it, and it is healed, 19 and in the place of the boil there is a white rising, or a bright spot, reddish-white, then it will be shown to the priest; 20 and the priest will look; and see if its appearance is lower than the skin, and its hair has turned white, then the priest will pronounce him unclean: it is the plague of leprosy, it has broken out in the boil. 21 But if the priest looks at it and sees there are no white hairs in it, and it is not lower than the skin, but is dim; then the priest will shut him up seven days: 22 And if it spreads abroad in the skin, then the priest will pronounce him unclean: it is a plague. 23 But if the bright spot remains in its place, and has not spread, it is the scar of the boil; and the priest will pronounce him clean.

24 Or when the flesh has in its skin a burning by fire, and the quick [flesh] of the burning becomes a bright spot, reddish-white, or white; 25 then the priest will look at it; and see if the hair in the bright spot has turned white, and its appearance is deeper than the skin; it is leprosy, it has broken out in the burning: and the priest will pronounce him unclean: it is the plague of leprosy. 26 But if the priest looks at it, and sees there is no white hair in the bright spot, and it is no lower than the skin, but is dim; then the priest will shut him up seven days: 27 and the priest will look at him the seventh day: if it spreads abroad in the skin, then the priest will pronounce him unclean: it is the plague of leprosy. 28 And if the bright spot remains in its place, and has not spread in the skin, but is dim; it is the rising of the burning, and the priest will pronounce him clean: for it is the scar of the burning.

29 And when a man or woman has a plague on the head or on the beard, 30 then the priest will look at the plague; and see if its appearance is deeper than the skin, and there is in it yellow thin hair, then the priest will pronounce him unclean: it is a scall, it is leprosy of the head or of the beard. 31 And if the priest looks at the plague of the scall, and sees its appearance is not deeper than the skin, and there is no black hair in it, then the priest will shut up [him who has] the plague of the scall seven days: 32 And in the seventh day the priest will look at the plague; and see if the scall has not spread, and there is in it no yellow hair, and the appearance of the scall is not deeper than the skin, 33 then he will be shaven, but the scall he will not shave; and the priest will shut up [him who has] the scall seven days more: 34 and in the seventh day the priest will look at the scall; and see if the scall has not spread in the skin, and its appearance is not deeper than the skin; then the priest will pronounce him clean: and he will wash his clothes, and be clean. 35 But if the scall spreads abroad in the skin after his cleansing, 36 then the priest will look at him; and see if the scall has spread in the skin, the priest will not seek for the yellow hair; he is unclean. 37 But if in his eyes the scall has stopped, and black hair has grown up in it; the scall is healed, he is clean: and the priest will pronounce him clean.

38 And when a man or a woman has in the skin of the flesh bright spots, even white bright spots; 39 then the priest will look; and see if the bright spots in the skin of their flesh are of a dull white, it is a tetter, it has broken out in the skin; he is clean.

40 And if a man's hair falls off his head, he is bald; [yet] he is clean. 41 And if his hair falls off from the front part of his head, he is bald [on the] forehead; [yet] he is clean. 42 But if there is in the bald head, or the bald forehead, a reddish-white plague; it is leprosy breaking out in his bald head, or his bald forehead. 43 Then the priest will look at him; and see if the rising of the plague is reddish-white in his bald head, or in his bald forehead, as the appearance of leprosy in the skin of the flesh; 44 he is a leprous man, he is unclean: the priest will surely pronounce him unclean; his plague is in his head.

45 And the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes will be rent, and the hair of his head will go loose, and he will cover his upper lip, and will cry, Unclean, unclean. 46 All the days in which the plague is in him he will be unclean; he is unclean: he will dwell alone; outside the camp will be his dwelling.

47 The garment also that the plague of leprosy is in, whether it is a wool garment, or a linen garment; 48 whether it is in warp, or woof; of linen, or of wool; whether in a skin, or in anything made of skin; 49 if the plague is greenish or reddish in the garment, or in the skin, or in the warp, or in the woof, or in anything of skin; it is the plague of leprosy, and will be shown to the priest. 50 And the priest will look at the plague, and shut up [that which has] the plague seven days: 51 and he will look at the plague on the seventh day: if the plague has spread in the garment, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in the skin, whatever service skin is used for; the plague is a fretting leprosy; it is unclean. 52 And he will burn the garment, whether the warp or the woof, in wool or in linen, or anything of skin, in which the plague is: for it is a fretting leprosy; it will be burned in the fire.

53 And if the priest will look, and see that the plague has not spread in the garment, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in anything of skin; 54 then the priest will command that they wash the thing in which the plague is, and he will shut it up seven days more: 55 and the priest will look, after the plague is washed; and see if the plague has not changed its color, and the plague has not spread, it is unclean; you will burn it in the fire: it is a fret, whether the bareness be inside or outside.

56 And if the priest looks and sees that the plague is dim after the washing of it, then he will rend it out of the garment, or out of the skin, or out of the warp, or out of the woof: 57 and if it still appears in the garment, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in anything of skin, it is breaking out: you will burn that in which the plague is with fire. 58 And the garment, either the warp, or the woof, or whatever thing of skin it is, which you will wash, if the plague departs from them, then it will be washed the second time, and will be clean.

59 This is the law of the plague of leprosy in a garment of wool or linen, either in the warp, or the woof, or anything of skin, to pronounce it clean, or to pronounce it unclean.

14  And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2 This will be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing: he will be brought to the priest: 3 and the priest will go forth out of the camp; and the priest will look; and see if the plague of leprosy has healed in the leper, 4 then will the priest command to take for him who is to be cleansed two living clean birds, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop: 5 And the priest will command to kill one of the birds in an earthen vessel over living water. 6 As for the living bird, he will take it, and the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and will dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water: 7 And he will sprinkle on him who is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and will pronounce him clean, and will let the living bird go into the open field. 8 And he who is to be cleansed will wash his clothes, and shave off all his hair, and bathe himself in water; and he will be clean: and after that he will come into the camp, but will dwell outside his tent seven days. 9 And it will be on the seventh day, that he will shave all his hair off his head and his beard and his eyebrows, even all his hair he will shave off: and he will wash his clothes, and he will bathe his flesh in water, and he will be clean.

10 And on the eighth day he will take two male lambs without blemish, and one ewe-lamb a year old without blemish, and three tenth parts [of an ephah] of fine flour for a meal-offering, mingled with oil, and one log of oil. 11 And the priest who cleanses him will set the man who is to be cleansed, and those things, before Yahweh, at the door of the tent of meeting. 12 And the priest will take one of the he-lambs, and offer him for a trespass-offering, and the log of oil, and wave them for a wave-offering before Yahweh: 13 and he will kill the he-lamb in the place where the sin-offering is killed and the burnt-offering, in the place of the sanctuary: for as the sin-offering is the priest's, so is the trespass-offering: it is most holy: 14 and the priest will take of the blood of the trespass-offering, and the priest will put it on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the great toe of his right foot. 15 And the priest will take of the log of oil, and pour it into the palm of his own left hand; 16 and the priest will dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand, and will sprinkle of the oil with his finger seven times before Yahweh: 17 and of the rest of the oil that is in his hand will the priest put on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the great toe of his right foot, on the blood of the trespass-offering: 18 and the rest of the oil that is in the priest's hand he will put on the head of him who is to be cleansed: and the priest will make atonement for him before Yahweh. 19 And the priest will offer the sin-offering, and make atonement for him who is to be cleansed because of his uncleanness: and afterward he will kill the burnt-offering; 20 and the priest will offer the burnt-offering and the meal-offering on the altar: and the priest will make atonement for him, and he will be clean.

21 And if he is poor, and can't get so much, then he will take one he-lamb for a trespass-offering to be waved, to make atonement for him, and one tenth part [of an ephah] of fine flour mingled with oil for a meal-offering, and a log of oil; 22 and two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, such as he is able to get; and the one will be a sin-offering, and the other a burnt-offering. 23 And on the eighth day he will bring them for his cleansing to the priest, to the door of the tent of meeting, before Yahweh: 24 and the priest will take the lamb of the trespass-offering, and the log of oil, and the priest will wave them for a wave-offering before Yahweh. 25 And he will kill the lamb of the trespass-offering; and the priest will take of the blood of the trespass-offering, and put it on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the great toe of his right foot. 26 And the priest will pour of the oil into the palm of his own left hand; 27 and the priest will sprinkle with his right finger some of the oil that is in his left hand seven times before Yahweh: 28 and the priest will put of the oil that is in his hand on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the great toe of his right foot, on the place of the blood of the trespass-offering: 29 and the rest of the oil that is in the priest's hand he will put on the head of him who is to be cleansed, to make atonement for him before Yahweh. 30 And he will offer one of the turtledoves, or of the young pigeons, such as he is able to get, 31 even such as he is able to get, the one for a sin-offering, and the other for a burnt-offering, with the meal-offering: and the priest will make atonement for him who is to be cleansed before Yahweh. 32 This is the law of him in whom is the plague of leprosy, who is not able to get [that which pertains] to his cleansing.

33 And Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 34 When you+ come into the land of Canaan, which I give to you+ for a possession, and I put the plague of leprosy in a house of the land of your+ possession; 35 then he who owns the house will come and tell the priest, saying, There seems to me to be as it were a plague in the house. 36 And the priest will command that they empty the house, before the priest goes in to see the plague, that all that is in the house is not made unclean: and afterward the priest will go in to see the house: 37 and he will look at the plague; and see if the plague is in the walls of the house with hollow streaks, greenish or reddish, and its appearance is lower than the wall; 38 then the priest will go out of the house to the door of the house, and shut up the house seven days. 39 And the priest will come again the seventh day, and will look; and see if the plague has spread in the walls of the house; 40 then the priest will command that they take out the stones in which the plague is, and cast them into an unclean place outside the city: 41 and he will cause the house to be scraped inside round about, and they will pour out the mortar, that they scrape off, outside the city into an unclean place: 42 and they will take other stones, and put them in the place of those stones; and he will take other mortar, and will plaster the house.

43 And if the plague comes again, and breaks out in the house, after that he has taken out the stones, and after he has scraped the house, and after it is plastered; 44 then the priest will come in and look; and see if the plague has spread in the house, it is a fretting leprosy in the house: it is unclean. 45 And he will break down the house, the stones of it, and its timber, and all the mortar of the house; and he will carry them forth out of the city into an unclean place. 46 Moreover he who goes into the house all the while that it is shut up will be unclean until the evening. 47 And he who lies in the house will wash his clothes; and he who eats in the house will wash his clothes.

48 And if the priest will come in, and look, and see that the plague has not spread in the house, after the house was plastered; then the priest will pronounce the house clean, because the plague is healed. 49 And he will take to cleanse the house two birds, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop: 50 and he will kill one of the birds in an earthen vessel over living water: 51 and he will take the cedar wood, and the hyssop, and the scarlet, and the living bird, and dip them in the blood of the slain bird, and in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times: 52 and he will cleanse the house with the blood of the bird, and with the running water, and with the living bird, and with the cedar wood, and with the hyssop, and with the scarlet: 53 but he will let go the living bird out of the city into the open field: so he will make atonement for the house; and it will be clean.

54 This is the law for every manner of plague of leprosy, and for a scall, 55 and for the leprosy of a garment, and for a house, 56 and for a rising, and for a scab, and for a bright spot; 57 to teach when it is unclean, and when it is clean: this is the law of leprosy.

15  And Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 2 Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, When any man has discharging out of his flesh a [genital] discharge, he is unclean. 3 And this will be his uncleanness in his discharge: whether his flesh runs his discharge, or his flesh be stopped from his discharge, he is unclean. All the days that his flesh runs his discharge or that his flesh withholds his discharge, it is his uncleanness. 4 Every bed on which he who has the discharge lies will be unclean; and everything on which he sits will be unclean. 5 And whoever touches his bed will wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening. 6 And he who sits on anything on which he who has the discharge sat will wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening. 7 And he who touches the flesh of him who has the discharge will wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening. 8 And if he who has the discharge spits on him who is clean, then he will wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening. 9 And whatever saddle he who has the discharge rides on will be unclean. 10 And whoever touches anything that was under him will be unclean until the evening: and he who bears those things will wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening. 11 And whomever he who has the discharge touches, without having rinsed his hands in water, he will wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening. 12 And the earthen vessel, which he who has the discharge touches, will be broken; and every vessel of wood will be rinsed in water.

13 And when he who has a discharge is cleansed of his discharge, then he will number to himself seven days for his cleansing, and wash his clothes; and he will bathe his flesh in living water, and will be clean. 14 And on the eighth day he will take to himself two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, and come before Yahweh to the door of the tent of meeting, and give them to the priest: 15 and the priest will offer them, the one for a sin-offering, and the other for a burnt-offering; and the priest will make atonement for him before Yahweh for his discharge.

16 And if any man's semen goes out from him, then he will bathe all his flesh in water, and be unclean until the evening. 17 And every garment, and every skin, on which is the semen, will be washed with water, and be unclean until the evening. 18 And if a woman will lie with a man, with an emission of semen, they will both bathe themselves in water, and be unclean until the evening.

19 And if a woman has a [genital] discharge, [and] her discharge in her flesh is blood, she will be in her impurity seven days: and whoever touches her will be unclean until the evening. 20 And everything that she lies on in her impurity will be unclean: everything also that she sits on will be unclean. 21 And whoever touches her bed will wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening. 22 And whoever touches anything that she sits on will wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening. 23 And if it is on the bed, or on anything on which she sits, when he touches it, he will be unclean until the evening. 24 And if any man lies with her, and her impurity is on him, he will be unclean seven days; and every bed on which he lies will be unclean.

25 And if a woman has a discharge of her blood many days not in the time of her impurity, or if she has a discharge beyond the time of her impurity; all the days of the discharge of her uncleanness she will be as in the days of her impurity: she is unclean. 26 Every bed on which she lies all the days of her discharge will be to her as the bed of her impurity: and everything on which she sits will be unclean, as the uncleanness of her impurity. 27 And whoever touches those things will be unclean, and will wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening. 28 But if she is cleansed of her discharge, then she will number to herself seven days, and after that she will be clean. 29 And on the eighth day she will take to herself two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, and bring them to the priest, to the door of the tent of meeting. 30 And the priest will offer the one for a sin-offering, and the other for a burnt-offering; and the priest will make atonement for her before Yahweh for the discharge of her uncleanness.

31 Thus you+ will separate the sons of Israel from their uncleanness, that they will not die in their uncleanness, when they defile my tabernacle that is in the midst of them.

32 This is the law of him who has a discharge, and of him whose semen goes from him, so that he is unclean by it; 33 and of her in her menstrual impurity, and of him who has a discharge, of the man, and of the woman, and of him who lies with her who is unclean.

16  And Yahweh spoke to Moses, after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near before Yahweh, and died; 2 and Yahweh said to Moses, Speak to Aaron your brother, that he does not come at all times into the holy place inside the veil, before the mercy-seat which is on the ark; that he will not die: for I will appear in the cloud on the mercy-seat. 3 Herewith will Aaron come into the holy place: with a young bull for a sin-offering, and a ram for a burnt-offering. 4 He will put on the holy linen coat, and he will have the linen breeches on his flesh, and will be girded with the linen belt, and with the linen turban he will be attired: they are the holy garments; and he will bathe his flesh in water, and put them on. 5 And he will take of the congregation of the sons of Israel two he-goats for a sin-offering, and one ram for a burnt-offering.

6 And Aaron will present the bull of the sin-offering, which is for himself, and make atonement for himself, and for his house. 7 And he will take the two goats, and set them before Yahweh at the door of the tent of meeting. 8 And Aaron will cast lots on the two goats; one lot for Yahweh, and the other lot for Azazel. 9 And Aaron will present the goat on which the lot fell for Yahweh, and offer him for a sin-offering. 10 But the goat, on which the lot fell for Azazel, will be set alive before Yahweh, to make atonement for him, to send him away for Azazel into the wilderness.

11 And Aaron will present the bull of the sin-offering, which is for himself, and will make atonement for himself, and for his house, and will kill the bull of the sin-offering which is for himself: 12 and he will take a censer full of coals of fire from off the altar before Yahweh, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it inside the veil: 13 and he will put the incense on the fire before Yahweh, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy-seat that is on the testimony, that he will not die: 14 and he will take of the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it with his finger on the mercy-seat on the east; and before the mercy-seat he will sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times.

15 Then he will kill the goat of the sin-offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood inside the veil, and do with his blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy-seat, and before the mercy-seat: 16 and he will make atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleannesses of the sons of Israel, and because of their transgressions, even all their sins: and so he will do for the tent of meeting, that stays with them in the midst of their uncleannesses. 17 And there will not be any of man in the tent of meeting when he goes in to make atonement in the holy place, until he comes out, and makes atonement for himself, and for his household, and for all the assembly of Israel. 18 And he will go out to the altar that is before Yahweh, and make atonement for it, and will take of the blood of the bull, and of the blood of the goat, and put it on the horns of the altar round about. 19 And he will sprinkle of the blood on it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and hallow it from the uncleannesses of the sons of Israel.

20 And when he has made an end of atoning for the holy place, and the tent of meeting, and the altar, he will present the live goat: 21 and Aaron will lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the sons of Israel, and all their transgressions, even all their sins; and he will put them on the head of the goat, and will send him away by the hand of a man who is in readiness into the wilderness: 22 and the goat will bear on him all their iniquities to a solitary land: and he will let the goat go into the wilderness.

23 And Aaron will come into the tent of meeting, and will put off the linen garments, which he put on when he went into the holy place, and will leave them there: 24 and he will bathe his flesh in water in a holy place, and put on his garments, and come forth, and offer his burnt-offering and the burnt-offering of the people, and make atonement for himself and for the people. 25 And the fat of the sin-offering he will burn on the altar. 26 And he who lets the goat go for Azazel will wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he will come into the camp. 27 And the bull of the sin-offering, and the goat of the sin-offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy place, will be carried forth outside the camp; and they will burn in the fire their skins, and their flesh, and their dung. 28 And he who burns them will wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he will come into the camp.

29 And it will be a statute forever to you+: in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you+ will afflict your+ souls, and will do no manner of work, the home-born, or the stranger who sojourns among you+: 30 for on this day atonement will be made for you+, to cleanse you+; from all your+ sins you+ will be clean before Yahweh. 31 It is a Sabbath of solemn rest to you+, and you+ will afflict your+ souls; it is a statute forever. 32 And the priest, who will be anointed and who will be consecrated to be priest in his father's stead, will make the atonement, and will put on the linen garments, even the holy garments: 33 and he will make atonement for the holy sanctuary; and he will make atonement for the tent of meeting and for the altar; and he will make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly. 34 And this will be an everlasting statute to you+, to make atonement for the sons of Israel because of all their sins once in the year. And he did as Yahweh commanded Moses.

17  And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2 Speak to Aaron, and to his sons, and to all the sons of Israel, and say to them: This is the thing which Yahweh has commanded, saying, 3 Any man of the house of Israel, that kills an ox, or lamb, or goat, in the camp, or that kills it outside the camp, 4 and has not brought it to the door of the tent of meeting to make it a burnt-offering or peace-offerings for Yahweh, so as to be accepted, as a pleasing odor, but kills it outside, and does not bring it to the door of the tent of meeting to offer it as an offering for Yahweh before the tabernacle of Yahweh: blood will be imputed to that man; he has shed blood; and that man will be cut off from among his people: 5 To the end that the sons of Israel may bring their sacrifices, which they sacrifice in the open field, even that they may bring them to Yahweh, to the door of the tent of meeting, to the priest, and sacrifice them for sacrifices of peace-offerings to Yahweh. 6 And the priest will sprinkle the blood on the altar of Yahweh at the door of the tent of meeting, and burn the fat for a sweet savor to Yahweh. 7 And they will no more sacrifice their sacrifices to the he-goats, which they prostitute after. This will be a statute forever to them throughout their generations.

8 And you will say to them, Any man of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn among them, who offers a burnt-offering or sacrifice, 9 and does not bring it to the door of the tent of meeting, to sacrifice it to Yahweh; that man will be cut off from his people.

10 And any man of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn among them, who eats any manner of blood, I will set my face against that soul who eats blood, and will cut him off from among his people. 11 For the soul of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you+ on the altar to make atonement for your+ souls: for it is the blood that makes atonement by reason of the soul. 12 Therefore I said to the sons of Israel, No soul of you+ will eat blood, neither will any stranger who sojourns among you+ eat blood.

13 And any man of the sons of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn among them, who takes in hunting any beast or bird that may be eaten; he will pour out its blood, and cover it with dust. 14 For the soul of all flesh is its blood, which is in its living body. Therefore I said to the sons of Israel, You+ will eat the blood of no manner of flesh; for the soul of all flesh is its blood: whoever eats it will be cut off. 15 And every soul who eats that which dies of itself, or that which is torn of beasts, whether he is home-born or a sojourner, he will wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening: then he will be clean. 16 But if he doesn't wash them, nor bathe his flesh, then he will bear his iniquity.

18  And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2 Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, I am Yahweh your+ God. 3 After the doings of the land of Egypt, in which you+ dwelt, you+ will not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, where I bring you+, you+ will not do; neither will you+ walk in their statutes. 4 My ordinances you+ will do, and my statutes you+ will keep, to walk in them: I am Yahweh your+ God. 5 You+ will therefore keep my statutes, and my ordinances; which if man does, he will live in them: I am Yahweh.

6 Any man will not have any sex[194] with anyone who is near of kin to him: I am Yahweh. 7 The nakedness of your father, even the nakedness of your mother, you will not uncover. She is your mother, you will not have any sex with her. 8 You will not have any sex with your father's wife, it is your father's nakedness. 9 With your sister, the daughter of your father, or the daughter of your mother, whether born at home, or born abroad, you will not have any sex with them. 10 You will not have any sex with your son's daughter, or with your daughter's daughter: for theirs is your own nakedness. 11 You will not have any sex with your father's wife's daughter, begotten of your father, she is your sister. 12 You will not have any sex with your father's sister: she is your father's near kinswoman. 13 You will not have any sex with your mother's sister: for she is your mother's near kinswoman. 14 You will not have any sex with your father's brother, you will not have any sex with his wife: she is your aunt. 15 You will not have any sex with your daughter-in-law: she is your son's wife. You will not have any sex with her. 16 You will not have any sex with your brother's wife. 17 You will not have any sex with a woman and her daughter; you will not have any sex with her son's daughter, or her daughter's daughter; they are her flesh: it is wickedness. 18 And you will not take a wife to her sister, to be a rival [to her], to have any sex with her, besides the other in her lifetime.

19 And you will not have sex with a woman, as long as she is impure by her uncleanness. 20 And you will not have any sex with your associate's wife, to defile yourself with her. 21 And you will not give any of your seed to make them pass through [the fire] to Molech; neither will you profane the name of your God: I am Yahweh. 22 You will not have any sex with a man: it is disgusting. 23 And you will not have any sex with any animal and defile yourself with it; neither will any woman have any sex with an animal: it is perverted.

24 Don't defile yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations have been defiled which I am casting out from before you+; 25 And the land is defiled: therefore I visit its iniquity on it, and the land vomits out her inhabitants. 26 You+ therefore will keep my statutes and my ordinances, and will not do any of these disgusting things; neither the home-born, nor the stranger who sojourns among you+; 27 for the men who were before you+ in the land have done all these disgusting things, and the land is defiled; 28 that the land does not vomit you+ out also, when you+ defile it, as it is vomiting out the nation that was before you+. 29 For whoever will do any of these disgusting things, even the souls who do them will be cut off from among their people. 30 Therefore you+ will keep my charge, that you+ don't do any of these disgusting customs, which were done before you+, and that you+ don't defile yourselves in them: I am Yahweh your+ God.

19  And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2 Speak to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, and say to them, You+ will be holy; for I, Yahweh your+ God, am holy. 3 You+ will fear every man his mother, and his father; and you+ will keep my Sabbaths: I am Yahweh your+ God. 4 Don't turn yourselves to idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods: I am Yahweh your+ God.

5 And when you+ offer a sacrifice of peace-offerings to Yahweh, you+ will offer it that you+ may be accepted. 6 It will be eaten the same day you+ offer it, and on the next day: and if anything remains until the third day, it will be burned with fire. 7 And if it is eaten at all on the third day, it is contaminated; it will not be accepted: 8 but everyone who eats it will bear his iniquity, because he has profaned the holy thing of Yahweh: and that soul will be cut off from his people.

9 And when you+ reap the harvest of your+ land, you will not wholly reap the corners of your field, neither will you gather the gleaning of your harvest. 10 And you will not glean your vineyard, neither will you gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard; you will leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am Yahweh your+ God.

11 You+ will not steal; neither will you+ deal falsely; nor lie; a man to his associate. 12 And you+ will not swear by my name falsely, and [thus] you profane the name of your God: I am Yahweh.

13 You will not oppress your fellow man, nor rob him: the wages of a hired worker will not remain with you all night until the morning. 14 You will not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind; but you will fear your God: I am Yahweh.

15 You+ will do no unrighteousness in judgment: you will not respect the person of the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty; but in righteousness you will judge your associate. 16 You will not go up and down as a talebearer among your relatives: you will not stand against the blood of your fellow man: I am Yahweh.

17 You will not hate your brother in your heart: you will surely rebuke your associate, and not bear sin because of him. 18 You will not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people; but you will love your fellow man as yourself: I am Yahweh.

19 You+ will keep my statutes. You will not let your cattle gender with a diverse kind: you will not sow your field with two kinds of seed: neither will there come upon you a garment of two kinds of stuff mingled together. 20 And whoever has any sex with a woman, who is a female slave, betrothed to a husband, and not at all redeemed, nor freedom given her; they will be punished; they will not be put to death, because she was not free. 21 And he will bring his trespass-offering to Yahweh, to the door of the tent of meeting, even a ram for a trespass-offering. 22 And the priest will make atonement for him with the ram of the trespass-offering before Yahweh for his sin which he has sinned: and the sin which he has sinned will be forgiven him.

23 And when you+ will come into the land, and will have planted all manner of trees for food, then you+ will count its fruit as their uncircumcision: three years they will be as uncircumcised to you+; it will not be eaten. 24 But in the fourth year all its fruit will be holy, for inauguration to Yahweh. 25 And in the fifth year you+ will eat of its fruit, that it may yield to you+ its increase: I am Yahweh your+ God.

26 You+ will not eat anything with the blood: neither will you+ use magic, nor interpret omens. 27 You+ will not round the corners of your+ heads, neither will you mar the corners of your beard. 28 You+ will not make on your+ flesh any cuttings for a soul, nor make on you+ any tattoo marks: I am Yahweh.

29 Don't profane your daughter, to make her a prostitute; lest the land fall to prostitution, and the land become full of wickedness. 30 You+ will keep my Sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary; I am Yahweh.

31 Do+ not turn to the spiritists or to the wizards; do not seek them out, to be defiled by them: I am Yahweh your+ God.

32 You will rise up before the gray head, and honor the face of the old man, and you will fear your God: I am Yahweh.

33 And if a stranger sojourns with you in your+ land, you+ will not do him wrong. 34 The stranger who sojourns with you+ will be to you+ as the home-born among you+, and you will love him as yourself; for you+ were sojourners in the land of Egypt: I am Yahweh your+ God.

35 You+ will do no unrighteousness in judgment, in measures of length, of weight, or of quantity. 36 Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin, you+ will have: I am Yahweh your+ God, who brought you+ out of the land of Egypt. 37 And you+ will observe all my statutes, and all my ordinances, and do them: I am Yahweh.

20  And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2 Moreover, you will say to the sons of Israel, Any man of the sons of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel, that gives of his seed to Molech; he will surely be put to death: the people of the land will stone him with stones. 3 I also will set my face against that man, and will cut him off from among his people; because he has given of his seed to Molech, to defile my sanctuary, and to profane my holy name. 4 And if the people of the land do at all hide their eyes from that man, when he gives of his seed to Molech, and do not put him to death; 5 then I will set my face against that man, and against his family, and will cut him off, and all those prostituting after him, to prostitute with Molech, from among their people.

6 And the soul who turns to the spiritists or the wizards, to prostitute after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people. 7 Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be+ holy; for I am Yahweh your+ God. 8 And you+ will keep my statutes, and do them: I am Yahweh who sanctifies you+. 9 For any man who curses his father or his mother will surely be put to death: he has cursed his father or his mother; his blood will be on him.

10 And the man who commits adultery with another man's wife—who commits adultery with his fellow man's wife—the adulterer and the adulteress will surely be put to death. 11 And the man who has any sex with his father's wife has uncovered his father's nakedness: both of them will surely be put to death; their blood will be on them. 12 And if a man has any sex with his daughter-in-law, both of them will surely be put to death: they did something perverted; their blood will be on them. 13 And if a man has any sex with a man, both of them have done something disgusting: they will surely be put to death; their blood will be on them. 14 And if a man has any sex with his wife and her mother, it is wickedness: they will be burned with fire, both he and they; that there will be no wickedness among you+. 15 And if a man has any sex with an animal, he will surely be put to death: and you+ will slay the beast. 16 And if a woman has any sex with an animal, you will kill the woman, and the animal: they will surely be put to death; their blood will be on them.

17 And if a man will have any sex with his sister, his father's daughter, or his mother's daughter, it is a shameful thing; and they will be cut off in the sight of the sons of their people: he has uncovered his sister's nakedness; he will bear his iniquity. 18 And if a man will have sex with a menstruating woman; he has made naked her fountain, and she has uncovered the fountain of her blood: and both of them will be cut off from among their people. 19 And you will not have any sex with your mother's sister, nor of your father's sister; for he has made naked his near kin: they will bear their iniquity. 20 And if a man will have any sex with his uncle's wife, he has uncovered his uncle's nakedness: they will bear their sin; they will die childless. 21 And if a man will have any sex with his brother's wife, it is impurity: he has uncovered his brother's nakedness; they will be childless.

22 You+ will therefore keep all my statutes, and all my ordinances, and do them; that the land, where I am bringing you+ to dwell in it, does not vomit you+ out. 23 And you+ will not walk in the customs of the nation, which I am casting out before you+: for they did all these things, and therefore I abhorred them. 24 But I have said to you+, You+ will inherit their land, and I will give it to you+ to possess it, a land flowing with milk and honey: I am Yahweh your+ God, who has separated you+ from the peoples. 25 You+ will therefore make a distinction between the clean beast and the unclean, and between the unclean fowl and the clean: and you+ will not make your+ souls detestable by beast, or by bird, or by anything with which the ground teems, which I have separated from you+ as unclean. 26 And you+ will be holy to me: for I, Yahweh, am holy, and have set you+ apart from the peoples, that you+ should be mine.

27 And a man or a woman among them, who is a spiritist or a wizard, will surely be put to death: they will stone them with stones; their blood will be on them.

21  And Yahweh said to Moses, Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, None will defile himself for a soul among his relatives; 2 except for his kin, who is near to him, for his mother, and for his father, and for his son, and for his daughter, and for his brother, 3 and for his sister a virgin, who is near to him, that has had no husband; for her he may defile himself. 4 He will not defile himself suddenly among his relatives, to profane himself. 5 They will not make baldness on their head, neither will they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh. 6 They will be [in a state of] holiness to their God, and not profane the name of their God; for the offerings of Yahweh made by fire, the bread of their God, they offer: therefore they will be holy. 7 They will not take a woman who is a prostitute, or profane; neither will they take a woman put away from her husband: for he is holy to his God. 8 You will sanctify him therefore; for he offers the bread of your God: he will be holy to you: for I Yahweh, who sanctify you+, am holy. 9 And the daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by prostituting, she profanes her father: she will be burned with fire.

10 And he who is the high priest among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil is poured, and who is consecrated to put on the garments, will not let the hair of his head go loose, nor rend his clothes; 11 neither will he go in to any souls of the dead, nor defile himself for his father, or for his mother; 12 neither will he go out of the sanctuary, nor profane the sanctuary of his God; for the crown of the anointing oil of his God is on him: I am Yahweh. 13 And he will take a wife in her virginity. 14 A widow, or one divorced, or a profane woman, a prostitute, these he will not take: but a virgin of his own relatives he will take as wife. 15 And he will not profane his seed among his relatives: for I am Yahweh who sanctifies him.

16 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 17 Speak to Aaron, saying, Whoever he is of your seed throughout their generations that has a blemish, do not let him approach to offer the bread of his God. 18 For whatever man he is who has a blemish, he will not approach: a blind man, or a lame, or he who has a flat nose, or anything superfluous, 19 or a man who is broken-footed, or broken-handed, 20 or crook-backed, or a dwarf, or who has a blemish in his eye, or is scurvy, or scabbed, or has his stones broken; 21 no man of the seed of Aaron the priest, who has a blemish, will come near to offer the offerings of Yahweh made by fire: he has a blemish; he will not come near to offer the bread of his God. 22 He will eat the bread of his God, both of the most holy, and of the holy: 23 only he will not go in to the veil, nor come near to the altar, because he has a blemish; that he does not profane my sanctuaries: for I am Yahweh who sanctifies them. 24 So Moses spoke to Aaron, and to his sons, and to all the sons of Israel.

22  And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2 Speak to Aaron and to his sons, that they separate themselves from the holy things of the sons of Israel, which they hallow to me, and that they don't profane my holy name: I am Yahweh. 3 Say to them, Whoever he is of all your+ seed throughout your+ generations, that approaches to the holy things, which the sons of Israel hallow to Yahweh, having his uncleanness on him, that soul will be cut off from before me: I am Yahweh. 4 Any man of the seed of Aaron who is a leper, or has a discharge; he will not eat of the holy things, until he is clean. And whoever touches anything that is unclean by the dead, or a man who has an emission of semen go out from him; 5 or whoever touches any creeping thing, by which he may be made unclean, or man who is unclean to him, whatever uncleanness he has; 6 the soul who touches any such will be unclean until the evening, and will not eat of the holy things, unless he bathe his flesh in water. 7 And when the sun has gone down, he will be clean; and afterward he will eat of the holy things, because it is his bread. 8 That which dies of itself, or is torn of beasts, he will not eat, to defile himself with it: I am Yahweh. 9 They will therefore keep my charge, lest they bear sin for it, and die in it, if they profane it: I am Yahweh who sanctifies them.

10 And no stranger will eat of the holy thing: a sojourner of the priest's, or a hired worker, will not eat of the holy thing. 11 But if a priest buys any soul, the purchase of his silver, he will eat of it, and one who is born in his house, they will eat of his bread. 12 And if a priest's daughter is married to a stranger, she will not eat of the heave-offering of the holy things. 13 But if a priest's daughter is a widow, or divorced, and has no child, and is returned to her father's house, as in her youth, she will eat of her father's bread: but no stranger will eat of it. 14 And if a man eats of the holy thing unintentionally, then he will put the fifth part of it to it, and will give to the priest the holy thing. 15 And they will not profane the holy things of the sons of Israel, which they offer to Yahweh, 16 and [so] cause them to bear the iniquity that brings guilt, when they eat their holy things: for I am Yahweh who sanctifies them.

17 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 18 Speak to Aaron, and to his sons, and to all the sons of Israel, and say to them, Any man of the house of Israel, and from every sojourner who sojourns in Israel, who offers his oblation, whether it is any of their vows, or any of their freewill-offerings, which they offer to Yahweh for a burnt-offering; 19 that you+ may be accepted, [you+ will offer] a male without blemish, of the bullocks, of the sheep, or of the goats. 20 But whatever has a blemish, that you+ will not offer: for it will not be acceptable for you+. 21 And whoever offers a sacrifice of peace-offerings to Yahweh to accomplish a vow, or for a freewill-offering, of the herd or of the flock, it will be perfect to be accepted; there will be no blemish in it. 22 Blind, or broken, or maimed, or having a wen, or scurvy, or scabbed, you+ will not offer these to Yahweh, nor make an offering by fire of them on the altar to Yahweh. 23 Either a bull or a lamb that has anything superfluous or lacking in his parts, that you may offer for a freewill-offering; but for a vow it will not be accepted. 24 That which is castrated by bruising, or crushing, or breaking, or cutting, you+ will not offer to Yahweh; neither will you+ do [thus] in your+ land. 25 Neither from the hand of a foreigner will you+ offer the bread of your+ God of any of these; because their corruption is in them, there is a blemish in them: they will not be accepted for you+.

26 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 27 When a bull, or a sheep, or a goat, is brought forth, then it will be seven days under the dam; and from the eighth day and from then on it will be accepted for the oblation of an offering made by fire to Yahweh. 28 And whether it is cow or ewe, you+ will not kill it and its young both in one day. 29 And when you+ sacrifice a sacrifice of thanksgiving to Yahweh, you+ will sacrifice it that you+ may be accepted. 30 On the same day it will be eaten; you+ will leave none of it until the morning: I am Yahweh. 31 Therefore you+ will keep my commandments, and do them: I am Yahweh. 32 And you+ will not profane my holy name; but I will be hallowed among the sons of Israel: I am Yahweh who hallows you+, 33 who brought you+ out of the land of Egypt, to be your+ God: I am Yahweh.

23  And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2 Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, The set feasts of Yahweh, which you+ will proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my set feasts. 3 Six days will work be done: but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation; you+ will do no manner of work: it is a Sabbath to Yahweh in all your+ dwellings.

4 These are the set feasts of Yahweh, even holy convocations, which you+ will proclaim in their appointed season. 5 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, is Yahweh's Passover. 6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread to Yahweh: seven days you+ will eat unleavened bread. 7 In the first day you+ will have a holy convocation: you+ will do no servile work. 8 But you+ will offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh seven days: in the seventh day is a holy convocation; you+ will do no servile work.

9 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 10 Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, When you+ come into the land which I give to you+, and will reap its harvest, then you+ will bring the sheaf of the first fruits of your+ harvest to the priest: 11 and he will wave the sheaf before Yahweh, to be accepted for you+: on the next day after the Sabbath the priest will wave it. 12 And in the day when you+ wave the sheaf, you+ will offer a he-lamb without blemish a year old for a burnt-offering to Yahweh. 13 And the meal-offering of it will be two tenth parts [of an ephah] of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire to Yahweh for a sweet savor; and the drink-offering of it will be of wine, the fourth part of a hin. 14 And you+ will eat neither bread, nor parched grain, nor fresh ears, until this very same day, until you+ have brought the oblation of your+ God: it is a statute forever throughout your+ generations in all your+ dwellings.

15 And you+ will count to yourselves from the next day after the Sabbath, from the day that you+ brought the sheaf of the wave-offering; there will be seven complete Sabbaths: 16 even to the next day after the seventh Sabbath you+ will number fifty days; and you+ will offer a new meal-offering to Yahweh. 17 From your+ habitations you+ will bring bread as a wave offering: two [loaves] of two tenth parts [of an ephah]: they will be of fine flour, they will be baked with leaven, for first fruits to Yahweh. 18 And you+ will present with the bread seven lambs without blemish a year old, and one young bull, and two rams: they will be a burnt-offering to Yahweh, with their meal-offering, and their drink-offerings, even an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor to Yahweh. 19 And you+ will offer one he-goat for a sin-offering, and two he-lambs a year old for a sacrifice of peace-offerings. 20 And the priest will wave them with the bread of the first fruits for a wave-offering before Yahweh, with the two lambs: they will be holy to Yahweh for the priest. 21 And you+ will make proclamation on the very same day; there will be a holy convocation to you+; you+ will do no servile work: it is a statute forever in all your+ dwellings throughout your+ generations.

22 And when you+ reap the harvest of your+ land, you will not wholly reap the corners of your field, neither will you gather the gleaning of your harvest: you will leave them for the poor, and for the sojourner: I am Yahweh your+ God.

23 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 24 Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, will be a solemn rest to you+, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. 25 You+ will do no servile work; and you+ will offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh.

26 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 27 Nevertheless on the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement: it will be a holy convocation to you+, and you+ will afflict your+ souls; and you+ will offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh. 28 And you+ will do no manner of work in that same day; for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement for you+ before Yahweh your+ God. 29 For whatever soul it is that will not be afflicted in that same day; he will be cut off from his relatives. 30 And whatever soul it is that does any manner of work in that same day, that soul I will destroy from among his people. 31 You+ will do no manner of work: it is a statute forever throughout your+ generations in all your+ dwellings. 32 It will be to you+ a Sabbath of solemn rest, and you+ will afflict your+ souls: in the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you+ will keep your+ Sabbath.

33 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 34 Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the feast of tabernacles for seven days to Yahweh. 35 On the first day will be a holy convocation: you+ will do no servile work. 36 Seven days you+ will offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh: on the eighth day will be a holy convocation to you+; and you+ will offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh: it is a solemn assembly; you+ will do no servile work.

37 These are the set feasts of Yahweh, which you+ will proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh, a burnt-offering, and a meal-offering, a sacrifice, and drink-offerings, each on its own day; 38 besides the Sabbaths of Yahweh, and besides your+ gifts, and besides all your+ vows, and besides all your+ freewill-offerings, which you+ give to Yahweh.

39 Nevertheless on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you+ have gathered in the fruits of the land, you+ will keep the feast of Yahweh seven days: on the first day will be a solemn rest, and on the eighth day will be a solemn rest. 40 And you+ will take to yourselves on the first day the fruit of majestic trees, branches of palm-trees, and boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and you+ will rejoice before Yahweh your+ God seven days. 41 And you+ will keep it a feast to Yahweh seven days in the year: it is a statute forever throughout your+ generations; you+ will keep it in the seventh month. 42 You+ will dwell in booths seven days; all who are home-born in Israel will dwell in booths; 43 that your+ generations may know that I made the sons of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am Yahweh your+ God. 44 And Moses declared to the sons of Israel the set feasts of Yahweh.

24  And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2 Command the sons of Israel, that they bring to you pure olive oil beaten for the light, to cause a lamp to burn continually. 3 Outside the veil of the testimony, in the tent of meeting, Aaron will keep it in order from evening to morning before Yahweh continually: it will be a statute forever throughout your+ generations. 4 He will keep in order the lamps on the pure lampstand before Yahweh continually.

5 And you will take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes of it: two tenth parts [of an ephah] will be in one cake. 6 And you will set them in two rows, six on a row, on the pure table before Yahweh. 7 And you will put pure frankincense on each row, that it may be to the bread for a memorial, even an offering made by fire to Yahweh. 8 Every Sabbath day he will set it in order before Yahweh continually; it is on the behalf of the sons of Israel, an everlasting covenant. 9 And it will be for Aaron and his sons; and they will eat it in a holy place: for it is most holy to him of the offerings of Yahweh made by fire by a perpetual statute.

10 And a son of a woman of Israel, who was also a son of a man of Egypt, went out among the sons of Israel; and the son of the Israeli woman and a man of Israel strove together in the camp: 11 and the son of the Israeli woman blasphemed the name, and cursed; and they brought him to Moses. And his mother's name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan. 12 And they put him in ward, that it might be declared to them according to the mouth of Yahweh.

13 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 14 Bring forth him who has cursed outside the camp; and let all who heard him lay their hands on his head, and let all the congregation stone him. 15 And you will speak to the sons of Israel, saying, Any man who curses his God will bear his sin. 16 And he who blasphemes the name of Yahweh, he will surely be put to death; all the congregation will certainly stone him: as well the sojourner, as the home-born, when he blasphemes the name [of Yahweh], will be put to death. 17 And a man who strikes any soul of man, will surely be put to death. 18 And he who strikes the soul of a beast will make it good, soul for soul. 19 And if a man causes a blemish in his associate; as he has done, so it will be done to him: 20 breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; as he has caused a blemish in man, so it will be rendered to him. 21 And he who kills a beast will make it good: and he who kills man will be put to death. 22 You+ will have one manner of law, as well for the sojourner, as for the home-born: for I am Yahweh your+ God. 23 And Moses spoke to the sons of Israel; and they brought forth him who had cursed out of the camp, and stoned him with stones. And the sons of Israel did as Yahweh commanded Moses.

25  And Yahweh spoke to Moses in mount Sinai, saying, 2 Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, When you+ come into the land which I give you+, then the land will keep a Sabbath to Yahweh. 3 Six years you will sow your field, and six years you will prune your vineyard, and gather in its fruits; 4 but in the seventh year will be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to Yahweh: you will neither sow your field, nor prune your vineyard. 5 That which grows of itself of your harvest you will not reap, and the grapes of your undressed vine you will not gather: it will be a year of solemn rest for the land. 6 And the Sabbath of the land will be for food for you+; for you, and for your male slave and for your female slave, and for your hired worker and for your stranger, who sojourn with you. 7 And for your cattle, and for the beasts that are in your land, will all its increase be for food.

8 And you will number seven Sabbaths of years to yourself, seven times seven years; and there will be to you the days of seven Sabbaths of years, even forty and nine years. 9 Then you will send abroad the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month; in the day of atonement you+ will send abroad the trumpet throughout all your+ land. 10 And you+ will hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants: it will be a jubilee to you+; and you+ will return every man to his possession, and you+ will return every man to his family. 11 A jubilee will that fiftieth year be to you+: you+ will not sow, neither reap that which grows of itself in it, nor gather [the grapes] in it of the undressed vines. 12 For it is a jubilee; it will be holy to you+: you+ will eat its increase out of the field.

13 In this year of jubilee you+ will return every man to his possession. 14 And if you+ sell anything to your associate, or buy from your associate, you+ will not wrong one another. 15 According to the number of years after the jubilee you will buy of your associate, [and] according to the number of years of the crops he will sell to you. 16 According to the multitude of the years you will increase its price, and according to the fewness of the years you will diminish the price of it; for the number of the crops he sells to you. 17 And you+ will not wrong, a man and his associate; but you will fear your God: for I am Yahweh your+ God.

18 Therefore you+ will do my statutes, and keep my ordinances and do them; and you+ will dwell in the land in safety. 19 And the land will yield its fruit, and you+ will eat your+ fill, and dwell in it in safety. 20 And if you+ will say, What shall we eat the seventh year? Look, we will not sow, nor gather in our increase; 21 then I will command my blessing on you+ in the sixth year, and it will bring forth fruit for the three years. 22 And you+ will sow the eighth year, and eat of the fruits, the old store; until the ninth year, until its fruits come in, you+ will eat the old store.

23 And the land will not be sold in perpetuity; for the land is mine: for you+ are strangers and sojourners with me. 24 And in all the land of your+ possession you+ will grant a redemption for the land. 25 If your brother is waxed poor, and sells some of his possession, then his kinsman who is next to him will come, and will redeem that which his brother has sold. 26 And if a man has no one to redeem it, and he is waxed rich and finds enough to redeem it; 27 then let him reckon the years of its sale, and restore the surplus to the man to whom he sold it; and he will return to his possession. 28 But if he is not able to get it back for himself, then that which he has sold will remain in the hand of him who has bought it until the year of jubilee: and in the jubilee it will go out, and he will return to his possession.

29 And if a man sells a dwelling-house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold; for a full year he will have the right of redemption. 30 And if it is not redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house that is in the walled city will be made sure in perpetuity to him who bought it, throughout his generations: it will not go out in the jubilee. 31 But the houses of the villages which have no wall round about them will be reckoned with the fields of the country: they may be redeemed, and they will go out in the jubilee. 32 Nevertheless the cities of the Levites, the houses of the cities of their possession, the Levites may redeem at any time. 33 And when one of the Levites redeems, the house that was sold, in the the city of his possession, will go out in the jubilee; for the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession among the sons of Israel. 34 But the field of the suburbs of their cities may not be sold; for it is their perpetual possession.

35 And if your brother is waxed poor, and his hand fails with you; then you will uphold him: [as] a stranger [who is a] sojourner he will live with you. 36 Take no interest of him or increase, but fear your God; that your brother may live with you. 37 You will not give him your silver on interest, nor give him your victuals for increase. 38 I am Yahweh your+ God, who brought you+ forth out of the land of Egypt, to give you+ the land of Canaan, [and] to be your+ God.

39 And if your brother is waxed poor with you, and sells himself to you; you will not make him to serve as a slave. 40 As a hired worker, and as a sojourner, he will be with you; he will serve with you to the year of jubilee: 41 and then he will go out from you, he and his sons with him, and then will return to his own family, and to the possession of his fathers he will return. 42 For they are my slaves, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: they will not be sold as a slave. 43 You will not rule over him with rigor, but will fear your God. 44 And as for your male slave, and your female slave, whom you will have; of the nations that are round about you+, of them you+ will buy a male slave and a female slave. 45 Moreover of the sons of the strangers who sojourn among you+, of them you+ will buy, and of their families who are with you+, which they have begotten in your+ land: and they will be your+ possession. 46 And you+ will make them an inheritance for your+ sons after you+, to hold for a possession; of them you+ will take your+ slaves forever: but over your+ brothers the sons of Israel you+ will not rule, one over another, with rigor.

47 And if a stranger [who is a] sojourner with you is waxed rich, and your brother is waxed poor beside him, and sells himself to a stranger [who is a] sojourner with you, or to the stock of the stranger's family; 48 after he is sold he may be redeemed: one of his brothers may redeem him; 49 or his uncle, or his uncle's son, may redeem him, or any who is near of kin to him of his family may redeem him; or if he is waxed rich, he may redeem himself. 50 And he will reckon with him who bought him from the year that he sold himself to him to the year of jubilee: and the [price in] silver of his sale will be according to the number of years; according to the time of a hired worker he will be with him. 51 If there are yet many years, according to them he will give back the price of his redemption out of the silver that he was bought for. 52 And if there remain but few years to the year of jubilee, then he will reckon with him; according to his years he will give back the price of his redemption. 53 As a worker hired year by year he will be with him: he will not rule with rigor over him in your sight. 54 And if he is not redeemed by these [means], then he will go out in the year of jubilee, he, and his sons with him. 55 For to me the sons of Israel are slaves; they are my slaves whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: I am Yahweh your+ God.

26  You+ will not make yourselves idols, neither will you+ rear yourselves up a graven image, or a pillar, neither will you+ place any figured stone in your+ land, to bow down to it: for I am Yahweh your+ God. 2 You+ will keep my Sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am Yahweh.

3 If you+ walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them; 4 then I will give your+ rains in their season, and the land will yield its increase, and the trees of the field will yield their fruit. 5 And your+ threshing will reach to the vintage, and the vintage will reach to the sowing time; and you+ will eat your+ bread to the full, and dwell in your+ land safely. 6 And I will give peace in the land, and you+ will lie down, and none will make you+ afraid: and I will cause evil beasts to cease out of the land, neither will the sword go through your+ land. 7 And you+ will chase your+ enemies, and they will fall before you+ by the sword. 8 And five of you+ will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you+ will chase ten thousand; and your+ enemies will fall before you+ by the sword. 9 And I will have respect to you+, and make you+ fruitful, and multiply you+, and will establish my covenant with you+. 10 And you+ will eat old store long kept, and you+ will bring forth the old because of the new. 11 And I will set my tabernacle among you+: and my soul will not abhor you+. 12 And I will walk among you+, and will be your+ God, and you+ will be my people. 13 I am Yahweh your+ God, who brought you+ forth out of the land of Egypt, that you+ should not be their slaves; and I have broken the bars of your+ yoke, and made you+ go upright.

14 But if you+ will not listen to me, and will not do all these commandments; 15 and if you+ will reject my statutes, and if your+ soul abhors my ordinances, so that you+ will not do all my commandments, but break my covenant; 16 I also will do this to you+: I will appoint terror over you+, even consumption and fever, that will consume the eyes, and make the soul to pine away; and you+ will sow your+ seed in vain, for your+ enemies will eat it. 17 And I will set my face against you+, and you+ will be struck before your+ enemies: those who hate you+ will rule over you+; and you+ will flee when none pursues you+. 18 And if you+ will not yet for these things listen to me, then I will chastise you+ seven times more for your+ sins. 19 And I will break the pride of your+ power: and I will make your+ heaven as iron, and your+ earth as bronze; 20 and your+ strength will be spent in vain; for your+ land will not yield its increase, neither will the trees of the land yield their fruit.

21 And if you+ walk contrary to me, and will not listen to me, I will bring seven times more plagues on you+ according to your+ sins. 22 And I will send the beast of the field among you+, which will rob you+ of your+ children, and destroy your+ cattle, and make you+ few in number; and your+ ways will become desolate.

23 And if by these things you+ will not be reformed to me, but will walk contrary to me; 24 then I will also walk contrary to you+; and I will strike you+, even I, seven times for your+ sins. 25 And I will bring a sword on you+, that will execute the vengeance of the covenant; and you+ will be gathered together inside your+ cities: and I will send the pestilence among you+; and you+ will be delivered into the hand of the enemy. 26 When I break your+ staff of bread, ten women will bake your+ bread in one oven, and they will deliver your+ bread again by weight: and you+ will eat, and not be satisfied.

27 And if you+ will not for all this listen to me, but walk contrary to me; 28 then I will walk contrary to you+ in wrath; and I also will chastise you+ seven times for your+ sins. 29 And you+ will eat the flesh of your+ sons, and the flesh of your+ daughters you+ will eat. 30 And I will destroy your+ high places, and cut down your+ sun-images, and cast your+ dead bodies on the bodies of your+ idols; and my soul will abhor you+. 31 And I will make your+ cities a waste, and will bring your+ sanctuaries to desolation, and I will not smell the savor of your+ sweet odors. 32 And I will bring the land into desolation; and your+ enemies who dwell in it will be astonished at it. 33 And you+ I will scatter among the nations, and I will draw out the sword after you+: and your+ land will be a desolation, and your+ cities will be a waste.

34 Then will the land enjoy its Sabbaths, as long as it lies desolate, and you+ are in your+ enemies' land; even then will the land rest, and enjoy its Sabbaths. 35 As long as it lies desolate it will have rest, even the rest which it did not have in your+ Sabbaths, when you+ dwelt on it. 36 And as for those who are left of you+, I will send a faintness into their heart in the lands of their enemies: and the sound of a driven leaf will chase them; and they will flee, as one flees from the sword; and they will fall when none pursues. 37 And they will stumble one on another, as it were before the sword, when none pursues: and you+ will have no power to stand before your+ enemies. 38 And you+ will perish among the nations, and the land of your+ enemies will eat you+ up. 39 And those who are left of you+ will pine away in their iniquity in your+ enemies' lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers they will pine away with them.

40 And they will confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, in their trespass which they trespassed against me, and also that, because they walked contrary to me, 41 I also walked contrary to them, and brought them into the land of their enemies: if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity; 42 then I will remember my covenant with Jacob; and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham I will remember; and I will remember the land. 43 The land also will be left by them, and will enjoy its Sabbaths, while it lies desolate without them: and they will accept of the punishment of their iniquity; because, even because they rejected my ordinances, and their soul abhorred my statutes. 44 And yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them completely, and to break my covenant with them; for I am Yahweh their God; 45 but I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God: I am Yahweh.

46 These are the statutes and ordinances and laws, which Yahweh made between him and the sons of Israel in mount Sinai by Moses.

27  And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2 Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, When a man will accomplish a vow, the persons will be for Yahweh by your estimation. 3 And your estimation will be of the male from twenty years old even to sixty years old, even your estimation will be fifty shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary. 4 And if it is a female, then your estimation will be thirty shekels. 5 And if it is from five years old even to twenty years old, then your estimation will be of the male twenty shekels, and for the female ten shekels. 6 And if it is from a month old even to five years old, then your estimation will be of the male five shekels of silver, and for the female your estimation will be three shekels of silver. 7 And if it is from sixty years old and upward; if it is a male, then your estimation will be fifteen shekels, and for the female ten shekels. 8 But if he is poorer than your estimation, then he will be set before the priest, and the priest will value him; according to the ability of him who vowed will the priest value him.

9 And if it is a beast, of which men offer an oblation to Yahweh, all that any man gives of such to Yahweh will be holy. 10 He will not alter it, nor change it, a good for a bad, or a bad for a good: and if he will at all change beast for beast, then both it and that for which it is changed will be holy. 11 And if it is any unclean beast, of which they do not offer an oblation to Yahweh, then he will set the beast before the priest; 12 and the priest will value it, whether it is good or bad: as you the priest value it, so it will be. 13 But if he will indeed redeem it, then he will add the fifth part of it to your estimation.

14 And when a man will sanctify his house to be holy to Yahweh, then the priest will estimate it, whether it is good or bad: as the priest will estimate it, so it will stand. 15 And if he who sanctified it will redeem his house, then he will add the fifth part of the silver of your estimation to it, and it will be his.

16 And if a man will sanctify to Yahweh part of the field of his possession, then your estimation will be according to its sowing: the sowing of a homer of barley [will be valued] at fifty shekels of silver. 17 If he sanctifies his field from the year of jubilee, according to your estimation it will stand. 18 But if he sanctifies his field after the jubilee, then the priest will reckon to him the silver according to the years that remain to the year of jubilee; and an abatement will be made from your estimation. 19 And if he who sanctified the field will indeed redeem it, then he will add the fifth part of the silver of your estimation to it, and it will be assured to him. 20 And if he will not redeem the field, or if he has sold the field to another man, it will not be redeemed anymore: 21 but the field, when it goes out in the jubilee, will be holy to Yahweh, as a field devoted; its possession will be the priest's. 22 And if he sanctifies to Yahweh a field which he has bought, which is not of the field of his possession; 23 then the priest will reckon to him the worth of your estimation to the year of jubilee: and he will give your estimation in that day, as a holy thing to Yahweh. 24 In the year of jubilee the field will return to him of whom it was bought, even to him to whom the possession of the land belongs. 25 And all your estimations will be according to the shekel of the sanctuary: twenty gerahs will be the shekel.

26 Only the firstborn among beasts, which is made a firstborn to Yahweh, no man will sanctify it; whether it is ox or sheep, it is Yahweh's. 27 And if it is of an unclean beast, then he will ransom it according to your estimation, and will add to it the fifth part of it: or if it is not redeemed, then it will be sold according to your estimation.

28 Notwithstanding, no devoted thing, that a man will devote to Yahweh of all that he has, whether of man or beast, or of the field of his possession, will be sold or redeemed: every devoted thing is most holy to Yahweh. 29 No one devoted, who will be devoted from among man, will be ransomed; he will surely be put to death.

30 And all the tithe of the land, of the seed of the land, of the fruit of the tree, is Yahweh's: it is holy to Yahweh. 31 And if a man will redeem anything of his tithe, he will add to it the fifth part of it. 32 And all the tithe of the herd or the flock, whatever passes under the rod, the tenth will be holy to Yahweh. 33 He will not search whether it is good or bad, neither will he change it: and if he changes it at all, then both it and that for which it is changed will be holy; it will not be redeemed.

34 These are the commandments, which Yahweh commanded Moses for the sons of Israel in mount Sinai.

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Numbers

1  And Yahweh spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, 2 Take+ the sum of all the congregation of the sons of Israel, by their families, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of the names, every male, by their polls; 3 from twenty years old and upward, all who are able to go forth to war in Israel, you and Aaron will number them by their hosts. 4 And with you+ there will be a man of each tribe; [each] man head of his fathers' house. 5 And these are the names of the men who will stand with you+. Of Reuben: Elizur the son of Shedeur. 6 Of Simeon: Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai. 7 Of Judah: Nahshon the son of Amminadab. 8 Of Issachar: Nethanel the son of Zuar. 9 Of Zebulun: Eliab the son of Helon. 10 Of the sons of Joseph: Of Ephraim: Elishama the son of Ammihud. Of Manasseh: Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur. 11 Of Benjamin: Abidan the son of Gideoni. 12 Of Dan: Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai. 13 Of Asher: Pagiel the son of Ochran. 14 Of Gad: Eliasaph the son of Deuel. 15 Of Naphtali: Ahira the son of Enan. 16 These are those who were called of the congregation, the princes of the tribes of their fathers; they were the heads of the thousands of Israel. 17 And Moses and Aaron took these men who are mentioned by name: 18 And they assembled all the congregation together on the first day of the second month; and they declared their pedigrees after their families, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, by their polls. 19 As Yahweh commanded Moses, so he numbered them in the wilderness of Sinai.

20 And the sons of Reuben, Israel's firstborn, their generations, by their families, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of the names, by their polls, every male from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go forth to war; 21 those who were numbered of them, of the tribe of Reuben, were forty and six thousand and five hundred.

22 Of the sons of Simeon, their generations, by their families, by their fathers' houses, those who were numbered of them, according to the number of the names, by their polls, every male from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go forth to war; 23 those who were numbered of them, of the tribe of Simeon, were fifty and nine thousand and three hundred.

24 Of the sons of Gad, their generations, by their families, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go forth to war; 25 those who were numbered of them, of the tribe of Gad, were forty and five thousand six hundred and fifty.

26 Of the sons of Judah, their generations, by their families, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go forth to war; 27 those who were numbered of them, of the tribe of Judah, were threescore and fourteen thousand and six hundred.

28 Of the sons of Issachar, their generations, by their families, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go forth to war; 29 those who were numbered of them, of the tribe of Issachar, were fifty and four thousand and four hundred.

30 Of the sons of Zebulun, their generations, by their families, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go forth to war; 31 those who were numbered of them, of the tribe of Zebulun, were fifty and seven thousand and four hundred.

32 Of the sons of Joseph, [namely], of the sons of Ephraim, their generations, by their families, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go forth to war; 33 those who were numbered of them, of the tribe of Ephraim, were forty thousand and five hundred.

34 Of the sons of Manasseh, their generations, by their families, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go forth to war; 35 those who were numbered of them, of the tribe of Manasseh, were thirty and two thousand and two hundred.

36 Of the sons of Benjamin, their generations, by their families, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go forth to war; 37 those who were numbered of them, of the tribe of Benjamin, were thirty and five thousand and four hundred.

38 Of the sons of Dan, their generations, by their families, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go forth to war; 39 those who were numbered of them, of the tribe of Dan, were threescore and two thousand and seven hundred.

40 Of the sons of Asher, their generations, by their families, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go forth to war; 41 those who were numbered of them, of the tribe of Asher, were forty and one thousand and five hundred.

42 Of the sons of Naphtali, their generations, by their families, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go forth to war; 43 those who were numbered of them, of the tribe of Naphtali, were fifty and three thousand and four hundred.

44 These are those who were numbered, whom Moses and Aaron numbered, and the princes of Israel, being twelve men: there was one man [each] for his fathers' house. 45 So all those who were numbered of the sons of Israel by their fathers' houses, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go forth to war in Israel; 46 even all those who were numbered were six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty.

47 But the Levites after the tribe of their fathers were not numbered among them. 48 For Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 49 Only the tribe of Levi you will not number, neither will you take the sum of them among the sons of Israel; 50 but you appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of the testimony, and over all its furniture, and over all that belongs to it: they will bear the tabernacle, and all its furniture; and they will minister to it, and will encamp round about the tabernacle. 51 And when the tabernacle sets forward, the Levites will take it down; and when the tabernacle is to be pitched, the Levites will set it up: and the stranger who comes near will be put to death. 52 And the sons of Israel will pitch their tents, every man by his own camp, and every man by his own standard, according to their hosts. 53 But the Levites will encamp round about the tabernacle of the testimony, that there be no wrath on the congregation of the sons of Israel: and the Levites will keep the charge of the tabernacle of the testimony. 54 Thus did the sons of Israel; according to all that Yahweh commanded Moses, so they did.

2  And Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 2 The sons of Israel will encamp every man by his own standard, with the ensigns of their fathers' houses: across from the tent of meeting they will encamp round about. 3 And those who encamp on the east side toward the sunrising will be those of the standard of the camp of Judah, according to their hosts: and the prince of the sons of Judah will be Nahshon the son of Amminadab. 4 And his host, and those who were numbered of them, were threescore and fourteen thousand and six hundred. 5 And those who encamp next to him will be the tribe of Issachar: and the prince of the sons of Issachar will be Nethanel the son of Zuar. 6 And his host, and those who were numbered of it, were fifty and four thousand and four hundred. 7 [And] the tribe of Zebulun: and the prince of the sons of Zebulun will be Eliab the son of Helon. 8 And his host, and those who were numbered of it, were fifty and seven thousand and four hundred. 9 All who were numbered of the camp of Judah were 186,400 according to their hosts. They will set forth first.

10 On the south side will be the standard of the camp of Reuben according to their hosts: and the prince of the sons of Reuben will be Elizur the son of Shedeur. 11 And his host, and those who were numbered of it, were forty and six thousand and five hundred. 12 And those who encamp next to him will be the tribe of Simeon: and the prince of the sons of Simeon will be Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai. 13 And his host, and those who were numbered of them, were fifty and nine thousand and three hundred. 14 And the tribe of Gad: and the prince of the sons of Gad will be Eliasaph the son of Deuel. 15 And his host, and those who were numbered of them, were forty and five thousand and six hundred and fifty. 16 All who were numbered of the camp of Reuben were a hundred thousand and fifty and one thousand and four hundred and fifty, according to their hosts. And they will set forth second.

17 Then the tent of meeting will set forward, with the camp of the Levites in the midst of the camps: as they encamp, so they will set forward, every man in his place, by their standards.

18 On the west side will be the standard of the camp of Ephraim according to their hosts: and the prince of the sons of Ephraim will be Elishama the son of Ammihud. 19 And his host, and those who were numbered of them, were forty thousand and five hundred. 20 And next to him will be the tribe of Manasseh: and the prince of the sons of Manasseh will be Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur. 21 And his host, and those who were numbered of them, were thirty and two thousand and two hundred. 22 And the tribe of Benjamin: and the prince of the sons of Benjamin will be Abidan the son of Gideoni. 23 And his host, and those who were numbered of them, were thirty and five thousand and four hundred. 24 All who were numbered of the camp of Ephraim were a hundred thousand and eight thousand and a hundred, according to their hosts. And they will set forth third.

25 On the north side will be the standard of the camp of Dan according to their hosts: and the prince of the sons of Dan will be Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai. 26 And his host, and those who were numbered of them, were threescore and two thousand and seven hundred. 27 And those who encamp next to him will be the tribe of Asher: and the prince of the sons of Asher will be Pagiel the son of Ochran. 28 And his host, and those who were numbered of them, were forty and one thousand and five hundred. 29 And the tribe of Naphtali: and the prince of the sons of Naphtali will be Ahira the son of Enan. 30 And his host, and those who were numbered of them, were fifty and three thousand and four hundred. 31 All who were numbered of the camp of Dan were a hundred thousand and fifty and seven thousand and six hundred. They will set forth hindmost by their standards.

32 These are those who were numbered of the sons of Israel by their fathers' houses: all who were numbered of the camps according to their hosts were six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty. 33 But the Levites were not numbered among the sons of Israel; as Yahweh commanded Moses. 34 Thus did the sons of Israel; according to all that Yahweh commanded Moses, so they encamped by their standards, and so they set forward, every one by their families, according to their fathers' houses.

3  Now these are the generations of Aaron and Moses in the day that Yahweh spoke with Moses in mount Sinai. 2 And these are the names of the sons of Aaron: Nadab the firstborn, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. 3 These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the priests who were anointed, whom he consecrated to serve in the priest's office. 4 And Nadab and Abihu died before Yahweh, when they offered strange fire before Yahweh, in the wilderness of Sinai, and they had no sons; and Eleazar and Ithamar served in the priest's office in the presence of Aaron their father.

5 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 6 Bring the tribe of Levi near, and set them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister to him. 7 And they will keep his charge, and the charge of the whole congregation before the tent of meeting, to do the service of the tabernacle. 8 And they will keep all the furniture of the tent of meeting, and the charge of the sons of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle. 9 And you will give the Levites to Aaron and to his sons: they are wholly given to him on the behalf of the sons of Israel. 10 And you will appoint Aaron and his sons, and they will keep their priesthood: and the stranger who comes near will be put to death.

11 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 12 And I, look, I have taken the Levites from among the sons of Israel instead of all the firstborn that opens the womb among the sons of Israel; and the Levites will be mine: 13 for all the firstborn are mine; on the day that I struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I hallowed to me all the firstborn in Israel, from man to beast; they will be mine: I am Yahweh.

14 And Yahweh spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, saying, 15 Number the sons of Levi by their fathers' houses, by their families: every male from a month old and upward, you will number them. 16 And Moses numbered them according to the mouth of Yahweh, as it was commanded. 17 And these were the sons of Levi by their names: Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari. 18 And these are the names of the sons of Gershon by their families: Libni and Shimei. 19 And the sons of Kohath by their families: Amram, and Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. 20 And the sons of Merari by their families: Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites according to their fathers' houses.

21 Of Gershon was the family of the Libnites, and the family of the Shimeites: these are the families of the Gershonites. 22 Those who were numbered of them, according to the number of all the males, from a month old and upward, even those who were numbered of them were seven thousand and five hundred. 23 The families of the Gershonites will encamp behind the tabernacle westward. 24 And the prince of the fathers' house of the Gershonites will be Eliasaph the son of Lael. 25 And the charge of the sons of Gershon in the tent of meeting will be the tabernacle, and the tent, its covering, and the screen for the door of the tent of meeting, 26 and the hangings of the court, and the screen for the door of the court, which is by the tabernacle, and by the altar round about, and the cords of it for all its service.

27 And of Kohath was the family of the Amramites, and the family of the Izharites, and the family of the Hebronites, and the family of the Uzzielites: these are the families of the Kohathites. 28 According to the number of all the males, from a month old and upward, there were eight thousand and three hundred, keeping the charge of the sanctuary. 29 The families of the sons of Kohath will encamp on the side of the tabernacle southward. 30 And the prince of the fathers' house of the families of the Kohathites will be Elizaphan the son of Uzziel. 31 And their charge will be the ark, and the table, and the lampstand, and the altars, and the vessels of the sanctuary with which they minister, and the screen and its service. 32 And Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest will be prince of the princes of the Levites, [and have] the oversight of those who keep the charge of the sanctuary.

33 Of Merari was the family of the Mahlites, and the family of the Mushites: these are the families of Merari. 34 And those who were numbered of them, according to the number of all the males, from a month old and upward, were six thousand and two hundred. 35 And the prince of the fathers' house of the families of Merari was Zuriel the son of Abihail: they will encamp on the side of the tabernacle northward. 36 And the appointed charge of the sons of Merari will be the boards of the tabernacle, and its bars, and its pillars, and its sockets, and all its instruments, and its [the tabernacle's] service, 37 and the pillars of the court round about, and their sockets, and their pins, and their cords.

38 And those who encamp before the tabernacle eastward, before the tent of meeting toward the sunrising, will be Moses, and Aaron and his sons, keeping the charge of the sanctuary for the charge of the sons of Israel; and the stranger who comes near will be put to death. 39 All who were numbered of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the mouth of Yahweh, by their families, all the males from a month old and upward, were twenty and two thousand.

40 And Yahweh said to Moses, Number all the firstborn males of the sons of Israel from a month old and upward, and take the number of their names. 41 And you will take the Levites for me (I am Yahweh) instead of all the firstborn among the sons of Israel; and the cattle of the Levites instead of all the firstborns among the cattle of the sons of Israel: 42 and Moses numbered, as Yahweh commanded him, all the firstborn among the sons of Israel. 43 And all the firstborn males according to the number of names, from a month old and upward, of those who were numbered of them, were twenty and two thousand two hundred and threescore and thirteen.

44 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 45 Take the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the sons of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of their cattle; and the Levites will be mine: I am Yahweh. 46 And for the redemption of the two hundred and threescore and thirteen of the firstborn of the sons of Israel, who are over and above [the number of] the Levites, 47 you will take five shekels apiece by the poll; after the shekel of the sanctuary you will take them (the shekel is twenty gerahs): 48 and you will give the silver, with which the odd number of them is redeemed, to Aaron and to his sons. 49 And Moses took the redemption-silver from those who were over and above those who were redeemed by the Levites; 50 from the firstborn of the sons of Israel he took the silver, a thousand three hundred and threescore and five [shekels], after the shekel of the sanctuary: 51 and Moses gave the redemption-silver to Aaron and to his sons, according to the mouth of Yahweh, as Yahweh commanded Moses.

4  And Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 2 Take the sum of the sons of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, by their families, by their fathers' houses, 3 from thirty years old and upward even until fifty years old, all who enter on the service, to do the work in the tent of meeting. 4 This is the service of the sons of Kohath in the tent of meeting, [about] the most holy things: 5 when the camp sets forward, Aaron will go in, and his sons, and they will take down the veil of the screen, and cover the ark of the testimony with it, 6 and will put on it a covering of sealskin, and will spread over it a cloth of all blue, and will put in its poles. 7 And on the table of showbread they will spread a cloth of blue, and put on it the dishes, and the spoons, and the bowls and the cups with which to pour out; and the continual bread will be on it: 8 and they will spread on them a cloth of scarlet, and cover the same with a covering of sealskin, and will put in its poles. 9 And they will take a cloth of blue, and cover the lampstand of the light, and its lamps, and its snuffers, and its snuffdishes, and all the oil vessels of it, with which they minister to it: 10 and they will put it and all its vessels inside a covering of sealskin, and will put it on the frame. 11 And on the golden altar they will spread a cloth of blue, and cover it with a covering of sealskin, and will put in its poles: 12 and they will take all the vessels of ministry, with which they minister in the sanctuary, and put them in a cloth of blue, and cover them with a covering of sealskin, and will put them on the frame. 13 And they will take away the ashes from the altar, and spread a purple cloth on it: 14 and they will put on it all its vessels, with which they minister about it, the firepans, the flesh-hooks, and the shovels, and the basins, all the vessels of the altar; and they will spread on it a covering of sealskin, and put in its poles. 15 And when Aaron and his sons have made an end of covering the sanctuary, and all the furniture of the sanctuary, as the camp is to set forward; after that, the sons of Kohath will come to bear it: but they will not touch the sanctuary, or they will die. These things are the burden of the sons of Kohath in the tent of meeting. 16 And the charge of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest will be the oil for the light, and the sweet incense, and the continual meal-offering, and the anointing oil, the charge of all the tabernacle, and of all that is in it, the sanctuary, and its furniture.

17 And Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 18 Don't cut off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites from among the Levites; 19 but do this to them, that they may live, and not die, when they approach to the most holy things: Aaron and his sons will go in, and appoint them each man to his service and to his burden; 20 but they will not go in to see the sanctuary even for a moment, or they will die.

21 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 22 Take the sum of the sons of Gershon also, by their fathers' houses, by their families; 23 from thirty years old and upward until fifty years old, you will number them; all who enter in to wait on the service, to do the work in the tent of meeting. 24 This is the service of the families of the Gershonites, in serving and in bearing burdens: 25 they will bear the curtains of the tabernacle, and the tent of meeting, its covering, and the covering of sealskin that is above on it, and the screen for the door of the tent of meeting, 26 and the hangings of the court, and the screen for the door of the gate of the court, which is by the tabernacle and by the altar round about, and their cords, and all the instruments of their service, and whatever will be done with them: in them they will serve. 27 According to the mouth of Aaron and his sons will be all the service of the sons of the Gershonites, in all their burden, and in all their service; and you+ will appoint to them in charge all their burden. 28 This is the service of the families of the sons of the Gershonites in the tent of meeting: and their charge will be under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.

29 As for the sons of Merari, you will number them by their families, by their fathers' houses; 30 from thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, you will number them, everyone who enters on the service, to do the work of the tent of meeting. 31 And this is the charge of their burden, according to all their service in the tent of meeting: the boards of the tabernacle, and its bars, and its pillars, and its sockets, 32 and the pillars of the court round about, and their sockets, and their pins, and their cords, with all their instruments, and with all their service: and by name you+ will appoint the instruments of the charge of their burden. 33 This is the service of the families of the sons of Merari, according to all their service, in the tent of meeting, under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.

34 And Moses and Aaron and the princes of the congregation numbered the sons of the Kohathites by their families, and by their fathers' houses, 35 from thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who entered on the service, for work in the tent of meeting: 36 and those who were numbered of them by their families were two thousand seven hundred and fifty. 37 These are those who were numbered of the families of the Kohathites, all who served in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the mouth of Yahweh by Moses.

38 And those who were numbered of the sons of Gershon, their families, and by their fathers' houses, 39 from thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who entered on the service, for work in the tent of meeting, 40 even those who were numbered of them, by their families, by their fathers' houses, were two thousand and six hundred and thirty. 41 These are those who were numbered of the families of the sons of Gershon, all who served in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the mouth of Yahweh.

42 And those who were numbered of the families of the sons of Merari, by their families, by their fathers' houses, 43 from thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who entered on the service, for work in the tent of meeting, 44 even those who were numbered of them by their families, were three thousand and two hundred. 45 These are those who were numbered of the families of the sons of Merari, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the mouth of Yahweh by Moses.

46 All those who were numbered of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron and the princes of Israel numbered, by their families, and by their fathers' houses, 47 from thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who entered in to do the work of service, and the work of bearing burdens in the tent of meeting, 48 even those who were numbered of them, were 8,580. 49 According to the mouth of Yahweh they were numbered by the hand of Moses, each man according to his service, and according to his burden: thus the numbering of each one, as Yahweh commanded Moses.

5  And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2 Command the sons of Israel, that they put out of the camp every leper, and everyone who has a discharge, and whoever is unclean for a soul: 3 both male and female you+ will put out, outside the camp you+ will put them; that they do not defile their camp, where I stay in their midst. 4 And the sons of Israel did so, and put them out outside the camp; as Yahweh spoke to Moses, so the sons of Israel did.

5 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 6 Speak to the sons of Israel, When a man or woman will commit any sin that man commits, so as to trespass against Yahweh, and that soul will be guilty; 7 then they will confess their sin which they have done: and he will make restitution for his guilt in full, and add to it the fifth part of it, and give it to him in respect of whom he has been guilty. 8 But if the man has no kinsman to whom restitution may be made for the guilt, the restitution for guilt which is made to Yahweh will be the priest's; besides the ram of the atonement, by which atonement will be made for him. 9 And every heave-offering of all the holy things of the sons of Israel, which they present to the priest, will be his. 10 And every man's hallowed things will be his: whatever any man gives the priest, it will be his.

11 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 12 Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, If any man's wife goes aside, and commits a trespass against him, 13 and a man has any sex with her, and it is hid from the eyes of her husband, and is kept close, and she is defiled, and there is no witness against her, and she is not taken in the act; 14 and the spirit of jealousy passed over him, and he is jealous of his wife, and she is defiled: or if the spirit of jealousy passed over him, and he is jealous of his wife, and she is not defiled: 15 then the man will bring his wife to the priest, and will bring her oblation for her, the tenth part of an ephah of barley meal; he will pour no oil on it, nor put frankincense on it; for it is a meal-offering of jealousy, a meal-offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to remembrance.

16 And the priest will bring her near, and set her before Yahweh: 17 and the priest will take holy water in an earthen vessel; and of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle the priest will take, and put it into the water. 18 And the priest will set the woman before Yahweh, and let the hair of the woman's head go loose, and put the meal-offering of memorial in her hands, which is the meal-offering of jealousy: and the priest will have in his hand the water of bitterness that causes the curse. 19 And the priest will cause her to swear, and will say to the woman, If no man has lain with you, and if you have not gone aside to uncleanness, being under your husband, [then] be innocent from this water of bitterness that causes the curse. 20 But if you have gone aside, being under your husband, and if you are defiled, and some man has lain with you besides your husband: 21 then the priest will cause the woman to swear with the oath of cursing, and the priest will say to the woman, Yahweh will make you a curse and an oath among your people, when Yahweh makes your thigh to fall away, and your body to swell; 22 and this water that causes the curse will go into your insides, and make your body to swell, and your thigh to fall away. And the woman will say, Amen, Amen.

23 And the priest will write these curses in a book, and he will blot them out into the water of bitterness: 24 and he will make the woman drink the water of bitterness that causes the curse; and the water that causes the curse will enter into her [and become] bitter. 25 And the priest will take the meal-offering of jealousy out of the woman's hand, and will wave the meal-offering before Yahweh, and bring it to the altar: 26 and the priest will take a handful of the meal-offering, as its memorial, and burn it on the altar, and afterward will make the woman drink the water. 27 And when he has made her drink the water, then it will come to pass, if she is defiled, and has committed a trespass against her husband, that the water that causes the curse will enter into her [and become] bitter, and her body will swell, and her thigh will fall away: and the woman will be a curse among her people. 28 And if the woman is not defiled, but is clean; then she will be innocent, and will conceive seed.

29 This is the law of jealousy, when a wife, being under her husband, goes aside, and is defiled; 30 or when the spirit of jealousy passes over a man, and he is jealous of his wife; then he will set the woman before Yahweh, and the priest will execute on her all this law. 31 And the man will be innocent from iniquity, and that woman will bear her iniquity.

6  And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2 Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, When either man or woman will make a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to Yahweh, 3 he will separate himself from wine and strong drink; he will drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither will he drink any juice of grapes, nor eat fresh grapes or dried. 4 All the days of his separation he will eat nothing that is made of the grapevine, from the kernels even to the husk.

5 All the days of his vow of separation no razor will come upon his head: until the days be fulfilled, in which he separates himself to Yahweh, he will be holy; he will let the locks of the hair of his head grow long.

6 All the days that he separates himself to Yahweh he will not come near to a dead soul. 7 He will not make himself unclean for his father, or for his mother, for his brother, or for his sister, when they die; because his separation to God is on his head. 8 All the days of his separation he is holy to Yahweh.

9 And if any man dies very suddenly beside him, and he defiles the head of his separation; then he will shave his head in the day of his cleansing, on the seventh day he will shave it. 10 And on the eighth day he will bring two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, to the priest, to the door of the tent of meeting: 11 and the priest will offer one for a sin-offering, and the other for a burnt-offering, and make atonement for him, for that he sinned by reason of the soul, and will hallow his head that same day. 12 And he will separate to Yahweh the days of his separation, and will bring a he-lamb a year old for a trespass-offering; but the former days will be void, because his separation was defiled.

13 And this is the law of the Nazirite, when the days of his separation are fulfilled: he will be brought to the door of the tent of meeting: 14 and he will offer his oblation to Yahweh, one he-lamb a year old without blemish for a burnt-offering, and one ewe-lamb a year old without blemish for a sin-offering, and one ram without blemish for peace-offerings, 15 and a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and their meal-offering, and their drink-offerings. 16 And the priest will present them before Yahweh, and will offer his sin-offering, and his burnt-offering: 17 and he will offer the ram for a sacrifice of peace-offerings to Yahweh, with the basket of unleavened bread: the priest will offer also the meal-offering of it, and the drink-offering of it. 18 And the Nazirite will shave the head of his separation at the door of the tent of meeting, and will take the hair of the head of his separation, and put it on the fire which is under the sacrifice of peace-offerings. 19 And the priest will take the boiled shoulder of the ram, and one unleavened cake out of the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and will put them on the hands of the Nazirite, after he has shaven [the head of] his separation; 20 and the priest will wave them for a wave-offering before Yahweh; this is holy for the priest, together with the wave-breast and heave-thigh: and after that the Nazirite may drink wine.

21 This is the law of the Nazirite who vows, [and of] his oblation to Yahweh for his separation, besides that which he is able to get: according to his vow which he vows, so he must do after the law of his separation.

22 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 23 Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, On this wise you+ will bless the sons of Israel: you+ will say to them,

24 Yahweh bless you, and keep you:

25 Yahweh make his face to shine on you, and be gracious to you:

26 Yahweh lift up his countenance on you, and give you peace.

27 So they will put my name on the sons of Israel; and I will bless them.

7  And it came to pass on the day that Moses had made an end of setting up the tabernacle, and had anointed it and sanctified it, and all its furniture, and the altar and all its vessels, and had anointed them and sanctified them; 2 that the princes of Israel, the heads of their fathers' houses, offered. These were the princes of the tribes, these are the ones who were over those who were numbered: 3 and they brought their oblation before Yahweh, six covered wagons, and twelve oxen; a wagon for every two of the princes, and for each one an ox: and they presented them before the tabernacle. 4 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 5 Take it of them, that they may be [used] in doing the service of the tent of meeting; and you will give them to the Levites, to every man according to his service. 6 And Moses took the wagons and the oxen, and gave them to the Levites. 7 Two wagons and four oxen he gave to the sons of Gershon, according to their service: 8 and four wagons and eight oxen he gave to the sons of Merari, according to their service, under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest. 9 But to the sons of Kohath he gave none, because the service of the sanctuary belonged to them; they bore it on their shoulders. 10 And the princes offered for the dedication of the altar in the day that it was anointed, even the princes offered their oblation before the altar. 11 And Yahweh said to Moses, They will offer their oblation, each prince on his day, for the dedication of the altar.

12 And he who offered his oblation the first day was Nahshon the son of Amminadab, of the tribe of Judah: 13 and his oblation was one silver platter, the weight of which was a hundred and thirty [shekels], one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary; both of them full of fine flour mingled with oil for a meal-offering; 14 one golden spoon of ten [shekels], full of incense; 15 one young bull, one ram, one he-lamb a year old, for a burnt-offering; 16 one male of the goats for a sin-offering; 17 and for the sacrifice of peace-offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, five he-lambs a year old: this was the oblation of Nahshon the son of Amminadab.

18 On the second day Nethanel the son of Zuar, prince of Issachar, offered: 19 he offered for his oblation one silver platter, the weight of which was a hundred and thirty [shekels], one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary; both of them full of fine flour mingled with oil for a meal-offering; 20 one golden spoon of ten [shekels], full of incense; 21 one young bull, one ram, one he-lamb a year old, for a burnt-offering; 22 one male of the goats for a sin-offering; 23 and for the sacrifice of peace-offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, five he-lambs a year old: this was the oblation of Nethanel the son of Zuar.

24 On the third day Eliab the son of Helon, prince of the sons of Zebulun.: 25 his oblation was one silver platter, the weight of which was a hundred and thirty [shekels], one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary; both of them full of fine flour mingled with oil for a meal-offering; 26 one golden spoon of ten [shekels], full of incense; 27 one young bull, one ram, one he-lamb a year old, for a burnt-offering; 28 one male of the goats for a sin-offering; 29 and for the sacrifice of peace-offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, five he-lambs a year old: this was the oblation of Eliab the son of Helon.

30 On the fourth day Elizur the son of Shedeur, prince of the sons of Reuben: 31 his oblation was one silver platter, the weight of which was a hundred and thirty [shekels], one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary; both of them full of fine flour mingled with oil for a meal-offering; 32 one golden spoon of ten [shekels], full of incense; 33 one young bull, one ram, one he-lamb a year old, for a burnt-offering; 34 one male of the goats for a sin-offering; 35 and for the sacrifice of peace-offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, five he-lambs a year old: this was the oblation of Elizur the son of Shedeur.

36 On the fifth day Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai, prince of the sons of Simeon: 37 his oblation was one silver platter, the weight of which was a hundred and thirty [shekels], one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary; both of them full of fine flour mingled with oil for a meal-offering; 38 one golden spoon of ten [shekels], full of incense; 39 one young bull, one ram, one he-lamb a year old, for a burnt-offering; 40 one male of the goats for a sin-offering; 41 and for the sacrifice of peace-offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, five he-lambs a year old: this was the oblation of Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai.

42 On the sixth day Eliasaph the son of Deuel, prince of the sons of Gad: 43 his oblation was one silver platter, the weight of which was a hundred and thirty [shekels], one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary; both of them full of fine flour mingled with oil for a meal-offering; 44 one golden spoon of ten [shekels], full of incense; 45 one young bull, one ram, one he-lamb a year old, for a burnt-offering; 46 one male of the goats for a sin-offering; 47 and for the sacrifice of peace-offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, five he-lambs a year old: this was the oblation of Eliasaph the son of Deuel.

48 On the seventh day Elishama the son of Ammihud, prince of the sons of Ephraim: 49 his oblation was one silver platter, the weight of which was a hundred and thirty [shekels], one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary; both of them full of fine flour mingled with oil for a meal-offering; 50 one golden spoon of ten [shekels], full of incense; 51 one young bull, one ram, one he-lamb a year old, for a burnt-offering; 52 one male of the goats for a sin-offering; 53 and for the sacrifice of peace-offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, five he-lambs a year old: this was the oblation of Elishama the son of Ammihud.

54 On the eighth day Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur, prince of the sons of Manasseh: 55 his oblation was one silver platter, the weight of which was a hundred and thirty [shekels], one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary; both of them full of fine flour mingled with oil for a meal-offering; 56 one golden spoon of ten [shekels], full of incense; 57 one young bull, one ram, one he-lamb a year old, for a burnt-offering; 58 one male of the goats for a sin-offering; 59 and for the sacrifice of peace-offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, five he-lambs a year old: this was the oblation of Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur.

60 On the ninth day Abidan the son of Gideoni, prince of the sons of Benjamin: 61 his oblation was one silver platter, the weight of which was a hundred and thirty [shekels], one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary; both of them full of fine flour mingled with oil for a meal-offering; 62 one golden spoon of ten [shekels], full of incense; 63 one young bull, one ram, one he-lamb a year old, for a burnt-offering; 64 one male of the goats for a sin-offering; 65 and for the sacrifice of peace-offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, five he-lambs a year old: this was the oblation of Abidan the son of Gideoni.

66 On the tenth day Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai, prince of the sons of Dan: 67 his oblation was one silver platter, the weight of which was a hundred and thirty [shekels], one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary; both of them full of fine flour mingled with oil for a meal-offering; 68 one golden spoon of ten [shekels], full of incense; 69 one young bull, one ram, one he-lamb a year old, for a burnt-offering; 70 one male of the goats for a sin-offering; 71 and for the sacrifice of peace-offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, five he-lambs a year old: this was the oblation of Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai.

72 On the eleventh day Pagiel the son of Ochran, prince of the sons of Asher: 73 his oblation was one silver platter, the weight of which was a hundred and thirty [shekels], one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary; both of them full of fine flour mingled with oil for a meal-offering; 74 one golden spoon of ten [shekels], full of incense; 75 one young bull, one ram, one he-lamb a year old, for a burnt-offering; 76 one male of the goats for a sin-offering; 77 and for the sacrifice of peace-offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, five he-lambs a year old: this was the oblation of Pagiel the son of Ochran.

78 On the twelfth day Ahira the son of Enan, prince of the sons of Naphtali: 79 his oblation was one silver platter, the weight of which was a hundred a thirty [shekels], one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary; both of them full of fine flour mingled with oil for a meal-offering; 80 one golden spoon of ten [shekels], full of incense; 81 one young bull, one ram, one he-lamb a year old, for a burnt-offering; 82 one male of the goats for a sin-offering; 83 and for the sacrifice of peace-offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, five he-lambs a year old: this was the oblation of Ahira the son of Enan.

84 This was the dedication of the altar, in the day when it was anointed, by the princes of Israel: twelve silver platters, twelve silver bowls, twelve golden spoons; 85 each silver platter [weighing] a hundred and thirty [shekels], and each bowl seventy; all the silver of the vessels two thousand and four hundred [shekels], after the shekel of the sanctuary; 86 the twelve golden spoons, full of incense, [weighing] ten [shekels] apiece, after the shekel of the sanctuary; all the gold of the spoons a hundred and twenty [shekels]; 87 all the oxen for the burnt-offering twelve bullocks, the rams twelve, the he-lambs a year old twelve, and their meal-offering; and the males of the goats for a sin-offering twelve; 88 and all the oxen for the sacrifice of peace-offerings twenty and four bullocks, the rams sixty, the he-goats sixty, the he-lambs a year old sixty. This was the dedication of the altar, after that it was anointed.

89 And when Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with him, then he heard the Voice speaking to him from above the mercy-seat that was on the ark of the testimony, from between the two cherubim: and he spoke to him.

8  And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2 Speak to Aaron, and say to him, When you light the lamps, the seven lamps will give light in front of the lampstand. 3 And Aaron did so; he lit its lamps [so as to give light] in front of the lampstand, as Yahweh commanded Moses. 4 And this was the work of the lampstand, [a] beaten work of gold; to its base, up to its flower, it was [a] beaten work: according to the pattern which Yahweh had shown Moses, so he made the lampstand.

5 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 6 Take the Levites from among the sons of Israel, and cleanse them. 7 And thus you will do to them, to cleanse them: sprinkle the water of expiation on them, and let them cause a razor to pass over all their flesh, and let them wash their clothes, and cleanse themselves. 8 Then let them take a young bull, and its meal-offering, fine flour mingled with oil; and another young bull you will take for a sin-offering. 9 And you will present the Levites before the tent of meeting: and you will assemble the whole congregation of the sons of Israel: 10 and you will present the Levites before Yahweh. And the sons of Israel will lay their hands on the Levites: 11 and Aaron will offer the Levites before Yahweh for a wave-offering, on the behalf of the sons of Israel, that it may be theirs to do the service of Yahweh. 12 And the Levites will lay their hands on the heads of the bullocks: and he [Aaron] will make of one of them a sin-offering, and the other for a burnt-offering, to Yahweh, to make atonement for the Levites. 13 And you will set the Levites before Aaron, and before his sons, and offer them for a wave-offering to Yahweh.

14 Thus you will separate the Levites from among the sons of Israel; and the Levites will be mine. 15 And after that the Levites will go in to do the service of the tent of meeting: and you will cleanse them, and offer them for a wave-offering. 16 For they are wholly given to me from among the sons of Israel; instead of all that opens the womb, even the firstborn of all the sons of Israel, I have taken them to me. 17 For all the firstborn among the sons of Israel are mine, both man and beast: on the day that I struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I sanctified them for myself. 18 And I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the sons of Israel. 19 And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the sons of Israel, to do the service of the sons of Israel in the tent of meeting, and to make atonement for the sons of Israel; that there will be no plague among the sons of Israel, when the sons of Israel come near to the sanctuary.

20 Thus did Moses, and Aaron, and all the congregation of the sons of Israel, to the Levites: according to all that Yahweh commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so did the sons of Israel to them. 21 And the Levites purified themselves from sin, and they washed their clothes; and Aaron offered them for a wave-offering before Yahweh; and Aaron made atonement for them to cleanse them. 22 And after that the Levites went in to do their service in the tent of meeting before Aaron, and before his sons: as Yahweh had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they did to them.

23 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 24 This is that which belongs to the Levites: from twenty and five years old and upward they will go in to wait on the service in the work of the tent of meeting: 25 and from the age of fifty years they will cease waiting on the work, and will serve no more, 26 but will minister with their brothers in the tent of meeting, to keep the charge, and will do no service. Thus you will do to the Levites concerning their charges.

9  And Yahweh spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, 2 Moreover let the sons of Israel keep the Passover in its appointed season. 3 In the fourteenth day of this month, at evening, you+ will keep it in its appointed season: according to all the statutes of it, and according to all its ordinances, you+ will keep it. 4 And Moses spoke to the sons of Israel, that they should keep the Passover. 5 And they kept the Passover in the first [month], on the fourteenth day of the month, at evening, in the wilderness of Sinai: according to all that Yahweh commanded Moses, so did the sons of Israel. 6 And there were certain men, who were unclean by reason of the soul of man, so that they could not keep the Passover on that day: and they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day: 7 and those men said to him, We are unclean by reason of the soul of man: why are we kept back, that we may not offer the oblation of Yahweh in its appointed season among the sons of Israel? 8 And Moses said to them, Wait+, that I may hear what Yahweh will command concerning you+.

9 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 10 Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, If any man of you+ or of your+ generations will be unclean by reason of a soul, or be on a journey far off, yet he will keep the Passover to Yahweh. 11 In the second month on the fourteenth day at evening they will keep it; they will eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs: 12 they will leave none of it to the morning, nor break a bone of it: according to all the statute of the Passover they will keep it. 13 But the man who is clean, and is not on a journey, and forbears to keep the Passover, that soul will be cut off from his people; because he didn't offer the oblation of Yahweh in its appointed season, that man will bear his sin. 14 And if a stranger will sojourn among you+, and will keep the Passover to Yahweh; according to the statute of the Passover, and according to its ordinance, so he will do: you+ will have one statute, both for the sojourner, and for him who is born in the land.

15 And on the day that the tabernacle was reared up the cloud covered the tabernacle, even the tent of the testimony: and at evening it was on the tabernacle as it were the appearance of fire, until morning. 16 So it always was: the cloud covered it and by night [had] the appearance of fire. 17 And whenever the cloud was taken up from over the Tent, then after that the sons of Israel journeyed: and in the place where the cloud stayed, there the sons of Israel encamped. 18 According to the mouth of Yahweh the sons of Israel journeyed, and according to the mouth of Yahweh they encamped: as long as the cloud stayed on the tabernacle they remained encamped. 19 And when the cloud tarried on the tabernacle many days, then the sons of Israel kept the charge of Yahweh, and didn't journey. 20 And sometimes the cloud was a few days on the tabernacle; then according to the mouth of Yahweh they remained encamped, and according to the mouth of Yahweh they journeyed. 21 And sometimes the cloud was from evening until morning; and when the cloud was taken up in the morning, they journeyed: or [if it continued] by day and by night, when the cloud was taken up, they journeyed. 22 Whether it was two days, or a month, or a year, that the cloud tarried on the tabernacle, staying on it, the sons of Israel remained encamped, and didn't journey; but when it was taken up, they journeyed. 23 According to the mouth of Yahweh they encamped, and according to the mouth of Yahweh they journeyed: they kept the charge of Yahweh, according to the mouth of Yahweh by Moses.

10  And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2 Make two trumpets of silver; of beaten work you will make them: and you will use them for the calling of the congregation, and for the journeying of the camps. 3 And when they will blow them, all the congregation will gather themselves to you at the door of the tent of meeting. 4 And if they blow but one, then the princes, the heads of the thousands of Israel, will gather themselves to you. 5 And when you+ blow an alarm, the camps that lie on the east side will take their journey. 6 And when you+ blow an alarm the second time, the camps that lie on the south side will take their journey: they will blow an alarm for their journeys. 7 But when the assembly is to be gathered together, you+ will blow, but you+ will not sound an alarm. 8 And the sons of Aaron, the priests, will blow the trumpets; and they will be to you+ for a statute forever throughout your+ generations. 9 And when you+ go to war in your+ land against the adversary that oppresses you+, then you+ will sound an alarm with the trumpets; and you+ will be remembered before Yahweh your+ God, and you+ will be saved from your+ enemies. 10 Also in the day of your+ gladness, and in your+ set feasts, and in the beginnings of your+ months, you+ will blow the trumpets over your+ burnt-offerings, and over the sacrifices of your+ peace-offerings; and they will be to you+ for a memorial before your+ God: I am Yahweh your+ God.

11 And it came to pass in the second year, in the second month, on the twentieth day of the month, that the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle of the testimony. 12 And the sons of Israel set forward according to their journeys out of the wilderness of Sinai; and the cloud stayed in the wilderness of Paran. 13 And they first took their journey according to the mouth of Yahweh by Moses. 14 And in the first [place] the standard of the camp of the sons of Judah set forward according to their hosts: and over his host was Nahshon the son of Amminadab. 15 And over the host of the tribe of the sons of Issachar was Nethanel the son of Zuar. 16 And over the host of the tribe of the sons of Zebulun was Eliab the son of Helon.

17 And the tabernacle was taken down; and the sons of Gershon and the sons of Merari, who bore the tabernacle, set forward. 18 And the standard of the camp of Reuben set forward according to their hosts: and over his host was Elizur the son of Shedeur. 19 And over the host of the tribe of the sons of Simeon was Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai. 20 And over the host of the tribe of the sons of Gad was Eliasaph the son of Deuel.

21 And the Kohathites set forward, bearing the sanctuary: and [the others] had set up the tabernacle against their coming. 22 And the standard of the camp of the sons of Ephraim set forward according to their hosts: and over his host was Elishama the son of Ammihud. 23 And over the host of the tribe of the sons of Manasseh was Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur. 24 And over the host of the tribe of the sons of Benjamin was Abidan the son of Gideoni.

25 And the standard of the camp of the sons of Dan, which was the rearward of all the camps, set forward according to their hosts: and over his host was Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai. 26 And over the host of the tribe of the sons of Asher was Pagiel the son of Ochran. 27 And over the host of the tribe of the sons of Naphtali was Ahira the son of Enan. 28 Thus were the journeyings of the sons of Israel according to their hosts; and they set forward.

29 And Moses said to Hobab, the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses' father-in-law, We are journeying to the place of which Yahweh said, I will give it to you+: come with us, and we will do you good; for Yahweh has spoken good concerning Israel. 30 And he said to him, I will not go; but I will depart to my own land, and to my kindred. 31 And he said, Don't leave us, I pray you; since you know how we are to encamp in the wilderness, and you will be to us instead of eyes. 32 And it will be, if you go with us, yes, it will be, that whatever good Yahweh will do to us, the same we will do to you.

33 And they set forward from the mount of Yahweh three days' journey; and the ark of the covenant of Yahweh went before them three days' journey, to seek out a resting-place for them. 34 And the cloud of Yahweh was over them by day, when they set forward from the camp.

35 And it came to pass, when the ark set forward, that Moses said, Rise up, O Yahweh, and let your enemies be scattered; and let those who hate you flee before you. 36 And when it rested, he said, Return, O Yahweh, to the ten thousands of the thousands of Israel.

11  And the people were as murmurers, [speaking] evil in the ears of Yahweh: and when Yahweh heard it, his anger was kindled; and the fire of Yahweh burned among them, and devoured in the uttermost part of the camp. 2 And the people cried to Moses; and Moses prayed to Yahweh, and the fire abated. 3 And the name of that place was called Taberah, because the fire of Yahweh burned among them.

4 And the mixed multitude that was among them lusted exceedingly: and the sons of Israel also wept again, and said, Who will give us flesh to eat? 5 We remember the fish, which we ate in Egypt for nothing; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic: 6 but now our soul is dried away; there is nothing at all but this manna to look at. 7 And the manna was like coriander seed, and its appearance as the appearance of bdellium. 8 The people went about, and gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in mortars, and boiled it in pots, and made cakes of it: and the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil. 9 And when the dew fell on the camp in the night, the manna fell on it.

10 And Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, every man at the door of his tent: and the anger of Yahweh was kindled greatly; and Moses was displeased. 11 And Moses said to Yahweh, Why have you dealt ill with your slave? And why haven't I found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? 12 Have I become pregnant with all this people? Have I given birth to them, that you should say to me, Carry them in your bosom, as a foster-father carries the nursing child, to the land which you swore to their fathers? 13 From where should I have flesh to give to all this people? For they weep to me, saying, Give us flesh, that we may eat. 14 I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me. 15 And if you deal thus with me, kill me, I pray you, out of hand, if I have found favor in your sight; and don't let me see my wretchedness.

16 And Yahweh said to Moses, Gather to me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them to the tent of meeting, that they may stand there with you. 17 And I will come down and talk with you there: and I will take of the Spirit who is on you, and will put him on them; and they will bear the burden of the people with you, that you yourself don't bear it alone. 18 And you say to the people, Sanctify yourselves against tomorrow, and you+ will eat flesh; for you+ have wept in the ears of Yahweh, saying, Who will give us flesh to eat? For it was well with us in Egypt: therefore Yahweh will give you+ flesh, and you+ will eat. 19 You+ will not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days, 20 but a whole month, until it comes out at your+ nostrils, and it is loathsome to you+; because you+ have rejected Yahweh who is among you+, and have wept before him, saying, Why did we come forth out of Egypt? 21 And Moses said, The people, among whom I am, are six hundred thousand footmen; and you have said, I will give them flesh, that they may eat a whole month. 22 Will flocks and herds be slain for them, to suffice them? Or will all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to suffice them? 23 And Yahweh said to Moses, Is Yahweh's hand waxed short? Now you will see whether my word will come to pass to you or not.

24 And Moses went out, and told the people the words of Yahweh: and he gathered seventy men of the elders of the people, and set them round about the Tent. 25 And Yahweh came down in the cloud, and spoke to him, and took of the Spirit that was on him, and put it on the seventy elders: and it came to pass, that, when the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but they did so no more.

26 But there remained two men in the camp, the name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad: and the Spirit rested on them; and they were of those who were written, but had not gone out to the Tent; and they prophesied in the camp. 27 And there ran a young man, and told Moses, and said, Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp. 28 And Joshua the son of Nun, the minister of Moses, one of his chosen men, answered and said, My lord Moses, forbid them. 29 And Moses said to him, Are you jealous for my sake? Oh that all Yahweh's people were prophets, that Yahweh would put his Spirit on them! 30 And Moses got himself into the camp, he and the elders of Israel.

31 And a wind went forth from Yahweh, and brought quails from the sea, and let them fall by the camp, about a day's journey on this side, and a day's journey on the other side, round about the camp, and about two cubits above the face of the earth. 32 And the people rose up all that day, and all the night, and all the next day, and gathered the quails: he who gathered least gathered ten homers: and they spread them all abroad for themselves round about the camp. 33 While the flesh was yet between their teeth, before it was chewed, the anger of Yahweh was kindled against the people, and Yahweh struck the people with a very great plague. 34 And the name of that place was called Kibrothhattaavah, because there they buried the people who lusted. 35 From Kibrothhattaavah the people journeyed to Hazeroth; and they remained at Hazeroth.

12  And Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married; for he had married a Cushite woman. 2 And they said, Has Yahweh indeed spoken only with Moses? Has he not spoken also with us? And Yahweh heard it. 3 Now the man Moses was very meek, above all among man who were on the face of the earth.

4 And Yahweh spoke suddenly to Moses, and to Aaron, and to Miriam, You+ three come out to the tent of meeting. And the three of them came out. 5 And Yahweh came down in a pillar of cloud, and stood at the door of the Tent, and called Aaron and Miriam; and they both came forth. 6 And he said, Now hear my words: if there is a prophet among you+, I Yahweh will make myself known to him in a vision, I will speak with him in a dream. 7 My slave Moses is not so; he is faithful in all my house: 8 with him I will speak mouth to mouth, even manifestly, and not in dark speeches; and the form of Yahweh he will see: why then were you+ not afraid to speak against my slave, against Moses?

9 And the anger of Yahweh was kindled against them; and he departed. 10 And the cloud removed from over the Tent; and, look, Miriam was leprous, as [white as] snow: and Aaron looked on Miriam, and saw that she was leprous. 11 And Aaron said to Moses, Oh, my lord, don't lay, I pray you, sin on us, for that we have done foolishly, and for that we have sinned. 12 Don't let her, I pray, be as one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed when he comes out of his mother's womb. 13 And Moses cried to Yahweh, saying, Heal her, O God, I urge you. 14 And Yahweh said to Moses, If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days? Let her be shut up outside the camp seven days, and after that she will be brought in again. 15 And Miriam was shut up outside the camp seven days: and the people didn't journey until Miriam was brought in again.

16 And afterward the people journeyed from Hazeroth, and encamped in the wilderness of Paran.  13  And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2 Send men for you, that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I give to the sons of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers you+ will send a man, every one a prince among them. 3 And Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran according to the mouth of Yahweh: all of them men who were heads of the sons of Israel. 4 And these were their names: Of the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur. 5 Of the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori. 6 Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh. 7 Of the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph. 8 Of the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Nun. 9 Of the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu. 10 Of the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi. 11 Of the tribe of Joseph, [namely], of the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi. 12 Of the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli. 13 Of the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael. 14 Of the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi. 15 Of the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi. 16 These are the names of the men who Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun Joshua.

17 And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said to them, You+ go up this way by the South, and go up into the hill-country: 18 and see the land, what it is; and the people who dwell in it, whether they are strong or weak, whether they are few or many; 19 and what the land is that they dwell in, whether it is good or bad; and what cities they are that they dwell in, whether in camps, or in strongholds; 20 and what the land is, whether it is fat or lean, whether there is wood in it, or not. And be+ of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the first-ripe grapes.

21 So they went up, and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, to the entrance of Hamath. 22 And they went up by the South, and came to Hebron; and Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the sons of Anak, were there. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) 23 And they came to the valley of Eshcol, and cut down from there a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bore it on a staff between two; [they brought] also of the pomegranates, and of the figs. 24 That place was called the valley of Eshcol, because of the cluster which the sons of Israel cut down from there.

25 And they returned from spying out the land at the end of forty days. 26 And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, to the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word to them, and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 And they told him, and said, We came to the land where you sent us; and surely it flows with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it. 28 Nevertheless the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified, [and] very great: and moreover we saw the sons of Anak there. 29 Amalek dwells in the land of the South: and the Hittite, and the Jebusite, and the Amorite, dwell in the hill-country; and the Canaanite dwells by the sea, and along by the side of the Jordan.

30 And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. 31 But the men who went up with him said, We are not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. 32 And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had spied out to the sons of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that eats up its inhabitants; and all the people who we saw in it are men of great stature. 33 And there we saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak, who come of the Nephilim: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.

14  And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. 2 And all the sons of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said to them, Oh that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or that we had died in this wilderness! 3 And why does Yahweh bring us to this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will be a prey: Isn't it better for us to return into Egypt?

4 And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt. 5 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the sons of Israel. 6 And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were of those who spied out the land, rent their clothes: 7 and they spoke to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land. 8 If Yahweh delights in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it to us; a land which flows with milk and honey. 9 Only don't rebel against Yahweh, neither be+ afraid of the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defense is removed from over them, and Yahweh is with us: don't fear them. 10 But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of Yahweh appeared in the tent of meeting to all the sons of Israel.

11 And Yahweh said to Moses, How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, for all the signs which I have wrought among them? 12 I will strike them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.

13 And Moses said to Yahweh, Then the Egyptians will hear it; for you brought up this people in your might from among them; 14 and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you Yahweh are in the midst of this people; for you Yahweh are seen face to face, and your cloud stands over them, and you go before them, in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night. 15 Now if you will kill this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of you will speak, saying, 16 Because Yahweh wasn't able to bring this people into the land which he swore to them, therefore he has slain them in the wilderness. 17 And now, I pray you, let the power of the Lord be great, according as you have spoken, saying, 18 Yahweh is slow to anger, and abundant in loving-kindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression; and that will by no means leave unpunished [the guilty], visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the sons, on the third and on the fourth generation. 19 Pardon, I pray you, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of your loving-kindness, and as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.

20 And Yahweh said, I have pardoned according to your word: 21 but in very deed, as I live, and as the glory of Yahweh will fill all the earth; 22 because all those men who have seen my glory, and my signs, which I wrought in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have tried me these ten times, and haven't listened to my voice; 23 surely they will not see the land which I swore to their fathers, neither will any of those who despised me see it: 24 but my slave Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and has followed me fully, him I will bring into the land into which he went; and his seed will possess it. 25 Now the Amalekite and the Canaanite dwell in the valley: tomorrow you+ turn, and you+ get into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.

26 And Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 27 How long [shall I bear] with this evil congregation, that murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the sons of Israel, which they murmur against me. 28 Say to them, As I live, says Yahweh, surely as you+ have spoken in my ears, so I will do to you+: 29 your+ dead bodies will fall in this wilderness; and all who were numbered of you+, according to your+ whole number, from twenty years old and upward, who have murmured against me, 30 surely you+ will not come into the land, concerning which I swore that I would make it so that you+ stay in it, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. 31 But your+ little ones, who you+ said should be a prey, them I will bring in, and they will know the land which you+ have rejected. 32 But as for you+, your+ dead bodies will fall in this wilderness. 33 And your+ sons will be wanderers in the wilderness forty years, and will bear your+ prostitutions, until your+ dead bodies be consumed in the wilderness. 34 After the number of the days in which you+ spied out the land, even forty days, for every day a year, you+ will bear your+ iniquities, even forty years, and you+ will know my alienation. 35 I, Yahweh, have spoken, surely this I will do to all this evil congregation, who are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they will be consumed, and there they will die.

36 And the men, whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up an evil report against the land, 37 even those men who brought up an evil report of the land, died by the plague before Yahweh. 38 But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, remained alive of those men who went to spy out the land.

39 And Moses told these words to all the sons of Israel: and the people mourned greatly. 40 And they rose up early in the morning, and got up to the top of the mountain, saying, Look, we are here, and will go up to the place which Yahweh has promised: for we have sinned. 41 And Moses said, Why now do you+ transgress against the mouth of Yahweh, seeing it will not prosper? 42 Don't go up, for Yahweh is not among you+; that you+ are not struck down before your+ enemies. 43 For there the Amalekite and the Canaanite are before you+, and you+ will fall by the sword: because you+ have turned back from following Yahweh, therefore Yahweh will not be with you+. 44 But they presumed to go up to the top of the mountain: nevertheless the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, and Moses, didn't depart out of the camp. 45 Then the Amalekite came down, and the Canaanite who dwelt in that mountain, and struck them and beat them down, even to Hormah.

15  And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2 Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, When you+ come into the land of your+ habitations, which I give to you+, 3 and will make an offering by fire to Yahweh, a burnt-offering, or a sacrifice, to accomplish a vow, or as a freewill-offering, or in your+ set feasts, to make a sweet savor to Yahweh, of the herd, or of the flock; 4 then he who offers his oblation will offer to Yahweh a meal-offering of a tenth part [of an ephah] of fine flour mingled with the fourth part of a hin of oil: 5 and wine for the drink-offering, the fourth part of a hin, you will prepare with the burnt-offering, or for the sacrifice, for each lamb. 6 Or for a ram, you will prepare for a meal-offering two tenth parts [of an ephah] of fine flour mingled with the third part of a hin of oil: 7 and for the drink-offering you will offer the third part of a hin of wine, of a sweet savor to Yahweh. 8 And when you prepare a bull for a burnt-offering, or for a sacrifice, to accomplish a vow, or for peace-offerings to Yahweh; 9 then it will be offered with the bull a meal-offering of three tenth parts [of an ephah] of fine flour mingled with half a hin of oil: 10 and you will offer for the drink-offering half a hin of wine, for an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor to Yahweh.

11 Thus it will be done for each bull, or for each ram, or for each of the he-lambs, or of the young goats. 12 According to the number that you+ will prepare, so you+ will do to every one according to their number. 13 All who are home-born will do these things after this manner, in offering an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor to Yahweh. 14 And if a stranger sojourns with you+, or whoever may be among you+ throughout your+ generations, and will offer an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor to Yahweh; as you+ do, so he will do. 15 For the assembly, there will be one statute for you+, and for the stranger who sojourns [with you+], a statute forever throughout your+ generations: as you+ are, so will the sojourner be before Yahweh. 16 One law and one ordinance will be for you+, and for the stranger who sojourns with you+.

17 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 18 Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, When you+ come into the land where I bring you+, 19 then it will be, that, when you+ eat of the bread of the land, you+ will offer up a heave-offering to Yahweh. 20 Of the first of your+ dough you+ will offer up a cake for a heave-offering: as the heave-offering of the threshing-floor, so you+ will heave it. 21 Of the first of your+ dough you+ will give to Yahweh a heave-offering throughout your+ generations.

22 And when you+ will err, and not observe all these commandments, which Yahweh has spoken to Moses, 23 even all that Yahweh has commanded you+ by Moses, from the day that Yahweh gave commandment, and onward throughout your+ generations; 24 then it will be, if it is done unintentionally, unknowingly of the congregation, that all the congregation will offer one young bull for a burnt-offering, for a sweet savor to Yahweh, with the meal-offering of it, and the drink-offering of it, according to the ordinance, and one he-goat for a sin-offering. 25 And the priest will make atonement for all the congregation of the sons of Israel, and they will be forgiven; for it was unintentional, and they have brought their oblation, an offering made by fire to Yahweh, and their sin-offering before Yahweh, for their unintentional [error]: 26 and all the congregation of the sons of Israel will be forgiven, and the stranger who sojourns among them; for in respect of all the people it was done unintentionally.

27 And if one soul sins unintentionally, then he will offer a she-goat a year old for a sin-offering. 28 And the priest will make atonement for the soul who errs, when he sins unintentionally, before Yahweh, to make atonement for him; and he will be forgiven. 29 You+ will have one law for him who does anything unintentionally, for him who is home-born among the sons of Israel, and for the stranger who sojourns among them. 30 But the soul who does anything with a high hand, whether he is home-born or a sojourner, the same blasphemes Yahweh; and that soul will be cut off from among his people. 31 Because he has despised the word of Yahweh, and has broken his commandment, that soul will completely be cut off; his iniquity will be on him.

32 And while the sons of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. 33 And those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron, and to all the congregation. 34 And they put him in ward, because it had not been declared what should be done to him. 35 And Yahweh said to Moses, The man will surely be put to death: all the congregation will stone him with stones outside the camp. 36 And all the congregation brought him outside the camp, and stoned him to death with stones; as Yahweh commanded Moses.

37 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 38 Speak to the sons of Israel, and bid them that they make themselves fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put on the fringe of each border a cord of blue: 39 and it will be to you+ for a fringe, that you+ may look at it, and remember all the commandments of Yahweh, and do them; and that you+ don't follow after your+ own heart and your+ own eyes, which you+ prostitute after; 40 that you+ may remember and do all my commandments, and be holy to your+ God. 41 I am Yahweh your+ God, who brought you+ out of the land of Egypt, to be your+ God: I am Yahweh your+ God.

16  Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, with Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took [men]: 2 and they rose up before Moses, with certain of the sons of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the congregation, called to the assembly, men of renown; 3 and they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said to them, You+ take too much on yourselves, for everyone in the entire congregation is holy and Yahweh is among them: why then do you+ lift up yourselves above the assembly of Yahweh?

4 And when Moses heard it, he fell on his face: 5 and he spoke to Korah and to all his company, saying, In the morning Yahweh will show who are his, and who is holy, and will cause him to come near to him: even him whom he will choose he will cause to come near to him. 6 Do this: you+ take censers, Korah, and all his company; 7 and put fire in them, and put incense on them before Yahweh tomorrow: and it will be that the man whom Yahweh chooses, he [will be] holy: you+ take too much on yourselves, you+ sons of Levi. 8 And Moses said to Korah, Hear now, you+ sons of Levi: 9 [does it seem but] a small thing to you+, that the God of Israel has separated you+ from the congregation of Israel, to bring you+ near to himself, to do the service of the tabernacle of Yahweh, and to stand before the congregation to minister to them; 10 and that he has brought you near, and all your brothers the sons of Levi with you? And you+ seek the priesthood also? 11 Therefore you and all your company are gathered together against Yahweh: and Aaron, what is he that you+ murmur against him?

12 And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab; and they said, We will not come up: 13 is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, but must you surely make yourself also a prince over us? 14 Moreover you haven't brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us inheritance of fields and vineyards: will you put out the eyes of these men? We will not come up.

15 And Moses was very angry, and said to Yahweh, Don't respect their offering: I haven't taken one donkey from them, neither have I hurt one of them. 16 And Moses said to Korah, You and all your company are to be before Yahweh, you, and they, and Aaron, tomorrow: 17 and you+ take every man his censer, and put incense on them, and you+ bring before Yahweh every man his censer, two hundred and fifty censers; you also, and Aaron, each his censer. 18 And they took every man his censer, and put fire in them, and laid incense on them, and stood at the door of the tent of meeting with Moses and Aaron. 19 And Korah assembled all the congregation against them to the door of the tent of meeting: and the glory of Yahweh appeared to all the congregation.

20 And Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 21 Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment. 22 And they fell on their faces, and said, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, will one man sin, and will you be angry with all the congregation? 23 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 24 Speak to the congregation, saying, You+ get up from about the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.

25 And Moses rose up and went to Dathan and Abiram; and the elders of Israel followed him. 26 And he spoke to the congregation, saying, Depart, I pray you+, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, or else you+ will be consumed in all their sins. 27 So they got up from the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, on every side: and Dathan and Abiram came out, and stood at the door of their tents, and their wives, and their sons, and their little ones. 28 And Moses said, Hereby you+ will know that Yahweh has sent me to do all these works; for [I have] not [done them] of my own mind. 29 If these die the common death of all of man, or if they be visited after the visitation of all of man; then Yahweh has not sent me. 30 But if Yahweh makes a new thing, and the ground opens its mouth, and swallows them up, with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol; then you+ will understand that these men have despised Yahweh.

31 And it came to pass, as he made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground split apart that was under them; 32 and the earth opened its mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and all of man who belonged to Korah, and all their goods. 33 So they, and all that belonged to them, went down alive into Sheol: and the earth closed on them, and they perished from among the assembly. 34 And all Israel who were round about them fled at the cry of them; for they said, If we don't, the earth will swallow us up. 35 And fire came forth from Yahweh, and devoured the two hundred and fifty men who offered the incense.

36 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 37 Speak to Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, that he takes up the censers out of the burning, and you scatter the fire yonder; for they are holy, 38 even the censers of these sinners against their own souls; and let them be made into beaten plates for a covering of the altar: for they offered them before Yahweh; therefore they are holy; and they will be a sign to the sons of Israel. 39 And Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers, which those who were burned had offered; and they beat them out for a covering of the altar, 40 to be a memorial to the sons of Israel, to the end that no stranger, who is not of the seed of Aaron, comes near to burn incense before Yahweh; that he will not be as Korah, and as his company: as Yahweh spoke to him by Moses.

41 But on the next day all the congregation of the sons of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, You+ have killed the people of Yahweh. 42 And it came to pass, when the congregation was assembled against Moses and against Aaron, that they looked toward the tent of meeting: and saw that the cloud covered it, and the glory of Yahweh appeared. 43 And Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tent of meeting. 44 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 45 You+ get up from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment. And they fell on their faces. 46 And Moses said to Aaron, Take your censer, and put fire in it from off the altar, and lay incense on it, and carry it quickly to the congregation, and make atonement for them: for wrath has gone out from Yahweh; the plague has begun. 47 And Aaron took as Moses spoke, and ran into the midst of the assembly; and saw that the plague had begun among the people: and he put on the incense, and made atonement for the people. 48 And he stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stopped. 49 Now those who died by the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred, besides those who died about the matter of Korah. 50 And Aaron returned to Moses to the door of the tent of meeting: and the plague was stopped.

17  And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2 Speak to the sons of Israel, and take from them rods, one for each fathers' house, of all their princes according to their fathers' houses, twelve rods: you will write every man's name on his rod. 3 And you will write Aaron's name on the rod of Levi; for there will be one rod for each head of their fathers' houses. 4 And you will lay them up in the tent of meeting before the testimony, where I meet with you+. 5 And it will come to pass, that the rod of the man whom I will choose will bud: and I will make to cease from me the murmurings of the sons of Israel, which they murmur against you+. 6 And Moses spoke to the sons of Israel; and all their princes gave him rods, for each prince one, according to their fathers' houses, even twelve rods: and the rod of Aaron was among their rods. 7 And Moses laid up the rods before Yahweh in the tent of the testimony.

8 And it came to pass on the next day, that Moses went into the tent of the testimony; and saw that the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi had budded, and put forth buds, and produced blossoms, and bore ripe almonds. 9 And Moses brought out all the rods from before Yahweh to all the sons of Israel: and they looked, and took every man his rod. 10 And Yahweh said to Moses, Put back the rod of Aaron before the testimony, to be kept for a token against the sons of rebellion; that you may make an end of their murmurings against me, that they will not die. 11 Thus did Moses: as Yahweh commanded him, so he did.

12 And the sons of Israel spoke to Moses, saying, Look, we perish, we are undone, we are all undone. 13 Everyone who comes near, who comes near to the tabernacle of Yahweh, dies: shall we perish all of us?

18  And Yahweh said to Aaron, You and your sons and your fathers' house with you will bear the iniquity of the sanctuary; and you and your sons with you will bear the iniquity of your+ priesthood. 2 And your brothers also, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, you bring near with you, that they may be joined to you, and minister to you: but you and your sons with you will be before the tent of the testimony. 3 And they will keep your charge, and the charge of all the Tent: only they will not come near to the vessels of the sanctuary and to the altar, that they will not die, neither they, nor you+. 4 And they will be joined to you, and keep the charge of the tent of meeting, for all the service of the Tent: and a stranger will not come near to you+. 5 And you+ will keep the charge of the sanctuary, and the charge of the altar; that there will be no more wrath on the sons of Israel. 6 And I, look, I have taken your+ brothers the Levites from among the sons of Israel: to you+ they are a gift, given to Yahweh, to do the service of the tent of meeting. 7 And you and your sons with you will keep your+ priesthood for everything of the altar, and for that inside the veil; and you+ will serve: I give you+ the priesthood as a service of gift: and the stranger who comes near will be put to death.

8 And Yahweh spoke to Aaron, And I, look, I have given you the charge of my heave-offerings, even all the hallowed things of the sons of Israel; to you I have given them by reason of the anointing, and to your sons, as a portion forever. 9 This will be yours of the most holy things, [reserved] from the fire: every oblation of theirs, even every meal-offering of theirs, and every sin-offering of theirs, and every trespass-offering of theirs, which they will render to me, will be most holy for you and for your sons. 10 As the most holy things you will eat of it; every male will eat of it: it will be holy to you. 11 And this is yours: the heave-offering of their gift, even all the wave-offerings of the sons of Israel; I have given them to you, and to your sons and to your daughters with you, as a portion forever; everyone who is clean in your house will eat of it. 12 All the best of the oil, and all the best of the vintage, and of the grain, the first fruits of them which they give to Yahweh, to you I have given them. 13 The first-ripe fruits of all that is in their land, which they bring to Yahweh, will be yours; everyone who is clean in your house will eat of it. 14 Everything devoted in Israel will be yours. 15 Everything that opens the womb, of all flesh which they offer to Yahweh, both of man and beast will be yours: nevertheless the firstborn of man you will surely redeem, and the firstborn of unclean beasts you will redeem. 16 And those that are to be redeemed of them from a month old you will redeem, according to your estimation, for the silver of five shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary (the same is twenty gerahs). 17 But the firstborn of a cow, or the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat, you will not redeem; they are holy: you will sprinkle their blood on the altar, and will burn their fat for an offering made by fire, for a sweet savor to Yahweh. 18 And the flesh of them will be yours, as the wave-breast and as the right thigh, it will be yours. 19 All the heave-offerings of the holy things, which the sons of Israel offer to Yahweh, I have given you, and your sons and your daughters with you, as a portion forever: it is a covenant of salt forever before Yahweh to you and to your seed with you. 20 And Yahweh said to Aaron, You will have no inheritance in their land, neither will you have any portion among them: I am your portion and your inheritance among the sons of Israel.

21 And to the sons of Levi, look, I have given all the tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service which they serve, even the service of the tent of meeting. 22 And from now on the sons of Israel will not come near the tent of meeting, lest they bear sin, and die. 23 But the Levites will do the service of the tent of meeting, and they will bear their iniquity: it will be a statute forever throughout your+ generations; and among the sons of Israel they will have no inheritance. 24 For the tithe of the sons of Israel, which they offer as a heave-offering to Yahweh, I have given to the Levites for an inheritance: therefore I have said to them, Among the sons of Israel they will have no inheritance.

25 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 26 Moreover you will speak to the Levites, and say to them, When you+ take of the sons of Israel the tithe which I have given you+ from them for your+ inheritance, then you+ will offer up a heave-offering of it for Yahweh, a tithe of the tithe. 27 And your+ heave-offering will be reckoned to you+, as though it were the grain of the threshing-floor, and as the fullness of the wine press. 28 Thus you+ also will offer a heave-offering to Yahweh of all your+ tithes, which you+ receive of the sons of Israel; and of it you+ will give Yahweh's heave-offering to Aaron the priest. 29 Out of all your+ gifts you+ will offer every heave-offering of Yahweh, of all its best, even its hallowed part out of it. 30 Therefore you will say to them, When you+ heave its best from it, then it will be reckoned to the Levites as the increase of the threshing-floor, and as the increase of the wine press. 31 And you+ will eat it in every place, you+ and your+ households: for it is your+ reward in return for your+ service in the tent of meeting. 32 And you+ will bear no sin by reason of it, when you+ have heaved from it the best of it: and you+ will not profane the holy things of the sons of Israel, that you+ will not die.

19  And Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 2 This is the statute of the law which Yahweh has commanded, saying, Speak to the sons of Israel, that they bring you a red heifer without spot, in which is no blemish, [and] on which never came a yoke. 3 And you+ will give her to Eleazar the priest, and he will bring her forth outside the camp, and one will slay her before his face: 4 and Eleazar the priest will take of her blood with his finger, and sprinkle of her blood toward the front of the tent of meeting seven times. 5 And one will burn the heifer in his sight; her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, with her dung, he will burn: 6 and the priest will take cedar-wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the midst of the burning of the heifer. 7 Then the priest will wash his clothes, and he will bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he will come into the camp, and the priest will be unclean until the evening. 8 And he who burns her will wash his clothes in water, and bathe his flesh in water, and will be unclean until the evening. 9 And a man who is clean will gather up the ashes of the heifer, and lay them up outside the camp in a clean place; and it will be kept for the congregation of the sons of Israel for a water for impurity: it is a sin-offering. 10 And he who gathers the ashes of the heifer will wash his clothes, and be unclean until the evening: and it will be to the sons of Israel, and to the stranger who sojourns among them, for a statute forever.

11 He who touches a dead [body] of any soul of man will be unclean seven days: 12 the same will purify himself with it [the water] on the third day, and on the seventh day, and he will be clean: but if he does not purify himself the third day, then the seventh day he will not be clean. 13 Whoever touches a dead [body] of the soul of the man who dies, and does not purify himself, defiles the tabernacle of Yahweh; and that soul will be cut off from Israel: because the water for impurity was not sprinkled on him, he will be unclean; his uncleanness is yet on him.

14 This is the law when man dies in a tent: everyone who comes into the tent, and everyone who is in the tent, will be unclean seven days. 15 And every open vessel, which has no covering bound on it, is unclean. 16 And whoever in the open field touches one who is slain with a sword, or a dead body, or a bone of man, or a grave, will be unclean seven days. 17 And for the unclean they will take of the ashes of the burning of the sin-offering; and living water will be put thereto in a vessel: 18 and a clean person will take hyssop, and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it on the tent, and on all the vessels, and on the souls who were there, and on him who touched the bone, or the slain, or the dead, or the grave: 19 and the clean person will sprinkle on the unclean on the third day, and on the seventh day: and on the seventh day he will purify him; and he will wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and will be clean at evening.

20 But the man who will be unclean, and will not purify himself, that soul will be cut off from the midst of the assembly, because he has defiled the sanctuary of Yahweh: the water for impurity has not been sprinkled on him; he is unclean. 21 And it will be a perpetual statute to them: and he who sprinkles the water for impurity will wash his clothes, and he who touches the water for impurity will be unclean until evening. 22 And whatever the unclean person touches will be unclean; and the soul who touches it will be unclean until evening.

20  And the sons of Israel, even the whole congregation, came into the wilderness of Zin in the first month: and the people remained in Kadesh; and Miriam died there, and was buried there.

2 And there was no water for the congregation: and they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. 3 And the people strove with Moses, and spoke, saying, Oh that we had died when our brothers died before Yahweh! 4 And why have you+ brought the assembly of Yahweh into this wilderness, that we should die there, we and our beasts? 5 And why have you+ made us to come up out of Egypt, to bring us in to this evil place? It is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates; neither is there any water to drink. 6 And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the door of the tent of meeting, and fell on their faces: and the glory of Yahweh appeared to them. 7 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 8 Take the rod, and assemble the congregation, you, and Aaron your brother, and you+ speak to the rock before their eyes, that it give forth its water; and you will bring forth to them water out of the rock; so you will give the congregation and their cattle to drink. 9 And Moses took the rod from before Yahweh, as he commanded him.

10 And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, Hear now, you+ rebels; shall we bring you+ forth water out of this rock? 11 And Moses lifted up his hand, and struck the rock with his rod twice: and water came forth abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their cattle. 12 And Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron, Because you+ didn't believe in me, to sanctify me in the eyes of the sons of Israel, therefore you+ will not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them. 13 These are the waters of Meribah; because the sons of Israel strove with Yahweh, and he was sanctified in them.

14 And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, Thus says your brother Israel, You know all the travail that has befallen us: 15 how our fathers went down into Egypt, and we dwelt in Egypt a long time; and the Egyptians dealt ill with us, and our fathers: 16 and when we cried to Yahweh, he heard our voice, and sent an angel, and brought us forth out of Egypt: and, look, we are in Kadesh, a city in the uttermost of your border. 17 Let us pass, I pray you, through your land: we will not pass through field or through vineyard, neither will we drink of the water of the wells: we will go along the king's highway; we will not turn aside to the right hand nor to the left, until we have passed your border. 18 And Edom said to him, You will not pass through me, or else I will come out with the sword against you. 19 And the sons of Israel said to him, We will go up by the highway; and if we drink of your water, I and my cattle, then I will give its price: let me only, without [doing] anything [else], pass through on my feet. 20 And he said, You will not pass through. And Edom came out against him with many people, and with a strong hand. 21 Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his border: therefore Israel turned away from him.

22 And they journeyed from Kadesh: and the sons of Israel, even the whole congregation, came to mount Hor. 23 And Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron in mount Hor, by the border of the land of Edom, saying, 24 Aaron will be gathered to his people; for he will not enter into the land which I have given to the sons of Israel, because you+ rebelled against my mouth at the waters of Meribah. 25 Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up to mount Hor; 26 and strip Aaron of his garments, and put them on Eleazar his son: and Aaron will be gathered [to his people], and will die there. 27 And Moses did as Yahweh commanded: and they went up into mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. 28 And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments, and put them on Eleazar his son; and Aaron died there on the top of the mount: and Moses and Eleazar came down from the mount. 29 And when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, they wept for Aaron thirty days, even all the house of Israel.

21  And the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who dwelt in the South, heard that Israel came by the way of Atharim; and he fought against Israel, and took some of them captive. 2 And Israel vowed a vow to Yahweh, and said, If you will indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will completely destroy their cities. 3 And Yahweh listened to the voice of Israel, and delivered up the Canaanites; and they completely destroyed them and their cities: and the name of the place was called Hormah.

4 And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. 5 And the people spoke against God, and against Moses, Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, and there is no water; and our soul loathes this light bread. 6 And Yahweh sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many people of Israel died. 7 And the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, because we have spoken against Yahweh, and against you; pray to Yahweh, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. 8 And Yahweh said to Moses, You make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard: and it will come to pass, that everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, will live. 9 And Moses made a serpent of bronze, and set it on the standard: and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked to the serpent of bronze, he lived.

10 And the sons of Israel journeyed, and encamped in Oboth. 11 And they journeyed from Oboth, and encamped at Iyeabarim, in the wilderness which is before Moab, toward the sunrising. 12 From there they journeyed, and encamped in the valley of Zered. 13 From there they journeyed, and encamped on the other side of the Arnon, which is in the wilderness, that comes out of the border of the Amorites: for the Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. 14 Therefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of Yahweh, Vaheb in Suphah, And the valleys of the Arnon, 15 And the slope of the valleys that inclines toward the dwelling of Ar, And leans on the border of Moab.

16 And from there [they journeyed] to Beer: that is the well of which Yahweh said to Moses, Gather the people together, and I will give them water.

17 Then Israel sang this song: Spring up, O well; you+ sing to it: 18 The well, which the princes dug, Which the nobles of the people delved, With the scepter, [and] with their poles. And from the wilderness [they journeyed] to Mattanah; 19 and from Mattanah to Nahaliel; and from Nahaliel to Bamoth; 20 and from Bamoth to the valley that is in the field of Moab, to the top of Pisgah, which looks down on the desert.

21 And Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying, 22 Let me pass through your land: we will not turn aside into field, or into vineyard; we will not drink of the water of the wells: we will go by the king's highway, until we have passed your border. 23 And Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through his border: but Sihon gathered all his people together, and went out against Israel into the wilderness, and came to Jahaz; and he fought against Israel. 24 And Israel struck him with the edge of the sword, and possessed his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, even to the sons of Ammon; for the border of the sons of Ammon was strong. 25 And Israel took all these cities: and Israel dwelt in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all its towns. 26 For Heshbon was the city of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab, and taken all his land out of his hand, even to the Arnon. 27 Therefore those who speak in proverbs say, You+ come to Heshbon; Let the city of Sihon be built and established: 28 For a fire has gone out of Heshbon, A flame from the city of Sihon: It has devoured Ar of Moab, The lords of the high places of the Arnon. 29 Woe to you, Moab! You are undone, O people of Chemosh: He has given his sons as fugitives, And his daughters into captivity, To Sihon king of the Amorites. 30 We have shot at them; Heshbon is perished even to Dibon, And we have laid waste until the fire is kindled, which [reaches] to Medeba.

31 Thus Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorites. 32 And Moses sent to spy out Jazer; and they took its towns, and the Amorites who were there were driven out.

33 And they turned and went up by the way of Bashan: and Og the king of Bashan went out against them, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei. 34 And Yahweh said to Moses, Don't fear him: for I have delivered him into your hand, and all his people, and his land; and you will do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon. 35 So they struck him, and his sons and all his people, until there was left him none remaining: and they possessed his land.  22  And the sons of Israel journeyed, and encamped in the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan at Jericho.

2 And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. 3 And Moab was very afraid of the people, because they were many: and Moab was distressed because of the sons of Israel. 4 And Moab said to the elders of Midian, Now this multitude will lick up all that is round about us, as the ox licks up the grass of the field. And Balak the son of Zippor was king of Moab at that time. 5 And he sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor, to Pethor, which is by the River, to the land of the sons of Amav, to call him, saying, Look, there is a people come out from Egypt: see, they cover the face of the earth, and they dwell across from me. 6 Come now therefore, I pray you, curse this people for me; for they are too mighty for me: perhaps I will prevail, that we may strike them, and that I may drive them out of the land; for I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.

7 And the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the rewards of fortune-telling in their hand; and they came to Balaam, and spoke to him the words of Balak. 8 And he said to them, Lodge here this night, and I will bring you+ word again, as Yahweh will speak to me: and the princes of Moab remained with Balaam. 9 And God came to Balaam, and said, What men are these with you? 10 And Balaam said to God, Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, has sent to me, [saying,] 11 Look, a people has come out of Egypt, which covers the face of the earth: now, come curse them for me; perhaps I will be able to fight against them, and will drive them out. 12 And God said to Balaam, You will not go with them; you will not curse the people; for they are blessed. 13 And Balaam rose up in the morning, and said to the princes of Balak, You+ get into your+ land; for Yahweh refuses to give me leave to go with you+. 14 And the princes of Moab rose up, and they went to Balak, and said, Balaam refuses to come with us.

15 And Balak sent yet again princes, more, and more honorable than they. 16 And they came to Balaam, and said to him, Thus says Balak the son of Zippor, Let nothing, I pray you, hinder you from coming to me: 17 for I will promote you to very great honor, and whatever you say to me I will do: come therefore, I pray you, curse this people for me. 18 And Balaam answered and said to the slaves of Balak, If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I can't go beyond the mouth of Yahweh my God, to do less or more. 19 Now therefore, I pray you+, you+ also tarry here this night, that I may know what Yahweh will speak to me more. 20 And God came to Balaam at night, and said to him, If the men have come to call you, rise up, go with them; but only the word which I speak to you, that you will do.

21 And Balaam rose up in the morning, and saddled his donkey, and went with the princes of Moab. 22 And God's anger was kindled because he went; and the angel of Yahweh placed himself in the way for an adversary against him. Now he was riding on his donkey, and his two attendants were with him. 23 And the donkey saw the angel of Yahweh standing in the way, with his sword drawn in his hand; and the donkey turned aside out of the way, and went into the field: and Balaam struck the donkey, to turn her into the way. 24 Then the angel of Yahweh stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, a wall being on this side, and a wall on that side. 25 And the donkey saw the angel of Yahweh, and she thrust herself to the wall, and crushed Balaam's foot against the wall: and he struck her again. 26 And the angel of Yahweh went further, and stood in a narrow place, where was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left. 27 And the donkey saw the angel of Yahweh, and she lay down under Balaam: and Balaam's anger was kindled, and he struck the donkey with his staff. 28 And Yahweh opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times? 29 And Balaam said to the donkey, Because you have mocked me, If there were a sword in my hand, I would have killed you by now. 30 And the donkey said to Balaam, Am I not your donkey, on which you have ridden all your life long to this day? Was I ever in the habit to do so to you? And he said, No.

31 Then Yahweh opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of Yahweh standing in the way, with his sword drawn in his hand; and he bowed his head, and fell on his face. 32 And the angel of Yahweh said to him, Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Look, I have come forth for an adversary, because your way is precipitous before me: 33 and the donkey saw me, and turned aside before me these three times: unless she had turned aside from me, surely I would have even killed you by now, and saved her alive. 34 And Balaam said to the angel of Yahweh, I have sinned; for I didn't know that you stood in the way against me: now therefore, if it displease you, I will get myself back again. 35 And the angel of Yahweh said to Balaam, Go with the men; but only the word that I will speak to you, that you will speak. So Balaam went with the princes of Balak.

36 And when Balak heard that Balaam came, he went out to meet him to Ar of Moab, which is on the border of the Arnon, which is in the utmost part of the border. 37 And Balak said to Balaam, Didn't I earnestly send to you to call you? Why didn't you come to me? Am I not able indeed to promote you to honor? 38 And Balaam said to Balak, Look, I have come to you: do I now have any power at all to speak anything? The word that God puts in my mouth, that I will speak. 39 And Balaam went with Balak, and they came to Kiriath-huzoth. 40 And Balak sacrificed oxen and sheep, and sent to Balaam, and to the princes who were with him.

41 And it came to pass in the morning, that Balak took Balaam, and brought him up into the high places of Baal; and he saw from there the utmost part of the people.  23  And Balaam said to Balak, Build for me here seven altars, and prepare for me here seven bullocks and seven rams. 2 And Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bull and a ram. 3 And Balaam said to Balak, Stand by your burnt-offering, and I will go: perhaps Yahweh will come to meet me; and whatever he shows me I will tell you. And he went to a bare height. 4 And God met Balaam: and he said to him, I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered up a bull and a ram on every altar. 5 And Yahweh put a word in Balaam's mouth, and said, Return to Balak, and thus you will speak. 6 And he returned to him, and, look, he was standing by his burnt-offering, he, and all the princes of Moab. 7 And he took up his parable, and said, From Aram has Balak brought me, The king of Moab from the mountains of the East: Come, curse Jacob for me, And come, defy Israel. 8 How shall I curse, whom God has not cursed? And how shall I defy, whom Yahweh has not defied? 9 For from the top of the rocks I see him, And from the hills I see him: Look, it is a people who stays alone, And will not be reckoned among the nations. 10 Who can count the dust of Jacob, Or number the fourth part of Israel? Let my soul die the death of the righteous, And let my last end be like his!

11 And Balak said to Balaam, What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and, look, you have blessed them altogether. 12 And he answered and said, Must I not take heed to speak that which Yahweh puts in my mouth?

13 And Balak said to him, Come, I pray you, with me to another place, from where you may see them; you will see but the utmost part of them, and will not see them all: and curse them for me from there. 14 And he took him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered up a bull and a ram on every altar. 15 And he said to Balak, Stand here by your burnt-offering, while I meet [Yahweh] yonder. 16 And Yahweh met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, Return to Balak, and thus you will speak. 17 And he came to him, and saw that he was standing by his burnt-offering, and the princes of Moab with him. And Balak said to him, What has Yahweh spoken? 18 And he took up his parable, and said, Rise up, Balak, and hear; Listen to me, you son of Zippor: 19 God is not a man, that he should lie, Neither a son of man, that he should repent: Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not make it good? 20 Look, I have received [commandment] to bless: And he has blessed, and I can't reverse it. 21 He has not seen iniquity in Jacob; Neither has he seen perverseness in Israel: Yahweh his God is with him, And the shout of a king is among them. 22 God brings them forth out of Egypt; He has as it were the strength of the wild-ox. 23 Surely there is no magic against Jacob; Neither is there any fortune-telling against Israel: Now it will be said of Jacob and of Israel, What has God wrought! 24 Look, a people rises up as a lioness, And as a lion does he lift himself up: He will not lie down until he eats of the prey, And drinks the blood of the slain.

25 And Balak said to Balaam, Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all. 26 But Balaam answered and said to Balak, Didn't I tell you, saying, All that Yahweh speaks, that I must do?

27 And Balak said to Balaam, Come now, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will please God that you may curse them for me from there. 28 And Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, that looks down on the desert. 29 And Balaam said to Balak, Build for me here seven altars, and prepare for me here seven bullocks and seven rams. 30 And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered up a bull and a ram on every altar.  24  And when Balaam saw that it pleased Yahweh to bless Israel, he did not go, as at the other times, to use magic, but he set his face toward the wilderness. 2 And Balaam lifted up his eyes, and he saw Israel staying according to their tribes; and the Spirit of God came upon him. 3 And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor says, And the [special] man whose eye was closed says; 4 He says, who hears the words of God, Who sees the vision of the Almighty, Falling down, and having his eyes open: 5 How goodly are your tents, O Jacob, Your tabernacles, O Israel! 6 As valleys are they spread forth, As gardens by the riverside, As lign-aloes which Yahweh has planted, As cedar-trees beside the waters. 7 Water will flow from his buckets, And his seed will be in many waters, And his king will be higher than Agag, And his kingdom will be exalted. 8 God brings him forth out of Egypt; He has as it were the strength of the wild-ox: He will eat up the nations his adversaries, And will break their bones in pieces, And strike [them] through with his arrows. 9 He couched, he lay down as a lion, And as a lioness; who will rouse him up? Blessed be everyone who blesses you, And cursed be everyone who curses you.

10 And Balak's anger was kindled against Balaam, and he struck his hands together; and Balak said to Balaam, I called you to curse my enemies, and, look, you have altogether blessed them these three times. 11 Therefore now you flee to your place: I thought to promote you to great honor; but, look, Yahweh has kept you back from honor. 12 And Balaam said to Balak, Didn't I speak also to your messengers whom you sent to me, saying, 13 If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I can't go beyond the mouth of Yahweh, to do either good or bad of my own mind; what Yahweh speaks, that I will speak? 14 And now, look, I am going to my people: come, [and] I will advise you what this people will do to your people in the latter days. 15 And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor says, And the [special] man whose eye was closed says; 16 He says, who hears words of God, And knows knowledge of the Most High, Who sees the vision of the Almighty, Falling down, and having his eyes open: 17 I see him, but not now; I look at him, but not near: There will come forth a star out of Jacob, And a scepter will rise out of Israel, And will strike through the corners of Moab, And the crown of the head of all the sons of tumult. 18 And Edom will be a possession, Seir also will be a possession, [who were] his enemies; While Israel does valiantly. 19 And out of Jacob will one have dominion, And will destroy the remnant from the city.

20 And he looked on Amalek, and took up his parable, and said, Amalek was the first of the nations; But his latter end will be to perish forever.

21 And he looked on the Kenite, and took up his parable, and said, Strong is your dwelling-place, And your nest is set in the rock. 22 Nevertheless Kain will be wasted, Until Asshur will carry you away captive.

23 And he took up his parable, and said, Alas, who will come in bands out of the north? 24 Those who go out from the coast of Kittim, And they will afflict Asshur, and will afflict Eber; And he also will perish forever.

25 And Balaam rose up, and went and returned to his place; and Balak also went his way.

25  And Israel dwelt in Shittim; and the people began to prostitute with the daughters of Moab: 2 for they called the people to the sacrifices of their gods; and the people ate, and bowed down to their gods. 3 And Israel joined himself to Baal-peor: and the anger of Yahweh was kindled against Israel. 4 And Yahweh said to Moses, Take all the chiefs of the people, and hang them up to Yahweh before the sun, that the fierce anger of Yahweh may turn away from Israel. 5 And Moses said to the judges of Israel, Slay every one of his men who have joined themselves to Baal-peor.

6 And, look, one of the sons of Israel came and brought to his brothers a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the sons of Israel, while they were weeping at the door of the tent of meeting. 7 And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from the midst of the congregation, and took a spear in his hand; 8 and he went after the man of Israel into the pavilion, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her body. So the plague was stopped from the sons of Israel. 9 And those who died by the plague were twenty and four thousand.

10 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 11 Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned my wrath away from the sons of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I did not consume the sons of Israel in my jealousy. 12 Therefore say, Look, I give to him my covenant of peace: 13 and it will be to him, and to his seed after him, the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was jealous for his God, and made atonement for the sons of Israel.

14 Now the name of the man of Israel that was slain, who was slain with the Midianitish woman, was Zimri, the son of Salu, a prince of a fathers' house among the Simeonites. 15 And the name of the Midianitish woman who was slain was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur; he was head of the people of a fathers' house in Midian.

16 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 17 Vex the Midianites, and strike them; 18 for they vex you+ with their wiles, with which they have beguiled you+ in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of the prince of Midian, their sister, who was slain on the day of the plague in the matter of Peor.

26  And it came to pass after the plague, that Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, saying, 2 Take the sum of all the congregation of the sons of Israel, from twenty years old and upward, by their fathers' houses, all who are able to go forth to war in Israel. 3 And Moses and Eleazar the priest spoke with them in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying, 4 [Take the sum of the people], from twenty years old and upward; as Yahweh commanded Moses and the sons of Israel, who came forth out of the land of Egypt.

5 Reuben, the firstborn of Israel; the sons of Reuben: [of] Hanoch, the family of the Hanochites; of Pallu, the family of the Palluites; 6 of Hezron, the family of the Hezronites; of Carmi, the family of the Carmites. 7 These are the families of the Reubenites; and those who were numbered of them were forty and three thousand and seven hundred and thirty. 8 And the sons of Pallu: Eliab. 9 And the sons of Eliab: Nemuel, and Dathan, and Abiram. These are that Dathan and Abiram, who were called of the congregation, who strove against Moses and against Aaron in the company of Korah, when they strove against Yahweh, 10 and the earth opened its mouth, and swallowed them up together with Korah, when that company died; what time the fire devoured two hundred and fifty men, and they became a sign. 11 Notwithstanding, the sons of Korah did not die.

12 The sons of Simeon after their families: of Nemuel, the family of the Nemuelites; of Jamin, the family of the Jaminites; of Jachin, the family of the Jachinites; 13 of Zerah, the family of the Zerahites; of Shaul, the family of the Shaulites. 14 These are the families of the Simeonites, twenty and two thousand and two hundred.

15 The sons of Gad after their families: of Zephon, the family of the Zephonites; of Haggi, the family of the Haggites; of Shuni, the family of the Shunites; 16 of Ozni, the family of the Oznites; of Eri, the family of the Erites; 17 of Arod, the family of the Arodites; of Areli, the family of the Arelites. 18 These are the families of the sons of Gad according to those who were numbered of them, forty thousand and five hundred.

19 The sons of Judah: Er and Onan; and Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. 20 And the sons of Judah after their families were: of Shelah, the family of the Shelanites; of Perez, the family of the Perezites; of Zerah, the family of the Zerahites. 21 And the sons of Perez were: of Hezron, the family of the Hezronites; of Hamul, the family of the Hamulites. 22 These are the families of Judah according to those who were numbered of them, threescore and sixteen thousand and five hundred.

23 The sons of Issachar after their families: [of] Tola, the family of the Tolaites; of Puvah, the family of the Punites; 24 of Jashub, the family of the Jashubites; of Shimron, the family of the Shimronites. 25 These are the families of Issachar according to those who were numbered of them, threescore and four thousand and three hundred.

26 The sons of Zebulun after their families: of Sered, the family of the Seredites; of Elon, the family of the Elonites; of Jahleel, the family of the Jahleelites. 27 These are the families of the Zebulunites according to those who were numbered of them, threescore thousand and five hundred.

28 The sons of Joseph after their families: Manasseh and Ephraim. 29 The sons of Manasseh: of Machir, the family of the Machirites; and Machir begot Gilead; of Gilead, the family of the Gileadites. 30 These are the sons of Gilead: [of] Iezer, the family of the Iezerites; of Helek, the family of the Helekites; 31 and [of] Asriel, the family of the Asrielites; and [of] Shechem, the family of the Shechemites; 32 and [of] Shemida, the family of the Shemidaites; and [of] Hepher, the family of the Hepherites. 33 And Zelophehad the son of Hepher had no sons, but daughters: and the names of the daughters of Zelophehad were Mahlah, and Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. 34 These are the families of Manasseh; and those who were numbered of them were fifty and two thousand and seven hundred.

35 These are the sons of Ephraim after their families: of Shuthelah, the family of the Shuthelahites; of Becher, the family of the Becherites; of Tahan, the family of the Tahanites. 36 And these are the sons of Shuthelah: of Eran, the family of the Eranites. 37 These are the families of the sons of Ephraim according to those who were numbered of them, thirty and two thousand and five hundred. These are the sons of Joseph after their families.

38 The sons of Benjamin after their families: of Bela, the family of the Belaites; of Ashbel, the family of the Ashbelites; of Ahiram, the family of the Ahiramites; 39 of Shephupham, the family of the Shuphamites; of Hupham, the family of the Huphamites. 40 And the sons of Bela were Ard and Naaman: of Ard, the family of the Ardites; of Naaman, the family of the Naamites. 41 These are the sons of Benjamin after their families; and those who were numbered of them were forty and five thousand and six hundred.

42 These are the sons of Dan after their families: of Shuham, the family of the Shuhamites. These are the families of Dan after their families. 43 All the families of the Shuhamites, according to those who were numbered of them, were threescore and four thousand and four hundred.

44 The sons of Asher after their families: of Imnah, the family of the Imnites; of Ishvi, the family of the Ishvites; of Beriah, the family of the Beriites. 45 Of the sons of Beriah: of Heber, the family of the Heberites; of Malchiel, the family of the Malchielites. 46 And the name of the daughter of Asher was Serah. 47 These are the families of the sons of Asher according to those who were numbered of them, fifty and three thousand and four hundred.

48 The sons of Naphtali after their families: of Jahzeel, the family of the Jahzeelites; of Guni, the family of the Gunites; 49 of Jezer, the family of the Jezerites; of Shillem, the family of the Shillemites. 50 These are the families of Naphtali according to their families; and those who were numbered of them were forty and five thousand and four hundred.

51 These are those who were numbered of the sons of Israel, six hundred thousand and a thousand seven hundred and thirty.

52 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 53 To these the land will be divided for an inheritance according to the number of names. 54 To the more you will give the more inheritance, and to the fewer you will give the less inheritance: to every one according to those who were numbered of him will his inheritance be given. 55 Notwithstanding, the land will be divided by lot: according to the names of the tribes of their fathers they will inherit. 56 According to the lot will their inheritance be divided between the more and the fewer.

57 And these are those who were numbered of the Levites after their families: of Gershon, the family of the Gershonites; of Kohath, the family of the Kohathites; of Merari, the family of the Merarites. 58 These are the families of Levi: the family of the Libnites, the family of the Hebronites, the family of the Mahlites, the family of the Mushites, the family of the Korahites. And Kohath begot Amram. 59 And the name of Amram's wife was Jochebed, the daughter of Levi, who was born to Levi in Egypt: and she bore to Amram Aaron and Moses, and Miriam their sister. 60 And to Aaron were born Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. 61 And Nadab and Abihu died, when they offered strange fire before Yahweh. 62 And those who were numbered of them were twenty and three thousand, every male from a month old and upward: for they were not numbered among the sons of Israel, because there was no inheritance given to them among the sons of Israel.

63 These are those who were numbered by Moses and Eleazar the priest, who numbered the sons of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho. 64 But among these there was not a man of those who were numbered by Moses and Aaron the priest, who numbered the sons of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai. 65 For Yahweh had said of them, They will surely die in the wilderness. And there was not left a man of those, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.

27  Then drew near the daughters of Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of Manasseh the son of Joseph; and these are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Tirzah. 2 And they stood before Moses, and before Eleazar the priest, and before the princes and all the congregation, at the door of the tent of meeting, saying, 3 Our father died in the wilderness, and he wasn't among the company of those who gathered themselves together against Yahweh in the company of Korah: but he died in his own sin; and he had no sons. 4 Why should the name of our father be taken away from among his family, because he had no son? Give to us a possession among the brothers of our father. 5 And Moses brought their cause before Yahweh.

6 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 7 The daughters of Zelophehad speak right: you will surely give them a possession of an inheritance among their father's brothers; and you will cause the inheritance of their father to pass to them. 8 And you will speak to the sons of Israel, saying, If a man dies, and has no son, then you+ will cause his inheritance to pass to his daughter. 9 And if he has no daughter, then you+ will give his inheritance to his brothers. 10 And if he has no brothers, then you+ will give his inheritance to his father's brothers. 11 And if his father has no brothers, then you+ will give his inheritance to his kinsman who is next to him of his family, and he will possess it: and it will be to the sons of Israel a statute [and] ordinance, as Yahweh commanded Moses.

12 And Yahweh said to Moses, Get up into this mountain of Abarim, and look at the land which I have given to the sons of Israel. 13 And when you have seen it, you also will be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother was gathered; 14 because you+ rebelled against my mouth in the wilderness of Zin, in the strife of the congregation, to sanctify me at the waters before their eyes. (These are the waters of Meribah of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.)

15 And Moses spoke to Yahweh, saying, 16 Let Yahweh, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation, 17 who may go out before them, and who may come in before them, and who may lead them out, and who may bring them in; that the congregation of Yahweh not be as sheep which have no shepherd. 18 And Yahweh said to Moses, Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him; 19 and set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation; and give him a charge in their sight. 20 And you will put of your grandeur on him, that all the congregation of the sons of Israel may obey. 21 And he will stand before Eleazar the priest, who will inquire for him by the judgment of the Urim before Yahweh: according to his mouth they will go out, and according to his mouth they will come in, both he, and all the sons of Israel with him, even all the congregation. 22 And Moses did as Yahweh commanded him; and he took Joshua, and set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation: 23 and he laid his hands on him, and gave him a charge, as Yahweh spoke by Moses.

28  And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2 Command the sons of Israel, and say to them, My oblation, my food for my offerings made by fire, of a sweet savor to me, you+ will observe to offer to me in their due season. 3 And you will say to them, This is the offering made by fire which you+ will offer to Yahweh: he-lambs a year old without blemish, two day by day, for a continual burnt-offering. 4 The one lamb you will offer in the morning, and the other lamb you will offer at evening; 5 and the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour for a meal-offering, mingled with the fourth part of a hin of beaten oil. 6 It is a continual burnt-offering, which was made in mount Sinai for a sweet savor, an offering made by fire to Yahweh. 7 And the drink-offering of it will be the fourth part of a hin for the one lamb: in the holy place you will pour out a drink-offering of strong drink to Yahweh. 8 And the other lamb you will offer at evening: as the meal-offering of the morning, and as the drink-offering of it, you will offer it, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor to Yahweh.

9 And on the Sabbath day two he-lambs a year old without blemish, and two tenth parts [of an ephah] of fine flour for a meal-offering, mingled with oil, and the drink-offering of it: 10 this is the burnt-offering of every Sabbath, besides the continual burnt-offering, and the drink-offering of it.

11 And in the beginnings of your+ months you+ will offer a burnt-offering to Yahweh: two young bullocks, and one ram, seven he-lambs a year old without blemish; 12 and three tenth parts [of an ephah] of fine flour for a meal-offering, mingled with oil, for each bull; and two tenth parts of fine flour for a meal-offering, mingled with oil, for the one ram; 13 and a tenth part of fine flour mingled with oil for a meal-offering to every lamb; for a burnt-offering of a sweet savor, an offering made by fire to Yahweh. 14 And their drink-offerings will be half a hin of wine for a bull, and the third part of a hin for the ram, and the fourth part of a hin for a lamb: this is the burnt-offering of every month throughout the months of the year. 15 And one he-goat for a sin-offering to Yahweh; it will be offered besides the continual burnt-offering, and the drink-offering of it.

16 And in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, is Yahweh's Passover. 17 And on the fifteenth day of this month will be a feast: seven days will unleavened bread be eaten. 18 In the first day will be a holy convocation: you+ will do no servile work; 19 but you+ will offer an offering made by fire, a burnt-offering to Yahweh: two young bullocks, and one ram, and seven he-lambs a year old; they will be to you+ without blemish; 20 and their meal-offering, fine flour mingled with oil: three tenth parts you+ will offer for a bull, and two tenth parts for the ram; 21 a tenth part you will offer for every lamb of the seven lambs; 22 and one he-goat for a sin-offering, to make atonement for you+. 23 You+ will offer these besides the burnt-offering of the morning, which is for a continual burnt-offering. 24 After this manner you+ will offer daily, for seven days, the food of the offering made by fire, of a sweet savor to Yahweh: it will be offered besides the continual burnt-offering, and the drink-offering of it. 25 And on the seventh day you+ will have a holy convocation: you+ will do no servile work.

26 Also in the day of the first fruits, when you+ offer a new meal-offering to Yahweh in your+ [feast of] weeks, you+ will have a holy convocation; you+ will do no servile work; 27 but you+ will offer a burnt-offering for a sweet savor to Yahweh: two young bullocks, one ram, seven he-lambs a year old; 28 and their meal-offering, fine flour mingled with oil, three tenth parts for each bull, two tenth parts for the one ram, 29 a tenth part for every lamb of the seven lambs; 30 one he-goat, to make atonement for you+. 31 Besides the continual burnt-offering, and the meal-offering of it, you+ will offer them (they will be to you+ without blemish), and their drink-offerings.

29  And in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you+ will have a holy convocation; you+ will do no servile work: it is a day of blowing of trumpets to you+. 2 And you+ will offer a burnt-offering for a sweet savor to Yahweh: one young bull, one ram, seven he-lambs a year old without blemish; 3 and their meal-offering, fine flour mingled with oil, three tenth parts for the bull, two tenth parts for the ram, 4 and one tenth part for every lamb of the seven lambs; 5 and one he-goat for a sin-offering, to make atonement for you+; 6 besides the burnt-offering of the new moon, and the meal-offering of it, and the continual burnt-offering and the meal-offering of it, and their drink-offerings, according to their ordinance, for a sweet savor, an offering made by fire to Yahweh.

7 And on the tenth day of this seventh month you+ will have a holy convocation; and you+ will afflict your+ souls: you+ will do no manner of work; 8 but you+ will offer a burnt-offering to Yahweh for a sweet savor: one young bull, one ram, seven he-lambs a year old; they will be to you+ without blemish; 9 and their meal-offering, fine flour mingled with oil, three tenth parts for the bull, two tenth parts for the one ram, 10 a tenth part for every lamb of the seven lambs: 11 one he-goat for a sin-offering; besides the sin-offering of atonement, and the continual burnt-offering, and the meal-offering of it, and their drink-offerings.

12 And on the fifteenth day of the seventh month you+ will have a holy convocation; you+ will do no servile work, and you+ will keep a feast to Yahweh seven days: 13 and you+ will offer a burnt-offering, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor to Yahweh; thirteen young bullocks, two rams, fourteen he-lambs a year old; they will be without blemish; 14 and their meal-offering, fine flour mingled with oil, three tenth parts for every bull of the thirteen bullocks, two tenth parts for each ram of the two rams, 15 and a tenth part for every lamb of the fourteen lambs; 16 and one he-goat for a sin-offering, besides the continual burnt-offering, the meal-offering of it, and the drink-offering of it.

17 And on the second day [you+ will offer] twelve young bullocks, two rams, fourteen he-lambs a year old without blemish; 18 and their meal-offering and their drink-offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, according to their number, after the ordinance; 19 and one he-goat for a sin-offering; besides the continual burnt-offering, and the meal-offering of it, and their drink-offerings.

20 And on the third day eleven bullocks, two rams, fourteen he-lambs a year old without blemish; 21 and their meal-offering and their drink-offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, according to their number, after the ordinance; 22 and one he-goat for a sin-offering; besides the continual burnt-offering, and the meal-offering of it, and the drink-offering of it.

23 And on the fourth day ten bullocks, two rams, fourteen he-lambs a year old without blemish; 24 their meal-offering and their drink-offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, according to their number, after the ordinance; 25 and one he-goat for a sin-offering; besides the continual burnt-offering, the meal-offering of it, and the drink-offering of it.

26 And on the fifth day nine bullocks, two rams, fourteen he-lambs a year old without blemish; 27 and their meal-offering and their drink-offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, according to their number, after the ordinance; 28 and one he-goat for a sin-offering, besides the continual burnt-offering, and the meal-offering of it, and the drink-offering of it.

29 And on the sixth day eight bullocks, two rams, fourteen he-lambs a year old without blemish; 30 and their meal-offering and their drink-offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, according to their number, after the ordinance; 31 and one he-goat for a sin-offering; besides the continual burnt-offering, the meal-offering of it, and the drink-offerings of it.

32 And on the seventh day seven bullocks, two rams, fourteen he-lambs a year old without blemish; 33 and their meal-offering and their drink-offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, according to their number, after the ordinance; 34 and one he-goat for a sin-offering; besides the continual burnt-offering, the meal-offering of it, and the drink-offering of it.

35 On the eighth day you+ will have a solemn assembly: you+ will do no servile work; 36 but you+ will offer a burnt-offering, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor to Yahweh: one bull, one ram, seven he-lambs a year old without blemish; 37 their meal-offering and their drink-offerings for the bull, for the ram, and for the lambs, will be according to their number, after the ordinance: 38 and one he-goat for a sin-offering, besides the continual burnt-offering, and the meal-offering of it, and the drink-offering of it.

39 These you+ will offer to Yahweh in your+ set feasts, besides your+ vows, and your+ freewill-offerings, for your+ burnt-offerings, and for your+ meal-offerings, and for your+ drink-offerings, and for your+ peace-offerings. 40 And Moses told the sons of Israel according to all that Yahweh commanded Moses.

30  And Moses spoke to the heads of the tribes of the sons of Israel, saying, This is the thing which Yahweh has commanded. 2 When a man vows a vow to Yahweh, or swears an oath to bind his soul with a bond, he will not break his word; he will do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth. 3 Also when a woman vows a vow to Yahweh, and binds herself by a bond, being in her father's house, in her youth, 4 and her father hears her vow, and her bond with which she has bound her soul, and her father holds his peace at her; then all her vows will stand, and every bond with which she has bound her soul will stand. 5 But if her father disallows her in the day that he hears, none of her vows, or of her bonds with which she has bound her soul, will stand: and Yahweh will forgive her, because her father disallowed her.

6 And if she is [married] to a husband, while her vows are on her, or the rash utterance of her lips, with which she has bound her soul, 7 and her husband hears it, and holds his peace at her in the day that he hears it; then her vows will stand, and her bonds with which she has bound her soul will stand. 8 But if her husband disallows her in the day that he hears it, then he will make void her vow which is on her, and the rash utterance of her lips, with which she has bound her soul: and Yahweh will forgive her.

9 But the vow of a widow, or of her who is divorced, [even] everything with which she has bound her soul, will stand against her. 10 And if she vowed in her husband's house, or bound her soul by a bond with an oath, 11 and her husband heard it, and held his peace at her, and did not disallow her; then all her vows will stand, and every bond with which she bound her soul will stand. 12 But if her husband made them null and void in the day that he heard them, then whatever proceeded out of her lips concerning her vows, or concerning the bond of her soul, will not stand: her husband has made them void; and Yahweh will forgive her.

13 Every vow, and every binding oath to afflict the soul, her husband may establish it, or her husband may make it void. 14 But if her husband altogether holds his peace at her from day to day, then he establishes all her vows, or all her bonds, which are on her: he has established them, because he held his peace at her in the day that he heard them. 15 But if he will make them null and void after he has heard them [and held his peace], then he will bear her iniquity. 16 These are the statutes, which Yahweh commanded Moses, between a man and his wife, between a father and his daughter, being in her youth, in her father's house.

31  And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2 Avenge the sons of Israel of the Midianites: afterward you will be gathered to your people. 3 And Moses spoke to the people, saying, Arm+ men from among you+ for the war, that they may go against Midian, to execute Yahweh's vengeance on Midian. 4 Of every tribe a thousand, throughout all the tribes of Israel, you+ will send to the war. 5 So there were delivered, out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand of every tribe, twelve thousand armed for war. 6 And Moses sent them, a thousand of every tribe, to the war, them and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war, with the vessels of the sanctuary and the trumpets for the alarm in his hand. 7 And they warred against Midian, as Yahweh commanded Moses; and they slew every male. 8 And they slew the kings of Midian with the rest of their slain: Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian: Balaam also the son of Beor they slew with the sword. 9 And the sons of Israel took captive the women of Midian and their little ones; and all their cattle, and all their flocks, and all their goods, they took for a prey. 10 And all their cities in the places in which they dwelt, and all their encampments, they burned with fire. 11 And they took all the spoil, and all the prey, both of man and of beast. 12 And they brought the captives, and the prey, and the spoil, to Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and to the congregation of the sons of Israel, at the camp on the plains of Moab, which are by the Jordan at Jericho.

13 And Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of the congregation, went forth to meet them outside the camp. 14 And Moses was angry with the officers of the host, the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, who came from the service of the war. 15 And Moses said to them, Have you+ saved all the women alive? 16 Look, these caused the sons of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to produce disloyalty against Yahweh in the matter of Peor, and so the plague was among the congregation of Yahweh. 17 Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has had any sex with a man. 18 But all the women-children, who haven't had any sex with a man, keep alive for yourselves. 19 And encamp+ outside the camp seven days: whoever has killed any soul, and whoever has touched any slain, purify yourselves on the third day and on the seventh day, you+ and your+ captives. 20 And as to every garment, and all that is made of skin, and all work of goats' [hair], and all things made of wood, you+ will purify yourselves.

21 And Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who had gone to the battle, This is the statute of the law which Yahweh has commanded Moses: 22 nevertheless the gold, and the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead, 23 everything that may go into fire, you+ will make to go through the fire, and it will be clean; nevertheless it will be purified with the water for impurity: and all that does not go into fire you+ will make to go through the water. 24 And you+ will wash your+ clothes on the seventh day, and you+ will be clean; and afterward you+ will come into the camp.

25 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 26 Take the sum of the prey that was taken, both of man and of beast, you, and Eleazar the priest, and the heads of the fathers' [houses] of the congregation; 27 and divide the prey into two parts: between the men skilled in war, that went out to battle, and all the congregation. 28 And levy a tribute to Yahweh of the men of war that went out to battle: one soul of five hundred of man, and of the oxen, and of the donkeys, and of the flocks: 29 take it of their half, and give it to Eleazar the priest, for Yahweh's heave-offering. 30 And of the sons of Israel's half, you will take one drawn out of every fifty, of man, of the oxen, of the donkeys, and of the flocks, [even] of all the cattle, and give them to the Levites, who keep the charge of the tabernacle of Yahweh. 31 And Moses and Eleazar the priest did as Yahweh commanded Moses.

32 Now the prey, over and above the booty which the men of war took, was six hundred thousand and seventy thousand and five thousand sheep, 33 and threescore and twelve thousand oxen, 34 and threescore and one thousand donkeys, 35 and souls of man, of the women who had not had any sex with a man, thirty and two thousand souls in all. 36 And the half, which was the portion of those who went out to war, was in number three hundred thousand and thirty thousand and seven thousand and five hundred sheep: 37 and Yahweh's tribute of the sheep was six hundred and threescore and fifteen. 38 And the oxen were thirty and six thousand; of which Yahweh's tribute was threescore and twelve. 39 And the donkeys were thirty thousand and five hundred; of which Yahweh's tribute was threescore and one. 40 And the souls of man were sixteen thousand; of whom Yahweh's tribute was thirty and two souls. 41 And Moses gave the tribute, which was Yahweh's heave-offering, to Eleazar the priest, as Yahweh commanded Moses.

42 And of the sons of Israel's half, which Moses divided off from the men who warred 43 (now the congregation's half was three hundred thousand and thirty thousand, seven thousand and five hundred sheep, 44 and thirty and six thousand oxen, 45 and thirty thousand and five hundred donkeys, 46 and sixteen thousand souls of man), 47 even of the sons of Israel's half, Moses took one drawn out of every fifty, both of man and of beast, and gave them to the Levites, who kept the charge of the tabernacle of Yahweh; as Yahweh commanded Moses.

48 And the officers who were over the thousands of the host, the captains of thousands, and the captains of hundreds, came near to Moses; 49 and they said to Moses, Your slaves have taken the sum of the men of war who are under our charge, and there lacks not one man of us. 50 And we have brought Yahweh's oblation, what every man has gotten, of jewels of gold, ankle-chains, and bracelets, signet-rings, earrings, and armlets, to make atonement for our souls before Yahweh. 51 And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of them, even all wrought jewels. 52 And all the gold of the heave-offering that they offered up to Yahweh, of the captains of thousands, and of the captains of hundreds, was sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels. 53 ([For] the men of war had taken booty, every man for himself.) 54 And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it into the tent of meeting, for a memorial for the sons of Israel before Yahweh.

32  Now the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad had a very great multitude of cattle: and when they saw the land of Jazer, and the land of Gilead, that, look, the place was a place for cattle; 2 the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben came and spoke to Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and to the princes of the congregation, saying, 3 Ataroth, and Dibon, and Jazer, and Nimrah, and Heshbon, and Elealeh, and Sebam, and Nebo, and Beon, 4 the land which Yahweh struck before the congregation of Israel, is a land for cattle; and your slaves have cattle. 5 And they said, If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your slaves for a possession; don't bring us over the Jordan.

6 And Moses said to the sons of Gad and to the sons of Reuben, Will your+ brothers go to the war, and will you+ sit here? 7 And why do you+ discourage the heart of the sons of Israel from going over into the land which Yahweh has given them? 8 Thus did your+ fathers, when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to see the land. 9 For when they went up to the valley of Eshcol, and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the sons of Israel, that they should not go into the land which Yahweh had given them. 10 And Yahweh's anger was kindled in that day, and he swore, saying, 11 Surely none of the men who came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, will see the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; because they have not wholly followed me: 12 except Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite, and Joshua the son of Nun; because they have wholly followed Yahweh. 13 And Yahweh's anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them wander to and fro in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation, that had done evil in the sight of Yahweh, was consumed. 14 And, look, you+ have risen up in your+ fathers' stead, an increase of sinful men, to augment yet the fierce anger of Yahweh toward Israel. 15 For if you+ turn away from after him, he will yet again leave them in the wilderness; and you+ will destroy all this people.

16 And they came near to him, and said, We will build sheepfolds here for our cattle, and cities for our little ones: 17 but we ourselves will go armed, hastily before the sons of Israel, until we have brought them to their place: and our little ones will dwell in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land. 18 We will not return to our houses, until the sons of Israel have inherited every man his inheritance. 19 For we will not inherit with them on the other side of the Jordan, and forward; because our inheritance has fallen to us on this side of the Jordan eastward.

20 And Moses said to them, If you+ will do this thing, if you+ will arm yourselves to go before Yahweh to the war, 21 and every armed man of you+ will pass over the Jordan before Yahweh, until he has driven out his enemies from before him, 22 and the land is subdued before Yahweh; then afterward you+ will return, and be innocent toward Yahweh, and toward Israel; and this land will be to you+ for a possession before Yahweh. 23 But if you+ will not do so, look, you+ have sinned against Yahweh; and be sure your+ sin will find you+ out. 24 Build yourselves cities for your+ little ones, and folds for your+ sheep; and do that which has proceeded out of your+ mouth. 25 And the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben spoke to Moses, saying, Your slaves will do as my lord commands. 26 Our little ones, our wives, our flocks, and all our cattle, will be there in the cities of Gilead; 27 but your slaves will pass over, every man who is armed for war, before Yahweh to battle, as my lord says.

28 So Moses gave charge concerning them to Eleazar the priest, and to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the heads of the fathers' [houses] of the tribes of the sons of Israel. 29 And Moses said to them, If the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben will pass with you+ over the Jordan, every man who is armed to battle, before Yahweh, and the land will be subdued before you+; then you+ will give them the land of Gilead for a possession: 30 but if they will not pass over with you+ armed, they will have possessions among you+ in the land of Canaan. 31 And the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben answered, saying, As Yahweh has said to your slaves, so we will do. 32 We will pass over armed before Yahweh into the land of Canaan, and the possession of our inheritance [will remain] with us beyond the Jordan.

33 And Moses gave to them, even to the sons of Gad, and to the sons of Reuben, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh the son of Joseph, the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites, and the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, the land, according to its cities with [their] borders, even the cities of the land round about. 34 And the sons of Gad built Dibon, and Ataroth, and Aroer, 35 and Atrothshophan, and Jazer, and Jogbehah, 36 and Beth-nimrah, and Beth-haran: fortified cities, and folds for sheep. 37 And the sons of Reuben built Heshbon, and Elealeh, and Kiriathaim, 38 and Nebo, and Baal-meon (their names being changed),[195] and Sibmah: and they gave other names to the cities which they built. 39 And the sons of Machir the son of Manasseh went to Gilead, and took it, and the Amorites who were in it were dispossessed. 40 And Moses gave Gilead to Machir the son of Manasseh; and he dwelt in it. 41 And Jair the son of Manasseh went and took its towns, and called them Havvoth-jair. 42 And Nobah went and took Kenath, and its villages, and called it Nobah, after his own name.

33  These are the journeys of the sons of Israel, when they went forth out of the land of Egypt by their hosts under the hand of Moses and Aaron. 2 And Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys by the mouth of Yahweh: and these are their journeys according to their goings out. 3 And they journeyed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the next day after the Passover the sons of Israel went out with a high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians, 4 while the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn, whom Yahweh had struck among them: on their gods also Yahweh executed judgments.

5 And the sons of Israel journeyed from Rameses, and encamped in Succoth. 6 And they journeyed from Succoth, and encamped in Etham, which is in the edge of the wilderness. 7 And they journeyed from Etham, and turned back to Pihahiroth, which is before Baal-zephon: and they encamped before Migdol. 8 And they journeyed from Pihahiroth, and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness: and they went three days' journey in the wilderness of Etham, and encamped in Marah. 9 And they journeyed from Marah, and came to Elim: and in Elim were twelve springs of water, and seventy palm-trees; and they encamped there. 10 And they journeyed from Elim, and encamped by the Red Sea. 11 And they journeyed from the Red Sea, and encamped in the wilderness of Sin. 12 And they journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, and encamped in Dophkah. 13 And they journeyed from Dophkah, and encamped in Alush. 14 And they journeyed from Alush, and encamped in Rephidim, where was no water for the people to drink. 15 And they journeyed from Rephidim, and encamped in the wilderness of Sinai. 16 And they journeyed from the wilderness of Sinai, and encamped in Kibroth-hattaavah. 17 And they journeyed from Kibroth-hattaavah, and encamped in Hazeroth. 18 And they journeyed from Hazeroth, and encamped in Rithmah. 19 And they journeyed from Rithmah, and encamped in Rimmon-perez. 20 And they journeyed from Rimmon-perez, and encamped in Libnah. 21 And they journeyed from Libnah, and encamped in Rissah. 22 And they journeyed from Rissah, and encamped in Kehelathah. 23 And they journeyed from Kehelathah, and encamped in mount Shepher. 24 And they journeyed from mount Shepher, and encamped in Haradah. 25 And they journeyed from Haradah, and encamped in Makheloth. 26 And they journeyed from Makheloth, and encamped in Tahath. 27 And they journeyed from Tahath, and encamped in Terah. 28 And they journeyed from Terah, and encamped in Mithkah. 29 And they journeyed from Mithkah, and encamped in Hashmonah. 30 And they journeyed from Hashmonah, and encamped in Moseroth. 31 And they journeyed from Moseroth, and encamped in Bene-jaakan. 32 And they journeyed from Bene-jaakan, and encamped in Hor-haggidgad. 33 And they journeyed from Hor-haggidgad, and encamped in Jotbathah. 34 And they journeyed from Jotbathah, and encamped in Abronah. 35 And they journeyed from Abronah, and encamped in Ezion-geber. 36 And they journeyed from Ezion-geber, and encamped in the wilderness of Zin (the same is Kadesh). 37 And they journeyed from Kadesh, and encamped in mount Hor, in the edge of the land of Edom.

38 And Aaron the priest went up into mount Hor according to the mouth of Yahweh, and died there, in the fortieth year after the sons of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fifth month, on the first day of the month. 39 And Aaron was a hundred and twenty and three years old when he died in mount Hor.

40 And the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who dwelt in the South in the land of Canaan, heard of the coming of the sons of Israel.

41 And they journeyed from mount Hor, and encamped in Zalmonah. 42 And they journeyed from Zalmonah, and encamped in Punon. 43 And they journeyed from Punon, and encamped in Oboth. 44 And they journeyed from Oboth, and encamped in Iye-abarim, in the border of Moab. 45 And they journeyed from Iyim, and encamped in Dibon-gad. 46 And they journeyed from Dibon-gad, and encamped in Almon-diblathaim. 47 And they journeyed from Almon-diblathaim, and encamped in the mountains of Abarim, before Nebo. 48 And they journeyed from the mountains of Abarim, and encamped in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho. 49 And they encamped by the Jordan, from Beth-jeshimoth even to Abel-shittim in the plains of Moab.

50 And Yahweh spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying, 51 Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, When you+ pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, 52 then you+ will drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you+, and destroy all their figured [stones], and destroy all their molten images, and demolish all their high places: 53 and you+ will take possession of the land, and dwell in it; for to you+ I have given the land to possess it. 54 And you+ will inherit the land by lot according to your+ families; to the more you+ will give the more inheritance, and to the fewer you will give the less inheritance: wherever the lot falls to any man, that will be his; according to the tribes of your+ fathers you+ will inherit. 55 But if you+ will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you+, then will those who you+ let remain of them be as pricks in your+ eyes, and as thorns in your+ sides, and they will vex you+ in the land in which you+ dwell. 56 And it will come to pass, that, as I thought to do to them, so I will do to you+.

34  And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2 Command the sons of Israel, and say to them, When you+ come into the land of Canaan (this is the land that will fall to you+ for an inheritance, even the land of Canaan according to its borders), 3 then your+ south quarter will be from the wilderness of Zin along by the side of Edom, and your+ south border will be from the end of the Salt Sea eastward; 4 and your+ border will turn about southward of the ascent of Akrabbim, and pass along to Zin; and the goings out of it will be southward of Kadesh-barnea; and it will go forth to Hazar-addar, and pass along to Azmon; 5 and the border will turn about from Azmon to the brook of Egypt, and the goings out of it will be at the sea.

6 And for the western border, you+ will have the great sea and the neighboring area: this will be your+ west border.

7 And this will be your+ north border: from the great sea you+ will mark out for you+ mount Hor; 8 from mount Hor you+ will mark out to the entrance of Hamath; and the goings out of the border will be at Zedad; 9 and the border will go forth to Ziphron, and the goings out of it will be at Hazar-enan: this will be your+ north border.

10 And you+ will mark out your+ east border from Hazar-enan to Shepham; 11 and the border will go down from Shepham [to] Harbelah, on the east side of Ain; and the border will go down, and will reach to the side of the sea of Chinnereth eastward; 12 and the border will go down to the Jordan, and the goings out of it will be at the Salt Sea. This will be your+ land according to its borders round about.

13 And Moses commanded the sons of Israel, saying, This is the land which you+ will inherit by lot, which Yahweh has commanded to give to the nine tribes, and to the half-tribe; 14 for the tribe of the sons of Reuben according to their fathers' houses, and the tribe of the sons of Gad according to their fathers' houses, have received, and the half-tribe of Manasseh have received, their inheritance: 15 the two tribes and the half-tribe have received their inheritance beyond the Jordan at Jericho eastward, toward the sunrising.

16 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 17 These are the names of the men who will divide the land to you+ for inheritance: Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun. 18 And you+ will take one prince of every tribe, to divide the land for inheritance. 19 And these are the names of the men: Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh. 20 And of the tribe of the sons of Simeon, Shemuel the son of Ammihud. 21 Of the tribe of Benjamin, Elidad the son of Chislon. 22 And of the tribe of the sons of Dan a prince, Bukki the son of Jogli. 23 Of the sons of Joseph: of the tribe of the sons of Manasseh a prince, Hanniel the son of Ephod. 24 And of the tribe of the sons of Ephraim a prince, Kemuel the son of Shiphtan. 25 And of the tribe of the sons of Zebulun a prince, Elizaphan the son of Parnach. 26 And of the tribe of the sons of Issachar a prince, Paltiel the son of Azzan. 27 And of the tribe of the sons of Asher a prince, Ahihud the son of Shelomi. 28 And of the tribe of the sons of Naphtali a prince, Pedahel the son of Ammihud. 29 These are those whom Yahweh commanded to divide the inheritance to the sons of Israel in the land of Canaan.

35  And Yahweh spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying, 2 Command the sons of Israel, that they give to the Levites of the inheritance of their possession cities to dwell in; and suburbs for the cities round about them you+ will give to the Levites. 3 And the cities they will have to dwell in; and their suburbs will be for their cattle, and for their substance, and for all their beasts. 4 And the suburbs of the cities, which you+ will give to the Levites, will be from the wall of the city and outward a thousand cubits round about. 5 And you+ will measure outside the city for the east side two thousand cubits, and for the south side two thousand cubits, and for the west side two thousand cubits, and for the north side two thousand cubits, the city being in the midst. This will be to them the suburbs of the cities. 6 And the cities which you+ will give to the Levites, they will be the six cities of refuge, which you+ will give for the manslayer to flee to: and besides them you+ will give forty and two cities. 7 All the cities which you+ will give to the Levites will be forty and eight cities; them [you+ will give] with their suburbs. 8 And concerning the cities which you+ will give of the possession of the sons of Israel, from the many you+ will take many; and from the few you+ will take few: every one according to his inheritance which he inherits will give of his cities to the Levites.

9 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 10 Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, When you+ pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, 11 then you+ will appoint yourselves cities to be cities of refuge for you+, that the manslayer who strikes any soul unintentionally may flee there. 12 And the cities will be to you+ for refuge from the avenger, that the manslayer will not die, until he stands before the congregation for judgment. 13 And the cities which you+ will give will be for you+ six cities of refuge. 14 You+ will give three cities beyond the Jordan, and three cities you+ will give in the land of Canaan; they will be cities of refuge. 15 For the sons of Israel, and for the stranger and for the sojourner among them, will these six cities be for refuge; that everyone who strikes any soul unintentionally may flee there.

16 But if he struck him with an instrument of iron, so that he died, he is a murderer: the murderer will surely be put to death. 17 And if he struck him with a stone in the hand, by which a man may die, and he died, he is a murderer: the murderer will surely be put to death. 18 Or if he struck him with a weapon of wood in the hand, by which a man may die, and he died, he is a murderer: the murderer will surely be put to death. 19 The avenger of blood will himself put the murderer to death: when he meets him, he will put him to death. 20 And if he thrusts him of hatred, or hurled at him, lying in wait, so that he died, 21 or in enmity struck him with his hand, so that he died; he who struck him will surely be put to death; he is a murderer: the avenger of blood will put the murderer to death, when he meets him.

22 But if he thrusts him suddenly without enmity, or hurled on him anything without lying in wait, 23 or with any stone, by which a man may die, not seeing him, and cast it on him, so that he died, and he was not his enemy, neither sought his harm; 24 then the congregation will judge between the striker and the avenger of blood according to these ordinances; 25 and the congregation will deliver the manslayer out of the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation will restore him to his city of refuge, where he has fled: and he will dwell in it until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the holy oil. 26 But if the manslayer will at any time go beyond the border of his city of refuge, where he flees, 27 and the avenger of blood finds him outside the border of his city of refuge, and the avenger of blood slays the manslayer; he will not be guilty of blood, 28 because he should have remained in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest: but after the death of the high priest the manslayer will return into the land of his possession.

29 And these things will be for a statute [and] ordinance to you+ throughout your+ generations in all your+ dwellings. 30 Whoever strikes any soul, the murderer will be slain at the mouth of witnesses: but one witness will not testify against any soul that he die. 31 Moreover you+ will take no ransom for the soul of a murderer, who is guilty of death; but he will surely be put to death. 32 And you+ will take no ransom for someone to flee to his city of refuge, to come back to dwell in the land, until the death of the priest. 33 So you+ will not pollute the land in which you+ are: for blood, it pollutes the land; and no expiation can be made for the land for the blood that is shed in it, but by the blood of him who shed it. 34 And you will not defile the land which you+ inhabit, in the midst of which I stay: for I, Yahweh, stay in the midst of the sons of Israel.

36  And the heads of the fathers' [houses] of the family of the sons of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of the sons of Joseph, came near, and spoke before Moses, and before the princes, the heads of the fathers' [houses] of the sons of Israel: 2 and they said, Yahweh commanded my lord to give the land for inheritance by lot to the sons of Israel: and my lord was commanded by Yahweh to give the inheritance of Zelophehad our brother to his daughters. 3 And if they are married to any of the sons of the [other] tribes of the sons of Israel, then their inheritance will be taken away from the inheritance of our fathers, and will be added to the inheritance of the tribe to which they will belong: so it will be taken away from the lot of our inheritance. 4 And when it will be the jubilee of the sons of Israel, then their inheritance will be added to the inheritance of the tribe to which they will belong: so their inheritance will be taken away from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers.

5 And Moses commanded the sons of Israel according to the mouth of Yahweh, saying, The tribe of the sons of Joseph speaks right. 6 This is the thing which Yahweh commands concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, Let them be married to whom they think best; they will be married only into the family of the tribe of their father. 7 So no inheritance of the sons of Israel will remove from tribe to tribe; for the sons of Israel will stick every one to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers. 8 And every daughter, who possesses an inheritance in any tribe of the sons of Israel, will be wife to one of the family of the tribe of her father, that the sons of Israel may possess every man the inheritance of his fathers. 9 So no inheritance will remove from one tribe to another tribe; for the tribes of the sons of Israel will stick every one to his own inheritance.

10 Even as Yahweh commanded Moses, so did the daughters of Zelophehad: 11 for Mahlah, Tirzah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, were married to their father's brothers' sons. 12 They were married into the families of the sons of Manasseh the son of Joseph; and their inheritance remained in the tribe of the family of their father.

13 These are the commandments and the ordinances which Yahweh commanded by Moses to the sons of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.

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Deuteronomy

1  These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan in the wilderness, in the Arabah across from Suph, between Paran, and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Di-zahab. 2 It is eleven days' [journey] from Horeb by the way of mount Seir to Kadesh-barnea. 3 And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spoke to the sons of Israel, according to all that Yahweh had given him in commandment to them; 4 after he had struck Sihon the king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, who dwelt in Ashtaroth, at Edrei. 5 Beyond the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses began to declare this law, saying, 6 Yahweh our God spoke to us in Horeb, saying, You+ have dwelt long enough in this mountain: 7 turn+, and take your+ journey, and go+ to the hill-country of the Amorites, and to all its neighboring places, in the Arabah, in the hill-country, and in the lowland, and in the South, and by the seashore, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. 8 Look, I have set the land before you+: go in and possess the land which Yahweh swore to your+ fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them and to their seed after them.

9 And I spoke to you+ at that time, saying, I am not able to bear you+ myself alone: 10 Yahweh your+ God has multiplied you+, and see, you+ are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude. 11 Yahweh, the God of your+ fathers, may he make you+ a thousand times as many as you+ are, and bless you+, as he has promised you+! 12 How can I myself alone bear your+ cumbrance, and your+ burden, and your+ strife? 13 Take yourselves wise men, and understanding, and known, according to your+ tribes, and I will make them heads over you+. 14 And you+ answered me, and said, The thing which you have spoken is good [for us] to do. 15 So I took the heads of your+ tribes, wise men, and known, and made them heads over you+, captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds, and captains of fifties, and captains of tens, and officers, according to your+ tribes. 16 And I charged your+ judges at that time, saying, Hear [the causes] between your+ brothers, and judge righteously between a man and his brother, and the sojourner who is with him. 17 You+ will not show favoritism in judgment; you+ will hear the small and the great alike; you+ will not be intimidated by man; for the judgment is God's: and the cause that is too hard for you+, you+ will bring to me, and I will hear it. 18 And I commanded you+ at that time all the things which you+ should do.

19 And we journeyed from Horeb, and went through all that great and terrible wilderness which you+ saw, by the way to the hill-country of the Amorites, as Yahweh our God commanded us; and we came to Kadesh-barnea. 20 And I said to you+, You+ have come to the hill-country of the Amorites, which Yahweh our God gives to us. 21 Look, Yahweh your God has set the land before you: go up, take possession, as Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has spoken to you; don't be afraid, neither be dismayed. 22 And you+ came near to me every one of you+, and said, Let us send men before us, that they may search the land for us, and bring us word again of the way by which we must go up, and the cities to which we will come. 23 And the thing pleased me well; and I took twelve men of you+, one man for every tribe: 24 and they turned and went up into the hill-country, and came to the valley of Eshcol, and spied it out. 25 And they took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down to us, and brought us word again, and said, It is a good land which Yahweh our God gives to us.

26 Yet you+ would not go up, but rebelled against the mouth of Yahweh your+ God: 27 and you+ murmured in your+ tents, and said, Because Yahweh hated us, he has brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us. 28 Where are we going up? Our brothers have made our heart to melt, saying, The people are greater and more numerous than we; the cities are great and fortified up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakim there. 29 Then I said to you+, Don't dread, neither be afraid of them. 30 Yahweh your+ God who goes before you+, he will fight for you+, according to all that he did for you+ in Egypt before your+ eyes, 31 and in the wilderness, where you have seen how that Yahweh your God bore you, as a man does bear his son, in all the way that you+ went, until you+ came to this place. 32 Yet in this thing you+ did not believe Yahweh your+ God, 33 who went before you+ in the way, to seek you+ out a place to pitch your+ tents in, in fire by night, to show you+ by what way you+ should go, and in the cloud by day.

34 And Yahweh heard the voice of your+ words, and was angry, and swore, saying, 35 Surely not a man of these men of this evil generation will see the good land, which I swore to give to your+ fathers, 36 except Caleb the son of Jephunneh: he will see it; and to him I will give the land that he has trodden on, and to his sons, because he has wholly followed Yahweh. 37 Also Yahweh was angry with me for your+ sakes, saying, You also will not go in there: 38 Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, he will go in there: encourage him; for he will cause Israel to inherit it. 39 Moreover your+ little ones, that you+ said should be a prey, and your+ sons, that this day have no knowledge of good or evil, they will go in there, and to them I will give it, and they will possess it. 40 But as for you+, you+ turn, and take your+ journey into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.

41 Then you+ answered and said to me, We have sinned against Yahweh, we will go up and fight, according to all that Yahweh our God commanded us. And you+ girded on every man his weapons of war, and were forward to go up into the hill-country. 42 And Yahweh said to me, Say to them, Don't go up, neither fight; for I am not among you+; lest you+ be struck before your+ enemies. 43 So I spoke to you+, and you+ didn't listen; but you+ rebelled against the mouth of Yahweh, and were presumptuous, and went up into the hill-country. 44 And the Amorites, who dwelt in that hill-country, came out against you+, and chased you+, as bees do, and beat you+ down in Seir, even to Hormah. 45 And you+ returned and wept before Yahweh; but Yahweh didn't listen to your+ voice, nor gave ear to you+. 46 So you+ remained in Kadesh many days, according to the days that you+ remained [there].

2  Then we turned, and took our journey into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea, as Yahweh spoke to me; and we compassed mount Seir many days. 2 And Yahweh spoke to me, saying, 3 You+ have compassed this mountain long enough: you+ turn northward. 4 And you command the people, saying, You+ are to pass through the border of your+ brothers the sons of Esau, who dwell in Seir; and they will be afraid of you+: you+ take good heed to yourselves therefore; 5 don't contend with them; for I will not give you+ of their land, no, not so much as for the sole of the foot to tread on; because I have given mount Seir to Esau for a possession. 6 You+ will purchase food of them for silver, that you+ may eat; and you+ will also buy water of them for silver, that you+ may drink. 7 For Yahweh your God has blessed you in all the work of your hand; he has known your walking through this great wilderness: these forty years Yahweh your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing. 8 So we passed by from our brothers the sons of Esau, who dwell in Seir, from the way of the Arabah from Elath and from Ezion-geber.

And we turned and passed by the way of the wilderness of Moab. 9 And Yahweh said to me, Don't vex Moab, neither contend with them in battle; for I will not give you of his land for a possession; because I have given Ar to the sons of Lot for a possession. 10 (The Emim dwelt in it previously, a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakim: 11 these also are accounted Rephaim, as the Anakim; but the Moabites call them Emim. 12 The Horites also dwelt in Seir previously, but the sons of Esau succeeded them; and they destroyed them from before them, and dwelt in their stead; as Israel did to the land of his possession, which Yahweh gave to them.) 13 Now rise up, and get yourselves over the brook Zered. And we went over the brook Zered. 14 And the days in which we came from Kadesh-barnea, until we had come over the brook Zered, were thirty and eight years; until all the generation of the men of war were consumed from the midst of the camp, as Yahweh swore to them. 15 Moreover the hand of Yahweh was against them, to destroy them from the midst of the camp, until they were consumed.

16 So it came to pass, when all the men of war were consumed and dead from among the people, 17 that Yahweh spoke to me, saying, 18 You are this day to pass over Ar, the border of Moab: 19 and when you come near across from the sons of Ammon, don't vex them, nor contend with them; for I will not give you of the land of the sons of Ammon for a possession; because I have given it to the sons of Lot for a possession. 20 (That also is accounted a land of Rephaim: Rephaim dwelt in it previously; but the Ammonites call them Zamzummim, 21 a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakim; but Yahweh destroyed them before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead; 22 as he did for the sons of Esau, who dwell in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites from before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead even to this day: 23 and the Avvim, who dwelt in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorim, who came forth out of Caphtor, destroyed them, and dwelt in their stead.) 24 You+ rise up, take your+ journey, and pass over the valley of the Arnon: see, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land; begin to possess it, and contend with him in battle. 25 This day I will begin to put the dread of you and the fear of you on the peoples who are under the whole heaven, who will hear the report of you, and will tremble, and be in anguish because of you.

26 And I sent messengers out of the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying, 27 Let me pass through your land: I will go along by the highway, I will turn neither to the right hand nor to the left. 28 You will sell me food for silver, that I may eat; and give me water for silver, that I may drink: only let me pass through on my feet, 29 as the sons of Esau who dwell in Seir, and the Moabites who dwell in Ar, did to me; until I will pass over the Jordan into the land which Yahweh our God gives us. 30 But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him; for Yahweh your God hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, that he might deliver him into your hand, as at this day. 31 And Yahweh said to me, Look, I have begun to deliver up Sihon and his land before you: begin to possess, that you may inherit his land. 32 Then Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Jahaz. 33 And Yahweh our God delivered him up before us; and we struck him, and his sons, and all his people. 34 And we took all his cities at that time, and completely destroyed every inhabited city, with the women and the little ones; we left none remaining: 35 only the cattle we took for a prey to ourselves, with the spoil of the cities which we had taken. 36 From Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, and [from] the city that is in the valley, even to Gilead, there was not a city too high for us; Yahweh our God delivered up all before us: 37 only to the land of the sons of Ammon you did not come near; all the side of the river Jabbok, and the cities of the hill-country, and wherever Yahweh our God forbade us.

3  Then we turned, and went up the way to Bashan: and Og the king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei. 2 And Yahweh said to me, Don't fear him; for I have delivered him, and all his people, and his land, into your hand; and you will do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon. 3 So Yahweh our God delivered into our hand Og also, the king of Bashan, and all his people: and we struck him until none was left to him remaining. 4 And we took all his cities at that time; there was not a city which we did not take from them; threescore cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. 5 All these were cities fortified with high walls, gates, and bars; besides the unwalled towns a great many. 6 And we completely destroyed them, as we did to Sihon king of Heshbon, completely destroying every inhabited city, with the women and the little ones. 7 But all the cattle, and the spoil of the cities, we took for a prey to ourselves. 8 And we took the land at that time out of the hand of the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, from the valley of the Arnon to mount Hermon; 9 ([which] Hermon the Sidonians call Sirion, and the Amorites call it Senir;) 10 all the cities of the plain, and all Gilead, and all Bashan, to Salecah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan. 11 (For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of the Rephaim; look, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbah of the sons of Ammon? Nine cubits was its length, and four cubits the width of it, after the cubit of a man.)

12 And this land we took in possession at that time: from Aroer, which is on the gorge of Arnon, and half the hill-country of Gilead, and its cities, I gave to the Reubenites and to the Gadites: 13 and the rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh; all the region of Argob, even all Bashan. (The same is called the land of Rephaim. 14 Jair the son of Manasseh took all the region of Argob, to the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and called them, even Bashan, after his own name, Havvoth-jair, to this day.) 15 And I gave Gilead to Machir. 16 And to the Reubenites and to the Gadites I gave from Gilead even to the valley of the Arnon, the middle of the valley, and the border [of it], and to the river Jabbok, which is the border of the sons of Ammon; 17 the Arabah also, and the Jordan and the border [of it], from Chinnereth even to the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, under the slopes of Pisgah eastward.

18 And I commanded you+ at that time, saying, Yahweh your+ God has given you+ this land to possess it: you+ will pass over armed before your+ brothers the sons of Israel, all the men of valor. 19 But your+ wives, and your+ little ones, and your+ cattle (I know that you+ have much cattle), will remain in your+ cities which I have given you+, 20 until Yahweh gives rest to your+ brothers, as to you+, and they also possess the land which Yahweh your+ God gives them beyond the Jordan: then you+ will return every man to his possession, which I have given you+. 21 And I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, Your eyes have seen all that Yahweh your+ God has done to these two kings: so will Yahweh do to all the kingdoms where you go over. 22 You+ will not fear them; for Yahweh your+ God, it is he who fights for you+.

23 And I implored Yahweh at that time, saying, 24 O Sovereign Yahweh, you have begun to show your slave your greatness, and your strong hand: for what god is there in heaven or in earth, that can do according to your works, and according to your mighty acts? 25 Let me go over, I pray you, and see the good land that is beyond the Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon. 26 But Yahweh was furious with me for your+ sakes, and didn't listen to me; and Yahweh said to me, Let it suffice you; speak no more to me of this matter. 27 Get up to the top of Pisgah, and lift up your eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and look at it with your eyes: for you will not go over this Jordan. 28 But charge Joshua, and encourage him, and strengthen him; for he will go over before this people, and he will cause them to inherit the land which you will see. 29 So we remained in the valley across from Beth-peor.

4  And now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and to the ordinances, which I teach you+, to do them; that you+ may live, and go in and possess the land which Yahweh, the God of your+ fathers, gives you+. 2 You+ will not add to the word which I command you+, neither will you+ diminish from it, that you+ may keep the commandments of Yahweh your+ God which I command you+. 3 Your+ eyes have seen what Yahweh did because of Baal-peor; for all the men who followed Baal-peor, Yahweh your God has destroyed them from the midst of you. 4 But you+ who stuck to Yahweh your+ God are alive every one of you+ this day. 5 Look, I have taught you+ statutes and ordinances, even as Yahweh my God commanded me, that you+ should do so in the midst of the land where you+ go in to possess it. 6 Keep therefore and do them; for this is your+ wisdom and your+ understanding in the sight of the peoples, that will hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. 7 For what great nation is there, that has a god so near to them, as Yahweh our God is whenever we call on him? 8 And what great nation is there, that has statutes and ordinances so righteous as all this law, which I set before you+ this day?

9 Only you be careful and keep your soul diligently, or else you will forget the things which your eyes saw, and they will depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your sons and the sons of your sons; 10 the day that you stood before Yahweh your God in Horeb, when Yahweh said to me, Assemble the people to me, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their sons. 11 And you+ came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven, with darkness, cloud, and thick darkness. 12 And Yahweh spoke to you+ out of the midst of the fire: you+ heard the voice of words, but you+ saw no form; [you+ heard] only a voice. 13 And he declared to you+ his covenant, which he commanded you+ to perform, even the ten commandments; and he wrote them on two tables of stone. 14 And Yahweh commanded me at that time to teach you+ statutes and ordinances, that you+ might do them in the land where you+ go over to possess it.

15 Therefore take+ good heed to your+ souls; for you+ saw no manner of form on the day that Yahweh spoke to you+ in Horeb out of the midst of the fire; 16 or else you+ will corrupt yourselves, and make you+ a graven image in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, 17 the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the heavens, 18 the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth; 19 or else you will lift up your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, even all the host of heaven, you will be drawn away and worship them, and serve them, which Yahweh your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven. 20 But Yahweh has taken you+, and brought you+ forth out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be to him a people of inheritance, as at this day. 21 Furthermore Yahweh was angry with me for your+ sakes, and swore that I should not go over the Jordan, and that I should not go in to that good land, which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance: 22 but I must die in this land, I must not go over the Jordan; but you+ will go over, and possess that good land. 23 Take heed to yourselves, or else you+ will forget the covenant of Yahweh your+ God, which he made with you+, and make a graven image in the form of anything which Yahweh your God has forbidden you. 24 For Yahweh your God is a devouring fire, a jealous God.

25 When you will beget sons, and sons of sons, and you+ will have been long in the land, and will corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image in the form of anything, and will do that which is evil in the sight of Yahweh your God, to provoke him to anger; 26 I call heaven and earth to witness against you+ this day, that you+ will soon completely perish from off the land to where you+ go over the Jordan to possess it; you+ will not prolong your+ days on it, but will be completely destroyed. 27 And Yahweh will scatter you+ among the peoples, and you+ will be left few in number among the nations, where Yahweh will lead you+ away. 28 And there you+ will serve gods, the work of man's hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. 29 But from there you+ will seek Yahweh your God, and you will find him, when you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul. 30 When you are in tribulation, and all these things come upon you, in the latter days you will return to Yahweh your God, and listen to his voice: 31 for Yahweh your God is a merciful God; he will not fail you, neither destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which he swore to them.

32 Ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and from the one end of heaven to the other, whether there has been [any such thing] as this great thing is, or has been heard like it? 33 Did ever a people hear the voice of a god speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and live? 34 Or has any god assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of [another] nation, by trials, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, according to all that Yahweh your+ God did for you+ in Egypt before your+ eyes? 35 To you it was shown, that you might know that Yahweh he is God; there is no other besides him. 36 Out of heaven he made you hear his voice, that he might instruct you: and on earth he made you see his great fire; and you heard his words out of the midst of the fire. 37 And because he loved your fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought you out with his presence, with his great power, out of Egypt; 38 to drive out nations from before you greater and mightier than you, to bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance, as at this day. 39 Know therefore this day, and lay it to your heart, that Yahweh he is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other. 40 And you will keep his statutes, and his commandments, which I command you this day, that it may go well with you, and with your sons after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land, which Yahweh your God gives you, forever.

41 Then Moses set apart three cities beyond the Jordan toward the sunrising; 42 that the manslayer might flee there, that slays his fellow man unawares, and didn't hate him in time past; and that fleeing to one of these cities he might live: 43 [namely], Bezer in the wilderness, in the plain country, for the Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead, for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, for the Manassites.

44 And this is the law which Moses set before the sons of Israel: 45 these are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which Moses spoke to the sons of Israel, when they came forth out of Egypt, 46 beyond the Jordan, in the valley across from Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon, whom Moses and the sons of Israel struck, when they came forth out of Egypt. 47 And they took his land in possession, and the land of Og king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan toward the sunrising; 48 from Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, even to mount Sion (the same is Hermon), 49 and all the Arabah beyond the Jordan eastward, even to the sea of the Arabah, under the slopes of Pisgah.

5  And Moses called to all Israel, and said to them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the ordinances which I speak in your+ ears this day, that you+ may learn them, and observe to do them. 2 Yahweh our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. 3 Yahweh did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day. 4 Yahweh spoke with you+ face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire, 5 (I stood between Yahweh and you+ at that time, to show you+ the word of Yahweh: for you+ were afraid because of the fire, and didn't go up into the mount;) saying,

6 I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slaves.

7 You will have no other gods before me.

8 You will not make to you a graven image, [nor] any likeness [of anything] that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: 9 you will not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them; for I, Yahweh, your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the sons, and on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me; 10 and showing loving-kindness to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

11 You will not take the name of Yahweh your God in vain: for Yahweh will not hold him innocent who takes his name in vain.

12 Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as Yahweh your God commanded you. 13 Six days you will labor, and do all your work; 14 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahweh your God: you will not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male slave, nor your female slave, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who is inside your gates; that your male slave and your female slave may rest as well as you. 15 And you will remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and Yahweh your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm: therefore Yahweh your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

16 Honor your father and your mother, as Yahweh your God commanded you; that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you, in the land which Yahweh your God gives you.

17 You will not kill.

18 Neither will you commit adultery.

19 Neither will you steal.

20 Neither will you bear false witness against your fellow man.

21 Neither will you covet your fellow man's wife; neither will you desire your fellow man's house, his field, or his male slave, or his female slave, his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your fellow man's.

22 These words Yahweh spoke to all your+ assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice: and he added no more. And he wrote them on two tables of stone, and gave them to me. 23 And it came to pass, when you+ heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, that you+ came near to me, even all the heads of your+ tribes, and your+ elders; 24 and you+ said, Look, Yahweh our God has shown us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire: we have seen this day that God does speak with man, and yet he [still] lives. 25 Now therefore why should we die? For this great fire will consume us: if we hear the voice of Yahweh our God anymore, then we will die. 26 For who is there of all flesh, that has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived? 27 You go near, and hear all that Yahweh our God will say: and you speak to us all that Yahweh our God will speak to you; and we will hear it, and do it.

28 And Yahweh heard the voice of your+ words, when you+ spoke to me; and Yahweh said to me, I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken to you: they have well said all that they have spoken. 29 Oh that there were such a heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their sons forever! 30 Go say to them, You+ return to your+ tents. 31 But as for you, you stand here by me, and I will speak to you all [of] the commandment, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which you will teach them, that they may do them in the land which I give them to possess it. 32 You+ will observe to do therefore as Yahweh your+ God has commanded you+: you+ will not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. 33 You+ will walk in all the way which Yahweh your+ God has commanded you+, that you+ may live, and that it may be well with you+, and that you+ may prolong your+ days in the land which you+ will possess.

6  Now this is the commandment, the statutes, and the ordinances, which Yahweh your+ God commanded to teach you+, that you+ might do them in the land where you+ go over to possess it; 2 that you might fear Yahweh your God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, you, and your son, and your son's son, all the days of your life; and that your days may be prolonged. 3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with you, and that you+ may increase mightily, as Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has promised to you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

4 Hear, O Israel: Yahweh our God, Yahweh is one: 5 and you will love Yahweh your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. 6 And these words, which I command you this day, will be on your heart; 7 and you will teach them diligently to your sons, and will talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up. 8 And you will bind them for a sign on your hand, and they will be for frontlets between your eyes. 9 And you will write them on the door-posts of your house, and on your gates.

10 And it will be, when Yahweh your God will bring you into the land which he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you, great and goodly cities, which you didn't build, 11 and houses full of all good things, which you didn't fill, and cisterns cut out, which you didn't cut, vineyards and olive trees, which you didn't plant, and you will eat and be full; 12 You be careful not to forget Yahweh, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slaves. 13 You will fear Yahweh your God; and him you will serve, and will swear by his name. 14 You+ will not go after other gods, of the gods of the peoples who are round about you+; 15 for Yahweh your God in the midst of you is a jealous God; if you do, the anger of Yahweh your God will be kindled against you, and he will destroy you from off the face of the earth.

16 You+ will not try Yahweh your+ God, as you+ tried him in Massah. 17 You+ will diligently keep the commandments of Yahweh your+ God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he has commanded you. 18 And you will do that which is right and good in the sight of Yahweh; that it may be well with you, and that you may go in and possess the good land which Yahweh swore to your fathers, 19 to thrust out all your enemies from before you, as Yahweh has spoken.

20 When your son asks you in time to come, saying, What [is the meaning of] the testimonies, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which Yahweh our God has commanded you+? 21 Then you will say to your son, We were Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt: and Yahweh brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand; 22 and Yahweh showed signs and wonders, great and intense, on Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on all his house, before our eyes; 23 and he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he swore to our fathers. 24 And Yahweh commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear Yahweh our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as at this day. 25 And it will be righteousness to us, if we observe to do all [of] this commandment before Yahweh our God, as he has commanded us.

7  When Yahweh your God will bring you into the land where you go to possess it, and will cast out many nations before you, the Hittite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, seven nations greater and mightier than you; 2 and when Yahweh your God will deliver them up before you, and you will strike them; then you will completely destroy them: you will make no covenant with them, nor show mercy to them; 3 neither will you make marriages with them; your daughter you will not give to his son, nor his daughter will you take to your son. 4 For he will turn away your son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of Yahweh be kindled against you+, and he will destroy you quickly. 5 But thus you+ will deal with them: you+ will break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and cut down their Asherim, and burn their graven images with fire.

6 For you are a holy people to Yahweh your God: Yahweh your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples who are on the face of the earth. 7 Yahweh did not set his love on you+, nor choose you+, because you+ were more in number than any people; for you+ were the fewest of all peoples: 8 but because Yahweh loves you+, and because he would keep the oath which he swore to your+ fathers, has Yahweh brought you+ out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you+ out of the house of slaves, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9 Know therefore that Yahweh your God, he is God, the faithful God, who keeps covenant and loving-kindness with those who love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations, 10 and repays those who hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him who hates him, he will repay him to his face. 11 You will therefore keep the commandment, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which I command you this day, to do them.

12 And it will come to pass, because you+ listen to these ordinances, and keep and do them, that Yahweh your God will keep with you the covenant and the loving-kindness which he swore to your fathers: 13 and he will love you, and bless you, and multiply you; he will also bless the fruit of your body and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your cattle and the young of your flock, in the land which he swore to your fathers to give you. 14 You will be blessed above all peoples: there will not be male or female barren among you+, or among your+ cattle. 15 And Yahweh will take away from you all sickness; and none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which you know, he will put on you, but will lay them on all those who hate you. 16 And you will consume all the peoples that Yahweh your God will deliver to you; your eye will not pity them: neither will you serve their gods; for that will be a snare to you.

17 If you will say in your heart, These nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them? 18 You will not be afraid of them: you will well remember what Yahweh your God did to Pharaoh, and to all Egypt; 19 the great trials which your eyes saw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, by which Yahweh your God brought you out: so will Yahweh your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid. 20 Moreover Yahweh your God will send the hornet among them, until those who are left, and hide themselves, perish from before you. 21 You will not be afraid of them; for Yahweh your God is in the midst of you, a great and awesome God. 22 And Yahweh your God will cast out those nations before you by little and little: you may not consume them at once, or else the beasts of the field will increase on you. 23 But Yahweh your God will deliver them up before you, and will discomfit them with a great discomfiture, until they be destroyed. 24 And he will deliver their kings into your hand, and you will make their name to perish from under heaven: no man will be able to stand before you, until you have destroyed them. 25 The graven images of their gods you+ will burn with fire: you will not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it to you, or else you will be snared in it; for it is disgusting to Yahweh your God. 26 And you will not bring something disgusting into your house, and become a devoted thing like it: you will completely detest it, and you will completely be disgusted by it; for it is a devoted thing.

8  All [of] the commandment which I command you this day you+ will observe to do, that you+ may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which Yahweh swore to your+ fathers. 2 And you will remember all the way which Yahweh your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, to prove you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments, or not. 3 And he humbled you, and allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna, which you did not know, neither did your fathers know; that he might make you know that man does not live by bread only, but by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of Yahweh does man live. 4 Your raiment didn't wax old on you, neither did your foot swell, these forty years. 5 And you will consider in your heart, that, as a man chastens his son, so Yahweh your God chastens you. 6 And you will keep the commandments of Yahweh your God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him. 7 For Yahweh your God brings you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills; 8 a land of wheat and barley, and vines and fig trees and pomegranates; a land of olive trees and honey; 9 a land in which you will eat bread without scarceness, you will not lack anything in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you may dig copper. 10 And you will eat and be full, and you will bless Yahweh your God for the good land which he has given you.

11 You be careful not to forget Yahweh your God, in not keeping his commandments, and his ordinances, and his statutes, which I command you this day: 12 or else, when you have eaten and are full, and have built goodly houses, and dwelt in them; 13 and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; 14 then your heart will be lifted up, and you will forget Yahweh your God, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slaves; 15 who led you through the great and terrible wilderness, [in which were] fiery serpents and scorpions, and thirsty ground where was no water; who brought you forth water out of the rock of flint; 16 who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers didn't know; that he might humble you, and that he might prove you, to do you good at your latter end. 17 And you might say in your heart, My power and the might of my hand has gotten me this wealth. 18 But you will remember Yahweh your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth; that he may establish his covenant which he swore to your fathers, as at this day. 19 And it will be, if you will forget Yahweh your God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you+ this day that you+ will surely perish. 20 As the nations that Yahweh makes to perish before you+, so you+ will perish; because you+ would not listen to the voice of Yahweh your+ God.

9  Hear, O Israel: you are to pass over the Jordan this day, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourself, cities great and fortified up to heaven, 2 a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you have heard it said, Who can stand before the sons of Anak? 3 Know therefore this day, that Yahweh your God is he who goes over before you as a devouring fire; he will destroy them, and he will bring them down before you: so you will drive them out, and make them to perish quickly, as Yahweh has spoken to you. 4 Don't speak in your heart, after that Yahweh your God has thrust them out from before you, saying, For my righteousness Yahweh has brought me in to possess this land; whereas for the wickedness of these nations Yahweh does drive them out from before you. 5 Not for your righteousness, or for the uprightness of your heart, do you go in to possess their land; but for the wickedness of these nations Yahweh your God does drive them out from before you, and that he may establish the word which Yahweh swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

6 Know therefore, that Yahweh your God doesn't give you this good land to possess it for your righteousness; for you are a stiff-necked people. 7 Remember, don't you forget, how you provoked Yahweh your God to wrath in the wilderness: from the day that you went forth out of the land of Egypt, until you+ came to this place, you+ have been rebellious against Yahweh. 8 Also in Horeb you+ provoked Yahweh to wrath, and Yahweh was angry with you+ to destroy you+. 9 When I went up into the mount to receive the tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant which Yahweh made with you+, then I remained in the mount forty days and forty nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water. 10 And Yahweh delivered to me the two tables of stone written with the finger of God; and on them [was written] according to all the words, which Yahweh spoke with you+ in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly. 11 And it came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights, that Yahweh gave me the two tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant. 12 And Yahweh said to me, Arise, get down quickly from here; for your people that you have brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves; they have quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them; they have made themselves a molten image. 13 Furthermore Yahweh spoke to me, saying, I have seen this people, and, look, it is a stiff-necked people: 14 leave me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they. 15 So I turned and came down from the mount, and the mount was burning with fire: and the two tables of the covenant were in my two hands. 16 And I looked, and saw that you+ had sinned against Yahweh your+ God; you+ had made yourselves a molten calf: you+ had turned aside quickly out of the way which Yahweh had commanded you+. 17 And I took hold of the two tables, and cast them out of my two hands, and broke them before your+ eyes. 18 And I fell down before Yahweh, as at the first, forty days and forty nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water; because of all your+ sin which you+ sinned, in doing that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, to provoke him to anger. 19 For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure, with which Yahweh was angry against you+ to destroy you+. But Yahweh listened to me that time also. 20 And Yahweh was very angry with Aaron to destroy him: and I prayed for Aaron also at the same time. 21 And I took your+ sin, the calf which you+ had made, and burned it with fire, and stamped it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust: and I cast its dust into the brook that descended out of the mount.

22 And at Taberah, and at Massah, and at Kibroth-hattaavah, you+ provoked Yahweh to wrath. 23 And when Yahweh sent you+ from Kadesh-barnea, saying, Go up and possess the land which I have given you+; then you+ rebelled against the mouth of Yahweh your+ God, and you+ didn't believe him, nor listen to his voice. 24 You+ have been rebellious against Yahweh from the day that he knew you+.

25 So I fell down before Yahweh the forty days and forty nights that I fell down, because Yahweh had said he would destroy you+. 26 And I prayed to Yahweh, and said, O Sovereign Yahweh, don't destroy your people and your inheritance, that you have redeemed through your greatness, that you have brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand. 27 Remember your slaves, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; don't look to the stubbornness of this people, nor to their wickedness, nor to their sin, 28 or else the land from where you brought us out will say, Because Yahweh wasn't able to bring them into the land which he promised to them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to slay them in the wilderness. 29 Yet they are your people and your inheritance, which you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm.

10  At that time Yahweh said to me, Cut out for yourself two tables of stone like the first, and come up to me into the mount, and make you an ark of wood. 2 And I will write on the tables the words that were on the first tables which you broke, and you will put them in the ark. 3 So I made an ark of acacia wood, and cut out two tables of stone like the first, and went up into the mount, having the two tables in my hand. 4 And he wrote on the tables, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which Yahweh spoke to you+ in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly: and Yahweh gave them to me. 5 And I turned and came down from the mount, and put the tables in the ark which I had made; and there they are as Yahweh commanded me. 6 (And the sons of Israel journeyed from Beeroth Bene-jaakan to Moserah. There Aaron died, and there he was buried; and Eleazar his son served in the priest's office in his stead. 7 From there they journeyed to Gudgodah; and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land of brooks of water. 8 At that time Yahweh set apart the tribe of Levi, to bear the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, to stand before Yahweh to minister to him, and to bless in his name, to this day. 9 Therefore Levi has no portion nor inheritance with his brothers; Yahweh is his inheritance, according as Yahweh your God spoke to him.) 10 And I remained in the mount, as at the first time, forty days and forty nights: and Yahweh listened to me that time also; Yahweh would not destroy you. 11 And Yahweh said to me, Arise, take your journey before the people; and they will go in and possess the land, which I swore to their fathers to give to them.

12 And now, Israel, what does Yahweh your God require of you, but to fear Yahweh your God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 to keep the commandments of Yahweh, and his statutes, which I command you this day for your good? 14 Look, to Yahweh your God belongs heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth, with all that is in it. 15 Only Yahweh had a delight in your fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you+ above all peoples, as at this day. 16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your+ heart, and don't be stiff-necked anymore. 17 For Yahweh your+ God, he is God of gods, and Lord of lords, the great God, the mighty, and the awesome, who does not regard persons, nor takes reward. 18 He executes justice for the fatherless and widow, and loves the sojourner, in giving him food and raiment. 19 Love+ therefore the sojourner; for you+ were sojourners in the land of Egypt. 20 You will fear Yahweh your God; him you will serve; and to him you will stick, and by his name you will swear. 21 He is your praise, and he is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome things, which your eyes have seen. 22 Your fathers went down into Egypt with seventy souls; and now Yahweh your God has made you as the stars of heaven for multitude.

11  Therefore you will love Yahweh your God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his ordinances, and his commandments, always. 2 And know+ this day: for [I speak] not with your+ sons who haven't known, and who haven't seen the chastisement of Yahweh your+ God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his outstretched arm, 3 and his signs, and his works, which he did in the midst of Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and to all his land; 4 and what he did to the army of Egypt, to their horses, and to their chariots; how he made the water of the Red Sea to overflow them as they pursued after you+, and how Yahweh has destroyed them to this day; 5 and what he did to you+ in the wilderness, until you+ came to this place; 6 and what he did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben; how the earth opened its mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and their tents, and every living thing that followed them, in the midst of all Israel: 7 but your+ eyes have seen all the great work of Yahweh which he did.

8 Therefore you+ will keep all [of] the commandment which I command you this day, that you+ may be strong, and go in and possess the land, where you+ go over to possess it; 9 and that you+ may prolong your+ days in the land, which Yahweh swore to your+ fathers to give to them and to their seed, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10 For the land, where you go in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from where you+ came out, where you sowed your seed, and watered it with your foot, as a garden of herbs; 11 but the land, where you+ go over to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, [and] drinks water of the rain of heaven, 12 a land which Yahweh your God cares for: the eyes of Yahweh your God are always on it, from the beginning of the year even to the end of the year.

13 And it will come to pass, if you+ will listen diligently to my commandments which I command you+ this day, to love Yahweh your+ God, and to serve him with all your+ heart and with all your+ soul, 14 that I will give the rain of your+ land in its season, the former rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, and your new wine, and your oil. 15 And I will give grass in your fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be full. 16 Take heed to yourselves, or else your+ heart will be deceived, and you+ will turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; 17 and then the anger of Yahweh will be kindled against you+, and then he will shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain, and the land will not yield its fruit; and then you+ will quickly perish from off the good land which Yahweh gives you+.

18 Therefore you+ will lay up these words of mine in your+ heart and in your+ soul; and you+ will bind them for a sign on your+ hand, and they will be for frontlets between your+ eyes. 19 And you+ will teach them to your+ sons, talking of them, when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up. 20 And you will write them on the door-posts of your house, and on your gates; 21 that your+ days may be multiplied, and the days of your+ sons, in the land which Yahweh swore to your+ fathers to give them, as the days of the heavens above the earth. 22 For if you+ will diligently keep all this commandment which I command you+, to do it, to love Yahweh your+ God, to walk in all his ways, and to stick to him; 23 then will Yahweh drive out all these nations from before you+, and you+ will dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourselves. 24 Every place on which the sole of your+ foot will tread will be yours+ from the wilderness. And Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even to the hinder sea, will be your+ border. 25 No man will be able to stand before you+: Yahweh your+ God will lay the fear of you+ and the dread of you+ on all the land that you+ will tread on, as he has spoken to you+.

26 Look, I set before you+ this day a blessing and a curse: 27 the blessing, if you+ will listen to the commandments of Yahweh your+ God, which I command you+ this day; 28 and the curse, if you+ will not listen to the commandments of Yahweh your+ God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you+ this day, to go after other gods, which you+ haven't known. 29 And it will come to pass, when Yahweh your God will bring you into the land where you go to possess it, that you will set the blessing on mount Gerizim, and the curse on mount Ebal. 30 (Are they not beyond the Jordan, behind the way of the going down of the sun, in the land of the Canaanites who dwell in the Arabah, across from Gilgal, beside the oaks of Moreh?) 31 For you+ are to pass over the Jordan to go in to possess the land which Yahweh your+ God gives you+, and you+ will possess it, and dwell in it. 32 And you+ will observe to do all the statutes and the ordinances which I set before you+ this day.

12  These are the statutes and the ordinances which you+ will observe to do in the land which Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess it, all the days that you+ live on the earth. 2 You+ will surely destroy all the places where the nations that you+ will dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains, and on the hills, and under every green tree: 3 and you+ will break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and burn their Asherim with fire; and you+ will cut down the graven images of their gods; and you+ will destroy their name out of that place. 4 You+ will not do so to Yahweh your+ God. 5 But to the place which Yahweh your+ God will choose out of all your+ tribes, to put his name there to stay, you+ will seek, and there you will come; 6 and there you+ will bring your+ burnt-offerings, and your+ sacrifices, and your+ tithes, and the heave-offering of your+ hand, and your+ vows, and your+ freewill-offerings, and the firstborns of your+ herd and of your+ flock: 7 and there you+ will eat before Yahweh your+ God, and you+ will rejoice in all that you+ put your+ hand to, you+ and your+ households, in which Yahweh your God has blessed you. 8 You+ will not do after all the things that we do here this day, every man whatever is right in his own eyes; 9 for you+ have not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance, which Yahweh your God gives you. 10 But when you+ go over the Jordan, and dwell in the land which Yahweh your+ God causes you+ to inherit, and he gives you+ rest from all your+ enemies round about, so that you+ dwell in safety; 11 then it will come to pass that to the place which Yahweh your+ God will choose to make his name stay there, there you+ will bring all that I command you+: your+ burnt-offerings, and your+ sacrifices, your+ tithes, and the heave-offering of your+ hand, and all your+ choice vows which you+ vow to Yahweh. 12 And you+ will rejoice before Yahweh your+ God, you+, and your+ sons, and your+ daughters, and your+ male slaves, and your+ female slaves, and the Levite who is inside your+ gates, since he has no portion nor inheritance with you+. 13 You be careful not to offer your burnt-offerings in every place that you see; 14 but in the place which Yahweh will choose in one of your tribes, there you will offer your burnt-offerings, and there you will do all that I command you.

15 Notwithstanding, you may kill and eat flesh inside all your gates, after all the desire of your soul, according to the blessing of Yahweh your God which he has given you: the unclean and the clean may eat of it, as of the gazelle, and as of the hart. 16 Only you+ will not eat the blood; you will pour it out on the earth as water. 17 You may not eat inside your gates the tithe of your grain, or of your new wine, or of your oil, or the firstborns of your herd or of your flock, nor any of your vows which you vow, nor your freewill-offerings, nor the heave-offering of your hand; 18 but you will eat them before Yahweh your God in the place which Yahweh your God will choose, you, and your son, and your daughter, and your male slave, and your female slave, and the Levite who is inside your gates: and you will rejoice before Yahweh your God in all that you put your hand to. 19 You be careful not to forsake the Levite as long as you live in your land.

20 When Yahweh your God will enlarge your border, as he has promised you, and you will say, I will eat flesh, because your soul desires to eat flesh; you may eat flesh, after all the desire of your soul. 21 If the place which Yahweh your God will choose, to put his name there, is too far from you, then you will kill of your herd and of your flock, which Yahweh has given you, as I have commanded you; and you may eat inside your gates, after all the desire of your soul. 22 Even as the gazelle and as the hart is eaten, so you will eat of it: the unclean and the clean may eat of it alike. 23 Only be sure that you do not eat the blood: for the blood is the soul; and you will not eat the soul with the flesh. 24 You will not eat it; you will pour it out on the earth as water. 25 You will not eat it; that it may go well with you, and with your sons after you, when you will do that which is right in the eyes of Yahweh. 26 Only your holy things which you have, and your vows, you will take, and go to the place which Yahweh will choose: 27 and you will offer your burnt-offerings, the flesh and the blood, on the altar of Yahweh your God; and the blood of your sacrifices will be poured out on the altar of Yahweh your God; and you will eat the flesh. 28 Observe and hear all these words which I command you, that it may go well with you, and with your sons after you forever, when you do that which is good and right in the eyes of Yahweh your God.

29 When Yahweh your God will cut off the nations from before you, where you go in to dispossess them, and you dispossess them, and dwell in their land; 30 You be careful not to be ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you; or else you will inquire after their gods, saying, "How do these nations serve their gods? Even so I will do likewise." 31 You will not do so to Yahweh your God: for every disgusting thing to Yahweh, which he hates, they have done to their gods; for even their sons and their daughters do they burn in the fire to their gods.

32 Whatever thing I command you+, that you+ will observe to do: you will not add thereto, nor diminish from it.

13  If there arise in the midst of you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, Let us go after other gods, which you haven't known, and let us serve them; 3 you will not listen to the words of that prophet, or to that dreamer of dreams: for Yahweh your+ God proves you+, to know whether you+ love Yahweh your+ God with all your+ heart and with all your+ soul. 4 You+ will walk after Yahweh your+ God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and you+ will serve him, and stick to him. 5 And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, will be put to death, because he has spoken rebellion against Yahweh your+ God, who brought you+ out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of slaves, to draw you aside out of the way which Yahweh your God commanded you to walk in. So you will put away the evil from the midst of you.

6 If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son, or your daughter, or the wife of your bosom, or your companion, who is as your own soul, entices you secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which you haven't known, you, nor your fathers; 7 of the gods of the peoples who are round about you+, near to you, or far off from you, from the one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth; 8 you will not consent to him, nor listen to him; neither will your eye pity him, neither will you spare, neither will you conceal him: 9 but you will surely kill him; your hand will be first on him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. 10 And you will stone him to death with stones, because he has sought to draw you away from Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slaves. 11 And all Israel will hear, and fear, and will no more do any such wickedness as this in the midst of you.

12 If you will hear concerning one of your cities, which Yahweh your God gives you to dwell there, saying, 13 Certain base fellows have gone out from the midst of you, and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which you+ haven't known; 14 then you will inquire, and conduct a search, and ask diligently; and see if it is truth, and the thing certain, that such a disgusting thing is wrought in the midst of you, 15 you will surely strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it completely, and all that is in it and its cattle, with the edge of the sword. 16 And you will gather all the spoil of it into the midst of its street, and will burn with fire the city, and all its spoil every bit, to Yahweh your God: and it will be a heap forever; it will not be built again. 17 And there will stick nothing of the devoted thing to your hand; that Yahweh may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and show you mercy, and have compassion on you, and multiply you, as he has sworn to your fathers; 18 when you will listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, to keep all his commandments which I command you this day, to do that which is right in the eyes of Yahweh your God.

14  You+ are the sons of Yahweh your+ God: you+ will not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your+ eyes for the dead. 2 For you are a holy people to Yahweh your God, and Yahweh has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples who are on the face of the earth.

3 You will not eat any disgusting thing. 4 These are the beasts which you+ may eat: the ox, the sheep, and the goat, 5 the hart, and the gazelle, and the roebuck, and the wild goat, and the pygarg, and the antelope, and the chamois. 6 And every beast that parts the hoof, and has the hoof cloven in two, [and] chews the cud, among the beasts, that may you+ eat. 7 Nevertheless these you+ will not eat of those that chew the cud, or of those that have the hoof cloven: the camel, and the hare, and the coney; because they chew the cud but part not the hoof, they are unclean to you+. 8 And the swine, because he parts the hoof but chews not the cud, he is unclean to you+: of their flesh you+ will not eat, and their carcasses you+ will not touch.

9 These you+ may eat of all that are in the waters: whatever has fins and scales may you+ eat; 10 and whatever does not have fins and scales you+ will not eat; it is unclean to you+.

11 Of all clean birds you+ may eat. 12 But these are those of which you+ will not eat: the eagle, and the gier-eagle, and the osprey, 13 and the glede, and the falcon, and the kite after its kind, 14 and every raven after its kind, 15 and the ostrich, and the nighthawk, and the sea-mew, and the hawk after its kind, 16 the little owl, and the great owl, and the horned owl, 17 and the pelican, and the vulture, and the cormorant, 18 and the stork, and the heron after its kind, and the hoopoe, and the bat. 19 And all winged creeping things are unclean to you+: they will not be eaten. 20 Of all clean birds you+ may eat.

21 You+ will not eat of anything that dies of itself: you may give it to the sojourner who is inside your gates, that he may eat it; or you may sell it to a foreigner: for you are a holy people to Yahweh your God. You will not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.

22 You will surely tithe all the increase of your seed, that which comes forth from the field year by year. 23 And you will eat before Yahweh your God, in the place which he will choose to make his name stay there, the tithe of your grain, of your new wine, and of your oil, and the firstborns of your herd and of your flock; that you may learn to fear Yahweh your God always. 24 And if the way is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry it, because the place is too far from you, which Yahweh your God will choose, to set his name there, when Yahweh your God will bless you; 25 then you will turn it into silver, and bind up the silver in your hand, and will go to the place which Yahweh your God will choose: 26 and you will bestow the silver for whatever your soul desires, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatever your soul asks of you; and you will eat there before Yahweh your God, and you will rejoice, you and your household. 27 And the Levite who is inside your gates, you will not forsake him; for he has no portion nor inheritance with you.

28 At the end of every three year period[196] you will bring forth all the tithe of your increase in the same year, and will lay it up inside your gates: 29 and the Levite, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you, and the sojourner, and the fatherless, and the widow, who are inside your gates, will come, and will eat and be satisfied; that Yahweh your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.

15  At the end of every seven year period[197] you will make a release. 2 And this is the manner of the release: every creditor will release that which he has lent to his fellow man; he will not exact it of his fellow man and his brother; because Yahweh's release has been proclaimed. 3 Of a foreigner you may exact it: but whatever of yours is with your brother your hand will release. 4 Nevertheless there will be no poor with you (for Yahweh will surely bless you in the land which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance to possess it); 5 if only you diligently listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, to observe to do all [of] this commandment which I command you this day. 6 For Yahweh your God will bless you, as he promised you: and you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow; and you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you.

7 If there is with you a poor man, one of your brothers, inside any of your gates in your land which Yahweh your God gives you, you will not harden your heart, nor shut your hand from your poor brother; 8 but you will surely open your hand to him, and will surely lend him sufficient for his need [in that] which he wants. 9 You be careful not to base a thought in your heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and your eye is evil against your poor brother, and you give him nothing; and he cries to Yahweh against you, and it is sin to you. 10 You will surely give to him, and your heart will not be grieved when you give to him; because for this thing Yahweh your God will bless you in all your work, and in all that you put your hand to. 11 For the poor will never cease out of the land: therefore I command you, saying, You will surely open your hand to your brother, to your needy, and to your poor, in your land.

12 If your brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you, and serves you six years; then in the seventh year you will let him go free from you. 13 And when you let him go free from you, you will not let him go empty: 14 you will furnish him liberally out of your flock, and out of your threshing-floor, and out of your wine press; as Yahweh your God has blessed you you will give to him. 15 And you will remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and Yahweh your God redeemed you: therefore I command you this thing today. 16 And it will be, if he says to you, I will not go out from you; because he loves you and your house, because he is well with you; 17 then you will take an awl, and thrust it through his ear to the door, and he will be your slave forever. And also to your female slave you will do likewise. 18 It will not seem hard to you, when you let him go free from you; for to the double of the wages of a hired worker he has served you six years: and Yahweh your God will bless you in all that you do.

19 All the firstborn males that are born of your herd and of your flock you will sanctify to Yahweh your God: you will do no work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock. 20 You will eat it before Yahweh your God year by year in the place which Yahweh will choose, you and your household. 21 And if it has any blemish, [as if it is] lame or blind, any ill blemish whatever, you will not sacrifice it to Yahweh your God. 22 You will eat it inside your gates: the unclean and the clean [will eat it] alike, as the gazelle, and as the hart. 23 Only you will not eat its blood; you will pour it out on the ground as water.

16  Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover to Yahweh your God; for in the month of Abib Yahweh your God brought you forth out of Egypt by night. 2 And you will sacrifice the Passover to Yahweh your God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which Yahweh will choose to make his name stay there. 3 You will eat no leavened bread with it; seven days you will eat unleavened bread with it, even the bread of affliction; for you came forth out of the land of Egypt in a hurry: that you may remember the day when you came forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life. 4 And there will be no leaven seen with you in all your borders seven days; neither will any of the flesh, which you sacrifice the first day at evening, remain all night until the morning. 5 You may not sacrifice the Passover inside any of your gates, which Yahweh your God gives you; 6 but at the place which Yahweh your God will choose to make his name stay there, you will sacrifice the Passover at evening, at the going down of the sun, at the season that you came forth out of Egypt. 7 And you will roast and eat it in the place which Yahweh your God will choose: and you will turn in the morning, and go to your tents. 8 Six days you will eat unleavened bread; and on the seventh day will be a solemn assembly to Yahweh your God; you will do no work [in it].

9 Seven weeks you will number to yourself: from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain you will begin to number seven weeks. 10 And you will keep the feast of weeks to Yahweh your God with a tribute of a freewill-offering of your hand, which you will give, according as Yahweh your God blesses you: 11 and you will rejoice before Yahweh your God, you, and your son, and your daughter, and your male slave, and your female slave, and the Levite who is inside your gates, and the sojourner, and the fatherless, and the widow, who are in the midst of you, in the place which Yahweh your God will choose to make his name stay there. 12 And you will remember that you were a slave in Egypt: and you will observe and do these statutes.

13 You will keep the feast of tabernacles seven days, after you have gathered in from your threshing-floor and from your wine press: 14 and you will rejoice in your feast, you, and your son, and your daughter, and your male slave, and your female slave, and the Levite, and the sojourner, and the fatherless, and the widow, who are inside your gates. 15 Seven days you will keep a feast to Yahweh your God in the place which Yahweh will choose; because Yahweh your God will bless you in all your increase, and in all the work of your hands, and you will be altogether joyful. 16 Three times in a year will all your males appear before Yahweh[198] your God in the place which he will choose: in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles; and they will not appear before Yahweh[199] empty: 17 every man will give as he is able, according to the blessing of Yahweh your God which he has given you.

18 Judges and officers you will make for yourself in all your gates, which Yahweh your God gives you, according to your tribes; and they will judge the people with righteous judgment. 19 You will not wrest justice: you will not show favoritism; neither will you take a bribe; for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise, and perverts the words of the righteous. 20 That which is altogether just you will follow, that you may live, and inherit the land which Yahweh your God gives you.

21 You will not plant for yourself any kind of Asherah pole beside the altar of Yahweh your God, which you will make for yourself. 22 Neither will you set up for yourself a pillar; which Yahweh your God hates.

17  You will not sacrifice to Yahweh your God an ox, or a sheep, in which is a blemish, [or] anything evil; for that is disgusting to Yahweh your God.

2 If there is found in the midst of you, inside any of your gates which Yahweh your God gives you, man or woman, that does that which is evil in the sight of Yahweh your God, in transgressing his covenant, 3 and has gone and served other gods, and worshiped them, or the sun, or the moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I haven't commanded; 4 and it is told to you, and you have heard of it, then you will inquire diligently; and see if it is true, and the thing certain, that such a disgusting thing is wrought in Israel, 5 then you will bring forth that man or that woman, who has done this evil thing, to your gates, even the man or the woman; and you will stone them to death with stones. 6 At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, he who is to die will be put to death; at the mouth of one witness he will not be put to death. 7 The hand of the witnesses will be first on him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So you will put away the evil from the midst of you.

8 If there arises a matter too hard for you in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy inside your gates; then you will arise, and go up to the place which Yahweh your God will choose; 9 and you will come to the priests the Levites, and to the judge that will be in those days: and you will inquire; and they will show you the sentence of judgment. 10 And you will do according to the tenor of the sentence which they will show you from that place which Yahweh will choose; and you will observe to do according to all that they will teach you: 11 according to the tenor of the law which they will teach you, and according to the judgment which they will tell you, you will do; you will not turn aside from the sentence which they will show you, to the right hand, nor to the left. 12 And the man who does presumptuously, in not listening to the priest who stands to minister there before Yahweh your God, or to the judge, even that man will die: and you will put away the evil from Israel. 13 And all the people will hear, and fear, and no more do presumptuously.

14 When you have come to the land which Yahweh your God gives you, and will possess it, and will dwell in it, and will say, I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are round about me; 15 you will surely set him king over you, whom Yahweh your God will choose: one from among your brothers you will set king over you; you may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. 16 Only he will not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he may multiply horses; since Yahweh has said to you+, You+ will from now on return no more that way. 17 Neither will he multiply wives to himself, that his heart will not turn away: neither will he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.

18 And it will be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he will write himself a copy of this law in a book, out of [that which is] before the priests the Levites: 19 and it will be with him, and he will read in it all the days of his life; that he may learn to fear Yahweh his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them; 20 that his heart is not lifted up above his brothers, and that he does not turn aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his sons, in the midst of Israel.

18  The priests the Levites, [even] all the tribe of Levi, will have no portion nor inheritance with Israel: they will eat the offerings of Yahweh made by fire, and his inheritance. 2 And they will have no inheritance among their brothers: Yahweh is their inheritance, as he has spoken to them. 3 And this will be the priests' due from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, whether it is ox or sheep, that they will give to the priest the shoulder, and the two cheeks, and the maw. 4 The first fruits of your grain, of your new wine, and of your oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep, you will give to him. 5 For Yahweh your God has chosen him out of all your tribes, to stand to minister in the name of Yahweh, him and his sons forever.

6 And if a Levite comes from any of your gates out of all Israel, where he sojourns, and comes with all the desire of his soul to the place which Yahweh will choose; 7 then he will minister in the name of Yahweh his God, as all his brothers the Levites do, who stand there before Yahweh. 8 They will have like portions to eat, besides that which comes of the sale of his patrimony. 9 When you come into the land which Yahweh your God gives you, you will not learn to follow the disgusting behaviors of those nations. 10 There will not be found with you anyone who makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, one telling the future, one interpreting omens, or one who uses magic, or a sorcerer, 11 or one casting spells, or one requesting a spirit, or a wizard, or one inquiring of the dead. 12 For whoever does these things is disgusting to Yahweh: and because of these disgusting things Yahweh your God drives them out from before you. 13 You will be perfect with Yahweh your God. 14 For these nations that you will dispossess, listen to psychics[200] and fortune-tellers; but as for you, Yahweh your God has not allowed you to do so.

15 Yahweh your God will raise up to you a prophet from the midst of you, of your brothers, like me; to him you+ will listen; 16 according to all that you desired of Yahweh your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Don't let me hear again the voice of Yahweh my God, neither let me see this great fire anymore, that I will not die. 17 And Yahweh said to me, They have said well that which they have spoken. 18 I will raise them up a prophet from among their brothers, like you; and I will put my words in his mouth, and he will speak to them all that I will command him. 19 And it will come to pass, that whoever will not listen to my words which he will speak in my name, I will require it of him.

20 But the prophet, that will speak a word presumptuously in my name, which I haven't commanded him to speak, or that will speak in the name of other gods, that same prophet will die. 21 And if you say in your heart, How shall we know the word which Yahweh has not spoken? 22 When a prophet speaks in the name of Yahweh, if the thing does not follow, nor come to pass, that is the thing which Yahweh has not spoken: the prophet has spoken it presumptuously, you will not be afraid of him.

19  When Yahweh your God will cut off the nations, whose land Yahweh your God gives you, and you succeed them, and dwell in their cities, and in their houses; 2 you will set apart three cities for you in the midst of your land, which Yahweh your God gives you to possess it. 3 You will prepare for yourself the way, and divide the borders of your land, which Yahweh your God causes you to inherit, into three parts, that every manslayer may flee there.

4 And this is the case of the manslayer, who will flee there and live: whoever kills his fellow man unawares, and did not hate him in time past; 5 as when a man goes into the forest with his fellow man to cut wood, and his hand fetches a stroke with the ax to cut down the tree, and the head slips from the handle, and hits his fellow man, so that he dies; he will flee to one of these cities and live: 6 or else if the avenger of blood pursues the manslayer, while his heart is hot, and overtakes him, because the way is long, and strikes him in the soul; whereas he was not worthy of death, inasmuch as he did not hate him in time past. 7 Therefore I command you, saying, You will set apart three cities for yourself. 8 And if Yahweh your God enlarges your border, as he has sworn to your fathers, and gives you all the land which he promised to give to your fathers; 9 if you will keep all [of] this commandment to do it, which I command you this day, to love Yahweh your God, and to walk ever in his ways; then you will add three more cities for yourself, besides these three: 10 that innocent blood will not be shed in the midst of your land, which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance, and so blood will be on you.

11 But if any man hates his fellow man, and lies in wait for him, and rises up against him, and strikes him in the soul so that he dies, and he flees into one of these cities; 12 then the elders of his city will send and fetch him from there, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die. 13 Your eye will not pity him, but you will put away the innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with you.

14 You will not remove your fellow man's landmark, which they of old time have set, in your inheritance which you will inherit, in the land that Yahweh your God gives you to possess it.

15 One witness will not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sins: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, will a matter be established. 16 If an unrighteous witness rises up against any man to testify against him of wrongdoing, 17 then both the men, between whom the controversy is, will stand before Yahweh, before the priests and the judges that will be in those days; 18 and the judges will make diligent inquisition: and see if the witness is a false witness, and has testified falsely against his brother; 19 then you+ will do to him, as he had thought to do to his brother: so you will put away the evil from the midst of you. 20 And those who remain will hear, and fear, and will from now on commit no more of any such evil in the midst of you. 21 And your eyes will not pity; soul for soul, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

20  When you go forth to battle against your enemies, and see horses, and chariots, [and] a people more than you, you will not be afraid of them; for Yahweh your God is with you, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. 2 And it will be, when you+ draw near to the battle, that the priest will approach and speak to the people, 3 and will say to them, Hear, O Israel, you+ draw near this day to battle against your+ enemies: don't let your+ heart faint; don't fear, nor tremble, neither be+ afraid of them; 4 for Yahweh your+ God is he who goes with you+, to fight for you+ against your+ enemies, to save you+. 5 And the officers will speak to the people, saying, What man is there that has built a new house, and has not dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, or else if he dies in the battle, another will man dedicate it. 6 And what man is there that has planted a vineyard, and has not used its fruit? Let him go and return to his house, or else if he dies in the battle, another man will use its fruit. 7 And what man is there that has betrothed a wife, and has not taken her? Let him go and return to his house, or else if he dies in the battle, another man will take her. 8 And the officers will speak further to the people, and they will say, What man is there who is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go and return to his house, lest his brothers' heart melt as his heart. 9 And it will be, when the officers have made an end of speaking to the people, that they will appoint captains of hosts at the head of the people.

10 When you draw near to a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace to it. 11 And it will be, if it answers peace to you, and opens to you, then it will be, that all the people who are found in it will become slave labor to you, and will serve you. 12 And if it will not make peace with you, but will make war against you, then you will besiege it: 13 and when Yahweh your God delivers it into your hand, you will strike every male of it with the edge of the sword: 14 but the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all its spoil, you will take for a prey to yourself; and you will eat the spoil of your enemies, which Yahweh your God has given you. 15 Thus you will do to all the cities which are very far off from you, which are not of the cities of these nations. 16 But of the cities of these peoples, that Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance, you will save alive nothing that breathes; 17 but you will completely destroy them: the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite; as Yahweh your God has commanded you; 18 that they don't teach you+ to follow all their disgusting behaviors, which they have done to their gods; so you+ would sin against Yahweh your+ God.

19 When you will besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, you will not destroy its trees by wielding an ax against them; for you may eat of them, and you will not cut them down; for is the tree of the field man, that it should be besieged of you? 20 Only the trees of which you know that they are not trees for food, you will destroy and cut them down; and you will build bulwarks against the city that makes war with you, until it falls.

21  If one is found slain in the land which Yahweh your God gives you to possess it, lying in the field, and it is not known who has struck him; 2 then your elders and your judges will come forth, and they will measure to the cities which are round about him who is slain: 3 and it will be, that the city which is nearest to the slain man, even the elders of that city will take a heifer of the herd, which has not been wrought with, and which has not drawn in the yoke; 4 and the elders of that city will bring down the heifer to a valley with running water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and will break the heifer's neck there in the valley. 5 And the priests, the sons of Levi, will come near; for Yahweh your God has chosen them to minister to him, and to bless in the name of Yahweh; and according to their mouth will every controversy and every stroke be. 6 And all the elders of that city, who are nearest to the slain man, will wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley; 7 and they will answer and say, Our hands haven't shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it. 8 Forgive, O Yahweh, your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, and don't allow innocent blood [to remain] in the midst of your people Israel. And the blood will be forgiven them. 9 So you will put away the innocent blood from the midst of you, when you will do that which is right in the eyes of Yahweh.

10 When you go forth to battle against your enemies, and Yahweh your God delivers them into your hands, and you carry them away captive, 11 and see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you have a desire to her, and would take her to you as wife; 12 then you will bring her home to your house; and she will shave her head, and pare her nails; 13 and she will put the raiment of her captivity from off her, and will remain in your house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month: and after that you will go in to her, and be her husband, and she will be your wife. 14 And it will be, if you have no delight in her, then you will let her go according to her soul; but you will not sell her at all for silver, you will not deal with her as a slave, because you have humbled her.

15 If a man has two wives, the one beloved, and the other hated, and they have borne him sons, both the beloved and the hated; and if the firstborn son is hers who was hated; 16 then it will be, in the day that he causes his sons to inherit that which he has, that he may not make the son of the beloved the firstborn before the son of the hated, who is the firstborn: 17 but he will acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the hated, by giving him a double portion of all that he has; for he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the firstborn is his.

18 If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son, who will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and, though they chasten him, will not listen to them; 19 then his father and his mother will lay hold on him, and bring him out to the elders of his city, and to the gate of his place; 20 and they will say to the elders of his city, This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard. 21 And all the men of his city will stone him to death with stones: so you will put away the evil from the midst of you; and all Israel will hear, and fear.

22 And if a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree; 23 his body will not remain all night on the tree, but you will surely bury him the same day; for he who is hanged is accursed of God; that you do not defile your land which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance.

22  You will not see your brother's ox or his sheep go astray, and hide yourself from them: you will surely bring them again to your brother. 2 And if your brother is not near to you, or if you don't know him, then you will bring it home to your house, and it will be with you until your brother seeks after it, and you will restore it to him. 3 And so you will do with his donkey; and so you will do with his garment; and so you will do with every lost thing of your brother's, which he has lost, and you have found: you may not hide yourself. 4 You will not see your brother's donkey or his ox fallen down by the way, and hide yourself from them: you will surely help him to lift them up again.

5 A woman will not wear that which pertains to a man, neither will a man put on a woman's garment; for whoever does these things is disgusting to Yahweh your God.

6 If a bird's nest chance to be before you in the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, and the dam sitting on the young, or on the eggs, you will not take the dam with the young: 7 you will surely let the dam go, but the young you may take to yourself; that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days.

8 When you build a new house, then you will make a battlement for your roof, that you do not bring blood on your house, if any man falls from there.

9 You will not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed, or else the whole fruit will be forfeited, the seed which you have sown, and the increase of the vineyard. 10 You will not plow with an ox and a donkey together. 11 You will not wear a mingled stuff, wool and linen together.

12 You will make yourself fringes on the four borders of your vesture, with which you cover yourself.

13 If any man takes a wife, and goes in to her, and hates her, 14 and lays shameful things to her charge, and brings up an evil name on her, and says, I took this woman, and when I came near to her, I didn't find in her the tokens of virginity; 15 then will the father of the damsel, and her mother, take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel's virginity to the elders of the city in the gate; 16 and the damsel's father will say to the elders, I gave my daughter to this man as wife, and he hates her; 17 and, look, he has laid shameful things [to her charge], saying, I didn't find in your daughter the tokens of virginity; and yet these are the tokens of my daughter's virginity. And they will spread the garment before the elders of the city. 18 And the elders of that city will take the man and chastise him; 19 and they will fine him a hundred [shekels] of silver, and give them to the father of the damsel, because he has brought up an evil name on a virgin of Israel: and she will be his wife; he may not put her away all his days. 20 But if this thing is true, that the tokens of virginity were not found in the damsel; 21 then they will bring out the damsel to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city will stone her to death with stones, because she has wrought folly in Israel, by prostituting in her father's house: so you will put away the evil from the midst of you.

22 If a man is found lying with a woman married to a husband, then they will die, both of them, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman: so you will put away the evil from Israel.

23 If there is a damsel who is a virgin betrothed to a husband, and a man finds her in the city, and lies with her; 24 then you+ will bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you+ will stone them to death with stones; the damsel, because she didn't cry, being in the city; and the man, because he has humbled his fellow man's wife: so you will put away the evil from the midst of you.

25 But if the man finds the damsel who is betrothed in the field, and the man forces her, and lies with her; then only the man who lays with her will die: 26 but to the damsel you will do nothing; there is in the damsel no sin worthy of death: for as when a man rises against his fellow man, and slays him in the soul, even so is this matter; 27 for he found her in the field, the betrothed damsel cried, and there was none to save her.

28 If a man finds a damsel who is a virgin, who is not betrothed, and lays hold on her, and lies with her, and they are found; 29 then the man who lays with her will give to the damsel's father fifty [shekels] of silver, and she will be his wife, because he has humbled her; he may not put her away all his days.

30 A man will not take his father's wife, and will not uncover his father's skirt.

23  He who is castrated, or has his penis cut off, will not enter into the assembly of Yahweh.

2 A bastard will not enter into the assembly of Yahweh; even to the tenth generation will none of his enter into the assembly of Yahweh.

3 An Ammonite or a Moabite will not enter into the assembly of Yahweh; even to the tenth generation will none belonging to them enter into the assembly of Yahweh forever: 4 because they did not meet you+ with bread and with water in the way, when you+ came forth out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you. 5 Nevertheless Yahweh your God would not listen to Balaam; but Yahweh your God turned the curse into a blessing to you, because Yahweh your God loved you. 6 You will not seek their peace nor their prosperity all your days forever.

7 You will not be disgusted by an Edomite; for he is your brother: you will not be disgusted by an Egyptian, because you were a sojourner in his land. 8 The sons of the third generation who are born to them will enter into the assembly of Yahweh.

9 When you go forth in camp against your enemies, then you will keep yourself from every evil thing. 10 If there is among you+ any man, who is not clean by reason of that which chances him by night, then he will go abroad out of the camp, he will not come inside the camp: 11 but it will be, when evening comes on, he will bathe himself in water; and when the sun is down, he will come inside the camp. 12 You will have a place also outside the camp, where you will go forth abroad: 13 and you will have a stick among your weapons; and it will be, when you sit down abroad, you will dig with it, and will turn back and cover that which comes from you: 14 for Yahweh your God walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you, and to give up your enemies before you; therefore will your camp be holy, that he may not see an unclean thing in you, and turn away from you.

15 You will not deliver to his master a slave who escapes from his master to you: 16 he will dwell with you, in the midst of you, in the place which he will choose inside one of your gates, where it pleases him best: you will not oppress him.

17 There will be no lesbian among the daughters of Israel, neither will there be a homosexual among the sons of Israel. 18 You will not bring the wages of a female prostitute, or the wages of a homosexual prostitute, into the house of Yahweh your God for any vow: for even both these are disgusting to Yahweh your God. [201]

19 You will not lend on interest to your brother; interest of silver, interest of victuals, interest of anything that is lent on interest: 20 to a foreigner you may lend on interest; but to your brother you will not lend on interest, that Yahweh your God may bless you in all that you put your hand to, in the land where you go in to possess it.

21 When you will vow a vow to Yahweh your God, you will not be slack to pay it: for Yahweh your God will surely require it of you; and it would be sin in you. 22 But if you will forbear to vow, it will be no sin in you. 23 That which has gone out of your lips you will observe and do; according as you have vowed to Yahweh your God, a freewill-offering, which you have promised with your mouth.

24 When you come into your fellow man's vineyard, then you may eat your fill of grapes according to the pleasure of your soul; but you will not put any in your vessel. 25 When you come into your fellow man's standing grain, then you may pluck the ears with your hand; but you will not move a sickle to your fellow man's standing grain.

24  When a man takes a wife, and marries her, then it will be, if she finds no favor in his eyes, because he has found some unseemly thing in her, that he will write her a bill of divorce, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house. 2 And when she has departed out of his house, she may go and be another man's [wife]. 3 And if the latter husband hates her, and writes her a bill of divorce, and gives it in her hand, and sends her out of his house; or if the latter husband dies, who took her to be his wife; 4 her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after she's defiled; for that is disgusting before Yahweh: and you will not cause the land to sin, which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance.

5 When a man takes a new wife, he will not go out in the host, neither will he be charged with any business: he will be free at home one year, and will cheer his wife whom he has taken.

6 No man will take the mill or the upper millstone for a pledge; for he takes a soul for a pledge.

7 If a man is found stealing a soul of his brothers of the sons of Israel, and he deals with him as a slave, or sells him; then that thief will die: so you will put away the evil from the midst of you.

8 Take heed in the plague of leprosy, that you observe diligently, and do according to all that the priests the Levites will teach you+: as I commanded them, so you+ will observe to do. 9 Remember what Yahweh your God did to Miriam, by the way as you+ came forth out of Egypt.

10 When you lend your fellow man any manner of loan, you will not go into his house to fetch his pledge. 11 You will stand outside, and the man to whom you lend will bring forth the pledge outside to you. 12 And if he is a poor man, you will not sleep with his pledge; 13 you will surely restore to him the pledge when the sun goes down, that he may sleep in his garment, and bless you: and it will be righteousness to you before Yahweh your God.

14 You will not oppress a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether he is of your brothers, or of your sojourners who are in your land inside your gates: 15 in his day you will give him his wages, neither will the sun go down on it; for he is poor, and sets his soul on it: lest he cry against you to Yahweh, and it is sin to you.

16 The fathers will not be put to death for the sons, neither will the sons be put to death for the fathers: every man will be put to death for his own sin.

17 You will not wrest the justice [due] to the fatherless sojourner, nor take the widow's raiment for a pledge; 18 but you will remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and Yahweh your God redeemed you from there: therefore I command you to do this thing.

19 When you reap your harvest in your field, and have forgot a sheaf in the field, you will not go again to fetch it: it will be for the sojourner, for the fatherless, and for the widow; that Yahweh your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. 20 When you beat your olive tree, you will not go over the boughs again: it will be for the sojourner, for the fatherless, and for the widow. 21 When you gather [the grapes of] your vineyard, you will not glean it after you: it will be for the sojourner, for the fatherless, and for the widow. 22 And you will remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt: therefore I command you to do this thing.

25  If there is a controversy between men, and they come to judgment, and [the judges] judge them; then they will justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked; 2 and it will be, if the wicked man is worthy to be beaten, that the judge will cause him to lie down, and to be beaten before his face, according to his wickedness, by number. 3 Forty stripes he may give him, he will not exceed; or else, if he should exceed, and beat him above these with many stripes, then your brother should seem vile to you.

4 You will not muzzle the ox when he treads out [the grain].

5 If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies, and has no son, the wife of the dead will not be married outside to a stranger: her husband's brother will go in to her, and take her to him as wife, and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her. 6 And it will be, that the firstborn that she bears will succeed in the name of his brother who is dead, that his name will not be blotted out of Israel. 7 And if the man does not want to take his brother's wife, then his brother's wife will go up to the gate to the elders, and say, My husband's brother refuses to raise up to his brother a name in Israel; he will not perform the duty of a husband's brother to me. 8 Then the elders of his city will call him, and speak to him: and if he stands, and says, I don't want to take her; 9 then his brother's wife will come to him in the presence of the elders, and loose his sandal from off his foot, and spit in his face; and she will answer and say, So it will be done to the man who does not build up his brother's house. 10 And his name will be called in Israel, The house of him who has his sandal loosed.

11 When men strive together, a man and his brother, and the wife of the one draws near to deliver her husband out of the hand of him who strikes him, and puts forth her hand, and takes him by the genitals; 12 then you will cut off her hand, your eye will have no pity.

13 You will not have in your bag diverse weights, a great and a small. 14 You will not have in your house diverse measures, a great and a small. 15 A perfect and just weight you will have; a perfect and just measure you will have: that your days may be long in the land which Yahweh your God gives you. 16 For all who do such things, [even] all who do unrighteously, are disgusting to Yahweh your God.

17 Remember what Amalek did to you by the way as you+ came forth out of Egypt; 18 how he met you by the way, and struck the hindmost of you, all who were feeble behind you, when you were faint and weary; and he didn't fear God. 19 Therefore it will be, when Yahweh your God has given you rest from all your enemies round about, in the land which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance to possess it, that you will blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; you will not forget.

26  And it will be, when you come in to the land which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance, and possess it, and dwell in it, 2 that you will take of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you will bring in from your land that Yahweh your God gives you; and you will put it in a basket, and will go to the place which Yahweh your God will choose to make his name stay there. 3 And you will come to the priest who will be in those days, and say to him, I profess this day to Yahweh your God, that I have come to the land which Yahweh swore to our fathers to give us. 4 And the priest will take the basket out of your hand, and set it down before the altar of Yahweh your God. 5 And you will answer and say before Yahweh your God, A Syrian ready to perish was my father; and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there, few in number; and he became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous. 6 And the Egyptians dealt ill with us, and afflicted us, and laid on us hard slavery: 7 and we cried to Yahweh, the God of our fathers, and Yahweh heard our voice, and saw our affliction, and our toil, and our oppression; 8 and Yahweh brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders; 9 and he has brought us into this place, and has given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10 And now, look, I have brought the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, O Yahweh, have given me. And you will set it down before Yahweh your God, and worship before Yahweh your God: 11 and you will rejoice in all the good which Yahweh your God has given to you, and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the sojourner who is in the midst of you.

12 When you have made an end of tithing all the tithe of your increase in the third year, which is the year of tithing, then you will give it to the Levite, to the sojourner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, that they may eat inside your gates, and be filled. 13 And you will say before Yahweh your God, I have put away the hallowed things out of my house, and also have given them to the Levite, and to the sojourner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all your commandment which you have commanded me: I haven't transgressed any of your commandments, neither have I forgotten them: 14 I haven't eaten of it in my mourning, neither have I put away of it, being unclean, nor given of it for the dead: I have listened to the voice of Yahweh my God; I have done according to all that you have commanded me. 15 Look down from your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless your people Israel, and the ground which you have given us, as you swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.

16 This day Yahweh your God commands you to do these statutes and ordinances: you will therefore keep and do them with all your heart, and with all your soul. 17 You have declared Yahweh this day to be your God, and that you would walk in his ways, and keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his ordinances, and listen to his voice: 18 and Yahweh has declared you this day to be a people for his own possession, as he has promised you, and that you should keep all his commandments; 19 and to make you high above all nations that he has made, in praise, and in name, and in honor; and that you may be a holy people to Yahweh your God, as he has spoken.

27  And Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, Keep all [of] the commandment which I command you+ this day. 2 And it will be on the day when you+ will pass over the Jordan to the land which Yahweh your God gives you, that you will set yourself up great stones, and plaster them with plaster: 3 and you will write on them all the words of this law, when you pass over; that you may go in to the land which Yahweh your God gives you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has promised you. 4 And it will be, when you+ pass over the Jordan, that you+ will set up these stones, which I command you+ this day, in mount Ebal, and you will plaster them with plaster. 5 And there you will build an altar to Yahweh your God, an altar of stones: you will lift up no iron [tool] on them. 6 You will build the altar of Yahweh your God of uncut stones; and you will offer burnt-offerings on it to Yahweh your God: 7 and you will sacrifice peace-offerings, and will eat there; and you will rejoice before Yahweh your God. 8 And you will write on the stones all the words of this law very plainly.

9 And Moses and the priests the Levites spoke to all Israel, saying, Keep silent, and listen, O Israel: this day you have become the people of Yahweh your God. 10 You will therefore obey the voice of Yahweh your God, and do his commandments and his statutes, which I command you this day.

11 And Moses charged the people the same day, saying, 12 These will stand on mount Gerizim to bless the people, when you+ pass over the Jordan: Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Joseph, and Benjamin. 13 And these will stand on mount Ebal for the curse: Reuben, Gad, and Asher, and Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. 14 And the Levites will answer, and say to all the men of Israel with a loud voice,

15 Cursed be the man who makes a graven or molten image, a disgusting thing to Yahweh, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and sets it up in secret. And all the people will answer and say, Amen.

16 Cursed be he who dishonors his father or his mother. And all the people will say, Amen.

17 Cursed be he who removes his fellow man's landmark. And all the people will say, Amen.

18 Cursed be he who makes the blind to wander out of the way. And all the people will say, Amen.

19 Cursed be he who wrests the justice [due] to the sojourner, fatherless, and widow. And all the people will say, Amen.

20 Cursed be he who lies with his father's wife, because he has uncovered his father's skirt. And all the people will say, Amen.

21 Cursed be he who lies with any manner of beast. And all the people will say, Amen.

22 Cursed be he who lies with his sister, the daughter of his father, or the daughter of his mother. And all the people will say, Amen.

23 Cursed be he who lies with his mother-in-law. And all the people will say, Amen.

24 Cursed be he who strikes his fellow man in secret. And all the people will say, Amen.

25 Cursed be he who takes a bribe to strike the soul of innocent blood. And all the people will say, Amen.

26 Cursed be he who does not confirm the words of this law to do them. And all the people will say, Amen.

28  And it will come to pass, if you will listen diligently to the voice of Yahweh your God, to observe to do all his commandments which I command you this day, that Yahweh your God will set you on high above all the nations of the earth: 2 and all these blessings will come upon you, and overtake you, if you will listen to the voice of Yahweh your God. 3 Blessed you will be in the city, and blessed you will be in the field. 4 Blessed will be the fruit of your body, and the fruit of your ground, and the fruit of your beasts, the increase of your cattle, and the young of your flock. 5 Blessed will be your basket and your kneading-trough. 6 Blessed you will be when you come in, and blessed you will be when you go out.

7 Yahweh will cause your enemies who rise up against you to be struck before you: they will come out against you one way, and will flee before you seven ways. 8 Yahweh will command the blessing on you in your barns, and in all that you put your hand to; and he will bless you in the land which Yahweh your God gives you. 9 Yahweh will establish you for a holy people to himself, as he has sworn to you; if you will keep the commandments of Yahweh your God, and walk in his ways. 10 And all the peoples of the earth will see that you are called by the name of Yahweh; and they will be afraid of you. 11 And Yahweh will make you plenteous for good, in the fruit of your body, and in the fruit of your cattle, and in the fruit of your ground, in the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers to give you. 12 Yahweh will open to you his good treasure the heavens, to give the rain of your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand: and you will lend to many nations, and you will not borrow. 13 And Yahweh will make you the head, and not the tail; and you will be above only, and you will not be beneath; if you will listen to the commandments of Yahweh your God, which I command you this day, to observe and to do [them], 14 and will not turn aside from any of the words which I command you+ this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

15 But it will come to pass, if you will not listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command you this day, that all these curses will come upon you, and overtake you. 16 Cursed you will be in the city, and cursed you will be in the field. 17 Cursed will be your basket and your kneading-trough. 18 Cursed will be the fruit of your body, and the fruit of your ground, the increase of your cattle, and the young of your flock. 19 Cursed you will be when you come in, and cursed you will be when you go out.

20 Yahweh will send on you cursing, discomfiture, and rebuke, in all that you put your hand to to do, until you are destroyed, and until you perish quickly; because of the evil of your doings, by which you have forsaken me. 21 Yahweh will make the pestilence stick to you, until he has consumed you from off the land, where you go in to possess it. 22 Yahweh will strike you with consumption, and with fever, and with inflammation, and with fiery heat, and with drought, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they will pursue you until you perish. 23 And your heaven that is over your head will be bronze, and the earth that is under you will be iron. 24 Yahweh will make the rain of your land powder and dust: from heaven it will come down on you, until you are destroyed.

25 Yahweh will cause you to be struck before your enemies; you will go out one way against them, and will flee seven ways before them: and you will be tossed to and fro among all the kingdoms of the earth. 26 And your dead body will be food to all birds of the heavens, and to the beasts of the earth; and there will be none to frighten them away. 27 Yahweh will strike you with the boil of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scurvy, and with the itch, of which you can't be healed. 28 Yahweh will strike you with madness, and with blindness, and with astonishment of heart; 29 and you will grope at noonday, as the blind gropes in darkness, and you will not prosper in your ways: and you will be only oppressed and robbed always, and there will be none to save you. 30 You will betroth a wife, and another man will rape her: you will build a house, and you will not dwell in it: you will plant a vineyard, and will not use its fruit. 31 Your ox will be slain before your eyes, and you will not eat of it: your donkey will be violently taken away from before your face, and will not be restored to you: your sheep will be given to your enemies, and you will have none to save you. 32 Your sons and your daughters will be given to another people; and your eyes will look, and fail with longing for them all the day: and there will be nothing in the power of your hand. 33 The fruit of your ground, and all your labors, will a nation which you don't know eat up; and you will be only oppressed and crushed always; 34 so that you will be insane for the sight of your eyes which you will see. 35 Yahweh will strike you in the knees, and in the legs, with an intense boil, of which you can't be healed, from the sole of your foot to the top of your head.

36 Yahweh will bring you, and your king whom you will set over you, to a nation that you haven't known, you nor your fathers; and there you will serve other gods, wood and stone. 37 And you will become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all the peoples where Yahweh will lead you away. 38 You will carry much seed out into the field, and will gather little in; for the locust will consume it. 39 You will plant vineyards and dress them, but you will neither drink of the wine, nor gather [the grapes]; for the worm will eat them. 40 You will have olive trees throughout all your borders, but you will not anoint yourself with the oil; for your olive will cast [its fruit]. 41 You will beget sons and daughters, but they will not be yours; for they will go into captivity. 42 All your trees and the fruit of your ground will the locust possess. 43 The sojourner who is in the midst of you will mount up above you higher and higher; and you will come down lower and lower. 44 He will lend to you, and you will not lend to him: he will be the head, and you will be the tail. 45 And all these curses will come upon you, and will pursue you, and overtake you, until you are destroyed; because you didn't harken to the voice of Yahweh your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded you: 46 and they will be on you for a sign and for a wonder, and on your seed forever.

47 Because you didn't serve Yahweh your God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, by reason of the abundance of all things; 48 therefore you will serve your enemies that Yahweh will send against you, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he will put a yoke of iron on your neck, until he destroys you. 49 Yahweh will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as the eagle flies; a nation whose tongue you will not understand; 50 a nation of fierce countenance, that will not regard the person of the old, nor show favor to the young, 51 and will eat the fruit of your cattle, and the fruit of your ground, until you are destroyed; that also will not leave you grain, new wine, or oil, the increase of your cattle, or the young of your flock, until they have caused you to perish. 52 And they will besiege you in all your gates, until your high and fortified walls come down, in which you trusted, throughout all your land; and they will besiege you in all your gates throughout all your land, which Yahweh your God has given you. 53 And you will eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters, whom Yahweh your God has given you, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemies will distress you. 54 The man who is tender among you+, and very delicate, his eye will be evil toward his brother, and toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the remnant of his sons whom he has remaining; 55 so that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his sons whom he will eat, because he has nothing left for himself, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy will distress you in all your gates. 56 The tender and delicate woman among you+, who would not adventure to set the sole of her foot on the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye will be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter, 57 and toward her young one who comes out from between her feet, and toward her sons whom she will bear; for she will eat them for want of all things secretly, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy will distress you in your gates.

58 If you will not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, YAHWEH YOUR GOD; 59 then Yahweh will make your plagues wonderful, and the plagues of your seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and intense sicknesses, and of long continuance. 60 And he will bring on you again all the diseases of Egypt, which you were afraid of; and they will stick to you. 61 Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, Yahweh will bring them on you, until you are destroyed. 62 And you+ will be left few in number, whereas you+ were as the stars of heaven for multitude; because you did not listen to the voice of Yahweh your God. 63 And it will come to pass, that, as Yahweh rejoiced over you+ to do you+ good, and to multiply you+, so Yahweh will rejoice over you+ to cause you+ to perish, and to destroy you+; and you+ will be plucked from off the land where you go in to possess it. 64 And Yahweh will scatter you among all peoples, from the one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth; and there you will serve other gods, which you haven't known, you nor your fathers, even wood and stone. 65 And among these nations you will find no ease, and there will be no rest for the sole of your foot: but Yahweh will give you there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and pining of soul; 66 and your life will hang in doubt before you; and you will fear night and day, and will have no assurance of your life. 67 In the morning you will say, Oh that it were evening! And at evening you will say, Oh that it were morning! For the fear of your heart which you will fear, and for the sight of your eyes which you will see. 68 And Yahweh will bring you into Egypt again with ships, by the way of which I said to you, You will see it no more again: and there you+ will sell yourselves to your+ enemies for male slaves and for female slaves, and no man will buy you+.

29  These are the words of the covenant which Yahweh commanded Moses to make with the sons of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which he made with them in Horeb.

2 And Moses called to all Israel, and said to them, You+ have seen all that Yahweh did before your+ eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his slaves, and to all his land; 3 the great trials which your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders: 4 but Yahweh has not given you+ a heart to know, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, to this day. 5 And I have led you+ forty years in the wilderness: your+ clothes are not waxed old on you+, and your sandals have not waxed old on your feet. 6 You+ have not eaten bread, neither have you+ drank wine or strong drink; that you+ may know that I am Yahweh your+ God. 7 And when you+ came to this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, came out against us to battle, and we struck them: 8 and we took their land, and gave it for an inheritance to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half-tribe of the Manassites. 9 Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that you+ may prosper in all that you+ do.

10 You+ stand this day all of you+ before Yahweh your+ God; your+ heads, your+ tribes, your+ elders, and your+ officers, even all the men of Israel, 11 your+ little ones, your+ wives, and your sojourner who is in the midst of your camps, from the cutter of your wood to the drawer of your water; 12 that you may enter into the covenant of Yahweh your God, and into his oath, which Yahweh your God makes with you this day; 13 that he may establish you this day to himself for a people, and that he may be to you a God, as he spoke to you, and as he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

14 Neither with you+ only do I make this covenant and this oath, 15 but with him who stands here with us this day before Yahweh our God, and also with him who is not here with us this day 16 (for you+ know how we dwelt in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the midst of the nations through which you+ passed; 17 and you+ have seen their detestable things, and their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which were among them); 18 or else if there should be among you+ man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turns away this day from Yahweh our God, to go to serve the gods of those nations; and if there should be among you+ a root that bears gall and wormwood; 19 and it comes to pass, when he hears the words of this curse, that he blesses himself in his heart, saying, I will have peace, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart, to destroy the moist with the dry. 20 Yahweh will not pardon him, but then the anger of Yahweh and his jealousy will smoke against that man, and all the curse that is written in this book will lie on him, and Yahweh will blot out his name from under heaven. 21 And Yahweh will set him apart to evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that is written in this book of the law.

22 And the generation to come, your+ sons who will rise up after you+, and the foreigner who will come from a far land, will say, when they see the plagues of that land, and the sicknesses with which Yahweh has made it sick; 23 [and that] the whole land of it is brimstone, and salt, [and] a burning, [that] it is not sown, nor bears, nor any grass grows in it, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which Yahweh overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath: 24 even all the nations will say, Why has Yahweh done thus to this land? What [is the meaning of] the heat of this great anger? 25 Then men will say, Because they forsook the covenant of Yahweh, the God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, 26 and went and served other gods, and worshiped them, gods that they did not know, and that he had not given to them: 27 therefore the anger of Yahweh was kindled against this land, to bring on it all the curse that is written in this book; 28 and Yahweh rooted them out of their land in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as at this day. 29 The secret things belong to Yahweh our God; but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

30  And it will come to pass, when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you will call them to mind among all the nations, where Yahweh your God has driven you, 2 and will return to Yahweh your God, and will obey his voice according to all that I command you this day, you and your sons, with all your heart, and with all your soul; 3 that then Yahweh your God will turn your captivity, and have compassion on you, and will return and gather you from all the peoples, where Yahweh your God has scattered you. 4 If [any of] your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there Yahweh your God will gather you, and from there he will fetch you: 5 and Yahweh your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you will possess it; and he will do you good, and multiply you above your fathers. 6 And Yahweh your God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your seed, to love Yahweh your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, that you may live. 7 And Yahweh your God will put all these curses on your enemies, and on those who hate you, who persecuted you. 8 And you will return and obey the voice of Yahweh, and do all his commandments which I command you this day. 9 And Yahweh your God will make you plenteous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, and in the fruit of your cattle, and in the fruit of your ground, for good: for Yahweh will again rejoice over you for good, as he rejoiced over your fathers; 10 if you will obey the voice of Yahweh your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law; if you turn to Yahweh your God with all your heart, and with all your soul.

11 For this commandment which I command you this day, it is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. 12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, Who will go up for us to heaven, and bring it to us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it? 13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, Who will go over the sea for us, and bring it to us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it? 14 But the word is very near to you, in your mouth, and in your heart, that you may do it.

15 See, I have set before you this day life and good, and death and evil; 16 If you obey the commandments of Yahweh your God which I command you this day to love Yahweh your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his ordinances, then you will live and multiply, and Yahweh your God will bless you in the land where you go in to possess it. 17 But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but will be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them; 18 I denounce to you+ this day, that you+ will surely perish; you+ will not prolong your+ days in the land, where you pass over the Jordan to go in to possess it. 19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you+ this day, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse: therefore choose life, that you may live, you and your seed; 20 to love Yahweh your God, to obey his voice, and to stick to him; for he is your life, and the length of your days; that you may dwell in the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.

31  And Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel. 2 And he said to them, I am a hundred and twenty years old this day; I can no longer go out and come in: and Yahweh has said to me, You will not go over this Jordan. 3 Yahweh your God, he will go over before you; he will destroy these nations from before you, and you will dispossess them: [and] Joshua, he will go over before you, as Yahweh has spoken. 4 And Yahweh will do to them as he did to Sihon and to Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land; whom he destroyed. 5 And Yahweh will deliver them up before you+, and you+ will do to them according to all [of] the commandment which I have commanded you+. 6 Be strong and of good courage, don't fear, nor be afraid of them: for Yahweh your God, it is he who goes with you; he will not fail you, nor forsake you. 7 And Moses called to Joshua, and said to him in the sight of all Israel, Be strong and of good courage: for you will bring this people into the land which Yahweh has sworn to their fathers to give them; and you will cause them to inherit it. 8 And Yahweh, it is he who goes before you; he will be with you, he will not fail you, neither forsake you: don't be afraid, neither be dismayed.

9 And Moses wrote this law, and delivered it to the priests, the sons of Levi, that bore the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, and to all the elders of Israel. 10 And Moses commanded them, saying, At the end of [every] seven year period, in the set time of the year of release, in the feast of tabernacles, 11 when all Israel has come to see the face of Yahweh[202] your God in the place which he will choose, you will read this law before all Israel in their hearing. 12 Assemble the people, the men and the women and the little ones, and your sojourner who is inside your gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear Yahweh your+ God, and observe to do all the words of this law; 13 and that their sons, who haven't known, may hear, and learn to fear Yahweh your+ God, as long as you+ live in the land where you+ go over the Jordan to possess it.

14 And Yahweh said to Moses, Look, your days approach that you must die: call Joshua, and present yourselves in the tent of meeting, that I may give him a charge. And Moses and Joshua went, and presented themselves in the tent of meeting. 15 And Yahweh appeared in the Tent in a pillar of cloud: and the pillar of cloud stood over the door of the Tent. 16 And Yahweh said to Moses, Look, you will sleep with your fathers; and this people will rise up, and prostitute after the strange gods of the land, where they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them. 17 Then my anger will be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they will be devoured, and many evils and troubles will come upon them; so that they will say in that day, Haven't these evils come upon us because our God is not among us? 18 And I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evil which they will have wrought, in that they have turned to other gods. 19 Now therefore you+ write this song for yourselves, and you teach it to the sons of Israel: put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the sons of Israel. 20 For when I will have brought them into the land which I swore to their fathers, flowing with milk and honey, and they will have eaten and filled themselves, and waxed fat; then they will turn to other gods, and serve them, and despise me, and break my covenant. 21 And it will come to pass, when many evils and troubles come upon them, that this song will testify before them as a witness; for it will not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed: for I know their imagination which they frame this day, before I have brought them into the land which I swore. 22 So Moses wrote this song the same day, and taught it to the sons of Israel. 23 And he [Yahweh] gave Joshua the son of Nun a charge, and said, Be strong and of good courage; for you will bring the sons of Israel into the land which I swore to them: and I will be with you.

24 And it came to pass, when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law in a book, until they were finished, 25 that Moses commanded the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, saying, 26 Take this book of the law, and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of Yahweh your+ God, that it may be there for a witness against you. 27 For I know your rebellion, and your stiff neck: look, while I am yet alive with you+ this day, you+ have been rebellious against Yahweh; and how much more after my death? 28 Assemble to me all the elders of your+ tribes, and your+ officers, that I may speak these words in their ears, and call heaven and earth to witness against them. 29 For I know that after my death you+ will completely corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you+; and evil will befall you+ in the latter days; because you+ will do that which is evil in the sight of Yahweh, to provoke him to anger through the work of your+ hands.

30 And Moses spoke in the ears of all the assembly of Israel the words of this song, until they were finished.

32  Give ear, you+ heavens, and I will speak;

And let the earth hear the words of my mouth.

2 My doctrine will drop as the rain;

My speech will distill as the dew,

As the small rain on the tender grass,

And as the showers on the herb.

3 For I will proclaim the name of Yahweh:

Ascribe+ greatness to our God.

4 The Rock, his work is perfect;

For all his ways are justice:

A God of faithfulness and without iniquity,

Just and right is he.

5 They have dealt corruptly with him, [they are] not his sons, [it is] their blemish;

[They are] a perverse and crooked generation.

6 Do you+ thus repay Yahweh,

O foolish people and unwise?

Isn't he your father who has bought you?

He has made you, and established you.

7 Remember the days of old,

Consider the years of many generations:

Ask your father, and he will show you;

Your elders, and they will tell you.

8 When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance,

When he separated the sons of man,

He set the bounds of the peoples

According to the number of the sons of God.

9 For Yahweh's portion is his people;

Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.

10 He found him in a desert land,

And in the waste howling wilderness;

He surrounded him, he cared for him,

He kept him as the apple of his eye.

11 As an eagle that stirs up her nest,

That hovers over her young,

He spread abroad his wings, he took them,

He bore them on his pinions.

12 Yahweh alone led him,

And there was no foreign god with him.

13 He made him ride on the high places of the earth,

And he ate the increase of the field;

And he made him to suck honey out of the rock,

And oil out of the flinty rock;

14 Butter of the herd, and milk of the flock,

With fat of lambs,

And rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats,

With the finest of the wheat;

And of the blood of the grape you drank wine.

15 Jacob ate and had his fill,

Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked:

You have waxed fat, you have grown thick, you have become sleek;

Then he forsook God who made him,

And lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.

16 They moved him to jealousy with strange [gods];

With disgusting things they provoked him to anger.

17 They sacrificed to demons, [which were] not God,

To gods that they did not know,

To new [gods] that came up of late,

Which your+ fathers did not dread.

18 Of the Rock that begot you you are unmindful,

And have forgotten God who gave you birth.

19 And Yahweh saw [it], and abhorred [them]

Because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters.

20 And he said, I will hide my face from them,

I will see what their end will be:

For they are a very perverse generation,

Sons in whom is no faithfulness.

21 They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God;

They have provoked me to anger with their vanities:

And I will move them to jealousy with those who are not a people;

I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.

22 For a fire is kindled in my anger,

And burns to the lowest Sheol,

And devours the earth with its increase,

And sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.

23 I will heap evils on them;

I will spend my arrows on them:

24 [They will be] wasted with hunger, and devoured with burning heat

And bitter destruction;

And the teeth of beasts I will send on them,

With the poison of crawling things of the dust.

25 Outside will the sword bereave,

And in the chambers terror;

[It will destroy] both young man and virgin,

The suckling with the man of gray hairs.

26 I said, I would scatter them far,

I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among common man;

27 Were it not that I feared the provocation of the enemy,

Or else their adversaries should judge amiss,

And they should say, Our hand is exalted,

And Yahweh has not done all this.

28 For they are a nation void of counsel,

And there is no understanding in them.

29 Oh that they were wise, that they understood this,

That they would consider their latter end!

30 How should one chase a thousand,

And two put ten thousand to flight,

Except their Rock had sold them,

And Yahweh had delivered them up?

31 For their rock is not as our Rock,

Even our enemies themselves being judges.

32 For their vine is of the vine of Sodom,

And of the fields of Gomorrah:

Their grapes are grapes of gall,

Their clusters are bitter:

33 Their wine is the poison of serpents,

And the cruel venom of cobras.

34 Isn't this laid up in store with me,

Sealed up among my treasures?

35 For the day of vengeance and recompense will come in time.

Their foot will slide, for the day of their calamity is near.

And the things that are to come upon them will hurry.

36 For Yahweh will judge his people,

And repent himself for his slaves;

When he sees that [their] power is gone,

And there is none [remaining], shut up or left at large.

37 And he will say, Where are their gods,

The rock in which they took refuge;

38 Which ate the fat of their sacrifices,

[And] drank the wine of their drink-offering?

Let them rise up and help you+

Let them be your+ protection.

39 See now that I, even I, am he,

And there is no god with me:

I kill, and I make alive;

I wound, and I heal;

And there is none that can deliver out of my hand.

40 For I lift up my hand to heaven,

And say, As I live forever,

41 If I whet my glittering sword,

And my hand takes hold on judgment;

I will render vengeance to my adversaries,

And will recompense those who hate me.

42 I will make my arrows drunk with blood,

And my sword will devour flesh;

With the blood of the slain and the captives,

From the longhaired heads[203] of the enemy.

43 Rejoice with him, [you+] heavens.

And bow down before him, all [you+] gods.[204]

For he will avenge the blood of his sons,

And will render vengeance to his adversaries,

And will pay back those who hate him,

And will make expiation for the land of his people.

44 And Moses came and spoke all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he, and Hoshea the son of Nun. 45 And Moses made an end of speaking all these words to all Israel; 46 And he said to them, Set your+ heart to all the words which I testify to you+ this day, which you+ will command your+ sons to observe to do, [even] all the words of this law. 47 For it is no vain thing for you+; because it is your+ life, and through this thing you+ will prolong your+ days in the land, where you+ go over the Jordan to possess it.

48 And Yahweh spoke to Moses that very same day, saying, 49 Go up into this mountain of Abarim, to mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is across from Jericho; and look at the land of Canaan, which I give to the sons of Israel for a possession; 50 and die in the mount where you go up, and be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died in mount Hor, and was gathered to his people: 51 because you+ trespassed against me in the midst of the sons of Israel at the waters of Meribah of Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because you+ did not sanctify me in the midst of the sons of Israel. 52 For you will see the land before you; but you will not go there into the land which I give the sons of Israel.

33  And this is the blessing, with which Moses the man of God blessed the sons of Israel before his death. 2 And he said,

Yahweh came from Sinai,

And rose from Seir to them;

He shined forth from mount Paran,

And with him [were some] from the ten thousands of holy ones:

At his right hand was a fiery law for them.

3 Yes, he loves the people;

All his saints are in your hand:

And they sat down at your feet;

[Everyone] will receive of your words.

4 Moses commanded us a law,

An inheritance for the assembly of Jacob.

5 And he was king in Jeshurun,

When the heads of the people were gathered,

All the tribes of Israel together.

6 Let Reuben live, and not die;

Nor let his men be few.

7 And this is [the blessing] of Judah: and he said,

Hear, Yahweh, the voice of Judah,

And bring him in to his people.

With his hands he contended for him;

And you will be a help against his adversaries.

8 And of Levi he said,

Bring to Levi your Thummim, and your Urim to your godly one,

Whom you proved at Massah,

With whom you strove at the waters of Meribah;

9 Who said of his father, and of his mother,

I haven't seen him;

Neither did he acknowledge his brothers,

Nor knew he his own sons:

For they have observed your word,

And keep your covenant.

10 They will teach Jacob your ordinances,

And Israel your law:

They will put incense before you,

And whole burnt-offering on your altar.

11 Bless, Yahweh, his substance,

And accept the work of his hands:

Strike through the loins of those who rise up against him,

And of those who hate him, that they may not rise again.

12 Of Benjamin he said,

The beloved of Yahweh will stay in safety.

The Most High covers him all the day long,

And he stays between his shoulders.

13 And of Joseph he said,

Blessed of Yahweh be his land,

For the precious things of heaven, for the dew,

And for the deep that crouches beneath,

14 And for the precious things of the fruits of the sun,

And for the precious things of the growth of the moons,

15 And for the chief things of the ancient mountains,

And for the precious things of the everlasting hills,

16 And for the precious things of the earth and the fullness of it,

And the goodwill of him who stayed in the bush.

Let [the blessing] come upon the head of Joseph,

And on the top of the head of him who was separate from his brothers.

17 The firstborn of his herd, majesty is his;

And his horns are the horns of the wild-ox:

With them he will push the peoples all of them, [even] the ends of the earth:

And they are the ten thousands of Ephraim,

And they are the thousands of Manasseh.

18 And of Zebulun he said,

Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going out;

And, Issachar, in your tents.

19 They will call the peoples to the mountain;

There they will offer sacrifices of righteousness:

For they will suck the abundance of the seas,

And the hidden treasures of the sand.

20 And of Gad he said,

Blessed be he who enlarges Gad:

Like a lion he stays,

And tears the arm, yes, the top of the head.

21 And he provided the first part for himself,

For where the lawgiver's portion was,

There the chiefs of the people assembled together;

He executed the righteousness of Yahweh,

And his ordinances with Israel.

22 And of Dan he said,

Dan is a lion's whelp,

That leaps forth from Bashan.

23 And of Naphtali he said, O Naphtali, satisfied with favor,

And full with the blessing of Yahweh,

Possess the west and the south.

24 And of Asher he said,

Blessed be Asher with sons;

Let him be acceptable to his brothers,

And let him dip his foot in oil.

25 Your bars will be iron and bronze;

And as your days, so will your strength be.

26 There is none like God, O Jeshurun,

Who rides on the heavens for your help,

And in his excellency on the skies.

27 The eternal God is [your] dwelling-place,

And underneath are the everlasting arms.

And he thrusts out the enemy from before you,

And said, Destroy.

28 And Israel stays in safety,

The fountain of Jacob alone,

In a land of grain and new wine;

Yes, his heavens drop down dew.

29 Happy are you, O Israel:

Who is like you, a people saved by Yahweh,

The shield of your help,

And the sword of your excellency!

And your enemies will submit themselves to you;

And you will tread on their high places.

34  And Moses went up from the plains of Moab to mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is across from Jericho. And Yahweh showed him all the land of Gilead, to Dan, 2 and all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, to the hinder sea, 3 and the South, and the Plain of the valley of Jericho the city of palm-trees, to Zoar. 4 And Yahweh said to him, This is the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, I will give it to your seed: I have caused you to see it with your eyes, but you will not go over there. 5 So Moses the slave of Yahweh died there in the land of Moab, according to the mouth of Yahweh. 6 And he buried him in the valley in the land of Moab across from Beth-peor: but no man knows of his tomb to this day. 7 And Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated. 8 And the sons of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days: so the days of weeping in the mourning for Moses had ended.

9 And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom; for Moses had laid his hands on him: and the sons of Israel listened to him, and did as Yahweh commanded Moses. 10 And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom Yahweh knew face to face, 11 in all the signs and the wonders, which Yahweh sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh, and to all his slaves, and to all his land, 12 and in all the mighty hand, and in all the great terror, which Moses wrought in the sight of all Israel.

__________________________

Joshua

1  Now it came to pass after the death of Moses the slave of Yahweh, that Yahweh spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying, 2 Moses my slave is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you, and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them, even to the sons of Israel. 3 Every place that the sole of your+ foot will tread on, to you+ I have given it, as I spoke to Moses. 4 From the wilderness, and this Lebanon, even to the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the great sea toward the going down of the sun, will be your+ border. 5 There will not be any man able to stand before you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will not fail you, nor forsake you. 6 Be strong and of good courage; for you will cause this people to inherit the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. 7 Only be strong and very courageous, to observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my slave commanded you: don't turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. 8 This book of the law will not depart out of your mouth, but you will meditate on it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it: for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. 9 Haven't I commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; don't be frightened, neither be dismayed: for Yahweh your God is with you wherever you go.

10 Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, 11 Pass through the midst of the camp, and command the people, saying, Prepare yourselves provisions; for within three days you+ are to pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land, which Yahweh your+ God gives you+ to possess it.

12 And to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, Joshua spoke, saying, 13 Remember the word which Moses the slave of Yahweh commanded you+, saying, Yahweh your+ God gives you+ rest, and will give you+ this land. 14 Your+ wives, your+ little ones, and your+ cattle, will remain in the land which Moses gave you+ beyond the Jordan; but you+ will pass over before your+ brothers armed, all the mighty men of valor, and will help them; 15 until Yahweh gives your+ brothers rest, as [he has given] you+, and they also have possessed the land which Yahweh your+ God gives them: then you+ will return to the land of your+ possession, and possess it, which Moses the slave of Yahweh gave you+ beyond the Jordan toward the sunrising. 16 And they answered Joshua, saying, All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. 17 According as we listened to Moses in all things, so we will listen to you: only Yahweh your God be with you, as he was with Moses. 18 Whoever he is that will rebel against your mouth, and will not listen to your words in all that you command him, he will be put to death: only be strong and of good courage.

2  And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men as spies secretly, saying, Go, view the land, and Jericho. And they went and came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab, and lay there. 2 And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, Look, there came men in here tonight of the sons of Israel to search out the land. 3 And the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, Bring forth the men who came to you, that entered into your house; for they came to search out all the land. 4 And the woman took the two men. And she hid it,[205] and she said, Yes, the men came to me, but I didn't know from where they were: 5 and it came to pass about the time of the shutting of the gate, when it was dark, that the men went out; where the men went I don't know: pursue after them quickly; for you+ will overtake them. 6 But she had brought them up to the roof, and hid them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order on the roof. 7 And the men pursued after them the way to the Jordan to the fords: and as soon as those who pursued after them had gone out, they shut the gate.

8 And before they were laid down, she came up to them on the roof; 9 and she said to the men, I know that Yahweh has given you+ the land, and that the fear of you+ is fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you+. 10 For we have heard how Yahweh dried up the water of the Red Sea before you+, when you+ came out of Egypt; and what you+ did to the two kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and to Og, whom you+ completely destroyed. 11 And as soon as we had heard it, our hearts melted, neither did there remain anymore spirit in any man, because of you+: for Yahweh your+ God, he is God in heaven above, and on earth beneath. 12 Now therefore, I pray you+, swear to me by Yahweh, since I have dealt kindly with you+, that you+ also will deal kindly with my father's house, and give me a true token; 13 and that you+ will save alive my father, and my mother, and my brothers, and my sisters, and all who they have, and will deliver our souls from death. 14 And the men said to her, Our soul for yours+, if you+ do not utter this business of ours; then it will be, when Yahweh gives us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with you.

15 Then she let them down by a cord through the window: for her house was on the side of the wall, and she dwelt on the wall. 16 And she said to them, Go+ to the mountain, or else the pursuers will fall on you+; then hide yourselves there three days, until the pursuers return: and afterward may you+ go your+ way. 17 And the men said to her, We will be innocent of this oath of yours which you have made us to swear. 18 Look, when we come into the land, you will bind this line of scarlet thread in the window by which you have let us down: and you will gather to yourself into the house your father, and your mother, and your brothers, and all your father's household. 19 And it will be, that whoever will go out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood will be on his head, and we will be innocent: and whoever will be with you in the house, his blood will be on our head, if any hand is on him. 20 But if you utter this business of ours, then we will be innocent of your oath which you have made us to swear. 21 And she said, According to your+ words, so be it. And she sent them away, and they departed: and she bound the scarlet line in the window.

22 And then they went, and came to the mountain, and remained there three days, until the pursuers had returned: and the pursuers sought them throughout all the way, but didn't find them. 23 Then the two men returned, and descended from the mountain, and passed over, and came to Joshua the son of Nun; and they told him all that had befallen them. 24 And they said to Joshua, Truly Yahweh has delivered into our hands all the land; and moreover all the inhabitants of the land melt away before us.

3  And Joshua rose up early in the morning; and they removed from Shittim, and came to the Jordan, he and all the sons of Israel; and they lodged there before they passed over. 2 And it came to pass after three days, that the officers went through the midst of the camp; 3 and they commanded the people, saying, When you+ see the ark of the covenant of Yahweh your+ God, and the priests the Levites bearing it, then you+ will remove from your+ place, and go after it. 4 Yet there will be a space between you+ and it, about two thousand cubits by measure: don't come near to it, that you+ may know the way by which you+ must go; for you+ haven't passed this way before. 5 And Joshua said to the people, Sanctify yourselves; for tomorrow Yahweh will do wonders among you+. 6 And Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, Take up the ark of the covenant, and pass over before the people. And they took up the ark of the covenant, and went before the people.

7 And Yahweh said to Joshua, This day I will begin to magnify you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. 8 And you will command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, saying, When you+ come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan, you+ will stand still in the Jordan. 9 And Joshua said to the sons of Israel, Come here, and hear the words of Yahweh your+ God. 10 And Joshua said, Hereby you+ will know that the living God is among you+, and that he will without fail drive out from before you+ the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Hivite, and the Perizzite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite, and the Jebusite. 11 Look, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth passes over before you+ into the Jordan. 12 Now therefore take for yourselves twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, for every tribe a man. 13 And it will come to pass, when the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of Yahweh, the Lord of all the earth, will rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan will be cut off, even the waters that come down from above; and they will stand in one heap.

14 And it came to pass, when the people removed from their tents, to pass over the Jordan, the priests who bore the ark of the covenant being before the people; 15 and when those who bore the ark had come to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark were dipped in the brink of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks all the time of harvest,) 16 that the waters which came down from above stood, and rose up in one heap, a great way off, at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan; and those that went down toward the sea of the Arabah, even the Salt Sea, were wholly cut off: and the people passed over right against Jericho. 17 And the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan; and all Israel passed over on dry ground, until all the nation had passed clean over the Jordan.

4  And it came to pass, when all the nation had clean passed over the Jordan, that Yahweh spoke to Joshua, saying, 2 Take for yourselves twelve men out of the people, out of every tribe one man, 3 and command+ them, saying, Take for yourselves from here out of the midst of the Jordan, out of the place where the priests' feet stood firm, twelve stones, and carry them over with you+, and lay them down in the lodging-place, where you+ will lodge this night. 4 Then Joshua called the twelve men, whom he had prepared of the sons of Israel, out of every tribe a man: 5 and Joshua said to them, Pass over before the ark of Yahweh your+ God into the midst of the Jordan, and take+ up every man of you+ a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel; 6 that this may be a sign among you+, that, when your+ sons ask in time to come, saying, What do you+ mean by these stones? 7 Then you+ will say to them, Because the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of Yahweh; when it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off: and these stones will be for a memorial to the sons of Israel forever.

8 And the sons of Israel did so as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones out of the midst of the Jordan, as Yahweh spoke to Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel; and they carried them over with them to the place where they lodged, and laid them down there. 9 And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests who bore the ark of the covenant stood: and they are there to this day. 10 For the priests who bore the ark stood in the midst of the Jordan, until everything was finished that Yahweh commanded Joshua to speak to the people, according to all that Moses commanded Joshua: and the people hurried and passed over. 11 And it came to pass, when all the people had clean passed over, that the ark of Yahweh and the priests moved up before the people. 12 And the sons of Reuben, and the sons of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, passed over armed before the sons of Israel, as Moses spoke to them: 13 about forty thousand ready armed for war passed over before Yahweh to battle, to the plains of Jericho. 14 On that day Yahweh magnified Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they feared him, as they feared Moses, all the days of his life.

15 And Yahweh spoke to Joshua, saying, 16 Command the priests who bear the ark of the testimony, that they come up out of the Jordan. 17 Joshua therefore commanded the priests, saying, Come+ up out of the Jordan. 18 And it came to pass, when the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of Yahweh had come up out of the midst of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests' feet were lifted up to the dry ground, that the waters of the Jordan returned to their place, and went over all its banks, as previously.

19 And the people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and encamped in Gilgal, on the east border of Jericho. 20 And those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal. 21 And he spoke to the sons of Israel, saying, When your+ sons will ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What do these stones mean? 22 Then you+ will let your+ sons know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land. 23 For Yahweh your+ God dried up the waters of the Jordan from before you+, until you+ had passed over, as Yahweh your+ God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up from before us, until we had passed over; 24 that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of Yahweh, that it is mighty; that you+ may fear Yahweh your+ God forever.

5  And it came to pass, when all the kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan westward, and all the kings of the Canaanites, who were by the sea, heard how that Yahweh had dried up the waters of the Jordan from before the sons of Israel, until we had passed over, that their heart melted, neither was there spirit in them anymore, because of the sons of Israel.

2 At that time Yahweh said to Joshua, Make for yourself knives of flint, and circumcise again the sons of Israel the second time. 3 And Joshua made for himself knives of flint, and circumcised the sons of Israel at the hill of the foreskins. 4 And this is the cause why Joshua circumcised: all the people who came forth out of Egypt, who were males, even all the men of war, died in the wilderness by the way, after they came forth out of Egypt. 5 For all the people who came out were circumcised; but all the people who were born in the wilderness by the way as they came forth out of Egypt, they had not circumcised. 6 For the sons of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, until all the nation, even the men of war who came forth out of Egypt, was consumed, because they didn't listen to the voice of Yahweh: to whom Yahweh swore that he would not let them see the land which Yahweh swore to their fathers that he would give us, a land flowing with milk and honey. 7 And their sons, whom he raised up in their stead, Joshua circumcised them: for they were uncircumcised, because they had not circumcised them by the way. 8 And it came to pass, when they had done circumcising all the nation, that they remained in their places in the camp, until they were whole. 9 And Yahweh said to Joshua, This day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you+. Therefore the name of that place was called Gilgal, to this day.

10 And the sons of Israel encamped in Gilgal; and they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at evening in the plains of Jericho. 11 And they ate of the produce of the land on the next day after the Passover, unleavened cakes and parched grain, in the very same day. 12 And the manna ceased on the next day, after they had eaten of the produce of the land; neither had the sons of Israel manna anymore; but they ate of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.

13 And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and saw that there stood a man across from him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went to him, and said to him, Are you for us, or for our adversaries? 14 And he said, No; but [as] prince of the host of Yahweh I have now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and worshiped, and said to him, What does my lord say to his slave? 15 And the prince of Yahweh's host said to Joshua, Put off your sandal from off your foot; for the place on which you stand is holy. And Joshua did so.

6  Now Jericho was straitly shut up because of the sons of Israel: none went out, and none came in. 2 And Yahweh said to Joshua, See, I have given into your hand Jericho and its king, mighty men of valor. 3 And you+ will circle the city, all the men of war, going about the city once. Thus you will do six days. 4 And seven priests will bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark: and the seventh day you+ will circle the city seven times, and the priests will blow the trumpets. 5 And it will be, that, when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when you+ hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people will shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people will go up every man straight before him. 6 And Joshua the son of Nun called the priests, and said to them, Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of Yahweh. 7 And they said to the people, Pass on, and circle the city, and let the armed men pass on before the ark of Yahweh.

8 And it was so, that, when Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams' horns before Yahweh passed on, and blew the trumpets: and the ark of the covenant of Yahweh followed them. 9 And the armed men went before the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rearward went after the ark, [the priests] blowing the trumpets as they went. 10 And Joshua commanded the people, saying, You+ will not shout, nor let your+ voice be heard, neither will any word proceed out of your+ mouth, until the day I bid you+ shout; then you+ will shout. 11 So he caused the ark of Yahweh to circle the city, going about it once: and they came into the camp, and lodged in the camp.

12 And Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of Yahweh. 13 And the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of Yahweh went on continually, and blew the trumpets: and the armed men went before them; and the rearward came after the ark of Yahweh, [the priests] blowing the trumpets as they went. 14 And the second day they circled the city once, and returned into the camp: so they did six days.

15 And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they rose early at the dawning of the day, and compassed the city after the same manner seven times: only on that day they compassed the city seven times. 16 And it came to pass at the seventh time, when the priests blew the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, Shout; for Yahweh has given you+ the city. 17 And the city will be devoted, even it and all that is in it, to Yahweh: only Rahab the prostitute will live, she and all who are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers whom we sent. 18 But as for you+, only keep yourselves from the devoted thing, or else you+ will covet and take of the devoted thing; so you+ would make the camp of Israel accursed, and trouble it. 19 But all the silver, and gold, and vessels of bronze and iron, are holy to Yahweh: they will come into the treasury of Yahweh. 20 So the people shouted, and [the priests] blew the trumpets: and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, that the people shouted with a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. 21 And they completely destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, both young and old, and ox, and sheep, and donkey, with the edge of the sword.

22 And Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, Go into the prostitute's house, and bring out from there the woman, and all who she has, as you+ swore to her. 23 And the young men the spies went in, and brought out Rahab, and her father, and her mother, and her brothers, and all who she had; all her kindred also they brought out; and they set them outside the camp of Israel. 24 And they burned the city with fire, and all that was in it; only the silver, and the gold, and the vessels of bronze and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of Yahweh. 25 But Rahab the prostitute, and her father's household, and all who she had, Joshua saved alive; and she dwelt in the midst of Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers, whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho. 26 And Joshua charged them with an oath at that time, saying, Cursed be the man before Yahweh, that rises up and builds this city Jericho: with the loss of his firstborn he will lay its foundation, and with the loss of his youngest son he will set up the gates of it. 27 So Yahweh was with Joshua; and his fame was in all the land.

7  But the sons of Israel committed a trespass in the devoted thing; for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the devoted thing: and the anger of Yahweh was kindled against the sons of Israel.

2 And Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Beth-aven, on the east side of Beth-el, and spoke to them, saying, Go up and spy out the land. And the men went up and spied out Ai. 3 And they returned to Joshua, and said to him, Don't let all the people go up; but let about two or three thousand men go up and strike Ai; don't make all the people to toil there; for they are but few. 4 So there went up there of the people about three thousand men: and they fled before the men of Ai. 5 And the men of Ai struck of them about thirty and six men; and they chased them [from] before the gate even to Shebarim, and struck them at the descent: and the hearts of the people melted, and became as water.

6 And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of Yahweh until the evening, he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads. 7 And Joshua said, Alas, O Sovereign Yahweh, why have you at all brought this people over the Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to cause us to perish? Would that we had been content and dwelt beyond the Jordan! 8 Oh, Lord, what shall I say, after that Israel has turned their backs before their enemies! 9 For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it, and will surround us, and cut off our name from the earth: and what will you do for your great name?

10 And Yahweh said to Joshua, Get yourself up; why are you thus fallen on your face? 11 Israel has sinned; yes, they have even transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: yes, they have even taken of the devoted thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also; and they have even put it among their own stuff. 12 Therefore the sons of Israel can't stand before their enemies; they turn their backs before their enemies, because they have become accursed: I will not be with you+ anymore, except you+ destroy the devoted thing from among you+. 13 Get up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves against tomorrow: for this is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, There is a devoted thing in the midst of you, O Israel; you can not stand before your enemies, until you+ take away the devoted thing from among you+. 14 In the morning therefore you+ will be brought near by your+ tribes: and it will be, that the tribe which Yahweh takes will come near by families; and the family which Yahweh will take will come near by households; and the household which Yahweh will take will come near man by man. 15 And it will be, that he who is taken with the devoted thing will be burned with fire, he and all that he has; because he has transgressed the covenant of Yahweh, and because he has wrought folly in Israel.

16 So Joshua rose up early in the morning, and brought Israel near by their tribes; and the tribe of Judah was taken: 17 and he brought near the family of Judah; and he took the family of the Zerahites: and he brought near the family of the Zerahites man by man; and Zabdi was taken: 18 and he brought near his household man by man; and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken. 19 And Joshua said to Achan, My son, give, I pray you, glory to Yahweh, the God of Israel, and make confession to him; and tell me now what you have done; don't hide it from me. 20 And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Of a truth I have sinned against Yahweh, the God of Israel, and thus and thus I have done: 21 when I saw among the spoil a goodly Babylonian mantle, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, look, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.

22 So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and, look, it was hid in his tent, and the silver under it. 23 And they took them from the midst of the tent, and brought them to Joshua, and to all the sons of Israel; and they laid them down before Yahweh. 24 And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the mantle, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his donkeys, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them up to the valley of Achor. 25 And Joshua said, Why have you troubled us? Yahweh will trouble you this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones; and they burned them with fire, and heaped stones upon them. 26 And they raised over him a great heap of stones, to this day; and Yahweh turned from the fierceness of his anger. Therefore the name of that place was called, The valley of Achor, to this day.

8  And Yahweh said to Joshua, Don't be afraid, neither be dismayed: take all the people of war with you, and arise, go up to Ai; see, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land; 2 And you will do to Ai and her king as you did to Jericho and her king: only its spoil, and its cattle, you+ will take for a prey to yourselves: set yourself an ambush for the city behind it.

3 So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up to Ai: and Joshua chose out thirty thousand men, the mighty men of valor, and sent them forth by night. 4 And he commanded them, saying, Look, you+ will lie in ambush against the city, behind the city; don't go very far from the city, but all of you+ be ready: 5 and I, and all the people who are with me, will approach to the city. And it will come to pass, when they come out against us, as at the first, that we will flee before them; 6 and they will come out after us, until we have drawn them away from the city; for they will say, They flee before us, as at the first: so we will flee before them; 7 and you+ will rise up from the ambush, and take possession of the city: for Yahweh your+ God will deliver it into your+ hand. 8 And it will be, when you+ have seized on the city, that you+ will set the city on fire; according to the word of Yahweh you+ will do: see, I have commanded you+. 9 And Joshua sent them forth; and they went to the ambush, and remained between Beth-el and Ai, on the west side of Ai: but Joshua lodged that night among the people.

10 And Joshua arose up early in the morning, and mustered the people, and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai. 11 And all the people, [even] the [men of] war who were with him, went up, and drew near, and came before the city, and encamped on the north side of Ai: now there was a valley between him and Ai. 12 And he took about five thousand men, and set them in ambush between Beth-el and Ai, on the west side of the city. 13 So they set the people, even all the host that was on the north of the city, and their ambushers who were on the west of the city; and Joshua went that night into the midst of the valley. 14 And it came to pass, when the king of Ai saw it, that they hurried and rose up early, and the men of the city went out against Israel to battle, he and all his people, for the encounter toward the Arabah; but he didn't know that there was an ambush against him behind the city. 15 And Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness. 16 And all the people who were in the city were called together to pursue after them: and they pursued after Joshua, and were drawn away from the city. 17 And there was not a man left in Ai or Beth-el, who didn't go out after Israel: and they left the city open, and pursued after Israel.

18 And Yahweh said to Joshua, Stretch out the javelin that is in your hand toward Ai; for I will give it into your hand. And Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand toward the city. 19 And [those in] the ambush arose quickly out of their place, and they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand, and entered into the city, and took it; and they hurried and set the city on fire. 20 And when the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw, and, look, the smoke of the city ascended up to heaven, and they had no power to flee this way or that way: and the people who fled to the wilderness turned back on the pursuers. 21 And when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city, and that the smoke of the city ascended, then they turned again, and slew the men of Ai. 22 And the others came forth out of the city against them; so they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side, and some on that side: and they struck them, so that they let none of them remain or escape. 23 And the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him to Joshua.

24 And it came to pass, when Israel had made an end of slaying all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness in which they pursued them, and they were all fallen by the edge of the sword, until they were consumed, that all Israel returned to Ai, and struck it with the edge of the sword. 25 And all who fell that day, both of men and women, were twelve thousand, even all the men of Ai. 26 For Joshua did not draw back his hand, with which he stretched out the javelin, until he had completely destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai. 27 Only the cattle and the spoil of that city Israel took for a prey to themselves, according to the word of Yahweh which he commanded Joshua. 28 So Joshua burned Ai, and made it a heap forever, even a desolation, to this day. 29 And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until evening: and at the going down of the sun Joshua commanded, and they took his body down from the tree, and cast it at the entrance of the gate of the city, and raised on it a great heap of stones, to this day.

30 Then Joshua built an altar to Yahweh, the God of Israel, in mount Ebal, 31 as Moses the slave of Yahweh commanded the sons of Israel, as it is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, an altar of uncut stones, on which no man had lifted up any iron: and they offered on it burnt-offerings to Yahweh, and sacrificed peace-offerings. 32 And he wrote there on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he wrote, in the presence of the sons of Israel. 33 And all Israel, and their elders and officers, and their judges, stood on this side of the ark and on that side before the priests the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, as well the sojourner as the homeborn; half of them in front of mount Gerizim, and half of them in front of mount Ebal; as Moses the slave of Yahweh had commanded at the first, that they should bless the people of Israel. 34 And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, according to all that is written in the Book of the Law. 35 There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, and the women, and the little ones, and the sojourners who were among them.

9  And it came to pass, when all the kings who were beyond the Jordan, in the hill-country, and in the lowland, and on all the shore of the great sea in front of Lebanon, the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, heard of it; 2 that they gathered themselves together, to fight with Joshua and with Israel, with one accord.

3 But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai, 4 they also worked craftily, and went and made as if they had been ambassadors, and took old sacks on their donkeys, and wineskins, old and rent and bound up, 5 and old and patched sandals on their feet, and old garments on them; and all the bread of their provision was dry and had become moldy. 6 And they went to Joshua at the camp in Gilgal, and said to him, and to the men of Israel, We have come from a far country: now therefore make+ a covenant with us. 7 And the men of Israel said to the Hivites, Perhaps you+ dwell among us; and how shall we make a covenant with you+? 8 And they said to Joshua, We are your slaves. And Joshua said to them, Who are you+? And from where do you+ come? 9 And they said to him, From a very far country your slaves have come because of the name of Yahweh your God: for we have heard the fame of him, and all that he did in Egypt, 10 and all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon king of Heshbon, and to Og king of Bashan, who was at Ashtaroth. 11 And our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spoke to us, saying, Take provision in your+ hand for the journey, and go to meet them, and say to them, We are your+ slaves: and now make+ a covenant with us. 12 This bread of ours we took hot for our provision out of our houses on the day we came forth to go to you+; but now, look, it is dry, and has become moldy: 13 and these wineskins, which we filled, were new; and, look, they are rent: and these garments of ours and our sandals have become old by reason of the very long journey. 14 And the men took of their provision, and didn't ask counsel at the mouth of Yahweh. 15 And Joshua made peace with them, and made a covenant with them, to let them live: and the princes of the congregation swore to them.

16 And it came to pass at the end of three days after they had made a covenant with them, that they heard that they lived nearby, and that they dwelt among them; 17 for the sons of Israel journeyed, and came to their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, and Chephirah, and Beeroth, and Kiriath-jearim. 18 And the sons of Israel did not strike them, because the princes of the congregation had sworn to them by Yahweh, the God of Israel. And all the congregation murmured against the princes. 19 But all the princes said to all the congregation, We have sworn to them by Yahweh, the God of Israel: now therefore we may not touch them. 20 This we will do to them, and let them live; lest wrath be on us, because of the oath which we swore to them. 21 And the princes said to them, Let them live and become cutters of wood and drawers of water for all the congregation. So they became cutters of wood and drawers of water for all the congregation, as the princes had spoken to them.

22 And Joshua called for them, and he spoke to them, saying, Why have you+ beguiled us, saying, We are very far from you+; when you+ dwell among us? 23 Now therefore you+ are cursed, and there will never fail to be of you+ slaves, both cutters of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God. 24 And they answered Joshua, and said, Because it was certainly told your slaves, how that Yahweh your God commanded his slave Moses to give you+ all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you+; therefore we were very afraid for our souls because of you+, and have done this thing. 25 And now, look, we are in your hand: as it seems good and right to you to do to us, do. 26 And so he did to them, and delivered them out of the hand of the sons of Israel, that they did not slay them. 27 And Joshua made them that day cutters of wood and drawers of water for the congregation, and for the altar of Yahweh, to this day, in the place which he should choose.

10  Now it came to pass, when Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem heard how Joshua had taken Ai, and had completely destroyed it; as he had done to Jericho and her king, so he had done to Ai and her king; and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel, and were among them; 2 that they feared greatly, because Gibeon was a great city, as one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all its men were mighty. 3 Therefore Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem sent to Hoham king of Hebron, and to Piram king of Jarmuth, and to Japhia king of Lachish, and to Debir king of Eglon, saying, 4 Come up to me, and help me, and let us strike Gibeon; for it has made peace with Joshua and with the sons of Israel. 5 Therefore the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, the king of Eglon, gathered themselves together, and went up, they and all their hosts, and encamped against Gibeon, and made war against it.

6 And the men of Gibeon sent to Joshua at the camp in Gilgal, saying, Do not slack your hand from your slaves; come up to us quickly, and save us, and help us: for all the kings of the Amorites who dwell in the hill-country are gathered together against us. 7 So Joshua went up from Gilgal, he, and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valor. 8 And Yahweh said to Joshua, Don't fear them: for I have delivered them into your hands; not a man of them will stand before you. 9 Joshua therefore came upon them suddenly; [for] he went up from Gilgal all the night. 10 And Yahweh discomfited them before Israel, and he slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, and chased them by the way of the ascent of Beth-horon, and struck them to Azekah, and to Makkedah. 11 And it came to pass, as they fled from before Israel, while they were at the descent of Beth-horon, that Yahweh cast down great stones from heaven on them to Azekah, and they died: they who died with the hailstones were more than they whom the sons of Israel slew with the sword.

12 Then Joshua spoke to Yahweh in the day when Yahweh delivered up the Amorites before the sons of Israel; and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand still on Gibeon; And, Moon, in the valley of Aijalon. 13 And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, Until the nation had avenged themselves of their enemies. Isn't this written in the Book of Jashar? And the sun stopped in the midst of heaven, and didn't hurry to go down about a whole day. 14 And there was no day like that before it or after it, that Yahweh listened to the voice of a man: for Yahweh fought for Israel.

15 And Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to the camp at Gilgal.

16 And these five kings fled, and hid themselves in the cave at Makkedah. 17 And it was told Joshua, saying, The five kings have been found, hidden in the cave at Makkedah. 18 And Joshua said, Roll great stones to the mouth of the cave, and set men by it to keep them: 19 but don't you+ stop; pursue after your+ enemies, and strike the hindmost of them; don't allow them to enter into their cities: for Yahweh your+ God has delivered them into your+ hand. 20 And it came to pass, when Joshua and the sons of Israel had made an end of slaying them with a very great slaughter, until they were consumed, and the remnant which remained of them had entered into the fortified cities, 21 that all the people returned to the camp to Joshua at Makkedah in peace: none moved his tongue against any of the sons of Israel.

22 Then Joshua said, Open the mouth of the cave, and bring forth those five kings to me out of the cave. 23 And they did so, and brought forth those five kings to him out of the cave, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, the king of Eglon. 24 And it came to pass, when they brought forth those kings to Joshua, that Joshua called for all the men of Israel, and said to the chiefs of the men of war that went with him, Come near, put your+ feet on the necks of these kings. And they came near, and put their feet on the necks of them. 25 And Joshua said to them, Don't be afraid, nor be dismayed; be strong and of good courage: for thus will Yahweh do to all your+ enemies against whom you+ fight. 26 And afterward Joshua struck them, and put them to death, and hanged them on five trees: and they were hanging on the trees until the evening. 27 And it came to pass at the time of the going down of the sun, that Joshua commanded, and they took them down off the trees, and cast them into the cave in which they had hidden themselves, and laid great stones on the mouth of the cave, to this very day.

28 And Joshua took Makkedah on that day, and struck it with the edge of the sword, and its king: he completely destroyed them and all the souls who were in it; he left none remaining; and he did to the king of Makkedah as he had done to the king of Jericho.

29 And Joshua passed from Makkedah, and all Israel with him, to Libnah, and fought against Libnah: 30 and Yahweh delivered it also, and its king, into the hand of Israel; and he struck it with the edge of the sword, and all the souls who were in it; he left none remaining in it; and he did to its king as he had done to the king of Jericho.

31 And Joshua passed from Libnah, and all Israel with him, to Lachish, and encamped against it, and fought against it: 32 and Yahweh delivered Lachish into the hand of Israel; and he took it on the second day, and struck it with the edge of the sword, and all the souls who were in it, according to all that he had done to Libnah.

33 Then Horam king of Gezer came up to help Lachish; and Joshua struck him and his people, until he had left him none remaining.

34 And Joshua passed from Lachish, and all Israel with him, to Eglon; and they encamped against it, and fought against it; 35 and they took it on that day, and struck it with the edge of the sword; and all the souls who were in it he completely destroyed that day, according to all that he had done to Lachish.

36 And Joshua went up from Eglon, and all Israel with him, to Hebron; and they fought against it: 37 and they took it, and struck it with the edge of the sword, and its king, and all its cities, and all the souls who were in it; he left none remaining, according to all that he had done to Eglon; but he completely destroyed it, and all the souls who were in it.

38 And Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to Debir, and fought against it: 39 and he took it, and its king, and all its cities; and they struck them with the edge of the sword, and completely destroyed all the souls who were in it; he left none remaining: as he had done to Hebron, so he did to Debir, and to its king; as he had done also to Libnah, and to its king.

40 So Joshua struck all the land, the hill-country, and the South, and the lowland, and the slopes, and all their kings: he left none remaining, but he completely destroyed all that breathed, as Yahweh, the God of Israel, commanded. 41 And Joshua struck them from Kadesh-barnea even to Gaza, and all the country of Goshen, even to Gibeon. 42 And all these kings and their land Joshua took at one time, because Yahweh, the God of Israel, fought for Israel. 43 And Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to the camp at Gilgal.

11  And it came to pass, when Jabin king of Hazor heard of it, that he sent to Jobab king of Maron, and to the king of Shimeon, and to the king of Achshaph, 2 and to the kings who were on the north, in the hill-country, and in the Arabah south of Chinneroth, and in the lowland, and in the heights of Dor on the west, 3 to the Canaanite on the east and on the west, and the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Jebusite in the hill-country, and the Hivite under Hermon in the land of Mizpah. 4 And they went out, they and all their hosts with them, many people, even as the sand that is on the seashore in multitude, with horses and chariots very many. 5 And all these kings met together; and they came and encamped together at the waters of Merom, to fight with Israel.

6 And Yahweh said to Joshua, Don't be afraid because of them; for tomorrow at this time I will deliver them up all slain before Israel: you will hock their horses, and burn their chariots with fire. 7 So Joshua came, and all the people of war with him, against them by the waters of Merom suddenly, and fell on them. 8 And Yahweh delivered them into the hand of Israel, and they struck them, and chased them to great Sidon, and to Misrephoth-maim,[206] and to the valley of Mizpeh eastward; and they struck them, until they left them none remaining. 9 And Joshua did to them as Yahweh bade him: he hocked their horses, and burned their chariots with fire.

10 And Joshua turned back at that time, and took Hazor, and struck its king with the sword: for Hazor formerly was the head of all those kingdoms. 11 And they struck all the souls who were in it with the edge of the sword, completely destroying them; there was none left that breathed: and he burned Hazor with fire. 12 And all the cities of those kings, and all the kings of them, Joshua took, and he struck them with the edge of the sword, and completely destroyed them; as Moses the slave of Yahweh commanded. 13 But as for the cities that stood on their mounds, Israel burned none of them, except Hazor only; that Joshua burned. 14 And all the spoil of these cities, and the cattle, the sons of Israel took for a prey to themselves; but all of man they struck with the edge of the sword, until they had destroyed them, neither had they left any that breathed. 15 As Yahweh commanded Moses his slave, so did Moses command Joshua: and so did Joshua; he left nothing undone of all that Yahweh commanded Moses.

16 So Joshua took all that land, the hill-country, and all the South, and all the land of Goshen, and the lowland, and the Arabah, and the hill-country of Israel, and the lowland of the same; 17 from mount Halak, that goes up to Seir, even to Baal-gad in the valley of Lebanon under mount Hermon: and all their kings he took, and struck them, and put them to death. 18 Joshua made war a long time with all those kings. 19 There was not a city that made peace with the sons of Israel, except the Hivites the inhabitants of Gibeon: they took all in battle. 20 For it was of Yahweh to harden their hearts, to come against Israel in battle, that he might completely destroy them, that they might have no favor, but that he might destroy them, as Yahweh commanded Moses.

21 And Joshua came at that time, and cut off the Anakim from the hill-country, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, and from all the hill-country of Judah, and from all the hill-country of Israel: Joshua completely destroyed them with their cities. 22 There was none of the Anakim left in the land of the sons of Israel: only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod, did some remain. 23 So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that Yahweh spoke to Moses; and Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. And the land had rest from war.

12  Now these are the kings of the land, whom the sons of Israel struck, and possessed their land beyond the Jordan toward the sunrising, from the valley of the Arnon to mount Hermon, and all the Arabah eastward: 2 Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon, and ruled from Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, and [the city that is in] the middle of the valley, and half Gilead, even to the river Jabbok, the border of the sons of Ammon; 3 and the Arabah to the sea of Chinneroth, eastward, and to the sea of the Arabah, even the Salt Sea, eastward, the way to Beth-jeshimoth; and on the south, under the slopes of Pisgah 4 and its border. Og king of Bashan, of the remnant of the Rephaim, who dwelt at Ashtaroth and at Edrei, 5 and ruled in mount Hermon, and in Salecah, and in all Bashan, to the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and [as far as] half of Gilead which is the territory of Sihon king of Heshbon. 6 Moses the slave of Yahweh and the sons of Israel struck them: and Moses the slave of Yahweh gave it for a possession to the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.

7 And these are the kings of the land whom Joshua and the sons of Israel struck beyond the Jordan westward, from Baal-gad in the valley of Lebanon even to mount Halak, that goes up to Seir; and Joshua gave it to the tribes of Israel for a possession according to their divisions; 8 in the hill-country, and in the lowland, and in the Arabah, and in the slopes, and in the wilderness, and in the South; the Hittite, the Amorite, and the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite: 9 the king of Jericho, one; the king of Ai, which is beside Bethel, one; 10 the king of Jerusalem, one; the king of Hebron, one; 11 the king of Jarmuth, one; the king of Lachish, one; 12 the king of Eglon, one; the king of Gezer, one; 13 the king of Debir, one; the king of Geder, one; 14 the king of Hormah, one; the king of Arad, one; 15 the king of Libnah, one; the king of Adullam, one; 16 the king of Makkedah, one; the king of Bethel, one; 17 the king of Tappuah, one; the king of Hepher, one; 18 the king of Aphek, one; the king of Lassharon, one; 19 the king of Madon, one; the king of Hazor, one; 20 the king of Shimeon-meron, one; the king of Achshaph, one; 21 the king of Taanach, one; the king of Megiddo, one; 22 the king of Kedesh, one; the king of Jokneam in Carmel, one; 23 the king of Dor in the height of Dor, one; the king of Goiim in Galilee, one; 24 the king of Tirzah, one: all the kings thirty and one.

13  Now Joshua was old and well stricken in years; and Yahweh said to him, You are old and well stricken in years, and there remains yet very much land to be possessed. 2 This is the land that yet remains: all the regions of the Philistines, and all the Geshurites; 3 from the Shihor, which is before Egypt, even to the border of Ekron northward, [which] is reckoned to the Canaanites; the five lords of the Philistines; the Gazites, and the Ashdodites, the Ashkelonites, the Gittites, and the Ekronites; also the Avvim, 4 on the south; all the land of the Canaanites, and from Arah that belongs to the Sidonians, to Aphek, to the border of the Amorites; 5 and the land of the Gebalites, and all Lebanon, toward the sunrising, from Baal-gad under mount Hermon to the entrance of Hamath; 6 all the inhabitants of the hill-country from Lebanon to Misrephoth-maim, even all the Sidonians; I will drive them out from before the sons of Israel: only allot it to Israel for an inheritance, as I have commanded you. 7 Now therefore divide this land for an inheritance to the nine tribes and the half-tribe of Manasseh; from the Jordan as far as the great sea in the west, you will give it—the great sea and its border.

8 To the two tribes and the half-tribe of Manasseh, with it[207] the Reubenites and the Gadites received their inheritance, which Moses gave them, beyond the Jordan eastward, even as Moses the slave of Yahweh gave them: 9 from Aroer, that is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, and the city that is in the middle of the valley, and all the plain of Medeba to Dibon; 10 and all the cities of Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, to the border of the sons of Ammon; 11 and Gilead, and the border of the Geshurites and Maacathites, and all mount Hermon, and all Bashan to Salecah; 12 all the kingdom of Og in Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth and in Edrei (the same was left of the remnant of the Rephaim); for these Moses struck, and drove them out. 13 Nevertheless the sons of Israel did not drive out the Geshurites, nor the Maacathites: but Geshur and Maacath dwell in the midst of Israel to this day. 14 Only to the tribe of Levi he gave no inheritance; the offerings of Yahweh, the God of Israel, made by fire are his inheritance, as he spoke to him.

15 And Moses gave to the tribe of the sons of Reuben according to their families. 16 And their border was from Aroer, that is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, and the city that is in the middle of the valley, and all the plain by Medeba; 17 Heshbon, and all its cities that are in the plain; Dibon, and Bamoth-baal, and Beth-baal-meon, 18 and Jahaz, and Kedemoth, and Mephaath, 19 and Kiriathaim, and Sibmah, and Zereth-shahar in the mount of the valley, 20 and Beth-peor, and the slopes of Pisgah, and Beth-jeshimoth, 21 and all the cities of the plain, and all the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, whom Moses struck with the chiefs of Midian, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, the princes of Sihon, who dwelt in the land. 22 Balaam also the son of Beor, the fortune-teller, the sons of Israel slew with the sword among the rest of their slain. 23 And the border of the sons of Reuben was the Jordan, and the border [of it]. This was the inheritance of the sons of Reuben according to their families, the cities and its villages.

24 And Moses gave to the tribe of Gad, to the sons of Gad, according to their families. 25 And their border was Jazer, and all the cities of Gilead, and half the land of the sons of Ammon, to Aroer that is before Rabbah; 26 and from Heshbon to Ramath-mizpeh, and Betonim; and from Mahanaim to the border of Lidebor; 27 and in the valley, Beth-haram, and Beth-nimrah, and Succoth, and Zaphon, the rest of the kingdom of Sihon king of Heshbon, the Jordan and the border [of it], to the uttermost part of the sea of Chinnereth beyond the Jordan eastward. 28 This is the inheritance of the sons of Gad according to their families, the cities and its villages.

29 And Moses gave [inheritance] to the half-tribe of Manasseh: and it was for the half-tribe of the sons of Manasseh according to their families. 30 And their border was from Mahanaim, all Bashan, all the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, and all the towns of Jair, which are in Bashan, threescore cities: 31 and half Gilead, and Ashtaroth, and Edrei, the cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan, were for the sons of Machir the son of Manasseh, even for the half of the sons of Machir according to their families.

32 These are the inheritances which Moses distributed in the plains of Moab, beyond the Jordan at Jericho, eastward. 33 But to the tribe of Levi Moses gave no inheritance: Yahweh, the God of Israel, is their inheritance, as he spoke to them.

14  And these are the inheritances which the sons of Israel took in the land of Canaan, which Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers' [houses] of the tribes of the sons of Israel, distributed to them, 2 by the lot of their inheritance, as Yahweh commanded by Moses, for the nine tribes, and for the half-tribe. 3 For Moses had given the inheritance of the two tribes and the half-tribe beyond the Jordan: but to the Levites he gave no inheritance among them. 4 For the sons of Joseph were two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim: and they gave no portion to the Levites in the land, except cities to dwell in, with its suburbs for their cattle and for their substance. 5 As Yahweh commanded Moses, so the sons of Israel did; and they divided the land.

6 Then the sons of Judah drew near to Joshua in Gilgal: and Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, You know the thing that Yahweh spoke to Moses the man of God concerning me and concerning you in Kadesh-barnea. 7 I was forty years old when Moses the slave of Yahweh sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land; and I brought back word to him as it was in my heart. 8 Nevertheless my brothers who went up with me made the heart of the people melt; but I wholly followed Yahweh my God. 9 And Moses swore on that day, saying, Surely the land on which your foot has trodden will be an inheritance to you and to your sons forever, because you have wholly followed Yahweh my God. 10 And now, look, Yahweh has kept me alive, as he spoke, these forty and five years, from the time that Yahweh spoke this word to Moses, while Israel walked in the wilderness: and now, look, I am this day 85 years old. 11 As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, and to go out and to come in. 12 Now therefore give me this hill-country, of which Yahweh spoke in that day; for you heard in that day how the Anakim were there, and cities great and fortified: it may be that Yahweh will be with me, and I will drive them out, as Yahweh spoke.

13 And Joshua blessed him; and he gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for an inheritance. 14 Therefore Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day; because he wholly followed Yahweh, the God of Israel. 15 Now the name of Hebron formerly was Kiriath-arba, which was great among man of Anakim.[208] And the land had rest from war.

15  And the lot for the tribe of the sons of Judah according to their families was to the border of Edom, even to the wilderness of Zin to the Negeb, at the uttermost part of the south. 2 And their south border was from the uttermost part of the Salt Sea, from the bay that looks southward; 3 and it went out southward of the ascent of Akrabbim, and passed along to Zin, and went up by the south of Kadesh-barnea, and passed along by Hezron, and went up to Addar, and turned about to Karka; 4 and it passed along to Azmon, and went out at the brook of Egypt; and the goings out of the border were at the sea: this will be your+ south border. 5 And the east border was the Salt Sea, even to the end of the Jordan. And the border of the north quarter was from the bay of the sea at the end of the Jordan; 6 and the border went up to Beth-hoglah, and passed along by the north of Beth-arabah; and the border went up to the stone of Bohan the son of Reuben; 7 and the border went up to Debir from the valley of Achor, and so northward, looking toward Gilgal, that is across from the ascent of Adummim, which is on the south side of the river; and the border passed along to the waters of En-shemesh, and the goings out of it were at En-rogel; 8 and the border went up by the valley of the son of Hinnom to the side of the Jebusite southward (the same is Jerusalem); and the border went up to the top of the mountain that lies before the valley of Hinnom westward, which is at the uttermost part of the valley of Rephaim northward; 9 and the border extended from the top of the mountain to the fountain of the waters of Nephtoah, and went out to Iyyim of mount Ephron; and the border extended to Baalah (the same is Kiriath-jearim); 10 and the border turned about from Baalah westward to mount Seir, and passed along to the side of mount Jearim on the north (the same is Chesalon), and went down to Beth-shemesh, and passed along by Timnah; 11 and the border went out to the side of Ekron northward; and the border extended to Shikkeron, and passed along to mount Baalah, and went out at Jabneel; and the goings out of the border were at the sea. 12 And the west border was to the great sea, and the border [of it]. This is the border of the sons of Judah round about according to their families.

13 And to Caleb the son of Jephunneh he gave a portion among the sons of Judah, according to the mouth of Yahweh to Joshua, even Kiriath-arba, [which Arba was] the father of Anak (the same is Hebron). 14 And Caleb drove out from there the three sons of Anak: Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai, the children of Anak. 15 And he went up from there against the inhabitants of Debir: now the name of Debir formerly was Kiriath-sepher. 16 And Caleb said, He who strikes Kiriath-sepher, and takes it, to him I will give Achsah my daughter as wife. 17 And Othniel the son of Kenaz, the brother of Caleb, took it: and he gave him Achsah his daughter as wife. 18 And it came to pass, when she came [to him], that she moved him to ask of her father a field: and she dismounted from off her donkey; and Caleb said, What do you want? 19 And she said, Give me a blessing; for that you have set me in the land of the South, give me also springs of water. And he gave her the upper springs and the nether springs.

20 This is the inheritance of the tribe of the sons of Judah according to their families. 21 And the uttermost cities of the tribe of the sons of Judah toward the border of Edom in the South were Kabzeel, and Eder, and Jagur, 22 and Kinah, and Dimonah, and Aradah, 23 and Kedesh, and Hazor of Ithnan, 24 Ziph, and Telem, and Bealoth, 25 and Hazor-hadattah, and Kerioth-hezron (the same is Hazor), 26 Amam, and Shema, and Moladah, 27 and Hazar-gaddah, and Heshmon, and Beth-pelet, 28 and Hazar-shual, and Beer-sheba and its towns, 29 Baalah, and Iim, and Ezem, 30 and Eltolad, and Chesil, and Hormah, 31 and Ziklag, and Madmannah, and Sansannah, 32 and Lebaoth, and Shilhim, and En-rimmon: all the cities are twenty and nine, with their villages.

33 In the lowland, Eshtaol, and Zorah, and Ashnah, 34 and Zanoah, and En-gannim, Tappuah, and Enam, 35 Jarmuth, and Adullam, Socoh, and Azekah, 36 and Shaaraim, and Adithaim, and Gederah, and Gederothaim; fourteen cities with their villages.

37 Zenan, and Hadashah, and Migdal-gad, 38 and Dilean, and Mizpeh, and Joktheel, 39 Lachish, and Bozkath, and Eglon, 40 and Cabbon, and Lahmas, and Chitlish, 41 and Gederoth, Beth-dagon, and Naamah, and Makkedah; sixteen cities with their villages.

42 Libnah, and Ether, and Ashan, 43 and Iphtah, and Ashnah, and Nezib, 44 and Keilah, and Achzib, and Mareshah; nine cities with their villages.

45 Ekron, with its towns and its villages; 46 from Ekron even to the sea, all that were by the side of Ashdod, with their villages.

47 Ashdod, its towns and its villages; Gaza, its towns and its villages; to the brook of Egypt, and the great sea, and the border [of it].

48 And in the hill-country, Shamir, and Jattir, and Socoh, 49 and Dannah, and Kiriath-sannah (the same is Debir), 50 and Anab, and Eshtemoh, and Anim, 51 and Goshen, and Holon, and Giloh; eleven cities with their villages.

52 Arab, and Dumah, and Eshan, 53 and Janim, and Beth-tappuah, and Aphekah, 54 and Humtah, and Kiriath-arba (the same is Hebron), and Zior; nine cities with their villages.

55 Maon, Carmel, and Ziph, and Jutah, 56 and Jezreel, and Jorkeam, and Zanoah, 57 Kain, Gibeah, and Timnah; ten cities with their villages.

58 Halhul, Beth-zur, and Gedor, 59 and Maarath, and Beth-anoth, and Eltekon; six cities with their villages. Tekoa and Ephrathah (that is, Bethlehem) and Peor and Etam and Culon and Tatam and Shoresh and Cerem and Gallim and Bether and Manocho, eleven cities with their villages.

60 Kiriath-baal (the same is Kiriath-jearim), and Rabbah; two cities with their villages.

61 In the wilderness, Beth-arabah, Middin, and Secacah, 62 and Nibshan, and the City of Salt, and En-gedi; six cities with their villages.

63 And as for the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the sons of Judah could not drive them out: but the Jebusites dwell with the sons of Judah at Jerusalem to this day.

16  And the lot came out for the sons of Joseph from the Jordan at Jericho, at the waters of Jericho on the east, even the wilderness, going up from Jericho through the hill-country to Beth-el; 2 and it went out from Beth-el to Luz, and passed along to the border of the Archites to Ataroth; 3 and it went down westward to the border of the Japhletites, to the border of Beth-horon the nether, even to Gezer; and the goings out of it were at the sea. 4 And the sons of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, took their inheritance.

5 And the border of the sons of Ephraim according to their families was [thus]: the border of their inheritance eastward was Ataroth-addar, to Beth-horon the upper; 6 and the border went out westward at Michmethath on the north; and the border turned about eastward to Taanath-shiloh, and passed along it on the east of Janoah; 7 and it went down from Janoah to Ataroth, and to Naarah, and reached to Jericho, and went out at the Jordan. 8 From Tappuah the border went along westward to the brook of Kanah; and the goings out of it were at the sea. This is the inheritance of the tribe of the sons of Ephraim according to their families; 9 together with the cities which were set apart for the sons of Ephraim in the midst of the inheritance of the sons of Manasseh, all the cities with their villages. 10 And they did not drive out the Canaanites who dwelt in Gezer: but the Canaanites dwell in the midst of Ephraim to this day, and have become slave labor.

17  And [this] was the lot for the tribe of Manasseh; for he was the firstborn of Joseph. As for Machir the firstborn of Manasseh, the father of Gilead, because he was a man of war, therefore he had Gilead and Bashan. 2 So [the lot] was for the rest of the sons of Manasseh according to their families: for the sons of Abiezer, and for the sons of Helek, and for the sons of Asriel, and for the sons of Shechem, and for the sons of Hepher, and for the sons of Shemida: these were the male sons of Manasseh the son of Joseph according to their families. 3 But Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, had no sons, but daughters: and these are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, and Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. 4 And they came near before Eleazar the priest, and before Joshua the son of Nun, and before the princes, saying, Yahweh commanded Moses to give us an inheritance among our brothers: therefore according to the mouth of Yahweh he gave them an inheritance among the brothers of their father. 5 And there fell ten parts to Manasseh, besides the land of Gilead and Bashan, which is beyond the Jordan; 6 because the daughters of Manasseh had an inheritance among his sons. And the land of Gilead belonged to the rest of the sons of Manasseh.

7 And the border of Manasseh was from Asher to Michmethath, which is before Shechem; and the border went along to the right hand, to Jashib-en-tappuah. 8 The land of Tappuah belonged to Manasseh; but Tappuah on the border of Manasseh belonged to the sons of Ephraim. 9 And the border went down to the brook of Kanah, southward of the brook: these cities belonged to Ephraim among the cities of Manasseh: and the border of Manasseh was on the north side of the brook, and the goings out of it were at the sea: 10 southward it was Ephraim's, and northward it was Manasseh's, and the sea was his border; and they reached to Asher on the north, and to Issachar on the east. 11 And Manasseh had in Issachar and in Asher Beth-shean and its towns, and Ibleam and its towns, and the inhabitants of Dor and its towns, and the inhabitants of En-dor and its towns, and the inhabitants of Taanach and its towns, and the inhabitants of Megiddo and its towns, the third height. 12 Yet the sons of Manasseh could not drive out [the inhabitants of] those cities; but the Canaanites determined to dwell in that land. 13 And it came to pass, when the sons of Israel were waxed strong, that they put the Canaanites to slave labor, and did not completely drive them out.

14 And the sons of Joseph spoke to Joshua, saying, Why have you given me but one lot and one part for an inheritance, seeing I am a great people, since until now Yahweh has blessed me? 15 And Joshua said to them, If you are a great people, go up for yourself to the forest, and cut down for yourself there in the land of the Perizzites and of the Rephaim; since the hill-country of Ephraim is too narrow for you. 16 And the sons of Joseph said, The hill-country is not enough for us: and all the Canaanites who dwell in the land of the valley have chariots of iron, both they who are in Beth-shean and its towns, and they who are in the valley of Jezreel. 17 And Joshua spoke to the house of Joseph, even to Ephraim and to Manasseh, saying, You are a great people, and have great power; you will not have one lot only: 18 but the hill-country will be yours; for though it is a forest, you will cut it down, and the goings out of it will be yours; for you will drive out the Canaanites, though they have chariots of iron, and though they are strong.

18  And the whole congregation of the sons of Israel assembled themselves together at Shiloh, and caused the tent of meeting to stay there: and the land was subdued before them. 2 And there remained among the sons of Israel seven tribes, which had not yet divided their inheritance. 3 And Joshua said to the sons of Israel, How long are you+ slack to go in to possess the land, which Yahweh, the God of your+ fathers, has given you+? 4 Appoint for yourselves three men of each tribe: and I will send them, and they will arise, and walk through the land, and describe it according to their inheritance; and they will come to me. 5 And they will divide it into seven portions: Judah will remain in his border on the south, and the house of Joseph will remain in their border on the north. 6 And you+ will describe the land into seven portions, and bring [the description] here to me; and I will cast lots for you+ here before Yahweh our God. 7 For the Levites have no portion among you+; for the priesthood of Yahweh is their inheritance: and Gad and Reuben and the half-tribe of Manasseh have received their inheritance beyond the Jordan eastward, which Moses the slave of Yahweh gave them.

8 And the men arose, and went: and Joshua charged those who went to describe the land, saying, Go and walk through the land, and describe it, and come again to me; and I will cast lots for you+ here before Yahweh in Shiloh. 9 And the men went and passed through the land, and described it by cities into seven portions in a book; and they came to Joshua at the camp in Shiloh. 10 And Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before Yahweh: and there Joshua divided the land to the sons of Israel according to their divisions.

11 And the lot of the tribe of the sons of Benjamin came up according to their families: and the border of their lot went out between the sons of Judah and the sons of Joseph. 12 And their border on the north quarter was from the Jordan; and the border went up to the side of Jericho on the north, and went up through the hill-country westward; and the goings out of it were at the wilderness of Beth-aven. 13 And the border passed along from there to Luz, to the side of Luz (the same is Beth-el), southward; and the border went down to Ataroth-orech, by the mountain that lies on the south of Beth-horon the nether. 14 And the border extended [from there], and turned about on the west quarter southward, from the mountain that lies before Beth-horon southward; and the goings out of it were at Kiriath-baal (the same is Kiriath-jearim), a city of the sons of Judah: this was the west quarter. 15 And the south quarter was from the uttermost part of Kiriath-jearim; and the border went out toward Iyyim, and went out to the fountain of the waters of Nephtoah; 16 and the border went down to the uttermost part of the mountain that lies before the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is in the valley of Rephaim northward; and it went down to the valley of Hinnom, to the side of the Jebusite southward, and went down to En-rogel; 17 and it extended northward, and went out at En-shemesh, and went out to Geliloth, which is across from the ascent of Adummim; and it went down to the stone of Bohan the son of Reuben; 18 and it passed along to the side across from the Arabah northward, and went down to the Arabah; 19 and the border passed along to the side of Beth-hoglah northward; and the goings out of the border were at the north bay of the Salt Sea, at the south end of the Jordan: this was the south border. 20 And the Jordan was the border of it on the east quarter. This was the inheritance of the sons of Benjamin, by its borders round about, according to their families.

21 Now the cities of the tribe of the sons of Benjamin according to their families were Jericho, and Beth-hoglah, and Emek-keziz, 22 and Beth-arabah, and Zemaraim, and Beth-el, 23 and Avvim, and Parah, and Ophrah, 24 and Chephar-ammoni, and Ophni, and Geba; twelve cities with their villages: 25 Gibeon, and Ramah, and Beeroth, 26 and Mizpeh, and Chephirah, and Mozah, 27 and Rekem, and Irpeel, and Taralah, 28 and Zelah, Eleph, and Jebusi, that is Jerusalem, Gibeath, [and] Kiriath-jearim; fourteen cities with their villages. This is the inheritance of the sons of Benjamin according to their families.

19  And the second lot came out for Simeon, even for the tribe of the sons of Simeon according to their families: and their inheritance was in the midst of the inheritance of the sons of Judah. 2 And they had for their inheritance Beer-sheba, and Shema, and Moladah, 3 and Hazar-shual, and Balah, and Ezem, 4 and Eltolad, and Bethul, and Hormah, 5 and Ziklag, and Beth-marcaboth, and Hazar-susah, 6 and Beth-lebaoth, and Sharuhen; thirteen cities with their villages: 7 En-rimmon, and Ether, and Ashan:[209] 8 and all the villages that were round about these cities to Baalath-beer, Ramah of the South. This is the inheritance of the tribe of the sons of Simeon according to their families. 9 Out of the part of the sons of Judah was the inheritance of the sons of Simeon; for the portion of the sons of Judah was too much for them: therefore the sons of Simeon had inheritance in the midst of their inheritance.

10 And the third lot came up for the sons of Zebulun according to their families; and the border of their inheritance was to Sarid; 11 and their border went up westward, even to Maralah, and reached to Dabbesheth; and it reached to the brook that is before Jokneam; 12 and it turned from Sarid eastward toward the sunrising to the border of Chisloth-tabor; and it went out to Daberath, and went up to Japhia; 13 and from there it passed along eastward to Gath-hepher, to Eth-kazin; and it went out at Rimmonah stretching to Neah; 14 and the border turned about it on the north to Hannathon; and the goings out of it were at the valley of Iphtah-el; 15 and Kattath, and Nahalal, and Shimeon, and Jiralah, and Bethlehem: twelve cities with their villages. 16 This is the inheritance of the sons of Zebulun according to their families, these cities with their villages.

17 The fourth lot came out for Issachar, even for the sons of Issachar according to their families. 18 And their border was to Jezreel, and Chesulloth, and Shunem, 19 and Hapharaim, and Shion, and Anaharath, 20 and Rabbith, and Kishion, and Ebez, 21 and Remeth, and Engannim, and En-haddah, and Beth-pazzez, 22 and the border reached to Tabor, and Shahazumah, and Beth-shemesh; and the goings out of their border were at the Jordan: sixteen cities with their villages. 23 This is the inheritance of the tribe of the sons of Issachar according to their families, the cities with their villages.

24 And the fifth lot came out for the tribe of the sons of Asher according to their families. 25 And their border was Helkath, and Hali, and Beten, and Achshaph, 26 and Allammelech, and Amad, and Mishal; and it reached to Carmel westward, and to Shihor-libnath; 27 and it turned toward the sunrising to Beth-dagon, and reached to Zebulun, and to the valley of Iphtah-el northward to Beth-emek and Neiel; and it went out to Cabul on the left hand, 28 and Adbon, and Rehob, and Hammon, and Kanah, even to great Sidon; 29 and the border turned to Ramah, and to the fortified city of Tyre; and the border turned to Hosah, and the goings out of it were at the sea; Mahalab, Achzib; 30 Acco also, and Aphek, and Rehob: twenty and two cities with their villages. 31 This is the inheritance of the tribe of the sons of Asher according to their families, these cities with their villages.

32 The sixth lot came out for the sons of Naphtali, even for the sons of Naphtali according to their families. 33 And their border was from Heleph, from the oak in Zaanannim, and Adaminekeb, and Jabneel, to Lakkum; and the goings out of it were at the Jordan; 34 and the border turned westward to Aznoth-tabor, and went out from there to Hukkok; and it reached to Zebulun on the south, and reached to Asher on the west, and to Jehuda at the Jordan toward the sunrising. 35 And the fortified cities were Ziddim, Zer, and Hammath, Rakkath, and Chinnereth, 36 and Adamah, and Ramah, and Hazor, 37 and Kedesh, and Edrei, and En-hazor, 38 And Iron, and Migdal-el, Horem, and Beth-anath, and Beth-shemesh; nineteen cities with their villages. 39 This is the inheritance of the tribe of the sons of Naphtali according to their families, the cities with their villages.

40 The seventh lot came out for the tribe of the sons of Dan according to their families. 41 And the border of their inheritance was Zorah, and Eshtaol, and Ir-shemesh, 42 and Shaalabbin, and Aijalon, and Ithlah, 43 and Elon, and Timnah, and Ekron, 44 and Eltekeh, and Gibbethon, and Baalath, 45 and Jehud, and Azor, and Bene-berak, and Gath-rimmon, 46 and Me-jarkon, and Rakkon, with the border across from Joppa. 47 And the border of the sons of Dan went out beyond them; for the sons of Dan went up and fought against Leshem, and took it, and struck it with the edge of the sword, and possessed it, and dwelt in it, and called Leshem, Dan, after the name of Dan their father. 48 This is the inheritance of the tribe of the sons of Dan according to their families, these cities with their villages.

49 So they made an end of distributing the land for inheritance by its borders; and the sons of Israel gave an inheritance to Joshua the son of Nun in the midst of them: 50 according to the mouth of Yahweh they gave him the city which he asked, even Timnath-serah in the hill-country of Ephraim; and he built the city, and dwelt in it.

51 These are the inheritances, which Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers' [houses] of the tribes of the sons of Israel, distributed for inheritance by lot in Shiloh before Yahweh, at the door of the tent of meeting. So they made an end of dividing the land.

20  And Yahweh spoke to Joshua, saying, 2 Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, Assign for yourselves the cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you+ by Moses, 3 that the manslayer who strikes any soul unintentionally [and] unawares may flee there: and they will be to you+ for a refuge from the avenger of blood. 4 And he will flee to one of those cities, and will stand at the entrance of the gate of the city, and declare his cause in the ears of the elders of that city; and they will take him into the city to them, and give him a place, that he may dwell among them. 5 And if the avenger of blood pursues after him, then they will not deliver up the manslayer into his hand; because he struck his fellow man unawares, and did not hate him formerly. 6 And he will dwell in that city, until he stands before the congregation for judgment, until the death of the high priest who will be in those days: then the manslayer will return, and come to his own city, and to his own house, to the city from where he fled.

7 And they set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hill-country of Naphtali, and Shechem in the hill-country of Ephraim, and Kiriath-arba (the same is Hebron) in the hill-country of Judah. 8 And beyond the Jordan at Jericho eastward, they assigned Bezer in the wilderness in the plain out of the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead out of the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan out of the tribe of Manasseh. 9 These were the appointed cities for all the sons of Israel, and for the stranger who sojourns among them, that whoever strikes any soul unintentionally might flee there, and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood, until he stands before the congregation.

21  Then the heads of fathers' [houses] of the Levites came near to Eleazar the priest, and to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the heads of fathers' [houses] of the tribes of the sons of Israel; 2 and they spoke to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, Yahweh commanded Moses to give us cities to dwell in, with their suburbs for our cattle. 3 And the sons of Israel gave to the Levites out of their inheritance, according to the mouth of Yahweh, these cities with their suburbs.

4 And the lot came out for the families of the Kohathites: and the sons of Aaron the priest, who were of the Levites, had by lot out of the tribe of Judah, and out of the tribe of the Simeonites, and out of the tribe of Benjamin, thirteen cities.

5 And the rest of the sons of Kohath had by lot out of the families of the tribe of Ephraim, and out of the tribe of Dan, and out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, ten cities.

6 And the sons of Gershon had by lot out of the families of the tribe of Issachar, and out of the tribe of Asher, and out of the tribe of Naphtali, and out of the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan, thirteen cities.

7 The sons of Merari according to their families had out of the tribe of Reuben, and out of the tribe of Gad, and out of the tribe of Zebulun, twelve cities.

8 And the sons of Israel gave by lot to the Levites these cities with their suburbs, as Yahweh commanded by Moses. 9 And they gave out of the tribe of the sons of Judah, and out of the tribe of the sons of Simeon, these cities which are [here] mentioned by name: 10 and they were for the sons of Aaron, of the families of the Kohathites, who were of the sons of Levi; for theirs was the first lot. 11 And they gave them Kiriath-arba, [Arba was] the father of Anak (the same is Hebron), in the hill-country of Judah, with its suburbs round about it. 12 But the fields of the city, and its villages, they gave to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for his possession.

13 And to the sons of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron with its suburbs—the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Libnah with its suburbs, 14 and Jattir with its suburbs, and Eshtemoa with its suburbs, 15 and Holon with its suburbs, and Debir with its suburbs, 16 and Ashan with its suburbs, and Juttah with its suburbs, [and] Beth-shemesh with its suburbs; nine cities out of those two tribes. 17 And out of the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon with its suburbs, Geba with its suburbs, 18 Anathoth with its suburbs, and Almon with its suburbs; four cities. 19 All the cities of the sons of Aaron, the priests, were thirteen cities with their suburbs.

20 And the families of the sons of Kohath, the Levites, even the rest of the sons of Kohath, they had the cities of their lot out of the tribe of Ephraim. 21 And they gave them Shechem with its suburbs in the hill-country of Ephraim—the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Gezer with its suburbs, 22 and Kibzaim with its suburbs, and Beth-horon with its suburbs; four cities. 23 And out of the tribe of Dan, Elteke with its suburbs, Gibbethon with its suburbs, 24 Aijalon with its suburbs, and Jibleam with its suburbs; four cities. 25 And out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Taanach with its suburbs, and Gath-rimmon with its suburbs; two cities. 26 All the cities of the families of the rest of the sons of Kohath were ten with their suburbs.

27 And to the sons of Gershon, of the families of the Levites, out of the half-tribe of Manasseh [they gave] Golan in Bashan with its suburbs—the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Be-eshterah with its suburbs; two cities. 28 And out of the tribe of Issachar, Kishion with its suburbs, Daberath with its suburbs, 29 Jarmuth with its suburbs, En-gannim with its suburbs; four cities. 30 And out of the tribe of Asher, Mishal with its suburbs, Abdon with its suburbs, 31 Helkath with its suburbs, and Rehob with its suburbs; four cities. 32 And out of the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with its suburbs—the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Hammoth-dor with its suburbs, and Kartan with its suburbs; three cities. 33 All the cities of the Gershonites according to their families were thirteen cities with their suburbs.

34 And to the families of the sons of Merari, the rest of the Levites, out of the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with its suburbs, and Kartah with its suburbs, 35 Rimmonah with its suburbs, Nahalal with its suburbs; four cities. 36 And from beyond the Jordan at Jericho, out of the tribe of Reuben, Bezer in the desert of the plateau with its suburbs—the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Jazer with its suburbs, 37 Kedemoth with its suburbs, and Mephaath with its suburbs; four cities. 38 And out of the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Gilead with its suburbs—the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Mahanaim with its suburbs, 39 Heshbon with its suburbs, Jazer with its suburbs; four cities in all. 40 All [these were] the cities of the sons of Merari according to their families, even the rest of the families of the Levites; and their lot was twelve cities.

41 All the cities of the Levites in the midst of the possession of the sons of Israel were forty and eight cities with their suburbs. 42 These cities were every one with their suburbs round about them: thus it was with all these cities.

43 So Yahweh gave to Israel all the land which he swore to give to their fathers; and they possessed it, and dwelt in it. 44 And Yahweh gave them rest round about, according to all that he swore to their fathers: and there didn't stand a man of all their enemies before them; Yahweh delivered all their enemies into their hand. 45 There did not fail anything of any good thing which Yahweh had spoken to the house of Israel; all came to pass.

22  Then Joshua called the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, 2 and said to them, You+ have kept all that Moses the slave of Yahweh commanded you+, and have listened to my voice in all that I commanded you+: 3 you+ haven't left your+ brothers these many days to this day, but have kept the charge of the commandment of Yahweh your+ God. 4 And now Yahweh your+ God has given rest to your+ brothers, as he spoke to them: therefore now turn+, and you+ go to your+ tents, to the land of your+ possession, which Moses the slave of Yahweh gave you+ beyond the Jordan. 5 Only take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law which Moses the slave of Yahweh commanded you+, to love Yahweh your+ God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to stick to him, and to serve him with all your+ heart and with all your+ soul. 6 So Joshua blessed them, and sent them away; and they went to their tents.

7 Now to the one half-tribe of Manasseh Moses had given [inheritance] in Bashan; but to the other half Joshua gave among their brothers beyond the Jordan westward. Moreover when Joshua sent them away to their tents, he blessed them, 8 and spoke to them, saying, Return with much wealth to your+ tents, and with very much cattle, with silver, and with gold, and with bronze, and with iron, and with very much raiment: divide the spoil of your+ enemies with your+ brothers. 9 And the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh returned, and departed from the sons of Israel out of Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go to the land of Gilead, to the land of their possession, of which they acquired possession, according to the mouth of Yahweh by Moses.

10 And when they came to the region about the Jordan, that is in the land of Canaan, the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an altar there by the Jordan, a great altar to look at. 11 And the sons of Israel heard it said, Look, the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built an altar in the forefront of the land of Canaan, in the region about the Jordan, on the side that pertains to the sons of Israel. 12 And when the sons of Israel heard of it, the whole congregation of the sons of Israel gathered themselves together at Shiloh, to go up against them to war.

13 And the sons of Israel sent to the sons of Reuben, and to the sons of Gad, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, into the land of Gilead, Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, 14 and with him ten princes, one prince of a fathers' house for each of the tribes of Israel; and they were every one of them head of their fathers' houses among the thousands of Israel. 15 And they came to the sons of Reuben, and to the sons of Gad, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, to the land of Gilead, and they spoke with them, saying, 16 Thus says the whole congregation of Yahweh, What trespass is this that you+ have committed against the God of Israel, to turn away this day from following Yahweh, in that you+ have built yourselves an altar, to rebel this day against Yahweh? 17 Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us, from which we haven't cleansed ourselves to this day, although there came a plague on the congregation of Yahweh, 18 that you+ must turn away this day from following Yahweh? And it will be, seeing you+ rebel today against Yahweh, that tomorrow he will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel. 19 Nevertheless, if the land of your+ possession is unclean, then you+ pass over to the land of the possession of Yahweh, in which Yahweh's tabernacle stays, and take possession among us: but don't rebel against Yahweh, nor rebel against us, in building yourselves an altar besides the altar of Yahweh our God. 20 Did not Achan the son of Zerah commit a trespass in the devoted thing, and wrath fell on all the congregation of Israel? And that man didn't perish alone in his iniquity.

21 Then the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered, and spoke to the heads of the thousands of Israel, 22 The Mighty One, God, Yahweh, the Mighty One, God, Yahweh, he knows; and Israel he will know: if it is in rebellion, or if in trespass against Yahweh, don't you save us this day. 23 If we have built ourselves an altar to turn away from following Yahweh; or if to offer on it burnt-offering or meal-offering, or if to offer sacrifices of peace-offerings on it, let Yahweh himself require it. 24 And if we have not [rather] out of carefulness done this, [and] of purpose, saying, In time to come your+ sons might speak to our sons, saying, What do you+ have to do with Yahweh, the God of Israel? 25 For Yahweh has made the Jordan a border between us and you+, you+ sons of Reuben and sons of Gad; you+ have no portion in Yahweh: so might your+ sons make our sons cease from fearing Yahweh. 26 Therefore we said, Let us now prepare to build ourselves an altar, not for burnt-offering, nor for sacrifice: 27 but it will be a witness between us and you+, and between our generations after us, that we may do the service of Yahweh before him with our burnt-offerings, and with our sacrifices, and with our peace-offerings; that your+ sons may not say to our sons in time to come, You+ have no portion in Yahweh. 28 Therefore we said, It will be, when they so say to us or to our generations in time to come, that we will say, Look at the pattern of the altar of Yahweh, which our fathers made, not for burnt-offering, nor for sacrifice; but it is a witness between us and you+. 29 Far be it from us that we should rebel against Yahweh, and turn away this day from following Yahweh, to build an altar for burnt-offering, for meal-offering, or for sacrifice, besides the altar of Yahweh our God that is before his tabernacle.

30 And when Phinehas the priest, and the princes of the congregation, even the heads of the thousands of Israel who were with him, heard the words that the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the sons of Manasseh spoke, it pleased them well. 31 And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said to the sons of Reuben, and to the sons of Gad, and to the sons of Manasseh, This day we know that Yahweh is in the midst of us, because you+ haven't committed this trespass against Yahweh: now you+ have delivered the sons of Israel out of the hand of Yahweh. 32 And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, and the princes, returned from the sons of Reuben, and from the sons of Gad, out of the land of Gilead, to the land of Canaan, to the sons of Israel, and brought word back to them. 33 And the thing pleased the sons of Israel; and the sons of Israel blessed God, and spoke no more of going up against them to war, to destroy the land in which the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad dwelt. 34 And the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad gave the altar a name: It is a witness between us that Yahweh is God.

23  And it came to pass after many days, when Yahweh had given rest to Israel from all their enemies round about, and Joshua was old and well stricken in years; 2 that Joshua called for all Israel, for their elders and for their heads, and for their judges and for their officers, and said to them, I am old and well stricken in years: 3 and you+ have seen all that Yahweh your+ God has done to all these nations because of you+; for Yahweh your+ God, it is he who has fought for you+. 4 Look, I have allotted to you+ these nations that remain, to be an inheritance for your+ tribes, from the Jordan, with all the nations that I have cut off, even to the great sea toward the going down of the sun. 5 And Yahweh your+ God, he will thrust them out from before you+, and drive them from out of your+ sight; and you+ will possess their land, as Yahweh your+ God spoke to you+. 6 Therefore be+ very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, that you+ don't turn aside therefrom to the right hand or to the left; 7 that you+ don't come among these nations, these that remain among you+; neither make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause to swear [by them], neither serve them, nor bow down yourselves to them; 8 but stick to Yahweh your+ God, as you+ have done to this day. 9 For Yahweh has driven out from before you+ great and strong nations: but as for you+, no man has stood before you+ to this day. 10 One man of you+ will chase a thousand; for Yahweh your+ God, it is he who fights for you+, as he spoke to you+. 11 Take good heed therefore to your+ souls, that you+ love Yahweh your+ God. 12 Else if you+ do at all go back, and stick to the remnant of these nations, even these that remain among you+, and make marriages with them, and go in to them, and they to you+; 13 know for a certainty that Yahweh your+ God will no more drive these nations from out of your+ sight; but they will be a snare and a trap to you+, and a scourge in your+ sides, and thorns in your+ eyes, until you+ perish from off this good land which Yahweh your+ God has given you+.

14 And, look, this day I am going the way of all the earth: and you+ know in all your+ hearts and in all your+ souls, that not one thing has failed of all the good things which Yahweh your+ God spoke concerning you+; all have come to pass to you+, not one thing has failed of them. 15 And it will come to pass, that as all the good things have come upon you+ of which Yahweh your+ God spoke to you+, so will Yahweh bring on you+ all the evil things, until he destroys you+ from off this good land which Yahweh your+ God has given you+. 16 When you+ transgress the covenant of Yahweh your+ God, which he commanded you+, and go and serve other gods, and bow down yourselves to them; then the anger of Yahweh will be kindled against you+, and you+ will perish quickly from off the good land which he has given to you+.

24  And Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel, and for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers; and they presented themselves before God. 2 And Joshua said to all the people, This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, Your+ fathers dwelt of old time beyond the River, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nahor: and they served other gods. 3 And I took your+ father Abraham from beyond the River, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his seed, and gave him Isaac. 4 And I gave to Isaac Jacob and Esau: and I gave to Esau mount Seir, to possess it: and Jacob and his sons went down into Egypt. 5 And I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt, according to that which I did in the midst of it: and afterward I brought you+ out. 6 And I brought your+ fathers out of Egypt: and you+ came to the sea; and the Egyptians pursued after your+ fathers with chariots and with horsemen to the Red Sea. 7 And when they cried out to Yahweh, he put darkness between you+ and the Egyptians, and brought the sea on them, and covered them; and your+ eyes saw what I did in Egypt: and you+ dwelt in the wilderness many days. 8 And I brought you+ into the land of the Amorites, who dwelt beyond the Jordan: and they fought with you+; and I gave them into your+ hand, and you+ possessed their land; and I destroyed them from before you+. 9 Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and fought against Israel: and he sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you+; 10 but I would not listen to Balaam; therefore he blessed you+ still: so I delivered you+ out of his hand. 11 And you+ went over the Jordan, and came to Jericho: and the men of Jericho fought against you+, the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Girgashite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite; and I delivered them into your+ hand. 12 And I sent the hornet before you+, which drove them out from before you+, even the two kings of the Amorites; not with your sword, nor with your bow. 13 And I gave you+ a land on which you had not labored, and cities which you+ did not build, and you+ dwell in them; of vineyards and oliveyards which you+ did not plant, you+ are eating.

14 Now therefore fear Yahweh, and serve him in sincerity and in truth; and put away the gods which your+ fathers served beyond the River, and in Egypt; and serve+ Yahweh. 15 And if it seems evil to you+ to serve Yahweh, choose you+ this day whom you+ will serve; whether the gods which your+ fathers served who were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you+ dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve Yahweh.

16 And the people answered and said, Far be it from us that we should forsake Yahweh, to serve other gods; 17 for Yahweh our God, it is he who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slaves, and who did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way in which we went, and among all the peoples through the midst of whom we passed; 18 and Yahweh drove out from before us all the peoples, even the Amorites who dwelt in the land: therefore we also will serve Yahweh; for he is our God.

19 And Joshua said to the people, You+ can't serve Yahweh; for he is a holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your+ transgression nor your+ sins. 20 If you+ forsake Yahweh, and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do evil to you+, and consume you+, after he has done you+ good. 21 And the people said to Joshua, No; but we will serve Yahweh. 22 And Joshua said to the people, You+ are witnesses against yourselves that you+ have chosen for yourselves Yahweh, to serve him. And they said, We are witnesses. 23 Now therefore put away, [he said], the foreign gods which are among you+, and incline your+ heart to Yahweh, the God of Israel. 24 And the people said to Joshua, Yahweh our God we will serve, and to his voice we will listen. 25 So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and set them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem. 26 And Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God; and he took a great stone, and set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of Yahweh. 27 And Joshua said to all the people, Look, this stone will be a witness against us; for it has heard all the words of Yahweh which he spoke to us: it will therefore be a witness against you+, in case you+ deny your+ God. 28 So Joshua sent the people away, every man to his inheritance.

29 And it came to pass after these things, that Joshua the son of Nun, the slave of Yahweh, died, being a hundred and ten years old. 30 And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnathserah, which is in the hill-country of Ephraim, on the north of the mountain of Gaash. 31 And Israel served Yahweh all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, and had known all the work of Yahweh, that he had wrought for Israel.

32 And the bones of Joseph, which the sons of Israel brought up out of Egypt, they buried in Shechem, in the parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred kesitah [of silver]: and they[210] became the inheritance of the sons of Joseph. 33 And Eleazar the son of Aaron died; and they buried him in the hill of Phinehas his son, which was given to him in the hill-country of Ephraim.

__________________________

Judges

1  And it came to pass after the death of Joshua, that the sons of Israel asked of Yahweh, saying, Who will go up for us first against the Canaanites, to fight against them? 2 And Yahweh said, Judah will go up: look, I have delivered the land into his hand. 3 And Judah said to Simeon his brother, Come up with me into my lot, that we may fight against the Canaanites; and I likewise will go with you into your lot. So Simeon went with him. 4 And Judah went up; and Yahweh delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand: and they struck of them in Bezek ten thousand men. 5 And they found Adoni-bezek in Bezek; and they fought against him, and they struck the Canaanites and the Perizzites. 6 But Adoni-bezek fled; and they pursued after him, and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his great toes. 7 And Adoni-bezek said, Seventy kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered [their food] under my table: as I have done, so God has repaid me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.

8 And the sons of Judah fought against Jerusalem, and took it, and struck it with the edge of the sword, and set the city on fire. 9 And afterward the sons of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites who dwelt in the hill-country, and in the South, and in the lowland. 10 And Judah went against the Canaanites who dwelt in Hebron (now the name of Hebron formerly was Kiriath-arba); and they struck Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai.

11 And from there he went against the inhabitants of Debir. (Now the name of Debir formerly was Kiriath-sepher.) 12 And Caleb said, He who strikes Kiriath-sepher, and takes it, to him I will give Achsah my daughter as wife. 13 And Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, took it: and he gave him Achsah his daughter as wife. 14 And it came to pass, when she came [to him], that she moved him to ask of her father a field: and she dismounted from off her donkey; and Caleb said to her, What do you want? 15 And she said to him, Give me a blessing; for that you have set me in the land of the South, give me also springs of water. And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the nether springs.

16 And the sons of the Kenite, Moses' father-in-law, went up out of the city of palm-trees with the sons of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which is in the Negeb of Arad; and Amalek went and dwelt with them. 17 And Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they struck the Canaanites that inhabited Zephath, and completely destroyed it. And the name of the city was called Hormah. 18 Also Judah took Gaza with its border, and Ashkelon with its border, and Ekron with its border. 19 And Yahweh was with Judah; and drove out [the inhabitants of] the hill-country; for he could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron. 20 And they gave Hebron to Caleb, as Moses had spoken: and he drove out from there the three sons of Anak. 21 And the sons of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem; but the Jebusites dwell with the sons of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.

22 And the house of Joseph, they also went up against Beth-el; and Yahweh was with them. 23 And the house of Joseph sent to spy out Beth-el. (Now the name of the city formerly was Luz.) 24 And the watchers saw a man come forth out of the city, and they said to him, Show us, we pray you, the entrance into the city, and we will deal kindly with you. 25 And he showed them the entrance into the city; and they struck the city with the edge of the sword; but they let the man go and all his family. 26 And the man went into the land of the Hittites, and built a city, and called its name Luz, which is its name to this day.

27 And Manasseh did not drive out [the inhabitants of] Beth-shean and its towns, nor [of] Taanach and its towns, nor the inhabitants of Dor and its towns, nor the inhabitants of Ibleam and its towns, nor the inhabitants of Megiddo and its towns; but the Canaanites determined to dwell in that land. 28 And it came to pass, when Israel was waxed strong, that they put the Canaanites to slave labor, and did not completely drive them out.

29 And Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites who dwelt in Gezer; but the Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among them.

30 Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol; but the Canaanites dwelt among them, and became subject to slave labor.

31 Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Acco, nor the inhabitants of Sidon, nor of Ahlab, nor of Achzib, nor of Helbah, nor of Aphik, nor of Rehob; 32 but the Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; for they did not drive them out.

33 Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh, nor the inhabitants of Beth-anath; but he dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: nevertheless the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and of Beth-anath became subject to slave labor.

34 And the Amorites forced the sons of Dan into the hill-country; for they would not allow them to come down to the valley; 35 but the Amorites determined to dwell in mount Heres, in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim: yet the hand of the house of Joseph prevailed, so that they became subject to slave labor. 36 And the border of the Amorites was the Edomites, from the ascent of Akrabbim, from the rock, and upward.

2  And the angel of Yahweh came up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, I made you+ to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you+ to the land which I swore to your+ fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you+: 2 and you+ will make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you+ will break down their altars. But you+ haven't listened to my voice: why have you+ done this? 3 Therefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you+; but they will be [as thorns] in your+ sides, and their gods will be a snare to you+. 4 And it came to pass, when the angel of Yahweh spoke these words to all the sons of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice, and wept. 5 And they called the name of that place Bochim: and they sacrificed there to Yahweh.

6 Now when Joshua had sent the people away, the sons of Israel went every man to his inheritance to possess the land. 7 And the people served Yahweh all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of Yahweh that he had wrought for Israel. 8 And Joshua the son of Nun, the slave of Yahweh, died, being a hundred and ten years old. 9 And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill-country of Ephraim, on the north of the mountain of Gaash. 10 And also all that generation were gathered+ to their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, who didn't know Yahweh, nor yet the work which he had wrought for Israel.

11 And the sons of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, and served the Baalim; 12 and they forsook Yahweh, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the peoples who were round about them, and bowed themselves down to them: and they provoked Yahweh to anger. 13 And they forsook Yahweh, and served Baal and the Ashtaroth. 14 And the anger of Yahweh was kindled against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that despoiled them; and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies. 15 Wherever they went out, the hand of Yahweh was against them for evil, as Yahweh had spoken, and as Yahweh had sworn to them: and they were very distressed.

16 And Yahweh raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who despoiled them. 17 And yet they didn't listen to their judges; for they prostituted after other gods, and bowed themselves down to them: they turned aside quickly out of the way in which their fathers walked, obeying the commandments of Yahweh; [but] they did not so. 18 And when Yahweh raised up judges for them, then Yahweh was with the judge, and saved them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: for it repented Yahweh because of their groaning by reason of those who oppressed them and vexed them. 19 But it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they turned back, and dealt more corruptly than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down to them; they didn't cease from their doings, nor from their stubborn way. 20 And the anger of Yahweh was kindled against Israel; and he said, Because this nation transgressed+ my covenant which I commanded their fathers, and did not listen+ to my voice; 21 I also will not, from now on, drive out any from before them of the nations that Joshua left when he died; 22 that by them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of Yahweh to walk in it, as their fathers kept it, or not. 23 So Yahweh left those nations, without driving them out hastily; neither did he deliver them into the hand of Joshua.

3  Now these are the nations which Yahweh left, to prove Israel by them, even as many [of Israel] as had not known all the wars of Canaan; 2 only that the generations of the sons of Israel might know, to teach them war, at the least such as formerly knew nothing of it: 3 [namely], the five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites who dwelt in mount Lebanon, from mount Baal-hermon to the entrance of Hamath. 4 And they were [left], to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would listen to the commandments of Yahweh, which he commanded their fathers by Moses. 5 And the sons of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites: 6 and they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their own daughters to their sons and served their gods.

7 And the sons of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, and forgot Yahweh their God, and served the Baalim and the Asheroth. 8 Therefore the anger of Yahweh was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia:[211] and the sons of Israel served Cushan-rishathaim eight years. 9 And when the sons of Israel cried to Yahweh, Yahweh raised up a savior to the sons of Israel, who saved them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother. 10 And the Spirit of Yahweh came upon him, and he judged Israel; and he went out to war, and Yahweh delivered Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand: and his hand prevailed against Cushan-rishathaim. 11 And the land had rest forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died.

12 And the sons of Israel again did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh: and Yahweh strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh. 13 And he gathered to him the sons of Ammon and Amalek; and he went and struck Israel, and they possessed the city of palm-trees. 14 And the sons of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.

15 But when the sons of Israel cried to Yahweh, Yahweh raised them up a savior, Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a left-handed man. And the sons of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon the king of Moab. 16 And Ehud made himself a sword which had two edges, a cubit in length; and he girded it under his raiment on his right thigh. 17 And he offered the tribute to Eglon king of Moab: now Eglon was a very fat man. 18 And when he had made an end of offering the tribute, he sent away the people who bore the tribute. 19 But he himself turned back from the quarries that were by Gilgal, and said, I have a secret message to you, O king. And he said, Keep silent. And all who stood by him went out from him. 20 And Ehud came to him; and he was sitting by himself alone in the cool upper room. And Ehud said, I have a message from God to you. And he arose out of his seat. 21 And Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his body: 22 and the handle also went in after the blade; and the fat closed on the blade, for he did not draw the sword out of his body; and it came out behind. 23 Then Ehud went forth into the porch, and shut the doors of the upper room on him, and locked them.

24 Now when he had gone out, his slaves came; and they saw, and noticed that the doors of the upper room were locked; and they said, Surely he is relieving himself[212] in the upper chamber. 25 And they tarried until they were ashamed; and saw that he didn't open the doors of the upper room: therefore they took the key, and opened [them], and saw that their lord had fallen down dead on the earth.

26 And Ehud escaped while they tarried, and passed beyond the quarries, and escaped to Seirah. 27 And it came to pass, when he came, that he blew a trumpet in the hill-country of Ephraim; and the sons of Israel went down with him from the hill-country, and he [was] before them. 28 And he said to them, Follow after me; for Yahweh has delivered your+ enemies the Moabites into your+ hand. And they went down after him, and took the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites, and didn't allow a man to pass over. 29 And they struck of Moab at that time about ten thousand men, every robust man, and every man of valor; and not a man escaped. 30 So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest 80 years.

31 And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who struck of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox-goad: and he also saved Israel.

4  And the sons of Israel again did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, when Ehud was dead. 2 And Yahweh sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, that reigned in Hazor; the captain of whose host was Sisera, who dwelt in Harosheth of the Gentiles. 3 And the sons of Israel cried to Yahweh: for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and twenty years he mightily oppressed the sons of Israel.

4 Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, she judged Israel at that time. 5 And she dwelt under the palm-tree of Deborah between Ramah and Beth-el in the hill-country of Ephraim: and the sons of Israel came up to her for judgment. 6 And she sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedesh-naphtali, and said to him, Has not Yahweh, the God of Israel, commanded, [saying,] Go and draw to mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men of the sons of Naphtali and of the sons of Zebulun? 7 And I will draw to you, to the river Kishon, Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into your hand. 8 And Barak said to her, If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go. 9 And she said, I will surely go with you: notwithstanding, the journey that you take will not be for your honor; for Yahweh will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh. 10 And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali together to Kedesh; and there went up ten thousand men at his feet: and Deborah went up with him.

11 Now Heber the Kenite had separated himself from the Kenites, even from the sons of Hobab the brother-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far as the oak in Zaanannim, which is by Kedesh.

12 And they told Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to mount Tabor. 13 And Sisera gathered together all his chariots, even nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people who were with him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles, to the river Kishon. 14 And Deborah said to Barak, Rise up; for this is the day in which Yahweh has delivered Sisera into your hand; has not Yahweh gone out before you? So Barak went down from mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him. 15 And Yahweh discomfited Sisera, and all his chariots, and all his host, with the edge of the sword before Barak; and Sisera dismounted from his chariot, and fled away on his feet. 16 But Barak pursued after the chariots, and after the host, to Harosheth of the Gentiles: and all the host of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; there was not a man left.

17 Nevertheless Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. 18 And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, Turn in, my lord, turn in to me; don't be afraid. And he turned in to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug. 19 And he said to her, Give me, I pray you, a little water to drink; for I am thirsty. And she opened a bottle of milk, and gave him drink, and covered him. 20 And he said to her, Stand in the door of the tent, and it will be, when any man comes and inquires of you, and says, Is there any man here? Then you will say, No. 21 Then Jael Heber's wife took a tent-pin, and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him, and struck the pin into his temples, and it pierced through into the ground; for he was in a deep sleep; so he swooned and died. 22 And, look, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said to him, Come, and I will show you the man whom you seek. And he came to her; and saw that Sisera lay dead, and the tent-pin was in his temples.

23 So God subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the sons of Israel. 24 And the hand of the sons of Israel prevailed more and more against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.

5  Then Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam sang on that day, saying, 2 For the leaders took the lead in Israel, For the people offered themselves willingly, Bless you+ Yahweh. 3 Hear, O you+ kings; give ear, O you+ princes; I, [even] I, will sing to Yahweh; I will sing praise to Yahweh, the God of Israel. 4 Yahweh, when you went forth out of Seir, When you marched out of the field of Edom, The earth trembled, the heavens also dropped, Yes, the clouds dropped water. 5 The mountains quaked at the presence of Yahweh, this Sinai at the presence of Yahweh, the God of Israel.

6 In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, In the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied, And the travelers walked through byways. 7 The villagers ceased in Israel, they ceased, Until I Deborah arose, I arose a mother in Israel. 8 They chose new gods; Then there was war in the gates: Was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel? 9 My heart is toward the governors of Israel, Who offered themselves willingly among the people: Bless+ Yahweh. 10 Tell [of it], you+ who ride on white donkeys, You+ who sit on rich carpets, And you+ who walk by the way. 11 Far from the noise of archers, in the places of drawing water, There they will rehearse the righteous acts of Yahweh, [Even] the righteous acts of his villagers in Israel. Then the people of Yahweh went down to the gates.

12 Awake, awake, Deborah; Awake, awake, utter a song: Arise, Barak, and capture your captives, you son of Abinoam. 13 Then the survivor went down to the majestic ones, the people of Yahweh went down for me as warriors. 14 Out of Ephraim their root [is] in Amalek; After you,[213] Benjamin among your peoples; Out of Machir came down governors, And out of Zebulun those who handle the marshal's staff. 15 And the princes in Issachar were with Deborah; As was Issachar, so was Barak; Into the valley they rushed forth at his feet. By the watercourses of Reuben, There were great resolves of heart. 16 Why did you sit among the sheepfolds, To hear the pipings for the flocks? At the watercourses of Reuben, There were great searchings of heart. 17 Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan: And Dan, why did he remain in ships? Asher sat still at the haven of the sea, And stayed by his creeks. 18 Zebulun was a people who jeopardized their souls to death, And Naphtali, on the high places of the field.

19 The kings came and fought; Then fought the kings of Canaan. In Taanach by the waters of Megiddo: They took no gain of silver. 20 From heaven fought the stars, From their courses they fought against Sisera. 21 The river Kishon swept them away, That ancient river, the river Kishon. O my soul, march on with strength. 22 Then the horsehoofs stamped By reason of the prancings, the prancings of their strong ones. 23 Curse+ Meroz, said the angel of Yahweh. Curse+ bitterly its inhabitants, Because they didn't come to the help of Yahweh, To the help of Yahweh against the mighty.

24 Blessed above women will Jael be, The wife of Heber the Kenite; Blessed she will be above women in the tent. 25 He asked water, [and] she gave him milk; She brought him butter in a majestic dish. 26 She put her hand to the tent-pin, And her right hand to the workmen's hammer; And with the hammer she struck Sisera, she struck through his head; Yes, she pierced and struck through his temples. 27 At her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay; At her feet he bowed, he fell; Where he bowed, there he fell down dead.

28 Through the window she looked forth, and cried, The mother of Sisera [cried] through the lattice, Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why do the wheels of his chariots tarry? 29 Her wise ladies answered her, Yes, she returned answer to herself, 30 Have they not found, have they not divided the spoil? A womb, [even] two wombs for each chief [able-bodied] man. A spoil of dyed garments for Sisera. A spoil of embroidered dyed garments, [even] double embroidered dyed garments for the neck of the queen.[214] 31 So let all your enemies perish, O Yahweh: But let those who love him be as the sun when he goes forth in his might.

And the land had rest forty years.

6  And the sons of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh: and Yahweh delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years. 2 And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel; and because of Midian the sons of Israel made for themselves the dens which are in the mountains, and the caves, and the strongholds. 3 And so it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the sons of the east; they came up against them; 4 and they encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, until you come to Gaza, and left no sustenance in Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor donkey. 5 For they came up with their cattle and their tents; they came in as locusts for multitude; both they and their camels were without number: and they came into the land to destroy it. 6 And Israel was brought very low because of Midian; and the sons of Israel cried to Yahweh.

7 And it came to pass, when the sons of Israel cried to Yahweh because of Midian, 8 that Yahweh sent a prophet to the sons of Israel: and he said to them, This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, I brought you+ up from Egypt, and brought you+ forth out of the house of slaves; 9 and I delivered you+ out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all who oppressed you+, and drove them out from before you+, and gave you+ their land; 10 and I said to you+, I am Yahweh your+ God; you+ will not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you+ dwell. But you+ haven't listened to my voice.

11 And the angel of Yahweh came, and sat under the oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained to Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press, to hide it from the Midianites. 12 And the angel of Yahweh appeared to him, and said to him, Yahweh is with you, you mighty man of valor. 13 And Gideon said to him, Oh, my lord, if Yahweh is with us, then why does all this befall us? And where are all his wondrous works which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not Yahweh bring us up from Egypt? But now Yahweh has cast us off, and delivered us into the hand of Midian. 14 And Yahweh looked on him, and said, Go in this your might, and save Israel from the hand of Midian: haven't I sent you? 15 And he said to him, Oh, Lord, with what shall I save Israel? Look, my family is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house. 16 And Yahweh said to him, Surely I will be with you, and you will strike the Midianites as one man. 17 And he said to him, If now I have found favor in your sight, then show me a sign that it is you who talks with me. 18 Do not depart from here, I pray you, until I come to you, and bring forth my present, and lay it before you. And he said, I will tarry until you come again.

19 And Gideon went in, and made ready a young goat, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of meal: the flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out to him under the oak, and presented it. 20 And the angel of God said to him, Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth. And he did so. 21 Then the angel of Yahweh put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there went up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and the angel of Yahweh departed out of his sight. 22 And Gideon saw that he was the angel of Yahweh; and Gideon said, Alas, O Sovereign Yahweh! since I have seen the angel of Yahweh face to face. 23 And Yahweh said to him, Peace be to you; don't be afraid: you will not die. 24 Then Gideon built an altar there to Yahweh, and called it Yahweh-shalom: to this day it is yet in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

25 And it came to pass the same night, that Yahweh said to him, Take your father's bull, even the second bull seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the Asherah that is by it; 26 and build an altar to Yahweh your God on the top of this stronghold, in the orderly manner, and take the second bull, and offer a burnt-offering with the wood of the Asherah which you will cut down. 27 Then Gideon took ten men of his slaves, and did as Yahweh had spoken to him: and it came to pass, because he feared his father's household and the men of the city, so that he could not do it by day, that he did it by night.

28 And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, look, the altar of Baal was broken down, and the Asherah was cut down that was by it, and the second bull was offered on the altar that was built. 29 And they said one to another, Who has done this thing? And when they inquired and asked, they said, Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing. 30 Then the men of the city said to Joash, Bring out your son, that he may die, because he has broken down the altar of Baal, and because he has cut down the Asherah that was by it. 31 And Joash said to all who stood against him, Will you+ contend for Baal? Or will you+ save him? He who will contend for him, let him be put to death while [it is yet] morning: if he is a god, let him contend for himself, because one has broken down his altar. 32 Therefore on that day he called him Jerubbaal, saying, Let Baal contend against him, because he has broken down his altar.

33 Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the sons of the east assembled themselves together; and they passed over, and encamped in the valley of Jezreel. 34 But the Spirit of Yahweh came upon Gideon; and he blew a trumpet; and Abiezer was gathered together after him. 35 And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh; and they also were gathered together after him: and he sent messengers to Asher, and to Zebulun, and to Naphtali; and they came up to meet them.

36 And Gideon said to God, If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have spoken, 37 look, I will put a fleece of wool on the threshing-floor; if there will be dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have spoken. 38 And it was so; for he rose up early on the next day, and pressed the fleece together, and wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowlful of water. 39 And Gideon said to God, Don't let your anger be kindled against me, and I will speak but this once: let me make trial, I pray you, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only on the fleece, and on all the ground let there be dew. 40 And God did so that night: for it was dry on the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.

7  Then Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and all the people who were with him, rose up early, and encamped beside the spring of Harod: and the camp of Midian was on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley.

2 And Yahweh said to Gideon, The people who are with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, or else Israel will vaunt themselves against me, saying, My own hand has saved me. 3 Now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return and depart early from Mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand.

4 And Yahweh said to Gideon, The people are yet too many; bring them down to the water, and I will try them for you there: and it will be, that of whom I say to you, This will go with you, the same will go with you; and of whomever I say to you, This will not go with you, the same will not go. 5 So he brought down the people to the water: and Yahweh said to Gideon, Everyone who laps of the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, him you will set by himself; likewise everyone who bows down on his knees to drink. 6 And the number of those who lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, was three hundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed down on their knees to drink water. 7 And Yahweh said to Gideon, By the three hundred men who lapped I will save you+, and deliver the Midianites into your hand; and let all the people go every man to his place. 8 And they took the provisions of the people in their hand, and their trumpets; and he sent all the men of Israel every man to his tent, but retained the three hundred men: and the camp of Midian was beneath him in the valley.

9 And it came to pass the same night, that Yahweh said to him, Arise, go down into the camp; for I have delivered it into your hand. 10 But if you fear to go down, you and Purah your attendant go down to the camp: 11 and you will hear what they say; and afterward your hands will be strengthened to go down into the camp. Then went he down with Purah his attendant to the outermost part of the armed men who were in the camp. 12 And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the sons of the east lay along in the valley like locusts for multitude; and their camels were without number, as the sand which is on the seashore for multitude. 13 And when Gideon came, look, there was a man telling a dream to his fellow soldier; and he said, Look, I dreamed a dream; and saw that a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian, and came to the tent, and struck it so that it fell, and turned it upside down, so that the tent lay flat. 14 And his fellow soldier answered and said, This is nothing else but the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel: into his hand God has delivered Midian, and all the host.

15 And it was so, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream, and its interpretation, that he worshiped; and he returned into the camp of Israel, and said, Arise; for Yahweh has delivered into your+ hand the host of Midian. 16 And he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put into the hands of all of them trumpets, and empty pitchers, with torches inside the pitchers. 17 And he said to them, Look at me, and do likewise: and, see, when I come to the outermost part of the camp, it will be that, as I do, so you+ will do. 18 When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then you+ blow the trumpets also on every side of all the camp, and say, For Yahweh and for Gideon.

19 So Gideon, and the hundred men who were with him, came to the outermost part of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch, when they had but newly set the watch: and they blew the trumpets, and broke in pieces the pitchers that were in their hands. 20 And the three companies blew the trumpets, and broke the pitchers, and held the torches in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands with which to blow; and they cried, A sword of Yahweh and of Gideon. 21 And they stood every man in his place round about the camp; and all the host ran; and they shouted, and put [them] to flight. 22 And they blew the three hundred trumpets, and Yahweh set every man's sword against his fellow soldier, and against all the host; and the host fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel-meholah, by Tabbath. 23 And the men of Israel were gathered together out of Naphtali, and out of Asher, and out of all Manasseh, and pursued after Midian.

24 And Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill-country of Ephraim, saying, Come down against Midian, and take the waters before them, as far as Beth-barah, even the Jordan. So all the men of Ephraim were gathered together, and took the waters as far as Beth-barah, even the Jordan. 25 And they took the two princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb; and they slew Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb they slew at the wine press of Zeeb, and pursued Midian: and they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon beyond the Jordan.

8  And the men of Ephraim said to him, Why have you served us thus, that you didn't call us, when you went to fight with Midian? And they chided with him sharply. 2 And he said to them, What have I now done in comparison with you+? Isn't the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer? 3 God has delivered into your+ hand the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb: and what was I able to do in comparison with you+? Then their anger was abated toward him, when he had said that.

4 And Gideon came to the Jordan, [and] passed over, he, and the three hundred men who were with him, faint, yet pursuing. 5 And he said to the men of Succoth, Give, I pray you+, loaves of bread to the people who follow me; for they are faint, and I am pursuing after Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian. 6 And the princes of Succoth said, Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give bread to your army? 7 And Gideon said, Therefore when Yahweh has delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, then I will tear your+ flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers. 8 And he went up from there to Penuel, and spoke to them in like manner; and the men of Penuel answered him as the men of Succoth had answered. 9 And he spoke also to the men of Penuel, saying, When I come again in peace, I will break down this tower.

10 Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, and their hosts with them, about fifteen thousand men, all who were left of all the host of the sons of the east; for there fell a hundred and twenty thousand swordsmen. 11 And Gideon went up by the way of those who stayed in tents on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and struck the host; for the host was secure. 12 And Zebah and Zalmunna fled; and he pursued after them; and he took the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and he routed all the host.

13 And Gideon the son of Joash returned from the battle from the ascent of Heres. 14 And he caught a young man of the men of Succoth, and inquired of him: and he described for him the princes of Succoth, and its elders, seventy and seven men. 15 And he came to the men of Succoth, and said, Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, concerning whom you+ taunted me, saying, Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give bread to your men who are weary? 16 And he took the elders of the city, and thorns of the wilderness and briers, and with them he flailed the men of Succoth. 17 And he broke down the tower of Penuel, and slew the men of the city.

18 Then he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, What manner of men were they whom you+ slew at Tabor? And they answered, As you are, so they were; each one resembled the sons of a king. 19 And he said, They were my brothers, the sons of my mother: as Yahweh lives, if you+ had saved them alive, I would not slay you+. 20 And he said to Jether his firstborn, Rise up, and slay them. But the youth did not draw his sword; for he feared, because he was yet a youth. 21 Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, You rise, and fall on us; for as the man is, so is his strength. And Gideon arose, and slew Zebah and Zalmunna, and took the crescents that were on their camels' necks.

22 Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, Rule over us, both you, and your son, and your son's son also; for you have saved us out of the hand of Midian. 23 And Gideon said to them, I will not rule over you+, neither will my son rule over you+: Yahweh will rule over you+. 24 And Gideon said to them, I would make a request of you+, that you+ would give me every man the earrings of his spoil. (For they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.) 25 And they answered, We will willingly give them. And they spread a garment, and cast in it every man the earrings of his spoil. 26 And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was a thousand and seven hundred [shekels] of gold, besides the crescents, and the pendants, and the purple raiment that was on the kings of Midian, and besides the chains that were about their camels' necks. 27 And Gideon made an ephod of it, and put it in his city, even in Ophrah: and all Israel prostituted after it there; and it became a snare to Gideon, and to his house. 28 So Midian was subdued before the sons of Israel, and they lifted up their heads no more. And the land had rest forty years in the days of Gideon.

29 And Jerubbaal the son of Joash went and dwelt in his own house. 30 And Gideon had seventy sons of his body begotten; for he had many wives. 31 And his concubine that was in Shechem, she also bore him a son, and he named him Abimelech. 32 And Gideon the son of Joash died in a good old age, and was buried in the tomb of Joash his father, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

33 And it came to pass, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the sons of Israel turned again, and prostituted after the Baalim, and made Baal-berith their god. 34 And the sons of Israel didn't remember Yahweh their God, who had delivered them out of the hand of all their enemies on every side; 35 neither did they show kindness to the house of Jerubbaal, [who was] Gideon, according to all the goodness which he had shown to Israel.

9  And Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem to his mother's brothers, and spoke with them, and with all the family of the house of his mother's father, saying, 2 Speak, I pray you+, in the ears of all the men of Shechem, Whether it is better for you+, that all the sons of Jerubbaal, who are seventy persons, rule over you+, or that one rule over you+? Remember also that I am your+ bone and your+ flesh. 3 And his mother's brothers spoke of him in the ears of all the men of Shechem all these words: and their hearts inclined to follow Abimelech; for they said, He is our brother. 4 And they gave him seventy [shekels] of silver out of the house of Baal-berith, with which Abimelech hired vain and reckless fellows, who followed him. 5 And he went to his father's house at Ophrah, and slew his brothers the sons of Jerubbaal, being seventy persons, on one stone: but Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left; for he hid himself. 6 And all the men of Shechem assembled themselves together, and all the house of Millo, and went and made Abimelech king, by the oak of the pillar that was in Shechem.

7 And when they told it to Jotham, he went and stood on the top of mount Gerizim, and lifted up his voice, and cried, and said to them, Listen to me, you+ men of Shechem, that God may listen to you+. 8 One time the trees went forth to anoint a king over them; and they said to the olive tree, Reign over us. 9 But the olive tree said to them, Should I leave my fatness, which by me they honor God and men, and go to wave to and fro over the trees? 10 And the trees said to the fig tree, You come, and reign over us. 11 But the fig tree said to them, Should I leave my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to wave to and fro over the trees? 12 And the trees said to the vine, You come, and reign over us. 13 And the vine said to them, Should I leave my new wine, which cheers God and men, and go to wave to and fro over the trees? 14 Then all the trees said to the bramble, You come, and reign over us. 15 And the bramble said to the trees, If in truth you+ anoint me king over you+, then come and take refuge in my shade; and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon. 16 Now therefore, if you+ have dealt truly and uprightly, in that you+ have made Abimelech king, and if you+ have dealt well with Jerubbaal and his house, and have done to him according to the deserving of his hands 17 (for my father fought for you+, and adventured his soul, and delivered you+ out of the hand of Midian: 18 and you+ have risen up against my father's house this day, and have slain his sons, seventy persons, on one stone, and have made Abimelech, the son of his female slave, king over the men of Shechem, because he is your+ brother); 19 if you+ then have dealt truly and uprightly with Jerubbaal and with his house this day, then rejoice+ in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you+: 20 but if not, let fire come out from Abimelech, and devour the men of Shechem, and the house of Millo; and let fire come out from the men of Shechem, and from the house of Millo, and devour Abimelech. 21 And Jotham ran away, and fled, and went to Beer, and dwelt there, for fear of Abimelech his brother.

22 And Abimelech was prince over Israel three years. 23 And God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem; and the men of Shechem betrayed Abimelech: 24 that the violence done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might come, and that their blood might be laid on Abimelech their brother, who slew them, and on the men of Shechem, who strengthened his hands to slay his brothers. 25 And the men of Shechem set ambushers for him on the tops of the mountains, and they robbed all who came along that way by them: and it was told Abimelech.

26 And Gaal the son of Ebed came with his brothers, and went over to Shechem; and the men of Shechem put their trust in him. 27 And they went out into the field, and gathered their vineyards, and trod [the grapes], and held a festival, and went into the house of their god, and ate and drank, and cursed Abimelech. 28 And Gaal the son of Ebed said, Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? Isn't he the son of Jerubbaal? And Zebul his officer? You+ serve the men of Hamor, the father of Shechem! But why should we serve him? 29 And if only this people were under my hand! Then I would remove Abimelech. And he said to Abimelech, Increase your army, and come out.

30 And when Zebul the ruler of the city heard the words of Gaal the son of Ebed, his anger was kindled. 31 And he sent messengers to Abimelech craftily, saying, Look, Gaal the son of Ebed and his brothers are coming to Shechem; and, see, they are inciting the city against you. 32 Now therefore, rise up by night, you and the people who are with you, and lie in wait in the field: 33 and it will be, that in the morning, as soon as the sun is up, you will rise early, and rush on the city; and, look, when he and the people who are with him come out against you, then may you do to them as you will find occasion.

34 And Abimelech rose up, and all the people who were with him, by night, and they laid wait against Shechem in four companies. 35 And Gaal the son of Ebed went out, and stood in the entrance of the gate of the city: and Abimelech rose up, and the people who were with him, from the ambush. 36 And when Gaal saw the people, he said to Zebul, Look, people are coming down from the tops of the mountains. And Zebul said to him, You see the shadow of the mountains as if they were men. 37 And Gaal spoke again and said, See, people are coming down by the middle of the land, and one company comes by the way of the Psychics' Oak.[215] 38 Then Zebul said to him, Where now is your mouth, that you said, Who is Abimelech, that we should serve him? Isn't this the people that you have despised? Go out now, I pray, and fight with them. 39 And Gaal went out before the men of Shechem, and fought with Abimelech. 40 And Abimelech chased him, and he fled before him, and there fell many wounded, even to the entrance of the gate.

41 And Abimelech dwelt at Arumah: and Zebul drove out Gaal and his brothers, that they should not dwell in Shechem. 42 And it came to pass on the next day, that the people went out into the field; and they told Abimelech. 43 And he took the people, and divided them into three companies, and laid in wait in the field; and he looked, and saw that the people came forth out of the city; And he rose up against them, and struck them. 44 And Abimelech, and the companies with him, rushed forward, and stood in the entrance of the gate of the city: and the two companies rushed on all who were in the field, and struck them. 45 And Abimelech fought against the city all that day; and he took the city, and slew the people who were in it: and he beat down the city, and sowed it with salt.

46 And when all the men of the tower of Shechem heard of it, they entered into the stronghold of the house of El-berith.[216] 47 And it was told Abimelech that all the men of the tower of Shechem were gathered together. 48 And Abimelech went up to mount Zalmon, he and all the people who were with him; and Abimelech took axes in his hand, and cut down a bough from the trees, and took it up, and laid it on his shoulder: and he said to the people who were with him, What you+ have seen me do, hurry, and do as I have done. 49 And all the people likewise cut down every man his bough, and followed Abimelech, and put them to the stronghold, and set the stronghold on fire on them; so that all the men of the tower of Shechem died also, about a thousand men and women.

50 Then Abimelech went to Thebez, and encamped against Thebez, and took it. 51 But there was a strong tower inside the city, and there fled all the men and women, and all those of the city, and shut themselves in, and went up to the roof of the tower. 52 And Abimelech came to the tower, and fought against it, and drew near to the door of the tower to burn it with fire. 53 And a certain woman cast an upper millstone on Abimelech's head, and broke his skull. 54 Then he called hastily to the young man his armorbearer, and said to him, "Draw your sword, and kill me. Or else men will say of me, A woman slew him." And his attendant thrust him through, and he died. 55 And when the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, they departed every man to his place. 56 Thus God returned the wickedness of Abimelech, which he did to his father, in slaying his seventy brothers; 57 and all the wickedness of the men of Shechem did God return on their heads: and on them came the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal.

10  And after Abimelech, there arose to save Israel Tola the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar; and he dwelt in Shamir in the hill-country of Ephraim. 2 And he judged Israel twenty and three years, and died, and was buried in Shamir.

3 And after him arose Jair, the Gileadite; and he judged Israel twenty and two years. 4 And he had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkey colts, and they had thirty cities, which are called Havvoth-jair to this day, which are in the land of Gilead. 5 And Jair died, and was buried in Kamon.

6 And the sons of Israel again did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, and served the Baalim, and the Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Sidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the sons of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines; and they forsook Yahweh, and didn't serve him. 7 And the anger of Yahweh was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the sons of Ammon. 8 And they vexed and oppressed the sons of Israel that year: eighteen years [they oppressed] all the sons of Israel who were beyond the Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead. 9 And the sons of Ammon passed over the Jordan to fight also against Judah, and against Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim; so that Israel was very distressed.

10 And the sons of Israel cried to Yahweh, saying, We have sinned against you, even because we have forsaken our God, and have served the Baalim. 11 And Yahweh said to the sons of Israel, [Did] not [I save you+] from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, from the sons of Ammon, and from the Philistines? 12 The Sidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites, had oppressed you+; and you+ cried to me, and I saved you+ out of their hand. 13 Yet you+ have forsaken me, and served other gods: therefore I will save you+ no more. 14 Go and cry to the gods which you+ have chosen; let them save you+ in the time of your+ distress. 15 And the sons of Israel said to Yahweh, We have sinned: you do to us whatever seems good to you; only deliver us, we pray you, this day. 16 And they put away the foreign gods from among them, and served Yahweh; and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel.

17 Then the sons of Ammon had gathered together, and encamped in Gilead. And the sons of Israel had assembled themselves together, and encamped in Mizpah. 18 And the people, the princes of Gilead, said one to another, What man is he who will begin to fight against the sons of Ammon? He will be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.

11  Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor, and he was the son of a prostitute: and Gilead begot Jephthah. 2 And Gilead's wife bore him sons; and when his wife's sons grew up, they drove out Jephthah, and said to him, You will not inherit in our father's house; for you are the son of another woman. 3 Then Jephthah fled from his brothers, and dwelt in the land of Tob: and there were gathered vain fellows to Jephthah, and they went out with him.

4 And it came to pass after awhile, that the sons of Ammon made war against Israel. 5 And it was so, that, when the sons of Ammon made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to fetch Jephthah out of the land of Tob; 6 and they said to Jephthah, Come and be our chief, that we may fight with the sons of Ammon. 7 And Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, Didn't you+ hate me, and drive me out of my father's house? And why have you+ come to me now when you+ are in distress? 8 And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, Therefore we have turned again to you now, that you may go with us, and fight with the sons of Ammon; and you will be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead. 9 And Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, If you+ bring me home again to fight with the sons of Ammon, and Yahweh delivers them before me, shall I be your+ head? 10 And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, Yahweh will be witness between us; surely according to your word so we will do. 11 Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and chief over them: and Jephthah spoke all his words before Yahweh in Mizpah.

12 And Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the sons of Ammon, saying, What do you have to do with me, that you have come to me to fight against my land? 13 And the king of the sons of Ammon answered to the messengers of Jephthah, Because Israel took away my land, when he came up out of Egypt, from the Arnon even to the Jabbok, and to the Jordan: now therefore restore those [lands] again peacefully. 14 And Jephthah sent messengers again to the king of the sons of Ammon; 15 and he said to him, Thus says Jephthah: Israel did not take away the land of Moab, nor the land of the sons of Ammon, 16 but when they came up from Egypt, and Israel went through the wilderness to the Red Sea, and came to Kadesh; 17 then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, Let me, I pray you, pass through your land; but the king of Edom didn't listen. And in like manner he sent to the king of Moab; but he would not: and Israel remained in Kadesh. 18 Then they went through the wilderness, and went around the land of Edom, and the land of Moab, and came by the east side of the land of Moab, and they encamped on the other side of the Arnon; but they didn't come inside the border of Moab, for the Arnon was the border of Moab. 19 And Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon; and Israel said to him, Let us pass, we pray you, through your land to my place. 20 But Sihon didn't trust Israel to pass through his border; but Sihon gathered all his people together, and encamped in Jahaz, and fought against Israel. 21 And Yahweh, the God of Israel, delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they struck them: so Israel possessed all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country. 22 And they possessed all the border of the Amorites, from the Arnon even to the Jabbok, and from the wilderness even to the Jordan. 23 So now Yahweh, the God of Israel, has dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel, and should you possess them? 24 Will not you possess that which Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So whomever Yahweh our God has dispossessed from before us, them we will possess. 25 And now are you anything better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever strive against Israel, or did he ever fight against them? 26 While Israel dwelt in Heshbon and its towns, and in Aroer and its towns, and in all the cities that are along by the side of the Arnon, three hundred years; why didn't you+ recover them within that time? 27 I therefore haven't sinned against you, but you do me wrong to war against me: Yahweh, the Judge, will be judge this day between the sons of Israel and the sons of Ammon. 28 Nevertheless the king of the sons of Ammon didn't listen to the words of Jephthah which he sent him.

29 Then the Spirit of Yahweh came upon Jephthah, and he passed over Gilead and Manasseh, and passed over Mizpeh of Gilead, and from Mizpeh of Gilead he passed over to the sons of Ammon. 30 And Jephthah vowed a vow to Yahweh, and said, If you will indeed deliver the sons of Ammon into my hand, 31 then it will be, that whatever comes forth from the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the sons of Ammon, it will be Yahweh's, and I will offer it up for a burnt-offering. 32 So Jephthah passed over to the sons of Ammon to fight against them; and Yahweh delivered them into his hand. 33 And he struck them from Aroer until you come to Minnith, even twenty cities, and to Abelcheramim, with a very great slaughter. So the sons of Ammon were subdued before the sons of Israel.

34 And Jephthah came to Mizpah to his house; and saw that his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances: and she was his only [child]; besides her he had neither son nor daughter. 35 And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you are one of those who trouble me; for I have opened my mouth to Yahweh, and I can't go back. 36 And she said to him, My father, you have opened your mouth to Yahweh; do to me according to that which has proceeded out of your mouth, since Yahweh has taken vengeance for you on your enemies, even on the sons of Ammon. 37 And she said to her father, Let this thing be done for me: leave me alone two months, that I may depart and go down on the mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and my companions. 38 And he said, Go. And he sent her away for two months: and she departed, she and her companions, and bewailed her virginity on the mountains. 39 And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she returned to her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed: and she had no sex with a man. And it was a custom in Israel, 40 that the daughters of Israel went yearly to celebrate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year.

12  And the men of Ephraim were gathered together, and passed northward; and they said to Jephthah, Why did you pass over to fight against the sons of Ammon, and didn't call us to go with you? We will burn your house on you with fire. 2 And Jephthah said to them, I and my people were at great strife with the sons of Ammon; and when I called you+, you+ didn't save me out of their hand. 3 And when I saw that you+ didn't save me, I put my soul in my hand, and passed over against the sons of Ammon, and Yahweh delivered them into my hand: why then have you+ come up to me this day, to fight against me? 4 Then Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead, and fought with Ephraim; and the men of Gilead struck Ephraim, because they said, You+ are fugitives of Ephraim, you+ Gileadites, in the midst of Ephraim, [and] in the midst of Manasseh. 5 And the Gileadites took the fords of the Jordan against the Ephraimites. And it was so, that, when [any of] the fugitives of Ephraim said, Let me go over, the men of Gilead said to him, Are you an Ephraimite? If he said, No; 6 then they said to him, Now say, "Shibboleth"; and he said "Sibboleth"; for he did not accomplish correct pronunciation: then they laid hold on him, and slew him at the fords of the Jordan. And there fell at that time of Ephraim forty and two thousand.

7 And Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then died Jephthah the Gileadite, and was buried in his city, in Zepheh[217] of Gilead.

8 And after him Ibzan of Beth-lehem judged Israel. 9 And he had thirty sons; and thirty daughters he sent abroad, and thirty daughters he brought in from abroad for his sons. And he judged Israel seven years. 10 And Ibzan died, and was buried at Beth-lehem. 11 And after him Elon the Zebulunite judged Israel; and he judged Israel ten years. 12 And Elon the Zebulunite died, and was buried in Aijalon in the land of Zebulun.

13 And after him Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite judged Israel. 14 And he had forty sons and thirty sons' sons, that rode on seventy donkey colts: and he judged Israel eight years. 15 And Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite died, and was buried in Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the hill-country of the Amalekites.

13  And the sons of Israel again did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh; and Yahweh delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years.

2 And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and had not given birth. 3 And the angel of Yahweh appeared to the woman, and said to her, Look now, you are barren, and have not given birth; but you will become pregnant, and give birth to a son. 4 Now therefore beware, I pray you, and drink no wine nor strong drink, and don't eat any unclean thing: 5 for, look, you will become pregnant, and give birth to a son; and no razor will come upon his head; for the lad will be a Nazirite to God from the womb: and he will begin to save Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. 6 Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of God came to me, and his countenance was like the countenance of the angel of God, very awesome; and I did not ask him from where he was, neither did he tell me his name: 7 but he said to me, Look, you will become pregnant, and give birth to a son; and now drink no wine nor strong drink, and don't eat any unclean thing; for the lad will be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.

8 Then Manoah entreated Yahweh, and said, Oh, Lord, I pray you, let the man of God whom you sent come again to us, and teach us what we will do to the lad that will be born. 9 And God listened to the voice of Manoah; and the angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field: but her husband Manoah wasn't with her. 10 And the woman hurried, and ran, and told her husband, and said to him, Look, the man has appeared to me, who came to me the [other] day. 11 And Manoah arose, and went after his wife, and came to the man, and said to him, Are you the man who spoke to the woman? And he said, I am. 12 And Manoah said, Now let your words come to pass: what will be the ordering of the lad, and [how] shall we do to him? 13 And the angel of Yahweh said to Manoah, Of all that I said to the woman let her beware. 14 She may not eat of anything that comes of the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing; all that I commanded her let her observe.

15 And Manoah said to the angel of Yahweh, I pray you, let us detain you, that we may make ready a young goat for you. 16 And the angel of Yahweh said to Manoah, Though you detain me, I will not eat of your bread; and if you will make ready a burnt-offering, you must offer it to Yahweh. For Manoah didn't know that he was the angel of Yahweh. 17 And Manoah said to the angel of Yahweh, What is your name, that, when your words come to pass, we may honor you? 18 And the angel of Yahweh said to him, Why do you ask after my name, seeing it is wonderful? 19 So Manoah took the young goat with the meal-offering, and offered it on the rock to Yahweh: and [the angel] did wondrously, and Manoah and his wife looked on. 20 For it came to pass, when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the angel of Yahweh ascended in the flame of the altar: and Manoah and his wife looked on; and they fell on their faces to the ground.

21 But the angel of Yahweh did not appear anymore to Manoah or to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of Yahweh. 22 And Manoah said to his wife, We will surely die, because we have seen God. 23 But his wife said to him, If Yahweh desired to kill us, he would not have received a burnt-offering and a meal-offering at our hand, neither would he have shown us all these things, nor would at this time have told such things as these. 24 And the woman bore a son, and named him Samson: and the lad grew, and Yahweh blessed him. 25 And the Spirit of Yahweh began to move him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

14  And Samson went down to Timnah, and saw a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines. 2 And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me as wife. 3 Then his father and his mother said to him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of your brothers, or among all my people, that you go to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said to his father, Get her for me; for she pleases me well. 4 But his father and his mother didn't know that it was of Yahweh; for he sought an occasion against the Philistines. Now at that time the Philistines had rule over Israel.

5 Then Samson went down, and his father and his mother, to Timnah, and they came to the vineyards of Timnah: and, look, a young lion roared against him. 6 And the Spirit of Yahweh came mightily on him, and he rent him as he would have rent a young goat; and he had nothing in his hand: but he didn't tell his father or his mother what he had done. 7 And he went down, and talked with the woman, and she pleased Samson well. 8 And after awhile he returned to take her; and he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion: and saw that there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion, and honey. 9 And he took it into his hands, and went on, eating as he went; and he came to his father and mother, and gave to them, and they ate: but he did not tell them that he had taken the honey out of the body of the lion.

10 And his father went down to the woman: and Samson made a feast there; for so the young men used to do. 11 And it came to pass, when they saw him, that they brought thirty friends to be with him. 12 And Samson said to them, Let me now put forth a riddle to you+: if you+ can declare it to me within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you+ thirty linen garments and thirty changes of raiment; 13 but if you+ can't declare it to me, then you+ will give me thirty linen garments and thirty changes of raiment. And they said to him, Put forth your riddle, that we may hear it. 14 And he said to them, Out of the eater came forth food, And out of the strong came forth sweetness.

And they could not in three days declare the riddle. 15 And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they said to Samson's wife, Entice your husband, that he may declare to us the riddle, or else we will burn you and your father's house with fire: have you+ called us to impoverish us? Or not? 16 And Samson's wife wept before him, and said, You only hate me, and don't love me: you have put forth a riddle to the sons of my people, and haven't told it to me. And he said to her, Look, I haven't told it to my father nor my mother, and shall I tell you? 17 And she wept before him the seven days, while their feast lasted: and it came to pass on the seventh day, that he told her, because she pressed him intensely; and she told the riddle to the sons of her people. 18 And the men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down, What is sweeter than honey? And what is stronger than a lion? And he said to them, If you+ did not plow with my heifer, You+ did not find out my riddle.

19 And the Spirit of Yahweh came mightily on him, and he went down to Ashkelon, and struck thirty men of them, and took their spoil, and gave the changes [of raiment] to those who declared the riddle. And his anger was kindled, and he went up to his father's house. 20 But Samson's wife was [given] to his friend, whom he had used as his best man.

15  But it came to pass after awhile, in the time of wheat harvest, that Samson visited his wife with a young goat; and he said, I will go in to my wife into the chamber. But her father would not allow him to go in. 2 And her father said, I truly thought that you had completely hated her; therefore I gave her to your friend: isn't her younger sister fairer than she? Take her, I pray you, instead of her. 3 And Samson said to them, This time I will be innocent in regard of the Philistines, when I do them a mischief. 4 And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between every two tails. 5 And when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing grain of the Philistines, and burned up both the shocks and the standing grain, and also the oliveyards. 6 Then the Philistines said, Who has done this? And they said, Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he has taken his wife, and given her to his friend. And the Philistines came up, and burned her and her father with fire. 7 And Samson said to them, If you+ act after this manner, surely I will be avenged of you+, and after that I will cease. 8 And he struck them hip and thigh with a great slaughter: and he went down and dwelt in the cleft of the rock of Etam.

9 Then the Philistines went up, and encamped in Judah, and spread themselves in Lehi. 10 And the men of Judah said, Why have you+ come up against us? And they said, we have come up to bind Samson, to do to him as he has done to us. 11 Then three thousand men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and said to Samson, Don't you know that the Philistines are rulers over us? What then is this that you have done to us? And he said to them, As they did to me, so I have done to them. 12 And they said to him, We have come down to bind you, that we may deliver you into the hand of the Philistines. And Samson said to them, Swear to me, or else you+ will fall on me yourselves. 13 And they spoke to him, saying, No; but we will bind you fast, and deliver you into their hand: but surely we will not kill you. And they bound him with two new ropes, and brought him up from the rock.

14 When he came to Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they met him: and the Spirit of Yahweh came mightily on him, and the ropes that were on his arms became as flax that was burned with fire, and his bindings dropped from off his hands. 15 And he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, and put forth his hand, and took it, and struck a thousand men with it. 16 And Samson said, With the jawbone of a donkey, I have thrashed them good, With the jawbone of a donkey I have struck a thousand men.

17 And it came to pass, when he had finished speaking, that he cast away the jawbone out of his hand; and that place was called Ramath-lehi. 18 And he was very thirsty, and called on Yahweh, and said, You have given this great deliverance by the hand of your slave; and now I will die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised. 19 But God split the hollow place that is in Lehi, and there came water thereout; and when he drank, his spirit came again, and he revived: therefore its name was called En-hakkore, which is in Lehi, to this day. 20 And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.

16  And Samson went to Gaza, and there saw a prostitute, and went in to her. 2 The Gazites [were told], saying, Samson has come here. And they compassed him in, and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, [Wait] until morning light, then we will kill him. 3 And Samson lay until midnight, and arose at midnight, and laid hold of the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and plucked them up, bar and all, and put them on his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of the mountain that is before Hebron.

4 And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. 5 And the lords of the Philistines came up to her, and said to her, Entice him, and see in what his great strength lies, and how we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him: and we will each give you eleven hundred [shekels] of silver. 6 And Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray you, in what your great strength lies, and with which you might be bound to afflict you. 7 And Samson said to her, If they bind me with seven fresh cords that were never dried, then I will become weak, and be as one of man. 8 Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh cords which had not been dried, and she bound him with them. 9 Now she had ambushers waiting in the inner chamber. And she said to him, The Philistines are on you, Samson. And he broke the cords, as a string of flax is broken when it touches the fire. So his strength wasn't known.

10 And Delilah said to Samson, Look, you have mocked me, and told me lies: now tell me, I pray you, with which you might be bound. 11 And he said to her, If they only bind me with new ropes with which no work has been done, then I will become weak, and be as one of man. 12 So Delilah took new ropes, and bound him with them, and said to him, The Philistines are on you, Samson. And the ambushers were waiting in the inner chamber. And he broke them from off his arms like a thread.

13 And Delilah said to Samson, Until now you have mocked me, and told me lies: tell me with which you might be bound. And he said to her, If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web, and fasten them with the pin on the loom, I will become weak as any man. 14 And as he slept, Delilah took the seven locks of his head and wove them with the web and she fastened them with the pin, and said to him, The Philistines are on you, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and plucked away the pin, the loom, and the web.

15 And she said to him, How can you say, I love you, when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and haven't told me in what your great strength lies. 16 And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, that his soul was vexed to death. 17 And he told her all his heart, and said to her, A razor has not come upon my head; for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother's womb: if I were shaved, then my strength will go from me, and I will become weak, and be like one of man. 18 And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, Come up this once, for he has told me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her, and brought the silver in their hand. 19 And she made him sleep on her knees; and she called for a man, and shaved off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him. 20 And she said, The Philistines are on you, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times, and shake myself free. But he didn't know that Yahweh had departed from him. 21 And the Philistines laid hold on him, and put out his eyes; and they brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of bronze; and he ground in the prison-house. 22 Nevertheless the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaved.

23 And the lords of the Philistines gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice; for they said, Our god has delivered Samson our enemy into our hand. 24 And when the people saw him, they praised their god; for they said, Our god has delivered into our hand our enemy, and the destroyer of our country, who has slain many of us. 25 And it came to pass, when their hearts were merry, that they said, Call for Samson, that he may entertain us. And they called for Samson out of the prison-house; and he entertained them. And they set him between the pillars: 26 and Samson said to the lad that held him by the hand, Allow me that I may feel the pillars on which the house rests, that I may lean on them. 27 Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of the Philistines were there; and there were on the roof about three thousand men and women, watching Samson amuse [them].

28 And Samson called to Yahweh, and said, O Sovereign Yahweh, remember me, I pray you, and strengthen me, I pray you, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes. 29 And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and leaned on them, the one with his right hand, and the other with his left. 30 And Samson said, Let my soul die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell on the lords, and on all the people who were in it. So the dead that he slew at his death were more than those who he slew in his life. 31 Then his brothers and all the house of his father came down, and took him, and brought him up, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the burying-place of Manoah his father. And he judged Israel twenty years.

17  And there was a man of the hill-country of Ephraim, whose name was Micah. 2 And he said to his mother, The eleven hundred [shekels] of silver that were taken from you, about which you uttered a curse, and also spoke it in my ears, look, the silver is with me; I took it. And his mother said, Blessed be my son of Yahweh. 3 And he restored the eleven hundred [shekels] of silver to his mother; and his mother said, I truly dedicate the silver to Yahweh from my hand for my son, to make a graven image and a molten image: now therefore I will restore it to you. 4 And when he restored the silver to his mother, his mother took two hundred [shekels] of silver, and gave them to the goldsmith, who made of it a graven image and a molten image: and it was in the house of Micah. 5 And the man Micah had a house of gods, and he made an ephod, and talismans, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest. 6 In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

7 And there was a young man out of Beth-lehem-judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite; and he sojourned there. 8 And the man departed out of the city, out of Beth-lehem-judah, to sojourn where he could find [a place], and he came to the hill-country of Ephraim to the house of Micah, as he journeyed. 9 And Micah said to him, Where do you come from? And he said to him, I am a Levite of Beth-lehem-judah, and I go to sojourn where I may find [a place]. 10 And Micah said to him, Dwell with me, and be to me a father and a priest, and I will give you ten [shekels] of silver by the year, and a suit of apparel, and your victuals. So the Levite went in. 11 And the Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young man was to him as one of his sons. 12 And Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah. 13 Then Micah said, Now I know that Yahweh will do me good, seeing I have a Levite for my priest.

18  In those days there was no king in Israel: and in those days the tribe of the Danites sought for itself an inheritance to dwell in; for to that day [its] inheritance had not fallen to them among the tribes of Israel. 2 And the sons of Dan sent of their family five men from their whole number, men of valor, from Zorah, and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land, and to search it; and they said to them, Go, search the land. And they came to the hill-country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and lodged there. 3 When they were by the house of Micah, they knew the voice of the young man the Levite; and they turned aside there, and said to him, Who brought you here? And what are you doing in this place? And what do you have here? 4 And he said to them, Thus and thus has Micah dealt with me, and he has hired me, and I have become his priest. 5 And they said to him, Ask counsel, we pray you, of God, that we may know whether our way which we go will be prosperous. 6 And the priest said to them, Go in peace: before Yahweh is your+ way in which you+ go.

7 Then the five men departed, and came to Laish, and saw the people who were in it, how they dwelt in security, after the manner of the Sidonians, quiet and secure; for there was no one possessing authority that might put [them] to shame in anything in the land, and they were far from the Sidonians, and had no dealings with man. 8 And they came to their brothers to Zorah and Eshtaol: and their brothers said to them, What [say] you+? 9 And they said, Arise, and let us go up against them; for we have seen the land, and, look, it is very good: and are you+ still? Don't be slothful to go and to enter in to possess the land. 10 When you+ go, you+ will come to a people secure, and the land is large; for God has given it into your+ hand, a place where there is no want of anything that is in the earth.

11 And six hundred men girded with weapons of war set forth from there of the family of the Danites, out of Zorah and out of Eshtaol. 12 And they went up, and encamped in Kiriath-jearim, in Judah: therefore they called that place Mahaneh-dan, to this day; look, it is behind Kiriath-jearim. 13 And they passed from there to the hill-country of Ephraim, and came to the house of Micah.

14 Then the five men who went to spy out the country of Laish answered, and said to their brothers, Do you+ know that there is in these houses an ephod, and talismans, and a graven image, and a molten image? Now therefore consider what you+ have to do. 15 And they turned aside there, and came to the house of the young man the Levite, even to the house of Micah, and asked him of his welfare. 16 And the six hundred men girded with their weapons of war, who were of the sons of Dan, stood by the entrance of the gate. 17 And the five men who went to spy out the land went up, and came in there, and took the graven image, and the ephod, and the talismans, and the molten image: and the priest stood by the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men girded with weapons of war. 18 And when these went into Micah's house, and fetched the graven image, the ephod, and the talismans, and the molten image, the priest said to them, What are you+ doing? 19 And they said to him, Hold your peace, lay your hand on your mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest: is it better for you to be priest to the house of one man, or to be priest to a tribe and a family in Israel? 20 And the priest's heart was glad, and he took the ephod, and the talismans, and the graven image, and went in the midst of the people.

21 So they turned and departed, and put the little ones and the cattle and the goods before them. 22 When they were a good way from the house of Micah, the men who were in the houses near to Micah's house had gathered together, and stuck to the sons of Dan. 23 And they cried to the sons of Dan. And they turned their faces, and said to Micah, What ails you, that you come with such a company? 24 And he said, You+ have taken away my gods which I made, and the priest, and have gone away, and what more do I have? And how then do you+ say to me, What ails you? 25 And the sons of Dan said to him, Don't let your voice be heard among us, or else men angry of soul will fall on you+, and you will lose your soul, with the souls of your household. 26 And the sons of Dan went their way: and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back to his house.

27 And they took that which Micah had made, and the priest whom he had, and came to Laish, to a people quiet and secure, and struck them with the edge of the sword; and they burned the city with fire. 28 And there was no deliverer, because it was far from Sidon, and they had no dealings with man; and it was in the valley that lies by Beth-rehob. And they built the city, and dwelt in it. 29 And they called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born to Israel: nevertheless the name of the city was Laish at the first. 30 And the sons of Dan set up for themselves the graven image: and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Moses, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of the Danites until the day of the captivity of the land. 31 So they set themselves up Micah's graven image which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.

19  And it came to pass in those days, when there was no king in Israel, that there was a certain Levite sojourning on the farther side of the hill-country of Ephraim, who took to himself a concubine out of Beth-lehem-judah. 2 And his concubine prostituted against him, and went away from him to her father's house to Beth-lehem-judah, and was there the space of four months. 3 And her husband arose, and went after her, to speak kindly to her, to bring her again, having his attendant with him, and a couple of donkeys: and she brought him into her father's house; and when the father of the damsel saw him, he rejoiced to meet him. 4 And his father-in-law, the damsel's father, retained him; and he remained with him three days: so they ate and drank, and lodged there. 5 And it came to pass on the fourth day, that they arose early in the morning, and he rose up to depart: and the damsel's father said to his son-in-law, Strengthen your heart with a morsel of bread, and afterward you+ will go your+ way. 6 So they sat down, and ate and drank, both of them together: and the damsel's father said to the man, Be pleased, I pray you, to tarry all night, and let your heart be merry. 7 And the man rose up to depart; but his father-in-law urged him, and he lodged there again. 8 And he arose early in the morning on the fifth day to depart; and the damsel's father said, Strengthen your heart, I pray you, and tarry+ until the day declines; and they ate, both of them. 9 And when the man rose up to depart, he, and his concubine, and his attendant, his father-in-law, the damsel's father, said to him, Look, now the day draws toward evening, I pray you+ tarry all night: see, the day grows to an end, lodge here, that your heart may be merry; and tomorrow rise+ early on your+ way, that you may go home.

10 But the man would not tarry that night, but he rose up and departed, and came opposite Jebus (the same is Jerusalem): and there were with him a couple of donkeys saddled; his concubine also was with him. 11 When they were by Jebus, the day was far spent; and the attendant said to his master, Come, I pray you, and let us turn aside into this city of the Jebusites, and lodge in it. 12 And his master said to him, We will not turn aside into a city of the foreigner, who is not of the sons of Israel; but we will pass over to Gibeah. 13 And he said to his attendant, Come and let us draw near to one of these places; and we will lodge in Gibeah, or in Ramah. 14 So they passed on and went their way; and the sun went down on them near to Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin. 15 And they turned aside there, to go in to lodge in Gibeah: and he went in, and sat down in the street of the city; for there was no man who took them into his house to lodge.

16 And, look, there came an old man from his work out of the field at evening: now the man was of the hill-country of Ephraim, and he sojourned in Gibeah; but the men of the place were Benjamites. 17 And he lifted up his eyes, and saw the wayfaring man in the street of the city; and the old man said, Where do you go? And where do you come from? 18 And he said to him, We are passing from Beth-lehem-judah to the farther side of the hill-country of Ephraim; I am from there, and I went to Beth-lehem-judah: and I am going to the house of Yahweh; and there is no man who takes me into his house. 19 Yet there is both straw and fodder for our donkeys; and there is bread and wine also for me, and for your female slave, and for the attendant who is with your slaves: there is no want of anything. 20 And the old man said, Peace be to you; however let all your wants lie on me; only don't lodge in the street. 21 So he brought him into his house, and gave the donkeys fodder; and they washed their feet, and ate and drank.

22 As they were making their hearts merry, look, the men of the city, certain base fellows, beset the house round about, beating at the door; and they spoke to the master of the house, the old man, saying, Bring forth the man who came into your house, that we may have sex with him. 23 And the man, the master of the house, went out to them, and said to them, No, my brothers, I pray you+, don't do so wickedly; seeing that this man has come into my house, don't do this folly. 24 Look, here is my daughter a virgin, and his concubine; I will bring them out now, and humble+ them, and do with them what seems good to you+: but to this man don't do any such folly. 25 But the men would not listen to him: so the man laid hold on his concubine, and brought her forth to them; and they had sex with her, and abused her all the night until the morning: and when the day began to spring, they let her go. 26 Then the woman came in the dawning of the day, and fell down at the door of the man's house where her lord was, until it was light.

27 And her lord rose up in the morning, and opened the doors of the house, and went out to go his way; and saw that the woman his concubine had fallen down at the door of the house, with her hands on the threshold. 28 And he said to her, Rise up, and let us be going; but there was no answer: then he took her up on the donkey; and the man rose up, and went to his place. 29 And when he came into his house, he took a knife, and laid hold on his concubine, and divided her, limb by limb, into twelve pieces, and sent her throughout all the borders of Israel. 30 And it was so, that all who saw [it] said, [Such a thing] has not happened nor been seen like that from the day the sons of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt to this day. And he commanded the men he sent saying, This is what you will say to every man of Israel, Has such [a thing] ever happened from the day the sons of Israel came up from Egypt until this day? Consider it, take counsel, and speak.

20  Then all the sons of Israel went out, and the congregation was assembled as one man, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, with the land of Gilead, to Yahweh at Mizpah. 2 And the chiefs of all the people, even of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen who drew a sword. 3 (Now the sons of Benjamin heard that the sons of Israel had gone up to Mizpah.) And the sons of Israel said, Tell us, how was this wickedness brought to pass? 4 And the Levite, the husband of the woman who was murdered, answered and said, I came into Gibeah that belongs to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to lodge. 5 And the men of Gibeah rose against me, and beset the house round about me by night; they wanted to kill me, and they raped my concubine to death. 6 And I took my concubine, and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the country of the inheritance of Israel; for they have committed lewdness and folly in Israel. 7 Look, you+ sons of Israel, all of you+, give here your+ advice and counsel.

8 And all the people arose as one man, saying, We will not any of us go to his tent, neither will we any of us turn to his house. 9 But now this is the thing which we will do to Gibeah: [we will go up] against it by lot! 10 And we will take ten men of a hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred of a thousand, and a thousand out of ten thousand, to fetch victuals for the people, that they may do, when they come to Geba of Benjamin, according to all the folly that they have wrought in Israel. 11 So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, joined together as one man.

12 And the tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, What wickedness is this that has come to pass among you+? 13 Now therefore deliver up the men, the base fellows, who are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death, and put away evil from Israel. But Benjamin would not listen to the voice of their brothers the sons of Israel. 14 And the sons of Benjamin gathered themselves together out of the cities to Gibeah, to go out to battle against the sons of Israel. 15 And the sons of Benjamin were numbered on that day out of the cities twenty and six thousand swordsmen, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah, who were numbered seven hundred chosen men. 16 Among all this people there were seven hundred left-handed chosen men; every one could sling stones at a hair-width, and not miss.

17 And the men of Israel, besides Benjamin, were numbered four hundred thousand swordsmen: all these were men of war. 18 And the sons of Israel arose, and went up to Beth-el, and asked counsel of God; and they said, Who shall go up for us first to battle against the sons of Benjamin? And Yahweh said, Judah [will go up] first.

19 And the sons of Israel rose up in the morning, and encamped against Gibeah. 20 And the men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin; and the men of Israel set the battle in array against them at Gibeah. 21 And the sons of Benjamin came forth out of Gibeah, and destroyed down to the ground of the Israelites on that day twenty and two thousand men. 22 And the people, the men of Israel, encouraged themselves, and set the battle again in array in the place where they set themselves in array the first day. 23 And the sons of Israel went up and wept before Yahweh until evening; and they asked of Yahweh, saying, Shall I again draw near to battle against the sons of Benjamin my brother? And Yahweh said, Go up against him.

24 And the sons of Israel came near against the sons of Benjamin the second day. 25 And Benjamin went forth against them out of Gibeah the second day, and destroyed down to the ground of the sons of Israel again eighteen thousand men; all these drew the sword. 26 Then all the sons of Israel, and all the people, went up, and came to Beth-el, and wept, and sat there before Yahweh, and fasted that day until evening; and they offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings before Yahweh. 27 And the sons of Israel asked of Yahweh (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days, 28 and Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days), saying, Shall I yet again go out to battle against the sons of Benjamin my brother, or shall I cease? And Yahweh said, Go up; for tomorrow I will deliver him into your hand.

29 And Israel set ambushers against Gibeah round about. 30 And the sons of Israel went up against the sons of Benjamin on the third day, and set themselves in array against Gibeah, as at other times. 31 And the sons of Benjamin went out against the people, and were drawn away from the city; and they began to strike and kill of the people, as at other times, in the highways, of which one goes up to Beth-el, and the other to Gibeah, in the field, about thirty men of Israel. 32 And the sons of Benjamin said, They are being struck down before us, as at the first. But the sons of Israel said, Let us flee, and draw them away from the city to the highways. 33 And all the men of Israel rose up out of their place, and set themselves in array at Baal-tamar: and the ambushers of Israel broke forth out of their place, even out from the clearing of Geba. 34 And there came over against Gibeah ten thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and the battle was intense; but they didn't know that evil was close on them. 35 And Yahweh struck Benjamin before Israel; and the sons of Israel destroyed of Benjamin that day twenty and five thousand and a hundred men: all these [were] swordsmen.

36 So the sons of Benjamin saw that they were struck; for the men of Israel gave place to Benjamin, because they trusted to the ambushers whom they had set against Gibeah. 37 And the ambushers hurried, and rushed on Gibeah; and the ambushers drew themselves along, and struck all the city with the edge of the sword. 38 Now the appointed sign between the men of Israel and the ambushers was, that they should make a great cloud of smoke rise up out of the city. 39 And the men of Israel turned in the battle, and Benjamin began to strike and kill of the men of Israel about thirty persons; for they said, Surely they are struck down before us, as in the first battle. 40 But when the cloud began to arise up out of the city in a pillar of smoke, the Benjamites looked behind them; and saw that the whole city went up [in smoke] to heaven. 41 And the men of Israel turned, and the men of Benjamin were dismayed; for they saw that evil came upon them. 42 Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel to the way of the wilderness; but the battle stuck [close] to them; and those who came out of the cities destroyed them in the midst of them. 43 They enclosed the Benjamites round about, chased them, [and from their] resting-place they trod them down, near Gibeah toward the sunrising. 44 And there fell of Benjamin eighteen thousand men; all these [were] men of valor. 45 And they turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon: and they gleaned of them in the highways five thousand men, and stuck [closely] after them to Gidom, and struck of them two thousand men. 46 So that all who fell that day of Benjamin were twenty and five thousand swordsmen; all these [were] men of valor. 47 But six hundred men turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, and remained in the rock of Rimmon four months. 48 And the men of Israel turned again on the sons of Benjamin, and struck them with the edge of the sword in the town: men to cattle, to all they found. Moreover all the cities which they found they set on fire.

21  Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpah, saying, Not any of us will give his daughter to Benjamin as wife. 2 And the people came to Beth-el, and sat there until evening before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept intensely. 3 And they said, O Yahweh, the God of Israel, why has this come to pass in Israel, that there should be today one tribe lacking in Israel? 4 And it came to pass on the next day, that the people rose early, and built there an altar, and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings. 5 And the sons of Israel said, Who is there among all the tribes of Israel who didn't come up in the assembly to Yahweh? For they had made a great oath concerning him who did not come up to Yahweh to Mizpah, saying, He will surely be put to death. 6 And the sons of Israel repented for Benjamin their brother, and said, There is one tribe cut off from Israel this day. 7 What shall we do for wives for those who remain, seeing we have sworn by Yahweh that we will not give them our daughters as wives?

8 And they said, What one is there of the tribes of Israel who did not come up to Yahweh at Mizpah? And, look, not a man from Jabesh-gilead came to the assembly at the camp. 9 For when the people were numbered, look, there was not a man of the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead there. 10 And the congregation sent there twelve thousand men of the valiant, and commanded them, saying, Go and strike the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead with the edge of the sword, with the women and the little ones. 11 And this is the thing that you+ will do: you+ will completely destroy every male, and every woman who has had any sex with a man. 12 And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead four hundred young virgins, who had not had any sex with a man; and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.

13 And the whole congregation sent and spoke to the sons of Benjamin who were in the rock of Rimmon, and proclaimed peace to them. 14 And Benjamin returned at that time; and they gave them the women whom they had saved alive of the women of Jabesh-gilead: and yet they did not suffice them. 15 And the people repented for Benjamin, because Yahweh had made a breach in the tribes of Israel.

16 Then the elders of the congregation said, What shall we do for wives for those who remain, seeing the women were destroyed out of Benjamin? 17 And they said, There must be an inheritance for the escaped of Benjamin, that a tribe will not be blotted out from Israel. 18 Nevertheless we may not give them wives of our daughters, for the sons of Israel had sworn, saying, Cursed be he who gives a wife to Benjamin. 19 And they said, Look, there is a feast of Yahweh from year to year in Shiloh, which is on the north of Beth-el, on the east side of the highway that goes up from Beth-el to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah. 20 And they commanded the sons of Benjamin, saying, Go and lie in wait in the vineyards, 21 and see, and watch if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in the dances, then come+ out of the vineyards, and you+ catch every man his wife of the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin. 22 And it will be, when their fathers or their brothers come to complain to us, that we will say to them, Grant them graciously to us, because we did not take for each man [of them] his wife in battle, neither did you+ give them to them, or else you+ would now be guilty. 23 And the sons of Benjamin did so, and took wives, according to their number, of those who danced, whom they carried off: and they went and returned to their inheritance, and built the cities, and dwelt in them. 24 And the sons of Israel departed from there at that time, every man to his tribe and to his family, and they went out from there every man to his inheritance.

25 In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

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Ruth

1  And it came to pass in the days when the judges judged, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem-judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons. 2 And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem-judah. And they came into the country of Moab, and continued there. 3 And Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died; and she was left, and her two sons. 4 And they took themselves wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelt there about ten years. 5 And Mahlon and Chilion died both of them; and the woman was left of her two children and of her husband.

6 Then she arose with her daughters-in-law, that she might return from the country of Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that Yahweh had visited his people in giving them bread. 7 And she went forth out of the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with her; and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. 8 And Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, Go, return each of you+ to her mother's house: Yahweh deal kindly with you+, as you+ have dealt with the dead, and with me. 9 Yahweh grant you+ that you+ may find rest, each of you+ in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voice, and wept. 10 And they said to her, No, but we will return with you to your people. 11 And Naomi said, Turn again, my daughters: why will you+ go with me? Have I yet sons inside me, that they may be your+ husbands? 12 Turn again, my daughters, go your+ way; for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say, I have hope, if I should even have a husband tonight, and should also bear sons; 13 would you+ therefore tarry until they were grown? Would you+ therefore refrain from having husbands? No, my daughters, for it grieves me much for your+ sakes, for the hand of Yahweh has gone forth against me. 14 And they lifted up their voice, and wept again: and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth stuck to her.

15 And she said, Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people, and to her god. You return after your sister-in-law! 16 And Ruth said, Don't entreat me to leave you, and to return from following after you, for where you go, I will go; and where you lodge, I will lodge; your people will be my people, and your God my God; 17 where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried: Yahweh do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts you and me. 18 And when she saw that she was steadfastly minded to go with her, she left off speaking to her.

19 So they both went until they came to Bethlehem. And it came to pass, when they had come to Bethlehem, that all the city was moved about them, and [the women] said, Is this Naomi? 20 And she said to them, Don't call me Naomi, call me Mara; for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. 21 I went out full, and Yahweh has brought me home again empty; why do you+ call me Naomi, seeing Yahweh has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me? 22 So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, with her, who returned out of the country of Moab: and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest.

2  And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech, and his name was Boaz. 2 And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, Let me now go to the field, and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose eyes I will find favor. And she said to her, Go, my daughter. 3 And she went, and came and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and by chance she happened on the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech. 4 And, look, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said to the reapers, Yahweh be with you+. And they answered him, Yahweh bless you. 5 Then Boaz said to his attendant who was set over the reapers, Whose damsel is this? 6 And the attendant who was set over the reapers answered and said, It is the Moabite damsel who came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab: 7 And she said, Let me glean, I pray you+, and gather after the reapers among the sheaves. So she came, and has remained standing from morning until now; her sitting now in the house [has only been] for a moment.

8 Then said Boaz to Ruth, Do you not hear, my daughter? Don't go to glean in another field, neither pass from here, but stick here by my maidens. 9 Let your eyes be on the field that they reap, and go after them: have I not charged the young men that they will not touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels, and drink of that which the young men have drawn. 10 Then she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said to him, Why have I found favor in your sight, that you should take knowledge of me, seeing I am a foreigner? 11 And Boaz answered and said to her, It has fully been shown to me, all that you have done to your mother-in-law since the death of your husband; and how you have left your father and your mother, and the land of your nativity, and have come to a people who you didn't know before. 12 Yahweh recompense your work, and a full reward be given you of Yahweh, the God of Israel, under whose wings you came to take refuge. 13 Then she said, Let me find favor in your sight, my lord, for you have comforted me and you have spoken kindly to your female slave, though I am not as one of your female slaves.

14 And at mealtime Boaz said to her, Come here, and eat of the bread, and dip your morsel in the vinegar. And she sat beside the reapers, and he passed to her roasted grain, and she ate, and was sufficed, and left of it. 15 And when she had risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, Let her glean even among the sheaves, and don't reproach her. 16 And also pull out some for her from the bundles, and leave it, and let her glean, and don't rebuke her.

17 So she gleaned in the field until evening; and she beat out that which she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley. 18 And she took it up, and went into the city; and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned: and she brought forth and gave to her that which she had left after she was sufficed. 19 And her mother-in-law said to her, Where have you gleaned today? And where have you wrought? Blessed be he who took knowledge of you. And she showed her mother-in-law with whom she had wrought, and said, The man's name with whom I wrought today is Boaz. 20 And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, Blessed be he of Yahweh, who has not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead. And Naomi said to her, The man is near of kin to us, one of our near kinsmen. 21 And Ruth the Moabitess said, Yes, he said to me, You will stick by my young men, until they have ended all my harvest. 22 And Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his maidens, and that they don't meet you in any other field. 23 So she stuck by the maidens of Boaz, to glean to the end of barley harvest and of wheat harvest; and she dwelt with her mother-in-law.

3  And Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, My daughter, shall I not seek rest for you, that it may be well with you? 2 And now isn't Boaz our kinsman, whose maidens you were with? Look, he winnows barley tonight in the threshing-floor. 3 Wash yourself therefore, and anoint yourself, and put your raiment on you, and go down to the threshing-floor, but don't make yourself known to the man, until he is done eating and drinking. 4 And it will be, when he lies down, that you will mark the place where he will lie, and you will go in, and uncover his feet, and lay down; and he will tell you what you will do. 5 And she said to her, All that you say I will do.

6 And she went down to the threshing-floor, and did according to all that her mother-in-law bade her. 7 And when Boaz had ate and drank, and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain: and she came softly, and uncovered his feet, and laid down. 8 And it came to pass at midnight, that the man was afraid, and turned himself; and saw that a woman lay at his feet. 9 And he said, Who are you? And she answered, I am Ruth your slave: spread therefore your skirt over your slave; for you are a near kinsman. 10 And he said, Blessed be you of Yahweh, my daughter: you have shown more kindness in the latter end than at the beginning, inasmuch as you didn't follow young men, whether poor or rich. 11 And now, my daughter, don't be afraid; I will do to you all that you say; for all the city of my people does know that you are a worthy woman. 12 And now it is true that I am a near kinsman; nevertheless there is a kinsman nearer than I. 13 Tarry this night, and it will be in the morning, that if he will perform to you the part of a kinsman, good; let him do the kinsman's part: but if he will not do the part of a kinsman to you, then I will do the part of a kinsman to you, as Yahweh lives: lie down until the morning.

14 And she lay at his feet until the morning. And she rose up before a man could discern another. For he said, Don't let it be known that the woman came to the threshing-floor. 15 And he said, Bring the mantle that is on you, and hold it; and she held it; and he measured six [measures] of barley, and laid it on her: and he went into the city. 16 And when she came to her mother-in-law, she said, Who are you, my daughter? And she told her all that the man had done to her. 17 And she said, These six [measures] of barley he gave me; for he said, Don't go empty to your mother-in-law. 18 Then she said, Sit still, my daughter, until you know how the matter will fall; for the man will not rest, until he has finished the thing this day.

4  Now Boaz went up to the gate, and sat down there: and, look, the near kinsman of whom Boaz spoke came by; to whom he said, Ho, such a one! Turn aside, sit down here. And he turned aside, and sat down. 2 And he took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, Sit+ down here. And they sat down. 3 And he said to the near kinsman, Naomi, who has come again out of the country of Moab, sells the parcel of land, which was our brother Elimelech's: 4 And I thought to disclose it to you, saying, Buy it before those who sit here, and before the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, redeem it: but if you will not redeem it, then tell me, that I may know; for there is none to redeem it besides you; and I am after you. And he said, I will redeem it. 5 Then Boaz said, The day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you buy from Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance. 6 And the near kinsman said, I can't redeem it for myself, or else I will mar my own inheritance: you take my right of redemption for yourself; for I can't redeem it.

7 Now this was [the custom] in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning exchanging, to confirm all things: a man drew off his sandal, and gave it to his fellow man; and this was the [manner of] attestation in Israel. 8 So the near kinsman said to Boaz, Buy it for yourself. And he drew off his sandal. 9 And Boaz said to the elders, and to all the people, You+ are witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was Elimelech's, and all that was Chilion's and Mahlon's, of the hand of Naomi. 10 Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, I have purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance, that the name of the dead will not be cut off from among his brothers, and from the gate of his place: you+ are witnesses this day. 11 And all the people who were in the gate, and the elders, said, We are witnesses. Yahweh make the woman who has come into your house like Rachel and like Leah, who both built the house of Israel: and do worthily in Ephrathah, and be famous in Bethlehem: 12 and let your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, of the seed which Yahweh will give you of this young woman.

13 So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife; and he went in to her, and Yahweh gave her conception, and she bore a son. 14 And the women said to Naomi, Blessed be Yahweh, who has not left you this day without a near kinsman; and let his name be famous in Israel. 15 And he will be to you a restorer of soul, and a nourisher of your old age, for your daughter-in-law, who loves you, who is better to you than seven sons, has borne him. 16 And Naomi took the child, and laid it in her bosom, and was its nurse. 17 And her women neighbors gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi; and they named him Obed: he is the father of Jesse, the father of David.

18 Now these are the generations of Perez: Perez begot Hezron, 19 and Hezron begot Ram, and Ram begot Amminadab, 20 and Amminadab begot Nahshon, and Nahshon begot Salmah, 21 and Salmon begot Boaz, and Boaz begot Obed, 22 and Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David.

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I Samuel

1  Now there was a certain man from Ramathaim of the Zuphites, of the hill-country of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite: 2 and he had two wives; the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah: and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. 3 And this man went up out of his city from year to year to worship and to sacrifice to Yahweh of hosts in Shiloh.[218] And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, priests to Yahweh, were there. 4 And when the day came that Elkanah sacrificed, he gave to Peninnah his wife, and to all her sons and her daughters, portions: 5 but to Hannah he gave a special portion; for he loved Hannah, but Yahweh had shut up her womb. 6 And her rival provoked her intensely, to make her fret, because Yahweh had shut up her womb. 7 And [as] he did so year by year, when she went up to the house of Yahweh, so she provoked her; therefore she wept, and did not eat. 8 And Elkanah her husband said to her, Hannah, why do you weep? And why don't you eat? And why is your heart grieved? Am I not better to you than ten sons? 9 So Hannah rose up after they had eaten in Shiloh, and after they had drank. Now Eli the priest was sitting on his seat by the door-post of the temple of Yahweh. 10 And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to Yahweh, and wept intensely. 11 And she vowed a vow, and said, O Yahweh of hosts, if you will indeed look at the affliction of your slave, and remember me, and not forget your slave, but will give to your slave a man-child, then I will give him to Yahweh all the days of his life, and no razor will come upon his head.

12 And it came to pass, as she continued praying before Yahweh, that Eli was watching her mouth. 13 Now Hannah, she spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice wasn't heard: therefore Eli thought she had been drunk. 14 And Eli said to her, How long will you be drunk? Put your wine away from you. 15 And Hannah answered and said, No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit: I have drank neither wine nor strong drink, but I poured out my soul before Yahweh. 16 Don't count your slave for a wicked woman; for out of the abundance of my complaint and my provocation I have spoken until now. 17 Then Eli answered and said, Go in peace; and the God of Israel grant your petition that you have asked of him. 18 And she said, Let your slave find favor in your sight. So the woman went her way, and ate; and her countenance was no more [sad].

19 And they rose up early in the morning, and worshiped before Yahweh, and returned, and came to their house to Ramah: and Elkanah had sex with Hannah his wife; and Yahweh remembered her. 20 And it came to pass, when the time came about, that Hannah became pregnant, and gave birth to a son; and she named him Samuel, [saying,] Because I have asked him of Yahweh.

21 And the man Elkanah, and all his house, went up to offer to Yahweh the yearly sacrifice, and his vow. 22 But Hannah didn't go up; for she said to her husband, [I will not go up] until the lad is weaned; and then I will bring him, that he may appear before Yahweh,[219] and remain there forever. 23 And Elkanah her husband said to her, Do what seems good to you; tarry until you have weaned him; only Yahweh establish his word. So the woman tarried and nursed her son, until she weaned him. 24 And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with a three-year-old bull, and one ephah of meal, and a bottle of wine, and brought him to the house of Yahweh in Shiloh: and the lad was young. 25 And they slew the bull, and brought the lad to Eli. 26 And she said, Oh, my lord, as your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman who stood here by you, praying to Yahweh. 27 I prayed for this lad; and Yahweh has given me my petition which I asked of him: 28 therefore I also have granted him to Yahweh; as long as he lives he is granted to Yahweh. And he worshiped Yahweh there.

2  And Hannah prayed, and said: My heart exults in Yahweh; My horn is exalted in Yahweh; My mouth is enlarged over my enemies; Because I rejoice in your salvation. 2 There is none holy like Yahweh; For there is none besides you, Neither is there any rock like our God. 3 Don't talk anymore so exceedingly proudly; Don't let arrogance come out of your+ mouth; For Yahweh is a God of knowledge, And by him actions are weighed. 4 The bows of the mighty men are broken; And those who stumbled are girded with strength. 5 Those who were full have hired out themselves for bread; And those who were hungry have ceased [to hunger]: Yes, the barren has borne seven; And she who has many sons languishes. 6 Yahweh kills, and makes alive: He brings down to Sheol, and brings up. 7 Yahweh makes poor, and makes rich: He brings low, he also lifts up. 8 He raises up the poor out of the dust, He lifts up the needy from the dunghill, To make them sit with princes, And inherit the throne of glory: For the pillars of the earth are Yahweh's, And he has set the world on them. 9 He will keep the feet of his holy ones; But the wicked will be put to silence in darkness; For by strength no man will prevail. 10 Yahweh - He will shatter the ones who contend against him; Above him [who contends] he thunders in heaven: Yahweh will judge the ends of the earth; And he will give strength to his king, And exalt the horn of his anointed.

11 And Elkanah went to Ramah to his house. And the lad was ministering to Yahweh before Eli the priest. 12 Now the sons of Eli were base men; they didn't know Yahweh. 13 And the custom of the priests with the people was that, when any man offered a sacrifice, the priest's attendant came, while the flesh was boiling, with a flesh-hook of three teeth in his hand; 14 and he struck it into the pan, or kettle, or cauldron, or pot; all that the flesh-hook brought up the priest took with it. So they did in Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there. 15 Yes, before they burned the fat, the priest's attendant came, and said to the man who sacrificed, Give flesh to roast for the priest; for he will not have boiled flesh of you, but raw. 16 And if the man said to him, They will surely burn the fat first, and then take as much as your soul desires; then he would say, No, but you will give it to me now: and if not, I will take it by force. 17 And the sin of the young men was very great before Yahweh; for they despised the offering of Yahweh.

18 But Samuel ministered before Yahweh, being a lad, girded with a linen ephod. 19 Moreover his mother made him a little robe, and brought it to him from year to year, when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. 20 And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said, Yahweh give you[220] [Elkanah] seed of this woman in place of the petition which he[221] asked of Yahweh. And they went to their own home. 21 And Yahweh visited Hannah, and she became pregnant, and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. And the lad Samuel grew before Yahweh.

22 Now Eli was very old; and he heard all that his sons did to all Israel, and how that they lay with the women who served at the door of the tent of meeting. 23 And he said to them, Why do you+ do such things? For I hear of your+ evil dealings from all this people. 24 No, my sons; for the report that I hear is not good: you+ make Yahweh's people to transgress. 25 If a man sins against another man, God will judge him; but if a man sins against Yahweh, who will entreat for him? Notwithstanding, they didn't listen to the voice of their father, because Yahweh was minded to slay them.

26 And the lad Samuel grew on, and increased in favor both with Yahweh, and also with men. 27 And a man of God came to Eli, and said to him, Thus says Yahweh, Did I reveal myself to the house of your father, when, in Egypt, they belonged to the house of Pharaoh? 28 And did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? And did I give to the house of your father all the offerings of the sons of Israel made by fire? 29 Why do you+ kick at my sacrifice and at my offering, which I have commanded in [my] habitation, and honor your sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel my people? 30 Therefore Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, I said indeed that your house, and the house of your father, should walk before me forever: but now Yahweh says, Be it far from me; for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me will be lightly esteemed. 31 Look, the days are coming, that I will cut off your arm, and the arm of your father's house, that there will not be an old man in your house. 32 And you will see the affliction of [my] habitation, in all the wealth which [God] will give Israel; and there will not be an old man in your house forever. 33 And the man of yours, [whom] I will not cut off from my altar, [will be] to consume your eyes, and to grieve your soul; and all the increase of your house will die as men [before they become old]. 34 And this will be the sign to you, that will come upon your two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas: in one day they will die both of them. 35 And I will raise myself up a faithful priest, that will do according to that which is in my heart and in my soul: and I will build him a sure house; and he will walk before my anointed forever. 36 And it will come to pass, that everyone who is left in your house will come and bow down to him for a gerah of silver and a loaf of bread, and will say, Put me, I pray you, into one of the priests' offices, that I may eat a morsel of bread.

3  And the lad Samuel ministered to Yahweh before Eli. And the word of Yahweh was precious in those days; there was no frequent vision. 2 And it came to pass at that time, when Eli was laid down in his place (now his eyes had begun to wax dim, so that he could not see), 3 and the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was laying down [to sleep], in the temple of Yahweh, where the ark of God was; 4 that Yahweh called Samuel; and he said, Here I am. 5 And he ran to Eli, and said, Here I am; for you called me. And he said, I didn't call; lie down again. And he went and lay down. 6 And Yahweh called yet again, Samuel. And Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, Here I am; for you called me. And he answered, I didn't call, my son; lie down again. 7 Now Samuel did not yet know Yahweh, neither was the word of Yahweh yet revealed to him. 8 And Yahweh called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli, and said, Here I am; for you called me. And Eli perceived that Yahweh had called the lad. 9 Therefore Eli said to Samuel, Go, lie down: and it will be, if he calls you, that you will say, Speak, Yahweh; for your slave hears. So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

10 And Yahweh came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel said, Speak; for your slave hears. 11 And Yahweh said to Samuel, Look, I will do a thing in Israel, at which both the ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. 12 In that day I will perform against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from the beginning even to the end. 13 For I have told him that I will judge his house forever, for the iniquity which he knew, because his sons cursed God, and he did not restrain them. 14 And therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli, that the iniquity of Eli's house will not be expiated with sacrifice nor offering forever.

15 And Samuel lay until the morning, and opened the doors of the house of Yahweh. And Samuel feared to show Eli the vision. 16 Then Eli called Samuel, and said, Samuel, my son. And he said, Here I am. 17 And he said, What is the thing that [Yahweh] has spoken to you? I pray you, don't hide it from me: God do so to you, and more also, if you hide anything from me of all the things that he spoke to you. 18 And Samuel told him every bit, and hid nothing from him. And he said, It is Yahweh: he will do what seems good to him.

19 And Samuel grew, and Yahweh was with him, and did not let any of his words fall to the ground. 20 And all Israel from Dan even to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of Yahweh. 21 And Yahweh appeared again in Shiloh; for Yahweh revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of Yahweh.

4  And the word of Samuel came to all Israel.

Now Israel went out against the Philistines to battle, and encamped beside Eben-ezer: and the Philistines encamped in Aphek. 2 And the Philistines put themselves in array against Israel: and when they joined the battle, Israel was struck before the Philistines; and they slew of the army in the field about four thousand men. 3 And when the people had come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, Why has Yahweh struck us today before the Philistines? Let us fetch the ark of the covenant of Yahweh out of Shiloh to us, that it may come among us, and save us out of the hand of our enemies. 4 So the people sent to Shiloh; and they brought from there the ark of the covenant of Yahweh of hosts who sits [above] the cherubim: and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.

5 And when the ark of the covenant of Yahweh came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth rang again. 6 And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, What is the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews? And they understood that the ark of Yahweh came into the camp. 7 And the Philistines were afraid, for they said, God has come into the camp. And they said, Woe to us! For there has not been such a thing before. 8 Woe to us! Who will deliver us out of the hand of these majestic gods? These are the gods that struck the Egyptians with all manner of plagues in the wilderness. 9 Be strong, and conduct yourselves like men, O you+ Philistines, or else you+ will be slaves to the Hebrews, as they have been slaves to you+: conduct yourselves like men, and fight. 10 And the Philistines fought, and Israel was struck, and they fled every man to his tent: and there was a very great slaughter; for there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen. 11 And the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain.

12 And there ran a man of Benjamin out of the army, and came to Shiloh the same day, with his clothes rent, and with earth on his head. 13 And he came and saw that Eli was sitting on his seat by the road watching;[222] for his heart trembled for the ark of God. And when the man came into the city, and told it, all the city cried out. 14 And when Eli heard the noise of the crying, he said, What is the noise of this tumult? And the man hurried, and came and told Eli. 15 Now Eli was ninety and eight years old; and his eyes were set, so that he could not see. 16 And the man said to Eli, I am he who came out of the army, and I fled today out of the army. And he said, How did it go, my son? 17 And he who brought the news answered and said, Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has also been a great slaughter among the people, and your two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God is taken. 18 And it came to pass, when he made mention of the ark of God, that [Eli] fell from off his seat backward by the side of the gate; and his neck broke, and he died: for he was an old man, and heavy. And he had judged Israel forty years.

19 And his daughter-in-law, Phinehas' wife, was pregnant, near to be delivered: and when she heard the news that the ark of God was taken, and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and brought forth; for her pains came upon her. 20 And about the time of her death the women who stood by her said to her, Don't be afraid; for you have brought forth a son. But she didn't answer, neither did she regard it. 21 And she named the lad Ichabod, saying, The glory has departed from Israel; because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father-in-law and her husband. 22 And she said, The glory has departed from Israel; for the ark of God was taken.

5  Now the Philistines had taken the ark of God, and they brought it from Eben-ezer to Ashdod. 2 And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon. 3 And those of Ashdod arose early on the next day, and saw Dagon fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of Yahweh. And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again. 4 And they arose early in the morning on the next day, and saw Dagon fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of Yahweh; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands [lay] cut off on the threshold; only [the stump of] Dagon was left to him. 5 Therefore neither the priests of Dagon, nor any who come into Dagon's house, tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod, to this day.

6 But the hand of Yahweh was heavy on them of Ashdod, and he destroyed them, and struck them with tumors, even Ashdod and its borders. 7 And when the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, The ark of the God of Israel will not remain with us; for his hand is intense on us, and on Dagon our god. 8 They sent therefore and gathered all the lords of the Philistines to them, and said, What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? And they answered, Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried about to Gath. And they carried the ark of the God of Israel [there]. 9 And it was so, that, after they had carried it about, the hand of Yahweh was against the city with a very great discomfiture: and he struck the men of the city, both small and great; and tumors broke out on them. 10 So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. And it came to pass, as the ark of God came to Ekron, that the Ekronites cried out, saying, They have brought about the ark of the God of Israel to us, to slay us and our people. 11 They sent therefore and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines, and they said, Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it go again to its own place, that it doesn't slay us, and our people. For there was a deadly discomfiture throughout all the city; the hand of God was very heavy there. 12 And the men who didn't die were struck with the tumors; and the cry of the city went up to heaven.

6  And the ark of Yahweh was in the country of the Philistines seven months. 2 And the Philistines called for the priests and the fortune-tellers, saying, What shall we do with the ark of Yahweh? Show us with which we will send it to its place. 3 And they said, If you+ send away the ark of the God of Israel, don't send it empty; but by all means return him a trespass-offering: then you+ will be healed, and it will be known to you+ why his hand is not removed from you+. 4 Then they said, What will be the trespass-offering which we will return to him? And they said, Five golden tumors, and five golden mice, [according to] the number of the lords of the Philistines; for the same plague was on all of you+, and on your+ lords. 5 Therefore you+ will make images of your+ tumors, and images of your+ mice that mar the land; and you+ will give glory to the God of Israel: perhaps he will lighten his hand from off you+, and from off your+ gods, and from off your+ land. 6 Why then do you+ harden your+ hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When he had wrought wonderfully among them, didn't they let the people go, and they departed? 7 Now therefore you+ take and prepare a new cart, and two milch kine, on which there has come no yoke; and tie the kine to the cart, and bring their calves home from them; 8 and take the ark of Yahweh, and lay it on the cart; and put the jewels of gold, which you+ return to him for a trespass-offering, in a coffer by its side; and send it away, that it may go. 9 And see; if it goes up by the way of its own border to Beth-shemesh, then he has done us this great evil: but if not, then we will know that it is not his hand that struck us; it was a chance that happened to us.

10 And the men did so, and took two milch kine, and tied them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home; 11 and they put the ark of Yahweh on the cart, and the coffer with the mice of gold and the images of their tumors. 12 And the kine took the straight way by the way to Beth-shemesh; they went along the highway, lowing as they went, and didn't turn aside to the right hand or to the left; and the lords of the Philistines went after them to the border of Beth-shemesh. 13 And they of Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley; and they lifted up their eyes, and saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it. 14 And the cart came into the field of Joshua the Beth-shemite, and stood there, where there was a great stone: and they split the wood of the cart, and offered up the kine for a burnt-offering to Yahweh. 15 And the Levites took down the ark of Yahweh, and the coffer that was with it, in which the jewels of gold were, and put them on the great stone: and the men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt-offerings and sacrificed sacrifices the same day to Yahweh. 16 And when the five lords of the Philistines had seen it, they returned to Ekron the same day.

17 And these are the golden tumors which the Philistines returned for a trespass-offering to Yahweh: for Ashdod one, for Gaza one, for Ashkelon one, for Gath one, for Ekron one; 18 and the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, both of fortified cities and of country villages, even to the great stone, on which they set down the ark of Yahweh, [which stone remains] to this day in the field of Joshua the Beth-shemite.

19 And he killed of the men of Beth-shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of Yahweh, he killed of the people seventy men, fifty thousand men;[223] and the people mourned, because Yahweh had struck the people with a great slaughter. 20 And the men of Beth-shemesh said, Who is able to stand before Yahweh, this holy God? And to whom will he go up from us? 21 And they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath-jearim, saying, The Philistines have brought back the ark of Yahweh; come+ down, and fetch it up to you+.

7  And the men of Kiriath-jearim came, and fetched up the ark of Yahweh, and brought it into the house of Abinadab in the hill, and sanctified Eleazar his son to keep the ark of Yahweh. 2 And it came to pass, from the day that the ark remained in Kiriath-jearim, that the time was long; for it was twenty years: and all the house of Israel lamented after Yahweh. 3 And Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, If you+ are returning to Yahweh with all your+ heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you+, and direct your+ hearts to Yahweh, and serve him only; and he will deliver you+ out of the hand of the Philistines. 4 Then the sons of Israel put away the Baalim and the Ashtaroth, and served Yahweh only.

5 And Samuel said, Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray for you+ to Yahweh. 6 And they gathered together to Mizpah, and drew water, and poured it out before Yahweh, and fasted on that day, and said there, We have sinned against Yahweh. And Samuel judged the sons of Israel in Mizpah. 7 And when the Philistines heard that the sons of Israel had gathered together to Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the sons of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines. 8 And the sons of Israel said to Samuel, Don't cease to cry to Yahweh our God for us, that he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines. 9 And Samuel took a nursing lamb, and offered it for a whole burnt-offering to Yahweh: and Samuel cried to Yahweh for Israel; and Yahweh answered him. 10 And as Samuel was offering up the burnt-offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel; but Yahweh thundered with a great thunder on that day on the Philistines, and discomfited them; and they were struck down before Israel. 11 And the men of Israel went out of Mizpah, and pursued the Philistines, and struck them, until they came under Beth-car.

12 Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpah and Shen, and called the name of it Eben-ezer, saying, So far Yahweh has helped us. 13 So the Philistines were subdued, and they did not come inside the border of Israel anymore: and the hand of Yahweh was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. 14 And the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron even to Gath; and their border Israel delivered out of the hand of the Philistines. And there was peace between Israel and the Amorites.

15 And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. 16 And he went from year to year in circuit to Beth-el and Gilgal, and Mizpah; and he judged Israel in all those places. 17 And his return was to Ramah, for his house was there; and there he judged Israel: and he built there an altar to Yahweh.

8  And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel. 2 Now the name of his firstborn was Joel; and the name of his second, Abijah: they were judges in Beer-sheba. 3 And his sons didn't walk in his ways, but turned aside after greed for monetary gain, and took bribes, and perverted justice.

4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel to Ramah; 5 and they said to him, Look, you are old, and your sons don't walk in your ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. 6 But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed to Yahweh. 7 And Yahweh said to Samuel, Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they haven't rejected you, but they have rejected me, that I should not be king over them. 8 According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, in that they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so they also do to you. 9 Now therefore listen to their voice: nevertheless you will protest solemnly to them, and will show them the manner of the king who will reign over them.

10 And Samuel told all the words of Yahweh to the people who asked of him a king. 11 And he said, This will be the manner of the king who will reign over you+: he will take your+ sons, and appoint them to him, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and they will run before his chariots; 12 and he will appoint them to himself for captains of thousands, and captains of fifties; and [he will set some] to plow his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and the instruments of his chariots. 13 And he will take your+ daughters to be perfumers, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. 14 And he will take your+ fields, and your+ vineyards, and your+ oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his slaves. 15 And he will take the tenth of your+ seed, and of your+ vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his slaves. 16 And he will take your+ male slaves, and your+ female slaves, and your+ goodliest young men, and your+ donkeys, and put them to his work. 17 He will take the tenth of your+ flocks: and you+ will be his slaves. 18 And you+ will cry out in that day because of your+ king whom you+ will have chosen you+; and Yahweh will not answer you+ in that day.

19 But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel; and they said, No: but we will have a king over us, 20 that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles. 21 And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he rehearsed them in the ears of Yahweh. 22 And Yahweh said to Samuel, Listen to their voice, and make them a king. And Samuel said to the men of Israel, Go+ every man to his city.

9  Now there was a man of Benjamin, whose name was Kish, the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Becorath, the son of Aphiah, the son of a man [of] Benjamin, a mighty man of valor. 2 And he had a son, whose name was Saul, a young and goodly man: and there was not among the sons of Israel a goodlier person than he: from his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of the people. 3 And the donkeys of Kish, Saul's father, were lost. And Kish said to Saul his son, Take now one of the attendants with you, and arise, go seek the donkeys. 4 And he passed through the hill-country of Ephraim, and passed through the land of Shalishah, but they didn't find them: then they passed through the land of Shaalim, and they were not there: and he passed through the land of the Benjamites, but they didn't find them.

5 When they had come to the land of Zuph, Saul said to his attendant who was with him, Come, and let us return, or else my father will leave off caring for the donkeys, and be anxious for us. 6 And he said to him, Look now, there is in this city a man of God, and he is a man who is held in honor; all that he says surely comes to pass: now let us go there; perhaps he can tell us concerning our journey on which we go. 7 Then Saul said to his attendant, But, look, if we go, what shall we bring the man? For the bread is spent in our vessels, and there is not a present to bring to the man of God: what do we have? 8 And the attendant answered Saul again, and said, Look, I have in my hand the fourth part of a shekel of silver: I will give that to the man of God, to tell us our way. 9 (Formerly in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, thus he said, Come, and let us go to the seer; for he who is now called a Prophet was formerly called a Seer.) 10 Then said Saul to his attendant, Well said; come, let us go. So they went to the city where the man of God was.

11 As they went up the ascent to the city, they found young maidens going out to draw water, and said to them, Is the seer here? 12 And they answered them, and said, He is; look, [he is] before you: hurry now, for he has come today into the city; for the people have a sacrifice today in the high place: 13 as soon as you+ come into the city, you+ will right away find him, before he goes up to the high place to eat; for the people will not eat until he comes, because he blesses the sacrifice; [and] afterward they who are invited will eat. Now therefore go+ up; for at this time you+ will find him. 14 And they went up to the city; [and] as they came inside the city, look, Samuel came out toward them, to go up to the high place.

15 Now Yahweh had revealed to Samuel a day before Saul came, saying, 16 Tomorrow about this time I will send you a man out of the land of Benjamin, and you will anoint him to be leader over my people Israel; and he will save my people out of the hand of the Philistines: for I have looked on my people, because their cry has come to me. 17 And when Samuel saw Saul, Yahweh said to him, Look, the man of whom I spoke to you! This same will have authority over my people. 18 Then Saul drew near to Samuel in the gate, and said, Tell me, I pray you, where the seer's house is. 19 And Samuel answered Saul, and said, I am the seer; go up before me to the high place, for you+ will eat with me today: and in the morning I will let you go, and will tell you all that is in your heart. 20 And as for your donkeys being lost now these three days,[224] don't set your mind on them; for they have been found. And for whom is all that is desirable in Israel? Is it not for you, and for all your father's house? 21 And Saul answered and said, Am I not a Benjamite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel? And my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? Why then did you speak to me after this manner?

22 And Samuel took Saul and his attendant, and brought them into the guest-chamber, and made them sit in the chiefest place among those who were invited, who were about thirty persons. 23 And Samuel said to the cook, Bring the portion which I gave you, of which I said to you, Set it by you. 24 And the cook took up the thigh, and that which was on it, and set it before Saul. And [Samuel] said, Look, that which has been reserved! Set it before you and eat; because to the appointed time has it been kept for you, for I said, I have invited the people. So Saul ate with Samuel that day.

25 And when they had come down from the high place into the city, he communed with Saul on the housetop. 26 And they arose early: and it came to pass about the spring of the day, that Samuel called to Saul on the housetop, saying, Rise up, that I may send you away. And Saul arose, and they went out both of them, he and Samuel, abroad. 27 As they were going down at the end of the city, Samuel said to Saul, Bid the attendant to pass on before us (and he passed on), but you stand still first, that I may cause you to hear the word of God.

10  Then Samuel took the vial of oil, and poured it on his head, and kissed him, and said, Is it not that Yahweh has anointed you to be leader over his inheritance? 2 When you depart from me today, then you will find two men by Rachel's tomb, in the border of Benjamin at Zelzah; and they will say to you, The donkeys which you went to seek were found; and, look, your father has left off caring for the donkeys, and is anxious for you+, saying, What shall I do for my son? 3 Then you will go on forward from there, and you will come to the oak of Tabor; and you will meet there three men going up to God to Beth-el, one carrying three young goats, and another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a bottle of wine: 4 and they will greet you, and give you two wave offerings of bread, which you will receive of their hand. 5 After that you will come to the hill of God, where the garrison of the Philistines is: and it will come to pass, when you come there to the city, that you will meet a band of prophets coming down from the high place with a psaltery, and a timbrel, and a pipe, and a harp, before them; and they will be prophesying: 6 and the Spirit of Yahweh will come mightily on you, and you will prophesy with them, and will be turned into another man. 7 And let it be, when these signs come to you, that you do as occasion will serve you; for God is with you. 8 And you will go down before me to Gilgal; and, look, I will come down to you, to offer burnt-offerings, and to sacrifice sacrifices of peace-offerings: seven days you will tarry, until I come to you, and show you what you will do.

9 And it was so, that, when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, God gave him another heart: and all those signs came to pass that day. 10 And when they came there to the hill, look, a band of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came mightily on him, and he prophesied among them. 11 And it came to pass, when all who knew him formerly saw that, look, he prophesied with the prophets, then the people said one to another, What is this that has come to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets? 12 And one of the same place answered and said, And who is their father? Therefore it became a proverb, Is Saul also among the prophets? 13 And when he had made an end of prophesying, he came to the high place.

14 And Saul's uncle said to him and to his attendant, Where did you+ go? And he said, To seek the donkeys; and when we saw that they were not found, we came to Samuel. 15 And Saul's uncle said, Tell me, I pray you, what Samuel said to you+. 16 And Saul said to his uncle, He told us plainly that the donkeys were found. But concerning the matter of the kingdom, of which Samuel spoke, he didn't tell him.

17 And Samuel called the people together to Yahweh to Mizpah; 18 and he said to the sons of Israel, This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and I delivered you+ out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all the kingdoms that oppressed you+: 19 but you+ have this day rejected your+ God, who himself saves you+ out of all your+ calamities and your+ distresses; and you+ have said to him, Surely set a king over us. Now therefore present yourselves before Yahweh by your+ tribes, and by your+ thousands. 20 So Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was taken. 21 And he brought the tribe of Benjamin near by their families; and the family of the Matrites was taken; and Saul the son of Kish was taken: but when they sought him, he could not be found. 22 Therefore they asked of Yahweh further, Is there yet a man to come here? And Yahweh answered, Look, he has hid himself among the baggage. 23 And they ran and fetched him from there; and when he stood among the people, he was higher than any of the people from his shoulders and upward. 24 And Samuel said to all the people, Do you+ see him whom Yahweh has chosen, that there is none like him among all the people? And all the people shouted, and said, [Long] live the king.

25 Then Samuel told the people the manner of the kingdom, and wrote it in a book, and laid it up before Yahweh. And Samuel sent all the people away, every man to his house. 26 And Saul also went to his house to Gibeah; and there went with him the host, whose hearts God had touched. 27 But certain worthless fellows said, How will this man save us? And they despised him, and brought him no present. But he held his peace.

11  Then Nahash the Ammonite came up, and encamped against Jabesh-gilead: and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, Make a covenant with us, and we will serve you. 2 And Nahash the Ammonite said to them, On this condition I will make it with you+, that all your+ right eyes be put out; and I will lay it for a reproach on all Israel. 3 And the elders of Jabesh said to him, Leave us seven days, that we may send messengers to all the borders of Israel; and then, if there is none to save us, we will come out to you. 4 Then the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul, and spoke these words in the ears of the people: and all the people lifted up their voice, and wept. 5 And, look, Saul came following the oxen out of the field; and Saul said, What ails the people that they weep? And they told him the words of the men of Jabesh.

6 And the Spirit of God came mightily on Saul when he heard those words, and his anger was greatly kindled. 7 And he took a yoke of oxen, and cut them in pieces, and sent them throughout all the borders of Israel by the hand of messengers, saying, Whoever does not come forth after Saul and after Samuel, so it will be done to his oxen. And the dread of Yahweh fell on the people, and they came out as one man. 8 And he numbered them in Bezek; and the sons of Israel were three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah thirty thousand. 9 And they said to the messengers who came, Thus you+ will say to the men of Jabesh-gilead, Tomorrow, by the time the sun is hot, you+ will have deliverance. And the messengers came and told the men of Jabesh; and they were glad. 10 Therefore the men of Jabesh said, Tomorrow we will come out to you+, and you+ will do with us all that seems good to you+. 11 And it was so on the next day, that Saul put the people in three companies; and they came into the midst of the camp in the morning watch, and struck the Ammonites until the heat of the day: and it came to pass, that those who remained were scattered, so that not two of them were left together.

12 And the people said to Samuel, Who is he that said, Will Saul reign over us? Bring the men, that we may put them to death. 13 And Saul said, There will not be a man put to death this day; for today Yahweh has wrought deliverance in Israel.

14 Then said Samuel to the people, Come, and let us go to Gilgal, and renew the kingdom there. 15 And all the people went to Gilgal; and there they made Saul king before Yahweh in Gilgal; and there they offered sacrifices of peace-offerings before Yahweh; and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.

12  And Samuel said to all Israel, Look, I have listened to your+ voice in all that you+ said to me, and have made a king over you+. 2 And now, see, the king walks before you+; and I am old and grayheaded; and, see, my sons are with you+: and I have walked before you+ from my youth to this day. 3 Here I am: witness against me before Yahweh, and before his anointed: whose ox have I taken? Or whose donkey have I taken? Or whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed? Or of whose hand have I taken a ransom to blind my eyes with it? And I will restore it you+. 4 And they said, You haven't defrauded us, nor oppressed us, neither have you taken anything of any man's hand. 5 And he said to them, Yahweh is witness against you+, and his anointed is witness this day, that you+ have not found anything in my hand. And they said, He is witness.

6 And Samuel said to the people, It is Yahweh who appointed Moses and Aaron, and who brought your+ fathers up out of the land of Egypt. 7 Now therefore stand still, that I may plead with you+ before Yahweh concerning all the righteous acts of Yahweh, which he did to you+ and to your+ fathers. 8 When Jacob came into Egypt, and your+ fathers cried to Yahweh, then Yahweh sent Moses and Aaron, who brought forth your+ fathers out of Egypt, and made them to dwell in this place. 9 But they forgot Yahweh their God; and he sold them into the hand of Sisera, captain of the host of Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab; and they fought against them. 10 And they cried to Yahweh, and said, We have sinned, because we have forsaken Yahweh, and have served the Baalim and the Ashtaroth: but now deliver us out of the hand of our enemies, and we will serve you. 11 And Yahweh sent Jerubbaal, and Bedan, and Jephthah, and Samuel, and delivered you+ out of the hand of your+ enemies on every side; and you+ dwelt in safety. 12 And when you+ saw that Nahash the king of the sons of Ammon came against you+, you+ said to me, No, but a king will reign over us; when Yahweh your+ God was your+ king. 13 Now therefore here is the king whom you+ have chosen, and whom you+ have asked for: and see that Yahweh has set a king over you+. 14 If you+ will fear Yahweh, and serve him, and listen to his voice, and not rebel against the mouth of Yahweh, and both you+ and also the king who reigns over you+ are followers of Yahweh your+ God, [well]: 15 but if you+ will not listen to the voice of Yahweh, but rebel against the mouth of Yahweh, then will the hand of Yahweh be against you+, as it was against your+ fathers. 16 Now therefore stand still and see this great thing, which Yahweh will do before your+ eyes. 17 Is it not wheat harvest today? I will call to Yahweh, that he may send thunder and rain; and you+ will know and see that your+ wickedness is great, which you+ have done in the sight of Yahweh, in asking for yourselves a king. 18 So Samuel called to Yahweh; and Yahweh sent thunder and rain that day: and all the people greatly feared Yahweh and Samuel.

19 And all the people said to Samuel, Pray for your slaves to Yahweh your God, that we will not die; for we have added to all our sins [this] evil, to ask for ourselves a king. 20 And Samuel said to the people, Don't be afraid; you+ have indeed done all this evil; yet don't turn aside from following Yahweh, but serve Yahweh with all your+ heart: 21 and don't turn+ aside; for [then would you+ go] after vain things which can't profit nor deliver, for they are vain. 22 For Yahweh will not forsake his people for his great name's sake, because it has pleased Yahweh to make you+ a people to himself. 23 Moreover as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against Yahweh in ceasing to pray for you+: but I will instruct you+ in the good and the right way. 24 Only fear Yahweh, and serve him in truth with all your+ heart; for consider what great things he has done for you+. 25 But if you+ will still do wickedly, you+ will be consumed, both you+ and your+ king.

13  Saul was a son of a year[225] when he began to reign; and he reigned two years over Israel. 2 Saul chose himself three thousand men of Israel, of which two thousand were with Saul in Michmash and in the mount of Beth-el, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin: and the rest of the people he sent every man to his tent. 3 And Jonathan struck the garrison of the Philistines that was in Geba: and the Philistines heard. And Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, Let the Hebrews hear. 4 And all Israel heard it said that Saul had struck the garrison of the Philistines, and also that Israel was a stench to the Philistines. And the people had gathered together after Saul at Gilgal.

5 And the Philistines assembled themselves together to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and people as the sand which is on the seashore in multitude: and they came up, and encamped in Michmash, eastward of Beth-aven. 6 When the men of Israel saw that they were in a strait (for the people were distressed), then the people hid themselves in caves, and in thickets, and in rocks, and in coverts, and in pits. 7 Now some of the Hebrews had gone over the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead; but as for Saul, he was yet in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling.

8 And he tarried seven days, according to the set time that Samuel [had appointed]: but Samuel did not come to Gilgal; and the people were scattered from him. 9 And Saul said, Bring the burnt-offering here to me, and the peace-offerings. And he offered the burnt-offering. 10 And it came to pass that, as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt-offering, look, Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him, that he might greet him. 11 And Samuel said, What have you done? And Saul said, Because I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that you didn't come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines assembled themselves together at Michmash; 12 therefore I said, Now will the Philistines come down on me to Gilgal, and I haven't entreated the favor of Yahweh: I forced myself therefore, and offered the burnt-offering. 13 And Samuel said to Saul, You have done foolishly; you haven't kept the commandment of Yahweh your God, which he commanded you: for now Yahweh would have established your kingdom on Israel forever. 14 But now your kingdom will not continue: Yahweh has sought himself a man after his own heart, and Yahweh has appointed him to be leader over his people, because you have not kept that which Yahweh commanded you. 15 And Samuel arose, and went up from Gilgal, and went on his way. But the remainder of the people went up after Saul to meet the battlefolk, and they went from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin. And Saul numbered the people who were present with him, about six hundred men. 16 And Saul, and Jonathan his son, and the people who were present with them, remained in Geba of Benjamin: but the Philistines encamped in Michmash. 17 And the spoilers came out of the camp of the Philistines in three companies: one company turned to the way that leads to Ophrah, to the land of Shual; 18 and another company turned the way to Beth-horon; and another company turned the way of the border that looks down on the valley of Zeboim toward the wilderness.

19 Now there was no blacksmith found throughout all the land of Israel; for the Philistines said, Or else the Hebrews will make swords or spears: 20 but all the Israelites went down to the Philistines, to sharpen every man his plowshare, and his coulter, and his ax, and his mattock; 21 yet they had a file for the mattocks, and for the coulters, and for the three-pronged fork, and for the axes, and to set the goads. 22 So it came to pass in the day of battle, that there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people who were with Saul and Jonathan: but with Saul and with Jonathan his son there was found. 23 And the garrison of the Philistines went out to the pass of Michmash.

14  Now it fell on a day, that Jonathan the son of Saul said to the young man who bore his armor, Come, and let us go over to the Philistines' garrison, that is on yonder side. But he didn't tell his father. 2 And Saul remained in the uttermost part of Gibeah under the pomegranate-tree which is in Migron: and the people who were with him were about six hundred men; 3 and Ahijah, the son of Ahitub, Ichabod's brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the priest of Yahweh in Shiloh, wearing an ephod. And the people didn't know that Jonathan was gone. 4 And between the passes, by which Jonathan sought to go over to the Philistines' garrison, there was a rocky crag on the one side, and a rocky crag on the other side: and the name of the one was Bozez, and the name of the other Seneh. 5 The one crag rose up on the north in front of Michmash, and the other on the south in front of Geba.

6 And Jonathan said to the young man who bore his armor, Come, and let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised: it may be that Yahweh will work for us; for there is no restraint to Yahweh to save by many or by few. 7 And his armorbearer said to him, Do all that is in your heart: turn yourself, look, I am with you according to your heart. 8 Then said Jonathan, Look, we will pass over to the men, and we will disclose ourselves to them. 9 If they say thus to us, Tarry until we come to you+; then we will stand still in our place, and will not go up to them. 10 But if they say thus, Come up to us; then we will go up; for Yahweh has delivered them into our hand: and this will be the sign to us. 11 And both of them disclosed themselves to the garrison of the Philistines: and the Philistines said, Look, the Hebrews come forth out of the holes where they had hid themselves. 12 And the men of the garrison answered Jonathan and his armorbearer, and said, Come up to us, and we will show you+ something. And Jonathan said to his armorbearer, Come up after me; for Yahweh has delivered them into the hand of Israel. 13 And Jonathan climbed up on his hands and on his feet, and his armorbearer after him: and they fell before Jonathan; and his armorbearer slew them after him. 14 And that first slaughter, which Jonathan and his armorbearer made, was about twenty men, within, as it were half a furrow's length in an acre of land. 15 And there was a trembling in the camp, in the field, and among all the people; the garrison, and the spoilers, they also trembled; and the earth quaked: so there was an exceedingly great trembling.

16 And the watchmen of Saul in Gibeah of Benjamin looked, and saw that the multitude melted away, and they went [here] and there. 17 Then Saul said to the people who were with him, Number now, and see who has gone from us. And when they had numbered, look, Jonathan and his armorbearer were not there. 18 And Saul said to Ahijah, Bring here the ark of God. For the ark of God was [there] at that time with the sons of Israel. 19 And it came to pass, while Saul talked to the priest, that the tumult that was in the camp of the Philistines went on and increased: and Saul said to the priest, Withdraw your hand. 20 And Saul and all the people who were with him were gathered together, and came to the battle: and saw that every man's sword was against his fellow man, [and there was] a very great panic. 21 Now the Hebrews who were formerly with the Philistines, and who went up with them into the camp round about, even they also [came] to be with the Israelites who were with Saul and Jonathan. 22 Likewise all the men of Israel who had hid themselves in the hill-country of Ephraim, when they heard that the Philistines fled, even they also stuck [closely] after them in the battle. 23 So Yahweh saved Israel that day: and the battle passed over by Beth-aven.

24 And the men of Israel were distressed that day; for Saul had adjured the people, saying, Cursed be the man who eats any food until it is evening, and I may be avenged on my enemies. So none of the people tasted food. 25 And all the people came into the forest; and there was honey on the ground. 26 And when the people had come to the forest, look, the honey dropped: but no man put his hand to his mouth; for the people feared the oath. 27 But Jonathan didn't hear when his father charged the people with the oath: therefore he put forth the end of the rod that was in his hand, and dipped it in the honeycomb, and put his hand to his mouth; and his eyes were enlightened. 28 Then one of the people answered, and said, Your father straitly charged the people with an oath, saying, Cursed be the man who eats food this day. And the people were faint. 29 Then said Jonathan, My father has troubled the land: see, I pray you+, how my eyes have been enlightened, because I tasted a little of this honey. 30 How much more, if perhaps the people had eaten freely today of the spoil of their enemies which they found? For now there has been no great slaughter among the Philistines.

31 And they struck of the Philistines that day from Michmash to Aijalon. And the people were very faint; 32 and the people flew on the spoil, and took sheep, and oxen, and calves, and slew them on the ground; and the people ate them with the blood. 33 Then they told Saul, saying, Look, the people sin against Yahweh, in that they eat with the blood. And he said, You+ have betrayed [Yahweh]: roll a great stone to me this day. 34 And Saul said, Disperse yourselves among the people, and say to them, Bring me here every man his ox, and every man his sheep, and slay them here, and eat; and don't sin against Yahweh in eating with the blood. And all the people brought every man his ox with him that night, and slew them there. 35 And Saul built an altar to Yahweh: the same was the first altar that he built to Yahweh.

36 And Saul said, Let us go down after the Philistines by night, and take spoil among them until the morning light, and let us not leave a man of them. And they said, Do whatever seems good to you. Then said the priest, Let us draw near here to God. 37 And Saul asked counsel of God, Shall I go down after the Philistines? Will you deliver them into the hand of Israel? But he did not answer him that day. 38 And Saul said, Draw near here, all you+ chiefs of the people; and know and see in what this sin has been this day. 39 For, as Yahweh lives, who saves Israel, though it is in Jonathan my son, he will surely die. But there wasn't a man among all the people who answered him. 40 Then he said to all Israel, You+ be on one side, and I and Jonathan my son will be on the other side. And the people said to Saul, Do what seems good to you. 41 Therefore Saul said to Yahweh, the God of Israel, Why haven't you answered your slave today? If the guilt is in me or in Jonathan my son, Yahweh, God of Israel, give Urim; but if it is in your people Israel, give Thummim. And Jonathan and Saul were taken [by lot]; but the people escaped. 42 And Saul said, Cast [lots] between me and Jonathan my son. And Jonathan was taken.

43 Then Saul said to Jonathan, Tell me what you have done. And Jonathan told him, and said, I did certainly taste a little honey with the end of the rod that was in my hand; and, look, I must die. 44 And Saul said, God do so and more also; for you will surely die, Jonathan. 45 And the people said to Saul, Will Jonathan die, who has wrought this great salvation in Israel? Far from it: as Yahweh lives, not one hair of his head will fall to the ground; for he has wrought with God this day. So the people rescued Jonathan, that he did not die. 46 Then Saul went up from following the Philistines; and the Philistines went to their own place. 47 Now when Saul had taken the kingdom over Israel, he fought against all his enemies on every side, against Moab, and against the sons of Ammon, and against Edom, and against the kings of Zobah, and against the Philistines: and wherever he turned himself, he saved. 48 And he did valiantly, and struck the Amalekites, and delivered Israel out of the hands of those who despoiled them.

49 Now the sons of Saul were Jonathan, and Ishvi, and Malchishua; and the names of his two daughters were these: the name of the firstborn Merab, and the name of the younger Michal: 50 and the name of Saul's wife was Ahinoam the daughter of Ahimaaz. And the name of the captain of his host was Abner the son of Ner, Saul's uncle. 51 And Kish was the father of Saul; and Ner the father of Abner was the son of Abiel.

52 And there was intense war against the Philistines all the days of Saul: and when Saul saw any mighty man, or any son of valor, he took him to himself.

15  And Samuel said to Saul, Yahweh sent me to anoint you to be king over his people, over Israel: now therefore listen to the voice of the words of Yahweh. 2 Thus says Yahweh of hosts, I have remembered that which Amalek did to Israel, how he set himself against him in the way, when he came up out of Egypt. 3 Now go and strike Amalek, and completely destroy all that they have, and don't spare them; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.

4 And Saul summoned the people, and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand men of Judah. 5 And Saul came to the city of Amalek, and laid wait in the valley. 6 And Saul said to the Kenites, Go, depart, go+ down from among the Amalekites, or else I will destroy you+ with them; for you+ showed kindness to all the sons of Israel, when they came up out of Egypt. So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. 7 And Saul struck the Amalekites, from Havilah as you go to Shur, that is before Egypt. 8 And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and completely destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. 9 But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and the oxen, and the seconds,[226] and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not completely destroy them: but everything that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed completely.

10 Then the word of Yahweh came to Samuel, saying, 11 It repents me that I have set up Saul to be king; for he has turned back from following me, and has not performed my commandments. And Samuel was angry; and he cried to Yahweh all night. 12 And Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning; and it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came to Carmel, and, look, he set up for himself a monument, and turned, and passed on, and went down to Gilgal. 13 And Samuel came to Saul; and Saul said to him, Blessed be you of Yahweh: I have performed the commandment of Yahweh. 14 And Samuel said, What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear? 15 And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice to Yahweh your God; and the rest we have completely destroyed. 16 Then Samuel said to Saul, Wait, and I will tell you what Yahweh has said to me this night. And he said to him, Say on.

17 And Samuel said, Though you were little in your own sight, weren't you made the head of the tribes of Israel? And Yahweh anointed you king over Israel; 18 and Yahweh sent you on a journey, and said, Go, and completely destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed. 19 Why then didn't you obey the voice of Yahweh, but flew on the spoil, and did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh? 20 And Saul said to Samuel, Yes, I have obeyed the voice of Yahweh, and have gone the way which Yahweh sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have completely destroyed the Amalekites. 21 But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the devoted things, to sacrifice to Yahweh your God in Gilgal. 22 And Samuel said, Does Yahweh have as great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of Yahweh? Look, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is as the sin of fortune-telling, and stubbornness is as idolatry and talismans.[227] Because you have rejected the word of Yahweh, he has also rejected you from being king.

24 And Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned; for I have transgressed the mouth of Yahweh, and your words, because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice. 25 Now therefore, I pray you, pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship Yahweh. 26 And Samuel said to Saul, I will not return with you; for you have rejected the word of Yahweh, and Yahweh has rejected you from being king over Israel. 27 And as Samuel turned about to go away, [Saul] laid hold on the skirt of his robe, and it rent. 28 And Samuel said to him, Yahweh has rent the kingdom of Israel from you this day, and has given it to your fellow man, who is better than you. 29 And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent; for he is not man, that he should repent. 30 Then he said, I have sinned: yet honor me now, I pray you, before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may worship Yahweh your God. 31 So Samuel turned again after Saul; and Saul worshiped Yahweh.

32 Then Samuel said, Bring+ here to me Agag the king of the Amalekites. And Agag came to him cheerfully. And Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is past. 33 And Samuel said, As your sword has made women childless, so will your mother be childless among women. And Samuel cut Agag in pieces before Yahweh in Gilgal.

34 Then Samuel went to Ramah; and Saul went up to his house to Gibeah of Saul. 35 And Samuel didn't come to see Saul anymore until the day of his death; for Samuel mourned for Saul: and Yahweh repented that he had made Saul king over Israel.

16  And Yahweh said to Samuel, How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go: I will send you to Jesse the Beth-lehemite; for I have provided myself a king among his sons. 2 And Samuel said, How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me. And Yahweh said, Take a heifer with you, and say, I have come to sacrifice to Yahweh. 3 And call Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you will do: and you will anoint to me him whom I name to you. 4 And Samuel did that which Yahweh spoke, and came to Beth-lehem. And the elders of the city came to meet him trembling, and said, Do you come peacefully? 5 And he said, Peacefully; I have come to sacrifice to Yahweh: sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice. And he sanctified Jesse and his sons, and called them to the sacrifice.

6 And it came to pass, when they had come, that he looked on Eliab, and said, Surely Yahweh's anointed is before him. 7 But Yahweh said to Samuel, Don't look on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have rejected him: for [it is] not [a matter of] what man sees; for man looks on the outward appearance, but Yahweh looks on the heart. 8 Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, Neither has Yahweh chosen this. 9 Then Jesse made Shammah to pass by. And he said, Neither has Yahweh chosen this. 10 And Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, Yahweh has not chosen these. 11 And Samuel said to Jesse, Are all your lads here? And he said, There remains yet the youngest, and, look, he is shepherding the sheep. And Samuel said to Jesse, Send and fetch him; for we will not sit down until he comes here. 12 And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and had handsome eyes, and was good-looking. And Yahweh said, Arise, anoint him; for this is he. 13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brothers: and the Spirit of Yahweh came mightily on David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah. 14 Now the Spirit of Yahweh departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from Yahweh troubled him. 15 And Saul's slaves said to him, Look now, an evil spirit from God troubles you. 16 Let our lord now command your slaves, who are before you, to seek out a man who is a skillful player on the harp: and it will come to pass, when the evil spirit from God is on you, that he will play with his hand, and you will be well. 17 And Saul said to his slaves, Provide me now a man who can play well, and bring him to me. 18 Then one of the young men answered, and said, Look, I have seen a son of Jesse the Beth-lehemite, who is skillful in playing, and a mighty man of valor, and a man of war, and prudent in speech, and a comely person; and Yahweh is with him. 19 Therefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse, and said, Send me David your son, who is with the sheep. 20 And Jesse took a donkey [laden] with bread, and a bottle of wine, and a young goat, and sent them by David his son to Saul. 21 And David came to Saul, and stood before him: and he loved him greatly; and he became his armorbearer. 22 And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, Let David, I pray you, stand before me; for he has found favor in my sight. 23 And it came to pass, when the [evil] spirit from God was on Saul, that David took the harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.

17  Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle; and they were gathered together at Socoh, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Socoh and Azekah, in Ephes-dammim. 2 And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and encamped in the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Philistines. 3 And the Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side: and there was a valley between them. 4 And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. 5 And he had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was clad with a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. 6 And he had greaves of bronze on his legs, and a javelin of bronze between his shoulders. 7 And the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam; and his spear's head [weighed] six hundred shekels of iron: and his shield-bearer went before him. 8 And he stood and cried to the armies of Israel, and said to them, Why do you+ come out to set your+ battle in array? Am I not a Philistine, and you+ slaves to Saul? Choose+ a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. 9 If he is able to fight with me, and kill me, then we will be your+ slaves; but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then you+ will be our slaves, and serve us. 10 And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together. 11 And when Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed, and greatly afraid.

12 Now David was the son of a man, an Ephrathite of Beth-lehem-judah, whose name was Jesse; and he had eight sons: and the man, in the days of Saul, was old and notable among men. 13 And the three eldest sons of Jesse had gone after Saul to the battle: and the names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and next to him Abinadab, and the third Shammah. 14 And David was the youngest; and the three eldest followed Saul. 15 Now David went to and fro from Saul to shepherd his father's sheep at Beth-lehem. 16 And the Philistine drew near morning and evening, and presented himself forty days.

17 And Jesse said to David his son, Now take for your brothers an ephah of this parched grain, and these ten loaves, and carry [them] quickly to the camp to your brothers; 18 and bring these ten cheeses to the captain of their thousand, and see how your brothers fare, and take their pledge. 19 Now Saul, and they, and all the men of Israel, were in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines.

20 And David rose up early in the morning, and left the sheep with a keeper, and took, and went, as Jesse had commanded him; and he came to the place of the wagons, as the host which was going forth to the fight shouted for the battle. 21 And Israel and the Philistines put the battle in array, army against army. 22 And David left his baggage in the hand of the keeper of the baggage, and ran to the army, and came and greeted his brothers. 23 And as he talked with them, look, there came up the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, out of the ranks of the Philistines, and spoke according to the same words: and David heard them. 24 And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, and were very afraid. 25 And the men of Israel said, Have you+ seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel: and it will be, that the man who kills him, the king will enrich him with great riches, and will give him his daughter, and make his father's house free in Israel. 26 And David spoke to the men who stood by him, saying, What will be done to the man who kills this Philistine, and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God? 27 And the people answered him after this manner, saying, So it will be done to the man who kills him.

28 And Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eliab's anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why have you come down? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride, and the naughtiness of your heart; for you have come down that you might see the battle. 29 And David said, What have I done now? Is there not a cause? 30 And he turned away from him toward another, and spoke after the same manner: and the people answered him again after the former manner.

31 And when the words were heard which David spoke, they rehearsed them before Saul; and he sent for him. 32 And David said to Saul, Don't let the heart of man fail because of him; your slave will go and fight with this Philistine. 33 And Saul said to David, You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are but a youth, and he is a man of war from his youth. 34 And David said to Saul, Your slave was shepherding his father's sheep; and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, 35 I went out after him, and struck him, and delivered it out of his mouth; and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and struck him, and slew him. 36 Your slave struck both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine will be as one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God. 37 And David said, Yahweh who delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said to David, Go, and Yahweh will be with you. 38 And Saul clad David with his apparel, and he put a helmet of bronze on his head, and he clad him with a coat of mail. 39 And David girded his sword on his apparel, and he assayed to go; for he had not proved it. And David said to Saul, I can't go with these; for I haven't proved them. And David put them off him. 40 And he took his staff in his hand, and chose himself five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in the shepherd's bag which he had, even in his wallet; and his sling was in his hand: and he drew near to the Philistine.

41 And the Philistine came upon and drew near to David; and the man who bore the shield went before him. 42 And when the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he disdained him; for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and handsome. 43 And the Philistine said to David, Am I a dog, that you come to me with staves? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44 And the Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the heavens, and to the beasts of the field. 45 Then said David to the Philistine, You come to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a javelin: but I come to you in the name of Yahweh of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day Yahweh will deliver you into my hand; and I will strike you, and take your head from off you; and I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the heavens, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, 47 and that all this assembly may know that Yahweh does not save with sword and spear: for the battle is Yahweh's, and he will give you+ into our hand. 48 And it came to pass, when the Philistine arose, and came and drew near to meet David, that David hurried, and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine. 49 And David put his hand in his bag, and took a stone from there, and slang it, and struck the Philistine in his forehead; and the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the earth.

50 So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Philistine, and slew him; but there was no sword in the hand of David. 51 Then David ran, and stood over the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of its sheath, and slew him, and cut off his head with it. And when the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. 52 And the men of Israel and of Judah arose, and shouted, and pursued the Philistines, until you come to Gai, and to the gates of Ekron. And the wounded of the Philistines fell down by the way to Shaaraim, even to Gath, and to Ekron. 53 And the sons of Israel returned from chasing after the Philistines, and they plundered their camp. 54 And David took the head of the Philistine, and brought it to Jerusalem; but he put his armor in his tent.

55 And when Saul saw David go forth against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the captain of the host, Abner, whose son is this youth? And Abner said, As your soul lives, O king, I don't know. 56 And the king said, You inquire whose son the stripling is. 57 And as David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, Abner took him, and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand. 58 And Saul said to him, Whose son are you, young man? And David answered, I am the son of your slave Jesse the Beth-lehemite.

18  And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking to Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. 2 And Saul took him that day, and would not let him go home anymore to his father's house. 3 Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul. 4 And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him, and gave it to David, and his apparel, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his belt. 5 And David went out wherever Saul sent him, [and] behaved himself wisely: and Saul set him over the men of war, and it was good in the sight of all the people, and also in the sight of Saul's slaves. 6 And it came to pass as they came, when David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with timbrels, with joy, and with instruments of music. 7 And the women sang one to another as they played, and said, Saul has slain his thousands, And David his ten thousands.

8 And Saul was very angry, and this thing was evil in his eyes; and he said, They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands: and what can he have more but the kingdom? 9 And Saul eyed David from that day and forward.

10 And it came to pass on the next day, that an evil spirit from God came mightily on Saul, and he prophesied in the midst of the house: and David played with his hand, as he did day by day. And Saul had his spear in his hand; 11 and Saul cast the spear; for he said, I will strike David even to the wall. And David avoided out of his presence twice. 12 And Saul was afraid of David, because Yahweh was with him, and had departed from Saul. 13 Therefore Saul removed him from himself, and made him his captain over a thousand; and he went out and came in before the people. 14 And David behaved himself wisely in all his ways; and Yahweh was with him. 15 And when Saul saw that he behaved himself very wisely, he stood in awe of him. 16 But all Israel and Judah loved David; for he went out and came in before them.

17 And Saul said to David, Look, my elder daughter Merab, I will give her to you as wife: only be valiant for me, and fight Yahweh's battles. For Saul said, Don't let my hand be on him, but let the hand of the Philistines be on him. 18 And David said to Saul, Who am I, and what is my life, [or] my father's family in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king? 19 But it came to pass at the time when Merab, Saul's daughter, should have been given to David, that she was given to Adriel the Meholathite as wife. 20 And Michal, Saul's daughter, loved David: and they told Saul, and the thing was right in his eyes. 21 And Saul said, I will give her to him, that she may be a snare to him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him. Therefore Saul said to David, You will this day be my son-in-law a second time.

22 And Saul commanded his slaves, [saying,] Commune with David secretly, and say, Look, the king has delight in you, and all his slaves love you: now therefore be the king's son-in-law. 23 And Saul's slaves spoke those words in the ears of David. And David said, Does it seem to you+ a light thing to be the king's son-in-law, seeing that I am a poor man, and lightly esteemed? 24 And the slaves of Saul told him, saying, On this manner spoke David. 25 And Saul said, Thus you+ will say to David, The king does not desire any dowry, but a hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king's enemies. Now Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines. 26 And when his slaves told David these words, it pleased David well to be the king's son-in-law. And the days were not expired; 27 and David arose and went, he and his men, and slew of the Philistines two hundred men; and David brought their foreskins, and they gave them in full number to the king, that he might be the king's son-in-law. And Saul gave him Michal his daughter as wife. 28 And Saul saw and knew that Yahweh was with David; and Michal, Saul's daughter, loved him. 29 And Saul was yet the more afraid of David; and Saul was David's enemy continually.

30 Then the princes of the Philistines went forth: and it came to pass, as often as they went forth, that David behaved himself more wisely than all the slaves of Saul; so that his name was much set by.

19  And Saul spoke to Jonathan his son, and to all his slaves, that they should slay David. But Jonathan, Saul's son, delighted much in David. 2 And Jonathan told David, saying, Saul my father seeks to slay you: now therefore, I pray you, take heed to yourself in the morning, and remain in a secret place, and hide yourself: 3 and I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will commune with my father of you; and if I see anything, I will tell you. 4 And Jonathan spoke good of David to Saul his father, and said to him, Don't let the king sin against his slave, against David; because he has not sinned against you, and because his works have been very good toward you: 5 for he put his soul in his hand, and struck the Philistine, and Yahweh wrought a great victory for all Israel: you saw it, and rejoiced; why then will you sin against innocent blood, to slay David without a cause? 6 And Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan: and Saul swore, As Yahweh lives, he will not be put to death. 7 And Jonathan called David, and Jonathan showed him all those things. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence, as formerly.

8 And there was war again: and David went out, and fought with the Philistines, and slew them with a great slaughter; and they fled before him. 9 And an evil spirit from Yahweh was on Saul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand; and David was playing with his hand. 10 And Saul sought to strike David even to the wall with the spear; but he slipped away out of Saul's presence, and he struck the spear into the wall: and David fled, and escaped that night. 11 And Saul sent messengers to David's house, to watch him, and to slay him in the morning: and Michal, David's wife, told him, saying, If you don't save your soul tonight, tomorrow you will be slain. 12 So Michal let David down through the window: and he went, and fled, and escaped. 13 And Michal took the talismans,[228] and laid them in the bed, and put a pillow of goats' [hair] at his head,[229] and used a blanket as a covering. 14 And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, He is sick. 15 And Saul sent the messengers to see David, saying, Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may slay him. 16 And when the messengers came in, look, the talismans were in the bed, with the pillow of goats' [hair] at his head.[230] 17 And Saul said to Michal, Why have you deceived me thus, and let my enemy go, so that he has escaped? And Michal answered Saul, He said to me, Let me go; why should I kill you?

18 Now David fled, and escaped, and came to Samuel to Ramah, and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and dwelt in Naioth. 19 And it was told Saul, saying, Look, David is at Naioth in Ramah. 20 And Saul sent messengers to take David: and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as head over them, the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied. 21 And when it was told Saul, he sent other messengers, and they also prophesied. And Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they also prophesied. 22 Then he also went to Ramah, and came to the great well that is in Secu: and he asked and said, Where are Samuel and David? And one said, Look, they are at Naioth in Ramah. 23 And he went there to Naioth in Ramah: and the Spirit of God came upon him also, and he went on, and prophesied, until he came to Naioth in Ramah. 24 And he also stripped off his clothes, and he also prophesied before Samuel, and lay down naked all that day and all that night. Therefore they say, Is Saul also among the prophets?

20  And David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and came and said before Jonathan, What have I done? What is my iniquity? And what is my sin before your father, that he seeks my soul? 2 And he said to him, Far from it; you will not die: look, my father does nothing either great or small, but that he discloses it to me; and why should my father hide this thing from me? It is not so. 3 And David swore moreover, and said, Your father knows well that I have found favor in your eyes; and he says, Don't let Jonathan know this, or else he will be grieved: but truly as Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death. 4 Then Jonathan said to David, Whatever your soul desires, I will even do it for you. 5 And David said to Jonathan, Look, tomorrow is the new moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king at meat: but let me go, that I may hide myself in the field until the evening. 6 If your father misses me at all, then say, David earnestly asked leave of me that he might run to Beth-lehem his city; for it is the yearly sacrifice there for all the family. 7 If he says thus, It is well; your slave will have peace: but if he is angry, then know that evil has been determined by him. 8 Therefore deal kindly with your slave; for you have brought your slave into a covenant of Yahweh with you: but if there is iniquity in me, slay me yourself; for why should you bring me to your father? 9 And Jonathan said, Far be it from you; for if I should at all know that evil were determined by my father to come upon you, then would not I tell it you? 10 Then said David to Jonathan, Who will tell me if your father answers you roughly? 11 And Jonathan said to David, Come, and let us go out into the field. And they went out both of them into the field.

12 And Jonathan said to David, [By][231] Yahweh, God of Israel: surely I will sound out my father by about this time on the third day,[232] look, if there is good toward David, shall I not then send to you, and disclose it to you? 13 Yahweh do so to Jonathan, and more also, should it please my father to do you evil, if I don't disclose it to you, and send you away, that you may go in peace: and Yahweh be with you, as he has been with my father. 14 And you will not only while I yet live show me the loving-kindness of Yahweh, that I will not die; 15 but also you will not cut off your kindness from my house forever; no, not when Yahweh has cut off the enemies of David every one from the face of the earth. 16 So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, [saying,] And Yahweh will require it at the hand of the sons of David.[233]

17 And Jonathan caused David to swear again, for the love that he had to him; for he loved him as he loved his own soul. 18 Then Jonathan said to him, Tomorrow is the new moon: and you will be missed, because your seat will be empty. 19 And on the third day,[234] you will go down quickly, and come to the place where you hid yourself when the business was in hand, and will remain by the stone Ezel. 20 And I will shoot three arrows on its side, as though I shot at a mark. 21 And, look, I will send the lad, [saying,] Go, find the arrows. If I say to the lad, Look, the arrows are on this side of you; take them, and come; for there is peace to you and no hurt, as Yahweh lives. 22 But if I say thus to the boy, Look, the arrows are beyond you; go your way; for Yahweh has sent you away. 23 And as concerning the matter which you and I have spoken of, look, Yahweh is between you and me forever.

24 So David hid himself in the field: and when the new moon came, the king sat him down to eat food. 25 And the king sat on his seat, as at other times, even on the seat by the wall; and Jonathan sat opposite, and Abner sat by Saul's side: but David's place was empty. 26 Nevertheless Saul did not speak anything that day: for he thought, Something has befallen him, he is not clean; surely he is not clean. 27 And it came to pass on the next day, the second of the month, that David's place was empty: and Saul said to Jonathan his son, Why didn't the son of Jesse come to meat, neither yesterday, nor today? 28 And Jonathan answered Saul, David earnestly asked leave of me to go to Beth-lehem: 29 and he said, Let me go, I pray you; for our family has a sacrifice in the city; and my brother, he has commanded me [to be there]: and now, if I have found favor in your eyes, let me get away, I pray you, and see my brothers. Therefore he didn't come to the king's table.

30 Then Saul's anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said to him, You son of a perverse rebellious woman, don't I know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame, and to the shame of your mother's nakedness? 31 For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the ground, neither you nor your kingdom will be established. Therefore now send and fetch him to me, for he will surely die. 32 And Jonathan answered Saul his father, and said to him, Why should he be put to death? What has he done? 33 And Saul cast his spear at him to strike him; therefore Jonathan knew that it was determined of his father to put David to death. 34 So Jonathan arose from the table in fierce anger, and ate no food the second day of the month; for he was grieved for David, because his father had done him shame.

35 And it came to pass in the morning, that Jonathan went out into the field at the time appointed with David, and a little lad with him. 36 And he said to his lad, Run, find now the arrows which I shoot. And as the lad ran, he shot an arrow beyond him. 37 And when the lad came to the place of the arrow which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan cried after the lad, and said, Isn't the arrow beyond you? 38 And Jonathan cried after the lad, Make speed, hurry, don't stop. And Jonathan's lad gathered up the arrows, and came to his master. 39 But the lad didn't know anything: only Jonathan and David knew the matter. 40 And Jonathan gave his weapons to his lad, and said to him, Go, carry them to the city. 41 And as soon as the lad was gone, David arose from beside the mound, and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed himself three times: and they kissed one another, and wept one with another, until David exceeded. 42 And Jonathan said to David, Go in peace, since we have sworn both of us in the name of Yahweh, saying, Yahweh will be between me and you, and between my seed and your seed, forever. And he arose and departed: and Jonathan went into the city.

21  Then David came to Nob to Ahimelech the priest: and Ahimelech came to meet David trembling, and said to him, Why are you alone, and no man with you? 2 And David said to Ahimelech the priest, The king has commanded me a business, and has said to me, Let no man know anything of the business whereabout I send you, and what I have commanded you: and I have arranged a meeting with the young men to such and such a place. 3 Now therefore what is under your hand? Give me five loaves of bread in my hand, or whatever there is present. 4 And the priest answered David, and said, There is no common bread under my hand, but there is holy bread; if only the young men have kept themselves from women. 5 And David answered the priest, and said to him, Of a truth women have been kept from us about these three days; when I came out, the vessels[235] of the young men were holy, though it was but a common journey; how much more then today will their vessels be holy? 6 So the priest gave him holy [bread]; for there was no bread there but the showbread, that was taken from before Yahweh, to put hot bread in the day when it was taken away.

7 Now a certain man of the slaves of Saul was there that day, detained before Yahweh; and his name was Doeg the Edomite, the chiefest of the herdsmen who belonged to Saul. 8 And David said to Ahimelech, And is there not here under your hand spear or sword? For I have neither brought my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king's business was urgent. 9 And the priest said, The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you slew in the valley of Elah, look, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod: if you will take that, take it; for there is no other but that here. And David said, There is none like that; give it to me.

10 And David arose, and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath. 11 And the slaves of Achish said to him, Isn't this David the king of the land? Didn't they sing one to another of him in dances, saying, Saul has slain his thousands, And David his ten thousands?

12 And David laid up these words in his heart, and was very afraid of Achish the king of Gath. 13 And he changed his behavior before them, and feigned himself insane in their hands, and scrabbled on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down on his beard. 14 Then Achish said to his slaves, Look, you+ see the man is insane; why then have you+ brought him to me? 15 Do I lack lunatics, that you+ have brought this fellow to play the lunatic in my presence? Will this fellow come into my house?

22  David therefore departed from there, and escaped to the cave of Adullam: and when his brothers and all his father's house heard it, they went down there to him. 2 And everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was in bitterness of soul, gathered themselves to him; and he became captain over them: and there were with him about four hundred men.

3 And David went from there to Mizpeh of Moab: and he said to the king of Moab, Let my father and my mother, I pray you, come forth, [and be] with you+, until I know what God will do for me. 4 And he brought them before the king of Moab: and they dwelt with him all the while that David was in the stronghold. 5 And the prophet Gad said to David, Don't remain in the stronghold; depart, and go into the land of Judah. Then David departed, and came into the forest of Hereth.

6 And Saul heard that David was discovered, and the men who were with him: now Saul was sitting in Gibeah, under the tamarisk-tree in Ramah, with his spear in his hand, and all his slaves were standing about him. 7 And Saul said to his slaves who stood about him, Hear now, you+ Benjamites; will the son of Jesse give every one of you+ fields and vineyards, will he make all of you+ captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, 8 that all of you+ have conspired against me, and there is none who discloses to me when my son makes a league with the son of Jesse, and there is none of you+ who is sorry for me, or discloses to me that my son has stirred up my slave against me, to lie in wait, as at this day? 9 Then Doeg the Edomite, who stood by the slaves of Saul, answered and said, I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub. 10 And he inquired of Yahweh for him, and gave him victuals, and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.

11 Then the king sent to call Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father's house, the priests who were in Nob: and they came all of them to the king. 12 And Saul said, Hear now, you son of Ahitub. And he answered, Here I am, my lord. 13 And Saul said to him, Why have you+ conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, in that you have given him bread, and a sword, and have inquired of God for him, that he should rise against me, to lie in wait, as at this day? 14 Then Ahimelech answered the king, and said, And who among all your slaves is so faithful as David, who is the king's son-in-law, and commander over your bodyguard, and is honorable in your house? 15 Have I today begun to inquire of God for him? Be it far from me: don't let the king impute anything to his slave, nor to all the house of my father; for your slave knows nothing of all this, less or more. 16 And the king said, You will surely die, Ahimelech, you, and all your father's house. 17 And the king said to the guard that stood about him, Turn, and slay the priests of Yahweh; because their hand also is with David, and because they knew that he fled, and did not disclose it to me. But the slaves of the king would not put forth their hand to fall on the priests of Yahweh. 18 And the king said to Doeg, You turn, and fall on the priests. And Doeg the Edomite turned, and he fell on the priests, and he slew on that day eighty-five persons who wore a linen ephod. 19 And Nob, the city of the priests, he struck with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and sucklings, and oxen and donkeys and sheep, with the edge of the sword.

20 And one of the sons of Ahimelech, the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped, and fled after David. 21 And Abiathar told David that Saul had slain Yahweh's priests. 22 And David said to Abiathar, I knew on that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul: I have turned in every soul of your father's house. 23 Remain with me, don't be afraid; for he who seeks my soul seeks your soul: for with me you will be in safeguard.

23  And they told David, saying, Look, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah, and are robbing the threshing-floors. 2 Therefore David inquired of Yahweh, saying, Shall I go and strike these Philistines? And Yahweh said to David, Go, and strike the Philistines, and save Keilah. 3 And David's men said to him, Look, we are afraid here in Judah: how much more then if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines? 4 Then David inquired of Yahweh yet again. And Yahweh answered him, and said, Arise, go down to Keilah; for I will deliver the Philistines into your hand. 5 And David and his men went to Keilah, and fought with the Philistines, and brought away their cattle, and slew them with a great slaughter. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah. 6 And it came to pass, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David to Keilah, that he came down with an ephod in his hand.

7 And it was told Saul that David came to Keilah. And Saul said, God has delivered him into my hand; for he has been shut in, by entering into a town that has gates and bars. 8 And Saul summoned all the people to war, to go down to Keilah, to besiege David and his men. 9 And David knew that Saul was devising mischief against him; and he said to Abiathar the priest, Bring here the ephod. 10 Then said David, O Yahweh, the God of Israel, your slave has surely heard that Saul seeks to come to Keilah, to destroy the city for my sake. 11 Will the men of Keilah deliver me up into his hand? Will Saul come down, as your slave has heard? O Yahweh, the God of Israel, I urge you, tell your slave. And Yahweh said, He will come down. 12 Then said David, Will the men of Keilah deliver up me and my men into the hand of Saul? And Yahweh said, They will deliver you up. 13 Then David and his men, who were about six hundred, arose and departed out of Keilah, and went wherever they could go. And it was told Saul that David had escaped from Keilah; then he stopped to go forth. 14 And David remained in the wilderness in the strongholds, and remained in the hill-country in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God did not deliver him into his hand.

15 And David saw that Saul came out to seek his soul: and David was in the wilderness of Ziph in the forest. 16 And Jonathan, Saul's son, arose, and went to David into the forest, and strengthened his hand in God. 17 And he said to him, Don't be afraid; for the hand of Saul my father will not find you; and you will be king over Israel, and I will be next to you; and that also Saul my father knows. 18 And they both made a covenant before Yahweh: and David remained in the forest, and Jonathan went to his house.

19 Then came up the Ziphites to Saul to Gibeah, saying, Does not David hide himself with us in the strongholds in the forest, in the hill of Hachilah, which is on the south of the desert? 20 Now therefore, O king, come down, according to all the desire of your soul to come down; and our part will be to deliver him up into the king's hand. 21 And Saul said, Blessed be you+ of Yahweh; for you+ have had compassion on me. 22 Go, I pray you+, make yet more sure, and know and see his place where [the trace of] his foot is, [and] who has seen him there; for it is told me that he deals very subtly. 23 See therefore, and take knowledge of all the lurking-places where he hides himself, and come+ again to me of a certainty, and I will go with you+: and it will come to pass, if he is in the land, that I will search him out among all the thousands of Judah.

24 And they arose, and went to Ziph before Saul: but David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon, in the Arabah on the south of the desert. 25 And Saul and his men went to seek him. And they told David: therefore he came down to the rock, and remained in the wilderness of Maon. And when Saul heard [that], he pursued after David in the wilderness of Maon. 26 And Saul went on this side of the mountain, and David and his men on that side of the mountain: and David hurried to get away for fear of Saul; for Saul and his men surrounded David and his men to take them. 27 But there came a messenger to Saul, saying, Hurry, and come; for the Philistines have made a raid on the land. 28 So Saul returned from pursuing after David, and went against the Philistines: therefore they called that place Sela-hammahlekoth. 29 And David went up from there, and dwelt in the strongholds of En-gedi.

24  And it came to pass, when Saul had returned from following the Philistines, that it was told him, saying, Look, David is in the wilderness of En-gedi. 2 Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went to seek David and his men on the rocks of the wild goats. 3 And he came to the sheepcotes by the way, where there was a cave; and Saul went in to relieve himself.[236] Now David and his men were dwelling in the innermost parts of the cave. 4 And the men of David said to him, Look, the day of which Yahweh said to you, Look, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, and you will do to him as it will seem good to you. Then David arose, and cut off the skirt of Saul's robe secretly. 5 And it came to pass afterward, that David's heart struck him, because he had cut off Saul's skirt. 6 And he said to his men, Yahweh forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, Yahweh's anointed, to put forth my hand against him, seeing he is Yahweh's anointed. 7 So David checked his men with these words, and did not allow them to rise against Saul. And Saul rose up out of the cave, and went on his way.

8 David also arose afterward, and went out of the cave, and cried after Saul, saying, My lord the king. And when Saul looked behind him, David bowed with his face to the earth, and did obeisance. 9 And David said to Saul, Why do you harken to the words of man, saying, Look, David seeks your hurt? 10 Look, this day your eyes have seen how that Yahweh had delivered you today into my hand in the cave: and some bade me kill you; but [I] spared you; and I said, I will not put forth my hand against my lord; for he is Yahweh's anointed. 11 Moreover, my father, see, yes, see the skirt of your robe in my hand; for in that I cut off the skirt of your robe, and didn't kill you, know and see that there is neither evil nor transgression in my hand, and I haven't sinned against you, though you hunt after my soul to take it. 12 Yahweh judge between me and you, and Yahweh avenge me of you; but my hand will not be on you. 13 As says the proverb of the ancients, Out of the wicked comes forth wickedness; but my hand will not be on you. 14 After whom has the king of Israel come out? After whom do you pursue? After a dead dog, after a flea. 15 Yahweh therefore be judge, and give sentence between me and you, and see, and plead my cause, and deliver me out of your hand.

16 And it came to pass, when David had made an end of speaking these words to Saul, that Saul said, Is this your voice, my son David? And Saul lifted up his voice, and wept. 17 And he said to David, You are more righteous than I; for you have rendered to me good, whereas I have rendered to you evil. 18 And you have declared this day how that you have dealt well with me, since when Yahweh had delivered me up into your hand, you didn't kill me. 19 For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him go away well? Therefore [may] Yahweh reward you good for that which you have done to me this day. 20 And now, look, I know that you will surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hand. 21 Swear now therefore to me by Yahweh, that you will not cut off my seed after me, and that you will not destroy my name out of my father's house. 22 And David swore to Saul. And Saul went home; but David and his men got up to the stronghold.

25  And Samuel died; and all Israel gathered themselves together, and lamented him, and buried him in his house at Ramah. And David arose, and went down to the wilderness of Paran.

2 And there was a man in Maon, whose possessions were in Carmel; and the man was very great, and he had three thousand sheep, and a thousand goats: and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel. 3 Now the name of the man was Nabal; and the name of his wife Abigail; and the woman was of good understanding and beautiful: but the man was harsh and evil in his doings; and he was of the house of Caleb. 4 And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep. 5 And David sent ten young men, and David said to the young men, Go+ up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name: 6 and thus you+ will say to him, To life![237] Peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have. 7 And now I have heard that you have shearers: your shepherds have now been with us, and we did not hurt them, neither was there anything missing to them, all the while they were in Carmel. 8 Ask your young men, and they will tell you: therefore let the young men find favor in your eyes; for we come in a good day: give, I pray you, whatever comes to your hand, to your slaves, and to your son David.

9 And when David's young men came, they spoke to Nabal according to all those words in the name of David, and ceased. 10 And Nabal answered David's slaves, and said, Who is David? And who is the son of Jesse? There are many slaves nowadays that break away every man from his master. 11 Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it to men of whom I don't know from where they are? 12 So David's young men turned on their way, and went back, and came and told him according to all these words. 13 And David said to his men, Gird+ on every man his sword. And they girded on every man his sword; and David also girded on his sword: and there went up after David about four hundred men; and two hundred remained by the baggage.

14 But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying, Look, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to greet our master; and he railed at them. 15 But the men were very good to us, and we were not hurt, neither did we miss anything, as long as we went with them, when we were in the fields: 16 they were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the while we were with them shepherding the sheep. 17 Now therefore know and consider what you will do; for evil is determined against our master, and against all his house: for he is such a worthless fellow, that one can't speak to him.

18 Then Abigail hurried, and took two hundred loaves, and two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five seahs of parched grain, and a hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on donkeys. 19 And she said to her young men, Go on before me; look, I come after you+. But she didn't tell her husband Nabal. 20 And it was so, as she rode on her donkey, and came down by the covert of the mountain, that, look, David and his men came down toward her; and she met them. 21 Now David had said, Surely in vain I have kept all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained to him: and he has returned me evil for good. 22 God do so to David,[238] and more also, if I leave of all who pertain to him by the morning light so much as one urinating against a wall.

23 And when Abigail saw David, she hurried, and dismounted from her donkey, and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground. 24 And she fell at his feet, and said, On me, my lord, on me be the iniquity; and let your slave, I pray you, speak in your ears, and you hear the words of your slave. 25 Don't let my lord, I pray you, regard this worthless fellow, even Nabal; for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him: but I your slave didn't see the young men of my lord, whom you sent. 26 Now therefore, my lord, as Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, seeing Yahweh has withheld you from bloodguiltiness, and from avenging yourself with your own hand, now therefore let your enemies, and those who seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal. 27 And now this present which your slave has brought to my lord, let it be given to the young men who follow my lord. 28 Forgive, I pray you, the trespass of your slave: for Yahweh will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord fights the battles of Yahweh; and evil will not be found in you all your days. 29 And though man rises up to pursue you, and to seek your soul, yet the soul of my lord will be bound in the bundle of life with Yahweh your God; and the souls of your enemies, he will sling them out, as from the hollow of a sling. 30 And it will come to pass, when Yahweh will have done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you, and will have appointed you leader over Israel, 31 that this will be no grief to you, nor offense of heart to my lord, either that you have shed blood without cause, or that my lord has avenged himself. And when Yahweh will have dealt well with my lord, then remember your slave.

32 And David said to Abigail, Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me: 33 and blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from bloodguiltiness, and from avenging myself with my own hand. 34 For in very deed, as Yahweh, the God of Israel, lives, who has withheld me from hurting you, except you had hurried and come to meet me, surely there would not have been left to Nabal by the morning light so much as one urinating against a wall. 35 So David received of her hand that which she had brought him: and he said to her, Go up in peace to your house; see, I have listened to your voice, and have accepted your person.

36 And Abigail came to Nabal; and, look, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king; and Nabal's heart was merry inside him, for he was very drunk: therefore she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light. 37 And it came to pass in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, that his wife told him these things, and his heart died inside him, and he became as a stone. 38 And it came to pass about ten days after, that Yahweh struck Nabal, so that he died.

39 And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be Yahweh, that has pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his slave from evil: and the evildoing of Nabal Yahweh has returned on his own head. And David sent and spoke concerning Abigail, to take her to him as wife. 40 And when the slaves of David had come to Abigail to Carmel, they spoke to her, saying, David has sent us to you, to take you to him as wife. 41 And she arose, and bowed herself with her face to the earth, and said, Look, your slave is a slave to wash the feet of my lord's slaves. 42 And Abigail hurried, and arose, and rode on a donkey, with five damsels of hers that followed her; and she went after the messengers of David, and became his wife.

43 David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel; and they became both of them his wives. 44 Now Saul had given Michal his daughter, David's wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was of Gallim.

26  And the Ziphites came to Saul to Gibeah, saying, Does not David hide himself in the hill of Hachilah, which is before the desert? 2 Then Saul arose, and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, having three thousand chosen men of Israel with him, to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph. 3 And Saul encamped in the hill of Hachilah, which is before the desert, by the way. But David remained in the wilderness, and he saw that Saul came after him into the wilderness. 4 David therefore sent out spies, and understood that Saul came of a certainty. 5 And David arose, and came to the place where Saul had encamped; and David saw the place where Saul lay, and Abner the son of Ner, the captain of his host: and Saul lay inside the place of the wagons, and the people were encamped round about him.

6 Then David answered and said to Ahimelech the Hittite, and to Abishai the son of Zeruiah, brother to Joab, saying, Who will go down with me to Saul at the camp? And Abishai said, I will go down with you. 7 So David and Abishai came to the people by night: and, look, Saul lay sleeping inside the place of the wagons, with his spear stuck in the ground at his head; and Abner and the people lay round about him. 8 Then Abishai said to David, God has delivered up your enemy into your hand this day: now therefore let me strike him, I pray you, with the spear to the earth at one stroke, and I will not strike him the second time. 9 And David said to Abishai, Don't destroy him; for who can put forth his hand against Yahweh's anointed, and be innocent? 10 And David said, As Yahweh lives, Yahweh will strike him; or his day will come to die; or he will go down into battle and perish. 11 Yahweh forbid that I should put forth my hand against Yahweh's anointed: but now take, I pray you, the spear that is at his head, and the cruse of water, and let us go. 12 So David took the spear and the cruse of water from Saul's head; and they got away: and no man saw it, nor knew it, neither did any awake; for they were all asleep, because a deep sleep from Yahweh had fallen on them.

13 Then David went over to the other side, and stood on the top of the mountain far off; a great space being between them; 14 and David cried to the people, and to Abner the son of Ner, saying, Don't you answer, Abner? Then Abner answered and said, Who are you that cried to the king? 15 And David said to Abner, Are you not a [valiant] man? And who is like you in Israel? Why then haven't you kept watch over your lord the king? For there came one of the people in to destroy the king your lord. 16 This thing is not good that you have done. As Yahweh lives, you+ are worthy to die, because you+ haven't kept watch over your+ lord, Yahweh's anointed. And now see where the king's spear is, and the cruse of water that was at his head.

17 And Saul knew David's voice, and said, Is this your voice, my son David? And David said, It is my voice, my lord, O king. 18 And he said, Why does my lord pursue after his slave? For what have I done? Or what evil is in my hand? 19 Now therefore, I pray you, let my lord the king hear the words of his slave. If it is Yahweh who has stirred you up against me, let him accept an offering: but if it is the sons of man, cursed be they before Yahweh: for they have driven me out this day that I should not share in the inheritance of Yahweh, saying, Go, serve other gods. 20 Now therefore, don't let my blood fall to the earth away from the presence of Yahweh: for the king of Israel has come out to seek a flea, as when one hunts a partridge in the mountains.

21 Then said Saul, I have sinned: return, my son David; for I will do you harm no more, because my soul was precious in your eyes this day: look, I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly. 22 And David answered and said, Look at the spear, O king! Let then one of the young men come over and fetch it. 23 And Yahweh will render to every man his righteousness and his faithfulness; since Yahweh delivered you into my hand today, and I would not put forth my hand against Yahweh's anointed. 24 And, look, as your soul was much set by this day in my eyes, so let my soul be much set by in the eyes of Yahweh, and let him deliver me out of all tribulation. 25 Then Saul said to David, Blessed be you, my son David: you will both do mightily, and will surely prevail. So David went his way, and Saul returned to his place.

27  And David said in his heart, I will now perish one day by the hand of Saul: there is nothing better for me than that I should escape into the land of the Philistines; and Saul will despair of me, to seek me anymore in all the borders of Israel: so I will escape out of his hand. 2 And David arose, and passed over, he and the six hundred men who were with him, to Achish the son of Maoch, king of Gath. 3 And David dwelt with Achish at Gath, he and his men, every man with his household, even David with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal's wife. 4 And it was told Saul that David had fled to Gath: and he did not seek for him again anymore.

5 And David said to Achish, If now I have found favor in your eyes, let them give me a place in one of the cities in the country, that I may dwell there: for why should your slave dwell in the royal city with you? 6 Then Achish gave him Ziklag that day: therefore Ziklag pertains to the kings of Judah to this day. 7 And the number of the days that David dwelt in the country of the Philistines was a full year and four months.

8 And David and his men went up, and made a raid on the Geshurites, and the Girzites, and the Amalekites; for those [nations] were the inhabitants of the land, who were from Telam, as you go to Shur, even to the land of Egypt. 9 And David struck the land, and saved neither man nor woman alive, and took away the sheep, and the oxen, and the donkeys, and the camels, and the apparel; and he returned, and came to Achish. 10 And Achish said, Isn't it true, you+ made a raid today? And David said, Against the South of Judah, and against the South of the Jerahmeelites, and against the South of the Kenites. 11 And David saved neither man nor woman alive, to bring them to Gath, saying, Or else they would tell of us, saying, So did David, and so has been his manner all the while he has dwelt in the country of the Philistines. 12 And Achish believed David, saying, He has become a complete stench among his people Israel; therefore he will be my slave forever.

28  And it came to pass in those days, that the Philistines gathered their hosts together for warfare, to fight with Israel. And Achish said to David, Know assuredly, that you will go out with me in the host, you and your men. 2 And David said to Achish, Therefore you will know what your slave will do. And Achish said to David, Therefore I will make you keeper of my head forever.

3 Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had lamented him, and buried him in Ramah, even in his own city. And Saul had put away the spiritists and the wizards out of the land. 4 And the Philistines gathered themselves together, and came and encamped in Shunem: and Saul gathered all Israel together, and they encamped in Gilboa. 5 And when Saul saw the host of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly. 6 And when Saul inquired of Yahweh, Yahweh did not answer him, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets. 7 Then Saul said to his slaves, Seek me a woman who is mistress[239] of a spirit, that I may go to her, and inquire of her. And his slaves said to him, Look, there is a woman at En-dor who is mistress[240] of a spirit.

8 And Saul disguised himself, and put on other raiment, and went, he and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night: and he said, Tell my fortune, I pray you, with a spirit, and call up for me whomever I will name to you. 9 And the woman said to him, Look, you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off the spiritists and the wizards out of the land: why then do you lay a snare for my soul, to cause me to die? 10 And Saul swore to her by Yahweh, saying, As Yahweh lives, no punishment will happen to you for this thing. 11 Then the woman said, Whom shall I bring up to you? And he said, Bring me up Samuel. 12 And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice; and the woman spoke to Saul, saying, Why have you deceived me? For you are Saul. 13 And the king said to her, Don't be afraid: for what did you see? And the woman said to Saul, I see a god coming up out of the earth. 14 And he said to her, What form is he of? And she said, An old man comes up; and he is covered with a robe. And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground, and did obeisance.

15 And Samuel said to Saul, Why have you disquieted me, to bring me up? And Saul answered, I am very distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God has departed from me, and has not answered me anymore, neither by prophets, nor by dreams: therefore I have called you, that you may make known to me what I will do. 16 And Samuel said, Why then do you ask of me, seeing Yahweh has departed from you, and has become your adversary? 17 And Yahweh has done for himself, as he spoke by me: and Yahweh has rent the kingdom out of your hand, and given it to your fellow man, even to David. 18 Because you didn't obey the voice of Yahweh, and did not execute his fierce wrath on Amalek, therefore has Yahweh done this thing to you this day. 19 Moreover Yahweh will deliver Israel also with you into the hand of the Philistines; and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me: Yahweh will deliver the host of Israel also into the hand of the Philistines.

20 Then Saul fell immediately his full length on the earth, and was very afraid, because of the words of Samuel: and there was no strength in him; for he had eaten no bread all the day, nor all the night. 21 And the woman came to Saul, and saw that he was very troubled, and said to him, Look, your female slave has listened to your voice, and I have put my soul in my hand, and have listened to your words which you spoke to me. 22 Now therefore, I pray you, you listen also to the voice of your female slave, and let me set a morsel of bread before you; and eat, that you may have strength, when you go on your way. 23 But he refused, and said, I will not eat. But his slaves, together with the woman, constrained him; and he listened to their voice. So he arose from the earth, and sat on the bed. 24 And the woman had a fatted calf in the house; and she hurried, and killed it; and she took flour, and kneaded it, and baked unleavened bread of it: 25 and she brought it before Saul, and before his slaves; and they ate. Then they rose up, and went away that night.

29  Now the Philistines gathered together all their hosts to Aphek: and the Israelites encamped by the fountain which is in Jezreel. 2 And the lords of the Philistines passed on by hundreds, and by thousands; and David and his men passed on in the rearward with Achish. 3 Then the princes of the Philistines said, What [are] these Hebrews [doing here]? And Achish said to the princes of the Philistines, Isn't this David, the slave of Saul the king of Israel, who has been with me these days, or [rather] these years, and I have found no fault in him since he fell away [to me] to this day? 4 But the princes of the Philistines were angry with him; and the princes of the Philistines said to him, Make the man return, that he may go back to his place where you have appointed him, and let him not go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he become an adversary to us: for how should this [fellow] reconcile himself to his lord? Should it not be with the heads of these men? 5 Isn't this David, of whom they sang one to another in dances, saying, Saul has slain his thousands, And David his ten thousands?

6 Then Achish called David, and said to him, As Yahweh lives, you have been upright, and your going out and your coming in with me in the host is good in my sight; for I haven't found evil in you since the day of your coming to me to this day: nevertheless the lords don't favor you. 7 Therefore now return, and go in peace, that you do not displease the lords of the Philistines. 8 And David said to Achish, But what have I done? And what have you found in your slave so long as I have been before you to this day, that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king? 9 And Achish answered and said to David, I know that you are good in my sight, as an angel of God: notwithstanding the princes of the Philistines have said, He will not go up with us to the battle. 10 Therefore, rise up early in the morning with the slaves of your lord who came with you, and go to the town that I gave you+. And don't take the complaint to heart, because you are good in my sight.[241] And as soon as you+ are up early in the morning, and have light, depart. 11 So David rose up early, he and his men, to depart in the morning, to return into the land of the Philistines. And the Philistines went up to Jezreel.

30  And it came to pass, when David and his men had come to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had made a raid on the South, and on Ziklag, and had struck Ziklag, and burned it with fire, 2 and had taken captive the women who were in it, both small and great: they did not slay any, but carried them off, and went their way. 3 And when David and his men came to the city, look, it was burned with fire; and their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, were taken captive. 4 Then David and the people who were with him lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep. 5 And David's two wives were taken captive, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite. 6 And David was greatly distressed; for the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were in bitterness of soul, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David strengthened himself in Yahweh his God.

7 And David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, I pray you, bring the ephod here to me. And Abiathar brought the ephod there to David. 8 And David inquired of Yahweh, saying, If I pursue after this troop, will I overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue; for you will surely overtake [them], and without fail will recover [all]. 9 So David went, he and the six hundred men who were with him, and came to the brook Besor, where those who were left behind had stopped. 10 But David pursued, he and four hundred men; for two hundred stopped, who were so faint that they could not go over the brook Besor.

11 And they found an Egyptian in the field, and brought him to David, and gave him bread, and he ate; and they gave him water to drink. 12 And they gave him a piece of a cake of figs, and two clusters of raisins: and when he had eaten, his spirit came again to him; for he had eaten no bread, nor drank any water, three days and three nights. 13 And David said to him, To whom do you belong? And where are you from? And he said, I am a young man of Egypt, slave to an Amalekite; and this is now the third day[242] since my master left me because I was sick. 14 We made a raid on the South of the Cherethites, and on that which belongs to Judah, and on the South of Caleb; and we burned Ziklag with fire. 15 And David said to him, Will you bring me down to this troop? And he said, Swear to me by God, that you will neither kill me, nor deliver me up into the hands of my master, and I will bring you down to this troop.

16 And when he had brought him down, look, they were spread abroad over all the ground, eating and drinking, and dancing, because of all the great spoil that they had taken out of the land of the Philistines, and out of the land of Judah. 17 And David struck them from the twilight even to the evening of the next day: and not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men, who rode on camels and fled. 18 And David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken; and David rescued his two wives. 19 And there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil, nor anything that they had taken to them: David brought back all. 20 And David took all the flocks and the herds, [which] they drove before those [other] cattle, and said, This is David's spoil.

21 And David came to the two hundred men, who were so faint that they could not follow David, whom also they had left at the brook Besor; and they went forth to meet David, and to meet the people who were with him: and when David came near to the people, he greeted them. 22 Then all the wicked men and base fellows, of those who went with David, answered and said, Because they didn't go with us, we will not give them anything of the spoil that we have recovered, save to every man his wife and his sons, that he may lead them away, and depart. 23 Then said David, You+ will not do so, my brothers, with that which Yahweh has given to us, who has preserved us, and delivered the troop that came against us into our hand. 24 And who will listen to you+ in this matter? For as his share is that goes down to the battle, so will his share be that tarries by the baggage: they will share alike. 25 And it was so from that day forward, that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel to this day.

26 And when David came to Ziklag, he sent of the spoil to the elders of Judah, to his fellow man, saying, Look, a present for you+ of the spoil of the enemies of Yahweh: 27 To those who were in Bethuel, and to those who were in Ramoth of the South, and to those who were in Jattir, 28 and to those who were in Arad, and to those who were in Siphmoth, and to those who were in Eshtemoa, 29 and to those who were in Racal, and to those who were in the cities of the Jerahmeelites, and to those who were in the cities of the Kenites, 30 and to those who were in Hormah, and to those who were in Bor-ashan, and to those who were in Athach, 31 and to those who were in Hebron, and to all the places where David himself and his men were accustomed to roam.

31  Now the Philistines fought against Israel: and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain in mount Gilboa. 2 And the Philistines stuck [closely] on Saul and on his sons; and the Philistines slew Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchishua, the sons of Saul. 3 And the battle went intensely against Saul, and the archers, men with the bow, overtook him; and he was greatly distressed by reason of the archers. 4 Then Saul said to his armorbearer, Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, or else these uncircumcised will come and thrust me through, and abuse me. But his armorbearer would not; for he was very afraid. Therefore Saul took his sword, and fell on it. 5 And when his armorbearer saw that Saul was dead, he likewise fell on his sword, and died with him. 6 So Saul died, and his three sons, and his armorbearer, and all his men too, that same day together.

7 And when the men of Israel who were on the other side of the valley, and those who were beyond the Jordan, saw that the men of Israel fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook the cities, and fled; and the Philistines came and dwelt in them. 8 And it came to pass on the next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his three sons fallen in mount Gilboa. 9 And they cut off his head, and stripped off his armor, and sent into the land of the Philistines round about, to carry the good news to the house of their idols, and to the people. 10 And they put his armor in the house of the Ashtaroth; and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan. 11 And when the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead heard concerning him that which the Philistines had done to Saul, 12 all the valiant men arose, and went all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan; and they came to Jabesh, and burned them there. 13 And they took their bones, and buried them under the tamarisk-tree in Jabesh, and fasted seven days.

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II Samuel

1  And it came to pass after the death of Saul, when David returned from the slaughter of the Amalekites, and David had remained two days in Ziklag; 2 it came to pass on the third day, that, look, a man came out of the camp from Saul, with his clothes rent, and earth on his head: and so it was, when he came to David, that he fell to the earth, and did obeisance. 3 And David said to him, Where do you come from? And he said to him, Out of the camp of Israel I have escaped. 4 And David said to him, How did it go? I pray you, tell me. And he answered, The people fled from the battle, and many of the people also fell and have died; and Saul and Jonathan his son are dead also. 5 And David said to the young man who told him, How do you know that Saul and Jonathan his son are dead? 6 And the young man who told him said, As I happened by chance on mount Gilboa, I saw that Saul was leaning on his spear; and that the chariots and the horsemen stuck [close] to him. 7 And when he looked behind him, he saw me, and called to me. And I answered, Here I am. 8 And he said to me, Who are you? And I answered him, I am an Amalekite. 9 And he said to me, Stand, I pray you, beside me, and slay me; for anguish has taken hold of me, because my soul is yet whole in me. 10 So I stood beside him, and slew him, because I was sure that he could not live after he fell: and I took the crown that was on his head, and the bracelet that was on his arm, and have brought them here to my lord.

11 Then David took hold on his clothes, and rent them; and likewise all the men who were with him: 12 and they mourned, and wept, and fasted until evening, for Saul, and for Jonathan his son, and for the people of Yahweh, and for the house of Israel; because they fell by the sword. 13 And David said to the young man who told him, Where are you from? And he answered, I am the son of a man who is a sojourner, an Amalekite. 14 And David said to him, Why weren't you afraid to put forth your hand to destroy Yahweh's anointed? 15 And David called one of the young men, and said, Go near, and fall on him. And he struck him, so that he died. 16 And David said to him, Your blood be on your head; for your mouth has testified against you, saying, I have slain Yahweh's anointed.

17 And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son. 18 And he bade them teach the sons of Judah, "The Bow." Look, it is written in the Book of Jashar: 19 Your glory, O Israel, is slain on your high places! How are the mighty fallen! 20 Don't tell it in Gath, Don't proclaim the news in the streets of Ashkelon; Or else the daughters of the Philistines will rejoice, Or else the daughters of the uncircumcised will triumph. 21 You+ mountains of Gilboa, Let there be no dew nor rain on you+, neither fields of offerings: For there the shield of the mighty was vilely cast away, The shield of Saul, not anointed with oil. 22 From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, The bow of Jonathan didn't turn back, And the sword of Saul didn't return empty. 23 Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives, And in their death they were not divided: They were swifter than eagles, They were stronger than lions. 24 You+ daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, Who clothed you+ in scarlet delicately, Who put ornaments of gold on your+ apparel. 25 How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle! Jonathan is slain on your high places. 26 I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan: Very pleasant you have been to me: Your love to me was wonderful, Passing the love of women. 27 How are the mighty fallen, And the weapons of war perished!

2  And it came to pass after this, that David inquired of Yahweh, saying, Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah? And Yahweh said to him, Go up. And David said, Where shall I go up? And he said, To Hebron. 2 So David went up there, and his two wives also, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite. 3 And his men who were with him David brought up, every man with his household: and they dwelt in the cities of Hebron. 4 And the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah.

And they told David, saying, The men of Jabesh-gilead were those who buried Saul. 5 And David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-gilead, and said to them, Blessed be you+ of Yahweh, that you+ have shown this kindness to your+ lord, even to Saul, and have buried him. 6 And now Yahweh show loving-kindness and truth to you+: and I also will repay you+ this kindness, because you+ have done this thing. 7 Now therefore let your+ hands be strong, and be+ sons of valor; for Saul your+ lord is dead, and also the house of Judah have anointed me king over them.

8 Now Abner the son of Ner, captain of Saul's host, had taken Ishbaal the son of Saul, and brought him over to Mahanaim; 9 and he made him king over Gilead, and over the Ashurites, and over Jezreel, and over Ephraim, and over Benjamin, and over all Israel. 10 Ishbaal, Saul's son, was forty years old when he began to reign over Israel, and he reigned two years. But the house of Judah followed David. 11 And the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months. 12 And Abner the son of Ner, and the slaves of Ishbaal the son of Saul, went out from Mahanaim to Gibeon. 13 And Joab the son of Zeruiah, and the slaves of David, went out, and met them by the pool of Gibeon; and they sat down, the one on the one side of the pool, and the other on the other side of the pool. 14 And Abner said to Joab, Let the young men, I pray you, arise and play before us. And Joab said, Let them arise. 15 Then they arose and went over by number: twelve for Benjamin, and for Ishbaal the son of Saul, and twelve of the slaves of David. 16 And they caught every one his fellow man by the head, and [thrust] his sword in his fellow man's side; so they fell down together: therefore that place was called Helkath-hazzurim, which is in Gibeon. 17 And the battle was very intense that day: and Abner was beaten, and the men of Israel, before the slaves of David.

18 And the three sons of Zeruiah were there, Joab, and Abishai, and Asahel: and Asahel was as light of foot as a wild roe. 19 And Asahel pursued after Abner; and in going he didn't turn to the right hand nor to the left from following Abner. 20 Then Abner looked behind him, and said, Is it you, Asahel? And he answered, It is I. 21 And Abner said to him, Turn yourself aside to your right hand or to your left, and lay yourself hold on one of the young men, and take yourself his armor. But Asahel would not turn aside from following him. 22 And Abner said again to Asahel, Turn yourself aside from following me: why should I strike you to the ground? How then should I hold up my face to Joab your brother? 23 Nevertheless he refused to turn aside: therefore Abner with the hinder end of the spear struck him in the body, so that the spear came out behind him; and he fell down there, and died in the same place: and it came to pass, that as many as came to the place where Asahel fell down and died stood still.

24 But Joab and Abishai pursued after Abner: and the sun went down when they had come to the hill of Ammah, that lies before Giah by the way of the wilderness of Gibeon. 25 And the sons of Benjamin gathered themselves together after Abner, and became one band, and stood on the top of a hill. 26 Then Abner called to Joab, and said, Will the sword devour forever? Don't you know that it will be bitterness in the latter end? How long will it be then, before you bid the people return from following their brothers? 27 And Joab said, As God lives, if you had not spoken, surely then in the morning the people had gone away, nor followed every one his brother. 28 So Joab blew the trumpet; and all the people stood still, and pursued after Israel no more, neither did they fight anymore. 29 And Abner and his men went all that night through the Arabah; and they passed over the Jordan, and went through all Bithron, and came to Mahanaim.

30 And Joab returned from following Abner: and when he had gathered all the people together, there lacked of David's slaves nineteen men and Asahel. 31 But the slaves of David had struck of Benjamin, and of Abner's men, [so that] three hundred and threescore men died. 32 And they took up Asahel, and buried him in the tomb of his father, which was in Beth-lehem. And Joab and his men went all night, and the day broke on them at Hebron.

3  Now there was long war between the house of Saul and the house of David: and David waxed stronger and stronger, but the house of Saul waxed weaker and weaker.

2 And to David were sons born in Hebron: and his firstborn was Amnon, of Ahinoam the Jezreelitess; 3 and his second, Chileab, of Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite; and the third, Absalom the son of Maacah the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur; 4 and the fourth, Adonijah the son of Haggith; and the fifth, Shephatiah the son of Abital; 5 and the sixth, Ithream, of Eglah, David's wife. These were born to David in Hebron.

6 And it came to pass, while there was war between the house of Saul and the house of David, that Abner made himself strong in the house of Saul. 7 Now Saul had a concubine, whose name was Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah: and Ishbosheth son of Saul said to Abner, Why have you gone in to my father's concubine? 8 Then was Abner very angry for the words of Ishbosheth, and said, Am I a dog's head that belongs to Judah? This day I show kindness to the house of Saul your father, to his brothers, and to his friends, and have not delivered you into the hand of David; and yet you charge me this day with a fault concerning this woman. 9 God do so to Abner, and more also, if, as Yahweh has sworn to David, I do not even do so to him; 10 to transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul, and to set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah, from Dan even to Beer-sheba. 11 And he could not answer Abner another word, because he feared him.

12 And Abner sent messengers to David on his behalf, saying, Whose is the land? Saying [also], Make your league with me, and, look, my hand will be with you, to bring about all Israel to you. 13 And he said, Good; I will make a league with you; but one thing I require of you: that is, you will not see my face, except you first bring Michal, Saul's daughter, when you come to see my face. 14 And David sent messengers to Ishbosheth, Saul's son, saying, Deliver me my wife Michal, whom I betrothed to me for a hundred foreskins of the Philistines. 15 And Ishbosheth sent, and took her from her husband, even from Paltiel the son of Laish. 16 And her husband went with her, weeping as he went, and followed her to Bahurim. Then Abner said to him, Go, return: and he returned.

17 And Abner had communication with the elders of Israel, saying, In times past you+ sought for David to be king over you+: 18 now then do it; for Yahweh has spoken of David, saying, By the hand of my slave David I will save my people Israel out of the hand of the Philistines, and out of the hand of all their enemies. 19 And Abner also spoke in the ears of Benjamin: and Abner went also to speak in the ears of David in Hebron all that seemed good to Israel, and to the whole house of Benjamin. 20 So Abner came to David to Hebron, and twenty men with him. And David made Abner and the men who were with him a feast. 21 And Abner said to David, I will arise and go, and will gather all Israel to my lord the king, that they may make a covenant with you, and that you may reign over all that your soul desires. And David sent Abner away; and he went in peace.

22 And, look, the slaves of David and Joab came from a foray, and brought in a great spoil with them: but Abner wasn't with David in Hebron; for he had sent him away, and he was gone in peace. 23 When Joab and all the host that was with him had come, they told Joab, saying, Abner the son of Ner came to the king, and he has sent him away, and he has gone in peace. 24 Then Joab came to the king, and said, What have you done? Look, Abner came to you; why is it that you have sent him away, and he is quite gone? 25 You know Abner the son of Ner, that he came to deceive you, and to know your going out and your coming in, and to know all that you do. 26 And when Joab came out from David, he sent messengers after Abner, and they brought him back from the well of Sirah: but David didn't know it.

27 And when Abner had returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside into the midst of the gate to speak with him quietly, and struck him there in the body, so that he died, for the blood of Asahel his brother. 28 And afterward, when David heard it, he said, I and my kingdom are innocent before Yahweh forever of the blood of Abner the son of Ner: 29 let it fall on the head of Joab, and on all his father's house; and let there not fail from the house of Joab one who has a discharge, or who is a leper, or who leans on a staff, or who falls by the sword, or who lacks bread. 30 So Joab and Abishai his brother slew Abner, because he had killed their brother Asahel at Gibeon in the battle.

31 And David said to Joab, and to all the people who were with him, Rend your+ clothes, and gird you+ with sackcloth, and mourn before Abner. And King David followed the bier. 32 And they buried Abner in Hebron: and the king lifted up his voice, and wept at the grave of Abner; and all the people wept. 33 And the king lamented for Abner, and said, Should Abner die as a fool dies? 34 Your hands were not bound, and your feet were not put into fetters: As a man falls before the sons of iniquity, so did you fall.

And all the people wept again over him. 35 And all the people came to cause David to eat bread while it was yet day; but David swore, saying, God do so to me, and more also, if I taste bread, or anything else, until the sun is down. 36 And all the people took note of it, and it pleased them; as whatever the king did pleased all the people. 37 So all the people and all Israel understood that day that it wasn't of the king to slay Abner the son of Ner. 38 And the king said to his slaves, Don't you+ know that a prince and a great man has fallen this day in Israel? 39 And I am this day weak, though anointed king; and these men the sons of Zeruiah are too hard for me: Yahweh reward the evildoer according to his wickedness.

4  And when Ishbosheth, Saul's son, heard that Abner was dead in Hebron, his hands became feeble, and all the Israelites were troubled. 2 And Ishbosheth, Saul's son, had two men who were captains of bands: the name of the one was Baanah, and the name of the other Rechab, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, of the sons of Benjamin (for Beeroth also is reckoned to Benjamin: 3 and the Beerothites fled to Gittaim, and have been sojourners there until this day).

4 Now Jonathan, Saul's son, had a son who was lame of his feet. He was five years old when the news came of Saul and Jonathan out of Jezreel; and his nurse took him up, and fled: and it came to pass, as she hurried to flee, that he fell, and became lame. And his name was Mephibaal.

5 And the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, went, and came about the heat of the day to the house of Ishbosheth, as he took his rest at noon. 6 And, look, they came there into the midst of the house, as though they would have fetched wheat; and they struck him in the body: and Rechab and Baanah his brother escaped. 7 Now when they came into the house, as he lay on his bed in his bedchamber, they struck him, and slew him, and beheaded him, and took his head, and went by the way of the Arabah all night. 8 And they brought the head of Ishbosheth to David to Hebron, and said to the king, Look, the head of Ishbosheth, the son of Saul, your enemy, who sought your soul; and Yahweh has avenged my lord the king this day of Saul, and of his seed. 9 And David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and said to them, As Yahweh lives, who has redeemed my soul out of all adversity, 10 when one told me, saying, Look, Saul is dead, and he was a bearer of good news in his own eyes, I took hold of him, and slew him in Ziklag, which was the reward I gave him for his good news. 11 How much more, when wicked men have slain a righteous person in his own house on his bed, shall I not now require his blood of your+ hand, and take you+ away from the earth? 12 And David commanded his young men, and they slew them, and cut off their hands and their feet, and hanged them up beside the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ishbosheth, and buried it in the grave of Abner the son of Ner in Hebron.

5  Then all the tribes of Israel came to David to Hebron, and spoke, saying, Look, we are your bone and your flesh. 2 In times past, when Saul was king over us, it was you who led out and brought in Israel: and Yahweh said to you, You will be shepherd of my people Israel, and you will be leader over Israel. 3 So all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron; and King David made a covenant with them in Hebron before Yahweh: and they anointed David king over Israel. 4 David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years. 5 In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months; and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty and three years over all Israel and Judah.

6 And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who spoke to David, saying, Except you take away the blind and the lame, you will not come in here; thinking, David can't come in here. 7 Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion; the same is the city of David. 8 And David said on that day, Whoever strikes the Jebusites, let him reach the watershaft and the lame and the blind, who hated David's soul. Therefore they say, The blind and the lame will not come into the house. 9 And David dwelt in the stronghold, and called it the city of David. And David built round about from Millo and inward. 10 And David waxed greater and greater; for Yahweh, the God of hosts, was with him.

11 And Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and cedar-trees, and carpenters, and masons; and they built David a house. 12 And David perceived that Yahweh had established him king over Israel, and that he had exalted his kingdom for his people Israel's sake.

13 And David took more concubines and wives out of Jerusalem, after he came from Hebron; and there were yet sons and daughters born to David. 14 And these are the names of those who were born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, and Shobab, and Nathan, and Solomon, 15 and Ibhar, and Elishua, and Nepheg, and Japhia, 16 and Elishama, and Eliada,[243] and Eliphelet.

17 And when the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel, all the Philistines went up to seek David; and David heard of it, and went down to the stronghold. 18 Now the Philistines had come and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. 19 And David inquired of Yahweh, saying, Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will you deliver them into my hand? And Yahweh said to David, Go up; for I will certainly deliver the Philistines into your hand. 20 And David came to Baal-perazim, and David struck them there; and he said, Yahweh has broken my enemies before me, like the breach of waters. Therefore he called the name of that place Baal-perazim. 21 And they left their images there; and David and his men took them away.

22 And the Philistines came up yet again, and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. 23 And when David inquired of Yahweh, he said, You will not go up: make a circuit behind them, and come upon them across from the mulberry-trees. 24 And it will be, when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry-trees, that then you will bestir yourself; for then Yahweh has gone out before you to strike the host of the Philistines. 25 And David did so, as Yahweh commanded him, and struck the Philistines from Geba until you come to Gezer.

6  And David again gathered together all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. 2 And David arose, and went with all the people who were with him, from Baale-judah, to bring up from there the ark of God, who is called by the name: Yahweh of hosts who sits above the cherubim. 3 And they set the ark of God on a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab that was in the hill: and Uzzah and Ahio,[244] the sons of Abinadab, drove the cart 4 with the ark of God: and Ahio went before the ark. 5 And David and all the house of Israel played before Yahweh with all [instruments made of] fir-wood, and with harps, and with psalteries, and with timbrels, and with castanets, and with cymbals.

6 And when they came to the threshing-floor of Nacon, Uzzah put forth [his hand] to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen stumbled. 7 And the anger of Yahweh was kindled against Uzzah; and God struck him there for the error; and there he died by the ark of God. 8 And David was displeased, because Yahweh had broken forth on Uzzah; and he called that place Perez-uzzah, to this day. 9 And David was afraid of Yahweh that day; and he said, How will the ark of Yahweh come to me? 10 So David would not remove the ark of Yahweh to him into the city of David; but David carried it aside into the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. 11 And the ark of Yahweh remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months: and Yahweh blessed Obed-edom, and all his house.

12 And it was told King David, saying, Yahweh has blessed the house of Obed-edom, and all that pertains to him, because of the ark of God. And David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom into the city of David with joy. 13 And it was so, that, when those who bore the ark of Yahweh had gone six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fatling. 14 And David danced before Yahweh with all his might; and David was girded with a linen ephod. 15 So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of Yahweh with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet.

16 And it was so, as the ark of Yahweh came into the city of David, that Michal the daughter of Saul looked out at the window, and saw King David leaping and dancing before Yahweh; and she despised him in her heart. 17 And they brought in the ark of Yahweh, and set it in its place, in the midst of the tent that David had pitched for it; and David offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings before Yahweh. 18 And when David had made an end of offering the burnt-offering and the peace-offerings, he blessed the people in the name of Yahweh of hosts. 19 And he dealt among all the people, even among the whole multitude of Israel, both to men and women, to everyone a cake of bread, and a portion [of flesh], and a cake of raisins. So all the people departed every one to his house.

20 Then David returned to bless his household. And Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David, and said, How glorious was the king of Israel today, who uncovered himself today in the eyes of the female slaves of his slaves, as one of the vain fellows shamelessly uncovers himself! 21 And David said to Michal, [It was] before Yahweh, who chose me above your father, and above all his house, to appoint me leader over the people of Yahweh, over Israel: therefore I will play before Yahweh. 22 And I will be yet more vile than this, and will be base in my sight: but of the female slaves of whom you have spoken, of them I will be honored. 23 And Michal the daughter of Saul had no child to the day of her death.

7  And it came to pass, when the king dwelt in his house, and Yahweh had given him rest from all his enemies round about, 2 that the king said to Nathan the prophet, See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells inside curtains. 3 And Nathan said to the king, Go, do all that is in your heart; for Yahweh is with you. 4 And it came to pass the same night, that the word of Yahweh came to Nathan, saying, 5 Go and tell my slave David, Thus says Yahweh, Will you build me a house for me to dwell in? 6 For I have not dwelt in a house since the day that I brought up the sons of Israel out of Egypt, even to this day, but have walked in a tent and in a tabernacle. 7 In all places in which I have walked with all the sons of Israel, did I speak a word with any of the tribes[245] of Israel, whom I commanded to be shepherd of my people Israel, saying, Why have you+ not built me a house of cedar? 8 Now therefore thus you will say to my slave David, Thus says Yahweh of hosts, I took you from the sheepcote, from following the sheep, that you should be leader over my people, over Israel; 9 and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make you a great name, like the name of the great ones who are in the earth. 10 And I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may stay in their own place, and be moved no more; neither will the sons of wickedness afflict them anymore, as at the first, 11 and [as] from the day that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel; and I will cause you to rest from all your enemies. Moreover Yahweh tells you that Yahweh will make you a house. 12 When your days are fulfilled, and you will sleep with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, that will proceed out of your bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He will build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be his father, and he will be my son: if he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the sons of man; 15 but my loving-kindness will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before you. 16 And your house and your kingdom will be made sure forever before you: your throne will be established forever. 17 According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so Nathan spoke to David.

18 Then David the king went in, and sat before Yahweh; and he said, Who am I, O Sovereign Yahweh, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far? 19 And this was yet a small thing in your eyes, O Sovereign Yahweh; but you have spoken also of your slave's house for a great while to come; and this is the law of man, O Sovereign Yahweh! 20 And what more can David say to you? For you know your slave, O Sovereign Yahweh. 21 For your word's sake, and according to your own heart, you have wrought all this greatness, to make your slave know it. 22 Therefore you are great, O Yahweh God: for there is none like you, neither is there any God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. 23 And what other nation on earth is like your people Israel, whose God went and redeemed a people for himself, and made a name for himself, and did great and awesome things for you+ to drive out nations and their gods before your people, whom you redeemed to yourself from Egypt? 24 And you established to yourself your people Israel to be a people to you forever; and you, Yahweh, became their God. 25 And now, O Yahweh God, the word that you have spoken concerning your slave, and concerning his house, confirm it forever, and do as you have spoken. 26 And let your name be magnified forever, saying, Yahweh of hosts is God over Israel; and the house of your slave David will be established before you. 27 For you, O Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, have revealed to your slave, saying, I will build you a house: therefore has your slave found in his heart to pray this prayer to you. 28 And now, O Sovereign Yahweh, you are God, and your words are truth, and you have promised this good thing to your slave: 29 now therefore let it please you to bless the house of your slave, that it may continue forever before you; for you, O Sovereign Yahweh, have spoken it: and with your blessing let the house of your slave be blessed forever.

8  And after this it came to pass, that David struck the Philistines, and subdued them: and David took the bridle of the mother city out of the hand of the Philistines.

2 And he struck Moab, and measured them with the line, making them to lie down on the ground; and he measured two lines to put to death, and one full line to keep alive. And the Moabites became slaves to David, and brought tribute.

3 David struck also Hadadezer the son of Rehob, king of Zobah, as he went to recover his dominion at the River. 4 And David took from him a thousand and seven hundred horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen: and David hocked all the chariot horses, but reserved of them for a hundred chariots. 5 And when the Syrians of Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah, David struck of the Syrians two and twenty thousand men. 6 Then David put garrisons in Syria of Damascus; and the Syrians became slaves to David, and brought tribute. And Yahweh gave victory to David wherever he went. 7 And David took the shields of gold that were on the slaves of Hadadezer, and brought them to Jerusalem. 8 And from Betah and from Berothai, cities of Hadadezer, King David took exceedingly much bronze. 9 And when Toi king of Hamath heard that David had struck all the host of Hadadezer, 10 then Toi sent Joram his son to King David, to greet him, and to bless him, because he had fought against Hadadezer and struck him: for Hadadezer had wars with Toi. And [Joram] brought with him vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and vessels of bronze: 11 These also did King David dedicate to Yahweh, with the silver and gold that he dedicated of all the nations which he subdued; 12 of Edom, and of Moab, and of the sons of Ammon, and of the Philistines, and of Amalek, and of the spoil of Hadadezer, son of Rehob, king of Zobah.

13 And David got a name for himself when he returned from striking the Syrians in the Valley of Salt, even eighteen thousand men. 14 And he put garrisons in Edom; throughout all Edom put he garrisons, and all the Edomites became slaves to David. And Yahweh gave victory to David wherever he went.

15 And David reigned over all Israel; and David executed justice and righteousness to all his people. 16 And Joab the son of Zeruiah was over the host; and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder; 17 and Zadok the son of Ahitub, and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar, were priests; and Seraiah was scribe; 18 and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and David's sons were chief rulers.

9  And David said, Is there yet any who is left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake? 2 And there was of the house of Saul a slave whose name was Ziba, and they called him to David; and the king said to him, Are you Ziba? And he said, Your slave is he. 3 And the king said, Is there not yet any of the house of Saul, that I may show the kindness of God to him? And Ziba said to the king, Jonathan has yet a son, who is lame of his feet. 4 And the king said to him, Where is he? And Ziba said to the king, Look, he is in the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, in Lo-debar. 5 Then King David sent, and fetched him out of the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, from Lo-debar. 6 And Mephibaal, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, and fell on his face, and did obeisance. And David said, Mephibaal. And he answered, Look, your slave! 7 And David said to him, Don't be afraid; for I will surely show you kindness for Jonathan your father's sake, and will restore you all the land of Saul your father; and you will eat bread at my table continually. 8 And he did obeisance, and said, What is your slave, that you should look at such a dead dog as I am?

9 Then the king called to Ziba, Saul's attendant, and said to him, All that pertained to Saul and to all his house I have given to your master's son. 10 And you will till the land for him, you, and your sons, and your slaves; and you will bring in [the fruits], that your master's house may have bread to eat: but Mephibaal your master's son will always eat bread at my table. Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty slaves. 11 Then Ziba said to the king, According to all that my lord the king commands his slave, so will your slave do. As for Mephibaal, [the king said], he will eat at my table, as one of the king's sons. 12 And Mephibaal had a young son, whose name was Mica. And all who dwelt in the house of Ziba were slaves to Mephibaal. 13 So Mephibaal dwelt in Jerusalem; for he ate continually at the king's table. And he was lame in both his feet.

10  And it came to pass after this, that the king of the sons of Ammon died, and Hanun his son reigned in his stead. 2 And David said, I will show kindness to Hanun the son of Nahash, as his father showed kindness to me. So David sent by his slaves to comfort him concerning his father. And David's slaves came into the land of the sons of Ammon. 3 But the princes of the sons of Ammon said to Hanun their lord, Do you think that David honors your father, in that he has sent comforters to you? Has not David sent his slaves to you to search the city, and to spy it out, and to overthrow it? 4 So Hanun took David's slaves, and shaved off the one half of their beards, and cut off their garments in the middle, even to their buttocks, and sent them away. 5 When they told it to David, he sent to meet them; for the men were greatly ashamed. And the king said, Tarry at Jericho until your+ beards are grown, and then return.

6 And when the sons of Ammon saw that they had become a stench to David, the sons of Ammon sent and hired the Syrians of Beth-rehob, and the Syrians of Zobah, twenty thousand footmen, and the king of Maacah with a thousand men, and the men of Tob twelve thousand men. 7 And when David heard of it, he sent Joab, and all the host of the mighty men. 8 And the sons of Ammon came out, and put the battle in array at the entrance of the gate: and the Syrians of Zobah and of Rehob, and the men of Tob and Maacah, were by themselves in the field.

9 Now when Joab saw that the battle was set against him before and behind, he chose of all the choice men of Israel, and put them in array against the Syrians: 10 And the rest of the people he committed into the hand of Abishai his brother; and he put them in array against the sons of Ammon. 11 And he said, If the Syrians are too strong for me, then you will help me; but if the sons of Ammon are too strong for you, then I will come and help you. 12 Be strong and we will be strengthened for our people, and for the cities of our God: and Yahweh will do that which is good in his eyes. 13 So Joab and the people who were with him drew near to the battle against the Syrians: and they fled before him. 14 And when the sons of Ammon saw that the Syrians had fled, they likewise fled before Abishai, and entered into the city. Then Joab returned from the sons of Ammon, and came to Jerusalem.

15 And when the Syrians saw that they were put to the worse before Israel, they gathered themselves together. 16 And Hadarezer sent, and brought out the Syrians who were beyond the River: and they came to Helam, with Shobach the captain of the host of Hadarezer at their head. 17 And it was told David; and he gathered all Israel together, and passed over the Jordan, and came to Helam. And the Syrians set themselves in array against David, and fought with him. 18 And the Syrians fled before Israel; and David slew of the Syrians [the men of] seven hundred chariots, and forty thousand horsemen, and struck Shobach the captain of their host, so that he died there. 19 And when all the kings who were slaves to Hadarezer saw that they were put to the worse before Israel, they made peace with Israel, and served them. So the Syrians feared to help the sons of Ammon anymore.

11  And it came to pass, at the return of the year, at the time when kings go out [to battle], that David sent Joab, and his slaves with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the sons of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried at Jerusalem.

2 And it came to pass at evening, that David arose from off his bed, and walked on the roof of the king's house: and from the roof he saw a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful to look at. 3 And David sent and inquired after the woman. And one said, Isn't this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? 4 And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in to him, and he lay with her, for she was purified from her uncleanness; and she returned to her house. 5 And the woman became pregnant; and she sent and told David, and said, I am pregnant.

6 And David sent to Joab, [saying,] Send me Uriah the Hittite. And Joab sent Uriah to David. 7 And when Uriah came to him, David asked of him how Joab did, and how the people fared, and how the war prospered. 8 And David said to Uriah, Go down to your house, and wash your feet. And Uriah departed out of the king's house, and there followed him a mess [of food] from the king. 9 But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the slaves of his lord, and didn't go down to his house. 10 And when they had told David, saying, Uriah didn't go down to his house, David said to Uriah, Aren't you coming from a journey? Why didn't you go down to your house? 11 And Uriah said to David, The ark, and Israel, and Judah, remain in booths; and my lord Joab, and the slaves of my lord, are encamped in the open field; shall I then go into my house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing. 12 And David said to Uriah, Tarry here today also, and tomorrow I will let you depart. So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day, and the next day. 13 And when David had called him, he ate and drank before him; and he made him drunk: and at evening he went out to lie on his bed with the slaves of his lord, but didn't go down to his house.

14 And it came to pass in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah. 15 And he wrote in the letter, saying, Set+ Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire+ from him, that he may be struck, and die. 16 And it came to pass, when Joab kept watch on the city, that he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew that valiant men were. 17 And the men of the city went out, and fought with Joab: and there fell some of the people, even of the slaves of David; and Uriah the Hittite died also. 18 Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war; 19 and he charged the messenger, saying, When you have made an end of telling all the things concerning the war to the king, 20 it will be that, if the king's wrath arises, and he says to you, Why did you+ go so near to the city to fight? Didn't you+ know that they would shoot from the wall? 21 Who struck Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal? Didn't a woman cast an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died at Thebez? Why did you+ go so near the wall? Then you will say, Your slave Uriah the Hittite is dead also.

22 So the messenger went, and came and showed David all that Joab had sent him for. 23 And the messenger said to David, The men prevailed against us, and came out to us into the field, and we were on them even to the entrance of the gate. 24 And the shooters shot at your slaves from off the wall; and some of the king's slaves are dead, and your slave Uriah the Hittite is dead also. 25 Then David said to the messenger, Thus you will say to Joab, Don't let this thing displease you, for the sword devours one as well as another; make your battle stronger against the city, and overthrow it: and encourage him.

26 And when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she made lamentation for her husband. 27 And when the mourning was past, David sent and took her home to his house, and she became his wife, and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased Yahweh.

12  And Yahweh sent Nathan to David. And he came to him, and said to him, There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor. 2 The rich man had exceedingly many flocks and herds; 3 but the poor man had nothing, except one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew up together with him, and with his sons; it ate of his own morsel, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was to him as a daughter. 4 And there came a traveler to the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man who came to him, but took the poor man's lamb, and dressed it for the man who came to him. 5 And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As Yahweh lives, the man who has done this is worthy to die: 6 and he will restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity. 7 And Nathan said to David, You are the man. This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul; 8 and I gave you your master's house, and your master's wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added to you such and such things. 9 Why have you despised Yahweh,[246] to do that which is evil in his eyes? You have struck Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have slain him with the sword of the sons of Ammon. 10 Now therefore the sword will never depart from your house, because you have despised me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife. 11 Thus says Yahweh, Look, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes, and give them to your fellow man, and he will lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. 12 For you did it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun. 13 And David said to Nathan, I have sinned against Yahweh. And Nathan said to David, Yahweh also has put away your sin; you will not die. 14 Nevertheless, because by this deed you have shown utter contempt for Yahweh,[247] the son also who is born to you will surely die. 15 And Nathan departed to his house.

And Yahweh struck the child who Uriah's wife bore to David, and it was very sick. 16 David therefore implored God for the child; and David fasted, and went in, and lay all night on the earth. 17 And the elders of his house arose, [and stood] beside him, to raise him up from the earth: but he would not, neither did he eat bread with them. 18 And it came to pass on the seventh day, that the child died. And the slaves of David feared to tell him that the child was dead; for they said, Look, while the child was yet alive, we spoke to him, and he didn't listen to our voice: how he will then vex himself, if we tell him that the child is dead! 19 But when David saw that his slaves were whispering together, David perceived that the child was dead; and David said to his slaves, Is the child dead? And they said, He is dead. 20 Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his apparel; and he came into the house of Yahweh, and worshiped: then he came to his own house; and when he required, they set bread before him, and he ate. 21 Then his slaves said to him, What is this thing that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child, while it was alive; but when the child was dead, you rose and ate bread. 22 And he said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who knows whether Yahweh will not be gracious to me, that the child may live? 23 But now he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.

24 And David comforted Bathsheba his wife, and went in to her, and lay with her: and she bore a son, and he named him Solomon. And Yahweh loved him; 25 and he sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet; and he named him Jedidiah, for Yahweh's sake.

26 Now Joab fought against Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, and took the royal city. 27 And Joab sent messengers to David, and said, I have fought against Rabbah; yes, I have taken the city of waters. 28 Now therefore gather the rest of the people together, and encamp against the city, and take it; or else I will take the city, and it will be called after my name. 29 And David gathered all the people together, and went to Rabbah, and fought against it, and took it. 30 And he took the crown of Milcom from off his head; and its weight was a talent of gold, and [in it were] precious stones; and it was set on David's head. And he brought forth the spoil of the city, exceedingly much. 31 And he brought forth the people who were in it. And he put [them to work] with saws, and with harrows[248] of iron, and with axes of iron. And he made them serve making bricks. And thus he did to all the cities of the sons of Ammon. And David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.[249]

13  And it came to pass after this, that Absalom the son of David had a beautiful sister, whose name was Tamar; and Amnon the son of David loved her. 2 And Amnon was so vexed that he fell sick because of his sister Tamar; for she was a virgin; and it seemed hard to Amnon to do anything to her. 3 But Amnon had a companion, whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shimeah, David's brother; and Jonadab was a very subtle man. 4 And he said to him, Why, O son of the king, are you thus lean from day to day? Will you not tell me? And Amnon said to him, I love Tamar, my brother Absalom's sister. 5 And Jonadab said to him, Lay down on your bed, and feign yourself sick: and when your father comes to see you, say to him, Let my sister Tamar come, I pray you, and give me bread to eat, and dress the food in my sight, that I may see it, and eat it from her hand. 6 So Amnon lay down, and feigned himself sick: and when the king came to see him, Amnon said to the king, Let my sister Tamar come, I pray you, and make me a couple of cakes in my sight, that I may eat from her hand.

7 Then David sent home to Tamar, saying, Go now to your brother Amnon's house, and dress him food. 8 So Tamar went to her brother Amnon's house; and he was laying down. And she took dough, and kneaded it, and made cakes in his sight, and baked the cakes. 9 And she took the pan, and poured them out before him; but he refused to eat. And Amnon said, Send out all men from me. And they went out every man from him. 10 And Amnon said to Tamar, Bring the food into the chamber, that I may eat from your hand. And Tamar took the cakes which she had made, and brought them into the chamber to Amnon her brother. 11 And when she had brought them near to him to eat, he took hold of her, and said to her, Come, lie with me, my sister. 12 And she answered him, No, my brother, do not force me; for no such thing ought to be done in Israel: don't do this folly. 13 And I, where shall I carry my shame? And as for you, you will be as one of the fools in Israel. Now therefore, I pray you, speak to the king; for he will not withhold me from you. 14 Nevertheless he would not listen to her voice; but being stronger than she, he forced her, and lay with her.

15 Then Amnon hated her with exceedingly great hatred; for the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her. And Amnon said to her, Arise, go. 16 And she said to him, Not so, because this great wrong in putting me forth is [worse] than the other that you did to me. But he would not listen to her. 17 Then he called his servant that ministered to him, and said, Now put this woman out from me, and bolt the door after her. 18 And she had a garment of diverse colors on her; for with such robes were the king's daughters who were virgins appareled. Then his minister brought her out, and bolted the door after her. 19 And Tamar put ashes on her head, and rent her garment of diverse colors that was on her; and she laid her hand on her head, and went her way, crying aloud as she went.

20 And Absalom her brother said to her, Has Amnon your brother been with you? But now hold your peace, my sister: he is your brother; don't take this thing to heart. So Tamar remained desolate in her brother Absalom's house. 21 But when King David heard of all these things, he was very angry, but he did not grieve the spirit of his son Amnon because he loved him, since he was his firstborn. 22 And Absalom spoke to Amnon neither good nor bad; for Absalom hated Amnon, because he had forced his sister Tamar.

23 And it came to pass after two full years, that Absalom had sheep-shearers in Baal-hazor, which is beside Ephraim: and Absalom invited all the king's sons. 24 And Absalom came to the king, and said, Look now, your slave has sheep-shearers; let the king, I pray you, and his slaves go with your slave. 25 And the king said to Absalom, No, my son, let's not all go, lest we be burdensome to you. And he pressed him: nevertheless he would not go, but blessed him. 26 Then Absalom said, If not, I pray you, let my brother Amnon go with us. And the king said to him, Why should he go with you? 27 But Absalom pressed him, and he sent with him Amnon and all the king's sons. And Absalom prepared a feast like a king's feast. 28 And Absalom commanded his attendants, saying, Now watch+, when Amnon's heart is merry with wine; and when I say to you+, Strike Amnon, then kill him; don't be afraid; haven't I commanded you+? Be courageous, and be valiant. 29 And the attendants of Absalom did to Amnon as Absalom had commanded. Then all the king's sons arose, and every man got up on his mule, and fled.

30 And it came to pass, while they were in the way, that the news came to David, saying, Absalom has slain all the king's sons, and there is not one of them left. 31 Then the king arose, and rent his garments, and lay on the earth; and all his slaves stood by with their clothes rent. 32 And Jonadab, the son of Shimeah, David's brother, answered and said, Don't let my lord suppose that they have killed all the young men the king's sons; for Amnon only is dead; for according to the mouth of Absalom this has been determined from the day that he forced his sister Tamar. 33 Now therefore don't let my lord the king take the thing to his heart, to think that all the king's sons are dead; for Amnon only is dead.

34 But Absalom fled. And the young man who kept the watch lifted up his eyes, and looked, and saw that many people came upon the Horonaim[250] road, from the mountain side on the slope, and the watchman came and informed the king; he said, I saw men from the Horonaim road, from the mountain side. 35 And Jonadab said to the king, Look, the king's sons have come: as your slave said, so it is. 36 And it came to pass, as soon as he had made an end of speaking, that, look, the king's sons came, and lifted up their voice, and wept: and the king also and all his slaves wept very intensely.

37 But Absalom fled, and went to Talmai the son of Ammihur, king of Geshur. And [David] mourned for his son every day. 38 So Absalom fled, and went to Geshur, and was there three years. 39 And the king's spirit longed to go forth to Absalom: for he was comforted concerning Amnon, seeing he was dead.

14  Now Joab the son of Zeruiah perceived that the king's heart was toward Absalom. 2 And Joab sent to Tekoa, and fetched from there a wise woman, and said to her, I pray you, feign yourself to be a mourner, and put on mourning apparel, I pray you, and don't anoint yourself with oil, but be as a woman who has a long time mourned for the dead: 3 and go in to the king, and speak on this manner to him. So Joab put the words in her mouth.

4 And when the woman of Tekoa spoke to the king, she fell on her face to the ground, and did obeisance, and said, Help, O king. 5 And the king said to her, What ails you? And she answered, Of a truth I am a widow, and my husband is dead. 6 And your female slave had two sons, and both of them strove together in the field, and there was none to part them, but the one struck the other, and killed him. 7 And, look, the whole family has risen against your female slave, and they say, Deliver him who struck his brother, that we may kill him for the soul of his brother whom he slew, and so destroy the heir also. Thus they will quench my charcoal which is left, and will leave to my husband neither name nor remainder on the face of the earth.

8 And the king said to the woman, Go to your house, and I will give charge concerning you. 9 And the woman of Tekoa said to the king, My lord, O king, the iniquity be on me, and on my father's house; and the king and his throne be innocent. 10 And the king said, Whoever says anything to you, bring him to me, and he will not touch you anymore. 11 Then she said, I pray you, let the king remember Yahweh your God, that the avenger of blood does not destroy anymore, lest they destroy my son. And he said, As Yahweh lives, not one hair of your son will fall to the earth.

12 Then the woman said, Let your slave, I pray you, speak a word to my lord the king. And he said, Say on. 13 And the woman said, Why then have you devised such a thing against the people of God? For in speaking this word the king is as one who is guilty, in that the king does not fetch home again his banished one. 14 For we must surely die, and are as water spilled on the ground, which can't be gathered up again; neither does God take away a soul, but he devises means, that he who is banished not be an outcast from him. 15 Now therefore seeing that I have come to speak this word to my lord the king, it is because the people have made me afraid: and your slave said, I will now speak to the king; it may be that the king will perform the request of his slave. 16 For the king will hear, to deliver his slave out of the hand of the man who would destroy me and my son together out of the inheritance of God. 17 Then your slave said, Let, I pray you, the word of my lord the king be comfortable; for as an angel of God, so is my lord the king to discern good and bad: and Yahweh your God be with you.

18 Then the king answered and said to the woman, Don't hide from me, I pray you, anything that I will ask you. And the woman said, Let my lord the king now speak. 19 And the king said, Is the hand of Joab with you in all this? And the woman answered and said, As your soul lives, my lord the king, none can turn to the right hand or to the left from anything that my lord the king has spoken; for your slave Joab, he bade me, and he put all these words in the mouth of your slave; 20 to change the face of the matter has your slave Joab done this thing: and my lord is wise, according to the wisdom of an angel of God, to know all things that are in the earth.

21 And the king said to Joab, Look now, I have done this thing: go therefore, bring the young man Absalom back. 22 And Joab fell to the ground on his face, and did obeisance, and blessed the king: and Joab said, Today your slave knows that I have found favor in your sight, my lord, O king, in that the king has performed the request of his slave. 23 So Joab arose and went to Geshur, and brought Absalom to Jerusalem. 24 And the king said, Let him turn to his own house, but don't let him see my face. So Absalom turned to his own house, and didn't see the king's face.

25 Now in all Israel there was none to be so much praised as good-looking as Absalom: from the sole of his foot even to the top of his head there was no blemish in him. 26 And when he cut the hair of his head (now it was at every year's end that he cut it; because it was heavy on him, therefore he cut it); he weighed the hair of his head at two hundred shekels, after the king's weight. 27 And to Absalom there were born three sons, and one daughter, whose name was Tamar: she was a beautiful woman.

28 And Absalom dwelt two full years in Jerusalem; and he didn't see the king's face. 29 Then Absalom sent for Joab, to send him to the king; but he would not come to him: and he sent again a second time, but he would not come. 30 Therefore he said to his slaves, See, Joab's field is near mine, and he has barley there; go and set it on fire. And Absalom's slaves set the field on fire. 31 Then Joab arose, and came to Absalom to his house, and said to him, Why have your slaves set my field on fire? 32 And Absalom answered Joab, Look, I sent to you, saying, Come here, that I may send you to the king, to say, Why have I come from Geshur? It were better for me to be there still. Now therefore let me see the king's face; and if there is iniquity in me, let him kill me. 33 So Joab came to the king, and told him; and when he had called for Absalom, he came to the king, and bowed himself on his face to the ground before the king: and the king kissed Absalom.

15  And it came to pass after this, that Absalom prepared himself a chariot and horses, and fifty men to run before him. 2 And Absalom rose up early, and stood beside the way of the gate: and it was so, that, when any man had a suit which should come to the king for judgment, then Absalom called to him, and said, Of what city are you? And he said, Your slave is of one of the tribes of Israel. 3 And Absalom said to him, See, your matters are good and right; but there is no man deputed of the king to hear you. 4 Absalom said moreover, Oh that I were made judge in the land, that every man who has any suit or cause might come to me, and I would do him justice! 5 And it was so, that, when any man came near to do him obeisance, he put forth his hand, and took hold of him, and kissed him. 6 And on this manner Absalom did to all Israel who came to the king for judgment: so Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.

7 And it came to pass at the end of four years, that Absalom said to the king, I pray you, let me go and pay my vow, which I have vowed to Yahweh, in Hebron. 8 For your slave vowed a vow while I remained at Geshur in Syria, saying, If Yahweh will indeed bring me again to Jerusalem, then I will serve Yahweh. 9 And the king said to him, Go in peace. So he arose, and went to Hebron. 10 But Absalom sent spies throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, As soon as you+ hear the sound of the trumpet, then you+ will say, Absalom is king in Hebron. 11 And with Absalom went two hundred men out of Jerusalem, who were invited, and went in their simplicity; and they didn't know anything. 12 And Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David's counselor, from his city, even from Giloh, while he was offering the sacrifices. And the conspiracy was strong; for the people increased continually with Absalom.

13 And there came a messenger to David, saying, The hearts of the men of Israel are after Absalom. 14 And David said to all his slaves who were with him at Jerusalem, Arise, and let us flee; for else none of us will escape from Absalom: make speed to depart, or else he will overtake us quickly, and bring down evil on us, and strike the city with the edge of the sword. 15 And the king's slaves said to the king, Look, your slaves are ready to do whatever my lord the king will choose. 16 And the king went forth, and all his household after him. And the king left ten women, who were concubines, to keep the house. 17 And the king went forth, and all the people after him; and they tarried in Beth-merhak. 18 And all his slaves passed on beside him; and all the Cherethites, and all the Pelethites, and all the Gittites, six hundred men who came after him from Gath, passed on before the king.

19 Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, Why do you also go with us? Return, and remain with the king: for you are a foreigner, and also an exile; [return] to your own place. 20 Whereas you came but yesterday, should I this day make you go up and down with us, seeing I go where I may? Return, and take back your brothers with you; and may Yahweh show you mercy and truth. 21 And Ittai answered the king, and said, As Yahweh lives, and as my lord the king lives, surely in what place my lord the king will be, whether to death or to life, even there also will your slave be. 22 And David said to Ittai, Go and pass over. And Ittai the Gittite passed over, and all his men, and all the little ones who were with him. 23 And all the country wept with a loud voice, and all the people passed over: the king also himself passed over the brook Kidron, and all the people passed over, toward the way of the wilderness.

24 And, look, Zadok also [came], and all the Levites with him, bearing the ark of the covenant of God; and they set down the ark of God; and Abiathar went up, until all the people had finished passing out of the city. 25 And the king said to Zadok, Carry back the ark of God into the city: if I will find favor in the eyes of Yahweh, he will bring me again, and show me both it, and his habitation: 26 but if he says thus, I have no delight in you; look, here I am, let him do to me as is good in his eyes. 27 The king said also to Zadok the priest, Do you see? Return into the city in peace, and your+ two sons with you+, Ahimaaz your son, and Jonathan the son of Abiathar. 28 See, I will tarry at the fords of the wilderness, until there comes word from you+ to inform me. 29 Zadok therefore and Abiathar carried the ark of God again to Jerusalem: and they remained there.

30 And David went up by the ascent of the [mount of] Olives, and wept as he went up; and he had his head covered, and went barefoot: and all the people who were with him covered every man his head, and they went up, weeping as they went up. 31 And one told David, saying, Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom. And David said, O Yahweh, I pray you, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness. 32 And it came to pass, that, when David came to the top [of the ascent], where God was worshiped, look, Hushai the Archite came to meet him with his coat rent, and earth on his head. 33 And David said to him, If you pass on with me, then you will be a burden to me: 34 but if you return to the city, and say to Absalom, I will be your slave, O king; as I have been your father's slave in time past, so I will now be your slave; then you will defeat for me the counsel of Ahithophel. 35 And don't you have there with you Zadok and Abiathar the priests? Therefore it will be, that whatever thing you will hear out of the king's house, you will tell it to Zadok and Abiathar the priests. 36 Look, they have there with them their two sons, Ahimaaz, Zadok's son, and Jonathan, Abiathar's son; and by them you+ will send to me everything that you+ will hear. 37 So Hushai, David's friend, came into the city; and Absalom came into Jerusalem.

16  And when David was a little past the top [of the ascent], look, Ziba the attendant of Mephibaal met him, with a couple of donkeys saddled, and on them two hundred loaves of bread, and a hundred clusters of raisins, and an ephah of summer fruits, and a bottle of wine. 2 And the king said to Ziba, What do you mean by these? And Ziba said, The donkeys are for the king's household to ride on; and the bread and summer fruit for the young men to eat; and the wine, that such as are faint in the wilderness may drink. 3 And the king said, And where is your master's son? And Ziba said to the king, Look, he remains at Jerusalem; for he said, Today will the house of Israel restore to me the kingdom of my father. 4 Then the king said to Ziba, Look, all that pertains to Mephibaal is yours. And Ziba said, I do obeisance; let me find favor in your sight, my lord, O king.

5 And when King David came to Bahurim, look, there came out from there a man of the family of the house of Saul, whose name was Shimei, the son of Gera; he came out, and cursed still as he came. 6 And he cast stones at David, and at all the slaves of King David: and all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left. 7 And thus said Shimei when he cursed, Begone, begone, you man of blood, and base fellow: 8 Yahweh has returned on you all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose stead you have reigned; and Yahweh has delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom your son; and, look, you are [taken] in your own mischief, because you are a man of blood.

9 Then said Abishai the son of Zeruiah to the king, Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over, I pray you, and take off his head. 10 And the king said, What have I to do with you+, you+ sons of Zeruiah? Because he curses, and because Yahweh has said to him, Curse David; who then will say, Why have you done so? 11 And David said to Abishai, and to all his slaves, Look, my son, who came forth from my bowels, seeks my soul: how much more [may] this Benjamite now [do it]? Leave him alone, and let him curse; for Yahweh has bidden him. 12 It may be that Yahweh will look at the wrong done to me, and that Yahweh will repay me good for [his] cursing of me this day. 13 So David and his men went by the way; and Shimei went along on the hillside across from him, and cursed as he went, and threw stones at him, and cast dust. 14 And the king, and all the people who were with him, came weary; and he refreshed himself there.

15 And Absalom, and all the people, the men of Israel, came to Jerusalem, and Ahithophel with him. 16 And it came to pass, when Hushai the Archite, David's friend, came to Absalom, that Hushai said to Absalom, [Long] live the king, [Long] live the king. 17 And Absalom said to Hushai, Is this your kindness to your companion? Why didn't you go with your companion? 18 And Hushai said to Absalom, No; but whom Yahweh, and this people, and all the men of Israel have chosen, I will be his, and I will remain with him. 19 And again, whom should I serve? [Should I] not [serve] in the presence of his son? As I have served in your father's presence, so I will be in your presence.

20 Then Absalom said to Ahithophel, Give your+ counsel what we will do. 21 And Ahithophel said to Absalom, Go in to your father's concubines, whom he has left to keep the house; and all Israel will hear that you have become a stench to your father: then the hands of all who are with you will be strong. 22 So they spread Absalom a tent on the top of the house; and Absalom went in to his father's concubines in the sight of all Israel. 23 And the counsel of Ahithophel, which he gave in those days, was as if a man inquired at the oracle of God: so was all the counsel of Ahithophel both with David and with Absalom.

17  Moreover Ahithophel said to Absalom, Let me now choose out twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David this night: 2 and I will come upon him while he is weary and weak-handed, and will make him afraid; and all the people who are with him will flee; and I will strike the king only; 3 and I will bring back all the people to you: all the people will return [if] the man you are seeking [is struck]: all the people will be in peace. 4 And the saying pleased Absalom well, and all the elders of Israel.

5 Then Absalom said, Call now Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear likewise what he says. 6 And when Hushai came to Absalom, Absalom spoke to him, saying, Ahithophel has spoken after this manner: shall we do [after] his saying? If not, you speak. 7 And Hushai said to Absalom, The counsel that Ahithophel has given this time is not good. 8 Hushai said moreover, You know your father and his men, that they are mighty men, and they are bitter in soul, as a bear robbed of her whelps in the field; and your father is a man of war, and will not lodge with the people. 9 Look, he is hid now in some pit, or in some [other] place: and it will come to pass, when some of them have fallen at the first, that whoever hears it will say, There is a slaughter among the people who follow Absalom. 10 And even he who is a son of valor, whose heart is as the heart of a lion, will completely melt; for all Israel knows that your father is a mighty man, and those who are with him are sons of valor. 11 But I counsel that all Israel be gathered together to you, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, as the sand that is by the sea for multitude; and that you go to battle in your own person. 12 So we will come upon him in some place where he will be found, and we will fall on him as the dew falls on the ground; and of him and of all the men who are with him we will not leave so much as one. 13 Moreover, if he goes into a city, then all Israel will bring ropes to that city, and we will draw it into the river, until there is not one small stone found there. 14 And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel. For Yahweh had determined to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that Yahweh might bring evil on Absalom.

15 Then Hushai said to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, Thus and thus did Ahithophel counsel Absalom and the elders of Israel; and thus and thus I have counseled. 16 Now therefore send quickly, and tell David, saying, Don't lodge this night at the fords of the wilderness, but by all means pass over; or else the king will be swallowed up, and all the people who are with him. 17 Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were waiting by En-rogel; and a female slave used to go and tell them; and they went and told King David: so they might not be seen coming into the city. 18 But a lad saw them, and told Absalom: and they went both of them away quickly, and came to the house of a man in Bahurim, who had a well in his court; and they went down there. 19 And the woman took and spread the covering over the well's opening, and strewed bruised grain on it; and nothing was known. 20 And Absalom's slaves came to the woman to the house; and they said, Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan? And the woman said to them, They have gone over the brook of water. And when they had sought and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem.

21 And it came to pass, after they departed, that they came up out of the well, and went and told King David; and they said to David, Arise+, and pass quickly over the water; for thus has Ahithophel counseled against you+. 22 Then David arose, and all the people who were with him, and they passed over the Jordan: by the morning light there lacked not one of them that had not gone over the Jordan. 23 And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his donkey, and arose, and went home, to his city, and set his house in order, and hanged himself; and he died, and was buried in the tomb of his father.

24 Then David came to Mahanaim. And Absalom passed over the Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him. 25 And Absalom set Amasa over the host instead of Joab. Now Amasa was the son of a man, whose name was Ithra the Israelite, that went in to Abigal the daughter of Nahash, sister to Zeruiah, Joab's mother. 26 And Israel and Absalom encamped in the land of Gilead.

27 And it came to pass, when David came to Mahanaim, that Shobi the son of Nahash of Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, and Machir the son of Ammiel of Lodebar, and Barzillai the Gileadite of Rogelim, 28 brought beds, and basins, and earthen vessels, and wheat, and barley, and meal, and parched [grain], and beans, and lentils, and parched [pulse], 29 and honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of the herd, for David, and for the people who were with him, to eat: for they said, The people are hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness.

18  And David numbered the people who were with him, and set captains of thousands and captains of hundreds over them. 2 And David divided the people in three [parts], a third part under the hand of Joab, and a third part under the hand of Abishai the son of Zeruiah, Joab's brother, and a third part under the hand of Ittai the Gittite. And the king said to the people, I will surely go forth with you+ myself also. 3 But the people said, You will not go forth: for if we flee away, they will not care for us; neither if half of us die, will they care for us: but you are worth ten thousand of us; therefore now it is better that you are ready to help us out of the city. 4 And the king said to them, What seems best to you+ I will do. And the king stood by the gate-side, and all the people went out by hundreds and by thousands. 5 And the king commanded Joab and Abishai and Ittai, saying, Deal gently for my sake with the young man, even with Absalom. And all the people heard when the king gave all the captains charge concerning Absalom.

6 So the people went out into the field against Israel: and the battle was in the forest of Ephraim. 7 And the people of Israel were struck there before the slaves of David, and there was a great slaughter there that day of twenty thousand men. 8 For the battle was spread there over the face of all the country; and the forest devoured more people that day than the sword devoured.

9 And Absalom chanced to meet the slaves of David. And Absalom was riding on his mule, and the mule went under the thick boughs of a great oak, and his head caught hold of the oak, and he was left hanging between heaven and earth; and the mule that was under him went on. 10 And a certain man saw it, and told Joab, and said, Look, I saw Absalom hanging in an oak. 11 And Joab said to the man who told him, And, look, you saw it, and why didn't you strike him there to the ground? And I would have given you ten [shekels of] silver, and a belt. 12 And the man said to Joab, Though I should receive a thousand [shekels of] silver in my hand, yet I would not put forth my hand against the king's son; for in our hearing the king charged you and Abishai and Ittai, saying, Watch out for whoever is against the young man Absalom. 13 Otherwise if I had dealt falsely against his soul (and there is no matter hid from the king), then you yourself would have set yourself against [me]. 14 Then said Joab, I may not tarry thus with you. And he took three darts in his hand, and thrust them through the heart of Absalom, while he was yet alive in the midst of the oak. 15 And ten young men who bore Joab's armor surrounded and struck Absalom, and slew him.

16 And Joab blew the trumpet, and the people returned from pursuing after Israel; for Joab held back the people. 17 And they took Absalom, and cast him into the great pit in the forest, and raised over him a very great heap of stones: and all Israel fled every one to his tent. 18 Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself the pillar, which is in the king's dale; for he said, I have no son to keep my name in remembrance: and he called the pillar after his own name; and it is called Absalom's monument, to this day.

19 Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said, Let me now run, and bear the king good news, how that Yahweh has avenged him of his enemies. 20 And Joab said to him, You will not be the bearer of good news this day, but you will bear good news another day; but this day you will bear no good news, because the king's son is dead. 21 Then Joab said to the Cushite, Go, tell the king what you have seen. And the Cushite bowed himself to Joab, and ran. 22 Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said yet again to Joab, But come what may, let me, I pray you, also run after the Cushite. And Joab said, Why will you run, my son, seeing that you will have no good news to deliver? 23 But come what may, [he said], I will run. And he said to him, Run. Then Ahimaaz ran by the way of the Plain, and outran the Cushite.

24 Now David was sitting between the two gates: and the watchman went up to the roof of the gate to the wall, and lifted up his eyes, and looked, and saw a man running alone. 25 And the watchman cried, and told the king. And the king said, If he is alone, there is good news in his mouth. And he came apace, and drew near. 26 And the watchman saw another man running; and the watchman called to the gatekeeper, and said, Look, [another] man running alone. And the king said, He also brings good news. 27 And the watchman said, I think the running of the foremost is like the running of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok. And the king said, He is a good man, and comes with good news.

28 And Ahimaaz called, and said to the king, All is well. And he bowed himself before the king with his face to the earth, and said, Blessed be Yahweh your God, who has delivered up the men who lifted up their hand against my lord the king. 29 And the king said, Is it well with the young man Absalom? And Ahimaaz answered, When Joab sent the king's slave and your slave, I saw a great tumult, but I didn't know what it was. 30 And the king said, Turn aside, and stand here. And he turned aside, and stood still.

31 And, look, the Cushite came; and the Cushite said, good news for my lord the king; for Yahweh has avenged you this day of all those who rose up against you. 32 And the king said to the Cushite, Is it well with the young man Absalom? And the Cushite answered, The enemies of my lord the king, and all who rise up against you to do you hurt, be as that young man is. 33 And the king was much moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept: and as he went, he said thus, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! O that I had died for you, O Absalom, my son, my son!

19  And it was told Joab, Look, the king weeps and mourns for Absalom. 2 And the victory that day was turned into mourning to all the people; for the people heard it said that day, The king grieves for his son. 3 And the people went by stealth that day into the city, as people who are ashamed steal away when they flee in battle. 4 And the king covered his face, and the king cried with a loud voice, O my son Absalom, O Absalom, my son, my son! 5 And Joab came into the house to the king, and said, You have shamed this day the faces of all your slaves, who this day have saved your soul, and the souls of your sons and of your daughters, and the souls of your wives, and the souls of your concubines; 6 in that you love those who hate you, and hate those who love you. For you have declared this day, that princes and slaves are nothing to you: for this day I perceive, that if Absalom had lived, and all of us had died this day, then it would have pleased you well. 7 Now therefore arise, go forth, and speak comfortably to your slaves; for I swear by Yahweh, if you don't go forth, there will not tarry a man with you this night: and that will be worse to you than all the evil that has befallen you from your youth until now. 8 Then the king arose, and sat in the gate. And they told to all the people, saying, Look, the king is sitting in the gate: and all the people came before the king.

Now Israel had fled every man to his tent. 9 And all the people were at strife throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, The king delivered us out of the hand of our enemies, and he saved us out of the hand of the Philistines; and now he has fled out of the land from Absalom. 10 And Absalom, whom we anointed over us, is dead in battle. Now therefore why don't you+ speak a word of bringing the king back?

11 And King David sent to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, saying, Speak to the elders of Judah, saying, Why are you+ the last to bring the king back to his house, seeing the speech of all Israel has come to the king? 12 You+ are my brothers, you+ are my bone and my flesh. Why then are you+ the last to bring back the king? 13 And say+ to Amasa, Are you not my bone and my flesh? God do so to me, and more also, if you are not captain of the host before me continually in the place of Joab. 14 And he bowed the heart of all the men of Judah, even as [the heart of] one man; so that they sent to the king, [saying,] Return, you and all your slaves. 15 So the king returned, and came to the Jordan. And Judah came to Gilgal, to go to meet the king, to bring the king over the Jordan.

16 And Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjamite, who was of Bahurim, hurried and came down with the men of Judah to meet King David. 17 And there were a thousand men of Benjamin with him, and Ziba the servant of the house of Saul, and his fifteen sons and his twenty slaves with him; and they went through the Jordan in the presence of the king. 18 And there went over a ferryboat to bring over the king's household, and to do that which was good in his eyes. And Shimei the son of Gera fell down before the king, when he came over the Jordan. 19 And he said to the king, Don't let my lord impute iniquity to me, neither remember that which your slave did perversely the day that my lord the king went out of Jerusalem, that the king should take it to his heart. 20 For your slave knows that I have sinned: therefore, look, I have come this day the first of all the house of Joseph to go down to meet my lord the king.

21 But Abishai the son of Zeruiah answered and said, Will not Shimei be put to death for this, because he cursed Yahweh's anointed? 22 And David said, What have I to do with you+, you+ sons of Zeruiah, that you+ should this day be adversaries to me? Will there be any man put to death this day in Israel? For don't I know that I am this day king over Israel? 23 And the king said to Shimei, You will not die. And the king swore to him.

24 And Mephibaal the son of Saul came down to meet the king; and he had neither dressed his feet, nor trimmed his beard, nor washed his clothes, from the day the king departed until the day he came home in peace to Jerusalem. 25 And it came to pass, when he came to meet the king, that the king said to him, Why didn't you go with me, Mephibaal? 26 And he answered, My lord, O king, my slave deceived me: for your slave said, I will saddle myself a donkey, that I may ride on it, and go with the king; because your slave is lame. 27 And he has slandered your slave to my lord the king; but my lord the king is as an angel of God: do therefore what is good in your eyes. 28 For all my father's house were but dead men before my lord the king; yet you set your slave among those who ate at your own table. What right therefore have I yet that I should cry anymore to the king? 29 And the king said to him, Why speak anymore of your matters? I say, You and Ziba divide the land. 30 And Mephibaal said to the king, yes, let him take all, since my lord the king has come in peace to his own house.

31 And Barzillai the Gileadite came down from Rogelim; and he went over the Jordan with the king, to conduct him over the Jordan. 32 Now Barzillai was a very aged man, even 80 years old: and he had provided the king with sustenance while he lay at Mahanaim; for he was a very great man. 33 And the king said to Barzillai, You come over with me, and I will sustain you with me in Jerusalem. 34 And Barzillai said to the king, How many are the days of the years of my life, that I should go up with the king to Jerusalem? 35 I am this day 80 years old: can I discern between good and bad? Can your slave taste what I eat or what I drink? Can I hear anymore the voice of singing men and singing women? Why then should your slave be yet a burden to my lord the king? 36 Your slave would but just go over the Jordan with the king: and why should the king recompense me with such a reward? 37 Let your slave, I pray you, turn back again, that I may die in my own city, by the grave of my father and my mother. But look, your slave Chimham; let him go over with my lord the king; and do to him what will seem good to you. 38 And the king answered, Chimham will go over with me, and I will do to him that which will seem good to you: and whatever you will require of me, that I will do for you. 39 And all the people went over the Jordan, and the king went over: and the king kissed Barzillai, and blessed him; and he returned to his own place.

40 So the king went over to Gilgal, and Chimham went over with him: and all the people of Judah brought the king over, and also half the people of Israel. 41 And, look, all the men of Israel came to the king, and said to the king, Why have our brothers the men of Judah stolen you away, and brought the king, and his household, over the Jordan, and all David's men with him? 42 And all the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, Because the king is near of kin to us: why then are you+ angry for this matter? Have we eaten at all at the king's cost? Or has he given us any gift? 43 And the men of Israel answered the men of Judah, and said, We have ten parts in the king, and we have also more [right] in David than you+: why then did you+ despise us, that our advice should not be had first in bringing back our king? And the words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel.

20  And there happened to be there a base fellow, whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjamite: and he blew the trumpet, and said, We have no portion in David, neither do we have inheritance in the son of Jesse: every man to his tents, O Israel. 2 So all the men of Israel went up from following David, and followed Sheba the son of Bichri; but the men of Judah stuck to their king, from the Jordan even to Jerusalem.

3 And David came to his house at Jerusalem; and the king took the ten women his concubines, whom he had left to keep the house, and put them in ward, and provided them with sustenance, but didn't go in to them. So they were shut up to the day of their death, living in widowhood.

4 Then the king said to Amasa, Call together for me the men of Judah three days, and be present here. 5 So Amasa went to call [the men of] Judah together; but he tarried longer than the set time which he had appointed him. 6 And David said to Abishai, Now Sheba the son of Bichri will do us more harm than did Absalom: you take your lord's slaves, and pursue after him, in case he found himself fortified cities, and tears out our eye. 7 And there went out after him Joab's men, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites, and all the mighty men; and they went out of Jerusalem, to pursue after Sheba the son of Bichri. 8 When they were at the great stone which is in Gibeon, Amasa came to meet them. And Joab was girded with his apparel of war that he had put on, and on it was a belt with a sword fastened on his loins in its sheath; and as he went forth it fell out. 9 And Joab said to Amasa, Is it well with you, my brother? And Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him. 10 But Amasa took no heed to the sword that was in Joab's hand: so he struck him with it in the body, and shed out his insides to the ground, and struck him not again; and he died.

And Joab and Abishai his brother pursued after Sheba the son of Bichri. 11 And there stood by him one of Joab's young men, and said, He who favors Joab, and he who is for David, let him follow Joab. 12 And Amasa lay wallowing in his blood in the midst of the highway. And when the man saw that all the people stood still, he carried Amasa out of the highway into the field, and cast a garment over him, when he saw that everyone who came by him stood still. 13 When he was removed out of the highway, all the people went on after Joab, to pursue after Sheba the son of Bichri.

14 And he went through all the tribes of Israel to Abel, and to Beth-maacah. And all those who joined him were gathered together, and also went after him. 15 And they came and besieged him in Abel of Beth-maacah, and they cast up a mound against the city, and it stood against the rampart; and all the people who were with Joab battered the wall, to throw it down. 16 Then a wise woman cried out of the city, Hear, hear; say, I pray you+, to Joab, Come near here, that I may speak with you. 17 And he came near to her; and the woman said, Are you Joab? And he answered, I am. Then she said to him, Hear the words of your slave. And he answered, I am listening. 18 Then she spoke, saying, They used to speak in old time, saying, They will surely ask [counsel] at Abel: and so they ended [the matter]. 19 I am of those who are peaceful and faithful in Israel: you seek to destroy a city and a mother in Israel: why will you swallow up the inheritance of Yahweh? 20 And Joab answered and said, Far be it, far be it from me, that I should swallow up or destroy. 21 The matter is not so: but a man of the hill-country of Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri by name, has lifted up his hand against the king, even against David; deliver him only, and I will depart from the city. And the woman said to Joab, Look, his head will be thrown to you over the wall. 22 Then the woman went to all the people in her wisdom. And they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri, and threw it out to Joab. And he blew the trumpet, and they were dispersed from the city, every man to his tent. And Joab returned to Jerusalem to the king.

23 Now Joab was over all the host of Israel; and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and over the Pelethites; 24 and Adoram was over the men subject to slave labor; and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was the recorder; 25 and Sheva was scribe; and Zadok and Abiathar were priests; 26 and also Ira the Jairite was chief ruler to David.

21  And there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David sought the face of Yahweh. And Yahweh said, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he put to death the Gibeonites. 2 And the king called the Gibeonites, and said to them (now the Gibeonites were not of the sons of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; and the sons of Israel had sworn to them: and Saul sought to slay them in his zeal for the sons of Israel and Judah); 3 and David said to the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you+? And how shall I make atonement, that you+ may bless the inheritance of Yahweh? 4 And the Gibeonites said to him, It is no matter of silver or gold between us and Saul, or his house; neither is it for us to put any man to death in Israel. And he said, What you+ will say, that I will do for you+. 5 And they said to the king, The man who consumed us, and that devised against us, [that] we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the borders of Israel, 6 let seven men of his sons be delivered to us, and we will hang them up to Yahweh in Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of Yahweh. And the king said, I will give them.

7 But the king spared Mephibaal, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of Yahweh's oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul. 8 But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite: 9 And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the mountain before Yahweh, and they fell [all] seven together. And they were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, at the beginning of barley harvest.

10 And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water was poured on them from heaven; and she allowed neither the birds of the heavens to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night. 11 And it was told David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done.

12 And David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabesh-gilead, who had stolen them from the street of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hanged them, in the day that the Philistines slew Saul in Gilboa; 13 and he brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son: and they gathered the bones of those who were hanged. 14 And they buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the country of Benjamin in Zela, in the tomb of Kish his father: and they performed all that the king commanded. And after that God was entreated for the land.

15 And the Philistines had war again with Israel; and David went down, and his slaves with him, and fought against the Philistines. And David waxed faint; 16 and Ishbibenob, who was of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear was three hundred [shekels] of bronze in weight, he being girded with a new [sword], thought to have slain David. 17 But Abishai the son of Zeruiah helped him, and struck the Philistine, and killed him. Then the men of David swore to him, saying, You will not go out with us to battle anymore, that you do not quench the lamp of Israel.

18 And it came to pass after this, that there was again war with the Philistines at Gob: then Sibbecai the Hushathite slew Saph, who was of the sons of the giant. 19 And there was again war with the Philistines at Gob; and Elhanan the son of Jari the Beth-lehemite slew Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver's beam. 20 And there was again war at Gath, where was a man of great stature, that had on every hand six fingers, and on every foot six toes, four and twenty in number; and he also was born to the giant. 21 And when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimei, David's brother, slew him. 22 These four were born to the giant in Gath; and they fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his slaves.

22  And David spoke to Yahweh the words of this song in the day that Yahweh delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul: 2 and he said,

Yahweh is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, even mine;

3 God, my rock, in him I will take refuge;

My shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge;

My savior, you save me from violence.

4 I will call on Yahweh, who is worthy to be praised:

So I will be saved from my enemies.

5 For the waves of death surrounded me;

The floods of ungodliness made me afraid:

6 The cords of Sheol were round about me;

The snares of death came upon me.

7 In my distress I called on Yahweh;

Yes, I called to my God:

And he heard my voice out of his temple,

And my cry [came] into his ears.

8 Then the earth shook and trembled,

The foundations of heaven quaked

And were shaken, because he was angry.

9 There went up a smoke out of his nostrils,

And fire out of his mouth devoured:

Coals were kindled by it.

10 He bowed the heavens also, and came down;

And thick darkness was under his feet.

11 And he rode on a cherub, and flew;

Yes, he was seen on the wings of the wind.

12 And he made darkness pavilions round about him,

Gathering of waters, thick clouds of the skies.

13 At the brightness before him

Coals of fire were kindled.

14 Yahweh thundered from heaven,

And the Most High uttered his voice.

15 And he sent out arrows, and scattered them;

Lightning, and discomfited them.

16 Then the channels of the sea appeared,

The foundations of the world were laid bare,

By the rebuke of Yahweh,

At the blast of the breath of his nostrils.

17 He sent from on high, he took me;

He drew me out of many waters;

18 He delivered me from my strong enemy,

From those who hated me; for they were too mighty for me.

19 They came upon me in the day of my calamity;

But Yahweh was my support.

20 He brought me forth also into a large place;

He delivered me, because he delighted in me.

21 Yahweh rewarded me according to my righteousness;

According to the cleanness of my hands he has recompensed me.

22 For I have kept the ways of Yahweh,

And have not wickedly departed from my God.

23 For all his ordinances were before me;

And as for his statutes, I did not depart from them.

24 I was also perfect toward him;

And I kept myself from my iniquity.

25 Therefore Yahweh has recompensed me according to my righteousness,

According to my cleanness in his eyesight.

26 With the merciful you will show yourself merciful;

With the perfect man you will show yourself perfect;

27 With the pure you will show yourself pure;

And with the perverse you will show yourself froward.

28 And the afflicted people you will save;

But your eyes are on the haughty, that you may bring them down.

29 For you are my lamp, O Yahweh;

And Yahweh will lighten my darkness.

30 For by you I run on a troop;

By my God I leap over a wall.

31 As for God, his way is perfect:

The word of Yahweh is tried;

He is a shield to all those who take refuge in him.

32 For who is God, but Yahweh?

And who is a rock, but our God?

33 God is my strong fortress;

And he opened up perfectly my way.

34 He makes his feet like hinds' [feet],

And sets me on my high places.

35 He teaches my hands to war,

So that my arms bend a bow of bronze.

36 You have also given me the shield of your salvation;

And your response has made me great.

37 You have enlarged my steps under me;

And my feet have not slipped.

38 I have pursued my enemies, and destroyed them;

Neither did I turn again until they were consumed.

39 And I have consumed them, and struck them through, so that they can't arise:

Yes, they have fallen under my feet.

40 For you have girded me with strength to the battle;

You have subdued under me those who rose up against me.

41 You have also made my enemies turn their backs to me,

That I might cut off those who hate me.

42 They looked, but there was none to save;

Even to Yahweh, but he did not answer them.

43 Then I beat them small as the dust of the earth,

I crush them as the mire of the streets, and spread them abroad.

44 You also have delivered me from the strivings of my people;

You have kept me to be the head of the nations:

A people whom I have not known will serve me.

45 The foreigners will submit themselves to me:

As soon as they hear of me, they will obey me.

46 The foreigners will fade away,

And will come trembling out of their close places.

47 Yahweh lives; and blessed be my rock;

And exalted be God, the rock of my salvation,

48 Even the God who executes vengeance for me,

And who brings down peoples under me,

49 And who brings me forth from my enemies:

Yes, you lift me up above those who rise up against me;

You deliver me from the violent man.

50 Therefore I will give thanks to you, O Yahweh, among the nations,

And will sing praises to your name.

51 Great deliverance he gives to his king,

And shows loving-kindness to his anointed,

To David and to his seed, forevermore.

23  Now these are the last words of David. David the son of Jesse says,

And the [noble] man who was raised on high says,

The anointed of the God of Jacob,

And the sweet psalmist of Israel:

2 The Spirit of Yahweh spoke by me,

And his word was on my tongue.

3 The God of Israel said,

The Rock of Israel spoke to me:

One who rules over man righteously,

Who rules in the fear of God,

4 [He will be] as the light of the morning, when the sun rises,

A morning without clouds,

[When] the tender grass [springs] out of the earth,

Through clear shining after rain.

5 Truly my house is not so with God;

Yet he has made with me an everlasting covenant,

Ordered in all things, and sure:

For it is all my salvation, and all [my] desire,

Although he does not make it to grow.

6 But the ungodly will be all of them as thorns to be thrust away,

Because they can't be taken with the hand;

7 But the man who touches them

Must be armed with iron and the staff of a spear:

And they will be completely burned with fire in [their] place.

8 These are the names of the mighty men whom David had: Jishbaal the Hachmonite, [of] the elite troops; the same was Adino the Eznite, against eight hundred slain at one time.

9 And after him was Eleazar the son of Dodai the son of an Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David, when they defied the Philistines who were there gathered together to battle, and the men of Israel had gone away. 10 He arose, and struck the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand stuck to the sword; and Yahweh wrought a great victory that day; and the people returned after him only to take spoil.

11 And after him was Shammah the son of Agee a Hararite. And the Philistines were gathered together at Lehi, where there was a plot of ground full of lentils; and the people fled from the Philistines. 12 But he stood in the midst of the plot, and defended it, and slew the Philistines; and Yahweh wrought a great victory.

13 And three of the elite troops went down, and came to David in the harvest time to the cave of Adullam; and the troop of the Philistines was encamped in the valley of Rephaim. 14 And David was then in the stronghold; and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Beth-lehem. 15 And David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me water to drink of the well of Beth-lehem, which is by the gate! 16 And the three mighty men broke through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Beth-lehem, that was by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David: but he would not drink of it, but poured it out to Yahweh. 17 And he said, Be it far from me, O Yahweh, that I should do this: [shall I drink] the blood of the men who went in jeopardy of their souls? Therefore he would not drink it. These things did the three mighty men.

18 And Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was [of] the elite troops. And he lifted up his spear against three hundred and slew them, and had a name among the three. 19 Was he not most honorable of the thirty? Therefore he was made their captain: nevertheless he didn't attain to the three.

20 And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a man of valor of Kabzeel, who had done mighty deeds, he slew the two [sons of] Ariel of Moab: he went down also and slew a lion in the midst of a pit in time of snow. 21 And he slew a handsome Egyptian: and the Egyptian had a spear in his hand; but he went down to him with a staff, and plucked the spear out of the Egyptian's hand, and slew him with his own spear. 22 These things did Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and had a name among the three mighty men. 23 He was more honorable than the thirty, but he didn't attain to the three. And David set him over his guard.

24 Asahel the brother of Joab was one of the thirty; Elhanan the son of Dodo of Beth-lehem, 25 Shammah the Harodite, Elika the Harodite, 26 Helez the Paltite, Ira the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite, 27 Abiezer the Anathothite, Sabeni the Hushathite, 28 Zalmon the Ahohite, Maharai the Netophathite, 29 Heleb the son of Baanah the Netophathite, Ittai the son of Ribai of Gibeah of the sons of Benjamin, 30 Benaiah a Pirathonite, Hiddai of the brooks of Gaash. 31 Abialbon the Arbathite, Azmaveth the Barhumite, 32 Eliahba the Shaalbonite, Jashen the Gunite, Jonathan 33 the son of Shammah the Hararite, Ahiam the son of Sharar the Ararite, 34 Eliphelet the son of Ahasbai, the son of the Maacathite, Eliam the son of Ahithophel the Gilonite, 35 Hezro the Carmelite, Paarai the Arbite, 36 Igal the son of Nathan of Zobah, Bani the Gadite, 37 Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Beerothite, armorbearers to Joab the son of Zeruiah, 38 Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite, 39 Uriah the Hittite: thirty and seven in all.

24  And again the anger of Yahweh was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them, saying, Go, number Israel and Judah. 2 And the king said to Joab, the captain of the host, who was with him, Go now to and fro through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, and number+ the people, that I may know the sum of the people. 3 And Joab said to the king, May Yahweh your God add to the people, however many they may be, a hundredfold; and may the eyes of my lord the king see it: but why does my lord the king delight in this thing? 4 Notwithstanding, the king's word prevailed against Joab, and against the captains of the host. And Joab and the captains of the host went out from the presence of the king, to number the people of Israel. 5 And they passed over the Jordan, and began from Aroer and from the city that is in the middle of the valley of Gad, and to Jazer: 6 then they came to Gilead, and to the land of the Hittites, to Kadesh; and they came to Dan-jaan, and round about to Sidon, 7 and came to the stronghold of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Hivites, and of the Canaanites; and they went out to the south of Judah, at Beer-sheba. 8 So when they had gone to and fro through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. 9 And Joab gave up the sum of the numbering of the people to the king: and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.

10 And David's heart struck him after he had numbered the people. And David said to Yahweh, I have sinned greatly in that which I have done: but now, O Yahweh, put away, I urge you, the iniquity of your slave; for I have done very foolishly. 11 And when David rose up in the morning, the word of Yahweh came to the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying, 12 Go and speak to David, Thus says Yahweh, I offer you three things: choose for yourself one of them, that I may do it to you. 13 So Gad came to David, and told him, and said to him, Will seven years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or will there be three days' pestilence in your land? Now advise, and consider what answer I will return to him who sent me. 14 And David said to Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of Yahweh; for his mercies are great; and don't let me fall into the hand of man. 15 So Yahweh sent a pestilence on Israel from the morning even to the time appointed; and there died of the people from Dan even to Beer-sheba seventy thousand men. 16 And when the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, Yahweh repented of the evil, and said to the angel who destroyed the people, It is enough; now let down your hand. And the angel of Yahweh was by the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite. 17 And David spoke to Yahweh when he saw the angel who struck the people, and said, Look, I have sinned, and I, the shepherd, have done perversely; but these sheep, what have they done? Let your hand, I pray you, be against me, and against my father's house.

18 And Gad came that day to David, and said to him, Go up, rear an altar to Yahweh in the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite. 19 And David went up according to the saying of Gad, as Yahweh commanded. 20 And Araunah looked forth, and saw the king and his slaves coming on toward him: and Araunah went out, and bowed himself before the king with his face to the ground. 21 And Araunah said, Why is my lord the king come to his slave? And David said, To buy the threshing-floor of you, to build an altar to Yahweh, that the plague may be stopped from the people. 22 And Araunah said to David, Let my lord the king take and offer up that which is good in his eyes: look, the oxen for the burnt-offering, and the threshing instruments and the yokes of the oxen for the wood: 23 all this, O king, does Araunah give to the king. And Araunah said to the king, Yahweh your God accept you. 24 And the king said to Araunah, No; but I will truly buy it of you at a price. Neither will I offer burnt-offerings to Yahweh my God which cost me nothing. So David bought the threshing-floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. 25 And David built an altar there to Yahweh, and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings. So Yahweh was entreated for the land, and the plague was stopped from Israel.

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I Kings

1  Now King David was old and stricken in years; and they covered him with clothes, but he got no heat. 2 Therefore his slaves said to him, Let there be sought for my lord the king a young virgin: and let her stand before the king, and cherish him; and let her lie in your bosom, that my lord the king may get heat. 3 So they sought for a beautiful damsel throughout all the borders of Israel, and found Abishag the Shunammite, and brought her to the king. 4 And the damsel was very beautiful; and she cherished the king, and ministered to him; but the king didn't have any sex with her.

5 Then Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, I will be king: and he prepared himself chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him. 6 And his father had not displeased him at any time in saying, Why have you done so? And he was also a very goodly man; and he was born after Absalom. 7 And he conferred with Joab the son of Zeruiah, and with Abiathar the priest: and those following Adonijah helped him. 8 But Zadok the priest, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and Nathan the prophet, and Shimei, and Rei, and the mighty men who belonged to David, were not with Adonijah. 9 And Adonijah slew sheep and oxen and fatlings by the stone of Zoheleth, which is beside En-rogel; and he called all his brothers, the king's sons, and all the men of Judah, the king's slaves: 10 but Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah, and the mighty men, and Solomon his brother, he did not call.

11 Then Nathan spoke to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, saying, Have you not heard that Adonijah the son of Haggith reigns, and David our lord does not know it? 12 Now therefore come, let me, I pray you, give you counsel, that you may save your own soul, and the soul of your son Solomon. 13 Go and get in to King David, and say to him, Did you not, my lord, O king, swear to your slave, saying, Assuredly Solomon your son will reign after me, and he will sit on my throne? Why then does Adonijah reign? 14 Look, while you yet talk there with the king, I also will come in after you, and confirm your words.

15 And Bathsheba went in to the king into the chamber: and the king was very old; and Abishag the Shunammite was ministering to the king. 16 And Bathsheba bowed, and did obeisance to the king. And the king said, What do you want? 17 And she said to him, My lord, you swore by Yahweh your God to your slave, [saying,] Assuredly Solomon your son will reign after me, and he will sit on my throne. 18 And now, look, Adonijah reigns; and you, my lord the king, do not know it: 19 and he has slain oxen and fatlings and sheep in abundance, and has called all the sons of the king, and Abiathar the priest, and Joab the captain of the host; but Solomon your slave he has not called. 20 And you, my lord the king, the eyes of all Israel are on you, that you should tell them who will sit on the throne of my lord the king after him. 21 Otherwise it will come to pass, when my lord the king will sleep with his fathers, that I and my son Solomon will be counted offenders.

22 And, look, while she yet talked with the king, Nathan the prophet came in. 23 And they told the king, saying, Look, Nathan the prophet. And when he came in before the king, he bowed himself before the king with his face to the ground. 24 And Nathan said, My lord, O king, have you said, Adonijah will reign after me, and he will sit on my throne? 25 For he has gone down this day, and has slain oxen and fatlings and sheep in abundance, and has called all the king's sons, and the captains of the host, and Abiathar the priest; and, look, they are eating and drinking before him, and say, [Long] live King Adonijah. 26 But me, even me your slave, and Zadok the priest, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and your slave Solomon, he has not called. 27 Is this thing done by my lord the king, and you have not shown to your slave who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him?

28 Then King David answered and said, Call to me Bathsheba. And she came into the king's presence, and stood before the king. 29 And the king swore, and said, As Yahweh lives, who has redeemed my soul out of all adversity, 30 truly as I swore to you by Yahweh, the God of Israel, saying, Assuredly Solomon your son will reign after me, and he will sit on my throne in my stead; truly so I will do this day. 31 Then Bathsheba bowed with her face to the earth, and did obeisance to the king, and said, Let my lord King David live forever.

32 And King David said, Call to me Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada. And they came before the king. 33 And the king said to them, Take with you+ the slaves of your+ lord, and cause Solomon my son to ride on my own mule, and bring him down to Gihon: 34 and let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there king over Israel; and blow+ the trumpet, and say, [Long] live King Solomon. 35 Then you+ will come up after him, and he will come and sit on my throne; for he will be king in my stead; and I have appointed him to be leader over Israel and over Judah. 36 And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered the king, and said, Amen: Yahweh, the God of my lord the king, says so [too]. 37 As Yahweh has been with my lord the king, even so he will be with Solomon, and make his throne greater than the throne of my lord King David.

38 So Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites, went down, and caused Solomon to ride on king David's mule, and brought him to Gihon. 39 And Zadok the priest took the horn of oil out of the Tent, and anointed Solomon. And they blew the trumpet; and all the people said, [Long] live King Solomon. 40 And all the people came up after him, and the people piped with pipes, and rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth rent with the sound of them.

41 And Adonijah and all the guests who were with him heard it as they had made an end of eating. And when Joab heard the sound of the trumpet, he said, Why is this noise of the city being in an uproar? 42 While he yet spoke, look, Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest came: and Adonijah said, Come in; for you are a worthy man, and bring good news. 43 And Jonathan answered and said to Adonijah, Truly our lord King David has made Solomon king: 44 and the king has sent with him Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and they have caused him to ride on the king's mule; 45 and Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king in Gihon; and they have come up from there rejoicing, so that the city rang again. This is the noise that you+ have heard. 46 And also Solomon sits on the throne of the kingdom. 47 And moreover the king's slaves came to bless our lord King David, saying, Your God make the name of Solomon better than your name, and make his throne greater than your throne: and the king bowed himself on the bed. 48 And also thus said the king, Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, who has given one to sit on my throne this day, my eyes even seeing it.

49 And all the guests of Adonijah were afraid, and rose up, and went every man his way. 50 And Adonijah feared because of Solomon; and he arose, and went, and caught hold on the horns of the altar. 51 And it was told Solomon, saying, Look, Adonijah fears King Solomon; for, look, he has laid hold on the horns of the altar, saying, Let King Solomon swear to me first that he will not slay his slave with the sword. 52 And Solomon said, If he will show himself a worthy man, not a hair of him will fall to the earth; but if wickedness is found in him, he will die. 53 So King Solomon sent, and they brought him down from the altar. And he came and did obeisance to King Solomon; and Solomon said to him, Go to your house.

2  Now the days of David drew near that he should die; and he charged Solomon his son, saying, 2 I am going the way of all the earth: be strong therefore, and show yourself a man; 3 and keep the charge of Yahweh your God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, [and] his commandments, and his ordinances, and his testimonies, according to that which is written in the law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do, and wherever you turn yourself; 4 that Yahweh may establish his word which he spoke concerning me, saying, If your sons take heed to their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there will not fail you (he said) a man on the throne of Israel. 5 Moreover you know also what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, even what he did to the two captains of the hosts of Israel, to Abner the son of Ner, and to Amasa the son of Jether, whom he slew, and shed the blood of war in peace, and put the blood of war on his belt that was about his loins, and in his sandals that were on his feet. 6 Do therefore according to your wisdom, and don't let his hoar head go down to Sheol in peace. 7 But show kindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be of those who eat at your table; for so they came to me when I fled from Absalom your brother. 8 And, look, there is with you Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjamite, of Bahurim, who cursed me with a grievous curse in the day when I went to Mahanaim; but he came down to meet me at the Jordan, and I swore to him by Yahweh, saying, I will not put you to death with the sword. 9 Now therefore don't hold him innocent, for you are a wise man; and you will know what you ought to do to him, and you will bring his hoar head down to Sheol with blood.

10 And David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David. 11 And the days that David reigned over Israel were forty years; seven years he reigned in Hebron, and thirty and three years he reigned in Jerusalem. 12 And Solomon sat on the throne of David his father; and his kingdom was established greatly.

13 Then Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon. And she said, Do you come peacefully? And he said, Peacefully. 14 He said moreover, I have something to say to you. And she said, Say on. 15 And he said, You know that the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel set their faces on me, that I should reign: nevertheless the kingdom has turned about, and has become my brother's; for it was his from Yahweh. 16 And now I ask one petition of you; don't deny me. And she said to him, Say on. 17 And he said, Speak, I pray you, to Solomon the king (for he will not say no to you), that he give me Abishag the Shunammite as wife. 18 And Bathsheba said, Good; I will speak for you to the king.

19 Bathsheba therefore went to King Solomon, to speak to him for Adonijah. And the king rose up to meet her, and bowed himself to her, and sat down on his throne, and caused a throne to be set for the king's mother; and she sat on his right hand. 20 Then she said, I ask one small petition of you; don't deny me. And the king said to her, Ask on, my mother; for I will not deny you. 21 And she said, Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother as wife. 22 And King Solomon answered and said to his mother, And why do you ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom also; for he is my elder brother; and [you ask] for him, and for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah. 23 Then King Solomon swore by Yahweh, saying, God do so to me, and more also, if Adonijah has not spoken this word against his own soul. 24 Now therefore as Yahweh lives, who has established me, and set me on the throne of David my father, and who has made me a house, as he promised, surely Adonijah will be put to death this day. 25 And King Solomon sent by Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he fell on him, so that he died.

26 And to Abiathar the priest said the king, Go to Anathoth, to your own fields; for you are worthy of death: but I will not at this time put you to death, because you bore the ark of the Sovereign Yahweh before David my father, and because you were afflicted in all in which my father was afflicted. 27 So Solomon thrust out Abiathar from being priest to Yahweh, that he might fulfill the word of Yahweh, which he spoke concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.

28 And the news came to Joab; for Joab had turned after Adonijah, though he didn't turn after Absalom. And Joab fled to the Tent of Yahweh, and caught hold on the horns of the altar. 29 And it was told King Solomon, Joab had fled to the Tent of Yahweh, and, look, he is by the altar. Then Solomon sent to Joab, saying, What was [wrong] with you that you fled to the altar? And Joab said, Because I was afraid of you, I fled to Yahweh. And Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, Go, fall on him. 30 And Benaiah came to the Tent of Yahweh, and said to him, Thus says the king, Come forth. And he said, No; but I will die here. And Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me. 31 And the king said to him, Do as he has said, and fall on him, and bury him; that you may take away the blood, which Joab shed without cause, from me and from my father's house. 32 And Yahweh will return his blood on his own head, because he fell on two men more righteous and better than he, and slew them with the sword, and my father David didn't know it, [to wit,] Abner the son of Ner, captain of the host of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, captain of the host of Judah. 33 So will their blood return on the head of Joab, and on the head of his seed forever: but to David, and to his seed, and to his house, and to his throne, there will be peace forever from Yahweh. 34 Then Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up, and fell on him, and slew him; and he was buried in his own house in the wilderness. 35 And the king put Benaiah the son of Jehoiada in his place over the host; and Zadok the priest the king put in the place of Abiathar.

36 And the king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, Build yourself a house in Jerusalem, and dwell there, and don't go forth from there anywhere. 37 For on the day you go out, and pass over the brook Kidron, know you for certain that you will surely die: your blood will be on your own head. 38 And Shimei said to the king, The saying is good: as my lord the king has said, so will your slave do. And Shimei dwelt in Jerusalem many days.

39 And it came to pass at the end of three years, that two of the slaves of Shimei ran away to Achish, son of Maacah, king of Gath. And they told Shimei, saying, Look, your slaves are in Gath. 40 And Shimei arose, and saddled his donkey, and went to Gath to Achish, to seek his slaves; and Shimei went, and brought his slaves from Gath. 41 And it was told Solomon that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath, and came again. 42 And the king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, Did I not adjure you by Yahweh, and protest to you, saying, Know for certain, that on the day you go out, and walk abroad anywhere, you will surely die? And you said to me, The saying that I have heard is good. 43 Why then haven't you kept the oath of Yahweh, and the commandment that I have charged you with? 44 The king said moreover to Shimei, You know all the wickedness which your heart is privy to, that you did to David my father: therefore Yahweh will return your wickedness on your own head. 45 But King Solomon will be blessed, and the throne of David will be established before Yahweh forever. 46 So the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he went out, and fell on him, so that he died. And the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.

3  And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh's daughter, and brought her into the city of David, until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of Yahweh, and the wall of Jerusalem round about. 2 Only the people sacrificed in the high places, because there was no house built for the name of Yahweh until those days. 3 And Solomon loved Yahweh, walking in the statutes of David his father: only he sacrificed and burned incense in the high places.

4 And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that was the great high place: a thousand burnt-offerings did Solomon offer on that altar. 5 In Gibeon Yahweh appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, Ask what I will give you. 6 And Solomon said, You have shown to your slave David my father great loving-kindness, according as he walked before you in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with you; and you have kept for him this great loving-kindness, that you have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. 7 And now, O Yahweh my God, you have made your slave king instead of David my father: and I am but a small lad; I don't know how to go out or come in. 8 And your slave is in the midst of your people which you have chosen, a great people, who are too many to be numbered or counted. 9 Give your slave therefore an understanding heart to judge your people, that I may discern between good and evil; for who is able to judge this your great people?

10 And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. 11 And God said to him, Because you have asked this thing, and haven't asked for yourself long life, neither have asked riches for yourself, nor have asked the soul of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice; 12 look, I have done according to your word: see, I have given you a wise and an understanding heart; so that there has been none like you before you, neither after you will any arise like you. 13 And I have also given you that which you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that there will not be any among the kings like you, all your days. 14 And if you will walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days. 15 And Solomon awoke; and, saw that it was a dream: and he came to Jerusalem, and stood before the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, and offered up burnt-offerings, and offered peace-offerings, and made a feast to all his slaves.

16 Then there came two women who were prostitutes, to the king, and stood before him. 17 And the one woman said, Oh, my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house; and I gave birth with her in the house. 18 And it came to pass on the third day after I was delivered, that this woman was delivered also; and we were together; there was no stranger with us in the house, only us two in the house. 19 And this woman's son died in the night, because she laid on him. 20 And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while your slave slept, and laid him in her bosom, and laid her dead son in my bosom. 21 And when I rose in the morning to nurse my son, look, he was dead; but when I had looked at him in the morning, I noticed he wasn't my son, whom I bore. 22 And the other woman said, No; but the living is my son, and the dead is your son. And this said, No; but the dead is your son, and the living is my son. Thus they spoke before the king.

23 Then the king said, The one says, This is my son who lives, and your son is the dead: and the other says, No; but your son is the dead, and my son is the living. 24 And the king said, Fetch me a sword. And they brought a sword before the king. 25 And the king said, Cut the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other. 26 Then the woman whose son was the living spoke to the king, for her heart yearned over her son, and she said, Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and in no way slay him. But the other said, He will be neither mine nor yours. Cut [him in two]! 27 Then the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and in no way slay him: she is his mother. 28 And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king: for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do justice.

4  And King Solomon was king over all Israel. 2 And these were the princes whom he had: Azariah the son of Zadok, the priest; 3 Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha, scribes; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud, the recorder; 4 and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the host; and Zadok and Abiathar were priests; 5 and Azariah the son of Nathan was over the officers; and Zabud the son of Nathan was chief ruler, [and] the king's friend; 6 and Ahishar was over the household; and Adoniram the son of Abda was over the men subject to slave labor.

7 And Solomon had twelve officers over all Israel, who provided victuals for the king and his household: each man had to make provision for a month in the year. 8 And these are their names: Ben-hur, in the hill-country of Ephraim; 9 Ben-deker, in Makaz, and in Shaalbim, and Beth-shemesh, and Elon-beth-hanan; 10 Ben-hesed, in Arubboth (to him [pertained] Socoh, and all the land of Hepher); 11 Ben-abinadab, in all the height of Dor (he had Taphath the daughter of Solomon as wife); 12 Baana the son of Ahilud, in Taanach and Megiddo, and all Beth-shean which is beside Zarethan, beneath Jezreel, from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah, as far as beyond Jokmeam; 13 Ben-geber, in Ramoth-gilead (to him [pertained] the towns of Jair the son of Manasseh, which are in Gilead; [even] to him [pertained] the region of Argob, which is in Bashan, threescore great cities with walls and bronze bars); 14 Ahinadab the son of Iddo, in Mahanaim; 15 Ahimaaz, in Naphtali (he also took Basemath the daughter of Solomon as wife); 16 Baana the son of Hushai, in Asher and Bealoth; 17 Jehoshaphat the son of Paruah, in Issachar; 18 Shimei the son of Ela, in Benjamin; 19 Geber the son of Uri, in the land of Gilead, the country of Sihon king of the Amorites and of Og king of Bashan; and [he was] the only officer who was in the land.

20 Judah and Israel were many as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking and making merry. 21 And Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the River to the land of the Philistines, and to the border of Egypt: they brought tribute, and served Solomon all the days of his life. 22 And Solomon's provision for one day was thirty cors of fine flour, and threescore cors of meal, 23 ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pastures, and a hundred sheep, besides harts, and gazelles, and roebucks, and fatted fowl. 24 For he had dominion over all [the region] on this side the River, from Tiphsah even to Gaza, over all the kings on this side the River: and he had peace on all sides round about him. 25 And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, all the days of Solomon. 26 And Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen. 27 And those officers provided victuals for King Solomon, and for all who came to king Solomon's table, every man in his month; they let nothing be lacking. 28 Barley also and straw for the horses and swift steeds they brought to the place where [the officers] were, every man according to his charge.

29 And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceedingly much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the seashore. 30 And Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the sons of the east, and all the wisdom of Egypt. 31 For he was wiser than all of man; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was in all the nations round about. 32 And he spoke three thousand proverbs; and his songs were a thousand and five. 33 And he spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even to the hyssop that springs out of the wall; he spoke also of beasts, and of birds, and of creeping things, and of fish. 34 And there came of all peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom.

5  And Hiram king of Tyre sent his slaves to Solomon; for he had heard that they had anointed him king in the place of his father: for Hiram was ever a friend of David. 2 And Solomon sent to Hiram, saying, 3 You know how that David my father could not build a house for the name of Yahweh his God for the wars which were about him on every side, until Yahweh put them under the soles of his feet. 4 But now Yahweh my God has given me rest on every side; there is neither adversary, nor evil occurrence. 5 And, look, I purpose to build a house for the name of Yahweh my God, as Yahweh spoke to David my father, saying, Your son, whom I will set on your throne in your place, he will build the house for my name. 6 Now therefore command that they cut for me cedar-trees out of Lebanon; and my slaves will be with your slaves; and I will give you wages for your slaves according to all that you will say: for you know that there is not among us any who knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians.

7 And it came to pass, when Hiram heard the words of Solomon, that he rejoiced greatly, and said, Blessed be Yahweh this day, who has given to David a wise son over this great people. 8 And Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, I have heard [the message] which you have sent to me: I will do all your desire concerning timber of cedar, and concerning timber of fir. 9 My slaves will bring them down from Lebanon to the sea; and I will make them into rafts to go by sea to the place that you will appoint me, and will cause them to be broken up there, and you will receive them; and you will accomplish my desire, in giving food for my household. 10 So Hiram gave Solomon timber of cedar and timber of fir according to all his desire. 11 And Solomon gave Hiram twenty cors of wheat for food to his household, and twenty cors of pure oil: thus gave Solomon to Hiram year by year. 12 And Yahweh gave Solomon wisdom, as he promised him; and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon; and the two made a league together.

13 And King Solomon raised slave labor out of all Israel; and the slave labor was thirty thousand men. 14 And he sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month by courses; a month they were in Lebanon, and two months at home; and Adoniram was over the men subject to slave labor. 15 And Solomon had 70,000 who bore burdens, and 80,000 who were hewers in the mountains; 16 besides Solomon's chief officers who were over the work, three thousand and three hundred, who bore rule over the people who wrought in the work. 17 And the king commanded, and they hewed out great stones, costly stones, to lay the foundation of the house with wrought stone. 18 And Solomon's builders and Hiram's builders and the Gebalites fashioned them, and prepared the timber and the stones to build the house.

6  And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the sons of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month Ziv, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of Yahweh. 2 And the house which King Solomon built for Yahweh, its length was threescore cubits, and its width twenty [cubits], and its height thirty cubits. 3 And the porch before the temple of the house, twenty cubits was its length, according to the width of the house; [and] ten cubits was its width before the house. 4 And for the house he made windows of fixed latticework. 5 And against the wall of the house he built stories round about, against the walls of the house round about, both of the temple and of the oracle; and he made side-chambers round about. 6 The nethermost story was five cubits broad, and the middle was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad; for on the outside he made offsets [in the wall] of the house round about, that [the beams] should not have hold in the walls of the house. 7 And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready at the quarry; and there was neither hammer nor ax nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was being built. 8 The entrance for the middle story was on the right side of the house: and they went up by winding stairs into the middle [story], and out of the middle into the third. 9 So he built the house, and finished it; and he covered the house with beams and planks of cedar. 10 And he built the stories against all the house, each five cubits high: and they rested on the house with timber of cedar.

11 And the word of Yahweh came to Solomon, saying, 12 Concerning this house which you are building, if you will walk in my statutes, and execute my ordinances, and keep all my commandments to walk in them; then I will establish my word with you, which I spoke to David your father. 13 And I will stay among the sons of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel.

14 So Solomon built the house, and finished it. 15 And he built the walls of the house inside with boards of cedar: from the floor of the house to the walls of the ceiling, he covered them on the inside with wood; and he covered the floor of the house with boards of fir. 16 And he built twenty cubits on the hinder part of the house with boards of cedar from the floor to the walls [of the ceiling]: he built [them] for it inside, for an oracle, even for the most holy place. 17 And the house, that is, the temple in front, was forty cubits [long]. 18 And there was cedar on the house inside, carved with knops and open flowers: all was cedar; there was no stone seen. 19 And he prepared an oracle in the midst of the house inside, to set there the ark of the covenant of Yahweh. 20 And in front of the oracle was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in width, and twenty cubits in its height; and he overlaid it with pure gold: and he covered the altar with cedar. 21 So Solomon overlaid the house inside with pure gold: and he drew chains of gold across before the oracle; and he overlaid it with gold. 22 And the whole house he overlaid with gold, until all the house was finished: also the whole altar that belonged to the oracle he overlaid with gold.

23 And in the oracle he made two cherubim of olive-wood, each ten cubits high. 24 And five cubits was the one wing of the cherub, and five cubits the other wing of the cherub: from the uttermost part of the one wing to the uttermost part of the other were ten cubits. 25 And the other cherub was ten cubits: both the cherubim were of one measure and one form. 26 The height of the one cherub was ten cubits, and so was it of the other cherub. 27 And he set the cherubim inside the inner house; and the wings of the cherubim were stretched forth, so that the wing of the one touched the one wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; and their wings touched one another in the midst of the house. 28 And he overlaid the cherubim with gold.

29 And he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubim and palm-trees and open flowers, inside and outside. 30 And the floor of the house he overlaid with gold, inside and outside. 31 And for the entrance of the oracle he made doors of olive-wood: the lintel [and] door-posts were a fifth part [of the wall]. 32 So [he made] two doors of olive-wood; and he carved on them carvings of cherubim and palm-trees and open flowers, and overlaid them with gold; and he spread the gold on the cherubim, and on the palm-trees. 33 So also he made for the entrance of the temple door-posts of olive-wood, out of a fourth part [of the wall]; 34 and two doors of fir-wood: the two leaves of the one door were folding, and the two leaves of the other door were folding. 35 And he carved [on it] cherubim and palm-trees and open flowers; and he overlaid them with gold fitted on the graven work. 36 And he built the inner court with three courses of cut stone, and a course of cedar beams.

37 In the fourth year the foundation of the house of Yahweh was laid, in the month Ziv. 38 And in the eleventh year, in the month Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished throughout all its parts, and according to all the fashion of it. So he was seven years in building it.

7  And Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished all his house. 2 For he built the house of the forest of Lebanon; its length was a hundred cubits, and its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits, on four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams on the pillars. 3 And it was covered with cedar above over the forty and five beams, that were on the pillars; fifteen in a row. 4 And there were beams in three rows, and window was opposite window in three ranks. 5 And all the doors and jambs were made square with beams: and window was opposite window in three ranks. 6 And he made the porch of pillars; its length was fifty cubits, and its width thirty cubits; and a porch before them; and pillars and a threshold before them. 7 And he made the porch of the throne where he was to judge, even the porch of judgment: and it was covered with cedar from floor to floor. 8 And his house where he was to dwell, the other court inside the porch, was of like work. He also made a house for Pharaoh's daughter (whom Solomon had taken as wife), like this porch.

9 All these were of costly stones, even of cut stone, according to measure, sawed with saws, inside and outside, even from the foundation to the coping, and so on the outside to the great court. 10 And the foundation was of costly stones, even great stones, stones of ten cubits, and stones of eight cubits. 11 And above were costly stones, even cut stone, according to measure, and cedar-wood. 12 And the great court round about had three courses of cut stone, and a course of cedar beams; like the inner court of the house of Yahweh, and the porch of the house.

13 And King Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre. 14 He was the son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in bronze; and he was filled with the wisdom and the understanding and the knowledge to work all works in bronze. And he came to King Solomon, and wrought all his work. 15 For he fashioned the two pillars of bronze, eighteen cubits high apiece: and a line of twelve cubits encircled either of them about. 16 And he made two capitals of molten bronze, to set on the tops of the pillars: the height of the one capital was five cubits, and the height of the other capital was five cubits. 17 There were nets of checker-work, and wreaths of chain-work, for the capitals which were on the top of the pillars; seven for the one capital, and seven for the other capital. 18 So he made the pillars; and there were two rows round about on the one network, to cover the capitals that were on the top of the pomegranates: and so he did for the other capital. 19 And the capitals that were on the top of the pillars in the porch were of lily-work, four cubits. 20 And there were capitals above also on the two pillars, close by the belly which was beside the network: and the pomegranates were two hundred, in rows round about on the other capital. 21 And he set up the pillars at the porch of the temple: and he set up the right pillar, and called its name Jachin; and he set up the left pillar, and called its name Boaz. 22 And on the top of the pillars was lily-work: so the work of the pillars was finished.

23 And he made the molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in a circle, and its height was five cubits; and a line of thirty cubits encircled it round about. 24 And under the brim of it round about there were knops which circled it, for ten cubits, circling the sea round about: the knops were in two rows, cast when it was cast. 25 It stood on twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east; and the sea was set on them above, and all their hinder parts were inward. 26 And it was a handbreadth thick: and its brim was wrought like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily: it held two thousand baths.

27 And he made the ten bases of bronze; four cubits was the length of one base, and four cubits its width, and three cubits its height. 28 And the work of the bases was on this manner: they had panels; and there were panels between the ledges; 29 and on the panels that were between the ledges were lions, oxen, and cherubim; and on the ledges there was a pedestal above; and beneath the lions and oxen were wreaths of hanging work. 30 And every base had four bronze wheels, and axles of bronze; and the four feet of it had undersetters: beneath the basin the undersetters were molten, with wreaths at the side of each. 31 And the mouth of it inside the capital and above was a cubit: and its mouth was round after the work of a pedestal, a cubit and a half; and also on the mouth of it were gravings, and their panels were foursquare, not round. 32 And the four wheels were underneath the panels; and the axletrees of the wheels were in the base: and the height of a wheel was a cubit and half a cubit. 33 And the work of the wheels was like the work of a chariot wheel: their axletrees, and their felloes, and their spokes, and their naves, were all molten. 34 And there were four undersetters at the four corners of each base: its undersetters were of the base itself. 35 And in the top of the base there was a round circle half a cubit high; and on the top of the base its supports and its panels were of the same. 36 And on the plates of its supports, and on its panels, he engraved cherubim, lions, and palm-trees, according to the space of each, with wreaths round about. 37 After this manner he made the ten bases: all of them had one casting, one measure, and one form.

38 And he made ten basins of bronze: one basin contained forty baths; and every basin was four cubits; and on every one of the ten bases one basin. 39 And he set the bases, five on the right side of the house, and five on the left side of the house: and he set the sea on the right side of the house eastward, toward the south.

40 And Hiram made the basins, and the shovels, and the basins. So Hiram made an end of doing all the work that he wrought for King Solomon in the house of Yahweh: 41 the two pillars, and the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars; and the two networks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars; 42 and the four hundred pomegranates for the two networks; two rows of pomegranates for each network, to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the pillars; 43 and the ten bases, and the ten basins on the bases; 44 and the one sea, and the twelve oxen under the sea; 45 and the pots, and the shovels, and the basins: even all these vessels, which Hiram made for King Solomon, in the house of Yahweh, were of burnished bronze. 46 The king had cast them in the plain of the Jordan, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarethan. 47 And Solomon left all the vessels [unweighed], because they were exceedingly many: the weight of the bronze could not be found out.

48 And Solomon made all the vessels that were in the house of Yahweh: the golden altar, and the table on which the showbread was, of gold; 49 and the lampstands, five on the right side, and five on the left, before the oracle, of pure gold; and the flowers, and the lamps, and the tongs, of gold; 50 and the cups, and the snuffers, and the basins, and the spoons, and the firepans, of pure gold; and the hinges, both for the doors of the inner house, the most holy place, and for the doors of the house, [to wit,] of the temple, of gold.

51 Thus all the work that King Solomon wrought in the house of Yahweh was finished. And Solomon brought in the things which David his father had dedicated, [even] the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, and put them in the treasuries of the house of Yahweh.

8  Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the princes of the fathers' [houses] of the sons of Israel, to King Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of Yahweh out of the city of David, which is Zion. 2 And all the men of Israel assembled themselves to King Solomon at the feast, in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month. 3 And all the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark. 4 And they brought up the ark of Yahweh, and the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the Tent; even these the priests and the Levites brought up. 5 And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who were assembled to him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen, that could not be counted nor numbered for multitude. 6 And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of Yahweh to its place, into the oracle of the house, to the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubim. 7 For the cherubim spread forth their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and its poles above. 8 And the poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the holy place before the oracle; but they were not seen outside: and there they are to this day. 9 There was nothing in the ark but the two tables of stone which Moses put there at Horeb, by which Yahweh made a covenant with the sons of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt. 10 And it came to pass, when the priests had come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of Yahweh, 11 so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud; for the glory of Yahweh filled the house of Yahweh.

12 Then Solomon spoke, Yahweh has said that he would stay in the thick darkness. 13 I have surely built you a house of habitation, a place for you to dwell in forever. 14 And the king turned his face about, and blessed all the assembly of Israel: and all the assembly of Israel stood. 15 And he said, Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, who spoke with his mouth to David my father, and has with his hand fulfilled it, saying, 16 Since the day that I brought forth my people Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel to build a house, that my name might be there; but I chose David to be over my people Israel. 17 Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel. 18 But Yahweh said to David my father, Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart: 19 nevertheless you will not build the house; but your son who will come forth out of your loins, he will build the house for my name. 20 And Yahweh has established his word that he spoke; for I rose up in the place of David my father, and sat on the throne of Israel, as Yahweh promised, and have built the house for the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel. 21 And I have set a place there for the ark, in which is the covenant of Yahweh, which he made with our fathers, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.

22 And Solomon stood before the altar of Yahweh in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven; 23 and he said, O Yahweh, the God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above, or on earth beneath; who keeps covenant and loving-kindness with your slaves that walk before you with all their heart; 24 who kept with your slave David my father that which you promised him: yes, you spoke with your mouth, and have fulfilled it with your hand, as it is this day. 25 Now therefore, O Yahweh, the God of Israel, keep with your slave David my father that which you have promised him, saying, There will not fail from you a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your sons take heed to their way, to walk before me as you have walked before me. 26 Now therefore, O God of Israel, let your word, I pray you, be verified, which you spoke to your slave David my father.

27 But will God in very deed dwell on the earth? Look, heaven and the heaven of heavens can't contain you; how much less this house that I have built! 28 Yet you have respect to the prayer of your slave, and to his supplication, O Yahweh my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which your slave prays before you this day; 29 that your eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place of which you have said, My name will be there; to listen to the prayer which your slave will pray toward this place. 30 And you will listen to the supplication of your slave, and of your people Israel, when they will pray toward this place: yes, hear in heaven your dwelling-place; and when you hear, forgive.

31 If a man sins against his fellow man, and he is subjected to an oath to cause him to swear, and he comes [and] swears before your altar in this house; 32 then you will hear in heaven, and do, and judge your slaves, condemning the wicked, to bring his way on his own head, and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness.

33 When your people Israel are struck down before the enemy, because they have sinned against you; if they turn again to you, and confess your name, and pray and plead for mercy to you in this house: 34 then you will hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them again to the land which you gave to their fathers.

35 When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against you; if they pray toward this place, and confess your name, and turn from their sin, when you afflict them: 36 then you will hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of your slaves, and of your people Israel, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk; and send rain on your land, which you have given to your people for an inheritance.

37 If there is in the land famine, if there is pestilence, if there is blasting [or] mildew, locust [or] caterpillar; if their enemy besieges them in the gates of their land;[251] whatever plague, whatever sickness there is; 38 whatever prayer and supplication is made by all of man, by all your people Israel, who will know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands toward this house: 39 then you will hear in heaven your dwelling-place, and forgive, and do, and render to every man according to all his ways, whose heart you know; for you, even you only, know the hearts of all the sons of man; 40 that they may fear you all the days that they live in the land which you gave to our fathers.

41 Moreover concerning the foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, when he will come out of a far country for your name's sake 42 (for they will hear of your great name, and of your mighty hand, and of your outstretched arm); when he will come and pray toward this house; 43 you will hear in heaven your dwelling-place, and do according to all that the foreigner calls to you for; that all the peoples of the earth may know your name, to fear you, as [do] your people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by your name.

44 If your people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatever way you will send them, and they pray to Yahweh toward the city which you have chosen, and toward the house which I have built for your name; 45 then you will hear in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.

46 If they sin against you, for there is none among man who does not sin, and you are angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captive to the land of the enemy, far off or near; 47 yet if they will bethink themselves in the land where they are carried captive, and turn again, and plead to you for mercy in the land of those who carried them captive, saying, We have sinned, and have done perversely, we have dealt wickedly; 48 if they return to you with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies, who carried them captive, and pray to you toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, the city which you have chosen, and the house which I have built for your name: 49 then you will hear their prayer and their supplication in heaven your dwelling-place, and maintain their cause; 50 and forgive your people who have sinned against you, and all their transgressions in which they have transgressed against you; and give them compassion before those who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them 51 (for they are your people, and your inheritance, which you brought forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron); 52 that your eyes may be open to the supplication of your slave, and to the supplication of your people Israel, to listen to them whenever they cry to you. 53 For you separated them from among all the peoples of the earth, to be your inheritance, as you spoke by Moses your slave, when you brought our fathers out of Egypt, O Sovereign Yahweh.

54 And it was so, that, when Solomon had made an end of praying all this prayer and supplication to Yahweh, he arose from before the altar of Yahweh, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread forth toward heaven. 55 And he stood, and blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying, 56 Blessed be Yahweh, who has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised: not one word has failed of all his good promise, which he promised by Moses his slave. 57 Yahweh our God be with us, as he was with our fathers: let him not leave us, nor forsake us; 58 that he may incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his ordinances, which he commanded our fathers. 59 And let these words of mine, with which I have made supplication before Yahweh, be near to Yahweh our God day and night, to maintain the cause of his slave, and the cause of his people Israel, as every day will require; 60 that all the peoples of the earth may know that Yahweh, he is God; there is no other. 61 Let your+ heart therefore be perfect with Yahweh our God, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his commandments, as at this day.

62 And the king, and all Israel with him, offered sacrifice before Yahweh. 63 And Solomon offered for the sacrifice of peace-offerings, which he offered to Yahweh, two and twenty thousand oxen, and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the sons of Israel dedicated the house of Yahweh. 64 The same day the king hallowed the middle of the court that was before the house of Yahweh; for there he offered the burnt-offering, and the meal-offering, and the fat of the peace-offerings, because the bronze altar that was before Yahweh was too little to receive the burnt-offering, and the meal-offering, and the fat of the peace-offerings. 65 So Solomon held the feast at that time, and all Israel with him, a great assembly, from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of Egypt, before Yahweh our God, seven days and seven days, even fourteen days. 66 On the eighth day he sent the people away; and they blessed the king, and went to their tents joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that Yahweh had shown to David his slave, and to Israel his people.

9  And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished the building of the house of Yahweh, and the king's house, and all Solomon's desire which he was pleased to do, 2 that Yahweh appeared to Solomon the second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon. 3 And Yahweh said to him, I have heard your prayer and your supplication, that you have made before me: I have hallowed this house, which you have built, to put my name there forever; and my eyes and my heart will be there perpetually. 4 And as for you, if you will walk before me, as David your father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, and will keep my statutes and my ordinances; 5 then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, according as I promised to David your father, saying, There will not fail to you a man on the throne of Israel. 6 But if you+ will turn away from following me, you+ or your+ sons, and not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you+, but will go and serve other gods, and worship them; 7 then I will cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for my name, I will cast out of my sight; and Israel will be a proverb and a byword among all peoples. 8 And this house will be in ruins.[252] Everyone who passes by it will be astonished, and will hiss; and they will say, Why has Yahweh done thus to this land, and to this house? 9 And they will answer, Because they forsook Yahweh their God, who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods, and worshiped them, and served them: therefore Yahweh has brought all this evil on them.

10 And it came to pass at the end of twenty years, in which Solomon had built the two houses, the house of Yahweh and the king's house 11 (now Hiram the king of Tyre had furnished Solomon with cedar-trees and fir-trees, and with gold, according to all his desire), that then King Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee. 12 And Hiram came out from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him; and they were not right in his eyes. 13 And he said, What cities are these which you have given me, my brother? And he called them the land of Cabul to this day. 14 And Hiram sent to the king sixscore talents of gold.

15 And this is the reason of the slave labor which King Solomon raised, to build the house of Yahweh, and his own house, and Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, and Megiddo, and Gezer. 16 Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up, and taken Gezer, and burned it with fire, and slain the Canaanites who dwelt in the city, and given it for a portion to his daughter, Solomon's wife. 17 And Solomon built Gezer, and Beth-horon the nether, 18 and Baalath, and Tamar in the wilderness, in the land, 19 and all the store-cities that Solomon had, and the cities for his chariots, and the cities for his horsemen, and that which Solomon desired to build for his pleasure in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion. 20 As for all the people who were left of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of the sons of Israel; 21 their sons who were left after them in the land, whom the sons of Israel were not able completely to destroy, of them Solomon raised slave labor to this day. 22 But Solomon made no slave of the sons of Israel; but they were the men of war, and his slaves, and his princes, and his captains, and rulers of his chariots and of his horsemen.

23 These were the chief officers who were over Solomon's work, five hundred and fifty, who bore rule over the people who wrought in the work.

24 But Pharaoh's daughter came up out of the city of David to her house which [Solomon] had built for her: then he built Millo.

25 And three times in a year Solomon offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings on the altar which he built to Yahweh, burning incense with it, [on the altar] that was before Yahweh. So he finished the house.

26 And King Solomon made a navy of ships in Ezion-geber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom. 27 And Hiram sent in the navy his slaves, shipmen who had knowledge of the sea, with the slaves of Solomon. 28 And they came to Ophir, and fetched from there gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to King Solomon.

10  And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of Yahweh, she came to prove him with hard questions. 2 And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bore spices, and very much gold, and precious stones; and when she came to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart. 3 And Solomon told her all her questions: there was not anything hid from the king which he did not tell her. 4 And when the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had built, 5 and the food of his table, and the sitting of his slaves, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cupbearers, and his ascent by which he went up to the house of Yahweh; there was no more spirit in her. 6 And she said to the king, It was a true report that I heard in my own land of your acts, and of your wisdom. 7 Nevertheless I didn't believe the words, until I came, and my eyes had seen it: and, look, the half was not told me; your wisdom and prosperity exceed the fame which I heard. 8 Happy are your wives,[253] happy are these your slaves, that stand continually before you, [and] that hear your wisdom. 9 Blessed be Yahweh your God, who delighted in you, to set you on the throne of Israel: because Yahweh loved Israel forever, therefore he made you king, to do justice and righteousness. 10 And she gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of spices very great store, and precious stones: there came no more such abundance of spices as these which the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

11 And the navy also of Hiram, that brought gold from Ophir, brought in from Ophir great plenty of almug-trees and precious stones. 12 And the king made of the almug-trees pillars for the house of Yahweh, and for the king's house, harps also and psalteries for the singers: there came no such almug-trees, nor were seen, to this day.

13 And King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatever she asked, besides that which Solomon gave her of his royal bounty. So she turned, and went to her own land, she and her slaves.

14 Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred threescore and six talents of gold, 15 besides [that which] the traders [brought], and the traffic of the merchants, and of all the kings of the mingled people, and of the governors of the country. 16 And King Solomon made two hundred bucklers of beaten gold; six hundred [shekels] of gold went to one buckler. 17 And [he made] three hundred shields of beaten gold; three minas of gold went to one shield: and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon. 18 Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with the finest gold. 19 There were six steps to the throne, and the top of the throne was round behind; and there were supports on either side by the place of the seat, and two lions standing beside the supports. 20 And twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other on the six steps: there was not the like made in any kingdom. 21 And all king Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. None were of silver: it was accounted as nothing in the days of Solomon. 22 For the king had at sea a navy of Tarshish with the navy of Hiram: once every three years the navy of Tarshish came, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.

23 So King Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. 24 And all the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart. 25 And they brought every man his tribute, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and raiment, and armor, and spices, horses, and mules, a rate year by year.

26 And Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen: and he had a thousand and four hundred chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, that he bestowed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem. 27 And the king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars he made to be as the sycamore-trees that are in the lowland, for abundance. 28 And the horses which Solomon had were brought out of Egypt[254] and from Kue.[255] The king's merchants acquired those from Kue for a price. 29 And a chariot came up and went out of Egypt for six hundred [shekels] of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty; and so for all the kings of the Hittites, and for the kings of Syria, they would bring them out by their means.

11  Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites; 2 of the nations concerning which Yahweh said to the sons of Israel, You+ will not go among them, neither will they come among you+; for surely they will turn away your+ heart after their gods. Solomon stuck to these [women] in love. 3 And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart. 4 For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods; and his heart wasn't perfect with Yahweh his God, as was the heart of David his father. 5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the detestable thing[256] of the Ammonites. 6 And Solomon did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, and did not go fully after Yahweh, as did David his father. 7 Then did Solomon build a high place for Chemosh the detestable thing[257] of Moab, in the mount that is before Jerusalem,[258] and for Molech the detestable thing[259] of the sons of Ammon. 8 And so he did for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.

9 And Yahweh was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned away from Yahweh, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, 10 and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods: but he did not keep that which Yahweh commanded. 11 Therefore Yahweh said to Solomon, Since this was done of you, and you haven't kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely rend the kingdom from you, and will give it to your slave. 12 Notwithstanding in your days I will not do it, for David your father's sake: but I will rend it out of the hand of your son. 13 Nevertheless I will not rend away all the kingdom; but I will give one tribe to your son, for David my slave's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake which I have chosen.

14 And Yahweh raised up an adversary to Solomon, Hadad the Edomite: he was of the king's seed in Edom. 15 For it came to pass, when David was in Edom, and Joab the captain of the host went up to bury the slain, and had struck every male in Edom 16 (for Joab and all Israel remained there six months, until he had cut off every male in Edom); 17 that Hadad fled, he and certain Edomites of his father's slaves with him, to go into Egypt, Hadad being yet a small lad. 18 And they arose out of Midian, and came to Paran; and they took men with them out of Paran, and they came to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, who gave him a house, and appointed him victuals, and gave him land. 19 And Hadad found great favor in the sight of Pharaoh, so that he gave him as wife the sister of his own wife, the sister of Tahpenes the queen. 20 And the sister of Tahpenes bore him Genubath his son, whom Tahpenes weaned in Pharaoh's house; and Genubath was in Pharaoh's house among the sons of Pharaoh. 21 And when Hadad heard in Egypt that David slept with his fathers, and that Joab the captain of the host was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, Let me depart, that I may go to my own country. 22 Then Pharaoh said to him, But what have you lacked with me, that, look, you seek to go to your own country? And he answered, Nothing: nevertheless only let me depart.

23 And God raised up [another] adversary to him, Rezon the son of Eliada, who had fled from his lord Hadadezer king of Zobah. 24 And he gathered men to him, and became captain over a troop, when David slew them [of Zobah]: and they went to Damascus, and dwelt in it, and reigned in Damascus. 25 And he was an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon, besides the mischief that Hadad [did]: and he abhorred Israel, and reigned over Syria.

26 And Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite of Zeredah, a slave of Solomon, whose mother's name was Zeruah, a widow, he also lifted up his hand against the king. 27 And this was the reason why he lifted up his hand against the king: Solomon built Millo, and repaired the breach of the city of David his father. 28 And the man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valor; and Solomon saw the young man that he was industrious, and he gave him charge over all the labor of the house of Joseph. 29 And it came to pass at that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him in the way; now [Ahijah] had clad himself with a new garment; and both of them were alone in the field. 30 And Ahijah laid hold of the new garment that was on him, and rent it in twelve pieces. 31 And he said to Jeroboam, Take for yourself ten pieces; for this is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, Look, I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to you 32 (but he will have one tribe, for my slave David's sake and for Jerusalem's sake, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel); 33 because they have forsaken me, and have worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god of the sons of Ammon; and they have not walked in my ways, to do that which is right in my eyes, and [to keep] my statutes and my ordinances, as did David his father. 34 Nevertheless I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand; but I will make him prince all the days of his life, for David my slave's sake whom I chose, who kept my commandments and my statutes; 35 but I will take the kingdom out of his son's hand, and will give it to you, even ten tribes. 36 And to his son I will give one tribe, that David my slave may have a lamp always before me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen me to put my name there. 37 And I will take you, and you will reign according to all that your soul desires, and will be king over Israel. 38 And it will be, if you will listen to all that I command you, and will walk in my ways, and do that which is right in my eyes, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as David my slave did; that I will be with you, and will build you a sure house, as I built for David, and will give Israel to you. 39 And I will for this afflict the seed of David, but not forever. 40 Solomon sought therefore to kill Jeroboam; but Jeroboam arose, and fled into Egypt, to Shishak king of Egypt, and was in Egypt until the death of Solomon.

41 Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, and all that he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the Book of the Acts of Solomon? 42 And the time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years. 43 And Solomon slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David his father: and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead.

12  And Rehoboam went to Shechem: for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. 2 And it came to pass, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it (for he was yet in Egypt, where he had fled from the presence of King Solomon, and Jeroboam dwelt in Egypt, 3 and they sent and called him), that Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came, and spoke to Rehoboam, saying, 4 Your father made our yoke grievous: now therefore you make the grievous service of your father, and his heavy yoke which he put on us, lighter, and we will serve you. 5 And he said to them, Depart yet for three days, then come again to me. And the people departed.

6 And King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, that had stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, saying, What counsel do you+ give me to return answer to this people? 7 And they spoke to him, saying, If you will be a slave to this people this day, and will serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be your slaves forever. 8 But he forsook the counsel of the old men which they had given him, and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him, who stood before him. 9 And he said to them, What counsel do you+ give, that we may return answer to this people, who have spoken to me, saying, Make the yoke that your father put on us lighter? 10 And the young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, Thus you will say to this people who spoke to you, saying, Your father made our yoke heavy, but you make it lighter to us; thus you will speak to them, My little finger is thicker than my father's loins. 11 And now whereas my father laded you+ with a heavy yoke, I will add to your+ yoke: my father chastised you+ with whips, but I will chastise you+ with scorpions.

12 So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king bade, saying, Come to me again the third day. 13 And the king answered the people roughly, and forsook the counsel of the old men which they had given him, 14 and spoke to them after the counsel of the young men, saying, My father made your+ yoke heavy, but I will add to your+ yoke: my father chastised you+ with whips, but I will chastise you+ with scorpions. 15 So the king didn't listen to the people; for it was a thing brought about of Yahweh, that he might establish his word, which Yahweh spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

16 And when all Israel saw that the king didn't listen to them, the people answered the king, saying, What portion do we have in David? Neither do we have inheritance in the son of Jesse: to your+ tents, O Israel: now see to your own house, David. So Israel departed to their tents. 17 But as for the sons of Israel who dwelt in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them. 18 Then King Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was over the men subject to slave labor; and all Israel stoned him to death with stones. And King Rehoboam made speed to get up to his chariot, to flee to Jerusalem. 19 So Israel rebelled against the house of David to this day. 20 And it came to pass, when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, that they sent and called him to the congregation, and made him king over all Israel: there was none who followed the house of David, but the tribe of Judah only.

21 And when Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah, and the tribe of Benjamin, 180,000 chosen men, who were warriors, to fight against the house of Israel, to bring the kingdom again to Rehoboam the son of Solomon. 22 But the word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying, 23 Speak to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people, saying, 24 Thus says Yahweh, You+ will not go up, nor fight against your+ brothers the sons of Israel: return every man to his house; for this thing is of me. So they listened to the word of Yahweh, and returned and went their way, according to the word of Yahweh.

25 Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill-country of Ephraim, and dwelt in it; and he went out from there, and built Penuel. 26 And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now the kingdom will return to the house of David: 27 if this people goes up to offer sacrifices in the house of Yahweh at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn again to their lord, even to Rehoboam king of Judah; and they will kill me, and return to Rehoboam king of Judah. 28 For this reason the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold; and he said to them, It is too much for you+ to go up to Jerusalem: here are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt. 29 And he set the one in Beth-el, and the other he put in Dan. 30 And this thing became a sin; for the people went [to worship] before the one, even to Dan. 31 And he made houses of high places, and made priests from among all the people, who were not of the sons of Levi. 32 And Jeroboam appointed a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast that is in Judah, and he went up to the altar; so he did in Beth-el, sacrificing to the calves that he had made: and he placed in Beth-el the priests of the high places that he had made. 33 And he went up to the altar which he had made in Beth-el on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart: and he appointed a feast for the sons of Israel, and went up to the altar, to burn incense.

13  And, look, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of Yahweh to Beth-el: and Jeroboam was standing by the altar to burn incense. 2 And he cried against the altar by the word of Yahweh, and said, O altar, altar, thus says Yahweh: Look, a son will be born to the house of David, Josiah by name; and on you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places that burn incense on you, and man's bones they will burn on you. 3 And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign which Yahweh has spoken: Look, the altar will be rent, and the ashes that are on it will be poured out. 4 And it came to pass, when the king heard the saying of the man of God, which he cried against the altar in Beth-el, that Jeroboam put forth his hand from the altar, saying, Lay hold on him. And his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up, so that he could not draw it back again to him. 5 The altar also was rent, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of Yahweh. 6 And the king answered and said to the man of God, Entreat now the favor of Yahweh your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me again. And the man of God entreated Yahweh, and the king's hand was restored to him again, and became as it was before. 7 And the king said to the man of God, Come home with me, and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward. 8 And the man of God said to the king, If you will give me half your house, I will not go in with you, neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place; 9 for so was it charged me by the word of Yahweh, saying, You will eat no bread, nor drink water, neither return by the way that you came. 10 So he went another way, and didn't return by the way that he came to Beth-el.

11 Now there dwelt an old prophet in Beth-el; and one of his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Beth-el: the words which he had spoken to the king, they also told them to their father. 12 And their father said to them, Which way did he go? Now his sons had seen which way the man of God went, who came from Judah. 13 And he said to his sons, Saddle me the donkey. So they saddled him the donkey; and he rode on it. 14 And he went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak; and he said to him, Are you the man of God who came from Judah? And he said, I am. 15 Then he said to him, Come home with me, and eat bread. 16 And he said, I may not return with you, nor go in with you; neither will I eat bread nor drink water with you in this place: 17 for it was said to me by the word of Yahweh, You will eat no bread nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that you came. 18 And he said to him, I also am a prophet as you are; and an angel spoke to me by the word of Yahweh, saying, Bring him back with you into your house, that he may eat bread and drink water. [But] he lied to him. 19 So he went back with him, and ate bread in his house, and drank water.

20 And it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word of Yahweh came to the prophet who brought him back; 21 and he cried to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, Thus says Yahweh, Since you have been disobedient to the mouth of Yahweh, and haven't kept the commandment which Yahweh your God commanded you, 22 but came back, and have eaten bread and drank water in the place of which he said to you, Eat no bread, and drink no water; your body will not come to the tomb of your fathers. 23 And it came to pass, after he had eaten bread, and after he had drank, that he saddled for himself the donkey, [to wit,] for the prophet whom he had brought back. 24 And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way, and slew him: and his body was cast in the way, and the donkey stood by it; the lion also stood by the body. 25 And, look, men passed by, and saw the body cast in the way, and the lion standing by the body; and they came and told it in the city where the old prophet dwelt.

26 And when the prophet who brought him back from the way heard of it, he said, It is the man of God, who was disobedient to the mouth of Yahweh: therefore Yahweh has delivered him to the lion, which has torn him, and slain him, according to the word of Yahweh, which he spoke to him. 27 And he spoke to his sons, saying, Saddle the donkey for me. And they saddled it. 28 And he went and found his body cast in the way, and the donkey and the lion standing by the body: the lion had not eaten the body, nor torn the donkey. 29 And the prophet took up the body of the man of God, and laid it on the donkey, and brought it back; and he came to the city of the old prophet, to mourn, and to bury him. 30 And he laid his body in his own grave; and they mourned over him, [saying,] Alas, my brother! 31 And it came to pass, after he had buried him, that he spoke to his sons, saying, When I am dead, then bury me in the tomb in which the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones. 32 For the saying which he cried by the word of Yahweh against the altar in Beth-el, and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria, will surely come to pass.

33 After this thing Jeroboam did not return from his evil way, but made again from among all the people priests of the high places: whoever would, he consecrated him, that there might be priests of the high places. 34 And this thing became sin to the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off, and to destroy it from off the face of the earth.

14  At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam fell sick. 2 And Jeroboam said to his wife, Arise, I pray you, and disguise yourself, that you will not be known to be the wife of Jeroboam; and go to Shiloh: see, there is Ahijah the prophet, who spoke concerning me that I should be king over this people. 3 And take with you ten loaves, and cakes, and a cruse of honey, and go to him: he will tell you what will become of the lad. 4 And Jeroboam's wife did so, and arose, and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. Now Ahijah could not see; for his eyes were set by reason of his age. 5 And Yahweh said to Ahijah, Look, the wife of Jeroboam comes to inquire of you concerning her son; for he is sick: thus and thus you will say to her; for it will be, when she comes in, that she will feign herself to be another woman.

6 And it was so, when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet, as she came in at the door, that he said, Come in, you wife of Jeroboam; why feign you yourself to be another? For I am sent to you with difficult news. 7 Go, tell Jeroboam, This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says: Since I exalted you from among the people, and made you leader over my people Israel, 8 and rent the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it you; and yet you haven't been as my slave David, who kept my commandments, and who followed me with all his heart, to do only that which was right in my eyes, 9 but have done evil above all who were before you, and have gone and made for yourself other gods, and molten images, to provoke me to anger, and have cast me behind your back: 10 therefore, look, I will bring evil on the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam [every] one urinating against a wall, whether slave or free in Israel, and will completely sweep away the house of Jeroboam, as a man sweeps away dung, until it is all gone. 11 He of Jeroboam who dies in the city, the dogs will eat; and he who dies in the field, the birds of the heavens will eat: for Yahweh has spoken it. 12 You arise therefore, go to your house: [and] when your feet enter into the city, the child will die. 13 And all Israel will mourn for him, and bury him; for he only of Jeroboam will come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing toward Yahweh, the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam. 14 Moreover Yahweh will raise up for himself a king over Israel, who will cut off the house of Jeroboam that day: but what? Even now. 15 For Yahweh will strike Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water; and he will root up Israel out of this good land which he gave to their fathers, and will scatter them beyond the River, because they have made their Asherim, provoking Yahweh to anger. 16 And he will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he has sinned, and with which he has made Israel to sin.

17 And Jeroboam's wife arose, and departed, and came to Tirzah: [and] as she came to the threshold of the house, the child died. 18 And all Israel buried him, and mourned for him, according to the word of Yahweh, which he spoke by his slave Ahijah the prophet.

19 And the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he warred, and how he reigned, look, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. 20 And the days which Jeroboam reigned were two and twenty years: and he slept with his fathers, and Nadab his son reigned in his stead.

21 And Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which Yahweh had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there: and his mother's name was Naamah the Ammonitess. 22 And Judah did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they committed, above all that their fathers had done. 23 For they also built themselves high places, and pillars, and Asherim, on every high hill, and under every green tree; 24 and there were also homosexuals in the land: they did according to all the disgusting behaviors of the nations which Yahweh drove out before the sons of Israel.

25 And it came to pass in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem; 26 and he took away the treasures of the house of Yahweh, and the treasures of the king's house; he even took away all: and he took away all the shields of gold which Solomon had made. 27 And King Rehoboam made in their stead shields of bronze, and committed them to the hands of the captains of the guard, who kept the door of the king's house. 28 And it was so, that, as often as the king went into the house of Yahweh, the guard bore them, and brought them back into the guard-chamber.

29 Now the rest of the acts of Rehoboam, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 30 And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually. 31 And Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David: and his mother's name was Naamah the Ammonitess. And Abijam his son reigned in his stead.

15  Now in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam the son of Nebat, Abijam began to reign over Judah. 2 He reigned three years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom. 3 And he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him; and his heart was not perfect with Yahweh his God, as the heart of David his father. 4 Nevertheless for David's sake Yahweh his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him, and to establish Jerusalem; 5 because David did that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh, and did not turn aside from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life, except only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite. 6 Now there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life.

7 And the rest of the acts of Abijam, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? And there was war between Abijam and Jeroboam. 8 And Abijam slept with his fathers; and they buried him in the city of David: and Asa his son reigned in his stead.

9 And in the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Asa began to reign over Judah. 10 And forty and one years he reigned in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom. 11 And Asa did that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh, as did David his father. 12 And he put away the homosexuals out of the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made. 13 And also Maacah his mother he removed from being queen, because she had made a horrible image for an Asherah; and Asa cut down her horrible image, and burned it at the brook Kidron. 14 But the high places were not taken away: nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect with Yahweh all his days. 15 And he brought into the house of Yahweh the things that his father had dedicated, and the things that he himself had dedicated, silver, and gold, and vessels.

16 And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days. 17 And Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah, and built Ramah, that he might not allow anyone to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah. 18 Then Asa took all the silver and the gold that were left in the treasures of the house of Yahweh, and the treasures of the king's house, and delivered them into the hand of his slaves; and King Asa sent them to Ben-hadad, the son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, king of Syria, who dwelt at Damascus, saying, 19 [There is] a league between me and you, between my father and your father: look, I have sent to you a present of silver and gold; go, break your league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may depart from me. 20 And Ben-hadad listened to King Asa, and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel, and struck Ijon, and Dan, and Abel-beth-maacah, and all Chinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali. 21 And it came to pass, when Baasha heard of it, that he left off building Ramah, and dwelt in Tirzah. 22 Then King Asa made a proclamation to all Judah; none was exempted: and they carried away the stones of Ramah, and its timber, with which Baasha had built; and King Asa built with them Geba of Benjamin, and Mizpah.

23 Now the rest of all the acts of Asa, and all his might, and all that he did, and the cities which he built, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? But in the time of his old age he was diseased in his feet. 24 And Asa slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father; and Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his stead.

25 And Nadab the son of Jeroboam began to reign over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah; and he reigned over Israel two years. 26 And he did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, and walked in the way of his father, and in his sin with which he made Israel to sin. 27 And Baasha the son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar, conspired against him; and Baasha struck him at Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines; for Nadab and all Israel were laying siege to Gibbethon. 28 Even in the third year of Asa king of Judah, Baasha slew him, and reigned in his stead. 29 And it came to pass that, as soon as he was king, he struck all the house of Jeroboam: he did not leave to Jeroboam any that breathed, until he had destroyed him; according to the saying of Yahweh, which he spoke by his slave Ahijah the Shilonite; 30 for the sins of Jeroboam which he sinned, and with which he made Israel to sin, because of his provocation with which he provoked Yahweh, the God of Israel, to anger.

31 Now the rest of the acts of Nadab, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 32 And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.

33 In the third year of Asa king of Judah, Baasha the son of Ahijah began to reign over all Israel in Tirzah, [and reigned] twenty and four years. 34 And he did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, and walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin with which he made Israel to sin.

16  And the word of Yahweh came to Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha, saying, 2 Since I exalted you out of the dust, and made you leader over my people Israel, and you have walked in the way of Jeroboam, and have made my people Israel to sin, to provoke me to anger with their sins; 3 look, I will completely sweep away Baasha and his house; and I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat. 4 He who dies of Baasha in the city, the dogs will eat; and he who dies of his in the field, the birds of the heavens will eat.

5 Now the rest of the acts of Baasha, and what he did, and his might, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 6 And Baasha slept with his fathers, and was buried in Tirzah; and Elah his son reigned in his stead. 7 And moreover by the prophet Jehu the son of Hanani came the word of Yahweh against Baasha, and against his house, both because of all the evil that he did in the sight of Yahweh, to provoke him to anger with the work of his hands, in being like the house of Jeroboam, and because he struck him.

8 In the twenty and sixth year of Asa king of Judah, Elah the son of Baasha began to reign over Israel in Tirzah, [and reigned] two years. 9 And his slave Zimri, captain of half his chariots, conspired against him. Now he was in Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, who was over the household in Tirzah: 10 and Zimri went in and struck him, and killed him, in the twenty and seventh year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned in his stead. 11 And it came to pass, when he began to reign, as soon as he sat on his throne, that he struck all the house of Baasha: he left him not one urinating against a wall, neither of his kinsfolks, nor of his companions. 12 Thus Zimri destroyed all the house of Baasha, according to the word of Yahweh, which he spoke against Baasha by Jehu the prophet, 13 for all the sins of Baasha, and the sins of Elah his son, which they sinned, and with which they made Israel to sin, to provoke Yahweh, the God of Israel, to anger with their vanities. 14 Now the rest of the acts of Elah, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?

15 In the twenty and seventh year of Asa king of Judah, Zimri reigned seven days in Tirzah. Now the people were encamped against Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines. 16 And the people who were encamped heard it said, Zimri has conspired, and has also struck the king: therefore all Israel made Omri, the captain of the host, king over Israel that day in the camp. 17 And Omri went up from Gibbethon, and all Israel with him, and they besieged Tirzah. 18 And it came to pass, when Zimri saw that the city was taken, that he went into the castle of the king's house, and burned the king's house over him with fire, and died, 19 for his sins which he sinned in doing that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, in walking in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin which he did, to make Israel to sin. 20 Now the rest of the acts of Zimri, and his treason that he wrought, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?

21 Then the people of Israel were divided into two parts: half of the people followed Tibni the son of Ginath, to make him king; and half followed Omri. 22 But the people who followed Omri prevailed against the people who followed Tibni the son of Ginath: so Tibni died, and Omri reigned. 23 In the thirty and first year of Asa king of Judah, Omri began to reign over Israel, [and reigned] twelve years: six years he reigned in Tirzah. 24 And he bought the hill Samaria of Shemer for two talents of silver; and he built on the hill, and called the name of the city which he built, after the name of Shemer, the owner of the hill, Samaria. 25 And Omri did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, and dealt wickedly above all who were before him. 26 For he walked in all the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in his sins with which he made Israel to sin, to provoke Yahweh, the God of Israel, to anger with their vanities. 27 Now the rest of the acts of Omri which he did, and his might that he showed, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 28 So Omri slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria; and Ahab his son reigned in his stead.

29 And in the thirty and eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab the son of Omri began to reign over Israel: and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty and two years. 30 And Ahab the son of Omri did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh above all who were before him. 31 And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshiped him. 32 And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. 33 And Ahab made the Asherah; and Ahab did yet more to provoke Yahweh, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him. 34 In his days Hiel the Beth-elite built Jericho: he laid its foundation with the loss of Abiram his firstborn, and set up its gates with the loss of his youngest son Segub, according to the word of Yahweh, which he spoke by Joshua the son of Nun.

17  And Elijah the Tishbite, who was from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, As Yahweh, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there will not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word. 2 And the word of Yahweh came to him, saying, 3 Go from here, and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, that is before the Jordan. 4 And it will be, that you will drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there. 5 So he went and did according to the word of Yahweh; for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is before the Jordan. 6 And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook. 7 And it came to pass after awhile, that the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.

8 And the word of Yahweh came to him, saying, 9 Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there: look, I have commanded a widow there to sustain you. 10 So he arose and went to Zarephath; and when he came to the gate of the city, look, a widow was there gathering sticks: and he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray you, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink. 11 And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray you, a morsel of bread in your hand. 12 And she said, As Yahweh your God lives, I don't have a cake, but a handful of meal in the jar, and a little oil in the cruse: and, look, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die. 13 And Elijah said to her, Don't be afraid; go and do as you have said; but make me of it a little cake first, and bring it forth to me, and afterward make for yourself and for your son. 14 For thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, The jar of meal will not waste, neither will the cruse of oil fail, until the day that Yahweh sends rain on the earth. 15 And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, ate [many] days. 16 The jar of meal did not waste, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of Yahweh, which he spoke by Elijah.

17 And it came to pass after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so intense, that there was no breath left in him. 18 And she said to Elijah, What have I to do with you, O you man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son! 19 And he said to her, Give me your son. And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into the chamber, where he dwelt, and laid him on his own bed. 20 And he cried to Yahweh, and said, O Yahweh my God, have you also brought evil on the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son? 21 And he stretched himself on the child three times, and cried to Yahweh, and said, O Yahweh my God, I pray you, let this child's soul come into him again. 22 And Yahweh listened to the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived. 23 And Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the chamber into the house, and delivered him to his mother; and Elijah said, See, your son lives. 24 And the woman said to Elijah, Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of Yahweh in your mouth is truth.

18  And it came to pass after many days, that the word of Yahweh came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, Go, show yourself to Ahab; and I will send rain on the earth. 2 And Elijah went to show himself to Ahab. And the famine was intense in Samaria. 3 And Ahab called Obadiah, who was over the household. (Now Obadiah feared Yahweh greatly: 4 for it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of Yahweh, that Obadiah took a hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.) 5 And Ahab said to Obadiah, Go through the land, to all the fountains of water, and to all the brooks: perhaps we may find grass and save the horses and mules alive, that we do not lose all the beasts. 6 So they divided the land between them to pass throughout it: Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself.

7 And as Obadiah was in the way, look, Elijah met him: and he knew him, and fell on his face, and said, Is it you, my lord Elijah? 8 And he answered him, It is I: go, tell your lord, Look, Elijah [is here]. 9 And he said, In what have I sinned, that you would deliver your slave into the hand of Ahab, to slay me? 10 As Yahweh your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom, where my lord has not sent to seek you: and when they said, He is not here, he took an oath of the kingdom and nation, that they didn't find you. 11 And now you say, Go, tell your lord, Look, Elijah [is here]. 12 And it will come to pass, as soon as I am gone from you, I don't know where the Spirit of Yahweh will carry you; and so when I come and tell Ahab, and he can't find you, he will slay me: but I your slave have feared Yahweh from my youth. 13 Wasn't it told to my lord what I did when Jezebel slew the prophets of Yahweh, how I hid a hundred men of Yahweh's prophets by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water? 14 And now you say, Go, tell your lord, Look, Elijah [is here]; and he will slay me. 15 And Elijah said, As Yahweh of hosts lives, before whom I stand, I will surely show myself to him today.

16 So Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told him; and Ahab went to meet Elijah. 17 And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said to him, Is it you, you troubler of Israel? 18 And he answered, I haven't troubled Israel; but you, and your father's house, in that you+ have forsaken the commandments of Yahweh, and you have followed the Baalim. 19 Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel to mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the Asherah four hundred, who eat at Jezebel's table.

20 So Ahab sent to all the sons of Israel, and gathered the prophets together to mount Carmel. 21 And Elijah came near to all the people, and said, How long do you+ go limping between the two sides? If Yahweh is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word. 22 Then Elijah said to the people, I, even I only, am left a prophet of Yahweh; but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men. 23 Let them therefore give us two bullocks; and let them choose one bull for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, and put no fire under; and I will dress the other bull, and lay it on the wood, and put no fire under. 24 And you+ call on the name of your+ god, and I will call on the name of Yahweh; and the God who answers by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken.

25 And Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, Choose+ one bull for yourselves, and dress it first; for you+ are many; and call on the name of your+ god, but put no fire under. 26 And they took the bull which was given to them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any who answered. And they leaped about the altar which was made. 27 And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud; for he is a god: either he is musing, or he has gone aside, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he sleeps and must be awakened. 28 And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lances, until the blood gushed out on them. 29 And it was so, when midday was past, that they prophesied until the time of the offering of the [evening] oblation; but there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any who regarded.

30 And Elijah said to all the people, Come near to me; and all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of Yahweh that was thrown down. 31 And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of Yahweh came, saying, Israel will be your name. 32 And with the stones he built an altar in the name of Yahweh; and he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two seahs of seed. 33 And he put the wood in order, and cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood. And he said, Fill four jars with water, and pour it on the burnt-offering, and on the wood. 34 And he said, Do it the second time; and they did it the second time. And he said, Do it the third time; and they did it the third time. 35 And the water ran round about the altar; and he filled the trench also with water. 36 And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the [evening] oblation, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, O Yahweh, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your slave, and that I have done all these things at your word. 37 Hear me, O Yahweh, hear me, that this people may know that you, Yahweh, are God, and [that] you have turned their heart back again. 38 Then the fire of Yahweh fell, and consumed the burnt-offering, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. 39 And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, Yahweh, he is God; Yahweh, he is God. 40 And Elijah said to them, Take the prophets of Baal; don't let one of them escape. And they took them; and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there.

41 And Elijah said to Ahab, Go up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of abundance of rain. 42 So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he bowed himself down on the earth, and put his face between his knees. 43 And he said to his attendant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times. 44 And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Look, there rises a cloud out of the sea, as small as a man's hand. And he said, Go up, say to Ahab, Make ready [your chariot], and go down, that the rain doesn't stop you. 45 And it came to pass in a little while, that the heavens grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel: 46 and the hand of Yahweh was on Elijah; and he girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.

19  And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and as well how he had slain all the prophets with the sword. 2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I don't make your soul as the soul of one of them by tomorrow about this time. 3 And he was afraid, he arose, and went for his soul, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his attendant there. 4 But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper-tree: and he requested for his soul to die, and said, It is enough; now, O Yahweh, take away my soul; for I am not better than my fathers. 5 And he lay down and slept under a juniper-tree; and, look, an angel touched him, and said to him, Arise and eat. 6 And he looked and saw that there was at his head a cake baked on the coals, and a cruse of water. And he ate and drank, and laid down again. 7 And the angel of Yahweh came again the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you. 8 And he arose, and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God.

9 And he came there to a cave, and lodged there; and, look, the word of Yahweh came to him, and he said to him, What are you doing here, Elijah? 10 And he said, I have been very jealous for Yahweh, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and slain your prophets with the sword: and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my soul, to take it away. 11 And he said, Go forth, and stand on the mount before Yahweh. And, look, Yahweh passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and broke in pieces the rocks before Yahweh; but Yahweh was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but Yahweh was not in the earthquake: 12 and after the earthquake a fire; but Yahweh was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. 13 And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entrance of the cave. And, look, there came a voice to him, and said, What are you doing here, Elijah? 14 And he said, I have been very jealous for Yahweh, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and slain your prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my soul, to take it away.

15 And Yahweh said to him, Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus: and when you come, you will anoint Hazael to be king over Syria; 16 and Jehu the son of Nimshi you will anoint to be king over Israel; and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you will anoint to be prophet in your place. 17 And it will come to pass, that he who escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu will slay; and he who escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha will slay. 18 Yet I will leave [me] seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which haven't bowed to Baal, and every mouth which has not kissed him. 19 So he departed from there, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing, with twelve yoke [of oxen] before him, and he [was] with the twelfth: and Elijah passed over to him, and cast his mantle on him. 20 And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, Let me, I pray you, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you. And he said to him, Go back again; for what have I done to you? 21 And he returned from following him, and took the yoke of oxen, and slew them, and boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen, and gave to the people, and they ate. Then he arose, and went after Elijah, and ministered to him.

20  And Ben-hadad the king of Syria gathered all his host together; and there were thirty and two kings with him, and horses and chariots: and he went up and besieged Samaria, and fought against it. 2 And he sent messengers to Ahab king of Israel, into the city, and said to him, Thus says Ben-hadad, 3 Your silver and your gold is mine; your wives also and your sons, even the goodliest, are mine. 4 And the king of Israel answered and said, It is according to your saying, my lord, O king; I am yours, and all that I have. 5 And the messengers came again, and said, Thus speaks Ben-hadad, saying, I indeed sent to you, saying, You will deliver to me your silver, and your gold, and your wives, and your sons; 6 but I will send my slaves to you tomorrow about this time, and they will search your house, and the houses of your slaves; and it will be, that whatever is pleasant in your eyes, they will put it in their hand, and take it away.

7 Then the king of Israel called all the elders of the land, and said, Consider, I pray you+, and see how this man seeks mischief: for he sent to me for my wives, and for my sons, and for my silver, and for my gold; and I didn't deny him. 8 And all the elders and all the people said to him, Don't listen, neither consent. 9 Therefore he said to the messengers of Ben-hadad, Tell my lord the king, All that you sent for to your slave at the first I will do; but this thing I will not do. And the messengers departed, and brought him word again. 10 And Ben-hadad sent to him, and said, The gods do so to me, and more also, if the dust of Samaria will suffice for handfuls for all the people who follow me. 11 And the king of Israel answered and said, Tell him, Don't let him who girds on [his armor] boast himself as he who puts it off. 12 And it came to pass, when [Ben-hadad] heard this message, as he was drinking, he and the kings, in the pavilions, that he said to his slaves, Set [yourselves in array]. And they set [themselves in array] against the city.

13 And, look, a prophet came near to Ahab king of Israel, and said, Thus says Yahweh, Have you seen all this great multitude? Look, I will deliver it into your hand this day; and you will know that I am Yahweh. 14 And Ahab said, By whom? And he said, Thus says Yahweh, By the young men of the princes of the provinces. Then he said, Who will begin the battle? And he answered, You. 15 Then he mustered the young men of the princes of the provinces, and they were two hundred and thirty-two: and after them he mustered all the people, even all the sons of Israel, being seven thousand.

16 And they went out at noon. But Ben-hadad was drinking himself drunk in the pavilions, he and the kings, the thirty and two kings who helped him. 17 And the young men of the princes of the provinces went out first; and Ben-hadad sent out, and they told him, saying, Men have come out from Samaria. 18 And he said, Whether they have come out for peace, take them alive, or whether they have come out for war, take them alive. 19 So these went out of the city, the young men of the princes of the provinces, and the army which followed them. 20 And they slew every one his man; and the Syrians fled, and Israel pursued them: and Ben-hadad the king of Syria escaped on a horse with horsemen. 21 And the king of Israel went out, and struck the horses and chariots, and slew the Syrians with a great slaughter.

22 And the prophet came near to the king of Israel, and said to him, Go, strengthen yourself, and consider, and see what you do; for at the return of the year the king of Syria will come up against you. 23 And the slaves of the king of Syria said to him, Their god is a god of the hills; therefore they were stronger than we: but let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we will be stronger than they. 24 And do this thing: take the kings away, every man out of his place, and put captains in their place; 25 and you number for yourself an army, like the army that you have lost, horse for horse, and chariot for chariot; and we will fight against them in the plain, and surely we will be stronger than they. And he listened to their voice, and did so.

26 And it came to pass at the return of the year, that Ben-hadad mustered the Syrians, and went up to Aphek, to fight against Israel. 27 And the sons of Israel were mustered, and were victualled, and went against them: and the sons of Israel encamped before them like two little flocks of young goats; but the Syrians filled the country. 28 And a man of God came near and spoke to the king of Israel, and said, Thus says Yahweh, Because the Syrians have said, Yahweh is a god of the hills, but he is not a god of the valleys; therefore I will deliver all this great multitude into your hand, and you+ will know that I am Yahweh. 29 And they encamped one opposite the other seven days. And so it was, that in the seventh day the battle was joined; and the sons of Israel slew of the Syrians a hundred thousand footmen in one day. 30 But the rest fled to Aphek, into the city; and the wall fell on twenty and seven thousand men who were left. And Ben-hadad fled, and came into the city, into an inner chamber.

31 And his slaves said to him, Look now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings: let us, we pray you, put sackcloth on our loins, and ropes on our heads, and go out to the king of Israel: perhaps he will save your soul. 32 So they girded sackcloth on their loins, and [put] ropes on their heads, and came to the king of Israel, and said, Your slave Ben-hadad says, I pray you, let my soul live. And he said, Is he yet alive? He is my brother. 33 Now the men were using magic, and hurried to catch whether it was his mind; and they said, Your brother Ben-hadad. Then he said, Go+, bring him. Then Ben-hadad came forth to him; and he caused him to come up into the chariot. 34 And [Ben-hadad] said to him, The cities which my father took from your father I will restore; and you will make streets for yourself in Damascus, as my father made in Samaria. And I, [said Ahab], will let you go with this covenant. So he made a covenant with him, and let him go.

35 And a certain man of the sons of the prophets said to his fellow man by the word of Yahweh, Strike me, I pray you. And the man refused to strike him. 36 Then he said to him, Because you have not obeyed the voice of Yahweh, look, as soon as you depart from me, a lion will slay you. And as soon as he departed from him, a lion found him, and slew him. 37 Then he found another man, and said, Strike me, I pray you. And the man struck him, striking and wounding him. 38 So the prophet departed, and waited for the king by the way, and disguised himself with his headband over his eyes. 39 And as the king passed by, he cried to the king; and he said, Your slave went out into the midst of the battle; and, look, a man turned aside, and brought a man to me, and said, Keep this man: if by any means he is missing, then your soul will be for his soul, otherwise you will pay a talent of silver. 40 And as your slave was busy here and there, he was gone. And the king of Israel said to him, So your judgment will be; you yourself have decided it. 41 And he hurried, and took the headband away from his eyes; and the king of Israel discerned him that he was of the prophets. 42 And he said to him, Thus says Yahweh, Because you have let go out of your hand the man whom I had devoted to destruction, therefore your soul will go for his soul, and your people for his people. 43 And the king of Israel went to his house heavy and displeased, and came to Samaria.

21  And it came to pass after these things, that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel, close by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. 2 And Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, Give me your vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near to my house; and I will give you for it a better vineyard than it: or, if it seems good to you, I will give you the worth of it in silver. 3 And Naboth said to Ahab, Yahweh forbid it of me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to you. 4 And Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him; for he had said, I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers. And he laid down on his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread.

5 But Jezebel his wife came to him, and said to him, Why is your spirit so sad, that you eat no bread? 6 And he said to her, Because I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite, and said to him, Give me your vineyard for silver; otherwise, if it pleases you, I will give you [another] vineyard for it: and he answered, I will not give you my vineyard. 7 And Jezebel his wife said to him, Do you now govern the kingdom of Israel? Arise, and eat bread, and let your heart be merry: I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite. 8 So she wrote letters in Ahab's name, and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters to the elders and to the nobles who were in his city, [and] who dwelt with Naboth. 9 And she wrote in the letters, saying, Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people: 10 and set two men, base fellows, before him, and let them bear witness against him, saying, You cursed God and the king. And then carry him out, and stone him to death.

11 And the men of his city, even the elders and the nobles who dwelt in his city, did as Jezebel had sent to them, according to as it was written in the letters which she had sent to them. 12 They proclaimed a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people. 13 And the two men, the base fellows, came in and sat before him: and the base fellows bore witness against him, even against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying, Naboth cursed God and the king. Then they carried him forth out of the city, and stoned him to death with stones. 14 Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, Naboth is stoned, and is dead. 15 And it came to pass, when Jezebel heard that Naboth was stoned, and was dead, that Jezebel said to Ahab, Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give you for silver; for Naboth is not alive, but dead. 16 And it came to pass, when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, that Ahab rose up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it.

17 And the word of Yahweh came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, 18 Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who dwells in Samaria: look, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone down to take possession of it. 19 And you will speak to him, saying, Thus says Yahweh, Have you killed and also taken possession? And you will speak to him, saying, Thus says Yahweh, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth will dogs lick your blood, even yours. 20 And Ahab said to Elijah, Have you found me, O my enemy? And he answered, I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do that which is evil in the sight of Yahweh. 21 Look, I will bring evil on you, and will completely sweep you away and will cut off from Ahab [every] one urinating against a wall, whether slave or free in Israel: 22 and I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah for the provocation with which you have provoked me to anger, and have made Israel to sin. 23 And of Jezebel, Yahweh also spoke, saying, The dogs will eat Jezebel by the rampart of Jezreel. 24 He who dies of Ahab in the city, the dogs will eat; and he who dies in the field, the birds of the heavens will eat. 25 (But there was none like Ahab, who sold himself to do that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up. 26 And what he did was very disgusting in following idols, according to all that the Amorites did, whom Yahweh cast out before the sons of Israel.)

27 And it came to pass, when Ahab heard those words, that he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth on his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly. 28 And the word of Yahweh came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, 29 Do you see how Ahab humbles himself before me? Because he humbles himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days; but in his son's days I will bring the evil on his house.

22  And they continued three years without war between Syria and Israel. 2 And it came to pass in the third year, that Jehoshaphat the king of Judah came down to the king of Israel. 3 And the king of Israel said to his slaves, Do you+ know that Ramoth-gilead is ours, and we are still, and do not take it out of the hand of the king of Syria? 4 And he said to Jehoshaphat, Will you go with me to battle to Ramoth-gilead? And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.

5 And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, Inquire first, I pray you, for the word of Yahweh. 6 Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said to them, Shall I go against Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up; for the Lord will deliver it into the hand of the king. 7 But Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of Yahweh besides, that we may inquire of him? 8 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of Yahweh, Micaiah the son of Imlah: but I hate him; for he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil. And Jehoshaphat said, Don't let the king say so. 9 Then the king of Israel called an officer, and said, Fetch quickly Micaiah the son of Imlah. 10 Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah were sitting each on his throne, arrayed in their robes, in an open place at the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets were prophesying before them. 11 And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made himself horns of iron, and said, Thus says Yahweh, With these you will push the Syrians, until they are consumed. 12 And all the prophets prophesied so, saying, Go up to Ramoth-gilead, and prosper; for Yahweh will deliver it into the hand of the king.

13 And the messenger who went to call Micaiah spoke to him, saying, Look now, the words of the prophets [declare] good to the king with one mouth: let your word, I pray you, be like the word of one of them, and speak good. 14 And Micaiah said, As Yahweh lives, what Yahweh says to me, that I will speak. 15 And when he came to the king, the king said to him, Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall we forbear? And he answered him, Go up and prosper; and Yahweh will deliver it into the hand of the king. 16 And the king said to him, How many times shall I adjure you that you speak to me nothing but the truth in the name of Yahweh? 17 And he said, I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd: and Yahweh said, These have no master; let them return every man to his house in peace. 18 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, Didn't I tell you that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil? 19 And [Micaiah] said, Therefore hear the word of Yahweh: I saw Yahweh sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left. 20 And Yahweh said, Who will entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead? And one said on this manner; and another said on that manner. 21 And there came forth a spirit, and stood before Yahweh, and said, I will entice him. 22 And Yahweh said to him, How? And he said, I will go forth, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, You will entice him, and will prevail also: go forth, and do so. 23 Now therefore, look, Yahweh has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these prophets of yours; and Yahweh has spoken evil concerning you.

24 Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah came near, and struck Micaiah on the cheek, and said, Which way did the Spirit of Yahweh go from me to speak to you? 25 And Micaiah said, Look, you will see on that day, when you will go into an inner chamber to hide yourself. 26 And the king of Israel said, Take Micaiah, and carry him back to Amon the governor of the city, and to Joash the king's son; 27 and say, Thus says the king, Put this fellow in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until I come in peace. 28 And Micaiah said, If you return at all in peace, Yahweh has not spoken by me. And he said, Hear, you+ peoples, all of you+.

29 So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramoth-gilead. 30 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, I will disguise myself, and go into the battle; but you put on your robes. And the king of Israel disguised himself, and went into the battle. 31 Now the king of Syria had commanded the thirty-two captains of his chariots, saying, Fight neither with small nor great, but only with the king of Israel. 32 And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, Surely it is the king of Israel; and they turned aside to fight against him: and Jehoshaphat cried out. 33 And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw that it wasn't the king of Israel, that they turned back from pursuing him. 34 And a certain man drew his bow at a venture, and struck the king of Israel between the joints of the armor: therefore he said to the driver of his chariot, Turn your hand, and carry me out of the host; for I am critically wounded. 35 And the battle increased that day: and the king was propped up in his chariot against the Syrians, and died at evening; and the blood ran out of the wound into the bottom of the chariot. 36 And there went a cry throughout the host about the going down of the sun, saying, Every man to his city, and every man to his country.

37 So the king died, and was brought to Samaria; and they buried the king in Samaria. 38 And they washed the chariot by the pool of Samaria; and the dogs licked up his blood (now the prostitutes washed themselves [there]); according to the word of Yahweh which he spoke. 39 Now the rest of the acts of Ahab, and all that he did, and the ivory house which he built, and all the cities that he built, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 40 So Ahab slept with his fathers; and Ahaziah his son reigned in his stead.

41 And Jehoshaphat the son of Asa began to reign over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel. 42 Jehoshaphat was thirty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and five years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi. 43 And he walked in all the way of Asa his father; he didn't turn aside from it, doing that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh: nevertheless the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense in the high places. 44 And Jehoshaphat made peace with the king of Israel.

45 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, and his might that he showed, and how he warred, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 46 And the remnant of the homosexuals, who remained in the days of his father Asa, he put away out of the land. 47 And there was no king in Edom: a deputy was king. 48 Jehoshaphat made ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold: but they did not go; for the ships were broken at Ezion-geber. 49 Then Ahaziah the son of Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, Let my slaves go with your slaves in the ships. But Jehoshaphat would not. 50 And Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father; and Jehoram his son reigned in his stead.

51 Ahaziah the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigned two years over Israel. 52 And he did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, and walked in the way of his father, and in the way of his mother, and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, in which he made Israel to sin. 53 And he served Baal, and worshiped him, and provoked Yahweh to anger, the God of Israel, according to all that his father had done.

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II Kings

1  And Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab. 2 And Ahaziah fell down through the lattice in his upper chamber that was in Samaria, and was sick: and he sent messengers, and said to them, Go, inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I will recover of this sickness. 3 But the angel of Yahweh said to Elijah the Tishbite, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say to them, Is it because there is no God in Israel, that you+ go to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? 4 Now therefore thus says Yahweh, You will not come down from the bed where you have gone up, but will surely die. And Elijah departed.

5 And the messengers returned to him, and he said to them, Why is it that you+ have returned? 6 And they said to him, A man came up to meet us, and said to us, Go, turn again to the king who sent you+, and say to him, Thus says Yahweh, Is it because there is no God in Israel, that you send to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you will not come down from the bed where you have gone up, but will surely die. 7 And he said to them, What manner of man was he who came up to meet you+, and told you+ these words? 8 And they answered him, He was a hairy man, and girded with a loincloth of leather about his loins. And he said, It is Elijah the Tishbite.

9 Then [the king] sent to him a captain of fifty with his fifty. And he went up to him: and saw that he was sitting on the top of the hill. And he spoke to him, O man of God, the king has said, Come down. 10 And Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume you and your fifty. And there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty. 11 And again he sent to him another captain of fifty with his fifty. And he answered and said to him, O man of God, thus has the king said, Come down quickly. 12 And Elijah answered and said to them, If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume you and your fifty. And the fire of God came down from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty. 13 And again he sent the captain of a third fifty with his fifty. And the third captain of fifty went up, and came and fell on his knees before Elijah, and pled to him for mercy, and said to him, O man of God, I pray you, let my life, and the life of these fifty slaves of yours, be precious in your sight. 14 Look, fire came down from heaven, and consumed the two former captains of fifty with their fifties; but now let my life be precious in your sight. 15 And the angel of Yahweh said to Elijah, Go down with him: don't be afraid of him. And he arose, and went down with him to the king. 16 And he said to him, Thus says Yahweh, Since you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, is it because there is no God in Israel to inquire of his word? Therefore you will not come down from the bed where you have gone up, but will surely die.

17 So he died according to the word of Yahweh which Elijah had spoken. And Jehoram began to reign in his stead in the second year of Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah; because he had no son. 18 Now the rest of the acts of Ahaziah which he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?

2  And it came to pass, when Yahweh was to take up Elijah by a whirlwind into heaven, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. 2 And Elijah said to Elisha, Tarry here, I pray you; for Yahweh has sent me as far as Beth-el. And Elisha said, As Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you. So they went down to Beth-el. 3 And the sons of the prophets who were at Beth-el came forth to Elisha, and said to him, Do you know that Yahweh will take away your master from your head today? And he said, Yes, I know it; hold your+ peace. 4 And Elijah said to him, Elisha, tarry here, I pray you; for Yahweh has sent me to Jericho. And he said, As Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you. So they came to Jericho. 5 And the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho came near to Elisha, and said to him, Do you know that Yahweh will take away your master from your head today? And he answered, Yes, I know it; hold your+ peace. 6 And Elijah said to him, Tarry here, I pray you; for Yahweh has sent me to the Jordan. And he said, As Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you. And both of them went on. 7 And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went, and stood across from them far off: and both of them stood by the Jordan. 8 And Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and struck the waters, and they were divided here and there, so that both of them went over on dry ground. 9 And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said to Elisha, Ask what I will do for you, before I am taken from you. And Elisha said, I pray you, let a double portion of your spirit be on me. 10 And he said, You have asked a hard thing: [nevertheless], if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be so to you; but if not, it will not be so. 11 And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, look, [there appeared] a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, which separated them both apart; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. 12 And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!

And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces. 13 He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank of the Jordan. 14 And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and struck the waters, and said, Where is Yahweh, the God of Elijah, even he? And when he had struck the waters, they were divided here and there; and Elisha went over.

15 And when the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho across from him saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha. And they came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him. 16 And they said to him, Look now, there are with your slaves fifty strong men; let them go, we pray you, and seek your master, in case the Spirit of Yahweh has taken him up, and cast him on some mountain, or into some valley. And he said, You+ will not send. 17 And when they urged him until he was ashamed, he said, Send. They sent therefore fifty men; and they sought three days, but did not find him. 18 And they came back to him, while he tarried at Jericho; and he said to them, Didn't I say to you+, Don't go?

19 And the men of the city said to Elisha, Look, we pray you, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord sees: but the water is bad, and the land miscarries. 20 And he said, Bring me a new cruse, and put salt in it. And they brought it to him. 21 And he went forth to the spring of the waters, and cast salt in it, and said, Thus says Yahweh, I have healed these waters; there will not be from there anymore death or miscarrying. 22 So the waters were healed to this day, according to the word of Elisha which he spoke.

23 And he went up from there to Beth-el; and as he was going up by the way, there came forth young lads out of the city, and mocked him, and said to him, Go up, you baldhead; go up, you baldhead. 24 And he looked behind him and saw them, and cursed them in the name of Yahweh. And there came forth two she-bears out of the forest, and tore forty and two lads of them. 25 And he went from there to mount Carmel, and from there he returned to Samaria.

3  Now Jehoram the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigned twelve years. 2 And he did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, but not like his father, and like his mother; for he put away the pillar of Baal that his father had made. 3 Nevertheless he stuck to the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin; he did not depart therefrom.

4 Now Mesha king of Moab was a sheep-master; and he rendered to the king of Israel the wool of a hundred thousand lambs, and of a hundred thousand rams. 5 But it came to pass, when Ahab was dead, that the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. 6 And King Jehoram went out of Samaria at that time, and mustered all Israel. 7 And he went and sent to Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, saying, The king of Moab has rebelled against me: will you go with me against Moab to battle? And he said, I will go up: I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses. 8 And he said, Which way shall we go up? And he answered, The way of the wilderness of Edom. 9 So the king of Israel went, and the king of Judah, and the king of Edom; and they made a circuit of seven days' journey: and there was no water for the host, nor for the beasts that followed them. 10 And the king of Israel said, Alas! For Yahweh has called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab. 11 But Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of Yahweh, that we may inquire of Yahweh by him? And one of the king of Israel's slaves answered and said, Elisha the son of Shaphat is here, who poured water on the hands of Elijah. 12 And Jehoshaphat said, The word of Yahweh is with him. So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.

13 And Elisha said to the king of Israel, What have I to do with you? Go to the prophets of your father, and to the prophets of your mother. And the king of Israel said to him, No; for Yahweh has called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab. 14 And Elisha said, As Yahweh of hosts lives, before whom I stand, surely, were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look toward you, nor see you. 15 But now bring me a minstrel. And it came to pass, when the minstrel played, that the hand of Yahweh came upon him. 16 And he said, Thus says Yahweh, Make this valley full of trenches. 17 For thus says Yahweh, You+ will not see wind, neither will you+ see rain; yet that valley will be filled with water, and you+ will drink, both you+ and your+ cattle and your+ beasts. 18 And this is but a light thing in the sight of Yahweh: he will also deliver the Moabites into your+ hand. 19 And you+ will strike every fortified city, and every choice city, and will fell every good tree, and stop all fountains of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones. 20 And it came to pass in the morning, about the time of offering the oblation, that, look, water came by the way of Edom, and the country was filled with water.

21 Now when all the Moabites heard that the kings had come up to fight against them, they gathered themselves together, all who were able to put on armor, and upward, and stood on the border. 22 And they rose up early in the morning, and the sun shone on the water, and the Moabites saw the water across from them as red as blood: 23 and they said, This is blood; the kings are surely destroyed, and they have struck each man his fellow man: now therefore, Moab, to the spoil. 24 And when they came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose up and struck the Moabites, so that they fled before them; and they went there and struck the Moabites. 25 And they beat down the cities; and on every good piece of land they cast every man his stone, and filled it; and they stopped all the fountains of water, and felled all the good trees, until they left [only] its stones in Kir-hareseth; nevertheless the slingers went about it, and struck it. 26 And when the king of Moab saw that the battle was too intense for him, he took with him seven hundred men who drew the sword, to break through to the king of Syria; but they could not. 27 Then he took his eldest son who should have reigned in his stead, and offered him for a burnt-offering on the wall. And there was great wrath against Israel: and they departed from him, and returned to their own land.

4  Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets to Elisha, saying, Your slave my husband is dead; and you know that your slave did fear Yahweh: and the creditor has come to take to him my two children to be slaves. 2 And Elisha said to her, What shall I do for you? Tell me; what do you have in the house? And she said, Your slave doesn't have anything in the house, but a pot of oil. 3 Then he said, Go, borrow for yourself vessels abroad of all your neighbors, even empty vessels; don't borrow a few. 4 And you will go in, and shut the door on you and on your sons, and pour out into all those vessels; and you will set aside that which is full. 5 So she went from him, and shut the door on her and on her sons; they brought [the vessels] to her, and she poured out. 6 And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, Bring me another vessel. And he said to her, There is not another vessel. And the oil stopped. 7 Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, Go, sell the oil, and pay your debt, and you and your sons live from the rest.

8 And it fell on a day, that Elisha passed to Shunem, where there was a great woman; and she constrained him to eat bread. And so it was, that as often as he passed by, he turned in there to eat bread. 9 And she said to her husband, Look now, I perceive that this is a holy man of God, who passes by us continually. 10 Let us make, I pray you, a little chamber on the wall; and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a seat, and a lampstand: and it will be, when he comes to us, that he will turn in there. 11 And it fell on a day, that he came there, and he turned into the chamber and lay there. 12 And he said to Gehazi his attendant, Call this Shunammite. And when he had called her, she stood before him. 13 And he said to him, Say now to her, Look, you have been careful for us with all this care; what is to be done for you? Would you be spoken for to the king, or to the captain of the host? And she answered, I dwell among my own people. 14 And he said, What then is to be done for her? And Gehazi answered, Truly she has no son, and her husband is old. 15 And he said, Call her. And when he had called her, she stood in the door. 16 And he said, At this season, when the time comes round, you will embrace a son. And she said, No, my lord, you man of God, do not lie to your slave.

17 And the woman became pregnant, and gave birth to a son at that season, when the time came round, as Elisha had said to her. 18 And when the child was grown, it fell on a day, that he went out to his father to the reapers. 19 And he said to his father, My head, my head. And he said to his attendant, Carry him to his mother. 20 And when he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees until noon, and then died. 21 And she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and shut [the door] on him, and went out. 22 And she called to her husband, and said, Send me, I pray you, one of the attendants, and one of the donkeys, that I may run to the man of God, and come again. 23 And he said, Why will you go to him today? It is neither new moon nor Sabbath. And she said, It will be well. 24 Then she saddled a donkey, and said to her attendant, Drive, and go forward; don't slow down the riding for me, except I bid you. 25 So she went, and came to the man of God to mount Carmel.

And it came to pass, when the man of God saw her far off, that he said to Gehazi his attendant, Look, yonder is the Shunammite: 26 run, I pray you, now to meet her, and say to her, Is it well with you? Is it well with your husband? Is it well with the child? And she answered, It is well. 27 And when she came to the man of God to the hill, she caught hold of his feet. And Gehazi came near to thrust her away; but the man of God said, Leave her alone: for her soul is vexed inside her; and Yahweh has hid it from me, and has not told me. 28 Then she said, Did I desire a son of my lord? Did I not say, Don't deceive me? 29 Then he said to Gehazi, Gird up your loins, and take my staff in your hand, and go your way: if you meet any man, don't greet him; and if any greets you, don't answer him again: and lay my staff on the face of the child. 30 And the mother of the child said, As Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you. And he arose, and followed her. 31 And Gehazi passed on before them, and laid the staff on the face of the child; but there was neither voice, nor hearing. Therefore he returned to meet him, and told him, saying, The child did not awaken.

32 And when Elisha came into the house, look, the child was dead, and laid on his bed. 33 He went in therefore, and shut the door on both of them, and prayed to Yahweh. 34 And he went up, and lay on the child, and put his mouth on his mouth, and his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands: and he stretched himself on him; and the flesh of the child waxed warm. 35 Then he returned, and walked in the house once to and fro; and went up, and stretched himself on him: and the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes. 36 And he called Gehazi, and said, Call this Shunammite. So he called her. And when she came in to him, he said, Take up your son. 37 Then she went in, and fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground; and she took up her son, and went out.

38 And Elisha came again to Gilgal. And there was a famine in the land; and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him; and he said to his attendant, Set on the great pot, and boil pottage for the sons of the prophets. 39 And one went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered of it wild gourds his lap full, and came and shred them into the pot of pottage; for they did not know them. 40 So they poured out for the men to eat. And it came to pass, as they were eating of the pottage, that they cried out, and said, O man of God, there is death in the pot. And they could not eat of it. 41 But he said, Then bring meal. And he cast it into the pot; and he said, Pour out for the people, that they may eat. And there was no harm in the pot.

42 And there came a man from Baal-shalishah, and brought the man of God bread of the first fruits, twenty loaves of barley, and fresh ears of grain in his sack. And he said, Give to the people, that they may eat. 43 And his minister said, What, should I set this before a hundred men? But he said, Give the people, that they may eat; for thus says Yahweh, They will eat, and will have some left. 44 So he set it before them, and they ate, and had some left, according to the word of Yahweh.

5  Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honorable, because by him Yahweh had given victory to Syria: he was also a mighty man of valor, [but he was] a leper. 2 And the Syrians had gone out in bands, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maiden; and she waited on Naaman's wife. 3 And she said to her mistress, Oh that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! Then he would recover him of his leprosy. 4 And one went in, and told his lord, saying, Thus and thus said the maiden who is of the land of Israel. 5 And the king of Syria said, Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel. And he departed, and took with him ten talents of silver, and six thousand [pieces] of gold, and ten changes of raiment. 6 And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying, And now when this letter has come to you, look, I have sent Naaman my slave to you, that you may recover him of his leprosy. 7 And it came to pass, when the king of Israel had read the letter, that he rent his clothes, and said, Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends to me to recover a man of his leprosy? But consider, I pray you+, and see how he seeks a quarrel against me.

8 And it was so, when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Why have you rent your clothes? Let him come now to me, and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel. 9 So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariots, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha. 10 And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh will come again to you, and you will be clean. 11 But Naaman was angry, and went away, and said, Look, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of Yahweh his God, and wave his hand over the place, and recover the leper. 12 Are not Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? May I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage. 13 And his slaves came near, and spoke to him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid you do some great thing, wouldn't you have done it? How much rather then, when he says to you, Wash, and be clean? 14 Then he went down, and dipped [himself] seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh came again like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

15 And he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and came, and stood before him; and he said, Look now, I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel: now therefore, I pray you, take a present of your slave. 16 But he said, As Yahweh lives, before whom I stand, I will receive none. And he urged him to take it; but he refused. 17 And Naaman said, If not, yet, I pray you, let there be given to your slave two mules' burden of earth; for your slave will from now on offer neither burnt-offering nor sacrifice to other gods, but to Yahweh. 18 In this thing Yahweh pardon your slave: when my master goes into the house of Rimmon to worship there, and he leans on my hand, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, when I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, Yahweh pardon your slave in this thing. 19 And he said to him, Go in peace. So he departed from him a little way.

20 But Gehazi the attendant of Elisha the man of God, said, Look, my master has spared this Naaman the Syrian, in not receiving at his hands that which he brought: as Yahweh lives, I will run after him, and take somewhat of him. 21 So Gehazi followed after Naaman. And when Naaman saw one running after him, he dismounted from the chariot to meet him, and said, Is all well? 22 And he said, All is well. My master has sent me, saying, Look, even now there have come to me from the hill-country of Ephraim two young men of the sons of the prophets; give them, I pray you, a talent of silver, and two changes of raiment. 23 And Naaman said, Be pleased to take two talents. And he urged him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of raiment, and laid them on two of his attendants; and they bore them before him. 24 And when he came to the hill, he took them from their hand, and bestowed them in the house; and he let the men go, and they departed. 25 But he went in, and stood before his master. And Elisha said to him, Where did you come from, Gehazi? And he said, Your slave went no where. 26 And he said to him, Didn't my heart go [with you], when the man turned from his chariot to meet you? Is it a time to receive silver, and to receive garments, and oliveyards and vineyards, and sheep and oxen, and male slaves and female slaves? 27 The leprosy therefore of Naaman will stick to you, and to your seed forever. And he went out from his presence a leper [as white] as snow.

6  And the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, Look now, the place where we dwell before you is too strait for us. 2 Let us go, we pray you, to the Jordan, and take from there every man a beam, and let us make us a place there, where we may dwell. And he answered, Go+. 3 And one said, Be pleased, I pray you, to go with your slaves. And he answered, I will go. 4 So he went with them. And when they came to the Jordan, they cut down wood. 5 But as one was felling a beam, the ax-head fell into the water; and he cried, and said, Alas, my master! For it was borrowed. 6 And the man of God said, Where did it fall? And he showed him the place. And he cut down a stick, and cast it in there, and made the iron to swim. 7 And he said, Take it up to you. So he put out his hand, and took it.

8 Now the king of Syria was warring against Israel; and he took counsel with his slaves, saying, In such and such a place will be my camp. 9 And the man of God sent to the king of Israel, saying, Beware that you do not pass such a place; for the Syrians are coming down there. 10 And the king of Israel sent to the place which the man of God told him and warned him of; and he saved himself there, not once nor twice. 11 And the heart of the king of Syria was very troubled for this thing; and he called his slaves, and said to them, Will you+ not show me which of us is for the king of Israel? 12 And one of his slaves said, No, my lord, O king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedchamber. 13 And he said, Go and see where he is, that I may send and fetch him. And it was told him, saying, Look, he is in Dothan.

14 Therefore he sent there horses, and chariots, and a great host: and they came by night, and surrounded the city. 15 And when the minister of the man of God had risen early, and gone forth, look, a host with horses and chariots was round about the city. And servant said to him, Alas, my master! What shall we do? 16 And he answered, Don't be afraid; for those who are with us are more than those who are with them. 17 And Elisha prayed, and said, Yahweh, I pray you, open his eyes, that he may see. And Yahweh opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, look, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. 18 And when they came down to him, Elisha prayed to Yahweh, and said, Strike this people, I pray you, with blindness. And he struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha. 19 And Elisha said to them, This is not the way, neither is this the city: follow me, and I will bring you+ to the man whom you+ seek. And he led them to Samaria.

20 And it came to pass, when they had come into Samaria, that Elisha said, Yahweh, open the eyes of these men, that they may see. And Yahweh opened their eyes, and they saw; and, look, they were in the midst of Samaria. 21 And the king of Israel said to Elisha, when he saw them, My father, shall I strike them? Shall I strike them? 22 And he answered, You will not strike them: would you strike those whom you have taken captive with your sword and with your bow? Set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink, and go to their master. 23 And he prepared great provision for them; and when they had eaten and drank, he sent them away, and they went to their master. And the bands of Syria did not come into the land of Israel anymore.

24 And it came to pass after this, that Benhadad king of Syria gathered all his host, and went up, and besieged Samaria. 25 And there was a great famine in Samaria: and, look, they besieged it, until a donkey's head was sold for 80 [shekels] of silver, and the fourth part of a kab of dove's dung for five [shekels] of silver. 26 And as the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried to him, saying, Help, my lord, O king. 27 And he said, If Yahweh does not help you, from where shall I help you? Out of the threshing-floor, or out of the wine press? 28 And the king said to her, What ails you? And she answered, This woman said to me, Give your son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow. 29 So we boiled my son, and ate him: and I said to her on the next day, Give your son, that we may eat him; and she has hid her son. 30 And it came to pass, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he rent his clothes (now he was passing by on the wall); and the people looked and saw that he had sackcloth inside on his flesh. 31 Then he said, God do so to me, and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat will stand on him this day.

32 But Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him; and [the king] sent a man from before him: but before the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, Do you+ see how this son of a murderer has sent to take away my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door, and hold the door fast against him: isn't the sound of his master's feet behind him? 33 And while he was yet talking with them, look, the king came down to him: and he said, Look, this evil is of Yahweh; why should I wait for Yahweh any longer?

7  And Elisha said, Hear+ the word of Yahweh: thus says Yahweh, Tomorrow about this time a seah of fine flour will be [sold] for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria. 2 Then the captain on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, and said, Look, if Yahweh should make windows in heaven, might this thing be? And he said, Look, you will see it with your eyes, but will not eat of it.

3 Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate: and they said one to another, Why do we sit here until we die? 4 If we say, We will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we will die there; and if we sit still here, we die also. Now therefore come, and let us fall to the host of the Syrians: if they save us alive, we will live; and if they kill us, we will but die. 5 And they rose up in the twilight, to go to the camp of the Syrians; and when they had come to the outermost part of the camp of the Syrians, look, there was no man there. 6 For the Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host: and they said one to another, Look, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us. 7 Therefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents, and their horses, and their donkeys, even the camp as it was, and fled for their soul. 8 And when these lepers came to the outermost part of the camp, they went into one tent, and ate and drank, and carried from there silver, and gold, and raiment, and went and hid it; and they came back, and entered into another tent, and carried from there also, and went and hid it.

9 Then they said one to another, We are not doing right; this day is a day of good news, and we hold our peace: if we tarry until the morning light, punishment will overtake us; now therefore come, let us go and tell the king's household. 10 So they came and called to the porter of the city; and they told them, saying, We came to the camp of the Syrians, and, look, there was not a man there, neither voice of man, but the horses tied, and the donkeys tied, and the tents as they were. 11 And he called the porters; and they told it to the king's household inside. 12 And the king arose in the night, and said to his slaves, I will now show you+ what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we are hungry; therefore they have gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, When they come out of the city, we will take them alive, and get into the city. 13 And one of his slaves answered and said, Let some take, I pray you, five of the horses that remain, which are left in it, look, they are as all the multitude of Israel who are consumed; and let us send and see. 14 They took therefore two chariots with horses; and the king sent after the host of the Syrians, saying, Go and see. 15 And they went after them to the Jordan: and, look, all the way was full of garments and vessels, which the Syrians had cast away in their hurry. And the messengers returned, and told the king.

16 And the people went out, and plundered the camp of the Syrians. So a seah of fine flour was [sold] for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, according to the word of Yahweh. 17 And the king appointed the captain on whose hand he leaned to have the charge of the gate: and the people trod on him in the gate, and he died as the man of God had said, who spoke when the king came down to him. 18 And it came to pass, as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, Two seahs of barley will be for a shekel, and a seah of fine flour for a shekel, tomorrow about this time in the gate of Samaria; 19 and that captain answered the man of God, and said, Now, look, if Yahweh should make windows in heaven, might such a thing be? And he said, Look, you will see it with your eyes, but will not eat of it: 20 it came to pass even so to him; for the people trod on him in the gate, and he died.

8  Now Elisha had spoken to the woman, whose son he had restored to life, saying, Arise, and go, you and your household, and sojourn wherever you can sojourn: for Yahweh has called for a famine; and it will also come upon the land seven years. 2 And the woman arose, and did according to the word of the man of God; and she went with her household, and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years. 3 And it came to pass at the seven years' end, that the woman returned out of the land of the Philistines: and she went forth to cry to the king for her house and for her land. 4 Now the king was talking with Gehazi the attendant of the man of God, saying, Tell me, I pray you, all the great things that Elisha has done. 5 And it came to pass, as he was telling the king how he had restored to life him who was dead, that, look, the woman, whose son he had restored to life, cried to the king for her house and for her land. And Gehazi said, My lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life. 6 And when the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed to her a certain officer, saying, Restore all that was hers, and all the fruits of the field since the day that she left the land, even until now.

7 And Elisha came to Damascus; and Benhadad the king of Syria was sick; and he was told, saying, The man of God has come here. 8 And the king said to Hazael, Take a present in your hand, and go, meet the man of God, and inquire of Yahweh by him, saying, Will I recover of this sickness? 9 So Hazael went to meet him, and took a present with him, even of every good thing of Damascus, forty camels' burden, and came and stood before him, and said, Your son Benhadad king of Syria has sent me to you, saying, Will I recover of this sickness? 10 And Elisha said to him, Go, say to him, You will surely recover; nevertheless Yahweh has shown me that he will surely die. 11 And he settled his countenance steadfastly [on him], until he was ashamed: and the man of God wept. 12 And Hazael said, Why is my lord weeping? And he answered, Because I know the evil that you will do to the sons of Israel: their strongholds you will set on fire, and their young men you will slay with the sword, and will dash in pieces their little ones, and rip up their pregnant women. 13 And Hazael said, But what is your slave, who is but a dog, that he should do this great thing? And Elisha answered, Yahweh has shown me that you will be king over Syria. 14 Then he departed from Elisha, and came to his master; who said to him, What did Elisha say to you? And he answered, He told me that you would surely recover. 15 And it came to pass on the next day, that he took the coverlet, and dipped it in water, and spread it on his face, so that he died: and Hazael reigned in his stead.

16 And in the fifth year of Joram the son of Ahab king of Israel, Jehoshaphat being then king of Judah, Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah began to reign. 17 He was thirty and two years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. 18 And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as did the house of Ahab: for he had the daughter of Ahab as wife; and he did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh. 19 Nevertheless Yahweh would not destroy Judah, for David his slave's sake, as he promised him to give to him a lamp to his sons always.

20 In his days Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah, and made a king over themselves. 21 Then Joram passed over to Zair, and all his chariots with him: and he rose up by night, and struck the Edomites who surrounded him, and the captains of the chariots; and the people fled to their tents. 22 So Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah to this day. Then did Libnah revolt at the same time. 23 And the rest of the acts of Joram, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 24 And Joram slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David; and Ahaziah his son reigned in his stead.

25 In the twelfth year of Joram the son of Ahab king of Israel, Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah began to reign. 26 Ahaziah was two and twenty years old, when he began to reign; and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Athaliah the daughter of Omri king of Israel. 27 And he walked in the way of the house of Ahab, and did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, as did the house of Ahab; for he was the son-in-law of the house of Ahab. 28 And he went with Joram the son of Ahab to war against Hazael king of Syria at Ramoth-gilead: and the Syrians wounded Joram. 29 And King Joram returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had given him at Ramah, when he fought against Hazael king of Syria. And Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Joram the son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was sick.

9  And Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets, and said to him, Gird up your loins, and take this vial of oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth-gilead. 2 And when you come there, look there for Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi, and go in, and make him arise up from among his brothers, and carry him to an inner chamber. 3 Then take the vial of oil, and pour it on his head, and say, Thus says Yahweh, I have anointed you king over Israel. Then open the door, and flee, and don't tarry. 4 So the young man, even the young man the prophet, went to Ramoth-gilead. 5 And when he came, look, the captains of the host were sitting; and he said, I have a message for you, O captain. And Jehu said, To which of us all? And he said, To you, O captain. 6 And he arose, and went into the house; and he poured the oil on his head, and said to him, This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, I have anointed you king over the people of Yahweh, even over Israel. 7 And you will strike the house of Ahab your master, that I may avenge the blood of my slaves the prophets, and the blood of all the slaves of Yahweh, at the hand of Jezebel. 8 For the whole house of Ahab will perish; and I will cut off from Ahab [every] one urinating against a wall, whether slave or free in Israel. 9 And I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah. 10 And the dogs will eat Jezebel in the portion of Jezreel, and there will be none to bury her. And he opened the door, and fled.

11 Then Jehu came forth to the slaves of his lord: and one said to him, Is all well? Why did this insane fellow come to you? And he said to them, You+ know the man and what his talk was. 12 And they said, It is false; tell us now. And he said, Thus and thus he spoke to me, saying, Thus says Yahweh, I have anointed you king over Israel. 13 Then they hurried, and took every man his garment, and put it under him on the top of the stairs, and blew the trumpet, saying, Jehu is king.

14 So Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi conspired against Joram. (Now Joram was keeping Ramoth-gilead, he and all Israel, because of Hazael king of Syria; 15 but King Joram had returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had given him, when he fought with Hazael king of Syria.) And Jehu said, If it is in your+ soul, then let none escape and go forth out of the city, to go to tell it in Jezreel. 16 So Jehu rode in a chariot, and went to Jezreel; for Joram lay there. And Ahaziah king of Judah came down to see Joram.

17 Now the watchman was standing on the tower in Jezreel, and he spied the company of Jehu as he came, and said, I see a company. And Joram said, Take a horseman, and send to meet them, and let him say, Is it peace? 18 So one went on horseback to meet him, and said, Thus says the king, Is it peace? And Jehu said, What have you to do with peace? Turn behind me. And the watchman told, saying, The messenger came to them, but he didn't come back. 19 Then he sent out a second on horseback, who came to them, and said, Thus says the king, Is it peace? And Jehu answered, What have you to do with peace? Turn behind me. 20 And the watchman told, saying, He came even to them, and didn't come back: and the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi; for he drives furiously.

21 And Joram said, Get ready. And they got his chariot ready. And Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah went out, each in his chariot, and they went out to meet Jehu, and found him in the portion of Naboth the Jezreelite. 22 And it came to pass, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, Is it peace, Jehu? And he answered, What peace, so long as the prostitution of your mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many? 23 And Joram turned his hands, and fled, and said to Ahaziah, There is treachery, O Ahaziah. 24 And Jehu drew his bow with his full strength, and struck Joram between his arms; and the arrow went out at his heart, and he sunk down in his chariot. 25 Then [Jehu] said to Bidkar his captain, Take up, and cast him in the portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite; for remember how that, when I and you rode together after Ahab his father, Yahweh laid this burden on him: 26 Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth, and the blood of his sons, says Yahweh; and I will repay you in this plot [of ground], says Yahweh. Now therefore take and cast him into the plot, according to the word of Yahweh.

27 But when Ahaziah the king of Judah saw this, he fled by the way of the garden-house. And Jehu followed after him, and said, "Him too. Kill him." [This happened] in the chariot at the ascent of Gur, which is by Ibleam. And he fled to Megiddo, and died there. 28 And his slaves carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem, and buried him in his tomb with his fathers in the city of David.

29 And in the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab, Ahaziah began to reign over Judah. 30 And when Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her eyes, and attired her head, and looked out at the window. 31 And as Jehu entered in at the gate, she said, Is it peace, Zimri, your master's murderer? 32 And he lifted up his face to the window, and said, Who is on my side? Who? And two or three eunuchs looked out to him. 33 And he said, Throw her down. So they threw her down; and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall, and on the horses: and he trod her under foot. 34 And when he came in, he ate and drank; and he said, See now to this cursed woman, and bury her; for she's a king's daughter. 35 And they went to bury her; but they found no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the palms of her hands. 36 Therefore they came back, and told him. And he said, This is the word of Yahweh, which he spoke by his slave Elijah the Tishbite, saying, In the portion of Jezreel will the dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel; 37 and the body of Jezebel will be as dung on the face of the field in the portion of Jezreel, so that they will not say, This is Jezebel.

10  Now Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. And Jehu wrote letters to the rulers of Samaria, to the elders of Jezreel, and to the tutors [appointed by] Ahab, saying, 2 And now as soon as this letter comes to you+, seeing your+ master's sons are with you+, and there are with you+ chariots and horses, and a fortified city, and armor; 3 look+ for the best and meet of your+ master's sons, and set him on his father's throne, and fight for your+ master's house. 4 But they were exceedingly afraid, and said, Look, the two kings didn't stand before him: how then shall we stand? 5 And he who was over the household, and he who was over the city, the elders also, and those who brought up [the children], sent to Jehu, saying, We are your slaves, and will do all that you will bid us; we will not make any man king: do that which is good in your eyes. 6 Then he wrote a letter the second time to them, saying, If you+ are on my side, and if you+ will listen to my voice, take+ the heads of the men your+ master's sons, and come to me to Jezreel by tomorrow this time. Now the king's sons, being seventy persons, were with the great men of the city, who brought them up. 7 And it came to pass, when the letter came to them, that they took the king's sons, and slew them, even seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent them to him to Jezreel. 8 And there came a messenger, and told him, saying, They have brought the heads of the king's sons. And he said, Lay+ them in two heaps at the entrance of the gate until the morning. 9 And it came to pass in the morning, that he went out, and stood, and said to all the people, You+ are righteous: look, I conspired against my master, and slew him; but who struck all these? 10 Now know that nothing will fall to the earth of the word of Yahweh, which Yahweh spoke concerning the house of Ahab: for Yahweh has done that which he spoke by his slave Elijah. 11 So Jehu struck all who remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his great men, and those who he knew well, and his priests, until he left him none remaining.

12 And he arose and departed, and went to Samaria. And as he was at the shearing-house of the shepherds in the way, 13 Jehu met with the brothers of Ahaziah king of Judah, and said, Who are you+? And they answered, We are the brothers of Ahaziah: and we go down to greet the sons of the king and the sons of the queen. 14 And he said, Take them alive. And they took them alive, and slew them at the pit of the shearing-house, even two and forty men; neither did he leave any of them. 15 And when he had departed from there, he found Jehonadab the son of Rechab coming to meet him; and he greeted him, and said to him, Is your heart right, as my heart is with your heart? And Jehonadab answered, It is. If it is, give me your hand. And he gave him his hand; and he took him up to him into the chariot. 16 And he said, Come with me, and see my zeal for Yahweh. So they made him ride in his chariot. 17 And when he came to Samaria, he struck all who remained to Ahab in Samaria, until he had destroyed him, according to the word of Yahweh, which he spoke to Elijah.

18 And Jehu gathered all the people together, and said to them, Ahab served Baal a little; but Jehu will serve him much. 19 Now therefore call to me all the prophets of Baal, all his worshipers, and all his priests; let none be wanting: for I have a great sacrifice [to do] to Baal; whoever will be wanting, he will not live. But Jehu did it in subtlety, to the intent that he might destroy the worshipers of Baal. 20 And Jehu said, Sanctify a solemn assembly for Baal. And they proclaimed it. 21 And Jehu sent through all Israel: and all the worshipers of Baal came, so that there was not a man left who didn't come. And they came into the house of Baal; and the house of Baal was filled from one end to another. 22 And he said to him who was over the vestry, Bring forth vestments for all the worshipers of Baal. And he brought them forth vestments. 23 And Jehu went, and Jehonadab the son of Rechab, into the house of Baal; and he said to the worshipers of Baal, Search and look, in case there are here with you+ any of the slaves of Yahweh, but only the worshipers of Baal themselves [should be here]. 24 And they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt-offerings. Now Jehu had appointed himself eighty men outside, and said, If any of the men whom I bring into your+ hands escape, [he who lets him go], his soul will be for the soul of him.

25 And it came to pass, as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt-offering, that Jehu said to the guard and to the captains, Go in, and slay them; let none come forth. And they struck them with the edge of the sword; and the guard and the captains cast them out, and went to the citadel of the house of Baal. 26 And they brought forth the pillars that were in the house of Baal, and burned them. 27 And they broke down the pillar of Baal, and broke down the house of Baal, and made it an outside latrine, to this day. 28 Thus Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel.

29 Nevertheless from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin, Jehu didn't depart from after them, [to wit,] the golden calves that were in Beth-el, and that were in Dan. 30 And Yahweh said to Jehu, Because you have done well in executing that which is right in my eyes, [and] have done to the house of Ahab according to all that was in my heart, your sons of the fourth generation will sit on the throne of Israel. 31 But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of Yahweh, the God of Israel, with all his heart: he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam, with which he made Israel to sin.

32 In those days Yahweh began to cut off from Israel: and Hazael struck them in all the borders of Israel; 33 from the Jordan eastward, all the land of Gilead, the Gadites, and the Reubenites, and the Manassites, from Aroer, which is by the valley of the Arnon, even Gilead and Bashan. 34 Now the rest of the acts of Jehu, and all that he did, and all his might, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 35 And Jehu slept with his fathers; and they buried him in Samaria. And Jehoahaz his son reigned in his stead. 36 And the time that Jehu reigned over Israel in Samaria was twenty and eight years.

11  Now when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal seed. 2 But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him away from among the king's sons who were slain, even him and his nurse [and put them] in the bedchamber; and they hid him from Athaliah, so that he was not slain; 3 And he was hid with her in the house of Yahweh six years. And Athaliah reigned over the land.

4 And in the seventh year Jehoiada sent and fetched the captains over hundreds of the Carites and of the guard, and brought them to him into the house of Yahweh; and he made a covenant with them, and took an oath of them in the house of Yahweh, and showed them the king's son. 5 And he commanded them, saying, This is the thing that you+ will do: a third part of you+, that come in on the Sabbath, will be keepers of the watch of the king's house; 6 And a third part will be at the gate Sur; and a third part at the gate behind the guard: so you+ will keep the watch of the house, and be a barrier. 7 And the two companies of you+, even all who go forth on the Sabbath, will keep the watch of the house of Yahweh about the king. 8 And you+ will circle the king round about, every man with his weapons in his hand; and he who comes inside the ranks, let him be slain: and be+ with the king when he goes out, and when he comes in.

9 And the captains over hundreds did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded; and they took every man his men, those who were to come in on the Sabbath, with those who were to go out on the Sabbath, and came to Jehoiada the priest. 10 And the priest delivered to the captains over hundreds the spears and shields that had been king David's, which were in the house of Yahweh. 11 And the guard stood, every man with his weapons in his hand, from the right side of the house to the left side of the house, along by the altar and the house, by the king round about. 12 Then he brought out the king's son, and put the crown on him, and [gave him] the testimony; and they made him king, and anointed him; and they clapped their hands, and said, [Long] live the king.

13 And when Athaliah heard the noise of the guard [and of] the people, she came to the people into the house of Yahweh: 14 and she looked and saw that the king stood by the pillar, as the manner was, and the captains and the trumpets by the king; and all the people of the land rejoiced, and blew trumpets. Then Athaliah rent her clothes, and cried, Treason! Treason! 15 And Jehoiada the priest commanded the captains of hundreds who were set over the host, and said to them, Bring her forth between the ranks; and slay him who follows her with the sword. For the priest said, Don't let her be slain in the house of Yahweh. 16 So they made way for her; and she went by the way of the horses' entry to the king's house: and there she was slain.

17 And Jehoiada made a covenant between Yahweh and the king and the people, that they should be Yahweh's people; between the king also and the people. 18 And all the people of the land went to the house of Baal, and broke it down; his altars and his images they broke in pieces thoroughly, and slew Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. And the priest appointed officers over the house of Yahweh. 19 And he took the captains over hundreds, and the Carites, and the guard, and all the people of the land; and they brought down the king from the house of Yahweh, and came by the way of the gate of the guard to the king's house. And he sat on the throne of the kings. 20 So all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet. And they had slain Athaliah with the sword at the king's house. 21 Jehoash was seven years old when he began to reign.

12  In the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash began to reign; and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Zibiah of Beer-sheba. 2 And Jehoash did that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh all his days in which Jehoiada the priest instructed him. 3 Nevertheless the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense in the high places.

4 And Jehoash said to the priests, All the silver of the hallowed things that is brought into the house of Yahweh: the silver from a man who passes over [to be numbered]; the silver from the estimation of souls; and all the silver that comes into any man's heart to bring into the house of Yahweh; 5 let the priests take it to them, every man from his acquaintance; and they will repair the breaches of the house, wherever any breach will be found. 6 But it was so, that in the three and twentieth year of King Jehoash the priests had not repaired the breaches of the house. 7 Then King Jehoash called for Jehoiada the priest, and for the [other] priests, and said to them, Why aren't you+ repairing the breaches of the house? Now therefore take no [more] silver from your+ acquaintance, but deliver it for the breaches of the house. 8 And the priests consented that they should take no [more] silver from the people, neither repair the breaches of the house.

9 But Jehoiada the priest took a chest, and bored a hole in the lid of it, and set it beside the altar, on the right side as one comes into the house of Yahweh: and the priests who kept the threshold put in it all the silver that was brought into the house of Yahweh. 10 And it was so, when they saw that there was much silver in the chest, that the king's scribe and the high priest came up, and they put in bags and counted the silver that was found in the house of Yahweh. 11 And they gave the silver that was weighed out into the hands of those who did the work, that had the oversight of the house of Yahweh: and they paid it out to the carpenters and the builders, that wrought on the house of Yahweh, 12 and to the masons and the hewers of stone, and for buying timber and cut stone to repair the breaches of the house of Yahweh, and for all that was laid out for the house to repair it. 13 But there were not made for the house of Yahweh cups of silver, snuffers, basins, trumpets, any vessels of gold, or vessels of silver, of the silver that was brought into the house of Yahweh; 14 for they gave that to those who did the work, and repaired the house of Yahweh with it. 15 Moreover they did not reckon with the men, into whose hand they delivered the silver to give to those who did the work; for they dealt faithfully. 16 The silver for the trespass-offerings, and the silver for the sin-offerings, was not brought into the house of Yahweh: it was the priests'.

17 Then Hazael king of Syria went up, and fought against Gath, and took it; and Hazael set his face to go up to Jerusalem. 18 And Jehoash king of Judah took all the hallowed things that Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah, his fathers, kings of Judah, had dedicated, and his own hallowed things, and all the gold that was found in the treasures of the house of Yahweh, and of the king's house, and sent it to Hazael king of Syria: and he went away from Jerusalem.

19 Now the rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 20 And his slaves arose, and made a conspiracy, and struck Joash at the house of Millo, [on the way] that goes down to Silla. 21 For Jozacar the son of Shimeath, and Jehozabad the son of Shomer, his slaves, struck him, and he died; and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David: and Amaziah his son reigned in his stead.

13  In the three and twentieth year of Joash the son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, Jehoahaz the son of Jehu began to reign over Israel in Samaria, [and reigned] seventeen years. 2 And he did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, and followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin; he did not depart therefrom. 3 And the anger of Yahweh was kindled against Israel, and he delivered them into the hand of Hazael king of Syria, and into the hand of Benhadad the son of Hazael, continually. 4 And Jehoahaz implored Yahweh, and Yahweh listened to him; for he saw the oppression of Israel, how that the king of Syria oppressed them. 5 (And Yahweh gave Israel a savior, so that they went out from under the hand of the Syrians; and the sons of Israel dwelt in their tents as formerly. 6 Nevertheless they did not depart from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, with which he made Israel to sin, but they walked in them: and the Asherah also remained in Samaria.) 7 For he did not leave to Jehoahaz of the people but fifty horsemen, and ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen; for the king of Syria destroyed them, and made them like the dust in threshing. 8 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz, and all that he did, and his might, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 9 And Jehoahaz slept with his fathers; and they buried him in Samaria: and Joash his son reigned in his stead.

10 In the thirty and seventh year of Joash king of Judah, Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz began to reign over Israel in Samaria, [and reigned] sixteen years. 11 And he did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh; he did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin; but he walked in them. 12 Now the rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he did, and his might with which he fought against Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 13 And Joash slept with his fathers; and Jeroboam sat on his throne: and Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.

14 Now Elisha had fallen sick of his sickness of which he died: and Joash the king of Israel came down to him, and wept over him, and said, My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen! 15 And Elisha said to him, Take a bow and arrows; and he took to himself a bow and arrows. 16 And he said to the king of Israel, Put your hand on the bow; and he put his hand [on it]. And Elisha laid his hands on the king's hands. 17 And he said, Open the window eastward; and he opened it. Then Elisha said, Shoot; and he shot. And he said, Yahweh's arrow of victory, even the arrow of victory over Syria; for you will strike the Syrians in Aphek, until you have consumed them. 18 And he said, Take the arrows; and he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, Strike on the ground; and he struck three times, and stopped. 19 And the man of God was angry with him, and said, You should have struck five or six times: then you would have struck Syria until you had consumed it, whereas now you will strike Syria but three times.

20 And Elisha died, and they buried him. Now the bands of the Moabites invaded the land at the coming in of the year. 21 And it came to pass, as they were burying a man, that, look, they spied a band; and they hastily put[260] the man into the tomb of Elisha. And they went [in], and as soon as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his feet.

22 And Hazael king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz. 23 But Yahweh was gracious to them, and had compassion on them, and had respect to them, because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them, neither did he cast them from his presence as yet. 24 And Hazael king of Syria died; and Benhadad his son reigned in his stead. 25 And Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz took again out of the hand of Benhadad the son of Hazael the cities which he had taken out of the hand of Jehoahaz his father by war. Three times Joash struck him, and recovered the cities of Israel.

14  In the second year of Joash son of Joahaz king of Israel, Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah began to reign. 2 He was twenty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Jehoaddin of Jerusalem. 3 And he did that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh, yet not like David his father: he did according to all that Joash his father had done. 4 Nevertheless the high places were not taken away: the people still sacrificed and burned incense in the high places. 5 And it came to pass, as soon as the kingdom was established in his hand, that he slew his slaves who had slain the king his father: 6 but the sons of the murderers he did not put to death; according to that which is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, as Yahweh commanded, saying, The fathers will not be put to death for the sons, nor the sons be put to death for the fathers; but every man will die for his own sin. 7 He slew of Edom in the Valley of Salt ten thousand, and took Sela by war, and called the name of it Joktheel, to this day.

8 Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, Come, let us look one another in the face. 9 And Jehoash the king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, Give your daughter to my son as wife: and there passed by a wild beast that was in Lebanon, and trod down the thistle. 10 You have indeed struck Edom, and your heart has lifted you up: glory of it, and remain at home; for why should you meddle to [your] hurt, that you should fall, even you, and Judah with you?

11 But Amaziah would not hear. So Jehoash king of Israel went up; and he and Amaziah king of Judah looked one another in the face at Beth-shemesh, which belongs to Judah. 12 And Judah was put to the worse before Israel; and they fled every man to his tent. 13 And Jehoash king of Israel took Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Jehoash the son of Ahaziah, at Beth-shemesh, and came to Jerusalem, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim to the corner gate, four hundred cubits. 14 And he took all the gold and silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of Yahweh, and in the treasures of the king's house, the hostages also, and returned to Samaria.

15 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoash which he did, and his might, and how he fought with Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 16 And Jehoash slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel; and Jeroboam his son reigned in his stead.

17 And Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah lived fifteen years after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel. 18 Now the rest of the acts of Amaziah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 19 And they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem; and he fled to Lachish: but they sent after him to Lachish, and slew him there. 20 And they brought him on horses; and he was buried at Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David. 21 And all the people of Judah took Azariah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in the place of his father Amaziah. 22 He built Elath, and restored it to Judah, after that the king slept with his fathers.

23 In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah, Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel began to reign in Samaria, [and reigned] forty and one years. 24 And he did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh: he did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin. 25 He restored the border of Israel from the entrance of Hamath to the sea of the Arabah, according to the word of Yahweh, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his slave Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was of Gath-hepher. 26 For Yahweh saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter; for there was none shut up nor left at large, neither was there any helper for Israel. 27 And Yahweh didn't say that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven; but he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash.

28 Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, and all that he did, and his might, how he warred, and how he recovered Damascus, and Hamath, [which had belonged] to Judah, for Israel, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 29 And Jeroboam slept with his fathers, even with the kings of Israel; and Zechariah his son reigned in his stead.

15  In the twenty and seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Azariah son of Amaziah king of Judah began to reign. 2 He was sixteen years old when he began to reign; and he reigned two and fifty years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. 3 And he did that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh, according to all that his father Amaziah had done. 4 Nevertheless the high places were not taken away: the people still sacrificed and burned incense in the high places. 5 And Yahweh struck the king, so that he was a leper to the day of his death, and dwelt in a separate house. And Jotham the king's son was over the household, judging the people of the land. 6 Now the rest of the acts of Azariah, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 7 And Azariah slept with his fathers; and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David: and Jotham his son reigned in his stead.

8 In the thirty and eighth year of Azariah king of Judah, Zechariah the son of Jeroboam reigned over Israel in Samaria six months. 9 And he did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, as his fathers had done: he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin. 10 And Shallum the son of Jabesh conspired against him, and struck him before the people, and slew him, and reigned in his stead. 11 Now the rest of the acts of Zechariah, look, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. 12 This was the word of Yahweh which he spoke to Jehu, saying, Your sons to the fourth generation will sit on the throne of Israel. And so it came to pass.

13 Shallum the son of Jabesh began to reign in the nine and thirtieth year of Uzziah king of Judah; and he reigned the space of a month in Samaria. 14 And Menahem the son of Gadi went up from Tirzah, and came to Samaria, and struck Shallum the son of Jabesh in Samaria, and slew him, and reigned in his stead. 15 Now the rest of the acts of Shallum, and his conspiracy which he made, look, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. 16 Then Menahem struck Tiphsah, and all who were in it, and its borders, from Tirzah: because they did not open to him, therefore he struck it; and all the women in it who were pregnant he ripped up.

17 In the nine and thirtieth year of Azariah king of Judah, Menahem the son of Gadi began to reign over Israel, [and reigned] ten years in Samaria. 18 And he did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh: he did not depart all his days from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin. 19 There came against the land Pul the king of Assyria; and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver, that his hand might be with him to confirm the kingdom in his hand. 20 And Menahem exacted the silver of Israel, even of all the mighty men of wealth, of each man fifty shekels of silver, to give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria turned back, and didn't remain there in the land. 21 Now the rest of the acts of Menahem, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 22 And Menahem slept with his fathers; and Pekahiah his son reigned in his stead.

23 In the fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekahiah the son of Menahem began to reign over Israel in Samaria, [and reigned] two years. 24 And he did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh: he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin. 25 And Pekah the son of Remaliah, his captain, conspired against him, and struck him in Samaria, in the castle of the king's house, with Argob and Arieh; and with him were fifty men of the Gileadites: and he slew him, and reigned in his stead. 26 Now the rest of the acts of Pekahiah, and all that he did, look, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.

27 In the two and fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekah the son of Remaliah began to reign over Israel in Samaria, [and reigned] twenty years. 28 And he did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh: he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin.

29 In the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, and took Ijon, and Abel-beth-maacah, and Janoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali; and he carried them captive to Assyria. 30 And Hoshea the son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, and struck him, and slew him, and reigned in his stead, in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah. 31 Now the rest of the acts of Pekah, and all that he did, look, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.

32 In the second year of Pekah the son of Remaliah king of Israel, Jotham the son of Uzziah king of Judah began to reign. 33 He was five and twenty years old when he began to reign; and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Jerusha the daughter of Zadok. 34 And he did that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh; he did according to all that his father Uzziah had done. 35 Nevertheless the high places were not taken away: the people still sacrificed and burned incense in the high places. He built the upper gate of the house of Yahweh. 36 Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 37 In those days Yahweh began to send against Judah, Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah. 38 And Jotham slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father: and Ahaz his son reigned in his stead.

16  In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, Ahaz the son of Jotham king of Judah began to reign. 2 Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign; and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: and he did not do that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh his God, like David his father. 3 But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, yes, and made his son to pass through the fire, according to the disgusting behaviors of the nations, whom Yahweh cast out from before the sons of Israel. 4 And he sacrificed and burned incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree.

5 Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to war: and they besieged Ahaz, but could not overcome him. 6 At that time Rezin king of Syria recovered Elath to Syria, and drove the Jews from Elath; and the Edomites came to Elath, and dwelt there, to this day.

7 So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, I am your slave and your son: come up, and save me out of the hand of the king of Syria, and out of the hand of the king of Israel, who rise up against me. 8 And Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of Yahweh, and in the treasures of the king's house, and sent it for a present to the king of Assyria. 9 And the king of Assyria listened to him; and the king of Assyria went up against Damascus, and took it, and carried [the people of] it captive to Kir, and slew Rezin.

10 And King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, and saw the altar that was at Damascus; and King Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest the fashion of the altar, and the pattern of it, according to all its workmanship. 11 And Urijah the priest built an altar: according to all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, so Urijah the priest made it against the coming of King Ahaz from Damascus. 12 And when the king came from Damascus, the king saw the altar: and the king drew near to the altar, and offered on it. 13 And he burned his burnt-offering and his meal-offering, and poured his drink-offering, and sprinkled the blood of his peace-offerings, on the altar. 14 And the bronze altar, which was before Yahweh, he brought from the forefront of the house, from between his altar and the house of Yahweh, and put it on the north side of his altar. 15 And King Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest, saying, On the great altar burn the morning burnt-offering, and the evening meal-offering, and the king's burnt-offering, and his meal-offering, with the burnt-offering of all the people of the land, and their meal-offering, and their drink-offerings; and sprinkle on it all the blood of the burnt-offering, and all the blood of the sacrifice: but the bronze altar will be for me to inquire by. 16 Thus did Urijah the priest, according to all that King Ahaz commanded.

17 And King Ahaz cut off the panels of the bases, and removed the basin from off them, and took down the sea from off the bronze oxen that were under it, and put it on a pavement of stone. 18 And the covered way for the Sabbath that they had built in the house, and the king's entry outside, he turned to the house of Yahweh, because of the king of Assyria. 19 Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz which he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 20 And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David: and Hezekiah his son reigned in his stead.

17  In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea the son of Elah began to reign in Samaria over Israel, [and reigned] nine years. 2 And he did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, yet not as the kings of Israel who were before him. 3 Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria; and Hoshea became his slave, and brought him tribute. 4 And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea; for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and offered no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year: therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison. 5 Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years. 6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away to Assyria, and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

7 And it was so, because the sons of Israel had sinned against Yahweh their God, who brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and had feared other gods; 8 and walked in the statutes of the nations, whom Yahweh cast out from before the sons of Israel; and [walked in the statutes] which the kings of Israel made. 9 And the sons of Israel secretly did things that were not right against Yahweh their God: and they built themselves high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city; 10 and they set themselves up pillars and Asherim on every high hill, and under every green tree; 11 and there they burned incense in all the high places, as did the nations whom Yahweh carried away before them; and they wrought wicked things to provoke Yahweh to anger; 12 and they served idols, of which Yahweh had said to them, You+ will not do this thing. 13 Yet Yahweh testified to Israel, and to Judah, by every prophet, and every seer, saying, Turn+ from your+ evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your+ fathers, and which I sent to you+ by my slaves the prophets. 14 Notwithstanding, they would not hear, but hardened their neck, like the neck of their fathers, who didn't believe in Yahweh their God. 15 And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified to them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and [went] after the nations that were round about them, concerning whom Yahweh had charged them that they should not act like them. 16 And they forsook all the commandments of Yahweh their God, and made themselves molten images, even two calves, and made an Asherah, and worshiped all the host of heaven, and served Baal. 17 And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and told the future and used magic, and sold themselves to do that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, to provoke him to anger. 18 Therefore Yahweh was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.

19 Also Judah did not keep the commandments of Yahweh their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made. 20 And Yahweh rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight. 21 For he rent Israel from the house of David; and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king: and Jeroboam drove Israel from following Yahweh, and made them sin a great sin. 22 And the sons of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they did not depart from them; 23 until Yahweh removed Israel out of his sight, as he spoke by all his slaves the prophets. So Israel was carried away out of their own land to Assyria to this day.

24 And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Avva, and from Hamath and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the sons of Israel; and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in its cities. 25 And so it was, at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they didn't fear Yahweh: therefore Yahweh sent lions among them, which killed some of them. 26 Therefore they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which you have carried away, and placed in the cities of Samaria, don't know the law of the god of the land: therefore he has sent lions among them, and, look, they slay them, because they don't know the law of the god of the land.

27 Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry there one of the priests whom you+ brought from there; and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach them the law of the god of the land. 28 So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Beth-el, and taught them how they should fear Yahweh. 29 Nevertheless every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities in which they dwelt. 30 And the men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima, 31 and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites burned their sons in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim. 32 So they feared Yahweh, and made to them from among themselves priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places. 33 They feared Yahweh, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away.

34 To this day they do after the former manner: they don't fear Yahweh, neither do they act after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law or after the commandment which Yahweh commanded the sons of Jacob, whom he named Israel; 35 with whom Yahweh had made a covenant, and charged them, saying, You+ will not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them: 36 but Yahweh, who brought you+ up out of the land of Egypt with great power and with an outstretched arm, him you+ will fear, and to him you+ will bow yourselves, and to him you+ will sacrifice: 37 and the statutes and the ordinances, and the law and the commandment, which he wrote for you+, you+ will observe to do forevermore; and you+ will not fear other gods: 38 and the covenant that I have made with you+ you+ will not forget; neither will you+ fear other gods: 39 but Yahweh your+ God you+ will fear; and he will deliver you+ out of the hand of all your+ enemies. 40 Nevertheless they did not listen, but they did after their former manner. 41 So these nations feared Yahweh, and served their graven images; their sons likewise, and the sons of their sons, as did their fathers, so they do to this day.

18  Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. 2 He was twenty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah. 3 And he did that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh, according to all that David his father had done. 4 He removed the high places, and broke the pillars, and cut down the Asherah: and he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made; for in those days the sons of Israel burned incense to it; and he called it Nehushtan. 5 He trusted in Yahweh, the God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor [among them] who were before him. 6 For he stuck to Yahweh; he did not depart from following him, but kept his commandments, which Yahweh commanded Moses. 7 And Yahweh was with him; wherever he went forth he prospered: and he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and did not serve him. 8 He struck the Philistines to Gaza and its borders, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city.

9 And it came to pass in the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria, and besieged it. 10 And at the end of three years they took it: in the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken. 11 And the king of Assyria carried Israel away to Assyria, and put them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, 12 because they didn't obey the voice of Yahweh their God, but transgressed his covenant, even all that Moses the slave of Yahweh commanded, and would not hear it, nor do it.

13 Now in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah, and took them. 14 And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, I have offended; return from me: that which you put on me I will bear. And the king of Assyria appointed to Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. 15 And Hezekiah gave [him] all the silver that was found in the house of Yahweh, and in the treasures of the king's house. 16 At that time Hezekiah cut off [the gold from] the doors of the temple of Yahweh, and [from] the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria. 17 And the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rab-saris and Rabshakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah with a great army to Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they had come up, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is in the highway of the fuller's field. 18 And when they had called to the king, there came out to them Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebnah the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder.

19 And Rabshakeh said to them, Say+ now to Hezekiah, Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this in which you trust? 20 You say (but they are but vain words), [There is] counsel and strength for the war. Now on whom do you trust, that you have rebelled against me? 21 Now, look, you trust on the staff of this bruised reed, even on Egypt; on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust on him. 22 But if you+ say to me, We trust in Yahweh our God; isn't that he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, You+ will worship before this altar in Jerusalem? 23 Now therefore, I pray you, give pledges to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. 24 How then can you turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master's slaves, and put your trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? 25 Have I now come up without Yahweh against this place to destroy it? Yahweh said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.

26 Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebnah, and Joah, said to Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray you, to your slaves in the Syrian language; for we understand it: and don't speak with us in the Jews' language, in the ears of the people who are on the wall. 27 But Rabshakeh said to them, Has my master sent me to your master, and to you, to speak these words? [Has he] not [sent me] to the men who sit on the wall, to eat their own feces, and to drink their own urine with you+? 28 Then Rabshakeh stood, and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and spoke, saying, Hear+ the word of the great king, the king of Assyria. 29 Thus says the king, Don't let Hezekiah deceive you+; for he will not be able to deliver you+ out of his hand: 30 neither let Hezekiah make you+ trust in Yahweh, saying, Yahweh will surely deliver us, and this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. 31 Don't listen to Hezekiah: for thus says the king of Assyria, Make your+ peace with me, and come out to me; and eat+ every one of his vine, and every one of his fig tree, and drink+ every one the waters of his own cistern; 32 Until I come and take you+ away to a land like your+ own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and of honey, that you+ may live, and not die: and don't listen to Hezekiah, when he persuades you+, saying, Yahweh will deliver us. 33 Have any of the gods of the nations ever delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? 34 Where are the gods of Hamath, and of Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? 35 Who are they among all the gods of the countries, that have delivered their country out of my hand, that Yahweh should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?

36 But the people held their peace, and did not answer him a word; for the king's commandment was, saying, Don't answer him. 37 Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah came, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes rent, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.

19  And it came to pass, when King Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of Yahweh. 2 And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz. 3 And they said to him, Thus says Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of disgrace; for the children have come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth. 4 It may be Yahweh your God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to defy the living God, and will rebuke the words which Yahweh your God has heard: therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant who is left. 5 So the slaves of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah. 6 And Isaiah said to them, Thus you+ will say to your+ master, Thus says Yahweh, Don't be afraid of the words that you have heard, with which the attendants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. 7 Look, I will put a spirit in him, and he will hear [some] news, and will return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land. 8 So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah; for he had heard that he had departed from Lachish. 9 And when he heard it said of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, Look, he has come out to fight against you, he sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying, 10 Thus you+ will speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Don't let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. 11 Look, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them completely: and will you be delivered? 12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them, which my fathers have destroyed, Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the sons of Eden who were in Telassar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah?

14 And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of Yahweh, and spread it before Yahweh. 15 And Hezekiah prayed before Yahweh, and said, O Yahweh, the God of Israel, who sits [above] the cherubim, you are the God, even you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. 16 Incline your ear, O Yahweh, and hear; open your eyes, O Yahweh, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, with which he has sent him to defy the living God. 17 Of a truth, Yahweh, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations, 18 and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were no gods, but the work of man's hands, wood and stone; therefore they have destroyed them. 19 Now therefore, O Yahweh our God, save us, I urge you, out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you Yahweh are God alone.

20 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, Whereas you have prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, I have heard [you]. 21 This is the word that Yahweh has spoken concerning him: The virgin daughter of Zion has despised you and laughed you to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at you. 22 Whom have you defied and blasphemed? And against whom have you exalted your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? [Even] against the Holy One of Israel. 23 By your messengers you have defied the Lord, and have said, When I mount my chariot I will come up to the height of the mountains, to the innermost parts of Lebanon; and I will cut down its tall cedars, and its choice fir-trees; and I will enter into its farthest lodging-place, its park forest. 24 I have dug and drank strange waters, and with the sole of my feet I will dry up all the rivers of Egypt.

25 Have you not heard how I had done it long ago, and formed it of ancient times? Now I have brought it to pass, that it should be yours to lay waste fortified cities into ruinous heaps. 26 Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded; they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, and as grain blighted before it is grown up. 27 I know your rising up, and your sitting down, and your going out, and your coming in, and your raging against me. 28 Because of your raging against me, and because your arrogance has come up into my ears, therefore I will put my hook in your nose, and my bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way by which you came.

29 And this will be the sign to you: you+ will eat this year that which grows of itself, and in the second year that which springs of the same; and in the third year you+ will sow, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. 30 And the remnant that has escaped of the house of Judah will again take root downward, and bear fruit upward. 31 For out of Jerusalem will go forth a remnant, and out of mount Zion those who will escape: the zeal of Yahweh will perform this. 32 Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning the king of Assyria, He will not come to this city, nor shoot an arrow there, neither will he come before it with shield, nor cast up a mound against it. 33 By the way that he came, by the same he will return, and he will not come to this city, says Yahweh. 34 For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake, and for my slave David's sake.

35 And it came to pass that night, that the angel of Yahweh went forth, and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians: and when men arose early in the morning, look, these were all dead bodies. 36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh. 37 And it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esar-haddon his son reigned in his stead.

20  In those days Hezekiah was sick to death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, Thus says Yahweh, Set your house in order: for you will die, and not live. 2 Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed to Yahweh, saying, 3 Remember now, O Yahweh, I urge you, how I have walked before you in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in your sight. And Hezekiah wept intensely. 4 And it came to pass, before Isaiah had gone out into the middle part of the city, that the word of Yahweh came to him, saying, 5 Turn back, and say to Hezekiah the leader of my people, Thus says Yahweh, the God of David your father, I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears: look, I will heal you; on the third day you will go up to the house of Yahweh. 6 And I will add to your days fifteen years; and I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for my own sake, and for my slave David's sake. 7 And Isaiah said, Take a cake of figs. And they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered.

8 And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, What will be the sign that Yahweh will heal me, and that I will go up to the house of Yahweh the third day? 9 And Isaiah said, This will be the sign to you from Yahweh, that Yahweh will do the thing that he has spoken: The shadow has gone forward ten steps. Shall it come back ten steps? 10 And Hezekiah answered, It is an easy thing for the shadow to decline ten steps, no,[261] but let the shadow return backward ten steps. 11 And Isaiah the prophet cried to Yahweh; and he brought back the shadow on the steps it had gone down, on the steps of Ahaz, backward ten steps.

12 At that time Berodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah; for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick. 13 And Hezekiah listened to them, and showed them all the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious oil, and the house of his armor, and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah did not show them. 14 Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah, and said to him, What did these men say? And from where did they come to you? And Hezekiah said, They have come from a far country, even from Babylon. 15 And he said, What have they seen in your house? And Hezekiah answered, All that is in my house they have seen: there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them.

16 And Isaiah said to Hezekiah, Hear the word of Yahweh. 17 Look, the days come, that all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have laid up in store to this day, will be carried to Babylon: nothing will be left, says Yahweh. 18 And of your sons who will issue from you, whom you will beget, they will take away; and they will be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. 19 Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, The word of Yahweh which you have spoken is good. He said moreover, Is it not so, if peace and truth will be in my days? 20 Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made the pool, and the conduit, and brought water into the city, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 21 And Hezekiah slept with his fathers; and Manasseh his son reigned in his stead.

21  Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign; and he reigned five and fifty years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Hephzibah. 2 And he did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, after the disgusting behaviors of the nations whom Yahweh cast out before the sons of Israel. 3 For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made an Asherah, as did Ahab king of Israel, and worshiped all the host of heaven, and served them. 4 And he built altars in the house of Yahweh, of which Yahweh said, In Jerusalem I will put my name. 5 And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of Yahweh. 6 And he made his son to pass through the fire, and interpreted omens, and used magic, and dealt with spiritists and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of Yahweh, to provoke him to anger. 7 And he set the graven image of Asherah, that he had made, in the house of which Yahweh said to David and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever; 8 neither will I cause the feet of Israel to wander anymore out of the land which I gave their fathers, if only they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that my slave Moses commanded them. 9 But they didn't listen: and Manasseh seduced them to do that which is evil more than did the nations whom Yahweh destroyed before the sons of Israel.

10 And Yahweh spoke by his slaves the prophets, saying, 11 Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these disgusting things, and has done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, who were before him, and has made Judah also to sin with his idols; 12 therefore this is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, Look, I bring such evil on Jerusalem and Judah, that whoever hears of it, both his ears will tingle. 13 And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab; and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. 14 And I will cast off the remnant of my inheritance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies; and they will become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies; 15 because they have done that which is evil in my sight, and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt, even to this day.

16 Moreover Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; besides his sin with which he made Judah to sin, in doing that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh. 17 Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and all that he did, and his sin that he sinned, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 18 And Manasseh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza: and Amon his son reigned in his stead.

19 Amon was twenty and two years old when he began to reign; and he reigned two years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Meshullemeth the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah. 20 And he did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, as did Manasseh his father. 21 And he walked in all the way that his father walked in, and served the idols that his father served, and worshiped them: 22 and he forsook Yahweh, the God of his fathers, and didn't walk in the way of Yahweh. 23 And the slaves of Amon conspired against him, and put the king to death in his own house. 24 But the people of the land slew all those who had conspired against King Amon; and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his stead. 25 Now the rest of the acts of Amon which he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 26 And he was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza: and Josiah his son reigned in his stead.

22  Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign; and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath. 2 And he did that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh, and walked in all the way of David his father, and didn't turn aside to the right hand or to the left.

3 And it came to pass in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, that the king sent Shaphan, the son of Azaliah the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of Yahweh, saying, 4 Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may sum the silver which is brought into the house of Yahweh, which the keepers of the threshold have gathered of the people: 5 and let them deliver it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of Yahweh; and let them give it to the workmen who are in the house of Yahweh, to repair the breaches of the house, 6 to the carpenters, and to the builders, and to the masons, and for buying timber and cut stone to repair the house. 7 Nevertheless there was no reckoning made with them of the silver that was delivered into their hand; for they dealt faithfully.

8 And Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, I have found the Book of the Law in the house of Yahweh. And Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan, and he read it. 9 And Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word again, and said, Your slaves have emptied out the silver that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of Yahweh. 10 And Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest has delivered to me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king. 11 And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the Book of the Law, that he rent his clothes. 12 And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Micaiah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king's slave, saying, 13 Go+, inquire of Yahweh for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that was found; for great is the wrath of Yahweh that is kindled against us, because our fathers haven't listened to the words of this book, to do according to all that which is written concerning us.

14 So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asaiah, went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the second quarter); and they communed with her. 15 And she said to them, This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says: Tell+ the man who sent you+ to me, 16 Thus says Yahweh, Look, I will bring evil on this place, and on its inhabitants, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah has read. 17 Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the work of their hands, therefore my wrath will be kindled against this place, and it will not be quenched. 18 But to the king of Judah, who sent you+ to inquire of Yahweh, thus you+ will say to him, This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says: As concerning the words which you have heard, 19 because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before Yahweh, when you heard what I spoke against this place, and against its inhabitants, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and have rent your clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard you, says Yahweh. 20 Therefore, look, I will gather you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your grave in peace, neither will your eyes see all the evil which I will bring on this place. And they brought the king word again.

23  And the king sent, and they gathered to him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem. 2 And the king went up to the house of Yahweh, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great: and he read in their ears all the words of the Book of the Covenant which was found in the house of Yahweh. 3 And the king stood by the pillar, and made a covenant before Yahweh, to walk after Yahweh, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statutes, with all [his] heart, and all [his] soul, to confirm the words of this covenant that were written in this book: and all the people stood to the covenant.

4 And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the threshold, to bring forth out of the temple of Yahweh all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the Asherah, and for all the host of heaven, and he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron, and carried the ashes of them to Beth-el. 5 And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had appointed to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; those also that burned incense to Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven. 6 And he brought out the Asherah from the house of Yahweh, outside Jerusalem, to the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and beat it to dust, and cast its dust on the graves of the common people. 7 And he broke down the houses of the homosexuals, who were in the house of Yahweh, where the women wove hangings for the Asherah. 8 And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beer-sheba; and he broke down the high places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on a man's left hand at the gate of the city. 9 Nevertheless the priests of the high places didn't come up to the altar of Yahweh in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread among their brothers. 10 And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the sons of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech. 11 And he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at the entrance of the house of Yahweh, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the chamberlain, which was in the precincts; and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire. 12 And the altars that were on the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of Yahweh, the king broke down, and beat [them] down from there, and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron. 13 And the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the Mount of Olives,[262] which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the detestable thing of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh the detestable thing of Moab, and for Milcom the disgusting thing of the sons of Ammon, the king defiled. 14 And he broke in pieces the pillars, and cut down the Asherim, and filled their places with man's bones.

15 Moreover the altar that was at Beth-el, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, even that altar and the high place he broke down; and he burned the high place and beat it to dust, and burned the Asherah. 16 And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the tombs that were there in the mount; and he sent, and took the bones out of the tombs, and burned them on the altar, and defiled it, according to the word of Yahweh proclaimed by the man of God when Jeroboam stood at the feast on the altar. And he turned and lifted his eyes on the grave of the man of God who proclaimed these things. 17 Then he said, What monument is that which I see? And the men of the city told him, It is the tomb of the man of God, who came from Judah, and proclaimed these things that you have done against the altar of Beth-el. 18 And he said, Leave him alone; let no man move his bones. So they let his bones remain, with the bones of the prophet who came out of Samaria. 19 And all the houses also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke [Yahweh] to anger, Josiah took away, and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Beth-el. 20 And he slew all the priests of the high places that were there, on the altars, and burned man's bones on them; and he returned to Jerusalem.

21 And the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the Passover to Yahweh your+ God, as it is written in this book of the covenant. 22 Surely there was not kept such a Passover from the days of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah; 23 but in the eighteenth year of King Josiah was this Passover kept to Yahweh in Jerusalem.

24 Moreover the spiritists, and the wizards, and the talismans, and the idols, and all the detestable things that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, Josiah put away, that he might confirm the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of Yahweh. 25 And like him there was no king before him, that turned to Yahweh with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him did there arise any like him.

26 Notwithstanding, Yahweh did not turn from the fierceness of his great wrath, with which his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked him. 27 And Yahweh said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and I will cast off this city which I have chosen, even Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, My name will be there.

28 Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 29 In his days Pharaoh-necoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates: and King Josiah went against him; and [Pharaoh-necoh] slew him at Megiddo, when he had seen him. 30 And his slaves carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own tomb. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father's stead.

31 Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 32 And he did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, according to all that his fathers had done. 33 And Pharaoh-necoh put him in bonds at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and put the land to a tribute of a hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold. 34 And Pharaoh-necoh made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the place of Josiah his father, and changed his name to Jehoiakim: but he took Jehoahaz away; and he came to Egypt, and died there. 35 And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh; but he taxed the land to give the silver according to the mouth of Pharaoh: he exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, of every one according to his taxation, to give it to Pharaoh-necoh.

36 Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Zebidah the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah. 37 And he did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, according to all that his fathers had done.

24  In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his slave three years: then he turned and rebelled against him. 2 And Yahweh sent against him bands of the Chaldeans, and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the sons of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of Yahweh, which he spoke by his slaves the prophets. 3 Surely according to the mouth of Yahweh this came upon Judah, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did, 4 and also for the innocent blood that he shed; for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood: and Yahweh would not pardon. 5 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 6 So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers; and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead. 7 And the king of Egypt didn't come again anymore out of his land; for the king of Babylon had taken, from the brook of Egypt to the river Euphrates, all that pertained to the king of Egypt.

8 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign; and he reigned in Jerusalem three months: and his mother's name was Nehushta the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. 9 And he did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, according to all that his father had done.

10 At that time the slaves of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up to Jerusalem, and the city was besieged. 11 And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to the city, while his slaves were besieging it; 12 and Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his slaves, and his princes, and his officers: and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign. 13 And he carried out from there all the treasures of the house of Yahweh, and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold, which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of Yahweh, as Yahweh had said. 14 And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valor, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and the blacksmiths; none remained, except the poorest sort of the people of the land. 15 And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon; and the king's mother, and the king's wives, and his officers, and the chief men of the land, he carried into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. 16 And all the men of might, even seven thousand, and the craftsmen and the blacksmiths a thousand, all of them strong and apt for war, even them the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon. 17 And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah, [Jehoiachin's] father's brother, king in his stead, and changed his name to Zedekiah.

18 Zedekiah was twenty and one years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 19 And he did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. 20 For through the anger of Yahweh it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, until he had cast them out from his presence.

And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.  25  And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and encamped against it; and they built forts against it round about. 2 So the city was besieged to the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. 3 On the ninth day of the [fourth] month the famine was intense in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land. 4 Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war [fled] by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king's garden, while the Chaldeans were against the city all around; and [the king] went by the way of the Arabah. 5 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him. 6 Then they took the king, and carried him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah; and they gave judgment on him. 7 And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him in fetters, and carried him to Babylon.

8 Now in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, a slave of the king of Babylon, to Jerusalem. 9 And he burned the house of Yahweh, and the king's house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great house, he burned with fire. 10 And all the army of the Chaldeans, who were [with] the captain of the guard, broke down the walls of Jerusalem round about. 11 And the residue of the people who were left in the city, and those who fell away, who fell to the king of Babylon, and the residue of the multitude, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive. 12 But the captain of the guard left of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and husbandmen.

13 And the pillars of bronze that were in the house of Yahweh, and the bases and the bronze sea that were in the house of Yahweh, the Chaldeans broke in pieces, and carried the bronze of them to Babylon. 14 And the pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the spoons, and all the vessels of bronze with which they ministered, they took away. 15 And the firepans, and the basins, that which was of gold, in gold, and that which was of silver, in silver, the captain of the guard took away. 16 The two pillars, the one sea, and the bases, which Solomon had made for the house of Yahweh, the bronze of all these vessels was without weight. 17 The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and a capital of bronze was on it; and the height of the capital was three cubits, with network and pomegranates on the capital round about, all of bronze: and like these had the second pillar with network.

18 And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold: 19 and out of the city he took an officer who was set over the men of war; and five men of those who saw the king's face, who were found in the city; and the scribe, the captain of the host, who mustered the people of the land; and threescore men of the people of the land, who were found in the city. 20 And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah. 21 And the king of Babylon struck them, and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried away captive out of his land.

22 And as for the people who were left in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left, even over them he made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, governor. 23 Now when all the captains of the forces, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the son of the Maacathite, they and their men. 24 And Gedaliah swore to them and to their men, and said to them, Don't be afraid because of the slaves of the Chaldeans: dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it will be well with you+. 25 But it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal seed, came, and ten men with him, and struck Gedaliah, so that he died, and the Jews and the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah. 26 And all the people, both small and great, and the captains of the forces, arose, and came to Egypt; for they were afraid of the Chaldeans.

27 And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, that Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah out of prison; 28 and he spoke kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon, 29 and changed his prison garments. And [Jehoiachin] ate bread before him continually all the days of his life: 30 and for his allowance, there was a continual allowance given to him of the king, every day a portion, all the days of his life.

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I Chronicles

1  Adam, Seth, Enosh, 2 Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, 3 Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, 4 Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

5 The sons of Japheth: Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras. 6 And the sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, and Diphath, and Togarmah. 7 And the sons of Javan: Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Rodanim.

8 The sons of Ham: Cush, and Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. 9 And the sons of Cush: Seba, and Havilah, and Sabta, and Raama, and Sabteca. And the sons of Raamah: Sheba, and Dedan. 10 And Cush begot Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one in the earth. 11 And Mizraim begot Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim, 12 and Pathrusim, and Casluhim, from where the Philistines and Caphtorim came. 13 And Canaan begot Sidon his firstborn, and Heth, 14 and the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgashite, 15 and the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite, 16 and the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite.

17 The sons of Shem: Elam, and Asshur, and Arpachshad, and Lud, and Aram, and Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Meshech. 18 And Arpachshad begot Shelah, and Shelah begot Eber. 19 And to Eber were born two sons: the name of the one was Peleg; for in his days the earth was divided; and his brother's name was Joktan. 20 And Joktan begot Almodad, and Sheleph, and Hazarmaveth, and Jerah, 21 and Hadoram, and Uzal, and Diklah, 22 and Ebal, and Abimael, and Sheba, 23 and Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab. All these were the sons of Joktan.

24 Shem, Arpachshad, Shelah, 25 Eber, Peleg, Reu, 26 Serug, Nahor, Terah, 27 Abram (the same is Abraham).

28 The sons of Abraham: Isaac, and Ishmael. 29 These are their generations: the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebaioth; then Kedar, and Adbeel, and Mibsam, 30 Mishma, and Dumah, Massa, Hadad, and Tema, 31 Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. These are the sons of Ishmael.

32 And the sons of Keturah, Abraham's concubine: she bore Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah. And the sons of Jokshan: Sheba, and Dedan. 33 And the sons of Midian: Ephah, and Epher, and Hanoch, and Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the sons of Keturah.

34 And Abraham begot Isaac. The sons of Isaac: Esau, and Israel.

35 The sons of Esau: Eliphaz, Reuel, and Jeush, and Jalam, and Korah. 36 The sons of Eliphaz: Teman, and Omar, Zephi, and Gatam, Kenaz, and Timna, and Amalek. 37 The sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah.

38 And the sons of Seir: Lotan, and Shobal, and Zibeon, and Anah, and Dishon, and Ezer, and Dishan. 39 And the sons of Lotan: Hori, and Homam; and Timna was Lotan's sister. 40 The sons of Shobal: Alian, and Manahath, and Ebal, Shephi, and Onam. And the sons of Zibeon: Aiah, and Anah. 41 The sons of Anah: Dishon. And the sons of Dishon: Hamran, and Eshban, and Ithran, and Cheran. 42 The sons of Ezer: Bilhan, and Zaavan, Akan. The sons of Dishan: Uz, and Aran.

43 Now these are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom, before any king reigned over the sons of Israel: Bela the son of Beor; and the name of his city was Dinhabah. 44 And Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his stead. 45 And Jobab died, and Husham of the land of the Temanites reigned in his stead. 46 And Husham died, and Hadad the son of Bedad, who struck Midian in the field of Moab, reigned in his stead; and the name of his city was Avith. 47 And Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah reigned in his stead. 48 And Samlah died, and Shaul of Rehoboth by the River reigned in his stead. 49 And Shaul died, and Baal-hanan the son of Achbor reigned in his stead. 50 And Baal-hanan died, and Hadad reigned in his stead; and the name of his city was Pai: and his wife's name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Me-zahab. 51 And Hadad died.

And the chiefs of Edom were: chief Timna, chief Aliah, chief Jetheth, 52 chief Oholibamah, chief Elah, chief Pinon, 53 chief Kenaz, chief Teman, chief Mibzar, 54 chief Magdiel, chief Iram. These are the chiefs of Edom.

2  These are the sons of Israel: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun, 2 Dan, Joseph, and Benjamin, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.

3 The sons of Judah: Er, and Onan, and Shelah; which three were born to him of Shua's daughter the Canaanitess. And Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of Yahweh; and he slew him. 4 And Tamar his daughter-in-law bore him Perez and Zerah. All the sons of Judah were five.

5 The sons of Perez: Hezron, and Hamul. 6 And the sons of Zerah: Zimri, and Ethan, and Heman, and Calcol, and Dara; five of them in all. 7 And the sons of Carmi: Achar, the troubler of Israel, who committed a trespass in the devoted thing. 8 And the sons of Ethan: Azariah.

9 The sons also of Hezron, who were born to him: Jerahmeel, and Ram, and Chelubai. 10 And Ram begot Amminadab, and Amminadab begot Nahshon, prince of the sons of Judah; 11 and Nahshon begot Salma, and Salma begot Boaz, 12 and Boaz begot Obed, and Obed begot Jesse; 13 and Jesse begot his firstborn Eliab, and Abinadab the second, and Shimea the third, 14 Nethanel the fourth, Raddai the fifth, 15 Ozem the sixth, David the seventh; 16 and their sisters were Zeruiah and Abigail. And the sons of Zeruiah: Abishai, and Joab, and Asahel, three. 17 And Abigail bore Amasa; and the father of Amasa was Jether the Ishmaelite.

18 And Caleb the son of Hezron begot [children] of Azubah [his] wife, and of Jerioth; and these were her sons: Jesher, and Shobab, and Ardon. 19 And Azubah died, and Caleb took to him Ephrath, who bore him Hur. 20 And Hur begot Uri, and Uri begot Bezalel.

21 And afterward Hezron went in to the daughter of Machir the father of Gilead, whom he took [as wife] when he was threescore years old; and she bore him Segub. 22 And Segub begot Jair, who had three and twenty cities in the land of Gilead. 23 And Geshur and Aram took the towns of Jair from them, with Kenath, and its villages, even threescore cities. All these were the sons of Machir the father of Gilead. 24 And after Hezron died, Caleb went to Ephrathah. And Hezron's wife was Abijah. And she bore him Ashhur the father of Tekoa.

25 And the sons of Jerahmeel the firstborn of Hezron were Ram the firstborn, and Bunah, and Oren, and Ozem, Ahijah. 26 And Jerahmeel had another wife, whose name was Atarah; she was the mother of Onam. 27 And the sons of Ram the firstborn of Jerahmeel were Maaz, and Jamin, and Eker. 28 And the sons of Onam were Shammai, and Jada. And the sons of Shammai: Nadab, and Abishur. 29 And the name of the wife of Abishur was Abihail; and she bore him Ahban, and Molid. 30 And the sons of Nadab: Seled, and Appaim; but Seled died without sons. 31 And the sons of Appaim: Ishi. And the sons of Ishi: Sheshan. And the sons of Sheshan: Ahlai. 32 And the sons of Jada the brother of Shammai: Jether, and Jonathan; and Jether died without sons. 33 And the sons of Jonathan: Peleth, and Zaza. These were the sons of Jerahmeel. 34 Now Sheshan had no sons, but daughters. And Sheshan had a slave, an Egyptian, whose name was Jarha. 35 And Sheshan gave his daughter to Jarha his slave as wife; and she bore him Attai. 36 And Attai begot Nathan, and Nathan begot Zabad, 37 and Zabad begot Ephlal, and Ephlal begot Obed, 38 and Obed begot Jehu, and Jehu begot Azariah, 39 and Azariah begot Helez, and Helez begot Eleasah, 40 and Eleasah begot Sismai, and Sismai begot Shallum, 41 and Shallum begot Jekamiah, and Jekamiah begot Elishama.

42 And the sons of Caleb the brother of Jerahmeel were Mesha his firstborn, who was the father of Ziph; and the sons of Mareshah the father of Hebron. 43 And the sons of Hebron: Korah, and Tappuah, and Rekem, and Shema. 44 And Shema begot Raham, the father of Jorkeam; and Rekem begot Shammai. 45 And the son of Shammai was Maon; and Maon was the father of Beth-zur. 46 And Ephah, Caleb's concubine, bore Haran, and Moza, and Gazez; and Haran begot Gazez. 47 And the sons of Jahdai: Regem, and Jothan, and Geshan, and Pelet, and Ephah, and Shaaph. 48 Maacah, Caleb's concubine, bore Sheber and Tirhanah. 49 She bore also Shaaph the father of Madmannah, Sheva the father of Machbena, and the father of Gibea; and the daughter of Caleb was Achsah.

50 These were the sons of Caleb, the son of Hur, the firstborn of Ephrathah: Shobal the father of Kiriath-jearim, 51 Salma the father of Beth-lehem, Hareph the father of Beth-gader. 52 And Shobal the father of Kiriath-jearim had sons: Haroeh, half of the Menuhoth. 53 And the families of Kiriath-jearim: The Ithrites, and the Puthites, and the Shumathites, and the Mishraites; of them came the Zorathites and the Eshtaolites. 54 The sons of Salma: Beth-lehem, and the Netophathites, Atroth-beth-joab, and half of the Manahathites, the Zorites. 55 And the families of scribes who dwelt at Jabez: the Tirathites, the Shimeathites, the Sucathites. These are the Kenites who came of Hammath, the father of the house of Rechab.

3  Now these were the sons of David, who were born to him in Hebron: the firstborn, Amnon, of Ahinoam the Jezreelitess; the second, Daniel, of Abigail the Carmelitess; 2 the third, Absalom the son of Maacah the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur; the fourth, Adonijah the son of Haggith; 3 the fifth, Shephatiah of Abital; the sixth, Ithream by Eglah his wife: 4 six were born to him in Hebron; and there he reigned seven years and six months. And in Jerusalem he reigned thirty and three years; 5 and these were born to him in Jerusalem: Shimea, and Shobab, and Nathan, and Solomon, four, of Bath-shua the daughter of Ammiel; 6 and Ibhar, and Elishama, and Eliphelet, 7 and Nogah, and Nepheg, and Japhia, 8 and Elishama, and Eliada, and Eliphelet, nine. 9 All these were the sons of David, besides the sons of the concubines; and Tamar was their sister.

10 And Solomon's son was Rehoboam, Abijah his son, Asa his son, Jehoshaphat his son, 11 Joram his son, Ahaziah his son, Joash his son, 12 Amaziah his son, Azariah his son, Jotham his son, 13 Ahaz his son, Hezekiah his son, Manasseh his son, 14 Amon his son, Josiah his son. 15 And the sons of Josiah: the firstborn Johanan, the second Jehoiakim, the third Zedekiah, the fourth Shallum. 16 And the sons of Jehoiakim: Jeconiah his son, Zedekiah his son. 17 And the sons of Jeconiah, the captive: Shealtiel his son, 18 and Malchiram, and Pedaiah, and Shenazzar, Jekamiah, Hoshama, and Nedabiah. 19 And the sons of Pedaiah: Zerubbabel, and Shimei. And the sons of Zerubbabel: Meshullam, and Hananiah; and Shelomith was their sister; 20 and Hashubah, and Ohel, and Berechiah, and Hasadiah, Jushab-hesed, five. 21 And the sons of Hananiah: Pelatiah, and Jeshaiah; the sons of Rephaiah, the sons of Arnan, the sons of Obadiah, the sons of Shecaniah. 22 And the sons of Shecaniah: Shemaiah. And the sons of Shemaiah: Hattush, and Igal, and Bariah, and Neariah, and Shaphat, six. 23 And the sons of Neariah: Elioenai, and Hizkiah, and Azrikam, three. 24 And the sons of Elioenai: Hodaviah, and Eliashib, and Pelaiah, and Akkub, and Johanan, and Delaiah, and Anani, seven.

4  The sons of Judah: Perez, Hezron, and Carmi, and Hur, and Shobal. 2 And Reaiah the son of Shobal begot Jahath; and Jahath begot Ahumai and Lahad. These are the families of the Zorathites. 3 And these were the father of Etam:[263] Jezreel, and Ishma, and Idbash; and the name of their sister was Hazzelelponi; 4 and Penuel the father of Gedor, and Ezer the father of Hushah. These are the sons of Hur, the firstborn of Ephrathah, the father of Beth-lehem. 5 And Ashhur the father of Tekoa had two wives, Helah and Naarah. 6 And Naarah bore him Ahuzzam, and Hepher, and Temeni, and Haahashtari. These were the sons of Naarah. 7 And the sons of Helah were Zereth, Izhar, and Ethnan. 8 And Hakkoz begot Anub, and Zobebah, and the families of Aharhel the son of Harum. 9 And Jabez was more honorable than his brothers: and his mother named him Jabez, saying, Because I bore him with sorrow. 10 And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that you would bless me indeed, and enlarge my border, and that your hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from evil, that it is not to my sorrow! And God granted him that which he requested. 11 And Chelub the brother of Shuhah begot Mehir, who was the father of Eshton. 12 And Eshton begot Beth-rapha, and Paseah, and Tehinnah the father of Ir-nahash. These are the men of Recah. 13 And the sons of Kenaz: Othniel, and Seraiah. And the sons of Othniel: Hathath. 14 And Meonothai begot Ophrah: and Seraiah begot Joab the father of Ge-harashim; for they were craftsmen. 15 And the sons of Caleb the son of Jephunneh: Iru, Elah, and Naam; and the sons of Elah; and Kenaz. 16 And the sons of Jehallelel: Ziph, and Ziphah, Tiria, and Asarel. 17 And the sons of Ezrah: Jether, and Mered, and Epher, and Jalon; and she became pregnant with Miriam, and Shammai, and Ishbah the father of Eshtemoa. 18 And his Jewish wife bore Jered the father of Gedor, and Heber the father of Soco, and Jekuthiel the father of Zanoah. And these are the sons of Bithiah the daughter of Pharaoh, whom Mered took. 19 And the sons of Hodiah's wife, the sister of Naham: Dalia the father of Keilah and Simeon the father of Joman. And the sons of Naham were the father of Keilah the Garmite, and Eshtemoa the Maacathite. 20 And the sons of Shimon: Amnon, and Rinnah, Ben-hanan, and Tilon. And the sons of Ishi: Zoheth, and Ben-zoheth. 21 The sons of Shelah the son of Judah: Er the father of Lecah, and Laadah the father of Mareshah, and the families of the house of those who wrought fine linen, of the house of Ashbea; 22 and Jokim, and the men of Cozeba, and Joash, and Saraph, who had dominion in Moab. And they returned to Lehem. And the records are ancient. 23 These were the potters, and the inhabitants of Netaim and Gederah: there they dwelt with the king for his work.

24 The sons of Simeon: Nemuel, and Jamin, Jarib, Zerah, Shaul; 25 Shallum his son, Mibsam his son, Mishma his son. 26 And the sons of Mishma: Hammuel his son, Zaccur his son, Shimei his son. 27 And Shimei had sixteen sons and six daughters; but his brothers did not have many sons, neither did all their family multiply like the sons of Judah. 28 And they dwelt at Beer-sheba, and Moladah, and Hazarshual, 29 and at Bilhah, and at Ezem, and at Tolad, 30 and at Bethuel, and at Hormah, and at Ziklag, 31 and at Beth-marcaboth, and Hazar-susim, and at Beth-biri, and at Shaaraim. These were their cities to the reign of David. 32 And their villages were Etam, and En-Rimmon, and Tochen, and Ashan;[264] 33 and all their villages that were round about the same cities, to Baal. These were their habitations, and they have their genealogy. 34 And Meshobab, and Jamlech, and Joshah the son of Amaziah, 35 and Joel, and Jehu the son of Joshibiah, the son of Seraiah, the son of Asiel, 36 and Elioenai, and Jaakobah, and Jeshohaiah, and Asaiah, and Adiel, and Jesimiel, and Benaiah, 37 and Ziza the son of Shiphi, the son of Allon, the son of Jedaiah, the son of Shimri, the son of Shemaiah- 38 these mentioned by name were princes in their families: and their fathers' houses increased greatly. 39 And they went to the entrance of Gedor, even to the east side of the valley, to seek pasture for their flocks. 40 And they found fat and good pasture, and the land was wide, and quiet, and peaceful; for those who dwelt there previously were of Ham. 41 And these written by name came in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and struck their tents, and the Meunim who were found there, and destroyed them completely to this day, and dwelt in their stead; because there was pasture there for their flocks. 42 And some of them, even of the sons of Simeon, five hundred men, went to mount Seir, having for their captains Pelatiah, and Neariah, and Rephaiah, and Uzziel, the sons of Ishi. 43 And they struck the remnant of the Amalekites who escaped, and have dwelt there to this day.

5  And the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel (for he was the firstborn; but, since he defiled his father's couch, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph the son of Israel; and the genealogy is not to be reckoned after the birthright. 2 For Judah prevailed above his brothers, and from him came a leader; but the birthright was Joseph's), 3 the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel: Hanoch, and Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. 4 The sons of Joel: Shemaiah his son, Gog his son, Shimei his son, 5 Micah his son, Reaiah his son, Baal his son, 6 Beerah his son, whom Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria carried away captive: he was prince of the Reubenites. 7 And his brothers by their families, when the genealogy of their generations was reckoned: the chief, Jeiel, and Zechariah, 8 and Bela the son of Azaz, the son of Shema, the son of Joel, who dwelt in Aroer, even to Nebo and Baal-meon: 9 and eastward he dwelt even to the entrance of the wilderness from the river Euphrates, because their cattle were multiplied in the land of Gilead. 10 And in the days of Saul, they made war with the Hagrites, who fell by their hand; and they dwelt in their tents throughout all the [land] east of Gilead.

11 And the sons of Gad dwelt across from them, in the land of Bashan to Salecah: 12 Joel the chief, and Shapham the second, and Janai, and Shaphat in Bashan. 13 And their brothers of their fathers' houses: Michael, and Meshullam, and Sheba, and Jorai, and Jacan, and Zia, and Eber, seven. 14 These were the sons of Abihail, the son of Huri, the son of Jaroah, the son of Gilead, the son of Michael, the son of Jeshishai, the son of Jahdo, the son of Buz; 15 Ahi the son of Abdiel, the son of Guni, chief of their fathers' houses. 16 And they dwelt in Gilead in Bashan, and in its towns, and in all the suburbs of Sharon, as far as their borders. 17 All these were reckoned by genealogies in the days of Jotham king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam king of Israel.

18 The sons of Reuben, and the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, of valiant men, men able to bear buckler and sword, and to shoot with bow, and skillful in war, were forty and four thousand seven hundred and threescore, who were able to go forth to war. 19 And they made war with the Hagrites, with Jetur, and Naphish, and Nodab. 20 And they were helped against them, and the Hagrites were delivered into their hand, and all who were with them; for they cried to God in the battle, and he was entreated of them, because they put their trust in him. 21 And they took away their cattle; of their camels fifty thousand, and of sheep two hundred and fifty thousand, and of donkeys two thousand, and of the souls of man a hundred thousand. 22 For there fell many slain, because the war was of God. And they dwelt in their stead until the captivity.

23 And the sons of the half-tribe of Manasseh dwelt in the land: they increased from Bashan to Baal-hermon and Senir and mount Hermon. 24 And these were the heads of their fathers' houses: even Epher, and Ishi, and Eliel, and Azriel, and Jeremiah, and Hodaviah, and Jahdiel, mighty men of valor, famous men, heads of their fathers' houses.

25 And they trespassed against the God of their fathers, and prostituted after the gods of the peoples of the land, whom God destroyed before them. 26 And the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, and the spirit of Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria, and he carried them away, even the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, and brought them to Halah, and Habor, and Hara, and to the river of Gozan, to this day.

6  The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. 2 And the sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, and Hebron, and Uzziel. 3 And the sons of Amram: Aaron, and Moses, and Miriam. And the sons of Aaron: Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. 4 Eleazar begot Phinehas, Phinehas begot Abishua, 5 and Abishua begot Bukki, and Bukki begot Uzzi, 6 and Uzzi begot Zerahiah, and Zerahiah begot Meraioth, 7 Meraioth begot Amariah, and Amariah begot Ahitub, 8 and Ahitub begot Zadok, and Zadok begot Ahimaaz, 9 and Ahimaaz begot Azariah, and Azariah begot Johanan, 10 and Johanan begot Azariah (it is he who executed the priest's office in the house that Solomon built in Jerusalem), 11 and Azariah begot Amariah, and Amariah begot Ahitub, 12 and Ahitub begot Zadok, and Zadok begot Shallum, 13 and Shallum begot Hilkiah, and Hilkiah begot Azariah, 14 and Azariah begot Seraiah, and Seraiah begot Jehozadak; 15 And Jehozadak went [into captivity], when Yahweh carried away Judah and Jerusalem by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar.

16 The sons of Levi: Gershom, Kohath, and Merari. 17 And these are the names of the sons of Gershom: Libni and Shimei. 18 And the sons of Kohath were Amram, and Izhar, and Hebron, and Uzziel. 19 The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. And these are the families of the Levites according to their fathers' [houses]. 20 Of Gershom: Libni his son, Jahath his son, Zimmah his son, 21 Joah his son, Iddo his son, Zerah his son, Jeatherai his son. 22 The sons of Kohath: Amminadab his son, Korah his son, Assir his son, 23 Elkanah his son, and Ebiasaph his son, and Assir his son, 24 Tahath his son, Uriel his son, Uzziah his son, and Shaul his son. 25 And the sons of Elkanah: Amasai, and Ahimoth, Elkanah. 26 The sons of Elkanah: Zophai his son, and Nahath his son, 27 Eliab his son, Jeroham his son, Elkanah his son. 28 And the sons of Samuel: the firstborn [Joel], and the second Abijah. 29 The sons of Merari: Mahli, Libni his son, Shimei his son, Uzzah his son, 30 Shimea his son, Haggiah his son, Asaiah his son.

31 And these are those whom David set over the service of song in the house of Yahweh, after the ark had rest. 32 And they ministered with song before the tabernacle of the tent of meeting, until Solomon had built the house of Yahweh in Jerusalem: and they waited on their office according to their order. 33 And these are those who waited, and their sons. Of the sons of the Kohathites: Heman the singer, the son of Joel, the son of Samuel, 34 the son of Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Eliel, the son of Toah, 35 the son of Zuph, the son of Elkanah, the son of Mahath, the son of Amasai, 36 the son of Elkanah, the son of Joel, the son of Azariah, the son of Zephaniah, 37 the son of Tahath, the son of Assir, the son of Ebiasaph, the son of Korah, 38 the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, the son of Israel. 39 And his brother Asaph, who stood on his right hand, even Asaph the son of Berechiah, the son of Shimea, 40 the son of Michael, the son of Baaseiah, the son of Malchijah, 41 the son of Ethni, the son of Zerah, the son of Adaiah, 42 the son of Ethan, the son of Zimmah, the son of Shimei, 43 the son of Jahath, the son of Gershom, the son of Levi. 44 And on the left hand their brothers the sons of Merari: Ethan the son of Kishi, the son of Abdi, the son of Malluch, 45 the son of Hashabiah, the son of Amaziah, the son of Hilkiah, 46 the son of Amzi, the son of Bani, the son of Shemer, 47 the son of Mahli, the son of Mushi, the son of Merari, the son of Levi. 48 And their brothers the Levites were appointed for all the service of the tabernacle of the house of God.

49 But Aaron and his sons offered on the altar of burnt-offering, and on the altar of incense, for all the work of the most holy place, and to make atonement for Israel, according to all that Moses the slave of God had commanded. 50 And these are the sons of Aaron: Eleazar his son, Phinehas his son, Abishua his son, 51 Bukki his son, Uzzi his son, Zerahiah his son, 52 Meraioth his son, Amariah his son, Ahitub his son, 53 Zadok his son, Ahimaaz his son.

54 Now these are their dwelling-places according to their encampments in their borders: to the sons of Aaron, of the families of the Kohathites (for theirs was the [first] lot), 55 to them they gave Hebron in the land of Judah, and its suburbs round about it; 56 but the fields of the city, and its villages, they gave to Caleb the son of Jephunneh. 57 And to the sons of Aaron they gave the cities of refuge, Hebron; Libnah also with its suburbs, and Jattir, and Eshtemoa with its suburbs, 58 and Hilen with its suburbs, Debir with its suburbs, 59 and Ashan with its suburbs, and Beth-shemesh with its suburbs; 60 and out of the tribe of Benjamin, Geba with its suburbs, and Allemeth with its suburbs, and Anathoth with its suburbs. All their cities throughout their families were thirteen cities.

61 And to the rest of the sons of Kohath [were given] by lot, out of the family of the tribe, out of the half-tribe, the half of Manasseh, ten cities. 62 And to the sons of Gershom, according to their families, out of the tribe of Issachar, and out of the tribe of Asher, and out of the tribe of Naphtali, and out of the tribe of Manasseh in Bashan, thirteen cities. 63 To the sons of Merari [were given] by lot, according to their families, out of the tribe of Reuben, and out of the tribe of Gad, and out of the tribe of Zebulun, twelve cities. 64 And the sons of Israel gave to the Levites the cities with their suburbs. 65 And they gave by lot out of the tribe of the sons of Judah, and out of the tribe of the sons of Simeon, and out of the tribe of the sons of Benjamin, these cities which are mentioned by name.

66 And some of the families of the sons of Kohath had cities of their borders out of the tribe of Ephraim. 67 And they gave to them the cities of refuge, Shechem in the hill-country of Ephraim with its suburbs; Gezer also with its suburbs, 68 and Jokmeam with its suburbs, and Beth-horon with its suburbs, 69 and Aijalon with its suburbs, and Gath-rimmon with its suburbs; 70 and out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Aner with its suburbs, and Bileam with its suburbs, for the rest of the family of the sons of Kohath.

71 To the sons of Gershom [were given], out of the family of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Golan in Bashan with its suburbs, and Ashtaroth with its suburbs; 72 and out of the tribe of Issachar, Kedesh with its suburbs, Daberath with its suburbs, 73 and Ramoth with its suburbs, and Anem with its suburbs; 74 and out of the tribe of Asher, Mashal with its suburbs, and Abdon with its suburbs, 75 and Hukok with its suburbs, and Rehob with its suburbs; 76 and out of the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with its suburbs, and Hammon with its suburbs, and Kiriathaim with its suburbs.

77 To the rest of [the Levites], the sons of Merari, [were given], out of the tribe of Zebulun, Rimmonah with its suburbs, Tabor with its suburbs; 78 and beyond the Jordan at Jericho, on the east side of the Jordan, [were given them], out of the tribe of Reuben, Bezer in the wilderness with its suburbs, and Jahzah with its suburbs, 79 and Kedemoth with its suburbs, and Mephaath with its suburbs; 80 and out of the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Gilead with its suburbs, and Mahanaim with its suburbs, 81 and Heshbon with its suburbs, and Jazer with its suburbs.

7  And of the sons of Issachar: Tola, and Puah, Jashub, and Shimron, four. 2 And the sons of Tola: Uzzi, and Rephaiah, and Jeriel, and Jahmai, and Ibsam, and Shemuel, heads of their fathers' houses, [to wit,] of Tola; mighty men of valor in their generations: their number in the days of David was two and twenty thousand and six hundred. 3 And the sons of Uzzi: Izrahiah. And the sons of Izrahiah: Michael, and Obadiah, and Joel, Isshiah, five; all of them chief men. 4 And with them, by their generations, after their fathers' houses, were bands of the host for war, six and thirty thousand; for they had many wives and sons. 5 And their brothers among all the families of Issachar, mighty men of valor, reckoned in all by genealogy, were 87,000.

6 [The sons of] Benjamin: Bela, and Becher, and Jediael, three. 7 And the sons of Bela: Ezbon, and Uzzi, and Uzziel, and Jerimoth, and Iri, five; heads of fathers' houses, mighty men of valor; and they were reckoned by genealogy twenty and two thousand and thirty and four. 8 And the sons of Becher: Zemirah, and Joash, and Eliezer, and Elioenai, and Omri, and Jeremoth, and Abijah, and Anathoth, and Alemeth. All these were the sons of Becher. 9 And they were reckoned by genealogy, after their generations, heads of their fathers' houses, mighty men of valor, twenty thousand and two hundred. 10 And the sons of Jediael: Bilhan. And the sons of Bilhan: Jeush, and Benjamin, and Ehud, and Chenaanah, and Zethan, and Tarshish, and Ahishahar. 11 All these were sons of Jediael, according to the heads of their fathers' [houses], mighty men of valor, seventeen thousand and two hundred, who were able to go forth in the host for war. 12 Shuppim also, and Huppim, the sons of Ir, Hushim, the sons of another.[265]

13 The sons of Naphtali: Jahziel, and Guni, and Jezer, and Shallum, the sons of Bilhah.

14 The sons of Manasseh: his wife bore Asriel. His concubine the Aramitess bore Machir the father of Gilead. 15 And Machir took a wife of Huppim and Shuppim, whose sister's name was Maacah; and the name of the second was Zelophehad: and Zelophehad had daughters. 16 And Maacah the wife of Machir bore a son, and she named him Peresh; and the name of his brother was Sheresh; and his sons were Ulam and Rakem. 17 And the sons of Ulam: Bedan. These were the sons of Gilead the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh. 18 And his sister Hammolecheth bore Ishhod, and Abiezer, and Mahlah. 19 And the sons of Shemida were Ahian, and Shechem, and Likhi, and Aniam.

20 And the sons of Ephraim: Shuthelah, and Bered his son, and Tahath his son, and Eleadah his son, and Tahath his son, 21 and Zabad his son, and Shuthelah his son, and Ezer, and Elead, whom the men of Gath who were born in the land slew, because they came down to take away their cattle. 22 And Ephraim their father mourned many days, and his brothers came to comfort him. 23 And he went in to his wife, and she became pregnant, and gave birth to a son, and he named him Beriah, because it went evil on my house. 24 And his daughter was Sheerah, who built Beth-horon the nether and the upper, and Uzzen-sheerah. 25 And Rephah was his son, and Resheph and Telah his son, and Tahan his son, 26 Ladan his son, Ammihud his son, Elishama his son, 27 Nun his son, Joshua his son.

28 And their possessions and habitations were Beth-el and its towns, and eastward Naaran, and westward Gezer, with its towns; Shechem also and its towns, to Ayyah and its towns; 29 and by the borders of the sons of Manasseh, Beth-shean and its towns, Taanach and its towns, Megiddo and its towns, Dor and its towns. In these dwelt the sons of Joseph the son of Israel.

30 The sons of Asher: Imnah, and Ishvah, and Ishvi, and Beriah, and Serah their sister. 31 And the sons of Beriah: Heber, and Malchiel, who was the father of Birzaith. 32 And Heber begot Japhlet, and Shomer, and Hotham, and Shua their sister. 33 And the sons of Japhlet: Pasach, and Bimhal, and Ashvath. These are the sons of Japhlet. 34 And the sons of Shemer: Ahi, and Rohgah, Jehubbah, and Aram. 35 And the sons of Helem his brother: Zophah, and Imna, and Shelesh, and Amal. 36 The sons of Zophah: Suah, and Harnepher, and Shual, and Beri, and Imrah, 37 Bezer, and Hod, and Shamma, and Shilshah, and Ithran, and Beera. 38 And the sons of Jether: Jephunneh, and Pispa, and Ara. 39 And the sons of Ulla: Arah, and Hanniel, and Rizia. 40 All these were the sons of Asher, heads of the fathers' houses, choice and mighty men of valor, chief of the princes. And the number of them reckoned by genealogy for service in war was twenty and six thousand men.

8  And Benjamin begot Bela his firstborn, Ashbel the second, and Aharah the third, 2 Nohah the fourth, and Rapha the fifth. 3 And Bela had sons: Addar, and Gera, and Abihud, 4 and Abishua, and Naaman, and Ahoah, 5 and Gera, and Shephuphan, and Huram. 6 And these are the sons of Ehud: these are the heads of fathers' [houses] of the inhabitants of Geba, and they carried them captive to Manahath: 7 and Naaman, and Ahijah, and Gera, he carried them captive: and he begot Uzza and Ahihud. 8 And Shaharaim begot children in the field of Moab, after he had sent them away; Hushim and Baara were his wives. 9 And he begot of Hodesh his wife, Jobab, and Zibia, and Mesha, and Malcam, 10 and Jeuz, and Shachia, and Mirmah. These were his sons, heads of fathers' [houses]. 11 And of Hushim he begot Abitub and Elpaal. 12 And the sons of Elpaal: Eber, and Misham, and Shemed, who built Ono and Lod, with its towns; 13 and Beriah, and Shema, who were heads of fathers' [houses] of the inhabitants of Aijalon, who put to flight the inhabitants of Gath; 14 and Ahio, Shashak, and Jeremoth, 15 and Zebadiah, and Arad, and Eder, 16 and Michael, and Ishpah, and Joha, the sons of Beriah, 17 and Zebadiah, and Meshullam, and Hizki, and Heber, 18 and Ishmerai, and Izliah, and Jobab, the sons of Elpaal, 19 and Jakim, and Zichri, and Zabdi, 20 and Elienai, and Zillethai, and Eliel, 21 and Adaiah, and Beraiah, and Shimrath, the sons of Shimei, 22 and Ishpan, and Eber, and Eliel, 23 and Abdon, and Zichri, and Hanan, 24 and Hananiah, and Elam, and Anthothijah, 25 and Iphdeiah, and Penuel, the sons of Shashak, 26 and Shamsherai, and Shehariah, and Athaliah, 27 and Jaareshiah, and Elijah, and Zichri, the sons of Jeroham. 28 These were heads of fathers' [houses] throughout their generations, chief men: these dwelt in Jerusalem.

29 And in Gibeon there dwelt the father of Gibeon, [Jeiel], whose wife's name was Maacah; 30 and his firstborn son Abdon, and Zur, and Kish, and Baal, and Ner, and Nadab, 31 and Gedor, and Ahio, and Zecher. 32 And Mikloth begot Shimeah. And they also dwelt with their brothers in Jerusalem, across from their brothers. 33 And Ner begot Kish; and Kish begot Saul; and Saul begot Jonathan, and Malchi-shua, and Abinadab, and Eshbaal. 34 And the son of Jonathan was Merib-baal; and Merib-baal begot Micah. 35 And the sons of Micah: Pithon, and Melech, and Tarea, and Ahaz. 36 And Ahaz begot Jehoaddah; and Jehoaddah begot Alemeth, and Azmaveth, and Zimri; and Zimri begot Moza. 37 And Moza begot Binea; Raphah was his son, Eleasah his son, Azel his son. 38 And Azel had six sons, whose names are these: Azrikam, Bocheru, and Ishmael, and Sheariah, and Obadiah, and Hanan. All these were the sons of Azel. 39 And the sons of Eshek his brother: Ulam his firstborn, Jeush the second, and Eliphelet the third. 40 And the sons of Ulam were mighty men of valor, archers, and had many sons, and sons' sons, a hundred and fifty. All these were of the sons of Benjamin.

9  So all Israel were reckoned by genealogies; and, look, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel: and Judah was carried away captive to Babylon for their transgression. 2 Now the first inhabitants who dwelt in their possessions in their cities were Israel, the priests, the Levites, and those given [to temple service]. 3 And in Jerusalem dwelt of the sons of Judah, and of the sons of Benjamin, and of the sons of Ephraim and Manasseh: 4 Uthai the son of Ammihud, the son of Omri, the son of Imri, the son of Bani, of the sons of Perez the son of Judah. 5 And of the Shilonites: Asaiah the firstborn, and his sons. 6 And of the sons of Zerah: Jeuel, and their brothers, six hundred and ninety. 7 And of the sons of Benjamin: Sallu the son of Meshullam, the son of Hodaviah, the son of Hassenuah, 8 and Ibneiah the son of Jeroham, and Elah the son of Uzzi, the son of Michri, and Meshullam the son of Shephatiah, the son of Reuel, the son of Ibnijah; 9 and their brothers, according to their generations, nine hundred and fifty and six. All these men were heads of fathers' [houses] by their fathers' houses.

10 And of the priests: Jedaiah, and Jehoiarib, Jachin, 11 and Azariah the son of Hilkiah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Zadok, the son of Meraioth, the son of Ahitub, the leader of the house of God; 12 and Adaiah the son of Jeroham, the son of Pashhur, the son of Malchijah, and Maasai the son of Adiel, the son of Jahzerah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Meshillemith, the son of Immer; 13 and their brothers, heads of their fathers' houses, a thousand and seven hundred and threescore; very able men for the work of the service of the house of God.

14 And of the Levites: Shemaiah the son of Hasshub, the son of Azrikam, the son of Hashabiah, of the sons of Merari; 15 and Bakbakkar, Heresh, and Galal, and Mattaniah the son of Mica, the son of Zichri, the son of Asaph, 16 and Obadiah the son of Shemaiah, the son of Galal, the son of Jeduthun, and Berechiah the son of Asa, the son of Elkanah, who dwelt in the villages of the Netophathites. 17 And the porters: Shallum, and Akkub, and Talmon, and Ahiman, and their brothers (Shallum was the chief), 18 who until now [waited] in the king's gate eastward: they were the porters for the camp of the sons of Levi. 19 And Shallum the son of Kore, the son of Ebiasaph, the son of Korah, and his brothers, of his father's house, the Korahites, were over the work of the service, keepers of the thresholds of the tent: and their fathers had been over the camp of Yahweh, keepers of the entry. 20 And Phinehas the son of Eleazar was leader over them in time past, [and] Yahweh was with him. 21 Zechariah the son of Meshelemiah was porter of the door of the tent of meeting. 22 All these who were chosen to be porters in the thresholds were two hundred and twelve. These were reckoned by genealogy in their villages, whom David and Samuel the seer appointed in their office of trust. 23 So they and their sons had the oversight of the gates of the house of Yahweh, even the house of the tent, by wards. 24 On the four sides were the porters, toward the east, west, north, and south. 25 And their brothers, in their villages, were to come in every seven days from time to time to be with them: 26 for the four leading porters, who were Levites, were in an office of trust, and were over the chambers and over the treasuries in the house of God. 27 And they lodged round about the house of God, because the charge [of it] was on them; and to them pertained the opening of it morning by morning.

28 And certain of them had charge of the vessels of service; for by count these were brought in and by count these were taken out. 29 Some of them also were appointed over the furniture, and over all the vessels of the sanctuary, and over the fine flour, and the wine, and the oil, and the frankincense, and the spices. 30 And some of the sons of the priests prepared the confection of the spices. 31 And Mattithiah, one of the Levites, who was the firstborn of Shallum the Korahite, had the office of trust over the things that were baked in pans. 32 And some of their brothers, of the sons of the Kohathites, were over the showbread, to prepare it every Sabbath.

33 And these are the singers, heads of fathers' [houses] of the Levites, [who dwelt] in the chambers [and were] free [from other service]; for they were employed in their work day and night. 34 These were heads of fathers' [houses] of the Levites, throughout their generations, chief men: these dwelt at Jerusalem.

35 And in Gibeon there dwelt the father of Gibeon, Jeiel, whose wife's name was Maacah: 36 and his firstborn son Abdon, and Zur, and Kish, and Baal, and Ner, and Nadab, 37 and Gedor, and Ahio, and Zechariah, and Mikloth. 38 And Mikloth begot Shimeam. And they also dwelt with their brothers in Jerusalem, across from their brothers. 39 And Ner begot Kish; and Kish begot Saul; and Saul begot Jonathan, and Malchishua, and Abinadab, and Eshbaal. 40 And the son of Jonathan was Merib-baal; and Merib-baal begot Micah. 41 And the sons of Micah: Pithon, and Melech, and Tahrea, [and Ahaz]. 42 And Ahaz begot Jarah; and Jarah begot Alemeth, and Azmaveth, and Zimri; and Zimri begot Moza; 43 and Moza begot Binea; and Rephaiah his son, Eleasah his son, Azel his son. 44 And Azel had six sons, whose names are these: Azrikam, Bocheru, and Ishmael, and Sheariah, and Obadiah, and Hanan: these were the sons of Azel.

10  Now the Philistines fought against Israel: and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain in mount Gilboa. 2 And the Philistines stuck [closely] after Saul and after his sons; and the Philistines slew Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchi-shua, the sons of Saul. 3 And the battle went intensely against Saul, and the archers overtook him; and he was distressed by reason of the archers. 4 Then said Saul to his armor-bearer, Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, or else these uncircumcised will come and abuse me. But his armor-bearer would not; for he was very afraid. Therefore Saul took his sword, and fell on it. 5 And when his armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he likewise fell on his sword, and died. 6 So Saul died, and his three sons; and all his house died together.

7 And when all the men of Israel who were in the valley saw that they fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook their cities, and fled; and the Philistines came and dwelt in them. 8 And it came to pass on the next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his sons fallen in mount Gilboa. 9 And they stripped him, and took his head, and his armor, and sent into the land of the Philistines round about, to carry the good news to their idols, and to the people. 10 And they put his armor in the house of their gods, and fastened his head in the house of Dagon. 11 And when all Jabesh-gilead heard all that the Philistines had done to Saul, 12 all the valiant men arose, and took away the body of Saul, and the bodies of his sons, and brought them to Jabesh, and buried their bones under the oak in Jabesh, and fasted seven days.

13 So Saul died for his trespass which he committed against Yahweh, because of the word of Yahweh, which he did not keep; and also for asking counsel of a spiritist, to inquire, 14 and did not inquire of Yahweh: therefore he slew him, and turned the kingdom to David the son of Jesse.

11  Then all Israel gathered themselves to David to Hebron, saying, Look, we are your bone and your flesh. 2 In times past, even when Saul was king, it was you who led out and brought in Israel: and Yahweh your God said to you, You will be shepherd of my people Israel, and you will be leader over my people Israel. 3 So all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron; and David made a covenant with them in Hebron before Yahweh; and they anointed David king over Israel, according to the word of Yahweh by Samuel.

4 And David and all Israel went to Jerusalem (the same is Jebus); and the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, were there. 5 And the inhabitants of Jebus said to David, You will not come in here. Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion; the same is the city of David. 6 And David said, Whoever strikes the Jebusites first will be chief and captain. And Joab the son of Zeruiah went up first, and was made chief. 7 And David dwelt in the stronghold; therefore they called it the city of David. 8 And he built the city round about, from Millo even round about; and Joab repaired the rest of the city. 9 And David waxed greater and greater; for Yahweh of hosts was with him.

10 Now these are the chief of the mighty men whom David had, who showed themselves strong with him in his kingdom, together with all Israel, to make him king, according to the word of Yahweh concerning Israel. 11 And this is the number of the mighty men whom David had: Jishbaal, the son of a Hachmonite, chief of the elite troops; he lifted up his spear against three hundred and slew them at one time. 12 And after him was Eleazar the son of Dodo, the Ahohite, who was one of the three mighty men. 13 He was with David at Pasdammim, and there the Philistines were gathered together to battle, where was a plot of ground full of barley; and the people fled from before the Philistines. 14 And they stood in the midst of the plot, and defended it, and slew the Philistines; and Yahweh saved them by a great victory.

15 And three [the elite] of the thirty chief men went down to the rock to David, into the cave of Adullam; and the host of the Philistines were encamped in the valley of Rephaim. 16 And David was then in the stronghold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Beth-lehem. 17 And David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me water to drink of the well of Beth-lehem, which is by the gate! 18 And the three broke through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Beth-lehem, that was by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David: but David would not drink of it, but poured it out to Yahweh, 19 and said, My God forbid it of me, that I should do this: shall I drink the blood of these men who have put their souls in jeopardy? For with [the jeopardy of] their souls they brought it. Therefore he would not drink it. The three mighty men did these things.

20 And Abishai, the brother of Joab, he was chief of the three; for he lifted up his spear against three hundred and slew them, and had a name among the three. 21 Of the three, he was more honorable than the two, and was made their captain: nevertheless he didn't attain to the three.

22 Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a man of valor of Kabzeel, who had done mighty deeds, he slew the two [sons of] Ariel of Moab: he went down also and slew a lion in the midst of a pit in time of snow. 23 And he slew an Egyptian, a man of great stature, five cubits high; and in the Egyptian's hand was a spear like a weaver's beam; and he went down to him with a staff, and plucked the spear out of the Egyptian's hand, and slew him with his own spear. 24 Benaiah the son of Jehoiada did these things, and had a name among the three mighty men. 25 Look, he was more honorable than the thirty, but he didn't attain to the three: and David set him over his guard.

26 Also the mighty men of the armies: Asahel the brother of Joab, Elhanan the son of Dodo of Beth-lehem, 27 Shammoth the Harorite, Helez the Pelonite, 28 Ira the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite, Abiezer the Anathothite, 29 Sibbecai the Hushathite, Ilai the Ahohite, 30 Maharai the Netophathite, Heled the son of Baanah the Netophathite, 31 Ithai the son of Ribai of Gibeah of the sons of Benjamin, Benaiah the Pirathonite, 32 Hurai of the brooks of Gaash, Abiel the Arbathite, 33 Azmaveth the Baharumite, Eliahba the Shaalbonite, 34 the sons of Hashem the Gizonite, Jonathan the son of Shagee the Hararite, 35 Ahiam the son of Sacar the Hararite, Eliphal the son of Ur, 36 Hepher the Mecherathite, Ahijah the Pelonite, 37 Hezro the Carmelite, Naarai the son of Ezbai, 38 Joel the brother of Nathan, Mibhar the son of Hagri, 39 Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Berothite, the armorbearer of Joab the son of Zeruiah, 40 Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite, 41 Uriah the Hittite, Zabad the son of Ahlai, 42 Adina the son of Shiza the Reubenite, a chief of the Reubenites, and thirty with him, 43 Hanan the son of Maacah, and Joshaphat the Mithnite, 44 Uzzia the Ashterathite, Shama and Jeiel the sons of Hotham the Aroerite, 45 Jediael the son of Shimri, and Joha his brother, the Tizite, 46 Eliel the Mahavite, and Jeribai, and Joshaviah, the sons of Elnaam, and Ithmah the Moabite, 47 Eliel, and Obed, and Jaasiel the Mezobaite.

12  Now these are those who came to David to Ziklag, while he yet kept himself close because of Saul the son of Kish; and they were among the mighty men, his helpers in war. 2 They were armed with bows, and could use both the right hand and the left in slinging stones and in shooting arrows from the bow: they were of Saul's brothers of Benjamin. 3 The chief was Ahiezer; then Joash, the sons of Shemaah the Gibeathite, and Jeziel, and Pelet, the sons of Azmaveth, and Beracah, and Jehu the Anathothite, 4 and Ishmaiah the Gibeonite, a mighty man among the thirty, and over the thirty, and Jeremiah, and Jahaziel, and Johanan, and Jozabad the Gederathite, 5 Eluzai, and Jerimoth, and Bealiah, and Shemariah, and Shephatiah the Haruphite, 6 Elkanah, and Isshiah, and Azarel, and Joezer, and Jashobeam, the Korahites, 7 and Joelah, and Zebadiah, the sons of Jeroham of Gedor.

8 And of the Gadites there separated themselves to David to the stronghold in the wilderness, mighty men of valor, men trained for war, who could handle shield and spear; whose faces were like the faces of lions, and they were as swift as the roes on the mountains; 9 Ezer the chief, Obadiah the second, Eliab the third, 10 Mishmannah the fourth, Jeremiah the fifth, 11 Attai the sixth, Eliel the seventh, 12 Johanan the eighth, Elzabad the ninth, 13 Jeremiah the tenth, Machbannai the eleventh. 14 These of the sons of Gad were captains of the host: he who was least was equal to a hundred, and the greatest to a thousand. 15 These are those who went over the Jordan in the first month, when it had overflowed all its banks; and they put to flight all them of the valleys, both toward the east, and toward the west.

16 And there came of the sons of Benjamin and Judah to the stronghold to David. 17 And David went out to meet them, and answered and said to them, If you+ have come peacefully to me to help me, my heart will be knit to you+; but if [you+ have come] to betray me to my adversaries, seeing there is no wrong in my hands, the God of our fathers look on it, and rebuke it. 18 Then the Spirit came upon Amasai, who was chief of the elite troops, [and he said], We are yours, David, and on your side, you son of Jesse: peace, peace be to you, and peace be to your helpers; for your God helps you. Then David received them, and made them captains of the band.

19 Of Manasseh also there fell away some to David, when he came with the Philistines against Saul to battle: but they didn't help them; for the lords of the Philistines on advisement sent him away, saying, He will fall away to his master Saul to the jeopardy of our heads. 20 As he went to Ziklag, there fell to him of Manasseh, Adnah, and Jozabad, and Jediael, and Michael, and Jozabad, and Elihu, and Zillethai, captains of thousands who were of Manasseh. 21 And they helped David against the band of rovers: for they were all mighty men of valor, and were captains in the host. 22 For from day to day men came to David to help him, until there was a great host, like the host of God.

23 And these are the numbers of the heads of those who were armed for war, who came to David to Hebron, to turn the kingdom of Saul to him, according to the mouth of Yahweh. 24 The sons of Judah that bore shield and spear were six thousand and eight hundred, armed for war. 25 Of the sons of Simeon, mighty men of valor for the war, seven thousand and one hundred. 26 Of the sons of Levi four thousand and six hundred. 27 And Jehoiada was the leader of [the house of] Aaron; and with him were three thousand and seven hundred, 28 and Zadok, a young man mighty of valor, and of his father's house twenty and two captains. 29 And of the sons of Benjamin, the brothers of Saul, three thousand: for until now the greatest part of them had kept their allegiance to the house of Saul. 30 And of the sons of Ephraim twenty thousand and eight hundred, mighty men of valor, famous men in their fathers' houses. 31 And of the half-tribe of Manasseh eighteen thousand, who were mentioned by name, to come and make David king. 32 And of the sons of Issachar, men who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do, the heads of them were two hundred; and all their brothers were at their commandment. 33 Of Zebulun, such as were able to go out in the host, that could set the battle in array, with all manner of instruments of war, fifty thousand, and that could order [the battle array, and were] not of double heart. 34 And of Naphtali a thousand captains, and with them with shield and spear thirty and seven thousand. 35 And of the Danites that could set the battle in array, twenty and eight thousand and six hundred. 36 And of Asher, such as were able to go out in the host, that could set the battle in array, forty thousand. 37 And on the other side of the Jordan, of the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and of the half-tribe of Manasseh, with all manner of instruments of war for the battle, a hundred and twenty thousand.

38 All these being men of war, that could order the battle array, came with a perfect heart to Hebron, to make David king over all Israel: and all the rest also of Israel were of one heart to make David king. 39 And they were there with David three days, eating and drinking; for their brothers had prepared for them. 40 Moreover those who were near to them, [even] as far as Issachar and Zebulun and Naphtali, brought bread on donkeys, and on camels, and on mules, and on oxen, victuals of meal, cakes of figs, and clusters of raisins, and wine, and oil, and oxen, and sheep in abundance: for there was joy in Israel.

13  And David consulted with the captains of thousands and of hundreds, even with every leader. 2 And David said to all the assembly of Israel, If it seems good to you+, and if it is of Yahweh our God, let us send abroad every where to our brothers who are left in all the land of Israel, with whom the priests and Levites are in their cities that have suburbs, that they may gather themselves to us; 3 and let us bring again the ark of our God to us: for we did not seek to it in the days of Saul. 4 And all the assembly said that they would do so; for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people. 5 So David assembled all Israel together, from the Shihor [the brook] of Egypt even to the entrance of Hamath, to bring the ark of God from Kiriath-jearim. 6 And David went up, and all Israel, to Baalah, [that is], to Kiriath-jearim, which belonged to Judah, to bring up from there the ark of God, who is called by the name: Yahweh who sits [above] the cherubim. 7 And they carried the ark of God on a new cart, [and brought it] out of the house of Abinadab: and Uzza and Ahio drove the cart. 8 And David and all Israel played before God with all their might, even with songs, and with harps, and with psalteries, and with timbrels, and with cymbals, and with trumpets.

9 And when they came to the threshing-floor of Chidon, Uzza put forth his hand to hold the ark; for the oxen stumbled. 10 And the anger of Yahweh was kindled against Uzza, and he struck him, because he put forth his hand to the ark; and there he died before God. 11 And David was displeased, because Yahweh had broken forth on Uzza; and he called that place Perez-uzza, to this day. 12 And David was afraid of God that day, saying, How shall I bring the ark of God home to me? 13 So David didn't remove the ark to him into the city of David, but carried it aside into the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. 14 And the ark of God remained with the family of Obed-edom in his house three months: and Yahweh blessed the house of Obed-edom, and all that he had.

14  And Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and cedar-trees, and masons, and carpenters, to build him a house. 2 And David perceived that Yahweh had established him king over Israel; for his kingdom was exalted on high, for his people Israel's sake.

3 And David took more wives at Jerusalem; and David begot more sons and daughters. 4 And these are the names of the children whom he had in Jerusalem: Shammua, and Shobab, Nathan, and Solomon, 5 and Ibhar, and Elishua, and Elpelet, 6 and Nogah, and Nepheg, and Japhia, 7 and Elishama, and Baaliada,[266] and Eliphelet.

8 And when the Philistines heard that David was anointed king over all Israel, all the Philistines went up to seek David: and David heard of it, and went out against them. 9 Now the Philistines had come and made a raid in the valley of Rephaim. 10 And David inquired of God, saying, Shall I go up against the Philistines? And will you deliver them into my hand? And Yahweh said to him, Go up; for I will deliver them into your hand. 11 So they came up to Baal-perazim, and David struck them there; and David said, God has broken my enemies by my hand, like the breach of waters. Therefore they called the name of that place Baal-perazim. 12 And they left their gods there; and David gave commandment, and they were burned with fire.

13 And the Philistines yet again made a raid in the valley. 14 And David inquired again of God; and God said to him, You will not go up after them: turn away from them, and come upon them across from the mulberry-trees. 15 And it will be, when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry-trees, that then you will go out to battle; for God has gone out before you to strike the host of the Philistines. 16 And David did as God commanded him: and they struck the host of the Philistines from Gibeon even to Gezer. 17 And the fame of David went out into all lands; and Yahweh brought the fear of him on all nations.

15  And [David] made houses for himself in the city of David; and he prepared a place for the ark of God, and pitched a tent for it. 2 Then David said, None ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites: for Yahweh has chosen them to carry the ark of God, and to minister to him forever. 3 And David assembled all Israel at Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of Yahweh to its place, which he had prepared for it. 4 And David gathered together the sons of Aaron, and the Levites: 5 of the sons of Kohath, Uriel the chief, and his brothers a hundred and twenty; 6 of the sons of Merari, Asaiah the chief, and his brothers two hundred and twenty; 7 of the sons of Gershom, Joel the chief, and his brothers a hundred and thirty; 8 of the sons of Elizaphan, Shemaiah the chief, and his brothers two hundred; 9 of the sons of Hebron, Eliel the chief, and his brothers eighty; 10 of the sons of Uzziel, Amminadab the chief, and his brothers a hundred and twelve. 11 And David called for Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and for the Levites, for Uriel, Asaiah, and Joel, Shemaiah, and Eliel, and Amminadab, 12 and said to them, You+ are the heads of the fathers' [houses] of the Levites: sanctify yourselves, both you+ and your+ brothers, that you+ may bring up the ark of Yahweh, the God of Israel, to [the place] that I have prepared for it. 13 For because you+ did not [bear it] at the first, Yahweh our God made a breach on us, for we did not seek him according to the ordinance. 14 So the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of Yahweh, the God of Israel. 15 And the sons of the Levites bore the ark of God on their shoulders with the poles on them, as Moses commanded according to the word of Yahweh.

16 And David spoke to the chief of the Levites to appoint their brothers the singers, with instruments of music, psalteries and harps and cymbals, sounding aloud and lifting up the voice with joy. 17 So the Levites appointed Heman the son of Joel; and of his brothers, Asaph the son of Berechiah; and of the sons of Merari their brothers, Ethan the son of Kushaiah; 18 and with them their brothers of the second degree, Zechariah, son,[267] and Jaaziel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehiel, and Unni, Eliab, and Benaiah, and Maaseiah, and Mattithiah, and Eliphelehu, and Mikneiah, and Obed-edom, and Jeiel, the doorkeepers. 19 So the singers, Heman, Asaph, and Ethan, [were appointed] with cymbals of bronze to sound aloud; 20 and Zechariah, and Aziel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehiel, and Unni, and Eliab, and Maaseiah, and Benaiah, with psalteries set to Alamoth; 21 and Mattithiah, and Eliphelehu, and Mikneiah, and Obed-edom, and Jeiel, and Azaziah, with harps set to the Sheminith, to lead. 22 And Chenaniah, chief of the Levites, was over the song: he instructed about the song, because he was skillful. 23 And Berechiah and Elkanah were doorkeepers for the ark. 24 And Shebaniah, and Joshaphat, and Nethanel, and Amasai, and Zechariah, and Benaiah, and Eliezer, the priests, blew the trumpets before the ark of God: and Obed-edom and Jehiah were doorkeepers for the ark.

25 So David, and the elders of Israel, and the captains over thousands, went to bring up the ark of the covenant of Yahweh out of the house of Obed-edom with joy. 26 And it came to pass, when God helped the Levites who bore the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, that they sacrificed seven bullocks and seven rams. 27 And David was clothed with a robe of fine linen, and all the Levites who bore the ark, and the singers, and Chenaniah the master of the song [with] the singers: and David had on him an ephod of linen. 28 Thus all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of Yahweh with shouting, and with sound of the cornet, and with trumpets, and with cymbals, sounding aloud with psalteries and harps.

29 And it came to pass, as the ark of the covenant of Yahweh came to the city of David, that Michal the daughter of Saul looked out at the window, and saw King David dancing and playing; and she despised him in her heart.

16  And they brought in the ark of God, and set it in the midst of the tent that David had pitched for it: and they offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings before God. 2 And when David had made an end of offering the burnt-offering and the peace-offerings, he blessed the people in the name of Yahweh. 3 And he dealt to everyone of Israel, both man and woman, to everyone a loaf of bread, and a portion [of flesh], and a cake of raisins.

4 And he appointed certain of the Levites to minister before the ark of Yahweh, and to celebrate and to thank and praise Yahweh, the God of Israel: 5 Asaph the chief, and second to him Zechariah, Jeiel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehiel, and Mattithiah, and Eliab, and Benaiah, and Obed-edom, and Jeiel, with psalteries and with harps; and Asaph with cymbals, sounding aloud; 6 and Benaiah and Jahaziel the priests with trumpets continually, before the ark of the covenant of God.

7 Then on that day David first appointed to give thanks to Yahweh, by the hand of Asaph and his brothers. 8 O give thanks to Yahweh, call on his name; Make known his doings among the peoples. 9 Sing to him, sing praises to him; Talk+ of all his marvelous works. 10 Glory+ in his holy name; Let the heart of them rejoice who seek Yahweh. 11 Seek+ Yahweh and his strength; Seek his face evermore. 12 Remember his marvelous works that he has done, His wonders, and the judgments of his mouth, 13 O you+ seed of Israel his slave, You+ sons of Jacob, his chosen ones. 14 He is Yahweh our God; His judgments are in all the earth. 15 Remember his covenant forever, The word which he commanded to a thousand generations, 16 [The covenant] which he made with Abraham, And his oath to Isaac, 17 And confirmed the same to Jacob for a statute, To Israel for an everlasting covenant, 18 Saying, To you I will give the land of Canaan, The lot of your+ inheritance; 19 When you+ were but a few men in number, Yes, very few, and sojourners in it; 20 And they went about from nation to nation, And from one kingdom to another people. 21 He allowed no man to do them wrong; Yes, he reproved kings for their sakes, 22 [Saying,] Don't touch my anointed ones, And do my prophets no harm. 23 Sing to Yahweh, all the earth; Proclaim the good news of his salvation from day to day. 24 Declare his glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all the peoples. 25 For great is Yahweh, and greatly to be praised: He also is to be awed above all gods. 26 For all the gods of the peoples are idols: But Yahweh made the heavens. 27 Grandeur and majesty are before him: Strength and gladness are in his place. 28 Ascribe to Yahweh, you+ kindreds of the peoples, Ascribe to Yahweh glory and strength; 29 Ascribe to Yahweh the glory due to his name: Bring an offering, and come before him; Worship Yahweh in holy array. 30 Tremble before him, all the earth: Indeed, the world will be established, it will not be moved. 31 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; And let them say among the nations, Yahweh reigns. 32 Let the sea roar, and the fullness of it; Let the field exult, and all that is in it; 33 Then will the trees of the forest sing for joy before Yahweh; For he comes to judge the earth. 34 O give thanks to Yahweh; for he is good; For his loving-kindness [endures] forever. 35 And say+, Save us, O God of our salvation, And gather us together and deliver us from the nations, To give thanks to your holy name, And to triumph in your praise. 36 Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, From everlasting even to everlasting. And all the people said, Amen, and praised Yahweh.

37 So he left there, before the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, Asaph and his brothers, to minister before the ark continually, as every day's work required; 38 and Obed-edom with their brothers, threescore and eight; Obed-edom also the son of Jeduthun and Hosah to be doorkeepers; 39 and Zadok the priest, and his brothers the priests, before the tabernacle of Yahweh in the high place that was at Gibeon, 40 to offer burnt-offerings to Yahweh on the altar of burnt-offering continually morning and evening, even according to all that is written in the law of Yahweh, which he commanded to Israel; 41 and with them Heman and Jeduthun, and the rest who were chosen, who were mentioned by name, to give thanks to Yahweh, because his loving-kindness [endures] forever; 42 and with them Heman and Jeduthun [with] trumpets and cymbals for those who should sound aloud, and [with] instruments for the songs of God; and the sons of Jeduthun to be at the gate. 43 And all the people departed every man to his house: and David returned to bless his house.

17  And it came to pass, when David dwelt in his house, that David said to Nathan the prophet, Look, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of the covenant of Yahweh [dwells] under curtains. 2 And Nathan said to David, Do all that is in your heart; for God is with you. 3 And it came to pass the same night, that the word of God came to Nathan, saying, 4 Go and tell David my slave, Thus says Yahweh, You will not build me a house to dwell in: 5 for I haven't dwelt in a house since the day that I brought up Israel, to this day, but have gone from tent to tent, and from [one] tabernacle [to another]. 6 In all places in which I have walked with all Israel, did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to be shepherd of my people, saying, Why haven't you+ built me a house of cedar? 7 Now therefore thus you will say to my slave David, Thus says Yahweh of hosts, I took you from the sheepcote, from following the sheep, that you should be leader over my people Israel: 8 and I have been with you wherever you have gone, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make you a name, like the name of the great ones who are in the earth. 9 And I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may stay in their own place, and be moved no more; neither will the sons of wickedness waste them anymore, as at the first, 10 and [as] from the day that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel; and I will subdue all your enemies. Moreover I tell you that Yahweh will build you a house. 11 And it will come to pass, when your days are fulfilled that you must go to be with your fathers, that I will set up your seed after you, who will be of your sons; and I will establish his kingdom. 12 He will build me a house, and I will establish his throne forever. 13 I will be his father, and he will be my son: and I will not take my loving-kindness away from him, as I took it from him who was before you; 14 but I will settle him in my house and in my kingdom forever; and his throne will be established forever. 15 According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so Nathan spoke to David.

16 Then David the king went in, and sat before Yahweh; and he said, Who am I, O Yahweh God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far? 17 And this was a small thing in your eyes, O God; but you have spoken of your slave's house for a great while to come, and you see me according to the rank of man placed high, O Yahweh God. 18 What can David [say] yet more to you concerning the honor which is done to your slave? For you know your slave. 19 O Yahweh, for your slave's sake, and according to your own heart, you have wrought all this greatness, to make known all [these] great things. 20 O Yahweh, there is none like you, neither is there any God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. 21 And what other nation in the earth is like your people Israel, whom God went to redeem to himself for a people, to make yourself a name by great and awesome things, in driving out nations from before your people, whom you redeemed out of Egypt? 22 For you made your people Israel your own people forever; and you, Yahweh, became their God. 23 And now, O Yahweh, let the word that you have spoken concerning your slave, and concerning his house, be established forever, and do as you have spoken. 24 And let your name be established and magnified forever, saying, Yahweh of hosts is the God of Israel, even a God to Israel: and the house of David your slave is established before you. 25 For you, O my God, have revealed to your slave that you will build him a house: therefore your slave has found [in his heart] to pray before you. 26 And now, O Yahweh, you are God, and have promised this good thing to your slave: 27 and now it has pleased you to bless the house of your slave, that it may continue forever before you: for you, O Yahweh, have blessed, and it is blessed forever.

18  And after this it came to pass, that David struck the Philistines, and subdued them, and took Gath and its towns out of the hand of the Philistines. 2 And he struck Moab; and the Moabites became slaves to David, and brought tribute.

3 And David struck Hadarezer king of Zobah to Hamath, as he went to establish his dominion by the river Euphrates. 4 And David took from him a thousand chariots, and seven thousand horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen; and David hocked all the chariot horses, but reserved of them for a hundred chariots.

5 And when the Syrians of Damascus came to help Hadarezer king of Zobah, David struck of the Syrians two and twenty thousand men. 6 Then David put [garrisons] in Syria of Damascus; and the Syrians became slaves to David, and brought tribute. And Yahweh gave victory to David wherever he went. 7 And David took the shields of gold that were on the slaves of Hadarezer, and brought them to Jerusalem. 8 And from Tibhath and from Cun, cities of Hadarezer, David took very much bronze, with which Solomon made the bronze sea, and the pillars, and the vessels of bronze.

9 And when Tou king of Hamath heard that David had struck all the host of Hadarezer king of Zobah, 10 he sent Hadoram his son to King David, to greet him, and to bless him, because he had fought against Hadarezer and struck him (for Hadarezer had wars with Tou); and [he had with him] all manner of vessels of gold and silver and bronze. 11 These also King David dedicated to Yahweh, with the silver and the gold that he carried away from all the nations; from Edom, and from Moab, and from the sons of Ammon, and from the Philistines, and from Amalek.

12 Moreover Abishai the son of Zeruiah struck of the Edomites in the Valley of Salt eighteen thousand. 13 And he put garrisons in Edom; and all the Edomites became slaves to David. And Yahweh gave victory to David wherever he went.

14 And David reigned over all Israel; and he executed justice and righteousness to all his people. 15 And Joab the son of Zeruiah was over the host; and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder; 16 and Zadok the son of Ahitub, and Abimelech the son of Abiathar, were priests; and Shavsha was scribe; 17 and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and the sons of David were chief about the king.

19  And it came to pass after this, that Nahash the king of the sons of Ammon died, and his son reigned in his stead. 2 And David said, I will show kindness to Hanun the son of Nahash, because his father showed kindness to me. So David sent messengers to comfort him concerning his father. And David's slaves came into the land of the sons of Ammon to Hanun, to comfort him. 3 But the princes of the sons of Ammon said to Hanun, Do you think that David honors your father, in that he has sent comforters to you? Haven't his slaves come to you to search, and to overthrow, and to spy out the land? 4 So Hanun took David's slaves, and shaved them, and cut off their garments in the middle, even to their buttocks, and sent them away. 5 Then there went certain persons, and told David how the men were served. And he sent to meet them; for the men were greatly ashamed. And the king said, Tarry at Jericho until your+ beards are grown, and then return.

6 And when the sons of Ammon saw that they had made themselves a stench to David, Hanun and the sons of Ammon sent a thousand talents of silver to hire themselves chariots and horsemen out of Mesopotamia, and out of Arammaacah, and out of Zobah. 7 So they hired themselves thirty and two thousand chariots, and the king of Maacah and his people, who came and encamped before Medeba. And the sons of Ammon gathered themselves together from their cities, and came to battle. 8 And when David heard of it, he sent Joab, and all the host of the mighty men. 9 And the sons of Ammon came out, and put the battle in array at the gate of the city: and the kings who had come were by themselves in the field.

10 Now when Joab saw that the battle was set against him before and behind, he chose of all the choice men of Israel, and put them in array against the Syrians. 11 And the rest of the people he committed into the hand of Abishai his brother; and they put themselves in array against the sons of Ammon. 12 And he said, If the Syrians are too strong for me, then you will help me; but if the sons of Ammon are too strong for you, then I will help you. 13 Be strong and we will be strengthened for our people, and for the cities of our God: and Yahweh will do that which is good in his eyes. 14 So Joab and the people who were with him drew near before the Syrians to the battle; and they fled before him. 15 And when the sons of Ammon saw that the Syrians had fled, they likewise fled before Abishai his brother, and entered into the city. Then Joab came to Jerusalem.

16 And when the Syrians saw that they were put to the worse before Israel, they sent messengers, and drew forth the Syrians who were beyond the River, with Shophach the captain of the host of Hadarezer at their head. 17 And it was told David; and he gathered all Israel together, and passed over the Jordan, and came upon them, and set the battle in array against them. So when David had put the battle in array against the Syrians, they fought with him. 18 And the Syrians fled before Israel; and David slew of the Syrians [the men of] seven thousand chariots, and forty thousand footmen, and killed Shophach the captain of the host. 19 And when the slaves of Hadarezer saw that they were put to the worse before Israel, they made peace with David, and served him: neither would the Syrians help the sons of Ammon anymore.

20  And it came to pass, at the time of the return of the year, at the time when kings go out [to battle], that Joab led forth the army, and wasted the country of the sons of Ammon, and came and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried at Jerusalem. And Joab struck Rabbah, and overthrew it. 2 And David took the crown of Milcom from off his head, and found it to weigh a talent of gold, and there were precious stones in it; and it was set on David's head: and he brought forth the spoil of the city, exceedingly much. 3 And he brought forth the people who were in it. And he put [them to work] with saws, and with harrows of iron, and with axes. And thus David did to all the cities of the sons of Ammon. And David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.[268]

4 And it came to pass after this, that there arose war at Gezer with the Philistines: then Sibbecai the Hushathite slew Sippai, of the sons of the giant; and they were subdued. 5 And there was again war with the Philistines; and Elhanan the son of Jair slew Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver's beam. 6 And there was again war at Gath, where was a man of great stature, whose fingers and toes were four and twenty, six [on each hand], and six [on each foot]; and he also was born to the giant. 7 And when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimea David's brother slew him. 8 These were born to the giant in Gath; and they fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his slaves.

21  And Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel. 2 And David said to Joab and to the princes of the people, Go, number Israel from Beer-sheba even to Dan; and bring me word, that I may know the sum of them. 3 And Joab said, Yahweh make his people a hundred times as many as they are: but, my lord the king, are they not all my lord's slaves? Why does my lord require this thing? Why will he be a cause of guilt to Israel? 4 Nevertheless the king's word prevailed against Joab. Therefore Joab departed, and went throughout all Israel, and came to Jerusalem. 5 And Joab gave up the sum of the numbering of the people to David. And all those of Israel were a thousand thousand and a hundred thousand men who drew sword: and Judah was 470,000 men who drew sword. 6 But Levi and Benjamin he did not count among them; for the king's word was disgusting to Joab. 7 And God was displeased with this thing; therefore he struck Israel. 8 And David said to God, I have sinned greatly, in that I have done this thing: but now, put away, I urge you, the iniquity of your slave; for I have done very foolishly.

9 And Yahweh spoke to Gad, David's seer, saying, 10 Go and speak to David, saying, Thus says Yahweh, I offer you three things: choose for yourself one of them, that I may do it to you. 11 So Gad came to David, and said to him, Thus says Yahweh, Take which you will: 12 either three years of famine; or three months to be consumed before your foes, while the sword of your enemies overtakes you; or three days the sword of Yahweh, even pestilence in the land, and the angel of Yahweh destroying throughout all the borders of Israel. Now therefore consider what answer I will return to him who sent me. 13 And David said to Gad, I am in a great strait: let me fall, I pray, into the hand of Yahweh; for very great are his mercies: and don't let me fall into the hand of man. 14 So Yahweh sent a pestilence on Israel; and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men. 15 And God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it: and as he was about to destroy, Yahweh looked, and he repented of the evil, and said to the destroying angel, It is enough; now let down your hand. And the angel of Yahweh was standing by the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 16 And David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of Yahweh standing between earth and heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell on their faces. 17 And David said to God, Is it not I who commanded the people to be numbered? It is I who have sinned and done very wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? Let your hand, I pray you, O Yahweh my God, be against me, and against my father's house; but not against your people, that they should be plagued.

18 Then the angel of Yahweh commanded Gad to say to David, that David should go up, and rear an altar to Yahweh in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 19 And David went up at the saying of Gad, which he spoke in the name of Yahweh. 20 And Ornan turned back, and saw the angel; and his four sons who were with him hid themselves. Now Ornan was threshing wheat. 21 And as David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David, and went out of the threshing-floor, and bowed himself to David with his face to the ground. 22 Then David said to Ornan, Give me the place of this threshing-floor, that I may build on it an altar to Yahweh: for the full [price in] silver you will give it to me, that the plague may be stopped from the people. 23 And Ornan said to David, Take it for yourself, and let my lord the king do that which is good in his eyes: look, I give [you] the oxen for burnt-offerings, and the threshing instruments for wood, and the wheat for the meal-offering; I give it all. 24 And King David said to Ornan, No; but I will truly buy it for the full [price in] silver: for I will not take that which is yours for Yahweh, nor offer a burnt-offering without cost. 25 So David gave to Ornan for the place six hundred shekels of gold by weight. 26 And David built there an altar to Yahweh, and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings, and called on Yahweh; and he answered him from heaven by fire on the altar of burnt-offering. 27 And Yahweh commanded the angel; and he put up his sword again into its sheath.

28 At that time, when David saw that Yahweh had answered him in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite, then he sacrificed there. 29 For the tabernacle of Yahweh, which Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt-offering, were at that time in the high place at Gibeon. 30 But David could not go before it to inquire of God; for he was afraid because of the sword of the angel of Yahweh.

22  Then David said, This is the house of Yahweh God, and this is the altar of burnt-offering for Israel. 2 And David commanded to gather together the sojourners who were in the land of Israel; and he set masons to cut wrought stones to build the house of God. 3 And David prepared iron in abundance for the nails for the doors of the gates, and for the couplings; and bronze in abundance without weight; 4 and cedar-trees without number: for the Sidonians and those of Tyre brought cedar-trees in abundance to David. 5 And David said, Solomon my son is young and tender, and the house that is to be built for Yahweh must be exceedingly magnificent, of fame and of glory throughout all countries: I will therefore make preparation for it. So David prepared abundantly before his death.

6 Then he called for Solomon his son, and charged him to build a house for Yahweh, the God of Israel. 7 And David said to Solomon his son, As for me, it was in my heart to build a house to the name of Yahweh my God. 8 But the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, You have shed blood abundantly, and have made great wars: you will not build a house to my name, because you have shed much blood on the earth in my sight. 9 Look, a son will be born to you, who will be a man of rest; and I will give him rest from all his enemies round about; for his name will be Solomon, and I will give peace and quietness to Israel in his days: 10 he will build a house for my name; and he will be my son, and I will be his father; and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever. 11 Now, my son, Yahweh be with you; and prosper you, and build the house of Yahweh your God, as he has spoken concerning you. 12 Only may Yahweh give you discretion and understanding, and give you charge concerning Israel; that so you may keep the law of Yahweh your God. 13 Then you will prosper, if you observe to do the statutes and the ordinances which Yahweh charged Moses with concerning Israel: be strong, and of good courage; don't be afraid, neither be dismayed. 14 Now, look, in my affliction I have prepared for the house of Yahweh a hundred thousand talents of gold, and a thousand thousand talents of silver, and of bronze and iron without weight; for it is in abundance: timber also and stone I have prepared; and you may add thereto. 15 Moreover there are workmen with you in abundance, hewers and workers of stone and timber, and all men who are skillful in every manner of work: 16 of the gold, the silver, and the bronze, and the iron, there is no number. Arise and do it, and Yahweh be with you.

17 David also commanded all the princes of Israel to help Solomon his son, [saying,] 18 Isn't Yahweh your+ God with you+? And has he not given you+ rest on every side? For he has delivered the inhabitants of the land into my hand; and the land is subdued before Yahweh, and before his people. 19 Now set your+ heart and your+ soul to seek after Yahweh your+ God; arise therefore, and build+ the sanctuary of Yahweh God, to bring the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, and the holy vessels of God, into the house that is to be built to the name of Yahweh.

23  Now David was old and full of days; and he made Solomon his son king over Israel. 2 And he gathered together all the princes of Israel, with the priests and the Levites. 3 And the Levites were numbered from thirty years old and upward: and their number by their polls, the [able-bodied] men, was thirty and eight thousand. 4 Of these, twenty and four thousand were to oversee the work of the house of Yahweh; and six thousand were officers and judges; 5 and four thousand were doorkeepers; and four thousand praised Yahweh with the instruments which I made, [said David], to praise using them. 6 And David divided them into courses according to the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

7 Of the Gershonites: Ladan and Shimei. 8 The sons of Ladan: Jehiel the chief, and Zetham, and Joel, three. 9 The sons of Shimei: Shelomoth, and Haziel, and Haran, three. These were the heads of the fathers' [houses] of Ladan. 10 And the sons of Shimei: Jahath, Zina, and Jeush, and Beriah. These four were the sons of Shimei. 11 And Jahath was the chief, and Zizah the second: but Jeush and Beriah did not have many sons; therefore they became a fathers' house in one reckoning.

12 The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel, four. 13 The sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses; and Aaron was separated, that he should sanctify the most holy things, he and his sons, forever, to burn incense before Yahweh, to minister to him, and to bless in his name, forever. 14 But as for Moses the man of God, his sons were named among the tribe of Levi. 15 The sons of Moses: Gershom and Eliezer. 16 The sons of Gershom: Shebuel the chief. 17 And the sons of Eliezer were: Rehabiah the chief; and Eliezer had no other sons; but the sons of Rehabiah were very many. 18 The sons of Izhar: Shelomith the chief. 19 The sons of Hebron: Jeriah the chief, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth. 20 The sons of Uzziel: Micah the chief, and Isshiah the second.

21 The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Mahli: Eleazar and Kish. 22 And Eleazar died, and had no sons, but daughters only: and their brothers the sons of Kish took them [as wife]. 23 The sons of Mushi: Mahli, and Eder, and Jeremoth, three.

24 These were the sons of Levi after their fathers' houses, even the heads of the fathers' [houses] of the ones of those who were counted, in the number of names by their polls, who did the work for the service of the house of Yahweh, from twenty years old and upward. 25 For David said, Yahweh, the God of Israel, has given rest to his people; and he stays in Jerusalem forever: 26 and also the Levites will no more have need to carry the tabernacle and all the vessels of it for its service. 27 For by the last words of David the sons of Levi were numbered, from twenty years old and upward. 28 For their office was to wait on the sons of Aaron for the service of the house of Yahweh, in the courts, and in the chambers, and in the purifying of all holy things, even the work of the service of the house of God; 29 for the showbread also, and for the fine flour for a meal-offering, whether of unleavened wafers, or of that which is baked in the pan, or of that which is soaked, and for all manner of measure and size; 30 and to stand every morning to thank and praise Yahweh, and likewise at evening; 31 and to offer all burnt-offerings to Yahweh, on the Sabbaths, on the new moons, and on the set feasts, in number according to the ordinance concerning them, continually before Yahweh; 32 and that they should keep the charge of the tent of meeting, and the charge of the holy place, and the charge of the sons of Aaron their brothers, for the service of the house of Yahweh.

24  And the courses of the sons of Aaron [were these]. The sons of Aaron: Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. 2 But Nadab and Abihu died before their father, and had no sons: therefore Eleazar and Ithamar executed the priest's office. 3 And David with Zadok of the sons of Eleazar, and Ahimelech of the sons of Ithamar, divided them according to their ordering in their service. 4 And there were more chief men found of the sons of Eleazar than of the sons of Ithamar; and [thus] they were divided: of the sons of Eleazar there were sixteen, heads of fathers' houses; and of the sons of Ithamar, according to their fathers' houses, eight. 5 Thus they were divided by lot, one sort with another; for there were princes of the sanctuary, and princes of God, both of the sons of Eleazar, and of the sons of Ithamar. 6 And Shemaiah the son of Nethanel the scribe, who was of the Levites, wrote them in the presence of the king, and the princes, and Zadok the priest, and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar, and the heads of the fathers' [houses] of the priests and of the Levites; one fathers' house being taken for Eleazar, and one taken,[269] one taken for Ithamar.

7 Now the first lot came forth to Jehoiarib, the second to Jedaiah, 8 the third to Harim, the fourth to Seorim, 9 the fifth to Malchijah, the sixth to Mijamin, 10 the seventh to Hakkoz, the eighth to Abijah, 11 the ninth to Jeshua, the tenth to Shecaniah, 12 the eleventh to Eliashib, the twelfth to Jakim, 13 the thirteenth to Huppah, the fourteenth to Jeshebeab, 14 the fifteenth to Bilgah, the sixteenth to Immer, 15 the seventeenth to Hezir, the eighteenth to Happizzez, 16 the nineteenth to Pethahiah, the twentieth to Jehezkel, 17 the one and twentieth to Jachin, the two and twentieth to Gamul, 18 the three and twentieth to Delaiah, the four and twentieth to Maaziah. 19 This was the ordering of them in their service, to come into the house of Yahweh according to the ordinance [given] to them by Aaron their father, as Yahweh, the God of Israel, had commanded him.

20 And of the rest of the sons of Levi: of the sons of Amram, Shubael; of the sons of Shubael, Jehdeiah. 21 Of Rehabiah: of the sons of Rehabiah, Isshiah the chief. 22 Of the Izharites, Shelomoth; of the sons of Shelomoth, Jahath. 23 And the sons of [Hebron]: Jeriah[270] [the chief], Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, Jekameam the fourth. 24 The sons of Uzziel, Micah; of the sons of Micah, Shamir. 25 The brother of Micah, Isshiah; of the sons of Isshiah, Zechariah. 26 The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi; the sons of Jaaziah: Beno. 27 The sons of Merari: of Jaaziah, Beno, and Shoham, and Zaccur, and Ibri. 28 Of Mahli: Eleazar, who had no sons. 29 Of Kish; the sons of Kish: Jerahmeel. 30 And the sons of Mushi: Mahli, and Eder, and Jerimoth. These were the sons of the Levites after their fathers' houses. 31 These likewise cast lots even as their brothers the sons of Aaron in the presence of David the king, and Zadok, and Ahimelech, and the heads of the fathers' [houses] of the priests and of the Levites; the fathers' [houses] of the chief even as those of his younger brother.

25  Moreover David and the captains of the host set apart for the service certain of the sons of Asaph, and of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who should prophesy with harps, with psalteries, and with cymbals: and the number of those who did the work according to their service was: 2 of the sons of Asaph: Zaccur, and Joseph, and Nethaniah, and Asharelah, the sons of Asaph, under the hand of Asaph, who prophesied after the order of the king. 3 Of Jeduthun; the sons of Jeduthun: Gedaliah, and Zeri, and Jeshaiah and Shimei, Hashabiah and Mattithiah, six, under the hands of their father Jeduthun with the harp, who prophesied in giving thanks and praising Yahweh. 4 Of Heman; the sons of Heman: Bukkiah, Mattaniah, Uzziel, Shebuel, and Jerimoth, Hananiah, Hanani, Eliathah, Giddalti, and Romamti-ezer, Joshbekashah, Mallothi, Hothir, Mahazioth. 5 All these were the sons of Heman the king's seer in the words of God, to lift up the horn. And God gave to Heman fourteen sons and three daughters. 6 All these were under the hands of their father for song in the house of Yahweh, with cymbals, psalteries, and harps, for the service of the house of God; Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman being under the order of the king. 7 And the number of them, with their brothers who were instructed in singing to Yahweh, even all who were skillful, was 288. 8 And they cast lots for their offices, all alike, the small as well as the great, the teacher as the scholar.

9 Now the first lot came forth for Asaph to Joseph: the second to Gedaliah; he and his brothers and sons were twelve: 10 the third to Zaccur, his sons and his brothers, twelve: 11 the fourth to Izri, his sons and his brothers, twelve: 12 the fifth to Nethaniah, his sons and his brothers, twelve: 13 the sixth to Bukkiah, his sons and his brothers, twelve: 14 the seventh to Jesharelah, his sons and his brothers, twelve: 15 the eighth to Jeshaiah, his sons and his brothers, twelve: 16 the ninth to Mattaniah, his sons and his brothers, twelve: 17 the tenth to Shimei, his sons and his brothers, twelve: 18 the eleventh to Azarel, his sons and his brothers, twelve: 19 the twelfth to Hashabiah, his sons and his brothers, twelve: 20 for the thirteenth, Shubael, his sons and his brothers, twelve: 21 for the fourteenth, Mattithiah, his sons and his brothers, twelve: 22 for the fifteenth to Jeremoth, his sons and his brothers, twelve: 23 for the sixteenth to Hananiah, his sons and his brothers, twelve: 24 for the seventeenth to Joshbekashah, his sons and his brothers, twelve: 25 for the eighteenth to Hanani, his sons and his brothers, twelve: 26 for the nineteenth to Mallothi, his sons and his brothers, twelve: 27 for the twentieth to Eliathah, his sons and his brothers, twelve: 28 for the one and twentieth to Hothir, his sons and his brothers, twelve: 29 for the two and twentieth to Giddalti, his sons and his brothers, twelve: 30 for the three and twentieth to Mahazioth, his sons and his brothers, twelve: 31 for the four and twentieth to Romamtiezer, his sons and his brothers, twelve.

26  For the courses of the doorkeepers: of the Korahites, Meshelemiah the son of Kore, of the sons of Ebiasaph. 2 And Meshelemiah had sons: Zechariah the firstborn, Jediael the second, Zebadiah the third, Jathniel the fourth, 3 Elam the fifth, Jehohanan the sixth, Eliehoenai the seventh. 4 And Obed-edom had sons: Shemaiah the firstborn, Jehozabad the second, Joah the third, and Sacar the fourth, and Nethanel the fifth, 5 Ammiel the sixth, Issachar the seventh, Peullethai the eighth; for God blessed him. 6 Also to Shemaiah his son were sons born, that ruled over the house of their father; for they were mighty men of valor. 7 The sons of Shemaiah: Othni, and Rephael, and Obed, Elzabad, whose brothers were valiant men, Elihu, and Semachiah. 8 All these were of the sons of Obed-edom: they and their sons and their brothers, able men in strength for the service; threescore and two of Obed-edom. 9 And Meshelemiah had sons and brothers, valiant men, eighteen. 10 Also Hosah, of the sons of Merari, had sons: Shimri the chief (for though he was not the firstborn, yet his father made him chief), 11 Hilkiah the second, Tebaliah the third, Zechariah the fourth: all the sons and brothers of Hosah were thirteen.

12 Of these were the courses of the doorkeepers, even of the chief men, having offices like their brothers, to minister in the house of Yahweh. 13 And they cast lots, the small as well as the great, according to their fathers' houses, for every gate. 14 And the lot eastward fell to Shelemiah. Then for Zechariah his son, a discreet counselor, they cast lots; and his lot came out northward. 15 To Obed-edom southward; and to his sons the storehouse. 16 To Shuppim and Hosah westward, by the gate of Shallecheth, at the causeway that goes up, watch against watch. 17 Eastward were six Levites, northward four a day, southward four a day, and for the storehouse two and two. 18 For Parbar westward, four at the causeway, and two at Parbar. 19 These were the courses of the doorkeepers; of the sons of the Korahites, and of the sons of Merari.

20 And of the Levites, Ahijah was over the treasures of the house of God, and over the treasures of the dedicated things. 21 The sons of Ladan, the sons of the Gershonites belonging to Ladan, the heads of the fathers' [houses] belonging to Ladan the Gershonite: Jehieli. 22 The sons of Jehieli: Zetham, and Joel his brother, over the treasures of the house of Yahweh. 23 Of the Amramites, of the Izharites, of the Hebronites, of the Uzzielites: 24 and Shebuel the son of Gershom, the son of Moses, was leader over the treasures. 25 And his brothers: of Eliezer [came] Rehabiah his son, and Jeshaiah his son, and Joram his son, and Zichri his son, and Shelomoth his son. 26 This Shelomoth and his brothers were over all the treasures of the dedicated things, which David the king, and the heads of the fathers' [houses], the captains over thousands and hundreds, and the captains of the host, had dedicated. 27 They dedicated out of the spoil won in battles to repair the house of Yahweh. 28 And all that Samuel the seer, and Saul the son of Kish, and Abner the son of Ner, and Joab the son of Zeruiah, had dedicated, whoever had dedicated anything, it was under the hand of Shelomoth, and of his brothers.

29 Of the Izharites, Chenaniah and his sons were for the outward business over Israel, for officers and judges. 30 Of the Hebronites, Hashabiah and his brothers, men of valor, a thousand and seven hundred, had the oversight of Israel beyond the Jordan westward, for all the business of Yahweh, and for the service of the king. 31 Of the Hebronites was Jerijah the chief, even of the Hebronites, according to their generations by fathers' [houses]. In the fortieth year of the reign of David they were sought for, and there were found among them mighty men of valor at Jazer of Gilead. 32 And his brothers, men of valor, were two thousand and seven hundred, heads of fathers' [houses], whom King David made overseers over the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half-tribe of the Manassites, for every matter pertaining to God, and for the affairs of the king.

27  Now the sons of Israel after their number, [to wit,] the heads of fathers' [houses] and the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and their officers that ministered to the king, in any matter of the courses which came in and went out month by month throughout all the months of the year—of every course were twenty and four thousand. 2 Over the first course for the first month was Jashobeam the son of Zabdiel: and in his course were twenty and four thousand. 3 [He was] of the sons of Perez, the chief of all the captains of the host for the first month. 4 And over the course of the second month was Dodai the Ahohite, and his course; and Mikloth the leader: and in his course were twenty and four thousand. 5 The third captain of the host for the third month was Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada the priest, chief: and in his course were twenty and four thousand. 6 This is that Benaiah, who was the mighty man of the thirty, and over the thirty: and his course was Ammizabad his son. 7 The fourth [captain] for the fourth month was Asahel the brother of Joab, and Zebadiah his son after him: and in his course were twenty and four thousand. 8 The fifth captain for the fifth month was Shamhuth the Izrahite: and in his course were twenty and four thousand. 9 The sixth [captain] for the sixth month was Ira the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite: and in his course were twenty and four thousand. 10 The seventh [captain] for the seventh month was Helez the Pelonite, of the sons of Ephraim: and in his course were twenty and four thousand. 11 The eighth [captain] for the eighth month was Sibbecai the Hushathite, of the Zerahites: and in his course were twenty and four thousand. 12 The ninth [captain] for the ninth month was Abiezer the Anathothite, of the Benjamites: and in his course were twenty and four thousand. 13 The tenth [captain] for the tenth month was Maharai the Netophathite, of the Zerahites: and in his course were twenty and four thousand. 14 The eleventh [captain] for the eleventh month was Benaiah the Pirathonite, of the sons of Ephraim: and in his course were twenty and four thousand. 15 The twelfth [captain] for the twelfth month was Heldai the Netophathite, of Othniel: and in his course were twenty and four thousand.

16 Furthermore over the tribes of Israel: of the Reubenites was Eliezer the son of Zichri the leader: of the Simeonites, Shephatiah the son of Maacah: 17 of Levi, Hashabiah the son of Kemuel: of Aaron, Zadok: 18 of Judah, Elihu, one of the brothers of David: of Issachar, Omri the son of Michael: 19 of Zebulun, Ishmaiah the son of Obadiah: of Naphtali, Jeremoth the son of Azriel: 20 of the sons of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Azaziah: of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Joel the son of Pedaiah: 21 of the half-[tribe] of Manasseh in Gilead, Iddo the son of Zechariah: of Benjamin, Jaasiel the son of Abner: 22 of Dan, Azarel the son of Jeroham. These were the captains of the tribes of Israel. 23 But David did not take the number of them from twenty years old and under, because Yahweh had said he would increase Israel like the stars of heaven. 24 Joab the son of Zeruiah began to number, but didn't finish; and there came wrath for this on Israel; neither was the number put into the account in the chronicles of King David.

25 And over the king's treasures was Azmaveth the son of Adiel: and over the treasures in the fields, in the cities, and in the villages, and in the castles, was Jonathan the son of Uzziah: 26 And over those who did the work of the field for tillage of the ground was Ezri the son of Chelub: 27 and over the vineyards was Shimei the Ramathite: and over the increase of the vineyards for the wine-cellars was Zabdi the Shiphmite: 28 and over the olive trees and the sycamore-trees that were in the lowland was Baal-hanan the Gederite: and over the cellars of oil was Joash: 29 and over the herds that fed in Sharon was Shitrai the Sharonite: and over the herds that were in the valleys was Shaphat the son of Adlai: 30 and over the camels was Obil the Ishmaelite: and over the donkeys was Jehdeiah the Meronothite: and over the flocks was Jaziz the Hagrite. 31 All these were the rulers of the substance which was king David's.

32 Also Jonathan, David's uncle, was a counselor, a man of understanding, and a scribe: and Jehiel the son of Hachmoni was with the king's sons: 33 And Ahithophel was the king's counselor: and Hushai the Archite was the king's companion: 34 and after Ahithophel was Jehoiada the son of Benaiah, and Abiathar: and the captain of the king's host was Joab.

28  And David assembled all the princes of Israel, the princes of the tribes, and the captains of the companies that ministered to the king by course, and the captains of thousands, and the captains of hundreds, and the rulers over all the substance and possessions of the king and of his sons, with the officers, and the mighty men, even all the mighty men of valor, to Jerusalem. 2 Then David the king stood up on his feet, and said, Hear me, my brothers, and my people: as for me, it was in my heart to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, and for the footstool of our God; and I had made ready for the building. 3 But God said to me, You will not build a house for my name, because you are a man of war, and have shed blood. 4 Nevertheless Yahweh, the God of Israel, chose me out of all the house of my father to be king over Israel forever: for he has chosen Judah to be leader; and in the house of Judah, the house of my father; and among the sons of my father he took pleasure in me to make me king over all Israel; 5 And of all my sons (for Yahweh has given me many sons), he has chosen Solomon my son to sit on the throne of the kingdom of Yahweh over Israel. 6 And he said to me, Solomon your son, he will build my house and my courts; for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father. 7 And I will establish his kingdom forever, if he is constant to do my commandments and my ordinances, as at this day. 8 Now therefore, in the sight of all Israel, the assembly of Yahweh, and in the audience of our God, observe and seek out all the commandments of Yahweh your+ God; that you+ may possess this good land, and leave it for an inheritance to your+ sons after you+ forever.

9 And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing soul; for Yahweh searches all hearts, and understands all the imaginations of the thoughts: if you seek him, he will be found of you; but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever. 10 Take heed now; for Yahweh has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary: be strong, and do it.

11 Then David gave to Solomon his son the pattern of the porch [of the temple], and of its houses, and of its treasuries, and of its upper rooms, and of its inner chambers, and of the place of the mercy-seat; 12 and the pattern of all that he had by the Spirit, for the courts of the house of Yahweh, and for all the chambers round about, for the treasuries of the house of God, and for the treasuries of the dedicated things; 13 also for the courses of the priests and the Levites, and for all the work of the service of the house of Yahweh, and for all the vessels of service in the house of Yahweh; 14 of gold by weight for the [vessels of] gold, for all vessels of every kind of service; [of silver] for all the vessels of silver by weight, for all vessels of every kind of service; 15 by weight also for the lampstands of gold, and for their lamps, of gold, by weight for every lampstand and for its lamps; and for the lampstands of silver, [silver] by weight for [every] lampstand and for its lamps, according to the use of every lampstand; 16 and the gold by weight for the tables of showbread, for every table; and silver for the tables of silver; 17 and the flesh-hooks, and the basins, and the cups, of pure gold; and for the golden bowls by weight for every bowl; and for the silver bowls by weight for every bowl; 18 and for the altar of incense refined gold by weight; and gold for the pattern of the chariot, [even] the cherubim, that spread out [their wings], and covered the ark of the covenant of Yahweh. 19 All this, [said David], I have been made to understand in writing from the hand of Yahweh, even all the works of this pattern.

20 And David said to Solomon his son, Be strong and of good courage, and do it: don't be afraid, nor be dismayed; for Yahweh God, even my God, is with you; he will not fail you, nor forsake you, until all the work for the service of the house of Yahweh is finished. 21 And, look, there are the courses of the priests and the Levites, for all the service of the house of God: and there will be with you in all manner of work every willing man who has skill, for any manner of service: also the captains and all the people will be wholly at your commandment.

29  And David the king said to all the assembly, Solomon my son, whom alone God has chosen, is yet young and tender, and the work is great; for the palace is not for man, but for Yahweh God. 2 Now I have prepared with all my might for the house of my God the gold for the [things of] gold, and the silver for the [things of] silver, and the bronze for the [things of] bronze, the iron for the [things of] iron, and wood for the [things of] wood; onyx stones, and [stones] to be set, stones for inlaid work, and of diverse colors, and all manner of precious stones, and marble stones in abundance. 3 Moreover also, because I have set my affection on the house of my God, seeing that I have a treasure of my own of gold and silver, I give it to the house of my God, over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house, 4 even three thousand talents of gold, of the gold of Ophir, and seven thousand talents of refined silver, with which to overlay the walls of the houses; 5 of gold for the [things of] gold, and of silver for the [things of] silver, and for all manner of work [to be made] by the hands of artificers. Who then offers willingly to consecrate himself this day to Yahweh?

6 Then the princes of the fathers' [houses], and the princes of the tribes of Israel, and the captains of thousands and of hundreds, with the rulers over the king's work, offered willingly; 7 and they gave for the service of the house of God: of gold five thousand talents and ten thousand darics, and of silver ten thousand talents, and of bronze eighteen thousand talents, and of iron a hundred thousand talents. 8 And they with whom [precious] stones were found gave them to the treasure of the house of Yahweh, under the hand of Jehiel the Gershonite. 9 Then the people rejoiced, for that they offered willingly, because with a perfect heart they offered willingly to Yahweh: and David the king also rejoiced with great joy.

10 Therefore David blessed Yahweh before all the assembly; and David said, Blessed be you, O Yahweh, the God of Israel our father, forever and ever. 11 Yours, O Yahweh, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the grandeur: for all that is in the heavens and in the earth [is yours]; yours is the kingdom, O Yahweh, and you are exalted as head above all. 12 Both riches and honor come of you, and you rule over all; and in your hand is power and might; and in your hand it is to make great, and to give strength to all. 13 Now therefore, our God, we thank you, and praise your glorious name. 14 But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? For all things come of you, and of your own we have given you. 15 For we are strangers before you, and sojourners, as all our fathers were: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is no hope [to remain on the earth]. 16 O Yahweh our God, all this store that we have prepared to build you a house for your holy name comes of your hand, and is all your own. 17 I know also, my God, that you try the heart, and have pleasure in uprightness. As for me, in the uprightness of my heart I have willingly offered all these things: and now I have seen with joy your people, who are present here, offer willingly to you. 18 O Yahweh, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this forever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of your people, and prepare their heart to you; 19 and give to Solomon my son a perfect heart, to keep your commandments, your testimonies, and your statutes, and to do all these things, and to build the palace, for which I have made provision.

20 And David said to all the assembly, Now bless Yahweh your+ God. And all the assembly blessed Yahweh, the God of their fathers, and bowed down their heads, and worshiped Yahweh, and the king. 21 And they sacrificed sacrifices to Yahweh, and offered burnt-offerings to Yahweh, on the next day after that day, even a thousand bullocks, a thousand rams, and a thousand lambs, with their drink-offerings, and sacrifices in abundance for all Israel, 22 and ate and drank before Yahweh on that day with great gladness.

And they made Solomon the son of David king the second time, and anointed him to Yahweh to be leader, and Zadok to be priest. 23 Then Solomon sat on the throne of Yahweh as king instead of David his father, and prospered; and all Israel obeyed him. 24 And all the princes, and the mighty men, and all the sons likewise of King David, submitted themselves to Solomon the king. 25 And Yahweh magnified Solomon exceedingly in the sight of all Israel, and bestowed on him such royal grandeur as had not been on any king before him in Israel.

26 Now David the son of Jesse reigned over all Israel. 27 And the time that he reigned over Israel was forty years; seven years he reigned in Hebron, and thirty and three [years] he reigned in Jerusalem. 28 And he died in a good old age, full of days, riches, and honor: and Solomon his son reigned in his stead. 29 Now the acts of David the king, first and last, look, they are written in the history of Samuel the seer, and in the history of Nathan the prophet, and in the history of Gad the seer, 30 with all his reign and his might, and the times that went over him, and over Israel, and over all the kingdoms of the countries.

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II Chronicles

1  And Solomon the son of David was strengthened in his kingdom, and Yahweh his God was with him, and magnified him exceedingly. 2 And Solomon spoke to all Israel, to the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and to the judges, and to every prince in all Israel, the heads of the fathers' [houses]. 3 So Solomon, and all the assembly with him, went to the high place that was at Gibeon; for there was the tent of meeting of God, which Moses the slave of Yahweh had made in the wilderness. 4 But the ark of God David had brought up from Kiriath-jearim to [the place] that David had prepared for it; for he had pitched a tent for it at Jerusalem. 5 Moreover the bronze altar, that Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, had made, was there before the tabernacle of Yahweh: and Solomon and the assembly sought to it. 6 And Solomon went up there to the bronze altar before Yahweh, which was at the tent of meeting, and offered a thousand burnt-offerings on it.

7 In that night God appeared to Solomon, and said to him, Ask what I will give you. 8 And Solomon said to God, You have shown great loving-kindness to David my father, and have made me king in his stead. 9 Now, O Yahweh God, let your promise to David my father be established; for you have made me king over a people like the dust of the earth in multitude. 10 Give me now wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people; for who can judge this your people, that is so great?

11 And God said to Solomon, Because this was in your heart, and you haven't asked riches, wealth, or honor, nor the soul of those who hate you, neither yet have asked long life; but have asked wisdom and knowledge for yourself, that you may judge my people, over whom I have made you king: 12 wisdom and knowledge is granted to you; and I will give you riches, and wealth, and honor, such as none of the kings have had that have been before you; neither will there any after you have the like. 13 So Solomon went to the high place that was at Gibeon, [then] from the tent of meeting [at Gibeon] to Jerusalem; and he reigned over Israel.

14 And Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen: and he had a thousand and four hundred chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, that he placed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem. 15 And the king made silver and gold to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars he made to be as the sycamore-trees that are in the lowland, for abundance. 16 And the horses which Solomon had were brought out of Egypt[271] and from Kue.[272] The king's merchants acquired those from Kue for a price. 17 And they fetched up and brought out of Egypt a chariot for six hundred [shekels] of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty: and so for all the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of Syria, they brought them out by their means.

2  Now Solomon purposed to build a house for the name of Yahweh, and a house for his kingdom. 2 And Solomon counted out 70,000 men to bear burdens, and 80,000 men who were hewers in the mountains, and three thousand and six hundred to oversee them. 3 And Solomon sent to Huram the king of Tyre, saying, As you dealt with David my father, and sent him cedars to build him a house to dwell in it, [even so deal with me]. 4 Look, I am about to build a house for the name of Yahweh my God, to dedicate it to him, and to burn before him incense of sweet spices, and for the continual showbread, and for the burnt-offerings morning and evening, on the Sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the set feasts of Yahweh our God. This is [an ordinance] forever to Israel. 5 And the house which I build is great; for great is our God above all gods. 6 But who is able to build him a house, seeing heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain him? Who am I then, that I should build him a house, except only to burn incense before him? 7 Now therefore send me a skillful man to work in gold, and in silver, and in bronze, and in iron, and in purple, and crimson, and blue, and who knows how to engrave [all manner of] engravings, [to be] with the skillful men who are with me in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom David my father provided. 8 Send me also cedar-trees, fir-trees, and algum-trees, out of Lebanon; for I know that your slaves know how to cut timber in Lebanon: and, look, my slaves will be with your slaves, 9 even to prepare me timber in abundance; for the house which I am about to build will be great and wonderful.

10 And, look, I will give to your slaves, the hewers who cut timber, twenty thousand cors of beaten wheat, and twenty thousand cors of barley, and twenty thousand baths of wine, and twenty thousand baths of oil. 11 Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing, which he sent to Solomon, Because Yahweh loves his people, he has made you king over them. 12 Huram said moreover, Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, that made heaven and earth, who has given to David the king a wise son, endued with discretion and understanding, that should build a house for Yahweh, and a house for his kingdom. 13 And now I have sent a skillful man, endued with understanding, of Huram my father's, 14 the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan; and his father was a man of Tyre, skillful to work in gold, and in silver, in bronze, in iron, in stone, and in timber, in purple, in blue, and in fine linen, and in crimson, also to engrave any manner of engraving, and to devise any device; that there may be [a place] appointed to him with your skillful men, and with the skillful men of my lord David your father. 15 Now therefore the wheat and the barley, the oil and the wine, which my lord has spoken of, let him send to his slaves.

16 And we will cut wood out of Lebanon, as much as you will need; and we will bring it to you in floats by sea to Joppa; and you will carry it up to Jerusalem. 17 And Solomon numbered all the sojourners who were in the land of Israel, after the numbering with which David his father had numbered them; and they were found a hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred. 18 And he set 70,000 of them to bear burdens, and 80,000 who were hewers in the mountains, and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people at work.  3  Then Solomon began to build the house of Yahweh at Jerusalem on mount Moriah, where [Yahweh] appeared to David his father, which he made ready in the place that David had appointed, in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 2 And he began to build in the second month, in the fourth year of his reign. 3 Now these are the foundations which Solomon laid for the building of the house of God. The length by cubits after the first measure was threescore cubits, and the width twenty cubits. 4 And the porch that was before [the house], the length of it, according to the width of the house, was twenty cubits, and the height 120; and he overlaid it inside with pure gold. 5 And the greater house he ceiled with fir-wood, which he overlaid with fine gold, and wrought on it palm-trees and chains. 6 And he garnished the house with precious stones for beauty: and the gold was gold of Parvaim. 7 He overlaid also the house, the beams, the thresholds, and its walls, and its doors, with gold; and engraved cherubim on the walls.

8 And he made the most holy house: its length, according to the width of the house, was twenty cubits, and its width twenty cubits; and he overlaid it with fine gold, amounting to six hundred talents. 9 And the weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold. And he overlaid the upper chambers with gold.

10 And in the most holy house he made two cherubim of molten work; and they overlaid them with gold. 11 And the wings of the cherubim were twenty cubits long: the wing of the one [cherub] was five cubits, reaching to the wall of the house; and the other wing was [likewise] five cubits, reaching to the wing of the other cherub. 12 And the wing of the other cherub was five cubits, reaching to the wall of the house; and the other wing was five cubits [also], sticking to the wing of the other cherub. 13 The wings of these cherubim spread themselves forth twenty cubits: and they stood on their feet, and their faces were toward the house.

14 And he made the veil of blue, and purple, and crimson, and fine linen, and wrought cherubim on it.

15 Also he made before the house two pillars of 35 cubits high, and the capital that was on the top of each of them was five cubits.

16 And he made chains in the oracle, and put [them] on the tops of the pillars; and he made a hundred pomegranates, and put them on the chains.

17 And he set up the pillars before the temple, one on the right hand, and the other on the left; and called the name of that on the right hand Jachin, and the name of that on the left Boaz.

4  Moreover he made an altar of bronze, twenty cubits its length, and twenty cubits its width, and ten cubits its height.

2 Also he made the molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in a circle; and its height was five cubits; and a line of thirty cubits encircled it round about. 3 And under it was the likeness of oxen, which circled it round about, for ten cubits, circling the sea round about. The oxen were in two rows, cast when it was cast. 4 It stood on twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east: and the sea was set on them above, and all their hinder parts were inward. 5 And it was a handbreadth thick; and its brim was wrought like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily: it received and held three thousand baths.

6 He also made ten basins, and put five on the right hand, and five on the left, to wash in them; such things as belonged to the burnt-offering they washed in them; but the sea was for the priests to wash in.

7 And he made the ten lampstands of gold according to the ordinance concerning them; and he set them in the temple, five on the right hand, and five on the left.

8 He also made ten tables, and placed them in the temple, five on the right side, and five on the left. And he made a hundred basins of gold.

9 Furthermore he made the court of the priests, and the great court, and doors for the court, and overlaid the doors of them with bronze. 10 And he set the sea on the right side [of the house] eastward, toward the south. 11 And Huram made the pots, and the shovels, and the basins. So Huram made an end of doing the work that he wrought for King Solomon in the house of God: 12 the two pillars, and the bowls, and the two capitals which were on the top of the pillars, and the two networks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars, 13 and the four hundred pomegranates for the two networks; two rows of pomegranates for each network, to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the pillars. 14 He also made the bases, and the basins he made on the bases; 15 one sea, and the twelve oxen under it. 16 The pots also, and the shovels, and the flesh-hooks, and all the vessels of them, Huram his father made for King Solomon for the house of Yahweh of bright bronze. 17 In the plain of the Jordan the king cast them, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredah. 18 Thus Solomon made all these vessels in great abundance: for the weight of the bronze could not be found out.

19 And Solomon made all the vessels that were in the house of God, the golden altar also, and the tables on which was the showbread; 20 and the lampstands with their lamps, to burn according to the ordinance before the oracle, of pure gold; 21 and the flowers, and the lamps, and the tongs, of gold, and that perfect gold; 22 and the snuffers, and the basins, and the spoons, and the firepans, of pure gold: and as for the entry of the house, the inner doors of it for the most holy place, and the doors of the house, [to wit,] of the temple, were of gold.

5  Thus all the work that Solomon wrought for the house of Yahweh was finished. And Solomon brought in the things that David his father had dedicated, even the silver, and the gold, and all the vessels, and put them in the treasuries of the house of God.

2 Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the princes of the fathers' [houses] of the sons of Israel, to Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of Yahweh out of the city of David, which is Zion. 3 And all the men of Israel assembled themselves to the king at the feast, which was [in] the seventh month. 4 And all the elders of Israel came: and the Levites took up the ark; 5 and they brought up the ark, and the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the Tent; the Levitical priests brought these up. 6 And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who were assembled to him, were before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen, that could not be counted nor numbered for multitude. 7 And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of Yahweh to its place, into the oracle of the house, to the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubim. 8 For the cherubim spread forth their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and its poles above. 9 And the poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the ark before the oracle; but they were not seen outside: and there it is to this day. 10 There was nothing in the ark but the two tables which Moses put [there] at Horeb, by which Yahweh made a covenant with the sons of Israel, when they came out of Egypt.

11 And it came to pass, when the priests had come out of the holy place (for all the priests who were present had sanctified themselves, and did not keep their courses; 12 also the Levites who were the singers, all of them, even Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and their sons and their brothers, arrayed in fine linen, with cymbals and psalteries and harps, stood at the east end of the altar, and with them a hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets); 13 it came to pass, when the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking Yahweh; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised Yahweh, [saying,] For he is good; for his loving-kindness [endures] forever; that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of Yahweh, 14 so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of Yahweh filled the house of God.

6  Then Solomon spoke, Yahweh has said that he would stay in the thick darkness. 2 But I have built you a house of habitation, and a place for you to dwell in forever. 3 And the king turned his face, and blessed all the assembly of Israel: and all the assembly of Israel stood.

4 And he said, Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, who spoke with his mouth to David my father, and has with his hands fulfilled it, saying, 5 Since the day that I brought forth my people out of the land of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel to build a house in, that my name might be there; neither did I choose any man to be leader over my people Israel: 6 but I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there; and have chosen David to be over my people Israel. 7 Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel. 8 But Yahweh said to David my father, Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart: 9 nevertheless you will not build the house; but your son who will come forth out of your loins, he will build the house for my name. 10 And Yahweh has performed his word that he spoke; for I have risen up in the place of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as Yahweh promised, and have built the house for the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel. 11 And there I have set the ark, in which is the covenant of Yahweh, which he made with the sons of Israel.

12 And he stood before the altar of Yahweh in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread forth his hands 13 (for Solomon had made a bronze scaffold, five cubits long, and five cubits broad, and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court; and on it he stood, and knelt down on his knees before all the assembly of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven;) 14 and he said, O Yahweh, the God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven, or on earth; who keeps covenant and loving-kindness with your slaves that walk before you with all their heart; 15 who have kept with your slave David my father that which you promised him: yes, you spoke with your mouth, and have fulfilled it with your hand, as it is this day. 16 Now therefore, O Yahweh, the God of Israel, keep with your slave David my father that which you have promised him, saying, There will not fail you a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your sons take heed to their way, to walk in my law as you have walked before me. 17 Now therefore, O Yahweh, the God of Israel, let your word be verified, which you spoke to your slave David.

18 But will God in very deed dwell with man on the earth? Look, heaven and the heaven of heavens can't contain you; how much less this house which I have built! 19 Yet you have respect to the prayer of your slave, and to his supplication, O Yahweh my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which your slave prays before you; 20 that your eyes may be open toward this house day and night, even toward the place of which you have said that you would put your name there; to listen to the prayer which your slave will pray toward this place. 21 And listen to the supplications of your slave, and of your people Israel, when they will pray toward this place: yes, hear from your dwelling-place, even from heaven; and when you hear forgive.

22 If a man sins against his fellow man, and he is subjected to an oath to cause him to swear, and he comes [and] swears before your altar in this house; 23 then hear from heaven, and act, and judge your slaves, requiting the wicked, to bring his way on his own head; and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness.

24 And if your people Israel are struck down before the enemy, because they have sinned against you, and will turn again and confess your name, and pray and plead for mercy before you in this house; 25 then hear from heaven, and forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them again to the land which you gave to them and to their fathers.

26 When the heavens are shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against you; if they pray toward this place, and confess your name, and turn from their sin, when you afflict them: 27 then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of your slaves, and of your people Israel, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk; and send rain on your land, which you have given to your people for an inheritance.

28 If there is in the land famine, if there is pestilence, if there is blasting or mildew, locust or caterpillar; if their enemies besiege them in the gates of their land;[273] whatever plague or whatever sickness there is; 29 whatever prayer and supplication is made by all of man, and by all your people Israel, who will know every man his own plague and his own sorrow, and will spread forth his hands toward this house: 30 then hear from heaven your dwelling-place and forgive, and render to every man according to all his ways, whose heart you know; for you, even you only, know the hearts of the sons of man; 31 that they may fear you, to walk in your ways, so long as they live in the land which you gave to our fathers.

32 Moreover concerning the foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, when he will come from a far country for your great name's sake, and your mighty hand, and your outstretched arm; when they will come and pray toward this house: 33 then hear from heaven, even from your dwelling-place, and do according to all that the foreigner calls to you for; that all the peoples of the earth may know your name, and fear you, as does your people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by your name.

34 If your people go out to battle against their enemies, by whatever way you will send them, and they pray to you toward this city which you have chosen, and the house which I have built for your name; 35 then hear from heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.

36 If they sin against you (for there is no man who does not sin), and you are angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captive to a land far off or near; 37 yet if they will bethink themselves in the land where they are carried captive, and turn again, and plead to you for mercy in the land of their captivity, saying, We have sinned, we have done perversely, and have dealt wickedly; 38 if they return to you with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, where they have carried them captive, and pray toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, and the city which you have chosen, and toward the house which I have built for your name: 39 then hear from heaven, even from your dwelling-place, their prayer and their supplications, and maintain their cause, and forgive your people who have sinned against you. 40 Now, O my God, let, I urge you, your eyes be open, and let your ears be attentive, to the prayer that is made in this place.

41 Now therefore arise, O Yahweh God, into your resting-place, you, and the ark of your strength: let your priests, O Yahweh God, be clothed with salvation, and let your saints rejoice in goodness. 42 O Yahweh God, don't turn away the face of your anointed one: remember [your] loving-kindnesses to David your slave.

7  Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt-offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of Yahweh filled the house. 2 And the priests could not enter into the house of Yahweh, because the glory of Yahweh filled Yahweh's house. 3 And all the sons of Israel looked on, when the fire came down, and the glory of Yahweh was on the house; and they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground on the pavement, and worshiped, and gave thanks to Yahweh, [saying,] For he is good; for his loving-kindness [endures] forever. 4 Then the king and all the people offered sacrifice before Yahweh.

5 And King Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty and two thousand oxen, and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. 6 And the priests stood, according to their offices; the Levites also with instruments of music of Yahweh, which David the king had made to give thanks to Yahweh (for his loving-kindness [endures] forever), when David praised by their hand: and the priests sounded trumpets before them; and all Israel stood. 7 Moreover Solomon hallowed the middle of the court that was before the house of Yahweh; for there he offered the burnt-offerings, and the fat of the peace-offerings, because the bronze altar which Solomon had made was not able to receive the burnt-offering, and the meal-offering, and the fat.

8 So Solomon held the feast at that time seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great assembly, from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of Egypt. 9 And on the eighth day they held a solemn assembly: for they kept the dedication of the altar seven days, and the feast seven days. 10 And on the three and twentieth day of the seventh month he sent the people away to their tents, joyful and glad of heart for the goodness that Yahweh had shown to David, and to Solomon, and to Israel his people.

11 Thus Solomon finished the house of Yahweh, and the king's house: and all that came into Solomon's heart to make in the house of Yahweh, and in his own house, he prosperously effected. 12 And Yahweh appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him, I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place to myself for a house of sacrifice. 13 If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people; 14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. 15 Now my eyes will be open, and my ears attentive, to the prayer that is made in this place. 16 For now I have chosen and hallowed this house, that my name may be there forever; and my eyes and my heart will be there perpetually. 17 And as for you, if you will walk before me as David your father walked, and do according to all that I have commanded you, and will keep my statutes and my ordinances; 18 then I will establish the throne of your kingdom, according to as I covenanted with David your father, saying, There will not fail you a man to be ruler in Israel.

19 But if you+ turn away, and forsake my statutes and my commandments which I have set before you+, and will go and serve other gods, and worship them; 20 then I will pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for my name, I will cast out of my sight, and I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples. 21 And this house, which is so high,[274] everyone who passes by it will be astonished, and will say, Why has Yahweh done thus to this land, and to this house? 22 And they will answer, Because they forsook Yahweh, the God of their fathers, who brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods, and worshiped them, and served them: therefore he has brought all this evil on them.

8  And it came to pass at the end of twenty years, in which Solomon had built the house of Yahweh, and his own house, 2 that the cities which Huram had given to Solomon, Solomon built them, and caused the sons of Israel to dwell there.

3 And Solomon went to Hamath-zobah, and prevailed against it. 4 And he built Tadmor in the wilderness, and all the store-cities, which he built in Hamath. 5 Also he built Beth-horon the upper, and Beth-horon the nether, fortified cities, with walls, gates, and bars; 6 and Baalath, and all the store-cities that Solomon had, and all the cities for his chariots, and the cities for his horsemen, and all that Solomon desired to build for his pleasure in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.

7 As for all the people who were left of the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of Israel; 8 of their sons who were left after them in the land, whom the sons of Israel did not consume, of them Solomon raised slave labor to this day. 9 But of the sons of Israel Solomon made no slaves for his work; but they were men of war, and rulers of his captains, and rulers of his chariots and of his horsemen. 10 And these were the chief officers of King Solomon, even two hundred and fifty, who bore rule over the people.

11 And Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh out of the city of David to the house that he had built for her; for he said, My wife will not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the places are holy, to where the ark of Yahweh has come.

12 Then Solomon offered burnt-offerings to Yahweh on the altar of Yahweh, which he had built before the porch, 13 even as the duty of every day required, offering according to the commandment of Moses, on the Sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the set feasts, three times in the year, [even] in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles.

14 And he appointed, according to the ordinance of David his father, the courses of the priests to their service, and the Levites to their offices, to praise, and to minister before the priests, as the duty of every day required; the doorkeepers also by their courses at every gate: for so David the man of God had commanded. 15 And they did not depart from the commandment of the king to the priests and Levites concerning any matter, or concerning the treasures.

16 Now all the work of Solomon was prepared to the day of the foundation of the house of Yahweh, and until it was finished. [So] the house of Yahweh was completed.

17 Then Solomon went to Ezion-geber, and to Eloth, on the seashore in the land of Edom. 18 And Huram sent him ships by the hands of his slaves, and slaves who had knowledge of the sea; and they came with the slaves of Solomon to Ophir, and fetched from there four hundred and fifty talents of gold, and brought them to King Solomon.

9  And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to prove Solomon with hard questions at Jerusalem, with a very great train, and camels that bore spices, and gold in abundance, and precious stones: and when she came to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart. 2 And Solomon told her all her questions; and there was not anything hid from Solomon which he did not tell her. 3 And when the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had built, 4 and the food of his table, and the sitting of his slaves, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel, his cupbearers also, and their apparel, and his ascent by which he went up to the house of Yahweh; there was no more spirit in her. 5 And she said to the king, It was a true report that I heard in my own land of your acts, and of your wisdom. 6 Nevertheless I didn't believe their words, until I came, and my eyes had seen it; and, look, the half of the greatness of your wisdom was not told me: you exceed the fame that I heard. 7 Happy are your men,[275] and happy are these your slaves, who stand continually before you, and hear your wisdom. 8 Blessed be Yahweh your God, who delighted in you, to set you on his throne, to be king for Yahweh your God: because your God loved Israel, to establish them forever, therefore he made you king over them, to do justice and righteousness.

9 And she gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and spices in great abundance, and precious stones: neither was there any such spice as the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon. 10 And the slaves also of Huram, and the slaves of Solomon, who brought gold from Ophir, brought algum-trees and precious stones. 11 And the king made of the algum-trees terraces for the house of Yahweh, and for the king's house, and harps and psalteries for the singers: and there were none such seen before in the land of Judah. 12 And King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatever she asked, besides that which she had brought to the king. So she turned, and went to her own land, she and her slaves.

13 Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and threescore and six talents of gold, 14 besides that which the traders and merchants brought: and all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the country brought gold and silver to Solomon. 15 And King Solomon made two hundred bucklers of beaten gold; six hundred [shekels] of beaten gold went to one buckler. 16 And [he made] three hundred shields of beaten gold; three hundred [shekels] of gold went to one shield: and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon. 17 Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with pure gold. 18 And there were six steps to the throne, with a footstool of gold, which were fastened to the throne, and supports on either side by the place of the seat, and two lions standing beside the supports. 19 And twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other on the six steps: there was not the like made in any kingdom. 20 And all king Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold: silver was nothing accounted of in the days of Solomon. 21 For the king had ships that went to Tarshish with the slaves of Huram; once every three years the ships of Tarshish came, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.

22 So King Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom. 23 And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart. 24 And they brought every man his tribute, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and raiment, armor, and spices, horses, and mules, a rate year by year. 25 And Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, that he bestowed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem. 26 And he ruled over all the kings from the River even to the land of the Philistines, and to the border of Egypt. 27 And the king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars he made to be as the sycamore-trees who are in the lowland, for abundance. 28 And they brought horses for Solomon out of Egypt, and out of all lands.

29 Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, are they not written in the history of Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat? 30 And Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years. 31 And Solomon slept with his fathers, and he was buried in the city of David his father: and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead.

10  And Rehoboam went to Shechem; for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. 2 And it came to pass, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it (for he was in Egypt, where he had fled from the presence of King Solomon), that Jeroboam returned out of Egypt. 3 And they sent and called him; and Jeroboam and all Israel came, and they spoke to Rehoboam, saying, 4 Your father made our yoke grievous: now therefore make the grievous service of your father, and his heavy yoke which he put on us, lighter, and we will serve you. 5 And he said to them, Come again to me after three days. And the people departed.

6 And King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, saying, What counsel do you+ give me to return answer to this people? 7 And they spoke to him, saying, If you are kind to this people, and please them, and speak good words to them, then they will be your slaves forever. 8 But he forsook the counsel of the old men which they had given him, and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him, who stood before him. 9 And he said to them, What counsel do you+ give, that we may return answer to this people, who have spoken to me, saying, Make the yoke that your father put on us lighter? 10 And the young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, Thus you will say to the people who spoke to you, saying, Your father made our yoke heavy, but make it lighter to us; thus you will say to them, My little finger is thicker than my father's loins. 11 And now whereas my father laded you+ with a heavy yoke, I will add to your+ yoke: my father chastised you+ with whips, but I [will chastise you+] with scorpions.

12 So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king bade, saying, Come to me again the third day. 13 And the king answered them roughly; and King Rehoboam forsook the counsel of the old men, 14 and spoke to them after the counsel of the young men, saying, I will make your+ yoke heavy, and I will add to [the yoke of] my father. He chastised you+ with whips, but I [will chastise you+] with scorpions. 15 So the king didn't listen to the people; for it was brought about of God, that Yahweh might establish his word, which he spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat 16 and to all Israel: that the king would not listen to them.

The people answered the king, saying, What portion do we have in David? Neither do we have inheritance in the son of Jesse: every man to your+ tents, O Israel: now see to your own house, David. So all Israel departed to their tents. 17 But as for the sons of Israel who dwelt in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them. 18 Then King Rehoboam sent Hadoram, who was over the men subject to slave labor; and the sons of Israel stoned him to death with stones. And King Rehoboam made speed to get up to his chariot, to flee to Jerusalem. 19 So Israel rebelled against the house of David to this day.

11  And when Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled the house of Judah and Benjamin, 180,000 chosen men, who were warriors, to fight against Israel, to bring the kingdom again to Rehoboam. 2 But the word of Yahweh came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying, 3 Speak to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin, saying, 4 Thus says Yahweh, You+ will not go up, nor fight against your+ brothers: return every man to his house; for this thing is of me. So they listened to the words of Yahweh, and returned from going against Jeroboam.

5 And Rehoboam dwelt in Jerusalem, and built cities for defense in Judah. 6 He built Beth-lehem, and Etam, and Tekoa, 7 And Beth-zur, and Soco, and Adullam, 8 and Gath, and Mareshah, and Ziph, 9 and Adoraim, and Lachish, and Azekah, 10 and Zorah, and Aijalon, and Hebron, which are in Judah and in Benjamin, fortified cities. 11 And he fortified the strongholds, and put leaders in them, and stores of victuals, and oil and wine. 12 And in every city [he put] shields and spears, and made them exceedingly strong. And Judah and Benjamin belonged to him.

13 And the priests and the Levites who were in all Israel resorted to him out of all their border. 14 For the Levites left their suburbs and their possession, and came to Judah and Jerusalem: for Jeroboam and his sons cast them off, that they should not execute the priest's office to Yahweh; 15 and he appointed for himself priests for the high places, and for the he-goats, and for the calves which he had made. 16 And after them, out of all the tribes of Israel, such as set their hearts to seek Yahweh, the God of Israel, came to Jerusalem to sacrifice to Yahweh, the God of their fathers. 17 So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and made Rehoboam the son of Solomon strong, three years; for they walked three years in the way of David and Solomon.

18 And Rehoboam took himself a wife, Mahalath the daughter of Jerimoth the son of David, [and of] Abihail the daughter of Eliab the son of Jesse; 19 and she bore him sons: Jeush, and Shemariah, and Zaham. 20 And after her he took Maacah the daughter of Absalom; and she bore him Abijah, and Attai, and Ziza, and Shelomith. 21 And Rehoboam loved Maacah the daughter of Absalom above all his wives and his concubines: (for he took eighteen wives, and threescore concubines, and begot twenty and eight sons and threescore daughters.) 22 And Rehoboam appointed Abijah the son of Maacah to be chief, [even] the leader among his brothers; for [he was minded] to make him king. 23 And he dealt wisely, and dispersed of all his sons throughout all the lands of Judah and Benjamin, to every fortified city: and he gave them victuals in abundance. And he sought [for them] many wives.

12  And it came to pass, when the kingdom of Rehoboam was established, and he was strong, that he forsook the law of Yahweh, and all Israel with him. 2 And it came to pass in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, because they had trespassed against Yahweh, 3 with twelve hundred chariots, and threescore thousand horsemen. And the people were without number who came with him out of Egypt: the Lubim, the Sukkiim, and the Ethiopians. 4 And he took the fortified cities which pertained to Judah, and came to Jerusalem. 5 Now Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam, and to the princes of Judah, who were gathered together to Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said to them, Thus says Yahweh, You+ have forsaken me, therefore I have also left you+ in the hand of Shishak. 6 Then the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves; and they said, Yahweh is righteous. 7 And when Yahweh saw that they humbled themselves, the word of Yahweh came to Shemaiah, saying, They have humbled themselves: I will not destroy them; but I will grant them some deliverance, and my wrath will not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. 8 Nevertheless they will be his slaves, that they may know my service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.

9 So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, and took away the treasures of the house of Yahweh, and the treasures of the king's house: he took all away: he took away also the shields of gold which Solomon had made. 10 And King Rehoboam made in their stead shields of bronze, and committed them to the hands of the captains of the guard, that kept the door of the king's house. 11 And it was so, that, as often as the king entered into the house of Yahweh, the guard came and bore them, and brought them back into the guard-chamber. 12 And when he humbled himself, the wrath of Yahweh turned from him, so as not to destroy him altogether: and moreover in Judah there were good things [found].

13 So King Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem, and reigned: for Rehoboam was forty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which Yahweh had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there: and his mother's name was Naamah the Ammonitess. 14 And he did that which was evil, because he did not set his heart to seek Yahweh.

15 Now the acts of Rehoboam, first and last, are they not written in the histories of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer, after the manner of genealogies? And there were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually. 16 And Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David: and Abijah his son reigned in his stead.

13  In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, Abijah began to reign over Judah. 2 He reigned three years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Micaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. 3 And Abijah joined battle with an army of valiant men of war, even four hundred thousand chosen men: and Jeroboam set the battle in array against him with eight hundred thousand chosen men, who were mighty men of valor. 4 And Abijah stood up on mount Zemaraim, which is in the hill-country of Ephraim, and said, Hear me, O Jeroboam and all Israel: 5 Don't you+ know that Yahweh, the God of Israel, gave the kingdom over Israel to David forever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt? 6 Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the slave of Solomon the son of David, rose up, and rebelled against his lord. 7 And there were gathered to him worthless men, base fellows, who strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and tenderhearted, and could not withstand them. 8 And now you+ think to withstand the kingdom of Yahweh in the hand of the sons of David; and you+ are a great multitude, and there are with you+ the golden calves which Jeroboam made you+ for gods. 9 Haven't you+ driven out the priests of Yahweh, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made for yourselves priests after the manner of the peoples of [other] lands? So that whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bull and seven rams, the same may be a priest of [those that are] no gods. 10 But as for us, Yahweh is our God, and we haven't forsaken him; and [we have] priests ministering to Yahweh, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites in their work: 11 and they burn to Yahweh every morning and every evening burnt-offerings and sweet incense: the showbread also [they set] in order on the pure table; and the lampstand of gold with its lamps, to burn every evening: for we keep the charge of Yahweh our God; but you+ have forsaken him. 12 And, look, God is with us at our head, and his priests with the trumpets of alarm to sound an alarm against you+. O sons of Israel, don't fight+ against Yahweh, the God of your+ fathers; for you+ will not prosper.

13 But Jeroboam caused an ambush to come about behind them: so they were before Judah, and the ambush was behind them. 14 And when Judah looked back, and saw that the battle was before and behind them; and they cried to Yahweh, and the priests sounded with the trumpets. 15 Then the men of Judah gave a shout: and as the men of Judah shouted, it came to pass, that God struck Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. 16 And the sons of Israel fled before Judah; and God delivered them into their hand. 17 And Abijah and his people slew them with a great slaughter: so there fell down slain of Israel five hundred thousand chosen men. 18 Thus the sons of Israel were brought under at that time, and the sons of Judah prevailed, because they relied on Yahweh, the God of their fathers. 19 And Abijah pursued after Jeroboam, and took cities from him, Beth-el with its towns, and Jeshanah with its towns, and Ephron with its towns. 20 Neither did Jeroboam recover strength again in the days of Abijah: and Yahweh struck him, and he died. 21 But Abijah waxed mighty, and took to himself fourteen wives, and begot twenty and two sons, and sixteen daughters. 22 And the rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways, and his sayings, are written in the commentary of the prophet Iddo.

14  So Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David; and Asa his son reigned in his stead. In his days the land was quiet ten years. 2 And Asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of Yahweh his God: 3 for he took away the foreign altars, and the high places, and broke down the pillars, and hewed down the Asherim, 4 and commanded Judah to seek Yahweh, the God of their fathers, and to do the law and the commandment. 5 Also he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the sun-images: and the kingdom was quiet before him. 6 And he built fortified cities in Judah; for the land was quiet, and he had no war in those years, because Yahweh had given him rest. 7 For he said to Judah, Let us build these cities, and make about them walls, and towers, gates, and bars; the land is yet before us, because we have sought Yahweh our God; we have sought him, and he has given us rest on every side. So they built and prospered. 8 And Asa had an army that bore bucklers and spears, out of Judah three hundred thousand; and out of Benjamin, that bore shields and drew bows, 280,000: all these were mighty men of valor.

9 And there came out against them Zerah the Ethiopian with an army of a thousand thousand, and three hundred chariots; and he came to Mareshah. 10 Then Asa went out to meet him, and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. 11 And Asa cried to Yahweh his God, and said, Yahweh, there is none besides you to help, between the mighty and him who has no strength: help us, O Yahweh our God; for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this multitude. O Yahweh, you are our God; don't let common man prevail against you. 12 So Yahweh struck the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled. 13 And Asa and the people who were with him pursued them to Gerar: and there fell of the Ethiopians so many that they could not recover themselves; for they were destroyed before Yahweh, and before his host; and they carried away very much booty. 14 And they struck all the cities round about Gerar; for the fear of Yahweh came upon them: and they despoiled all the cities; for there was much spoil in them. 15 They struck also the tents of cattle, and carried away sheep in abundance, and camels, and returned to Jerusalem.

15  And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded: 2 and he went out to meet Asa, and said to him, Hear+ me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: Yahweh is with you+, while you+ are with him; and if you+ seek him, he will be found of you+; but if you+ forsake him, he will forsake you+. 3 Now for a long season Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law: 4 But when in their distress they turned to Yahweh, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them. 5 And in those times there was no peace to him who went out, nor to him who came in; but great vexations were on all the inhabitants of the lands. 6 And they were broken in pieces, nation against nation, and city against city; for God vexed them with all adversity. 7 But be+ strong, and don't let your+ hands be slack; for your+ work will be rewarded.

8 And when Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the detestable things out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from the hill-country of Ephraim; and he renewed the altar of Yahweh, that was before the porch of Yahweh. 9 And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and those who sojourned with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon: for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that Yahweh his God was with him. 10 So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. 11 And they sacrificed to Yahweh in that day, of the spoil which they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep. 12 And they entered into the covenant to seek Yahweh, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul; 13 and that whoever would not seek Yahweh, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman. 14 And they swore to Yahweh with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets. 15 And all Judah rejoiced at the oath; for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found of them: and Yahweh gave them rest round about.

16 And also Maacah, the mother of Asa the king, he removed from being queen, because she had made a horrible image for an Asherah; and Asa cut down her horrible image, and made dust of it, and burned it at the brook Kidron. 17 But the high places were not taken away out of Israel: nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect all his days. 18 And he brought into the house of God the things that his father had dedicated, and that he himself had dedicated, silver, and gold, and vessels. 19 And there was no more war to the five and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa.

16  In the six and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah, and built Ramah, that he might not allow anyone to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah. 2 Then Asa brought out silver and gold out of the treasures of the house of Yahweh and of the king's house, and sent to Ben-hadad king of Syria, who dwelt at Damascus, saying, 3 [There is] a league between me and you, as [there was] between my father and your father: look, I have sent you silver and gold; go, break your league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may depart from me. 4 And Ben-hadad listened to King Asa, and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel; and they struck Ijon, and Dan, and Abel-maim, and all the store-cities of Naphtali. 5 And it came to pass, when Baasha heard of it, that he left off building Ramah, and let his work cease. 6 Then Asa the king took all Judah; and they carried away the stones of Ramah, and its timber, with which Baasha had built; and he built with them Geba and Mizpah.

7 And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said to him, Because you have relied on the king of Syria, and haven't relied on Yahweh your God, therefore the host of the king of Syria has escaped out of your hand. 8 Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubim a huge host, with chariots and horsemen exceedingly many? Yet, because you relied on Yahweh, he delivered them into your hand. 9 For the eyes of Yahweh run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. In this you have done foolishly; for from from now on you will have wars. 10 Then Asa was angry with the seer, and put him in the prison-house; for he was in a rage with him because of this thing. And Asa oppressed some of the people at the same time.

11 And, look, the acts of Asa, first and last, see, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. 12 And in the thirty and ninth year of his reign Asa was diseased in his feet; his disease was exceedingly great: yet in his disease he did not seek to Yahweh, but to the physicians. 13 And Asa slept with his fathers, and died in the one and fortieth year of his reign. 14 And they buried him in his own tombs, which he had cut out for himself in the city of David, and laid him in the bed which was filled with sweet odors and diverse kinds [of spices] prepared by the perfumers' art: and they made a very great burning for him.

17  And Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his stead, and strengthened himself against Israel. 2 And he placed forces in all the fortified cities of Judah, and set garrisons in the land of Judah, and in the cities of Ephraim, which Asa his father had taken. 3 And Yahweh was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the first ways of his father David, and did not seek to the Baalim, 4 but sought to the God of his father, and walked in his commandments, and not after the doings of Israel. 5 Therefore Yahweh established the kingdom in his hand; and all Judah brought to Jehoshaphat tribute; and he had riches and honor in abundance. 6 And his heart was lifted up in the ways of Yahweh: and furthermore he took away the high places and the Asherim out of Judah.

7 Also in the third year of his reign he sent his princes, even Ben-hail, and Obadiah, and Zechariah, and Nethanel, and Micaiah, to teach in the cities of Judah; 8 and with them the Levites, even Shemaiah, and Nethaniah, and Zebadiah, and Asahel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehonathan, and Adonijah, and Tobijah, and Tob-adonijah, the Levites; and with them Elishama and Jehoram, the priests. 9 And they taught in Judah, having the Book of the Law of Yahweh with them; and they went about throughout all the cities of Judah, and taught among the people.

10 And the fear of Yahweh fell on all the kingdoms of the lands that were round about Judah, so that they made no war against Jehoshaphat. 11 And some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat presents, and silver for tribute; the Arabians also brought him flocks, seven thousand and seven hundred rams, and seven thousand and seven hundred he-goats. 12 And Jehoshaphat waxed exceedingly great; and he built in Judah castles and cities of store. 13 And he had many works in the cities of Judah; and men of war, mighty men of valor, in Jerusalem. 14 And this was the numbering of them according to their fathers' houses: Of Judah, the captains of thousands: Adnah the captain, and with him mighty men of valor three hundred thousand; 15 and next to him Jehohanan the captain, and with him 280,000; 16 and next to him Amasiah the son of Zichri, who willingly offered himself to Yahweh; and with him two hundred thousand mighty men of valor. 17 And of Benjamin: Eliada a mighty man of valor, and with him two hundred thousand armed with bow and shield; 18 and next to him Jehozabad and with him 180,000 ready prepared for war. 19 These were those who ministered to the king, besides those whom the king put in the fortified cities throughout all Judah.

18  Now Jehoshaphat had riches and honor in abundance; and he joined affinity with Ahab. 2 And after certain years he went down to Ahab to Samaria. And Ahab killed sheep and oxen for him in abundance, and for the people who were with him, and moved him to go up [with him] to Ramoth-gilead. 3 And Ahab king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, Will you go with me to Ramoth-gilead? And he answered him, I am as you are, and my people as your people; and [we will be] with you in the war.

4 And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, Inquire first, I pray you, for the word of Yahweh. 5 Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, four hundred men, and said to them, Shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up; for God will deliver it into the hand of the king. 6 But Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of Yahweh besides, that we may inquire of him? 7 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of Yahweh: but I hate him; for he never prophesies good concerning me, but always evil: the same is Micaiah the son of Imla. And Jehoshaphat said, Don't let the king say so. 8 Then the king of Israel called an officer, and said, Fetch quickly Micaiah the son of Imla. 9 Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah sat each on his throne, arrayed in their robes, and they were sitting in an open place at the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets were prophesying before them. 10 And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made for himself horns of iron, and said, Thus says Yahweh, With these you will push the Syrians, until they are consumed. 11 And all the prophets prophesied so, saying, Go up to Ramoth-gilead, and prosper; for Yahweh will deliver it into the hand of the king.

12 And the messenger who went to call Micaiah spoke to him, saying, Look, the words of the prophets [declare] good to the king with one mouth: let your word therefore, I pray you, be like one of theirs, and speak good. 13 And Micaiah said, As Yahweh lives, what my God says, that I will speak. 14 And when he came to the king, the king said to him, Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And he said, Go+ up, and prosper; and they will be delivered into your+ hand. 15 And the king said to him, How many times shall I adjure you that you speak to me nothing but the truth in the name of Yahweh? 16 And he said, I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd: and Yahweh said, These have no master; let them return every man to his house in peace. 17 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, Didn't I tell you that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil? 18 And [Micaiah] said, Therefore hear+ the word of Yahweh: I saw Yahweh sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing on his right hand and on his left. 19 And Yahweh said, Who will entice Ahab king of Israel, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead? And one spoke saying after this manner, and another saying after that manner. 20 And there came forth a spirit, and stood before Yahweh, and said, I will entice him. And Yahweh said to him, How? 21 And he said, I will go forth, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, You will entice him, and will prevail also: go forth, and do so. 22 Now therefore, look, Yahweh has put a lying spirit in the mouth of these prophets of yours; and Yahweh has spoken evil concerning you.

23 Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah came near, and struck Micaiah on the cheek, and said, Which way did the Spirit of Yahweh go from me to speak to you? 24 And Micaiah said, Look, you will see on that day, when you will go into an inner chamber to hide yourself. 25 And the king of Israel said, Take+ Micaiah, and carry him back to Amon the governor of the city, and to Joash the king's son; 26 and say, Thus says the king, Put this fellow in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until I return in peace. 27 And Micaiah said, If you return at all in peace, Yahweh has not spoken by me. And he said, Hear, you+ peoples, all of you+.

28 So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramoth-gilead. 29 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, I will disguise myself, and go into the battle; but you put on your robes. So the king of Israel disguised himself; and they went into the battle. 30 Now the king of Syria had commanded the captains of his chariots, saying, Fight neither with small nor great, but only with the king of Israel. 31 And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, It is the king of Israel. Therefore they turned about to fight against him: but Jehoshaphat cried out, and Yahweh helped him; and God moved them [to depart] from him. 32 And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw that it wasn't the king of Israel, that they turned back from pursuing him. 33 And a certain man drew his bow at a venture, and struck the king of Israel between the joints of the armor: therefore he said to the driver of the chariot, Turn your hand, and carry me out of the host; for I am critically wounded. 34 And the battle increased that day: nevertheless the king of Israel propped himself up in his chariot against the Syrians until the evening; and about the time of the going down of the sun he died.

19  And Jehoshaphat the king of Judah returned to his house in peace to Jerusalem. 2 And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to King Jehoshaphat, Should you help the wicked, and love those who hate Yahweh? For this thing wrath is on you from before Yahweh. 3 Nevertheless there are good things found in you, in that you have put away the Asheroth out of the land, and have set your heart to seek God.

4 And Jehoshaphat dwelt at Jerusalem: and he went out again among the people from Beer-sheba to the hill-country of Ephraim, and brought them back to Yahweh, the God of their fathers. 5 And he set judges in the land throughout all the fortified cities of Judah, city by city, 6 and said to the judges, Consider what you+ do: for you+ do not judge for man, but for Yahweh; and [he is] with you+ in the judgment. 7 Now therefore let the fear of Yahweh be on you+; take heed and do it: for there is no iniquity with Yahweh our God, nor respect of persons, nor taking of bribes.

8 Moreover in Jerusalem Jehoshaphat set of the Levites and the priests, and of the heads of the fathers' [houses] of Israel, for the judgment of Yahweh, and for the controversies of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 9 And he charged them, saying, Thus you+ will do in the fear of Yahweh, faithfully, and with a perfect heart. 10 And whenever any controversy will come to you+ from your+ brothers who dwell in their cities, between blood and blood, between law and commandment, statutes and ordinances, you+ will warn them, so they will not be guilty toward Yahweh, and that wrath does not come upon you+ and on your+ brothers: do this, and you+ will not be guilty. 11 And, look, Amariah the chief priest is over you+ in all matters of Yahweh; and Zebadiah the son of Ishmael, the leader of the house of Judah, in all the king's matters: also the Levites will be officers before you+. Deal courageously, and Yahweh will be with the good.

20  And it came to pass after this, that the sons of Moab, and the sons of Ammon, and with them some of the Meunites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle. 2 Then there came some who told Jehoshaphat, saying, There comes a great multitude against you from beyond the sea from Edom; and, look, they are in Hazazon-tamar (the same is En-gedi). 3 And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek to Yahweh; and he proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. 4 And Judah gathered themselves together, to seek [help] of Yahweh: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek Yahweh.

5 And Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of Yahweh, before the new court; 6 and he said, O Yahweh, the God of our fathers, are not you God in heaven? And are not you ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations? And in your hand is power and might, so that none is able to withstand you. 7 Did you not, O our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel, and give it to the seed of Abraham your friend forever? 8 And they dwelt in it, and have built you a sanctuary in it for your name, saying, 9 If evil comes on us, the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house, and before you (for your name is in this house), and cry to you in our affliction, and you will hear and save. 10 And now, look, the sons of Ammon and Moab and mount Seir, whom you would not let Israel invade, when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned aside from them, and did not destroy them; 11 look, how they reward us, to come to cast us out of your possession, which you have given us to inherit. 12 O our God, will you not judge them? For we have no might against this great company that comes against us; neither do we know what to do: but our eyes are on you. 13 And all Judah stood before Yahweh, with their little ones, their wives, and their sons.

14 Then on Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, the Levite, of the sons of Asaph, came the Spirit of Yahweh in the midst of the assembly; 15 and he said, Listen+, all Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem, and King Jehoshaphat: Thus says Yahweh to you+, Don't be+ afraid, neither be dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours+, but God's. 16 Tomorrow go+ down against them: look, they are coming up by the ascent of Ziz; and you+ will find them at the end of the valley, before the wilderness of Jeruel. 17 You+ will not need to fight in this [battle]: set yourselves, stand+ still, and see the salvation of Yahweh with you+, O Judah and Jerusalem; don't be afraid, nor be dismayed: tomorrow go out against them: for Yahweh is with you+. 18 And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground; and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before Yahweh, worshiping Yahweh. 19 And the Levites, of the sons of the Kohathites and of the sons of the Korahites, stood up to praise Yahweh, the God of Israel, with an exceedingly loud voice.

20 And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and you+ inhabitants of Jerusalem: believe in Yahweh your+ God, so you+ will be established; believe his prophets, so you+ will prosper. 21 And when he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed those who should sing to Yahweh, and give praise in holy array, as they went out before the army, and say, Give thanks to Yahweh; for his loving-kindness [endures] forever. 22 And when they began to sing and to praise, Yahweh set ambushers against the sons of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were struck. 23 For the sons of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, completely to slay and destroy them: and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, everyone helped to destroy another.

24 And when Judah came to the watchtower of the wilderness, they looked on the multitude; and saw that they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and there were none who escaped. 25 And when Jehoshaphat and his people came to take the spoil of them, they found beasts of burden, in abundance, and riches, and clothing, and precious jewels, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away: and they were three days in taking the spoil, it was so much. 26 And on the fourth day they assembled themselves in the valley of Beracah; for there they blessed Yahweh: therefore the name of that place was called The valley of Beracah to this day. 27 Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, and Jehoshaphat in the forefront of them, to go again to Jerusalem with joy; for Yahweh had made them to rejoice over their enemies. 28 And they came to Jerusalem with psalteries and harps and trumpets to the house of Yahweh. 29 And the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of the countries, when they heard that Yahweh fought against the enemies of Israel. 30 So the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet; for his God gave him rest round about.

31 And Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah: he was thirty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and five years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi. 32 And he walked in the way of Asa his father, and didn't turn aside from it, doing that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh. 33 Nevertheless the high places were not taken away; neither as yet had the people set their hearts to the God of their fathers. 34 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, first and last, look, they are written in the history of Jehu the son of Hanani, which is inserted in the Book of the Kings of Israel.

35 And after this Jehoshaphat king of Judah joined himself with Ahaziah king of Israel; the same did very wickedly: 36 and he joined himself with him to make ships to go to Tarshish; and they made the ships in Ezion-geber. 37 Then Eliezer the son of Dodavahu of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, Because you have joined yourself with Ahaziah, Yahweh has destroyed your works. And the ships were broken, so that they were not able to go to Tarshish.

21  And Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David: and Jehoram his son reigned in his stead. 2 And he had brothers, the sons of Jehoshaphat: Azariah, and Jehiel, and Zechariah, and Azariah, and Michael, and Shephatiah; all these were the sons of Jehoshaphat king of Israel. 3 And their father gave them great gifts, of silver, and of gold, and of precious things, with fortified cities in Judah: but the kingdom he gave to Jehoram, because he was the firstborn. 4 Now when Jehoram had risen up over the kingdom of his father, and had strengthened himself, he slew all his brothers with the sword, and diverse also of the princes of Israel. 5 Jehoram was thirty and two years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. 6 And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as did the house of Ahab; for he had the daughter of Ahab as wife: and he did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh. 7 Nevertheless Yahweh would not destroy the house of David, because of the covenant that he had made with David, and as he promised to give a lamp to him and to his sons always.

8 In his days Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah, and made a king over themselves. 9 Then Jehoram passed over with his captains, and all his chariots with him: and he rose up by night, and struck the Edomites who surrounded him, and the captains of the chariots. 10 So Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah to this day: then Libnah revolted at the same time from under his hand, because he had forsaken Yahweh, the God of his fathers.

11 Moreover he made high places in the mountains of Judah, and made the inhabitants of Jerusalem prostitute, and led Judah astray. 12 And there came a writing to him from Elijah the prophet, saying, Thus says Yahweh, the God of David your father, Because you haven't walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat your father, nor in the ways of Asa king of Judah, 13 but have walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and have made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem prostitute, like the house of Ahab did, and also have slain your brothers of your father's house, who were better than yourself: 14 look, Yahweh will strike with a great plague your people, and your sons, and your wives, and all your substance; 15 and you with many sicknesses by disease of your insides, until your insides fall out by reason of the sickness, day by day.

16 And Yahweh stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines, and of the Arabians who are beside the Ethiopians: 17 and they came up against Judah, and broke into it, and carried away all the substance that was found in the king's house, and his sons also, and his wives; so that there was never a son left him, except Jehoahaz, the youngest of his sons.

18 And after all this Yahweh struck him in his insides with an incurable disease. 19 And it came to pass, in process of time, at the end of two years, that his insides fell out by reason of his sickness, and he died of intense diseases. And his people made no burning for him, like the burning of his fathers. 20 He was thirty and two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years: and he departed without being desired; and they buried him in the city of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.

22  And the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah his youngest son king in his stead; for the band of men who came with the Arabians to the camp had slain all the eldest. So Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah reigned. 2 Ahaziah was twenty years old when he began to reign; and he reigned one year in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Athaliah the daughter of Omri. 3 He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab; for his mother was his counselor to do wickedly. 4 And he did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, as did the house of Ahab; for they were his counselors after the death of his father, to his destruction. 5 He also walked after their counsel, and went with Jehoram the son of Ahab king of Israel to war against Hazael king of Syria at Ramoth-gilead: and the Syrians wounded Joram. 6 And he returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which they had given him at Ramah, when he fought against Hazael king of Syria. And Azariah the son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Jehoram the son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was sick.

7 Now the destruction of Ahaziah was of God, in that he went to Joram: for when he came, he went out with Jehoram against Jehu the son of Nimshi, whom Yahweh had anointed to cut off the house of Ahab. 8 And it came to pass, when Jehu was executing judgment on the house of Ahab, that he found the princes of Judah, and the sons of the brothers of Ahaziah, ministering to Ahaziah, and slew them. 9 And he sought Ahaziah, and they caught him (now he was hiding in Samaria), and they brought him to Jehu, and slew him; and they buried him, for they said, He is the son of Jehoshaphat, who sought Yahweh with all his heart. And the house of Ahaziah had no power to hold the kingdom.

10 Now when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal seed of the house of Judah. 11 But Jehoshabeath, the daughter of the king, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him away from among the king's sons who were slain, and put him and his nurse in the bedchamber. So Jehoshabeath, the daughter of King Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada the priest (for she was the sister of Ahaziah), hid him from Athaliah, so that she did not slay him. 12 And he was hid with them in the house of God six years: and Athaliah reigned over the land.

23  And in the seventh year Jehoiada strengthened himself, and took the captains of hundreds, Azariah the son of Jeroham, and Ishmael the son of Jehohanan, and Azariah the son of Obed, and Maaseiah the son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat the son of Zichri, into covenant with him. 2 And they went about in Judah, and gathered the Levites out of all the cities of Judah, and the heads of fathers' [houses] of Israel, and they came to Jerusalem. 3 And all the assembly made a covenant with the king in the house of God. And he said to them, Look, the king's son will reign, as Yahweh has spoken concerning the sons of David. 4 This is the thing that you+ will do: a third part of you+, who come in on the Sabbath, of the priests and of the Levites, will be porters of the thresholds; 5 and a third part will be at the king's house; and a third part at the gate of the foundation: and all the people will be in the courts of the house of Yahweh. 6 But let none come into the house of Yahweh, except the priests, and those who minister of the Levites; they will come in, for they are holy: but all the people will keep the charge of Yahweh. 7 And the Levites will circle the king round about, every man with his weapons in his hand; and whoever comes into the house, let him be slain: and be+ with the king when he comes in, and when he goes out.

8 So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded: and they took every man his men, those who were to come in on the Sabbath; with those who were to go out on the Sabbath; for Jehoiada the priest did not dismiss the courses. 9 And Jehoiada the priest delivered to the captains of hundreds the spears, and bucklers, and shields, that had been king David's, which were in the house of God. 10 And he set all the people, every man with his weapon in his hand, from the right side of the house to the left side of the house, along by the altar and the house, by the king round about. 11 Then they brought out the king's son, and put the crown on him, and [gave him] the testimony, and made him king: and Jehoiada and his sons anointed him; and they said, [Long] live the king.

12 And when Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king, she came to the people into the house of Yahweh: 13 and she looked and saw that the king stood by his pillar at the entrance, and the captains and the trumpets by the king; and all the people of the land rejoiced, and blew trumpets; the singers also [played] on instruments of music, and led the singing of praise. Then Athaliah rent her clothes, and said, Treason! Treason! 14 And Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds who were set over the host, and said to them, Have her forth between the ranks; and whoever follows her, let him be slain with the sword: for the priest said, Don't slay her in the house of Yahweh. 15 So they made way for her; and she went to the entrance of the horse gate to the king's house: and they slew her there.

16 And Jehoiada made a covenant between himself, and all the people, and the king, that they should be Yahweh's people. 17 And all the people went to the house of Baal, and broke it down, and broke his altars and his images in pieces, and slew Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. 18 And Jehoiada appointed the officers of the house of Yahweh under the hand of the Levitical priests, whom David had distributed in the house of Yahweh, to offer the burnt-offerings of Yahweh, as it is written in the law of Moses, with rejoicing and with singing, according to the order of David. 19 And he set the porters at the gates of the house of Yahweh, that none who was unclean in anything should enter in. 20 And he took the captains of hundreds, and the majestic ones, and the governors of the people, and all the people of the land, and brought down the king from the house of Yahweh: and they came through the upper gate to the king's house, and set the king on the throne of the kingdom. 21 So all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet. And Athaliah they had slain with the sword.

24  Joash was seven years old when he began to reign; and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Zibiah, of Beer-sheba. 2 And Joash did that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh all the days of Jehoiada the priest. 3 And Jehoiada took for himself two wives; and he begot sons and daughters.

4 And it came to pass after this, that Joash was minded to restore the house of Yahweh. 5 And he gathered together the priests and the Levites, and said to them, Go out to the cities of Judah, and gather of all Israel silver to repair the house of your+ God from year to year; and see that you+ hurry the matter. Nevertheless the Levites did not hurry it. 6 And the king called for Jehoiada the chief, and said to him, Why haven't you required of the Levites to bring in out of Judah and out of Jerusalem the tax of Moses the slave of Yahweh, and of the assembly of Israel, for the tent of the testimony? 7 For the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken up the house of God; and also they bestowed all the dedicated things of the house of Yahweh on the Baalim.

8 So the king commanded, and they made a chest, and set it outside at the gate of the house of Yahweh. 9 And they made a proclamation through Judah and Jerusalem, to bring in for Yahweh the tax that Moses the slave of God laid on Israel in the wilderness. 10 And all the princes and all the people rejoiced, and brought in, and cast into the chest, until they had made an end. 11 And it was so, that, at what time the chest was brought to the king's officers by the hand of the Levites, and when they saw that there was much silver, the king's scribe and the chief priest's officer came and emptied the chest, and took it, and carried it to its place again. Thus they did day by day, and gathered silver in abundance. 12 And the king and Jehoiada gave it to such as did the work of the service of the house of Yahweh; and they hired masons and carpenters to restore the house of Yahweh, and also such as wrought iron and bronze to repair the house of Yahweh. 13 So the workmen wrought, and the work of repairing went forward in their hands, and they set up the house of God in its state, and strengthened it. 14 And when they had made an end, they brought the rest of the silver before the king and Jehoiada, of which were made vessels for the house of Yahweh, even vessels with which to minister and to offer, and spoons, and vessels of gold and silver. And they offered burnt-offerings in the house of Yahweh continually all the days of Jehoiada.

15 But Jehoiada waxed old and was full of days, and he died; he was a hundred and thirty years old when he died. 16 And they buried him in the city of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel, and toward God and his house. 17 Now after the death of Jehoiada came the princes of Judah, and made obeisance to the king. Then the king listened to them. 18 And they forsook the house of Yahweh, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherim and the idols: and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their guiltiness. 19 Yet he sent prophets to them, to bring them again to Yahweh; and they testified against them: but they would not give ear.

20 And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest; and he stood above the people, and said to them, Thus says God, Why do you+ transgress the commandments of Yahweh, so that you+ can't prosper? Because you+ have forsaken Yahweh, he has also forsaken you+. 21 And they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of Yahweh. 22 Thus Joash the king didn't remember the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but slew his son. And when he died, he said, Yahweh look at it, and require it.

23 And it came to pass at the end of the year, that the army of the Syrians came up against him: and they came to Judah and Jerusalem, and destroyed all the princes of the people from among the people, and sent all the spoil of them to the king of Damascus. 24 For the army of the Syrians came with a small company of men; and Yahweh delivered a very great host into their hand, because they had forsaken Yahweh, the God of their fathers. So they executed judgment on Joash.

25 And when they had departed from him (for they left him very sick), his own slaves conspired against him for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest, and slew him on his bed, and he died; and they buried him in the city of David, but they did not bury him in the tombs of the kings. 26 And these are those who conspired against him: Zabad the son of Shimeath the Ammonitess, and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith the Moabitess. 27 Now concerning his sons, and the greatness of the burdens [laid] on him, and the rebuilding of the house of God, look, they are written in the Commentary of the Book of the Kings. And Amaziah his son reigned in his stead.

25  Amaziah was twenty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Jehoaddan, of Jerusalem. 2 And he did that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh, but not with a perfect heart. 3 Now it came to pass, when the kingdom was established to him, that he slew his slaves who had killed the king his father. 4 But he did not put their sons to death, but did according to that which is written in the law in the Book of Moses, as Yahweh commanded, saying, The fathers will not die for the sons, neither will the sons die for the fathers; but every man will die for his own sin.

5 Moreover Amaziah gathered Judah together, and ordered them according to their fathers' houses, under captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, even all Judah and Benjamin: and he numbered them from twenty years old and upward, and found them three hundred thousand chosen men, able to go forth to war, that could handle spear and shield. 6 He hired also a hundred thousand mighty men of valor out of Israel for a hundred talents of silver. 7 But there came a man of God to him, saying, O king, don't let the army of Israel go with you; for Yahweh is not with Israel, [to wit,] with all the sons of Ephraim. 8 But if you will go, do [valiantly], be strong for the battle: God will cast you down before the enemy; for God has power to help, and to cast down. 9 And Amaziah said to the man of God, But what shall we do for the hundred talents which I have given to the army of Israel? And the man of God answered, Yahweh is able to give you much more than this. 10 Then Amaziah separated them, [to wit,] the army that came to him out of Ephraim, to go home again: therefore their anger was greatly kindled against Judah, and they returned home in fierce anger. 11 And Amaziah took courage, and led forth his people, and went to the Valley of Salt, and struck of the sons of Seir ten thousand. 12 And the sons of Judah carried away alive [another] ten thousand, and brought them to the top of the rock, and cast them down from the top of the rock, so that all of them were broken in pieces. 13 But the men of the army whom Amaziah sent back, that they should not go with him to battle, fell on the cities of Judah, from Samaria even to Beth-horon, and struck of them three thousand, and took much spoil.

14 Now it came to pass, after that Amaziah came from the slaughter of the Edomites, that he brought the gods of the sons of Seir, and set them up to be his gods, and bowed down himself before them, and burned incense to them. 15 Therefore the anger of Yahweh was kindled against Amaziah, and he sent to him a prophet, who said to him, Why have you sought after the gods of the people, which haven't delivered their own people out of your hand? 16 And it came to pass, as he talked with him, that [the king] said to him, Have we made you of the king's counsel? Forbear; why should you be struck? Then the prophet forbare, and said, I know that God has determined to destroy you, because you have done this, and haven't listened to my counsel.

17 Then Amaziah king of Judah took advice, and sent to Joash, the son of Jehoahaz the son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, Come, let us look one another in the face. 18 And Joash king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, Give your daughter to my son as wife: and there passed by a wild beast that was in Lebanon, and trod down the thistle. 19 You say, Look, you have struck Edom; and your heart lifts you up to boast: remain now at home; why should you meddle to [your] hurt, that you should fall, even you, and Judah with you?

20 But Amaziah would not hear; for it was of God, that he might hand them over, because they had sought after the gods of Edom. 21 So Joash king of Israel went up; and he and Amaziah king of Judah looked one another in the face at Beth-shemesh, which belongs to Judah. 22 And Judah was put to the worse before Israel; and they fled every man to his tent. 23 And Joash king of Israel took Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Joash the son of Jehoahaz, at Beth-shemesh, and brought him to Jerusalem, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim to the corner gate, four hundred cubits. 24 And [he took] all the gold and silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of God with Obed-edom, and the treasures of the king's house, the hostages also, and returned to Samaria.

25 And Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah lived after the death of Joash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel fifteen years. 26 Now the rest of the acts of Amaziah, first and last, look, are they not written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel? 27 Now from the time that Amaziah turned away from following Yahweh they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem; and he fled to Lachish: but they sent after him to Lachish, and slew him there. 28 And they brought him on horses, and buried him with his fathers in the city of Judah.

26  And all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in the place of his father Amaziah. 2 He built Eloth, and restored it to Judah, after that the king slept with his fathers. 3 Uzziah was sixteen years old when he began to reign; and he reigned fifty and two years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Jechiliah, of Jerusalem. 4 And he did that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh, according to all that his father Amaziah had done. 5 And he set himself to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the vision of God: and as long as he sought Yahweh, God made him to prosper.

6 And he went forth and warred against the Philistines, and broke down the wall of Gath, and the wall of Jabneh, and the wall of Ashdod; and he built cities in [the country of] Ashdod, and among the Philistines. 7 And God helped him against the Philistines, and against the Arabians who dwelt in Gur-baal, and the Meunim. 8 And the Meunites gave tribute to Uzziah: and his name spread abroad even to the entrance of Egypt; for he waxed exceedingly strong. 9 Moreover Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the corner gate, and at the valley gate, and at the turning [of the wall], and fortified them. 10 And he built towers in the wilderness, and hewed out many cisterns, for he had much cattle; in the lowland also, and in the plain: [and he had] husbandmen and vinedressers in the mountains and in the fruitful fields; for he loved husbandry. 11 Moreover Uzziah had an army of fighting men, that went out to war by bands, according to the number of their reckoning made by Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the officer, under the hand of Hananiah, one of the king's captains. 12 The whole number of the heads of fathers' [houses], even the mighty men of valor, was two thousand and six hundred. 13 And under their hand was an army, three hundred thousand and seven thousand and five hundred, that made war with mighty power, to help the king against the enemy. 14 And Uzziah prepared for them, even for all the host, shields, and spears, and helmets, and coats of mail, and bows, and stones for slinging. 15 And he made in Jerusalem engines, invented by skillful men, to be on the towers and on the battlements, with which to shoot arrows and great stones. And his name spread far abroad; for he was marvelously helped, until he was strong.

16 But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up, so that he did corruptly, and he trespassed against Yahweh his God; for he went into the temple of Yahweh to burn incense on the altar of incense. 17 And Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him eighty priests of Yahweh, who were valiant men: 18 and they withstood Uzziah the king, and said to him, It does not pertain to you, Uzziah, to burn incense to Yahweh, but to the priests the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense: go out of the sanctuary; for you have trespassed; neither will it be for your honor from Yahweh God. 19 Then Uzziah was angry; and he had a censer in his hand to burn incense; and while he was angry with the priests, the leprosy broke forth in his forehead before the priests in the house of Yahweh, beside the altar of incense. 20 And Azariah the chief priest, and all the priests, looked on him, and saw that he was leprous in his forehead, and they thrust him out quickly from there; yes, he himself hurried also to go out, because Yahweh had struck him. 21 And Uzziah the king was a leper to the day of his death, and dwelt in a separate house, being a leper; for he was cut off from the house of Yahweh: and Jotham his son was over the king's house, judging the people of the land. 22 Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah, first and last, Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, wrote. 23 So Uzziah slept with his fathers; and they buried him with his fathers in the field of burial which belonged to the kings; for they said, He is a leper: and Jotham his son reigned in his stead.

27  Jotham was twenty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Jerushah the daughter of Zadok. 2 And he did that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh, according to all that his father Uzziah had done: nevertheless he did not enter into the temple of Yahweh. And the people did yet corruptly. 3 He built the upper gate of the house of Yahweh, and on the wall of Ophel he built much. 4 Moreover he built cities in the hill-country of Judah, and in the forests he built castles and towers. 5 He fought also with the king of the sons of Ammon, and prevailed against them. And the sons of Ammon gave him the same year a hundred talents of silver, and ten thousand cors of wheat, and ten thousand of barley. So much did the sons of Ammon render to him, in the second year also, and in the third. 6 So Jotham became mighty, because he ordered his ways before Yahweh his God. 7 Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all his wars, and his ways, look, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. 8 He was five and twenty years old when he began to reign, and reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. 9 And Jotham slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David: and Ahaz his son reigned in his stead.

28  Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign; and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: and he did not do that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh, like David his father; 2 but he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and also made molten images for the Baalim. 3 Moreover he burned incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burned his sons in the fire, according to the disgusting behaviors of the nations whom Yahweh cast out before the sons of Israel. 4 And he sacrificed and burned incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree.

5 Therefore Yahweh his God delivered him into the hand of the king of Syria; and they struck him, and carried away of his a great multitude of captives, and brought them to Damascus. And he was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel, who struck him with a great slaughter. 6 For Pekah the son of Remaliah slew in Judah a hundred and twenty thousand in one day, all of them valiant men; because they had forsaken Yahweh, the God of their fathers. 7 And Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, slew Maaseiah the king's son, and Azrikam the leader of the house, and Elkanah who was next to the king.

8 And the sons of Israel carried away captive of their brothers two hundred thousand, women, sons, and daughters, and also took away much spoil from them, and brought the spoil to Samaria. 9 But a prophet of Yahweh was there, whose name was Oded: and he went out to meet the host that came to Samaria, and said to them, Look, because Yahweh, the God of your+ fathers, was angry with Judah, he has delivered them into your+ hand, and you+ have slain them in a rage which has reached up to heaven. 10 And now you+ purpose to subdue the sons of Judah and Jerusalem for male slaves and female slaves to yourselves: [but] are there not even with you+ trespasses of your+ own against Yahweh your+ God? 11 Now hear me therefore, and send back the captives, whom you+ have taken captive of your+ brothers; for the fierce wrath of Yahweh is on you+. 12 Then certain of the heads of the sons of Ephraim, Azariah the son of Johanan, Berechiah the son of Meshillemoth, and Jehizkiah the son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai, stood up against those who came from the war, 13 and said to them, You+ will not bring in the captives here: for you+ purpose that which will bring on us a trespass against Yahweh, to add to our sins and to our trespass; for our trespass is great, and there is fierce wrath against Israel. 14 So the armed men left the captives and the spoil before the princes and all the assembly. 15 And the men who have been mentioned by name rose up, and took the captives, and with the spoil clothed all who were naked among them, and arrayed them, and gave them sandals, and gave them to eat and to drink, and anointed them, and carried all the feeble of them on donkeys, and brought them to Jericho, the city of palm-trees, to their brothers: then they returned to Samaria.

16 At that time King Ahaz sent to the kings of Assyria to help him. 17 For again the Edomites had come and struck Judah, and carried away captives. 18 The Philistines also had invaded the cities of the lowland, and of the South of Judah, and had taken Beth-shemesh, and Aijalon, and Gederoth, and Soco with its towns, and Timnah with its towns, Gimzo also and its towns: and they dwelt there. 19 For Yahweh brought Judah low because of Ahaz king of Israel; for he had dealt wantonly in Judah, and trespassed intensely against Yahweh. 20 And Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria came to him, and distressed him, but did not strengthen him. 21 For Ahaz took away a portion out of the house of Yahweh, and out of the house of the king and of the princes, and gave it to the king of Assyria: but it did not help him.

22 And in the time of his distress he trespassed yet more against Yahweh, this same King Ahaz. 23 For he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus, which struck him; and he said, Because the gods of the kings of Syria helped them, [therefore] I will sacrifice to them, that they may help me. But they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel. 24 And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God, and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and shut up the doors of the house of Yahweh; and he made for himself altars in every corner of Jerusalem. 25 And in every city of Judah he made high places to burn incense to other gods, and provoked Yahweh to anger, the God of his fathers. 26 Now the rest of his acts, and all his ways, first and last, look, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. 27 And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city, even in Jerusalem; for they did not bring him into the tombs of the kings of Israel: and Hezekiah his son reigned in his stead.

29  Hezekiah began to reign when he was five and twenty years old; and he reigned nine and twenty years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah. 2 And he did that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh, according to all that David his father had done. 3 In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of Yahweh, and repaired them. 4 And he brought in the priests and the Levites, and gathered them together into the broad place on the east, 5 and said to them, Hear me, you+ Levites; now sanctify yourselves, and sanctify the house of Yahweh, the God of your+ fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place. 6 For our fathers have trespassed, and done that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh our God, and have forsaken him, and have turned away their faces from the habitation of Yahweh, and turned their backs. 7 Also they have shut up the doors of the porch, and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense nor offered burnt-offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel. 8 Therefore the wrath of Yahweh was on Judah and Jerusalem, and he has delivered them to be tossed to and fro, to be an astonishment, and a hissing, as you+ see with your+ eyes. 9 For, look, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this. 10 Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with Yahweh, the God of Israel, that his fierce anger may turn away from us. 11 My sons, now don't be negligent; for Yahweh has chosen you+ to stand before him, to minister to him, and that you+ should be his ministers, and burn incense.

12 Then the Levites arose, Mahath, the son of Amasai, and Joel the son of Azariah, of the sons of the Kohathites; and of the sons of Merari, Kish the son of Abdi, and Azariah the son of Jehallelel; and of the Gershonites, Joah the son of Zimmah, and Eden the son of Joah; 13 and of the sons of Elizaphan, Shimri and Jeuel; and of the sons of Asaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah; 14 and of the sons of Heman, Jehuel and Shimei; and of the sons of Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel. 15 And they gathered their brothers, and sanctified themselves, and went in, according to the commandment of the king by the words of Yahweh, to cleanse the house of Yahweh. 16 And the priests went in to the inner part of the house of Yahweh, to cleanse it, and brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of Yahweh into the court of the house of Yahweh. And the Levites took it, to carry it out abroad to the brook Kidron. 17 Now they began on the first [day] of the first month to sanctify, and on the eighth day of the month they came to the porch of Yahweh; and they sanctified the house of Yahweh in eight days: and on the sixteenth day of the first month they made an end. 18 Then they went in to Hezekiah the king inside [the palace], and said, We have cleansed all the house of Yahweh, and the altar of burnt-offering, with all its vessels, and the table of showbread, with all its vessels. 19 Moreover all the vessels, which King Ahaz in his reign had cast away when he trespassed, we have prepared and sanctified; and, look, they are before the altar of Yahweh.

20 Then Hezekiah the king arose early, and gathered the princes of the city, and went up to the house of Yahweh. 21 And they brought seven bullocks, and seven rams, and seven lambs, and seven he-goats, for a sin-offering for the kingdom and for the sanctuary and for Judah. And he commanded the priests the sons of Aaron to offer them on the altar of Yahweh. 22 So they killed the bullocks, and the priests received the blood, and sprinkled it on the altar: and they killed the rams, and sprinkled the blood on the altar: they killed also the lambs, and sprinkled the blood on the altar. 23 And they brought near the he-goats for the sin-offering before the king and the assembly; and they laid their hands on them: 24 and the priests killed them, and they made a sin-offering with their blood on the altar, to make atonement for all Israel; for the king commanded [that] the burnt-offering and the sin-offering [should be made] for all Israel.

25 And he set the Levites in the house of Yahweh with cymbals, with psalteries, and with harps, according to the commandment of David, and of Gad the king's seer, and Nathan the prophet; for the commandment was of Yahweh by his prophets. 26 And the Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets. 27 And Hezekiah commanded to offer the burnt-offering on the altar. And when the burnt-offering began, the song of Yahweh began also, and the trumpets, together with the instruments of David king of Israel. 28 And all the assembly worshiped, and the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded; all this [continued] until the burnt-offering was finished.

29 And when they had made an end of offering, the king and all who were present with him bowed themselves and worshiped. 30 Moreover Hezekiah the king and the princes commanded the Levites to sing praises to Yahweh with the words of David, and of Asaph the seer. And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads and worshiped.

31 Then Hezekiah answered and said, Now you+ have consecrated yourselves to Yahweh; come near and bring sacrifices and thank-offerings into the house of Yahweh. And the assembly brought in sacrifices and thank-offerings; and as many as were of a willing heart [brought] burnt-offerings. 32 And the number of the burnt-offerings which the assembly brought was seventy bullocks, a hundred rams, and two hundred lambs: all these were for a burnt-offering to Yahweh. 33 And the consecrated things were six hundred oxen and three thousand sheep. 34 But the priests were too few, so that they could not flay all the burnt-offerings: therefore their brothers the Levites helped them, until the work was ended, and until the priests had sanctified themselves; for the Levites were more upright in heart to sanctify themselves than the priests. 35 And also the burnt-offerings were in abundance, with the fat of the peace-offerings, and with the drink-offerings for every burnt-offering. So the service of the house of Yahweh was set in order. 36 And Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people, because of that which God had prepared for the people: for the thing was done suddenly.

30  And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of Yahweh at Jerusalem, to keep the Passover to Yahweh, the God of Israel. 2 For the king had taken counsel, and his princes, and all the assembly in Jerusalem, to keep the Passover in the second month. 3 For they could not keep it at that time, because the priests had not sanctified themselves in sufficient number, neither had the people gathered themselves together to Jerusalem. 4 And the thing was right in the eyes of the king and of all the assembly. 5 So they established a decree to make proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beer-sheba even to Dan, that they should come to keep the Passover to Yahweh, the God of Israel, at Jerusalem: for they had not kept it in great numbers in such sort as it is written. 6 So the posts went with the letters from the king and his princes throughout all Israel and Judah, and according to the commandment of the king, saying, You+ sons of Israel, turn again to Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that he may return to the remnant that have escaped of you+ out of the hand of the kings of Assyria. 7 And don't be+ like your+ fathers, and like your+ brothers, who trespassed against Yahweh, the God of their fathers, so that he gave them up to desolation, as you+ see. 8 Now don't be+ stiff-necked, as your+ fathers were; but yield yourselves to Yahweh, and enter into his sanctuary, which he has sanctified forever, and serve Yahweh your+ God, that his fierce anger may turn away from you+. 9 For if you+ turn again to Yahweh, your+ brothers and your+ sons will find compassion before those who led them captive, and will come again into this land: for Yahweh your+ God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you+, if you+ return to him.

10 So the posts passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, even to Zebulun: but they laughed them to scorn, and mocked them. 11 Nevertheless certain men of Asher and Manasseh and of Zebulun humbled themselves, and came to Jerusalem. 12 Also on Judah came the hand of God to give them one heart, to do the commandment of the king and of the princes by the word of Yahweh.

13 And there assembled at Jerusalem many people to keep the feast of unleavened bread in the second month, a very great assembly. 14 And they arose and took away the altars that were in Jerusalem, and all the altars for incense they took away, and cast them into the brook Kidron. 15 Then they killed the Passover on the fourteenth [day] of the second month: and the priests and the Levites were ashamed, and sanctified themselves, and brought burnt-offerings into the house of Yahweh. 16 And they stood in their place after their order, according to the law of Moses the man of God: the priests sprinkled the blood [which they received] of the hand of the Levites. 17 For there were many in the assembly who had not sanctified themselves: therefore the Levites had the charge of killing the passovers for everyone who was not clean, to sanctify them to Yahweh. 18 For a multitude of the people, even many of Ephraim and Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet they ate the Passover otherwise than it is written. For Hezekiah had prayed for them, saying, The good Yahweh pardon everyone 19 that sets his heart to seek God, Yahweh, the God of his fathers, though [he is] not [cleansed] according to the purification of the sanctuary. 20 And Yahweh listened to Hezekiah, and healed the people. 21 And the sons of Israel who were present at Jerusalem kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with great gladness; and the Levites and the priests praised Yahweh day by day, [singing] with loud instruments to Yahweh. 22 And Hezekiah spoke comfortably to all the Levites who had good understanding [in the service] of Yahweh. So they ate throughout the feast for the seven days, offering sacrifices of peace-offerings, and making confession to Yahweh, the God of their fathers.

23 And the whole assembly took counsel to keep another seven days; and they kept [another] seven days with gladness. 24 For Hezekiah king of Judah gave to the assembly for offerings a thousand bullocks and seven thousand sheep; and the princes gave to the assembly a thousand bullocks and ten thousand sheep: and a great number of priests sanctified themselves. 25 And all the assembly of Judah, with the priests and the Levites, and all the assembly that came out of Israel, and the sojourners who came out of the land of Israel, and who dwelt in Judah, rejoiced. 26 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 in Jerusalem. 27 Then the Levitical priests arose and blessed the people: and their voice was heard, and their prayer came up to his holy habitation, even to heaven.

31  Now when all this was finished, all Israel who were present went out to the cities of Judah, and broke in pieces the pillars, and hewed down the Asherim, and broke down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, until they had destroyed them all. Then all the sons of Israel returned, every man to his possession, into their own cities.

2 And Hezekiah appointed the courses of the priests and the Levites after their courses, every man according to his service, both the priests and the Levites, for burnt-offerings and for peace-offerings, to minister, and to give thanks, and to praise in the gates of the camp of Yahweh. 3 [He appointed] also the king's portion of his substance for the burnt-offerings, [to wit,] for the morning and evening burnt-offerings, and the burnt-offerings for the Sabbaths, and for the new moons, and for the set feasts, as it is written in the law of Yahweh. 4 Moreover he commanded the people who dwelt in Jerusalem to give the portion of the priests and the Levites, that they might give themselves to the law of Yahweh. 5 And as soon as the commandment came abroad, the sons of Israel gave in abundance the first fruits of grain, new wine, and oil, and honey, and of all the increase of the field; and the tithe of all things they brought in abundantly. 6 And the sons of Israel and Judah, who dwelt in the cities of Judah, they also brought in the tithe of oxen and sheep, and the tithe of dedicated things which were consecrated to Yahweh their God, and laid them by heaps. 7 In the third month they began to lay the foundation of the heaps, and finished them in the seventh month. 8 And when Hezekiah and the princes came and saw the heaps, they blessed Yahweh, and his people Israel. 9 Then Hezekiah questioned the priests and the Levites concerning the heaps. 10 And Azariah the chief priest, of the house of Zadok, answered him and said, Since [the people] began to bring the oblations into the house of Yahweh, we have eaten and had enough, and have plenty left: for Yahweh has blessed his people; and that which is left is this great store.

11 Then Hezekiah commanded to prepare chambers in the house of Yahweh; and they prepared them. 12 And they brought in the oblations and the tithes and the dedicated things faithfully: and over them Conaniah the Levite was leader, and Shimei his brother was second. 13 And Jehiel, and Azaziah, and Nahath, and Asahel, and Jerimoth, and Jozabad, and Eliel, and Ismachiah, and Mahath, and Benaiah, were overseers under the hand of Conaniah and Shimei his brother, by the appointment of Hezekiah the king, and Azariah the leader of the house of God. 14 And Kore the son of Imnah the Levite, the porter at the east [gate], was over the freewill-offerings of God, to distribute the oblations of Yahweh, and the most holy things. 15 And under him were Eden, and Miniamin, and Jeshua, and Shemaiah, Amariah, and Shecaniah, in the cities of the priests, in their office of trust, to give to their brothers by courses, to the great as well as to the small: 16 besides those who were reckoned by genealogy of males, from three years old and upward, even everyone who entered into the house of Yahweh, as the duty of every day required, for their service in their offices according to their courses; 17 and those who were reckoned by genealogy of the priests by their fathers' houses, and the Levites from twenty years old and upward, in their offices by their courses; 18 and those who were reckoned by genealogy of all their little ones, their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, through all the congregation: for in their office of trust they sanctified themselves in holiness. 19 Also for the sons of Aaron the priests, who were in the fields of the suburbs of their cities, in every city, there were men who were mentioned by name, to give portions to all the males among the priests, and to all who were reckoned by genealogy among the Levites.

20 And thus did Hezekiah throughout all Judah; and he wrought that which was good and right and faithful before Yahweh his God. 21 And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, and in the law, and in the commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart, and prospered.

32  After these things, and this faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria came, and entered into Judah, and encamped against the fortified cities, and thought to win them for himself. 2 And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib came, and that he was purposed to fight against Jerusalem, 3 he took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop the waters of the fountains which were outside the city; and they helped him. 4 So many people were gathered together, and they stopped all the fountains, and the brook that flowed through the midst of the land, saying, Why should the kings of Assyria come, and find much water? 5 And he took courage, and built up all the wall that was broken down, and raised up the towers, and the other wall outside, and strengthened Millo [in] the city of David, and made weapons and shields in abundance. 6 And he set captains of war over the people, and gathered them together to him in the broad place at the gate of the city, and spoke comfortably to them, saying, 7 Be strong and of good courage, don't be afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him; for there is a greater with us than with him: 8 with him is an arm of flesh; but with us is Yahweh our God to help us, and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves on the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.

9 After this Sennacherib king of Assyria sent his slaves to Jerusalem (now he was before Lachish, and all his power with him), to Hezekiah king of Judah, and to all Judah who were at Jerusalem, saying, 10 Thus says Sennacherib king of Assyria, On what do you+ trust, that you+ remain in the siege in Jerusalem? 11 Does not Hezekiah persuade you+, to give you+ over to die by famine and by thirst, saying, Yahweh our God will deliver us out of the hand of the king of Assyria? 12 Has not the same Hezekiah taken away his high places and his altars, and commanded Judah and Jerusalem, saying, You+ will worship before one altar, and on it will you+ burn incense? 13 Don't you+ know what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of the lands? Were the gods of the nations of the lands in any wise able to deliver their land out of my hand? 14 Who was there among all the gods of those nations which my fathers completely destroyed, that could deliver his people out of my hand, that your+ God should be able to deliver you+ out of my hand? 15 Now therefore don't let Hezekiah deceive you+, nor persuade you+ after this manner, neither believe+ him; for no god of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people out of my hand, and out of the hand of my fathers: how much less will your+ God deliver you+ out of my hand?

16 And his slaves spoke yet more against Yahweh God, and against his slave Hezekiah. 17 He also wrote letters, to rail on Yahweh, the God of Israel, and to speak against him, saying, As the gods of the nations of the lands, which have not delivered their people out of my hand, so will the God of Hezekiah not deliver his people out of my hand. 18 And they cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, to frighten them, and to trouble them; that they might take the city. 19 And they spoke of the God of Jerusalem, as of the gods of the peoples of the earth, which are the work of man's hands.

20 And Hezekiah the king, and Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz, prayed because of this, and cried to heaven. 21 And Yahweh sent an angel, who cut off all the mighty men of valor, and the leaders and captains, in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land. And when he came into the house of his god, those who came forth from inside him slew him there with the sword. 22 Thus Yahweh saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria, and from the hand of all [others], and he gave them rest on every side. 23 And many brought gifts to Yahweh to Jerusalem, and precious things to Hezekiah king of Judah; so that he was exalted in the sight of all nations from then on.

24 In those days Hezekiah was sick even to death: and he prayed to Yahweh; and he spoke to him, and gave him a sign. 25 But Hezekiah did not render again according to the benefit done to him; for his heart was lifted up: therefore there was wrath on him, and on Judah and Jerusalem. 26 Notwithstanding Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of Yahweh didn't come upon them in the days of Hezekiah.

27 And Hezekiah had exceedingly much riches and honor: and he provided for himself treasuries for silver, and for gold, and for precious stones, and for spices, and for shields, and for all manner of goodly vessels; 28 storehouses also for the increase of grain and new wine and oil; and stalls for all manner of beasts, and flocks for the folds. 29 Moreover he provided for himself cities, and possessions of flocks and herds in abundance; for God had given him very much substance. 30 This same Hezekiah also stopped the upper spring of the waters of Gihon, and brought them straight down on the west side of the city of David. And Hezekiah prospered in all his works. 31 Nevertheless in [the business of] the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent to him to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart.

32 Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and his good deeds, look, they are written in the vision of Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz, in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. 33 And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the ascent of the tombs of the sons of David: and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem honored him at his death. And Manasseh his son reigned in his stead.

33  Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign; and he reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem. 2 And he did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, after the disgusting behaviors of the nations whom Yahweh cast out before the sons of Israel. 3 For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down; and he reared up altars for the Baalim, and made Asheroth, and worshiped all the host of heaven, and served them. 4 And he built altars in the house of Yahweh, of which Yahweh said, In Jerusalem will my name be forever. 5 And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of Yahweh. 6 He also made his sons to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom; and he interpreted omens, and used magic, and did witchcraft, and dealt with spiritists and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of Yahweh, to provoke him to anger. 7 And he set the graven image of the idol, which he had made, in the house of God, of which God said to David and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever: 8 neither will I anymore remove the foot of Israel from off the land which I have appointed for your+ fathers, if only they will observe to do all that I have commanded them, even all the law and the statutes and the ordinances [given] by Moses. 9 And Manasseh seduced Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that they did more evil than did the nations whom Yahweh destroyed before the sons of Israel.

10 And Yahweh spoke to Manasseh, and to his people; but they gave no heed. 11 Therefore Yahweh brought on them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh in chains, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon. 12 And when he was in distress, he implored Yahweh his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. 13 And he prayed to him; and he was entreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that Yahweh he was God.

14 Now after this he built an outer wall to the city of David, on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, even to the entrance at the fish gate; and he surrounded Ophel [with it], and raised it up to a very great height: and he put valiant captains in all the fortified cities of Judah. 15 And he took away the foreign gods, and the idol out of the house of Yahweh, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of Yahweh, and in Jerusalem, and cast them out of the city. 16 And he built up the altar of Yahweh, and offered on it sacrifices of peace-offerings and of thanksgiving, and commanded Judah to serve Yahweh, the God of Israel. 17 Nevertheless the people still sacrificed in the high places, but only to Yahweh their God.

18 Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer to his God, and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel, look, they are written among the acts of the kings of Israel. 19 His prayer also, and how [God] was entreated of him, and all his sin and his trespass, and the places where he built high places, and set up the Asherim and the graven images, before he humbled himself: look, they are written in the history of Hozai. 20 So Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house: and Amon his son reigned in his stead.

21 Amon was twenty and two years old when he began to reign; and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. 22 And he did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, as did Manasseh his father; and Amon sacrificed to all the graven images which Manasseh his father had made, and served them. 23 And he didn't humble himself before Yahweh, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself; but this same Amon trespassed more and more. 24 And his slaves conspired against him, and put him to death in his own house. 25 But the people of the land slew all those who had conspired against King Amon; and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his stead.

34  Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign; and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem. 2 And he did that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh, and walked in the ways of David his father, and didn't turn aside to the right hand or to the left. 3 For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the Asherim, and the graven images, and the molten images. 4 And they broke down the altars of the Baalim in his presence; and the sun-images that were on high above them he hewed down; and the Asherim, and the graven images, and the molten images, he broke in pieces, and made dust of them, and strewed it on the graves [of them] that had sacrificed to them. 5 And he burned the bones of the priests on their altars, and purged Judah and Jerusalem. 6 And [so he did] in the cities of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon, even to Naphtali, he searched their houses round about. 7 And he broke down the altars, and beat the Asherim and the graven images into powder, and hewed down all the sun-images throughout all the land of Israel, and returned to Jerusalem.

8 Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of Yahweh his God. 9 And they came to Hilkiah the high priest, and delivered the silver that was brought into the house of God, which the Levites, the keepers of the threshold, had gathered of the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim, and of all the remnant of Israel, and of all Judah and Benjamin, and of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 10 And they delivered it into the hand of the workmen who had the oversight of the house of Yahweh; and the workmen who wrought in the house of Yahweh gave it to mend and repair the house; 11 even to the carpenters and to the builders they gave it, to buy cut stone, and timber for couplings, and to make beams for the houses which the kings of Judah had destroyed. 12 And the men did the work faithfully: and the overseers of them were Jahath and Obadiah, the Levites, of the sons of Merari; and Zechariah and Meshullam, of the sons of the Kohathites, to set it forward; and [others of] the Levites, all who were skillful with instruments of music. 13 Also they were over the bearers of burdens, and set forward all who did the work in every manner of service: and of the Levites there were scribes, and officers, and porters.

14 And when they brought out the silver that was brought into the house of Yahweh, Hilkiah the priest found the Book of the Law of Yahweh [given] by Moses. 15 And Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe, I have found the Book of the Law in the house of Yahweh. And Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan. 16 And Shaphan carried the book to the king, and moreover brought back word to the king, saying, All that was committed to your slaves, they are doing. 17 And they have emptied out the silver that was found in the house of Yahweh, and have delivered it into the hand of the overseers, and into the hand of the workmen. 18 And Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest has delivered a book to me. And Shaphan read it before the king. 19 And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the law, that he rent his clothes. 20 And the king commanded Hilkiah, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Abdon the son of Micah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king's slave, saying, 21 Go+, inquire of Yahweh for me, and for those who are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that was found; for great is the wrath of Yahweh that is poured out on us, because our fathers have not kept the word of Yahweh, to do according to all that is written in this book.

22 So Hilkiah, and those whom the king [had commanded], went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tokhath, the son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the second quarter); and they spoke to her to that effect. 23 And she said to them, This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says: Tell+ the man who sent you+ to me, 24 Thus says Yahweh, Look, I will bring evil on this place, and on its inhabitants, even all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of Judah. 25 Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore is my wrath poured out on this place, and it will not be quenched. 26 But to the king of Judah, who sent you+ to inquire of Yahweh, thus you+ will say to him, This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says: As concerning the words which you have heard, 27 because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before God, when you heard his words against this place, and against its inhabitants, and have humbled yourself before me, and have rent your clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard you, says Yahweh. 28 Look, I will gather you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your grave in peace, neither will your eyes see all the evil that I will bring on this place, and on its inhabitants. And they brought back word to the king.

29 Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. 30 And the king went up to the house of Yahweh, and all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests, and the Levites, and all the people, both great and small: and he read in their ears all the words of the Book of the Covenant that was found in the house of Yahweh. 31 And the king stood in his place, and made a covenant before Yahweh, to walk after Yahweh, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statutes, with all his heart, and with all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant that were written in this book. 32 Then he caused all who were found in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers. 33 And Josiah took away all the disgusting things out of all the countries that pertained to the sons of Israel, and made all who were found in Israel to serve, even to serve Yahweh their God. All his days they did not depart from following Yahweh, the God of their fathers.

35  And Josiah kept a Passover to Yahweh in Jerusalem: and they killed the Passover on the fourteenth [day] of the first month. 2 And he set the priests in their offices, and encouraged them to the service of the house of Yahweh. 3 And he said to the Levites who taught all Israel, who were holy to Yahweh, Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel built; there will no more be a burden on your+ shoulders: now serve Yahweh your+ God, and his people Israel. 4 And prepare yourselves after your+ fathers' houses by your+ courses, according to the writing of David king of Israel, and according to the writing of Solomon his son. 5 And stand in the holy place according to the divisions of the fathers' houses of your+ brothers the sons of the people, and [let there be for each] a portion of a fathers' house of the Levites. 6 And kill the Passover, and sanctify yourselves, and prepare for your+ brothers, to do according to the word of Yahweh by Moses.

7 And Josiah gave to the sons of the people, of the flock, lambs and young goats, all of them for the Passover-offerings, to all who were present, to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand bullocks: these were of the king's substance. 8 And his princes gave for a freewill-offering to the people, to the priests, and to the Levites. Hilkiah and Zechariah and Jehiel, the leaders of the house of God, gave to the priests for the Passover-offerings two thousand and six hundred [small cattle], and three hundred oxen. 9 Conaniah also, and Shemaiah and Nethanel, his brothers, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, the chiefs of the Levites, gave to the Levites for the Passover-offerings five thousand [small cattle], and five hundred oxen.

10 So the service was prepared, and the priests stood in their place, and the Levites by their courses, according to the king's commandment. 11 And they killed the Passover, and the priests sprinkled [the blood which they received] from their hand, and the Levites flayed them. 12 And they removed the burnt-offerings, that they might give them according to the divisions of the fathers' houses of the sons of the people, to offer to Yahweh, as it is written in the Book of Moses. And so they did with the oxen. 13 And they roasted the Passover with fire according to the ordinance: and the holy offerings they boiled in pots, and in caldrons, and in pans, and carried them quickly to all the sons of the people. 14 And afterward they prepared for themselves, and for the priests, because the priests the sons of Aaron [were busy] in offering the burnt-offerings and the fat until night: therefore the Levites prepared for themselves, and for the priests the sons of Aaron. 15 And the singers the sons of Asaph were in their place, according to the commandment of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun the king's seer; and the porters were at every gate: they did not need to depart from their service; for their brothers the Levites prepared for them.

16 So all the service of Yahweh was prepared the same day, to keep the Passover, and to offer burnt-offerings on the altar of Yahweh, according to the commandment of King Josiah. 17 And the sons of Israel who were present kept the Passover at that time, and the feast of unleavened bread seven days. 18 And there was no Passover like that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; neither did any of the kings of Israel keep such a Passover as Josiah kept, and the priests, and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 19 In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah was this Passover kept.

20 After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Neco king of Egypt went up to fight against Carchemish by the Euphrates: and Josiah went out against him. 21 But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, What have I to do with you, king of Judah? [I come] not against you this day, but against the house with which I have war; and God has commanded me to hurry: forbear yourself from [meddling with] God, who is with me, that he does not destroy you. 22 Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight with him, and didn't listen to the words of Neco from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo. 23 And the archers shot at King Josiah; and the king said to his slaves, Take me away; for I am critically wounded. 24 So his slaves took him out of the chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had, and brought him to Jerusalem; and he died, and was buried in the tombs of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. 25 And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah: and all the singing men and singing women spoke of Josiah in their lamentations to this day; and they made them an ordinance in Israel: and, look, they are written in the lamentations. 26 Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and his good deeds, according to that which is written in the law of Yahweh, 27 and his acts, first and last, look, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.

36  Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and made him king in his father's stead in Jerusalem. 2 Joahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. 3 And the king of Egypt deposed him at Jerusalem, and fined the land a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. 4 And the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. And Neco took Joahaz his brother, and carried him to Egypt.

5 Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh his God. 6 Against him came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and bound him in fetters, to carry him to Babylon. 7 Nebuchadnezzar also carried of the vessels of the house of Yahweh to Babylon, and put them in his temple at Babylon. 8 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and the disgusting things that he did, and that which was found in him, look, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah: and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead.

9 Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh. 10 And at the return of the year King Nebuchadnezzar sent, and brought him to Babylon, with the goodly vessels of the house of Yahweh, and made Zedekiah his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem.

11 Zedekiah was twenty and one years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: 12 and he did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh his God; he didn't humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet [speaking] from the mouth of Yahweh. 13 And he also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God: but he stiffened his neck, and hardened his heart against turning to Yahweh, the God of Israel. 14 Moreover all the chiefs of the priests, and the people, trespassed very greatly after all the disgusting things of the nations; and they polluted the house of Yahweh which he had hallowed in Jerusalem. 15 And Yahweh, the God of their fathers, sent to them by his messengers, rising up early and sending, because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling-place: 16 but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until the wrath of Yahweh arose against his people, until there was no remedy.

17 Therefore he brought on them the king of the Chaldeans, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or gray-headed: he gave them all into his hand. 18 And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of Yahweh, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes, all these he brought to Babylon. 19 And they burned the house of God, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burned all its palaces with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels of it. 20 And those who had escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon; and they were slaves to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia: 21 to fulfill the word of Yahweh by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths: [for] as long as it lay desolate it kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.

22 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of Yahweh by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, Yahweh stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and [put it] also in writing, saying, 23 Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth has Yahweh, the God of heaven, given me; and he has charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever there is among you+ of all his people, Yahweh his God be with him, and let him go up.

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Ezra

1  Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of Yahweh by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, Yahweh stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and [put it] also in writing, saying, 2 Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth has Yahweh, the God of heaven, given me; and he has charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. 3 Whoever there is among you+ of all his people, his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of Yahweh, the God of Israel (he is God), which is in Jerusalem. 4 And whoever is left, in any place where he sojourns, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, besides the freewill-offering for the house of God which is in Jerusalem.

5 Then the heads of fathers' [houses] of Judah and Benjamin rose up, and the priests, and the Levites, even all whose spirit God had stirred to go up to build the house of Yahweh which is in Jerusalem. 6 And all those who were round about them strengthened their hands with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, and with beasts, and with precious things, besides all that was willingly offered. 7 Also Cyrus the king brought forth the vessels of the house of Yahweh, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out of Jerusalem, and had put in the house of his gods; 8 even those Cyrus king of Persia brought forth by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and numbered them to Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah. 9 And this is the number of them: thirty platters of gold, a thousand platters of silver, nine and twenty altered, 10 thirty bowls of gold, spare[276] silver bowls four hundred and ten, and other vessels a thousand. 11 All the vessels of gold and of silver were five thousand and four hundred. All these Sheshbazzar had brought up, when those of the captivity were brought up from Babylon to Jerusalem.

2  Now these are the sons of the province, who went up out of the captivity of those who had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away to Babylon, and who returned to Jerusalem and Judah, every one to his city; 2 who came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, Baanah.

The number of the men of the people of Israel: 3 The sons of Parosh, two thousand a hundred seventy and two. 4 The sons of Shephatiah, three hundred seventy and two. 5 The sons of Arah, seven hundred seventy and five. 6 The sons of Pahath-moab, of the sons of Jeshua [and] Joab, two thousand eight hundred and twelve. 7 The sons of Elam, a thousand two hundred fifty and four. 8 The sons of Zattu, nine hundred forty and five. 9 The sons of Zaccai, seven hundred and threescore. 10 The sons of Bani, six hundred forty and two. 11 The sons of Bebai, six hundred twenty and three. 12 The sons of Azgad, a thousand two hundred twenty and two. 13 The sons of Adonikam, six hundred sixty and six. 14 The sons of Bigvai, two thousand fifty and six. 15 The sons of Adin, four hundred fifty and four. 16 The sons of Ater, of Hezekiah, ninety and eight. 17 The sons of Bezai, three hundred twenty and three. 18 The sons of Jorah, a hundred and twelve. 19 The sons of Hashum, two hundred twenty and three. 20 The sons of Gibbar, ninety and five. 21 The sons of Beth-lehem, a hundred twenty and three. 22 The men of Netophah, fifty and six. 23 The men of Anathoth, a hundred twenty and eight. 24 The sons of Azmaveth, forty and two. 25 The sons of Kiriath-arim, Chephirah, and Beeroth, seven hundred and forty and three. 26 The sons of Ramah and Geba, six hundred twenty and one. 27 The men of Michmas, a hundred twenty and two. 28 The men of Beth-el and Ai, two hundred twenty and three. 29 The sons of Nebo, fifty and two. 30 The sons of Magbish, a hundred fifty and six. 31 The sons of the other Elam, a thousand two hundred fifty and four. 32 The sons of Harim, three hundred and twenty. 33 The sons of Lod, Hadid, and Ono, seven hundred twenty and five. 34 The sons of Jericho, three hundred forty and five. 35 The sons of Senaah, three thousand and six hundred and thirty.

36 The priests: the sons of Jedaiah, of the house of Jeshua, nine hundred seventy and three. 37 The sons of Immer, a thousand fifty and two. 38 The sons of Pashhur, a thousand two hundred forty and seven. 39 The sons of Harim, a thousand and seventeen.

40 The Levites: the sons of Jeshua and Kadmiel, through Binnui [and] Hodaviah, seventy and four. 41 The singers: the sons of Asaph, a hundred twenty and eight. 42 The sons of the porters: the sons of Shallum, the sons of Ater, the sons of Talmon, the sons of Akkub, the sons of Hatita, the sons of Shobai, in all a hundred thirty and nine.

43 Those given [to temple service]: the sons of Ziha, the sons of Hasupha, the sons of Tabbaoth, 44 the sons of Keros, the sons of Siaha, the sons of Padon, 45 the sons of Lebanah, the sons of Hagabah, the sons of Akkub, 46 the sons of Hagab, the sons of Shamlai, the sons of Hanan, 47 the sons of Giddel, the sons of Gahar, the sons of Reaiah, 48 the sons of Rezin, the sons of Nekoda, the sons of Gazzam, 49 the sons of Uzza, the sons of Paseah, the sons of Besai, 50 the sons of Asnah, the sons of Meunim, the sons of Nephisim, 51 the sons of Bakbuk, the sons of Hakupha, the sons of Harhur, 52 the sons of Bazluth, the sons of Mehida, the sons of Harsha, 53 the sons of Barkos, the sons of Sisera, the sons of Temah, 54 the sons of Neziah, the sons of Hatipha.

55 The sons of Solomon's slaves: the sons of Sotai, the sons of Hassophereth, the sons of Peruda, 56 the sons of Jaalah, the sons of Darkon, the sons of Giddel, 57 the sons of Shephatiah, the sons of Hattil, the sons of Pochereth-hazzebaim, the sons of Ami. 58 All those given [to temple service], and the sons of Solomon's slaves, were three hundred ninety and two.

59 And these were those who went up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addan, [and] Immer; but they could not show their fathers' houses, and their seed, whether they were of Israel: 60 the sons of Delaiah, the sons of Tobiah, the sons of Nekoda, six hundred fifty and two. 61 And of the sons of the priests: the sons of Habaiah, the sons of Hakkoz, the sons of Barzillai, who took a wife of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and was called after their name. 62 These sought their register [among] those who were reckoned by genealogy, but they were not found: therefore they were deemed polluted and put from the priesthood. 63 And the governor said to them, that they should not eat of the most holy things, until there stood up a priest with Urim and with Thummim.

64 The whole assembly together was forty and two thousand three hundred and threescore, 65 besides their male slaves and their female slaves, of whom there were seven thousand three hundred thirty and seven: and they had two hundred singing men and singing women. 66 Their horses were seven hundred thirty and six; their mules, two hundred forty and five; 67 their camels, four hundred thirty and five; [their] donkeys, six thousand seven hundred and twenty.

68 And some of the heads of fathers' [houses], when they came to the house of Yahweh which is in Jerusalem, offered willingly for the house of God to set it up in its place: 69 they gave after their ability into the treasury of the work threescore and one thousand darics of gold, and five thousand minas of silver, and one hundred priests' garments.

70 So the priests, and the Levites, and some of the people: and the singers, and the porters, and those given [to temple service] dwelt in their cities, and all Israel in their cities.

3  And when the seventh month came, and the sons of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem. 2 Then Jeshua the son of Jozadak stood up, and his brothers the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and his brothers, and built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt-offerings on it, as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God. 3 And they set the altar on its base; for fear was on them because of the peoples of the countries: and they offered burnt-offerings on it to Yahweh, even burnt-offerings morning and evening. 4 And they kept the feast of tabernacles, as it is written, and [offered] the daily burnt-offerings by number, according to the ordinance, as the duty of every day required; 5 and afterward the continual burnt-offering, and [the offerings] of the new moons, and of all the set feasts of Yahweh that were consecrated, and of everyone who willingly offered a freewill-offering to Yahweh. 6 From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt-offerings to Yahweh: but the foundation of the temple of Yahweh was not yet laid. 7 They gave silver also to the masons, and to the carpenters; and food, and drink, and oil, to those of Sidon, and to those of Tyre, to bring cedar-trees from Lebanon to the sea, to Joppa, according to the grant that they had of Cyrus king of Persia.

8 Now in the second year of their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the rest of their brothers the priests and the Levites, and all those who had come out of the captivity to Jerusalem, began. And they appointed the Levites, from twenty years old and upward, to have the oversight of the work of the house of Yahweh. 9 Then Jeshua stood with his sons and his brothers, Kadmiel and Binnui[277] [and] Hodaviah together, to have the oversight of the workmen in the house of God: the sons of Henadad, with their sons and their brothers the Levites. 10 And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of Yahweh, they set the priests in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites the sons of Asaph with cymbals, to praise Yahweh, after the order of David king of Israel. 11 And they sang one to another in praising and giving thanks to Yahweh, [saying,] For he is good, for his loving-kindness [endures] forever toward Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised Yahweh, because the foundation of the house of Yahweh was laid. 12 But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers' [houses], the old men who had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice; and many shouted aloud for joy: 13 so that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people; for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the noise was heard far off.

4  Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the sons of the captivity were building a temple to Yahweh, the God of Israel; 2 then they drew near to Zerubbabel, and to the heads of fathers' [houses], and said to them, Let us build with you+; for we seek your+ God, as you+ do; and we have been sacrificing to him since the days of Esar-haddon king of Assyria, who brought us up here. 3 But Zerubbabel, and Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of fathers' [houses] of Israel, said to them, You+ have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God; but we ourselves together will build to Yahweh, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us. 4 Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building, 5 and hired counselors against them, to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia. 6 And in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.

7 And in the days of Artaxerxes: Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of his fellow slaves, wrote to Artaxerxes king of Persia; and the writing of the letter was written in the Syrian [character], and set forth in the Syrian [tongue]. 8 Rehum the chancellor and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes the king in this sort: 9 then [wrote] Rehum the chancellor, and Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their fellow slaves, the Dinaites, and the Apharsathchites, the Tarpelites, the Apharsites, the Archevites, the Babylonians, the Shushanchites, the Dehaites, the Elamites, 10 and the rest of the nations whom the great and noble Osnappar brought over, and set in the city of Samaria, and in the rest [of the country] beyond the River, and so forth.

11 This is the copy of the letter that they sent to Artaxerxes the king: Your slaves the men beyond the River, and so forth. 12 Be it known to the king, that the Jews who came up from you have come to us to Jerusalem; they are building the rebellious and the bad city, and have finished the walls, and repaired the foundations. 13 Be it known now to the king, that, if this city is built, and the walls finished, they will not pay tribute, custom, or toll, and in the end it will be hurtful to the kings. 14 Now because we eat the salt of the palace, and it is not meet for us to see the king's dishonor, therefore we have sent and certified the king; 15 that search may be made in the book of the records of your fathers: so you will find in the book of the records, and know that this city is a rebellious city, and hurtful to kings and provinces, and that they have moved sedition inside the same of old time; for which cause was this city laid waste. 16 We inform the king that, if this city is built, and the walls finished, by this means you will have no portion beyond the River.

17 [Then] the king sent an answer to Rehum the chancellor, and to Shimshai the scribe, and to the rest of their fellow slaves who dwell in Samaria, and in the rest [of the country] beyond the River: Peace, and so forth. 18 The letter which you+ sent to us has been plainly read before me. 19 And I decreed, and search has been made, and it was found that this city of old time has made insurrection against kings, and that rebellion and sedition have been made in it. 20 There have been mighty kings also over Jerusalem, who have ruled over all [the country] beyond the River; and tribute, custom, and toll, was paid to them. 21 Make+ now a decree to cause these [work]men to cease, and that this city will not be built, until a decree will be made by me. 22 And take heed that you+ are not slack in this: why should damage grow to the hurt of the kings?

23 Then when the copy of king Artaxerxes' letter was read before Rehum, and Shimshai the scribe, and their fellow slaves, they went in a hurry to Jerusalem to the Jews, and made them to cease by force and power. 24 Then the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem ceased; and it ceased until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.

5  Now the prophets, Haggai the prophet, and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem; in the name of the God of Israel [they prophesied] to them. 2 Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, rose up and began to build the house of God which is at Jerusalem; and with them were the prophets of God, helping them. 3 At the same time Tattenai came to them, the governor beyond the River, and Shethar-bozenai, and their fellow slaves, and said thus to them, Who gave you+ a decree to build this house, and to finish this wall? 4 Then we told them after this manner, what the names of the [work]men were who were making this building. 5 But the eye of their God was on the elders of the Jews, and they did not make them cease, until the matter should come to Darius, and then answer should be returned by letter concerning it.

6 The copy of the letter that Tattenai, the governor beyond the River, and Shethar-bozenai, and his fellow slaves the Apharsachites, who were beyond the River, sent to Darius the king; 7 they sent a letter to him, in which was written thus: To Darius the king, all peace. 8 Be it known to the king, that we went into the province of Judah, to the house of the great God, which is built with great stones, and timber is laid in the walls; and this work goes on with diligence and prospers in their hands. 9 Then we asked those elders, and said to them thus, Who gave you+ a decree to build this house, and to finish this wall? 10 We asked them their names also, to inform you, that we might write the names of the [work]men who were at the head of them. 11 And thus they returned us answer, saying, We are the slaves of the God of heaven and earth, and are building the house that was built these many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and finished. 12 But after that our fathers had provoked the God of heaven to wrath, he gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house, and carried the people away into Babylon. 13 But in the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, Cyrus the king made a decree to build this house of God. 14 And the gold and silver vessels also of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple that was in Jerusalem, and brought into the temple of Babylon, those Cyrus the king took out of the temple of Babylon, and they were delivered to one whose name was Sheshbazzar, whom he had made governor; 15 and he said to him, Take these vessels, go, put them in the temple that is in Jerusalem, and let the house of God be built in its place. 16 Then the same Sheshbazzar came, and laid the foundations of the house of God which is in Jerusalem: and since that time even until now it has been in building, and yet it is not completed. 17 Now therefore, if it seems good to the king, let there be a search made in the king's treasure-house, which is there at Babylon, whether it is so, that a decree was made of Cyrus the king to build this house of God at Jerusalem; and let the king send his pleasure to us concerning this matter.

6  Then Darius the king made a decree, and a search was made in the house of the archives, where the treasures were laid up in Babylon. 2 And there was found at Achmetha, in the palace that is in the province of Media, a roll, and in it was thus written for a record: 3 In the first year of Cyrus the king, Cyrus the king made a decree: Concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, let the house be built, the place where they offer sacrifices, and let its foundations be strongly laid; its height threescore cubits, and its width threescore cubits; 4 with three courses of great stones, and a course of new timber: and let the expenses be given out of the king's house. 5 And also let the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took forth out of the temple which is at Jerusalem, and brought to Babylon, be restored, and brought again to the temple which is at Jerusalem, every one to its place; and you will put them in the house of God.

6 Now therefore, Tattenai, governor beyond the River, Shethar-bozenai, and your+ fellow slaves the Apharsachites, who are beyond the River, be+ far from there: 7 leave the work of this house of God alone; let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews build this house of God in its place. 8 Moreover I make a decree what you+ will do to these elders of the Jews for the building of this house of God: that of the king's goods, even of the tribute beyond the River, expenses will be given with all diligence to these [work]men, that they are not hindered. 9 And that which they have need of, both young bullocks, and rams, and lambs, for burnt-offerings to the God of heaven; [also] wheat, salt, wine, and oil, according to the word of the priests who are at Jerusalem, let it be given to them day by day without fail; 10 that they may offer sacrifices of sweet savor to the God of heaven, and pray for the life of the king, and of his sons. 11 Also I have made a decree, that whoever will alter this word, let a beam be pulled out from his house, and let him be lifted up and fastened on it; and let his house be made a dunghill for this: 12 and the God who has caused his name to stay there overthrow all kings and peoples who will put forth their hand to alter [the same], to destroy this house of God which is at Jerusalem. I Darius have made a decree; let it be done with all diligence.

13 Then Tattenai, the governor beyond the River, Shethar-bozenai, and their fellow slaves, because Darius the king had sent, did accordingly with all diligence. 14 And the elders of the Jews built and prospered, through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they built and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the decree of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia. 15 And this house was finished on the twenty-third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king.

16 And the sons of Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the rest of the sons of the captivity, kept the dedication of this house of God with joy. 17 And they offered at the dedication of this house of God a hundred bullocks, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs; and for a sin-offering for all Israel, twelve he-goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel. 18 And they set the priests in their divisions, and the Levites in their courses, for the service of God, which is at Jerusalem; as it is written in the Book of Moses.

19 And the sons of the captivity kept the Passover on the fourteenth [day] of the first month. 20 For the priests and the Levites had purified themselves, all of them as one, but all the exiles had not purified themselves; for the Levites, all of them as one, were pure: and they killed the Passover for all the sons of the captivity, and for their brothers the priests, and for themselves. 21 And the sons of Israel who had come again out of the captivity, and all such as had separated themselves to them from the filthiness of the nations of the land, to seek Yahweh, the God of Israel, ate, 22 and kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy: for Yahweh had made them joyful, and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria to them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.

7  Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra the son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah, 2 the son of Shallum, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahitub, 3 the son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Meraioth, 4 the son of Zerahiah, the son of Uzzi, the son of Bukki, 5 the son of Abishua, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the chief priest— 6 this Ezra went up from Babylon. And he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which Yahweh, the God of Israel, had given; and the king granted him all his request, according to the hand of Yahweh his God on him. 7 And there went up some of the sons of Israel, and of the priests, and the Levites, and the singers, and the porters, and those given [to temple service], to Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king. 8 And he came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king. 9 For on the first [day] of the first month he began to go up from Babylon; and on the first [day] of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God on him. 10 For Ezra had set his heart to seek the law of Yahweh, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and ordinances.

11 Now this is the copy of the letter that the king Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest, the scribe, even the scribe of the words of the commandments of Yahweh, and of his statutes to Israel: 12 Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, perfect and so forth. 13 I make a decree, that all those of the people of Israel, and their priests and the Levites, in my realm, who are minded of their own free will to go to Jerusalem, go with you. 14 Since you are sent of the king and his seven counselors, to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem, according to the law of your God which is in your hand, 15 and to carry the silver and gold, which the king and his counselors have freely offered to the God of Israel, whose habitation is in Jerusalem, 16 and all the silver and gold that you will find in all the province of Babylon, with the freewill-offering of the people, and of the priests, offering willingly for the house of their God which is in Jerusalem; 17 therefore you will with all diligence buy with this silver bullocks, rams, lambs, with their meal-offerings and their drink-offerings, and will offer them on the altar of the house of your+ God which is in Jerusalem. 18 And whatever will seem good to you and to your brothers to do with the rest of the silver and the gold, do+ that after the will of your+ God. 19 And the vessels that are given to you for the service of the house of your God, deliver before the God of Jerusalem. 20 And whatever more will be needful for the house of your God, which you will have occasion to bestow, bestow it out of the king's treasure-house. 21 And I, even I Artaxerxes the king, make a decree to all the treasurers who are beyond the River, that whatever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, will require of you+, it is to be done with all diligence, 22 to a hundred talents of silver, and to a hundred cors of wheat, and to a hundred baths of wine, and to a hundred baths of oil, and salt without prescribing how much. 23 Whatever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be done exactly for the house of the God of heaven; for why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons? 24 Also we inform you+, that concerning any of the priests and Levites, the singers, porters, Nethinim, or servants of this house of God, it will not be lawful to impose tribute, custom, or toll, on them. 25 And you, Ezra, after the wisdom of your God that is in your hand, appoint magistrates and judges, who may judge all the people who are beyond the River, all such as know the laws of your God; and teach+ him who doesn't know them. 26 And whoever will not do the law of your God, and the law of the king, let judgment be executed on him with all diligence, whether it is to death, or to banishment, or to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment.

27 Blessed be Yahweh, the God of our fathers, who has put such a thing as this in the king's heart, to beautify the house of Yahweh which is in Jerusalem; 28 and has extended loving-kindness to me before the king, and his counselors, and before all the king's mighty princes. And I was strengthened according to the hand of Yahweh my God on me, and I gathered together out of Israel chief men to go up with me.

8  Now these are the heads of their fathers' [houses], and this is the genealogy of those who went up with me from Babylon, in the reign of Artaxerxes the king: 2 Of the sons of Phinehas, Gershom. Of the sons of Ithamar, Daniel. Of the sons of David, Hattush. 3 Of the sons of Shecaniah, of the sons of Parosh, Zechariah; and with him were reckoned by genealogy of the males a hundred and fifty. 4 Of the sons of Pahath-moab, Eliehoenai the son of Zerahiah; and with him two hundred males. 5 Of the sons of Zattu, Shecaniah the son of Jahaziel; and with him three hundred males. 6 And of the sons of Adin, Ebed the son of Jonathan; and with him fifty males. 7 And of the sons of Elam, Jeshaiah the son of Athaliah; and with him seventy males. 8 And of the sons of Shephatiah, Zebadiah the son of Michael; and with him eighty males. 9 Of the sons of Joab, Obadiah the son of Jehiel; and with him two hundred and eighteen males. 10 And of the sons of Bani, Shelomith the son of Josiphiah; and with him a hundred and threescore males. 11 And of the sons of Bebai, Zechariah the son of Bebai; and with him twenty and eight males. 12 And of the sons of Azgad, Johanan the son of Hakkatan; and with him a hundred and ten males. 13 And of the sons of Adonikam, [who were] the last; and these are their names: Eliphelet, Jeuel, and Shemaiah; and with them threescore males. 14 And of the sons of Bigvai, Uthai and Zaccur; and with them seventy males.

15 And I gathered them together to the river that runs to Ahava; and there we encamped three days: and I viewed the people, and the priests, and found there none of the sons of Levi. 16 Then I sent for Eliezer, for Ariel, for Shemaiah, and for Elnathan, and for Jarib, and for Elnathan, and for Nathan, and for Zechariah, and for Meshullam, chief men; also for Joiarib, and for Elnathan, who were teachers. 17 And I sent them forth to Iddo the chief at the place Casiphia; and I put words in their mouth to say to Iddo, [and] his brothers those given [to temple service], at the place Casiphia, that they should bring to us ministers for the house of our God. 18 And according to the good hand of our God on us they brought us a man of discretion, of the sons of Mahli, the son of Levi, the son of Israel; and Sherebiah, with his sons and his brothers, eighteen; 19 and Hashabiah, and with him Jeshaiah of the sons of Merari, his brothers and their sons, twenty; 20 and of those given [to temple service], whom David and the princes had given for the service of the Levites, two hundred and twenty Nethinim: all of them were mentioned by name.

21 Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek of him a straight way for us, and for our little ones, and for all our substance. 22 For I was ashamed to ask of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way, because we had spoken to the king, saying, The hand of our God is on all those who seek him, for good; but his power and his wrath is against all those who forsake him. 23 So we fasted and implored our God for this: and he was entreated of us.

24 Then I set apart twelve of the chiefs of the priests, even Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their brothers with them, 25 and weighed to them the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, even the offering for the house of our God, which the king, and his counselors, and his princes, and all Israel there present, had offered: 26 I weighed into their hand six hundred and fifty talents of silver, and a hundred silver vessels [weighing ...][278] talents; of gold a hundred talents; 27 and twenty bowls of gold, of a thousand darics; and two vessels of fine bright bronze, precious as gold. 28 And I said to them, You+ are holy to Yahweh, and the vessels are holy; and the silver and the gold are a freewill-offering to Yahweh, the God of your+ fathers. 29 Watch+, and keep them, until you+ weigh them before the chiefs of the priests and the Levites, and the princes of the fathers' [houses] of Israel, at Jerusalem, in the chambers of the house of Yahweh. 30 So the priests and the Levites received the weight of the silver and the gold, and the vessels, to bring them to Jerusalem to the house of our God.

31 Then we departed from the river Ahava on the twelfth [day] of the first month, to go to Jerusalem: and the hand of our God was on us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy and the ambusher by the way. 32 And we came to Jerusalem, and remained there three days. 33 And on the fourth day the silver and the gold and the vessels were weighed in the house of our God into the hand of Meremoth the son of Uriah the priest (and with him Eleazar the son of Phinehas: and with them Jozabad the son of Jeshua, and Noadiah the son of Binnui, the Levites)— 34 the whole by number and by weight: and all the weight was written at that time.

35 The sons of the captivity, who had come out of exile, offered burnt-offerings to the God of Israel, twelve bullocks for all Israel, ninety and six rams, seventy and two lambs, twelve he-goats for a sin-offering: all this was a burnt-offering to Yahweh. 36 And they delivered the king's commissions to the king's satraps, and to the governors beyond the River: and they furthered the people and the house of God.

9  Now when these things were done, the princes drew near to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests and the Levites, haven't separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, [doing] according to their disgusting things, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. 2 For they have taken of their daughters for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the peoples of the lands: yes, the hand of the princes and rulers has been chief in this trespass. 3 And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my robe, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down confounded. 4 Then were assembled to me everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the trespass of them of the captivity; and I sat confounded until the evening oblation.

5 And at the evening oblation I arose up from my humiliation, even with my garment and my robe rent; and I fell on my knees, and spread out my hands to Yahweh my God; 6 and I said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to you, my God; for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our guiltiness has grown up to the heavens. 7 Since the days of our fathers we have been exceedingly guilty to this day; and for our iniquities have we, our kings, and our priests, been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to plunder, and to confusion of face, as it is this day. 8 And now for a little moment grace has been shown from Yahweh our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our slavery. 9 For we are slaves; yet our God has not forsaken us in our slavery, but has extended loving-kindness to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair its ruins, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem. 10 And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken your commandments, 11 which you have commanded by your slaves the prophets, saying, The land, to which you+ go to possess it, is an unclean land through the uncleanness of the peoples of the lands, through their disgusting behaviors, which have filled it from one end to another with their filthiness: 12 now therefore do not give your+ daughters to their sons, neither take their daughters to your+ sons, nor seek their peace or their prosperity forever; that you+ may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your+ sons forever. 13 And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great guilt, seeing that you our God have punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and have given us such a remnant, 14 shall we again break your commandments, and join in affinity with the peoples who do these disgusting things? Wouldn't you be angry with us until you had consumed us, so that there should be no remnant, nor any to escape? 15 O Yahweh, the God of Israel, you are righteous; for we are left a remnant that has escaped, as it is this day: look, we are before you in our guiltiness; for none can stand before you because of this.

10  Now while Ezra prayed and made confession, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, there was gathered together to him out of Israel a very great assembly of men and women and children; for the people wept very intensely. 2 And Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said to Ezra, We have trespassed against our God, and have married foreign women of the peoples of the land: yet now there is hope for Israel concerning this thing. 3 Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law. 4 Arise; for the matter belongs to you, and we are with you: be of good courage, and do it.

5 Then Ezra arose, and made the chiefs of the Levitical priests, and all Israel, to swear that they would do according to this word. So they swore. 6 Then Ezra rose up from before the house of God, and went into the chamber of Jehohanan the son of Eliashib: and he spent the night there, he ate no bread, nor drank water; for he mourned because of the trespass of them of the captivity. 7 And they made proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem to all the sons of the captivity, that they should gather themselves together to Jerusalem; 8 and that whoever didn't come within three days, according to the counsel of the princes and the elders, all his substance should be forfeited, and himself separated from the assembly of the captivity.

9 Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered themselves together to Jerusalem within the three days; it was the ninth month, on the twentieth [day] of the month: and all the people sat in the broad place before the house of God, trembling because of this matter, and for the great rain. 10 And Ezra the priest stood up, and said to them, You+ have trespassed, and have married foreign women, to increase the guilt of Israel. 11 Now therefore make confession to Yahweh, the God of your+ fathers, and do his pleasure; and separate yourselves from the peoples of the land, and from the foreign women. 12 Then all the assembly answered and said with a loud voice, As you have said concerning us, so must we do. 13 But the people are many, and it is a time of much rain, and we are not able to stand outside: neither is this a work of one day or two; for we have greatly transgressed in this matter. 14 Let now our princes be appointed for all the assembly, and let all those who are in our cities who have married foreign women come at appointed times, and with them the elders of every city, and its judges, until the fierce wrath of our God is turned from us, until this matter is dispatched. 15 Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahzeiah the son of Tikvah stood up against this [matter]: and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite helped them.

16 And the sons of the captivity did so. And Ezra the priest selected men, certain heads of their fathers' [houses], after their fathers' houses, and all of them by their names; and they sat down in the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter. 17 And they made an end with all the men who had married foreign women by the first day of the first month. 18 And among the sons of the priests there were found that had married foreign women: [namely], of the sons of Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, and his brothers, Maaseiah, and Eliezer, and Jarib, and Gedaliah. 19 And they gave their hand that they would put away their wives; and being guilty, [they offered] a ram of the flock for their guilt. 20 And of the sons of Immer: Hanani and Zebadiah. 21 And of the sons of Harim: Maaseiah, and Elijah, and Shemaiah, and Jehiel, and Uzziah. 22 And of the sons of Pashhur: Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethanel, Jozabad, and Elasah.

23 And of the Levites: Jozabad, and Shimei, and Kelaiah (the same is Kelita), Pethahiah, Judah, and Eliezer.

24 And of the singers: Eliashib. And of the porters: Shallum, and Telem, and Uri.

25 And of Israel: Of the sons of Parosh: Ramiah, and Izziah, and Malchijah, and Mijamin, and Eleazar, and Malchijah, and Benaiah. 26 And of the sons of Elam: Mattaniah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, and Abdi, and Jeremoth, and Elijah. 27 And of the sons of Zattu: Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah, and Jeremoth, and Zabad, and Aziza. 28 And of the sons of Bebai: Jehohanan, Hananiah, Zabbai, Athlai. 29 And of the sons of Bani: Meshullam, Malluch, and Adaiah, Jashub, and Sheal, Jeremoth. 30 And of the sons of Pahath-moab: Adna, and Chelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezalel, and Binnui, and Manasseh. 31 And [of] the sons of Harim: Eliezer, Isshijah, Malchijah, Shemaiah, Shimeon, 32 Benjamin, Malluch, Shemariah. 33 Of the sons of Hashum: Mattenai, Mattattah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeremai, Manasseh, Shimei. 34 Of the sons of Bani: Maadai, Amram, and Uel, 35 Benaiah, Bedeiah, Cheluhi, 36 Vaniah, Meremoth, Eliashib, 37 Mattaniah, Mattenai, and Jaasu, 38 and Bani, and Binnui, Shimei, 39 and Shelemiah, and Nathan, and Adaiah, 40 Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai, 41 Azarel, and Shelemiah, Shemariah, 42 Shallum, Amariah, Joseph. 43 Of the sons of Nebo: Jeiel, Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, Iddo, and Joel, Benaiah. 44 All these had taken foreign wives; and some of them had wives by whom they had sons.

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Nehemiah

1  The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah.

Now it came to pass in the month Kislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the palace, 2 that Hanani, one of my brothers, came, he and certain men out of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped, who were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. 3 And they said to me, The remnant who are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.

4 And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days; and I fasted and prayed before the God of heaven, 5 and said, I urge you, O Yahweh, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and loving-kindness with those who love him and keep his commandments: 6 Let your ear now be attentive, and your eyes open, that you may listen to the prayer of your slave, which I pray before you at this time, day and night, for the sons of Israel your slaves while I confess the sins of the sons of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Yes, I and my father's house have sinned: 7 we have dealt very corruptly against you, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the ordinances, which you commanded your slave Moses. 8 Remember, I urge you, the word that you commanded your slave Moses, saying, If you+ trespass, I will scatter you+ abroad among the peoples: 9 but if you+ return to me, and keep my commandments and do them, though your+ outcasts were in the uttermost part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from there, and will bring them to the place that I have chosen to make my name stay there. 10 Now these are your slaves and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power, and by your strong hand. 11 O Lord, I urge you, let now your ear be attentive to the prayer of your slave, and to the prayer of your slaves, who delight to fear your name; and prosper, I pray you, your slave this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.

Now I was cupbearer to the king.  2  And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, when wine was before him, that I took up the wine, and gave it to the king. Now I had not been [formerly] sad in his presence. 2 And the king said to me, Why is your countenance sad, seeing you are not sick? This is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very intensely afraid. 3 And I said to the king, Let the king live forever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' tombs, lies waste, and its gates are consumed with fire? 4 Then the king said to me, For what do you make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven. 5 And I said to the king, If it pleases the king, and if your slave has found favor in your sight, that you would send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers' tombs, that I may build it. 6 And the king said to me (the queen also sitting by him,) For how long will your journey be? And when will you return? So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time. 7 Moreover I said to the king, If it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the River, that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah; 8 and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the castle which pertains to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I will enter into. And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God on me.

9 Then I came to the governors beyond the River, and gave them the king's letters. Now the king had sent with me captains of the army and horsemen. 10 And when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the slave, the Ammonite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly, for man came to seek the welfare of the sons of Israel. 11 So I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days. 12 And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me; neither did I tell man what my God put into my heart to do for Jerusalem; neither was there any beast with me, but the beast that I rode on. 13 And I went out by night by the valley gate, even toward the Dragon's Well, and to the dung gate, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and its gates were consumed with fire. 14 Then I went on to the fountain gate and to the king's pool: but there was no place for the beast that was under me to pass. 15 Then went I up in the night by the brook, and viewed the wall; and I turned back, and entered by the valley gate, and so returned. 16 And the rulers didn't know where I went, or what I did; neither had I as yet told it to the Jews, nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers, nor to the rest who did the work.

17 Then I said to them, You+ see the evil case that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we will no more be a reproach. 18 And I told them of the hand of my God which was good on me, as also of the king's words that he had spoken to me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for the good [work]. 19 But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the slave, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What is this thing that you+ do? Will you+ rebel against the king? 20 Then I answered them, and said to them, The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we his slaves will arise and build: but you+ have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem.

3  Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brothers the priests, and they built the sheep gate; they sanctified it, and set up the doors of it; even to the tower of the Hundred they sanctified it, to the tower of Hananel. 2 And next to him built the men of Jericho. And next to them built Zaccur the son of Imri.

3 And the fish gate the sons of Hassenaah built; they laid its beams, and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars. 4 And next to them repaired Meremoth the son of Uriah, the son of Hakkoz. And next to them repaired Meshullam the son of Berechiah, the son of Meshezabel. And next to them repaired Zadok the son of Baana. 5 And next to them the Tekoites repaired; but their majestic ones did not put their necks to the work of their lord.

6 And the old gate repaired Joiada the son of Paseah and Meshullam the son of Besodeiah; they laid its beams, and set up its doors, and its bolts, and its bars. 7 And next to them repaired Melatiah the Gibeonite, and Jadon the Meronothite, the men of Gibeon, and of Mizpah, [that appertained] to the throne of the governor beyond the River. 8 Next to him repaired Uzziel the son of Harhaiah, goldsmiths. And next to him repaired Hananiah one of the perfumers. And they left Jerusalem as far as the broad wall. 9 And next to them repaired Rephaiah the son of Hur, the ruler of half the district of Jerusalem. 10 And next to them repaired Jedaiah the son of Harumaph, across from his house. And next to him repaired Hattush the son of Hashabneiah. 11 Malchijah the son of Harim, and Hasshub the son of Pahath-moab, repaired another portion, and the tower of the furnaces. 12 And next to him repaired Shallum the son of Hallohesh, the ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, he and his daughters.

13 The valley gate repaired Hanun, and the inhabitants of Zanoah; they built it, and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars, and a thousand cubits of the wall to the dung gate.

14 And the dung gate repaired Malchijah the son of Rechab, the ruler of the district of Beth-haccherem; he built it, and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars.

15 And the fountain gate repaired Shallun the son of Colhozeh, the ruler of the district of Mizpah; he built it, and covered it, and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars, and the wall of the pool of Shelah by the king's garden, even to the stairs that go down from the city of David. 16 After him repaired Nehemiah the son of Azbuk, the ruler of half the district of Beth-zur, to the place across from the tombs of David, and to the pool that was made, and to the house of the mighty men. 17 After him repaired the Levites, Rehum the son of Bani. Next to him repaired Hashabiah, the ruler of half the district of Keilah, for his district. 18 After him repaired their brothers, Binnui the son of Henadad, the ruler of half the district of Keilah. 19 And next to him repaired Ezer the son of Jeshua, the ruler of Mizpah, another portion, across from the ascent to the armory at the turning [of the wall]. 20 After him Baruch the son of Zabbai earnestly repaired another portion, from the turning [of the wall] to the door of the house of Eliashib the high priest. 21 After him repaired Meremoth the son of Uriah the son of Hakkoz another portion, from the door of the house of Eliashib even to the end of the house of Eliashib. 22 And after him repaired the priests, the men of the Plain. 23 After them repaired Benjamin and Hasshub across from their house. After them repaired Azariah the son of Maaseiah the son of Ananiah beside his own house. 24 After him repaired Binnui the son of Henadad another portion, from the house of Azariah to the turning [of the wall], and to the corner. 25 Palal the son of Uzai [repaired] across from the turning [of the wall], and the tower that stands out from the upper house of the king, which is by the court of the guard. After him Pedaiah the son of Parosh [repaired]. 26 And those given [to temple service], they were living on Ophel, to the place across from the water gate toward the east, and the tower that stands out. 27 After him the Tekoites repaired another portion, across from the great tower that stands out, and to the wall of Ophel.

28 Above the horse gate repaired the priests, every one across from his own house. 29 After them repaired Zadok the son of Immer across from his own house. And after him repaired Shemaiah the son of Shecaniah, the keeper of the east gate. 30 After him repaired Hananiah the son of Shelemiah, and Hanun the sixth son of Zalaph, another portion. After him repaired Meshullam the son of Berechiah across from his chamber. 31 After him repaired Malchijah one of the goldsmiths to the house of those given [to temple service], and of the merchants, across from the gate of Hammiphkad, and to the ascent of the corner. 32 And between the ascent of the corner and the sheep gate repaired the goldsmiths and the merchants.

4  But it came to pass that, when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry, and took great indignation, and mocked the Jews. 2 And he spoke before his brothers and the army of Samaria, and said, What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they leave themselves alone? Will they sacrifice? Will they make an end in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, seeing they are burned? 3 Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, Even that which they are building, if a fox goes up, he will break down their stone wall. 4 Hear, O our God; for we are despised: and turn back their reproach on their own head, and give them up for a spoil in a land of captivity; 5 and don't cover their iniquity, and don't let their sin be blotted out from before you; for they have provoked [you] to anger before the builders. 6 So we built the wall; and all the wall was joined together to half [the height] of it: for the people had a mind to work.

7 But it came to pass that, when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem went forward, [and] that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very angry; 8 and they conspired all of them together to come and fight against Jerusalem, and to cause confusion in it. 9 But we made our prayer to our God, and set a watch against them day and night, because of them. 10 And Judah said, The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed, and there is much rubbish; so that we are not able to build the wall. 11 And our adversaries said, They will not know, neither see, until we come into the midst of them, and slay them, and cause the work to cease. 12 And it came to pass that, when the Jews who dwelt by them came, they said to us ten times from all places, You+ must return to us. 13 Therefore I set in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in the open places, I set [there] the people after their families with their swords, their spears, and their bows. 14 And I looked, and rose up, and said to the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Don't be+ afraid of them: remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your+ brothers, your+ sons, and your+ daughters, your+ wives, and your+ houses.

15 And it came to pass, when our enemies heard that it was known to us, and God had brought their counsel to nothing, that we returned all of us to the wall, every one to his work. 16 And it came to pass from that time forth, that half of my attendants wrought in the work, and half of them held the spears, the shields, and the bows, and the coats of mail; and the rulers were behind all the house of Judah. 17 Those who built the wall and those who bore burdens loaded themselves; everyone with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other held his weapon; 18 and the builders, everyone had his sword girded by his side, and so built. And he who sounded the trumpet was by me. 19 And I said to the nobles, and to the rulers and to the rest of the people, The work is great and large, and we are separated on the wall, one far from another: 20 in whatever place you+ hear the sound of the trumpet, resort+ there to us; our God will fight for us.

21 So we wrought in the work: and half of them held the spears from the rising of the morning until the stars appeared. 22 Likewise at the same time I said to the people, Let every one with his attendant lodge inside Jerusalem, that in the night they may be a guard to us, and may labor in the day. 23 So neither I, nor my brothers, nor my attendants, nor the men of the guard who followed me, none of us put off our clothes, everyone [went with] his weapon [to] the water.

5  Then there arose a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brothers the Jews. 2 For there were some who said, We, our sons and our daughters, are many: let us get grain, that we may eat and live. 3 There were also some who said, We are mortgaging our fields, and our vineyards, and our houses: let us get grain, because of the famine. 4 There were also some who said, We have borrowed silver for the king's tribute [on] our fields and our vineyards. 5 Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brothers, our sons as their sons: and, look, we bring into slavery our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters are brought into slavery [already]: neither is it in our power to help it; for other men have our fields and our vineyards.

6 And I was very angry when I heard their cry and these words. 7 Then I consulted with myself, and contended with the nobles and the rulers, and said to them, You+ exact usury, every one of his brother. And I held a great assembly against them. 8 And I said to them, We after our ability have redeemed our brothers the Jews, who were sold to the nations; and would you+ even sell your+ brothers, and should they be sold to us? Then they held their peace, and never found a word. 9 Also I said, The thing that you+ do is not good: Shouldn't you+ walk in the fear of our God, because of the reproach of the nations our enemies? 10 And I likewise, my brothers and my attendants, lend them silver and grain. I pray you+, let us leave off this usury. 11 Restore, I pray you+, to them, even this day, their fields, their vineyards, their oliveyards, and their houses, also the hundredth part of the silver, and of the grain, the new wine, and the oil, that you+ exact of them. 12 Then they said, We will restore them, and will require nothing of them; so we will do, even as you say. Then I called the priests, and took an oath of them, that they would do according to this promise. 13 Also I shook out my lap, and said, So may God shake out every man from his house, and from his labor, that does not perform this promise; even thus will he be shaken out, and emptied. And all the assembly said, Amen, and praised Yahweh. And the people did according to this promise.

14 Moreover from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year even to the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes the king, [that is], twelve years, I and my brothers have not eaten the bread of the governor. 15 But the former governors who were before me were chargeable to the people, and took of them bread and wine, besides forty shekels of silver; yes, even their attendants bore rule over the people: but I did not do so, because of the fear of God. 16 Yes, also I continued in the work of this wall, neither did we buy any land: and all my attendants were gathered there to the work. 17 Moreover there were at my table, of the Jews and the rulers, a hundred and fifty men, besides those who came to us from among the nations that were round about us. 18 Now that which was prepared for one day was one ox and six choice sheep; also fowls were prepared for me, and once in ten days store of all sorts of wine: yet for all this I did not demand the bread of the governor, because the service was heavy on this people. 19 Remember to me, O my God, for good, all that I have done for this people.

6  Now it came to pass, when it was reported to Sanballat and Tobiah, and to Geshem the Arabian, and to the rest of our enemies, that I had built the wall, and that there was no breach left in it (though even to that time I had not set up the doors in the gates), 2 that Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, Come, let us meet together in [one of] the villages in the plain of Ono. But they thought to do mischief to me. 3 And I sent messengers to them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I can't come down: why should the work cease, while I leave it, and come down to you+? 4 And they sent to me four times after this sort; and I answered them after the same manner. 5 Then Sanballat sent his attendant to me in like manner the fifth time with an open letter in his hand, 6 in which was written, It is reported among the nations, and Gashmu says it, that you and the Jews think to rebel; for which cause you are building the wall: and you would be their king, according to these words. 7 And you have also appointed prophets to preach of you at Jerusalem, saying, There is a king in Judah: and now it will be reported to the king according to these words. So now, come and let us take counsel together. 8 Then I sent to him, saying, There are no such things done as you say, but you feign them out of your own heart. 9 For all of them would have made us afraid, saying, Their hands will be weakened from the work, that it will not be done. So now, strengthen my hands.

10 And I went to the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabel, who was shut up; and he said, Let us meet together in the house of God, inside the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple: for they will come to slay you; yes, in the night they will come to slay you. 11 And I said, Should a man such as I flee? And who is there, that, being such as I, would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in. 12 And I discerned, and saw that God had not sent him; but he pronounced this prophecy against me: and Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. 13 For this cause he was hired, that I should be afraid, and do so, and sin, and that they might have matter for an evil report, that they might reproach me. 14 Remember, O my God, Tobiah and Sanballat according to these works of theirs, and also the prophetess Noadiah, and the rest of the prophets, that would have put me in fear.

15 So the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth [day] of [the month] Elul, in fifty and two days. 16 And it came to pass, when all our enemies heard [of it], that all the nations that were about us feared, and were much cast down in their own eyes; for they perceived that this work was wrought of our God. 17 Moreover in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and [the letters] of Tobiah came to them. 18 For there were many in Judah sworn to him, because he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah the son of Arah; and his son Jehohanan had taken the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah as wife. 19 Also they spoke of his good deeds before me, and reported my words to him. [And] Tobiah sent letters to put me in fear.

7  Now it came to pass, when the wall was built, and I had set up the doors, and the porters and the singers and the Levites were appointed, 2 that I gave my brother Hanani, and Hananiah the governor of the castle, charge over Jerusalem; for he was a faithful man, and feared God above many. 3 And I said to them, Don't let the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun is hot; and while they stand [on guard], let them shut the doors, and bar+ them: and appoint watches of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, every one in his watch, and every one [to be] across from his house. 4 Now the city was wide and large; but the people were few in it, and the houses were not built.

5 And my God put into my heart to gather together the nobles, and the rulers, and the people, that they might be reckoned by genealogy. And I found the book of the genealogy of those who came up at the first, and I found written in it: 6 These are the sons of the province, that went up out of the captivity of those who had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away, and that returned to Jerusalem and to Judah, every one to his city; 7 who came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum, Baanah.

The number of the men of the people of Israel: 8 The sons of Parosh, two thousand a hundred and seventy and two. 9 The sons of Shephatiah, three hundred seventy and two. 10 The sons of Arah, six hundred fifty and two. 11 The sons of Pahath-moab, of the sons of Jeshua and Joab, two thousand and eight hundred [and] eighteen. 12 The sons of Elam, a thousand two hundred fifty and four. 13 The sons of Zattu, eight hundred forty and five. 14 The sons of Zaccai, seven hundred and threescore. 15 The sons of Binnui, six hundred forty and eight. 16 The sons of Bebai, six hundred twenty and eight. 17 The sons of Azgad, two thousand three hundred twenty and two. 18 The sons of Adonikam, six hundred threescore and seven. 19 The sons of Bigvai, two thousand threescore and seven. 20 The sons of Adin, six hundred fifty and five. 21 The sons of Ater, of Hezekiah, ninety and eight. 22 The sons of Hashum, three hundred twenty and eight. 23 The sons of Bezai, three hundred twenty and four. 24 The sons of Hariph, a hundred and twelve. 25 The sons of Gibeon, ninety and five. 26 The men of Bethlehem and Netophah, 188. 27 The men of Anathoth, a hundred twenty and eight. 28 The men of Beth-azmaveth, forty and two. 29 The men of Kiriath-jearim, Chephirah, and Beeroth, seven hundred forty and three. 30 The men of Ramah and Geba, six hundred twenty and one. 31 The men of Michmas, a hundred and twenty and two. 32 The men of Beth-el and Ai, a hundred twenty and three. 33 The men of the other Nebo, fifty and two. 34 The sons of the other Elam, a thousand two hundred fifty and four. 35 The sons of Harim, three hundred and twenty. 36 The sons of Jericho, three hundred forty and five. 37 The sons of Lod, Hadid, and Ono, seven hundred twenty and one. 38 The sons of Senaah, three thousand nine hundred and thirty.

39 The priests: The sons of Jedaiah, of the house of Jeshua, nine hundred seventy and three. 40 The sons of Immer, a thousand fifty and two. 41 The sons of Pashhur, a thousand two hundred forty and seven. 42 The sons of Harim, a thousand [and] seventeen.

43 The Levites: the sons of Jeshua, of Kadmiel, of Binnui, of Hodevah, seventy and four. 44 The singers: the sons of Asaph, a hundred forty and eight. 45 The porters: the sons of Shallum, the sons of Ater, the sons of Talmon, the sons of Akkub, the sons of Hatita, the sons of Shobai, a hundred thirty and eight.

46 Those given [to temple service]: the sons of Ziha, the sons of Hasupha, the sons of Tabbaoth, 47 the sons of Keros, the sons of Sia, the sons of Padon, 48 the sons of Lebana, the sons of Hagaba, the sons of Salmai, 49 the sons of Hanan, the sons of Giddel, the sons of Gahar, 50 the sons of Reaiah, the sons of Rezin, the sons of Nekoda, 51 the sons of Gazzam, the sons of Uzza, the sons of Paseah. 52 The sons of Besai, the sons of Meunim, the sons of Nephushesim, 53 the sons of Bakbuk, the sons of Hakupha, the sons of Harhur, 54 the sons of Bazlith, the sons of Mehida, the sons of Harsha, 55 the sons of Barkos, the sons of Sisera, the sons of Temah, 56 the sons of Neziah, the sons of Hatipha.

57 The sons of Solomon's slaves: the sons of Sotai, the sons of Sophereth, the sons of Perida, 58 the sons of Jaala, the sons of Darkon, the sons of Giddel, 59 the sons of Shephatiah, the sons of Hattil, the sons of Pochereth-hazzebaim, the sons of Amon. 60 All those given [to temple service], and the sons of Solomon's slaves, were three hundred ninety and two.

61 And these were those who went up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addon, and Immer; but they could not show their fathers' houses, nor their seed, whether they were of Israel: 62 The sons of Delaiah, the sons of Tobiah, the sons of Nekoda, six hundred forty and two. 63 And of the priests: the sons of Hobaiah, the sons of Hakkoz, the sons of Barzillai, who took a wife of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and was called after their name. 64 These sought their register [among] those who were reckoned by genealogy, but it wasn't found: therefore they were deemed polluted and put from the priesthood. 65 And the governor said to them, that they should not eat of the most holy things, until there stood up a priest with Urim and Thummim.

66 The whole assembly together was forty and two thousand three hundred and threescore, 67 besides their male slaves and their female slaves, of whom there were seven thousand three hundred thirty and seven: and they had two hundred forty and five singing men and singing women;[279] 69 four hundred thirty and five camels; six thousand seven hundred and twenty donkeys.

70 And some from among the heads of fathers' [houses] gave to the work. The governor gave to the treasury a thousand darics of gold, fifty basins, five hundred and thirty priests' garments. 71 And some of the heads of fathers' [houses] gave into the treasury of the work twenty thousand darics of gold, and two thousand and two hundred minas of silver. 72 And that which the rest of the people gave was twenty thousand darics of gold, and two thousand minas of silver, and threescore and seven priests' garments.

73 So the priests, and the Levites, and the porters, and the singers, and some of the people, and those given [to temple service], and all Israel, dwelt in their cities.

And when the seventh month came, the sons of Israel were in their cities.  8  And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the broad place that was before the water gate; and they spoke to Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses, which Yahweh had commanded to Israel. 2 And Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly, both men and women, and all who could hear with understanding, on the first day of the seventh month. 3 And he read it before the broad place that was before the water gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women, and of those who could understand; and the ears of all the people were [attentive] to the Book of the Law. 4 And Ezra the scribe stood on a pulpit of wood, which they had made for the purpose; and beside him stood Mattithiah, and Shema, and Anaiah, and Uriah, and Hilkiah, and Maaseiah, on his right hand; and on his left hand, Pedaiah, and Mishael, and Malchijah, and Hashum, and Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, [and] Meshullam. 5 And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people (for he was above all the people); and when he opened it, all the people stood up: 6 and Ezra blessed Yahweh, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with the lifting up of their hands: and they bowed their heads, and worshiped Yahweh with their faces to the ground. 7 Also Jeshua, and Bani, and Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites, caused the people to understand the law: and the people [stood] in their place. 8 And they read in the book, in the law of God, distinctly; and they gave the sense, so that they understood the reading.

9 And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites who taught the people, said to all the people, This day is holy to Yahweh your+ God; don't mourn, nor weep. For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law. 10 Then he said to them, Go your+ way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions to him for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord: neither be+ grieved; for the joy of Yahweh is your+ strength. 11 So the Levites stilled all the people, saying, Hold your+ peace, for the day is holy; neither be+ grieved. 12 And all the people went their way to eat, and to drink, and to send portions, and to make great mirth, because they had understood the words that were declared to them.

13 And on the second day were gathered together the heads of fathers' [houses] of all the people, the priests, and the Levites, to Ezra the scribe, even to give attention to the words of the law. 14 And they found written in the law, how that Yahweh had commanded by Moses, that the sons of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month; 15 and that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities, and in Jerusalem, saying, Go forth to the mount, and fetch olive branches, and branches of wild olive, and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and branches of thick trees, to make booths, as it is written. 16 So the people went forth, and brought them, and made themselves booths, every one on the roof of his house, and in their courts, and in the courts of the house of God, and in the broad place of the water gate, and in the broad place of the gate of Ephraim. 17 And all the assembly of those who had come again out of the captivity made booths, and dwelt in the booths; for since the days of Jeshua the son of Nun to that day the sons of Israel had not done so. And there was very great gladness. 18 Also day by day, from the first day to the last day, he read in the Book of the Law of God. And they kept the feast seven days; and on the eighth day was a solemn assembly, according to the ordinance.

9  Now in the twenty and fourth day of this month the sons of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackcloth, and earth on them. 2 And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers. 3 And they stood up in their place, and read in the Book of the Law of Yahweh their God a fourth part of the day; and [another] fourth part they confessed, and worshiped Yahweh their God. 4 Then stood up on the stairs of the Levites, Jeshua, and Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, [and] Chenani, and cried with a loud voice to Yahweh their God.

5 Then the Levites, Jeshua, and Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, [and] Pethahiah, said, Stand up and bless Yahweh your+ God from everlasting to everlasting; and let them bless your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise. 6 You are Yahweh, even you alone; you have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all things that are on it, the seas and all that is in them, and you preserve them all; and the host of heaven worships you. 7 You are Yahweh the God, who chose Abram, and brought him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gave him the name of Abraham, 8 and found his heart faithful before you, and made a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Jebusite, and the Girgashite, to give it to his seed, and have performed your words; for you are righteous.

9 And you saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heard their cry by the Red Sea, 10 and showed signs and wonders on Pharaoh, and on all his slaves, and on all the people of his land; for you knew that they dealt proudly against them, and you made a name for yourself, as it is this day. 11 And you divided the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land; and their pursuers you cast into the depths, as a stone into the mighty waters. 12 Moreover in a pillar of cloud you led them by day; and in a pillar of fire by night, to give them light in the way in which they should go. 13 You came down also on mount Sinai, and spoke with them from heaven, and gave them right ordinances and true laws, good statutes and commandments, 14 and made known to them your holy Sabbath, and commanded them commandments, and statutes, and a law, by Moses your slave, 15 and gave them bread from heaven for their hunger, and brought forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and commanded them that they should go in to possess the land which you had sworn to give them.

16 But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their neck, and didn't listen to your commandments, 17 and refused to obey, neither were mindful of your wonders that you did among them, but hardened their neck, and in Egypt appointed a captain to return to their slavery. But you are a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving-kindness, and did not forsake them. 18 Yes, when they had made themselves a molten calf, and said, This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt, and had wrought great provocations; 19 yet you in your manifold mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness: the pillar of cloud did not depart from over them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to show them light, and the way in which they should go. 20 You gave also your good Spirit to instruct them, and did not withhold your manna from their mouth, and gave them water for their thirst. 21 Yes, forty years you sustained them in the wilderness, [and] they lacked nothing; their clothes did not wax old, and their feet did not swell. 22 Moreover you gave them kingdoms and peoples, which you allotted after their portions: so they possessed the land of Sihon, even the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og king of Bashan. 23 You also multiplied their sons as the stars of heaven, and brought them into the land concerning which you said to their fathers, that they should go in to possess it. 24 So the sons went in and possessed the land, and you subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gave them into their hands, with their kings, and the peoples of the land, that they might do with them as they would. 25 And they took fortified cities, and a fat land, and possessed houses full of all good things, cisterns cut out, vineyards, and oliveyards, and fruit-trees in abundance: so they ate, and were filled, and became fat, and delighted themselves in your great goodness.

26 Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against you, and cast your law behind their back, and slew your prophets who testified against them to turn themselves again to you, and they wrought great provocations. 27 Therefore you delivered them into the hand of their adversaries, who distressed them: and in the time of their trouble, when they cried to you, you heard from heaven; and according to your manifold mercies you gave them saviors who saved them out of the hand of their adversaries. 28 But after they had rest, they did evil again before you; therefore you left them in the hand of their enemies, so that they had the dominion over them: yet when they returned, and cried to you, you heard from heaven; and many times you delivered them according to your mercies, 29 and testified against them, that you might bring them again to your law. Yet they dealt proudly, and didn't listen to your commandments, but sinned against your ordinances (which if man does, he will live in them), and withdrew the shoulder, and hardened their neck, and would not hear. 30 Yet many years you bore with them, and testified against them by your Spirit through your prophets: yet they would not give ear: therefore you gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands. 31 Nevertheless in your manifold mercies you did not make a full end of them, nor forsake them; for you are a gracious and merciful God.

32 Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and loving-kindness, don't let all the travail seem little before you, that has come upon us, on our kings, on our princes, and on our priests, and on our prophets, and on our fathers, and on all your people, since the time of the kings of Assyria to this day. 33 Nevertheless you are just in all that has come upon us; for you have dealt truly, but we have done wickedly; 34 neither have our kings, our princes, our priests, nor our fathers, kept your law, nor listened to your commandments and your testimonies with which you testified against them. 35 For they have not served you in their kingdom, and in your great goodness that you gave them, and in the large and fat land which you gave before them, neither did they turn from their wicked works. 36 Look, we are slaves this day, and as for the land that you gave to our fathers to eat the fruit of it and the good of it, see, we are slaves in it. 37 And it yields much increase to the kings whom you have set over us because of our sins: also they have power over our bodies, and over our cattle, at their pleasure, and we are in great distress. 38 And yet for all this we make a sure covenant, and write it; and our princes, our Levites, [and] our priests, seal to it.

10  Now those who sealed were: Nehemiah the governor, the son of Hacaliah, and Zedekiah, 2 Seraiah, Azariah, Jeremiah, 3 Pashhur, Amariah, Malchijah, 4 Hattush, Shebaniah, Malluch, 5 Harim, Meremoth, Obadiah, 6 Daniel, Ginnethon, Baruch, 7 Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin, 8 Maaziah, Bilgai, Shemaiah; these were the priests. 9 And the Levites: namely, Jeshua the son of Azaniah, Binnui of the sons of Henadad, Kadmiel; 10 and their brothers, Shebaniah, Hodiah, Kelita, Pelaiah, Hanan, 11 Mica, Rehob, Hashabiah, 12 Zaccur, Sherebiah, Shebaniah, 13 Hodiah, Bani, Beninu. 14 The chiefs of the people: Parosh, Pahath-moab, Elam, Zattu, Bani, 15 Bunni, Azgad, Bebai, 16 Adonijah, Bigvai, Adin, 17 Ater, Hezekiah, Azzur, 18 Hodiah, Hashum, Bezai, 19 Hariph, Anathoth, Nobai, 20 Magpiash, Meshullam, Hezir, 21 Meshezabel, Zadok, Jaddua, 22 Pelatiah, Hanan, Anaiah, 23 Hoshea, Hananiah, Hasshub, 24 Hallohesh, Pilha, Shobek, 25 Rehum, Hashabnah, Maaseiah, 26 and Ahiah, Hanan, Anan, 27 Malluch, Harim, Baanah.

28 And the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the porters, the singers, those given [to temple service], and all those who had separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the law of God, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, everyone who had knowledge and understanding; 29 They joined to their brothers, their majestic ones, and entered into a curse, and into an oath, to walk in God's law, which was given by Moses the slave of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of Yahweh our Lord, and his ordinances and his statutes; 30 and that we would not give our daughters to the peoples of the land, nor take their daughters for our sons; 31 and if the peoples of the land bring wares or any grain on the Sabbath day to sell, that we would not buy of them on the Sabbath, or on a holy day; and that we would forego the seventh year, and the exaction of every debt.

32 Also we made ordinances for us, to charge ourselves yearly with the third part of a shekel for the service of the house of our God; 33 for the showbread, and for the continual meal-offering, and for the continual burnt-offering, for the Sabbaths, for the new moons, for the set feasts, and for the holy things, and for the sin-offerings to make atonement for Israel, and for all the work of the house of our God. 34 And we cast lots, the priests, the Levites, and the people, for the wood-offering, to bring it into the house of our God, according to our fathers' houses, at times appointed, year by year, to burn on the altar of Yahweh our God, as it is written in the law; 35 and to bring the first fruits of our ground, and the first fruits of all fruit of all manner of trees, year by year, to the house of Yahweh; 36 also the firstborn of our sons, and of our cattle, as it is written in the law, and the firstborns of our herds and of our flocks, to bring to the house of our God, to the priests who minister in the house of our God; 37 and that we should bring the first fruits of our dough, and our heave-offerings, and the fruit of all manner of trees, the new wine and the oil, to the priests, to the chambers of the house of our God; and the tithes of our ground to the Levites; for they, the Levites, take the tithes in all the cities of our tillage. 38 And the priest the son of Aaron will be with the Levites, when the Levites take tithes: and the Levites will bring up the tithe of the tithes to the house of our God, to the chambers, into the treasure-house. 39 For the sons of Israel and the sons of Levi will bring the heave-offering of the grain, of the new wine, and of the oil, to the chambers, where are the vessels of the sanctuary, and the priests who minister, and the porters, and the singers: and we will not forsake the house of our God.

11  And the princes of the people dwelt in Jerusalem: the rest of the people also cast lots, to bring one of ten to dwell in Jerusalem the holy city, and nine parts in the [other] cities. 2 And the people blessed all the men who willingly offered themselves to dwell in Jerusalem.

3 Now these are the chiefs of the province who dwelt in Jerusalem: but in the cities of Judah dwelt every one in his possession in their cities, [to wit,] Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and those given [to temple service], and the sons of Solomon's slaves. 4 And in Jerusalem dwelt certain of the sons of Judah, and of the sons of Benjamin. Of the sons of Judah: Athaiah the son of Uzziah, the son of Zechariah, the son of Amariah, the son of Shephatiah, the son of Mahalalel, of the sons of Perez; 5 and Maaseiah the son of Baruch, the son of Colhozeh, the son of Hazaiah, the son of Adaiah, the son of Joiarib, the son of Zechariah, the son of the Shilonite. 6 All the sons of Perez who dwelt in Jerusalem were four hundred threescore and eight valiant men.

7 And these are the sons of Benjamin: Sallu the son of Meshullam, the son of Joed, the son of Pedaiah, the son of Kolaiah, the son of Maaseiah, the son of Ithiel, the son of Jeshaiah. 8 And after him Gabbai, Sallai, nine hundred twenty and eight. 9 And Joel the son of Zichri was their overseer; and Judah the son of Hassenuah was second over the city.

10 Of the priests: Jedaiah the son of Joiarib, Jachin, 11 Seraiah the son of Hilkiah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Zadok, the son of Meraioth, the son of Ahitub, the leader of the house of God, 12 and their brothers who did the work of the house, eight hundred twenty and two; and Adaiah the son of Jeroham, the son of Pelaliah, the son of Amzi, the son of Zechariah, the son of Pashhur, the son of Malchijah, 13 and his brothers, chiefs of fathers' [houses], two hundred forty and two; and Amashsai the son of Azarel, the son of Ahzai, the son of Meshillemoth, the son of Immer, 14 and their brothers, mighty men of valor, a hundred twenty and eight; and their overseer was Zabdiel, the son of Haggedolim.

15 And of the Levites: Shemaiah the son of Hasshub, the son of Azrikam, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Bunni; 16 and Shabbethai and Jozabad, of the chiefs of the Levites, who had the oversight of the outward business of the house of God; 17 and Mattaniah the son of Mica, the son of Zabdi, the son of Asaph, who was the chief of praise, he led in prayer, and Bakbukiah, the second among his brothers; and Abda the son of Shammua, the son of Galal, the son of Jeduthun. 18 All the Levites in the holy city were 284.

19 Moreover the porters, Akkub, Talmon, and their brothers, that kept watch at the gates, were a hundred seventy and two. 20 And the residue of Israel, of the Levitical priests, were in all the cities of Judah, every one in his inheritance. 21 But those given [to temple service] dwelt in Ophel: and Ziha and Gishpa were over those given [to temple service].

22 The overseer also of the Levites at Jerusalem was Uzzi the son of Bani, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Mica, of the sons of Asaph, the singers, over the business of the house of God. 23 For there was a commandment from the king concerning them, and a settled provision for the singers, as every day required. 24 And Pethahiah the son of Meshezabel, of the sons of Zerah the son of Judah, was at the king's hand in all matters concerning the people.

25 And as for the villages, with their fields, some of the sons of Judah dwelt in Kiriath-arba and its towns, and in Dibon and its towns, and in Jekabzeel and its villages, 26 and in Jeshua, and in Moladah, and Beth-pelet, 27 and in Hazar-shual, and in Beer-sheba and its towns, 28 and in Ziklag, and in Meconah and in its towns, 29 and in En-rimmon, and in Zorah, and in Jarmuth, 30 Zanoah, Adullam, and their villages, Lachish and its fields, Azekah and its towns. So they encamped from Beer-sheba to the valley of Hinnom. 31 The sons of Benjamin also [dwelt] from Geba [onward], at Michmash and Aija, and at Beth-el and its towns, 32 at Anathoth, Nob, Ananiah, 33 Hazor, Ramah, Gittaim, 34 Hadid, Zeboim, Neballat, 35 Lod, and Ono, the valley of craftsmen. 36 And of the Levites, certain courses in Judah [were joined] to Benjamin.

12  Now these are the priests and the Levites who went up with Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra, 2 Amariah, Malluch, Hattush, 3 Shecaniah, Rehum, Meremoth, 4 Iddo, Ginnethoi, Abijah, 5 Mijamin, Maadiah, Bilgah, 6 Shemaiah, and Joiarib, Jedaiah. 7 Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah, Jedaiah. These were the chiefs of the priests and of their brothers in the days of Jeshua.

8 Moreover the Levites: Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, [and] Mattaniah, who was over the thanksgiving, he and his brothers. 9 Also Bakbukiah and Unno, their brothers, were next to them according to their offices. 10 And Jeshua begot Joiakim, and Joiakim begot Eliashib, and Eliashib begot Joiada, 11 and Joiada begot Jonathan, and Jonathan begot Jaddua.

12 And in the days of Joiakim were priests, heads of fathers' [houses]: of Seraiah, Meraiah; of Jeremiah, Hananiah; 13 of Ezra, Meshullam; of Amariah, Jehohanan; 14 of Malluchi, Jonathan; of Shebaniah, Joseph; 15 of Harim, Adna; of Meraioth, Helkai; 16 of Iddo, Zechariah; of Ginnethon, Meshullam; 17 of Abijah, Zichri; of Miniamin, of Moadiah, Piltai; 18 of Bilgah, Shammua; of Shemaiah, Jehonathan; 19 and of Joiarib, Mattenai; of Jedaiah, Uzzi; 20 of Sallai, Kallai; of Amok, Eber; 21 of Hilkiah, Hashabiah; of Jedaiah, Nethanel.

22 As for the Levites, in the days of Eliashib, Joiada, and Johanan, and Jaddua, there were recorded the heads of fathers' [houses]; also the priests, in the reign of Darius the Persian. 23 The sons of Levi, heads of fathers' [houses], were written in the Book of the Chronicles, even until the days of Johanan the son of Eliashib. 24 And the chiefs of the Levites: Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua the son of[280] Kadmiel, with their brothers next to them, to praise and give thanks, according to the commandment of David the man of God, watch next to watch. 25 Mattaniah, and Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, Akkub, were porters keeping the watch at the storehouses of the gates. 26 These were in the days of Joiakim the son of Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, and in the days of Nehemiah the governor, and of Ezra the priest the scribe.

27 And at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought the Levites out of all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem, to keep the dedication with gladness, both with thanksgivings, and with singing, with cymbals, psalteries, and with harps. 28 And the sons of the singers gathered themselves together, both out of the plain round about Jerusalem, and from the villages of the Netophathites; 29 also from Beth-gilgal, and out of the fields of Geba and Azmaveth: for the singers had built themselves villages round about Jerusalem. 30 And the priests and the Levites purified themselves; and they purified the people, and the gates, and the wall.

31 Then I brought up the princes of Judah on the wall, and appointed two great companies that gave thanks and went in procession; [of which one went] on the right hand on the wall toward the dung gate: 32 and after them went Hoshaiah, and half of the princes of Judah, 33 and Azariah, Ezra, and Meshullam, 34 Judah, and Benjamin, and Shemaiah, and Jeremiah, 35 and certain of the priests' sons with trumpets: Zechariah the son of Jonathan, the son of Shemaiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Micaiah, the son of Zaccur, the son of Asaph; 36 and his brothers, Shemaiah, and Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, and Judah, Hanani, with the musical instruments of David the man of God; and Ezra the scribe was before them. 37 And by the fountain gate, and straight before them, they went up by the stairs of the city of David, at the ascent of the wall, above the house of David, even to the water gate eastward.

38 And the other company of those who gave thanks went in the opposite direction, and I after them, with the half of the people, on the wall, above the tower of the furnaces, even to the broad wall, 39 and above the gate of Ephraim, and by the old gate, and by the fish gate, and the tower of Hananel, and the tower of the Hundred, even to the sheep gate: and they stood still in the gate of the guard. 40 So stood the two companies of those who gave thanks in the house of God, and I, and the half of the rulers with me; 41 and the priests, Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, and Hananiah, with trumpets; 42 and Maaseiah, and Shemaiah, and Eleazar, and Uzzi, and Jehohanan, and Malchijah, and Elam, and Ezer. And the singers sang loud, with Jezrahiah their overseer. 43 And they offered great sacrifices that day, and rejoiced; for God had made them rejoice with great joy; and the women also and the children rejoiced: so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard even far off.

44 And on that day were men appointed over the chambers for the treasures, for the heave-offerings, for the first fruits, and for the tithes, to gather into them, according to the fields of the cities, the portions appointed by the law for the priests and Levites: for Judah rejoiced for the priests and for the Levites who waited. 45 And they kept the charge of their God, and the charge of the purification, and [so did] the singers and the porters, according to the commandment of David, and of Solomon his son. 46 For in the days of David and Asaph of old there was a chief of the singers, and songs of praise and thanksgiving to God. 47 And all Israel in the days of Zerubbabel, and in the days of Nehemiah, gave the portions of the singers and the porters, as every day required: and they set apart [that which was] for the Levites; and the Levites set apart [that which was] for the sons of Aaron.

13  On that day they read in the Book of Moses in the audience of the people; and in it was found written, that an Ammonite and a Moabite should not enter into the assembly of God forever, 2 because they did not meet the sons of Israel with bread and with water, but hired Balaam against them, to curse them: nevertheless our God turned the curse into a blessing. 3 And it came to pass, when they had heard the law, that they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude.

4 Now before this, Eliashib the priest, who was appointed over the chambers of the house of our God, being allied to Tobiah, 5 had prepared for him a great chamber, where previously they laid the meal-offerings, the frankincense, and the vessels, and the tithes of the grain, the new wine, and the oil, which were given by commandment to the Levites, and the singers, and the porters; and the heave-offerings for the priests. 6 But in all this [time] I was not at Jerusalem; for in the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I went to the king: and after certain days I asked leave of the king, 7 and I came to Jerusalem, and understood the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, in preparing him a chamber in the courts of the house of God. 8 And it grieved me intensely: therefore I cast forth all the household stuff of Tobiah out of the chamber. 9 Then I commanded, and they cleansed the chambers: and there I brought again the vessels of the house of God, with the meal-offerings and the frankincense.

10 And I perceived that the portions of the Levites had not been given them; so that the Levites and the singers, who did the work, had fled every one to his field. 11 Then I contended with the rulers, and said, Why is the house of God forsaken? And I gathered them together, and set them in their place. 12 Then all Judah brought the tithe of the grain and the new wine and the oil to the treasuries. 13 And I made treasurers over the treasuries, Shelemiah the priest, and Zadok the scribe, and of the Levites, Pedaiah: and next to them was Hanan the son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah; for they were counted faithful, and their business was to distribute to their brothers. 14 Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and don't wipe away my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God, and for its observances.

15 In those days I saw in Judah some men treading winepresses on the Sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and lading donkeys [with them]; as also wine, grapes, and figs, and all manner of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day: and I testified [against them] in the day in which they sold victuals. 16 Men of Tyre also dwelt in it, who brought in fish, and all manner of wares, and sold on the Sabbath to the sons of Judah, and in Jerusalem. 17 Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said to them, What evil thing is this that you+ do, and profane the Sabbath day? 18 Didn't your+ fathers do thus, and didn't our God bring all this evil on us, and on this city? Yet you+ bring more wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath.

19 And it came to pass that, when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the Sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut, and commanded that they should not be opened until after the Sabbath: and some of my attendants I set over the gates, that no burden should be brought in on the Sabbath day. 20 So the merchants and sellers of all kind of wares lodged outside Jerusalem once or twice. 21 Then I testified against them, and said to them, Why do you+ lodge about the wall? If you+ do so again, I will lay hands on you+. From that time forth they came no more on the Sabbath. 22 And I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves, and that they should come and keep the gates, to sanctify the Sabbath day. Remember to me, O my God, this also, and spare me according to the greatness of your loving-kindness.

23 In those days also I saw the Jews who had married women of Ashdod, of Ammon, [and] of Moab: 24 and their sons spoke half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews' language, but according to the language of each people. 25 And I contended with them, and cursed them, and struck certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, [saying,] You+ will not give your+ daughters to their sons, nor take their daughters for your+ sons, or for yourselves. 26 Didn't Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? Yet among many nations there was no king like him, and he was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel: nevertheless foreign women caused even him to sin. 27 Shall we then listen to you+ to do all this great evil, to trespass against our God in marrying foreign women?

28 And one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite: therefore I chased him from me. 29 Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood, and the covenant of the priesthood, and of the Levites.

30 Thus I cleansed them from all foreigners, and appointed charges for the priests and for the Levites, every one in his work; 31 and for the wood-offering, at times appointed, and for the first fruits. Remember me, O my God, for good.

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Esther

1  Now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus (this is Ahasuerus who reigned from India even to Ethiopia, over a hundred and seven and twenty provinces), 2 that in those days, when the king Ahasuerus sat on the throne of his kingdom, which was in Shushan the palace, 3 in the third year of his reign, he made a feast to all his princes and his slaves; the power of Persia and Media, the nobles and princes of the provinces, being before him; 4 when he showed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the excellent honor of his greatness many days, even 180 days. 5 And when these days were fulfilled, the king made a feast to all the people who were present in Shushan the palace, both great and small, seven days, in the court of the garden of the king's palace. 6 [There were hangings of] white [cloth], [of] green, and [of] blue, fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rings and pillars of marble: the couches were of gold and silver, on a pavement of red, and white, and yellow, and black marble. 7 And they gave them drink in vessels of gold (the vessels being diverse one from another), and royal wine in abundance, according to the bounty of the king. 8 And the drinking was according to the law; none could compel: for so the king had appointed to all the officers of his house, that they should do according to every man's pleasure.

9 Also Vashti the queen made a feast for the women in the royal house which belonged to King Ahasuerus. 10 On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, and Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, the seven chamberlains that ministered in the presence of Ahasuerus the king, 11 to bring Vashti the queen before the king with the royal crown, to show the peoples and the princes her beauty; for she was fair to look at. 12 But the queen Vashti refused to come at the king's commandment by the chamberlains: therefore the king was very angry, and his anger burned in him.

13 Then the king said to the wise men, who knew the times (for so was the king's manner toward all who knew law and judgment; 14 and the next to him were Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan, the seven princes of Persia and Media, who saw the king's face, and sat first in the kingdom), 15 What shall we do to the queen Vashti according to law, because she has not done the bidding of the king Ahasuerus by the chamberlains? 16 And Memucan answered before the king and the princes, Vashti the queen has not done wrong to the king only, but also to all the princes, and to all the peoples that are in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus. 17 For this deed of the queen will come abroad to all women, to make their husbands contemptible in their eyes, when it will be reported, The king Ahasuerus commanded Vashti the queen to be brought in before him, but she didn't come. 18 And this day the princesses of Persia and Media who have heard of the deed of the queen will say [the like] to all the king's princes. So [there will arise] much contempt and wrath. 19 If it pleases the king, let there go forth a royal commandment from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes, that it not be altered, that Vashti come no more before King Ahasuerus; and let the king give her royal estate to her fellow woman who is better than she. 20 And when the king's decree which he will make will be published throughout all his kingdom (for it is great), all the wives will give to their husbands honor, both to great and small. 21 And the saying pleased the king and the princes; and the king did according to the word of Memucan: 22 for he sent letters into all the king's provinces, into every province according to its writing, and to every people after their language, that every man should bear rule in his own house, and should speak according to the language of his people.

2  After these things, when the wrath of King Ahasuerus was pacified, he remembered Vashti, and what she had done, and what was decreed against her. 2 Then the king's attendants who ministered to him said, Let there be fair young virgins sought for the king: 3 and let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, that they may gather together all the fair young virgins to Shushan the palace, to the house of the women, to the custody of Hegai the king's chamberlain, keeper of the women; and let their things for purification be given them; 4 and let the maiden who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti. And the thing pleased the king; and he did so.

5 There was a certain Jew in Shushan the palace, whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite, 6 who had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captives who had been carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away. 7 And he brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle's daughter: for she had neither father nor mother, and the maiden had a beautiful body and face; and when her father and mother were dead, Mordecai took her for his own daughter.

8 So it came to pass, when the king's commandment and his decree was heard, and when many maidens were gathered together to Shushan the palace, to the custody of Hegai, that Esther was taken into the king's house, to the custody of Hegai, keeper of the women. 9 And the maiden was good in his eyes, and she obtained kindness of him; and he speedily gave her her things for purification, with her portions, and the seven maidens who were meet to be given her out of the king's house: and he removed her and her maidens to the best place of the house of the women. 10 Esther had not made known her people nor her kindred; for Mordecai had charged her that she should not make it known. 11 And Mordecai walked every day before the court of the women's house, to know how Esther did, and what would become of her.

12 Now when the turn of every maiden came to go in to King Ahasuerus, after that it had been done to her according to the law for the women twelve months (for so were the days of their purifications accomplished, [to wit,] six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet odors and with the things for the purifying of the women), 13 then in this wise the maiden came to the king: whatever she desired was given to her to go with her out of the house of the women to the king's house. 14 In the evening she went, and on the next day she returned into the second house of the women, to the custody of Shaashgaz, the king's chamberlain, who kept the concubines: she came in to the king no more, except the king delighted in her, and she was called by name. 15 Now when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her for his daughter, came to go in to the king, she required nothing but what Hegai the king's chamberlain, the keeper of the women, appointed. And Esther obtained favor in the sight of all those who looked on her.

16 So Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus into his royal house in the tenth month, which is the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign. 17 And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained favor and kindness in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown on her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti. 18 Then the king made a great feast to all his princes and his slaves, even Esther's feast; and he ordered a rest to the provinces, and gave gifts, according to the bounty of the king.

19 And when the virgins were gathered together the second time, then Mordecai was sitting in the king's gate. 20 Esther had not yet made known her kindred nor her people; as Mordecai had charged her: for Esther did the commandment of Mordecai, like when she was brought up with him. 21 In those days, while Mordecai was sitting in the king's gate, two of the king's chamberlains, Bigthan and Teresh, of those who kept the threshold, were angry, and sought to lay hands on the king Ahasuerus. 22 And the thing became known to Mordecai, who showed it to Esther the queen; and Esther told the king [of it] in Mordecai's name. 23 And when inquisition was made of the matter, and it was found to be so, they were both hanged on a tree: and it was written in the Book of the Chronicles before the king.

3  After these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him, and set his seat above all the princes who were with him. 2 And all the king's slaves, who were in the king's gate, bowed down to, and reverenced Haman; for the king had so commanded concerning him. But Mordecai did not bow down, nor reverence him. 3 Then the king's slaves, who were in the king's gate, said to Mordecai, Why do you transgress the king's commandment? 4 Now it came to pass, when they spoke daily to him, and he didn't listen to them, that they told Haman, to see whether Mordecai's matters would stand: for he had told them that he was a Jew. 5 And when Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow down, nor reverence him, then Haman was full of wrath. 6 But it was contemptible in his eyes to lay hands on Mordecai alone; for they had made known to him the people of Mordecai: therefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, even the people of Mordecai.

7 In the first month, which is the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, they cast Pur, that is, the lot, before Haman from day to day, and from month to month, [to] the twelfth [month], which is the month Adar. 8 And Haman said to King Ahasuerus, There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom; and their laws are diverse from [those of] every people; neither do they keep the king's laws: therefore it is not for the king's profit to allow them. 9 If it pleases the king, let it be written that they are to be destroyed: and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who have the charge of the [king's] business, to bring it into the king's treasuries. 10 And the king took his ring from his hand, and gave it to Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the Jews' enemy. 11 And the king said to Haman, The silver is given to you, the people also, to do with them as it seems good to you.

12 Then the king's scribes were called in the first month, on the thirteenth day of it; and there was written according to all that Haman commanded to the king's satraps, and to the governors who were over every province, and to the princes of every people, to every province according to its writing, and to every people after their language; in the name of King Ahasuerus was it written, and it was sealed with the king's ring. 13 And letters were sent by posts into all the king's provinces, to destroy, to slay, and to cause to perish, all Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, even on the thirteenth [day] of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to take the spoil of them for a prey. 14 A copy of the writing, that the decree should be given out in every province, was published to all the peoples, that they should be ready against that day. 15 The posts went forth in a hurry by the king's commandment, and the decree was given out in Shushan the palace. And the king and Haman sat down to drink; but the city of Shushan was perplexed.

4  Now when Mordecai knew all that was done, Mordecai rent his clothes, and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and cried with a loud and a bitter cry; 2 and he came even before the king's gate: for none might enter inside the king's gate clothed with sackcloth. 3 And in every province, wherever the king's commandment and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.

4 And Esther's maidens and her chamberlains came and told it to her; and the queen was exceedingly grieved: and she sent raiment to clothe Mordecai, and to take his sackcloth from off him; but he did not receive it. 5 Then Esther called for Hathach, one of the king's chamberlains, whom he had appointed to attend on her, and charged him to go to Mordecai, to know what this was, and why it was. 6 So Hathach went forth to Mordecai to the broad place of the city, which was before the king's gate. 7 And Mordecai told him of all that had happened to him, and the exact sum of the silver that Haman had promised to pay to the king's treasuries for the Jews, to destroy them. 8 Also he gave him the copy of the writing of the decree that was given out in Shushan to destroy them, to show it to Esther, and to declare it to her, and to charge her that she should go in to the king, to make supplication to him, and to make request before him, for her people.

9 And Hathach came and told Esther the words of Mordecai. 10 Then Esther spoke to Hathach, and gave him a message to Mordecai [saying]: 11 All the king's slaves, and the people of the king's provinces, do know, that whoever, whether man or woman, will come to the king into the inner court, who is not called, there is one law for him, that he is to be put to death, except those to whom the king will hold out the golden scepter, that he may live: but I haven't been called to come in to the king these thirty days. 12 And they told to Mordecai Esther's words.

13 Then Mordecai bade them return answer to Esther, Don't think within your soul that you will escape in the king's house, more than all the Jews. 14 For if you altogether hold your peace at this time, then will relief and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish: and who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this? 15 Then Esther bade them return answer to Mordecai, 16 Go, gather together all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast+ for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast in like manner; and so I will go in to the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish. 17 So Mordecai went his way, and did according to all that Esther had commanded him.

5  Now it came to pass on the third day, that Esther put on her royal apparel, and stood in the inner court of the king's house, opposite the king's house: and the king sat on his royal throne in the royal house, opposite the entrance of the house. 2 And it was so, when the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, that she obtained favor in his eyes; and the king held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. So Esther drew near, and touched the top of the scepter. 3 Then the king said to her, What do you want, queen Esther? And what is your request? It will be given to you even to the half of the kingdom. 4 And Esther said, If it seems good to the king, let the king and Haman come this day to the banquet that I have prepared for him.

5 Then the king said, Cause Haman to hurry, that it may be done as Esther has said. So the king and Haman came to the banquet that Esther had prepared. 6 And the king said to Esther at the banquet of wine, What is your petition? And it will be granted to you: and what is your request? Even to the half of the kingdom it will be performed. 7 Then Esther answered, and said, My petition and my request is: 8 if I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it pleases the king to grant my petition, and to perform my request, let the king and Haman come to the banquet that I will prepare for them, and I will do tomorrow as the king has said.

9 Then Haman went forth that day joyful and glad of heart: but when Haman saw Mordecai in the king's gate, that he didn't stand up nor move for him, he was filled with wrath against Mordecai. 10 Nevertheless Haman refrained himself, and went home; and he sent and fetched his friends and Zeresh his wife. 11 And Haman recounted to them the glory of his riches, and the multitude of his sons, and all the things in which the king had promoted him, and how he had advanced him above the princes and slaves of the king. 12 Haman said moreover, Yes, Esther the queen let no man come in with the king to the banquet that she had prepared but me; and also tomorrow I am invited by her together with the king. 13 Yet all this avails me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate. 14 Then Zeresh his wife and all his friends said to him, Let a gallows be made fifty cubits high, and in the morning speak to the king that Mordecai may be hanged on it: then go in merrily with the king to the banquet. And the thing pleased Haman; and he caused the gallows to be made.

6  On that night the king could not sleep; and he commanded to bring the Book of Records of the Chronicles, and they were read before the king. 2 And it was found written, that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king's chamberlains, of those who kept the threshold, who had sought to lay hands on the king Ahasuerus. 3 And the king said, What honor and dignity has been bestowed on Mordecai for this? Then the king's attendants who ministered to him said, Nothing has been done for him. 4 And the king said, Who is in the court? Now Haman came into the outward court of the king's house, to speak to the king to hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him. 5 And the king's attendants said to him, Look, Haman stands in the court. And the king said, Let him come in. 6 So Haman came in. And the king said to him, What will be done to the man whom the king delights to honor? Now Haman said in his heart, Whom would the king delight to honor more than me? 7 And Haman said to the king, For the man whom the king delights to honor, 8 let royal apparel be brought which the king uses to wear, and the horse that the king rides on, and on the head of which a royal crown is set: 9 and let the apparel and the horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king's most noble princes, that they may array the man with them whom the king delights to honor, and cause him to ride on horseback through the street of the city, and proclaim before him, Thus it will be done to the man whom the king delights to honor.

10 Then the king said to Haman, Hurry, and take the apparel and the horse, as you have said, and do even so to Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the king's gate: let nothing fail of all that you have spoken. 11 Then Haman took the apparel and the horse, and arrayed Mordecai, and caused him to ride through the street of the city, and proclaimed before him, Thus it will be done to the man whom the king delights to honor. 12 And Mordecai came again to the king's gate. But Haman hurried to his house, mourning and having his head covered. 13 And Haman recounted to Zeresh his wife and all his friends everything that had befallen him. Then his wise men and Zeresh his wife said to him, If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of the seed of the Jews, you will not prevail against him, but will surely fall before him. 14 While they were yet talking with him, the king's chamberlains came, and hurried to bring Haman to the banquet that Esther had prepared.

7  So the king and Haman came to banquet with Esther the queen. 2 And the king said again to Esther on the second day at the banquet of wine, What is your petition, queen Esther? And it will be granted you: and what is your request? Even to the half of the kingdom it will be performed. 3 Then Esther the queen answered and said, If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my soul be given to me at my petition, and my people at my request: 4 for we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. But if we had been sold for male slaves and female slaves, I would have held my peace, although the adversary could not have compensated for the king's damage. 5 Then King Ahasuerus spoke and said to Esther the queen, Who is he, and where is he, whose heart has filled him to do so? 6 And Esther said, An adversary and an enemy, even this wicked Haman. Then Haman was afraid before the king and the queen. 7 And the king arose in his wrath from the banquet of wine [and went] into the palace garden: and Haman stood up to make request for his soul to Esther the queen; for he saw that there was evil determined against him by the king. 8 Then the king returned out of the palace garden into the place of the banquet of wine; and Haman had fallen on the couch on which Esther was. Then said the king, Will he even force the queen before me in the house? As the word went out of the king's mouth, they covered Haman's face. 9 Then Harbonah said, one of the chamberlains that was before the king, Look also at the gallows fifty cubits high, which Haman has made for Mordecai, who spoke good for the king, stands in the house of Haman. And the king said, Hang him on it. 10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king's wrath was pacified.

8  On that day the king Ahasuerus gave the house of Haman the Jews' enemy to Esther the queen. And Mordecai came before the king; for Esther had told what he was to her. 2 And the king took off his ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. And Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman.

3 And Esther spoke yet again before the king, and fell down at his feet, and implored him with tears to put away the mischief of Haman the Agagite, and his device that he had devised against the Jews. 4 Then the king held out to Esther the golden scepter. So Esther arose, and stood before the king. 5 And she said, If it pleases the king, and if I have found favor in his sight, and the thing seems right before the king, and I am pleasing in his eyes, let it be written to reverse the letters devised by Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all the king's provinces: 6 for how can I endure to see the evil that will come to my people? Or how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred? 7 Then the king Ahasuerus said to Esther the queen and to Mordecai the Jew, Look, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and they have hanged him on the gallows, because he laid his hand on the Jews. 8 You+ write also to the Jews, as it pleases you+, in the king's name, and seal it with the king's ring; for the writing which is written in the king's name, and sealed with the king's ring, may no man reverse.

9 Then the king's scribes were called at that time, in the third month Sivan, on the three and twentieth [day] of it; and it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded to the Jews, and to the satraps, and the governors and princes of the provinces which are from India to Ethiopia, a hundred twenty and seven provinces, to every province according to its writing, and to every people after their language, and to the Jews according to their writing, and according to their language. 10 And he wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus, and sealed it with the king's ring, and sent letters by posts on horseback, riding on swift steeds that were used in the king's service, bred of the stud: 11 in which the king granted the Jews who were in every city to gather themselves together, and to stand for their soul, to destroy, to slay, and to cause to perish, all the power of the people and province that would assault them, [their] little ones and women, and to take the spoil of them for a prey, 12 on one day in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, [namely], on the thirteenth [day] of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar. 13 A copy of the writing, that the decree should be given out in every province, was published to all the peoples, and that the Jews should be ready against that day to avenge themselves on their enemies. 14 So the posts that rode on swift steeds that were used in the king's service went out, being hurried and pressed on by the king's commandment; and the decree was given out in Shushan the palace.

15 And Mordecai went forth from the presence of the king in royal apparel of blue and white, and with a great crown of gold, and with a robe of fine linen and purple: and the city of Shushan shouted and was glad. 16 The Jews had light and gladness, and joy and honor. 17 And in every province, and in every city, wherever the king's commandment and his decree came, the Jews had gladness and joy, a feast and a good day. And many from among the peoples of the land became Jews; for the fear of the Jews had fallen on them.

9  Now in the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king's commandment and his decree drew near to be put in execution, on the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have rule over them (whereas it was turned to the contrary, that the Jews had rule over those who hated them), 2 the Jews gathered themselves together in their cities throughout all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, to lay hand on such as sought their hurt: and no man could withstand them; for the fear of them had fallen on all the peoples. 3 And all the princes of the provinces, and the satraps, and the governors, and those who did the king's business, helped the Jews; because the fear of Mordecai had fallen on them. 4 For Mordecai was great in the king's house, and his fame went forth throughout all the provinces; for the man Mordecai waxed greater and greater. 5 And the Jews struck all their enemies with the stroke of the sword, and with slaughter and destruction, and did what they would to those who hated them. 6 And in Shushan the palace the Jews slew and destroyed five hundred men. 7 And Parshandatha, and Dalphon, and Aspatha, 8 and Poratha, and Adalia, and Aridatha, 9 and Parmashta, and Arisai, and Aridai, and Vaizatha, 10 the ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Jews' enemy, they slew; but on the spoil they didn't lay their hand.

11 On that day the number of those who were slain in Shushan the palace was brought before the king. 12 And the king said to Esther the queen, The Jews have slain and destroyed five hundred men in Shushan the palace, and the ten sons of Haman; what then have they done in the rest of the king's provinces! Now what is your petition? And it will be granted you: or what is your request further? And it will be done. 13 Then said Esther, If it pleases the king, let it be granted to the Jews who are in Shushan to do tomorrow also according to this day's decree, and let Haman's ten sons be hanged on the gallows. 14 And the king commanded it to be done so: and a decree was given out in Shushan; and they hanged Haman's ten sons. 15 And the Jews who were in Shushan gathered themselves together on the fourteenth day also of the month Adar, and slew three hundred men in Shushan; but on the spoil they didn't lay their hand. 16 And the other Jews who were in the king's provinces gathered themselves together, and stood for their souls, and had rest from their enemies, and slew of those who hated them seventy and five thousand; but on the spoil they didn't lay their hand.

17 [This was done] on the thirteenth day of the month Adar; and on the fourteenth day of the same they rested, and made it a day of feasting and gladness. 18 But the Jews who were in Shushan assembled together on the thirteenth [day] of it, and on the fourteenth of it; and on the fifteenth [day] of the same they rested, and made it a day of feasting and gladness. 19 Therefore the Jews of the villages, who dwell in the unwalled towns, make the fourteenth day of the month Adar [a day of] gladness and feasting, and a good day, and of sending portions one to another.

20 And Mordecai wrote these things, and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, both near and far, 21 to enjoin them that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same, yearly, 22 as the days in which the Jews had rest from their enemies, and the month which was turned to them from sorrow to gladness, and from mourning into a good day; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor. 23 And the Jews undertook to do as they had begun, and as Mordecai had written to them; 24 because Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur, that is the lot, to consume them, and to destroy them; 25 but when [the matter] came before the king, he commanded by letters that his wicked device, which he had devised against the Jews, should return on his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.

26 Therefore they called these days Purim, after the name of Pur. Therefore because of all the words of this letter, and of that which they had seen concerning this matter, and that which had come to them, 27 the Jews appointed, and took on them, and on their seed, and on all such as joined themselves to them, so that it should not fail, that they would keep these two days according to its writing, and according to its appointed time, every year; 28 and that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city; and that these days of Purim should not fail from among the Jews, nor the remembrance of them perish from their seed.

29 Then Esther the queen, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew, wrote with all authority to confirm this second letter of Purim. 30 And he sent letters to all the Jews, to the hundred twenty and seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, [with] words of peace and truth, 31 to confirm these days of Purim in their appointed times, according to as Mordecai the Jew and Esther the queen had enjoined them, and as they had appointed for their souls and for their seed, in the matter of the fasts and their cry. 32 And the commandment of Esther confirmed these matters of Purim; and it was written in the book.

10  And the king Ahasuerus laid a tax on the land, and on the isles of the sea. 2 And all the acts of his power and of his might, and the full account of the greatness of Mordecai, to which the king advanced him, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Media and Persia? 3 For Mordecai the Jew was next to King Ahasuerus, and great among the Jews, and accepted of the multitude of his brothers, seeking the good of his people, and speaking peace to all his seed.

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I Maccabees

1  Now it came to pass that Alexander the [son] of Philip the Macedonian, who first reigned in Greece, coming out of the land of Cethim, overthrew Darius king of the Persians and Medes.[281] 4 He subdued countries of nations, and princes: and they became tributaries to him. 7 And Alexander reigned twelve years, and he died. 10 And there came out of his successors[282] a wicked root, Antiochus Epiphanes, the son of King Antiochus, who had been a hostage at Rome: and he reigned in the hundred and thirty-seventh year of the kingdom of the Greeks.

11 In those days there went out of Israel wicked men, and they persuaded many, saying: Let's go, and make a covenant with the nations that are round about us: for since we departed from them, many evils have befallen us. 12 And the word seemed good in their eyes. 13 And some of the people determined to do this, and went to the king: and he gave them license to do after the ordinances of the nations. 14 And they built a gymnasium in Jerusalem, according to the laws of the nations.[283] 15 And they made themselves foreskins, and departed from the holy covenant, and joined themselves to the nations, and were sold to do evil.

16 And the kingdom was established before Antiochus, and he had a mind to reign over the land of Egypt, that he might reign over two kingdoms. 17 And he entered into Egypt with a great multitude, with chariots and elephants, and horsemen, and a great number of ships. 18 And he made war against Ptolemy king of Egypt, but Ptolemy was afraid at his presence, and fled, and many were wounded to death. 19 And he took the strong cities in the land of Egypt: and he took the spoils of the land of Egypt.

20 And after Antiochus had ravaged Egypt in the hundred and forty-third year, he returned and went up against Israel. 21 And he went up to Jerusalem with a great multitude. 22 And he proudly entered into the sanctuary, and took away the golden altar, and the lampstand of light, and all the vessels of it, and the table of proposition, and the pouring vessels, and the vials, and the little mortars of gold, and the veil, and the crowns, and the golden ornament that was before the temple: and he broke them all in pieces. 23 And he took the silver and gold, and the precious vessels: and he took the hidden treasures which he found: and when he had taken all away he departed into his own country. 24 And he made a great slaughter of men, and spoke very proudly.

25 And there was great mourning in Israel,

And in every place where they were:

26 And the princes, and the ancients mourned,

And the virgins and the young men were made feeble,

And the beauty of the women was changed.

27 Every bridegroom took up lamentation:

And the bride who sat in the marriage bed, mourned:

28 And the land was moved for the inhabitants of it,

And all the house of Jacob was covered with confusion.

29 And after two full years the king sent the chief collector of his tributes to the cities of Judah, and he came to Jerusalem with a great multitude. 30 And he spoke to them peaceful words in deceit: and they believed him.[284] And he fell on the city suddenly, and struck it with a great slaughter, and destroyed many people in Israel. 31 And he took the spoils of the city, and burned it with fire, and threw down the houses of it, and the walls of it round about: 32 And they took the women captive, and the children, and the cattle they possessed. 33 And they built the city of David with a great and strong wall, and with strong towers, and made it a fortress for them. 34 And they placed there a sinful nation, wicked men, and they fortified themselves in it. And they stored up armor, and victuals, and gathered together the spoils of Jerusalem; 35 And laid them up there: and they became a great snare.

36 And this was a place to lie in wait against the sanctuary,

And an evil adversary in Israel.

37 And they shed innocent blood round about the sanctuary,

And defiled the holy place.

38 And the inhabitants of Jerusalem fled away by reason of them,

And the city was made the habitation of strangers,

And she became a stranger to her own seed,

And her children forsook her.

39 Her sanctuary was desolate like a wilderness,

Her festival days were turned into mourning,

Her Sabbaths into reproach,

Her honors were brought to nothing.

40 Her dishonor was increased according to her glory,

And her excellency was turned into mourning.

41 And King Antiochus wrote to all his kingdom, that all the people should be one: and every one should leave his own law. 42 And all nations consented according to the word of King Antiochus. 43 And many of Israel consented to his service, and they sacrificed to idols, and profaned the Sabbath. 44 And the king sent letters by the hands of messengers to Jerusalem, and to all the cities of Judah: that they should follow the law of the nations of the earth; 45 and should forbid burnt-offerings and sacrifices, and atonements to be made in the temple of God; and should prohibit the Sabbath, and the festival days, to be celebrated. 46 And he commanded the holy places to be profaned, and the holy people of Israel. 47 And he commanded altars to be built, and temples, and idols, and swine's flesh to be sacrificed, and unclean beasts. 48 And that they should leave their sons uncircumcised, and let their souls be defiled with all uncleannesses, and detestable things, 49 to the end that they should forget the law, and should change all the ordinances of God. 50 And that whoever would not do according to the word of King Antiochus should be put to death. 51 According to all these words he wrote to his whole kingdom, and he appointed rulers over the people who should force them to do these things.[285] And they commanded the cities of Judah to sacrifice. 52 Then many of the people were gathered to those who had forsaken the law of the Lord: and they committed evils in the land: 53 And they drove away the people of Israel into lurking holes, and into the secret places of fugitives.

54 On the fifteenth[286] day of the month Kislev, in the hundred and forty-fifth year, King Antiochus set up the detestable idol of desolation on the altar of God, and they built altars throughout all the cities of Judah round about: 55 And they burned incense, and sacrificed at the doors of the houses, and in the streets. 56 And they cut in pieces, and burned with fire the books of the law of God: 57 And every one with whom the books of the covenant were found, and whoever observed the law, they put to death, according to the edict of the king. 58 Thus by their power they dealt with the people of Israel, who were found in the cities month after month. 59 And on the five and twentieth day of the month they sacrificed on the altar of the idol that was upon the altar of God. 60 Now the women who circumcised their children, were slain according to the commandment of King Antiochus. 61 And they hanged the children about their necks in all their houses: and those who had circumcised them, they put to death. 62 And many of the people of Israel determined with themselves, that they would not eat unclean things: and they chose rather to die than to be defiled with unclean meats. 63 And they would not break the holy covenant of God, and they were put to death: 64 And there was very great wrath on the people.

2  In those days arose Mathathias the son of John, the [son] of Simeon, a priest of the sons of Joarib, from Jerusalem, and he abode in the mountain of Modin. 2 And he had five sons: John who was surnamed Gaddis: 3 And Simon, who was surnamed Thasi: 4 And Judas, who was called Maccabeus: 5 And Eleazar, who was surnamed Abaron: and Jonathan, who was surnamed Apphus. 6 These saw the evils that were done in the people of Judah, and in Jerusalem. 7 And Mathathias said:

Woe is me!

Why was I born to see the ruin of my people,

And the ruin of the holy city,

And to live there,

When it is given into the hands of the enemies?

8 The holy places have come into the hands of strangers:

Her temple has become as a man without honor.

9 The vessels of her glory are carried away captive:

Her old men are murdered in the streets,

And her young men have fallen by the sword of the enemies.

10 What nation has not inherited her kingdom,

and gotten of her spoils?

11 All her ornaments are taken away.

She who was free is made a slave.

12 And look, our sanctuary, and our beauty,

and our glory is laid waste,

And the nations have defiled them.

13 To what end then should we live any longer?

14 And Mathathias and his sons rent their garments, and they covered themselves with sackcloth, and made great lamentation.

15 And those who were sent from King Antiochus came there, to compel those who had fled into the city of Modin, to sacrifice, and to burn incense, and to depart from the law of God. 16 And many of the people of Israel consented, and came to them: but Mathathias and his sons stood firm. 17 And those who were sent from Antiochus, answering, said to Mathathias: You are a ruler, and an honorable, and great man in this city, and adorned with sons, and brothers. 18 Therefore you come first, and obey the king's commandment, as all nations have done, and the men of Judah, and those who remain in Jerusalem: and you, and your sons, will be in the number of the king's friends, and enriched with gold, and silver, and many presents.

19 Then Mathathias answered, and said with a loud voice: Although all nations obey King Antiochus, so as to depart every man from the service of the law of his fathers, and consent to his commandments: 20 I and my sons, and my brothers will obey the covenant of our fathers. 21 God be merciful to us: it is not profitable for us to forsake the law, and the ordinances of God: 22 We will not listen to the words of King Antiochus, neither will we sacrifice, and turn aside from the commandments of our law, either to the right hand or to the left.

23 Now as he left off speaking these words, there came a certain Jew in the sight of all to sacrifice to the idols on the altar in the city of Modin, according to the king's commandment. 24 And Mathathias saw and was grieved, and his reins trembled, and his wrath was kindled according to the judgment of the law, and running on him he slew him on the altar. 25 Moreover the man whom King Antiochus had sent, who compelled them to sacrifice, he slew at the same time, and pulled down the altar, 26 And showed zeal for the law, as Phinehas did by Zimri the son of Salu. 27 And Mathathias cried out in the city with a loud voice, saying: Every one who has zeal for the law, and maintains the covenant, let him follow me. 28 So he, and his sons fled into the mountains, and left all that they had in the city.

29 Then many who sought after righteousness and justice went down into the desert. 30 And they abode there, they and their sons, and their wives, and their cattle: because afflictions increased on them. 31 And it was told to the king's men, and to the army that was in Jerusalem in the city of David, that certain men who had broken the king's commandment, had gone away into the secret places in the wilderness, and that many had gone after them. 32 And forthwith they went out toward them, and made war against them on the Sabbath day, 33 And they said to them: Do you+ still resist? Come forth, and do according to the edict of King Antiochus, and you+ will live. 34 And they said: We will not come forth, neither will we obey the king's edict, to profane the Sabbath day. 35 And they made haste to give them battle. 36 But they did not answer them, neither did they cast a stone at them, nor stop up the secret places, 37 saying: Let us all die in our innocency: and heaven and earth will be witnesses for us, that you+ put us to death wrongfully. 38 So they gave them battle on the Sabbath: and they were slain with their wives, and their children, and their cattle, to the number of a thousand souls.

39 And Mathathias and his friends heard of it, and they mourned for them exceedingly. 40 And every man said to his fellow man: If we will all do as our brothers have done, and not fight against the nations for our souls, and our ordinances: they will now quickly root us out of the earth. 41 And they determined in that day, saying: Whoever will come up against us to fight on the Sabbath day, we will fight against him: and we will not all die, as our brothers who were slain in the secret places.

42 Then was assembled to them the congregation of the Assideans, the stoutest of Israel, every one who had a good will for the law. 43 And all those who fled from the evils, joined themselves to them, and were a support to them.

44 And they gathered an army,

And slew the sinners in their wrath,

And the wicked men in their indignation:

And the rest fled to the nations for safety.

45 And Mathathias and his friends went round about, and they threw down the altars: 46 And they circumcised all the children whom they found in the confines of Israel who were uncircumcised: and they did valiantly. 47 And they pursued after the sons of pride, and the work prospered in their hands: 48 And they recovered the law out of the hands of the nations, and out of the hands of the kings: and they did not yield the horn to the sinner.

49 Now the days drew near that Mathathias should die, and he said to his sons:

Now has pride and chastisement gotten strength,

And the time of destruction,

and the wrath of indignation:

50 Now therefore, O my sons, be+ zealous for the law,

And give your+ souls for the covenant of your+ fathers.

51 And call to remembrance the works of the fathers,

Which they have done in their generations:

And you+ will receive great glory,

And an everlasting name.

52 Was not Abraham found faithful in trial,

And it was reckoned to him for righteousness?

53 Joseph in the time of his distress kept the commandment,

And he was made lord of Egypt.

54 Phinehas our father, by being fervent in the zeal of God,

Received the covenant of an everlasting priesthood.

55 Joshua, while he fulfilled the word,

Was made ruler in Israel.

56 Caleb, for bearing witness before the congregation,

Received an inheritance.

57 David, by his mercy,

Obtained the throne of an everlasting kingdom.

58 Elijah, while he was full of zeal for the law,

Was taken up into heaven.

59 Hananiah and Azariah and Mishael by believing,

Were delivered out of the flame.

60 Daniel in his innocency

Was delivered out of the mouth of the lions.

61 And thus consider through all generations:

That none who trust in him fail in strength.

62 And do not fear the words of a sinful man,

For his glory is dung, and worms:

63 Today he is lifted up,

And tomorrow he will not be found,

Because he has returned into his earth;

And his thought has come to nothing.

64 You+ therefore, my sons, be manly, be strong in the law:

For by it you+ will be glorious.

65 And look, I know that your+ brother Simon

Is a man of counsel.

Give ear to him always,

And he will be a father to you+.

66 And Judas Maccabeus

Who is valiant and strong from his youth up,

Let him be the leader of your+ army,

And he will manage the war of the people.

67 And you+ will take to you+ all who observe the law:

And take+ vengeance for the wrong of your+ people.

68 Render to the nations their reward,

And take heed to the precepts of the law.

69 And he blessed them, and was gathered to his fathers. 70 And he died in the hundred and forty-sixth year: and he was buried by his sons in the sepulchres of his fathers in Modin, and all Israel mourned for him with great mourning.

3  Then his son Judas, called Maccabeus, rose up in his place. 2 And all his brothers helped him, and all those who had joined themselves to his father, and they fought with cheerfulness the battle of Israel.

3 And he got his people great honor,

And put on a breastplate as a giant,

And girt his warlike armor about him in battles,

And protected the camp with his sword.

4 In his acts he was like a lion,

And like a lion's whelp roaring for his prey.

5 And he pursued the wicked and sought them out,

And those who troubled his people he burned with fire.

6 And his enemies were driven away for fear of him,

And all the workers of iniquity were troubled:

And salvation prospered in his hand.

7 And he grieved many kings,

And made Jacob glad with his works,

And his memory is blessed forever.

8 And he went through the cities of Judah,

And destroyed the wicked out of them,

And turned away wrath from Israel.

9 And he was renowned even to the utmost part of the earth,

And he gathered those who were perishing.

10 And Apollonius gathered together the nations, and a numerous and great army from Samaria, to make war against Israel. 11 And Judas understood it, and went forth to meet him: and he overthrew him, and killed him: and many fell down slain, and the rest fled away. 12 And he took their spoils, and Judas took the sword of Apollonius, and fought with it all his lifetime.

13 And Seron captain of the army of Syria heard that Judas had assembled a company of the faithful, and a congregation with him. 14 And he said: I will get myself a name, and will be glorified in the kingdom, and will overthrow Judas, and those who are with him, who have despised the edict of the king. 15 And he made himself ready: and the host of the wicked went up with him, strong helpers, to be revenged of the sons of Israel. 16 And they approached even as far as Beth-horon: and Judas went forth to meet him, with a small company. 17 But when they saw the army coming to meet them, they said to Judas: How shall we, being few, be able to fight against so great a multitude and so strong, and we are ready to faint with fasting today? 18 And Judas said: It is an easy matter for many to be shut up in the hands of a few: and there is no difference in the sight of the God of heaven to deliver with a great multitude, or with a small company: 19 For the success of war is not in the multitude of the army, but strength comes from heaven. 20 They come against us with an insolent multitude, and with pride, to destroy us, and our wives, and our children, and to take our spoils. 21 But we will fight for our souls and our laws: 22 And the Lord himself will overthrow them before our face: but as for you+, don't fear them. 23 And as soon as he had made an end of speaking, he rushed suddenly on them: and Seron and his host were overthrown before him: 24 And he pursued him by the descent of Beth-horon even to the plain, and there fell of them eight hundred men, and the rest fled into the land of the Philistines. 25 And the fear of Judas and of his brothers, and the dread of them fell on all the nations round about them. 26 And his fame came to the king, and all nations told of the battles of Judas.

27 Now when King Antiochus heard these words, he was angry in his mind: and he sent and gathered the forces of all his kingdom, an exceedingly strong army. 28 And he opened his treasury, and gave out pay to the army for a year: and he commanded them, that they should be ready for all things. 29 And he perceived that the silver of his treasures failed, and that the tributes of the country were small because of the dissension, and the evil that he had brought on the land, that he might take away the laws of old times. 30 And he feared that he should not have as formerly enough, for charges and gifts, which he had given before with a liberal hand: for he had abounded more than the kings who had been before him. 31 And he was greatly perplexed in his soul, and purposed to go into Persia, and to take tributes of the countries, and to gather much silver. 32 And he left Lysias, a nobleman of the royal seed, to oversee the affairs of the kingdom, from the river Euphrates even to the river of Egypt: 33 And to bring up his son Antiochus, until he came again. 34 And he delivered to him half the army, and the elephants: and he gave him charge concerning all that he would have done, and concerning the inhabitants of Judea, and Jerusalem. 35 And that he should send an army against them, to destroy and root out the strength of Israel, and the remnant of Jerusalem, and to take away the memory of them from that place. 36 And that he should settle foreigners to live in all their coasts, and divide their land by lot.[287] 37 So the king took the half of the army that remained, and went forth from Antioch the chief city of his kingdom, in the hundred and forty-seventh year: and he passed over the river Euphrates, and went through the higher countries.

38 Then Lysias chose Ptolemy the [son] of Dorymenus, and Nicanor, and Gorgias, mighty men of the king's friends. 39 And he sent with them forty thousand men, and seven thousand horsemen: to go into the land of Judah, and to destroy it according to the king's orders. 40 So they went forth with all their power, and came, and pitched near Emmaus in the plain country. 41 And the merchants of the countries heard the fame of them: and they took silver and gold in abundance, and servants: and they came into the camp, to buy the sons of Israel for slaves: and there were joined to them the forces of Syria, and of the land of the strangers.

42 And Judas and his brothers saw that evils were multiplied, and that the armies approached to their borders: and they knew the orders the king had given to destroy the people and utterly abolish them. 43 And they said every man to his fellow man: Let's raise up the low condition of our people, and let's fight for our people, and our sanctuary. 44 And the assembly was gathered that they might be ready for battle: and that they might pray, and ask mercy and compassion.

45 Now Jerusalem was not inhabited,

But was like a desert.

There was none of her children who went in or out,

And the sanctuary was trodden down.

And the foreigners were in the castle,[288]

There was the habitation of the nations.

And joy was taken away from Jacob,

And the pipe and harp ceased there.

46 And they assembled together, and came to Maspha opposite Jerusalem: for in Maspha was a place of prayer heretofore in Israel. 47 And they fasted that day, and put on sackcloth, and put ashes on their heads. And they rent their garments. 48 And they laid open the books of the law, in which the nations searched for the likenesses of their idols. 49 And they brought the priestly ornaments, and the firstfruits and tithes, and stirred up the Nazarites who had fulfilled their days. 50 And they cried with a loud voice toward heaven, saying:

What shall we do with these, And where shall we carry them? 51 For your holies are trodden down, and are profaned, And your priests are in mourning, and are brought low. 52 And look, the nations have come together against us to destroy us: You know what they intend against us. 53 How shall we be able to stand before their face, Unless you, O God, help us?

54 Then they sounded with trumpets, and cried out with a loud voice.

55 And after this Judas appointed captains over the people, over thousands, and over hundreds, and over fifties, and over tens. 56 And he said to those who were building houses, or had betrothed wives, or were planting vineyards, or were fearful, that they should return every man to his house, according to the law. 57 So they removed the camp, and pitched on the south side of Emmaus. 58 And Judas said: Gird yourselves, and be sons of valor, and be ready against the morning, that you+ may fight with these nations that are assembled against us to destroy us and our sanctuary.[289] 59 For it is better for us to die in battle, than to see the evils of our nation, and of the holies. 60 Nevertheless as it shall be the will of God in heaven so be it done.

4  Then Gorgias took five thousand men, and a thousand of the best horsemen: and they removed out of the camp by night. 2 That they might come upon the camp of the Jews, and strike them suddenly: and the men who were of the castle were their guides.[290] 3 And Judas heard of it, and rose up, he and the valiant men, to attack the king's forces that were in Emmaus. 4 For as yet the army was dispersed from the camp. 5 And Gorgias came by night into the camp of Judas, and found no man, and he sought them in the mountains: for he said: These men flee from us.

6 And when it was day, Judas showed himself in the plain with three thousand men only, who neither had armor nor swords. 7 And they saw the camp of the nations that it was strong, and the men in breastplates, and the horsemen round about them, and these were trained up to war. 8 And Judas said to the men who were with him: Don't fear+ their multitude, neither be+ afraid of their assault. 9 Remember in what manner our fathers were saved in the Red Sea, when Pharaoh pursued them with a great army. 10 And now let us cry to heaven: and the Lord will have mercy on us, and will remember the covenant of our fathers, and will destroy this army before our face this day: 11 And all nations will know that there is one who redeems and delivers Israel.

12 And the strangers lifted up their eyes, and saw them coming against them. 13 And they went out of the camp to battle, and those who were with Judas sounded the trumpet. 14 And they joined battle: and the nations were routed, and fled into the plain. 15 But all the hindmost of them fell by the sword, and they pursued them as far as Gezeron, and even to the plains of Idumea, and of Azotus, and of Jamnia: and there fell of them to the number of three thousand men.

16 And Judas returned again with his army that followed him, 17 And he said to the people: Don't be greedy of the spoils: for there is war before us. 18 And Gorgias and his army are near us in the mountain; but, stand+ now against our enemies, and overthrow them, and you+ will take the spoils afterward with safety. 19 And as Judas was speaking these words, look, part of them appeared looking forth from the mountain. 20 And Gorgias saw that his men were put to flight, and that they had set fire to the camp: for the smoke that was seen declared what was done. 21 And when they had seen this, they were seized with great fear, seeing at the same time Judas and his army in the plain ready to fight. 22 So they all fled away into the land of the strangers. 23 And Judas returned to take the spoils of the camp, and they got much gold, and silver, and blue silk, and purple of the sea, and great riches.

24 And returning home they sung a hymn, And blessed God in heaven, Because he is good, Because his mercy endures forever.

25 So Israel had a great deliverance that day. 26 And such of the strangers as escaped, went and told Lysias all that had happened. 27 And when he heard these things, he was amazed and discouraged: because things had not succeeded in Israel according to his mind, and as the king had commanded.

28 So the year following Lysias gathered together sixty thousand chosen men, and five thousand horsemen, that he might subdue them. 29 And they came into Judea, and pitched their tents in Beth-horon, and Judas met them with ten thousand men. 30 And they saw that the army was strong, and he prayed, and said:

Blessed are you, O Savior of Israel, Who broke the violence of the mighty by the hand of your servant David, And delivered up the camp of the strangers into the hands of Jonathan the son of Saul and of his armorbearer. 31 Shut up this army in the hands of your people Israel, And let them be confounded in their host and their horsemen. 32 Strike them with fear, and cause the boldness of their strength to languish, And let them quake at their own destruction. 33 Cast them down with the sword of those who love you: And let all who know your name, praise you with hymns.

34 And they joined battle: and there fell of the army of Lysias five thousand men. 35 And when Lysias saw that his men were put to flight, and how bold the Jews were, and that they were ready either to live, or to die manfully, he went to Antioch, and chose soldiers, that they might come again into Judea with greater numbers.

36 Then Judas, and his brothers said: Look our enemies are discomfited: let us go up now to cleanse the holy places and to repair them. 37 And all the army assembled together, and they went up into Mount Zion. 38 And they saw the sanctuary desolate, and the altar profaned, and the gates burned, and shrubs growing up in the courts as in a forest, or on the mountains, and the chambers joining to the temple thrown down. 39 And they rent their garments, and made great lamentation, and put ashes on their heads: 40 And they fell down to the ground on their faces, and they sounded with the trumpets of alarm, and they cried toward heaven.

41 Then Judas appointed men to fight against those who were in the castle, until they had cleansed the holy places. 42 And he chose priests without blemish, whose will was set on the law of God: 43 And they cleansed the holy places, and took away the stones that had been defiled into an unclean place. 44 And he considered about the altar of burnt-offerings that had been profaned, what he should do with it. 45 And a good counsel came into their minds, to pull it down: otherwise it should be a reproach to them, because the nations had defiled it; so they threw it down. 46 And they laid up the stones in the mountain of the temple in a convenient place, until there should come a prophet, and give answer concerning them. 47 Then they took whole stones according to the law, and built a new altar according to the former: 48 And they built up the holy places, and the things that were within the temple: and they sanctified the temple, and the courts. 49 And they made new holy vessels, and brought in the lampstand, and the altar of incense, and the table into the temple. 50 And they put incense on the altar, and lit up the lamps that were on the lampstand, and they gave light in the temple. 51 And they set the loaves on the table, and hung up the veils, and finished all the works that they had begun to make.

52 And they arose before the morning on the five and twentieth day of the ninth month (which is the month of Kislev) in the hundred and forty-eighth year. 53 And they offered sacrifice according to the law on the new altar of burnt-offerings which they had made. 54 According to the time, and according to the day in which the nations had defiled it, in the same it was dedicated anew with canticles, and harps, and lutes, and cymbals. 55 And all the people fell on their faces, and adored, and blessed up to heaven, him who had prospered them. 56 And they kept the dedication of the altar eight days, and they offered burnt-offerings with joy, and sacrifices of salvation, and of praise. 57 And they adorned the front of the temple with crowns of gold, and settings, and they renewed the gates, and the chambers, and hanged doors on them. 58 And there was exceedingly great joy among the people, and the reproach of the nations was turned away. 59 And Judas, and his brothers, and all the congregation of Israel decreed, that the day of the dedication of the altar should be kept in its season from year to year for eight days, from the five and twentieth day of the month of Kislev, with joy and gladness. 60 They built up also at that time Mount Zion, with high walls, and strong towers round about, otherwise the nations should at any time come, and tread it down as they did before. 61 And he placed a garrison there to keep it, and he fortified it to secure Bethsura, that the people might have a defense against Idumea.

5  Now it came to pass, when the nations round about heard that the altar and the sanctuary were built up as before, that they were exceedingly angry. 2 And they thought to destroy the generation of Jacob who were among them, and they began to kill some of the people, and to persecute them. 3 Then Judas fought against the sons of Esau in Idumea, and those who were in Acrabathane: because they beset the Israelites round about, and he made a great slaughter of them. 4 And he remembered the malice of the sons of Bean: who were a snare and a stumblingblock to the people, by lying in wait for them in the way. 5 And they were shut up by him in towers, and he set on them, and devoted them to utter destruction, and burned their towers with fire, and all who were in them. 6 Then he passed over to the sons of Ammon, where he found a mighty power, and many people, and Timotheus was their captain. 7 And he fought many battles with them, and they were discomfited in their sight, and he struck them. 8 And he took the city of Gazer and her towns[291], and returned into Judea.

9 And the nations that were in Gilead, assembled themselves together against the Israelites who were in their quarters to destroy them: and they fled into the fortress of Datheman. 10 And they sent letters to Judas and his brothers, saying: The nations that are round about are gathered together against us, to destroy us. 11 And they are preparing to come, and to take the fortress into which we have fled. And Timotheus is the captain of their host. 12 Now therefore come, and deliver us out of their hands, for many of us have been slain. 13 And all our brothers who were in the places of Tubin, have been killed. And they have carried away their wives, and their children, captives, and taken their spoils, and they have slain there almost a thousand men. 14 And while they were yet reading these letters, look, there came other messengers out of Galilee with their garments rent, who related according to these words, 15 saying that those of Ptolemais, and of Tyre, and of Sidon, were assembled against them, and all Galilee is filled with strangers, in order to consume us.

16 Now when Judas and the people heard these words, a great assembly met together to consider what they should do for their brothers who were in trouble, and were assaulted by them. 17 And Judas said to Simon his brother: Choose you men, and go, and deliver your brothers in Galilee: and I, and my brother Jonathan will go into the country of Gilead. 18 And he left Joseph the [son] of Zacharias, and Azarias captains of the people with the remnant of the army in Judea to keep it. 19 And he commanded them, saying: Take+ the charge of this people: but make no war against the nations, until we return. 20 Now three thousand men were allotted to Simon, to go into Galilee: and eight thousand to Judas to go into the land of Gilead.

21 And Simon went into Galilee, and fought many battles with the nations: and the nations were discomfited before his face, and he pursued them even to the gate of Ptolemais. 22 And there fell of the nations almost three thousand men, and he took the spoils of them. 23 And he took with him those who were in Galilee and in Arbatis with their wives, and children, and all that they had, and he brought them into Judea with great joy.

24 And Judas Maccabeus, and Jonathan his brother passed over the Jordan, and went three days' journey through the desert. 25 And the Nabutheans met them, and received them in a peaceful manner, and told them all that happened to their brothers in the land of Gilead, 26 And that many of them were shut up in Barasa, and in Bosor, and in Alima, and in Casphor, and in Mageth, and in Carnaim: all these strong and great cities. 27 Yes, and that they were kept shut up in the rest of the cities of Gilead, and that they had appointed to bring their army on the next day near to these cities, and to take them and to destroy them all in one day. 28 Then Judas and his army suddenly turned their march into the desert, to Bosor, and took the city: and he slew every male by the edge of the sword, and took all their spoils, and burned it with fire. 29 And they removed from there by night, and went until they came to the fortress.

30 And it came to pass that early in the morning, when they lifted up their eyes, look, there were people without number, carrying ladders and engines to take the fortress, and assault them. 31 And Judas saw that the fight had begun, and the cry of the battle went up to heaven like a trumpet, and a great cry out of the city: 32 And he said to his host: Fight+ today for your+ brothers. 33 And he came with three companies behind them, and they sounded their trumpets, and cried out in prayer. 34 And the host of Timotheus understood that it was Maccabeus, and they fled away before his face: and they made a great slaughter of them: and there fell of them in that day almost eight thousand men. 35 And Judas turned aside to Maspha, and assaulted, and took it, and he slew every male of it, and took the spoils of it, and burned it with fire. 36 From there he marched, and took Casbon, and Mageth, and Bosor, and the rest of the cities of Gilead.

37 But after this Timotheus gathered another army, and camped opposite Raphon beyond the torrent. 38 And Judas sent men to view the army: and they brought him word, saying: All the nations, that are round about us, have assembled to him an army exceedingly great: 39 And they have hired the Arabians to help them, and they have pitched their tents beyond the torrent, ready to come to fight against you. And Judas went to meet them. 40 And Timotheus said to the captains of his army: When Judas and his army come near the torrent of water, if he passes over to us first, we will not be able to withstand him: for he will certainly prevail over us. 41 But if he is afraid to pass over, and camps on the other side of the river, we will pass over to them and will prevail against him. 42 Now when Judas came near the torrent of water, he set the scribes of the people by the torrent, and commanded them, saying: Allow no man to stay behind: but let all come to the battle. 43 And he passed over to them first, and all the people after him, and all the nations were discomfited before them, and they threw away their weapons, and fled to the temple that was in Carnaim. 44 And he took that city, and the temple he burned with fire, with all things that were in it: and Carnaim was subdued, and could not stand against the face of Judas.

45 And Judas gathered together all the Israelites who were in the land of Gilead, from the least even to the greatest, and their wives, and children, and an army exceedingly great, to come into the land of Judah. 46 And they came as far as Ephron: now this was a great city situate in the way, strongly fortified, and there was no means to turn from it to the right hand or to the left, but the way was through the midst of it. 47 And those who were in the city, shut themselves in, and stopped up the gates with stones: and Judas sent to them with peaceful words, 48 saying: Let us pass through your+ land, to go into our country: and no man will hurt you+: we will only pass through on foot. But they would not open to them. 49 Then Judas commanded proclamation to be made in the camp, that they should make an assault every man in the place where he was. 50 And the men of the army drew near, and he assaulted that city all the day, and all the night, and the city was delivered into his hands. 51 And they slew every male with the edge of the sword, and he razed the city, and took the spoils of it, and passed through all the city over those who were slain. 52 Then they passed over the Jordan to the great plain that is over against Bethsan. 53 And Judas gathered together the hindmost, and he exhorted the people all the way through, until they came into the land of Judah. 54 And they went up to Mount Zion with joy and gladness, and offered burnt-offerings, because not one of them was slain, until they had returned in peace.

55 Now in the days that Judas and Jonathan were in the land of Gilead, and Simon his brother in Galilee before Ptolemais, 56 Joseph the [son] of Zacharias, and Azarias captain of the soldiers, heard of the good success, and the battles that were fought. 57 And he said: Let's also get ourselves a name, and let's go fight against the nations that are round about us. 58 And he gave charge to those who were in his army, and they went toward Jamnia. 59 And Gorgias and his men went out of the city, to give them battle. 60 And Joseph and Azarias were put to flight, and were pursued to the borders of Judea: and there fell, on that day, of the people of Israel about two thousand men, and there was a great overthrow of the people: 61 Because they did not listen to Judas, and his brothers, thinking that they should do manfully. 62 But they were not of the seed of those men by whom salvation was brought to Israel.

63 And the men of Judah were magnified exceedingly in the sight of all Israel, and of all the nations where their name was heard. 64 And people assembled to them with joyful acclamations. 65 Then Judas and his brothers went forth and attacked the sons of Esau, in the land toward the south, and he took Hebron, and her towns.[292] And he burned the walls of it and the towers all round it. 66 And he removed his camp to go into the land of the aliens, and he went through Samaria. 67 In that day some priests fell in battle, while desiring to do manfully they went out unadvisedly to fight. 68 And Judas turned to Azotus into the land of the strangers, and he threw down their altars, and he burned the statues of their gods with fire: and he took the spoils of the cities, and returned into the land of Judah.

6  Now King Antiochus was going through the higher countries, and he heard that the city of Elymais in Persia was greatly renowned, and abounding in silver and gold. 2 And that there was in it a temple, exceedingly rich: and coverings of gold, and breastplates, and shields which King Alexander, the [son] of Philip the Macedonian who reigned first in Greece, had left there. 3 And he came, and sought to take the city and to pillage it: but he was not able, because the design was known to those who were in the city. 4 And they rose up against him in battle, and he fled away from there, and departed with great sadness, and returned toward Babylonia. 5 And while he was in Persia, there came one who told him, how the armies that were in the land of Judah were put to flight: 6 And that Lysias went with a very great power, and was put to flight before the face of the Jews, and that they had grown strong by the armor, and power, and store of spoils, which they had gotten out of the camps which they had destroyed: 7 And that they had thrown down the detestable thing which he had set up on the altar in Jerusalem, and that they had compassed about the sanctuary with high walls as before, and Bethsura also his city.

8 And it came to pass when the king heard these words, that he was struck with fear, and exceedingly moved: and he laid himself down on his bed, and fell sick for grief, because it had not fallen out to him as he imagined. 9 And he remained there many days: for great grief came more and more on him, and he made account that he should die. 10 And he called for all his friends, and said to them: Sleep has gone from my eyes, and I have fallen away, and my heart is cast down for anxiety. 11 And I said in my heart: Into how much tribulation I came, and into what floods of sorrow I now am. I who was pleasant and beloved in my power! 12 But now I remember the evils that I have done in Jerusalem, from whence also I took away all the spoils of gold, and of silver that were in it, and I sent to destroy the inhabitants of Judah without cause. 13 I know therefore that for this cause these evils have found me. And look, I perish with great grief in a strange land. 14 Then he called Philip, one of his friends, and he made him regent over all his kingdom. 15 And he gave him the crown, and his robe, and his ring, that he should go to Antiochus his son, and should bring him up for the kingdom. 16 So King Antiochus died there in the year one hundred and forty-nine. 17 And Lysias understood that the king was dead, and he set up Antiochus his son to reign, whom he brought up young: and he called his name Eupator.

18 Now those who were in the castle, had shut up the Israelites round about the holy places: and they were continually seeking their hurt, and to strengthen the nations. 19 And Judas purposed to destroy them: and he called together all the people, to besiege them. 20 And they came together, and besieged them in the year one hundred and fifty, and they made battering slings and engines.

21 And some of the besieged got out: and some wicked men of Israel joined themselves to them. 22 And they went to the king, and said: How long do you delay to execute the judgment, and to revenge our brothers? 23 We determined to serve your father and to do according to his orders, and obey his edicts: 24 And for this, the sons of our people are alienated from us, and have slain as many of us as they could find, and have spoiled our inheritances. 25 Neither have they put forth their hand against us only, but also against all our borders. 26 And look, they have approached this day to the castle of Jerusalem to take it, and they have fortified the stronghold of Bethsura. 27 And unless you speedily prevent them, they will do greater things than these, and you will not be able to subdue them.

28 Now when the king heard this, he was angry: and he called together all his friends, and the captains of his army, and those who were over the horsemen. 29 There came also to him from other realms, and from the islands of the sea hired troops. 30 And the number of his army was a hundred thousand footmen, and twenty thousand horsemen, and thirty-two elephants, trained to battle. 31 And they went through Idumea, and approached to Bethsura, and fought many days, and they made engines: but they went forth and burned them with fire, and fought manfully.

32 And Judas departed from the castle, and removed the camp to Bethzacharam, opposite the king's camp. 33 And the king rose before it was light, and made his troops march on fiercely toward the way of Bethzacharam. And the armies made themselves ready for the battle, and they sounded the trumpets. 34 And they showed the elephants the blood of grapes, and mulberries to provoke them to fight. 35 And they distributed the beasts by the legions: and there stood by every elephant a thousand men in coats of mail, and with helmets of brass on their heads: and five hundred horsemen set in order were chosen for every beast. 36 These were ahead of wherever the beast would be: and wherever it went, they went, and they did not depart from it. 37 And on the beast, there were strong wooden towers, which covered every one of them: and engines on them: and on every one [of the] thirty-two [were] valiant men, who fought from above; and an Indian to rule the beast. 38 And the rest of the horsemen he placed on this side and on that side at the two wings, with trumpets to stir up the army, and to hasten them forward that stood thick together in the legions thereof. 39 Now when the sun shone on the shields of gold, and of brass, the mountains glittered therewith, and they shone like lamps of fire. 40 And part of the king's army was distinguished by the high mountains, and the other part by the low places: and they marched on warily and orderly. 41 And all the inhabitants of the land were moved at the noise of their multitude, and the marching of the company, and the rattling of the armor, for the army was exceedingly great and strong. 42 And Judas and his army drew near for battle: and there fell of the king's army six hundred men.

43 And Eleazar the [son] of Saura saw one of the beasts harnessed with the king's harness: and it was higher than the other beasts: and it seemed to him that the king was on it: 44 And he exposed himself to deliver his people and to get himself an everlasting name. 45 And he ran up to it boldly in the midst of the legion, killing on the right hand, and on the left, and they fell by him on this side and that side. 46 And he went between the feet of the elephant, and put himself under it: and slew it, and it fell to the ground on him, and he died there. 47 Then they seeing the strength of the king and the fierceness of his army, turned away from them.

48 But the king's army went up against them to Jerusalem: and the king's army pitched their tents against Judea and Mount Zion. 49 And he made peace with those who were in Bethsura: and they came forth out of the city, because they had no victuals, being shut up there, for it was the year of rest to the land. 50 And the king took Bethsura: and he placed there a garrison to keep it. 51 And he turned his army against the sanctuary for many days: and he set up there battering slings, and engines and instruments to cast fire, and engines to cast stones and javelins, and pieces to shoot arrows, and slings. 52 And they also made engines against their engines, and they fought for many days. 53 But there were no victuals in the city, because it was the seventh year: and such as had stayed in Judea of those who came from among the nations, had eaten the residue of all that which had been stored up. 54 And there remained in the holy places but a few, for the famine had prevailed over them: and they were dispersed every man to his own place.

55 Now Lysias heard that Philip, whom King Antiochus while he lived had appointed to bring up his son Antiochus, and to reign, to be king, 56 had returned from Persia, and Media, with the army that went with him, and that he sought to take on him the affairs of the kingdom. 57 And he made haste to go, and said to the king and to the captains of the army: We decay daily, and our provision of victuals is small, and the place that we lay siege to is strong, and it lies on us to take order for the affairs of the kingdom. 58 Now therefore let's come to an agreement with these men, and make peace with them and with all their nation. 59 And let's covenant with them, that they may live according to their own laws as before. For because of our despising their laws, they have been provoked, and have done all these things.

60 And the proposal was acceptable in the sight of the king, and of the princes: and he sent to them to make peace: and they accepted of it. 61 And the king and the princes swore to them: and they came out of the stronghold. 62 Then the king entered into Mount Zion, and saw the strength of the place: and he quickly broke the oath that he had taken, and gave commandment to throw down the wall round about. 63 And he departed in haste, and returned to Antioch, where he found Philip master of the city: and he fought against him, and took the city.

7  In the hundred and fifty-first year Demetrius the [son] of Seleucus departed from the city of Rome, and came up with a few men into a city of the seacoast, and reigned there. 2 And it came to pass, as he entered into the house of the kingdom of his fathers, that the army seized on Antiochus, and Lysias, to bring them to him. 3 And when he knew it, he said: Don't let me see their face. 4 So the army slew them. And Demetrius sat on the throne of his kingdom.

5 And there came to him the wicked and ungodly men of Israel: and Alcimus was at the head of them, who desired to be made high priest. 6 And they accused the people to the king, saying: Judas and his brothers have destroyed all your friends, and he has driven us out of our land. 7 Now therefore send some man whom you trust, and let him go, and see all the havoc he has made among us, and in the king's lands: and let him punish all his friends and their helpers.

8 Then the king chose Bacchides, one of his friends who ruled beyond the great river in the kingdom, and was faithful to the king: and he sent him, 9 to see the havoc that Judas had made: and the wicked Alcimus he made high priest, and commanded him to take revenge on the sons of Israel. 10 And they arose, and came with a great army into the land of Judah: and they sent messengers, and spoke to Judas and his brothers with peaceful words deceitfully. 11 But they gave no heed to their words: for they saw that they had come with a great army.

12 Then there assembled to Alcimus and Bacchides a company of the scribes to require things that are just. 13 And first [were] the Assideans who were among the sons of Israel, and they sought peace of them. 14 For they said: One who is a priest of the seed of Aaron has come, he will not deceive us. 15 And he spoke to them peacefully: and he swore to them, saying: We will do you+ no harm nor your+ friends. 16 And they believed him. And he took sixty of them, and slew them in one day, according to the word that is written:

17 The flesh of your saints, And their blood they have shed round about Jerusalem, And there was none to bury them.

18 Then fear and trembling fell on all the people: for they said: There is no truth, nor justice among them: for they have broken the covenant, and the oath which they made.

19 And Bacchides removed the camp from Jerusalem, and pitched in Bethzecha: and he sent, and took many of those who had fled away from him, and some of the people he killed, and threw them into a great pit. 20 Then he committed the country to Alcimus, and left with him troops to help him. So Bacchides went away to the king.

21 But Alcimus did what he could to maintain his chief priesthood. 22 And those who disturbed the people resorted to him, and they got the land of Judah into their power, and did much hurt in Israel. 23 And Judas saw all the evils that Alcimus, and those who were with him, did to the sons of Israel, much more than the nations. 24 And he went out into all the coasts of Judea round about, and took vengeance on the men who had revolted, and they ceased to go forth any more into the country. 25 And Alcimus saw that Judas, and those who were with him prevailed: and he knew that he could not stand against them, and he went back to the king, and accused them of many crimes.

26 And the king sent Nicanor one of his principal lords, who was a great enemy to Israel: and he commanded him to destroy the people. 27 And Nicanor came to Jerusalem with a great army, and he sent to Judas and to his brothers deceitfully with friendly words, 28 saying: Let there be no fighting between me and you+. I will come with a few men to see your+ faces with peace. 29 And he came to Judas, and they saluted one another peacefully. And the enemies were prepared to take away Judas by force. 30 And the thing was known to Judas: that he came to him with deceit. And he was much afraid of him, and would not see his face any more. 31 And Nicanor knew that his counsel was discovered: and he went out to fight against Judas near Capharsalama. 32 And there fell of Nicanor's army almost five thousand men, and they fled into the city of David.

33 And after this Nicanor went up into Mount Zion: and some of the priests and the people came out to salute him peacefully, and to show him the burnt-offerings that were offered for the king. 34 But he mocked and despised them, and abused them: and he spoke proudly, 35 And swore in anger, saying: Unless Judas and his army are delivered into my hands, as soon as ever I return in peace, I will burn this house. And he went out in a great rage. 36 And the priests went in, and stood before the face of the altar and the temple: and weeping, they said: 37 You, O Lord, have chosen this house for your name to be called on in it, that it might be a house of prayer and supplication for your people. 38 Be avenged of this man, and his army, and let them fall by the sword: remember their blasphemies, and do not allow them to continue any longer.

39 Then Nicanor went out from Jerusalem, and encamped near to Beth-horon: and an army of Syria joined him. 40 But Judas pitched in Adarsa with three thousand men: and Judas prayed, and said: 41 O Lord, when those who were sent by King Sennacherib blasphemed you, an angel went out, and slew of them a hundred and eighty-five thousand: 42 Even so destroy this army in our sight today, and let the rest know that he has spoken ill against your sanctuary: and judge him according to his wickedness. 43 And the armies joined battle on the thirteenth day of the month Adar: and the army of Nicanor was defeated, and he himself was first slain in the battle. 44 And when his army saw that Nicanor was slain, they threw away their weapons, and fled. 45 And they pursued after them one day's journey from Adazer, even until you+ come to Gazara, and they sounded the trumpets after them with signals. 46 And they went forth out of all the towns of Judea round about, and they pushed them with the horns, and they turned again to them, and they were all slain with the sword, and there was not left of them so much as one. 47 And they took the spoils of them for a booty, and they cut off Nicanor's head, and his right hand, which he had proudly stretched out, and they brought it, and hung it up over against Jerusalem. 48 And the people rejoiced exceedingly, and they spent that day with great joy. 49 And he ordained that this day should be kept every year, being the thirteenth of the month of Adar. 50 And the land of Judah was quiet for a short time.[293]

9  Now when Demetrius heard that Nicanor and his army had fallen in battle, he sent again Bacchides and Alcimus into Judea; and the right wing of his army with them. 2 And they took the road that leads to Gilgal, and they camped in Masaloth, which is in Arabella: and they made themselves masters of it, and slew many souls of men. 3 In the first month of the hundred and fifty-second year they brought the army to Jerusalem: 4 And they arose, and went to Berea with twenty thousand men, and two thousand horsemen.

5 Now Judas had pitched his tents in Laisa, and three thousand chosen men with him: 6 And they saw the multitude of the army that they were many, and they were seized with great fear: and many withdrew themselves out of the camp, and there remained of them no more than eight hundred men. 7 And Judas saw that his army slipped away, and the battle pressed on him, and his heart was cast down: because he did not have time to gather them together, and he was discouraged. 8 Then he said to those who remained: Let us arise, and go against our enemies, if we may be able to fight against them. 9 But they dissuaded him, saying: We will not be able, but let us save our souls now, and return to our brothers, and then we will fight against them: for we are but few. 10 Then Judas said: God forbid we should do this thing, and flee away from them: but if our time has come, let us die manfully for our brothers, and don't let us stain our glory.

11 And the army removed out of the camp, and they stood over against them: and the horsemen were divided into two troops, and the slingers, and the archers went before the army, and those who were in the front were all men of valor. 12 And Bacchides was in the right wing, and the legion drew near on two sides, and they sounded the trumpets: 13 And they also who were on Judas' side, even they also cried out, and the earth shook at the noise of the armies: and the battle was fought from morning even to the evening. 14 And Judas perceived that the stronger part of the army of Bacchides was on the right side, and all the stout of heart came together with him: 15 And the right wing was discomfited by them, and he pursued them even to Mount Azotus. 16 And those who were in the left wing saw that the right wing was discomfited, and they followed after Judas, and those who were with him, at their back: 17 And the battle was hard fought, and there fell many wounded of the one side and of the other. 18 And Judas was slain, and the rest fled away.

19 And Jonathan and Simon took Judas their brother, and buried him in the tomb of their fathers in the city of Modin. 20 And all the people of Israel bewailed him with great lamentation, and they mourned for him many days. 21 And said:

How has the mighty man fallen, who saved the people of Israel!

22 But the rest of the words of the wars of Judas, and of the noble acts that he did, and of his greatness, are not written: for they were very many. 23 And it came to pass after the death of Judas, that the wicked began to put forth their heads in all the confines of Israel, and all the workers of iniquity rose up.

24 In those days there was a very great famine, and they and all their country yielded to Bacchides. 25 And Bacchides chose the wicked men, and made them lords of the country. 26 And they sought out, and made diligent search after the friends of Judas, and brought them to Bacchides, and he took vengeance of them, and abused them. 27 And there came to pass a great tribulation in Israel, such as had not come to pass since the day that a prophet was last seen[294] in Israel.

28 And all the friends of Judas came together, and said to Jonathan: 29 Since your brother Judas died, there isn't a man like him to go forth against our enemies, Bacchides, and those who are the enemies of our nation. 30 Now therefore we have chosen you this day to be our prince, and captain in his place to fight our battles. 31 So Jonathan took on him the government at that time, and rose up in the place of Judas his brother.

32 And Bacchides had knowledge of it, and sought to kill him. 33 And Jonathan and Simon his brother knew it, and all who were with them: and they fled into the desert of Thecua, and they pitched by the water of the pool of Asphar.[295] 35 And Jonathan sent his brother a captain of the people, to desire the Nabutheans his friends, that they would lend them their equipage, which was copious. 36 And the sons of Jambri came forth out of Madaba, and took John, and all that he had, and went away with them.

37 After this it was told Jonathan, and Simon his brother, that the sons of Jambri made a great marriage, and were bringing the bride out of Madaba, the daughter of one of the great princes of Canaan, with great pomp. 38 And they remembered the blood of John their brother: and they went up, and hid themselves under the covert of the mountain. 39 And they lifted up their eyes, and saw: and look, a tumult, and great preparation: and the bridegroom came forth, and his friends, and his brothers to meet them with timbrels, and musical instruments, and many weapons. 40 And they rose up against them from the place where they lay in ambush, and slew them, and there fell many wounded, and the rest fled into the mountains, and they took all their spoils:

41 And the marriage was turned into mourning,

And the noise of their musical instruments into lamentation.

42 And they took vengeance for the blood of their brother: and they returned to the bank of the Jordan.

43 And Bacchides heard it, and he came on the Sabbath day even to the bank of the Jordan with a great power. 44 And Jonathan said to his company: Let us arise, and fight for our souls: for it is not as formerly. 45 For look, the battle is before us, and the water of the Jordan on this side and on that side, and banks, and marshes, and woods: and there is no place for us to turn aside. 46 Now therefore cry+ to heaven, that you+ may be delivered from the hand of your+ enemies. And they joined battle. 47 And Jonathan stretched forth his hand to strike Bacchides, but he turned away from him backwards. 48 And Jonathan, and those who were with him leaped into the Jordan, and swam over the Jordan to them. 49 And there fell of Bacchides' side that day a thousand men: and they returned to Jerusalem, 50 And they built strong cities in Judea, the fortress that was in Jericho, and in Ammaus, and in Beth-horon, and in Bethel, and Thamnata, and Phara, and Thopo, with high walls, and gates, and bars. 51 And he placed garrisons in them, that they might wage war against Israel. 52 And he fortified the city of Bethsura, and Gazara, and the castle, and set garrisons in them, and provisions of victuals. 53 And he took the sons of the chief men of the country for hostages, and put them in the castle in Jerusalem in custody.

54 Now in the year one hundred and fifty-three, the second month, Alcimus commanded the walls of the inner court of the sanctuary to be thrown down, and the works of the prophets to be destroyed: and he began to destroy. 55 At that time Alcimus was struck: and his works were hindered, and his mouth was stopped, and he was taken with a palsy, so that he could no more speak a word, nor give order concerning his house. 56 And Alcimus died at that time in great torment. 57 And Bacchides saw that Alcimus was dead: and he returned to the king, and the land was quiet for two years.

58 And all the wicked held a council, saying: Look, Jonathan and those who are with him live at ease, and without fear: now therefore let's bring Bacchides here, and he will take them all in one night. 59 So they went, and gave him counsel. 60 And he arose to come with a great army: and he sent secretly letters to his adherents who were in Judea, to seize on Jonathan, and those who were with him: but they could not, for their design was known to them. 61 And he apprehended of the men of the country, who were the principal authors of the mischief, fifty men, and slew them. 62 And Jonathan, and Simon, and those who were with him retired into Bethbessen, which is in the desert: and he repaired the breaches of it, and they fortified it.

63 And when Bacchides knew it, he gathered together all his multitude: and sent word to those who were of Judea. 64 And he came, and camped above Bethbessen, and fought against it many days, and made engines. 65 But Jonathan left his brother Simon in the city, and went forth into the country: and came with a number of men. 66 And he struck Odares, and his brothers, and the sons of Phaseron in their tents, and he began to slay, and to increase in forces. 67 But Simon and those who were with him, came out of the city, and burned the engines. 68 And they fought against Bacchides, and he was discomfited by them: and they afflicted him exceedingly, for his counsel, and his enterprise was in vain. 69 And he was angry with the wicked men who had given him counsel to come into their country, and he slew many of them: and he purposed to return with the rest into their country.

70 And Jonathan had knowledge of it, and he sent ambassadors to him to make peace with him, and to restore to him the prisoners. 71 And he accepted it willingly, and did according to his words, and swore that he would do him no harm all the days of his life. 72 And he restored to him the prisoners which he before had taken out of the land of Judah. And he returned and went away into his own country, and he came no more into their borders. 73 So the sword ceased from Israel: and Jonathan dwelt in Machmas, and Jonathan began there to judge the people, and he destroyed the wicked out of Israel.

10  Now in the hundred and sixtieth year, Alexander, the [son] of Antiochus, [surnamed] Epiphanes, came up and took Ptolemais, and they received him, and he reigned there. 2 And King Demetrius heard of it, and gathered together an exceedingly great army, and went forth against him to fight. 3 And Demetrius sent a letter to Jonathan with peaceful words, to magnify him. 4 For he said: Let's first make peace with him, before he makes [peace] with Alexander against us. 5 For he will remember all the evils that we have done against him, and against his brother, and against his nation. 6 And he gave him authority to gather together an army, and to make arms, and that he should be his confederate. And the hostages who were in the castle, he commanded to be delivered to him.

7 And Jonathan came to Jerusalem, and read the letters in the hearing of all the people, and of those who were in the castle. 8 And they were struck with great fear, because they heard that the king had given him authority to gather together an army. 9 And the hostages were delivered to Jonathan, and he restored them to their parents. 10 And Jonathan dwelt in Jerusalem, and began to build, and to repair the city. 11 And he ordered workmen to build the walls, and Mount Zion round about with square stones for fortification: and so they did. 12 And the strangers who were in the strongholds, which Bacchides had built, fled away. 13 And every man left his place, and departed into his own country. 14 Only in Bethsura there remained some of them, who had forsaken the law, and the commandments of God: for this was a place of refuge for them.

15 And King Alexander heard of the promises that Demetrius had made Jonathan: and they told him of the battles, and the worthy acts that he and his brothers had done, and the labors that they had endured. 16 And he said: Shall we find such another man? Now therefore we will make him our friend and our confederate. 17 So he wrote a letter, and sent it to him according to these words, saying: 18 King Alexander to his brother Jonathan: Greetings. 19 We have heard of you, that you are a man of great power, and fit to be our friend: 20 Now therefore we make you this day high priest of your nation, and that you be called the king's friend (and he sent him a purple robe, and a crown of gold), and that you be of one mind with us in our affairs, and keep friendship with us.

21 Then Jonathan put on the holy vestment in the seventh month, in the year one hundred and sixty, at the feast day of the tabernacles: and he gathered together an army, and made a great number of arms.

22 And Demetrius heard these words, and was exceedingly sorry, and said: 23 What is this that we have done, that Alexander has prevented us to gain the friendship of the Jews to strengthen himself? 24 I also will write to them words of request, and offer dignities, and gifts: that they may be with me to aid me. 25 And he wrote to them in these words: King Demetrius to the nation of the Jews: Greetings. 26 Whereas you+ have kept covenant with us, and have continued in our friendship, and have not joined with our enemies, we have heard of it, and are glad. 27 And now continue still to keep fidelity toward us, and we will reward you+ with good things, for what you+ have done in our behalf. 28 And we will remit to you+ many charges, and will give you+ gifts. 29 And now I free you+, and all the Jews from tributes, and I release you+ from the customs of salt, and I give back the crowns, and the thirds of the seed. 30 And the half of the fruit of trees, which is my share, I leave to you+ from this day forward, so that it will not be taken of the land of Judah, and of the three cities that are added thereto out of Samaria and Galilee, from this day forth and forever. 31 And let Jerusalem be holy and free, with the borders of it: and let the tenths, and tributes be for itself. 32 I give back also the power of the castle that is in Jerusalem, and I give it to the high priest, to place in it such men as he will choose to keep it. 33 And every soul of the Jews who has been carried captive from the land of Judah in all my kingdom, I set at liberty freely, that all be discharged from tributes even of their cattle.

34 And I will that all the feasts, and the Sabbaths, and the new moons, and the days appointed, and three days before the solemn day, and three days after the solemn day, be all days of immunity and freedom, for all the Jews who are in my kingdom. 35 And no man will have power to do any thing against them, or to trouble any of them, in any cause. 36 And let there be enrolled in the king's army to the number of thirty thousand of the Jews: and allowance will be made them as is due to all the king's forces, and certain of them will be appointed to be in the fortresses of the great king. 37 And some of them will be set over the affairs of the kingdom, who are of trust, and let the governors be taken from among themselves, and let them walk in their own laws, as the king has commanded in the land of Judah. 38 And the three cities that are added to Judea, out of the country of Samaria, let them be accounted with Judea: that they may be under one, and obey no other authority but that of the high priest. 39 Ptolemais, and the confines of it, I give as a free gift to the holy places, that are in Jerusalem, for the necessary charges of the holy things.

40 And I give every year fifteen thousand sicles of silver out of the king's accounts, of what belongs to me. 41 And all that is above, which those who were over the affairs the years before, had not paid, from this time they will give it to the works of the house. 42 Moreover the five thousand sicles of silver which they received from the account of the holy places, every year, will also belong to the priests who execute the ministry. 43 And whoever will flee into the temple that is in Jerusalem, and in all the borders of it, being indebted to the king for any matter, let them be set at liberty, and all that they have in my kingdom, let them have it free. 44 For the building also, or repairing the works of the holy places, the charges will be given out of the king's revenues. 45 For the building also of the walls of Jerusalem, and the fortifying of it round about, the charges will be given out of the king's account, as also for the building of the walls in Judea.

46 Now when Jonathan, and the people heard these words, they gave no credit to them nor received them: because they remembered the great evil that he had done in Israel, for he had afflicted them exceedingly. 47 And their inclinations were toward Alexander, because he had been the chief promoter of peace in their regard, and him they always helped.

48 And King Alexander gathered together a great army, and moved his camp near to Demetrius. 49 And the two kings joined battle, and the army of Demetrius fled away, and Alexander pursued after him, and pressed them close. 50 And the battle was hard fought until the sun went down: and Demetrius was slain that day.

51 And Alexander sent ambassadors to Ptolemy king of Egypt, with words to this effect, saying: 52 Forasmuch as I have returned into my kingdom, and have sat on the throne of my fathers, and have gotten the dominion, and have overthrown Demetrius, and possessed our country, 53 And have joined battle with him, and both he and his army have been destroyed by us, and we are placed on the throne of his kingdom: 54 Now therefore let us make friendship one with another: and give me now your daughter as wife, and I will be your son-in-law, and I will give both you and her gifts worthy of you.

55 And King Ptolemy answered, saying: Happy is the day in which you returned to the land of your fathers, and sat on the throne of their kingdom. 56 And now I will do to you as you have written: but meet me at Ptolemais, that we may see one another, and I will give her to you as you have said.

57 So Ptolemy went out of Egypt, with Cleopatra his daughter, and he came to Ptolemais in the hundred and sixty-second year. 58 And King Alexander met him, and he gave him his daughter Cleopatra: and he celebrated her marriage at Ptolemais, with great glory, after the manner of kings.

59 And King Alexander wrote to Jonathan, that he should come and meet him. 60 And he went honorably to Ptolemais, and he met there the two kings, and he gave them much silver, and gold, and presents: and he found favor in their sight. 61 And some pestilent men of Israel, men of a wicked life, assembled themselves against him to accuse him: and the king gave no heed to them. 62 And he commanded that Jonathan's garments should be taken off, and that he should be clothed with purple: and they did so. And the king had him sit with him. 63 And he said to his princes: Go out with him into the midst of the city, and make proclamation, that no man complain against him of any matter, and that no man trouble him for any manner of cause. 64 So when his accusers saw his glory proclaimed, and him clothed with purple, they all fled away. 65 And the king magnified him, and enrolled him among his chief friends, and made him governor and partaker of his dominion. 66 And Jonathan returned into Jerusalem with peace and joy.

67 In the year one hundred and sixty-five Demetrius the son of Demetrius came from Crete into the land of his fathers. 68 And King Alexander heard of it, and was much troubled, and returned to Antioch. 69 And King Demetrius made Apollonius his general, who was governor of Celesyria: and he gathered together a great army, and came to Jamnia. And he sent to Jonathan the high priest, 70 saying: You alone stand against us, and I am laughed at, and reproached, because you show your power against us in the mountains. 71 Now therefore if you trust in your forces, come down to us into the plain, and there let us try one another: for with me is the strength of war. 72 Ask, and learn who I am, and the rest who help me, who also say that your+ foot can't stand before our face, for your fathers have twice been put to flight in their own land. 73 And now how will you be able to abide the horsemen, and so great an army in the plain, where there is no stone, nor rock, nor place to flee to?

74 Now when Jonathan heard the words of Apollonius, he was moved in his mind: and he chose ten thousand men, and went out of Jerusalem, and Simon his brother met him to help him. 75 And they pitched their tents near Joppa, but they shut him out of the city: because a garrison of Apollonius was in Joppa, and he laid siege to it. 76 And those who were in the city being frightened, opened the gates to him: so Jonathan took Joppa. 77 And Apollonius heard of it, and he took three thousand horsemen, and a great army. 78 And he went to Azotus as one who was making a journey, and immediately he went forth into the plain: because he had a great number of horsemen, and he trusted in them. And Jonathan followed after him to Azotus, and they joined battle. 79 And Apollonius left privately in the camp a thousand horsemen behind them. 80 And Jonathan knew that there was an ambush behind him, and they surrounded his army, and cast darts at the people from morning until evening. 81 But the people stood still, as Jonathan had commanded them: and so their horses were fatigued. 82 Then Simon drew forth his army, and attacked the legion: for the horsemen were wearied: and they were discomfited by him, and fled. 83 And those who were scattered about the plain, fled into Azotus, and went into Bethdagon their idol's temple, there to save themselves. 84 But Jonathan set fire to Azotus, and the cities that were round about it, and took the spoils of them, and the temple of Dagon: and all those who had fled into it, he burned with fire. 85 So those who were slain by the sword, with those who were burned, were almost eight thousand men.

86 And Jonathan removed his army from there, and camped against Ascalon: and they went out of the city to meet him with great honor. 87 And Jonathan returned into Jerusalem with his people, having many spoils. 88 And it came to pass: when Alexander the king heard these words, that he honored Jonathan yet more. 89 And he sent him a buckle of gold, as the custom is, to be given to such as are of the royal family. And he gave him Ekron and all the borders of it in possession.

11  And the king of Egypt gathered together an army, like the sand that lies on the seashore, and many ships: and he sought to get the kingdom of Alexander by deceit, and join it to his own kingdom. 2 And he went out into Syria with peaceful words, and they opened to him the cities, and met him: for King Alexander had ordered them to go forth to meet him, because he was his father-in-law. 3 Now when Ptolemy entered into the cities, he put garrisons of soldiers in every city. 4 And when he came near to Azotus, they showed him the temple of Dagon that was burned with fire, and Azotus, and the suburbs thereof that were destroyed, and the bodies that were cast abroad, and the graves of those who were slain in the battle, which they had made near the way. 5 And they told the king that Jonathan had done these things, to make him odious: but the king held his peace. 6 And Jonathan came to meet the king at Joppa with glory, and they saluted one another, and they lodged there. 7 And Jonathan went with the king as far as the river, called Eleutherus: and he returned into Jerusalem.

8 And King Ptolemy got the dominion of the cities by the seaside, even to Seleucia, and he devised evil designs against Alexander. 9 And he sent ambassadors to Demetrius, saying: Come, let's make a covenant between us, and I will give you my daughter whom Alexander has, and you will reign in the kingdom of your father. 10 For I repent that I have given him my daughter: for he has sought to kill me. 11 And he slandered him, because he coveted his kingdom. 12 And he took away his daughter, and gave her to Demetrius, and alienated himself from Alexander, and his enmities were made manifest.

13 And Ptolemy entered into Antioch, and set two crowns on his head, that of Egypt, and that of Asia. 14 Now King Alexander was in Cilicia at that time: because those who were in those places had rebelled. 15 And when Alexander heard of it, he came to give him battle, and King Ptolemy brought forth his army, and met him with a strong power, and put him to flight. 16 And Alexander fled into Arabia, there to be protected: and King Ptolemy was exalted. 17 And Zabdiel the Arabian took off Alexander's head, and sent it to Ptolemy. 18 And King Ptolemy died the third day after: and those who were in the strongholds were destroyed by those who were within the camp. 19 And Demetrius reigned in the hundred and sixty-seventh year.

20 In those days Jonathan gathered together those who were in Judea, to take the castle that was in Jerusalem: and they made many engines of war against it. 21 Then some wicked men who hated their own nation, went away to King Demetrius, and told him that Jonathan was besieging the castle. 22 And when he heard it, he was angry: and forthwith he came to Ptolemais, and wrote to Jonathan, that he should not besiege the castle, but should come to him in haste, and speak to him.

23 But when Jonathan heard this, he bade them besiege it still: and he chose some of the ancients of Israel, and of the priests, and put himself in danger. 24 And he took gold, and silver, and raiment, and many other presents, and went to the king at Ptolemais, and he found favor in his sight. 25 And certain wicked men of his nation made complaints against him. 26 And the king treated him as his predecessors had done before: and he exalted him in the sight of all his friends. 27 And he confirmed him in the high priesthood, and all the honors he had before, and he made him the chief of his friends.

28 And Jonathan requested of the king that he would make Judea free from tribute, and the three governments, and Samaria, and the confines thereof: and he promised him three hundred talents. 29 And the king consented: and he wrote letters to Jonathan of all these things to this effect: 30 King Demetrius to his brother Jonathan, and to the nation of the Jews: Greetings. 31 We send you+ here a copy of the letter, which we have written to Lasthenes our parent concerning you+, that you+ might know it. 32 King Demetrius to Lasthenes his parent: Greetings. 33 We have determined to do good to the nation of the Jews who are our friends, and keep the things that are just with us, for their goodwill which they bear toward us. 34 We have ratified therefore to them all the borders of Judea, and the three cities, Apherema, Lydda, and Ramatha, which are added to Judea, out of Samaria, and all their confines, to be set apart to all those who sacrifice in Jerusalem, instead of the payments which the king received of them every year, and for the fruits of the land, and of the trees. 35 And as for other things that belonged to us of the tithes, and of the tributes, from this time we discharge them of them: the saltpans also, and the crowns that were presented to us. 36 We give all to them, and nothing hereof will be revoked from this time forth and forever. 37 Now therefore see that you make a copy of these things, and let it be given to Jonathan, and set on the holy mountain, in a conspicuous place.

38 And King Demetrius seeing that the land was quiet before him, and nothing resisted him, sent away all his forces, every man to his own place, except the foreign army, which he had drawn together from the islands of the nations: so all the troops of his fathers hated him. 39 Now there was one Tryphon who had been of Alexander's party before: who seeing that all the army murmured against Demetrius, went to Emalchuel the Arabian, who brought up Antiochus the son of Alexander. 40 And he pressed him much to deliver him to him, that he might be king in his father's place: and he told him all that Demetrius had done, and how his soldiers hated him. And he remained there many days.

41 And Jonathan sent to King Demetrius, desiring that he would cast out those who were in the castle in Jerusalem, and those who were in the strongholds: because they fought against Israel. 42 And Demetrius sent to Jonathan, saying: I will not only do this for you, and for your nation, but I will greatly honor you, and your nation, when opportunity will serve. 43 Now therefore you will do well if you send me men to help me: for all my army has gone from me. 44 And Jonathan sent him three thousand valiant men to Antioch: and they came to the king, and the king was very glad of their coming.

45 And those who were of the city assembled themselves together, to the number of a hundred and twenty thousand men, and would have killed the king. 46 And the king fled into the palace, and those of the city kept the passages of the city, and began to fight. 47 And the king called the Jews to his assistance: and they came to him all at once, and they all dispersed themselves through the city. 48 And they slew in that day a hundred thousand men, and they set fire to the city, and got many spoils that day, and delivered the king. 49 And those who were of the city saw that the Jews had got the city as they would: and they were discouraged in their mind, and cried to the king, making supplication, and saying: 50 Grant us peace, and let the Jews cease from assaulting us, and the city. 51 And they threw down their arms, and made peace, and the Jews were glorified in the sight of the king, and in the sight of all who were in his realm, and were renowned throughout the kingdom, and returned to Jerusalem with many spoils. 52 So King Demetrius sat on the throne of his kingdom: and the land was quiet before him. 53 And he falsified all whatsoever he had said, and alienated himself from Jonathan, and did not reward him according to the benefits he had received from him, but gave him great trouble.

54 And after this Tryphon returned, and with him Antiochus the young boy, who was made king, and put on the diadem. 55 And there assembled to him all the hands which Demetrius had sent away, and they fought against Demetrius, who turned his back and fled. 56 And Tryphon took the elephants, and made himself master of Antioch. 57 And young Antiochus wrote to Jonathan, saying: I confirm you in the high priesthood, and I appoint you ruler over the four cities, and to be one of the king's friends. 58 And he sent him vessels of gold for his service, and he gave him leave to drink in gold, and to be clothed in purple, and to wear a golden buckle: 59 And he made his brother Simon governor from the borders of Tyre even to the confines of Egypt.

60 Then Jonathan went forth and passed through the cities beyond the river: and all the forces of Syria gathered themselves to him to help him, and he came to Ascalon, and they met him honorably out of the city. 61 And he went from there to Gaza: and those who were in Gaza shut him out: and he besieged it, and burned all the suburbs round about, and took the spoils. 62 And the men of Gaza made supplication to Jonathan, and he gave them the right hand: and he took their sons for hostages, and sent them to Jerusalem: and he went through the country as far as Damascus.

63 And Jonathan heard that the generals of Demetrius had come treacherously to Kedesh, which is in Galilee, with a great army, purposing to remove him from the affairs of the kingdom: 64 And he went against them: but left his brother Simon in the country. 65 And Simon encamped against Bethsura, and assaulted it many days, and shut them up. 66 And they desired him to make peace, and he granted it them: and he cast them out from there, and took the city, and placed a garrison in it.

67 And Jonathan, and his army encamped by the water of Genesar, and before it was light they were ready in the plain of Asor. 68 And look, the army of the strangers met him in the plain, and they laid an ambush for him in the mountains: but he went out against them. 69 And those who lay in ambush rose out of their places, and joined battle. 70 And all who were on Jonathan's side fled, and none was left of them, but Mathathias the [son] of Absalom, and Judas the [son] of Calphi, chief captain of the army. 71 And Jonathan rent his garments, and cast earth on his head, and prayed. 72 And Jonathan turned again to them to battle, and he put them to flight, and they fought. 73 And those of his part who fled saw this, and they turned again to him. And all those with him pursued the enemies even to Kadesh to their own camp, and they came even there. 74 And there fell of the aliens in that day three thousand men: and Jonathan returned to Jerusalem.[296]

12  24 Now Jonathan heard that the generals of Demetrius had come again with a greater army than before to fight against him. 25 So he went out from Jerusalem, and met them in the land of Amath: for he gave them no time to enter into his country. 26 And he sent spies into their camp, and they came back and brought him word that they designed to come upon them in the night. 27 And when the sun set, Jonathan commanded his men to watch, and to be in arms all night long ready to fight, and he set sentinels round about the camp. 28 And the enemies heard that Jonathan and his men were ready for battle, and they were struck with fear, and dread in their heart: and they kindled fires in their camp.

29 But Jonathan and those who were with him didn't know until the morning: for they saw the lights burning. 30 And Jonathan pursued after them, but did not overtake them: for they had passed the river Eleutherus. 31 And Jonathan turned on the Arabians who are called Zabadeans: and he defeated them, and took the spoils of them. 32 And he went forward, and came to Damascus, and passed through all that country. 33 Simon also went forth, and came as far as Ascalon, and the nearby fortresses, and he turned aside to Joppa, and took possession of it, 34 (For he heard that they designed to deliver the hold to those who took part with Demetrius,) and he put a garrison there to keep it.

35 And Jonathan came back, and called together the ancients of the people, and he took a resolution with them to build fortresses in Judea, 36 and to build up walls in Jerusalem, and raise a mount between the castle and the city, to separate it from the city, so that it might have no communication, and that they might neither buy nor sell. 37 And they came together to build up the city: for the wall that was on the brook toward the east was broken down, and he repaired that which is called Caphetetha. 38 And Simon built Adiada in Sephela, and fortified it, and set up gates and bars.

39 Now when Tryphon had conceived a design to make himself king of Asia, and to take the crown, and to stretch out his hand against King Antiochus: 40 Fearing otherwise Jonathan would not allow him, but would fight against him: he sought to seize on him, and to kill him. So he rose up and came to Bethsan. 41 And Jonathan went out to meet him with forty thousand men chosen for battle, and came to Bethsan.

42 Now when Tryphon saw that Jonathan came with a great army, he was afraid to stretch forth his hand against him, 43 And he received him with honor, and commended him to all his friends, and gave him presents: and he commanded his troops to obey him, as himself. 44 And he said to Jonathan: Why have you troubled all the people, whereas we have no war? 45 Now therefore send them back to their own houses: and choose you a few men who may be with you, and come with me to Ptolemais, and I will deliver it to you, and the rest of the strongholds, and the army, and all who have any charge, and I will return and go away: for this is the cause of my coming. 46 And Jonathan believed him, and did as he said: and sent away his army, and they departed into the land of Judah: 47 But he kept with him three thousand men: of whom he sent two thousand into Galilee, and one thousand went with him. 48 Now as soon as Jonathan entered into Ptolemais, those of Ptolemais shut the gates of the city, and took him: and all those who came in with him they slew with the sword.

49 Then Tryphon sent an army and horsemen into Galilee, and into the great plain to destroy all Jonathan's company. 50 But they, when they understood that Jonathan and all who were with him had been taken and slain, encouraged one another, and went out ready for battle. 51 Then those who had come after them, seeing that they stood for their souls, returned back. 52 Whereupon they all came peacefully into the land of Judah. And they bewailed Jonathan, and those who had been with him, exceedingly: and Israel mourned with great lamentation. 53 Then all the nations that were round about them, sought to destroy them. For they said: 54 They have no prince, nor any to help them: now therefore let us make war on them, and take away the memory of them from among men.

13  Now Simon heard that Tryphon was gathering together a very great army, to invade the land of Judah, and to destroy it. 2 And seeing that the people were in dread, and in fear, he went up to Jerusalem, and assembled the people. 3 And he exhorted them, saying: You+ know what great battles I and my brothers, and the house of my father, have fought for the laws, and the sanctuary, and the distresses that we have seen. 4 By reason whereof all my brothers have lost their lives for Israel's sake, and I am left alone. 5 And now far be it from me to spare my soul in any time of trouble: for I am not better than my brothers. 6 I will avenge then my nation and the sanctuary, and our children, and wives: for all the nations are gathered together to destroy us out of mere malice. 7 And the spirit of the people was revived as soon as they heard these words. 8 And they answered with a loud voice, saying: You are our leader in the place of Judas, and Jonathan your brother. 9 Fight our battles, and we will do whatsoever you will say to us. 10 So gathering together all the men of war, he made haste to finish all the walls of Jerusalem, and he fortified it round about. 11 And he sent Jonathan the [son] of Absalom, and with him a new army into Joppa, and he cast out those who were in it, and himself remained there.

12 And Tryphon removed from Ptolemais with a great army, to invade the land of Judah, and Jonathan was with him in custody. 13 But Simon pitched in Addus, over against the plain. 14 And when Tryphon understood that Simon had risen up in the place of his brother Jonathan, and that he meant to join battle with him, he sent messengers to him, 15 saying: We have detained your brother Jonathan for the silver that he owed in the king's account, by reason of the affairs which he had the management of. 16 But now send a hundred talents of silver, and his two sons for hostages, that when he is set at liberty he may not revolt from us, and we will release him. 17 Now Simon knew that he spoke deceitfully to him, nevertheless he ordered the silver, and the children to be sent: otherwise he should bring on himself a great hatred of the people of Israel, who might have said: 18 Because he did not send the silver, and the children, therefore he perished. 19 So he sent the children, and the hundred talents: and he lied, and did not let Jonathan go.

20 And after this Tryphon entered within the country, to destroy it: and they went about by the way that leads to Ador: and Simon and his army marched to every place wherever they went. 21 And those who were in the castle, sent messengers to Tryphon, that he should make haste to come through the desert, and send them victuals. 22 And Tryphon made ready all his horsemen to come that night: but there fell a very great snow, and he did not come into the country of Gilead. 23 And when he approached to Bascama, he slew Jonathan and his sons there. 24 And Tryphon returned, and went into his own country.

25 And Simon sent, and took the bones of Jonathan his brother, and buried them in Modin, in the city of his fathers. 26 And all Israel bewailed him with great lamentation: and they mourned for him many days. 27 And Simon built over the tomb of his father and of his brothers, a building lofty to the sight, of polished stone behind and before: 28 And he set up seven pyramids one against another for his father and his mother, and his four brothers. 29 And round about these he set great pillars: and on the pillars arms for a perpetual memory: and by the arms ships carved, which might be seen by all who sailed on the sea. 30 This is the tomb that he made in Modin even to this day.

31 But Tryphon when he was on a journey with the young King Antiochus, treacherously slew him. 32 And he reigned in his place, and put on the crown of Asia: and brought great evils on the land.

33 And Simon built up the strongholds of Judea, fortifying them with high towers, and great walls, and gates, and bars: and he stored up victuals in the fortresses. 34 And Simon chose men and sent to King Demetrius, to the end that he should grant liberty to the land: for all that Tryphon did was to spoil. 35 And King Demetrius, in answer to this request, wrote a letter in this manner: 36 King Demetrius to Simon the high priest, and friend of kings, and to the ancients, and to the nation of the Jews: Greetings. 37 The golden crown, and the palm, which you+ sent, we have received: and we are ready to make a firm peace with you+, and to write to the king's chief officers to release you+ the things that we have released. 38 For all that we have decreed in your+ favor, will stand in force. The strongholds that you+ have built, will be your+ own. 39 And as for any oversight or fault committed to this day, we forgive it, and the crown which you+ owed: and if any other thing were taxed in Jerusalem, now do not let it be taxed. 40 And if any of you+ are fit to be enrolled among ours, let them be enrolled, and let there be peace between us.

41 In the year one hundred and seventy the yoke of the nations was taken off from Israel. 42 And the people of Israel began to write in the instruments and public records,

"The First Year under Simon the High Priest, the Great Captain and Prince of the Jews." [297]

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Job

1  There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one who feared God, and turned away from evil. 2 And there were born to him seven sons and three daughters. 3 His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she-donkeys, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the sons of the east. 4 And his sons went and held a feast in the house of each one on his day; and they sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them. 5 And it was so, when the days of their feasting had gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt-offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and renounced God in their hearts. Thus Job did continually.

6 Now it came to pass on the day when the sons of God came to present themselves before Yahweh, that Satan also came among them. 7 And Yahweh said to Satan, Where do you come from? Then Satan answered Yahweh, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. 8 And Yahweh said to Satan, Have you considered my slave Job? For there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one who fears God, and turns away from evil. 9 Then Satan answered Yahweh, and said, Does Job fear God for nothing? 10 Haven't you made a hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his substance has increased in the land. 11 But put forth your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will renounce you to your face. 12 And Yahweh said to Satan, Look, all that he has is in your power; only on him do not put forth your hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of Yahweh.

13 And it fell on a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house, 14 that there came a messenger to Job, and said, The oxen were plowing, and the donkeys pasturing beside them; 15 and the Sabeans fell [on them], and took them away: yes, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only have escaped alone to tell you. 16 While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The fire of God has fallen from heaven, and has burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them; and I only have escaped alone to tell you. 17 While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The Chaldeans made three bands, and fell on the camels, and have taken them away, yes, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only have escaped alone to tell you. 18 While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house; 19 and, look, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young men, and they are dead; and I only have escaped alone to tell you.

20 Then Job arose, and rent his robe, and shaved his head, and fell down on the ground, and worshiped; 21 and he said, Naked I came out of my mother's womb, and naked I will return there: Yahweh gave, and Yahweh has taken away; blessed be the name of Yahweh. 22 In all this Job did not sin, nor charge God foolishly.

2  Again it came to pass on the day when the sons of God came to present themselves before Yahweh, that Satan came also among them to present himself before Yahweh. 2 And Yahweh said to Satan, Where do you come from? And Satan answered Yahweh, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. 3 And Yahweh said to Satan, Have you considered my slave Job? For there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one who fears God, and turns away from evil: and he still holds fast his integrity, although you moved me against him, to destroy him without cause. 4 And Satan answered Yahweh, and said, Skin for skin, yes, all that a man has he will give for his soul. 5 But put forth your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will renounce you to your face. 6 And Yahweh said to Satan, Look, he is in your hand; only spare his soul.

7 So Satan went forth from the presence of Yahweh, and struck Job with intense boils from the sole of his foot to the top of his head. 8 And he took for himself a potsherd to scrape himself with it; and he sat among the ashes. 9 Then his wife said to him, Do you still hold fast your integrity? Renounce God, and die. 10 But he said to her, You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.

11 Now when Job's three companions heard of all this evil that came upon him, they came every one from his own place: Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite; and they made an appointment together to come to bemoan him and to comfort him. 12 And when they lifted up their eyes far off, and didn't know him, they lifted up their voice, and wept; and they rent every one his robe, and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven. 13 So they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spoke a word to him: for they saw that his grief was very great.

3  After this opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day. 2 And Job answered and said:

3 Let the day perish in which I was born,

And the night which said, A [noble] man was conceived.

4 Let that day be darkness;

Don't let God from above seek for it,

Neither let the light shine on it.

5 Let darkness and the shadow of death claim it for their own;

Let a cloud stay on it;

Let all that makes blackness of day terrify it.

6 As for that night, let thick darkness seize on it:

Don't let it rejoice among the days of the year;

Don't let it come into the number of the months.

7 Look, let that night be barren;

Let no joyful voice come in it.

8 Let them curse it who curse the day,

Who are ready to rouse up leviathan.

9 Let the stars of its twilight be dark:

Let it look for light, but have none;

Neither let it see the eyelids of the morning:

10 Because it did not shut up the doors of my [mother's] womb,

Nor hid trouble from my eyes.

11 Why didn't I die from the womb?

Why didn't I give up the ghost when my mother bore me?

12 Why did the knees receive me?

Or why the breasts, that I should be nursed?

13 For now I should have lain down and been quiet;

I should have slept; then I would have been at rest,

14 With kings and counselors of the earth,

Who built up waste places for themselves;

15 Or with princes who had gold,

Who filled their houses with silver:

16 Or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been,

As infants who never saw light.

17 There the wicked cease from troubling;

And there the weary are at rest.

18 There the prisoners are at ease together;

They don't hear the voice of the taskmaster.

19 The small and the great are there:

And the slave is free from his master.

20 Why is light given to him who is in misery,

And life to the bitter in soul?

21 Who long for death, but it does not come,

And dig for it more than for hid treasures;

22 Who rejoice exceedingly,

And are glad, when they can find the grave

23 To a [noble] man whose way is hid,

And whom God has hedged in.

24 For my sighing comes before I eat,

And my groanings are poured out like water.

25 For the thing which I fear comes on me,

And that which I am afraid of comes to me.

26 I am not at ease, neither am I quiet, neither have I rest;

But trouble comes.

4  Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered, and said,

2 If one assay to commune with you, will you be grieved?

But who can withhold himself from speaking?

3 Look, you have instructed many,

And you have strengthened the weak hands.

4 Your words have upheld him who was falling,

And you have made firm the feeble knees.

5 But now it has come to you, and you faint;

It touches you, and you are troubled.

6 Isn't your fear [of God] your confidence,

[And] the integrity of your ways your hope?

7 Remember, I pray you, who [ever] perished, being innocent?

Or where were the upright cut off?

8 According to as I have seen, those who plow iniquity,

And sow trouble, reap the same.

9 By the breath of God they perish,

And by the blast of his anger are they consumed.

10 The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion,

And the teeth of the young lions, are broken.

11 The old lion perishes for lack of prey,

And the whelps of the lioness are scattered abroad.

12 Now a thing was secretly brought to me,

And my ear received a whisper of it.

13 In thoughts from the visions of the night,

When deep sleep falls on men,

14 Fear came upon me, and trembling,

Which made all my bones to shake.

15 Then a spirit passed before my face;

The hair of my flesh stood up.

16 It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance;

A form was before my eyes:

[There was] silence, and I heard a voice [saying],

17 Will common man be more just than God?

Will [noble] man be more pure than his Maker?

18 Look, he puts no trust in his slaves;

And his angels he charges with folly:

19 How much more those who stay in houses of clay,

Whose foundation is in the dust,

Who are crushed before the moth!

20 Between morning and evening they are destroyed:

They perish forever without any regarding it.

21 Is not their tent-cord plucked up inside them?

They die, and that without wisdom.

5  Call now; is there any who will answer you?

And to which of the holy ones will you turn?

2 For vexation kills the foolish man,

And jealousy slays the silly one.

3 I have seen the foolish taking root:

But suddenly I cursed his habitation.

4 His sons are far from safety,

And they are crushed in the gate,

Neither is there any to deliver them:

5 Whose harvest the hungry eats up,

And takes it even out of the thorns;

And the snare gapes for their substance.

6 For affliction does not come forth from the dust,

Neither does trouble spring out of the ground;

7 But man is born to trouble,

As the sparks fly upward.

8 But as for me, I would seek to God,

And to God I would commit my cause;

9 Who does great things and unsearchable,

Marvelous things without number:

10 Who gives rain on the earth,

And sends waters on the fields;

11 So that he sets up on high those who are low,

And those who mourn are exalted to safety.

12 He frustrates the devices of the crafty,

So that their hands can't perform their enterprise.

13 He takes the wise in their own craftiness;

And the counsel of the cunning is carried headlong.

14 They meet with darkness in the daytime,

And grope at noonday as in the night.

15 But he saves from the sword of their mouth,

Even the needy from the hand of the mighty.

16 So the poor has hope,

And iniquity stops her mouth.

17 Look, happy is [the] common man whom God corrects:

Therefore don't despise the chastening of the Almighty.

18 For he makes sore, and binds up;

He wounds, and his hands make whole.

19 He will deliver you in six troubles;

Yes, in seven no evil will touch you.

20 In famine he will redeem you from death;

And in war from the power of the sword.

21 You will be hid from the scourge of the tongue;

Neither will you be afraid of destruction when it comes.

22 At destruction and famine you will laugh;

Neither will you be afraid of the beasts of the earth.

23 For you will be in league with the stones of the field;

And the beasts of the field will be at peace with you.

24 And you will know that your tent is in peace;

And you will visit your fold, and will miss nothing.

25 You will know also that your seed will be great,

And your offspring as the grass of the earth.

26 You will come to your grave in a full age,

Like a shock of grain comes in in its season.

27 See this, we have searched it, so it is;

Hear it, and know it for your good.

6  Then Job answered and said,

2 Oh that my vexation were but weighed,

And all my calamity laid in the balances!

3 For now it would be heavier than the sand of the seas:

Therefore my words have been rash.

4 For the arrows of the Almighty are inside me,

The poison of which my spirit drinks up:

The terrors of God set themselves in array against me.

5 Does the wild donkey bray when he has grass?

Or does the ox low over his fodder?

6 Can that which has no savor be eaten without salt?

Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?

7 My soul refuses to touch [them];

They are as loathsome food to me.

8 Oh that I might have my request;

And that God would grant [me] the thing that I long for!

9 Even that it would please God to crush me;

That he would let loose his hand, and cut me off!

10 And be it still my consolation,

Yes, let me exult in pain that does not spare,

That I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

11 What is my strength, that I should wait?

And what is my end, that my soul should be patient?

12 Is my strength the strength of stones?

Or is my flesh of bronze?

13 Is it not that I have no help in me,

And that wisdom is driven quite from me?

14 To him who is ready to faint, kindness [should be shown] from his friend;

Even to him who forsakes the fear of the Almighty.

15 My brothers have betrayed as a wadi,

As a channel of wadis, they pass away;

16 Which are black by reason of the ice,

[And] in which the snow hides itself:

17 What time they wax warm, they vanish;

When it is hot, they are consumed out of their place.

18 The caravans [that travel] by the way of them turn aside;

They go up into the waste, and perish.

19 The caravans of Tema looked,

The companies of Sheba waited for them.

20 They were put to shame because they had hoped;

They came there, and were confounded.

21 For now you+ are nothing;

You+ see a terror, and are afraid.

22 Did I say, Give to me?

Or, Offer a present for me of your+ substance?

23 Or, Deliver me from the adversary's hand?

Or, Redeem me from the hand of the oppressors?

24 Teach me, and I will hold my peace;

And cause me to understand in what I have erred.

25 How forcible are words of uprightness!

But your+ reproof, what does it reprove?

26 Do you+ think to reprove words,

Seeing that the speeches of one who is desperate are as wind?

27 Yes, you+ would cast [lots] on the fatherless,

And make merchandise of your+ companion.

28 Now therefore be pleased to look at me;

For surely I will not lie to your+ face.

29 Return, I pray you+, let there be no injustice;

Yes, return again, my cause is righteous.

30 Is there injustice on my tongue?

Can't my taste discern mischievous things?

7  Is there not a warfare to common man on earth?

And are not his days like the days of a hired worker?

2 As a slave who earnestly desires the shadow,

And as a hired worker who looks for his wages:

3 So am I made to possess months of misery,

And wearisome nights are appointed to me.

4 When I lie down,

I say, When shall I arise, and the night be gone?

And I am full of tossings to and fro to the dawning of the day.

5 My flesh is clothed with the maggot and clods of dust;

My skin closes up, and breaks out afresh.

6 My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle,

And are spent without hope.

7 Oh remember that my life is a breath:

My eye will no more see good.

8 The eye of him who sees me will look at me no more;

Your eyes will be on me, but I will not be.

9 As the cloud is consumed and vanishes away,

So he who goes down to Sheol will come up no more.

10 He will return no more to his house,

Neither will his place know him anymore.

11 Therefore I will not refrain my mouth;

I will speak in the anguish of my spirit;

I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

12 Am I a sea, or a sea-monster,

That you set a watch over me?

13 When I say, My bed will comfort me,

My couch will ease my complaint;

14 Then you scare me with dreams,

And terrify me through visions:

15 So that my soul chooses strangling,

And death rather than my bones.

16 I loathe [my life]; I would not live always:

Leave me alone; for my days are vanity.

17 What is common man, that you should magnify him,

And that you should set your mind on him,

18 And that you should visit him every morning,

And try him every moment?

19 How long will you not look away from me,

Nor leave me alone until I swallow down my spittle?

20 If I have sinned, what do I do to you, O you watcher of man?

Why have you set me as a mark for you,

So that I am a burden to you?

21 And why don't you pardon my transgression, and take away my iniquity?

For now I will lie down in the dust;

And you will seek me diligently, but I will not be.

8  Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said,

2 How long will you speak these things?

And [how long] will the words of your mouth be [like] a mighty wind?

3 Does God pervert justice?

Or does the Almighty pervert righteousness?

4 If your sons have sinned against him,

And he has delivered them into the hand of their transgression;

5 If you would seek diligently to God,

And make your supplication to the Almighty;

6 If you were pure and upright:

Surely now he would awake for you,

And make the habitation of your righteousness prosperous.

7 And though your beginning was small,

Yet your latter end would greatly increase.

8 For inquire, I pray you, of the former age,

And apply yourself to that which their fathers have searched out:

9 (For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing,

Because our days on earth are a shadow);

10 Will not they teach you, and tell you,

And utter words out of their heart?

11 Can the rush grow up without mire?

Can the flag grow without water?

12 While it is yet in its greenness, [and] not cut down,

It withers before any [other] herb.

13 So are the paths of all who forget God;

And the hope of the godless man will perish:

14 Whose confidence will break in sunder,

And whose trust is a spider's web.

15 He will lean on his house, but it will not stand:

He will hold it fast, but it will not endure.

16 He is green before the sun,

And his shoots go forth over his garden.

17 His roots are wrapped about the [stone]-heap,

He looks at the place of stones.

18 If he is destroyed from his place,

Then it will deny him, [saying,]

I haven't seen you.

19 Look, this is the joy of his way;

And out of the earth will others spring.

20 Look, God will not cast away a perfect man,

Neither will he uphold the evildoers.

21 He will yet fill your mouth with laughter,

And your lips with shouting.

22 Those who hate you will be clothed with shame;

And the tent of the wicked will be no more.

9  Then Job answered and said,

2 Of a truth I know that it is so:

But how can common man be just with God?

3 If he is pleased to contend with him,

He can't answer him one of a thousand.

4 [He is] wise in heart, and mighty in strength:

Who has hardened himself against him, and prospered?—

5 [Him] who removes the mountains, and they do not know it,

When he overturns them in his anger;

6 Who shakes the earth out of its place,

And its pillars tremble;

7 Who commands the sun, and it does not rise,

And seals up the stars;

8 Who alone stretches out the heavens,

And treads on the waves of the sea;

9 Who makes the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades,

And the chambers of the south;

10 Who does great things past finding out,

Yes, marvelous things without number.

11 Look, he goes by me, and I don't see him:

He passes on also, but I don't perceive him.

12 Look, he seizes [the prey], who can hinder him?

Who will say to him, What are you doing?

13 God will not withdraw his anger;

The helpers of Rahab stoop under him.

14 How much less shall I answer him,

And choose out my words [to reason] with him?

15 Whom, though I were righteous, yet I would not answer;

I would plead for mercy to my judge.

16 If I had called, and he had answered me,

Yet I would not believe that he listened to my voice.

17 For he breaks me with a tempest,

And multiplies my wounds without cause.

18 He will not allow me to take my breath,

But fills me with bitterness.

19 If [we speak] of strength, look, [he is] mighty!

And if of justice, Who, [he says,] will summon me?

20 Though I be righteous, my own mouth will condemn me:

Though I be perfect, it will prove me perverse.

21 I am perfect; I do not regard my soul;

I despise my life.

22 It is all one; therefore I say,

He destroys the perfect and the wicked.

23 If the scourge slays suddenly,

He will mock at the trial of the innocent.

24 The earth is given into the hand of the wicked;

He covers the faces of its judges:

If [it is] not [he], then who is it?

25 Now my days are swifter than a post:

They flee away, they see no good.

26 They are passed away as the swift ships;

As the eagle that swoops on the prey.

27 If I say, I will forget my complaint,

I will put off my [sad] countenance, and be of good cheer;

28 I am afraid of all my sorrows,

I know that you will not hold me innocent.

29 I will be condemned;

Why then do I labor in vain?

30 If I wash myself with snow,[298]

And clean my my hands with lye;

31 Yet you will plunge me in the pit,

And my own clothes will be disgusted with me.

32 For he is not a man as I am, that I should answer him,

That we should come together in judgment.

33 If only there were an umpire between us

That might lay his hand on us both,

34 [Then] he would take his rod away from me,

And his terror would not make me afraid.

35 Then I would speak and not fear him;

For I am not so in myself.

10  My soul is weary of my life;

I will give free course to my complaint;

I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

2 I will say to God, Do not condemn me;

Show me why you contend with me.

3 Is it good to you that you should oppress,

That you should despise the work of your hands,

And shine on the counsel of the wicked?

4 Do you have eyes of flesh?

Or do you see as common man sees?

5 Are your days as the days of common man,

Or your years as the days of [noble] man,

6 That you inquire after my iniquity,

And search after my sin,

7 Although you know that I am not wicked,

And there is none who can deliver out of your hand?

8 Your hands have framed me and fashioned me,

Together round about; yet you destroy me.

9 Remember, I urge you, that you have fashioned me as clay;

And will you bring me into dust again?

10 Have you not poured me out as milk,

And curdled me like cheese?

11 You have clothed me with skin and flesh,

And knit me together with bones and sinews.

12 You have granted me life and loving-kindness;

And your visitation has preserved my spirit.

13 Yet these things you hid in your heart;

I know that this is with you:

14 If I sin, then you mark me,

And you will not acquit me from my iniquity.

15 If I am wicked, woe to me;

And if I am righteous, yet I will not lift up my head,

Filled with shame and drunk with my affliction.

16 And if [my head] exalts itself, you hunt me as a lion;

And again you show yourself marvelous on me.

17 You renew your witnesses against me,

And increase your indignation on me:

Changes and warfare are with me.

18 Why then have you brought me forth out of the womb?

I should have given up the ghost, and no eye would have seen me.

19 I should have been as though I had not been;

I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.

20 Are not my days few? Let him stop.

Let him turn away from me, that I may take comfort a little,

21 Before I go from where I will not return,

[Even] to the land of darkness and of the shadow of death;

22 The land dark as midnight,

[The land] of the shadow of death, without any order,

And where the light is as midnight.

11  Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said,

2 Shouldn't the multitude of words be answered?

And should a man full of talk be justified?

3 Should your boastings make men hold their peace?

And when you mock, will no man make you ashamed?

4 For you say, My doctrine is pure,

And I am clean in your eyes.

5 But oh that God would speak,

And open his lips against you,

6 And that he would show you the secrets of wisdom!

For he is manifold in understanding.

Know therefore that God exacts of you less than your iniquity deserves.

7 Can you by searching find out God?

Can you find out the Almighty to perfection?

8 At the height of heaven, what can you do?

Deeper than Sheol; what can you know?

9 The measure of it is longer than the earth,

And broader than the sea.

10 If he passes through, and shuts up,

And calls to judgment, then who can hinder him?

11 For he knows false men:

He sees iniquity also, even though he does not consider it.

12 But a vain man is void of understanding,

Yes, man is born [as] a wild donkey's colt.

13 If you set your heart aright,

And stretch out your hands toward him;

14 If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away,

And don't let unrighteousness stay in your tents.

15 Surely then you will lift up your face without spot;

Yes, you will be steadfast, and will not fear:

16 For you will forget your misery;

You will remember it as waters that are passed away,

17 And [your] lifetime will be clearer than the noonday;

Though there is darkness, it will be as the morning.

18 And you will be secure, because there is hope;

Yes, you will search [about you], and will take your rest in safety.

19 Also you will lie down, and none will make you afraid;

Yes, many will make suit to you.

20 But the eyes of the wicked will fail,

And they will have no way to flee;

And their hope will be the breathing out of the soul.

12  Then Job answered and said,

2 No doubt but you+ are the people,

And wisdom will die with you+.

3 But I have understanding as well as you+;

I am not inferior to you+:

Yes, who doesn't know such things as these?

4 I am as one who is a laughingstock to his fellow man,

I who called on God, and he answered:

The just, the perfect man is a laughingstock.

5 In the thought of him who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune;

It is ready for them whose foot slips.

6 The tents of robbers prosper,

And those who provoke God are secure;

Into whose hand God brings [abundantly].

7 But ask now the beasts, and they will teach you;

And the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you:

8 Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you;

And the fish of the sea will declare to you.

9 Who doesn't know in all these,

That the hand of Yahweh has wrought this,

10 In whose hand is the soul of every living thing,

And the breath of all mankind?

11 Does not the ear try words,

Even as the palate tastes its food?

12 With aged men is wisdom,

And in length of days understanding.

13 With [God] is wisdom and might;

He has counsel and understanding.

14 Look, he breaks down, and it can't be built again;

He shuts up a man, and there can be no opening.

15 Look, he withholds the waters, and they dry up;

Again, he sends them out, and they overturn the earth.

16 With him is strength and wisdom;

The deceived and the deceiver are his.

17 He leads counselors away stripped,

And judges he makes fools.

18 He looses the authority of kings,

And he binds their loins with a loincloth.[299]

19 He leads priests away stripped,

And overthrows the mighty.

20 He removes the speech of the trusty,

And takes away the understanding of the elders.

21 He pours contempt on princes,

And looses the belt of the strong.

22 He uncovers deep things out of darkness,

And brings out to light the shadow of death.

23 He increases the nations, and he destroys them:

He enlarges the nations, and he leads them captive.

24 He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth,

And causes them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way.

25 They grope in the dark without light;

And he makes them to stagger like a drunk man.

13  Look, my eye has seen all [this],

My ear has heard and understood it.

2 What you+ know, [the same] do I know also:

I am not inferior to you+.

3 Surely I would speak to the Almighty,

And I desire to reason with God.

4 But you+ are forgers of lies;

You+ are all physicians of no value.

5 Oh that you+ would altogether hold your+ peace!

And it would be your+ wisdom.

6 Hear now my reasoning,

And listen to the pleadings of my lips.

7 Will you+ speak unrighteously for God,

And talk deceitfully for him?

8 Will you+ show partiality to him?

Will you+ contend for God?

9 Is it good that he should search you+ out?

Or as one deceives common man, will you+ deceive him?

10 He will surely reprove you+,

If you+ secretly show partiality.

11 Will not his splendor make you+ afraid,

And his dread fall on you+?

12 Your+ memorable sayings are proverbs of ashes,

Your+ defenses are defenses of clay.

13 Listen+ to me silently, that I may speak;

And let come upon me what will.

14 Why should I take my flesh in my teeth,

And put my soul in my hand?

15 Look, he will slay me; I have no hope:

Nevertheless I will maintain my ways before him.

16 This also will be my salvation,

That a godless man will not come before him.

17 Hear diligently my speech,

And let my declaration be in your+ ears.

18 Look now, I have set my cause in order;

I know that I am righteous.

19 Who is he that will contend with me?

For then I would hold my peace and give up the ghost.

20 Only don't do two things to me;

Then I will not hide myself from your face:

21 Withdraw your hand far from me;

And don't let your terror make me afraid.

22 Then call, and I will answer;

Or let me speak, and answer me.

23 How many are my iniquities and sins?

Make me to know my transgression and my sin.

24 Why do you hide your face,

And hold me for your enemy?

25 Will you harass a driven leaf?

And will you pursue the dry stubble?

26 For you write bitter things against me,

And make me to inherit the iniquities of my youth:

27 You put my feet also in the stocks,

And mark all my paths;

You set a bound to the soles of my feet:

28 Though I am like a rotten thing that consumes,

Like a garment that is moth-eaten.

14  Man, who is born of a woman,

Is of few days, and full of trouble.

2 He comes forth like a flower, and is cut down:

He flees also as a shadow, and does not continue.

3 And do you open your eyes on such a one,

And bring me into judgment with you?

4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?

Not one.

5 Seeing his days are determined,

The number of his months is with you,

And you have appointed his bounds that he can't pass;

6 Look away from him, that he may rest,

Until he will accomplish, as a hired worker, his day.

7 For there is hope of a tree,

If it is cut down, that it will sprout again,

And that its tender branch will not cease.

8 Though its root waxes old in the earth,

And its stock dies in the ground;

9 Yet through the scent of water it will bud,

And put forth boughs like a plant.

10 But [noble] man dies, and is laid low:

Yes, man gives up the ghost, and where is he?

11 [As] the waters fail from the sea,

And the river wastes and dries up;

12 So man lies down and does not rise:

Until the heavens are no more, they will not awake,

Nor be roused out of their sleep.

13 Oh that you would hide me in Sheol,

That you would keep me secret, until your wrath is past,

That you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!

14 If a [noble] man dies, will he live [again]?

All the days of my warfare I would wait,

Until my release should come.

15 You would call, and I would answer you:

You would have a desire to the work of your hands.

16 But now you number my steps:

Don't you watch over my sin?

17 My transgression is sealed up in a bag,

And you fasten up my iniquity.

18 But the mountain falling comes to nothing;

And the rock is removed out of its place;

19 The waters wear the stones;

The overflowings of it wash away the dust of the earth:

So you destroy the hope of common man.

20 You prevail forever against him, and he passes;

You change his countenance, and send him away.

21 His sons come to honor, and he does not know it;

And they are brought low, but he doesn't perceive it of them.

22 But his flesh on him has pain,

And his soul inside him mourns.

15  Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,

2 Should a wise man make answer with vain knowledge,

And fill himself with the east wind?

3 Should he reason with unprofitable talk,

Or with speeches by which he can do no good?

4 Yes, you do away with fear,

And hinder devotion before God.

5 For your iniquity teaches your mouth,

And you choose the tongue of the crafty.

6 Your own mouth condemns you, and not I;

Yes, your own lips testify against you.

7 Are you the first of man who was born?

Or were you brought forth before the hills?

8 Have you heard the secret counsel of God?

And do you limit wisdom to yourself?

9 What do you know, that we don't know?

What do you understand, which is not in us?

10 With us are both the gray-headed and the very aged men,

Much older than your father.

11 Are the consolations of God too small for you,

Even the word that is gentle toward you?

12 Why does your heart carry you away?

And why do your eyes flash,

13 That against God you turn your spirit,

And let words go out of your mouth?

14 What is common man, that he should be clean?

And he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?

15 Look, he puts no trust in his holy ones;

Yes, the heavens are not clean in his eyes:

16 How much less one who is disgusting and corrupt,

A man who drinks iniquity like water!

17 I will show you, hear me;

And that which I have seen I will declare:

18 (Which wise men have told

From their fathers, and have not hid it;

19 To whom alone the land was given,

And no stranger passed among them):

20 The wicked man travails with pain all his days,

Even the number of years that are laid up for the oppressor.

21 A sound of terrors is in his ears;

In prosperity the destroyer will come upon him.

22 He does not believe that he will return out of darkness,

And he is destined for the sword.

23 He is destined for bread, as bread for vultures.

He knows that he is ready for destruction.

24 The day of darkness terrifies him, distress and anguish make him afraid;

They prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.

25 Because he has stretched out his hand against God,

And behaves himself proudly against the Almighty;

26 He runs on him with a [stiff] neck,

With the thick bosses of his bucklers;

27 Because he has covered his face with his fatness,

And gathered fat on his loins;

28 And he has stayed in desolate cities,

In houses which no man inhabited,

Which were ready to become heaps;

29 He will not be rich, neither will his substance continue,

Neither will their possessions be extended on the earth.

30 He will not depart out of darkness;

The flame will dry up his branches,

And by the breath of [God's] mouth he will go away.

31 Let him not trust in vanity, deceiving himself;

For vanity will be his recompense.

32 It will be accomplished before his time,

And his branch will not be green.

33 He will shake off his unripe grape as the vine,

And will cast off his flower as the olive tree.

34 For the company of the godless will be barren,

And fire will consume the tents of bribery.

35 They are pregnant with mischief, and give birth to iniquity,

And their heart prepares deceit.

16  Then Job answered and said,

2 I have heard many such things:

Miserable comforters are all of you+.

3 Will vain words have an end?

Or what provokes you that you answer?

4 I also could speak as you+ do;

If your+ soul were in my soul's stead,

I could join words together against you+,

And shake my head at you+.

5 [But] I would strengthen you+ with my mouth,

And the solace of my lips would assuage [your+ grief].

6 Though I speak, my grief is not assuaged;

And though I forbear, what am I eased?

7 But now he has made me weary:

You have made desolate all my company.

8 And you have shriveled me up, [which] is a witness [against me]:

And my leanness rises up against me,

It testifies to my face.

9 He has torn me in his wrath, and persecuted me;

He has gnashed on me with his teeth:

My adversary sharpens his eyes on me.

10 They have gaped on me with their mouth;

They have struck me on the cheek reproachfully:

They gather themselves together against me.

11 God delivers me to the ungodly,

And casts me into the hands of the wicked.

12 I was at ease, and he broke me apart;

Yes, he has taken me by the neck, and dashed me to pieces:

He has also set me up for his mark.

13 His archers circle me round about;

He splits my reins apart, and does not spare;

He pours out my gall on the ground.

14 He breaks me with breach on breach;

He runs on me like a giant.

15 I have sewed sackcloth on my skin,

And have laid my horn in the dust.

16 My face is red with weeping,

And on my eyelids is the shadow of death;

17 Although there is no violence in my hands,

And my prayer is pure.

18 O earth, do not cover my blood,

And let my cry have no [resting]-place.

19 Even now, look, my witness is in heaven,

And he who vouches for me is on high.

20 My companions scoff at me:

[But] my eye pours out tears to God,

21 That he would maintain the right of a [noble] man with God,

And of a son of man with his fellow man!

22 For when a few years have come,

I will go the way from where I will not return.

17  My spirit is consumed, my days are extinct,

Graves are [ready] for me.

2 Surely there are mockers with me,

And my eye dwells on their provocation.

3 Give now a pledge, be surety for me with yourself;

Who is there that will strike hands with me?

4 For you have hid their heart from understanding:

Therefore you will not exalt [them].

5 He who denounces his companions for a prey,

Even the eyes of his sons will fail.

6 But he has made me a byword of the people;

And they spit in my face.

7 My eye also is dim by reason of sorrow,

And all my members are as a shadow.

8 Upright men will be astonished at this,

And the innocent will stir himself up against the godless.

9 Yet will the righteous hold on his way,

And he who has clean hands will wax stronger and stronger.

10 But as for all of you+, come on now again;

And I will not find a wise man among you+.

11 My days are past, my purposes are broken off,

Even the thoughts of my heart.

12 They change the night into day:

The light, [they say,] is near to the darkness.

13 If I look for Sheol as my house;

If I have spread my couch in the darkness;

14 If I have said to the pit, You are my father;

To the maggot, [You are] my mother, and my sister;

15 Where then is my hope?

And as for my hope, who will see it?

16 You will go down with me to Sheol.

Shall we not go down together to the dust?

18  Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said,

2 How long will you+ hunt for words?

Consider, and afterward we will speak.

3 Why are we counted as beasts,

[And] have we become unclean in your+ sight?

4 You who tear your soul in your anger,

Will the earth be forsaken for you?

Or will the rock be removed out of its place?

5 Yes, the light of the wicked will be put out,

And the spark of his fire will not shine.

6 The light will be dark in his tent,

And his lamp above him will be put out.

7 The steps of his strength will be straitened,

And his own counsel will cast him down.

8 For he is cast into a net by his own feet,

And he walks on the toils.

9 A trap will take [him] by the heel,

[And] a snare will lay hold on him.

10 A noose is hid for him in the ground,

And a trap for him in the way.

11 Terrors will make him afraid on every side,

And will chase him at his heels.

12 His strength will be hunger-bitten,

And calamity will be ready at his side.

13 The members of his body will be devoured,

[Yes,] the firstborn of death will devour his members.

14 He will be rooted out of his tent in which he trusts;

And he will be brought to the king of terrors.

15 There will stay in his tent that which is none of his:

Brimstone will be scattered on his habitation.

16 His roots will be dried up beneath,

And above will his branch be cut off.

17 His remembrance will perish from the earth,

And he will have no name in the street.

18 He will be driven from light into darkness,

And chased out of the world.

19 He will have neither son nor son's son among his people,

Nor any remaining where he sojourned.

20 Those who come after will be astonished at his day,

As those who went before were frightened.

21 Surely such are the dwellings of the unrighteous,

And this is the place of him who doesn't know God.

19  Then Job answered and said,

2 How long will you+ vex my soul,

And break me in pieces with words?

3 These ten times you+ have reproached me:

You+ are not ashamed that you+ deal harshly with me.

4 And if indeed I have erred,

My error remains with myself.

5 If indeed you+ will magnify yourselves against me,

And plead against me my reproach;

6 Know now that God has subverted me [in my cause],

And has surrounded me with his net.

7 Look, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard:

I cry for help, but there is no justice.

8 He has walled up my way that I can't pass,

And has set darkness in my paths.

9 He has stripped me of my glory,

And taken the crown from my head.

10 He has broken me down on every side, and I am gone;

And my hope he has plucked up like a tree.

11 He has also kindled his wrath against me,

And he counts me to him as [one of] his adversaries.

12 His troops come on together,

And cast up their way against me,

And encamp round about my tent.

13 He has put my brothers far from me,

And my acquaintances are wholly estranged from me.

14 My kinsfolk have failed,

And my familiar friends have forgotten me.

15 Those who dwell in my house, and my female slaves, count me for a stranger;

I am an alien in their sight.

16 I call to my slave, and he gives me no answer,

[Though] I plead to him with my mouth.

17 My breath is strange to my wife,

And my supplication to the sons of my own mother.

18 Even young children despise me;

If I arise, they speak against me.

19 All my familiar friends are disgusted by me,

And they whom I loved are turned against me.

20 My bone sticks to my skin and to my flesh,

And I have escaped with the skin of my teeth.

21 Have pity on me, have pity on me, O you+ my companions;

For the hand of God has touched me.

22 Why do you+ persecute me as God,

And are not satisfied with my flesh?

23 Oh that my words were now written!

Oh that they were inscribed in a book!

24 That with an iron pen and lead

They were engraved in the rock forever!

25 But as for me I know that my Redeemer lives,

And at last he will stand up on the earth:

26 And after my skin, [even] this [body], is destroyed,

Then without my flesh will I see God;

27 Whom I, even I, will see, on my side,

And my eyes will behold, and not as a stranger.

My heart is consumed inside me.

28 If you+ say, How we will persecute him!

And that the root of the matter is found in me;

29 Be+ afraid of the sword:

For wrath [brings] the punishments of the sword,

That you+ may know there is a judgment.

20  Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said,

2 Therefore do my thoughts give answer to me,

Even by reason of my haste that is in me.

3 I have heard the reproof which puts me to shame;

And the spirit of my understanding answers me.

4 Do you [not] know this of old time,

Since man was placed on earth,

5 That the triumphing of the wicked is short,

And the joy of the godless but for a moment?

6 Though his height mounts up to the heavens,

And his head reaches to the clouds;

7 Yet he will perish forever like his own dung:

Those who have seen him will say, Where is he?

8 He will fly away as a dream, and will not be found:

Yes, he will be chased away as a vision of the night.

9 The eye which saw him will see him no more;

Neither will his place anymore look at him.

10 His sons will seek the favor of the poor,

And his hands will give back his wealth.

11 His bones are full of his youth,

But it will lie down with him in the dust.

12 Though wickedness is sweet in his mouth,

Though he hides it under his tongue,

13 Though he spares it, and will not let it go,

But keeps it still inside his mouth;

14 Yet his food in his insides is turned,

It is the gall of cobras inside him.

15 He has swallowed down riches, and he will vomit them up again;

God will cast them out of his belly.

16 He will suck the poison of cobras:

The viper's tongue will slay him.

17 He will not look at the rivers,

The flowing streams of honey and butter.

18 That which he labored for he will restore, and will not swallow it down;

According to the substance that he has gotten, he will not rejoice.

19 For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor;

He has violently taken away a house, and he will not build it up.

20 Because he knew no quietness inside him,

He will not save anything of that in which he delights.

21 There was nothing left that he didn't devour;

Therefore his prosperity will not endure.

22 In the fullness of his sufficiency he will be in straits:

The hand of everyone who is in misery will come upon him.

23 When he is about to fill his belly,

[God] will cast the fierceness of his wrath on him,

And will rain it on him while he is eating.

24 He will flee from the iron weapon,

And the bow of bronze will strike him through.

25 He draws it forth, and it comes out of his back;

Yes, the glittering point comes out of his gall:

Terrors are on him.

26 All darkness is laid up for his treasures:

A fire not blown [by man] will devour him;

It will consume that which is left in his tent.

27 The heavens will reveal his iniquity,

And the earth will rise up against him.

28 The increase of his house will depart;

[His goods] will flow away in the day of his wrath.

29 This is the portion of [the] wicked man from God,

And the heritage appointed to him by God.

21  Then Job answered and said,

2 Hear diligently my speech;

And let this be your+ consolations.

3 Allow me, and I also will speak;

And after I have spoken, mock on.

4 As for me, is my complaint to man?

And why should I not be impatient?

5 Mark me, and be astonished,

And lay your+ hand on your+ mouth.

6 Even when I remember I am troubled,

And horror takes hold on my flesh.

7 Why do the wicked live,

Become old, yes, wax mighty in power?

8 Their seed is established with them in their sight,

And their offspring before their eyes.

9 Their houses are safe from fear,

Neither is the rod of God on them.

10 Their bull genders, and does not fail;

Their cow calves, and does not cast her calf.

11 They send forth their little ones like a flock,

And their children dance.

12 They sing to the timbrel and harp,

And rejoice at the sound of the pipe.

13 They spend their days in prosperity,

And in a moment they go down to Sheol.

14 And they say to God, Depart from us;

For we do not desire knowledge of your ways.

15 What is the Almighty, that we should serve him?

And what profit should we have, if we pray to him?

16 Look, their prosperity is not in their hand:

The counsel of the wicked is far from me.

17 How often is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out?

That their calamity comes on them?

That [God] distributes sorrows in his anger?

18 That they are as stubble before the wind,

And as chaff that the storm carries away?

19 [You+ say], God lays up his iniquity for his sons.

Let him recompense it to himself, that he may know it:

20 Let his own eyes see his destruction,

And let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.

21 For what does he care for his house after him,

When the number of his months is cut off?

22 Will any teach God knowledge,

Seeing he judges those who are high?

23 One dies in his full strength,

Being wholly at ease and quiet:

24 His pails are full of milk,

And the marrow of his bones is moistened.

25 And another dies in bitterness of soul,

And never tastes of good.

26 They lie down alike in the dust,

And the maggot covers them.

27 Look, I know your+ thoughts,

And the devices with which you+ would wrong me.

28 For you+ say, Where is the house of the prince?

And where is the tent in which the wicked dwelt?

29 Have you+ not asked wayfaring men?

And don't you+ know their evidences,

30 That the evil man is reserved to the day of calamity?

That they are led forth to the day of wrath?

31 Who will declare his way to his face?

And who will repay him what he has done?

32 Yet he will be borne to the grave,

And men will keep watch over the tomb.

33 The clods of the valley will be sweet to him,

And all of man will draw after him,

As there were innumerable before him.

34 How then do you+ comfort me in vain,

Seeing in your+ answers there remains [only] falsehood?

22  Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,

2 Can a [noble] man be profitable to God?

Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself.

3 Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that you are righteous?

Or is it gain [to him], that you make your ways perfect?

4 Is it for your fear [of him] that he reproves you,

That he enters with you into judgment?

5 Isn't your wickedness great?

Neither is there any end to your iniquities.

6 For you have taken pledges of your brother for nothing,

And stripped the naked of their clothing.

7 You haven't given water to the weary to drink,

And you have withheld bread from the hungry.

8 But as for the mighty man, he had the earth;

And the honorable man, he dwelt in it.

9 You have sent widows away empty,

And the arms of the fatherless have been broken.

10 Therefore snares are round about you,

And sudden fear troubles you,

11 Or darkness, so that you can't see,

And abundance of waters cover you.

12 Isn't God in the height of heaven?

And look at the height of the stars, how high they are!

13 And you say, What does God know?

Can he judge through the thick darkness?

14 Thick clouds are a covering to him, so that he does not see;

And he walks on the vault of heaven.

15 Will you keep the old way

Which wicked men have trodden?

16 Who were snatched away before their time,

Whose foundation was poured out as a stream,

17 Who said to God, Depart from us;

And, What can the Almighty do for us?

18 Yet he filled their houses with good things:

But the counsel of the wicked is far from me.

19 The righteous see it, and are glad;

And the innocent laugh them to scorn,

20 [Saying,] Surely those who rose up against us are cut off,

And the remnant of them the fire has consumed.

21 Acquaint now yourself with him, and be at peace:

By this good will come to you.

22 Receive, I pray you, the law from his mouth,

And lay up his words in your heart.

23 If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up,

If you put away unrighteousness far from your tents.

24 And lay [your] treasure in the dust,

And [the gold of] Ophir among the stones of the brooks;

25 And the Almighty will be your treasure,

And precious silver to you.

26 For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty,

And will lift up your face to God.

27 You will make your prayer to him, and he will hear you;

And you will pay your vows.

28 You will also decree a thing, and it will be established to you;

And light will shine on your ways.

29 When they are cast down, you will say, [There is] lifting up;

And the humble person he will save.

30 He will deliver [even] him who is not innocent:

Yes, he will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.

23  Then Job answered and said,

2 Even today is my complaint rebellious:

My hand is heavy on my groaning.

3 Oh that I knew where I might find him!

That I might come even to his seat!

4 I would set my cause in order before him,

And fill my mouth with arguments.

5 I would know the words which he would answer me,

And understand what he would say to me.

6 Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power?

No; but he would give heed to me.

7 There the upright might reason with him;

So should I be delivered forever from my judge.

8 Look, I go forward, but he is not [there];

And backward, but I can't perceive him;

9 On the left hand, when he does work, but I can't behold him;

He hides himself on the right hand, that I can't see him.

10 But he knows the way that I take;

When he has tried me, I will come forth as gold.

11 My foot has held fast to his steps;

His way I have kept, and did not turn aside.

12 I have not gone back from the commandment of his lips;

I have treasured up the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.

13 But he is in one,[300] and who can turn him?

And what his soul desires, even that he does.

14 For he performs that which is appointed for me:

And many such things are with him.

15 Therefore I am terrified at his presence;

When I consider, I am afraid of him.

16 For God has made my heart faint,

And the Almighty has terrified me;

17 Because I was not cut off before the darkness,

Neither did he cover the thick darkness from my face.

24  Why are times not laid up by the Almighty?

And why don't those who know him see his days?

2 They move the landmarks;

They violently take away flocks, and feed them.

3 They drive away the donkey of the fatherless;

They take the widow's ox for a pledge.

4 They turn the needy out of the way:

The poor of the earth all hide themselves.

5 Look, as wild donkeys in the desert,

They go forth to their work, seeking diligently for food;

The wilderness [yields] them bread for their children.

6 They cut their fodder in the field;

And they glean the vintage of the wicked.

7 They lie all night naked without clothing,

And have no covering in the cold.

8 They are wet with the showers of the mountains,

And embrace the rock for want of a shelter.

9 They pluck the fatherless from the breast,

And take a pledge of the poor;

10 [So that] they go about naked without clothing,

And being hungry they carry the sheaves.

11 They make oil inside their walls;

They tread [their] winepresses, and suffer thirst.

12 From out of the populous city men groan,

And the soul of the wounded cries out:

Yet God does not regard the folly.

13 These are of those who rebel against the light;

They don't know its ways,

Nor remain in its paths.

14 The murderer rises with the light;

He kills the poor and needy;

And in the night he is as a thief.

15 The eye also of the adulterer waits for the twilight,

Saying, No eye will see me:

And he disguises his face.

16 In the dark they dig through houses:

They shut themselves up in the daytime;

They don't know the light.

17 For the morning is to all of them as thick darkness;

For they know the terrors of the thick darkness.

18 Swiftly they [pass away] on the face of the waters;

Their portion is cursed in the earth:

They don't turn into the way of the vineyards.

19 Drought and heat consume the snow waters:

[So does] Sheol [those who] have sinned.

20 The womb will forget him;

The maggot will feed sweetly on him;

He will be remembered no more;

And unrighteousness will be broken as a tree.

21 He devours the barren who does not bear,

And does not do good to the widow.

22 Yet [God] preserves the mighty by his power:

He rises up who has no assurance of life.

23 [God] gives them to be in security, and they rest on it;

And his eyes are on their ways.

24 They are exalted; yet a little while, and they are gone;

Yes, they are brought low, they are taken out of the way as a [dried-up] flower,[301]

And are cut off as the tops of the ears of grain.

25 And if it is not so now, who will prove me a liar,

And make my speech worth nothing?

25  Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said,

2 Dominion and fear are with him;

He makes peace in his high places.

3 Is there any number of his armies?

And on whom does not his ambush[302] arise?

4 How then can common man be just with God?

Or how can he be clean who is born of a woman?

5 Look, even the moon has no brightness,

And the stars are not pure in his eyes:

6 How much less is common man, who is a maggot!

And the son of man, who is a worm!

26  Then Job answered and said,

2 How you have helped him who is without power!

How you have saved the arm that has no strength!

3 How you have counseled him who has no wisdom,

And plentifully declared sound knowledge!

4 To whom have you uttered words?

And whose breath came forth from you?

5 The spirits of the dead tremble

Beneath the waters and those that stay in them.[303]

6 Sheol is naked before [God],

And Abaddon has no covering.

7 He stretches out the north over empty space,

And hangs the earth on nothing.

8 He binds up the waters in his thick clouds;

And the cloud is not rent under them.

9 He encloses the face of the throne,

And spreads his cloud on it.

10 He has described a boundary on the face of the waters,

To the confines of light and darkness.

11 The pillars of heaven tremble

And are astonished at his rebuke.

12 He stirs up the sea with his power,

And by his understanding he strikes through Rahab.

13 By his Spirit the heavens are garnished;

His hand has pierced the swift serpent.

14 Look, these are but the outskirts of his ways:

And how small a whisper do we hear of him!

But the thunder of his power who can understand?

27  And Job again took up his parable, and said,

2 As God lives, who has taken away my right,

And the Almighty, who has vexed my soul

3 (For my life is yet whole in me,

And the breath of God is in my nostrils);

4 Surely my lips will not speak unrighteousness,

Neither will my tongue utter deceit.

5 Far be it from me that I should justify you+:

Until I die I will not put away my integrity from me.

6 My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go:

My heart will not reproach [me] so long as I live.

7 Let my enemy be as the wicked,

And let him who rises up against me be as the unrighteous.

8 For what is the hope of the godless, though he gets himself gain,

When God takes away his soul?

9 Will God hear his cry,

When trouble comes on him?

10 Will he delight himself in the Almighty,

And call on God at all times?

11 I will teach you+ concerning the hand of God;

That which is with the Almighty I will not conceal.

12 Look, all you+ yourselves have seen it;

Why then have you+ become altogether vain?

13 This is the portion of [the] wicked man with God,

And the heritage of oppressors, which they receive from the Almighty:

14 If his sons are multiplied, it is for the sword;

And his offspring will not be satisfied with bread.

15 Those who remain of him will be buried in death,

And his widows will make no lamentation.

16 Though he heaps up silver as the dust,

And prepares raiment as the clay;

17 He may prepare it, but the just will put it on,

And the innocent will divide the silver.

18 He builds his house as the moth,

And as a booth which the keeper makes.

19 He lies down rich, but he will not be gathered [to his fathers];

He opens his eyes, and he is not.

20 Terrors overtake him like waters;[304]

A tempest steals him away in the night.

21 The east wind carries him away, and he departs;

And it sweeps him out of his place.

22 For [God] will hurl at him, and not spare:

He would fain flee out of his hand.

23 Men will clap their hands at him,

And will hiss him out of his place.

28  Surely there is a mine for silver,

And a place for gold which they refine.

2 Iron is taken out of the earth,

And copper is molten out of the stone.

3 [Man] sets an end to darkness,

And searches out, to the furthest bound,

The stones of obscurity and of thick darkness.

4 He breaks open a shaft away from where men sojourn;

They are forgotten of the foot;

They hang far from common man, they swing to and fro.

5 As for the earth, out of it comes bread;

And underneath it is turned up as it were by fire.

6 Its stones are the place of sapphires,

And it has dust of gold.

7 That path no bird of prey knows,

Neither has the falcon's eye seen it:

8 The proud beasts haven't trodden it,

Nor has the fierce lion passed by it.

9 He puts forth his hand on the flinty rock;

He overturns the mountains by the roots.

10 He cuts out channels among the rocks;

And his eye sees every precious thing.

11 He dams up the sources of the rivers;

And the thing that is hid he brings forth to light.

12 But where will wisdom be found?

And where is the place of understanding?

13 Common man doesn't know its price;

Neither is it found in the land of the living.

14 The deep says, It is not in me;

And the sea says, It is not with me.

15 It can't be obtained for gold,

Neither will silver be weighed for its price.

16 It can't be valued with the gold of Ophir,

With the precious onyx, or the sapphire.

17 Gold and glass can't equal it,

Neither will it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.

18 No mention will be made of coral or of crystal:

Yes, the price of wisdom is above rubies.

19 The topaz of Ethiopia will not equal it,

Neither will it be valued with pure gold.

20 From where then comes wisdom?

And where is the place of understanding?

21 Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living,

And kept close from the birds of the heavens.

22 Destruction and Death say,

We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.

23 God understands its way,

And he knows its place.

24 For he looks to the ends of the earth,

And sees under the whole heaven;

25 To make a weight for the wind:

Yes, he metes out the waters by measure.

26 When he made a decree for the rain,

And a way for the lightning of the thunder;

27 Then he saw it, and declared it;

He established it, yes, and searched it out.

28 And to man he said,

Look, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom;

And to depart from evil is understanding.

29  And Job again took up his parable, and said,

2 Oh that I were as in the months of old,

As in the days when God watched over me;

3 When his lamp shined on my head,

And by his light I walked through darkness;

4 As I was in the ripeness of my days,

When the friendship of God was on my tent;

5 When the Almighty was yet with me,

And my children were about me;

6 When my steps were washed with butter,

And the rock poured me out streams of oil!

7 When I went forth to the gate to the city,

When I prepared my seat in the street,

8 The young men saw me and hid themselves,

And the aged rose up and stood;

9 The princes refrained from talking,

And laid their hand on their mouth;

10 The voice of the leaders was hushed,

And their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.

11 For when the ear heard [me], then it blessed me;

And when the eye saw [me], it gave witness to me:

12 Because I delivered the poor who cried,

The fatherless also, who had none to help him.

13 The blessing of him who was ready to perish came upon me;

And I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.

14 I put on righteousness, and it clothed me:

My justice was as a robe and a diadem.

15 I was eyes to the blind,

And I was feet to the lame.

16 I was a father to the needy:

And the cause of him who I didn't know I searched out.

17 And I broke the jaws of the unrighteous,

And plucked the prey out of his teeth.

18 Then I said, I will die in my nest,

And I will multiply my days as the sand:

19 My root is spread out to the waters,

And the dew lies all night on my branch;

20 My glory is fresh in me,

And my bow is renewed in my hand.

21 To me men gave ear, and waited,

And kept silent for my counsel.

22 After my words they did not speak again;

And my speech distilled on them.

23 And they waited for me as for the rain;

And they opened their mouth wide [as] for the latter rain.

24 I smiled on them, when they had no confidence;

And the light of my countenance they did not cast down.

25 I chose out their way, and sat [as] chief,

And stayed as a king in the army,

As one who comforts the mourners.

30  But now those who are younger than I have me in derision,

Whose fathers I disdained to set with the dogs of my flock.

2 Yes, the strength of their hands, whereto should it profit me?

Men in whom ripe age has perished.

3 They are gaunt with want and famine;

They gnaw the desert, in the gloom of wasteness and desolation.

4 They pluck salt-wort by the bushes;

And the roots of the broom are their food.

5 They are driven forth from the midst [of men];

They cry after them as after a thief;

6 So that they stay in frightful valleys,

In holes of the earth and of the rocks.

7 Among the bushes they bray;

Under the nettles they are gathered together.

8 [They are] sons of fools, yes, sons of base men;

They were scourged out of the land.

9 And now I have become their song,

Yes, I am a byword to them.

10 They are disgusted by me, they stand aloof from me,

And do not spare to spit in my face.

11 For he has loosed his cord, and afflicted me;

And they have cast off the bridle before me.

12 On my right hand rise the rabble;

They thrust aside my feet,

And they cast up against me their ways of destruction.

13 They mar my path,

They set forward my calamity,

[Even] men who have no helper.

14 As through a wide breach they come:

In the midst of the ruin they roll themselves [on me].

15 Terrors are turned on me;

They chase my honor as the wind;

And my welfare has passed away as a cloud.

16 And now my soul is poured out inside me;

Days of affliction have taken hold on me.

17 In the night season my bones are pierced in me,

And the [pains] that gnaw me take no rest.

18 By [God's] great force is my garment disfigured;

It binds me about as the collar of my coat.

19 He has cast me into the mire,

And I have become like dust and ashes.

20 I cry to you, and you do not answer me:

I stand up, and you gaze at me.

21 You have turned to be cruel to me;

With the might of your hand you persecute me.

22 You lift me up to the wind, you cause me to ride [on it];

And you dissolve me in the storm.

23 For I know that you will bring me to death,

And to the house appointed for all living.

24 Nevertheless, does not one stretch out his hand when he falls?

And, when he is ruined, cry for help because of it?[305]

25 Didn't I weep for him who was in trouble?

Wasn't my soul grieved for the needy?

26 When I looked for good, then evil came;

And when I waited for light, there came darkness.

27 My insides are troubled, and do not rest;

Days of affliction have come upon me.

28 I go mourning without the sun:

I stand up in the assembly, and cry for help.

29 I am a brother to jackals,

And a companion to ostriches.

30 My skin is black, [and falls] from me,

And my bones are burned with heat.

31 Therefore my harp is [turned] to mourning,

And my pipe into the voice of those who weep.

31  I made a covenant with my eyes;

How then should I look at a virgin?

2 For what is the portion from God above,

And the heritage from the Almighty on high?

3 Is it not calamity to the unrighteous,

And disaster to the workers of iniquity?

4 Doesn't he see my ways,

And number all my steps?

5 If I have walked with falsehood,

And my foot has hurried to deceit

6 (Let me be weighed in an even balance,

That God may know my integrity);

7 If my step has turned out of the way,

And my heart walked after my eyes,

And if any spot has stuck to my hands:

8 Then let me sow, and let another eat;

Yes, let the produce of my field be rooted out.

9 If my heart has been enticed to a woman,

And I have laid wait at my fellow man's door;

10 Then let my wife grind to another,

And let others have sex with her.[306]

11 For that were a heinous crime;

Yes, it were an iniquity to be punished by the judges:

12 For it is a fire that consumes to Destruction,

And would root out all my increase.

13 If I have despised the cause of my male slave or of my female slave,

When they contended with me;

14 What then shall I do when God rises up?

And when he visits, what shall I answer him?

15 Did not he who made me in the womb make him?

And did not one fashion us in the womb?

16 If I have withheld the poor from [their] desire,

Or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,

17 Or have eaten my morsel alone,

And the fatherless has not eaten of it

18 (No, from my youth he[307] grew up with me as with a father,

And her[308] I have guided from my mother's womb);

19 If I have seen any perish for want of clothing,

Or that the needy had no covering;

20 If his loins haven't blessed me,

And if he has not been warmed with the fleece of my sheep;

21 If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless,

Because I saw my help in the gate:

22 Then let my shoulder fall from the shoulder-blade,

And my arm be broken from the bone.

23 For calamity from God is a terror to me,

And by reason of his splendor I can do nothing.

24 If I have made gold my hope,

And have said to the fine gold, [You are] my confidence;

25 If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great,

And because my hand had gotten much;

26 If I have seen the sun when it shined,

Or the moon walking in brightness,

27 And my heart has been secretly enticed,

And my mouth has kissed my hand:

28 This also was an iniquity to be punished by the judges;

For I should have denied the God who is above.

29 If I have rejoiced at the destruction of him who hated me,

Or lifted up myself when evil found him

30 (Yes, I haven't allowed my mouth to sin

By asking for his soul with a curse);

31 If the men of my tent haven't said,

Who can find one who has not been filled with his meat?

32 (The sojourner has not lodged in the street;

But I have opened my doors to the traveler);

33 If like man I have covered my transgressions,

By hiding my iniquity in my bosom,

34 Because I feared the great multitude,

And the contempt of families terrified me,

So that I kept silent, and didn't go out of the door-

35 Oh that I had one to hear me!

(Look, here is my signature, let the Almighty answer me);

And [that I had] the indictment which my adversary has written!

36 Surely I would carry it on my shoulder;

I would bind it to me as a crown:

37 I would declare to him the number of my steps;

As a leader I would go near to him.

38 If my land cries out against me,

And its furrows weep together;

39 If I have eaten its fruits without silver,

Or have caused its owners to breathe out their soul:

40 Let thistles grow instead of wheat,

And cockle instead of barley.

The words of Job are ended.

32  So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. 2 Then was kindled the wrath of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram: against Job was his wrath kindled, because he justified his soul rather than God. 3 Also against his three companions was his wrath kindled, because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job. 4 Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job, because they were older than he. 5 And when Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, his wrath was kindled.

6 And Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said,

I am young, and you+ are very old;

Therefore I held back, and didn't dare show you+ my opinion.

7 I said, Days should speak,

And multitude of years should teach wisdom.

8 But there is a spirit in common man,

And the breath of the Almighty gives them understanding.

9 It is not the great who are wise,

Nor the aged who understand justice.

10 Therefore I said, Listen to me;

I also will show my opinion.

11 Look, I waited for your+ words,

I listened for your+ reasonings,

While you+ searched out what to say.

12 Yes, I attended to you+,

And, look, there was none who convinced Job,

Or that answered his words, among you+.

13 Beware you+ don't say, We have found wisdom;

God may vanquish him, not man:

14 For he has not directed his words against me;

Neither will I answer him with your+ speeches.

15 They are amazed, they answer no more:

They haven't a word to say.

16 And shall I wait, because they don't speak,

Because they stand still, and answer no more?

17 I also will answer my part,

I also will show my opinion.

18 For I am full of words;

The spirit inside me constrains me.

19 Look, my breast is as wine which has no vent;

Like blacksmith's bellows it is ready to burst.

20 I will speak, that I may be refreshed;

I will open my lips and answer.

21 Don't let me, I pray you+, respect a man's person;

Neither will I give flattering titles to any among man.

22 For I don't know to give flattering titles;

[Else] would my Maker soon take me away.

33  Nevertheless, Job, I pray you, hear my speech,

And listen to all my words.

2 Look now, I have opened my mouth;

My tongue has spoken in my mouth.

3 My words [will utter] the uprightness of my heart;

And that which my lips know they will speak sincerely.

4 The Spirit of God has made me,

And the breath of the Almighty gives me life.

5 If you can, answer me;

Set [your words] in order before me, stand forth.

6 Look, I am toward God even as you are:

I also am formed out of the clay.

7 Look, my terror will not make you afraid,

Neither will my pressure be heavy on you.

8 Surely you have spoken in my hearing,

And I have heard the voice of [your] words, [saying,]

9 I am clean, without transgression;

I am pure, neither is there iniquity in me:

10 Look, he finds occasions against me,

He counts me for his enemy:

11 He puts my feet in the stocks,

He marks all my paths.

12 Look, I will answer you, in this you are not just;

For God is greater than common man.

13 Why do you strive against him

Because he doesn't give account of any of his matters?

14 For God speaks once,

Yes twice, [though man] does not regard it.

15 In a dream, in a vision of the night,

When deep sleep falls on men,

In slumberings on the bed;

16 Then he opens the ears of men,

And seals their warning,

17 That he may withdraw man [from his] purpose,

And hide pride from a [noble] man;

18 He keeps back his soul from the pit,

And his life from perishing by the sword.

19 He is chastened also with pain on his bed,

And with continual strife in his bones;

20 So that his life abhors bread,

And his soul dainty food.

21 His flesh is consumed away, that it can't be seen;

And his bones that were not seen stick out.

22 Yes, his soul draws near to the pit,

And his life to the destroyers.

23 If there is with him an angel,

An interpreter, one among a thousand,

To show to man what is right for him;

24 Then [God] is gracious to him, and says,

Protect him from going down to the pit,

I have found a ransom.

25 His flesh becomes fresher than a child's;

He returns to the days of his youth.

26 He prays to God, and he is favorable to him,

So that he sees his face with joy:

And he restores to common man his righteousness.

27 He sings before men, and says,

I have sinned, and perverted that which was right,

And it didn't profit me:

28 He has redeemed my soul from going into the pit,

And my life will see the light.

29 Look, God works all these things,

Twice, [yes] thrice, with a [noble] man,

30 To bring back his soul from the pit,

That he may be enlightened with the light of the living.

31 Mark well, O Job, listen to me:

Hold your peace, and I will speak.

32 If you have anything to say, answer me:

Speak, for I desire to justify you.

33 If not, listen to me:

Hold your peace, and I will teach you wisdom.

34  Moreover Elihu answered and said,

2 Hear my words, you+ wise men;

And give ear to me, you+ who have knowledge.

3 For the ear tries words,

As the palate tastes food.

4 Let us choose for us that which is right:

Let us know among ourselves what is good.

5 For Job has said, I am righteous,

And God has taken away my right:

6 Against my right he has lied;

My wound is incurable, [though I am] without transgression.

7 What [noble] man is like Job,

Who drinks up scoffing like water,

8 Who goes in company with the workers of iniquity,

And walks with wicked men?

9 For he has said, It profits a [noble] man nothing

That he should delight himself with God.

10 Therefore listen to me, you+ men of understanding:

Far be it from God, that he should do wickedness,

And from the Almighty, that he should commit iniquity.

11 For the work of man he will render to him,

And cause a man to find according to his ways.

12 Yes, certainly, God will not do wickedly,

Neither will the Almighty pervert justice.

13 Who gave him a charge over the earth?

Or who has disposed the whole world?

14 If he sets his heart on himself,

[If] he gathers to himself his spirit and his breath;

15 All flesh will perish together,

And man will turn again to dust.

16 If now [you have] understanding, hear this:

Listen to the voice of my words.

17 Will even one who hates justice govern?

And will you condemn him who is righteous [and] mighty?—

18 [Him] who says to a king, [You are] vile,

[Or] to nobles, [You+ are] wicked;

19 Who does not respect the persons of princes,

Nor show favoritism to the rich more than the poor;

For all of them are the work of his hands.

20 In a moment they die, even at midnight;

The people are shaken and pass away,

And the mighty are taken away without a [human] hand.

21 For his eyes are on the ways of a man,

And he sees all his goings.

22 There is no darkness, nor thick gloom,

Where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.

23 For he does not need further to consider a man,

That he should go before God in judgment.

24 He breaks in pieces mighty men [in ways] past finding out,

And sets others in their stead.

25 Therefore he takes knowledge of their works;

And he overturns them in the night, so that they are destroyed.

26 He strikes them as wicked men

In the open sight of others;

27 Because they turned aside from following him,

And would not have regard to any of his ways:

28 So that they caused the cry of the poor to come to him,

And he heard the cry of the afflicted.

29 When he gives quietness, who then can condemn?

And when he hides his face, who then can see him?

Alike whether [it is done] to a nation, or to man:

30 He makes king [the] godless man

From among the seducers of the people.

31 For has any said to God,

I have borne [chastisement], I will not offend [anymore]:

32 That which I do not see, teach me:

If I have done iniquity, I will do it no more?

33 Will his recompense be as you will, that you refuse it?

For you must choose, and not I:

Therefore speak what you know.

34 Men of understanding will say to me,

And the wise [noble] man will listen to me:

35 Job speaks without knowledge,

And his words are without wisdom.

36 Oh that Job were tried to the end,

Because of his answering like wicked men.

37 For he adds rebellion to his sin;

He claps his hands among us,

And multiplies his words against God.

35  Moreover Elihu answered and said,

2 Do you think this to be [your] right,

[Or] do you say, My righteousness is more than God's,

3 That you say, What advantage will it be to you?

[And], What profit shall I have, more than if I had sinned?

4 I will answer you,

And your companions with you.

5 Look to the heavens, and see;

And look at the skies, which are higher than you.

6 If you have sinned, what effect do you have against him?

And if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to him?

7 If you are righteous, what do you give him?

Or what does he receive of your hand?

8 Your wickedness [may hurt] a man as you are;

And your righteousness [may profit] a son of man.

9 By reason of the multitude of oppressions they cry out;

They cry for help by reason of the arm of the mighty.

10 But none says, Where is God my Maker,

Who gives songs in the night,

11 Who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth,

And makes us wiser than the birds of the heavens?

12 There they cry, but none gives answer,

Because of the pride of evil men.

13 Surely God will not hear an empty [cry],

Neither will the Almighty regard it.

14 How much less when you say you don't see him,

The cause is before him, and you wait for him!

15 But now, because he has not visited in his anger,

Neither does he greatly regard foolishness;

16 Therefore Job opens his mouth in vanity;

He multiplies words without knowledge.

36  Elihu also proceeded, and said,

2 Allow me a little, and I will show you;

For I have yet somewhat to say on God's behalf.

3 I will fetch my knowledge from afar,

And will ascribe righteousness to my Maker.

4 For truly my words are not false:

One who is perfect in knowledge is with you.

5 Look, God is mighty, and does not despise any:

He is mighty in strength of understanding.

6 He does not preserve the life of the wicked,

But gives to the afflicted [their] right.

7 He doesn't withdraw his eyes from the righteous:

But with kings on the throne

He sets them forever, and they are exalted.

8 And if they are bound in fetters,

And are taken in the cords of affliction;

9 Then he shows them their work,

And their transgressions, that they have behaved themselves proudly.

10 He opens also their ear to instruction,

And commands that they return from iniquity.

11 If they listen and serve [him],

They will spend their days in prosperity,

And their years in pleasures.

12 But if they don't listen, they will perish by the sword,

And they will die without knowledge.

13 But those who are godless in heart lay up anger:

They don't cry for help when he binds them.

14 Their soul dies in youth,

And their life [perishes] among the homosexuals.

15 He delivers the afflicted by their affliction,

And opens their ear in oppression.

16 Yes, he would have allured you out of the mouth of distress

Into a broad place, where there is no straitness;

And that which is set on your table would be full of fatness.

17 But you are full of the judgment of the wicked:

Judgment and justice take hold [on you].

18 For beware that wrath doesn't stir you up against chastisements;

Neither let the greatness of the ransom turn you aside.

19 Will your cry avail, [that you are] not in distress,

Or all the forces of [your] strength?

20 Do not desire the night,

When peoples are cut off in their place.

21 Take heed, do not regard iniquity:

For this you have chosen rather than affliction.

22 Look, God does loftily in his power:

Who is a teacher like him?

23 Who has enjoined him his way?

Or who can say, You have wrought unrighteousness?

24 Remember that you magnify his work,

Of which men have sung.

25 All of man have looked on it;

Common man watches it far off.

26 Look, God is great, and we don't know him;

The number of his years is unsearchable.

27 For he draws up the drops of water,

Which distill in rain from his vapor,

28 Which the skies pour down

And drop on man abundantly.

29 Yes, can any understand the spreadings of the clouds,

The thunderings of his pavilion?

30 Look, he spreads his light around him;

And he covers the bottom of the sea.

31 For by these he judges the peoples;

He gives food in abundance.

32 He covers his hands with the lightning,

And gives it a charge that it strikes the mark.

33 The noise of it tells concerning him,

The cattle also [tell] concerning [the storm] that comes up.

37  Yes, at this my heart trembles,

And is moved out of its place.

2 Hear carefully the noise of his voice,

And the sound that goes out of his mouth.

3 He sends it forth under the whole heaven,

And his lightning to the ends of the earth.

4 After it a voice roars;

He thunders with the voice of his splendor;

And he does not restrain [the lightnings] when his voice is heard.

5 God thunders marvelously with his voice;

Great things he does, which we can't comprehend.

6 For he says to the snow, Fall on the earth;

Likewise to the shower of rain,

And to the showers of his mighty rain.

7 He seals up the hand of all of man,

That all men whom he has made may know [it].

8 Then the beasts go into coverts,

And stay in their dens.

9 Out of the chamber [of the south] comes the storm,

And cold out of the north.

10 By the breath of God ice is given;

And the width of the waters is straitened.

11 Yes, he loads the thick cloud with moisture;

He spreads abroad the cloud of his lightning:

12 And it is turned round about by his guidance,

That they may do whatever he commands them

On the face of the habitable world,

13 Whether it is for correction, or for his land,

Or for loving-kindness, that he causes it to come.

14 Listen to this, O Job:

Stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God.

15 Do you know how God lays [his charge] on them,

And causes the lightning of his cloud to shine?

16 Do you know the balancings of the clouds,

The wondrous works of him who is perfect in knowledge?

17 How your garments are warm,

When the earth is still by reason of the south [wind]?

18 Can you with him spread out the sky,

Which is strong as a molten mirror?

19 Teach us what we will say to him;

[For] we can't set [our speech] in order by reason of darkness.

20 Will it be told to him that I would speak?

Or should a man wish that he were swallowed up?

21 And now men don't see the light which is bright in the skies;

But the wind passes, and clears them.

22 Out of the north comes golden splendor:

God has on him awesome grandeur.

23 [Concerning] the Almighty, we can't find him out:

He is excellent in power;

And in justice and plenteous righteousness he will not afflict.

24 Men therefore fear him:

He does not regard any who are wise of heart.

38  Then Yahweh answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,

2 Who is this that darkens counsel

By words without knowledge?

3 Gird up now your loins like a [noble] man;

For I will demand of you, and you declare to me.

4 Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?

Declare, if you have understanding.

5 Who determined its measures, if you know?

Or who stretched the line on it?

6 On what were its foundations fastened?

Or who laid its cornerstone,

7 When the morning stars sang together,

And all the sons of God shouted for joy?

8 Or [who] shut up the sea with doors,

When it broke forth, [as if] it had issued out of the womb;

9 When I made clouds its garment,

And thick darkness a swaddling-band for it,

10 And marked out for it my bound,

And set bars and doors,

11 And said, This far you will come, but no further;

And here will your proud waves be placed?

12 Have you commanded the morning since your days [began],

[And] caused the sunrise to know its place;

13 That it might take hold of the ends of the earth,

And the wicked be shaken out of it?

14 It is changed as clay under the seal;

And [all things] stand forth as a garment:

15 And from the wicked their light is withheld,

And the high arm is broken.

16 Have you entered into the springs of the sea?

Or have you walked in the recesses of the deep?

17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you?

Or have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?

18 Have you comprehended the earth in its width?

Declare, if you know it all.

19 Where is the way to the place that light stays?

And as for darkness, where is its place,

20 That you should take it to its bound,

And that you should discern the paths to its house?

21 [Doubtless], you know, for you were then born,

And the number of your days is great!

22 Have you entered the treasuries of the snow,

Or have you seen the treasures of the hail,

23 Which I have reserved against the time of trouble,

Against the day of battle and war?

24 Where is the way to the place that light is distributed,

Or [from where is] the east wind scattered on the earth?

25 Who has cleft a channel for the floodwater,

And a way for the lightning of the thunder;

26 To cause it to rain on a land where there is not a man;

On the wilderness, in which there is not man;

27 To satisfy the waste and desolate [ground],

And to cause the tender grass to spring forth?

28 Has the rain a father?

Or who has begotten the drops of dew?

29 Out of whose womb came the ice?

And the frost of heaven, who has given birth to it?

30 The waters hide themselves [and become] like stone,

And the face of the deep is frozen.

31 Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades,

Or loose the bands of Orion?

32 Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season?

Or can you guide the Bear with her train?

33 Do you know the ordinances of the heavens?

Can you establish their dominion in the earth?

34 Can you lift up your voice to the clouds,

That abundance of waters may cover you?

35 Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go,

And say to you, Here we are?

36 Who has put wisdom in the ibis?[309]

Or who has given understanding to the rooster?

37 Who can number the clouds by wisdom?

Or who can pour out the bottles of heaven,

38 When the dust runs into a mass,

And the clods are stuck together?

39 Can you hunt the prey for the lioness,

Or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,

40 When they couch in their dens,

[And] remain in the covert to lie in wait?

41 Who provides for the raven his prey,

When his young ones cry to God,

[And] wander for lack of food?

39  Do you know the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth?

[Or] can you mark when the hinds calve?

2 Can you number the months that they fulfill?

Or do you know the time when they bring forth?

3 They bow themselves, they bring forth their young,

They cast out their pains.

4 Their young ones become strong, they grow up in the open field;

They go forth, and don't return again.

5 Who has sent out the wild donkey free?

Or who has loosed the bonds of the swift donkey,

6 Whose home I have made the wilderness,

And the salt land his dwelling-place?

7 He scorns the tumult of the city,

Neither does he hear the shoutings of the driver.

8 The range of the mountains is his pasture,

And he searches after every green thing.

9 Will the wild-ox be content to serve you?

Or will he spend the night by your crib?

10 Can you bind the wild-ox with his band in the furrow?

Or will he harrow the valleys after you?

11 Will you trust him, because his strength is great?

Or will you leave to him your labor?

12 Will you confide in him, that he will bring home your seed,

And gather [the grain] of your threshing-floor?

13 The wings of the ostrich wave proudly;

[But] is it a pious plumage and down? [310]

14 For she leaves her eggs on the earth,

And warms them in the dust,

15 And forgets that the foot may crush them,

Or that the wild beast may trample them.

16 She deals harshly with her young ones, as if they were not hers:

Though her labor is in vain, [she is] without fear;

17 Because God has deprived her of wisdom,

Neither has he imparted to her understanding.

18 What time she lifts up herself on high,

She scorns the horse and his rider.

19 Have you given the horse [his] might?

Have you clothed his neck with the quivering mane?

20 Have you made him to leap as a locust?

The grandeur of his snorting is terrible.

21 He paws in the valley, and rejoices in his strength:

He goes out to meet the armed men.

22 He mocks at fear, and is not dismayed;

Neither does he turn back from the sword.

23 The quiver rattles against him,

The flashing spear and the javelin.

24 He swallows the ground with fierceness and rage;

Neither does he believe that it is the voice of the trumpet.

25 As often as the trumpet [sounds] he says, Aha!

And he smells the battle far off,

The thunder of the captains, and the shouting.

26 Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soars,

[And] stretches her wings toward the south?

27 Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up,

And makes her nest on high?

28 On the cliff she dwells, and makes her home,

On the point of the cliff, and the stronghold.

29 From there she spies out the prey;

Her eyes watch it far off.

30 Her young ones also suck up blood:

And where the slain are, there she is.

40  Moreover Yahweh answered Job, and said,

2 Will he who criticizes contend with the Almighty?

He who argues with God, let him answer it.

3 Then Job answered Yahweh, and said,

4 Look, I am of small account; What shall I answer you?

I lay my hand on my mouth.

5 Once I have spoken, and I will not answer;

Yes, twice, but I will proceed no further.

6 Then Yahweh answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,

7 Gird up your loins now like a [noble] man:

I will demand of you, and you declare to me.

8 Will you even annul my judgment?

Will you condemn me, that you may be justified?

9 Or do you have an arm like God?

And can you thunder with a voice like him?

10 Deck yourself now with excellency and dignity;

And array yourself with grandeur and majesty.

11 Pour forth the overflowings of your anger;

And look at everyone who is proud, and abase him.

12 Look at everyone who is proud, [and] bring him low;

And tread down the wicked where they stand.

13 Hide them in the dust together;

Bind their faces in the hidden [place].

14 Then I will also confess of you

That your own right hand can save you.

15 Now look at behemoth, which I made as well as you;

He eats grass as an ox.

16 See now, his strength is in his loins,

And his force is in the muscles of his belly.

17 He moves his tail like a cedar:

The sinews of his thighs are knit together.

18 His bones are [as] tubes of bronze;

His limbs are like bars of iron.

19 He is the chief of the ways of God:

[Only] he who made him brings his sword near.

20 Surely the mountains bring him forth food,

Where all the beasts of the field play.

21 He lies under the lotus-trees,

In the covert of the reed, and the fen.

22 The lotus-trees cover him with their shade;

The willows of the brook circle him about.

23 Look, if a river overflows, he does not tremble;

He is confident, though a Jordan swells even to his mouth.

24 Will any take him before his eyes,

Or pierce through his nose with a snare?

41  Can you draw out leviathan with a fishhook?

Or press down his tongue with a cord?

2 Can you put a rope into his nose?

Or pierce his jaw through with a hook?

3 Will he make many supplications to you?

Or will he speak soft words to you?

4 Will he make a covenant with you,

That you should take him for a slave forever?

5 Will you play with him as with a bird?

Or will you bind him for your maidens?

6 Will the bands [of fishermen] make traffic of him?

Will they part him among the merchants?

7 Can you fill his skin with barbed irons,

Or his head with fish-spears?

8 Lay your hand on him;

Remember the battle, and do so no more.

9 Look, the hope of him is in vain:

Will not one be overcome even at the sight of him?

10 None is so fierce that he dare stir him up;

Who then is he that can stand before me?

11 Who has first given to me, that I should repay him?

[Whatever is] under the whole heaven is mine.

12 I will not keep silent concerning his limbs,

Nor his mighty strength, nor his goodly frame.

13 Who can strip off his outer garment?

Who will come inside his jaws?

14 Who can open the doors of his face?

Around his teeth is terror.

15 [His] strong scales are [his] back,

Shut up together [as with] a close seal.

16 One is so near to another,

That no air can come between them.

17 They are stuck [as close as] a man to his brother;

They join together, so that they can't be sundered.

18 His sneezings flash forth light,

And his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.

19 Out of his mouth go burning torches,

And sparks of fire leap forth.

20 Out of his nostrils a smoke goes,

As of a boiling pot and [burning] rushes.

21 His soul kindles coals,

And a flame goes forth from his mouth.

22 In his neck resides strength,

And terror dances before him.

23 The flakes of his flesh are stuck:

They are firm on him; they can't be moved.

24 His heart is as firm as a stone;

Yes, firm as the nether millstone.

25 When he raises himself up, the gods are afraid:

By reason of consternation they are beside themselves.

26 If one lays at him with the sword, it can't avail;

Nor the spear, the dart, nor the pointed shaft.

27 He counts iron as straw,

[And] bronze as rotten wood.

28 The arrow can't make him flee:

Sling-stones are turned with him into stubble.

29 Clubs are counted as stubble:

He laughs at the rushing of the javelin.

30 His underparts are [like] sharp potsherds:

He spreads [as it were] a threshing-wain on the mire.

31 He makes the deep to boil like a pot:

He makes the sea like a pot of ointment.

32 He makes a path to shine after him;

One would think the deep to be gray-headed.

33 On earth there is not his like,

That is made without fear.

34 He beholds everything that is high:

He is king over all the sons of pride.

42  Then Job answered Yahweh, and said,

2 I know that you can do all things,

And that no purpose of yours can be restrained.

3 Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?

Therefore I have uttered that which I didn't understand,

Things too wonderful for me, which I didn't know.

4 Hear, I urge you, and I will speak;

I will demand of you, and declare you to me.

5 I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear;

But now my eye sees you:

6 Therefore I abhor [myself],

And repent in dust and ashes.

7 And it was so, that, after Yahweh had spoken these words to Job, Yahweh said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against you, and against your two companions; for you+ have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my slave Job has. 8 Now therefore, take for yourselves seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my slave Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt-offering; and my slave Job will pray for you+; for him I will accept, that I do not deal with you+ after your+ folly; for you+ have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my slave Job has. 9 So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went, and did according to as Yahweh commanded them: and Yahweh accepted Job.

10 And Yahweh turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his companions: and Yahweh gave Job twice as much as he had before. 11 Then there came to him all his brothers, and all his sisters, and all those who had been of his acquaintance before, and ate bread with him in his house: and they bemoaned him, and comforted him concerning all the evil that Yahweh had brought on him: every man also gave him a kesitah [of silver], and every one a ring of gold. 12 So Yahweh blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: And he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she-donkeys. 13 He had also seven sons and three daughters. 14 And he called the name of the first, Jemimah: and the name of the second, Keziah; and the name of the third, Keren-happuch. 15 And in all the land were no women found so beautiful as the daughters of Job: and their father gave them inheritance among their brothers. 16 And after this Job lived a hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons' sons, [even] four generations. 17 So Job died, being old and full of days.

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Psalms

1  BOOK I.

Blessed is the man

who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked;

and in the way of sinners, does not stand,

and in the seat of scoffers, does not sit.

2 But rather in the law of Yahweh, does he delight;

and in his law does he meditate, day and night.

3 And he is like a tree planted by streams of water:

its fruit it yields in season,

and its leaf does not wither,

and in all that he does, he prospers.

4 Not so are the wicked:

but rather they are like chaff, which is blown away by the wind.

5 Therefore, the wicked will not stand in the judgment;

nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

6 For Yahweh knows the way of the righteous;

But the way of the wicked, will perish.

2  Why do the nations rage,

And the peoples meditate a vain thing?

2 The kings of the earth set themselves,

And the rulers take counsel together,

Against Yahweh, and against his anointed, [saying,]

3 Let us break apart their bonds,

And cast away from us their cords.

4 He who sits in the heavens will laugh:

The Lord will have them in derision.

5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath,

And in his intense displeasure, he will vex them:

6 Yet I have set my king

On Zion my holy hill.

7 I will tell of the decree:

Yahweh said to me,

You are my son;

This day I have begotten you.

8 Ask of me, and I will give [you] the nations for your inheritance;

And for your possession, the uttermost parts of the earth.

9 You will shepherd[311] them with a rod of iron;

Like a potter's vessel, you will dash them in pieces.

10 Now therefore you+ kings, be wise;

Be instructed, you+ judges of the earth.

11 Serve Yahweh with fear,

And rejoice with trembling.

12 Embrace purity[312], or else he will be angry,

and you+ will perish in the way,

For his wrath will soon be kindled.

Blessed are all those who take refuge in him.

3  A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son.

Yahweh, how are my adversaries increased!

Many are those who rise up against me.

2 Many there are who say of my soul,

There is no help for him in God. Selah.

3 But you, O Yahweh, are a shield about me;

My glory and the lifter up of my head.

4 I cry to Yahweh with my voice,

And he answers me out of his holy hill. Selah.

5 I laid myself down and slept; I awakened;

For Yahweh sustains me.

6 I will not be afraid of ten thousands of the people

Who have set themselves against me round about.

7 Arise, O Yahweh; save me, O my God:

For you have struck all my enemies on the cheek bone;

You have broken the teeth of the wicked.

8 Salvation belongs to Yahweh:

Your blessing be on your people. Selah.

4  For the Chief Musician; on stringed instruments. A Psalm of David.

Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness;

You have set me at large [when I was] in distress: Have mercy on me, and hear my prayer.

2 O you+ sons of a man,[313] how long will my glory be turned into dishonor? Will you+ love vanity?

Will you+ seek after falsehood? Selah.

3 But know that Yahweh has set apart for himself him who is godly:

Yahweh will hear when I call to him.

4 Stand in awe, and don't sin:

Commune with your+ own heart on your+ bed, and be still. Selah.

5 Offer the sacrifices of righteousness,

And put your+ trust in Yahweh.

6 Many there are that say, Who will show us [any] good?

Yahweh, lift up the light of your countenance on us.

7 You have put gladness in my heart,

More than [they have] when their grain and their new wine are increased.

8 In peace I will both lay myself down and sleep;

For you, Yahweh, alone make me dwell in safety.

5  For the Chief Musician; with the Nehiloth. A Psalm of David.

Give ear to my words, O Yahweh,

consider my meditation.

2 Listen to the voice of my cry, my King and my God,

for to you I will pray.

3 O Yahweh, in the morning you will hear my voice;

In the morning I will order [my prayer] to you, and will keep watch.

4 For you are not a God who has pleasure in wickedness:

Evil will not sojourn with you.

5 The arrogant will not stand in your sight:

You hate all workers of iniquity.

6 You will destroy those who speak lies:

Yahweh is disgusted by the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.

7 But as for me, in the abundance of your loving-kindness I will come into your house:

In your fear I will worship toward your holy temple.

8 Lead me, O Yahweh, in your righteousness because of my enemies;

Make your way straight before my face.

9 For there is no faithfulness in their mouth;

Their inward part is much wickedness;

Their throat is an open tomb;

They flatter with their tongue.

10 Hold them guilty, O God;

Let them fall by their own counsels;

Thrust them out in the multitude of their transgressions;

For they have rebelled against you.

11 But let all those who take refuge in you rejoice,

Let them ever shout for joy,

Because you defend them:

Let them also who love your name be joyful in you.

12 For you will bless the righteous; O Yahweh,

you will circle him with favor as with a shield.

6  For the Chief Musician; on stringed instruments, set to the Sheminith. A Psalm of David.

O Yahweh, don't rebuke me in your anger,

Neither chasten me in your hot displeasure.

2 Have mercy on me, O Yahweh; for I am withered away:

Heal me, O Yahweh; for my bones are troubled.

3 My soul also is intensely troubled:

And you, O Yahweh, how long?

4 Return, O Yahweh, deliver my soul:

Save me for your loving-kindness' sake.

5 For in death there is no remembrance of you:

In Sheol who will give you thanks?

6 I am weary with my groaning;

Every night I make my bed to swim;

I water my couch with my tears.

7 My eye wastes away because of grief;

It waxes old because of all my adversaries.

8 Depart from me, all you+ workers of iniquity;

For Yahweh has heard the voice of my weeping.

9 Yahweh has heard my supplication;

Yahweh will receive my prayer.

10 All my enemies will be put to shame and intensely troubled:

They will turn back, they will be put to shame suddenly.

7  Shiggaion of David, which he sang to Yahweh, concerning the words of Cush a Benjamite.

O Yahweh my God, in you I take refuge:

Save me from all those who pursue me, and deliver me,

2 Or else they will tear my soul like a lion,

Rending it in pieces, while there is none to deliver.

3 O Yahweh my God, if I have done this;

If there is iniquity in my hands;

4 If I have rewarded evil to him who was at peace with me;

(Yes, I have delivered him who without cause was my adversary;)

5 Let the enemy pursue my soul, and overtake it;

Yes, let him tread my life down to the earth,

And cause my glory to stay in the dust. Selah.

6 Arise, O Yahweh, in your anger;

Lift up yourself against the rage of my adversaries,

And awake for me; you have commanded judgment.

7 And let the congregation of the peoples circle you about;

And over them you return on high.

8 Yahweh will judge the peoples:

Judge me, O Yahweh, according to my righteousness, and to my integrity that is in me.

9 Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, but you establish the righteous:

For, the righteous God tries the minds and hearts.

10 My shield is with God,

Who saves the upright in heart.

11 God is a righteous judge,

Yes, a God who has indignation every day.

12 If a man doesn't turn, he will whet his sword;

He has bent his bow, and made it ready.

13 He has also prepared for him the instruments of death;

He makes his arrows fiery [shafts].

14 Look, he travails with iniquity;

Yes, he has become pregnant with mischief, and given birth to falsehood.

15 He has made a pit, and dug it,

And has fallen into the ditch which he made.

16 His mischief will return on his own head,

And his violence will come down on the top of his own head.

17 I will give thanks to Yahweh according to his righteousness,

And will sing praise to the name of Yahweh Most High.

8  For the Chief Musician; set to the Gittith. A Psalm of David.

O Yahweh, our Lord,

How majestic is your name in all the earth,

Who has set your grandeur on the heavens!

2 Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings you have established strength,

Because of your adversaries,

That you might still the enemy and the avenger.

3 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers,

The moon and the stars, which you have appointed;

4 What is common man, that you are mindful of him?

And the son of man, that you visit him?

5 For you have made him but a little lower than God,

And crown him with glory and majesty.

6 You make him to have dominion over the works of your hands;

You have put all things under his feet:

7 All sheep and oxen,

Yes, and the beasts of the field,

8 The birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,

Whatever passes through the paths of the seas.

9 O Yahweh, our Lord,

How majestic is your name in all the earth!

9  For the Chief Musician; set to Muthlabben. A Psalm of David.

I will give thanks to Yahweh with my whole heart;

I will show forth all your marvelous works.

2 I will be glad and exult in you;

I will sing praise to your name, O you Most High.

3 When my enemies turn back,

They stumble and perish at your presence.

4 For you have maintained my right and my cause;

You sit in the throne judging righteously.

5 You have rebuked the nations, you have destroyed the wicked;

You have blotted out their name forever and ever.

6 The enemy have come to an end, they are desolate forever;

And the cities which you have overthrown,

The very remembrance of them has perished.

7 But Yahweh sits [as king] forever:

He has prepared his throne for judgment;

8 And he will judge the world in righteousness,

He will judge the peoples in uprightness.

9 Yahweh also will be a high tower for the oppressed,

A high tower in times of trouble;

10 And those who know your name will put their trust in you;

For you, Yahweh, have not forsaken those who seek you.

11 Sing praises to Yahweh, who dwells in Zion:

Declare among the people his doings.

12 For he who makes inquisition for blood remembers them;

He does not forget the cry of the poor.

13 Have mercy on me, O Yahweh;

Look at my affliction [which I suffer] of those who hate me,

You who lift me up from the gates of death;

14 That I may show forth all your praise.

In the gates of the daughter of Zion

I will rejoice in your salvation.

15 The nations are sunk down in the pit that they made:

In the net which they hid is their own foot taken.

16 Yahweh has made himself known, he has executed judgment:

The wicked stumbles in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah.

17 The wicked will be turned back to Sheol,

Even all the nations that forget God.

18 For the needy will not always be forgotten,

Nor the expectation of the poor perish forever.

19 Arise, O Yahweh; Don't let common man prevail:

Let the nations be judged in your sight.

20 Put them in fear, O Yahweh:

Let the nations know themselves to be but common man. Selah.

10  Why do you stand far off, O Yahweh?

Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

2 In the pride of the wicked the poor is hotly pursued;

Let them be taken in the devices that they have conceived.

3 For the wicked boasts of his soul's desire,

And the covetous curses, [yes,] scorns Yahweh.

4 The wicked, in the pride of his countenance, [says], He will not require [it].

All his thoughts are, There is no God.

5 His ways are firm at all times;

Your judgments are far above out of his sight:

As for all his adversaries, he puffs at them.

6 He says in his heart, I will not be moved;

To all generations I will not be in adversity.

7 His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and oppression:

Under his tongue is mischief and iniquity.

8 He sits in the lurking-places of the villages;

In the secret places he murders the innocent;

His eyes are secretly set against the helpless.

9 He lurks in secret as a lion in his covert;

He lies in wait to catch the poor:

He catches the poor, when he draws him in his net.

10 He crouches, he bows down,

And the helpless fall by his strong ones.

11 He says in his heart, God has forgotten;

He hides his face; he will never see it.

12 Arise, O Yahweh; O God, lift up your hand:

Do not forget the poor.

13 Why does the wicked despise God,

And say in his heart, You will not require [it]?

14 You have seen [it]; for you behold mischief and spite, to repay it with your hand:

The helpless commits [himself] to you;

You have been the helper of the fatherless.

15 Break the arm of the wicked;

And as for the evil man, seek out his wickedness until you find none.

16 Yahweh is King forever and ever:

The nations have perished out of his land.

17 Yahweh, you have heard the desire of the meek:

You will prepare their heart, you will cause your ear to hear;

18 To judge the fatherless and the oppressed,

That common man who is of the earth may be terrible no more.

11  For the Chief Musician. [A Psalm] of David.

In Yahweh I take refuge:

How do you+ say to my soul,

Flee to your+ mountain, birds;

2 For, look, the wicked bend the bow,

They make ready their arrow on the string,

That they may shoot in darkness at the upright in heart;

3 If the foundations are destroyed,

What can the righteous do?

4 Yahweh is in his holy temple;

Yahweh, his throne is in heaven;

His eyes look at, his eyelids try, the sons of man.

5 Yahweh tries the righteous;

But the wicked and him who loves violence his soul hates.

6 On the wicked he will rain snares;

Fire and brimstone and burning wind will be the portion of their cup.

7 For Yahweh is righteous; he loves righteousness:

The upright will see his face.

12  For the Chief Musician; set to the Sheminith. A Psalm of David.

Help, Yahweh; for the godly man ceases;

For the faithful fail from among the sons of man.

2 They speak falsehood every man with his fellow man:

With flattering lip, and with a double heart, they speak.

3 Yahweh will cut off all flattering lips,

The tongue that speaks great things;

4 Who have said, With our tongue we will prevail;

Our lips are our own: who is lord over us?

5 Because of the oppression of the poor, because of the sighing of the needy,

Now I will arise, says Yahweh;

I will set him in the safety he pants for.

6 The words of Yahweh are pure words;

As silver tried in a furnace on the earth,

Purified seven times.

7 You will keep them, O Yahweh,

You will preserve him from this generation forever.

8 The wicked walk on every side,

When vileness is exalted among the sons of man.

13  For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

How long, O Yahweh? Will you forget me forever?

How long will you hide your face from me?

2 How long shall I take counsel in my soul,

Having sorrow in my heart all the day?

How long will my enemy be exalted over me?

3 Consider [and] answer me, O Yahweh my God:

Lighten my eyes, or else I will sleep the [sleep of] death;

4 Or else my enemy will say, I have prevailed against him;

[and] my adversaries will rejoice when I am moved.

5 But I have trusted in your loving-kindness;

My heart will rejoice in your salvation.

6 I will sing to Yahweh,

Because he has dealt bountifully with me.

14  For the Chief Musician. [A Psalm] of David.

The fool has said in his heart, There is no God.

They are corrupt, they have done disgusting works;

There is none who does good.

2 Yahweh looked down from heaven on the sons of man,

To see if there were any who understood,

Who sought after God.

3 They have all gone aside; they have together become filthy;

There is none who does good, no, not one.

4 Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge,

Who eat up my people [as] they eat bread,

And do not call on Yahweh?

5 There they were in great fear;

For God is in the generation of the righteous.

6 You+ put to shame the counsel of the poor,

Because Yahweh is his refuge.

7 Oh that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion!

When Yahweh brings back the captivity of his people,

Then will Jacob rejoice, [and] Israel will be glad.

15  A Psalm of David.

Yahweh, who will sojourn in your tabernacle?

Who will stay in your holy hill?

2 He who walks uprightly, and works righteousness,

And speaks truth in his heart;

3 He who does not slander with his tongue,

Nor does evil to his friend,

Nor takes up a reproach against his fellow man;

4 In whose eyes a reprobate is despised,

But who honors those who fear Yahweh;

He who swears to his own hurt, and does not change;

5 He who does not put out his silver to interest,

Nor takes reward against the innocent.

He who does these things will never be moved.

16  Michtam of David.

Preserve me, O God;

for in you I take refuge.

2 I have said to Yahweh, You are my Lord:

I have no good beyond you.

3 As for the saints who are in the earth,

They are the majestic ones in whom is all my delight.

4 Their sorrows will be multiplied who hurry for another [god]:

Their drink-offerings of blood I will not offer,

Nor take their names on my lips.

5 Yahweh is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup:

You maintain my lot.

6 The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places;

Yes, I have a goodly heritage.

7 I will bless Yahweh, who has given me counsel;

Yes, my heart instructs me in the night seasons.

8 I have set Yahweh always before me:

Because he is at my right hand, I will not be moved.

9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices;

My flesh also will stay in safety.

10 For you will not leave my soul to Sheol;

Neither will you allow your holy one to see the pit.

11 You will show me the path of life:

In your presence is fullness of joy;

In your right hand there are pleasures forevermore.

17  A Prayer of David.

Hear the right, O Yahweh, attend to my cry;

Give ear to my prayer, that does not go out of feigned lips.

2 Let my sentence come forth from your presence;

Let your eyes look at equity.

3 You have proved my heart; you have visited me in the night;

You have tried me, and find nothing;

I have purposed that my mouth will not transgress.

4 As for the works of man, by the word of your lips

I have kept myself from the ways of the violent.

5 My steps have held fast to your paths,

My feet have not slipped.

6 I have called on you, for you will answer me, O God:

Incline your ear to me, [and] hear my speech.

7 Show your marvelous loving-kindness,

O you who save by your right hand those who take refuge [in you]

From those who rise up [against them].

8 Keep me as the apple of the eye;

Hide me under the shadow of your wings,

9 From the wicked who oppress me,

My deadly enemies, who circle about my soul.

10 They are enclosed in their own fat:

With their mouth they speak proudly.

11 They advance against me, now they surround me;

They set their eyes to cast [me] down to the earth.

12 He is like a lion that is greedy of his prey,

And as it were a young lion lurking in secret places.

13 Arise, O Yahweh,

Confront him, cast him down:

Deliver my soul from the wicked by your sword;

14 From men by your hand, O Yahweh,

From men of this world, whose portion is in [this] life,

And whose belly you fill with your treasure:

They are satisfied with sons,

And leave the rest of their substance to their babes.

15 As for me, I will see your face in righteousness;

I will be satisfied, when I awake, with [seeing] your form.

18  For the Chief Musician. [A Psalm] of David the slave of Yahweh,

who spoke to Yahweh the words of this song in the day that Yahweh delivered him

from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul, and he said:

I love you, O Yahweh, my strength.

2 Yahweh is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer;

My God, my rock, in whom I will take refuge;

My shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower.

3 I will call on Yahweh, who is worthy to be praised:

So I will be saved from my enemies.

4 The cords of death surrounded me,

And the floods of ungodliness made me afraid.

5 The cords of Sheol were round about me;

The snares of death came upon me.

6 In my distress I called on Yahweh,

And cried to my God:

He heard my voice out of his temple,

And my cry before him came into his ears.

7 Then the earth shook and trembled;

The foundations also of the mountains quaked

And were shaken, because he was angry.

8 There went up a smoke out of his nostrils,

And fire out of his mouth devoured:

Coals were kindled by it.

9 He bowed the heavens also, and came down;

And thick darkness was under his feet.

10 And he rode on a cherub, and flew;

Yes, he soared on the wings of the wind.

11 He made darkness his hiding-place, his pavilion round about him,

Darkness of water, thick clouds of the skies.

12 At the brightness before him his thick clouds passed,

Hailstones and coals of fire.

13 Yahweh also thundered in the heavens,

And the Most High uttered his voice,

Hailstones and coals of fire.

14 And he sent out his arrows, and scattered them;

Yes, lightnings manifold, and discomfited them.

15 Then the channels of water appeared,

And the foundations of the world were laid bare,

At your rebuke, O Yahweh,

At the blast of the breath of your nostrils.

16 He sent from on high, he took me;

He drew me out of many waters.

17 He delivered me from my strong enemy,

And from those who hated me; for they were too mighty for me.

18 They came upon me in the day of my calamity;

But Yahweh was my support.

19 He brought me forth also into a large place;

He delivered me, because he delighted in me.

20 Yahweh has rewarded me according to my righteousness;

According to the cleanness of my hands he has recompensed me.

21 For I have kept the ways of Yahweh,

And have not wickedly departed from my God.

22 For all his ordinances were before me,

And I do not put away his statutes from me.

23 I was also perfect with him,

And I kept myself from my iniquity.

24 Therefore Yahweh has recompensed me according to my righteousness,

According to the cleanness of my hands in his eyes.

25 With the merciful you will show yourself merciful;

With the perfect [noble] man you will show yourself perfect;

26 With the pure you will show yourself pure;

And with the perverse you will show yourself froward.

27 For you will save the afflicted people;

But the haughty eyes you will bring down.

28 For you will light my lamp:

Yahweh my God will lighten my darkness.

29 For by you I run on a troop;

And by my God I leap over a wall.

30 As for God, his way is perfect:

The word of Yahweh is tried;

He is a shield to all those who take refuge in him.

31 For who is God, but Yahweh?

And who is a rock, besides our God,

32 The God who girds me with strength,

And makes my way perfect?

33 He makes my feet like hinds' [feet]:

And sets me on my high places.

34 He teaches my hands to war;

So that my arms bend a bow of bronze.

35 You have also given me the shield of your salvation;

And your right hand has held me up,

And your response made me great.

36 You have enlarged my steps under me,

And my feet have not slipped.

37 I will pursue my enemies, and overtake them;

Neither will I turn again until they are consumed.

38 I will strike them through, so that they will not be able to rise:

They will fall under my feet.

39 For you have girded me with strength to the battle:

You have subdued under me those who rose up against me.

40 You have also made my enemies turn their backs to me,

That I might cut off those who hate me.

41 They cried, but there was none to save;

Even to Yahweh, but he did not answer them.

42 Then I beat them small as the dust before the wind;

I cast them out as the mire of the streets.

43 You have delivered me from the strivings of a people;

You have made me the head of the nations:

A people whom I have not known will serve me.

44 As soon as they hear of me they will obey me;

The foreigners will submit themselves to me.

45 The foreigners will fade away,

And will come trembling out of their close places.

46 Yahweh lives; and blessed be my rock;

And exalted be the God of my salvation,

47 Even the God who executes vengeance for me,

And subdues peoples under me.

48 He rescues me from my enemies;

Yes, you lift me up above those who rise up against me;

You deliver me from the violent man.

49 Therefore I will give thanks to you, O Yahweh, among the nations,

And will sing praises to your name.

50 Great deliverance he gives to his king,

And shows loving-kindness to his anointed,

To David and to his seed, forevermore.

19  For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

The heavens declare the glory of God;

And the firmament shows his handiwork.

2 Day to day gushes out speech,

And night to night shows knowledge.

3 There is no speech nor language;

Where their voice is not heard.

4 Their line has gone out through all the earth,

And their words to the end of the world.

In them he has set a tabernacle for the sun,

5 Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,

And rejoices as a strong man to run his course.

6 His going forth is from the end of the heavens,

And his circuit to the ends of it;

And there is nothing hid from its heat.

7 The law of Yahweh is perfect, restoring the soul:

The testimony of Yahweh is sure, making wise the simple.

8 The precepts of Yahweh are right, rejoicing the heart:

The commandment of Yahweh is pure, enlightening the eyes.

9 The fear of Yahweh is clean, enduring forever:

The ordinances of Yahweh are true, [and] righteous altogether.

10 More to be desired are they than gold, yes, than much fine gold;

Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.

11 Moreover by them is your slave warned:

In keeping them there is great reward.

12 Who can discern [his] errors?

Acquit me from hidden [faults].

13 Keep back your slave also from presumptuous [sins];

Don't let them have dominion over me:

Then I will be upright,

And I will be innocent from great transgression.

14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart

Be acceptable in your sight,

O Yahweh, my rock, and my redeemer.

20  For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

May Yahweh answer you in the day of trouble;

The name of the God of Jacob set you up on high;

2 Send you help from the sanctuary,

And strengthen you out of Zion;

3 Remember all your offerings,

And accept your burnt-sacrifice; Selah.

4 Grant you your heart's desire,

And fulfill all your counsel.

5 We will triumph in your salvation,

And in the name of our God we will set up our banners:

Yahweh fulfill all your petitions.

6 Now I know that Yahweh saves his anointed;

He will answer him from his holy heaven

With the saving strength of his right hand.

7 Some [trust] in chariots, and some in horses;

But we will make mention of the name of Yahweh our God.

8 They are bowed down and fallen;

But we have risen, and stand upright.

9 Save, Yahweh:

Let the King answer us when we call.

21  For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

The king will joy in your strength, O Yahweh;

And in your salvation how greatly he will rejoice!

2 You have given him his heart's desire,

And have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah.

3 For you meet him with the blessings of goodness:

You set a crown of fine gold on his head.

4 He asked life of you, you gave it him,

Even length of days forever and ever.

5 His glory is great in your salvation:

Grandeur and majesty you lay on him.

6 For you make him most blessed forever:

You make him glad with joy in your presence.

7 For the king trusts in Yahweh;

And through the loving-kindness of the Most High he will not be moved.

8 Your hand will find out all your enemies;

Your right hand will find out those who hate you.

9 You will make them as a fiery furnace in the time of your anger:

Yahweh will swallow them up in his wrath,

And the fire will devour them.

10 Their fruit you will destroy from the earth,

And their seed from among the sons of man.

11 For they intended evil against you;

They conceived a device which they are not able to perform.

12 For you will make them turn their back;

You will make ready with your bowstrings against their face.

13 Be exalted, O Yahweh, in your strength:

So we will sing and praise your power.

22  For the Chief Musician; set to Aijeleth hash-Shahar. A Psalm of David.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

[Why are you so] far from helping me, [and from] the words of my groaning?

2 O my God, I cry in the daytime, but you don't answer;

And in the night season, and am not silent.

3 But you are holy,

O you who inhabit the praises of Israel.

4 Our fathers trusted in you:

They trusted, and you delivered them.

5 They cried to you, and were delivered:

They trusted in you, and were not put to shame.

6 But I am a worm, and not a man;

A reproach of man, and despised of the people.

7 All those who see me laugh me to scorn:

They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, [saying,]

8 Commit [yourself] to Yahweh; Let him deliver him:

Let him rescue him, seeing he delights in him.

9 But you are he who took me out of the womb;

You made me trust [when I was] on my mother's breasts.

10 I was cast on you from the womb;

You are my God since my mother bore me.

11 Don't be far from me; for trouble is near;

For there is none to help.

12 Many bulls have surrounded me;

Strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.

13 They gape on me with their mouth,

[As] a ravening and a roaring lion.

14 I am poured out like water,

And all my bones are out of joint:

My heart is like wax;

It is melted inside me.

15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd;

And my tongue is sticking to my jaws;

And you have brought me into the dust of death.

16 For dogs have surrounded me:

A company of evildoers have enclosed me;

They surrounded me like a lion [threatening] to tear me to pieces.[314]

17 I may count all my bones.

They look and stare on me;

18 They part my garments among them,

And on my vesture they cast lots.

19 But don't be far off, O Yahweh:

O you my help, hurry to help me.

20 Deliver my soul from the sword,

My darling from the power of the dog.

21 Save me from the lion's mouth;

Yes, from the horns of the wild-oxen you have answered me.

22 I will declare your name to my brothers:

In the midst of the assembly I will praise you.

23 You+ who fear Yahweh, praise him;

All you+ the seed of Jacob, glorify him;

And stand in awe of him, all you+ the seed of Israel.

24 For he has not despised nor detested the affliction of the afflicted;

Neither has he hid his face from him;

But when he cried to him, he heard.

25 Of you comes my praise in the great assembly:

I will pay my vows before those who fear him.

26 The meek will eat and be satisfied;

They will praise Yahweh who seek after him:

Let your+ heart live forever.

27 All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to Yahweh;

And all the kindreds of the nations will worship before you.

28 For the kingdom is Yahweh's;

And he is the ruler over the nations.

29 All the fat ones of the earth will eat and worship:

All those who go down to the dust will bow before him,

Even he who can't keep his soul alive.

30 A seed will serve him;

It will be told of the Lord to the [next] generation.

31 They will come and will declare his righteousness

To a people who will be born, that he has done it.

23  A Psalm of David.

Yahweh is my shepherd; I will not want.

2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures;

He leads me beside still waters.

3 He restores my soul:

He guides me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

4 Yes, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil; for you are with me;

Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies:

You have anointed my head with oil;

My cup runs over.

6 Surely goodness and loving-kindness will follow me all the days of my life;

And I will dwell in the house of Yahweh forever.

24  A Psalm of David.

The earth is Yahweh's, and the fullness of it;

The world, and those who dwell in it.

2 For he has founded it on the seas,

And established it on the floods.

3 Who will ascend into the hill of Yahweh?

And who will stand in his holy place?

4 He who has innocent hands, and a pure heart;

Who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood,

And has not sworn deceitfully.

5 He will receive a blessing from Yahweh,

And righteousness from the God of his salvation.

6 This is the generation of those who seek after him,

Who seek your face, Jacob. Selah.

7 Lift up your+ heads, O you+ gates;

And be+ lifted up, you+ everlasting doors:

And the King of glory will come in.

8 Who is the King of glory?

Yahweh strong and mighty,

Yahweh mighty in battle.

9 Lift up your+ heads, O you+ gates;

Yes, lift them up, you+ everlasting doors:

And the King of glory will come in.

10 Who is this King of glory?

Yahweh of hosts,

He is the King of glory. Selah.

25  [A Psalm] of David.

To you, O Yahweh, I lift up my soul.

2 O my God, in you I have trusted,

Don't let me be put to shame;

Don't let my enemies triumph over me.

3 Yes, none who wait for you will be put to shame:

They will be put to shame who are betrayers without cause.

4 Show me your ways, O Yahweh;

Teach me your paths.

5 Guide me in your truth, and teach me;

For you are the God of my salvation;

For you I wait all the day.

6 Remember, O Yahweh, your tender mercies and your loving-kindness;

For they have been ever of old.

7 Don't remember the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions:

According to your loving-kindness remember me,

For your goodness' sake, O Yahweh.

8 Good and upright is Yahweh:

Therefore he will instruct sinners in the way.

9 The meek he will guide in justice;

And the meek he will teach his way.

10 All the paths of Yahweh are loving-kindness and truth

To such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.

11 For your name's sake, O Yahweh,

Pardon my iniquity, for it is great.

12 What man is he who fears Yahweh?

He will instruct him in the way that he will choose.

13 His soul will dwell at ease;

And his seed will inherit the land.

14 The friendship of Yahweh is with those who fear him;

And he will show them his covenant.

15 My eyes are ever toward Yahweh;

For he will pluck my feet out of the net.

16 Turn to me, and have mercy on me;

For I am desolate and afflicted.

17 The troubles of my heart are enlarged:

Oh bring me out of my distresses.

18 Consider my affliction and my travail;

And forgive all my sins.

19 Consider my enemies, for they are many;

And they hate me with cruel hatred.

20 Oh keep my soul, and deliver me:

Don't let me be put to shame, for I take refuge in you.

21 Let integrity and uprightness preserve me,

For I wait for you.

22 Redeem Israel, O God,

Out of all his troubles.

26  [A Psalm] of David.

Judge me, O Yahweh, for I have walked in my integrity:

I have trusted also in Yahweh without wavering.

2 Examine me, O Yahweh, and prove me;

Try my heart and my mind.

3 For your loving-kindness is before my eyes;

And I have walked in your truth.

4 I have not sat with men of falsehood;

Neither will I go in with dissemblers.

5 I hate the assembly of evildoers,

And will not sit with the wicked.

6 I will wash my hands in innocence:

So I will go about your altar, O Yahweh;

7 That I may make the voice of thanksgiving to be heard,

And tell of all your wondrous works.

8 Yahweh, I love the habitation of your house,

And the place where your glory dwells.

9 Don't gather my soul with sinners,

Nor my life with men of blood;

10 In whose hands is wickedness,

And their right hand is full of bribes.

11 But as for me, I will walk in my integrity:

Redeem me, and be merciful to me.

12 My foot stands in an even place:

In the congregations I will bless Yahweh.

27  [A Psalm] of David.

Yahweh is my light and my salvation;

Whom shall I fear?

Yahweh is the strength of my life;

Of whom shall I be afraid?

2 When evildoers came upon me to eat up my flesh,

[Even] my adversaries and my foes, they stumbled and fell.

3 Though a host should encamp against me,

My heart will not fear:

Though war should rise against me,

Even then I will be confident.

4 One thing I have asked of Yahweh, that I will seek after;

That I may dwell in the house of Yahweh all the days of my life,

To see the beauty of Yahweh,

And to inquire in his temple.

5 For in the day of trouble he will keep me secretly in his pavilion:

In the covert of his tabernacle he will hide me;

He will lift me up on a rock.

6 And now will my head be lifted up above my enemies round about me;

And I will offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy;

I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to Yahweh.

7 Hear, O Yahweh, when I cry with my voice:

Have mercy also on me, and answer me.

8 My heart said to you, My face will seek[315] your face.

O Yahweh, I will seek [you].

9 Don't hide your face from me;

Don't put your slave away in anger:

You have been my help;

Don't cast me off, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.

10 When my father and my mother forsake me,

Then Yahweh will take me up.

11 Teach me your way, O Yahweh;

And lead me in a plain path,

Because of my enemies.

12 Don't deliver me over to the soul of my adversaries:

For false witnesses have risen up against me,

And such as breathe out cruelty.

13 [I had fainted], unless I had believed to see the goodness of Yahweh

In the land of the living.

14 Wait for Yahweh:

Be strong, and let your heart take courage;

Yes, wait for Yahweh.

28  [A Psalm] of David.

To you, O Yahweh, I will call:

My rock, don't be deaf to me;

Or else, if you are silent to me,

I will become like those who go down into the pit.

2 Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry to you,

When I lift up my hands toward your holy oracle.

3 Don't draw me away with the wicked,

And with the workers of iniquity;

Who speak peace with their fellow men,

But mischief is in their hearts.

4 Give them according to their work, and according to the wickedness of their doings:

Give them after the operation of their hands;

Render to them their recompense.

5 Because they do not regard the works of Yahweh,

Nor the operation of his hands,

He will break them down and not build them up.

6 Blessed be Yahweh,

Because he has heard the voice of my supplications.

7 Yahweh is my strength and my shield;

My heart has trusted in him, and I am helped:

Therefore my heart greatly rejoices;

And with my song I will praise him.

8 Yahweh is strength to his people,

And he is a stronghold of salvation to his anointed.

9 Save your people, and bless your inheritance:

Be their shepherd also, and bear them up forever.

29  A Psalm of David.

Ascribe to Yahweh, O you+ sons of the mighty,

Ascribe to Yahweh glory and strength.

2 Ascribe to Yahweh the glory due to his name;

Worship Yahweh in holy array.

3 The voice of Yahweh is on the waters:

The God of glory thunders,

Even Yahweh on many waters.

4 The voice of Yahweh is powerful;

The voice of Yahweh is full of majesty.

5 The voice of Yahweh breaks the cedars;

Yes, Yahweh breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.

6 He makes them also to skip like a calf;

Lebanon and Sirion like a young wild-ox.

7 The voice of Yahweh splits the flames of fire.

8 The voice of Yahweh shakes the wilderness;

Yahweh shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.

9 The voice of Yahweh makes the hinds to calve,

And strips the forests bare:

And in his temple everything says, Glory.

10 Yahweh sat [as King] at the Flood;

Yes, Yahweh sits as King forever.

11 Yahweh will give strength to his people;

Yahweh will bless his people with peace.

30  A Psalm; a Song at the Dedication of the House. [A Psalm] of David.

I will extol you, O Yahweh; for you have raised me up,

And have not made my foes to rejoice over me.

2 O Yahweh my God,

I cried to you, and then you healed me.

3 O Yahweh, you have brought up my soul from Sheol;

You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.

4 Sing praise to Yahweh, O you+ saints of his,

And give thanks to his holy memorial [name].

5 For his anger is but for a moment; His favor is for a lifetime:

Weeping may spend the night, But joy [comes] in the morning.

6 As for me, I said in my prosperity,

I will not be moved—forever.

7 You, Yahweh, of your favor had made my mountain to stand strong:

You hid your face; I was troubled.

8 To you, O Yahweh, I will cry;

And to the Lord I will plead for mercy:

9 What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit?

Will the dust praise you? Will it declare your truth?

10 Hear, O Yahweh, and have mercy on me:

Yahweh, be my helper.

11 You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;

You have loosed my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness;

12 So that glory will sing praise to you, and not be silent.

O Yahweh my God, I will give thanks to you—forever.

31  For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

In you, O Yahweh, I take refuge;

Let me never be put to shame:

Deliver me in your righteousness.

2 Bow down your ear to me; deliver me speedily:

Be to me a strong rock,

A house of defense to save me.

3 For you are my rock and my fortress;

Therefore for your name's sake lead me and guide me.

4 Pluck me out of the net that they have laid secretly for me;

For you are my stronghold.

5 Into your hand I commend my spirit:

You have redeemed me, O Yahweh, you God of truth.

6 I hate those who regard lying vanities;

But I trust in Yahweh.

7 I will be glad and rejoice in your loving-kindness;

For you have seen my affliction:

You have known my soul in adversities;

8 And you have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy;

You have set my feet in a large place.

9 Have mercy on me, O Yahweh, for I am in distress:

My eye wastes away with grief, [yes,] my soul and my body.

10 For my life is spent with sorrow,

And my years with sighing:

My strength fails because of my iniquity,

And my bones are wasted away.

11 Because of all my adversaries I have become a reproach,

Yes, to my neighbors exceedingly,

And a fear to my acquaintance:

Those who saw me outside fled from me.

12 I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind:

I am like a broken vessel.

13 For I have heard the defaming of many,

Terror on every side:

While they took counsel together against me,

They devised to take away my soul.

14 But I trusted in you, O Yahweh:

I said, You are my God.

15 My times are in your hand:

Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me.

16 Make your face to shine on your slave:

Save me in your loving-kindness.

17 Don't let me be put to shame, O Yahweh; for I have called on you:

Let the wicked be put to shame, let them be silent in Sheol.

18 Let the lying lips be mute,

Which speak against the righteous insolently,

With pride and contempt.

19 Oh how great is your goodness,

Which you have laid up for those who fear you,

Which you have wrought for those who take refuge in you,

Before the sons of man!

20 In the covert of your presence you will hide them from the plottings of man:

You will keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.

21 Blessed be Yahweh;

For he has shown me his marvelous loving-kindness in a strong city.

22 As for me, I said in my haste,

I am cut off from before your eyes:

Nevertheless you heard the voice of my supplications

When I cried to you.

23 Oh love Yahweh, all you+ his saints:

Yahweh preserves the faithful,

And plentifully rewards him who deals proudly.

24 Be strong, and let your+ heart take courage,

All you+ who hope in Yahweh.

32  [A Psalm] of David. Maschil.

Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,

Whose sin is covered.

2 Blessed is [the] man to whom Yahweh does not impute iniquity,

And in whose spirit there is no guile.

3 When I kept silent, my bones wasted away

Through my groaning all the day long.

4 For day and night your hand was heavy on me:

My moisture was changed in the drought of summer. Selah.

5 I acknowledged my sin to you,

And my iniquity I did not hide:

I said, I will confess my transgressions to Yahweh;

And you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah.

6 For this let everyone who is godly pray to you in a time when you may be found:

Surely when the great waters overflow they will not reach to him.

7 You are my hiding-place; you will preserve me from trouble;

You will circle me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.

8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you will go:

I will counsel you with my eye on you.

9 Don't be+ as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding;

Whose trappings must be bit and bridle to hold them in,

[Or else] they will not come near to you.

10 Many sorrows will be to the wicked;

But he who trusts in Yahweh, loving-kindness will circle him about.

11 Be glad in Yahweh, and rejoice, you+ righteous;

And shout for joy, all you+ who are upright in heart.

33  Rejoice in Yahweh, O you+ righteous:

Praise is comely for the upright.

2 Give thanks to Yahweh with the harp:

Sing praises to him with the psaltery of ten strings.

3 Sing to him a new song;

Play skillfully with a loud noise.

4 For the word of Yahweh is right;

And all his work is [done] in faithfulness.

5 He loves righteousness and justice:

The earth is full of the loving-kindness of Yahweh.

6 By the word of Yahweh were the heavens made,

And all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.

7 He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap:

He lays up the deeps in storehouses.

8 Let all the earth fear Yahweh:

Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.

9 For he spoke, and it was done;

He commanded, and it stood fast.

10 Yahweh brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;

He makes the thoughts of the peoples to be of no effect.

11 The counsel of Yahweh stands fast forever,

The thoughts of his heart to all generations.

12 Blessed is the nation whose God is Yahweh,

The people whom he has chosen for his own inheritance.

13 Yahweh looks from heaven;

He beholds all the sons of man;

14 From the place of his habitation he looks forth

On all the inhabitants of the earth,

15 He who fashions the hearts of them all,

Who considers all their works.

16 There is no king saved by the multitude of a host:

A mighty man is not delivered by great strength.

17 A horse is a vain thing for safety;

Neither does he deliver any by his great power.

18 Look, the eye of Yahweh is on those who fear him,

On those who hope in his loving-kindness;

19 To deliver their soul from death,

And to keep them alive in famine.

20 Our soul has waited for Yahweh:

He is our help and our shield.

21 For our heart will rejoice in him,

Because we have trusted in his holy name.

22 Let your loving-kindness, O Yahweh, be on us,

According to as we have hoped in you.

34  A Psalm of David; when he changed his behavior before Abimelech,

who drove him away, and he departed.

I will bless Yahweh at all times:

His praise will continually be in my mouth.

2 My soul will make her boast in Yahweh:

The meek will hear of it, and be glad.

3 Oh magnify Yahweh with me,

And let us exalt his name together.

4 I sought Yahweh, and he answered me,

And delivered me from all my fears.

5 They looked to him, and were radiant;

And their faces will never be confounded.

6 This poor man cried, and Yahweh heard him,

And saved him out of all his troubles.

7 The angel of Yahweh encamps round about those who fear him,

And delivers them.

8 Oh taste and see that Yahweh is good:

Blessed is the [noble] man who takes refuge in him.

9 Oh fear Yahweh, you+ his saints;

For there is no want to those who fear him.

10 The young lions lack, and suffer hunger;

But those who seek Yahweh will not want any good thing.

11 Come, you+ sons, listen to me:

I will teach you+ the fear of Yahweh.

12 What man is he who desires life,

And loves [many] days, that he may see good?

13 Keep your tongue from evil,

And your lips from speaking guile.

14 Depart from evil, and do good;

Seek peace, and pursue it.

15 The eyes of Yahweh are toward the righteous,

And his ears are [open] to their cry.

16 The face of Yahweh is against those who do evil,

To cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.

17 [The righteous] cried, and Yahweh heard,

And delivered them out of all their troubles.

18 Yahweh is near to those who are of a broken heart,

And saves such as are of a contrite spirit.

19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous;

But Yahweh delivers him out of them all.

20 He keeps all his bones:

Not one of them is broken.

21 Evil will slay the wicked;

And those who hate the righteous will be condemned.

22 Yahweh redeems the soul of his slaves;

And none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.

35  [A Psalm] of David.

Strive, O Yahweh, with those who strive with me:

Fight against those who fight against me.

2 Take hold of shield and buckler,

And stand up for my help.

3 Draw out also the spear, and stop the way against those who pursue me:

Say to my soul, I am your salvation.

4 Let them be put to shame and brought to dishonor who seek after my soul:

Let them be turned back and confounded who devise my hurt.

5 Let them be as chaff before the wind,

And the angel of Yahweh driving [them] on.

6 Let their way be dark and slippery,

And the angel of Yahweh pursuing them.

7 For without cause they have hid for me the pit of their net;

Without cause they have dug [it] for my soul.

8 Let destruction come upon him unawares;

And let his net that he has hid catch himself:

With destruction let him fall in it.

9 And my soul will be joyful in Yahweh:

It will rejoice in his salvation.

10 All my bones will say, Yahweh, who is like you,

Who delivers the poor from him who is too strong for him,

Yes, the poor and the needy from him who robs him?

11 Unrighteous witnesses rise up;

They ask me of things that I don't know.

12 They reward me evil for good,

[To] the bereaving of my soul.

13 But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth:

I afflicted my soul with fasting;

And my prayer returned into my own bosom.

14 I behaved myself as though it had been my companion or my brother:

I bowed down mourning, as one who bewails his mother.

15 But in my adversity they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together:

The abjects gathered themselves together against me, and I didn't know [it];

They tore me, and did not cease:

16 Among the wicked, the godless fools[316]

Who gnashed on me with their teeth.

17 Lord, how long will you watch?

Rescue my soul from their destructions,

My darling from the lions.

18 I will give you thanks in the great assembly:

I will praise you among many people.

19 Don't let those who are my enemies wrongfully rejoice over me;

Neither let them wink with the eye who hate me without a cause.

20 For they don't speak peace;

But they devise deceitful words against those who are quiet in the land.

21 Yes, they opened their mouth wide against me;

They said, Aha, aha, our eye has seen it.

22 You have seen it, O Yahweh; don't keep silent:

O Lord, don't be far from me.

23 Stir up yourself, and awake to the justice [due] to me,

[Even] to my cause, my God and my Lord.

24 Judge me, O Yahweh my God, according to your righteousness;

And don't let them rejoice over me.

25 Don't let them say in their heart, Aha, our soul:

Don't let them say, We have swallowed him up.

26 Let them be put to shame and confounded together who rejoice at my hurt:

Let them be clothed with shame and dishonor who magnify themselves against me.

27 Let them shout for joy, and be glad, who favor my righteous cause:

Yes, let them say continually, Yahweh be magnified,

Who has pleasure in the prosperity of his slave.

28 And my tongue will talk of your righteousness

[And] of your praise all the day long.

36  For the Chief Musician. [A Psalm] of David the slave of Yahweh.

The transgression of the wicked says inside his heart,

There is no fear of God before his eyes.

2 For he flatters himself in his own eyes,

That his iniquity will not be found out and be hated.

3 The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit:

He has ceased to be wise [and] to do good.

4 He devises iniquity on his bed;

He sets himself in a way that is not good;

He does not abhor evil.

5 Your loving-kindness, O Yahweh, is in the heavens;

Your faithfulness [reaches] to the skies.

6 Your righteousness is like the mountains of God;

Your judgments are a great deep:

O Yahweh, you preserve man and beast.

7 How precious is your loving-kindness, O God!

And the sons of man take refuge under the shadow of your wings.

8 They will be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of your house;

And you will make them drink of the river of your pleasures.

9 For with you is the fountain of life:

In your light we will see light.

10 Oh continue your loving-kindness to those who know you,

And your righteousness to the upright in heart.

11 Don't let the foot of pride come against me,

And don't let the hand of the wicked drive me away.

12 There the workers of iniquity have fallen:

They are thrust down, and will not be able to rise.

37  [A Psalm] of David.

Don't fret yourself because of evildoers,

Neither be envious against those who work unrighteousness.

2 For they will soon be cut down like the grass,

And wither as the green herb.

3 Trust in Yahweh, and do good;

Stay in the land, and pasture on faithfulness.

4 Delight yourself also in Yahweh;

And he will give you the desires of your heart.

5 Commit your way to Yahweh;

Trust also in him, and he will bring it to pass.

6 And he will make your righteousness to go forth as the light,

And your justice as the noonday.

7 Rest in Yahweh, and wait patiently for him:

Don't fret yourself because of him who prospers in his way,

Because of the man who brings wicked devices to pass.

8 Cease from anger, and forsake wrath:

Don't fret yourself, [it tends] only to evildoing.

9 For evildoers will be cut off;

But those who wait for Yahweh, they will inherit the land.

10 For yet a little while, and the wicked will not be:

Yes, you will diligently consider his place, and he will not be.

11 But the meek will inherit the land,

And will delight themselves in the abundance of peace.

12 The wicked plots against the just,

And gnashes on him with his teeth.

13 The Lord will laugh at him;

For he sees that his day is coming.

14 The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow,

To cast down the poor and needy,

To slay such as are upright in the way.

15 Their sword will enter into their own heart,

And their bows will be broken.

16 Better is a little that the righteous has

Than the abundance of many wicked.

17 For the arms of the wicked will be broken;

But Yahweh upholds the righteous.

18 Yahweh knows the days of the perfect;

And their inheritance will be forever.

19 They will not be put to shame in the time of evil;

And in the days of famine they will be satisfied.

20 But the wicked will perish,

And the enemies of Yahweh will be as the fat of lambs:

They will consume; in smoke they will consume away.

21 The wicked borrows, and does not pay again;

But the righteous deals graciously, and gives.

22 For such as are blessed of him will inherit the land;

And those who are cursed of him will be cut off.

23 A [noble] man's goings are established of Yahweh;

And he delights in his way.

24 Though he falls, he will not be completely cast down;

For Yahweh upholds him with his hand.

25 I have been young, and now am old;

Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken,

Nor his seed begging bread.

26 All the day long he deals graciously, and lends;

And his seed is blessed.

27 Depart from evil, and do good;

And stay forevermore.

28 For Yahweh loves justice,

And does not forsake his saints;

They are preserved forever:

But the seed of the wicked will be cut off.

29 The righteous will inherit the land,

And stay in it forever.

30 The mouth of the righteous talks of wisdom,

And his tongue speaks justice.

31 The law of his God is in his heart;

None of his steps will slide.

32 The wicked watches the righteous,

And seeks to slay him.

33 Yahweh will not leave him in his hand,

Nor condemn him when he is judged.

34 Wait for Yahweh, and keep his way,

And he will exalt you to inherit the land:

When the wicked are cut off, you will see it.

35 I have seen the wicked in great power,

And spreading himself like a green tree in its native soil.

36 But one passed by, and, look, he was not:

Yes, I sought him, but he could not be found.

37 Mark the perfect man, and look at the upright;

For there is a [happy] end to the man of peace.

38 As for transgressors, they will be destroyed together;

The end of the wicked will be cut off.

39 But the salvation of the righteous is of Yahweh;

He is their stronghold in the time of trouble.

40 And Yahweh helps them, and rescues them;

He rescues them from the wicked, and saves them,

Because they have taken refuge in him.

38  A Psalm of David, to bring to remembrance.

O Yahweh, don't rebuke me in your wrath;

Neither chasten me in your hot displeasure.

2 For your arrows pierce into me,

And your hand presses me intensely.

3 There is no soundness in my flesh because of your indignation;

Neither is there any health in my bones because of my sin.

4 For my iniquities have gone over my head:

As a heavy burden they are too heavy for me.

5 My wounds stink and are corrupt,

Because of my foolishness.

6 I am pained and bowed down greatly;

I go mourning all the day long.

7 For my loins are filled with burning;

And there is no soundness in my flesh.

8 I am faint and very bruised:

I have groaned by reason of the disquietness of my heart.

9 Lord, all my desire is before you;

And my groaning is not hid from you.

10 My heart throbs, my strength fails me:

As for the light of my eyes, it also has gone from me.

11 My friends and my companions stand aloof from my plague;

And my kinsmen stand far off.

12 Those also who seek after my soul lay snares [for me];

And those who seek my hurt speak mischievous things,

And meditate deceits all the day long.

13 But I, as a deaf man, don't hear;

And I am as a mute man who does not open his mouth.

14 Yes, I am as a man who does not hear,

And in whose mouth are no reproofs.

15 For in you, O Yahweh, I hope:

You will answer, O Lord my God.

16 For I said, Or else they will rejoice over me:

When my foot slips, they magnify themselves against me.

17 For I am ready to fall,

And my sorrow is continually before me.

18 For I will declare my iniquity;

I will be sorry for my sin.

19 But those who are my enemies without cause are strong;

And those who hate me wrongfully are multiplied.

20 Those also who render evil for good

Are adversaries to me, because I follow the thing that is good.

21 Don't forsake me, O Yahweh:

O my God, don't be far from me.

22 Hurry to help me,

O Lord, my salvation.

39  For the Chief Musician, for Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.

I said, I will take heed to my ways,

That I don't sin with my tongue:

I will keep my mouth with a bridle,

While the wicked is before me.

2 I was mute with silence, I held my peace, even from good;

And my sorrow was stirred.

3 My heart was hot inside me;

While I was musing the fire burned:

[Then] I spoke with my tongue:

4 Yahweh, make me to know my end,

And the measure of my days, what it is;

Let me know how frail I am.

5 Look, you have made my days [as] handbreadths;

And my lifetime is as nothing before you:

Surely every man at his best estate is altogether vanity. Selah.

6 Surely everyone among man walks in a vain show;

Surely they are disquieted in vain:

He heaps up [riches], and does not know who will gather them.

7 And now, Lord, what do I wait for?

My hope is in you.

8 Deliver me from all my transgressions:

Don't make me the reproach of the foolish.

9 I was mute, I did not open my mouth;

Because you did it.

10 Remove your stroke away from me:

I am consumed by the blow of your hand.

11 When you with rebukes correct man for iniquity,

You make his beauty to consume away like a moth:

Surely everyone among man is vanity. Selah.

12 Hear my prayer, O Yahweh, and give ear to my cry;

Don't hold your peace at my tears:

For I am a stranger with you,

A sojourner, as all my fathers were.

13 Oh spare me, that I may recover strength,

Before I go from here, and be no more.

40  For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

I waited patiently for Yahweh;

And he inclined to me, and heard my cry.

2 He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay;

And he set my feet on a rock, and established my goings.

3 And he has put a new song in my mouth, even praise to our God:

Many will see it, and fear,

And will trust in Yahweh.

4 Blessed is the [noble] man who makes Yahweh his trust,

And does not respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.

5 Many, O Yahweh my God, are the wonderful works which you have done,

And your thoughts which are toward us;

They can't be set in order to you;

If I would declare and speak of them,

They are more numerous than can be numbered.

6 Sacrifice and offering you have no delight in;

My ears you have opened:

Burnt-offering and sin-offering you have not required.

7 Then I said, Look, I have come;

In the roll of the book it is written of me:

8 I delight to do your will, O my God;

Yes, your law is inside me.

9 I have proclaimed the good news of righteousness in the great assembly;

Look, I will not refrain my lips,

O Yahweh, you know.

10 I have not hid your righteousness inside my heart;

I have declared your faithfulness and your salvation;

I have not concealed your loving-kindness and your truth from the great assembly.

11 Don't withhold your tender mercies from me, O Yahweh;

Let your loving-kindness and your truth continually preserve me.

12 For innumerable evils have surrounded me;

My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up;

They are more than the hairs of my head;

And my heart has failed me.

13 Be pleased, O Yahweh, to deliver me:

Hurry to help me, O Yahweh.

14 Let them be put to shame and confounded together

Who seek after my soul to destroy it:

Let them be turned backward and brought to dishonor

Who delight in my hurt.

15 Let them be desolate by reason of their shame

Who say to me, Aha, aha.

16 Let all those who seek you rejoice and be glad in you:

Let such as love your salvation say continually,

Yahweh be magnified.

17 But I am poor and needy;

[Yet] the Lord thinks on me:

You are my help and my deliverer;

Make no tarrying, O my God.

41  For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

Blessed is he who considers the poor:

Yahweh will deliver him in the day of evil.

2 Yahweh will preserve him, and keep him alive,

And he will be called blessed on the earth;

And you will not deliver him to the soul of his enemies.

3 Yahweh will support him on the couch of languishing:

You make all his bed in his sickness.

4 I said, O Yahweh, have mercy on me:

Heal my soul; for I have sinned against you.

5 My enemies speak evil against me, [saying,]

When will he die, and his name perish?

6 And if he comes to see [me], he speaks falsehood;

His heart gathers iniquity to itself:

When he goes abroad, he tells it.

7 All who hate me whisper together against me;

Against me they devise my hurt.

8 An evil disease, [they say], is poured out on him;

And now that he lies he will rise up no more.

9 Yes, my own familiar friend, in whom I trusted,

Who ate of my bread,

Has lifted up his heel against me.

10 But you, O Yahweh, have mercy on me, and raise me up,

That I may repay them.

11 By this I know that you delight in me,

Because my enemy does not triumph over me.

12 And as for me, you uphold me in my integrity,

And set me before your face forever.

13 Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel,

From everlasting and to everlasting.

Amen, and Amen.

42  BOOK II.

For the Chief Musician. Maschil of the sons of Korah.

As a doe pants after the water brooks,

So my soul pants after you, O God.

2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God:

When shall I come and see the face of God?[317]

3 My tears have been my food day and night,

While they continually say to me, Where is your God?

4 These things I remember, and pour out my soul inside me,

How I went with the throng, and led them to the house of God,

With the voice of joy and praise, a multitude keeping holyday.

5 Why are you cast down, O my soul?

And [why] are you disquieted inside me?

Hope in God; for I will yet praise him,

My salvation[318] 6 and my God.

My soul is cast down inside me:

Therefore I remember you from the land of the Jordan,

And the Hermons, from the hill Mizar.

7 Deep calls to deep at the noise of your waterfalls:

All your waves and your billows have gone over me.

8 [Yet] Yahweh will command his loving-kindness in the daytime;

And in the night his song will be with me,

[Even] a prayer to the God of my life.

9 I will say to God my rock, Why have you forgotten me?

Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

10 With a sword in my bones, my adversaries reproach me,

While they continually say to me, Where is your God?

11 Why are you cast down, O my soul?

And why are you disquieted inside me?

Hope in God; for I will yet praise him,

My salvation and my God.

43  Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation:

Oh deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man.

2 For you are the God of my strength; why have you cast me off?

Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

3 Oh send out your light and your truth; let them lead me:

Let them bring me to your holy hill,

And to your tabernacles.

4 Then I will go to the altar of God,

To God my exceeding joy;

And on the harp I will praise you, O God, my God.

5 Why are you cast down, O my soul?

And why are you disquieted inside me?

Hope in God; for I will yet praise him,

My salvation and my God.

44  For the Chief Musician. [A Psalm] of the sons of Korah. Maschil.

We have heard with our ears, O God,

Our fathers have told us,

What work you did in their days,

In the days of old.

2 You drove out the nations with your hand;

But you planted them:

You afflicted the peoples;

But you spread them abroad.

3 For they did not get the land in possession by their own sword,

Neither did their own arm save them;

But your right hand, and your arm, and the light of your countenance,

Because you were favorable to them.

4 It is you, my King, [you are] God,

Who commands deliverance for Jacob.

5 Through you we will push down our adversaries:

Through your name we will tread them under who rise up against us.

6 For I will not trust in my bow,

Neither will my sword save me.

7 But you have saved us from our adversaries,

And have put them to shame who hate us.

8 In God we have made our boast all the day long,

And we will give thanks to your name forever. Selah.

9 But now you have cast [us] off, and brought us to dishonor,

And don't go forth with our hosts.

10 You make us to turn back from the adversary;

And those who hate us take spoil for themselves.

11 You have made us like sheep [appointed] for food,

And have scattered us among the nations.

12 You sell your people for nothing,

And have not increased [your wealth] by their price.

13 You make us a reproach to our neighbors,

A scoffing and a derision to those who are round about us.

14 You make us a byword among the nations,

A shaking of the head among the peoples.

15 All the day long is my dishonor before me,

And the shame of my face has covered me,

16 For the voice of him who reproaches and blasphemes,

By reason of the enemy and the avenger.

17 All this has come upon us; Yet we have not forgotten you,

Neither have we dealt falsely in your covenant.

18 Our heart is not turned back,

Neither have our steps declined from your way,

19 That you have intensely broken us in the place of jackals,

And covered us with the shadow of death.

20 If we have forgotten the name of our God,

Or spread forth our hands to a strange god;

21 Will not God search this out?

For he knows the secrets of the heart.

22 Yes, for your sake we are killed all the day long;

We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

23 Awake, why do you sleep, O Lord?

Arise, don't cast [us] off forever.

24 Why do you hide your face,

And forget our affliction and our oppression?

25 For our soul is bowed down to the dust:

Our body sticks to the earth.

26 Rise up for our help,

And redeem us for your loving-kindness' sake.

45  For the Chief Musician; set to Shoshannim.

[A Psalm] of the sons of Korah. Maschil. A Song of loves.

My heart overflows with a goodly matter;

I speak the things which I have made concerning the king:

My tongue is the pen of a ready writer.

2 You are fairer than the sons of man;

Grace is poured into your lips:

Therefore God has blessed you forever.

3 Gird your sword on your thigh, O mighty one,

Your grandeur and your majesty.

4 And in your majesty ride on prosperously,

Because of truth and meekness [and] righteousness:

And your right hand will teach you awesome things.

5 Your arrows are sharp;

The peoples fall under you;

[They are] in the heart of the king's enemies.

6 Your throne, O God, is forever and ever:

A scepter of equity is the scepter of your kingdom.

7 You have loved righteousness, and hated wickedness:

Therefore God, your God, has anointed you

With the oil of gladness above your peers.

8 All your garments [smell of] myrrh, and aloes, [and] cassia;

Out of ivory palaces stringed instruments have made you glad.

9 Kings' daughters are among your honorable women:

At your right hand stands the queen in gold of Ophir.

10 Listen, O daughter, and consider, and incline your ear;

Forget also your own people, and your father's house:

11 So will the king desire your beauty;

For he is your lord; and you will reverence him.

12 And the daughter of Tyre [will be there] with a gift;

The rich among the people will entreat your favor.

13 The king's daughter inside [the palace] is all glorious:

Her clothing is inwrought with gold.

14 She will be led to the king in embroidered work:

The virgins her companions who follow her

Will be brought to you.

15 With gladness and rejoicing they will be led:

They will enter into the king's palace.

16 Instead of your fathers will be your sons,

Whom you will make princes in all the earth.

17 I will make your name to be remembered in all generations:

Therefore will the peoples give you thanks forever and ever.

46  For the Chief Musician.

[A Psalm] of the sons of Korah; set to Alamoth. A Song.

God is our refuge and strength,

A very present help in trouble.

2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth changes,

And though the mountains shake into the heart of the seas;

3 Though its waters roar and are troubled,

Though the mountains tremble with its swelling. Selah.

4 There is a river, the streams of which make glad the city of God,

The holy of the tabernacles of the Most High.

5 God is in the midst of her; she will not be moved:

God will help her, and that right early.

6 The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved:

He uttered his voice, the earth melted.

7 Yahweh of hosts is with us;

The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.

8 Come, look at the works of Yahweh,

What desolations he has made in the earth.

9 He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth;

He breaks the bow, and cuts the spear in sunder;

He burns the shields[319] in the fire.

10 Be still, and know that I am God:

I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.

11 Yahweh of hosts is with us;

The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.

47  For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.

Oh clap your+ hands, all you+ peoples;

Shout to God with the voice of triumph.

2 For Yahweh Most High is awesome;

He is a great King over all the earth.

3 He subdues peoples under us,

And nations under our feet.

4 He chooses our inheritance for us,

The glory of Jacob whom he loved. Selah.

5 God has gone up with a shout,

Yahweh with the sound of a trumpet.

6 Sing praises to God, sing praises:

Sing praises to our King, sing praises.

7 For God is the King of all the earth:

Sing+ praises with understanding.

8 God reigns over the nations:

God sits on his holy throne.

9 The princes of the peoples are gathered together

[To be] the people of the God of Abraham:

For the shields of the earth belong to God;

He is greatly exalted.

48  A Song; a Psalm of the sons of Korah.

Great is Yahweh, and greatly to be praised,

In the city of our God, in his holy mountain.

2 Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth,

Is mount Zion, [on] the sides of the north,

The city of the great King.

3 God has made himself known in her palaces for a refuge.

4 For, look, the kings assembled themselves,

They passed by together.

5 They saw it, then they were amazed;

They were dismayed, they hurried away.

6 Trembling took hold of them there,

Pain, as of a woman in travail.

7 With the east wind

You break the ships of Tarshish.

8 As we have heard, so we have seen

In the city of Yahweh of hosts, in the city of our God:

God will establish it forever. Selah.

9 We have thought on your loving-kindness, O God,

In the midst of your temple.

10 As is your name, O God,

So is your praise to the ends of the earth:

Your right hand is full of righteousness.

11 Let mount Zion be glad,

Let the daughters of Judah rejoice,

Because of your judgments.

12 Walk about Zion, and go round about her;

Number its towers;

13 Mark+ well her bulwarks;

Consider her palaces:

That you+ may tell it to the generation following.

14 For this God is our God forever and ever:

He will be our guide.

49  Set to Muth. For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.

Hear this, all you+ peoples;

Give ear, all you+ inhabitants of this world,

2 Both sons of man and sons of a man[320]

Together, rich and poor.

3 My mouth will speak wisdom;

And the meditation of my heart will be of understanding.

4 I will incline my ear to a parable:

I will open my dark saying on the harp.

5 Why should I fear in the days of evil,

When iniquity at my heels circles me about?

6 Those who trust in their wealth,

And boast themselves in the multitude of their riches;

7 None [of them] can by any means redeem his brother,

Nor give to God a ransom for him;

8 (For the redemption of their soul is costly,

And it fails forever;)

9 That he should still live always,

That he should not see the pit.

10 For he will see it. Wise men die;

The fool and the brutish alike perish,

And leave their wealth to others.

11 Their graves are their houses forever,

[And] their dwelling-places to all generations;

[Even though] they call lands after their own names.

12 But man [being] in honor does not reside:

He is like the beasts that perish.

13 This way of theirs is their folly:

Yet after them men approve their sayings. Selah.

14 They are appointed as a flock for Sheol;

Death will be their shepherd;

And the upright will have dominion over them in the morning;

And their beauty will be for Sheol to consume,

Far away from their lofty home.

15 But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol;

For he will receive me. Selah.

16 Don't be afraid when one is made rich,

When the glory of his house is increased.

17 For when he dies he will carry nothing away;

His glory will not descend after him.

18 Though while he lived he blessed his soul

(And men praise you, when you do well to yourself,)

19 He will go to the generation of his fathers;

They will never see the light.

20 Man who is in honor, and does not understand,

Is like the beasts that perish.

50  A Psalm of Asaph.

The Mighty One, God, Yahweh, has spoken,

And called the earth from the rising of the sun to the going down of it.

2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,

God has shined forth.

3 Our God comes, and does not keep silent:

A fire devours before him,

And it is very tempestuous round about him.

4 He calls to the heavens above,

And to the earth, that he may judge his people:

5 Gather my saints together to me,

Those who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.

6 And the heavens will declare his righteousness;

For God is judge himself. Selah.

7 Hear, O my people, and I will speak;

O Israel, and I will testify to you:

I am God, [even] your God.

8 I will not reprove you for your sacrifices;

And your burnt-offerings are continually before me.

9 I will take no bull out of your house,

Nor he-goats out of your folds.

10 For every beast of the forest is mine,

And the cattle on a thousand hills.

11 I know all the birds of the mountains;

And the wild beasts of the field are mine.

12 If I were hungry, I would not tell you;

For the world is mine, and the fullness of it.

13 Shall I eat the flesh of bulls,

Or drink the blood of goats?

14 Offer to God the sacrifice of thanksgiving;

And pay your vows to the Most High:

15 And call on me in the day of trouble;

I will deliver you, and you will glorify me.

16 But to the wicked God says,

What have you to do to declare my statutes,

And that you have taken my covenant in your mouth,

17 Seeing you hate instruction,

And cast my words behind you?

18 When you saw a thief, you consented with him,

And have been a partaker with adulterers.

19 You give your mouth to evil,

And your tongue frames deceit.

20 You sit and speak against your brother;

You slander your own mother's son.

21 These things you have done, and I kept silent;

You thought that I was altogether such a one as yourself:

[But] I will reprove you, and set [them] in order before your eyes.

22 Now consider this, you+ who forget God,

Or else I will tear you+ in pieces, and there will be none to deliver:

23 Whoever offers the sacrifice of thanksgiving glorifies me;

And to him who orders his way [aright]

I will show the salvation of God.

51  For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David;

when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your loving-kindness:

According to the multitude of your tender mercies blot out my transgressions.

2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,

And cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I know my transgressions;

And my sin is ever before me.

4 Against you, you only, I have sinned,

And done that which is evil in your sight;

That you may be justified when you speak,

And be clear when you judge.

5 Look, I was brought forth in iniquity;

And in sin did my mother conceive me.

6 Look, you desire truth in the inward parts;

And in the hidden part you will make me to know wisdom.

7 Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean:

Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

8 Make me to hear joy and gladness,

That the bones which you have broken may rejoice.

9 Hide your face from my sins,

And blot out all my iniquities.

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God;

And renew a right spirit inside me.

11 Don't cast me away from your presence;

And don't take your Holy Spirit from me.

12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation;

And uphold me with a willing spirit.

13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways;

And sinners will be converted to you.

14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, God of my salvation;

[And] my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.

15 O Lord, open my lips;

And my mouth will show forth your praise.

16 For you do not delight in sacrifice; or else I would give it:

You have no pleasure in burnt-offering.

17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit:

A broken and a contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

18 Do good in your good pleasure to Zion:

Build the walls of Jerusalem.

19 Then you will delight in the sacrifices of righteousness,

In burnt-offering and whole burnt-offering:

Then they will offer bullocks on your altar.

52  For the Chief Musician. Maschil of David;

when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul,

and said to him, David has come to the house of Ahimelech.

Why do you boast yourself in mischief, O mighty man?

The loving-kindness of God [endures] continually.

2 Your tongue devises much wickedness,

Like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.

3 You love evil more than good,

And lying rather than to speak righteousness. Selah.

4 You love all devouring words,

O you deceitful tongue.

5 God will likewise break you down forever;

He will take you up, and pluck you out of your tent,

And root you out of the land of the living. Selah.

6 The righteous also will see [it], and fear,

And will laugh at him, [saying,]

7 Look, this is the [prominent] man who did not make God his strength,

But trusted in the abundance of his riches,

And strengthened himself in his plunder.

8 But as for me, I am like a green olive tree in the house of God:

I trust in the loving-kindness of God forever and ever.

9 I will give you thanks forever, because you have done it;

And I will proclaim your name, for it is good, in the presence of your saints.

53  For the Chief Musician; set to Mahalath. Maschil of David.

The fool has said in his heart, There is no God.

They are corrupt, and have done disgusting iniquity;

There is none who does good.

2 God looked down from heaven on the sons of man,

To see if there were any who understood,

Who sought after God.

3 Every one of them has gone back; they have together become filthy;

There is none who does good, no, not one.

4 Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge,

Who eat up my people [as] they eat bread,

And do not call on God?

5 There they were in great fear, where no fear was;

For God has scattered the bones of him who encamps against you:

You have put [them] to shame, because God has rejected them.

6 Oh that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion!

When God brings back the captivity of his people,

Then Jacob will rejoice, [and] Israel will be glad.

54  For the Chief Musician; on stringed instruments.

Maschil of David; when the Ziphites came

and said to Saul, Does not David hide himself with us?

Save me, O God, by your name,

And judge me in your might.

2 Hear my prayer, O God;

Give ear to the words of my mouth.

3 For strangers have risen up against me,

And violent men have sought after my soul:

They have not set God before them. Selah.

4 Look, God is my helper:

The Lord is of those who uphold my soul.

5 He will bring back the evil to my enemies:

Destroy them in your truth.

6 With a freewill-offering I will sacrifice to you:

I will give thanks to your name, O Yahweh, for it is good.

7 For he has delivered me out of all trouble;

And my eye has seen [my desire] on my enemies.

55  For the Chief Musician; on stringed instruments. Maschil of David.

Give ear to my prayer, O God;

And don't hide yourself from my supplication.

2 Attend to me, and answer me:

I am restless in my complaint, and moan,

3 Because of the voice of the enemy,

Because of the oppression of the wicked;

For they cast iniquity on me,

And in anger they persecute me.

4 My heart is very pained inside me:

And the terrors of death have fallen on me.

5 Fearfulness and trembling have come upon me,

And horror has overwhelmed me.

6 And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove!

Then I would fly away, and stay at rest.

7 Look, then I would wander far off,

I would lodge in the wilderness. Selah.

8 I would hurry myself to a shelter

From the stormy wind and tempest.

9 Destroy, O Lord, [and] divide their tongue;

For I have seen violence and strife in the city.

10 Day and night they go about it on its walls:

Iniquity also and mischief are in the midst of it.

11 Wickedness is in the midst of it:

Oppression and guile do not depart from its streets.

12 For it is not an enemy who reproached me;

Or I could have borne it:

It is not one who hated me who magnified himself against me;

Or I would have hid myself from him:

13 But it was you, [a] common man like me,

My best friend who I knew well.

14 We took sweet counsel together;

We walked in the house of God with the throng.

15 Let death come suddenly on them,

Let them go down alive into Sheol;

For wickedness is in their dwelling, in the midst of them.

16 As for me, I will call on God;

And Yahweh will save me.

17 Evening, and morning, and at noonday, I will complain, and moan;

And he will hear my voice.

18 He has redeemed my soul in peace from the battle that was against me;

For they were many [who strove] with me.

19 God will hear, and answer them,

Even he who remains of old. Selah.

[The men] who have no changes,

And who don't fear God.

20 He has put forth his hands against such as were at peace with him:

He has profaned his covenant.

21 His mouth was smooth as butter,

But his heart was war:

His words were softer than oil,

Yet they were drawn swords.

22 Cast your burden on Yahweh, and he will sustain you:

He will never allow the righteous to be moved.

23 But you, O God, will bring them down into the pit of destruction:

Bloodthirsty and deceitful men will not live out half their days;

But I will trust in you.

56  For the Chief Musician; set to The Silent Dove - Those Far Away.

[A Psalm] of David. Michtam: when the Philistines took him in Gath.

Be merciful to me, O God; for common man would swallow me up:

All the day long those fighting oppress me.

2 My enemies would swallow me up all the day long;

For they are many who fight proudly against me.

3 When I am afraid,

I will put my trust in you.

4 In God (I will praise his word)

In God I have put my trust, I will not be afraid;

What can flesh do to me?

5 All the day long they wrest my words:

All their thoughts are against me for evil.

6 They gather themselves together, they hide themselves,

They mark my steps,

Even as they have waited for my soul.

7 Will they escape by iniquity?

In anger cast down the peoples, O God.

8 You number my wanderings:

Put my tears into your bottle;

Are they not in your book?

9 Then my enemies will turn back in the day that I call:

This I know, that God is for me.

10 In God, I will praise [his] word;

In Yahweh, I will praise [his] word;

11 In God I have put my trust, I will not be afraid;

What can man do to me?

12 Your vows are on me, O God:

I will render thank-offerings to you.

13 For you have delivered my soul from death:

[Have you] not [delivered] my feet from falling,

That I may walk before God

In the light of the living?

57  For the Chief Musician; [set to] Al-tash-heth.

[A Psalm] of David. Michtam; when he fled from Saul, in the cave.

Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me;

For my soul takes refuge in you:

Yes, in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge,

Until [these] calamities have passed by.

2 I will cry to God Most High,

To God who performs [all things] for me.

3 He will send from heaven, and save me,

[When] he who would swallow me up reproaches; Selah.

God will send forth his loving-kindness and his truth.

4 My soul is among lions;

I lie among those who are set on fire,

Even the sons of man, whose teeth are spears and arrows,

And their tongue a sharp sword.

5 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;

[Let] your glory [be] above all the earth.

6 They have prepared a net for my steps;

My soul is bowed down:

They have dug a pit before me;

They have fallen into the midst of it themselves. Selah.

7 My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed:

I will sing, yes, I will sing praises.

8 Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp:

I myself will awake the dawn.

9 I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples:

I will sing praises to you among the nations.

10 For your loving-kindness is great to the heavens,

And your truth to the skies.

11 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;

[Let] your glory [be] above all the earth.

58  For the Chief Musician; [set to] Al-tashheth. [A Psalm] of David. Michtam.

Do you+ indeed in silence speak righteousness?

Do you+ judge uprightly, O you+ sons of man?

2 No, in heart you+ work wickedness;

You+ weigh out the violence of your+ hands in the earth.

3 The wicked are estranged from the womb:

They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.

4 Their poison is like the poison of a serpent:

[They are] like the deaf cobra that stops her ear,

5 Which does not harken to the voice of charmers

Using magic words with mastery.

6 Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth:

Break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Yahweh.

7 Let them melt away as water that runs apace:

When he aims his arrows, let them be as though they were cut off.

8 [Let them be] as a snail which melts and passes away,

[Like] the untimely birth of a woman, that has not seen the sun.

9 Before your+ pots can feel the thorns,

He will take them away with a whirlwind, the green and the burning alike.

10 The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance:

He will wash his feet in the blood of the wicked;

11 So that man will say, Truly there is a reward for the righteous:

Truly there is a God who judges in the earth.

59  For the Chief Musician; [set to] Al-tashheth.

[A Psalm] of David. Michtam;

when Saul sent, and they watched the house to kill him.

Deliver me from my enemies, O my God:

Set me on high from those who rise up against me.

2 Deliver me from the workers of iniquity,

And save me from the bloodthirsty men.

3 For, look, they lie in wait for my soul;

The mighty gather themselves together against me:

Not for my transgression, nor for my sin, O Yahweh.

4 They run and prepare themselves without [my] fault:

Awake to help me, and behold.

5 Even you, O Yahweh God of hosts, the God of Israel,

Arise to visit all the nations:

Don't be merciful to any wicked betrayers. Selah.

6 They return at evening, they howl like a dog,

And go round about the city.

7 Look, they gush out with their mouth;

Swords are in their lips:

[They say,] For who hears?

8 But you, O Yahweh, will laugh at them;

You will have all the nations in derision.

9 My strength, I will give heed to you;

For God is my high tower.

10 My God with his loving-kindness will meet me:

God will let me see [my desire] on my enemies.

11 Don't slay them, or else my people will forget:

Scatter them by your power, and bring them down,

O Lord our shield.

12 [For] the sin of their mouth, [and] the words of their lips,

Let them even be taken in their pride,

And for cursing and lying which they speak.

13 Consume them in wrath, consume them, so that they will be no more:

And let them know that God rules in Jacob,

To the ends of the earth. Selah.

14 And at evening let them return, let them howl like a dog,

And go round about the city.

15 They will wander up and down for food,

And tarry all night if they are not satisfied.

16 But I will sing of your strength;

Yes, I will sing aloud of your loving-kindness in the morning:

For you have been my high tower,

And a refuge in the day of my distress.

17 To you, O my strength, I will sing praises:

For God is my high tower, the God of my mercy.

60  For the Chief Musician; set to Shushan Eduth. Michtam of David, to teach;

when he strove with Aram-naharaim and with Aram-zobah,

and Joab returned, and struck of Edom in the Valley of Salt twelve thousand.

O God you have cast us off, you have broken us down;

You have been angry; oh restore us again.

2 You have made the land to tremble; you have rent it:

Heal its breaches; for it shakes.

3 You have shown your people hard things:

You have made us to drink the wine of staggering.

4 You have given a banner to those who fear you,

That it may be displayed because of the bow. Selah.

5 That your beloved may be delivered,

Save with your right hand, and answer us.

6 God has spoken in his holiness: I will exult;

I will divide Shechem, and mete out the valley of Succoth.

7 Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine;

Ephraim also is the defense of my head;

Judah is my scepter.

8 Moab is my washpot;

On Edom I will cast my sandal:

Philistia, shout because of me.

9 Who will bring me into the strong city?

Who has led me to Edom?

10 Have not you, O God, cast us off?

And you don't go forth, O God, with our hosts.

11 Give us help against the adversary;

For vain is the help of man.

12 Through God we will do valiantly;

For it is he who will tread down our adversaries.

61  For the Chief Musician; on a stringed instrument. [A Psalm] of David.

Hear my cry, O God;

Attend to my prayer.

2 From the end of the earth I will call to you, when my heart is overwhelmed:

You will lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

3 For you have been a refuge for me,

A strong tower from the enemy.

4 I will dwell in your tabernacle forever:

I will take refuge in the covert of your wings. Selah.

5 For you, O God, have heard my vows:

You have given [me] the heritage of those who fear your name.

6 You will prolong the king's life;

His years will be as many generations.

7 He will remain before God forever:

Oh prepare loving-kindness and truth, that they may preserve him.

8 So I will sing praise to your name forever,

That I may daily perform my vows.

62  For the Chief Musician; after the manner of Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.

My soul waits in silence for God only:

From him [comes] my salvation.

2 He only is my rock and my salvation:

[He is] my high tower; I will not be greatly moved.

3 How long will you+ set on a man,

That you+ may slay [him], all of you+

Like a leaning wall, like a tottering fence?

4 They only consult to thrust him down from his dignity;

They delight in lies;

They bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. Selah.

5 My soul, wait in silence for God only;

For my expectation is from him.

6 He only is my rock and my salvation:

[He is] my high tower; I will not be moved.

7 With God is my salvation and my glory:

The rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God.

8 Trust in him at all times, you+ people;

Pour out your+ heart before him:

God is a refuge for us. Selah.

9 Surely sons of man are vanity, and sons of a man[321] are a lie:

In the balances they will go up;

They are together lighter than vanity.

10 Don't trust in oppression,

And don't become vain in robbery:

If riches increase, don't set your+ heart [on them].

11 God has spoken once,

Twice I have heard this,

That power belongs to God.

12 Also to you, O Lord, belongs loving-kindness;

For you render to every man according to his work.

63  A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah.

O God, you are my God; earnestly I will seek you:

My soul thirsts for you, my flesh longs for you,

In a dry and weary land, where there is no water.

2 So I have looked on you in the sanctuary,

To see your power and your glory.

3 Because your loving-kindness is better than life,

My lips will praise you.

4 So I will bless you while I live:

I will lift up my hands in your name.

5 My soul will be satisfied as with marrow and fatness;

And my mouth will praise you with joyful lips;

6 When I remember you on my bed,

[And] meditate on you in the night-watches.

7 For you have been my help,

And in the shadow of your wings I will rejoice.

8 My soul sticks [closely] after you:

Your right hand upholds me.

9 But those who seek my soul, to destroy it,

Will go into the lower parts of the earth.

10 They will be given over to the power of the sword:

They will be a portion for foxes.

11 But the king will rejoice in God:

Everyone who swears by him will glory;

For the mouth of those who speak lies will be stopped.

64  For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint:

Preserve my life from fear of the enemy.

2 Hide me from the secret counsel of evildoers,

From the tumult of the workers of iniquity;

3 Who have whet their tongue like a sword,

And have aimed their arrows, even bitter words,

4 That they may shoot in secret places at the perfect:

Suddenly they shoot at him, and aren't afraid.

5 They encourage themselves in an evil purpose;

They commune of laying snares secretly;

They say, Who will see them?

6 They search out iniquities;

We have accomplished, [they say], a diligent search:

And the inward thought and the heart of a man is deep.

7 But God will shoot at them;

With an arrow they will suddenly be wounded.

8 And they made their own tongue stumble against themselves:

All who see them will wag the head.

9 And all of man will fear;

And they will declare the work of God,

And will wisely consider of his doing.

10 The righteous will be glad in Yahweh, and will take refuge in him;

And all the upright in heart will glory.

65  For the Chief Musician. A Psalm. A Song of David.

Praise is due to you, O God, in Zion;

And to you will the vow be performed.

2 O you who hear prayer,

To you will all flesh come.

3 Iniquities prevail against me:

As for our transgressions, you will forgive them.

4 Blessed is the man whom you choose, and cause to approach [to you]

That he may stay in your courts:

We will be satisfied with the goodness of your house,

Your holy temple.

5 By awesome things you will answer us in righteousness,

O God of our salvation,

You who are the confidence of all the ends of the earth,

And of those who are far off on the sea:

6 Who by his strength sets fast the mountains,

Being girded about with might;

7 Who stills the roaring of the seas,

The roaring of their waves,

And the tumult of the peoples.

8 Those also who dwell in the uttermost parts are afraid at your tokens:

You make the outgoings of the morning and evening to rejoice.

9 You visit the earth, and water it,

You greatly enrich it;

The river of God is full of water:

You provide them grain, when you have so prepared the earth.

10 You soak its furrows;

You settle its ridges:

You make it soft with showers;

You bless the springing of it.

11 You crown the year with your goodness;

And your paths drop fatness.

12 They drop on the pastures of the wilderness;

And the hills are girded with joy.

13 The pastures are clothed with flocks;

The valleys also are covered over with grain;

They shout for joy, they also sing.

66  For the Chief Musician. A Song, a Psalm.

Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth:

2 Sing forth the glory of his name:

Make his praise glorious.

3 Say to God, How awesome are your works!

Through the greatness of your power will your enemies submit themselves to you.

4 All the earth will worship you,

And will sing to you;

They will sing to your name. Selah.

5 Come, and see the works of God;

[He is] awesome in his doing toward the sons of man.

6 He turned the sea into dry land;

They went through the river on foot:

There we rejoiced in him.

7 He rules by his might forever;

His eyes observe the nations:

Don't let the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah.

8 Oh bless our God, you+ peoples,

And make the voice of his praise to be heard;

9 Who holds our soul in life,

And does not allow our feet to be moved.

10 For you, O God, have proved us:

You have tried us, as silver is tried.

11 You brought us into the net;

You laid an intense burden on our loins.

12 You caused common man to ride over our heads;

We went through fire and through water;

But you brought us out into abundance.

13 I will come into your house with burnt-offerings;

I will pay you my vows,

14 Which my lips uttered,

And my mouth spoke, when I was in distress.

15 I will offer to you burnt-offerings of fatlings,

With the incense of rams;

I will offer bullocks with goats. Selah.

16 Come, and hear, all you+ who fear God,

And I will declare what he has done for my soul.

17 I cried to him with my mouth,

And he was extolled with my tongue.

18 If I regard iniquity in my heart,

The Lord will not hear:

19 But truly God has heard;

He has attended to the voice of my prayer.

20 Blessed be God,

Who has not turned away my prayer,

Nor his loving-kindness from me.

67  For the Chief Musician; on stringed instruments. A Psalm, a Song.

God be merciful to us, and bless us,

[And] cause his face to shine on us; Selah.

2 That your way may be known on earth,

Your salvation among all nations.

3 Let the peoples praise you, O God;

Let all the peoples praise you.

4 Oh let the nations be glad and sing for joy;

For you will judge the peoples with equity,

And govern the nations on earth. Selah.

5 Let the peoples praise you, O God;

Let all the peoples praise you.

6 The earth has yielded its increase:

God, even our own God, will bless us.

7 God will bless us;

And all the ends of the earth will fear him.

68  For the Chief Musician; A Psalm of David, a Song.

Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered;

And let those who hate him flee before him.

2 As smoke is driven away, you will drive them away:

As wax melts before the fire,

So let the wicked perish at the presence of God.

3 But let the righteous be glad; let them exult before God:

Yes, let them rejoice with gladness.

4 Sing to God, sing praises to his name:

Cast up a highway for him who rides through the deserts;

His name is Yah; and exult+ before him.

5 A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows,

Is God in his holy habitation.

6 God sets the solitary in families:

He brings out the prisoners into prosperity;

But the rebellious stay in a parched land.

7 O God, when you went forth before your people,

When you marched through the wilderness; Selah.

8 The earth trembled,

The heavens also dropped [rain] at the presence of God:

This Sinai [trembled] at the presence of God, the God of Israel.

9 You, O God, sent a plentiful rain,

You confirmed your inheritance, when it was weary.

10 Your congregation dwelt in it:

You, O God, prepared of your goodness for the poor.

11 The Lord gives the word:

The women who publish the good news are a great host.

12 Kings of armies flee, they flee;

And she who tarries at home divides the spoil.

13 When you+ lie among the sheepfolds,

[It is as] the wings of a dove covered with silver,

And her pinions with yellow gold.

14 When the Almighty scattered kings there,

[It was as when] it snows in Zalmon.

15 A mountain of God is the mountain of Bashan;

A high mountain is the mountain of Bashan.

16 Why do you+ lurk, you+ high mountains,

At the mountain which God has desired for his dwelling place?

Yes, Yahweh will stay [in it] forever.

17 The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands on thousands;

The Lord is among them, [as in] Sinai, in the sanctuary.

18 You have ascended on high, you have led away captives;

You have received gifts among man,

Yes, [among] the rebellious also, that Yah God might stay [with them].

19 Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burden,

Even the God who is our salvation. Selah.

20 God is to us a God of deliverances;

And to Yahweh the Lord belongs escape from death.

21 But God will strike through the head of his enemies,

The hairy top of the head of such a one as goes on still in his guiltiness.

22 The Lord said, I will bring again from Bashan,

I will bring [them] again from the depths of the sea;

23 That you may crush [them, dipping] your foot in blood,

That the tongue of your dogs may have its portion from [your] enemies.

24 They have seen your goings, O God,

Even the goings of my God, my King, into the sanctuary.

25 The singers went before, the minstrels followed after,

In the midst of the young women playing with timbrels.

26 Bless+ God in the congregations,

Even the Lord, [you+ who are] of the fountain of Israel.

27 There is little Benjamin their ruler,

The princes of Judah [and] their council,

The princes of Zebulun, the princes of Naphtali.

28 Your God has commanded your strength:

Strengthen, O God, that which you have wrought for us.

29 Because of your temple at Jerusalem

Kings will bring presents to you.

30 Rebuke the wild beast of the reeds,

The multitude of the bulls, with the calves of the peoples,

Trampling under foot the pieces of silver:

He has scattered the peoples who delight in war.

31 Bronze will come out of Egypt;

Ethiopia will bring her hands [with tribute] in a hurry to God.

32 Sing to God, you+ kingdoms of the earth;

Oh sing praises to the Lord; Selah.

33 To him who rides on the heaven of heavens, which are of old;

Look, he utters his voice, a mighty voice.

34 Ascribe+ strength to God:

His excellency is over Israel,

And his strength is in the skies.

35 O God, [you are] awesome out of your holy places:

The God of Israel, he gives strength and power to [his] people.

Blessed be God.

69  For the Chief Musician; set to Shoshannim. [A Psalm] of David.

Save me, O God;

For the waters have come in to my soul.

2 I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing:

I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.

3 I am weary with my crying; my throat is dried:

My eyes fail while I wait for my God.

4 Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head:

Those who would cut me off, being my enemies wrongfully, are mighty:

That which I did not take away I have to restore.

5 O God, you know my foolishness;

And my sins are not hid from you.

6 Don't let those who wait for you be put to shame through me, O Sovereign Yahweh of hosts:

Don't let those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me, O God of Israel.

7 Because for your sake I have borne reproach;

Shame has covered my face.

8 I have become a stranger to my brothers,

And an alien to my mother's sons.

9 For the zeal of your house has eaten me up;

And the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.

10 When I wept, [and chastened] my soul with fasting,

That was to my reproach.

11 When I made sackcloth my clothing,

I became a byword to them.

12 Those who sit in the gate talk of me;

And [I am] the song of the drunkards.

13 But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Yahweh, in an acceptable time:

O God, in the abundance of your loving-kindness,

Answer me in the truth of your salvation.

14 Deliver me out of the mire, and don't let me sink:

Let me be delivered from those who hate me, and out of the deep waters.

15 Don't let the floodwater overwhelm me,

Neither let the deep swallow me up;

And don't let the pit shut its mouth on me.

16 Answer me, O Yahweh; for your loving-kindness is good:

According to the multitude of your tender mercies turn to me.

17 And don't hide your face from your slave;

For I am in distress; answer me speedily.

18 Draw near to my soul, and redeem it:

Ransom me because of my enemies.

19 You know my reproach, and my shame, and my dishonor:

My adversaries are all before you.

20 Reproach has broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness:

And I looked for some to take pity, but there was none;

And for comforters, but I found none.

21 They gave me also gall for my food;

And in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

22 Let their table before them become a snare;

And for the secure ones, [let it become] a trap.

23 Let their eyes be darkened, so that they can't see;

And make their loins continually to shake.

24 Pour out your indignation on them,

And let the fierceness of your anger overtake them.

25 Let their habitation be desolate;

Let none dwell in their tents.

26 For they persecute him whom you have struck;

And they tell of the sorrow of those whom you have wounded.

27 Add iniquity to their iniquity;

And don't let them come into your righteousness.

28 Let them be blotted out of the Book of Life,

And not be written with the righteous.

29 But I am poor and sorrowful:

Let your salvation, O God, set me up on high.

30 I will praise the name of God with a song,

And will magnify him with thanksgiving.

31 And it will please Yahweh better than an ox,

[Or] a bull that has horns and hoofs.

32 The meek have seen it, and are glad:

You+ who seek after God, let your+ heart live.

33 For Yahweh hears the needy,

And does not despise his prisoners.

34 Let heaven and earth praise him,

The seas, and everything that moves in them.

35 For God will save Zion, and build the cities of Judah;

And they will remain there, and have it in possession.

36 The seed also of his slaves will inherit it;

And those who love his name will stay there.

70  For the Chief Musician. [A Psalm] of David; to bring to remembrance.

[Hurry], O God, to deliver me;

Hurry to help me, O Yahweh.

2 Let them be put to shame and confounded

Who seek after my soul:

Let them be turned backward and brought to dishonor

Who delight in my hurt.

3 Let them be turned back by reason of their shame

Who say, Aha, aha.

4 Let all those who seek you rejoice and be glad in you;

And let such as love your salvation say continually,

Let God be magnified.

5 But I am poor and needy;

Hurry to me, O God:

You are my help and my deliverer;

O Yahweh, make no tarrying.

71  In you, O Yahweh, I take refuge:

Let me never be put to shame.

2 Deliver me in your righteousness, and rescue me:

Bow down your ear to me, and save me.

3 Be to me a rock for my dwelling, to where I may continually resort:

You have given commandment to save me;

For you are my rock and my fortress.

4 Rescue me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked,

Out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.

5 For you are my hope, O Sovereign Yahweh:

[You are] my trust from my youth.

6 By you I have been held up from the womb;

You are he who took me out of my mother's bowels:

My praise will be continually of you.

7 I am as a wonder to many;

But you are my strong refuge.

8 My mouth will be filled with your praise,

And with your honor all the day.

9 Don't cast me off in the time of old age;

Don't forsake me when my strength fails.

10 For my enemies speak concerning me;

And those who watch for my soul take counsel together,

11 Saying, God has forsaken him:

Pursue and take him; for there is none to deliver.

12 O God, don't be far from me;

O my God, hurry to help me.

13 Let them be put to shame [and] consumed who are adversaries to my soul;

Let them be covered with reproach and dishonor who seek my hurt.

14 But I will hope continually,

And will praise you yet more and more.

15 My mouth will tell of your righteousness,

[And] of your salvation all the day;

For I don't know the numbers [of it].

16 I will come with the mighty acts of the Sovereign Yahweh:

I will make mention of your righteousness, even of yours only.

17 O God, you have taught me from my youth;

And until now I have declared your wondrous works.

18 Yes, even when I am old and grayheaded, O God, don't forsake me,

Until I have declared your strength to [the next] generation,

Your might to everyone who is to come.

19 Your righteousness also, O God, is very high;

You who have done great things,

O God, who is like you?

20 You, who have shown us many and intense troubles,

Will quicken us again,

And will bring us up again from the depths of the earth.

21 You will increase my greatness,

And turn again and comfort me.

22 I will also praise you with the psaltery,

[Even] your truth, O my God:

To you I will sing praises with the harp,

O you Holy One of Israel.

23 My lips will shout for joy when I sing praises to you;

And my soul, which you have redeemed.

24 My tongue also will talk of your righteousness all the day long;

For they are put to shame, for they are confounded, who seek my hurt.

72  [A Psalm] of Solomon.

Give the king your judgments, O God,

And your righteousness to the king's son.

2 He will judge your people with righteousness,

And your poor with justice.

3 The mountains will bring peace to the people,

And the hills, in righteousness.

4 He will judge the poor of the people,

He will save the sons of the needy,

And will break in pieces the oppressor.

5 May he endure as long as the sun,

And so long as the moon, throughout all generations.

6 He will come down like rain on the mown grass,

As showers that water the earth.

7 In his days will righteousness flourish,

And abundance of peace, until the moon is no more.

8 He will have dominion also from sea to sea,

And from the River to the ends of the earth.

9 Those who dwell in the wilderness will bow before him;

And his enemies will lick the dust.

10 The kings of Tarshish and of the isles will render tribute:

The kings of Sheba and Seba will offer gifts.

11 Yes, all kings will fall down before him;

All nations will serve him.

12 For he will deliver the needy when he cries,

And the poor, who has no helper.

13 He will have pity on the poor and needy,

And the souls of the needy he will save.

14 He will redeem their soul from oppression and violence;

And precious will their blood be in his eyes.

15 And he will live;

And he will give to him of the gold of Sheba:

And he will pray for him continually;

He will bless him all the day long.

16 There will be abundance of grain in the earth on the top of the mountains;

The fruit of it will shake like Lebanon:

And they of the city will flourish like grass of the earth.

17 His name will endure forever;

His name will increase as long as the sun:

And men will be blessed in him;

All nations will call him happy.

18 Blessed be Yahweh God, the God of Israel,

Who alone does wondrous things:

19 And blessed be his glorious name forever;

And let the whole earth be filled with his glory.

Amen, and Amen.

20 The prayers of David the son of Jesse have ended.

73  BOOK III.

A Psalm of Asaph.

Surely God is good to Israel,

[Even] to such as are pure in heart.

2 But as for me, my feet were almost gone;

My steps had well near slipped.

3 For I was envious at the arrogant,

When I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

4 For there are no pangs in their death;

But their strength is firm.

5 They are not in trouble as common man;

Neither are they plagued like man.

6 Therefore pride is as a chain about their neck;

Violence covers them as a garment.

7 Their eyes stand out with fatness:

They have more than heart could wish.

8 They scoff, and in wickedness utter oppression:

They speak loftily.

9 They have set their mouth in the heavens,

And their tongue walks through the earth.

10 Therefore his people return here:

And waters of a full [cup] are drained by them.

11 And they say, How does God know?

And is there knowledge in the Most High?

12 Look, these are the wicked;

And, being always at ease, they increase in riches.

13 Surely in vain I have cleansed my heart,

And washed my hands in innocence;

14 For all the day long I have been plagued,

And chastened every morning.

15 If I had said, I will speak thus;

Look, I would have betrayed the generation of your sons.

16 When I thought how I might know this,

It was too painful for me;

17 Until I went into the sanctuary of God,

And considered their latter end.

18 Surely you set them in slippery places:

You cast them down to destruction.

19 How they have become a desolation in a moment!

They are completely consumed with terrors.

20 As a dream when one awakes,

So, O Lord, when you awake, you will despise their image.

21 For my heart was grieved,

And I was pricked in my inward parts:

22 So brutish was I, and ignorant;

I was [as] a beast before you.

23 Nevertheless I am continually with you:

You have held my right hand.

24 You will guide me with your counsel,

And afterward receive me to glory.

25 Whom have I in heaven [but you]

And there is none on earth that I desire besides you.

26 My flesh and my heart fails;

[But] God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

27 For, look, those who are far from you will perish:

You have destroyed all those prostituting from you.

28 But it is good for me to draw near to God:

I have made the Sovereign Yahweh my refuge,

That I may tell of all your works.

74  Maschil of Asaph.

O God, why have you cast [us] off forever?

Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture?

2 Remember your congregation, which you have gotten of old,

Which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your inheritance;

[And] mount Zion, in which you have stayed.

3 Lift up your feet to the perpetual ruins,

All the evil that the enemy has done in the sanctuary.

4 Your adversaries have roared in the midst of your assembly;

They have set up their ensigns for signs.

5 They seemed as men who lifted up

Axes on a thicket of trees.

6 And now all its carved work

They break down with hatchet and hammers.

7 They have set your sanctuary on fire;

They have profaned the dwelling-place of your name [by casting it] to the ground.

8 They said in their heart, Let us make havoc of them altogether:

They have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land.

9 We don't see our signs:

There is no more any prophet;

Neither is there among us any who knows how long.

10 How long, O God, will the adversary reproach?

Will the enemy blaspheme your name forever?

11 Why do you draw back your hand, even your right hand?

[Pluck it] out of your bosom [and] consume [them].

12 Yet God is my King of old,

Working salvation in the midst of the earth.

13 You divided the sea by your strength:

You broke the heads of the sea-monsters in the waters.

14 You broke the heads of leviathan in pieces;

You gave him to be food to the people inhabiting the wilderness.

15 You split fountain and flood:

You dried up mighty rivers.

16 The day is yours, the night also is yours:

You have prepared the light and the sun.

17 You have set all the borders of the earth:

You have made summer and winter.

18 Remember this, that the enemy has reproached, O Yahweh,

And that a foolish people has blasphemed your name.

19 Oh don't deliver the soul of your turtledove to the wild beast:

Don't forget the life of your poor forever.

20 Have respect to the covenant;

For the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of violence.

21 Oh don't let the oppressed return ashamed:

Let the poor and needy praise your name.

22 Arise, O God, plead your own cause:

Remember how the foolish man reproaches you all the day.

23 Do not forget the voice of your adversaries:

The tumult of those who rise up against you ascends continually.

75  For the Chief Musician; [set to] Al-tash-heth. A Psalm of Asaph, a Song.

We give thanks to you, O God;

We give thanks and call on your name:

We tell of your wondrous works.

2 When I will find the set time,

I will judge uprightly.

3 The earth and all its inhabitants are dissolved:

I have set up the pillars of it. Selah.

4 I said to the arrogant, Do not deal arrogantly;

And to the wicked, Don't lift up the horn:

5 Don't lift up your+ horn on high;

Don't speak with a stiff neck.

6 For neither from the east, nor from the west,

Nor yet from the south, [comes] lifting up.

7 But God is the judge:

He puts down one, and lifts up another.

8 For in the hand of Yahweh there is a cup, and the wine foams;

It is an undiluted mixture, and he pours out of the same:

Surely its dregs, all the wicked of the earth will drain them, and drink them.

9 But I will declare forever,

I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.

10 All the horns of the wicked also I will cut off;

But the horns of the righteous will be lifted up.

76  For the Chief Musician; on stringed instruments. A Psalm of Asaph, a Song.

In Judah is God known:

His name is great in Israel.

2 In Salem also is his tabernacle,

And his dwelling-place in Zion.

3 There he broke the arrows of the bow;

The shield, and the sword, and the battle. Selah.

4 Glorious are you [and] majestic,

From the everlasting mountains.

5 The stouthearted are made a spoil,

They have slept their sleep;

And none of the men of might have found their hands.

6 At your rebuke, O God of Jacob,

Both chariot and horse are cast into a dead sleep.

7 You, even you, are to be awed;

And who may stand in your sight when once you are angry?

8 You caused sentence to be heard from heaven;

The earth feared, and was still,

9 When God arose to judgment,

To save all the meek of the earth. Selah.

10 Surely the wrath of man will praise you:

The residue of wrath you will gird on you.

11 Vow, and pay to Yahweh your+ God:

Let all who are round about him bring presents to him who ought to be feared.

12 He will cut off the spirit of leaders:

He is awesome to the kings of the earth.

77  For the Chief Musician; after the manner of Jeduthun. A Psalm of Asaph.

I will cry to God with my voice,

Even to God with my voice; and he will give ear to me.

2 In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord:

My hand during the night [was] before him, and did not slack;

My soul refused to be comforted.

3 I remember God, and am disquieted:

I complain, and my spirit is overwhelmed. Selah.

4 You hold my eyes watching:

I am so troubled that I can't speak.

5 I have considered the days of old,

I call to remembrance the years of ancient times.

6 I sang in the night:

With my own heart I meditate;

And my spirit makes diligent search.

7 Will the Lord cast off forever?

And will he be favorable no more?

8 Is his loving-kindness clean gone forever?

Does his promise fail forevermore?

9 Has God forgotten to be gracious?

Has he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah.

10 And I said, This is my infirmity;

[But I will remember] the years of the right hand of the Most High.

11 I will make mention of the deeds of Yah;

For I will remember your wonders of old.

12 I will meditate also on all your work,

And muse on your doings.

13 Your way, O God, is in the sanctuary:

Who is a great god like God?

14 You are the God who does wonders:

You have made known your strength among the peoples.

15 You have with your arm redeemed your people,

The sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah.

16 The waters saw you, O God;

The waters saw you, they were afraid:

The depths also trembled.

17 The clouds poured out water;

The skies sent out a sound:

Your arrows also went abroad.

18 The voice of your thunder was in the whirlwind;

The lightnings lightened the world:

The earth trembled and shook.

19 Your way was in the sea,

And your paths in the great waters,

And your footsteps were not known.

20 You led your people like a flock,

By the hand of Moses and Aaron.

78  Maschil of Asaph.

Give ear, O my people, to my law:

Incline your+ ears to the words of my mouth.

2 I will open my mouth in a parable;

I will gush out dark sayings of old,

3 Which we have heard and known,

And our fathers have told us.

4 We will not hide them from their sons,

Telling to the generation to come the praises of Yahweh,

And his strength, and his wondrous works that he has done.

5 For he established a testimony in Jacob,

And appointed a law in Israel,

Which he commanded our fathers,

That they should make them known to their sons;

6 That the generation to come might know [them], even the sons who should be born;

Who should arise and tell [them] to their sons,

7 That they might set their hope in God,

And not forget the works of God,

But keep his commandments,

8 And might not be as their fathers,

A stubborn and rebellious generation,

A generation that did not set their heart aright,

And whose spirit was not steadfast with God.

9 The sons of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows,

Turned back in the day of battle.

10 They did not keep the covenant of God,

And refused to walk in his law;

11 And they forgot his doings,

And his wondrous works that he had shown them.

12 He did marvelous things in the sight of their fathers,

In the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.

13 He split the sea, and caused them to pass through;

And he made the waters to stand as a heap.

14 In the daytime also he led them with a cloud,

And all the night with a light of fire.

15 He split rocks in the wilderness,

And gave them drink abundantly as out of the depths.

16 He brought streams also out of the rock,

And caused waters to run down like rivers.

17 Yet they still went on to sin against him,

To rebel against the Most High in the desert.

18 And they tried God in their heart

By asking food according to their soul.

19 Yes, they spoke against God;

They said, Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?

20 Look, he struck the rock, so that waters gushed out,

And streams overflowed;

Can he give bread also?

Will he provide flesh for his people?

21 Therefore Yahweh heard, and was furious;

And a fire was kindled against Jacob,

And anger also went up against Israel;

22 Because they did not believe in God,

And did not trust in his salvation.

23 Yet he commanded the skies above,

And opened the doors of heaven;

24 And he rained down manna on them to eat,

And gave them food from heaven.

25 Man ate the bread of the mighty:

He sent them food to the full.

26 He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens;

And by his power he guided the south wind.

27 He rained flesh also on them as the dust,

And winged birds as the sand of the seas:

28 And he let it fall in the midst of their camp,

Round about their habitations.

29 So they ate, and were well filled;

And he gave them their own desire.

30 They were not estranged from that which they desired,

Their food was yet in their mouths,

31 When the anger of God went up against them,

And slew of the fattest of them,

And struck down the young men of Israel.

32 For all this they sinned still,

And did not believe in his wondrous works.

33 Therefore their days he consumed in vanity,

And their years in terror.

34 When he slew them, then they inquired after him;

And they returned and sought God earnestly.

35 And they remembered that God was their rock,

And the Most High God their redeemer.

36 But they flattered him with their mouth,

And lied to him with their tongue.

37 For their heart was not right with him,

Neither were they faithful in his covenant.

38 But he, being merciful, forgave [their] iniquity, and destroyed [them] not:

Yes, many a time he turned his anger away,

And did not stir up all his wrath.

39 And he remembered that they were but flesh,

A wind that passes away, and does not come again.

40 How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness,

And grieved him in the desert!

41 And they turned again and tried God,

And provoked the Holy One of Israel.

42 They did not remember his hand,

Nor the day when he redeemed them from the adversary;

43 How he set his signs in Egypt,

And his wonders in the field of Zoan,

44 And turned their rivers into blood,

And their streams, so that they could not drink.

45 He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them;

And frogs, which destroyed them.

46 He gave also their increase to the caterpillar,

And their labor to the locust.

47 He destroyed their vines with hail,

And their sycamore-trees with frost.

48 He gave over their cattle also to the hail,

And their flocks to hot thunderbolts.

49 He cast on them the fierceness of his anger,

Wrath, and indignation, and trouble,

A band of angels of evil.

50 He made a path for his anger;

He did not spare their soul from death,

But gave their life over to the pestilence,

51 And struck all the firstborn in Egypt,

The chief of their strength in the tents of Ham.

52 But he led forth his own people like sheep,

And guided them in the wilderness like a flock.

53 And he led them safely, so that they did not fear;

But the sea overwhelmed their enemies.

54 And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary,

To this mountain, which his right hand had gotten.

55 He drove out the nations also before them,

And allotted them for an inheritance by line,

And caused the tribes of Israel to stay in their tents.

56 Yet they tried and rebelled against the Most High God,

And did not keep his testimonies;

57 But turned back, and betrayed [him] like their fathers:

They were turned aside like a deceitful bow.

58 For they provoked him to anger with their high places,

And moved him to jealousy with their graven images.

59 When God heard [this], he was furious,

And greatly abhorred Israel;

60 So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh,

The tent which he made a place to stay among man;

61 And delivered his strength into captivity,

And his glory into the adversary's hand.

62 He gave his people over also to the sword,

And was furious with his inheritance.

63 Fire devoured their young men;

And their virgins had no marriage-song.

64 Their priests fell by the sword;

And their widows made no lamentation.

65 Then the Lord awakened as one out of sleep,

Like a mighty man who shouts by reason of wine.

66 And he struck his adversaries backward:

He put them to a perpetual reproach.

67 Moreover he refused the tent of Joseph,

And did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,

68 But chose the tribe of Judah,

The mount Zion which he loved.

69 And he built his sanctuary like the heights,

Like the earth which he has established forever.

70 He chose David also his slave,

And took him from the sheepfolds:

71 From following the ewes that have their young he brought him,

To be the shepherd of Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance.

72 So he was their shepherd according to the integrity of his heart,

And guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.

79  A Psalm of Asaph.

O God, the nations have come into your inheritance;

Your holy temple they have defiled;

They have laid Jerusalem in heaps.

2 The dead bodies of your slaves they have given to be food to the birds of the heavens,

The flesh of your saints to the beasts of the earth.

3 Their blood they have shed like water round about Jerusalem;

And there was none to bury them.

4 We have become a reproach to our neighbors,

A scoffing and derision to those who are round about us.

5 How long, O Yahweh? Will you be angry forever?

Will your jealousy burn like fire?

6 Pour out your wrath on the nations that don't know you,

And on the kingdoms that do not call on your name.

7 For they have devoured Jacob,

And laid waste his habitation.

8 Don't remember against us the iniquities of our forefathers:

Let your tender mercies speedily meet us;

For we are brought very low.

9 Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name;

And deliver us, and forgive our sins, for your name's sake.

10 Why should the nations say, Where is their God?

Let the avenging of the blood of your slaves which is shed

Be known among the nations in our sight.

11 Let the sighing of the prisoner come before you:

According to the greatness of your power, preserve those who are appointed to death;

12 And render to our neighbors sevenfold into their bosom

Their reproach, with which they have reproached you, O Lord.

13 So we your people and sheep of your pasture

Will give you thanks forever:

We will show forth your praise to all generations.

80  For the Chief Musician, set to Shoshannim Eduth. A Psalm of Asaph.

Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,

You who lead Joseph like a flock;

You who sit [above] the cherubim, shine forth.

2 Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh, stir up your might,

And come to save us.

3 Turn us again, O God;

And cause your face to shine, and we will be saved.

4 O Yahweh God of hosts,

How long will you be angry against the prayer of your people?

5 You have fed them with the bread of tears,

And given them tears to drink in large measure.

6 You make us a strife to our neighbors;

And our enemies laugh among themselves.

7 Turn us again, O God of hosts;

And cause your face to shine, and we will be saved.

8 You brought a vine out of Egypt:

You drove out the nations, and planted it.

9 You prepared [room] before it,

And it took deep root, and filled the land.

10 The mountains were covered with its shadow,

And its boughs were [like] cedars of God.

11 It sent out its branches to the sea,

And its shoots to the River.

12 Why have you broken down its walls,

So that all those who pass by the way pluck it?

13 The boar out of the forest ravages it,

And the wild beasts of the field feed on it.

14 Turn again, we urge you, O God of hosts:

Look down from heaven, and look, and visit this vine,

15 And the stock which your right hand planted,

And the son who you made strong for yourself.

16 It is burned with fire, it is cut down:

They perish at the rebuke of your countenance.

17 Let your hand be on the man of your right hand,

On the son of man whom you made strong for yourself.

18 So we will not go back from you:

Quicken us, and we will call on your name.

19 Turn us again, O Yahweh God of hosts;

Cause your face to shine, and we will be saved.

81  For the Chief Musician; set to the Gittith. [A Psalm] of Asaph.

Sing aloud to God our strength:

Make a joyful noise to the God of Jacob.

2 Raise a song, and bring here the timbrel,

The pleasant harp with the psaltery.

3 Blow the trumpet at the new moon,

At the full moon, on our feast-day.

4 For it is a statute for Israel,

An ordinance of the God of Jacob.

5 He appointed it in Joseph for a testimony,

When he went out over the land of Egypt,

[Where] I heard a language that I did not know.

6 I removed his shoulder from the burden:

His hands were freed from the basket.

7 You called in trouble, and I delivered you;

I answered you in the secret place of thunder;

I proved you at the waters of Meribah. Selah.

8 Hear, O my people, and I will testify to you:

O Israel, if you would listen to me!

9 There will be no strange god in you;

Neither will you worship any foreign god.

10 I am Yahweh your God,

Who brought you up out of the land of Egypt:

Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.

11 But my people did not listen to my voice;

And Israel did not want me.

12 So I let them go after the stubbornness of their heart,

That they might walk in their own counsels.

13 Oh that my people would listen to me,

That Israel would walk in my ways!

14 I would soon subdue their enemies,

And turn my hand against their adversaries.

15 The haters of Yahweh should submit themselves to him:

But their time should endure forever.

16 He would feed them also with the finest of the wheat;

And with honey out of the rock I would satisfy you.

82  A Psalm of Asaph.

God stands in the congregation of God;

He judges among the gods.[322]

2 How long will you+ judge unjustly,

And respect the persons of the wicked? Selah.

3 Judge the poor and fatherless:

Do justice to the afflicted and destitute.

4 Rescue the poor and needy:

Deliver them out of the hand of the wicked.

5 They don't know, neither do they understand;

They walk to and fro in darkness:

All the foundations of the earth are shaken.

6 I said, You+ are gods,[323]

And all of you+ are sons of the Most High.

7 Nevertheless you+ will die like man,

And fall like one of the princes.

8 Arise, O God, judge the earth;

For you will inherit all the nations.

83  A Song. A Psalm of Asaph.

O God, don't keep your silence:

Don't hold your peace, and don't be still, O God.

2 For, look, your enemies make a tumult;

And those who hate you have lifted up the head.

3 They take crafty counsel against your people,

And consult together against your hidden ones.

4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation;

That the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.

5 For they have consulted together with one consent;

Against you they make a covenant:

6 The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites;

Moab, and the Hagarenes;

7 Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek;

Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre:

8 Assyria also is joined with them;

They have helped the sons of Lot. Selah.

9 Do to them as to Midian,

As to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the river Kishon;

10 Who perished at Endor,

Who became as dung for the earth.

11 Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb;

Yes, all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna;

12 Who said, Let us take to ourselves in possession

The habitations of God.

13 O my God, make them like the whirling dust;

As stubble before the wind.

14 As the fire that burns the forest,

And as the flame that sets the mountains on fire,

15 So pursue them with your tempest,

And terrify them with your storm.

16 Fill their faces with confusion,

That they may seek your name, O Yahweh.

17 Let them be put to shame and dismayed forever;

Yes, let them be confounded and perish;

18 That they may know that you alone, whose name is Yahweh,

Are the Most High over all the earth.

84  For the Chief Musician; set to the Gittith. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.

How amiable are your tabernacles,

O Yahweh of hosts!

2 My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of Yahweh;

My heart and my flesh cry out to the living God.

3 Yes, the sparrow has found her a house,

And the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young,

Even your altars, O Yahweh of hosts,

My King, and my God.

4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house:

They will still be praising you. Selah.

5 Blessed is [the] man whose strength is in you;

In whose heart are the highways [to Zion].

6 Passing through the valley of Weeping they make it a place of springs;

Yes, the early rain covers it with blessings.

7 They go from strength to strength;

The God of gods will be seen[324] in Zion.

8 O Yahweh God of hosts, hear my prayer;

Give ear, O God of Jacob. Selah.

9 Look, O God our shield,

And look at the face of your anointed.

10 For a day in your courts is better than a thousand.

I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God,

Than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.

11 For Yahweh God is a sun and a shield:

Yahweh will give grace and glory;

No good thing will he withhold from those who walk uprightly.

12 O Yahweh of hosts,

Blessed is [the] man who trusts in you.

85  For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.

Yahweh, you have been favorable to your land;

You have brought back the captivity of Jacob.

2 You have forgiven the iniquity of your people;

You have covered all their sin. Selah.

3 You have taken away all your wrath;

You have turned [yourself] from the fierceness of your anger.

4 Turn us, O God of our salvation,

And cause your indignation toward us to cease.

5 Will you be angry with us forever?

Will you draw out your anger to all generations?

6 Will you not quicken us again,

That your people may rejoice in you?

7 Show us your loving-kindness, O Yahweh,

And grant us your salvation.

8 I will hear what God Yahweh will speak;

For he will speak peace to his people, and to his saints:

But don't let them turn again to folly.

9 Surely his salvation is near those who fear him,

That glory may stay in our land.

10 Mercy and truth are met together;

Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

11 Truth springs out of the earth;

And righteousness has looked down from heaven.

12 Yes, Yahweh will give that which is good;

And our land will yield its increase.

13 Righteousness will go before him,

And will make his footsteps a way [to walk in].

86  A Prayer of David

Bow down your ear, O Yahweh, and answer me;

For I am poor and needy.

2 Preserve my soul; for I am godly:

O you my God, save your slave who trusts in you.

3 Be merciful to me, O Lord;

For to you I cry all the day long.

4 Rejoice the soul of your slave;

For to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

5 For you, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive,

And abundant in loving-kindness to all those who call on you.

6 Give ear, O Yahweh, to my prayer;

And listen to the voice of my supplications.

7 In the day of my trouble I will call on you;

For you will answer me.

8 There is none like you among the gods, O Lord;

Neither [are there any works] like your works.

9 All nations whom you have made will come and worship before you, O Lord;

And they will glorify your name.

10 For you are great, and do wondrous things:

You alone are God.

11 Teach me your way, O Yahweh; I will walk in your truth:

Unite my heart to fear your name.

12 I will praise you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart;

And I will glorify your name forevermore.

13 For great is your loving-kindness toward me;

And you have delivered my soul from the lowest Sheol.

14 O God, the proud have risen up against me,

And a company of violent men have sought after my soul,

And have not set you before them.

15 But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious,

Slow to anger, and abundant in loving-kindness and truth.

16 Oh turn to me, and have mercy on me;

Give your strength to your male slave,

And save the son of your female slave.

17 Show me a token for good,

That those who hate me may see it, and be put to shame,

Because you, Yahweh, have helped me, and comforted me.

87  A Psalm of the sons of Korah; a Song.

His foundation is in the holy mountains.

2 Yahweh loves the gates of Zion

More than all the dwellings of Jacob.

3 Glorious things are spoken of you,

O city of God. Selah.

4 I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon as among those who know me:

Look, Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia:

This [man] was born there.

5 Yes, of Zion it will be said, This man and that man were born in her;

And the Most High himself will establish her.

6 Yahweh will count, when he writes up the peoples,

This [man] was born there. Selah.

7 Those who sing as well as those who dance [will say]

All my fountains are in you.

88  A Song, a Psalm of the sons of Korah;

for the Chief Musician; set to Mahalath Leannoth.

Maschil of Heman the Ezrahite.

O Yahweh, the God of my salvation,

I have cried day and night before you.

2 Let my prayer enter into your presence;

Incline your ear to my cry.

3 For my soul is full of troubles,

And my life draws near to Sheol.

4 I am reckoned with those who go down into the pit;

I am as an [able-bodied] man without strength,

5 Cast off among the dead,

Like the slain who lie in the grave,

Whom you remember no more,

And they are cut off from your hand.

6 You have laid me in the lowest pit,

In dark places, in the deeps.

7 Your wrath lies hard on me,

And you have afflicted me with all your waves. Selah.

8 You have put my acquaintances far from me;

You have made me disgusting to them:

I am shut up, and I can't come forth.

9 My eye wastes away by reason of affliction:

I have called daily on you, O Yahweh;

I have spread forth my hands to you.

10 Will you show wonders to the dead?

Will the spirits of the dead arise and praise you? Selah.

11 Will your loving-kindness be declared in the grave?

Or your faithfulness in Destruction?

12 Will your wonders be known in the dark?

And your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?

13 But to you, O Yahweh, I have cried;

And in the morning my prayer will come before you.

14 Yahweh, why do you cast off my soul?

Why do you hide your face from me?

15 I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up:

While I suffer your terrors I am distracted.

16 Your fierce wrath has gone over me;

Your terrors have cut me off.

17 They came round about me like water all the day long;

They surrounded me together.

18 Lover and companion you have put far from me,

My acquaintances into darkness.

89  Maschil of Ethan the Ezrahite.

I will sing of the loving-kindness of Yahweh forever:

With my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.

2 For I have said, Mercy will be built up forever;

Your faithfulness you will establish in the very heavens.

3 I have made a covenant with my chosen,

I have sworn to David my slave:

4 Your seed I will establish forever,

And build up your throne to all generations. Selah.

5 And the heavens will praise your wonders, O Yahweh;

Your faithfulness also in the assembly of the holy ones.

6 For who in the skies can be compared to Yahweh?

Who among the sons of the mighty is like Yahweh,

7 A God very terrible in the council of the holy ones,

And to be awed above all those who are round about him?

8 O Yahweh God of hosts,

Who is a mighty one, like you, O Yah?

And your faithfulness is round about you.

9 You rule the pride of the sea:

When its waves arise, you still them.

10 You have broken Rahab in pieces, as one who is slain;

You have scattered your enemies with the arm of your strength.

11 The heavens are yours, the earth also is yours:

The world and the fullness of it, you have founded them.

12 The north and the south, you have created them:

Tabor and Hermon rejoice in your name.

13 You have a mighty arm;

Strong is your hand, and high is your right hand.

14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne:

Loving-kindness and truth go before your face.

15 Blessed is the people who know the joyful sound:

They walk, O Yahweh, in the light of your countenance.

16 In your name they rejoice all the day;

And in your righteousness they stand.

17 For you are the glory of their strength;

And in your favor our horn will be exalted.

18 For our shield belongs to Yahweh;

And our king to the Holy One of Israel.

19 Then you spoke in vision to your saints,

And said, I have laid help on one who is mighty;

I have exalted one chosen out of the people.

20 I have found David my slave;

With my holy oil I have anointed him:

21 With whom my hand will be established;

My arm also will strengthen him.

22 The enemy will not exact from him,

Nor the son of wickedness afflict him.

23 And I will beat down his adversaries before him,

And strike those who hate him.

24 But my faithfulness and my loving-kindness will be with him;

And in my name will his horn be exalted.

25 I will set his hand also on the sea,

And his right hand on the rivers.

26 He will cry to me, You are my Father,

My God, and the rock of my salvation.

27 I also will make him [my] firstborn,

The highest of the kings of the earth.

28 My loving-kindness I will keep for him forevermore;

And my covenant will stand fast with him.

29 His seed also I will make to endure forever,

And his throne as the days of heaven.

30 If his sons forsake my law,

And don't walk in my ordinances;

31 If they break my statutes,

And don't keep my commandments;

32 Then I will visit their transgression with the rod,

And their iniquity with stripes.

33 But my loving-kindness I will not completely take from him,

Nor allow my faithfulness to fail.

34 My covenant I will not break,

Nor alter the thing that has gone out of my lips.

35 Once I have sworn by my holiness:

I will not lie to David:

36 His seed will endure forever,

And his throne as the sun before me.

37 It will be established forever as the moon,

And [as] the faithful witness in the sky. Selah.

38 But you have cast off and rejected,

You have been furious with your anointed.

39 You have abhorred the covenant of your slave:

You have profaned his crown [by casting it] to the ground.

40 You have broken down all his hedges;

You have brought his strongholds to ruin.

41 All who pass by the way rob him:

He has become a reproach to his neighbors.

42 You have exalted the right hand of his adversaries;

You have made all his enemies to rejoice.

43 Yes, you turn back the edge of his sword,

And have not made him to stand in the battle.

44 You have made his brightness to cease,

And cast his throne down to the ground.

45 The days of his youth you have shortened:

You have covered him with shame. Selah.

46 How long, O Yahweh? Will you hide yourself forever?

[How long] will your wrath burn like fire?

47 Remember me: How short is my lifetime?

For what vanity have you created all the sons of man?

48 What [prominent] man is he who will live and not see death,

Who will deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah.

49 Lord, where are your former loving-kindnesses,

Which you swore to David in your faithfulness?

50 Remember, Lord, the reproach of your slaves,

That I bear in my bosom from all of the many peoples,

51 With which your enemies have reproached, O Yahweh,

With which they have reproached the footsteps of your anointed.

52 Blessed be Yahweh forevermore.

Amen, and Amen.

90  BOOK IV.

A Prayer of Moses the man of God.

Lord, you have been our dwelling-place

In all generations.

2 Before the mountains were brought forth,

Or you had ever formed the earth and the world,

Even from everlasting to everlasting, you are God.

3 You turn common man to destruction,

And say, Return, you+ sons of man.

4 For a thousand years in your sight

Are but as yesterday when it is past,

And as a watch in the night.

5 You carry them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep:

In the morning they are like grass which grows up.

6 In the morning it flourishes, and grows up;

In the evening it is cut down, and withers.

7 For we are consumed in your anger,

And in your wrath are we troubled.

8 You have set our iniquities before you,

Our secret sins in the light of your countenance.

9 For all our days are passed away in your wrath:

We bring our years to an end as a sigh.

10 The days of our years are seventy years,

Or even by reason of strength eighty years;

Yet is their pride but labor and sorrow;

For it is soon gone, and we fly away.

11 Who knows the power of your anger,

And your wrath according to the fear that is due to you?

12 So teach us to number our days,

That we may get us a heart of wisdom.

13 Return, O Yahweh; how long?

And let it repent you concerning your slaves.

14 Oh satisfy us in the morning with your loving-kindness,

That we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

15 Make us glad according to the days in which you have afflicted us,

And the years in which we have seen evil.

16 Let your work appear to your slaves,

And your majesty on their sons.

17 And let the favor of the Lord our God be on us;

And establish the work of our hands on us;

Yes, the work of our hands establish it.

91  He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High

Will reside under the shadow of the Almighty.

2 I will say of Yahweh, He is my refuge and my fortress;

My God, in whom I trust.

3 For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler,

And from the word of calamity.

4 He will cover you with his pinions,

And under his wings you will take refuge:

His truth is a shield and a buckler.

5 You will not be afraid for the terror by night,

Nor for the arrow that flies by day;

6 For the pestilence that walks in darkness,

Nor for the destruction that wastes at noonday.

7 A thousand will fall at your side,

And ten thousand at your right hand;

[But] it will not come near you.

8 Only with your eyes you will look,

And see the reward of the wicked.

9 For you, O Yahweh, are my refuge!

You have made the Most High your habitation;

10 No evil will befall you,

Neither will any plague come near your tent.

11 For he will give his angels charge over you,

To keep you in all your ways.

12 They will bear you up in their hands,

Or else you would dash your foot against a stone.

13 You will tread on the lion and cobra:

The young lion and the serpent you will trample under foot.

14 Because he has set his love on me, therefore I will deliver him:

I will set him on high, because he has known my name.

15 He will call on me, and I will answer him;

I will be with him in trouble:

I will deliver him, and honor him.

16 With long life I will satisfy him,

And show him my salvation.

92  A Psalm, a Song for the Sabbath day.

It is a good thing to give thanks to Yahweh,

And to sing praises to your name, O Most High;

2 To show forth your loving-kindness in the morning,

And your faithfulness every night,

3 With an instrument of ten strings, and with the psaltery;

With a solemn sound on the harp.

4 For you, Yahweh, have made me glad through your work:

I will triumph in the works of your hands.

5 How great are your works, O Yahweh!

Your thoughts are very deep.

6 A brutish man does not know;

Neither does a fool understand this:

7 When the wicked spring as the grass,

And when all the workers of iniquity flourish;

It is that they will be destroyed forever.

8 But you, O Yahweh, are on high forevermore.

9 For, look, your enemies, O Yahweh,

For, look, your enemies will perish;

All the workers of iniquity will be scattered.

10 But my horn you have exalted like [the horn of] the wild-ox:

I am anointed with fresh oil.

11 My eye also has seen my enemies,

My ears have heard the evildoers who rise up against me.

12 The righteous will flourish like the palm-tree:

He will grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

13 They are planted in the house of Yahweh;

They will flourish in the courts of our God.

14 They will still bring forth fruit in old age;

They will be full of sap and green:

15 To show that Yahweh is upright;

He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

93  Yahweh reigns; he is clothed with splendor;

Yahweh is clothed with strength; he has girded himself with it:

Indeed, the world will be established, it will not be moved.

2 Your throne is established of old:

You are from everlasting.

3 The floods have lifted up, O Yahweh,

The floods have lifted up their voice;

The floods lift up their waves.

4 Above the voices of many waters,

The majestic breakers of the sea,

Yahweh on high is majestic.

5 Your testimonies are very sure:

Holiness becomes your house,

O Yahweh, forevermore.

94  O Yahweh, God to whom vengeance belongs,

God to whom vengeance belongs, shine forth.

2 Lift up yourself, Judge of the earth:

Render to the proud [their] desert.

3 Yahweh, how long will the wicked,

How long will the wicked triumph?

4 They gush out, they speak arrogantly:

All the workers of iniquity boast themselves.

5 They break in pieces your people, O Yahweh,

And afflict your heritage.

6 They slay the widow and the sojourner,

And murder the fatherless.

7 And they say, Yah will not see,

Neither will the God of Jacob consider.

8 Consider, you+ brutish among the people;

And you+ fools, when will you+ be wise?

9 He who planted the ear, will he not hear?

He who formed the eye, will he not see?

10 He who chastises the nations, will not he correct,

[Even] he who teaches man knowledge?

11 Yahweh knows the thoughts of man,

That they are vanity.

12 Blessed is the [noble] man whom you chasten, O Yah,

And teach out of your law;

13 That you may give him rest from the days of adversity,

Until the pit is dug for the wicked.

14 For Yahweh will not cast off his people,

Neither will he forsake his inheritance.

15 For judgment will return to righteousness;

And all the upright in heart will follow it.

16 Who will rise up for me against the evildoers?

Who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?

17 Unless Yahweh had been my help,

My soul would have soon stayed in silence.

18 When I said, My foot slips;

Your loving-kindness, O Yahweh, held me up.

19 In the multitude of my thoughts inside me

Your comforts delight my soul.

20 Will the throne of wickedness have fellowship with you,

Which frames mischief by statute?

21 They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous,

And condemn the innocent blood.

22 But Yahweh has been my high tower,

And my God the rock of my refuge.

23 And he has brought on them their own iniquity,

And will cut them off in their own wickedness;

Yahweh our God will cut them off.

95  Oh come, let us sing to Yahweh;

Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.

2 Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving;

Let us make a joyful noise to him with psalms.

3 For Yahweh is a great God,

And a great King above all gods.

4 In his hand are the deep places of the earth;

The heights of the mountains are his also.

5 The sea is his, and he made it;

And his hands formed the dry land.

6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down;

Let us kneel before Yahweh our Maker:

7 For he is our God,

And we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.

Today, oh that you+ would hear his voice!

8 Do not harden your+ heart, as at Meribah,

As in the day of Massah in the wilderness;

9 When your+ fathers tried me,

Proved me, and saw my work.

10 Forty years long I was grieved with [that] generation,

And said, It is a people who errs in their heart,

And they have not known my ways:

11 Therefore I swore in my wrath,

That they should not enter into my rest.

96  Oh sing to Yahweh a new song:

Sing to Yahweh, all the earth.

2 Sing to Yahweh, bless his name;

Proclaim the good news of his salvation from day to day.

3 Declare his glory among the nations,

His marvelous works among all the peoples.

4 For great is Yahweh, and greatly to be praised:

He is to be awed above all gods.

5 For all the gods of the peoples are idols;

But Yahweh made the heavens.

6 Grandeur and majesty are before him:

Strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.

7 Ascribe to Yahweh, you+ kindreds of the peoples,

Ascribe to Yahweh glory and strength.

8 Ascribe to Yahweh the glory due to his name:

Bring an offering, and come into his courts.

9 Oh worship Yahweh in holy array:

Tremble before him, all the earth.

10 Say among the nations, Yahweh reigns:

Indeed, the world will be established, it will not be moved:

He will judge the peoples with equity.

11 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;

Let the sea roar, and the fullness of it;

12 Let the field exult, and all that is in it;

Then will all the trees of the forest sing for joy

13 Before Yahweh; for he comes,

For he comes to judge the earth:

He will judge the world with righteousness,

And the peoples with his truth.

97  Yahweh reigns; let the earth rejoice;

Let the multitude of isles be glad.

2 Clouds and darkness are round about him:

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.

3 A fire goes before him,

And burns up his adversaries round about.

4 His lightnings lightened the world:

The earth saw, and trembled.

5 The mountains melted like wax at the presence of Yahweh,

At the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.

6 The heavens declare his righteousness,

And all the peoples have seen his glory.

7 Let all them be put to shame that serve graven images,

That boast themselves of idols:

Worship him, all you+ gods.

8 Zion heard and was glad,

And the daughters of Judah rejoiced,

Because of your judgments, O Yahweh.

9 For you, Yahweh, are most high above all the earth:

You are exalted far above all gods.

10 O you+ who love Yahweh, hate evil:

He preserves the souls of his saints;

He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked.

11 Light is sown for the righteous,

And gladness for the upright in heart.

12 Be glad in Yahweh, you+ righteous;

And give thanks to his holy memorial [name].

98  A Psalm.

Oh sing to Yahweh a new song;

For he has done marvelous things:

His right hand, and his holy arm, has wrought salvation for him.

2 Yahweh has made known his salvation:

His righteousness he has openly shown in the sight of the nations.

3 He has remembered his loving-kindness and his faithfulness toward the house of Israel:

All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

4 Make a joyful noise to Yahweh, all the earth:

Break forth and sing for joy, yes, sing praises.

5 Sing praises to Yahweh with the harp;

With the harp and the voice of melody.

6 With trumpets and sound of cornet

Make a joyful noise before the King, Yahweh.

7 Let the sea roar, and the fullness of it;

The world, and those who dwell in it;

8 Let the floods clap their hands;

Let the hills sing for joy together

9 Before Yahweh; for he comes to judge the earth:

He will judge the world with righteousness,

And the peoples with equity.

99  Yahweh reigns; let the peoples tremble:

He sits [above] the cherubim; let the earth be moved.

2 Yahweh is great in Zion;

And he is high above all the peoples.

3 Let them praise your great and awesome name:

He is holy.

4 The king's strength also loves justice;

You establish equity;

You execute justice and righteousness in Jacob.

5 Exalt+ Yahweh our God,

And worship at his footstool:

He is holy.

6 Moses and Aaron among his priests,

And Samuel among those who call on his name;

They called on Yahweh, and he answered them.

7 He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud:

They kept his testimonies,

And the statute that he gave them.

8 You answered them, O Yahweh our God:

You were a God who forgave them,

Though you took vengeance of their doings.

9 Exalt+ Yahweh our God,

And worship at his holy hill;

For Yahweh our God is holy.

100  A Psalm of thanksgiving.

Make a joyful noise to Yahweh, all you+ lands.

2 Serve Yahweh with gladness:

Come before his presence with singing.

3 Know+ that Yahweh, he is God:

It is he who has made us, and we are his;

We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving,

And into his courts with praise:

Give thanks to him, and bless his name.

5 For Yahweh is good; his loving-kindness [endures] forever,

And his faithfulness to all generations.

101  A Psalm of David.

I will sing of loving-kindness and justice:

To you, O Yahweh, I will sing praises.

2 I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way:

Oh when will you come to me?

I will walk inside my house with a perfect heart.

3 I will set no base thing before my eyes:

I hate the work of those who turn aside;

It will not stick to me.

4 A perverse heart will depart from me:

I will know no evil thing.

5 Whoever secretly slanders his fellow man, I will destroy him:

I will not allow him who has a high look and a proud heart.

6 My eyes will be on the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me:

He who walks in a perfect way, he will minister to me.

7 He who works deceit will not dwell inside my house:

He who speaks falsehood will not be established before my eyes.

8 Morning by morning I will destroy all the wicked of the land;

To cut off all the workers of iniquity from the city of Yahweh.

102  A Prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed,

and pours out his complaint before Yahweh.

Hear my prayer, O Yahweh,

And let my cry come to you.

2 Don't hide your face from me in the day of my distress:

Incline your ear to me;

In the day when I call answer me speedily.

3 For my days consume away in smoke,

And my bones are burned as a firebrand.

4 My heart is struck like grass, and withered;

For I forget to eat my bread.

5 By reason of the voice of my groaning

My bones stick to my flesh.

6 I am like a pelican of the wilderness;

I have become as an owl of the waste places.

7 I watch, and have become like a sparrow

That is alone on the housetop.

8 My enemies reproach me all the day;

Those who are insane against me curse by me.

9 For I have eaten ashes like bread,

And mingled my drink with weeping,

10 Because of your indignation and your wrath:

For you have taken me up, and cast me away.

11 My days are like a shadow that declines;

And I am withered like grass.

12 But you, O Yahweh, will remain forever;

And your memorial [name] to all generations.

13 You will arise, and have mercy on Zion;

For it is time to have pity on her,

Yes, the set time has come.

14 For your slaves take pleasure in her stones,

And have pity on her dust.

15 So the nations will fear the name of Yahweh,

And all the kings of the earth your glory.

16 For Yahweh has built up Zion;

He has appeared in his glory.

17 He has regarded the prayer of the destitute,

And has not despised their prayer.

18 This will be written for the generation to come;

And a people which will be created will praise Yah.

19 For he has looked down from the height of his sanctuary;

From heaven Yahweh looked at the earth;

20 To hear the sighing of the prisoner;

To loose those who are appointed to death;

21 That men may declare the name of Yahweh in Zion,

And his praise in Jerusalem;

22 When the peoples are gathered together,

And the kingdoms, to serve Yahweh.

23 He weakened my strength in the way;

He shortened my days.

24 I said, O my God, don't take me away in the midst of my days:

Your years are throughout all generations.

25 Of old did you lay the foundation of the earth;

And the heavens are the work of your hands.

26 They will perish, but you will endure;

Yes, all of them will wax old like a garment;

As a vesture you will change them, and they will be changed:

27 But you are the same,

And your years will have no end.

28 The sons of your slaves will stay,

And their seed will be established before you.

103  [A Psalm] of David.

Bless Yahweh, O my soul;

And all that is inside me, [bless] his holy name.

2 Bless Yahweh, O my soul,

And do not forget all his benefits:

3 Who forgives all your iniquities;

Who heals all your diseases;

4 Who redeems your life from the pit;

Who crowns you with loving-kindness and tender mercies;

5 Who satisfies your desire with good things,

[So that] your vitality is renewed like the eagle.

6 Yahweh executes righteous acts,

And judgments for all who are oppressed.

7 He made known his ways to Moses,

His doings to the sons of Israel.

8 Yahweh is merciful and gracious,

Slow to anger, and abundant in loving-kindness.

9 He will not always chide;

Neither will he keep [his anger] forever.

10 He has not dealt with us after our sins,

Nor rewarded us after our iniquities.

11 For as the heavens are high above the earth,

So great is his loving-kindness toward those who fear him.

12 As far as the east is from the west,

So far has he removed our transgressions from us.

13 Like a father pities his sons,

So Yahweh pities those who fear him.

14 For he knows our frame;

He remembers that we are dust.

15 As for common man, his days are as grass;

As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.

16 For the wind passes over it, and it is gone;

And its place will know it no more.

17 But the loving-kindness of Yahweh is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him,

And his righteousness to sons of sons;

18 To such as keep his covenant,

And to those who remember his precepts to do them.

19 Yahweh has established his throne in the heavens;

And his kingdom rules over all.

20 Bless Yahweh, you+ his angels,

Who are mighty in strength, who fulfill his word,

Listening to the voice of his word.

21 Bless Yahweh, all you+ his hosts,

You+ ministers of his, who do his pleasure.

22 Bless Yahweh, all you+ his works,

In all places of his dominion:

Bless Yahweh, O my soul.

104  Bless Yahweh, O my soul.

O Yahweh my God, you are very great;

You are clothed with grandeur and majesty:

2 Covering yourself with light as with a garment;

Stretching out the heavens like a curtain;

3 Who lays the beams of his chambers in the waters;

Who makes the clouds his chariot;

Who walks on the wings of the wind;

4 Who makes winds his messengers;

Flames of fire his ministers;

5 Who laid the foundations of the earth,

That it should not be moved forever.

6 You covered it with the deep as with a vesture;

The waters stood above the mountains.

7 At your rebuke they fled;

At the voice of your thunder they hurried away

8 (The mountains rose, the valleys sank down)

To the place which you had founded for them.

9 You have set a bound that they may not pass over;

That they don't turn again to cover the earth.

10 He sends forth springs into the valleys;

They run among the mountains;

11 They give drink to every beast of the field;

The wild donkeys quench their thirst.

12 By them the birds of the heavens stay;

They sing among the foliage.

13 He waters the mountains from his chambers:

The earth is filled with the fruit of your works.

14 He causes the grass to grow for the cattle,

And herb for the service of man;

That he may bring forth food out of the earth,

15 And wine that makes glad the heart of common man,

[And] oil to make his face to shine,

And bread that strengthens common man's heart.

16 The trees of Yahweh are filled [with moisture],

The cedars of Lebanon, which he has planted;

17 Where the birds make their nests:

As for the stork, her house is on their top.

18 The high mountains are for the wild goats;

The rocks are a refuge for the conies.

19 He appointed the moon for seasons:

The sun knows his going down.

20 You make darkness, and it is night,

In which all the beasts of the forest creep forth.

21 The young lions roar after their prey,

And seek their food from God.

22 The sun rises, they get them away,

And lay them down in their dens.

23 Man goes forth to his work

And to his labor until the evening.

24 O Yahweh, how manifold are your works!

In wisdom you have made them all:

The earth is full of your riches.

25 Yonder is the sea, great and wide,

In which are innumerable creeping things,

Both small and great beasts.

26 There go the ships;

There is leviathan, whom you have formed to play in it.

27 These all wait for you,

That you may give them their food in due season.

28 You give to them, they gather;

You open your hand, they are satisfied with good.

29 You hide your face, they are troubled;

You take away their breath, they die,

And return to their dust.

30 You send forth your Spirit, they are created;

And you renew the face of the ground.

31 Let the glory of Yahweh endure forever;

Let Yahweh rejoice in his works:

32 Who looks on the earth, and it trembles;

He touches the mountains, and they smoke.

33 I will sing to Yahweh as long as I live:

I will sing praise to my God while I have any being.

34 Let your meditation be sweet to him:

I will rejoice in Yahweh.

35 Let sinners be consumed out of the earth.

And let the wicked be no more.

Bless Yahweh, O my soul.

Hallelujah.[325]

105  Oh give thanks to Yahweh, call on his name;

Make known among the peoples his doings.

2 Sing to him, sing praises to him;

Talk+ of all his marvelous works.

3 Glory+ in his holy name:

Let the heart of them rejoice who seek Yahweh.

4 Seek+ Yahweh and his strength;

Seek his face evermore.

5 Remember his marvelous works that he has done,

His wonders, and the judgments of his mouth,

6 O you+ seed of Abraham his slave,

You+ sons of Jacob, his chosen ones.

7 He is Yahweh our God:

His judgments are in all the earth.

8 He has remembered his covenant forever,

The word which he commanded to a thousand generations,

9 [The covenant] which he made with Abraham,

And his oath to Isaac,

10 And confirmed the same to Jacob for a statute,

To Israel for an everlasting covenant,

11 Saying, To you I will give the land of Canaan,

The lot of your+ inheritance;

12 When they were but a few men in number,

Yes, very few, and sojourners in it.

13 And they went about from nation to nation,

From one kingdom to another people.

14 He did not allow man to do them wrong;

Yes, he reproved kings for their sakes,

15 [Saying,] Don't touch my anointed ones,

And do my prophets no harm.

16 And he called for a famine on the land;

He broke the whole staff of bread.

17 He sent a man before them;

Joseph was sold for a slave:

18 His feet they hurt with fetters:

His soul was laid in iron,

19 Until the time that his word came to pass,

The word of Yahweh tried him.

20 The king sent and loosed him;

Even the ruler of peoples, and let him go free.

21 He made him lord of his house,

And ruler of all his substance;

22 To bind his princes in his soul,

And teach his elders wisdom.

23 Israel also came into Egypt;

And Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham.

24 And he increased his people greatly,

And made them stronger than their adversaries.

25 He turned their heart to hate his people,

To deal subtly with his slaves.

26 He sent Moses his slave,

[And] Aaron whom he had chosen.

27 They set among them his signs,

And wonders in the land of Ham.

28 He sent darkness, and made it dark;

And they did not rebel against his words.

29 He turned their waters into blood,

And slew their fish.

30 Their land swarmed with frogs

In the chambers of their kings.

31 He spoke, and there came swarms of flies,

And lice in all their borders.

32 He gave them hail for rain,

[And] flaming fire in their land.

33 He struck their vines also and their fig trees,

And broke the trees of their borders.

34 He spoke, and the locust came,

And the grasshopper, and that without number,

35 And ate up every herb in their land,

And ate up the fruit of their ground.

36 He struck also all the firstborn in their land,

The chief of all their strength.

37 And he brought them forth with silver and gold;

And there was not one feeble person among his tribes.

38 Egypt was glad when they departed;

For the fear of them had fallen on them.

39 He spread a cloud for a covering,

And fire to give light in the night.

40 They asked, and he brought quails,

And satisfied them with the bread of heaven.

41 He opened the rock, and waters gushed out;

They ran in the dry places [like] a river.

42 For he remembered his holy word,

[And] Abraham his slave.

43 And he brought forth his people with joy,

[And] his chosen with singing.

44 And he gave them the lands of the nations;

And they took the labor of the peoples in possession:

45 That they might keep his statutes,

And observe his laws.

Hallelujah.

106  Hallelujah.

Oh give thanks to Yahweh; for he is good;

For his loving-kindness [endures] forever.

2 Who can utter the mighty acts of Yahweh,

Or show forth all his praise?

3 Blessed are those who keep justice,

And he who does righteousness at all times.

4 Remember me, O Yahweh, with the favor that you bear to your people;

Oh visit me with your salvation,

5 That I may see the prosperity of your chosen,

That I may rejoice in the gladness of your nation,

That I may glory with your inheritance.

6 We have sinned with our fathers,

We have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly.

7 Our fathers did not understand your wonders in Egypt;

They did not remember the multitude of your loving-kindnesses,

But were rebellious at the sea, even at the Red Sea.

8 Nevertheless he saved them for his name's sake,

That he might make his mighty power to be known.

9 He rebuked the Red Sea also, and it was dried up:

So he led them through the depths, as through a wilderness.

10 And he saved them from the hand of him who hated them,

And redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.

11 And the waters covered their adversaries;

There was not one of them left.

12 Then they believed his words;

They sang his praise.

13 They soon forgot his works;

They did not wait for his counsel,

14 But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness,

And tried God in the desert.

15 And he gave them their request,

But sent leanness into their soul.

16 They envied Moses also in the camp,

[And] Aaron the saint of Yahweh.

17 The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan,

And covered the company of Abiram.

18 And a fire was kindled in their company;

The flame burned up the wicked.

19 They made a calf in Horeb,

And worshiped a molten image.

20 Thus they exchanged his glory

For the likeness of an ox that eats grass.[326]

21 They forgot God their Savior,

Who had done great things in Egypt,

22 Wondrous works in the land of Ham,

[And] awesome works by the Red Sea.

23 Therefore he said that he would destroy them,

Had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach,

To turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy [them].

24 Yes, they despised the pleasant land,

They did not believe his word,

25 But murmured in their tents,

And did not listen to the voice of Yahweh.

26 Therefore he swore to them,

That he would overthrow them in the wilderness,

27 And that he would cast down their seed among the nations,

And scatter them in the lands.

28 They joined themselves also to Baal-peor,

And ate the sacrifices of the dead.

29 Thus they provoked him to anger with their doings;

And the plague broke in on them.

30 Then stood up Phinehas, and executed judgment;

And so the plague was stopped.

31 And that was reckoned to him for righteousness,

To all generations forevermore.

32 They angered him also at the waters of Meribah,

So that it went ill with Moses for their sakes;

33 Because they were rebellious against his spirit,

And he spoke unadvisedly with his lips.

34 They did not destroy the peoples,

As Yahweh commanded them,

35 But mingled themselves with the nations,

And learned their works,

36 And served their idols,

Which became a snare to them.

37 Yes, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons,

38 And shed innocent blood,

Even the blood of their sons and of their daughters,

Whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan;

And the land was polluted with blood.

39 Thus they were defiled with their works,

And prostituted in their doings.

40 Therefore the wrath of Yahweh was kindled against his people,

And he was disgusted with his inheritance.

41 And he gave them into the hand of the nations;

And those who hated them ruled over them.

42 Their enemies also oppressed them,

And they were brought into subjection under their hand.

43 Many times he delivered them;

But they were rebellious in their counsel,

And were brought low in their iniquity.

44 Nevertheless he regarded their distress,

When he heard their cry:

45 And he remembered for them his covenant,

And repented according to the multitude of his loving-kindnesses.

46 He made them also to be pitied

Of all those who carried them captive.

47 Save us, O Yahweh our God,

And gather us from among the nations,

To give thanks to your holy name,

And to triumph in your praise.

48 Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel,

From everlasting even to everlasting.

And let all the people say,

Amen, Hallelujah.

107  BOOK V.

O give thanks to Yahweh; For he is good;

For his loving-kindness [endures] forever.

2 Let the redeemed of Yahweh say [so]

Whom he has redeemed from the hand of the adversary,

3 And gathered out of the lands,

From the east and from the west,

From the north and from the west.

4 They wandered in the wilderness in a desert way;

They found no city of habitation.

5 Hungry and thirsty,

Their soul fainted in them.

6 Then they cried to Yahweh in their trouble,

And he delivered them out of their distresses,

7 He led them also by a straight way,

That they might go to a city of habitation.

8 Oh that men would praise Yahweh for his loving-kindness,

And for his wonderful works to the sons of man!

9 For he satisfies the longing soul,

And the hungry soul he fills with good.

10 Such as sat in darkness and in the shadow of death,

Being bound in affliction and iron,

11 Because they rebelled against the words of God,

And despised the counsel of the Most High:

12 Therefore he brought down their heart with labor;

They fell down, and there was none to help.

13 Then they cried to Yahweh in their trouble,

And he saved them out of their distresses.

14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death,

And broke their bonds in sunder.

15 Oh that men would praise Yahweh for his loving-kindness,

And for his wonderful works to the sons of man!

16 For he has broken the gates of bronze,

And cut the bars of iron in sunder.

17 Fools because of their transgression,

And because of their iniquities, are afflicted.

18 Their soul is disgusted by all manner of food;

And they draw near to the gates of death.

19 Then they cry to Yahweh in their trouble,

And he saves them out of their distresses.

20 He sends his word, and heals them,

And delivers [them] from their destructions.

21 Oh that men would praise Yahweh for his loving-kindness,

And for his wonderful works to the sons of man!

22 And let them offer the sacrifices of thanksgiving,

And declare his works with singing.

23 Those who go down to the sea in ships,

Who do business in great waters;

24 These see the works of Yahweh,

And his wonders in the deep.

25 For he commands, and raises the stormy wind,

Which lifts up its waves.

26 They mount up to the heavens, they go down again to the depths:

Their soul melts away because of trouble.

27 They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunk man,

And are at their wits' end.

28 Then they cry to Yahweh in their trouble,

And he brings them out of their distresses.

29 He makes the storm be calm,

So that its waves are still.

30 Then they are glad because they are quiet;

So he brings them to their desired haven.

31 Oh that men would praise Yahweh for his loving-kindness,

And for his wonderful works to the sons of man!

32 Let them exalt him also in the assembly of the people,

And praise him in the seat of the elders.

33 He turns rivers into a wilderness,

And watersprings into a thirsty ground;

34 A fruitful land into a salt desert,

For the wickedness of those who dwell in it.

35 He turns a wilderness into a pool of water,

And a dry land into watersprings.

36 And there he makes the hungry to dwell,

That they may prepare a city of habitation,

37 And sow fields, and plant vineyards,

And get fruits of increase.

38 He blesses them also, so that they are multiplied greatly;

And he does not allow their cattle to decrease.

39 Again, they are diminished and bowed down

Through oppression, trouble, and sorrow.

40 He pours contempt on princes,

And causes them to wander in the waste, where there is no way.

41 Yet he sets the needy on high from affliction,

And makes [him] families like a flock.

42 The upright will see it, and be glad;

And all iniquity will stop her mouth.

43 Whoever is wise will give heed to these things;

And they will consider the loving-kindnesses of Yahweh.

108  A Song, A Psalm of David.

My heart is fixed, O God;

I will sing, yes, I will sing praises, even with my glory.

2 Awake, psaltery and harp:

I myself will awake the dawn.

3 I will give thanks to you, O Yahweh, among the peoples;

And I will sing praises to you among the nations.

4 For your loving-kindness is great above the heavens;

And your truth [reaches] to the skies.

5 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens,

And your glory above all the earth.

6 That your beloved may be delivered,

Save with your right hand, and answer me.

7 God has spoken in his holiness:

I will be exalted;

I will divide Shechem;

And mete out the valley of Succoth.

8 Gilead is mine; Manasseh is mine;

Ephraim also is the defense of my head;

Judah is my scepter.

9 Moab is my washpot;

On Edom I will cast my sandal;

Over Philistia I will shout.

10 Who will bring me into the fortified city?

Who has led me to Edom?

11 Haven't you cast us off, O God?

And you don't go forth, O God, with our hosts.

12 Give us help against the adversary;

For vain is the help of man.

13 Through God we will do valiantly:

For it is he who will tread down our adversaries.

109  For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

Don't hold your peace, O God of my praise;

2 For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of deceit they have opened against me:

They have spoken to me with a lying tongue.

3 They have surrounded me also with words of hatred,

And fought against me without a cause.

4 In return for my love they are my adversaries:

But I [give myself to] prayer.

5 And they have rewarded me evil for good,

And hatred for my love.

6 Set a wicked man over him;

And let an adversary stand at his right hand.

7 When he is judged, let him come forth guilty;

And let his prayer be turned into sin.

8 Let his days be few;

[And] let another take his office.

9 Let his sons be fatherless,

And his wife a widow.

10 Let his sons be vagabonds, and beg;

And let them seek [their bread] out of their desolate places.

11 Let the extortioner catch all that he has;

And let strangers make spoil of his labor.

12 Let there be none to extend kindness to him;

Neither let there be any to have pity on his fatherless children.

13 Let his posterity be cut off;

In the generation following let their name be blotted out.

14 Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with Yahweh;

And don't let the sin of his mother be blotted out.

15 Let them be before Yahweh continually,

That he may cut off the memory of them from the earth;

16 Because he did not remember to show kindness,

But persecuted the poor and needy man,

And the broken in heart, to slay [them].

17 Yes, he loved cursing, and it came to him;

And he did not delight in blessing, and it was far from him.

18 He clothed himself also with cursing as with his garment,

And it came into his inward parts like water,

And like oil into his bones.

19 Let it be to him as the raiment with which he covers himself,

And for the belt with which he is girded continually.

20 This is the reward of my adversaries from Yahweh,

And of those who speak evil against my soul.

21 But deal with me, O Yahweh the Lord, for your name's sake:

Because your loving-kindness is good, deliver me;

22 For I am poor and needy,

And my heart is wounded inside me.

23 I am gone like the shadow when it declines:

I am tossed up and down as the locust.

24 My knees are weak through fasting;

And my flesh fails of fatness.

25 I have also become a reproach to them:

When they see me, they shake their head.

26 Help me, O Yahweh my God;

Oh save me according to your loving-kindness:

27 That they may know that this is your hand;

[That] you, Yahweh, have done it.

28 Let them curse, but you bless:

When they arise, they will be put to shame,

But your slave will rejoice.

29 Let my adversaries be clothed with dishonor,

And let them cover themselves with their own shame as with a robe.

30 I will give great thanks to Yahweh with my mouth;

Yes, I will praise him among the multitude.

31 For he will stand at the right hand of the needy,

To save him from those who judge his soul.

110  A Psalm of David.

Yahweh says to my Lord,

Sit at my right hand,

until I make your enemies

a stool for your feet.

2 The rod of your strength

Yahweh will send forth out of Zion:

Rule in the midst of your enemies.

3 With you is princely dignity

in the day of your power,

on the holy mountains;

Like dew from the womb of the dawn,

I have begotten you.

4 Yahweh has sworn,

and will not repent:

You are a priest forever

after the order of Melchizedek.

5 The Lord at your right hand will strike through

kings in the day of his wrath.

6 He will judge among the nations,

He will fill [the places] with dead bodies;

He will strike through the head

in many countries.

7 He will drink of the brook in the way:

Therefore he will lift up the head.

111  Hallelujah.

I will give thanks to Yahweh with my whole heart,

In the council of the upright, and in the congregation.

2 The works of Yahweh are great,

Sought out of all those who have pleasure in them.

3 His work is grandeur and majesty;

And his righteousness endures forever.

4 He has made his wonderful works to be remembered:

Yahweh is gracious and merciful.

5 He has given food to those who fear him:

He will ever be mindful of his covenant.

6 He has shown his people the power of his works,

In giving them the heritage of the nations.

7 The works of his hands are truth and justice;

All his precepts are sure.

8 They are established forever and ever;

They are done in truth and uprightness.

9 He has sent redemption to his people;

He has commanded his covenant forever:

Holy and awesome is his name.

10 The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom;

A good understanding have all those who do that:

His praise endures forever.

112  Hallelujah.

Blessed is the man who fears Yahweh,

Who delights greatly in his commandments.

2 His seed will be mighty on earth:

The generation of the upright will be blessed.

3 Wealth and riches are in his house;

And his righteousness endures forever.

4 To the upright there rises light in the darkness:

[He is] gracious, and merciful, and righteous.

5 It is well with the man who deals graciously and lends;

He will maintain his cause in judgment.

6 For he will never be moved;

The righteous will be had in everlasting remembrance.

7 He will not be afraid of evil news:

His heart is fixed, trusting in Yahweh.

8 His heart is established, he will not be afraid,

Until he sees [his desire] on his adversaries.

9 He has dispersed, he has given to the needy;

His righteousness endures forever:

His horn will be exalted with honor.

10 The wicked will see it, and be grieved;

He will gnash with his teeth, and melt away:

The desire of the wicked will perish.

113  Hallelujah.

Praise, O you+ slaves of Yahweh,

Praise the name of Yahweh.

2 Blessed be the name of Yahweh

From this time forth and forevermore.

3 From the rising of the sun to the going down of the same

Yahweh's name is to be praised.

4 Yahweh is high above all nations,

And his glory above the heavens.

5 Who is like Yahweh our God,

Who has his seat on high,

6 Who humbles himself to look at

[The things that are] in heaven and in the earth?

7 He raises up the poor out of the dust,

And lifts up the needy from the dunghill;

8 That he may set him with princes,

Even with the princes of his people.

9 He makes the barren woman to keep house,

[And to be] a joyful mother of sons.

Hallelujah.

114  When Israel went forth out of Egypt,

The house of Jacob from a people of strange language;

2 Judah became his sanctuary,

Israel his dominion.

3 The sea saw it, and fled;

The Jordan was driven back.

4 The mountains skipped like rams,

The little hills like lambs.

5 What ails you, O you sea, that you flee?

You Jordan, that you turn back?

6 You+ mountains, that you+ skip like rams;

You+ little hills, like lambs?

7 Tremble, you earth, at the presence of the Lord,

At the presence of the God of Jacob,

8 Who turned the rock into a pool of water,

The flint into a fountain of waters.

115  Not to us, O Yahweh, not to us,

But to your name give glory,

For your loving-kindness, and for your truth's sake.

2 Why should the nations say,

Where now is their God?

3 But our God is in the heavens:

He has done whatever he pleased.

4 Their idols are silver and gold,

The work of man's hands.

5 They have mouths, but they don't speak;

They have eyes, but they don't see;

6 They have ears, but they don't hear;

They have noses, but they don't smell;

7 They have hands, but they don't handle;

They have feet, but they don't walk;

Neither do they speak through their throat.

8 Those who make them will be like them;

Yes, everyone who trusts in them.

9 O Israel, trust in Yahweh:

He is their help and their shield.

10 O house of Aaron, trust+ in Yahweh:

He is their help and their shield.

11 You+ who fear Yahweh, trust in Yahweh:

He is their help and their shield.

12 Yahweh has been mindful of us; he will bless [us]

He will bless the house of Israel;

He will bless the house of Aaron.

13 He will bless those who fear Yahweh,

Both small and great.

14 Yahweh will increase you+ more and more,

You+ and your+ sons.

15 Blessed are you+ of Yahweh,

Who made heaven and earth.

16 The heavens are the heavens of Yahweh;

But the earth he has given to the sons of man.

17 The dead don't praise Yah,

Neither any who go down into silence;

18 But we will bless Yah

From this time forth and forevermore.

Hallelujah.

116  I love Yahweh, because he hears

My voice and my supplications.

2 Because he has inclined his ear to me,

Therefore I will call [on him] as long as I live.

3 The cords of death surrounded me,

And the pains of Sheol got hold on me:

I found trouble and sorrow.

4 Then I called on the name of Yahweh:

O Yahweh, I urge you, deliver my soul.

5 Gracious is Yahweh, and righteous;

Yes, our God is merciful.

6 Yahweh preserves the simple:

I was brought low, and he saved me.

7 Return to your rest, O my soul;

For Yahweh has dealt bountifully with you.

8 For you have delivered my soul from death,

My eyes from tears,

[And] my feet from falling.

9 I will walk before Yahweh

In the land of the living.

10 I believe, for I will speak:

I was greatly afflicted:

11 I said in my haste,

Everyone of man is a liar.

12 What shall I render to Yahweh

For all his benefits toward me?

13 I will take the cup of salvation,

And call on the name of Yahweh.

14 I will pay my vows to Yahweh,

Yes, in the presence of all his people.

15 Precious in the sight of Yahweh

Is the death of his saints.

16 O Yahweh, truly I am your slave:

I am your slave, the son of your female slave;

You have loosed my bonds.

17 I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving,

And will call on the name of Yahweh.

18 I will pay my vows to Yahweh,

Yes, in the presence of all his people,

19 In the courts of Yahweh's house,

In the midst of you, O Jerusalem.

Hallelujah.

117  O praise Yahweh, all you+ nations;

Laud him, all you+ peoples.

2 For his loving-kindness is great toward us;

And the truth of Yahweh [endures] forever.

Hallelujah.

118  Oh give thanks to Yahweh; for he is good;

For his loving-kindness [endures] forever.

2 Let Israel now say,

That his loving-kindness [endures] forever.

3 Let the house of Aaron now say,

That his loving-kindness [endures] forever.

4 Let them now who fear Yahweh say,

That his loving-kindness [endures] forever.

5 Out of my distress I called on Yah:

Yah answered me [and set me] in a large place.

6 Yahweh is on my side; I will not fear:

What can man do to me?

7 Yahweh is on my side among those who help me:

Therefore I will see [my desire] on those who hate me.

8 It is better to take refuge in Yahweh

Than to put confidence in man.

9 It is better to take refuge in Yahweh

Than to put confidence in princes.

10 All nations surrounded me:

In the name of Yahweh I will make them circumcised.

11 They surrounded me; yes, they surrounded me:

In the name of Yahweh I will make them circumcised.

12 They surrounded me like bees; They are quenched as the fire of thorns:

In the name of Yahweh I will make them circumcised.

13 You thrusted intensely at me that I might fall;

But Yahweh helped me.

14 Yah is my strength and song;

And he has become my salvation.

15 The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tents of the righteous:

The right hand of Yahweh does valiantly.

16 The right hand of Yahweh is exalted:

The right hand of Yahweh does valiantly.

17 I will not die, but live,

And declare the works of Yah.

18 Yah has chastened me intensely;

But he has not given me over to death.

19 Open to me the gates of righteousness:

I will enter into them, I will give thanks to Yah.

20 This is the gate of Yahweh;

The righteous will enter into it.

21 I will give thanks to you; for you have answered me,

And have become my salvation.

22 The stone which the builders rejected

Has become the head of the corner.

23 This is Yahweh's doing;

It is marvelous in our eyes.

24 This is the day which Yahweh has made;

We will rejoice and be glad in it.

25 Save now, we urge you, O Yahweh:

O Yahweh, we urge you, send now prosperity.

26 Blessed be he who comes in the name of Yahweh:

We have blessed you+ out of the house of Yahweh.

27 Yahweh is God, and he has given us light:

Bind the sacrifice with cords, even to the horns of the altar.

28 You are my God, and I will give thanks to you:

You are my God, I will exalt you.

29 Oh give thanks to Yahweh; for he is good;

For his loving-kindness [endures] forever.

119

[ALEPH א][327]

Blessed are those who are perfect in the way,

Who walk in the law of Yahweh.

2 Blessed are those who keep his testimonies,

Who seek him with the whole heart.

3 Yes, they do no unrighteousness;

They walk in his ways.

4 You have commanded [us] your precepts,

That we should observe them diligently.

5 Oh that my ways were established

To observe your statutes!

6 Then I will not be put to shame,

When I have respect to all your commandments.

7 I will give thanks to you with uprightness of heart,

When I learn your righteous judgments.

8 I will observe your statutes:

Oh don't forsake me completely.

9 [BET ב]

How will a young man cleanse his way?

By taking heed [thereto] according to your word.

10 With my whole heart I have sought you:

Oh don't let me wander from your commandments.

11 Your word I have laid up in my heart,

That I might not sin against you.

12 Blessed are you, O Yahweh:

Teach me your statutes.

13 With my lips I have declared

All the ordinances of your mouth.

14 I have rejoiced in the way of your testimonies,

As much as in all riches.

15 I will meditate on your precepts,

And have respect to your ways.

16 I will delight myself in your statutes:

I will not forget your word.

17 [GIMEL ג]

Deal bountifully with your slave, that I may live;

So I will observe your word.

18 Open my eyes, that I may look at

Wondrous things out of your law.

19 I am a sojourner in the earth:

Don't hide your commandments from me.

20 My soul breaks for the longing

That it has to your ordinances at all times.

21 You have rebuked the proud who are cursed,

Who wander from your commandments.

22 Take away from me reproach and contempt;

For I have kept your testimonies.

23 Princes also sat and talked against me;

[But] your slave meditated on your statutes.

24 Your testimonies also are my delight

[And] my counselors.

25 [DALET ד]

My soul sticks to the dust:

Quicken me according to your word.

26 I declared my ways, and you answered me:

Teach me your statutes.

27 Make me to understand the way of your precepts:

So I will meditate on your wondrous works.

28 My soul melts for heaviness:

Strengthen me according to your word.

29 Remove from me the way of falsehood;

And grant me your law graciously.

30 I have chosen the way of faithfulness:

Your ordinances I have set [before me].

31 I stick to your testimonies:

O Yahweh, don't put me to shame.

32 I will run the way of your commandments,

When you will enlarge my heart.

33 [HE ה]

Teach me, O Yahweh, the way of your statutes;

And I will keep it to the end.

34 Give me understanding, and I will keep your law;

Yes, I will observe it with my whole heart.

35 Make me to go in the path of your commandments;

For in it I delight.

36 Incline my heart to your testimonies,

And not to covetousness.

37 Turn away my eyes from looking at vanity,

And quicken me in your ways.

38 Confirm to your slave your word,

Which [is in order] to the fear of you.

39 Turn away my reproach of which I am afraid;

For your ordinances are good.

40 Look, I have longed after your precepts:

Quicken me in your righteousness.

41 [VAV ו]

Let your loving-kindnesses also come to me, O Yahweh,

Even your salvation, according to your word.

42 So I will have an answer for him who reproaches me;

For I trust in your word.

43 And don't take the word of truth completely out of my mouth;

For I have hoped in your ordinances.

44 So I will observe your law continually

Forever and ever.

45 And I will walk at liberty;

For I have sought your precepts.

46 I will also speak of your testimonies before kings,

And will not be put to shame.

47 And I will delight myself in your commandments,

Which I have loved.

48 I will lift up my hands also to your commandments, which I have loved;

And I will meditate on your statutes.

49 [ZAYIN ז]

Remember the word to your slave,

Because you have made me to hope.

50 This is my comfort in my affliction;

For your word has quickened me.

51 The proud have had me greatly in derision:

[Yet] I have not swerved from your law.

52 I have remembered your ordinances of old, O Yahweh,

And have comforted myself.

53 Hot indignation has taken hold on me,

Because of the wicked who forsake your law.

54 Your statutes have been my songs

In the house of my pilgrimage.

55 I have remembered your name, O Yahweh, in the night,

And have observed your law.

56 This I have had,

Because I have kept your precepts.

57 [CHET ח]

Yahweh is my portion:

I have said that I would observe your words.

58 I entreated your favor with my whole heart:

Be merciful to me according to your word.

59 I thought on my ways,

And turned my feet to your testimonies.

60 I hurried, and did not delay,

To observe your commandments.

61 The cords of the wicked have wrapped me round;

[But] I have not forgotten your law.

62 At midnight I will rise to give thanks to you

Because of your righteous ordinances.

63 I am a partner of all those who fear you,

And of those who observe your precepts.

64 The earth, O Yahweh, is full of your loving-kindness:

Teach me your statutes.

65 [TET ט]

You have dealt well with your slave,

O Yahweh, according to your word.

66 Teach me good judgment and knowledge;

For I have believed in your commandments.

67 Before I was afflicted I went astray;

But now I observe your word.

68 You are good, and do good;

Teach me your statutes.

69 The proud have forged a lie against me:

With my whole heart I will keep your precepts.

70 Their heart is as fat as grease;

But I delight in your law.

71 It is good for me that I have been afflicted;

That I may learn your statutes.

72 The law of your mouth is better to me

Than thousands of gold and silver.

73 [YOD י]

Your hands have made me and fashioned me:

Give me understanding, that I may learn your commandments.

74 Those who fear you will see me and be glad,

Because I have hoped in your word.

75 I know, O Yahweh, that your judgments are righteous,

And that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.

76 Let, I pray you, your loving-kindness be for my comfort,

According to your word to your slave.

77 Let your tender mercies come to me, that I may live;

For your law is my delight.

78 Let the proud be put to shame; For they have overthrown me wrongfully:

[But] I will meditate on your precepts.

79 Let those who fear you turn to me;

And they will know your testimonies.

80 Let my heart be perfect in your statutes,

That I will not be put to shame.

81 [KAF כ]

My soul faints for your salvation;

[But] I hope in your word.

82 My eyes fail for your word,

While I say, When will you comfort me?

83 For I have become like a wineskin in the smoke;

Yet I don't forget your statutes.

84 How many are the days of your slave?

When will you execute judgment on those who persecute me?

85 The proud have dug pits for me,

Who are not according to your law.

86 All your commandments are faithful:

They persecute me wrongfully; help me.

87 They had almost consumed me on earth;

But I did not forsake your precepts.

88 Quicken me after your loving-kindness;

So I will observe the testimony of your mouth.

89 [LAMED ל]

Forever, O Yahweh,

Your word is settled in heaven.

90 Your faithfulness is to all generations:

You have established the earth, and it stands fast.

91 They stand this day according to your ordinances;

For all things are your slaves.

92 Unless your law had been my delight,

I should then have perished in my affliction.

93 I will never forget your precepts;

For with them you have quickened me.

94 I am yours, save me;

For I have sought your precepts.

95 The wicked have waited for me, to destroy me;

[But] I will consider your testimonies.

96 I have seen an end of all perfection;

[But] your commandment is exceedingly broad.

97 [MEM מ]

Oh how I love your law!

It is my meditation all the day.

98 Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies;

For they are ever with me.

99 I have more understanding than all my teachers;

For your testimonies are my meditation.

100 I understand more than the aged,

Because I have kept your precepts.

101 I have refrained my feet from every evil way,

That I might observe your word.

102 I have not turned aside from your ordinances;

For you have taught me.

103 How sweet are your words to my taste!

[Yes, sweeter] than honey to my mouth!

104 Through your precepts I get understanding:

Therefore I hate every false way.

105 [NUN נ]

Your word is a lamp to my feet,

And a light to my path.

106 I have sworn, and have confirmed it,

That I will observe your righteous ordinances.

107 I am afflicted very much:

Quicken me, O Yahweh, according to your word.

108 Accept, I urge you, the freewill-offerings of my mouth, O Yahweh,

And teach me your ordinances.

109 My soul is continually in my hand;

Yet I don't forget your law.

110 The wicked have laid a snare for me;

Yet I have not gone astray from your precepts.

111 Your testimonies I have taken as a heritage forever;

For they are the rejoicing of my heart.

112 I have inclined my heart to perform your statutes

Forever, even to the end.

113 [SAMEK ס]

I hate those who are of a double mind;

But I love your law.

114 You are my hiding-place and my shield:

I hope in your word.

115 Depart from me, you+ evildoers,

That I may keep the commandments of my God.

116 Uphold me according to your word, that I may live;

And don't let me be ashamed of my hope.

117 Hold me up, and I will be safe,

And I will look to your statutes continually.

118 You have set at nothing all those who err from your statutes;

For their deceit is falsehood.

119 You consider all the wicked of the earth like dross:

Therefore I love your testimonies.

120 My flesh trembles for fear of you;

And I am afraid of your judgments.

121 [AYIN ע]

I have done justice and righteousness:

Don't leave me to my oppressors.

122 Be surety for your slave for good:

Don't let the proud oppress me.

123 My eyes fail for your salvation,

And for your righteous word.

124 Deal with your slave according to your loving-kindness,

And teach me your statutes.

125 I am your slave; give me understanding,

That I may know your testimonies.

126 It is time for Yahweh to work;

[For] they have made void your law.

127 Therefore I love your commandments

Above gold, yes, above fine gold.

128 Therefore I esteem all [your] precepts concerning all [things] to be right;

[And] I hate every false way.

129 [PE פ]

Your testimonies are wonderful;

Therefore my soul keeps them.

130 The opening of your words gives light;

It gives understanding to the simple.

131 I opened my mouth wide, and panted;

For I longed for your commandments.

132 Turn to me, and have mercy on me,

As your manner is to those who love your name.

133 Establish my footsteps in your word;

And don't let any iniquity have dominion over me.

134 Redeem me from the oppression of man:

So I will observe your precepts.

135 Make your face to shine on your slave;

And teach me your statutes.

136 Streams of water run down my eyes,

Because they do not observe your law.

137 [TSADE צ]

Righteous are you, O Yahweh,

And upright are your judgments.

138 You have commanded your testimonies in righteousness

And very faithfulness.

139 My zeal has consumed me,

Because my adversaries have forgotten your words.

140 Your word is very pure;

Therefore your slave loves it.

141 I am small and despised;

[Yet] I don't forget your precepts.

142 Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness,

And your law is truth.

143 Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me;

[Yet] your commandments are my delight.

144 Your testimonies are righteous forever:

Give me understanding, and I will live.

145 [QOF ק]

I have called with my whole heart; answer me, O Yahweh:

I will keep your statutes.

146 I have called to you; save me,

And I will observe your testimonies.

147 I anticipated the dawning of the morning, and cried:

I hoped in your words.

148 My eyes anticipated the night-watches,

That I might meditate on your word.

149 Hear my voice according to your loving-kindness:

Quicken me, O Yahweh, according to your ordinances.

150 They draw near that follow after wickedness;

They are far from your law.

151 You are near, O Yahweh;

And all your commandments are truth.

152 Of old I have known from your testimonies,

That you have founded them forever.

153 [RESH ר]

Consider my affliction, and deliver me;

For I do not forget your law.

154 Plead my cause, and redeem me:

Quicken me according to your word.

155 Salvation is far from the wicked;

For they don't seek your statutes.

156 Great are your tender mercies, O Yahweh:

Quicken me according to your ordinances.

157 Many are my persecutors and my adversaries;

[Yet] I have not swerved from your testimonies.

158 I saw the betrayers, and was grieved,

Because they do not observe your word.

159 Consider how I love your precepts:

Quicken me, O Yahweh, according to your loving-kindness.

160 The sum of your word is truth;

And every one of your righteous ordinances [endures] forever.

161 [SHIN שׁ]

Princes have persecuted me without a cause;

But my heart stands in awe of your words.

162 I rejoice at your word,

As one who finds great spoil.

163 I hate and am disgusted by falsehood;

[But] I love your law.

164 Seven times a day I praise you,

Because of your righteous ordinances.

165 Great peace have those who love your law;

And they have no occasion of stumbling.

166 I have hoped for your salvation, O Yahweh,

And have done your commandments.

167 My soul has observed your testimonies;

And I love them exceedingly.

168 I have observed your precepts and your testimonies;

For all my ways are before you.

169 [TAV ת]

Let my cry come near before you, O Yahweh:

Give me understanding according to your word.

170 Let my supplication come before you:

Deliver me according to your word.

171 Let my lips gush out with praise;

For you teach me your statutes.

172 Let my tongue sing of your word;

For all your commandments are righteousness.

173 Let your hand be ready to help me;

For I have chosen your precepts.

174 I have longed for your salvation, O Yahweh;

And your law is my delight.

175 Let my soul live, and it will praise you;

And let your ordinances help me.

176 I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your slave;

For I do not forget your commandments.

120  A Song of Ascents.

In my distress I cried to Yahweh,

And he answered me.

2 Deliver my soul, O Yahweh, from lying lips,

[And] from a deceitful tongue.

3 What will be given to you, and what will be done more to you,

You deceitful tongue?

4 Sharp arrows of the mighty,

With coals of juniper.

5 Woe is me, that I sojourn in Meshech,

That I stay among the tents of Kedar!

6 My soul has stayed too long

With him who hates peace.

7 I am [for] peace:

But when I speak, they are for war.

121  A Song of Ascents.

I will lift up my eyes to the mountains:

From where will my help come?

2 My help [comes] from Yahweh,

Who made heaven and earth.

3 He will not allow your foot to be moved:

He who keeps you will not slumber.

4 Look, he who keeps Israel

Will neither slumber nor sleep.

5 Yahweh is your keeper:

Yahweh is your shade on your right hand.

6 The sun will not strike you by day,

Nor the moon by night.

7 Yahweh will keep you from all evil;

He will keep your soul.

8 Yahweh will keep your going out and your coming in

From this time forth and forevermore.

122  A Song of Ascents; of David.

I was glad when they said to me,

Let us go to the house of Yahweh.

2 Our feet are standing

Inside your gates, O Jerusalem,

3 Jerusalem is built

As a city that is compact together;

4 Where the tribes go up, even the tribes of Yah,

[For] an ordinance for Israel,

To give thanks to the name of Yahweh.

5 For there are set thrones for judgment,

The thrones of the house of David.

6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:

Those who love you will prosper.

7 Peace be inside your walls,

And prosperity inside your palaces.

8 For my brothers and companions' sakes,

I will now say, Peace be inside you.

9 For the sake of the house of Yahweh our God

I will seek your good.

123  A Song of Ascents.

To you I lift up my eyes,

O you who sit in the heavens.

2 Look, as the eyes of male slaves [look] to the hand of their master,

As the eyes of a female slave to the hand of her mistress;

So our eyes [look] to Yahweh our God,

Until he has mercy on us.

3 Have mercy on us, O Yahweh, have mercy on us;

For we are exceedingly filled with contempt.

4 Our soul is exceedingly filled

With the scoffing of those who are at ease,

And with the contempt of the proud.

124  A Song of Ascents; of David.

If it had not been Yahweh who was on our side,

Let Israel now say,

2 If it had not been Yahweh who was on our side,

When man rose up against us;

3 Then they would have swallowed us up alive,

When their wrath was kindled against us;

4 Then the waters would have overwhelmed us,

The stream would have gone over our soul;

5 Then the proud waters would have gone over our soul.

6 Blessed be Yahweh,

Who has not given us as a prey to their teeth.

7 Our soul has escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers:

The snare is broken, and we have escaped.

8 Our help is in the name of Yahweh,

Who made heaven and earth.

125  A Song of Ascents.

Those who trust in Yahweh

Are as mount Zion, which can't be moved, but remains forever.

2 As the mountains are round about Jerusalem,

So Yahweh is round about his people

From this time forth and forevermore.

3 For the scepter of wickedness will not rest on the lot of the righteous;

That the righteous don't put forth their hands to iniquity.

4 Do good, O Yahweh, to those who are good,

And to those who are upright in their hearts.

5 But as for such as turn aside to their crooked ways,

Yahweh will lead them forth with the workers of iniquity.

Peace be on Israel.

126  A Song of Ascents.

When Yahweh brought back those who returned to Zion,

We were like those who dream.

2 Then was our mouth filled with laughter,

And our tongue with singing:

Then they said among the nations,

Yahweh has done great things for them.

3 Yahweh has done great things for us,

[Of which] we are glad.

4 Turn again our captivity, O Yahweh,

As the streams in the South.

5 Those who sow in tears will reap in joy.

6 He who goes forth and weeps, bearing seed for sowing,

Will doubtless come again with joy, bringing his sheaves [with him].

127  A Song of Ascents; of Solomon.

If Yahweh does not build the house,

They labor in vain who build it:

If Yahweh does not keep the city,

The watchman wakes but in vain.

2 It is vain for you+ to rise up early,

To take rest late,

To eat the bread of toil;

Thus he gives to his beloved sleep.

3 Look, sons are a heritage of Yahweh;

[And] the fruit of the womb is [his] reward.

4 As arrows in the hand of a mighty man,

So are the sons of youth.

5 Happy is the [noble] man who has his quiver full of them:

They will not be put to shame,

When they speak with their enemies in the gate.

128  A Song of Ascents.

Blessed is everyone who fears Yahweh,

Who walks in his ways.

2 For you will eat the labor of your hands:

Happy you will be, and it will be well with you.

3 Your wife will be as a fruitful vine,

In the innermost parts of your house;

Your sons like olive plants,

Around your table.

4 Look, thus will the [able-bodied] man be blessed

Who fears Yahweh.

5 Yahweh will bless you out of Zion:

And you will see the good of Jerusalem all the days of your life.

6 Yes, you will see the sons of your sons.

Peace be on Israel.

129  A Song of Ascents.

Many a time they have afflicted me from my youth up,

Let Israel now say,

2 Many a time they have afflicted me from my youth up:

Yet they have not prevailed against me.

3 The plowers plowed on my back;

They made long their furrows.

4 Yahweh is righteous:

He has cut apart the cords of the wicked.

5 Let them be put to shame and turned backward,

All those who hate Zion.

6 Let them be as the grass on the housetops,

Which withers before it grows up;

7 With which the reaper does not fill his hand,

Nor he who binds sheaves his bosom.

8 Neither do those who go by say,

The blessing of Yahweh be on you+

We bless you+ in the name of Yahweh.

130  A Song of Ascents.

Out of the depths I have cried to you, O Yahweh.

2 Lord, hear my voice:

Let your ears be attentive

To the voice of my supplications.

3 If you, Yah, should mark iniquities,

O Lord, who could stand?

4 But there is forgiveness with you,

That you may be feared.

5 I wait for Yahweh, my soul waits,

And I hope in his word.

6 My soul [waits] for the Lord

More than watchmen [wait] for the morning;

[Yes, more than] watchmen for the morning.

7 O Israel, hope in Yahweh;

For with Yahweh there is loving-kindness,

And with him is plenteous redemption.

8 And he will redeem Israel

From all his iniquities.

131  A Song of Ascents; of David.

Yahweh, my heart is not haughty, nor my eyes lofty;

Neither do I exercise myself in great matters,

Or in things too wonderful for me.

2 Surely I have stilled and quieted my soul;

Like a weaned child with his mother,

Like a weaned child is my soul inside me.

3 O Israel, hope in Yahweh

From this time forth and forevermore.

132  A Song of Ascents.

Yahweh, remember for David

All his affliction;

2 How he swore to Yahweh,

And vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob:

3 Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house,

Nor go up into my bed;

4 I will not give sleep to my eyes,

Or slumber to my eyelids;

5 Until I find out a place for Yahweh,

A tabernacle for the Mighty One of Jacob.

6 Look, we heard of it in Ephrathah:

We found it in the field of the forest.

7 We will go into his tabernacles;

We will worship at his footstool.

8 Arise, O Yahweh, into your resting-place;

You, and the ark of your strength.

9 Let your priests be clothed with righteousness;

And let your saints shout for joy.

10 For your slave David's sake

Don't turn away the face of your anointed.

11 Yahweh has sworn to David in truth;

He will not turn from it:

Of the fruit of your body I will set on your throne.

12 If your sons will keep my covenant

And my testimony that I will teach them,

Their sons also will sit on your throne forevermore.

13 For Yahweh has chosen Zion;

He has desired it for his habitation.

14 This is my resting-place forever:

Here I will dwell; for I have desired it.

15 I will abundantly bless her provisions:

I will satisfy her poor with bread.

16 Her priests also I will clothe with salvation;

And her saints will shout aloud for joy.

17 There I will make the horn of David to bud:

I have appointed a lamp for my anointed.

18 His enemies I will clothe with shame;

But on himself will his crown flourish.

133  A Song of Ascents; of David.

Look, how good and how pleasant it is

For brothers to dwell together in unity!

2 It is like the precious oil on the head,

That ran down on the beard,

Even Aaron's beard;

That came down on the skirt of his garments;

3 Like the dew of Hermon,

That comes down on the mountains of Zion:

For there Yahweh commanded the blessing,

Even life forevermore.

134  A Song of Ascents.

Look, bless+ Yahweh, all you+ slaves of Yahweh,

Who by night stand in the house of Yahweh.

2 Lift up your+ hands to the sanctuary,

And bless+ Yahweh.

3 May Yahweh bless you out of Zion;

Even he who made heaven and earth.

135  Hallelujah. Praise+ the name of Yahweh;

Praise [him], O you+ slaves of Yahweh,

2 You+ who stand in the house of Yahweh,

In the courts of the house of our God.

3 Hallelujah; for Yahweh is good:

Sing praises to his name; for it is pleasant.

4 For Yah has chosen Jacob to himself,

[And] Israel for his own possession.

5 For I know that Yahweh is great,

And that our Lord is above all gods.

6 Whatever Yahweh pleased, that he has done,

In heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deeps;

7 Who causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth;

Who makes lightnings for the rain;

Who brings forth the wind out of his treasuries;

8 Who struck the firstborn of Egypt,

Both of man and beast;

9 Who sent signs and wonders into the midst of you, O Egypt,

On Pharaoh, and on all his slaves;

10 Who struck many nations,

And slew mighty kings,

11 Sihon king of the Amorites,

And Og king of Bashan,

And all the kingdoms of Canaan,

12 And gave their land for a heritage,

A heritage to Israel his people.

13 Your name, O Yahweh, [endures] forever;

Your memorial [name], O Yahweh, throughout all generations.

14 For Yahweh will judge his people,

And repent himself concerning his slaves.

15 The idols of the nations are silver and gold,

The work of man's hands.

16 They have mouths, but they don't speak;

They have eyes, but they don't see;

17 They have ears, but they don't hear;

Neither is there any breath in their mouths.

18 Those who make them will be like them;

Yes, everyone who trusts in them.

19 O house of Israel, bless+ Yahweh:

O house of Aaron, bless+ Yahweh:

20 O house of Levi, bless+ Yahweh:

You+ who fear Yahweh, bless+ Yahweh.

21 Blessed be Yahweh out of Zion,

Who stays at Jerusalem.

Hallelujah.

136  Oh give thanks to Yahweh; for he is good;

For his loving-kindness [endures] forever.

2 Oh give thanks to the God of gods;

For his loving-kindness [endures] forever.

3 Oh give thanks to the Lord of lords;

For his loving-kindness [endures] forever:

4 To him who alone does great wonders;

For his loving-kindness [endures] forever:

5 To him who by understanding made the heavens;

For his loving-kindness [endures] forever:

6 To him who spread forth the earth above the waters;

For his loving-kindness [endures] forever:

7 To him who made great lights;

For his loving-kindness [endures] forever:

8 The sun to rule by day;

For his loving-kindness [endures] forever;

9 The moon and stars to rule by night;

For his loving-kindness [endures] forever:

10 To him who struck Egypt in their firstborn;

For his loving-kindness [endures] forever;

11 And brought out Israel from among them;

For his loving-kindness [endures] forever;

12 With a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm;

For his loving-kindness [endures] forever:

13 To him who divided the Red Sea in sunder;

For his loving-kindness [endures] forever;

14 And made Israel to pass through the midst of it;

For his loving-kindness [endures] forever;

15 But overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea;

For his loving-kindness [endures] forever:

16 To him who led his people through the wilderness;

For his loving-kindness [endures] forever:

17 To him who struck great kings;

For his loving-kindness [endures] forever;

18 And slew majestic kings;

For his loving-kindness [endures] forever:

19 Sihon king of the Amorites;

For his loving-kindness [endures] forever;

20 And Og king of Bashan;

For his loving-kindness [endures] forever;

21 And gave their land for a heritage;

For his loving-kindness [endures] forever;

22 Even a heritage to Israel his slave;

For his loving-kindness [endures] forever:

23 Who remembered us in our low estate;

For his loving-kindness [endures] forever;

24 And has delivered us from our adversaries;

For his loving-kindness [endures] forever:

25 Who gives food to all flesh;

For his loving-kindness [endures] forever.

26 Oh give thanks to the God of heaven;

For his loving-kindness [endures] forever.

137  By the rivers of Babylon,

There we sat down, yes, we wept,

When we remembered Zion.

2 On the willows in the midst of it

We hung up our harps.

3 For there those who led us captive required of us songs,

And those who wasted us [required of us] mirth, [saying]

Sing us one of the songs of Zion.

4 How shall we sing Yahweh's song

In a foreign land?

5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem,

Let my right hand forget [her skill].

6 Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth,

If I don't remember you;

If I don't prefer Jerusalem

Above my chief joy.

7 Remember, O Yahweh, against the sons of Edom

The day of Jerusalem;

Who said, Raze it, raze it,

Even to its foundation.

8 O daughter of Babylon, who are to be destroyed,

Happy he will be, who rewards you

As you have served us.

9 Happy he will be, who takes and dashes your little ones

Against the rock.

138  A [Psalm] of David.

I will give you thanks with my whole heart:

Before the gods I will sing praises to you.

2 I will worship toward your holy temple,

And give thanks to your name for your loving-kindness and for your truth:

For you have magnified your word above all your name.

3 In the day that I called you answered me,

You encouraged me with strength in my soul.

4 All the kings of the earth will give you thanks, O Yahweh,

For they have heard the words of your mouth.

5 Yes, they will sing of the ways of Yahweh;

For great is the glory of Yahweh.

6 For though Yahweh is high, yet he has respect to the lowly;

But the haughty he knows from afar.

7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you will revive me;

You will stretch forth your hand against the wrath of my enemies,

And your right hand will save me.

8 Yahweh will perfect that which concerns me:

Your loving-kindness, O Yahweh, [endures] forever;

Don't forsake the works of your own hands.

139  For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

O Yahweh, you have searched me, and known [me].

2 You know my sitting down and my rising up;

You understand my thought far off.

3 You search out my path and my lying down,

And are acquainted with all my ways.

4 For there is not a word in my tongue,

But, look, O Yahweh, you know it altogether.

5 You have beset me behind and before,

And laid your hand on me.

6 [Such] knowledge is too wonderful for me;

It is high, I can't attain to it.

7 Where shall I go from your Spirit?

Or where shall I flee from your presence?

8 If I ascend up into heaven, you are there:

If I make my bed in Sheol, look, you are there.

9 If I take the wings of the morning,

And stay in the uttermost parts of the sea;

10 Even there your hand will lead me,

And your right hand will hold me.

11 If I say, Surely the darkness will overwhelm me,

And the light about me will be night;

12 Even the darkness does not hide from you,

But the night shines as the day:

The darkness and the light are both alike [to you].

13 For you formed my inward parts:

You knit me together in my mother's womb.

14 I will give thanks to you; because of your awesome works[328] I am distinguished[329]

Wonderful are your works;

And my soul knows that very well.

15 My frame was not hidden from you,

When I was made in secret,

[And] curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

16 Your eyes saw me developing from conception;

And in your book they were all written,

[Even] the days that were formed [for me]

When as yet there was none of them.

17 How precious also are your thoughts to me, O God!

How great is the sum of them!

18 If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand:

When I awake, I am still with you.

19 Surely you will slay the wicked, O God:

Depart from me therefore, you+ bloodthirsty men.

20 For they speak against you wickedly,

And your enemies are lifted up in vain.

21 Don't I hate them, O Yahweh, that hate you?

And am I not grieved with those who rise up against you?

22 I hate them with perfect hatred:

They have become my enemies.

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart:

Try me, and know my thoughts;

24 And see if there is any wicked way in me,

And lead me in the way everlasting.

140  For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

Deliver me, O Yahweh, from [the] evil man;

Preserve me from the violent man:

2 Who devise mischiefs in their heart;

Continually they gather themselves together for war.

3 They have sharpened their tongue like a serpent;

Adders' poison is under their lips. Selah.

4 Keep me, O Yahweh, from the hands of the wicked;

Preserve me from the violent man:

Who have purposed to thrust aside my steps.

5 The proud have hid a snare for me, and cords;

They have spread a net by the wayside;

They have set traps for me. Selah.

6 I said to Yahweh, You are my God:

Give ear to the voice of my supplications, O Yahweh.

7 O Yahweh the Lord, the strength of my salvation,

You have covered my head in the day of battle.

8 Don't grant, O Yahweh, the desires of the wicked;

Don't further his evil plot. They will exalt themselves. Selah.

9 As for the head of those who speak lies about me, [330]

Let the mischief of their own lips cover them.

10 Let burning coals fall on them:

Let them be cast into the fire,

Into deep pits, from where they will not rise.

11 A man of tongue will not be established in the earth:

Evil will hunt a man of violence to overthrow him.

12 I know that Yahweh will maintain the cause of the afflicted,

And justice for the needy.

13 Surely the righteous will give thanks to your name:

The upright will dwell in your presence.

141  A Psalm of David.

Yahweh, I have called on you; hurry to me:

Give ear to my voice, when I call to you.

2 May my prayer be placed as incense before you;

The lifting of my hands as the evening sacrifice.

3 Set a watch, O Yahweh, before my mouth;

Keep the door of my lips.

4 Don't incline my heart to any evil thing,

To do deeds of wickedness

With men who work iniquity:

And don't let me eat of their dainties.

5 Let the righteous strike me [it will be] a kindness;

And let him reprove me, [it will be as] oil on the head;

Don't let my head refuse it:

For continually my prayer is against their evil deeds.

6 Their judges are thrown down by the sides of the rock;

And they will hear my words; for they are sweet.

7 As a millstone broken on the earth,

Our bones are scattered at the mouth of Sheol.

8 For my eyes are to you, O Yahweh the Lord:

In you I take refuge; don't leave my soul destitute.

9 Keep me from the snare which they have laid for me,

And from the traps of the workers of iniquity.

10 Let the wicked fall into their own nets,

While I nevertheless escape.

142  Maschil of David, when he was in the cave; a Prayer.

I cry with my voice to Yahweh;

With my voice to Yahweh I plead for mercy.

2 I pour out my complaint before him;

Before him I show my trouble.

3 When my spirit was overwhelmed inside me,

You knew my path.

In the way in which I walk

They have hidden a snare for me.

4 Look at [my] right hand, and see;

For there is no man who knows me:

Refuge has failed me;

No man cares for my soul.

5 I cried to you, O Yahweh;

I said, You are my refuge,

My portion in the land of the living.

6 Attend to my cry;

For I am brought very low:

Deliver me from my persecutors;

For they are stronger than I.

7 Bring my soul out of prison,

That I may give thanks to your name:

The righteous will circle me about;

For you will deal bountifully with me.

143  A Psalm of David.

Hear my prayer, O Yahweh; give ear to my supplications:

In your faithfulness answer me, [and] in your righteousness.

2 And don't enter into judgment with your slave;

For in your sight no man living is righteous.

3 For the enemy has persecuted my soul;

He has struck my life down to the ground:

He has made me to dwell in dark places, as those who have been long dead.

4 Therefore my spirit is overwhelmed inside me;

My heart inside me is desolate.

5 I remember the days of old;

I meditate on all your doings;

I muse on the work of your hands.

6 I spread forth my hands to you:

My soul [thirsts] after you, as a weary land. Selah.

7 Hurry to answer me, O Yahweh; my spirit fails:

Don't hide your face from me,

Lest I become like those who go down into the pit.

8 Cause me to hear your loving-kindness in the morning;

For in you I trust:

Cause me to know the way in which I should walk;

For I lift up my soul to you.

9 Deliver me, O Yahweh, from my enemies:

I flee to you to hide me.

10 Teach me to do your will;

For you are my God:

Your Spirit is good;

Lead me in the land of uprightness.

11 Quicken me, O Yahweh, for your name's sake:

In your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble.

12 And in your loving-kindness cut off my enemies,

And destroy all those who afflict my soul;

For I am your slave.

144  [A Psalm] of David.

Blessed be Yahweh my rock,

Who teaches my hands to war,

[And] my fingers to fight:

2 My loving-kindness and my fortress,

My high tower and my deliverer;

My shield and he in whom I take refuge;

Who subdues my people under me.

3 Yahweh, what is man, that you take knowledge of him?

Or the son of common man, that you make account of him?

4 Man is like vanity:

His days are as a shadow that passes away.

5 Bow your heavens, O Yahweh, and come down:

Touch the mountains, and they will smoke.

6 Cast forth lightning, and scatter them;

Send out your arrows, and discomfit them.

7 Stretch forth your hand from above;

Rescue me, and deliver me out of great waters,

Out of the hand of aliens;

8 Whose mouth speaks deceit,

And whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.

9 I will sing a new song to you, O God:

On a psaltery of ten strings I will sing praises to you.

10 You are he who gives salvation to kings;

Who rescues David his slave from the hurtful sword.

11 Rescue me, and deliver me out of the hand of aliens,

Whose mouth speaks deceit,

And whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.

12 That our sons will be as plants grown up in their youth,

And our daughters as cornerstones cut after the fashion of a palace;

13 [That] our garners are full, affording all manner of store,

[And] our sheep bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our fields;

14 [That] our oxen are well laden;

[That there is] no breaking in, and no going forth,

And no outcry in our streets:

15 Happy is the people who is in such a case;

[Yes,] happy is the people whose God is Yahweh.

145  [A Psalm of] praise; of David.

I will extol you, my God, O King;

And I will bless your name forever and ever.

2 Every day I will bless you;

And I will praise your name forever and ever.

3 Great is Yahweh, and greatly to be praised;

And his greatness is unsearchable.

4 One generation will laud your works to another,

And will declare your mighty acts.

5 Of the glorious majesty of your grandeur, they will tell;

And of your wondrous works, I will meditate.

6 And men will speak of the might of your awesome acts;

And I will declare your greatness.

7 They will cause the memory of your great goodness to gush out,

And will sing of your righteousness.

8 Yahweh is gracious, and merciful;

Slow to anger, and of great loving-kindness.

9 Yahweh is good to all;

And his tender mercies are over all his works.

10 All your works will give thanks to you, O Yahweh;

And your saints will bless you.

11 They will speak of the glory of your kingdom,

And talk of your power;

12 To make known to the sons of man his mighty acts,

And the glory of the majesty of his kingdom.

13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,

And your dominion [endures] throughout all generations.

Yahweh is faithful in all his words,

And merciful in all his deeds.

14 Yahweh upholds all who fall,

And raises up all those who are bowed down.

15 The eyes of all wait for you;

And you give them their food in due season.

16 You open your hand,

And satisfy the desire of every living thing.

17 Yahweh is righteous in all his ways,

And gracious in all his works.

18 Yahweh is near to all those who call on him,

To all who call on him in truth.

19 He will fulfill the desire of those who fear him;

He also will hear their cry and will save them.

20 Yahweh preserves all those who love him;

But all the wicked he will destroy.

21 My mouth will speak the praise of Yahweh;

And let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.

146  Hallelujah.

Praise Yahweh, O my soul.

2 While I live I will praise Yahweh:

I will sing praises to my God while I have any being.

3 Don't put your+ trust in princes,

Nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.

4 His breath goes forth, he returns to his earth;

In that very day his thoughts perish.

5 Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help,

Whose hope is in Yahweh his God:

6 Who made heaven and earth,

The sea, and all that [is] in them;

Who keeps truth forever;

7 Who executes justice for the oppressed;

Who gives food to the hungry.

Yahweh looses the prisoners;

8 Yahweh opens [the eyes of] the blind;

Yahweh raises up those who are bowed down;

Yahweh loves the righteous;

9 Yahweh preserves the sojourners;

He upholds the fatherless and widow;

But the way of the wicked he turns upside down.

10 Yahweh will reign forever,

Your God, O Zion, to all generations.

Hallelujah.

147  Hallelujah;

For it is good to praise our God;

For it is pleasant to sing his praise.

2 Yahweh builds up Jerusalem;

He gathers together the outcasts of Israel.

3 He heals the broken in heart,

And binds up their wounds.

4 He counts the number of the stars;

He calls them all by [their] names.

5 Great is our Lord, and mighty in power;

His understanding is infinite.

6 Yahweh upholds the meek:

He brings the wicked down to the ground.

7 Sing to Yahweh with thanksgiving;

Sing praises on the harp to our God,

8 Who covers the heavens with clouds,

Who prepares rain for the earth,

Who makes grass to grow on the mountains.

9 He gives to the beast his food,

[And] to the young ravens which cry.

10 He does not delight in the strength of the horse:

He takes no pleasure in the legs of a man.

11 Yahweh takes pleasure in those who fear him,

In those who hope in his loving-kindness.

12 Praise Yahweh, O Jerusalem;

Praise your God, O Zion.

13 For he has strengthened the bars of your gates;

He has blessed your sons inside you.

14 He makes peace in your borders;

He fills you with the finest of the wheat.

15 He sends out his commandment on earth;

His word runs very swiftly.

16 He gives snow like wool;

He scatters the frost like ashes.

17 He casts forth his ice like morsels:

Who can stand before his cold?

18 He sends out his word, and melts them:

He causes his wind to blow, and the waters flow.

19 He shows his word to Jacob,

His statutes and his ordinances to Israel.

20 He has not dealt so with any nation;

And as for his ordinances, they have not known them.

Hallelujah.

148  Hallelujah.

Praise+ Yahweh from the heavens:

Praise him in the heights.

2 Praise+ him, all his angels:

Praise+ him, all his host.

3 Praise+ him, sun and moon:

Praise him, all you+ stars of light.

4 Praise him, you+ heavens of heavens,

And you+ waters that are above the heavens.

5 Let them praise the name of Yahweh;

For he commanded, and they were created.

6 He has also established them forever and ever:

He has made a decree which will not pass away.

7 Praise Yahweh from the earth,

You+ sea-monsters, and all deeps.

8 Fire and hail, snow and vapor;

Stormy wind, fulfilling his word;

9 Mountains and all hills;

Fruitful trees and all cedars;

10 Beasts and all cattle;

Creeping things and flying birds;

11 Kings of the earth and all peoples;

Princes and all judges of the earth;

12 Both young men and virgins;

Old men and children:

13 Let them praise the name of Yahweh;

For his name alone is exalted;

His grandeur is above the earth and the heavens.

14 And he has lifted up the horn of his people,

The praise of all his saints;

Even of the sons of Israel, a people near to him.

Hallelujah.

149  Hallelujah.

Sing to Yahweh a new song,

And his praise in the assembly of the saints.

2 Let Israel rejoice in him who made him:

Let the sons of Zion be joyful in their King.

3 Let them praise his name in the dance:

Let them sing praises to him with timbrel and harp.

4 For Yahweh takes pleasure in his people:

He will beautify the meek with salvation.

5 Let the saints exult in glory:

Let them sing for joy on their beds.

6 [Let] the high praises of God [be] in their throat,

And a two-edged sword in their hand;

7 To execute vengeance on the nations,

And punishments on the peoples;

8 To bind their kings with chains,

And their nobles with fetters of iron;

9 To execute on them the judgment written:

This is majesty for all his saints.

Hallelujah.

150  Hallelujah.

Praise God in his sanctuary:

Praise him in the firmament of his power.

2 Praise him for his mighty acts:

Praise him according to his excellent greatness.

3 Praise him with trumpet sound:

Praise him with psaltery and harp.

4 Praise him with timbrel and dance:

Praise him with stringed instruments and pipe.

5 Praise him with loud cymbals:

Praise him with high sounding cymbals.

6 Let everything that has breath praise Yah.

Hallelujah.

__________________________

Proverbs

1  The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel:

2 To know wisdom and instruction;

To discern the words of understanding;

3 To receive instruction in wise dealing,

In righteousness and justice and equity;

4 To give prudence to the simple,

To the young man knowledge and discretion:

5 That the wise man may hear, and increase in learning;

And that the man of understanding may attain to sound counsels:

6 To understand a proverb, and a figure,

The words of the wise, and their dark sayings.

7 The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge;

[But] the foolish despise wisdom and instruction.

8 My son, hear the instruction of your father,

And don't forsake the law of your mother:

9 For they will be a chaplet of grace to your head,

And chains about your neck.

10 My son, if sinners entice you,

Do not consent.

11 If they say, Come with us,

Let us lay in wait for blood;

Let us lurk secretly for the innocent without cause;

12 Let us swallow them up alive as Sheol,

And whole, as those who go down into the pit;

13 We will find all precious substance;

We will fill our houses with spoil;

14 You will cast your lot among us;

We will all have one bag:

15 My son, don't walk in the way with them;

Refrain your foot from their path:[331]

17 For in vain is the net spread

In the sight of any bird:

18 And these lay wait for their own blood;

They lurk secretly for their own souls.

19 So are the ways of everyone who is greedy of gain;

It takes away the soul of its owners.

20 Wisdom cries aloud in the street;

She utters her voice in the broad places;

21 She cries in the most noisy places;

At the entrance of the gates,

In the city, she utters her words:

22 How long, you+ simple ones, will you+ love simplicity?

And scoffers delight themselves in scoffing,

And fools hate knowledge?

23 Turn+ at my reproof:

Look, I will cause my spirit to gush out on you+

I will make my words known to you+.

24 Because I have called, and you+ have refused;

I have stretched out my hand, and no man has regarded;

25 But you+ have set at nothing all my counsel,

And would have none of my reproof:

26 I also will laugh in [the day of] your+ calamity;

I will mock when your+ fear comes;

27 When your+ fear comes as a storm,

And your+ calamity comes on as a whirlwind;

When distress and anguish come upon you+.

28 Then they will call on me, but I will not answer;

They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me:

29 For they hated knowledge,

And did not choose the fear of Yahweh:

30 They didn't want my counsel;

They despised all my reproof.

31 Therefore they will eat of the fruit of their own way,

And be filled with their own devices.

32 For the backsliding of the simple will slay them,

And the careless ease of fools will destroy them.

33 But whoever harkens to me will stay securely,

And will be quiet without fear of evil.

2  My son, if you will receive my words,

And lay up my commandments with you;

2 So as to incline your ear to wisdom,

And apply your heart to understanding;

3 Yes, if you cry after discernment,

And lift up your voice for understanding;

4 If you seek her as silver,

And search for her as for hidden treasures:

5 Then you will understand the fear of Yahweh,

And find knowledge of God.

6 For Yahweh gives wisdom;

Out of his mouth [comes] knowledge and

understanding:

7 He lays up sound wisdom for the upright;

[He is] a shield to those who walk in integrity;

8 That he may guard the paths of justice,

And preserve the way of his saints.

9 Then you will understand righteousness and justice,

And equity, [yes,] every good path.

10 For wisdom will enter into your heart,

And knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;

11 Discretion will watch over you;

Understanding will keep you:

12 To deliver you from the way of evil,

From the men who speak perverse things;

13 Who forsake the paths of uprightness,

To walk in the ways of darkness;

14 Who rejoice to do evil,

And delight in the perverseness of evil;

15 Who are crooked in their ways,

And wayward in their paths:

16 To deliver you from the strange woman,

Even from the foreigner who flatters with her words;

17 Who forsakes the best friend of her youth,

And forgets the covenant of her God:

18 For her house inclines to death,

And her paths to the spirits of the dead;

19 None who go to her return again,

Neither do they attain to the paths of life:

20 That you may walk in the way of good men,

And keep the paths of the righteous.

21 For the upright will stay in the land,

And the perfect will be left in it.

22 But the wicked will be cut off from the land,

And betrayers will be rooted out of it.

3  My son, do not forget my law;

But let your heart keep my commandments:

2 For length of days, and years of life,

And peace, they will add to you.

3 Don't let kindness and truth forsake you:

Bind them about your neck;

4 So you will find favor and good understanding

In the sight of God and man.

5 Trust in Yahweh with all your heart,

And lean not on your own understanding:

6 In all your ways acknowledge him,

And he will direct your paths.

7 Don't be wise in your own eyes;

Fear Yahweh, and depart from evil:

8 It will be health to your navel,

And marrow to your bones.

9 Honor Yahweh with your substance,

And with the first fruits of all your increase:

10 So your barns will be filled with corn,

And your vats will overflow with new wine.

11 My son, don't despise the chastening of Yahweh;

Neither be weary of his reproof:

12 For whom Yahweh loves he reproves;

Even as a father the son in whom he delights.

13 Happy is [the] man who finds wisdom,

And [the] man who gets understanding.

14 For the gaining of it is better than the gaining of silver,

And its profit than fine gold.

15 She is more precious than rubies:

And none of the things you can desire are to be

compared to her.

16 Length of days is in her right hand;

In her left hand are riches and honor.

17 Her ways are ways of pleasantness,

And all her paths are peace.

18 She is a tree of life to those who lay hold on her:

And happy is everyone who retains her.

19 Yahweh by wisdom founded the earth;

By understanding he established the heavens.

20 By his knowledge the depths were broken up,

And the skies drop down the dew.

21 My son, don't let them depart from your eyes;

Keep sound wisdom and discretion:

22 So they will be life to your soul,

And grace to your neck.

23 Then you will walk in your way securely,

And your foot will not stumble.

24 When you lie down, you will not be afraid:

Yes, you will lie down, and your sleep will be sweet.

25 Don't be afraid of sudden fear,

Neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it comes:

26 For Yahweh will be your confidence,

And will keep your foot from being taken.

27 Don't withhold good from them to whom it is due,

When it is in the power of your hand to do it.

28 Don't say to your fellow man,

Go, and come again,

And tomorrow I will give;

When you have it by you.

29 Don't devise evil against your fellow man

Who dwells securely by you.

30 Don't strive with man without cause,

If he has done you no harm.

31 Don't envy the man of violence,

And choose none of his ways.

32 For the perverse is disgusting to Yahweh;

But his friendship is with the upright.

33 The curse of Yahweh is in the house of the wicked;

But he blesses the habitation of the righteous.

34 Surely he scoffs at the scoffers;

But he gives grace to the lowly.

35 The wise will inherit glory;

But shame will be the promotion of fools.

4  Hear, [my] sons, the instruction of a father,

And attend to know understanding:

2 For I give you+ good doctrine;

Don't forsake+ my law.

3 For I was a son to my father,

Tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother.

4 And he taught me, and said to me:

Let your heart retain my words;

Keep my commandments, and live;

5 Get wisdom, get understanding;

Don't forget, neither decline from the words of my

mouth;

6 Don't forsake her, and she will preserve you;

Love her, and she will keep you.

7 Wisdom [is] the principal thing; [therefore] get wisdom;

Yes, with all your getting get understanding.

8 Exalt her, and she will promote you;

She will bring you to honor, when you embrace her.

9 She will give to your head a chaplet of grace;

A crown of beauty she will deliver to you.

10 Hear, my son, and receive my sayings;

And the years of your life will be many.

11 I have taught you in the way of wisdom;

I have led you in paths of uprightness.

12 When you go, your steps will not be straitened;

And if you run, you will not stumble.

13 Take fast hold of instruction; don't let her go:

Keep her; for she is your life.

14 Don't enter into the path of the wicked,

And don't walk in the way of evil men.

15 Avoid it, don't pass by it;

Turn from it, and pass on.

16 For they don't sleep, except they do evil;

And their sleep is taken away, unless they cause

some to fall.

17 For they eat the bread of wickedness,

And drink the wine of violence.

18 But the path of the righteous is as the dawning light,

That shines more and more to the perfect day.

19 The way of the wicked is as darkness:

They don't know at what they stumble.

20 My son, attend to my words;

Incline your ear to my sayings.

21 Don't let them depart from your eyes;

Keep them in the midst of your heart.

22 For they are life to those who find them,

And health to all their flesh.

23 Keep your heart with all diligence;

For out of it are the issues of life.

24 Put away from you a wayward mouth,

And perverse lips put far from you.

25 Let your eyes look right on,

And let your eyelids look straight before you.

26 Make level the path of your feet,

And let all your ways be established.

27 Don't turn to the right hand nor to the left:

Remove your foot from evil.

5  My son, attend to my wisdom;

Incline your ear to my understanding:

2 That you may preserve discretion,

And that your lips may keep knowledge.

3 For the lips of a strange woman drop honey,

And her mouth is smoother than oil:

4 But in the end she is bitter as wormwood,

Sharp as a two-edged sword.

5 Her feet go down to death;

Her steps take hold on Sheol;

6 If she does not find the level path of life:

Her ways are unstable, [and] she will not know.

7 Now therefore, [my] sons, listen to me,

And do not depart from the words of my mouth.

8 Remove your way far from her,

And don't come near the door of her house;

9 Or else you will give your grandeur to others,

And your years to the cruel;

10 Or else strangers will be filled with your strength,

And your labors [be] in the house of an alien,

11 And you mourn at your latter end,

When your flesh and your body are consumed,

12 And say, How I have hated instruction,

And my heart despised reproof;

13 Neither have I obeyed the voice of my teachers,

Nor inclined my ear to those who instructed me!

14 I was well-near in all evil

In the midst of the assembly and congregation.

15 Drink waters out of your own cistern,

And running waters out of your own well.

16 Should your springs be dispersed abroad,

And streams of water in the streets?

17 Let them be for yourself alone,

And not for strangers with you.

18 Let your fountain be blessed;

And rejoice in the wife of your youth.

19 [As] a loving hind and a pleasant doe,

Let her nipples immerse you at all times;

And be ravished always with her love.

20 For why should you, my son, be ravished with a strange

woman,

And embrace the bosom of a foreigner?

21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of Yahweh;

And he makes level all his paths.

22 His own iniquities will take the wicked,

And he will be held with the cords of his sin.

23 He will die for lack of instruction;

And in the greatness of his folly he will go astray.

6  My son, if you have become surety for your fellow man,

If you have stricken your hands for a stranger;

2 You are snared with the words of your mouth,

You are taken with the words of your mouth.

3 Do this now, my son, and deliver yourself,

Seeing you have come into the hand of your fellow man:

Go, humble yourself, and importune your fellow man;

4 Don't give sleep to your eyes,

Nor slumber to your eyelids;

5 Deliver yourself as a roe from the hand [of the hunter],

And as a bird from the hand of the fowler.

6 Go to the ant, you sluggard;

Consider her ways, and be wise:

7 Which having no chief,

Overseer, or ruler,

8 Provides her bread in the summer,

And gathers her food in the harvest.

9 How long will you sleep, O sluggard?

When will you arise out of your sleep?

10 [Yet] a little sleep, a little slumber,

A little folding of the hands to sleep:

11 So will your poverty come as a robber,

And your want as an armed man.

12 [A] worthless man, a man of iniquity,

Is he who walks with a perverse mouth;

13 Who winks with his eyes, who speaks with his feet,

Who makes signs with his fingers;

14 In whose heart is perverseness,

Who devises evil continually,

Who sows discord.

15 Therefore will his calamity come suddenly;

All of a sudden he will be broken, and that without

remedy.

16 There are six things which Yahweh hates;

Yes, seven which are disgusting to his soul:

17 Haughty eyes, a lying tongue,

And hands that shed innocent blood;

18 A heart that devises wicked purposes,

Feet that are swift in running to mischief,

19 A false witness who utters lies,

And he who sows discord among brothers.

20 My son, keep the commandment of your father,

And don't forsake the law of your mother:

21 Bind them continually on your heart;

Tie them about your neck.

22 When you walk, it will lead you;

When you sleep, it will watch over you;

And when you awake, it will talk with you.

23 For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is a light;

And reproofs of instruction are the way of life:

24 To keep you from the evil woman,

From the flattery of the foreigner's tongue.

25 Don't lust after her beauty in your heart;

Neither let her take you with her eyelids.

26 For on account of a prostitute [a man is brought] to a piece of bread;

And the adulteress hunts for the precious soul.

27 Can a man take fire in his bosom,

And his clothes not be burned?

28 Or can one walk on hot coals,

And his feet not be scorched?

29 So he who goes in to his fellow man's wife;

Whoever has any sex with her[332] will not be unpunished.

30 Men do not despise a thief, if he steals

To satisfy his soul when he is hungry:

31 But if he is found, he will restore sevenfold;

He will give all the substance of his house.

32 He who commits adultery with a woman is void of understanding:

He who does it destroys his own soul.

33 Wounds and dishonor he will get;

And his reproach will not be wiped away.

34 For jealousy is the rage of a [noble] man;

And he will not spare in the day of vengeance.

35 He will not regard any ransom;

Neither will he rest content, though you give many

gifts.

7  My son, keep my words,

And lay up my commandments with you.

2 Keep my commandments and live;

And my law as the apple of your eye.

3 Bind them on your fingers;

Write them on the tablet of your heart.

4 Say to wisdom,

You are my sister;

And call understanding [your] kinswoman:

5 That they may keep you from the strange woman,

From the foreigner who flatters with her words.

6 For at the window of my house

I looked forth through my lattice;

7 And I saw among the simple ones,

I discerned among the youths,

A young man void of understanding,

8 Passing through the street near her corner;

And he went the way to her house,

9 In the twilight, in the evening of the day,

In the middle of the night and in the darkness.

10 And, look, there met him a woman

With the attire of a prostitute, and wily of heart.

11 She is clamorous and willful;

Her feet do not stay in her house:

12 Now she is in the streets, now in the broad places,

And lies in wait at every corner.

13 So she caught him, and kissed him,

[And] with an impudent face she said to him:

14 Sacrifices of peace-offerings are with me;

This day I have paid my vows.

15 Therefore I came forth to meet you,

Diligently to seek your face, and I have found you.

16 I have spread my couch with carpets of tapestry,

With striped cloths of the yarn of Egypt.

17 I have perfumed my bed

With myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.

18 Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning;

Let us solace ourselves with loves.

19 For the man is not at home;

He has gone on a long journey:

20 He has taken a bag of silver with him;

He will come home at the full moon.

21 With her much fair speech she causes him to yield;

With the flattering of her lips she forces him along.

22 He goes after her right away,

As an ox goes to the slaughter,

Or as [one in] fetters to the correction of the fool;

23 Until an arrow strikes through his liver;

As a bird hurries to the snare,

And does not know that it is for his soul.

24 Now therefore, [my] sons, listen to me,

And attend to the words of my mouth.

25 Don't let your heart decline to her ways;

Don't go astray in her paths.

26 For she has cast down many wounded:

Yes, all her slain are a mighty host.

27 Her house is the way to Sheol,

Going down to the chambers of death.

8  Does not wisdom cry,

And understanding put forth her voice?

2 On the top of high places by the way,

Where the paths meet, she stands;

3 Beside the gates, at the entry of the city,

At the coming in at the doors, she cries aloud:

4 To you+, O men, I call;

And my voice is to the sons of man.

5 O you+ simple, understand prudence;

And, you+ fools, be of an understanding heart.

6 Hear, for I will speak excellent things;

And the opening of my lips will be right things.

7 For my mouth will utter truth;

And wickedness is disgusting to my lips.

8 All the words of my mouth are in righteousness;

There is nothing crooked or perverse in them.

9 They are all plain to him who understands,

And right to those who find knowledge.

10 Receive my instruction, and not silver;

And knowledge rather than choice gold.

11 For wisdom is better than rubies;

And all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it.

12 I, wisdom, stay with prudence,

And find out knowledge [and] discretion.

13 The fear of Yahweh is to hate evil:

Pride, and arrogance, and the evil way,

And the perverse mouth, I hate.

14 Counsel is mine, and sound knowledge:

I am understanding;

I have might.

15 By me kings reign,

And princes decree justice.

16 By me princes rule,

And nobles, [even] all those who govern righteously.

17 I love those who love me;

And those who seek me diligently will find me.

18 Riches and honor are with me;

[Yes,] durable wealth and righteousness.

19 My fruit is better than gold, yes, than fine gold;

And my revenue than choice silver.

20 I walk in the way of righteousness,

In the midst of the paths of justice;

21 That I may cause those who love me to inherit substance,

And that I may fill their treasuries.

22 Yahweh possessed me in the beginning of his way,

Before his works of old.

23 I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning,

Before the earth was.

24 When there were no depths,

I was brought forth,

When there were no fountains abounding with water.

25 Before the mountains were settled,

Before the hills I was brought forth;

26 While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields,

Nor the beginning of the dust of the world.

27 When he established the heavens,

I was there:

When he set a circle on the face of the deep,

28 When he made firm the skies above,

When the fountains of the deep became strong,

29 When he gave to the sea its bound,

That the waters should not transgress his

commandment,

When he marked out the foundations of the earth;

30 Then I was by him, [as] a master craftsman;

And I was daily [his] delight,

Rejoicing always before him,

31 Rejoicing in his habitable earth;

And my delight was with the sons of man.

32 Now therefore, [my] sons, listen to me;

For blessed are those who keep my ways.

33 Hear instruction, and be wise,

And don't refuse it.

34 Blessed is [the] man who hears me,

Watching daily at my gates,

Waiting at the posts of my doors.

35 For whoever finds me finds life,

And will obtain favor of Yahweh.

36 But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul:

All those who hate me love death.

9  Wisdom has built her house;

She has cut out her seven pillars:

2 She has killed her beasts;

She has mingled her wine;

She has also furnished her table:

3 She has sent forth her maidens;

She cries on the highest places of the city:

4 Whoever is simple, let him turn in here:

As for him who is void of understanding, she says to

him,

5 Come, eat+ of my bread,

And drink of the wine which I have mingled.

6 Leave off, you+ simple ones, and live;

And walk in the way of understanding.

7 He who corrects a scoffer gets to himself reviling;

And he who reproves a wicked man [gets] himself a

blot.

8 Don't reprove a scoffer, or else he will hate you:

Reprove a wise man, and he will love you.

9 Give [instruction] to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser:

Teach a righteous man, and he will increase in

learning.

10 The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom;

And knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

11 For by me your days will be multiplied,

And the years of your life will be increased.

12 If you are wise, you are wise for yourself;

And if you scoff, you alone will bear it.

13 The foolish woman is clamorous;

[She is] simple, and knows nothing.

14 And she sits at the door of her house,

On a seat in the high places of the city,

15 To call to those who pass by,

Who go right on their ways:

16 Whoever is simple, let him turn in here;

And as for him who is void of understanding, she says to him,

17 Stolen waters are sweet,

And bread [eaten] in secret is pleasant.

18 But he does not know that the spirits of the dead are there;

That her guests are in the depths of Sheol.

10  The proverbs of Solomon.

A wise son makes a glad father;

But a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother.

2 Treasures of wickedness profit nothing;

But righteousness delivers from death.

3 Yahweh will not allow the soul of the righteous to famish;

But he thrusts away the desire of the wicked.

4 He becomes poor who works with a slack hand;

But the hand of the diligent makes rich.

5 He who gathers in summer is a wise son;

[But] he who sleeps in harvest is a son who causes shame.

6 Blessings are on the head of the righteous;

But violence covers the mouth of the wicked.

7 The memory of the righteous is blessed;

But the name of the wicked will rot.

8 The wise in heart will receive commandments;

But a prating fool will fall.

9 He who walks uprightly walks surely;

But he who perverts his ways will be known.

10 He who winks with the eye causes sorrow;

But a prating fool will fall.

11 The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life;

But violence covers the mouth of the wicked.

12 Hatred stirs up strifes;

But love covers all transgressions.

13 In the lips of him who has discernment wisdom is found;

But a rod is for the back of him who is void of

understanding.

14 Wise men lay up knowledge;

But the mouth of the foolish is a present destruction.

15 The rich man's wealth is his strong city:

The destruction of the poor is their poverty.

16 The labor of the righteous, to life;

The increase of the wicked, to sin.

17 He is in the way to life who heeds correction;

But he who forsakes reproof errs.

18 He who hides hatred is of lying lips;

And he who utters a slander is a fool.

19 In the multitude of words transgression does not cease;

But he who refrains his lips does wisely.

20 The tongue of the righteous is [as] choice silver:

The heart of the wicked is worth little.

21 The lips of the righteous feed many;

But the foolish die for lack of understanding.

22 The blessing of Yahweh, it makes rich;

And he adds no sorrow with it.

23 It is as sport to a fool to do wickedness;

And [so is] wisdom to a man of understanding.

24 The fear of the wicked, it will come upon him;

And the desire of the righteous will be granted.

25 When the whirlwind passes, the wicked is no more;

But the righteous is an everlasting foundation.

26 As vinegar to the teeth, and as smoke to the eyes,

So is the sluggard to those who send him.

27 The fear of Yahweh prolongs days;

But the years of the wicked will be shortened.

28 The hope of the righteous [will be] gladness;

But the expectation of the wicked will perish.

29 The way of Yahweh is a stronghold to the upright;

But it is a destruction to the workers of iniquity.

30 The righteous will never be removed;

But the wicked will not stay in the land.

31 The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom;

But the perverse tongue will be cut off.

32 The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable;

But the mouth of the wicked [speaks] perverseness.

11  A false balance is disgusting to Yahweh;

But a just weight is his delight.

2 When pride comes, then comes shame;

But with the lowly is wisdom.

3 The integrity of the upright will guide them;

But the perverseness of betrayers will destroy them.

4 Riches do not profit in the day of wrath;

But righteousness delivers from death.

5 The righteousness of the perfect will direct his way;

But the wicked will fall by his own wickedness.

6 The righteousness of the upright will deliver them;

But betrayers will be taken in their own iniquity.

7 When [a] wicked man dies, [his] expectation will perish;

And the hope of iniquity perishes.

8 The righteous is delivered out of trouble,

And the wicked comes in his stead.

9 With his mouth the godless man destroys his fellow man;

But through knowledge the righteous will be

delivered.

10 When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices;

And when the wicked perish, there is shouting.

11 By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted;

But it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked.

12 He who despises his fellow man is void of wisdom;

But a man of understanding holds his peace.

13 He who goes about as double-tongued reveals secrets; [333]

But he who is of a faithful spirit conceals a matter.

14 Where there is no wise guidance, a people falls;

But in the multitude of counselors there is safety.

15 He who is surety for a stranger will smart for it;

But he who hates suretyship is secure.

16 A gracious woman obtains honor;

And violent men obtain riches.

17 The merciful man does good to his own soul;

But he who is cruel troubles his own flesh.

18 The wicked earns deceitful wages;

But he who sows righteousness [has] a sure reward.

19 He who is steadfast in righteousness, to life;

And he who pursues evil, to his death.

20 Those who are perverse in heart are disgusting to Yahweh;

But such as are perfect in [their] way are his delight.

21 [Though] hand [join] in hand, the evil man will not be unpunished;

But the seed of the righteous will be delivered.

22 [As] a ring of gold in a swine's snout,

[So is] a beautiful woman who is without discretion.

23 The desire of the righteous is only good;

[But] the expectation of the wicked is wrath.

24 There is one who scatters, and increases yet more;

And there is one who withholds more than is meet, but [tends] only to want.

25 The liberal soul will be made fat;

And he who waters will be watered also himself.

26 He who withholds grain, the people will curse him;

But blessing will be on the head of him who sells it.

27 He who diligently seeks good seeks favor;

But he who searches after evil, it will come to him.

28 He who trusts in his riches will fall;

But the righteous will flourish as the green leaf.

29 He who troubles his own house will inherit the wind;

And the foolish will be slave to the wise of heart.

30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life;

And he who is wise wins souls.

31 Look, the righteous will be recompensed in the earth:

How much more the wicked and the sinner!

12  Whoever loves correction loves knowledge;

But he who hates reproof is brutish.

2 The good will obtain favor of Yahweh;

But a man of wicked devices he will condemn.

3 Man will not be established by wickedness;

But the root of the righteous will not be moved.

4 A worthy woman is the crown of her husband;

But she who brings shame is as rottenness in his bones.

5 The thoughts of the righteous are just;

[But] the counsels of the wicked are deceit.

6 The words of the wicked are of lying in wait for blood;

But the mouth of the upright will deliver them.

7 The wicked are overthrown, and are not;

But the house of the righteous will stand.

8 A man will be commended according to his wisdom;

But he who is of a perverse heart will be despised.

9 Better is he who is lightly esteemed, and has a slave,

Than he who honors himself, and lacks bread.

10 A righteous man regards the soul of his beast;

But the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.

11 He who tills his land will have plenty of bread;

But he who follows after vanities is void of

understanding.

12 The wicked desires the net of evil men;

But the root of the righteous yields [fruit].

13 In the transgression of the lips is a snare to the evil man;

But the righteous will come out of trouble.

14 A man will be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth;

And the doings of man's hands will come back to him.

15 The way of a fool is right in his own eyes;

But he who is wise harkens to counsel.

16 A fool's vexation is presently known;

But a prudent man conceals shame.

17 He who utters truth shows forth righteousness;

But a false witness, deceit.

18 There is one who speaks rashly like the piercings of a sword;

But the tongue of the wise is health.

19 The lip of truth will be established forever;

But a lying tongue is but for a moment.

20 Deceit is in the heart of those who devise evil;

But to the counselors of peace is joy.

21 No mischief will happen to the righteous;

But the wicked will be filled with evil.

22 Lying lips are disgusting to Yahweh;

But those who deal truly are his delight.

23 [A] prudent man conceals knowledge;

But the heart of fools proclaims foolishness.

24 The hand of the diligent will bear rule;

But the slothful will be put under slave labor.

25 Heaviness in the heart of a man makes it stoop;

But a good word makes it glad.

26 The righteous is a guide to his fellow man;

But the way of the wicked causes them to err.

27 The slothful does not roast what he took in hunting;

But the precious riches of man [is] diligence.

28 In the way of righteousness is life;

And in its well-built road there is no death.

13  A wise son [hears] his father's instruction;

But a scoffer does not hear rebuke.

2 A man will eat good by the fruit of his mouth;

But the soul of betrayers [will eat] violence.

3 He who guards his mouth keeps his soul;

[But] he who opens his lips wide will have destruction.

4 The soul of the sluggard desires, and has nothing;

But the soul of the diligent will be made fat.

5 A righteous man hates lying;

But a wicked man becomes a stench, and comes to shame.

6 Righteousness guards him who is upright in the way;

But wickedness overthrows the sinner.

7 There is one who makes himself rich, yet has nothing:

There is one who makes himself poor, yet has great

wealth.

8 The ransom of a man's soul is his riches;

But the poor hears no threatening.

9 The light of the righteous rejoices;

But the lamp of the wicked will be put out.

10 By pride comes only contention;

But with the well-advised is wisdom.

11 Wealth gotten by vanity will be diminished;

But he who gathers by labor will have increase.

12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick;

But when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.

13 Whoever despises the word brings destruction on himself;

But he who fears the commandment will be

rewarded.

14 The law of the wise is a fountain of life,

That one may avoid the snares of death.

15 Good understanding gives favor;

But the way of betrayers is hard.

16 Every prudent man works with knowledge;

But a fool flaunts [his] folly.

17 A wicked messenger will fall into evil;

But a faithful ambassador is health.

18 Poverty and shame [will be to] him who refuses correction;

But he who regards reproof will be honored.

19 The desire accomplished is sweet to the soul;

But it is disgusting to fools to depart from evil.

20 Walk with wise men, and you will be wise;

But the friend of fools will smart for it.

21 Evil pursues sinners;

But the righteous will be recompensed with good.

22 A good man leaves an inheritance to the sons of his sons;

And the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the righteous.

23 Much food [is in] the tillage of the poor;

But there is that which is destroyed by reason of injustice.

24 He who spares his rod hates his son;

But he who loves him chastens him diligently.

25 The righteous eats to the satisfying of his soul;

But the belly of the wicked will want.

14  Every wise woman builds her house;

But the foolish plucks it down with her own hands.

2 He who walks in his uprightness fears Yahweh;

But he who is perverse in his ways despises him.

3 In the mouth of the foolish is a rod for [his] pride;

But the lips of the wise will preserve them.

4 Where no oxen are, the crib is clean;

But much increase is by the strength of the ox.

5 A faithful witness will not lie;

But a false witness utters lies.

6 A scoffer seeks wisdom, and it is not [found];

But knowledge is easy to him who has understanding.

7 Go into the presence of a foolish man,

And you will not perceive [in him] the lips of knowledge.

8 The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way;

But the folly of fools is deceit.

9 A trespass-offering mocks fools;

But among the upright there is goodwill.

10 The heart knows the bitterness of its soul;

And a stranger does not intermeddle with its joy.

11 The house of the wicked will be overthrown;

But the tent of the upright will flourish.

12 There is a way which seems right to a man;

But its end are the ways of death.

13 Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful;

And the end of mirth is heaviness.

14 The backslider in heart will be filled with his own ways;

And a good man [will be satisfied] from himself.

15 The simple believes every word;

But the prudent man looks well to his going.

16 A wise man fears, and departs from evil;

But the fool is furious and confident.

17 He who is soon angry will deal foolishly;

And a man of wicked devices is hated.

18 The simple inherit folly;

But the prudent are crowned with knowledge.

19 The evil bow down before the good;

And the wicked, at the gates of the righteous.

20 The poor is hated even of his own fellow man;

But the rich has many friends.

21 He who despises his fellow man sins;

But he who has pity on the poor, he is happy.

22 Do they not err who devise evil?

But mercy and truth [will be to] those who devise good.

23 In all labor there is profit;

But the talk of the lips [tends] only to poverty.

24 The crown of the wise is their riches;

[But] folly is the diadem of fools.

25 A true witness delivers souls;

But he who utters lies [causes] deceit.

26 In the fear of Yahweh is strong confidence;

And his sons will have a place of refuge.

27 The fear of Yahweh is a fountain of life,

That one may avoid the snares of death.

28 In the multitude of people is the king's glory;

But in the want of people is the destruction of the prince.

29 He who is slow to anger is of great understanding;

But he who is in a hurry of spirit exalts folly.

30 A tranquil heart is the life of the flesh;

But envy is the rottenness of the bones.

31 He who oppresses the poor reproaches his Maker;

But he who has mercy on the needy honors him.

32 The wicked is thrust down in his evildoing;

But the righteous has a refuge in his death.[334]

33 Wisdom rests in the heart of him who has understanding;

But [that which is] in the inward part of fools is made known.

34 Righteousness exalts a nation;

But sin is a reproach to any people.

35 The king's favor is toward a slave who deals wisely;

But his wrath will be [against] him who causes

shame.

15  A soft answer turns away wrath;

But a grievous word stirs up anger.

2 The tongue of the wise utters knowledge aright;

But the mouth of fools gushes out folly.

3 The eyes of Yahweh are in every place,

Keeping watch on the evil and the good.

4 A gentle tongue is a tree of life;

But perverseness in it is a breaking of the spirit.

5 A fool despises his father's correction;

But he who regards reproof gets prudence.

6 In the house of the righteous is much treasure;

But in the revenues of the wicked is trouble.

7 The lips of the wise disperse knowledge;

But the heart of the foolish is not so.

8 The sacrifice of the wicked is disgusting to Yahweh;

But the prayer of the upright is his delight.

9 The way of the wicked is disgusting to Yahweh;

But he loves him who follows after righteousness.

10 There is grievous correction for him who forsakes the way;

[And] he who hates reproof will die.

11 Sheol and Abaddon are before Yahweh:

How much more then the hearts of the sons of man!

12 A scoffer does not love to be reproved;

He will not go to the wise.

13 A glad heart makes a cheerful countenance;

But by sorrow of heart the spirit is broken.

14 The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge;

But the mouth of fools feeds on folly.

15 All the days of the afflicted are evil;

But he who is of a cheerful heart [has] a continual

feast.

16 Better is little, with the fear of Yahweh,

Than great treasure and turmoil with it.

17 Better is a dinner of herbs, where there is love,

Than a stalled ox and hatred with it.

18 A wrathful man stirs up contention;

But he who is slow to anger appeases strife.

19 The way of the sluggard is as a hedge of thorns;

But the path of the upright is made a highway.

20 A wise son makes a glad father;

But [a] foolish man despises his mother.

21 Folly is joy to him who is void of wisdom;

But a man of understanding makes straight his going.

22 Where there is no counsel, purposes are disappointed;

But in the multitude of counselors they are established.

23 A man has joy in the answer of his mouth;

And a word in due season, how good it is!

24 To the wise the way of life [goes] upward,

That he may depart from Sheol beneath.

25 Yahweh will root up the house of the proud;

But he will establish the border of the widow.

26 Evil devices are disgusting to Yahweh;

But pleasant words [are] pure.

27 He who is greedy of gain troubles his own house;

But he who hates bribes will live.

28 The heart of the righteous studies to answer;

But the mouth of the wicked gushes out evil things.

29 Yahweh is far from the wicked;

But he hears the prayer of the righteous.

30 The light of the eyes rejoices the heart;

[And] good news make the bones fat.

31 The ear that harkens to the reproof of life

Will reside among the wise.

32 He who refuses correction despises his own soul;

But he who harkens to reproof gets understanding.

33 The fear of Yahweh is the instruction of wisdom;

And before honor [goes] humility.

16  The plans of the heart belong to man;

But the answer of the tongue is from Yahweh.

2 All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes;

But Yahweh weighs the spirits.

3 Commit your works to Yahweh,

And your purposes will be established.

4 Yahweh has made everything for its own end;

Yes, even the wicked for the day of evil.

5 Everyone who is proud in heart is disgusting to Yahweh:

[Though] hand [join] in hand, he will not be unpunished.

6 By mercy and truth iniquity is atoned for;

And by the fear of Yahweh men depart from evil.

7 When a man's ways please Yahweh,

He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.

8 Better is a little, with righteousness,

Than great revenues with injustice.

9 The heart of man devises his way;

But Yahweh directs his steps.

10 A divine sentence is in the lips of the king;

His mouth will not transgress in judgment.

11 A just balance and scales are Yahweh's;

All the weights of the bag are his work.

12 It is disgusting to kings to commit wickedness;

For the throne is established by righteousness.

13 Righteous lips are the delight of kings;

And they love him who speaks right.

14 The wrath of a king is [as] messengers of death;

But a wise man will pacify it.

15 In the light of the king's countenance is life;

And his favor is as a cloud of the latter rain.

16 How much better it is to get wisdom than gold!

Yes, to get understanding is rather to be chosen than silver.

17 The highway of the upright is to depart from evil:

He who keeps his way preserves his soul.

18 Pride [goes] before destruction,

And a haughty spirit before a fall.

19 It is better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor,

Than to divide the spoil with the proud.

20 He who gives heed to the word will find good;

And whoever trusts in Yahweh, he is happy.

21 The wise in heart will be called prudent;

And the sweetness of the lips increases learning.

22 Understanding is a wellspring of life to him who has it;

But the correction of fools is [their] folly.

23 The heart of the wise instructs his mouth,

And adds learning to his lips.

24 Pleasant words are [as] a honeycomb,

Sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.

25 There is a way which seems right to a man,

But its end are the ways of death.

26 The soul of the laboring man labors for him;

For his mouth urges him [thereto].

27 A worthless man devises mischief;

And in his lips there is as a scorching fire.

28 A perverse man scatters abroad strife;

And a whisperer separates best friends.

29 A man of violence entices his fellow man,

And leads him in a way that is not good.

30 He who shuts his eyes, [it is] to devise perverse things:

He who compresses his lips brings evil to pass.

31 The gray head is a crown of glory;

It will be found in the way of righteousness.

32 He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty;

And he who rules his spirit, than he who takes a city.

33 The lot is cast into the lap;

But the whole disposing of it is of Yahweh.

17  Better is a dry morsel, and quietness with it,

Than a house full of feasting with strife.

2 A slave who deals wisely will have rule over a son who causes shame,

And will have part in the inheritance among the brothers.

3 The refining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold;

But Yahweh tries the hearts.

4 An evildoer gives heed to wicked lips;

[And] a liar gives ear to a mischievous tongue.

5 Whoever mocks the poor reproaches his Maker;

[And] he who is glad at calamity will not be unpunished.

6 Sons of sons are the crown of old men;

And the glory of sons are their fathers.

7 Excellent speech does not become a fool;

Much less do lying lips a prince.

8 A bribe is [as] a precious stone in the eyes of him who has it;

Wherever it turns, it prospers.

9 He who covers a transgression seeks love;

But he who harps on a matter separates best friends.

10 A rebuke enters deeper into one who has understanding

Than a hundred stripes into a fool.

11 An evil man seeks only rebellion;

Therefore a cruel messenger will be sent against him.

12 Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man,

Rather than a fool in his folly.

13 Whoever rewards evil for good,

Evil will not depart from his house.

14 The beginning of strife is [as] when one lets out water:

Therefore leave off contention, before there is quarrelling.

15 He who justifies the wicked, and he who condemns the righteous,

Both of them alike are disgusting to Yahweh.

16 Why is there a price in the hand of a fool to buy wisdom,

Seeing he has no understanding?

17 A companion loves at all times;

And a brother is born for adversity.

18 [A] man void of understanding strikes hands,

And becomes surety in the presence of his fellow man.

19 He who loves transgression loves strife:

He who raises his gate high seeks destruction.

20 He who has a wayward heart finds no good;

And he who has a perverse tongue falls into mischief.

21 He who begets a fool [does it] to his sorrow;

And the father of a fool has no joy.

22 A cheerful heart is a good medicine;

But a broken spirit dries up the bones.

23 A wicked man receives a bribe out of the bosom,

To pervert the ways of justice.

24 Wisdom is before the face of him who has understanding;

But the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth.

25 A foolish son is a grief to his father,

And bitterness to her who bore him.

26 Also to punish the righteous is not good,

[Nor] to strike the noble for [their] uprightness.

27 He who spares his words has knowledge;

And he who is of a cool spirit is a man of understanding.

28 Even a fool, when he holds his peace, is counted wise;

When he shuts his lips, he is [esteemed as] prudent.

18  He who separates himself seeks [his own] desire,

And rages against all sound wisdom.

2 A fool has no delight in understanding,

But only that his heart may reveal itself.

3 When the wicked comes, there comes also contempt,

And with ignominy [comes] reproach.

4 The words of a man's mouth are [as] deep waters;

The wellspring of wisdom is [as] a gushing brook.

5 To respect the person of the wicked is not good,

[Nor] to turn aside the righteous in judgment.

6 A fool's lips enter into contention,

And his mouth calls for stripes.

7 A fool's mouth is his destruction,

And his lips are the snare of his soul.

8 The words of a whisperer are as dainty morsels,

And they go down into the innermost parts.

9 He also who is slack in his work

Is brother to him who is a destroyer.

10 The name of Yahweh is a strong tower;

The righteous runs into it, and is safe.

11 The rich man's wealth is his strong city,

And as a high wall in his own imagination.

12 Before destruction the heart of man is haughty;

And before honor [goes] humility.

13 He who gives answer before he hears,

It is folly and shame to him.

14 The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity;

But a broken spirit who can bear?

15 The heart of the prudent gets knowledge;

And the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.

16 A gift of man makes room for him,

And brings him before great men.

17 He who pleads his cause first [seems] just;

But his fellow man comes and searches him out.

18 The lot causes contentions to cease,

And parts between the mighty.

19 A brother offended [is harder to be won] than a strong city;

And [such] contentions are like the bars of a castle.

20 A man's belly will be filled with the fruit of his mouth;

With the increase of his lips he will be satisfied.

21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue;

And those who love it will eat its fruit.

22 Whoever finds a wife finds a good thing,

And obtains favor of Yahweh.

23 The poor uses entreaties;

But the rich answers roughly.

24 He who has many companions [does it] to his own destruction;

But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

19  Better is the poor who walks in his integrity

Than he who is perverse in his lips and is a fool.

2 Also, without knowledge the soul is not good;

And he who hurries with his feet sins.

3 The foolishness of man subverts his way;

And his heart frets against Yahweh.

4 Wealth adds many companions;

But the poor is separated from his companion.

5 A false witness will not be unpunished;

And he who utters lies will not escape.

6 Many will entreat the favor of the liberal man;

And every man is a companion to him who gives gifts.

7 All the brothers of the poor hate him:

How much more do his friends go far from him!

He pursues [them with] words, [but] they are gone.

8 He who gets wisdom loves his own soul:

He who keeps understanding will find good.

9 A false witness will not be unpunished;

And he who utters lies will perish.

10 Delicate living is not seemly for a fool;

Much less for a slave to have rule over princes.

11 The discretion of man makes him slow to anger;

And it is his glory to pass over a transgression.

12 The king's wrath is as the roaring of a lion;

But his favor is as dew on the grass.

13 A foolish son is the calamity of his father;

And the contentions of a wife are a continual

dropping.

14 House and riches are an inheritance from fathers;

But a prudent wife is from Yahweh.

15 Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep;

And the idle soul will suffer hunger.

16 He who keeps the commandment keeps his soul;

[But] he who is careless of his ways will die.

17 He who has pity on the poor lends to Yahweh,

And his good deed he will pay him again.

18 Chasten your son, seeing there is hope;

And don't set your soul on his destruction.

19 A man of great wrath will bear the penalty;

For if you deliver [him], you must do it yet again.

20 Hear counsel, and receive instruction,

That you may be wise in your latter end.

21 There are many devices in a man's heart;

But the counsel of Yahweh, that will stand.

22 That which makes man to be desired is his kindness;

And a poor man is better than a liar.

23 The fear of Yahweh, [leads] to life

And he [who has it] will reside satisfied;

He will not be visited with evil. [335]

24 The sluggard buries his hand in the dish,

And will not so much as bring it to his mouth again.

25 Strike a scoffer, and the simple will learn prudence;

And reprove one who has understanding, [and] he

will understand knowledge.

26 He who does violence to his father, and chases away his

mother,

Is a son who causes shame and brings reproach.

27 Cease, my son, to hear instruction

[Only] to err from the words of knowledge.

28 A worthless witness mocks at justice;

And the mouth of the wicked swallows iniquity.

29 Judgments are prepared for scoffers,

And stripes for the back of fools.

20  Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler;

And whoever errs by it is not wise.

2 The terror of a king is as the roaring of a lion:

He who makes him furious sins [against] his own soul.

3 It is an honor for a man to keep aloof from strife;

But every fool will be quarrelling.

4 The sluggard will not plow by reason of the winter;

Therefore he will beg in harvest, and have nothing.

5 Counsel in the heart of man is [like] deep water;

But a man of understanding will draw it out.

6 Most of man will proclaim every one his own kindness;

But a faithful man who can find?

7 A righteous man who walks in his integrity,

Blessed are his sons after him.

8 A king who sits on the throne of judgment

Scatters away all evil with his eyes.

9 Who can say, I have made my heart clean,

I am pure from my sin?

10 Diverse weights, and diverse measures,

Both of them alike are disgusting to Yahweh.

11 Even a child makes himself known by his doings,

Whether his work is pure, and whether it is right.

12 The hearing ear, and the seeing eye,

Yahweh has made even both of them.

13 Do not love sleep, or else you will come to poverty;

Open your eyes, [and] you will be satisfied with bread.

14 It is bad, it is bad, says the buyer;

But when he has gone his way, then he boasts.

15 There is gold, and abundance of rubies;

But the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel.

16 Take his garment who is surety for a stranger;

And hold him in pledge [who is surety] for foreigners.

17 Bread of falsehood is sweet to a man;

But afterward his mouth will be filled with gravel.

18 Every purpose is established by counsel;

And by wise guidance make war.

19 He who goes about as a talebearer reveals secrets;

Therefore don't company with him who opens his lips wide.

20 Whoever curses his father or his mother,

His lamp will be put out in the middle of the night.

21 An inheritance [may be] obtained hastily at the beginning;

But its end will not be blessed.

22 Don't say, I will recompense evil:

Wait for Yahweh, and he will save you.

23 Diverse weights are disgusting to Yahweh;

And a false balance is not good.

24 A man's goings are of Yahweh;

How then can [noble] man understand his way?

25 It is a snare to man to rashly say, [It is] holy,

And after vows to make inquiry.

26 A wise king winnows the wicked,

And brings the [threshing]-wheel over them.

27 The breath of man is the lamp of Yahweh,

Searching all his innermost parts.

28 Kindness and truth preserve the king;

And his throne is upheld by kindness.

29 The glory of young men is their strength;

And the majesty of old men is the gray head.

30 Stripes that wound cleanse away evil;

And strokes [reach] the innermost parts.

21  The king's heart is in the hand of Yahweh as the watercourses:

He turns it wherever he will.

2 Every way of a man is right in his own eyes;

But Yahweh weighs the hearts.

3 To do righteousness and justice

Is more acceptable to Yahweh than sacrifice.

4 A high look, and a proud heart,

[Even] the lamp of the wicked, is sin.[336]

6 The getting of treasures by a lying tongue

Is a vapor driven to and fro by those who seek death.

7 The violence of the wicked will sweep them away,

Because they refuse to do justice.

8 The way of him who is laden with guilt is exceedingly crooked;

But as for the pure, his work is right.

9 It is better to dwell in the corner of the housetop,

Than with a contentious woman in a wide house.

10 The soul of the wicked desires evil:

His fellow man finds no favor in his eyes.

11 When the scoffer is punished, the simple is made wise;

And when the wise is instructed, he receives knowledge.

12 The righteous man considers the house of the wicked,

[How] the wicked are overthrown to [their] ruin.

13 Whoever stops his ears at the cry of the poor,

He also will cry, but will not be heard.

14 A gift in secret pacifies anger;

And a present in the bosom, strong wrath.

15 It is joy to the righteous to do justice;

But it is a destruction to the workers of iniquity.

16 [The] man who wanders out of the way of understanding

Will rest in the assembly of the spirits of the dead.

17 He who loves pleasure will be a poor man:

He who loves wine and oil will not be rich.

18 The wicked is a ransom for the righteous;

And the betrayer [comes] in the stead of the

upright.

19 It is better to dwell in a desert land,

Than with a contentious and fretful woman.

20 There is precious treasure and oil in the dwelling of the wise;

But [a] foolish man swallows it up.

21 He who follows after righteousness and kindness

Finds life, righteousness, and honor.

22 A wise man scales the city of the mighty,

And brings down the strength of its confidence.

23 Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue

Keeps his soul from troubles.

24 The proud and haughty man, scoffer is his name;

He works in the arrogance of pride.

25 The desire of the sluggard kills him;

For his hands refuse to labor.

26 There is one who covets greedily all the day long;

But the righteous gives and does not withhold.

27 The sacrifice of the wicked is disgusting:

How much more, when he brings it with a wicked mind!

28 A false witness will perish;

But the man who hears will speak so as to endure.

29 A wicked man hardens his face;

But as for the upright, he establishes his ways.

30 There is no wisdom nor understanding

Nor counsel against Yahweh.

31 The horse is prepared against the day of battle;

But victory is of Yahweh.

22  A [good] name is rather to be chosen than great riches,

[And] loving favor rather than silver and gold.

2 The rich and the poor meet together:

Yahweh is the maker of them all.

3 A prudent man sees the evil, and hides himself;

But the simple pass on, and suffer for it.

4 The reward of humility [and] the fear of Yahweh

[Is] riches, and honor, and life.

5 Thorns [and] snares are in the way of the perverse:

He who keeps his soul will be far from them.[337]

7 The rich rules over the poor;

And the borrower is slave to the lender.

8 He who sows iniquity will reap calamity;

And the rod of his wrath will fail.

9 He who has a bountiful eye will be blessed;

For he gives of his bread to the poor.

10 Cast out the scoffer, and contention will go out;

Yes, strife and ignominy will cease.

11 He who loves pureness of heart,

[For] the grace of his lips the king will be his companion.

12 The eyes of Yahweh preserve [him who has] knowledge;

But he overthrows the words of the betrayer.

13 The sluggard says, There is a lion outside:

I will be slain in the streets.

14 The mouth of strange women is a deep pit:

He who is abhorred of Yahweh will fall in it.

15 Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child;

[But] the rod of correction will drive it far from him.

16 He who oppresses the poor to increase his [gain],

[And] he who gives to the rich, [will come] only to want.

17 Words of the Wise.

Incline your ear, and hear the words of the wise,

And apply your heart to my knowledge.

18 For it is a pleasant thing if you keep them inside you,

If they are established together on your lips.

19 That your trust may be in Yahweh,

I have made [them] known to you this day, even to you.

20 Have I not written to you excellent things

Of counsels and knowledge,

21 To make you know the certainty of the words of truth,

That you may carry back words of truth to those who send you?

22 Don't rob the poor, because he is poor;

Neither oppress the afflicted in the gate:

23 For Yahweh will plead their cause,

And despoil of soul those who despoil them.

24 Make no friendship with a man who is given to anger;

And with a wrathful man you will not go:

25 Or else you will learn his ways,

And get a snare to your soul.

26 Don't be one of those who strikes hands,

[Or] of those who are sureties for debts.

27 If you have not with which to pay,

Why should he take away your bed from under you?

28 Don't remove the ancient landmark,

Which your fathers have set.

29 Do you see a man diligent in his business?

He will stand before kings;

He will not stand before mean men.

23  When you sit to eat with a ruler,

Consider diligently him who is before you;

2 And put a knife to your throat,

If you are a man who is given to soul.

3 Don't be desirous of his dainties;

Seeing they are deceitful food.

4 Don't weary yourself to be rich;

Cease from your own wisdom.

5 Will you set your eyes on that which is not?

For [riches] certainly make themselves wings,

Like an eagle that flies toward heaven.

6 Don't eat the bread of him who has an evil eye,

Neither desire his dainties:

7 For as he thinks in his soul, so he is:

Eat and drink, he says to you;

But his heart is not with you.

8 The morsel which you have eaten you will vomit up,

And lose your sweet words.

9 Don't speak in the hearing of a fool;

For he will despise the wisdom of your words.

10 Don't remove the ancient landmark;

And don't enter into the fields of the fatherless:

11 For their Redeemer is strong;

He will plead their cause against you.

12 Apply your heart to instruction,

And your ears to the words of knowledge.

13 Do not withhold correction from the child;

[For] if you beat him with the rod, he will not die.

14 You will beat him with the rod,

And will deliver his soul from Sheol.

15 My son, if your heart be wise,

My heart will be glad, even mine:

16 Yes, my heart will rejoice,

When your lips speak right things.

17 Don't let your heart envy sinners;

But [be] in the fear of Yahweh all the day long:

18 For surely there is a reward;

And your hope will not be cut off.

19 Hear, my son, and be wise,

And guide your heart in the way.

20 Don't be among winebibbers,

Among gluttonous eaters of flesh:

21 For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty;

And drowsiness will clothe [a man] with rags.

22 Listen to your father who begot you,

And don't despise your mother when she is old.

23 Buy the truth, and don't sell it;

[Yes,] wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.

24 The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice;

And he who begets a wise child will have joy of him.

25 Let your father and your mother be glad,

And let her who bore you rejoice.

26 My son, give me your heart;

And let your eyes delight in my ways.

27 For a prostitute is a deep ditch;

And a foreign woman is a narrow pit.

28 Yes, she lies in wait as a robber,

And increases the betrayers among man.

29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions?

Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause?

Who has redness of eyes?

30 Those who tarry long at the wine;

Those who go to seek out mixed wine.

31 Don't look on the wine when it is red,

When it sparkles in the cup,

When it goes down smoothly:

32 At the last it bites like a serpent,

And stings like an adder.

33 Your eyes will see strange things,

And your heart will utter perverse things.

34 Yes, you will be as he who lies down in the midst of the sea,

Or as he who lies on the top of a mast.

35 They have stricken me, [you will say], and I was not hurt;

They have beaten me, and I did not feel it:

When shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.

24  Don't be envious against evil men;

Neither desire to be with them:

2 For their heart studies oppression,

And their lips talk of mischief.

3 Through wisdom is a house built;

And by understanding it is established;

4 And by knowledge are the chambers filled

With all precious and pleasant riches.

5 A wise [noble] man is strong;

Yes, a man of knowledge increases might

6 For by wise guidance you will make your war;

And in the multitude of counselors there is safety.

7 Wisdom is too high for a fool:

He does not open his mouth in the gate.

8 He who devises to do evil,

Men will call him a mischief-maker.

9 The thought of foolishness is sin;

And the scoffer is disgusting to man.

10 If you faint in the day of adversity,

Your strength is small.

11 Deliver those who are carried away to death,

And see that you hold back those who are ready to be slain.

12 If you say, Look, we did not know this;

Does not he who weighs the hearts consider it?

And he who keeps your soul, does he not know it?

And will he not render to man according to his work?

13 My son, eat honey, for it is good;

And the drippings of the honeycomb, which are sweet to your taste:

14 So you will know wisdom to be to your soul;

If you have found it, then there will be a reward,

And your hope will not be cut off.

15 Don't lay in wait, O wicked man, against the habitation of the righteous;

Don't destroy his resting-place:

16 For a righteous man falls seven times, and rises up again;

But the wicked are overthrown by calamity.

17 Don't rejoice when your enemy falls,

And don't let your heart be glad when he is overthrown;

18 Or else Yahweh will see it, and it will be evil in his eyes,

And he will turn away his wrath from him.

19 Don't fret yourself because of evildoers;

Neither be envious at the wicked:

20 For there will be no reward to the evil man;

The lamp of the wicked will be put out.

21 My son, fear Yahweh and the king;

[And] don't company with those who are given to change:

22 For their calamity will rise suddenly;

And the destruction from them both, who knows it?

23 These also are [words] of the wise.

To show favoritism in judgment is not good.

24 He who says to the wicked, You are righteous;

Peoples will curse him, nations will abhor him:

25 But to those who rebuke [him] will be delight,

And a good blessing will come upon them.

26 He kisses the lips

Who gives a right answer.

27 Prepare your work outside,

And make it ready for yourself in the field;

And afterward build your house.

28 Don't be a witness against your fellow man without cause;

And do not deceive with your lips.

29 Don't say, I will do so to him as he has done to me;

I will render to the man according to his work.

30 I went by the field of the sluggard,

And by the vineyard of [the] man void of understanding;

31 And, look, it was all grown over with thorns,

The face of it was covered with nettles,

And the stone wall of it was broken down.

32 Then I looked, and considered well;

I saw, and received instruction:

33 [Yet] a little sleep, a little slumber,

A little folding of the hands to sleep;

34 So will your poverty come as a robber,

And your want as an armed man.

25  These also are proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied out.

2 It is the glory of God to conceal a thing;

But the glory of kings is to search out a matter.

3 As the heavens for height, and the earth for depth,

So the heart of kings is unsearchable.

4 Take away the dross from the silver,

And there comes forth a vessel for the refiner:

5 Take away the wicked [from] before the king,

And his throne will be established in righteousness.

6 Don't put yourself forward in the presence of the king,

And don't stand in the place of great men:

7 For it is better that it is said to you, Come up here,

Than that you should be put lower in the presence of the prince,

Whom your eyes have seen.

8 Don't hastily bring [it] to court,

Or else what will you do in its end,

When your fellow man has put you to shame.

9 Debate your cause with your fellow man [himself],

And don't disclose the secret of another;

10 Or else he who hears it will revile you,

And your infamy will not turn away.

11 A word fitly spoken

Is [like] apples of gold in network of silver.

12 [As] an earring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold,

[So is] a wise reprover on an obedient ear.

13 As the cold of snow in the time of harvest,

[So is] a faithful messenger to those who send him;

For he refreshes the soul of his masters.

14 [As] clouds and wind without rain,

[So is] he who boasts himself of his gifts falsely.

15 By long forbearing is a ruler persuaded,

And a soft tongue breaks the bone.

16 Have you found honey?

Eat so much as is sufficient for you,

Or else you will be filled with it, and vomit it.

17 Let your foot be seldom in your fellow man's house,

Or else he will be weary of you, and hate you.

18 A man who bears false witness against his fellow man

Is a maul, and a sword, and a sharp arrow.

19 Confidence in a betrayer in time of trouble

Is [like] a crumbling tooth, and an unsteady foot.

20 [As] vinegar on lye, and [as] smoke for the eyes,[338]

So is he who sings songs to a heavy heart.[339]

21 If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat;

And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink:

22 For you will heap coals of fire on his head,

And Yahweh will reward you.

23 The north wind brings forth rain:

So does a backbiting tongue an angry countenance.

24 It is better to dwell in the corner of the housetop,

Than with a contentious woman in a wide house.

25 [As] cold waters to a thirsty soul,

So is good news from a far country.

26 [As] a troubled fountain, and a corrupted spring,

[So is] a righteous man who gives way before the wicked.

27 It is not good to eat much honey:

And searching out their glory is glory.

28 He whose spirit is without restraint

Is [like] a city that is broken down and without walls.

26  As snow in summer, and as rain in harvest,

So honor is not seemly for a fool.

2 As the sparrow in her wandering, as the swallow in her flying,

So the curse that is causeless does not come.

3 A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey,

And a rod for the back of fools.

4 Do not answer a fool according to his folly,

Or else you will also be like him.

5 Answer a fool according to his folly,

Or else he will be wise in his own eyes.

6 He who sends a message by the hand of a fool

Cuts off [his own] feet, [and] drinks crime.

7 [As] the legs hang loose from a cripple:

So is a parable in the mouth of fools.

8 As one who binds a stone in a sling,

So is he who gives honor to a fool.

9 [As] a thorn that goes up into the hand of a drunkard,

So is a parable in the mouth of fools.

10 [As] an archer that wounds all,

So is he who hires a fool and he who hires those who pass by.

11 As a dog that returns to his vomit,

[So is] a fool that repeats his folly.

12 Do you see a man wise in his own conceit?

There is more hope of a fool than of him.

13 The sluggard says,

There is a lion in the way;

A lion is in the streets.

14 [As] the door turns on its hinges,

So does the sluggard on his bed.

15 The sluggard buries his hand in the dish;

It wearies him to bring it again to his mouth.

16 The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit

Than seven men who can render a reason.

17 He who passes by, [and] is furious with strife not belonging to him,

Is [like] one who takes a dog by the ears.

18 As a lunatic who casts firebrands,

Arrows, and death,

19 So is the man who deceives his fellow man,

And says, Am I not joking?

20 For lack of wood the fire goes out;

And where there is no whisperer, contention ceases.

21 [As] coals are to hot embers, and wood to fire,

So is a contentious man to inflame strife.

22 The words of a whisperer are as dainty morsels,

And they go down into the innermost parts.

23 Fervent lips and a wicked heart

Are [like] an earthen vessel overlaid with silver dross.

24 He who hates dissembles with his lips;

But he lays up deceit inside him:

25 When he speaks fair, don't believe him;

For there are seven disgusting things in his heart:

26 Though [his] hatred covers itself with guile,

His wickedness will be openly shown before the assembly.

27 Whoever digs a pit will fall in it;

And he who rolls a stone, it will return on him.

28 A lying tongue hates those whom it has wounded;

And a flattering mouth works ruin.

27  Don't boast yourself of tomorrow;

For you don't know what a day may bring forth.

2 Let another man praise you, and not your own mouth;

A stranger, and not your own lips.

3 A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty;

But a fool's vexation is heavier than both of them.

4 Wrath is cruel, and anger is overwhelming;

But who is able to stand before jealousy?

5 Better is open rebuke

Than love that is hidden.

6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend;

But the kisses of an enemy are profuse.

7 The full soul loathes a honeycomb;

But to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.

8 As a bird that wanders from her nest,

So is a man who wanders from his place.

9 Oil and perfume rejoice the heart;

So does the sweetness of a man's companion [that comes] from the counsel of the soul.

10 Your own companion, and your father's companion, do not forsake;

And don't go to your brother's house in the day of your calamity:

Better is a neighbor who is near than a brother far off.

11 My son, be wise, and make my heart glad,

That I may answer him who reproaches me.

12 A prudent man sees the evil, [and] hides himself;

[But] the simple pass on, [and] suffer for it.

13 Take his garment that is surety for a stranger;

And hold him in pledge [who is surety] for a foreign woman.

14 He who blesses his fellow man with a loud voice, rising early in the morning,

It will be counted a curse to him.

15 A continual dropping in a very rainy day

And a contentious woman are alike:

16 He who would restrain her restrains the wind;

And his right hand encounters oil.

17 Iron sharpens iron;

So a man sharpens the countenance of his fellow man.

18 Whoever keeps the fig tree will eat its fruit;

And he who regards his master will be honored.

19 As in water face [answers] to face,

So the heart of man to man.

20 Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied;

And the eyes of man are never satisfied.

21 The refining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold;

And a man is [tried] by his praise.

22 Though you should bray a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with bruised grain,

Yet his foolishness will not depart from him.

23 Be diligent to know the state of your flocks,

[And] look well to your herds:

24 For riches are not forever:

And does the crown endure to all generations?

25 The hay is carried, and the tender grass shows itself,

And the herbs of the mountains are gathered in.

26 The lambs are for your clothing,

And the goats are the price of the field;

27 And [there will be] goats' milk enough for your food, for the food of your household,

And maintenance for your maidens.

28  The wicked flee when no man pursues;

But the righteous are bold as a lion.

2 For the transgression of a land many are its princes;

But by [a] man of understanding [and] knowledge the state [of it] will be prolonged.

3 A needy [noble] man who oppresses the poor

Is [like] a sweeping rain which leaves no food.

4 Those who forsake the law praise the wicked;

But such as keep the law contend with them.

5 Evil men don't understand justice;

But those who seek Yahweh understand all things.

6 Better is the poor who walks in his integrity,

Than he who is perverse in [his] ways, though he is rich.

7 Whoever keeps the law is a wise son;

But he who is a shepherd of gluttons shames his father.

8 He who augments his substance by interest and increase,

Gathers it for him who has pity on the poor.

9 He who turns away his ear from hearing the law,

Even his prayer is disgusting.

10 Whoever causes the upright to go astray in an evil way,

He will fall into his own pit;

But the perfect will inherit good.

11 The rich man is wise in his own eyes;

But the poor who has understanding searches him out.

12 When the righteous triumph, there is great glory;

But when the wicked rise, man will hide.

13 He who covers his transgressions will not prosper:

But whoever confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.

14 Happy is [the] man who fears always;

But he who hardens his heart will fall into mischief.

15 [As] a roaring lion, and a ranging bear,

[So is] a wicked ruler over a poor people.

16 The leader who lacks understanding is also a great oppressor;

[But] he who hates covetousness will prolong his days.

17 [A] man who is laden with the blood of a soul

Will flee to the pit; let no man uphold him.

18 Whoever walks uprightly will be delivered;

But he who is perverse in [his] ways will fall at once.

19 He who tills his land will have plenty of bread;

But he who follows after vanities will have poverty enough.

20 A faithful man will abound with blessings;

But he who hurries to be rich will not be unpunished.

21 To show favoritism is not good;

Neither that a [noble] man should transgress for a piece of bread.

22 He who has an evil eye hurries after riches,

And does not know that want will come upon him.

23 He who rebukes man will afterward find more favor

Than he who flatters with the tongue.

24 Whoever robs his father or his mother, and says, It is no transgression,

The same is the partner of a destroyer.

25 A greedy soul stirs up strife;

But he who puts his trust in Yahweh will be made fat.

26 He who trusts in his own heart is a fool;

But whoever walks wisely, he will be delivered.

27 He who gives to the poor will not lack;

But he who hides his eyes will have many a curse.

28 When the wicked rise, man hides himself;

But when they perish, the righteous increase.

29  He who being often reproved hardens his neck

Will suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.

2 When the righteous have increased, the people rejoice;

But when a wicked man bears rule, the people sigh.

3 Whoever loves wisdom rejoices his father;

But he who is a shepherd of prostitutes wastes [his] substance.

4 The king by justice establishes the land;

But he who exacts gifts overthrows it.

5 A [noble] man who flatters his fellow man

Spreads a net for his steps.

6 In the transgression of an evil man there is a snare;

But the righteous sings and rejoices.

7 The righteous takes knowledge of the cause of the poor;

The wicked does not have understanding to know [it].

8 Scoffers set a city in a flame;

But wise men turn away wrath.

9 If a wise man has a controversy with a foolish man,

Whether he is angry or laughs, there will be no rest.

10 The bloodthirsty hate him who is perfect;

And as for the upright, they seek his soul.

11 A fool utters all his anger;

But a wise man keeps it back and stills it.

12 If a ruler harkens to falsehood,

All his ministers are wicked.

13 The poor man and the oppressor meet together;

Yahweh lightens the eyes of them both.

14 The king who faithfully judges the poor,

His throne will be established forever.

15 The rod and reproof give wisdom;

But a child left to himself causes shame to his mother.

16 When the wicked are increased, transgression increases;

But the righteous will look at their fall.

17 Correct your son, and he will give you rest;

Yes, he will give delight to your soul.

18 Where there is no vision, the people go wild;

But he who keeps the law, he is happy.

19 A slave will not be corrected by words;

For though he understands, he will not give heed.

20 Do you see a man who is in a hurry in his words?

There is more hope of a fool than of him.

21 He who delicately brings up his slave from a child

Will have him become a son at the last.

22 An angry man stirs up strife,

And a wrathful man abounds in transgression.

23 The pride of man will bring him low;

But he who is of a lowly spirit will obtain honor.

24 Whoever shares with a thief hates his own soul;

He hears the adjuration and utters nothing.

25 The fear of man brings a snare;

But whoever puts his trust in Yahweh will be safe.

26 Many seek the ruler's favor;

But a man's judgment [comes] from Yahweh.

27 An unjust man is disgusting to the righteous;

And he who is upright in the way is disgusting to the wicked.

30  The words of Agur the son of Jakeh;

The oracle.

The [noble] man says to Ithiel, to Ithiel and Ucal:

2 Surely I am more brutish than any man,

And don't have the understanding of man;

3 And I have not learned wisdom,

Neither have I knowledge of the Holy One.

4 Who has ascended up into heaven, and descended?

Who has gathered the wind in his fists?

Who has bound the waters in his garment?

Who has established all the ends of the earth?

What is his name, and what is his son's name, if you know?

5 Every word of God is tried:

He is a shield to those who take refuge in him.

6 Don't add to his words,

Or else he will reprove you, and you will be found a liar.

7 Two things I have asked of you;

Don't deny me [them] before I die:

8 Remove far from me falsehood and lies;

Give me neither poverty nor riches;

Feed me with the food that is needful for me:

9 Or else I will be full, and deny [you], and say, Who is Yahweh?

Or else I will be poor, and steal,

And profanely use the name of my God.

10 Don't slander a slave to his master,

Or else he will curse you, and you will be held guilty.

11 There is a generation who curse their father,

And do not bless their mother.

12 There is a generation who are pure in their own eyes,

And [yet] are not washed from their filthiness.

13 There is a generation, oh how lofty are their eyes!

And their eyelids are lifted up.

14 There is a generation whose teeth are [as] swords,

and their jaw teeth [as] knives,

To devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among man.

15 The horseleach has two daughters, [crying] Give, give.

There are three things that are never satisfied,

[Yes,] four that don't say, Enough:

16 Sheol; and the barren womb;

The earth that is not satisfied with water;

And the fire that does not say, Enough.

17 The eye that mocks at his father,

And despises to obey his mother,

The ravens of the valley will pick it out,

And the young eagles will eat it.

18 There are three things which are too wonderful for me,

Yes, four which I don't know:

19 The way of an eagle in the air;

The way of a serpent on a rock;

The way of a ship in the midst of the sea;

And the way of a [noble] man with a young woman.

20 So is the way of an adulterous woman;

She eats, and wipes her mouth,

And says, I have done no wickedness.

21 For three things the earth trembles,

And for four, [which] it can't bear:

22 For a slave when he is king;

And a fool when he is filled with food;

23 For an odious woman when she is married;

And a female slave when she takes the place of her mistress.

24 There are four things which are little on the earth,

But they are exceedingly wise:

25 The ants are not a strong people,

Yet they provide their food in the summer;

26 The conies are but a feeble folk,

Yet make they their houses in the rocks;

27 The locusts have no king,

Yet go they forth all of them by bands;

28 The lizard, you can catch it with [your] hands,

Yet she is in kings' palaces.

29 There are three things which are stately in their march,

Yes, four which are stately in going:

30 The lion, which is mightiest among beasts,

And does not turn away for any;

31 The greyhound; the he-goat also;

And the king against whom there is no rising up.

32 If you have done foolishly in lifting up yourself,

Or if you have thought evil,

[Put] your hand on your mouth.

33 For the churning of milk brings forth butter,

And the wringing of the nose brings forth blood;

So the forcing of wrath brings forth strife.

31  The words of King Lemuel; the oracle which his mother taught him.

2 What, my son? And what, O son of my womb?

And what, O son of my vows?

3 Don't give your strength to women,

Nor your ways to [those women who] destroy kings.

4 It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine;

Nor for princes to desire strong drink.

5 Or else they will drink, and forget the law,

And pervert the justice [due] to any who is afflicted.

6 Give strong drink to him who is ready to perish,

And wine to the bitter in soul:

7 Let him drink, and forget his poverty,

And remember his misery no more.

8 Open your mouth for the mute,

In the cause of all such as are left desolate.

9 Open your mouth, judge righteously,

And give justice to the poor and needy.

10 A worthy woman who can find?

For her price is far above rubies.

11 The heart of her husband trusts in her,

And he will have no lack of gain.

12 She does him good and not evil

All the days of her life.

13 She seeks wool and flax,

And works willingly with her hands.

14 She is like the merchant-ships;

She brings her bread from far.

15 She rises also while it is yet night,

And gives food to her household,

And their task to her maidens.

16 She considers a field, and buys it;

With the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.

17 She girds her loins with strength,

And makes her arms strong.

18 She perceives that her merchandise is profitable:

Her lamp does not go out by night.

19 She lays her hands to the distaff,

And her hands hold the spindle.

20 She stretches out her hand to the poor;

Yes, she reaches forth her hands to the needy.

21 She is not afraid of the snow for her household;

For all her household has double clothes.

22 She makes for herself carpets of tapestry;

Her clothing is fine linen and purple.

23 Her husband is known in the gates,

When he sits among the elders of the land.

24 She makes linen garments and sells them,

And delivers belts to the merchant.

25 Strength and majesty are her clothing;

And she laughs at the time to come.

26 She opens her mouth with wisdom;

And the law of kindness is on her tongue.

27 She looks well to the ways of her household,

And does not eat the bread of idleness.

28 Her sons rise up, and call her blessed;

Her husband [also], and he praises her, [saying]:

29 Many daughters have done worthily,

But you excel them all.

30 Grace is deceitful, and beauty is vain;

[But] a woman who fears Yahweh, she will be praised.

31 Give her of the fruit of her hands;

And let her works praise her in the gates.

__________________________

Ecclesiastes

1  The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. 2 Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; vanity of vanities, all is vanity. 3 What profit has man of all his labor in which he labors under the sun? 4 One generation goes, and another generation comes; but the earth remains forever. 5 The sun also rises, and the sun goes down, and hurries to its place where it rises. 6 The wind goes toward the south, and turns about to the north; it turns about continually in its course, and the wind returns again to its circuits. 7 All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full; to the place where the rivers go, there they go again. 8 All things are full of weariness; man can't utter [it]: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. 9 That which has been is that which will be; and that which has been done is that which will be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. 10 Is there a thing of which it may be said, See, this is new? It has been long ago, in the ages which were before us. 11 There is no remembrance of the former [generations]; neither will there be any remembrance of the latter [generations] who are to come, among those who will come after.

12 I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven: it is an intense travail that God has given to the sons of man to be exercised with. 14 I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, look, all is vanity and a striving after wind. 15 That which is crooked can't be made straight; and that which is wanting can't be numbered. 16 I communed with my own heart, saying, Look, I have gotten myself great wisdom above all who were before me in Jerusalem; yes, my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge. 17 And I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also was a striving after wind. 18 For in much wisdom is much grief; and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

2  I said in my heart, Come now, I will prove you with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure: and, look, this also was vanity. 2 I said of laughter, It is insane; and of mirth, What does it do? 3 I searched in my heart how to cheer my flesh with wine, my heart yet guiding [me] with wisdom, and how to lay hold on folly, until I might see what it was good for the sons of man that they should do under heaven all the days of their life. 4 I made myself great works; I built myself houses; I planted myself vineyards; 5 I made myself gardens and parks, and I planted trees in them of all kinds of fruit; 6 I made myself pools of water, to water therefrom the forest where trees were reared; 7 I bought male slaves and female slaves, and had slaves born in my house; also I had great possessions of herds and flocks, above all who were before me in Jerusalem; 8 I gathered myself also silver and gold, and the treasure of kings and of the provinces; I got myself men-singers and women-singers, and the delights of the sons of man, many women.[340] 9 So I was great, and increased more than all who were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me. 10 And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them; I did not withhold my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced because of all my labor; and this was my portion from all my labor. 11 Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labor that I had labored to do; and, look, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was no profit under the sun.

12 And I turned myself to look at wisdom, and madness, and folly: for what [can] man [do] who comes after the king? [Even] that which has been done long ago. 13 Then I saw that wisdom excels folly, as far as light excels darkness. 14 The wise man's eyes are in his head, and the fool walks in darkness: and yet I perceived that one event happens to them all. 15 Then I said in my heart, As it happens to the fool, so it will happen even to me; and why was I then more wise? Then I said in my heart, that this also is vanity. 16 For of the wise man, even as of the fool, there is no remembrance forever; seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. And how the wise man dies even as the fool! 17 So I hated life, because the work that is wrought under the sun was grievous to me; for all is vanity and a striving after wind.

18 And I hated all my labor in which I labored under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to man who will be after me. 19 And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have rule over all my labor in which I have labored, and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity. 20 Therefore I turned about to cause my heart to despair concerning all the labor in which I had labored under the sun. 21 For there is man whose labor is with wisdom, and with knowledge, and with skillfulness; yet to man who has not labored in it he will leave it for his portion. This also is vanity and a great evil. 22 For what has man of all his labor, and of the striving of his heart, in which he labors under the sun? 23 For all his days are [but] sorrows, and his travail is grief; yes, even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity.

24 Is it not good that man should eat and drink, and make his soul enjoy good in his labor? This also I saw, that it is from the hand of God. 25 For who can eat, or who can have enjoyment, more than I? 26 For to [the] man who pleases him [God] gives wisdom, and knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner he gives travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.

3  For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven: 2 a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; 3 a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; 4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; 5 a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; 6 a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; 7 a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silent, and a time to speak; 8 a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace. 9 What profit has he who works in that in which he labors? 10 I have seen the travail which God has given to the sons of man to be exercised with. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time: also he has set eternity in their heart, yet so that man cannot find out the work that God has done from the beginning even to the end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for them, than to rejoice, and to do good so long as they live. 13 And also that all of man should eat and drink, and enjoy good in all his labor, is the gift of God. 14 I know that, whatever God does, it will be forever: nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it; and God has done it, that men should fear before him. 15 That which is has been long ago; and that which is to be has long ago been: and God seeks again that which has passed away.

16 And moreover I saw under the sun, in the place of justice, that wickedness was there; and in the place of righteousness, that wickedness was there. 17 I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked; for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work. 18 I said in my heart, [It is] because of the sons of man, that God may prove them, and that they may see that they themselves are [but as] beasts. 19 For that which befalls the sons of man befalls beasts; even one thing befalls them: as the one dies, so dies the other; yes, they all have one breath; and man has no preeminence above the beasts: for all is vanity. 20 All go to one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. 21 Who knows the spirit of man, whether it goes upward, and the spirit of the beast, whether it goes downward to the earth? 22 Therefore I saw that there is nothing better, than that man should rejoice in his works; for that is his portion: for who will bring him [back] to see what will be after him?

4  Then I returned and saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and, look, the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter. 2 Therefore I praised the dead who have been long dead more than the living who are yet alive; 3 yes, better than them both [did I esteem] him who has not yet been, who has not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.

4 Then I saw all labor and every skillful work, that for this a man is envied of his fellow man. This also is vanity and a striving after wind. 5 The fool folds his hands together, and eats his own flesh. 6 Better is a handful, with quietness, than two handfuls with labor and striving after wind.

7 Then I returned and saw vanity under the sun. 8 There is one who is alone, and he has not a second; yes, he has neither son nor brother; yet is there no end of all his labor, neither are his eyes satisfied with riches. For whom then, [he says], do I labor, and deprive my soul of good? This also is vanity, yes, it is an intense travail. 9 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. 10 For if they fall, the one will lift up his partner; but woe to him who is alone when he falls, and does not have another to lift him up. 11 Again, if two lie together, then they have warmth; but how can one be warm [alone]? 12 And if a man prevails against him who is alone, two will withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

13 Better is an indigent and wise youth than an old and foolish king, who doesn't know how to receive admonition anymore. 14 For out of prison he came forth to be king; yes, even in his kingdom he was born poor. 15 I saw all the living who walk under the sun, that they were with the youth, the second, who stood up in his stead. 16 There was no end of all the people, even of all those over whom he was: yet those who come after will not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and a striving after wind.

5  Keep your foot when you go to the house of God; for to draw near to hear is better than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they don't even know how to do evil. 2 Don't be rash with your mouth, and don't let your heart be in a hurry to utter anything before God; for God is in heaven, and you are on earth: therefore let your words be few. 3 For a dream comes with a multitude of business, and a fool's voice with a multitude of words. 4 When you vow a vow to God, do not defer to pay it; for he has no pleasure in fools: pay that which you vow. 5 It is better that you should not vow, than you should vow and not pay. 6 Do not allow your mouth to cause your flesh to sin; neither say before the messenger,[341] that it was an unintentional [error]: why should God be angry at your voice, and destroy the work of your hands? 7 For in the multitude of dreams there are vanities, and in many words: but fear God.

8 If you see the oppression of the poor, and the violent taking away of justice and righteousness in a province, do not marvel at the matter: for one higher than the high regards; and there are higher than those. 9 And the advantage of a land[342] is for everyone. There is a king to [protect] the cultivated field.

10 He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver; nor he who loves abundance, with increase: this also is vanity. 11 When goods increase, those who eat them are increased; and what advantage is there to the owner of them, except for looking at [them] with his eyes? 12 The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eats little or much; but the fullness of the rich will not allow him to sleep.

13 There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun, [namely], riches kept by their owner to his hurt: 14 and those riches perish by evil adventure; and if he has begotten a son, there is nothing in his hand. 15 As he came forth from his mother's womb, naked he will go again as he came, and will take nothing for his labor, which he may carry away in his hand. 16 And this also is a grievous evil, that in all points as he came, so he will go: and what profit does he have that he labors for the wind? 17 All his days also he eats in darkness, and he is intensely vexed, and has sickness and wrath.

18 Look, that which I have seen to be good and to be beautiful is for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy good in all his labor, in which he labors under the sun, all the days of his life which God has given him: for this is his portion. 19 All among man also to whom God has given riches and wealth, and has given him power to eat of it, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labor—this is the gift of God. 20 For he will not remember much the days of his life; because God answers [him] in the joy of his heart.

6  There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is heavy on man: 2 a man to whom God gives riches, wealth, and honor, so that he lacks nothing for his soul of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to eat of it, but an alien eats it; this is vanity, and it is an evil disease. 3 If a man begets a hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not filled with good, and moreover he has no burial; I say, that an untimely birth is better than he: 4 for he comes in vanity, and departs in darkness, and his name is covered with darkness; 5 moreover he has not seen the sun nor known it; this has rest rather than the other: 6 yes, though he lives a thousand years twice told, and yet enjoys no good, do not all go to one place?

7 All the labor of man is for his mouth, and yet the soul is not filled. 8 For what advantage has the wise more than the fool? [Or] what has the poor man, that knows how to walk before the living? 9 Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the soul: this also is vanity and a striving after wind.

10 Whatever has been, its name was given long ago; and it is known what man is; neither can he contend with him who is mightier than he. 11 Seeing there are many things that increase vanity, what is the advantage to man? 12 For who knows what is good for man in [his] life, all the days of his vain life which he spends as a shadow? For who can tell man what will be after him under the sun?

7  A [good] name is better than precious oil; and the day of death, than the day of one's birth. 2 It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all man; and the living will lay it to his heart. 3 Sorrow is better than laughter; for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made glad. 4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.

5 It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools. 6 For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool: this also is vanity. 7 Surely extortion makes the wise man foolish; and a bribe destroys the understanding.

8 Better is the end of a thing than its beginning; [and] the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. 9 Don't be in a hurry in your spirit to be angry; for anger rests in the bosom of fools. 10 Don't say, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? For you do not inquire wisely concerning this.

11 Wisdom is as good as an inheritance; yes, more excellent is it for those who see the sun. 12 For wisdom is a defense, even as silver is a defense; but the excellency of knowledge is, that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it. 13 Consider the work of God: for who can make that straight, which he has made crooked? 14 In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider; yes, God has made the one side by side with the other, to the end that man should not find out anything [that will be] after him.

15 All this I have seen in my days of vanity: there is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs [his life] in his evildoing. 16 Don't be overly righteous; neither make yourself overly wise: why should you destroy yourself? 17 Don't be overly wicked, neither be foolish: why should you die before your time? 18 It is good that you should take hold of this; yes, also from that do not withdraw your hand: for he who fears God will come forth from them all.

19 Wisdom is a strength to the wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city. 20 Surely there is not [a] righteous man on earth, who does good, and does not sin. 21 Also don't take heed to all words that are spoken, lest you hear your slave curse you; 22 for oftentimes also your own heart knows that you yourself likewise have cursed others.

23 All this I have proved in wisdom: I said, I will be wise; but it was far from me. 24 That which is, is far off and exceedingly deep; who can find it out? 25 I turned about, and my heart [was set] to know and to search out, and to seek wisdom and the reason [of things], and to know that wickedness is folly, and that foolishness is madness. 26 And I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets, [and] whose hands are bindings: whoever pleases God will escape from her; but the sinner will be taken by her. 27 Look, this I have found, says the Preacher, [laying] one thing to another, to find out the account; 28 which my soul still seeks, but I have not found: of man one among a thousand I have found; but a woman among all those I have not found. 29 Look, this only I have found: that God made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.

8  Who is as the wise man? And who knows the interpretation of a thing? The wisdom of man makes his face to shine, and the hardness of his face is changed. 2 I [counsel you], Keep the king's command, and that in regard of the oath of God. 3 Don't be in a hurry to go out of his presence; don't persist in an evil thing: for he does whatever pleases him. 4 For the king's word [has] power; and who may say to him, What are you doing? 5 Whoever keeps the commandment will know no evil thing; and a wise man's heart discerns time and judgment: 6 for to every purpose there is a time and judgment; because the misery of man is great on him: 7 for he doesn't know that which will be; for who can tell him how it will be? 8 Man does not have power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither does he have power over the day of death; and there is no discharge in war: neither will wickedness deliver him who is given to it.

9 All this I have seen, and applied my heart to every work that is done under the sun: [there is] a time in which man has power over man to his hurt. 10 So I saw the wicked buried, and they came [to the grave]; and those who had done right went away from the holy place, and were forgotten in the city: this also is vanity. 11 Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of man is fully set in them to do evil. 12 Though a sinner does evil a hundred times, and prolong his [days], yet surely I know that it will be well with those who fear God, who fear before him: 13 but it will not be well with the wicked, neither will he prolong [his] days, [which are] as a shadow; because he does not fear before God.

14 There is a vanity which is done on the earth, that there are righteous men to whom it happens according to the work of the wicked; again, there are wicked men to whom it happens according to the work of the righteous: I said that this also is vanity. 15 Then I commended mirth, because man has no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be joyful: for that will go with him in his labor [all] the days of his life which God has given him under the sun.

16 When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on the earth (for there is also one who neither day nor night sees sleep with his eyes), 17 then I saw all the work of God, that man can't find out the work that is done under the sun: because however much man labors to seek it out, yet he will not find it; and even though a wise man thinks to know it, yet he will not be able to find it.  9  For all this I took to heart, even to explore all this: that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God; whether it is love or hatred, man does not know it; all is before them.

2 All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean and to the unclean; to him who sacrifices and to him who does not sacrifice; as is the good, so is the sinner; [and] he who swears, as he who fears an oath. 3 This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one event to all: yes also, the heart of the sons of man is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that [they go] to the dead. 4 For to him who is joined with all the living there is hope; for a living dog is better than a dead lion. 5 For the living know that they will die: but the dead don't know anything, neither have they a reward anymore; for the memory of them is forgotten. 6 Their love as well, as their hatred and their envy, has perished long ago; neither have they anymore a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun.

7 Go your way, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart; for God has already accepted your works. 8 Let your garments always be white; and don't let your head lack oil. 9 Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your life of vanity, which he has given you under the sun, all your days of vanity: for that is your portion in life, and in your labor in which you labor under the sun. 10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do [it] with your might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in Sheol, where you go.

11 I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happens to them all. 12 For man also doesn't know his time: as the fish that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare, even so are the sons of man snared in an evil time, when it falls suddenly on them.

13 I have also seen wisdom under the sun on this wise, and it seemed great to me: 14 There was a little city, and few men inside it; and there came a great king against it, and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it. 15 Now there was found in it an indigent wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet man did not remember that same indigent man. 16 Then I said, Wisdom is better than strength: nevertheless the indigent man's wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard. 17 The words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the cry of him who rules among fools. 18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war; but one sinner destroys much good.

10  Dead flies cause the oil of the perfumer to gush forth a stench; [so] does a little folly outweigh wisdom and honor. 2 A wise man's heart is at his right hand; but a fool's heart is at his left. 3 Yes also, when the fool walks by the way, his understanding fails him, and he says to everyone [that] he is a fool. 4 If the spirit of the ruler rises up against you, don't leave your place; for gentleness allays great offenses.

5 There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, as it were an unintentional [error] which proceeds from the ruler: 6 folly is set in great dignity, and the rich sit in a low place. 7 I have seen slaves on horses, and princes walking like slaves on the earth.

8 He who digs a pit will fall into it; and whoever breaks through a wall, a serpent will bite him. 9 Whoever cuts out stones will be hurt with them; [and] he who splits wood is endangered by it. 10 If the iron is blunt, and one does not whet the edge, then he must use more strength: but wisdom is profitable to direct. 11 If the serpent bites before it is charmed, then is there no advantage to the master of the tongue.

12 The words of a wise man's mouth are gracious; but the lips of a fool will swallow up himself. 13 The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness; and the end of his mouth is mischievous madness. 14 A fool also multiplies words: [yet] man doesn't know what will be; and that which will be after him, who can tell him? 15 The labor of fools wearies every one of them; for he doesn't know how to go to the city.

16 Woe to you, O land, when your king is a child, and your princes eat in the morning! 17 You are happy, O land, when your king is the son of nobles, and your princes eat in due season, for strength, and not for drunkenness! 18 By slothfulness the roof sinks in; and through idleness of the hands the house leaks. 19 A feast is made for laughter, and wine makes glad the life; and silver answers all things. 20 Don't revile the king, no, not in your thought; and don't revile the rich in your bedchamber: for a bird of the heavens will carry the voice, and that which has wings will tell the matter.

11  Cast your bread on the waters; for you will find it after many days. 2 Give a portion to seven, yes, even to eight; for you don't know what evil will be on the earth. 3 If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves on the earth; and if a tree falls toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it will be. 4 He who observes the wind will not sow; and he who regards the clouds will not reap. 5 As you don't know what the way of the wind is, [nor] how the bones [grow] in the womb of her who is pregnant; even so you don't know the work of God who does all. 6 In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening don't withhold your hand; for you don't know which will prosper, whether this or that, or whether they both will be alike good. 7 Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun. 8 Yes, if man lives many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember the days of darkness, for they will be many. All that comes is vanity.

9 Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth, and walk in the ways of your heart, and in the sight of your eyes; but know, that for all these things God will bring you into judgment. 10 Therefore remove sorrow from your heart, and put away evil from your flesh; for youth and the dawn of life are vanity.

12  Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come, and the years draw near, when you will say, I have no pleasure in them; 2 before the sun, and the light, and the moon, and the stars, are darkened, and the clouds return after the rain; 3 in the day when the keepers of the house will tremble, and the strong men will bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those who look out of the windows will be darkened, 4 and the doors will be shut in the street; when the sound of the grinding is low, and one will rise up at the voice of a bird, and all the daughters of music will be brought low; 5 yes, they will be afraid of [that which is] high, and terrors [will be] in the way; and the almond-tree will blossom, and the grasshopper will be a burden, and desire will fail; because man goes to his everlasting home, and the mourners go about the streets: 6 before the silver cord is loosed, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, 7 and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. 8 Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity.

9 And further, because the Preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yes, he pondered, and sought out, [and] set in order many proverbs. 10 The Preacher sought to find out acceptable words, and that which was written uprightly, [even] words of truth.

11 The words of the wise are as goads; and as nails well fastened are [the words of] the masters of assemblies, [which] are given from one shepherd. 12 And furthermore, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

13 [This is] the end of the matter; all has been heard: fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is [applicable to] all man. 14 For God will bring every work into judgment, with every hidden thing, whether it is good, or whether it is evil.

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Song of Songs

1  The Song of songs, which is Solomon's.

2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth;

For your love is better than wine.

3 Your oils have a goodly fragrance;

Your name is oil poured forth;

Therefore the young women love you.

4 Draw me; we will run after you:

The king has brought me into his chambers;

We will be glad and rejoice in you;

We will make mention of your love more than of wine:

Rightly they love you.

5 I am black, but comely,

O you+ daughters of Jerusalem,

As the tents of Kedar,

As the curtains of Solomon.

6 Don't look on me, because I am swarthy,

Because the sun has scorched me.

My mother's sons were incensed against me;

They made me keeper of the vineyards;

[But] my own vineyard I have not kept.

7 Tell me, O you whom my soul loves,

Where you shepherd [your flock],

Where you make [it] to rest at noon:

For why should I be as one who is veiled

Beside the flocks of your fellow shepherds?[343]

8 If you don't know, O you most beautiful among women,

Go your way forth by the footsteps of the flock,

And shepherd your young goats beside the shepherds' tents.

9 I have compared you, O my love,

To a steed in Pharaoh's chariots.

10 Your cheeks are comely with plaits [of hair],

Your neck with strings of jewels.

11 We will make you plaits of gold

With studs of silver.

12 While the king sat at his table,

My spikenard sent forth its fragrance.

13 My beloved is to me [as] a bundle of myrrh,

That lies between my breasts.

14 My beloved is to me a cluster of henna-flowers

In the vineyards of En-gedi.

15 Look, you are beautiful, my love;

Look you are beautiful;

Your eyes are doves.

16 Look, you are beautiful, my beloved, yes, pleasant:

Also our couch is green.

17 The beams of our house are cedars,

[And] our rafters are firs.

2  I am a rose of Sharon,

A lily of the valleys.

2 As a lily among thorns,

So is my love among the daughters.

3 As the apple-tree among the trees of the forest,

So is my beloved among the sons.

I sat down under his shadow with great delight,

And his fruit was sweet to my taste.

4 He brought me to the banqueting-house,

And his banner over me was love.

5 Stregthen+ me with raisins, refresh me with apples;

For I am sick from love.

6 His left hand [is] under my head,

And his right hand embraces me.

7 I adjure you+, O daughters of Jerusalem,

By the roes, or by the hinds of the field,

That you+ do not stir up, nor awake [my] love,

Until he pleases.

8 The voice of my beloved! Look, he comes,

Leaping on the mountains,

Skipping on the hills.

9 My beloved is like a roe or a young hart:

Look, he stands behind our wall;

He looks in at the windows;

He glances through the lattice.

10 My beloved spoke, and said to me,

Rise up, my love, my beautiful one, and come away.

11 For, look, the winter is past;

The rain is over and gone;

12 The flowers appear on the earth;

The time of the singing [of birds] has come,

And the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land;

13 The fig tree ripens her green figs,

And the vines are in blossom;

They give forth their fragrance.

Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away.

14 O my dove, in the clefts of the rock,

In the covert of the steep place,

Let me see your countenance,

Let me hear your voice;

For sweet is your voice, and your countenance is comely.

15 Take for us the foxes, the little foxes,

That spoil the vineyards;

For our vineyards are in blossom.

16 My beloved is mine, and I am his:

He shepherds [his flock] among the lilies.

17 Until the day is cool, and the shadows flee away,

Turn, my beloved, and be like a roe or a young hart On the mountains of Bether.

3  By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loves:

I sought him, but I did not find him.

2 [I said], I will rise now, and go about the city;

In the streets and in the broad ways

I will seek him whom my soul loves:

I sought him, but I did not find him.

3 The watchmen who go about the city found me;

[To whom I said], Did you+ see him whom my soul loves?

4 It was but a little while that I passed from them,

When I found him whom my soul loves:

I held him, and would not let him go,

Until I had brought him into my mother's house,

And into the chamber of her who became pregnant with me.

5 I adjure you+, O daughters of Jerusalem,

By the roes, or by the hinds of the field,

That you+ do not stir up, nor awake [my] love,

Until he pleases.

6 Who is this that comes up from the wilderness

Like pillars of smoke,

Perfumed with myrrh and frankincense,

With all powders of the merchant?

7 Look, it is the litter of Solomon;

Threescore mighty men are about it,

Of the mighty men of Israel.

8 All of them handle the sword, [and] are expert in war:

Every man has his sword on his thigh,

Because of fear in the night.

9 King Solomon made himself a palanquin

Of the wood of Lebanon.

10 He made its pillars of silver,

Its bottom of gold, its seat of purple,

The midst of it being paved with love,

From the daughters of Jerusalem.

11 Go forth, O you+ daughters of Zion, and look at King Solomon,

With the crown with which his mother has crowned him

In the day of his espousals,

And in the day of the gladness of his heart.

4  Look, you are beautiful, my love; look, you are beautiful;

Your eyes are doves behind your veil.

Your hair is as a flock of goats,

That lie along the side of mount Gilead.

2 Your teeth are like a flock [of ewes] that are [newly] shorn,

Which have come up from the washing,

Of which everyone has twins,

And none is bereaved among them.

3 Your lips are like a thread of scarlet,

And your mouth is comely.

Your temples are like a piece of a pomegranate

Behind your veil.

4 Your neck is like the tower of David

Built for an armory,

On which hang a thousand bucklers,

All the shields of the mighty men.

5 Your two breasts are like two fawns

That are twins of a roe,

Which feed among the lilies.

6 Until the day is cool, and the shadows flee away,

I will get myself to the mountain of myrrh,

And to the hill of frankincense.

7 You are entirely beautiful, my love;

And there is no spot in you.

8 Come with me from Lebanon, [my] bride,

With me from Lebanon:

Look from the top of Amana,

From the top of Senir and Hermon,

From the lions' dens,

From the mountains of the leopards.

9 You have ravished my heart, my sister, [my] bride;

You have ravished my heart with one of your eyes,

With one chain of your neck.

10 How fair is your love, my sister, [my] bride!

How much better is your love than wine!

And the fragrance of your oils than all manner of spices!

11 Your lips, O [my] bride, drop [as] the honeycomb:

Honey and milk are under your tongue;

And the smell of your garments is like the smell of Lebanon.

12 A garden shut up is my sister, [my] bride;

A spring shut up, a fountain sealed.

13 Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates, with precious fruits;

Henna with spikenard plants,

14 Spikenard and saffron,

Calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense;

Myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices.

15 [You are] a fountain of gardens,

A well of living waters,

And flowing streams from Lebanon.

16 Awake, O north wind; and come, you south;

Blow on my garden, that its spices may flow out.

Let my beloved come into his garden,

And eat his precious fruits.

5  I have come into my garden, my sister, [my] bride:

I have gathered my myrrh with my spice;

I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey;

I have drank my wine with my milk.

Eat, O companions;

Drink, yes, drink abundantly, O beloved.

2 I was asleep, but my heart awoke:

It is the voice of my beloved who knocks, [saying,]

Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled;

For my head is filled with dew,

My locks with the drops of the night.

3 I have put off my garment; how shall I put it on?

I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?

4 My beloved put in his hand through the hole,

And my insides were moved for him.

5 I rose up to open to my beloved;

And my hands dropped with myrrh,

And my fingers with liquid myrrh,

On the handles of the bolt.

6 I opened to my beloved;

But my beloved had withdrawn himself, [and] was gone.

My soul had failed me when he spoke:

I sought him, but I could not find him;

I called him, but he gave me no answer.

7 The watchmen who go about the city found me,

They struck me, they wounded me;

The keepers of the walls took away my mantle from me.

8 I adjure you+, O daughters of Jerusalem,

If you+ find my beloved,

That you+ tell him, that I am sick from love.

9 What is your beloved more than [another] beloved,

O you most beautiful among women?

What is your beloved more than [another] beloved,

That you so adjure us?

10 My beloved is white and ruddy,

The chiefest among ten thousand.

11 His head is the most fine gold;

His locks are bushy, [and] black as a raven.

12 His eyes are like doves beside the water-brooks,

Washed with milk, [and] fitly set.

13 His cheeks are as a bed of spices,

[As] banks of sweet herbs:

His lips are lilies, dropping liquid myrrh.

14 His hands are rings of gold set with beryl:

His insides are ivory work overlaid [with] sapphires.

15 His legs are pillars of marble, set on sockets of fine gold:

His aspect is like Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.

16 His mouth is most sweet;

Yes, he is altogether lovely.

This is my beloved, and this is my companion,

O daughters of Jerusalem.

6  Where has your beloved gone,

O you most beautiful among women?

Where has your beloved turned,

That we may seek him with you?

2 My beloved has gone down to his garden,

To the beds of spices,

To shepherd in the gardens, and to gather lilies.

3 I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine;

He shepherds [his flock] among the lilies,

4 You are beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah,

Comely as Jerusalem,

Terrible as an army with banners.

5 Turn away your eyes from me,

For they have overcome me.

Your hair is as a flock of goats,

That lie along the side of Gilead.

6 Your teeth are like a flock of ewes,

Which have come up from the washing;

Of which everyone has twins,

And none is bereaved among them.

7 Your temples are like a piece of a pomegranate

Behind your veil.

8 There are sixty queens, and eighty concubines,

And young women without number.

9 My dove, my undefiled, is [but] one;

She is the only one of her mother;

She is the choice one of her who bore her.

The daughters saw her, and called her blessed;

[Yes,] the queens and the concubines, and they praised her.

10 Who is she who looks forth as the morning,

Beautiful as the moon,

Clear as the sun,

Terrible as an army with banners?

11 I went down into the garden of nuts,

To see the green plants of the valley,

To see whether the vine budded,

[And] the pomegranates were in flower.

12 Before I was aware, my soul set me

[Among] the chariots of my princely people.

13 Return, return, O Shulammite;

Return, return, that we may look at you.

Why will you+ look at the Shulammite,

As on the dance of Mahanaim?

7  How beautiful are your feet in sandals, O prince's daughter!

Your rounded thighs are like jewels,

The work of the hands of a skillful workman.

2 Your body is [like] a round goblet,

[In which] no mingled wine is wanting:

Your waist is [like] a heap of wheat

Set about with lilies.

3 Your two breasts are like two fawns

That are twins of a roe.

4 Your neck is like the tower of ivory;

Your eyes [as] the pools in Heshbon,

By the gate of Bath-rabbim;

Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon

Which looks toward Damascus.

5 Your head on you is like Carmel,

And the hair of your head like purple;

The king is held captive in the tresses [of it].

6 How fair and how pleasant are you,

[O] love, daughter of delight.

7 Your stature is like a palm-tree,

And your breasts to its clusters.

8 I said, I will climb up into the palm-tree,

I will take hold of its branches:

Let your breasts be as clusters of the vine,

And the smell of your breath like apples,

9 And your mouth like the best wine,

That goes down smoothly for my beloved,

Gliding through the lips of those who are asleep.

10 I am my beloved's;

And his desire is toward me.

11 Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field;

Let us lodge in the villages.

12 Let us get up early to the vineyards;

Let us see whether the vine has budded,

[And] its blossom is open,

[And] the pomegranates are in flower:

There I will give you my love.

13 The mandrakes give forth fragrance;

And at our doors are all manner of precious fruits, new and old,

Which I have laid up for you, O my beloved.

8  Oh that you were as my brother,

Who nursed the breasts of my mother!

[When] I should find you outside, I would kiss you;

Yes, and none would despise me.

2 I would lead you, [and] bring you into my mother's house,

Who would instruct me;

I would cause you to drink of spiced wine,

Of the juice of my pomegranate.

3 His left hand [should be] under my head,

And his right hand should embrace me.

4 I adjure you+, O daughters of Jerusalem,

That you+ do not stir up, nor awake [my] love,

Until he pleases.

5 Who is this that comes up from the wilderness,

Leaning on her beloved?

Under the apple-tree I awakened you:

There your mother was in travail with you,

There she who brought you forth was in travail.

6 Set me as a seal on your heart,

As a seal on your arm:

For love is as strong as death;

Jealousy is as cruel as Sheol;

The flashes of it are flashes of fire,

An intense flame of Yahweh.

7 Many waters can't quench love,

Neither can floods drown it:

If a man would give all the substance of his house for love,

He would be completely despised.

8 We have a little sister,

And she has no breasts:

What shall we do for our sister

In the day when she will be spoken for?

9 If she is a wall,

We will build on her a turret of silver:

And if she is a door,

We will enclose her with boards of cedar.

10 I am a wall, and my breasts like the towers [of it]:

Then I was in his eyes as one who found peace.

11 Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon;

He let out the vineyard to keepers;

Every one for its fruit was to bring a thousand [shekels] of silver.

12 My vineyard, which is mine, is before me:

You, O Solomon, will have the thousand,

And those who keep its fruit two hundred.

13 You who dwell in the gardens,

My fellow shepherds listen for your voice:

Cause me to hear it.

14 Hurry, my beloved,

And be like a roe or a young hart

On the mountains of spices.

__________________________

Sirach

The Wisdom of Sirach

1  All wisdom is from Yahweh,

And is with him for eternity.

2 The sand of the seas, and the drops of rain,

And the days of eternity: who will number [them]?

3 The height of heaven, and the width of the earth,

And the depth of the deep:[344] who will search [them]?

4 Before all things, wisdom was allotted,

And understanding of intelligence from eternity.[345]

6 The root of wisdom, to whom was it revealed?

And her secrets, who knew [them]? [346]

8 There is one, he alone is to be feared,

Yahweh, he rules over her treasuries;[347]

9 He allotted her and numbered her,[348]

And poured her out on all his works,

10 Among all flesh according to his gift,

And he supplied her to those who fear him.[349]

11 The fear of the Lord is glory and exultation,

And gladness and a crown of joy.

12 The fear of the Lord delights the heart.

And gives gladness, and joy, and length of days.

13 For him who fears the Lord it will be well at the last.

And in the day of his death he will find grace.

14 The beginning of wisdom is the fear of Yahweh,

And with the faithful, she was interwoven in the womb;[350]

15 Among men she constructed an eternal foundation,

And among their seed, she will be trusted in.

16 The abundance of wisdom is the fear of Yahweh,

And she soaks them with her nectar.[351]

17 Their whole house she fills with delicacies,

And their storehouses with her produce.

18 The crown of wisdom is the fear of Yahweh,

Blossoming with peace and improving health.[352]

19 She is a strong staff and a glorious stay;

And lifted up the glory of those who held her.

20 The root of wisdom is to fear Yahweh,

And her branches are length of days.[353]

22 Unrighteous wrath cannot be justified,

For the wrath of his anger will [occasion] his fall.

23 The longsuffering man endures until the [proper] time,

And in the end joy will arise for him;

24 He hides his words until the [proper] time,

And the lips of the faithful will declare his understanding.

25 In the treasures of wisdom there is a wise proverb,

But godliness is an abomination to the sinner.

26 If you desire wisdom, keep the commandments.

And the Lord will grant her freely to you.

27 For the fear of the Lord is wisdom and instruction,

And faith and meekness are his good pleasure.

28 Do not disobey the fear of the Lord,

And do not come near thereto with a double heart.

29 Do not be a hypocrite in the sight of men.

And take heed to [the utterances of] your lips.

30 Do not exalt yourself lest you fall

And bring upon your soul disgrace.

And the Lord reveal your hidden [thoughts],

And cast you down in the midst of the assembly,

Because you did not come to the fear of the Lord,

And your heart was full of deceit.

2  My son, if you draw near to the fear of Yahweh,

Prepare your soul for trial.[354]

2 Direct your heart aright, and continue steadfast,

And do not hurry in time of calamity.

3 Stick to him, and don't be far,

That you may be increased in your latter end.

4 Accept all that is brought on you,

And be patient in changes of your affliction;

5 For gold is proved in fire,

And acceptable men in a furnace of affliction.

6 Trust in him and he will strengthen you,

Make straight your ways and hope in him.

7 You+ who fear the Lord, wait for his mercy;

And do not turn aside lest you+ fall.

8 You+ who fear the Lord, put your+ trust in him,

And your+ reward will not fail.

9 You+ who fear the Lord, hope for good things,

And for eternal gladness and mercy.

10 Look to the generations of old, and see:

Who trusted in Yahweh, and was put to shame?

Or who abided in his fear, and was forsaken?

Or who called on him, and was overlooked?

11 For Yahweh is merciful and gracious,

And he saves in time of trouble.

12 Woe to fearful hearts and faint hands,

And to the sinner who goes two ways.

13 Woe to the faint heart; because it does not believe,

Therefore it will not be sheltered.

14 Woe to you+ who have lost patience,

And what will you+ do when the Lord visits you+?

15 Those who fear the Lord will not be disobedient to his words,

And those who love him will keep his ways.

16 Those who fear the Lord will seek his good pleasure,

And those who love him will be filled with the law.

17 Those who fear the Lord will make ready their hearts,

And will humble their souls in his sight.

18 For as is his majesty, so also is his mercy,

And as is his name, so also are his works.[355]

3  My sons, listen to your+ father,

And do as he says, that you+ may live.[356]

2 For Yahweh glorified the father over the sons,

And he firmly set the mother's judgment over them.[357]

3 He who honors [his] father makes atonement for sins,

4 And he who gives glory to his mother is as one who lays up treasure.

5 He who honors [his] father will rejoice under [his] sons,

And in the day of his prayer he will be listened to.

6 He who glorifies [his] father will have length of days,

And he who listens to God honors his mother.[358]

8 My son, in word and in deed honor your father,

So that all blessings may overtake you.

9 A father's blessing lays the foundation for the root,

But a mother's curse plucks up the plant.

10 Do not honor yourself by your father's shame,

For that is no honor to you.

11 A man's glory is the glory of his father,

But he who curses his mother increases sin.

12 My son, strengthen yourself in the honor of your father,

And do not forsake him all the days of your life;

13 And even though his mind fails, leave him alone,

And do not shame him all the days of his life.[359]

14 A father's righteousness will not be wiped away,

And sin will be the recompense for breaking it down.[360]

15 In the day of distress it will be remembered to you,

As heat on frost, to cause your iniquities to cease.

16 For he who despises his father acts proudly,

And he who curses his mother provokes his Creator.

17 My son, in your riches walk in meekness,

And you will be loved more than he who gives gifts.

18 Make your soul smaller than all the great [souls] of old,

And before God you will find mercy.[361]

20 For many are the mercies of God,

And to the meek he reveals his secret.

21 Do not seek out things which are too wonderful for you,

And do not search for that which is hidden from you.

22 Think about what you are permitted,

And do not occupy yourself in hidden things.

23 And do not get into what is beyond you,

For more than you can handle has already been show you.

24 For many are the thoughts of the sons of man,

And evil imaginations cause [them] to go astray.[362]

26 A hardened heart grows bad at its end,

But he who loves good things is guided in them.

27 A hardened heart increases sorrows,

And he who is profane adds iniquity to iniquity.

28 The wound of a scoffer, there are no healings for it,

For his plant is of an evil plant.

29 A wise heart understands proverbs of the wise,

And an ear that listens to wisdom rejoices.

30 A burning fire is quenched by water,

Likewise righteousness atones for sin.

31 He who does good, it will meet him in his ways,

And when he is moved he will find support.

4  My son, do not mock at the life of the poor,

And do not grieve the eyes of him who is in bitterness of soul.

2 Do not snort at the misery of the soul who lacks,

And do not hide yourself from a contrite soul.[363]

3 Do not trouble the insides of the oppressed,

And do not withhold a gift from your indigent.

4 Do not despise the requests of the needy,

5 And you will not give him a place to curse you.

6 He who is bitter in spirit cries out in the pain of his soul,

And his Rock will hear the voice of his cry.

7 Cause your soul to be loved by the congregation,

And to a ruler, moreover, bow your head.

8 Incline your ear to the poor,

And answer his [greeting of] Peace,[364] with meekness.

9 Save the oppressed from his oppressors,

And do not let your spirit be weary with right judgment.

10 Be as a father to the fatherless,

And in the place of a husband to widows.

And God will call you son,

And will be gracious to you.

11 Wisdom teaches her sons,

And testifies to all who understand her.

12 Those who love her, love life.

And those who seek her, will obtain favor from Yahweh.

13 And those who lay hold on her will find honor from Yahweh,

And will encamp in the blessing of Yahweh.

14 Those who are holy servants, serve her,

And his tent [is] among those who desire her.[365]

15 He who hears me, will judge in truth;

And he who listens to me, will be given a room in my house.[366]

17 For in disguise, I will walk with him;

And at first, he will choose trials.

18 Then at the time his heart is filled with me,

I will lead him again, and reveal to him my secrets.

19 If he turns away, I will cast him off,

And deliver him into the hands of the spoilers.

20 My son, observe the time and season, and be afraid of evil.

And do not be ashamed to your soul.[367]

21 For there is a shame that brings sin,

And there is a shame that brings glory and grace.

22 Do not regard your soul,

And do not stumble because of your shame.

23 Do not withhold a word in due season,

And do not hide your wisdom.

24 For by speech wisdom is made known,

And understanding by the answer of the tongue.

25 Do not speak against the truth,

And concerning your ignorance be ashamed.

26 Do not be ashamed to turn from iniquity,

And do not stand before a rushing stream.

27 Do not lay yourself down under a fool,

And do not show favoritism before the mighty.

28 Until death strive for the truth,

and Yahweh will fight for you.

29 Do not be boastful with your tongue,

And slack and negligent with your work.

30 Do not be as a lion in your house,

And reckless in your cultivating.

31 Do not let your hand be stretched out to receive,

And drawn back to return.

5  Do not lean on your strength,

And do not say, It is in the power of my hand.

2 Do not go after your heart and your eyes,

To walk in the pleasures of evil.

3 Do not say, Who is able to [reach] his strength,

For Yahweh seeks the persecuted.

4 Do not say, I have sinned, and will he do anything to me?

For God is slow to anger.

5 Do not trust in forgiveness,

To add iniquity to iniquity;

6 And then say, His mercies are great,

He will pardon the multitude of my iniquities.

For mercy and anger are with him,

And upon the wicked he will lay his wrath.

7 Do not delay to turn to him;

And do not put it off from day to day.

For suddenly his indignation will go forth;

And in the time of vengeance you will be consumed.

8 Do not trust in possessions of falsehood,

For they will not profit in the day of wrath.

9 Do not be scattered in every wind,

And do not walk in every path.

10 Be established in your knowledge,

And afterward will be your words.

11 Be swift to give ear,

And in patience of spirit return an answer.

12 If you have anything [to say], answer your fellow man;

If not, [put] your hand on your mouth.

13 Glory and shame are in the hand of one who speaks rashly;

And the tongue of a man is his fall.

14 Do not be called double-tongued;

And with your tongue do not slander a friend.

For a thief, shame was created;

And reproach for the friend of the double-tongued.

15 Little or great, do not destroy;

And instead of a friend, do not be an enemy.

6  Reproach will give you an evil name and shame to inherit;

So [it will be with] an evil man [who is] double-tongued.

2 Do not fall into the hand of your desire;

Or it will smother your strength over you.

3 It will eat your leaves and root out your fruit;

And leave you like a dry tree.

4 For excessive desire destroys its owners;

And the gladness of an enemy will overtake them.[368]

5 A sweet mouth grows a friend;

And graceful lips will greet [saying], Peace.[369]

6 Let the men who greet you [saying], Peace,[370] be many;

But the owner of your secret, one among a thousand.

7 Have you gotten a friend? Get him in trial;

And do not be in a hurry to rely on him.

8 For there is a fair-weathered friend,

Who will not continue in the day of trouble.

9 There is a friend who turns into an enemy,

And with strife he will uncover your reproach.

10 There is a friend who is company at a table,

But will not be found in the day of evil.

11 When things are good for you, he is like you;

But when things are bad for you, he will despise you.

12 If evil overtakes you, he will turn against you;

And he will hide himself from your face.

13 Separate yourself from your enemies;

Take heed of your friends.

14 A faithful friend is a solid friend;

And he who finds him, finds wealth.

15 For a faithful friend, there is no price;

And there is no weight for his goodness.

16 A faithful friend is a bundle of life;

He who fears God will obtain it.

17 For as much as he is, so is his fellow man;

And as his name is, so is his value.

18 My son, from your youth choose understanding;

And until your gray head you will attain wisdom.

19 As the plowman and as the reaper, come near to her;

And wait for the abundance of her increase.

For in serving her, you will serve a little;

And tomorrow you will eat her fruit.

20 To a fool, she is one who restrains;

And he who is void of understanding will not bear her.

21 She will be like a burdensome stone on him;

And he will not delay to cast her away.

22 For as her name is, so is her instruction;

And she is not plain to many.[371]

25 Incline your shoulder and carry her;

And do not be weary of her bundle.[372]

27 Inquire and conduct a search; seek and find.

And take hold of her and don't let her go.

28 For afterward you will find her rest;

And [it] will be changed to a delight for you.[373]

29 And she will be for you a net, a place of strength;

And she will bundle [the net] with garments of gold.

30 Her yoke is an ornament of gold;

And her bonds are a cord of blue.

31 You will put her on as garments of glory;

And crown yourself with her as a crown of beauty.

32 If it pleases you, my son, you will become wise;

And if you establish your heart, you will become prudent.

33 If you will bring yourself to hear,

And incline your ear, you will be instructed. [374]

35 Be pleased to hear all talk;

And do not let a proverb of understanding get away from you.

36 See who understands and seek him diligently;

And let your foot wear away his threshold.

37 Diligently consider the fear of the Most High;

And always study his commandments.

And he will give your heart understanding;

And according to that which you desire, he will teach you wisdom.

7  Do not do evil to yourself;

And evil will not overtake you.

2 Keep far from iniquity;

And it will turn away from you.

3 Do not knowingly plow against a brother;

Or else you will reap it sevenfold.

4 Do not seek dominion from God;

Or likewise a seat of honor from a king.

5 Do not justify yourself before a king;

And before a king, do not make yourself wise.

6 Do not seek to be a ruler

If you do not have the strength to make pride cease.

Or else you will be afraid of the noble;

And allow unjust gain in your integrity.

7 Do not cause your condemnation in the gates of the congregation;

And you will not cause your fall in the assembly.

8 Do not conspire to sin twice;

For in one you will not go unpunished.

9 Do not be stressed in the service of work;

For it has been allotted by God.[375]

10 Do not be in a hurry to intercede in disputes;

And in deciding who is right, do not be angry.

11 Do not despise a common man who is in bitterness of spirit;

Remember that there is one who lifts up and brings low.

12 Do not plow violence against a brother;

And so, against a fellow man and friend together.

13 Do not delight to tell lie upon lie;

For the expectation from that will not be pleasant.

14 Do not reveal a secret in the congregation of princes;

And do not repeat what you heard from interceding in a dispute.[376]

16 Do not reckon yourself among the men of the people;

Remember, if they cause trouble, do not be angry.

17 Exceedingly bring pride low;

For the expectation of common man is the maggot.

18 Do not exchange a friend for a price;

Nor lend a brother for the gold of Ophir.

19 Do not despise a prudent wife;

And a well-favored [wife] is above rubies.

20 Do not afflict a slave who serves faithfully;

Or likewise a hired worker who gives his soul.

21 A slave who deals wisely, love as your own soul;

Do not withhold freedom from him.

22 Do you have a beast? Keep your eyes on it.

And if it is trustworthy, establish it.

23 Do you have sons? Instruct them.

And marry wives to them in their youth.

24 Do you have daughters? Guard their flesh.

And do not cause your face to shine toward them.

25 Give away a daughter and a concern will go away.

But give her to a [noble] man of understanding.

26 Do you have a wife? Do not be disgusted by her.

But a woman who is an enemy, do not trust in her.

27 With all your heart, honor your father.

And do not forget the birth pangs of your mother.

28 Remember that except through them,

You would not have been [born].

So what will you give back to them

Compared to what they gave to you?

29 With all your soul, fear God.

And sanctify his priests.

30 With all your might, love him who made you.

And do not forsake his ministers.

31 Glorify God and honor the priest.

And give their portion as you were commanded:

The bread of the first fruits; and

The heave-offering of the hand; and

The sacrifices of righteousness; and

The heave-offering of the holy things.[377]

32 And likewise to the needy, hold out your hand;

So that your blessing may be complete.

33 Show grace as a gift in the sight of all the living.

And likewise to the dead, do not deny kindness.

34 Do not put off those who weep,

But mourn with those who mourn.

35 Do not take away your heart from a friend,

Because by doing this you will be loved.

36 With all your works remember the end;

And you will never be destroyed.

8  Do not strive with a great man.

Why should you fall into his hand?

2 Do not plow against a wealthy man,

Or else your price will be weighed.

For gold has made many reckless;

And wealth will lead astray the hearts of the nobles.

3 Do not fight with a man of tongue;

And you will not put wood on a fire.

4 Do not walk along with a foolish man;

Or else he will despise your words.[378]

5 Do not shame a man who turns from transgression;

Remember that all of us are guilty.

6 Do not humiliate an aged [common] man;

For we will be numbered among those who grow old.

7 Do not boast yourself over him who gave up the ghost;

Remember all of us will be taken away.

8 Do not forsake the talk of the wise;

But even try to figure out their riddles.

Because from this you will receive instruction

To stand before princes.

9 Do not despise what you hear among the gray-headed

Which they have heard from their fathers.

Because from this you will receive understanding

To return an answer in the time you need it.

10 Do not kindle with the coal of the wicked;

Or else you will be burned with the flame of his fire.

11 Do not move away from before the scoffer

To set him as an ambusher before you.

12 Do not lend to a man stronger than you;

And if you lend, [you are] as one who wastes.

13 Do not become surety for more than you have left;

And if you become surety, [you are] as one who repays.

14 Do not enter into judgment against a judge;

For he will judge according to his will.

15 Do not walk with one who is cruel;

Or else you will be made heavy with your evil.

For he will go straight before his face;

And you will be consumed in his folly.

16 Do not harden your forehead with one who is given to anger;

And do not ride with him in the way.

For blood is as nothing in his eyes;

And where there is none to deliver, he will destroy you.

17 Do not reveal yourself with one who is silly;

For he will not be able to hide your secret.

18 Do no secret thing before a stranger;

For you do not know to what end he will bring it.

19 Do not reveal your heart to all flesh;

And you will not drive away the good from you.

9  Do not be jealous of the wife of your bosom;

Or else you will teach evil concerning yourself.

2 Do not be zealous to give your soul to a woman;

So that you cause her to walk on your high places.

3 Do not come near to a strange woman;

Or else you will fall into her snares.

4 Do not sleep with a female musician;

Or else distracting admiration will burn you.

5 Do not think about a virgin;

Or else you will be snared by her fines.

6 Do not give your soul to a prostitute;

Or else you will turn away your inheritance.

7 Your eyes will make a fool of yourself in a vision;

And you will be made desolate behind her house.

8 Hide your eye from a graceful woman;

And do not look at beauty that is not yours.

On account of a woman many have been destroyed;

And so she will burn her lovers with fire.

9 Do not taste with her husband;

And do not turn away with him drinking.

Or else you will incline your heart to her;

And your blood will incline to destruction.

10 Do not forsake an old friend;

For a new one is not acquainted with you.

New wine [is like a] new friend;

And after it is old, then you will drink it.

11 Do not be jealous of a wicked man;

For you do not know what his day [will be].

12 Do not be jealous of a proud man who prospers;

Remember that at the time of death he will not go unpunished.

13 Be far from a man who has the authority to kill;

And you will not fear the dread of death.

And if you have come near, do not be guilty;

Or else he will take your breath.

Know that you will be marching among snares;

And you will be walking on nets.

14 According to your ability, answer your fellow man;

But with those who are wise, reveal yourself.

15 Let what you think be with him who has understanding;

And [let] all that is your secret [be] among them.

16 Share your bread with righteous men;

And let your glory be in the fear of God.

17 The wise of hands controls his work;

And a ruler [who controls] his people is wise.

18 Rash talk is feared on account of a man of tongue;

And the burden on his mouth will be hated.

10  A judge of a people is one who instructs his people;

And the dominion of one who gives understanding will be well ordered.

2 A king who goes wild will cause the destruction of a city;

And a city will be inhabited by the understanding of its princes.[379]

3 As a judge of a people, so are his ambassadors;

And as a head of a city, so are its inhabitants.[380]

4 In the hand of God is the dominion of all of [noble] man;

And in the presence of the lawgiver, he will put his grandeur.[381]

5 In the hand of God is the dominion of the world;

And a man at the time will stand on it.[382]

6 Do not perform evil against a fellow man for all transgression;

And do not walk in the way of pride.

7 Pride is an enemy to the Lord and to men;

And to both of them, oppression is a trespass.

8 A kingdom will turn away from nation to nation

Because of the violence of pride.

9 What is dust and ashes proud about

That so long as it lives its nation will be lifted up?

10 "A whisper of sickness," complains the one who heals.

"A king today - tomorrow will fall."

11 In death man will inherit:

The maggot and worm, lice and creeping things.

12 The beginning of man's pride is [when] he becomes hardened;

And of his own heart, he will turn away from what he has done.

13 For the reservoir of pride is sin;

And the [reservoir's] fountain gushes out wickedness.

Therefore God will make his plagues wonderful;

And strike him until he is consumed.

14 The throne of the proud, God has overthrown;

And he seated the poor in their place.[383]

16 The footsteps of the nations, God has closed up;

And he uprooted them from the bottom layer of earth.

17 And he has scraped them from the earth, and plucked them up;

And the memory of them ceased from the earth.

18 Pride is not seemly for a common man;

Nor strong anger for him who is born of a woman.

19 What seed is honored of the seed of a common man?

The seed is dishonored of him who transgresses the commandments.

20 The head among brothers is honored;

But he who fears God [is honored] in the eye [of God].[384]

22 Sojourner and stranger, foreigner and poor;

Their glory is the fear of Yahweh.

23 Do not despise the needy who deals wisely;

And do not honor any violent man.

24 A prince, a ruler, and a judge are honored;

But none is greater than one who fears God.

25 A slave who deals wisely is lifted up;

And a slave who is corrected should not complain.

26 Do not become wise to serve your pleasure;

And do not honor yourself in the time of your need.

27 Better is he who serves and has abundant wealth;

Than he who honors himself and lacks a gift.

28 My son, in meekness honor your soul;

And discretion will be given to you in a similar manner.

29 One who causes the condemnation of his own soul, who will justify him?

And who will honor one who causes the dishonor of his own soul?

30 There is the needy who is honored because of his understanding;

And there is he who is honored because of his riches.

31 He who honors himself in his poverty;

In his riches will honor himself more.

And he who is dishonored in his riches;

In his poverty will be dishonored more.

11  The wisdom of the needy will lift up his head

And will seat him among nobles.

2 Do not praise man for his form;

And do not be disgusted by man for his appearance.

3 The bee is worthless among the birds;

But her fruit is head of the produce.

4 Do not mock at one who wears [only] a loincloth;

And do not scorn at a bitter day.

For the works of Yahweh are wonderful things;

And his work has been hid from man.

5 Many who were contrite have sat on a throne;

And [those] not on anyone's mind have worn a turban.

6 Many who were lifted up have been dishonored greatly;

And the honored were given into the hand of the lesser.

7 Do not overthrow before you conduct a search;

Inquire at first, and afterward rebuke.

8 Do not return an answer before you hear;

And do not speak out in the middle of [someone] talking.

9 When there is no sorrow, do not fret;

And when there is strife of the proud, do not rise up.

10 My son, why do you increase your oppression?

For he who hurries to increase will not go unpunished.

My son, surely if you run, you will not arrive;

And surely if you seek, you will not find.

11 There is one who labors, is weary, and runs;

And by doing so, he falls behind.

12 There is one who is beaten down, and who perishes in his walk,

Lacking everything and has abundant hardship.

But the eye of Yahweh watches him for good;

And he shakes him free from the stinking dust.

13 He lifts up his head and exalts him;

And many are amazed at him.

14 Good and evil, life and death,

poverty and riches, are from Yahweh.[385]

17 The gift of the righteous will stand forever;

And his favor will prosper forever.

18 There is one who makes himself rich by afflicting himself;

And there is one who hides his wages.[386]

19 And in time, he says, "I have found rest;

And now I will eat from my good things."

He does not know when he will pass on;

And he leaves it [all] to another and dies.

20 My son, stand in your task and be satisfied in it;

And grow old in your work.

21 Do not be astonished at the works of the sinner;

But believe in Yahweh and abide in your toil.

For it is a light thing in the sight of Yahweh

To quickly and suddenly make the poor rich.

22 The blessing of God is the lot of the righteous;

And in time, his hope will blossom.

23 Do not say, What do I need?

And now what good thing is for me?

24 Do not say, I have enough with me.

And now what evil thing will concern me?

25 The goodness of a day makes the evil be forgotten;

And the evil of a day makes the goodness be forgotten.[387]

27 A time of evil makes delight be forgotten;

And the end of man tells concerning him.

28 Before death, do not call a [noble] man blessed;

For at his end, a man will be recognized.

29 Do not bring every man into your house;

For how many are the wounds of a scammer!

30 Like a bird that is caught in a cage, so is the heart of the proud;

And like a spy, he will see your nakedness.

31 The whisperer will turn good to evil;

And he will set a conspiracy for your pleasant things.

32 From a spark, a charcoal increases;

And [from] a worthless man, he lies in wait for blood.

33 Be afraid of evil, for it brings forth evil.

Why should you take a blemish forever?

34 Do not stick to the wicked or he will overthrow you;

And he will turn you out of your house.

12  If you do good, know to whom you are doing good;

And there will be hope for your goodness.

2 Do good to the righteous and find a reward;

If not from him, from Yahweh.

3 It is not goodness to support the wicked;

And likewise it is not righteousness for him who did so.

4 A double portion of evil will overtake you;

For all the goodness that reached him.

5 Do not give him weapons of war.

Why should he turn them against you?

6 For God also hates the evil;

And to the wicked he will render vengeance.

7 Give to good and withhold from evil;

Treasure the poor and do not give to the proud.[388]

8 A friend will not be known when things are good;

And an enemy will not be hidden when things are bad.

9 When things are good for a man, even an enemy is a companion;

And when things are bad for him, even a companion separates.

10 Never trust in an enemy;

For like bronze, his evil will corrode.

11 And even though he listens to you and walks quietly;

Set your heart to be afraid of him.

Let him be like a polished mirror;

And know that there is no end to the corrosion.

12 Do not stand him beside you.

Why should he thrust you away and stand in your place?

Do not seat him at your right hand.

Why should he seek your seat?

And at the end, you will grasp my words;

And at my sayings, you will sigh.

13 Who will show favor to a snake charmer who is bitten?

Or to anyone who comes near a beast with strong teeth?

14 So is he who joins with a man of pride

And wallows in his iniquities.

15 As long as you stand, he will not express himself;

But if you trip, he will not contain himself.

16 With his lips, an adversary tarries;

But with his heart, he considers deep pits.

And even though he weeps with his eyes;

When he finds the [right] time, he will not be filled with blood.

17 If evil meets you, he is found there;

As a man who [pretends] to uphold you, he will take hold of your heel.

18 He will wag his head and wave his hand;

And with much whispering, he will change his face.

13  He who touches pitch, it will stick to his hand;

And he who joins with a scoffer will learn his way.

2 Why would you lift what is too heavy for you?

Then why join yourself with someone richer than you?

Why would a [clay] pot join itself with a [metal] cauldron?

When it is snared with it, then it is broken.

3 When the rich afflicts, he is proud of himself;

But the needy who was wronged, he pleads for mercy.

4 If you prosper him, he will be served by you;

And if you bow, he will spare you.

5 If you have anything, his words will be good with you;

But he will impoverish you without him having any pain.

6 While he needs you, he will be with you;

And he will flatter you, and laugh with you, and make you promises.

7 As long as he profits, he will deceive you;

Three times he will strip you.

And then he will see you and be furious with you;

And he will wag his head at you.

8 Take heed that you are not too bold;

But do not be like those who lack knowledge.

9 If a noble comes near, be far;

And by doing so, he will bring you near.

10 Do not bring yourself near, or else you will be removed;

But do not remove yourself, or else you will be hated.

11 Do not trust being free with him;

And do not believe the multitude of his talking.

For his talking so much is a trial;

And while he flatters you, he searches you.

12 A ruler will give cruelty and will not spare;

Over the soul of many, he makes a conspiracy.

13 Take heed and be careful;

And do not walk with violent men.[389]

15 All flesh loves its kind;

And all of man [loves] one who is like him.

16 All flesh is beside its kind;

And man will be joined to his kind.

17 Why will a wolf be joined to a lamb?

So it is with the wicked to the righteous.

18 From a man there can be peace between a hyena and a dog.

From where can there be peace between the rich and the poor?

19 The lion feeds on wild donkeys in the wilderness;

Likewise, the rich pastures on those who are needy.

20 Pride is disgusted by meekness;

And the rich is disgusted by the needy.

21 The rich who slips is upheld by a fellow man;

But the needy who is tripped will be driven from one fellow man to another.

22 The rich speaks out and his helpers are many.

And his repulsive words are made beautiful.

The needy is tripped [saying], Reach out! Reach out! And lift me!

And he spoke out wisely, but there is no place for him.

23 When the rich speaks, all have stopped.

And they exalt his understanding to reach the clouds.

When the needy speaks, they say, Who is this?

And if he has stumbled, they also thrust him away.

24 Riches are good if they are without iniquity;

And poverty is evil if it comes from pride.

25 The heart of a common man will change his face;

Whether for good or for evil.

26 The footprint of a good heart is a bright face;

But a distracted [face] tells of thoughts of trouble.

14  Blessed is the common man whose mouth has not grieved him;

And whose heart would not bring judgment on him.

2 Blessed is the man whose soul has not reduced him;

And whose hope has not ceased.

3 To the small of heart, riches are not seemly;

And to the man who has an evil eye, gold is not seemly.

4 He who withholds from his soul will gather for another;

And a stranger will squander his good things.

5 He who is evil to his soul, to whom will he do good?

And he will not meet with his good things.

6 He who is evil to his soul, none is more evil;

And with him is the reward for his evil.[390]

9 In the eye of him who stumbles, his portion is little;

And he who takes the portion of his fellow man, wastes his own portion.

10 The eye of him with an evil eye pounces on his bread;

And there is turmoil at his table.

11 My son, do good to yourself if you have the means;

And prosper according to the power of your hand.

12 Remember that death does not tarry;

And the statute to Sheol has been told to you.

13 Before you die, do good to a friend;

And give to him according to your means.

14 Do not withhold from the good things of a day;

And in what was acquired, do not pass by.

15 Will you not forsake your strength to another?

And your labor to those who cast lots?

16 Give and take, and enjoy your soul;

For there is no seeking of delight in Sheol.

17 All flesh becomes old like a garment;

And the everlasting statute is, You will surely die.

18 As a budding leaf on a green tree,

Where one withers and another springs up;

So are the generations of flesh and blood,

One dies and one is weaned.

19 All his works will surely rot;

And the work of his hands will draw after him.

20 Blessed is the common man who studies in wisdom;

And who looks into understanding.

21 Who puts her ways on his heart;

And who considers her understandings.

22 Going out after her in search;

And lurking at all her entrances.

23 Who looks forth through the window;

And is attentive at her doors.

24 Who encamps round about her house;

And then brings his tent pegs into her wall.

25 And stretches out his tent next to her;

And then stays a good neighbor.

26 And puts his nest in her foliage;

And resides in her branches.

27 And takes refuge in her shadow from the heat;

And stays in her dwelling-places.

15  For he who fears Yahweh will do this;

And he who takes hold of the law will approach her.

2 And then she will meet him like [his] mother;

And like the wife of [his] youth, she will receive him.

3 And then she will give him the bread of discretion to eat;

And she will give him the waters of understanding to drink.

4 And then he will lean on her and not be tripped;

And he will trust in her and not be ashamed.

5 And then she will exalt him above his fellow man;

And in the midst of the assembly, she will open his mouth.

6 He will find joy and gladness;

And she will give him an everlasting name to inherit.

7 Men of falsehood will not approach her;

And prideful men will not see her.

8 She is far from scoffers;

And liars will not remember her.

9 Praise is not seemly in the mouth of the wicked;

For it was not distributed to him from God.

10 In the mouth of the wise, praise will be said;

And he who rules over it will teach it.[391]

11 Do not say, "My transgression is from God."

For that which he hates, he does not do.

12 Beware that you do not say, "It was he who stumbled me."

For there is no need of violent men.

13 Yahweh hates disgusting behavior and evil;

And he will not let it happen to those who fear him.

14 It was he who from the beginning created man;

And gave him into the hand of his imagination.

15 If it pleases you, you will keep the commandments;

And to do his will is understanding.

16 Fire and water are poured out before you;

In that which pleases you, put forth your hand.

17 Life and death are before man;

That which pleases him will be given to him.

18 The wisdom of Yahweh is sufficient;

He is mighty in strength and looks at all things.

19 The eyes of God see his works;

And it is he who discerns all that a man does.

20 He did not command common man to sin;

And he did not cause liars to dream.

16  Do not desire the form of young men of falsehood;

And do not rejoice in sons of wickedness.

2 And even though they were fruitful, do not exult in them;

If the fear of Yahweh is not with them.

3 Do not trust in their life;

And do not put confidence in their footsteps.

For one is better than a thousand;

And to die childless than to have sons of wickedness.

4 From one who fears Yahweh, a city will be inhabited;

And from a family of betrayers, it will be desolate.

5 Many such things has my eye seen;

And numerous such things has my ear heard.

6 In the congregation of the wicked, a fire is burning;

And in a godless nation, wrath is kindled.

7 He did not forgive the ancient princes;

Those who rebelled in their strength.

8 And he did not spare the place where Lot sojourned;

Those who were furious in their pride.

9 And he did not spare the nation devoted to destruction;

Those who were trodden down in their iniquity.

10 Likewise [he did not spare] six hundred thousand on foot;

Those who were taken away in the pride of their heart.

11 And if there is another who is stiff-necked;

It would be a wonder if he were to be unpunished.

For mercy and anger are with him;

And he forgives and pardons, but will pour out his wrath.

12 As is the multitude of his mercies, so is his reproof:

He will judge a man according to his works.

13 The unrighteous will not escape in robbery:

And he will not cause the desire of the righteous to cease.

14 Everyone who does righteousness has a reward;

And everyone will go forth according to his works.[392]

17 Do not say, "I am hidden from God;

And who will remember me on high?

Among a mass of people, I will not be known;

And what is my soul among all that have breath? [393]

20 Likewise, he will not set his heart upon me;

And who will consider my ways?

21 If I have sinned, no eye will see me.

Or if I lie, it is all hidden, Who will know?

22 My work of righteousness, who will declare it?

And what hope is there? For the decree is set." [394]

23 Those who are void of understanding will think these things;

And a [noble] man who is silly will consider this.

24 Listen to me, my son, and receive my teaching;

And upon my words, set your heart.

25 I will pour out my spirit by weight,

And by measure I will declare my knowledge.

26 When God created his works from the beginning,

Concerning their life he assigned them portions.

27 He set in order his works forever,

And their rule from generation to generation.

They do not hunger, neither are they weak,

And they do not cease from their works.

28 Not one presses on his neighbor,

They never disobey his word.

29 And after these things the Lord looked upon the earth,

And filled it with his good things.

30 With every living soul he covered the face of it;

And into it is their return.

17  God created man out of the earth,

And returned him into it again.

2 Days by number and a set time, he gave them;

And he gave them authority over the things upon it.

3 As was fitting for them, he clothed them with strength;

And in his image he made them.

4 And he put the fear of them upon all flesh,

And gave them dominion over beasts and birds.

5 With insight and understanding, he filled their heart; [395]

6 And taught them good and evil.

7 He formed for them tongue, and eyes, and ears,

And gave them a heart to understand,

8 To show them the majesty of his works,

That they might glory in his wonders,

9 And might declare the fear of him in the world,

10 And praise his holy name.

11 He set before them knowledge,

And the law of life he gave them for a heritage.

12 He made an everlasting covenant with them,

And showed them his judgements.

13 Their eyes beheld his glorious majesty,

And their ear heard his glorious voice.

14 And he said to them, Beware of all unrighteousness;

And he commanded them, each concerning his neighbor.

15 Their ways are ever before him,

They are not hid from his eyes.[396]

17 For every nation he appointed a ruler,

But Israel is the Lord’s portion,

19 All their works are clear as the sun before him,

And his eyes are continually upon their ways.

20 Their iniquities are not hid from him,

And all their sins are before the Lord.

22 The righteousness of men is to him as a signet,

And the mercy of man he preserves as the apple of an eye.

23 Afterwards he will rise up and recompense them,

And retribution he will bring upon their own head.

24 Nevertheless to those who repent he grants a return,

And comforts those who lose patience.

25 Turn to the Lord and forsake sins,

Supplicate before his face and lessen offence.

26 Turn to the Most High, and turn away from iniquity,

And vehemently hate the disgusting thing.

27 For what pleasure does God have in all who perish in the world,

Instead of those who live and give him praise?

28 Thanksgiving perishes from the dead as from one who does not exist,

[But] he who lives and is in health praises the Lord.

29 How great is the mercy of the Lord,

And [His] forgiveness to those who turn to him.

30 For it is not like this in man,

Nor is his thought like the thoughts of the sons of men.

31 What is brighter than the sun? Yet this fails;

And how much more man who [has] the inclination of flesh and blood.

32 He looks upon the host of the height of heaven,

And [on] all men [who] are earth and ashes.

18  He who lives for ever created all things together,

2 The Lord alone will be justified.[397]

4 To none has he given power to declare his works,

Yes, who can trace out his mighty deeds?

5 Who can declare the might of his majesty,

And who can recount his mercies?

6 No man can take [from them] nor add [to them],

Nor can any trace out the marvellous acts of the Lord.

7 When a man has finished, then he just begins,

And when he ceases he is in perplexity.

8 What is man, and what profit is there in him?

What is the good of him, and what is the evil?

9 The number of man’s days

Is great [if it reaches] a hundred years;

10 As a drop of water from the sea, or [as] a grain of sand,

So are [man’s] few years in the day of eternity.

11 Therefore is the Lord longsuffering toward them

And pours out his mercy upon them.

12 He sees and knows that their end is evil,

Therefore he increases his forgiveness.

13 The mercy of man is upon his neighbor,

But the mercy of the Lord is upon all flesh,

Reproving, and chastening, and teaching,

And bringing back as a shepherd his flock.

14 He has mercy on those who accept chastening,

And who diligently seek after his judgements.

15 My son, do not put a blemish on [your] good deeds,

Nor [cause] grief through words in any gift;

16 Does not the dew make the burning heat to cease?

So a word changes [the character of] a gift.

17 For there is a good word which is better than a gift;

And both belong to a gracious man.

18 A fool upbraids ungraciously,

And the gift of envious man consumes the eyes.

19 Before you fight, seek a helper;

Before you are sick, a physician.

20 Before judgement examine yourself,

And in the hour of visitation you will find forgiveness.

21 Before you fall humble yourself,

And in time of sin show repentance.

22 Let nothing hinder you from paying your vows in due time,

And do not wait until death to be justified.

23 Before you vow, prepare your vows,

And do not be as one who tempts God.

24 Think of the wrath in the latter days,

And of the time of vengeance, when he turns away his face.

25 Remember the time of famine in the time of plenty,

And poverty and want in the days of wealth.

26 From morning until evening the time changes,

And all things move swiftly before the Lord.

27 A wise man is discreet in all things,

And in days of sinning keeps himself from offence.

28 Every wise man teaches wisdom,

And let them who know her give thanks.

29 Those who are wise in teaching also show that they are wise

In that they pour forth wise proverbs.

30 Do not go after your desires,

And refrain yourself from your appetites.

31 If you grant to your soul the gratification of [her] desire,

You will make yourself a cause of rejoicing to your enemies.

32 Do not delight yourself in too much luxury,

For double is its poverty.

33 Do not be a squanderer and a drunkard,

Or else there will be nothing in your purse.

19  He who does these things will not become rich,

And he who despises small things will become altogether naked.

2 Wine and women cause the heart to be lustful,

3 And a brazen soul will destroy its owner.

4 He who trusts others too quickly is unwise,

And he who errs sins against his own soul.

5 He who has pleasure in evil will be condemned,

6 But he who hates talk has the less malice.

7 Never repeat a word,

Then no one will reproach you;

8 Do not speak of it to friend or foe;

And, unless it be a sin to you, do not reveal it,

9 Lest he who hear it hate you,

And regard you as an evildoer.

10 Have you heard anything? Let it die with you;

Be of good courage it will not burst you.

11 A fool travails because of a word,

Even as a woman travails because of a child.

12 [As] an arrow stuck in the fleshy thigh,

So is a word in the belly of a fool.

13 Reprove a friend, that he do no evil,

And if he has done anything, that he does not do it again.

14 Reprove a friend, it may be he did not say it,

And if he has said it, that he does not do it again.

15 Reprove a friend, yet often there is slander,

And do not believe every word.

16 One man slips, though not from the soul,

And who has not sinned with his tongue.

17 Reprove your neighbor, before you threaten,

And give place to the law of the Most High.[398]

20 All wisdom is the fear of the Lord,

And in all wisdom [there is] the fulfilling of the law.[399]

22 But the knowledge of wickedness is not wisdom,

And the counsel of sinners is not understanding.

23 There is a form of wisdom which is abomination,

And there is a fool who lacks wisdom.

24 Better is one who has inferior understanding, and fears,

Than one who is very smart but transgresses the law.

25 There is a subtle [form of] craftiness which is unrighteous,

And there is one who deceives people with kindness to gain a judgement.

26 There is one who walks humbly and mournfully,

But inwardly he is full of deceit.

27 [There is one] with a downcast look, pretending to be deaf,

But when unobserved he will get the better of you;

28 And if, for lack of power, he is hindered from sinning,

He will do evil when he finds opportunity.

29 A man is known by his appearance,

And a wise man is known by his face.

30 A man’s attire proclaims his deeds,

And his footsteps show what he is.

20  There is a reproof that is uncalled for,

And [there is] he who is silent but wise.

2 How good it is to reprove

Rather than to be angry;

3 And let him who makes confession

Be spared humiliation.

4 As is a eunuch who sojourns with a virgin,

So is he who would do right with violence.

5 One keeps silence and is accounted wise,

And another is despised for his much talking.

6 One keeps silence, having nothing to say;

And another keeps silence, for he sees [it is] a time [for silence].

7 The wise man is silent until the [proper] time,

But the arrogant and the scorner take no note of the time.

8 He who is abundant in word is abhorred,

And he who takes authority [to speak] is hated.

9 [Sometimes] it is advantageous for a man to be in adversity,

And there is a gain that turns to loss.

10 There is a gift that profits you nothing,

And there is a gift that brings a double recompense.

11 [Sometimes] there is humiliation through honor,

And [sometimes] a man from humiliation comes to honor.

12 One buys much for little,

Another pays sevenfold.

13 A wise man makes himself beloved with few words,

But the pleasantries of fools are wasted.

14 The gift of a fool does not profit you,

For his eyes are many instead of one.

15 He gives little and criticizes much,

And opens his mouth like a herald.

Today he lends and tomorrow he asks it back,

Hateful is such a one to God and man.

16 The fool says, "I have no friend,

And my good deeds receive no thanks,

Those who eat my bread are evil with tongue."

How often and how many men laugh him to scorn.

18 A slip on the pavement is better than [a slip] of the tongue,

Thus the fall of the wicked comes swiftly.

19 As the fat tail of a sheep eaten without salt,

So is a word spoken out of season.

20 A parable from the mouth of a fool is rejected,

For he utters it out of season.

21 One is hindered from sinning through lack [of opportunity],

And when he rests he is not troubled.

22 Another destroys his soul through [sense of] shame,

He loses it through lack of frankness.

23 And another, for shame’s sake, promises to a friend,

And makes him an enemy without reason.

24 A foul blot in a man is a lie,

It is [found] continually in the mouth of the ignorant.

25 Preferable is a thief to one who continually lies,

But both will inherit destruction.

26 The disposition of a liar is to be dishonorable,

And his shame is ever with him.

27 The wise man advances himself in words,

And a prudent man pleases the great.

28 He who tills his land raises high his heap,

And he who pleases the great atones for wrong.

29 Presents and gifts blind the eyes of the wise,

And as a muzzle on the mouth turn away reproofs.

30 Hidden wisdom and concealed treasure,

What profit is there in either?

31 Better is a man who hides his folly

Than a man who hides his wisdom.

21  My son, have you sinned? Do not add to it;

And make supplication concerning your former sins.

2 Flee from sin as from the face of a serpent;

For if you come near it, it will bite you;

Its teeth are lion's teeth,

Slaying the souls of men.

3 Like a two-edged sword is all iniquity,

From its stroke there is no healing.

4 Tyranny and violence destroy wealth,

So the house of the arrogant is desolated.

5 Supplication from the mouth of a poor man [reaches] to the ears of the Lord,

And his vindication comes quickly.

6 He who hates reproof [walks] in the path of a sinner,

But he who fears the Lord will turn [to him] whole-heartedly.

7 The wise discerns him who is before him,

And spies out the sinner at once.

8 He who builds his house with other men’s money,

Is as one gathering stones for his burial mound.

9 [Like] flax wrapped together is the gathering of the ungodly,

And their end is a flame of fire.

10 The way of sinners is made smooth without stones,

And at its end is the pit of Hades.

11 He who observes the law becomes the master of his natural tendency,

And the fear of the Lord is the consummation of wisdom.

12 He who is not wise will not be instructed,

And there is a wisdom which makes bitterness to abound.

13 The knowledge of a wise man abounds like a spring of water,

And his counsel is like the water of life.

14 The inward parts of a fool are like a broken vessel,

He holds no knowledge.

15 If an understanding man hears a wise word,

He commends it, and adds to it;

If a foolish man hears it, he mocks it,

And he casts it behind his back.

16 The discourse of a fool is like a burden on a journey,

But upon the lips of the wise grace is found.

17 The utterance of a prudent man is sought for in the assembly.

And his words are pondered in the heart.

18 As a house that is a prison so is wisdom to a fool,

And the knowledge of an unwise man is [as] talk without sense.

19 [As] chains on [their] feet, [so] is instruction to the foolish,

And as manacles on their right hand.

20 The fool lifts up his voice with laughter,

But the wise man scarcely smiles in silence.

21 As a golden ornament is instruction to the wise,

And as a bracelet upon their right arm.

22 The foot of a fool hastes into a house,

But it is good manners to stand outside.

23 The fool through the door looks into a house,

But the cautious man demeans himself humbly.

24 It is unseemly for one to listen at the door,

And the wise man is grieved at the disgrace [of it].

25 The lips of babblers [only] repeat the things that are not theirs,

But the words of the wise are weighed in the balance.

26 The heart of fools is in their mouth,

But the mouth of the wise is [in] their heart.

27 When the ungodly curses his adversary

He curses his own soul.

28 The whisperer defiles his own soul,

And is hated wherever he sojourns.

22  The slothful man is like a filthy stone,

And every one flees from its stench.

2 A slothful man is like the filth of a dunghill,

Everyone who takes it up shakes it out of his hand.

3 Shame [there is] to the father who begets an uninstructed [son],

And a daughter is born to his loss.

4 A prudent daughter is an inheritance to her husband,

But she who brings shame is a grief to him who begat her.

5 She who is bold brings shame on her father and husband,

And she is despised by both.

6 [As] music in time of mourning, [so is] unseasonable talk;

But stripes and correction are at all times wisdom.

7 He who teaches a fool is [as] one who glues together a potsherd,

[Or as] one who awakens a sleeper out of a deep sleep.

8 He who discourses to a fool is as one discoursing to him who slumbers,

And at the end he says, "What is it?" [400]

11 Mourn for the dead, for [his] light has failed,

And mourn for a fool, for understanding has failed [him].

Weep gently for the dead, for he has found rest;

But the life of a fool is worse than death.

12 The mourning for the dead is for seven days,

But the mourning for a fool is for all the days of his life.

13 Do not talk much with a foolish man,

And do not go on the road with a pig,

Beware of him lest you have trouble,

And you become defiled when he shakes himself;

Turn from him and you will find rest,

And [so] you will not be wearied with his folly.

14 What is heavier than lead,

And what is its name but "Fool"?

15 Sand and salt and a weight of iron

Are easier to bear than a senseless man.

16 [As] timber firmly fixed into the wall

Is not loosened by an earthquake,

So a heart established on well-advised counsel

Will not be fearful in time [of danger].

17 A heart fixed on thoughtful understanding

Is as an ornament graven on a polished wall.

18 Small stones lying upon a high place

Will not remain against the wind,

So will the fearsome heart [full of] foolish imagination

Be unable to withstand any terror.

19 A wound in the eye makes tears flow,

And a wound in the heart severs friendship.

20 He who throws stones at birds scares them away,

And he who reproaches a friend dissolves friendship.

21 Even if you draw the sword against a friend,

Do not despair, for there is a way out.

22 If you open your mouth against a friend,

Do not fear, for there is a [way of] reconciliation;

But reproach, arrogance, betrayal of a secret, and a deceitful blow,

In these every friend will depart.

23 Support your neighbor in poverty,

That in his prosperity you may rejoice;

Remain steadfast to him in time of [his] affliction,

That you may be heir with him in his inheritance.

24 Before the fire is the vapor of the furnace and smoke,

So revilings before bloodshed.

25 Do not be ashamed of a friend who becomes poor,

And do not hide yourself from his face;

26 And if evil happens to him through you,

Whoever hears it will beware of you.

27 O that one would set a watch over my mouth,

And a seal of shrewdness upon my lips,

That I do not fall by means of them,

And that my tongue does not destroy me.

23  O that one would set scourges over my mind,[401]

And the discipline of wisdom over my heart,

2 That they do not spare me for my ignorances,

And do not overlook my sins;

3 That my ignorances not be multiplied,

And that my sins do not abound,

Lest I fall in the sight of my adversaries,

And my enemy rejoice over me.

4 O Lord, Father, and Master of my life,

Do not abandon me to their counsel.

5 Do not give me a proud look,

And turn away lust from me.

6 May the lust of the body not overtake me,

And do not give me over to a shameless soul.

7 Hear, my children, [concerning] the discipline of the mouth,

He who keeps [it] will not be ensnared;

8 But the sinner is ensnared by his lips,

And the fool stumbles through his mouth.

9 Do not accustom your mouth to an oath,

And do not make a habit of naming the Holy One.

10 For as a servant who is continually scourged

Does not lack [the marks of] a blow,

So he who swears and continually names [the Holy One]

Is not cleansed from sin.

11 A man of many oaths is filled with iniquity,

And the scourge does not depart from his house;

If he offends his sin will be upon him,

And if he disregards it he sins doubly;

And if he swears without need he will not be justified,

And his house will be filled with calamities.

12 There is a manner of speech that is to be compared with death,

Do not let it be found in the heritage of Jacob.

He who keeps his soul from this will live,

And not wallow in sins.

13 Do not accustom your mouth to vulgar speech,

For there is a sinful thing in that.

1^4 Remember your father and your mother

When you sit in council among the mighty,

Lest you stumble among them,

And show yourself a fool in your manner [of speech],

And wish you had not been born,

And curse the day of your birth.

1^5 A man who is accustomed to disgraceful talk

Will not learn wisdom all his days.

16 Two types [of men] multiply sins,

And a third brings wrath:

A lustful soul burning like fire,

Which is not quenched until it is consumed;

A fornicator in the body of his flesh,

For he does not cease until the fire consumes him;

17 [And] the fornicator to whom all bread is sweet,

For he will not leave off until he dies.

18 [There is] a man who goes astray from his own bed,

And says in his soul: "Who sees me?

Darkness is around me,

and the walls hide me,

And no man sees me, of what shall I be afraid?

The Most High does not remember my sins."

19 And he does not perceive that the eyes of the Lord

Are ten thousand times brighter than the sun,

Beholding all the ways of men,

And looking into secret places.

20 For all things are known to him before they are created,

So also [he sees them] after they are perfected;

21 Such a man will be punished in the streets of the city,

And, where he does not suspect it, will be taken.

22 So also a wife who leaves her husband,

And brings in an heir by a stranger;

23 First, she is disobedient to the law of the Most High,

Second, she trespasses against her own husband,

Third, she commits adultery through her fornication,

And brings in children by a stranger.

24 She will be led into the assembly,

And upon her children there will be visitation.

25 Her children will not spread out their roots,

And her branches will bear no fruit.

26 She will leave her memory for a curse,

And her reproach will not be blotted out.

27 And those who are left behind will know

That nothing is better than the fear of the Lord,

And nothing sweeter than to observe

The commandments of the Lord.[402]

24  Wisdom praises her own soul,

And is honored in the midst of her people.

2 She opens her mouth in the assembly of the Most High,

And is honored in the presence of his hosts.

3 "I came forth from the mouth of the Most High,

And as a mist I covered the earth.

4 In the high places I fixed my abode,

And my throne was in the pillar of cloud.

5 Alone I compassed the circuit of heaven,

And in the depth of the abyss I walked.

6 In the waves of the sea, and in all the earth,

And in every people and nation I gained a possession.

7 With all these I sought a resting place,

And [said], In whose inheritance shall I lodge?

8 Then the Creator of all things gave me a commandment,

And he who created me fixed my dwelling place,

And he said, In Jacob let your dwelling place be,

And in Israel take up your inheritance.

9 He created me from the beginning, before the world;

And I will never fail.

10 In the holy tabernacle I ministered before him,

Moreover, in Zion I was established.

11 Likewise in the beloved city he caused me to rest,

And in Jerusalem was my authority.

12 And I took root among an honored people,

In the portion of the Lord, and of his inheritance.

13 I was exalted like a cedar in Libanus,

And like a cypress on the mountains of Hermon.

14 I was exalted like a palm tree on the seashore,

And as rose plants in Jericho;

And as a fair olive tree in the plain;

Yes, I was exalted as a plane tree by the waters.

15 As cassia and camel's thorn I have given a scent of perfumes,

And as choice myrrh I spread abroad a pleasant odor;

As galbanum, and onyx, and stacte;

[I was] as the smoke of incense in the Tabernacle.

16 I, as a terebinth, spread forth my branches,

And my branches were branches of glory and grace.

17 As a vine I put forth grace,

And my flowers are the fruit of glory and wealth.[403]

19 Come to me, you+ who desire me,

And be+ filled with my produce.

20 For my memorial is sweeter than honey,

And the possession of me than honeycomb.

21 Those who eat me still hunger [for me],

And those who drink me still thirst [for me].

22 He who obeys me will not be ashamed,

And those who serve me will not commit sin."

23 All these things are the book of the covenant of God Most High,

The law which Moses commanded [as] a heritage for the assemblies of Jacob.[404]

25 Which fills [men] with wisdom, like Pison,

And like Tigris in the days of new [fruits];

26 Which overflows, like Euphrates, with understanding,

And as Jordan in the days of harvest;

27 Which pours forth, as the Nile, instruction,

And as Gihon in the days of vintage.

28 The first [man] did not know her perfectly,

So also the last will not trace her out;

29 For her understanding is more abundant than the sea,

And her counsel is greater than the deep.

30 And as for me, I [was] as a stream from the river,

And I came forth as a conduit into a garden;

31 I said, "I will water my garden,

I will abundantly water my garden beds";

And look, my stream became a river,

And my river became a sea.

32 Yet again I will bring instruction to light as the morning,

And will make these things shine forth afar off.

33 Yet again I will pour forth doctrine as prophecy,

And leave it for eternal generations.

34 Look+ [and see], that I have not labored for myself only,

But for all those who diligently seek her.

25  Three things my soul has desired,

And they are lovely in the sight of the Lord and of men:

The concord of brethren, and the friendship of neighbors,

And a wife and a husband suited to each other.

2 Three types [of men] my soul hates,

And I am greatly offended at their life,

The poor man who is arrogant and the rich man who is deceitful,

And an old man who is an adulterer.

3 [If] in your youth you have not gathered,

How will you find in your old age?

4 How beautiful to gray hairs is judgement,

And for elders to know counsel.

5 How beautiful is the wisdom of old men,

And thought and counsel to those who are honored.

6 The crown of the aged is their long experience,

And their glorying is the fear of the Lord.

7 Nine I have conceived of, I accounted blessed,

And a tenth I will speak of with my tongue:

A man who has joy of his children,

Who lives and sees the fall of his enemies.

8 Blessed is the husband of an understanding wife,

Who does not plough with ox and donkey.

Blessed is he who has not slipped with his tongue,

And he who has not served an inferior.

9 Blessed is the man who has found prudence,

And discourses to ears that listen.

10 How great is he who finds wisdom,

But he is not above him who fears the Lord.

11 The fear of the Lord surpasses everything,

He who holds it, to whom shall he be likened? [405]

13 Any wound, only not a heart wound.

Any wickedness, only not the wickedness of a woman!

14 Any calamity, only not the calamity of haters!

Any vengeance, only not the vengeance of enemies!

15 There is no poison above the poison of a serpent,

And there is no wrath above the wrath of a woman.

16 I would rather dwell with a lion and a dragon,

Than dwell with a wicked woman.

17 The wickedness of a woman changes her appearance,

And darkens her countenance like a bear's.

18 In the midst of his friends her husband sits,

And involuntarily he sighs bitterly.

19 [There is] little malice like the malice of a woman,

May the lot of the wicked fall upon her.

20 As a sandy hill to the feet of the aged,

So is a woman of tongue to a quiet man.

21 Do not fall through the beauty of a woman,

And do not be ensnared by what she possesses;

22 For hard slavery and a disgrace it is,

[If the possessions of] a wife support her husband.

23 Hands that hang down, and palsied knees

For a wife that does not make her husband happy.[406]

24 From a woman sin originated,

And because of her we all must die.

26  A good wife, blessed is her husband,

The number of his days is doubled.

2 A worthy wife cherishes her husband,

And he fulfills the years of his life in peace.

3 A good wife is a good portion;

She will be given as a portion to those who fear the Lord.

4 [Whether] rich or poor, his heart is cheerful,

And his face is merry at all times.

5 Of three things my heart is afraid,

And concerning a fourth I am in great fear:

Slander in the city, an assembly of the multitude,

And a false accusation; worse than death are they all;

6 Grief of heart and sorrow is a wife jealous of another;

The scourge of the tongue are they all.

7 A hard yoke is a wicked woman;

He who takes hold of her is as one grasping a scorpion.

8 A drunk woman causes great wrath;

She does not cover her own shame.

9 The whoredom of a woman is in the lifting up of her eyes.

And she is known by her eyelids.

10 Upon a headstrong daughter keep watch,

Lest, finding liberty, she uses it for herself.

11 Look well after a shameless eye,

And do not marvel if it trespasses against you;

12 As a thirsty traveller opens his mouth,

And drinks of any water that is near,

So she sits down at every tent peg,

And opens her quiver to any arrow.

13 The grace of a wife delights her husband,

And her understanding fattens his bones.

14 A silent woman is a gift from the Lord,

And a well instructed soul is beyond worth.

15 Grace upon grace is a modest woman,

And there is no weight [of gold] worth a self-controlled soul.

16 [As] the sun rising in the highest places of the Lord,

[So] also is the beauty of a good wife in the ordering of her house.

17 [As] the lamp shining on the holy candlestick,

[So] also is the beauty of a face upon a stately figure.

18 [As] the golden pillars upon the silver base,

[So] also are beautiful feet upon firm heels.[407]

28 For two things my heart is grieved,

And for a third wrath comes upon me:

A rich man who has become poor,[408]

And men of understanding if they are despised,

And one who turns from righteousness to sin;

The Lord will prepare a sword for him.

29 With difficulty the merchant keeps himself from wrongdoing,

And a huckster will not be acquitted of sin.

27  Many have sinned for the sake of gain,

And he who seeks to multiply [gains] turns away his eye.

2 [As] a nail sticks fast between the joinings of stones,

[So] does sin thrust itself in between buying and selling.

3 If a man does not hold diligently to the fear of the Lord,

His house will be swiftly overthrown.

4 When a sieve is shaken the refuse remains,

So [it is with] the filth of a man in his reasoning.

5 The potter’s vessel is proved in the furnace.

And the test of a man is by means of examining him.

6 According to the cultivation of a tree so is its yield,

[So] the thought of a man according to his nature.

7 Praise no man before taking stock of him,

For by taking stock of man he is discerned.

8 If you follow after righteousness you will attain,

And put it on as a robe of glory.

9 Birds dwell with their kind,

And truth returns to those who practice it.

10 The lion waits for its prey,

So does sin for those who work iniquity.

11 The discourse of the godly is always wisdom,

But the fool changes as the moon.

12 In the midst of fools closely watch the time,

But with a man who is thoughtful abide continually.

13 The discourse of fools is an annoyance,

And their laughter is sinful wantonness.

14 The oath of the godless makes the hair stand on end,

And their strife [makes] a man plug his ears.

15 A shedding of blood is the strife of the proud,

And their abuse is grievous to hear.

16 He who reveals secrets destroys trust,

And will find no friend to his soul.

17 Love a friend and keep faith with him,

But if you reveal his secrets do not follow after him;

18 For as a man who has destroyed his enemy,

So have you destroyed the friendship of your neighbor.

19 And as a bird which you have released out of your hand,

So have you let your neighbor go, and you will not catch him again.

20 Do not pursue him, for he is too far gone,

And has escaped like a gazelle from a snare.

21 For a wound may be bound up, and for slander there is reconciliation,

But he who reveals secrets has no hope.

22 He who winks with his eye plans evil things,

And he who knows him keeps far from him.

23 Before your eyes his mouth will speak sweetly,

And he will marvel at your words;

But afterward he will alter his mouth,

And with your words will make a stumbling block.

24 Many things I hate, but nothing like him,

And the Lord will hate him too.

25 He who casts a stone on high casts it upon his own head,

And a deceitful blow apportions wounds to the deceiver.

26 He who digs a pit will fall into it,

And he who sets a snare will be taken in it.

27 He who does evil things, they will roll back upon him,

And he will not know from where they came to him.

28 Mockery and reproach [come] from the proud,

And vengeance, like a lion, lies in wait for them.

29 Those who rejoice in the fall of the godly will be taken in a snare,

And torment will consume them before their death.

30 Wrath and anger, these also are abominations,

And a sinful man takes possession of them.

28  He who takes vengeance will find vengeance from the Lord,

And he will closely observe his sins.

2 Forgive an injury [done to you] by your neighbor,

And then, when you pray, your sins will be forgiven.

3 One man cherishes wrath against another,

And does he seek healing from the Lord?

4 Upon a man like himself he has no mercy,

And for his own sins does he make supplication?

5 He being flesh nourishes wrath,

Who will make atonement for his sins?

6 Remember your last end and cease from enmity;

[Remember] corruption and death, and abide in the commandments.

7 Remember the commandments, and do not be wrathful with your neighbor;

And [remember] the covenant of the Most High, and overlook ignorance.

8 Keep far from strife, and sins will keep far from you,

For a passionate man kindles strife;

9 And a sinful man troubles friends,

And casts enmity in the midst of the peaceful.

10 According to its fuel so does a fire burn,

And according to the stubbornness of a strife so does it increase;

And according to the power of a man so is his wrath,

And according to his wealth so does he increase his wrath.

11 Strife begun in haste kindles a fire,

And a hasty quarrel leads to bloodshed.

12 If you blow upon a spark it kindles, and if you spit upon it, it is quenched;

And both come forth from your mouth.

13 Curse the whisperer and the double-tongued,

For he has destroyed many who were at peace.

14 The third tongue has shaken many,

And has dispersed them from nation to nation;

Even strong cities it has destroyed,

And overturned the houses of the great.

15 The third tongue has cast out brave women,

And deprived them of their labors;

16 He who gives heed to it will not find rest,

Neither will he dwell in quiet.

17 The stroke of a whip makes a mark,

But the stroke of a tongue breaks bones.

18 Many have fallen by the edge of the sword,

But not so many as have fallen by the tongue;

19 Happy is the man who is sheltered from it,

Who has not passed through its wrath,

Who has not drawn its yoke,

And who has not been bound with its bands.

20 For its yoke is a yoke of iron,

And its bands are bands of brass;

21 The death of it is an evil death,

And Hades is more profitable than it.

22 [But] it has no power over the godly,

They will not be burned in her flame;

23 Those who forsake the Lord will fall into it,

And she will burn them, and not be quenched;

As a lion she will be sent upon them,

And as a leopard she will destroy them.

24 See that you hedge your possession about with thorns;

And for your mouth make a door and a bar.

25 Bind up your silver and gold;

And make a balance and weight for your words.

26 Take heed that you do not slip by it,

Lest you fall before him who ensnares.

29  He who lends to his neighbor shows kindness,

And he who strengthened him with his hand keeps the commandments.

2 Lend to your neighbor in time of his need,

And repay your neighbor at the appointed time.

3 Confirm your word, and keep faith with him;

And [so] will you always have what you need.

4 Many have reckoned a loan as a windfall,

And have brought trouble on those who helped them.

5 Until he receives it he kisses your hand,

And speaks humbly about his neighbor’s money;

But when payment is due he prolongs the time,

And returns heavy words, and complains of [the shortness of] the time.

6 And if he is able [to repay], with difficulty he will receive half,

And counts it as a windfall;

And if not [able to repay], he has deprived him of his money,

And has made him an enemy without cause.

With cursings and railings he repays him,

And instead of honor he repays him with insult.

7 Many have turned away [from lending] because of wickedness,

They feared to be defrauded for nothing.

8 Nevertheless with the lowly man be longsuffering,

And do not let him wait for alms.

9 Help the poor for the commandment’s sake,

And do not grieve for the loss.

10 Lose money for a brother or a friend’s sake,

And do not let it rust under a stone or a wall.

11 Lay up your treasure according to the commandments of the Most High,

And it will profit you more than gold.

12 Store up alms in your store-chambers,

And it will deliver you from all affliction;

13 Better than a mighty shield and a heavy spear

Will this avail you against an enemy.

14 A good man becomes surety for his neighbor,

But he who has lost his sense of shame fails him.

15 The kindness of a surety do not forget,

For he has given his soul for you.

16 A sinner destroys the estate of a surety,

17 And he who is of an ungrateful mind fails him who delivered him.

18 Suretyship has undone many who were prospering,

And has tossed them about as a wave of the sea.

Wealthy men it has driven from their homes,

And they wandered among strange nations.

19 The sinner who falls in his suretyship

And tries to get out of it, falls into judgements.

20 Help your neighbor according to your power,

And take heed to yourself that you do not fall.

21 The chief requisites for life are water and bread,

And a garment, and a house to cover nakedness.

22 Better the life of a poor man under a shelter of logs,

Than sumptuous food among strangers.

23 Be content with little or much,

24 It is an evil life going from house to house,

For where one is a sojourner,

One does not open the mouth;

25 You are a stranger and drink contempt;

Besides this you will bear bitter things:

26 "Come here, sojourner, furnish the table,

And if there is anything in your hand, feed me";

27 [Or]: "Get out, sojourner, from the presence of honor,

My brother has come as my guest, I need my house!"

28 These things are grievous to a man who has understanding:

Upbraiding [concerning] sojourning, and the reproach of a money lender.

30  He who loves his son will continue to spank him,

That he may have joy of him at the last.

2 He who chastises his son will have profit of him,

And in the midst of his acquaintances he will have glory of him.

3 He who teaches his son will provoke his enemy to jealousy,

And before friends will he exult over him.

4 When his father dies [it is] as though he did not die,

For he has left behind him one like him.

5 In his life he saw and rejoiced,

And in his death he was not grieved.

6 Against [his] enemies he has left an avenger,

And to [his] friends one who repays favor.

7 He who pampers his son will bind up his wounds,

And his heart is troubled at every cry.

8 An unbroken horse becomes stubborn,

And a son left at large becomes headstrong.

9 Coddle your child, and he will terrify you;

Play with him [continually], and he will grieve you.

10 Do not laugh with him lest he cause you pain,

And at the last you gnash with your teeth.

11 Do not let him have independence in his youth,

And do not ignore his mischievous acts.

12 As a python pounces upon a wild beast,

So chastise his loins while he is yet young;

Bow down his head in his youth,

And spank him while he is yet small,

Lest he become stubborn and rebel against you,

And there be born to you vexation of spirit from him.

13 Control your son, and make his yoke heavy,

Lest in his folly he lift himself up against you.

14 Better is a poor man healthy in body,

Than a rich man stricken in his flesh.

15 I desire life in health rather than fine gold,

And a cheerful spirit rather than pearls.

16 There is no wealth above the wealth of health;

And there is no good above [that of] a sound heart.

17 Better is death than a life of vanity,

And eternal rest than continual pain.

18 Good things poured out before a closed mouth

Are like an offering placed before an idol;

19 What does it profit the idols of the nations

Which neither eat nor smell?

So is he who has wealth,

But cannot enjoy it;

20 He sees it with his eyes, and groans,

As a eunuch who embraces a maiden.

21 Do not give your soul to sorrow,

And do not be worried in your own counsel.

22 Joy of heart is life to a man,

And happiness in a man prolongs days.

23 Enjoy your soul and cheer your heart,

And put vexation far from you;

For sorrow has killed many,

And there is no profit in vexation.

24 Envy and anger shorten days,

And anxiety makes gray before the time.[409]

25 The sleep of him who is of a cheerful heart is like dainties,

And his food agrees with him.

31  Watching over wealth is a weariness to the flesh,

And the worry of it disturbs sleep.

2 The worry of [getting] sustenance disturbs slumber,

And drives away sleep more than severe sickness.

3 The rich man labors in gathering wealth,

And if he rests it is to gather luxuries,

4 The poor man toils to the lessening of his house,

And if he rests he becomes needy.

5 He who runs after gold will not be guiltless,

And he who loves gain will go astray by it.

6 There are many who have been entangled through gold,

And those who put their trust in pearls [have been ensnared].

7 It is a stumbling-block for the foolish,

And the simpleton is ensnared by it.

8 Blessed is the man who is found perfect,

Who has not gone astray after mammon.

9 Who is he, that we may call him blessed?

For he has done a wonderful thing among his people.

10 Who has been tested by it, and has remained unharmed?

Let it be [accounted] to him for honor.

Who might have fallen away, and did not fall away,

And might have inflicted harm on his neighbor, but would not?

11 Therefore his prosperity will abide,

And the assembly will declare his praise.

12 My son, if you sit at a great man's table,

Do not be greedy upon it.

Do not say: "There is plenty here!"

13 Remember that an evil eye is an evil thing;

God has created nothing more evil than the [evil] eye,

Therefore it weeps because of all things;

1^4 Honor your neighbor as yourself,

And think over whatever may be distasteful to you.[410]

1^5 Do not stretch out your hand at that which he looks at,

And do not reach your hand with his into the dish;

16 Eat like a man what is set before you,

And do not eat greedily lest you be despised.

17 Cease first for the sake of manners,

And do not gobble lest you cause disgust.

18 And when you sit among many,

Do not stretch out your hand before your neighbor.

19 Of a truth, a little suffices for a sensible man,

Then on his bed he does not groan.

20 Pain and sleeplessness, distress and want of breath,

And griping, are the lot of a foolish man;

There is healthy sleep for moderate eating;

He rises in the morning and his soul is with him.

21 But if you are oppressed with [eating] dainties,

Arise and vomit, so will you have ease.

22 Hearken, my son, and do not despise me,

And in the end you will understand my words,

In all your acts be moderate,

And then no harm will touch you.

23 He who is seemly sitting at meat will receive honor,

The testimony of his good behavior stands secure.

24 He who misbehaves sitting at meat will be talked of in the gate,

And the testimony of his evil stands secure.

25 Moreover, when at wine, exercise restraint,

For wine has destroyed many.

26 Like a furnace which tries the work of the blacksmith,

So is wine in the quarrelling of scorners.

27 Like living water is wine to man,

If he drinks it in moderation.

What life has a man who lacks new wine?

It was created from the beginning for gladness.

28 Joy of heart, gladness and delight,

Is wine drunk at the [right] time and in sufficiency.

29 Headache, derision, and shame,

Is wine drunk in strife and anger.

30 Much wine is a snare to the fool,

It diminishes strength and increases wounds.

31 At a banquet of wine do not rebuke a friend,

And do not grieve him in his merriment.

Do not speak to him a reproachful word,

And do not quarrel with him before others.

32  Have they made you ruler [of the feast], Do not be lifted up,[411]

Be to them as one of themselves;

Consider them [first], and then take your seat;

2 Prepare for their wants [first], and then recline,

That you may rejoice on their account,

And enjoy honor for organizing it.

3 Speak, O elder, for this is your part,

Yet with discerning discretion, and do not hinder the singing;

4 When the music begins do not pour forth talk,

And do not display your wisdom when it is not wanted.

5 As a ruby signet in a work of gold,

So is good music at a banquet of wine.

6 A setting of gold with an emerald signet

Is the melody of music at pleasant wine-drinking.

7 Speak, young man, if you are constrained [to do so],

If asked twice or even thrice;

8 Sum up your speech, say much in little,

Be as one who knows and can keep silent.

9 Among elders do not assert yourself,

And among the noble do not be perpetually talking.

10 Before hail speeds the lightning,

And before the modest speeds favor.

11 At the time of departure do not be the last,

Depart home and be done with your pleasure.

12 But if anything comes into your heart, speak,

In the fear of God, and not in senselessness.

13 For all these things bless your Maker,

Who satisfies you with his goodness.

14 He who seeks God receives discipline,

And he who seeks him early obtains favor.

15 He who seeks the law will gain it,

But the hypocrite will be ensnared by it.

16 He who fears the Lord discerns judgement,

And causes guiding lights to go forth from darkness;

17 The violent man shuns reproofs,

And wrests the law to suit his need.

18 A man of counsel does not hide his understanding,

But the proud and scornful man will not accept the law.

19 Do nothing without counsel,

That you do not repent your act.

20 Do not walk in a path set with snares,

That you do not stumble twice at an obstacle.

21 Do not be confident on a journey regarding robbers,

22 And in your paths be wary.

23 In whatsoever you do take heed to your soul,

For he who does this keeps the commandment.

24 He who keeps the law guards himself,

And he who trusts in the Lord will not be ashamed.

33  No evil befalls him who fears the Lord,

But in temptation he will deliver him.

2 He is not wise who hates the law,

And is tossed about like a ship in a storm.

3 A man of understanding discerns the word,

And the law is faithful as the inquiry of Urim.[412]

4 Prepare your speech, and so let yourself be heard,

Bind up instruction, and [then] make your answer.

5 [Like] a cart wheel is the heart of a fool,

And as a turning axle his [way of] thought.

6 Like a saddled horse is the love of a fool,

He neighs under everyone who sits upon him.

7 Why is one day distinguished from another,

When the light of every day in the year is from the sun?

8 By the knowledge of the Lord they were distinguished,

And he varied seasons and feasts.

9 Some of them he exalted and hallowed,

And some of them he made ordinary days.

10 And all men are from the ground,

And Adam was created of earth.

11 In the abundance of his knowledge the Lord distinguished them,

And made their ways various.

12 Some of them he blessed and exalted,

And some of them he sanctified and brought near to himself;

Some of them he cursed and humbled,

And overthrew them from their place.

13 As the clay of the potter in his hand,

All his ways are according to his good pleasure;

So men are in the hand of him who made them,

To render to them according to his judgement.

14 Opposite evil [is] good, and opposite death [is] life;

Likewise opposite the godly [is] the sinner.

15 Even thus look upon all the works of the Most High,

They are in pairs, one opposite the other.

16 And I came at the last,

As one who gleans after the grape-gatherers.

By the blessing of the Lord I made progress,

And, as a grape-gatherer, filled my winepress.

17 Consider that I did not labor for myself alone,

But for all those who seek instruction.

18 Hearken to me, you+ great ones of the people,

And you+ rulers of the congregation, give ear to me.

19 To son or wife, to brother or friend,

Do not give power over you while you live;

And do not give your goods to another,

Lest you repent, and ask for them [back].

20 While you yet live, and breath is in you,

Do not give yourself to any.

21 For it is better that your children ask of you,

Than you should look to the hand of your sons.

22 In all your works keep the upper hand,

Let no stain come upon your honor.

23 In the day that you end your life,

In the day of death, distribute your inheritance.

24 Fodder, and a stick, and burdens, for a donkey;

Bread, and discipline, and work, for a servant.

25 Set your servant to work, and he will seek rest,

Leave his hands idle, and he will seek liberty.[413]

27 Put him to work that he may not be idle;

For idleness teaches much mischief.

28 Set him to [such] works as are suited to him,

And if he does not obey make his fetters heavy.

29 Do not be excessive toward any creature,

And do nothing without judgement.

30 If you have but one servant, let him be as yourself,

For with blood have you obtained him.

31 If you have but one servant, treat him as your brother,

For as your own soul you have need of him;

If you maltreat him, and he departs and runs away,

Which way will you go to seek him?

34  He who seeks vanity finds delusion,

And dreams give wings to fools.

2 As one who catches a shadow and pursues the wind,

So is he who trusts in dreams.

3 A dream is like a mirror,

The likeness of a face reflecting a face.

4 What can be made clean from an unclean thing?

And how can that which is true come from a lie?

5 Divinations, and soothsayings, and dreams are vain,

As you hope so does your heart see.

6 If they are not sent by the Most High in a visitation,

Do not give your heart to them.

7 For dreams have led many astray,

And they have fallen, trusting in them.

8 Without deceit the law will be fulfilled;

And wisdom in the mouth of one who is faithful is perfection.

9 A well-instructed man knows many things,

And one of much experience expounds knowledge.

10 He who has no experience knows [but] few things,

11 But he who has wandered multiplies his skill.

12 I have seen many things in my travels,

And many things have befallen me;

13 Often I was in danger even to death,

But was saved thanks to these things.

14 The spirit of those who seek the Lord will live,

15 For their hope is on him who saves them,

16 He who fears the Lord will not be afraid,

He will not lose courage, for he is his hope.

17 Blessed is the soul of him who fears the Lord;

18 On whom does he trust? And who is his stay?

19 The eyes of the Lord are upon those who love him,

A mighty protection and a strong stay,

A shelter from the scorching wind, a shelter from the midday sun,

A guard from stumbling, a help from falling;

20 One who refreshes the soul and lightens the eyes,

Who gives healing, and life, and blessing.

21 The sacrifice of an unrighteous man is a mocking sacrifice,

22 And the oblations of the wicked are not acceptable.

23 The Most High has no pleasure in the offerings of the ungodly,

Neither is he pacified for sins by the multitude of sacrifices.

24 [As] one who slays a son in the sight of his father,

[So] is he who brings a sacrifice from the belongings of the poor.

25 The bread of the needy is the life of the poor,

He who deprives him of it is a man of blood.

26 He slays his neighbor who takes away his [means of] living,

27 And a shedder of blood is he who deprives the hired worker of his wages.

28 One building, and another pulling down,

What profit have they but [useless] labor?

29 One praying, and another cursing,

To whose voice will the Master listen?

30 He who washes after [contact with] a dead body, and touches it again,

What profit does he have by his washing?

31 So a man fasting for his sins,

And going again and doing the same,

Who will hearken to his prayer?

And what has he profited by humiliating himself?

35  He who keeps the law multiplies offerings,

2 And he who gives heed to the commandments sacrifices a peace-offering.

3 He who renders kindness offers fine flour,

4 And he who gives alms sacrifices a thanksgiving offering.

5 A pleasing thing to the Lord it is to depart from wickedness,

And a propitiation it is to turn away from unrighteousness.

6 Do not appear in the presence of the Lord empty,

7 For all these things [are due] because of the commandment.

8 The offering of a righteous man makes the altar fat,

And the sweet savor therefore [is] before the Most High.

9 The sacrifice of a righteous man is acceptable,

And the memorial of it will not be forgotten.

10 With a good eye glorify the Lord,

And do not hold back the offerings of your hands.

11 In all your works let your countenance beam,

And with gladness sanctify your tithe.

12 Give to God according to his gift to you,

With a good eye and according as your hand has prospered;

13 For he is a God of recompense,

And sevenfold he will recompense you.

14 Do not bribe [him], for he will not accept [gifts],

15 And do not trust in a sacrifice of extortion;

For he is a God of justice,

And with him there is no partiality.

16 He will not respect the person of the poor,

But hearkens to the supplications of the distressed.

17 He does not ignore the cry of the orphan,

Nor the widow when she pours out her complaint.

18 Does not the tear run down upon the cheek?

19 And [is there not] a sigh against him who causes it to run down?

20 [Such] a sigh is a bitterness accepted [of God],

And [such] a cry reaches to the clouds.

21 The cry of the poor passes through the clouds,

And until it reaches [God] it does not rest;

It will not cease until God visits,

22 And the righteous Judge executes judgement.

Yes, the Lord will not tarry,

And the Mighty One will not refrain himself,

Until he smites the loins of the merciless,

23 And repays vengeance on the arrogant;

Until he takes away the sceptre of pride,

And wholly destroys the staff of wickedness;

24 Until he renders to a man [according to] his deed,

And recompenses him [according to] his thought;

25 Until he pleads the cause of his people,

And makes them glad with his salvation.

26 Mercy is fitting in the time of their affliction,

As rain in the time of drought.

36  Save us, O God of all,

2 And cast your fear upon all the nations.

3 Shake your hand against the strange people,

That they may see your power.

4 As you have sanctified yourself in us before their eyes,

So sanctify yourself in them before our eyes;

5 That they may know, even as we know,

That there is no other God but you.

6 Renew the signs, and repeat the wonders,

Make glorious your hand and your right arm.

7 Awaken wrath, and pour out indignation,

Subdue the foe, and drive out the enemy.

8 Hasten the end, and ordain the appointed time,

For who may say to you: “What are you doing?”

9 Let him who escapes be devoured in raging fire,

And may those who wrong your people find destruction.

10 Bring to nothing the head of the princes of Moab,

Who says, "There is none beside me."

11 Gather all the tribes of Jacob,

That they may receive their inheritance, as in days of old.

12 Have mercy upon the people called by your name,

Israel whom you surnamed Firstborn.

13 Have mercy upon your holy city,

Jerusalem, the place of your dwelling.

14 Fill Zion with your majesty,

And your temple with your glory.

15 Give testimony to the first of your works,

And establish the vision spoken in your name.

16 Give the reward to those who wait for you,

That your prophets may be shown to be faithful.

17 Hear the prayer of your servants,

According to your favor towards your people.

That all the ends of the earth may know

That you are the Eternal God.

18 The throat eats every meat,

Yet one meat is better than another.

19 The palate tastes the dainties that are bestowed,

And the discerning heart the dainties of falsehood.

20 A deceitful heart causes sorrow,

But a man of experience turns it back upon him.

21 A woman will receive any man,

But one daughter is better than another daughter.

22 The beauty of a woman makes the countenance bright,

And excels every delight of the eye.

23 And moreover, if there is in her a gentle tongue,

Her husband is not from among the sons of men.

24 He who acquires a wife has the highest possession,

A help meet for him, and a pillar of support.

25 Without a hedge a vineyard is laid waste,

And without a wife [a man is] a wanderer and homeless.

26 Who trusts an armed band

That rushes from city to city?

So is the man who has no rest,

Who rests [where he can] when evening falls.

37  Every friend says: "I have a friend,"

But there is a friend [who is] a friend in name [only].

2 So there is a sorrow that comes near to death,

A friend acording to the soul turned to an enemy.

3 O evil nature, why were you created,

To fill the face of the world with deceit?

4 An evil friend [is he who] looks to the table,

But in time of stress stands aloof.

5 A good friend [is he who] fights with the stranger,

And takes hold of the shield against the adversary.

6 Do not forget a friend in [the time of] conflict,

And do not forsake him when you take the spoil.

7 Every counsellor points out the way,

But there is one who counsels a way for his own advantage.

8 Of that counsellor let your soul take heed,

And know beforehand what is his interest;

For he, too, will take thought for himself;

Why should it fall out to his advantage?

9 And he will say to you, How good is your way!

Then will he stand aloof and watch your adversity.

10 Do not take counsel with one who dislikes you,

And hide your secret from one who is jealous of you.

11 (Do not take counsel) with a woman concerning her rival,

And an enemy concerning his conflict,

With a merchant concerning business,

And with a buyer concerning selling,

With an evil man concerning the showing of kindness,

And with one who is merciless concerning man’s happiness,

With a worthless workman concerning his work,

And with a yearly hired worker concerning the sowing of seed,

With an idle slave concerning much work,

Do not trust in these for any counsel.

12 But rather with a man who fears always,

Whom you know [to be] a keeper of the commandment,

Whose heart is like your heart,

And if you stumble he will be grieved for you.

13 And also discern the counsel of [your own] heart,

For there is none more true to you.

14 The heart of man declares [to him] his opportunities

Better than seven watchmen on a watchtower.

15 But in all these things entreat God,

That he may direct your steps in truth.

16 The beginning of every action is speech,

And before every act there is consideration.

17 The roots of the deliberations of the heart

Throw out four branches:

18 Good and evil, life and death;

But the tongue rules over them altogether.

19 There is a wise man who is wise to many,

And to his own soul he shows himself a fool;

20 And there is a wise man who is despised for his words,

And is cut off from all pleasant food; [414]

22 And there is a wise man who is wise to his own soul,

And the fruit of his knowledge is upon his body.

23 And there is a wise man who is wise to his people,

And the fruit of his knowledge is in their bodies.

2^4 The life of a man [numbers] few days,

But the life of Israel days without number.[415]

2^5 He who is wise to his own soul will be satisfied with enjoyment,

And all who see him account him happy.

26 He who is wise [to his] people gains honor,

And his name will live forever.

27 My son, in your life prove your soul,

And see what is evil for it, and do not give it that.

28 For not everything is good for everyone;

Every soul does not choose of every kind.

29 Do not be insatiable in every luxury,

And give not yourself wholly to every dainty.

30 For in much eating lurks sickness,

And he who consumes too much draws near to loathing.

31 Through lack of self-control many have perished,

But he who controls himself prolongs his life.

38  Be friends with the physician since you have need of him,

For God has ordained him also.

2 It is from God that the physician becomes wise,

And from the king he receives gifts.

3 The skill of the physician lifts up his head,

So that he stands in the presence of princes.

4 God has created medicines out of the earth,

And do not let a man of discernment despise them.

5 Was not water made sweet by the wood

In order to make known his power to all men?

6 And he gave to men discernment,

To glory in his mighty works;

7 By them the physician relieves pain,

8 Thus also the compounder make his compound,

That his work does not cease,

Nor health from the sons of men.

9 My son, in sickness do not be negligent;

Pray to God, for he can heal.

10 Turn from iniquity, and purify your hands;

And from all transgressions cleanse your heart.

11 Give a meal-offering, and also a memorial,

And offer a fat sacrifice to the utmost of your means.

12 And also give a place to the physician;

And do not let [him] be far from you, for there is indeed need of him.

13 For there is a time when success is in his power;

14 For he also makes supplication to God

To make his diagnosis successful,

And the healing that it may give life.

15 He who sins against his Maker

Behaves proudly towards the physician.

16 My son, let tears fall for the dead;

Show yourself sorrowful, and mourn with a lamentation.

Bury his body according to his due,

And do not hide yourself when he has become a corpse.

17 Make bitter your weeping and passionate your wailing,

And make mourning such as befits him,

For a day or two to avoid scandal,

And be comforted for your sorrow.

18 For out of sorrow comes forth harm,

So sadness of heart brings down strength.[416]

20 Then let your heart be no more occupied with him,

Dismiss the remembrance of him, [yet] remember [your] end.

21 Remember him not, for he has no hope;

You cannot profit him, while you harm yourself.

22 Remember his doom, for it is your doom [too];

His yesterday, and yours today.

23 When the dead is at rest, let his memory rest;

And be consoled when his soul departs.

24 The wisdom of the scribe increases wisdom,

And he who has little business can become wise.

25 How can he who holds the plow become wise,

Who glories in brandishing the ox-goad?

Who leads cattle, and turns about oxen,

And whose discourse is with bullocks?

26 He sets his heart on turning his furrows

And his anxiety is to have sufficient fodder.

27 Likewise the engraver and craftsman,

Who passes his time by night as by day;

They cut gravings of signets,

And his diligence is to make variety,

He sets his heart to make his likeness true,

And his anxiety is to finish his work.

28 So the blacksmith sitting by the anvil,

And considering the unwrought iron;

The vapor of the fire cracks his flesh,

And in the heat of the furnace he glows;

The sound of the hammer is continually in his ear,

And his eyes are upon the pattern of the vessel;

He sets his heart upon finishing his works,

And his diligence is to adorn [them] perfectly,

29 So the potter sitting at his work,

And turning about the wheel with his feet,

Who is ever anxiously set at his work,

And all his handiwork is by number;

30 With his arm he fashions the clay,

And he bends its strength before his feet;

He applies his heart to finish the glazing,

And his diligence is to clean the furnace.

31 All these rely upon their hands,

And each is wise in his handiwork.

32 Without them a city cannot be inhabited,

And they do not sojourn, neither do they walk up and down.

33 But in the council of the people they are not sought for,

And in the assembly they will not be exalted;

They will not sit on the seat of the judge,

And they will not [be able to] understand the covenant of judgement;

Neither will they expound righteousness and judgement,

And among rulers they will not be found.

34 But the fabric of the world, they will maintain,

And their thoughts are on the handiwork of [their] craft.

39  Not so he who gives his soul,

And meditates in the law of the Most High;

He searches out the wisdom of all the ancients,

And is occupied in prophecies;

2 He preserves the discourses of men of renown,

And enters into subtleties of parables;

3 He seeks out the hidden things of proverbs,

And is conversant with the obscure things of parables.

4 He serves among great men,

And appears before a ruler,

He travels in the land of alien nations,

And has tried both good and evil things among men.

5 He applies his heart to rise up early to the Lord who made him;

And before the Most High he makes supplication,

And opens his mouth in prayer,

And makes supplication for his sins.

6 If the Great Lord is willing,

He will be filled with the spirit of understanding.

He himself pours forth words of wisdom,

And gives thanks to the Lord in prayer;

7 He himself directs his counsel and knowledge,

And in the secrets of it he meditates.

8 He himself declares the instruction of his teaching,

And glories in the law of the covenant of the Lord.

9 Many praise his understanding,

Never will it be blotted out,

His memorial will not cease,

And his name will live to generations of generations.

10 His wisdom will the Gentiles declare,

And his praise will the congregation tell forth.

11 If he continues he will be counted [greater than] a thousand;

And if he dies, he will become more renowned.[417]

12 Yet more will I utter, which I have thought upon,

For I am filled like the full moon.

13 Hearken to me, you+ holy children, and bud forth

As a rose growing by a brook of water.

14 And as frankincense give forth a sweet odor,

And put forth flowers as a lily;

Spread forth a sweet smell, and sing a song of praise;

Bless+ the Lord for all his works;

15 O magnify his name,

And give utterance to his praise,

With songs of the harp and of stringed instruments,

And thus will you+ say, with a shout:

16 The works of God are all good,

And for every need he provided in its time.

17 None may say: This is worse than that.

For everything in its own time is excellent.

At his word the waters stood as a heap,

And by the word of his mouth his store-chamber.

18 He causes his will to prosper,

And there is no restraint to his salvation.

19 The works of all flesh are before him,

And there is nothing hid from before his eyes;

20 From everlasting to everlasting he beholds,

Therefore there is no limit to his salvation,

Nothing is small or insignificant with him,

And there is nothing too wonderful or too hard for him.

21 None may say: What is this? Why is that?

For all has been chosen according to its purpose.

22 His blessing overflows as the Nile,

And saturates the world as the River.

23 Thus his indignation drives out nations,

And he turns a watered land to salt.

24 The paths of the perfect are straight,

[Even] so are they stumbling-blocks to the presumptuous.

25 Good things for the good he has allotted from the beginning;

[Even] so to the evil; good and evil.

26 The chief of all things necessary to the life of man

Are water and fire, and iron and salt,

And flour of wheat, and milk and honey,

The blood of the grape, oil and clothing.

27 All these are good to the good,

[Even] as for the evil they are turned to evil.

28 There are winds that are created for vengeance,

And in their wrath lay on their scourges heavily;

And in the time of the end they pour out their strength,

And appease the wrath of him who created them.

29 Fire and hail, famine and pestilence,

These also are created for judgement.

30 Beasts of prey, scorpions and vipers,

And the avenging sword to slay the wicked,

All these are created for their uses,

And are in [his] treasure-house, and in [their] time will be requisitioned.

31 When he commands them they rejoice,

And in their prescribed task they do not rebel against him.

32 Therefore from the beginning I stood firm,

And when I had considered it I set it down in writing:

33 The works of God are all good,

They supply every need in its season.

34 None may say: This is worse than that,

For everything shows its strength in its season.

35 And now sing praises with all your heart,

And bless the name of the Holy One.

40  Much occupation God has allotted,

And heavy is the yoke on the sons of men;

From the day that he comes forth from his mother’s womb,

Until the day of his returning to the mother of all living.[418]

2 [As for] their thoughts, and fear of heart,

The idea of their expectation is the day of death.

3 From him who sits upon a throne in exaltation,

To him who sits in dust and ashes;

4 From him who wears a diadem and crown,

To him who wears a garment of hair,

5 [There is but] anger and jealousy, anxiety and fear,

Terror of death, strife and contention.

And when he rests upon his bed,

The sleep of night doubles his trouble.

6 For a short time, that he may rest for a moment, he is undisturbed,

And then by dreams is he disturbed.

He is troubled by the vision of his soul,

He is like a fugitive fleeing before the pursuer.

7 In the time of his deliverance he is aroused,

And marvels that [there was] fear for nothing.

8 With all flesh, both of man and beast,

And upon sinners sevenfold more,

9 [There is] pestilence and bloodshed, blight and drought,

Devastation and destruction, famine and death.

10 For the wicked evil was created,

And because of him destruction does not depart.

11 All things that are from the earth return to the earth,

And that which is from on high [returns] on high.

12 All bribery and injustice will be blotted out,

And faith will abide forever.

13 Wealth [obtained] by injustice is like a perennial torrent,

And like a river that is mighty in a storm;

14 When it rises rocks are rolled down,

So does it suddenly come to an end forever.

15 A branch of violence has no shoot in it,

And the root of the godless is upon a rocky crag;

16 It is like the reeds upon the bank of a river,

Which will be dried up before every other plant.

17 But kindness will never be moved,

And righteousness endures forever.

18 A life of wine and strong drink is sweet,

But better than both is he who finds a treasure.

19 A child and a city establish a name,

But better than both is he who finds wisdom.

The offspring of cattle, and planting, make a name to flourish.

But better than both is a loved woman.

20 Wine and strong drink rejoice the heart,

But better than both is the affection of lovers.

21 Pipe and harp make sweet the song,

But better than both is a pure tongue.

22 Grace and beauty charm your eye,

But better than both are the products of the field.

23 A friend and a companion meet opportunely,

But better than both is a discreet wife.

24 Brothers and help are for a time of affliction,

But better than both is righteousness [that] delivers.

25 Gold and silver make the foot stand sure,

But better than both is counsel esteemed.

26 Wealth and strength lift up the heart,

But better than both is the fear of God.

In the fear of the Lord there is no lack,

And with it there is no need to seek [other] help.

27 The fear of God is as an Eden of blessing,

And over all glory is its canopy.

28 My son, do not lead a beggar’s life,

Better is one dead than one who begs.

29 A man who looks upon a stranger’s table,

His life is not accounted life.

A pollution of his soul are the dainties presented,

And to a man of knowledge [they are] a cause of suffering.

30 In the mouth of a greedy man begging is sweet,

But within him it burns like fire.

41  O, Death, how bitter is the remembrance of you

To him who lives in peace in his habitation;

To him who is at ease, and prospers in all,

And who still has strength to enjoy luxury.

2 Hail, Death, how welcome is your decree

To a man of sorrows, and who lacks strength,

Who stumbles and trips in everything,

Who is broken, and has lost hope.

3 Fear not death, [it is] your destiny,

Remember that the former and the latter share it with you.

4 This is the portion of all flesh from God,

And how can you reject the law of the Most High?

[Be it] for a thousand years, a hundred, or ten [that you live],

In Sheol there is no inquiry of [length of] life.

5 A disgusting offspring is the generation of sinners,

And a godless sprout is in the dwellings of the wicked.

6 From the son of the unrighteous dominion will be wrenched away,

And with their posterity will be perpetual reproach.

7 Children will curse a wicked father,

For because of him they suffer reproach.

8 Woe to you, ungodly men,

Who have forsaken the law of the Most High God.

9 If you+ be fruitful [it will be] for harm,

And if you+ bear children [it will be] for sighing;

And if you+ stumble [it will be] for everlasting joy,

And if you+ die [it will be] for a curse.

10 All that is of nothing returns to nothing,

So the godless man, from nothingness to nothingness.

11 Vanity is man concerning his body,

But the name of the pious will not be cut off.

12 Be in fear for your name, for that abides longer for you

Than thousands of precious treasures.

13 Life’s goods [last] for limited days,

But the reward of a name for days without number.

14 Hidden wisdom and concealed treasure,

What is the use of either?

15 Better the man who hides his folly,

Than the man who hides his wisdom.

16 Hear, O children, instruction concerning shame,

And be ashamed according to my judgement.

For not every kind of shame is to be retained,

And not every kind of shame is to be reproved.

17 Be ashamed of a father and a mother of whoredom,

Of a prince and ruler of lies,

18 Of a master and a mistress of deceit,

Of an assembly and people of transgression,

Of an associate or friend of dishonesty,

19 And of a place of pride where you sojourn.

[Be ashamed] of altering an oath or a covenant,

Of stretching out your elbow when sitting at meat,

Of withholding a gift that is asked for,

20 Of turning away the face of your friend,

Of taking away a portion or a gift,

21 Of being silent to one who greets,

Of looking upon a woman who is a whore,

Of gazing on a woman who has a husband,

22 Of being busy with his maid,

And of violating her bed,

Of [speaking] to a friend with reproachful words,

And of upbraiding after you have given,

42  Of repeating a thing which you have heard,

And of laying bare any secret counsel:

So you will show proper shame,

And find favor in the sight of all living.

But of these things do not be ashamed,

And do not let persons lead you to sin:

2 Of the law of the Most High, and the statute,

And of justice, to render justice [even] to the wicked,

3 Of keeping accounts with an associate or travel companion,

And of dividing an inheritance or a property,

4 Of the small dust of the scales and balance,

And of testing measure and weight,

Of buying, as to whether [it is] little or much,

5 And of profit from dealing with a merchant,

Of frequent correction of children,

And of smiting an evil servant.

6 For an evil wife, a seal,

And where many hands are, a key.

7 Upon what is deposited, make a mark,

And let giving and receiving all be in writing.

8 Of the correction of the foolish and simple [do not be ashamed],

Or of [the correction of] the old man occupied with whoredom:

So will you be truly well-advised,

And a modest man before all living.

9 A daughter is to a father a deceptive treasure,

And the care of her puts away sleep;

In her youth lest she commit adultery,

And when she is married, lest she be hated;

10 In her virginity lest she be seduced,

And in the house of her husband, lest she be unfaithful,

In the house of her father, lest she be with child,

And in the house of her husband, lest she be barren.

11 Keep a strict watch over your daughter,

Lest she make you a name that stinks,

The talk of the city, and accursed of the people,

And shame you in the gathering at the gate.

In the place where she abides let there be no window,

And in the house where she sleeps no entry round about.

12 Do not let her display her beauty before any man,

And in the house of women do not let her gossip;

13 For from the garment comes forth the moth,

And from a woman a woman’s wickedness.

14 Better the wickedness of a man than the goodness of a woman,

And a daughter who causes shame and pours forth reproach.

15 Let me make mention of the works of God,

And what I have seen I will also recount.

By the word of God are his works,

And he does his good pleasure according to his decree.

16 The rising sun is revealed over all,

And the glory of the Lord upon all his works.

17 The holy ones of God do not have the power

To recount the wondrous works of his might;

[Yet] God has given strength to his hosts

To stand in the presence of his glory.

18 He searches out the deep, and the heart [of man],

And discerns all their secrets;

For the Lord knows all knowledge,

And he looks into the signs of the world;

19 Declaring the things that are past and the things that will be,

And revealing the traces of hidden things.

20 No knowledge is lacking to him,

And not a thing escapes him.

21 The mighty works of his wisdom, he has ordered;

One is he from everlasting;

Nothing has been added, and nothing taken away [from them],

And he needs none to instruct [him].

22 How desirable are all his works,

And they are as a spark to behold.

23 All these things live and abide forever,

And for every need all are obedient [to him].

24 All things are different, this from that,

And he did not make one of them superfluous.

25 One thing surpasses another in its goodness,

And who shall be satiated in beholding [their] beauty?

43  The beauty of the height [of the heavens] is the clear firmament,

And the vault of heaven is a spectacle of glory.

2 The sun when he goes forth pours out heat,

How terrible are the works of Yahweh!

3 When it shines at noon it scorches the world,

Before its burning [heat] who can stand?

4 A heated furnace makes the metal become heated,

[But] the sending forth of the sun sets mountains ablaze.

The rays from the light scorch the inhabited earth,

And the light from the lamp scorches the eyes.

5 For great is Yahweh who made it,

And his word causes his mighty one to shine.

6 And also the moon he made for its due season,

To rule over periods for an everlasting sign.

7 By her festivals and the appointed times [are fixed],

A light that wanes when she has come to the full.

8 Month by month she renews herself,

How wonderful [is she] in her changing!

A beacon for the hosts on high,

Paving the firmament with her shining.

9 The beauty of heaven, and its glory [are] the stars,

With their bright shining in the heights of God.

10 At the word of God they stand as decreed,

And they do not sleep in their watches.

11 Behold the rainbow, and bless the Maker of it;

It is exceedingly majestic in its glory;

12 It encompasses the [heavenly] vault in its glory,

And the hand of God has spread it out in might.

13 His power sends out the lightning,

And makes bright its flashes in judgement;

14 For it he created a treasure-house,

And clouds fly forth as fowls.

15 By his mighty power he makes the clouds strong,

And the hailstones are broken small.

16 The voice of his thunder makes the earth travail,

By his strength he shakes the mountains.

And the fear of him stirs up the south wind,

17 And the whirlwind of the north, and hurricane and tempest.

Like birds he sprinkles his snow,

And like settling locusts is the coming down of it;

18 The beauty of its whiteness dazzles the eyes,

And the heart is amazed at the raining down of it.

19 Also the hoarfrost, he pours it out like salt,

And he causes flowers to bloom like sapphires.

20 The cold of the north wind he causes to blow,

And hardens the pond like a bottle;

Upon every gathering of waters he spreads a crust,

And the pond puts on, as it were, a breastplate.

21 The produce of the mountains he dries up with scorching heat,

And the springing grass of the meadows as [with] a flame.

22 Healing for all things is the dropping from the clouds,

The dew which speedily refreshed the parched ground.

23 By his counsel he has stilled the great deep,

And has planted islands in the midst of the deep.

24 Those who go down to the sea declare its bounds,

And when our ears hear it we marvel.

25 In it are marvels, the wonders of his works,

All manner of living things, and mighty things of the deep.

26 For his own sake he makes his work prosper,

And by his word he works his pleasure.

27 Yet more things like these we will not add,

And the end of the matter is: He is all.

28 We will still magnify, though we cannot fathom,

For greater is he than all his works.

29 Exceeding terrible is Yahweh,

And wonderful are his mighty works.

30 You+ who magnify Yahweh, lift up your voice,

As much as you+ are able, for there is yet more!

You+ who exalt him, renew your strength,

And do not be wearied, though you+ cannot fathom him.

31 Who has seen him that he may declare him?

And who shall magnify him as he is?

32 Many things, greater than these, are hidden,

I have only seen a few of his works.

33 Yahweh has made everything,

And to the godly he has given wisdom.

44  Let me now sing the praises of men of piety,

Of our fathers in their generations.

2 Great glory did the Most High allot them,

And they were great from the days of old.

3 [Men] who wielded dominion over the earth in their royalty,

And men of renown in their might;

Counsellors in their discernment,

And seers in their prophetic power.

4 Princes of nations in their intentions,

And leaders in their decrees;

Wise in speech in their scribal office,

And speakers of wise sayings in their tradition;

5 Arrangers of psalms according to rule,

And authors of written proverbs;

6 Men of ability and supported with strength,

And living at ease in their dwelling-places.

7 All these were honored in their generation,

And in their days had glory.

8 Some of them have left a name

That men might tell their praise;

9 And some of them have no memorial,

There was an end of them when they came to their end;

They were as though they had not been,

And also their children after them.

10 Nevertheless, these were men of piety,

And their hope has not ceased;

11 With their seed their goodness remains sure,

And their inheritance to their children’s children.

12 Their seed stands fast in the covenants,

And in their children for their sakes;

13 Their memory abides forever,

And their righteousness will not be forgotten.

14 Their bodies were buried in peace,

But their name lives to all generations.

15 The assembly repeats their wisdom,

And the congregation declares their praise.

16 Enoch was found perfect, and he walked with Yahweh, and was taken;

A sign of knowledge to every generation.

17 Noah the righteous was found perfect,

In the time of destruction he became the renewer;

For his sake there was a remnant,

And because of his covenant the Flood ceased;

18 An eternal covenant [God] made with him

Not to destroy all flesh [again].

19 Abraham, the father of a multitude of nations,

Put no blemish on his honor;

20 He kept the commandments of the Most High,

And entered into a covenant with him;

In his flesh he made a covenant with him,

And in temptation he was found faithful.

21 Wherefore, with an oath he swore to him,

To bless nations in his seed;

To multiply him as the dust of the earth,

And to exalt his seed as the stars;

To cause them to inherit from sea to sea,

And from the River to the ends of the earth.

22 And also Isaac he established likewise,

For the sake of Abraham his father;

He gave him the covenant of all his ancestry.

23 And a blessing rested on the head of Israel;

And he gave him the title of Firstborn,

And gave him his inheritance;

And he set him for tribes,

To be divided into twelve.

And he brought out from him a man of mercy,

Who found grace in the sight of all living.

45  Beloved of God and men was Moses,

Whose memorial is blessed.

2 And he made him glorious as God,

And made him mighty in awe-inspiring deeds.

3 By his words he caused wonders to happen in quick succession,

And he made him bold in the presence of the king.

And he gave him a charge to the people,

And showed him his glory.

4 For his faithfulness and his meekness,

He chose him out of all flesh,

5 And caused him to hear his voice,

And let him draw near to the dark cloud;

And he placed in his hand the commandment,

Even the law of life and discernment;

That he might teach statutes to Jacob,

And his testimonies and judgements to Israel.

6 And he exalted a holy one like him,

Even Aaron of the tribe of Levi;

7 And he appointed him by a perpetual statute,

And put honor upon him;

And he blessed him with his glory,

And girded him with exceedingly great glory.

8 And he clothed him with the perfection of adornment,

And adorned him with splendid vestments, the breeches, the tunic, and the robe,

9 And encompassed him with pomegranates, and with resounding bells round about,

To make music with his steps,

So as to cause the sound of him to be heard in the inmost shrine,

For a memorial for the children of his people;

10 [With] the holy garments of gold and violet,

And purple, the work of the designer;

And the breastplate of judgement, and the ephod and belt;

11 And the scarlet, the work of a craftsman,

[With] precious stones engraved like a signet,

In settings, the work of the engraver;

For a memorial in engraved writing,

According to the number of the tribes of Israel,

12 [With] a crown of pure gold upon [his] turban,

The diadem engraven “Holy to Yahweh,”

Glorious majesty and mighty praise,

The desire of the eyes, goodly and beautiful.

13 Before him there never were such things,

Never did a stranger put them on;

He trusted him and his sons only,

And his son’s sons throughout their generations.

14 His meal-offering is wholly consumed

Twice every day as a continual sacrifice.

15 Moses consecrated him,

And anointed him with the holy oil;

And it became for him an eternal covenant,

And for his seed as the days of heaven;

To minister and to execute the priest’s office for him,

And to bless his people in his name.

16 He chose him out of all living,

To bring near the burnt-offerings and the fat pieces,

And to burn a sweet savor and a memorial,

And to make atonement for the children of Israel.

17 And he gave them his commandments,

And invested him with authority over statute and judgement,

That he might teach his people statutes,

And judgements to the children of Israel.

18 But strangers were incensed against him,

And were envious against him in the wilderness;

The men of Dathan and Abiram,

And the company of Korah in the violence of their wrath.

19 And Yahweh saw it and was angered,

And consumed them in his fierce wrath;

And he brought to pass a sign upon them,

And devoured them with his fiery flame.

20 And he increased his glory to Aaron,

And gave him his inheritance:

The holy contributions for their sustenance,

The offerings of Yahweh made by fire for them to eat,

21 The bread of the presence is his portion,

A gift for him and for his seed.

22 Only in the land of the people might he have no heritage,

And in their midst divide no inheritance;

Whose portion and inheritance is Yahweh,

In the midst of the children of Israel.

23 Moreover, Phinehas, the son of Eleazar,

Was glorious in might as a third,

In that he was jealous for the God of all,

And stood in the breach for his people;

While his heart prompted him,

And he made atonement for the children of Israel.

24 Therefore also for him he established an ordinance,

A covenant of peace to maintain the sanctuary;

That to him and to his seed should appertain

The high priesthood forever.

25 And also with David was his covenant,

The son of Jesse, of the tribe of Judah;

The inheritance of the king is his son’s alone,

While the inheritance of Aaron [belongs] to him, and to his seed.

And now bless+ Yahweh, the Good,

Who has crowned you with honor;

26 May he grant you wisdom of heart,

To judge his people in righteousness,

That your prosperity may never cease,

Nor your power for eternal generations.

46  A mighty man of valor was Joshua, the son of Nun,

A minister of Moses in the prophetical office,

Who was created to be according to his name,

A great salvation for his chosen ones,

To take vengeance upon the enemy,

And to give an inheritance to Israel.

2 How glorious he was when he stretched forth his hand,

And brandished his javelin against the city.

3 Who was [able] to stand before him

When he fought the wars of Yahweh?

4 Was it not by his hand that the sun stood still

And one day became as two?

5 For he called to God Most High,

When enemies pressed him on every side,

And God Most High answered him,

With hailstones and bolts;

6 He cast them down upon the hostile people.

And in going down he destroyed those who rose up,

That all the nations [devoted to] destruction might know

That Yahweh was watching their fighting;

And also because he fully followed after God,

7 And did an act of piety in the days of Moses,

He and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh,

In standing firm when the congregation broke loose,

To turn away wrath from the assembly,

And to cause the evil report to cease.

8 Therefore also these two were set apart,

From among the six hundred thousand footmen,

To bring them into their inheritance,

[Into] a land flowing with milk and honey.

9 And he gave strength to Caleb,

And to old age it stood by him,

To cause him to tread upon the high places of the land;

And also his seed obtained a heritage,

10 That all the seed of Jacob might know

That it is good to follow wholly after Yahweh.

11 Also the Judges, each with his name,

All whose hearts were not beguiled,

Nor turned back from [following] after God,

Let their memory be for a blessing,

12 May their bones flourish again out of their place,

And may their name sprout afresh for their children.

13 Honored by his people, and loved by his Maker

[Was] "He who was asked" from his mother’s womb;

Sanctified in the prophetical office by Yahweh,

Samuel, [who acted as] judge and priest.

By the word of God he established the kingdom,

And anointed princes over the people.

14 By means of the commandment he commanded the congregation,

And he visited the gods of Jacob.

15 By his faithfulness he was proved to be a prophet,

And by his word a faithful seer.

16 And when his enemies pressed him on every side,

He called upon the Yahweh, the Mighty One,

With the offering of a nursing lamb.

[He cried to Yahweh].[419]

17 And Yahweh thundered from heaven;

With a mighty crash his voice was heard,

18 And he subdued the strong places of the enemy,

And destroyed all the princes of the Philistines.

19 And at the time when he rested upon his bed,

He called Yahweh and his anointed to witness:

"From whom have I taken a bribe, or a pair of shoes?"

And no man accused him.

And also to the time of his end he was found upright

In the eyes of Yahweh, and in the eyes of all living.

20 And even after his death he was inquired of,

And he declared to the king his fate;

And he lifted his voice from the earth,

To blot out the wickedness of the people.

47  And, furthermore, after him stood up Nathan,

To stand in the presence of David;

2 For as the fat is separated from the offering,

So was David [separated] from Israel.

3 He played with lions as with young goats,

And with bears as with calves of Bashan.

4 In his youth he slew the giant,

And took away the reproach from the people;

When he slung his hand with the sling,

And broke the pride of Goliath.

5 For he called to God Most High.

And he gave strength to his right hand,

That it might strike down the man experienced in wars,

And that he might lift up the horn of his people.

6 Therefore the daughters sang of him,

And honored him, [the slayer of] ten thousand.

When he had put on the diadem he fought,

7 And subdued the enemy round about,

And he destroyed the cities of the Philistines,

And broke in pieces their power to this day.

8 In all his doings he gave thanks

To God Most High with words of glory;

With his whole heart he loved his Maker,

And sang praise every day continually.

9 Stringed instruments and song before the altar [he ordained],

To make sweet melody with their music.

10 He gave comeliness to the feasts,

And set in order the seasons to perfection,

While they praised his holy name;

Before morning it resounded from the sanctuary.

11 Moreover, Yahweh put away his transgression,

And lifted up his horn forever.

And he gave him the decree of the kingdom,

And established his throne over Israel.

12 And for his sake there stood up after him

A wise son dwelling in safety.

13 Solomon reigned in days of peace,

And God gave him rest round about.

He prepared a house for his name,

And established a sanctuary forever.

14 How wise were you in your youth,

And overflowed, like the Nile, with instruction;

15 You covered the earth with your soul,

And gathered parables like the sea.

16 Your name reached to the isles afar off;

And for your peace you were beloved.

17 By your songs, proverbs, parables,

And answers to questions, you astonished the peoples.

18 You were called by the glorious name,

Which is called over Israel.

You heaped up gold like tin,

And multiplied silver like lead.

19 But you gave your loins to women,

And caused them to rule over your body;

20 Yes, you brought a blemish upon your honor,

And defiled your bed,

So as to bring wrath upon your children,

And sighing concerning your couch.

21 So the people became two scepters,

And from Ephraim [arose] a sinful kingdom.

22 Nevertheless, God did not forsake his mercy,

And will not let any of his words fall to the ground;

He will not cut off the posterity of his chosen,

And the offspring of those who love him he will not destroy;

And he gave to Jacob a remnant,

And to the house of David a root from him.

23 And Solomon slept in Jerusalem,

And left after him one who was overbearing;

Great in folly, and lacking in understanding

[Was] Rehoboam, he who by his counsel made the people revolt,

Until there arose, let there be no memorial of him,

Jeroboam the son of Nebat,

Who sinned, and made Israel to sin;

And he put a stumbling-block [before] Ephraim,

24 To drive them from their land;

And their sin became very great,

And they sold themselves to do all manner of evil.

48  Until there arose a prophet like fire,

And his word was like a burning furnace.

2 And he broke for them the staff of bread,

And by his zeal he made them small in number.

3 By the word of God he shut up the heavens,

Also fire came down three times.

4 How terrible were you, Elijah!

And he who is like you will be glorified.

5 Who raised up a corpse from death,

And from Sheol by the favor of Yahweh;

6 Who brought down kings to the Pit,

And famous men from their beds [of sickness];

7 Who heard rebukes from Sinai,

And from Horeb judgements of vengeance.

8 Who anointed kings for retribution,

And a prophet to succeed in your place.

9 Who in the whirlwind was taken upwards,

And with fiery troops to the heavens.

10 Who is written as ready for the time,

To still wrath before the fierce anger of God,

To turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,

And to restore the tribes of Israel.

11 Blessed are those who see you [at your return], and those who have fallen asleep in love;

For we too will surely live.

12 Elijah [it was] who was wrapped in a tempest,

Then Elisha was filled with his spirit.

In double measure he multiplied signs,

And wonderful was all that went forth from his mouth.

[During] his days he moved before none,

And no flesh ruled over his spirit;

13 Nothing was too wonderful for him,

And from his grave his flesh prophesied.

14 In his life he did wonderful acts,

And in his death marvellous works.

15 For all this the people did not turn,

And did not cease from their sins;

Until they were plucked from their land,

And were scattered in all the earth;

And there were left in Judah but a few;

Yet to the house of David was left a prince.

16 Some of them did that which was right,

And some of them sinned more and more.

17 Hezekiah fortified his city

By bringing water into the midst of it;

And he hewed the rocks with iron,

And dammed up the pool with mountains.

18 In his days Sennacherib came up,

And sent Rabshakeh,

Who stretched forth his hand against Zion,

And blasphemed God in his pride.

19 Then were they shaken in the pride of their heart,

And they were in anguish like a woman in travail;

20 So they called to God Most High,

And spread forth their hands to him,

And he heard the voice of their prayer,

And saved them by the hand of Isaiah.

21 And he smote the army of Assyria,

And discomfited them by the plague.

22 For Hezekiah did that which was pleasing to the Lord,

And was strong in the ways of David,

Which Isaiah the prophet commanded,

Who was great and faithful in his vision.

23 In his days the sun went backward,

And he added life to the king.

24 By a spirit of might he saw the latter end,

And comforted the mourners of Zion.

25 To eternity he declared the things that will be,

And hidden things before they came to pass.

49  The name of Josiah is as sweet incense,

That is well mixed, the work of the perfumer.

The memorial of him is sweet in the palate like honey,

And as music at a banquet of wine.

2 For he was grieved at their backslidings,

And caused the vain abominations to cease;

3 And he gave his heart wholly to God,

And in days of violence he showed kindness.

4 Except David, Hezekiah,

And Josiah, they all dealt corruptly,

And forsook the law of the Most High,—

The kings of Judah, until their end.

5 And their might was given to others,

And their glory to a strange nation.

6 And so the Holy City was burned,

And its ways were laid waste, by the hand of Jeremiah,

7 Because they persecuted him,

And from the womb he was a prophet,

"To pluck up, to break down, and to destroy,

And likewise to build, and to plant," and to strengthen.

8 Ezekiel saw a vision,

And declared the different beings of the chariot.

9 He also made mention of Job among the prophets,

Who was complete in all the ways of righteousness.

10 And also the Twelve Prophets,

May their bones sprout beneath them,

Who made Jacob whole,

And delivered him by confident hope.

11 How shall we magnify Zerubbabel,

He, indeed, was a signet on the right hand;

12 And also Joshua, the son of Jehozadak,

Who in their days built the House,

And set up on high the Holy Temple,

Which was prepared for everlasting glory.

13 Nehemiah, glorious is his memory.

Who raised up our ruins,

And healed our breaches,

And set up gates and bars.

14 Few have been created on the earth like Enoch;

He also was taken up from off the face of it.

15 Like Joseph was there ever a man born?

His body was also visited.

16 Shem, and Seth, with Enoch were honored;

But above every living thing was the glory of Adam.

Great among his brethren, and the glory of his people

50  Was Simeon, the son of Jochanan, the priest.

In whose generation the house was renovated,

And in whose days the temple was fortified;

2 In whose generation a reservoir was dug,

A water cistern like the sea in abundance.[420]

3 In his days the wall was built,

[With] turrets for strength like a king’s palace.

4 He considered how [to protect] his people from ruin,

And fortified his city against the enemy.

5 How glorious he was when he looked forth from the tent,

And when he came out of the sanctuary.

6 Like a morning star from between the clouds,

And like the full moon on the feast-days,

7 Like the sun shining upon the Temple of the King,

And like the bow appearing in the cloud;

8 Like blossoms on a branch in the days of first fruits,

And as a lily by the water brooks,

As the sprout of Lebanon in the days of summer,

9 And as the fire of incense in the censer;

Like a golden vessel beautifully wrought,

Adorned with all manner of precious stones;

10 Like a green olive tree full of berries,

And like a wild olive tree nourishing branches.

11 When he put on his glorious robes,

And clothed himself in full splendor,

When he went up to the altar of majesty,

And made glorious the court of the sanctuary;

12 When he took the portions from the hands of his brethren,

And he stood by the prepared wood,

Around him [was] the garland of his sons,

Like young cedar trees in Lebanon;

And like willows by the brook they surrounded him;

13 All the sons of Aaron in their glory,

And the offering by fire to Yahweh in their hand,

In the presence of all the congregations of Israel.

14 Until he had finished the service of the altar;

And setting in order the rows of wood for the Most High,

15 He stretched his hand to the cup,

And poured out the blood of the grape,

Yes, he poured it out at the foot of the altar,

A sweet-smelling savor to the Most High, the King of all.

16 Then the sons of Aaron sounded

With the trumpets of beaten work;

Yes, they sounded, and caused a mighty blast to be heard,

For a remembrance before the Most High.

17 [Then] all flesh made haste together,

And fell upon their faces to the earth,

To worship before the Most High,

Before the Holy One of Israel;

18 And the song then gave its voice,

And over the multitude they made sweet melody;

19 And all the people of the land cried

In prayer before him who is merciful,

Until he had finished the service of the altar,

And his ordinances had brought him near to him.

20 Then he came down and lifted up his hands

Upon all the congregation of Israel,

And the blessing of Yahweh [was] upon his lips,

And in the name of Yahweh he glorified himself.

21 And a second time they fell down, [now] to receive

The pardon of God from him.

22 Now bless the God of all,

Who does wondrously on earth,

Who exalts man from the womb,

And does to him according to his good pleasure.

23 May he grant to you wisdom of heart,

And may there be peace among you.

24 May his mercy be established with Simeon,

And may he raise up for him the covenant of Phinehas;

May there not be one cut off from him,

And as to his seed [may it be] as the days of heaven.

25 Against two nations does my soul feel abhorrence,

And [against] a third, [which is] not a people:

26 The inhabitants of Seir, and Philistia,

And that foolish nation which dwells in Shechem.

27 Wise instruction and apt proverbs

Of Simeon, the son of Jeshua, the son of Eleazar, the son of Sira,

Which he declared in the explanation of his heart,

And which he taught with his understanding.

28 Blessed is the man who meditates on these things;

And he who lays them up in his heart will become wise.

29 For if he does them, he will be strong for all things,

For the fear of Yahweh is life.

51  I will thank you,

Yahweh, O King,

I will praise you,

O God of my salvation;

I will declare your name,

You are the strength of my life;

2 For you have redeemed my soul from death,

You have kept back my flesh from the Pit,

And have delivered my feet from the hand of Sheol.

You preserved me from the slander of the people, from the scourge of a slanderous tongue,

And from the lips of those who turn aside to lying,

You were with me in the presence of those who rose up against me.

3 You helped me, according to the abundance of your mercy,

Out of the snare of those watching for my downfall,

And from the hand of those who seek my soul;

Out of many troubles you have saved me,

4 And from the straits of the flame [round about me],

From the midst of the fire that I did not kindle,

5 From the deep of the belly of Sheol,

From wickedly devising lips,

And from those who plaster falsehood,

6 And [from] the arrows of a deceitful tongue.

My soul drew near to death,

And my life to the nethermost Sheol;

7 And I turned about on every side, and there was none who helped me;

Yes, I looked for one to uphold, but there was none.

8 Then I remembered the lovingkindnesses of Yahweh,

And his mercies which have been from of old;

He delivers those who put their trust in him,

And redeems them from all evil.

9 And I lifted up my voice from the earth,

And from the gates of Sheol I cried;

10 Yes, I cried: "Yahweh, you are my Father,

My God, and the strength of my salvation,

Do not forsake me in the day of trouble,

In the day of wasteness and desolation.

11 I will praise your name continually,

And will remember you in prayer."

Then Yahweh heard my voice,

And gave ear to my supplication.

12 And he redeemed from all evil,

And delivered me in the day of trouble;

Therefore will I give thanks [to him] and praise [him],

And I will bless the name of Yahweh:

i. Give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good,

For his mercy endures forever.

ii. Give thanks to the God of praises,

For his mercy endures forever.

iii. Give thanks to the Keeper of Israel,

For his mercy endures forever.

iv. Give thanks to the Framer of all,

For his mercy endures forever.

v. Give thanks to the Redeemer of Israel,

For his mercy endures forever.

vi. Give thanks to him who gathers the outcasts of Israel,

For his mercy endures forever.

vii. Give thanks to him who builds his City and his Sanctuary,

For his mercy endures forever.

viii. Give thanks to him who causes a horn to sprout for the house of David,

For his mercy endures forever.

ix. Give thanks to him who chooses the sons of Zadok for priests,

For his mercy endures forever.

x. Give thanks to the Shield of Abraham,

For his mercy endures forever.

xi. Give thanks to the Rock of Isaac,

For his mercy endures forever.

xii. Give thanks to the Mighty One of Jacob,

For his mercy endures forever.

xiii. Give thanks to him who chooses Zion,

For his mercy endures forever.

xiv. Give thanks to the King of the kings of kings,

For his mercy endures forever.

xv. And he has exalted the horn of his people,

The praise of all his pious ones,

xvi. For the children of Israel,

a people near to him; Hallelujah.

13 I was a youth

When I desired her and sought her out.

14 In my youth I made supplication and prayer,

And I will seek her out even to the end.

15 She blossomed like a ripening grape,

My heart rejoiced in her;

My foot trod in her footstep;

From my youth I learned wisdom.

16 I bowed down my ear a little and received her,

And I found much knowledge.

17 And her yoke was a glory to me;

And to my teacher I offer thanks.

18 I purposed to do good with her,

And I will not turn back, for I will find her.

19 My soul was attached to her,

And I did not turn my face away from her.

I spread forth my hands to the heaven above,

And forever and ever I will not swerve from her.

My hand opened her gates,

And to her I entered, and looked upon her.

20 I directed my soul after her,

And in her purity I found her;

I obtained understanding through her guidance,

Therefore I will not be forsaken.

21 My inward parts were troubled like an oven [yearning] to look upon her,

Therefore I have obtained her as a good possession.

22 Yahweh gave me the reward of my lips,

And with my tongue I praise him.

23 Turn in to me, you+ unlearned,

And lodge in my house of instruction.

24 How long will you+ lack these things,

And your soul be very thirsty?

25 I open my mouth and speak of her,

Get wisdom for yourselves without money.

26 Bring your necks under her yoke,

And let your soul bear her burden;

She is near to those who seek her,

And he who yearns [for her] finds her.

27 See with your eyes that but a short time I labored for her,

And found abundance of peace.

28 Hearken to my teaching in [however small] a number,

And will you+ acquire much silver and gold  by it.

29 May my soul delight in my Yeshibah,

And you+ will not be ashamed to sing my praise.

30 Work your work before the time,

And he will give you your reward in its time.

Blessed be Yahweh, and praised be his name to generations. Thus far the words of Simeon, the son of Jeshua, who is called Ben-Sira. The Wisdom of Simeon, the son of Jeshua, the son of Eleazar, the son of Sira. May the name of Yahweh be blessed from now even to eternity.

__________________________

Isaiah

1  The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for Yahweh has spoken: I have nourished and brought up sons, and they have rebelled against me. 3 The ox knows his owner, and the donkey his master's crib; [but] Israel does not know, my people do not consider. 4 Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, sons who deal corruptly! They have forsaken Yahweh, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are estranged backward. 5 Why will you+ be still stricken, that you+ revolt more and more? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. 6 From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it; [but] wounds, and bruises, and fresh stripes: they haven't been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with oil. 7 Your+ country is desolate; your+ cities are burned with fire; your+ land, strangers devour it in your+ presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers. 8 And the daughter of Zion is left as a booth in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. 9 Except Yahweh of hosts had left to us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, we should have been like Gomorrah.

10 Hear the word of Yahweh, you+ rulers of Sodom; give ear to the law of our God, you+ people of Gomorrah. 11 What to me is the multitude of your+ sacrifices? says Yahweh: I have had enough of the burnt-offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I do not delight in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he-goats. 12 When you+ come to see my face,[421] who has required this at your+ hand, to trample my courts? 13 Bring no more vain oblations; incense is disgusting to me; new moon and Sabbath, the calling of assemblies—I can't endure evil and the solemn meeting. 14 Your+ new moons and your+ appointed feasts my soul hates; they are a trouble to me; I am weary of bearing them. 15 And when you+ spread forth your+ hands, I will hide my eyes from you+; yes, when you+ make many prayers, I will not hear: your+ hands are full of blood. 16 Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your+ doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil; 17 learn to do well; seek justice, correct oppression, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.

18 Come now, and let us reason together, says Yahweh: though your+ sins be as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they will be as wool. 19 If you+ are willing and obedient, you+ will eat the good of the land: 20 but if you+ refuse and rebel, you+ will be devoured with the sword; for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it.

21 How has the faithful city become a prostitute! She that was full of justice! Righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers. 22 Your silver has become dross, your wine mixed with water. 23 Your princes are rebellious, and partners of thieves; everyone loves bribes, and follows after rewards: they do not judge the fatherless, neither does the cause of the widow come to them.

24 Therefore says the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease myself of my adversaries, and avenge myself of my enemies; 25 and I will turn my hand on you, and thoroughly purge away your dross, and will take away all your tin; 26 and I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning: afterward you will be called The city of righteousness, a faithful town. 27 Zion will be redeemed with justice, and her converts with righteousness. 28 But the destruction of transgressors and sinners will be together, and those who forsake Yahweh will be consumed. 29 For they will be ashamed of the oaks which you+ have desired, and you+ will be confounded for the gardens that you+ have chosen. 30 For you+ will be as an oak whose leaf fades, and as a garden that has no water. 31 And the strong will be as flax, and his work as a spark; and they will both burn together, and none will quench them.

2  The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 2 And it will come to pass in the latter days, that the mountain of Yahweh's house will be established on the top of the mountains, and will be exalted above the hills; and all nations will flow to it. 3 And many peoples will go and say, Come+, and let us go up to the mountain of Yahweh, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion will go forth the law, and the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem. 4 And he will judge between the nations, and will decide concerning many peoples; and they will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation will not lift up sword against nation, neither will they learn war anymore.

5 O house of Jacob, come+, and let us walk in the light of Yahweh. 6 For you have forsaken your people the house of Jacob, because they are filled [with customs] from the east, and [are] omen interpreters like the Philistines, and they strike hands with the children of foreigners. 7 And their land is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures; their land also is full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots. 8 Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made. 9 And man is bowed down, and a man is brought low: therefore don't forgive them. 10 Enter into the rock, and hide in the dust, from before the terror of Yahweh, and from the majesty of his splendor. 11 The lofty looks of man will be brought low, and the haughtiness of men will be bowed down, and Yahweh alone will be exalted in that day.

12 For there will be a day of Yahweh of hosts on all that is proud and haughty, and on all that is lifted up; and it will be brought low; 13 and on all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and on all the oaks of Bashan, 14 and on all the high mountains, and on all the hills that are lifted up, 15 and on every lofty tower, and on every fortified wall, 16 and on all the ships of Tarshish, and on all pleasant imagery. 17 And the loftiness of man will be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men will be brought low; and Yahweh alone will be exalted in that day. 18 And the idols will completely pass away. 19 And men will go into the caves of the rocks, and into the holes of the earth, from before the terror of Yahweh, and from the majesty of his splendor, when he rises to mightily shake the earth. 20 In that day man will cast away their idols of silver, and their idols of gold, which have been made for them to worship, to the moles and to the bats; 21 to go into the caverns of the rocks, and into the clefts of the ragged rocks, from before the terror of Yahweh, and from the majesty of his splendor, when he rises to mightily shake the earth. 22 Cease yourselves from man, whose breath is in his nostrils; for what is he to be accounted of?

3  For, look, the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, takes away from Jerusalem and from Judah support and means of support, the whole support of bread, and the whole support of water; 2 the mighty man, and the man of war; the judge, and the prophet, and the fortune-teller, and the elder; 3 the captain of fifty, and the honorable man, and the counselor, and the expert artificer, and the expert charmer. 4 And I will give children to be their princes, and babes will rule over them. 5 And the people will be oppressed, man against man, and a man by his fellow man: the child will behave himself proudly against the old man, and the base against the honorable. 6 When a man will take hold of his brother in the house of his father, [saying,] You have clothing, be our ruler, and let this ruin be under your hand; 7 in that day he will lift up [his voice], saying, I will not be a healer; for in my house is neither bread nor clothing: you+ will not make me ruler of the people. 8 For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen; because their tongue and their doings are against Yahweh, to provoke the eyes of his glory. 9 The expression of their face witnesses against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they do not hide it. Woe to their soul! For they have done evil to themselves. 10 Say+ of the righteous, that [it will be] well [with him]; for they will eat the fruit of their doings. 11 Woe to the wicked! [It will be] ill [with him]; for what his hands have done will be done to him. 12 As for my people, children are their oppressors, and creditors rule over them. O my people, those who lead you cause you to err, and destroy the way of your paths.[422]

13 Yahweh stands up to contend, and stands to judge the peoples. 14 Yahweh will enter into judgment with the elders of his people, and its princes: It is you+ who have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your+ houses: 15 what do you+ mean that you+ crush my people, and grind the face of the poor? says the Lord, Yahweh of hosts.

16 Moreover Yahweh said, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with outstretched necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet; 17 therefore the Lord will strike with a scab the top of the head of the daughters of Zion, and Yahweh will lay bare their secret parts. 18 In that day the Lord will take away the beauty of their anklets, and the cauls, and the crescents; 19 the pendants, and the bracelets, and the mufflers; 20 the headtires, and the ankle chains, and the sashes, and the houses of the soul[423], and the amulets; 21 the rings, and the nose-jewels; 22 the festival robes, and the mantles, and the shawls, and the satchels; 23 the hand-mirrors, and the fine linen, and the turbans, and the veils. 24 And it will come to pass, that instead of sweet spices there will be rottenness; and instead of a belt, a rope; and instead of well set hair, baldness; and instead of a robe, a girding of sackcloth; branding instead of beauty. 25 Your men will fall by the sword, and your mighty in the war. 26 And her gates will lament and mourn; and she will sit on the ground emptied.  4  And seven women will take hold of one man in that day, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by your name; take away our reproach.

2 In that day the branch of Yahweh will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be excellent and comely for those who have escaped of Israel. 3 And it will come to pass, that he who is left in Zion, and he who remains in Jerusalem, will be called holy, even everyone who is written to life in Jerusalem; 4 when the Lord will have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and will have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst of it, by the spirit of justice, and by the spirit of burning. 5 And Yahweh will create over the whole habitation of mount Zion, and over her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory [will be spread] a covering. 6 And there will be a pavilion for a shade in the daytime from the heat, and for a refuge and for a covert from storm and from rain.

5  Let me sing for my wellbeloved a song of my beloved concerning his vineyard. My wellbeloved had a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: 2 and he dug it, and gathered out its stones, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also hewed out a wine press in it: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth bad [grapes].

3 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, I pray you+, between me and my vineyard. 4 What more could have been done to my vineyard, that I haven't done in it? Why, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, did it bring forth bad [grapes]? 5 And now I will tell you+ what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it will be eaten up; I will break down its wall, and it will be trodden down: 6 and I will lay it waste; it will not be pruned nor hoed; but there will come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it. 7 For the vineyard of Yahweh of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for justice, but, look, oppression; for righteousness, but, look, a cry.

8 Woe to those who join house to house, who lay field to field, until there is no room, and you+ are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land! 9 Yahweh of hosts [revealed] in my ears,[424] Of a truth many houses will be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant. 10 For ten acres of vineyard will yield one bath, and a homer of seed will yield [but] an ephah. 11 Woe to those who rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; who tarry late into the night, until wine inflames them! 12 And the harp and the lute, the tabret and the pipe, and wine, are [in] their feasts; but they do not regard the work of Yahweh, neither have they considered the operation of his hands.

13 Therefore my people have gone into captivity for lack of knowledge; and their honorable men are famished, and their multitude are parched with thirst. 14 Therefore Sheol has enlarged its soul, and opened its mouth without measure; and their majesty, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he who rejoices among them, descend [into it]. 15 And man is bowed down, and a man is humbled, and the eyes of the lofty are humbled: 16 but Yahweh of hosts is exalted in justice, and God the Holy One is sanctified in righteousness. 17 Then the lambs will be shepherded as in their pasture, and wanderers will eat the waste places of the fat ones.

18 Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, and sin as it were with a cart rope; 19 who say, Let him make speed, let him hurry his work, that we may see it; and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come, that we may know it! 20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! 21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! 22 Woe to those who are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink; 23 who justify the wicked for a bribe, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!

24 Therefore as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and as the dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their root will be as rottenness, and their blossom will go up as dust; because they have rejected the law of Yahweh of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. 25 Therefore is the anger of Yahweh kindled against his people, and he has stretched forth his hand against them, and has struck them; and the mountains tremble, and their dead bodies are as refuse in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

26 And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss for them from the end of the earth; and, look, they will come with speed swiftly. 27 None will be weary nor stumble among them; none will slumber nor sleep; neither will the loincloth of their loins be loosed, nor the strap of their sandals be broken: 28 whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent; their horses' hoofs will be accounted as flint, and their wheels as a whirlwind: 29 their roaring will be like a lioness, they will roar like young lions; yes, they will roar, and lay hold of the prey, and carry it away safe, and there will be none to deliver. 30 And they will roar against them in that day like the roaring of the sea: and if one looks to the land, look, darkness [and] distress; and the light is darkened in its clouds.

6  In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim: each one had six wings; with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one cried to another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is Yahweh of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. 4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who cried, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 Then I said, Woe is me! For I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for my eyes have seen the King, Yahweh of hosts.

6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having a live charcoal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: 7 and he touched my mouth with it, and said, Look, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin forgiven. 8 And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then I said, Here I am; send me. 9 And he said, Go, and tell this people, You+ indeed hear, but don't understand; and you+ indeed see, but don't perceive. 10 Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; or else they will see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn again, and be healed. 11 Then I said, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until cities are waste without inhabitant, and houses without man, and the land becomes completely waste, 12 and Yahweh has removed man far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. 13 And if there is yet a tenth in it, it also will in turn be eaten up: as a terebinth or as an oak whose stump remains when it is felled; so the holy seed is its stump.

7  And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it. 2 And it was told the house of David, saying, Syria is confederate with Ephraim. And his heart trembled, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the forest tremble with the wind.

3 Then Yahweh said to Isaiah, Go forth now to meet Ahaz, you, and Shear-jashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, in the highway of the fuller's field; 4 and say to him, Take heed, and be quiet; don't be afraid, neither let your heart be faint, because of these two tails of smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria, and of the son of Remaliah. 5 Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, have purposed evil against you, saying, 6 Let us go up against Judah, and vex it, and let us make a breach in it for us, and set up a king in the midst of it, even the son of Tabeel; 7 thus says the Sovereign Yahweh, It will not stand, neither will it come to pass. 8 For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin; and within threescore and five years will Ephraim be broken in pieces, so that it will not be a people: 9 and the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah's son. If you+ will not believe, surely you+ will not be established.

10 And Yahweh spoke again to Ahaz, saying, 11 Ask a sign of Yahweh your God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above. 12 But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I try Yahweh. 13 And he said, Hear+ now, O house of David: Is it a small thing for you+ to weary men, that you+ will weary my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you+ a sign: look, the young woman[425] will be pregnant, and give birth to a son, and will call his name Immanuel.[426] 15 Butter and honey he will eat, when he knows to refuse the evil, and choose the good. 16 For before the child will know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land whose two kings you abhor will be forsaken. 17 Yahweh will bring on you, and on your people, and on your father's house, days that have not come, from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah—[even] the king of Assyria. 18 And it will come to pass in that day, that Yahweh will hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. 19 And they will come, and will rest all of them in the desolate valleys, and in the clefts of the rocks, and on all thorn-hedges, and on all pastures. 20 In that day the Lord will shave with a razor that is hired in the parts beyond the River, [even] with the king of Assyria, the head and the hair of the feet; and it will also consume the beard.

21 And it will come to pass in that day, that a man will keep alive a young cow, and two sheep; 22 and it will come to pass, that because of the abundance of milk which they will give he will eat butter: for butter and honey will every one eat who is left in the midst of the land.

23 And it will come to pass in that day, that every place, where there were a thousand vines at a thousand [shekels] of silver, will be for briers and thorns. 24 With arrows and with bow will one come there, because all the land will be briers and thorns. 25 And all the hills that were dug with the mattock, you will not come there for fear of briers and thorns; but it will be for the sending forth of oxen, and for the treading of sheep.

8  And Yahweh said to me, Take for yourself a great tablet, and write on it with the pen of common man, For Maher-shalal-hash-baz; 2 and I will take to me faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah. 3 And I went to the prophetess; and she became pregnant, and gave birth to a son. Then Yahweh said to me, Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz. 4 For before the child will have knowledge to cry, My father, and, My mother, the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.

5 And Yahweh spoke to me yet again, saying, 6 Since this people have refused the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah's son; 7 now therefore, look, the Lord brings up on them the waters of the River, strong and many, [even] the king of Assyria and all his glory: and it will come up over all its channels, and go over all its banks; 8 and it will sweep onward into Judah; it will overflow and pass through; it will reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of its wings will fill the width of your land, O Immanuel.

9 Make an uproar, O you+ peoples, and be broken in pieces; and give ear, all you+ of far countries: gird yourselves, and be broken in pieces; gird yourselves, and be broken in pieces. 10 Take counsel together, and it will be brought to nothing; speak the word, and it will not stand: for God is with us.[427] 11 For Yahweh spoke thus to me with a strong hand, and he turned me away [so as] not to walk in the way of this people, saying, 12 Don't say+, A conspiracy, concerning all of which this people will say, A conspiracy; neither be+ afraid of their fear, nor be in dread [of it]. 13 Yahweh of hosts, you+ will sanctify him; and let him be your+ fear, and let him be your+ dread. 14 And he will be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel, for a trap and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 15 And many will stumble on it, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.

16 Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. 17 And I will wait for Yahweh, who hides his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him. 18 Look, I and the children whom Yahweh has given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from Yahweh of hosts, who stays in mount Zion.

19 And when they will say to you+, Seek to the spiritists and to the wizards, who chirp and who mutter: should not a people seek to their God? On behalf of the living [should they seek] to the dead? 20 To the law and to the testimony! If they don't speak according to this word, surely there is no morning for them. 21 And they will pass through it, very distressed and hungry; and it will come to pass that, when they will be hungry, they will fret themselves, and curse by their king and by their God, and turn their faces upward: 22 and they will look to the earth, and see distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and into thick darkness [they will be] driven away.

9  But there will be no gloom to her that was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali; but in the latter time he has made it glorious, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. 2 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light: those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, on them light has shined. 3 You have multiplied the nation, you have increased their joy: they joy before you according to the joy in harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. 4 For the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as in the day of Midian. 5 For all the armor of the armed man in the tumult, and the garments rolled in blood, will be for burning, for fuel of fire. 6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be on his shoulder: and his name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David, and on his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from now on even forever. The zeal of Yahweh of hosts will perform this.

8 The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it has fallen on Israel. 9 And all the people will know, [even] Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria, who say in pride and in stoutness of heart, 10 The bricks have fallen, but we will build with cut stone; the sycamores are cut down, but we will put cedars in their place. 11 Therefore Yahweh will set up on high against him the adversaries of Rezin, and will stir up his enemies, 12 the Syrians before, and the Philistines behind; and they will devour Israel with open mouth. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

13 Yet the people have not turned to him who struck them, neither have they sought Yahweh of hosts. 14 Therefore Yahweh will cut off from Israel head and tail, palm-branch and rush, in one day. 15 The elder and the honorable man, he is the head; and the prophet who teaches lies, he is the tail. 16 For those who lead this people cause them to err; and those who are led of them are destroyed. 17 Therefore the Lord will not show mercy over their young men, neither will he have compassion on their fatherless and widows; for everyone is profane and an evildoer, and every mouth speaks folly. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

18 For wickedness burns as the fire; it devours the briers and thorns; yes, it kindles in the thickets of the forest, and they roll upward in a column of smoke. 19 Through the wrath of Yahweh of hosts is the land darkened;[428] and the people are as the fuel of fire: no man spares his brother. 20 And one will snatch on the right hand, and be hungry; and he will eat on the left hand, and they will not be satisfied: they will eat every man the flesh of his own arm: 21 Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh; and they together will be against Judah. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

10  Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, and to the writers who write perverseness; 2 to turn aside the needy from justice, and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be their spoil, and that they may make the fatherless their prey! 3 And what will you+ do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which will come from afar? To whom will you+ flee for help? And where will you+ leave your+ glory? 4 They will only bow down under the prisoners, and will fall under the slain. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

5 Ho Assyrian, the rod of my anger, the staff in whose hand is my indignation! 6 I will send him against a godless nation, and against the people of my wrath I will give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. 7 Nevertheless he does not mean so, neither does his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off not a few nations. 8 For he says, Are not my princes all of them kings? 9 Isn't Calno as Carchemish? Isn't Hamath as Arpad? Isn't Samaria as Damascus? 10 As my hand has found the kingdoms of the idols, whose graven images excelled those of Jerusalem and of Samaria; 11 shall I not, as I have done to Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?

12 Therefore it will come to pass, that, when the Lord has performed his whole work on mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks. 13 For he has said, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I have understanding: and I have removed the bounds of the peoples, and have robbed their treasures, and like a valiant man I have brought down those who sit [on thrones]: 14 and my hand has found as a nest the riches of the peoples; and as one gathers eggs that are forsaken, I have gathered all the earth: and there was none that moved the wing, or that opened the mouth, or chirped.

15 Will the ax boast itself against him who cuts with it? Will the saw magnify itself against him who wields it? As if a rod should wield those who lift it up, [or] as if a staff should lift up [him who is] not wood. 16 Therefore will the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory there will be kindled a burning like the burning of fire. 17 And the light of Israel will be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame; and it will burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day. 18 And he will consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body: and it will be as when a standard-bearer faints. 19 And the remnant of the trees of his forest will be few, so that a child may write them.

20 And it will come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and those who have escaped of the house of Jacob, will no more again lean on him who struck them, but will lean on Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. 21 A remnant will return, [even] the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. 22 For though your people, Israel, are as the sand of the sea, [only] a remnant of them will return: a destruction [is] determined, overflowing with righteousness. 23 For a full end, and that determined, will the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, make in the midst of all the earth.

24 Therefore thus says the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, O my people who dwell in Zion, don't be afraid of the Assyrian, though he strikes you with the rod, and lifts up his staff against you, after the manner of Egypt. 25 For yet a very little while, and the indignation [against you] will be accomplished, and my anger [will be directed] to his destruction. 26 And Yahweh of hosts will stir up against him a scourge, as in the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb: and his rod will be over the sea, and he will lift it up after the manner of Egypt. 27 And it will come to pass in that day, that his burden will depart from off your shoulder, and his yoke from off your neck, and the yoke will be destroyed by reason of fatness.

28 He has come to Aiath, he has passed through Migron; at Michmash he lays up his baggage; 29 they have gone over the pass; they have taken up their lodging at Geba; Ramah trembles; Gibeah of Saul has fled. 30 Cry aloud with your voice, O daughter of Gallim! Listen, O Laishah! O you poor Anathoth! 31 Madmenah is a fugitive; the inhabitants of Gebim flee for safety. 32 This very day he will halt at Nob: he shakes his hand at the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.

33 Look, the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, will lop the boughs with terror: and the high of stature will be cut down, and the lofty will be brought low. 34 And he will cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon will fall by a majestic one.

11  And there will come forth a shoot out of the stock of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots will bear fruit. 2 And the Spirit of Yahweh will rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Yahweh. 3 And his delight will be in the fear of Yahweh; and he will not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither decide after the hearing of his ears; 4 but with righteousness he will judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; and with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. 5 And righteousness will be the loincloth of his waist, and faithfulness the loincloth of his loins.

6 And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat; and the calf and the young lion will grow fat together; and a little child will lead them. 7 And the cow and the bear will be shepherded; their young ones will lie down together; and the lion will eat straw like the ox. 8 And the nursing child will play on the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child will put his hand on the adder's den. 9 They will not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of knowledge of Yahweh, as the waters cover the sea.

10 And it will come to pass in that day, that the root of Jesse, who stands for an ensign of the peoples, to him will the nations seek; and his resting-place will be glorious.

11 And it will come to pass in that day, that the Lord will set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, who will remain, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. 12 And he will set up an ensign for the nations, and will assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. 13 The envy also of Ephraim will depart, and those who vex Judah will be cut off: Ephraim will not envy Judah, and Judah will not vex Ephraim. 14 And they will fly down on the shoulder of the Philistines on the west; together they will despoil the sons of the east: they will put forth their hand on Edom and Moab; and the sons of Ammon will obey them. 15 And Yahweh will completely destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his scorching wind he will wave his hand over the River, and will strike it into seven streams, and cause men to march over in sandals. 16 And there will be a highway for the remnant of his people, who will remain, from Assyria; like there was for Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.

12  And in that day you will say, I will give thanks to you, O Yahweh; for though you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and you comfort me. 2 Look, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for Yah, Yahweh, is my strength and song; and he has become my salvation. 3 Therefore with joy you+ will draw water out of the wells of salvation. 4 And in that day you+ will say, Give thanks to Yahweh, call on his name, declare his doings among the peoples, make mention that his name is exalted. 5 Sing to Yahweh; for he has done excellent things: let this be known in all the earth. 6 Cry aloud and shout, you inhabitant of Zion; for great in the midst of you is the Holy One of Israel.

13  The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw. 2 Set+ up an ensign on the bare mountain, lift up the voice to them, wave the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles. 3 I have commanded my consecrated ones, yes, I have called my mighty men for my anger, even my proudly exulting ones. 4 The noise of a multitude in the mountains, as of a great people! The noise of a tumult of the kingdoms of the nations gathered together! Yahweh of hosts is mustering the host for the battle. 5 They come from a far country, from the uttermost part of heaven, even Yahweh, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land.

6 Wail+; for the day of Yahweh is at hand; as destruction from the Almighty it will come. 7 Therefore all hands will be feeble, and every heart of common man will melt: 8 and they will be dismayed; pangs and sorrows will take hold [of them]; they will be in pain as a woman in travail: they will look in amazement one at another; their faces [will be] faces of flame. 9 Look, the day of Yahweh comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger; to make the land a desolation, and to destroy its sinners out of it. 10 For the stars of heaven and its constellations will not give their light; the sun will be darkened in its going forth, and the moon will not cause its light to shine. 11 And I will punish the world for [its] evil, and the wicked for their iniquity: and I will cause the arrogance of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. 12 I will make common man[429] more rare than fine gold, even man more than the pure gold of Ophir. 13 Therefore I will make the heavens to tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place, in the wrath of Yahweh of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger. 14 And it will come to pass, that as the chased roe, and as sheep that no man gathers, they will turn every man to his own people, and will flee every man to his own land. 15 Everyone who is found will be thrust through; and everyone who is taken will fall by the sword. 16 Their infants also will be dashed in pieces before their eyes; their houses will be rifled, and their wives raped.

17 Look, I will stir up the Medes against them, who will not regard silver, and as for gold, they will not delight in it. 18 And [their] bows will dash the young men in pieces; and they will have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye will not spare sons. 19 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans' pride, will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. 20 It will never be inhabited, neither will it be stayed in from generation to generation: neither will the Arabian pitch tent there; neither will shepherds make their flocks to lie down there. 21 But wild beasts of the desert will lie there; and their houses will be full of doleful creatures; and ostriches will stay there, and wild goats will dance there. 22 And wolves will cry in their castles, and jackals in the pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days will not be prolonged.

14  For Yahweh will have compassion on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land: and the sojourner will join himself with them, and they will be united to the house of Jacob. 2 And the peoples will take them, and bring them to their place; and the house of Israel will possess them in the land of Yahweh for male slaves and for female slaves: and they will take them captive whose captives they were; and they will rule over their oppressors.

3 And it will come to pass in the day that Yahweh will give you rest from your sorrow, and from your trouble, and from the hard service in which you were made to serve, 4 that you will take up this parable against the king of Babylon, and say, How has the oppressor ceased! The arrogance has ceased! 5 Yahweh has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers; 6 that struck the peoples in wrath with a continual stroke, that ruled the nations in anger with a persecution that none restrained. 7 The whole earth is at rest, [and] is quiet: they break forth into singing. 8 Yes, the fir-trees rejoice at you, [and] the cedars of Lebanon, [saying,] Since you are laid low, no hewer has come up against us. 9 Sheol from beneath is moved for you to meet you at your coming; it stirs up the spirits of the dead for you, even all the chief ones of the earth; it has raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. 10 They will all answer and say to you, Have you also become weak as we? Have you become like us? 11 Your pomp is brought down to Sheol, [and] the noise of your viols: the maggot is spread under you, and the worm covers you.

12 How you have fallen from heaven, O day-star, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, who laid low the nations! 13 And you said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; and I will sit on the mount of congregation, in the uttermost parts of the north; 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High. 15 Yet you will be brought down to Sheol, to the uttermost parts of the pit. 16 Those who see you will gaze at you, they will consider you, [saying,] Is this the man who made the earth to tremble, who shook kingdoms; 17 who made the world as a wilderness, and overthrew its cities; who did not let loose his prisoners to their home? 18 All the kings of the nations, all of them, sleep in glory, every one in his own house. 19 But you are cast forth away from your tomb like a disgusting branch, clothed with the slain, who are thrust through with the sword, who go down to the stones of the pit; as a dead body trodden under foot. 20 You will not be joined with them in burial, because you have destroyed your land, you have slain your people; the seed of evildoers will not be named forever.

21 Prepare+ slaughter for his sons for the iniquity of their fathers, that they do not rise up, and possess the earth, and fill the face of the world with cities. 22 And I will rise up against them, says Yahweh of hosts, and cut off from Babylon name and remnant, and son and son's son, says Yahweh. 23 I will also make it a possession for the porcupine, and pools of water: and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, says Yahweh of hosts.

24 Yahweh of hosts has sworn, saying, Surely, as I have thought, so it will come to pass; and as I have purposed, so it will stand: 25 that I will break the Assyrian in my land, and on my mountains tread him under foot: then will his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulder. 26 This is the purpose that is purposed on the whole earth; and this is the hand that is stretched out on all the nations. 27 For Yahweh of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? And his hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?

28 In the year that King Ahaz died was this burden. 29 Do not rejoice, O Philistia, all of you, because the rod that struck you is broken; for out of the serpent's root will come forth an adder, and his fruit will be a fiery flying serpent.[430] 30 And the firstborn of the poor will be shepherded, and the needy will lie down in safety; and I will kill your root with famine, and he will slay your remnant. 31 Howl, O gate; cry, O city; you are melted away, O Philistia, all of you; for there comes a smoke out of the north, and there is no straggler in his ranks.

32 What then will one answer the messengers of the nation? That Yahweh has founded Zion, and in her will the afflicted of his people take refuge.

15  The burden of Moab. For in a night Ar of Moab is laid waste, [and] brought to nothing; for in a night Kir of Moab is laid waste, [and] brought to nothing. 2 Ha-Bayith went up, and Dibon, to the high places to weep: Moab wails over Nebo, and over Medeba; on all their heads is baldness, every beard is cut off. 3 In their streets they gird themselves with sackcloth; on their housetops, and in their broad places, every one wails, weeping abundantly. 4 And Heshbon cries out, and Elealeh; their voice is heard even to Jahaz: therefore the armed men of Moab cry aloud; his soul trembles inside him. 5 My heart cries out for Moab; her nobles [flee] to Zoar, to Eglath-shelishi-yah: for by the ascent of Luhith with weeping they go up; for in the way of Horonaim they raise up a cry of destruction. 6 For the waters of Nimrim will be desolate; for the grass is withered away, the tender grass fails, there is no green thing. 7 Therefore the abundance they have gotten, and that which they have laid up, they will carry away over the brook of the willows. 8 For the cry has gone round about the borders of Moab; its wailing to Eglaim, and its wailing to Beer-elim. 9 For the waters of Dimon are full of blood; for I will bring yet more on Dimon, a lion on those of Moab who escape, and on the remnant of the land.

16  Send+ the lambs for the ruler of the land from Selah to the wilderness, to the mount of the daughter of Zion. 2 For it will be that, as wandering birds, as a scattered nest, so will the daughters of Moab be at the fords of the Arnon. 3 Give counsel, execute justice; make your shade as the night in the midst of the noonday; hide the outcasts; don't betray the fugitive. 4 Let my outcasts dwell with you; as for Moab, be a covert to him from the face of the destroyer. For the extortioner is brought to nothing, destruction ceases, the oppressors are consumed out of the land. 5 And a throne will be established in loving-kindness; and one will sit on it in truth, in the tent of David, judging, and seeking justice, and swift to do righteousness.

6 We have heard of the pride of Moab, [that] he is very proud; even of his arrogance, and his pride, and his wrath; his boastings are nothing. 7 Therefore Moab will wail for Moab, everyone will wail: for the raisin-cakes of Kir-hareseth you+ will mourn, completely stricken. 8 For the fields of Heshbon languish, [and] the vine of Sibmah; the lords of the nations have broken down its choice branches, which reached even to Jazer, which wandered into the wilderness; its shoots were spread abroad, they passed over the sea. 9 Therefore I will weep with the weeping of Jazer for the vine of Sibmah; I will soak you with my tears, O Heshbon, and Elealeh: for on your summer fruits and on your harvest the [battle] shout is fallen. 10 And gladness is taken away, and joy out of the fruitful field; and in the vineyards there will be no singing, neither joyful noise: no treader will tread out wine in the presses; I have made the [vintage] shout to cease. 11 Therefore my insides sound like a harp for Moab, and my inward parts for Kir-heres. 12 And it will come to pass, when Moab presents himself, when he wearies himself on the high place, and will come to his sanctuary to pray, that he will not prevail.

13 This is the word that Yahweh spoke concerning Moab in time past. 14 But now Yahweh has spoken, saying, Within three years, as the years of a hired worker, the glory of Moab will be brought into contempt, with all his great multitude; and the remnant will be very small and of no account.

17  The burden of Damascus. Look, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it will be a ruinous heap. 2 The cities of Aroer are forsaken; they will be for flocks, which will lie down, and none will make them afraid. 3 And the fortress will cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria; they will be as the glory of the sons of Israel, says Yahweh of hosts.

4 And it will come to pass in that day, that the glory of Jacob will be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh will wax lean. 5 And it will be as when one gathers the harvest of standing grain, and his arm reaps the ears; yes, it will be as when one gleans ears in the valley of Rephaim. 6 Yet there will be left in it gleanings, as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outermost branches of a fruitful tree, says Yahweh, the God of Israel. 7 In that day man will look to their Maker, and their eyes will have respect to the Holy One of Israel. 8 And they will not look to the altars, the work of their hands; neither will they have respect to that which their fingers have made, either the Asherim, or the sun-images. 9 In that day their strong cities will be as the forsaken places in the forest and on the mountain top, which were forsaken from before the sons of Israel; and it will be a desolation. 10 For you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and haven't been mindful of the rock of your strength; therefore you plant pleasant plants, and set it with strange slips. 11 In the day of your planting you hedge it in, and in the morning you make your seed to blossom; but the harvest flees away in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.

12 Ah, the uproar of many peoples, that roar like the roaring of the seas; and the rushing of nations, that rush like the rushing of mighty waters! 13 The nations will rush like the rushing of many waters: but he will rebuke them, and they will flee far off, and will be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like the whirling dust before the storm. 14 At evening, look, terror; [and] before the morning they are not. This is the portion of those who despoil us, and the lot of those who rob us.

18  Ah, the land of the rustling of wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia; 2 that sends ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of papyrus on the waters, [saying,] Go, you+ swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth, to a people awesome from their beginning onward, a nation that metes out and treads down, whose land the rivers divide! 3 All you+ inhabitants of the world, and you+ who stay on the earth, when an ensign is lifted up on the mountains, see+; and when the trumpet is blown, hear+.

4 For thus has Yahweh said to me, I will be still, and I will behold in my dwelling-place, like clear heat in sunshine, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest. 5 For before the harvest, when the blossom is over, and the flower becomes a ripening grape, he will cut off the sprigs with pruning-hooks, and the spreading branches he will take away [and] cut down. 6 They will be left together to the ravenous birds of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth; and the ravenous birds will summer on them, and all the beasts of the earth will winter on them. 7 In that time will a present be brought to Yahweh of hosts from a people tall and smooth, even from a people awesome from their beginning onward, a nation that metes out and treads down, whose land the rivers divide, to the place of the name of Yahweh of hosts, the mount Zion.

19  The burden of Egypt. Look, Yahweh rides on a swift cloud, and comes to Egypt: and the idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence; and the heart of Egypt will melt in the midst of it. 2 And I will stir up the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they will fight a man against his brother, and a man against his fellow man; city against city, [and] kingdom against kingdom. 3 And the spirit of Egypt will fail in the midst of it; and I will destroy its counsel: and they will seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to the spiritists, and to the wizards. 4 And I will give over the Egyptians into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king will rule over them, says the Lord, Yahweh of hosts.

5 And the waters will fail from the sea, and the river will be wasted and become dry. 6 And the rivers will become foul; the streams of Egypt will be diminished and dried up; the reeds and flags will wither away. 7 The meadows by the Nile, by the brink of the Nile, and all the sown fields of the Nile, will become dry, be driven away, and be no more. 8 And the fishers will lament, and all those who cast angle into the Nile will mourn, and those who spread nets on the waters will languish. 9 Moreover those who work in combed flax will be confounded, and the weavers will grow pale. 10 And the weavers will be broken in pieces; all those who work for wages [will be] grieved in soul.

11 The princes of Zoan are completely foolish; the counsel of the wisest counselors of Pharaoh has become brutish: how do you+ say to Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings? 12 Where then are your wise men? And let them tell you now if they know what Yahweh of hosts has purposed concerning Egypt. 13 The princes of Zoan have become fools, the princes of Memphis are deceived; they have caused Egypt to go astray, who are the cornerstone of her tribes. 14 Yahweh has mingled a spirit of perverseness in the midst of her; and they have caused Egypt to go astray in every work of her, as a drunk man staggers in his vomit. 15 Neither will there be for Egypt any work, which head or tail, palm-branch or rush, may do.

16 In that day the Egyptians will be like women; and they will tremble and fear because of the shaking of the hand of Yahweh of hosts, which he shakes over them. 17 And the land of Judah will become a terror to Egypt; everyone to whom mention is made of it will be afraid, because of the purpose of Yahweh of hosts, which he purposes against it.

18 In that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak the language of Canaan, and swear to Yahweh of hosts; one will be called The City of the Sun.

19 In that day there will be an altar to Yahweh in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at its border to Yahweh. 20 And it will be for a sign and for a witness to Yahweh of hosts in the land of Egypt; for they will cry to Yahweh because of oppressors, and he will send them a savior, and a defender, and he will deliver them. 21 And Yahweh will be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know Yahweh in that day; yes, they will worship with sacrifice and oblation, and will vow a vow to Yahweh, and will perform it. 22 And Yahweh will strike Egypt, striking and healing; and they will return to Yahweh, and he will be entreated of them, and will heal them.

23 In that day there will be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian will come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria; and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.

24 In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth; 25 for Yahweh of hosts has blessed them, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.

20  In the year that Tartan came to Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him, and he fought against Ashdod and took it; 2 at that time Yahweh spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, Go, and loose the sackcloth from off your loins, and put your sandal from off your foot. And he did so, walking naked and barefoot. 3 And Yahweh said, Like my slave Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and a wonder concerning Egypt and concerning Ethiopia; 4 so will the king of Assyria lead away the captives of Egypt, and the exiles of Ethiopia, young and old, naked and barefoot, and with buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt. 5 And they will be dismayed and confounded, because of Ethiopia their expectation, and of Egypt their glory. 6 And the inhabitant of this coast-land will say in that day, Look, such is our expectation, where we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria: and we, how shall we escape?

21  The burden of the wilderness of the sea. As whirlwinds in the South sweep through, it comes from the wilderness, from a terrible land. 2 A grievous vision is declared to me; the betrayer betrays, and the destroyer destroys. Go up, O Elam; besiege, O Media; all her sighing I have made to cease. 3 Therefore my loins are filled with anguish; pangs have taken hold on me, as the pangs of a woman in travail: I am pained so that I can't hear; I am dismayed so that I can't see. 4 My heart flutters, horror has frightened me; the twilight that I desired has been turned into trembling to me. 5 They prepare the table, they set the watch, they eat, they drink: rise up, you+ princes, anoint the shield. 6 For thus has the Lord said to me, Go, set a watchman: let him declare what he sees: 7 and when he sees a troop, horsemen in pairs, a troop of donkeys, a troop of camels, he will listen diligently with much heed. 8 And he cried as a lion: O Lord, I stand continually on the watchtower in the daytime, and am set in my ward whole nights; 9 and, look, here comes a troop of men, horsemen in pairs. And he answered and said, Fallen, fallen is Babylon; and all the graven images of her gods are broken to the ground.

10 O you my threshing, and the grain of my floor! That which I have heard from Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, I have declared to you+.

11 The burden of Dumah. One calls to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? 12 The watchman said, The morning comes, and also the night: if you+ will inquire, inquire+: turn+, come+.

13 The burden on Arabia. In the forest in Arabia you+ will lodge, O you+ caravans of Dedanites. 14 To him who was thirsty they brought water; the inhabitants of the land of Tema met the fugitives with their bread. 15 For they fled away from the swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, and from the grievousness of war. 16 For thus has the Lord said to me, Within a year, according to the years of a hired worker, all the glory of Kedar will fail; 17 and the residue of the number of the archers, the mighty men of the sons of Kedar, will be few; for Yahweh, the God of Israel, has spoken it.

22  The burden of the valley of vision. What ails you now, that you are wholly gone up to the housetops? 2 O you who are full of shoutings, a tumultuous city, a joyous town; your slain are not slain with the sword, neither are they dead in battle. 3 All your rulers fled away together, they were bound by the archers; all who were found of you were bound together; they fled far off. 4 Therefore I said, Look away from me, I will weep bitterly; don't labor to comfort me for the destruction of the daughter of my people.

5 For it is a day of discomfiture, and of treading down, and of perplexity, from the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, in the valley of vision; a breaking down of the walls, and a crying to the mountains. 6 And Elam bore the quiver, with chariots of man [and] horsemen; and Kir uncovered the shield. 7 And it came to pass, that your choicest valleys were full of chariots, and the horsemen set themselves in array at the gate. 8 And he took away the covering of Judah; and you looked in that day to the armor in the house of the forest. 9 And you+ saw the breaches of the city of David, that they were many; and you+ gathered together the waters of the lower pool; 10 and you+ numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and you+ broke down the houses to fortify the wall; 11 you+ also made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you+ didn't look to him who had done this, neither had you+ respect to him who purposed it long ago.

12 And in that day the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, called to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth: 13 but saw joy and gladness, slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine: let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we will die. 14 And Yahweh of hosts revealed himself in my ears, Surely this iniquity will not be forgiven you+ until you+ die, says the Lord, Yahweh of hosts.

15 Thus says the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, Go, get yourself to this treasurer, even to Shebna, who is over the house, [and say], 16 What do you have here? And whom do you have here, that you have hewed yourself out here a tomb? Hewing himself out a tomb on high, graving a habitation for himself in the rock! 17 Look, Yahweh will hurl you away violently, O [prominent] man, and he will wrap you up closely. 18 He will surely wind you round and round, [and toss you] like a ball into a large country; there you will die, and there will be the chariots of your glory, you shame of your lord's house. 19 And I will thrust you from your office; and from your station he[431] will pull you down. 20 And it will come to pass in that day, that I will call my slave Eliakim the son of Hilkiah: 21 and I will clothe him with your robe, and strengthen him with your belt, and I will commit your government into his hand; and he will be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah. 22 And the key of the house of David I will lay on his shoulder; and he will open, and none will shut; and he will shut, and none will open. 23 And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; and he will be for a throne of glory to his father's house. 24 And they will hang on him all the glory of his father's house, the offspring and the issue, every small vessel, from the cups even to all the flagons. 25 In that day, says Yahweh of hosts, will the nail that was fastened in a sure place give way; and it will be cut down, and fall; and the burden that was on it will be cut off; for Yahweh has spoken it.

23  The burden of Tyre. Howl, you+ ships of Tarshish; for it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no access: from the land of Kittim it is revealed to them. 2 Be still, you+ inhabitants of the coast, O merchants of Sidon, your messengers passed over the sea. 3 And on great waters the seed of the Shihor, the harvest of the Nile, was her revenue; and she was the mart of nations. 4 Be ashamed, O Sidon; for the sea has spoken, the stronghold of the sea, saying, I haven't travailed, nor brought forth, neither have I nourished young men, nor brought up virgins. 5 When the report comes to Egypt, they will be very pained at the report of Tyre. 6 Pass+ over to Tarshish; wail, you+ inhabitants of the coast. 7 Is this your+ joyous [city], whose antiquity is of ancient days, whose feet carried her far off to sojourn?

8 Who has purposed this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose merchants are princes, whose traffickers are the honorable of the earth? 9 Yahweh of hosts has purposed it, to stain the pride of all glory, to bring into contempt all the honorable of the earth. 10 Pass through your land as the Nile, O daughter of Tarshish; there is no restraint anymore. 11 He has stretched out his hand over the sea, he has shaken the kingdoms: Yahweh has given commandment concerning Canaan, to destroy its strongholds. 12 And he said, You will no more rejoice, O you oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon: arise, pass over to Kittim; even there you will have no rest.

13 Look, the land of the Chaldeans: this people was not; the Assyrian founded it for those who dwell in the wilderness; they set up their towers; they overthrew its palaces; they made it a ruin. 14 Howl, you+ ships of Tarshish; for your+ stronghold is laid waste. 15 And it will come to pass in that day, that Tyre will be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king: after the end of seventy years it will be to Tyre as in the song of the prostitute. 16 Take a harp, go about the city, you prostitute that has been forgotten; make sweet melody, sing many songs, that you may be remembered. 17 And it will come to pass after the end of seventy years, that Yahweh will visit Tyre, and she will return to her wages, and will prostitute with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth. 18 And her merchandise and her wages will be holiness to Yahweh: it will not be treasured nor laid up; for her merchandise will be for those who dwell before Yahweh, to eat sufficiently, and for durable clothing.

24  Look, Yahweh makes the earth empty, and makes it waste, and turns it upside down, and scatters abroad its inhabitants. 2 And it will be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the male slave, so with his master; as with the female slave, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the creditor, so with the debtor; as with the taker of interest, so with the giver of interest to him. 3 The earth will be completely emptied, and completely laid waste; for Yahweh has spoken this word. 4 The earth mourns and fades away, the world languishes and fades away, the lofty people of the earth languish. 5 The earth also is polluted under its inhabitants; because they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant. 6 Therefore the curse has devoured the earth, and those who dwell in it are found guilty: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few of common man are left. 7 The new wine mourns, the vine languishes, all the merry-hearted sigh. 8 The mirth of tabrets ceases, the noise of those who rejoice ends, the joy of the harp ceases. 9 They will not drink wine with a song; strong drink will be bitter to those who drink it. 10 The waste city is broken down; every house is shut up, that no man may come in. 11 There is a crying in the streets because of the wine; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone. 12 In the city is left desolation, and the gate is struck with destruction. 13 For thus it will be in the midst of the earth among the peoples, as the shaking of an olive tree, as the gleanings when the vintage is done.

14 These will lift up their voice, they will shout; for the splendor of Yahweh they cry aloud from the sea. 15 Therefore glorify+ Yahweh in the east, even the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel, in the isles of the sea. 16 From the uttermost part of the earth we have heard songs: Glory to the righteous.

But I said, I pine away, I pine away, woe is me! The betrayers have betrayed; yes, the betrayers have totally betrayed. 17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are on you, O inhabitant of the earth. 18 And it will come to pass, that he who flees from the noise of the fear will fall into the pit; and he who comes up out of the midst of the pit will be taken in the snare: for the windows on high are opened, and the foundations of the earth tremble. 19 The earth is completely broken, the earth is rent apart, the earth is shaken violently. 20 The earth will stagger like a drunk man, and will sway to and fro like a hammock; and its transgression will be heavy on it, and it will fall, and not rise again.

21 And it will come to pass in that day, that Yahweh will punish the host of the high ones on high, and the kings of the earth on the earth. 22 And they will be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and will be shut up in the prison; and after many days they will be visited. 23 Then the moon will be confounded, and the sun ashamed; for Yahweh of hosts will reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem; and before his elders will be glory.

25  O Yahweh, you are my God; I will exalt you, I will praise your name; for you have done wonderful things, [even] counsels of old, in faithfulness [and] truth. 2 For you have made of a city a heap, of a fortified city a ruin, a palace of strangers to be no city; it will never be built. 3 Therefore will a strong people glorify you; a city of terrible nations will fear you. 4 For you have been a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall. 5 As the heat in a dry place you will bring down the noise of strangers; as the heat by the shade of a cloud, the song of the terrible ones will be brought low.

6 And in this mountain Yahweh of hosts will make to all peoples a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. 7 And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering that covers all peoples, and the veil that is spread over all nations. 8 He has swallowed up death forever; and the Sovereign Yahweh will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the reproach of his people he will take away from off all the earth: for Yahweh has spoken it.

9 And it will be said in that day, Look, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is Yahweh; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation. 10 For in this mountain the hand of Yahweh will rest; and Moab will be trodden down in his place, even as straw is trodden down in the water of the dunghill. 11 And he will spread forth his hands in the midst of it, as he who swims spreads forth [his hands] to swim; but [Yahweh] will lay low his pride together with the craft of his hands. 12 And the high fortress of your walls he has brought down, laid low, and brought to the ground, even to the dust.

26  In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city; salvation he will appoint for walls and bulwarks. 2 Open+ the gates, that the righteous nation which keeps faith may enter in. 3 You will keep [him] in perfect peace, [whose] mind [is] sustained [by you]; because he trusts in you. 4 Trust+ in Yahweh forever; for in Yah, Yahweh, is an everlasting rock. 5 For he has brought down those who dwell on high, the lofty city: he lays it low, he lays it low even to the ground; he brings it even to the dust. 6 The foot will tread it down; even the feet of the poor, and the steps of the needy. 7 The way of the just is uprightness: you who are upright direct the path of the just.

8 Yes, in the way of your judgments, O Yahweh, we have waited for you; to your name, even to your memorial [name], is the desire of our soul. 9 With my soul I have desired you in the night; yes, with my spirit inside me I will seek you earnestly: for when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. 10 Let favor be shown to the wicked, yet he will not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness he will deal wrongfully, and will not see the splendor of Yahweh.

11 Yahweh, your hand is lifted up, yet they don't see: but they will see [your] zeal for the people, and be put to shame; yes, fire will devour your adversaries. 12 Yahweh, you will appoint peace for us; for you have also wrought all our works for us. 13 O Yahweh our God, other lords besides you have had dominion over us; but by you only we will make mention of your name. 14 [They are] spirits of the dead, they will not live; [they are] deceased, they will not rise: therefore you have visited and destroyed them, and made all remembrance of them to perish. 15 You have increased the nation, O Yahweh, you have increased the nation; you are glorified; you have enlarged all the borders of the land.

16 Yahweh, in trouble they have visited you; they poured out a prayer [when] your chastening was on them. 17 Like a woman pregnant, that draws near the time of her delivery, is in pain and cries out in her pangs; so we have been before you, O Yahweh. 18 We have been pregnant, we have been in pain, we have as it were brought forth wind; we haven't wrought any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen. 19 Your dead will live; my dead bodies will arise. Awake and sing, you+ who stay in the dust; for your dew is [as] the dew of herbs, and the earth will cast forth the spirits of the dead.

20 Come, my people, enter into your chambers, and shut your doors about you: hide yourself for a little moment, until the indignation has passed by. 21 For, look, Yahweh comes forth out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also will disclose her blood, and will no more cover her slain.

27  In that day Yahweh with his hard and great and strong sword will punish leviathan the swift serpent, and leviathan the crooked serpent; and he will slay the monster that is in the sea.

2 In that day: A pleasant vineyard, sing+ to it. 3 I Yahweh am its keeper; I will water it every moment: or else any will hurt it, I will keep it night and day. 4 Wrath is not in me: Oh that the briers and thorns were against me in battle! I would march on them, I would burn them together. 5 Otherwise let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; [yes,] let him make peace with me. 6 In days to come Jacob will take root; Israel will blossom and bud; and they will fill the face of the world with fruit.

7 Has he struck them as he struck those who struck them? Or are they slain according to the slaughter of those who were slain by them? 8 In measure, when you send them away, you contend with them; he has removed [them] with his rough blast in the day of the east wind. 9 Therefore by this will the iniquity of Jacob be forgiven, and this is all the fruit of taking away his sin: that he makes all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten in sunder, [so that] the Asherim and the sun-images will rise no more. 10 For the fortified city is solitary, a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness: there the calf will feed, and there he will lie down, and consume its branches. 11 When its boughs are withered, they will be broken off; the women will come, and set them on fire; for it is a people of no understanding: therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them, and he who formed them will show them no favor.

12 And it will come to pass in that day, that Yahweh will beat off [his fruit] from the flood of the River to the brook of Egypt; and you+ will be gathered one by one, O you+ sons of Israel.

13 And it will come to pass in that day, that a great trumpet will be blown; and they will come who were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and those who were outcasts in the land of Egypt; and they will worship Yahweh in the holy mountain at Jerusalem.

28  Woe to the crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley of those who are overcome with wine! 2 Look, the Lord has a mighty and strong one; as a tempest of hail, a destroying storm, as a tempest of mighty waters overflowing, he will cast down to the earth with the hand. 3 The crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim will be trodden under foot: 4 and the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, will be as the first-ripe fig before the summer; which when he who looks on it sees, while it is yet in his hand he eats it up. 5 In that day will Yahweh of hosts become a crown of glory, and a diadem of beauty, to the residue of his people; 6 and a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment, and strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.

7 And even these reel with wine, and stagger with strong drink; the priest and the prophet reel with strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they stagger with strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment. 8 For all tables are full of vomit [and] filthiness, [so that there is] no place [clean].

9 Whom will he teach knowledge? And whom will he make to understand the message? Those who are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts? 10 For it is precept on precept, precept on precept; line on line, line on line; here a little, there a little.

11 No, but by [men of] strange lips and with another tongue he will speak to this people; 12 to whom he said, This is the rest, give+ rest to him who is weary; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear. 13 Therefore will the word of Yahweh be to them precept on precept, precept on precept; line on line, line on line; here a little, there a little; that they may go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.

14 Therefore hear the word of Yahweh, you+ scoffers, who rule this people who is in Jerusalem: 15 Because you+ have said, We have made a covenant with death, and we are at agreement with Sheol; when the overflowing scourge will pass through, it will not come to us; for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood we have hid ourselves: 16 therefore thus says the Sovereign Yahweh, Look, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-[stone] of sure foundation: he who believes will not be caused to flee. 17 And I will make justice the line, and righteousness the plummet; and the hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters will overflow the hiding-place. 18 And your+ covenant with death will be annulled, and your+ agreement with Sheol will not stand; when the overflowing scourge will pass through, then you+ will be trodden down by it. 19 As often as it passes through, it will take you+; for morning by morning it will pass through, by day and by night: and it will be nothing but terror to understand the message. 20 For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it; and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it. 21 For Yahweh will rise up as in mount Perazim, he will be angry as in the valley of Gibeon; that he may do his work, his strange work, and bring to pass his act, his strange act. 22 Now therefore don't be+ scoffers, or else your+ bonds will be made strong; for a decree of destruction I have heard from the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, on the whole earth.

23 Give+ ear, and hear my voice; listen, and hear my speech. 24 Does he who plows to sow plow continually? Does he [continually] open and harrow his ground? 25 When he has leveled its face, does he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cumin, and put in the wheat in rows, and the barley in the appointed place, and the spelt in its border? 26 For his God instructs him aright, [and] teaches him. 27 For the fitches are not threshed with a sharp [threshing] instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about on the cumin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cumin with a rod. 28 Bread [grain] is ground; for he will not always be threshing it: and though the wheel of his cart and his horses scatter it, he does not grind it. 29 This also comes forth from Yahweh of hosts, who is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in wisdom.

29  Ho Ariel, Ariel, the city where David encamped! Add+ year to year; let the feasts come round: 2 then I will distress Ariel, and there will be mourning and lamentation; and she will be to me as Ariel. 3 And I will encamp against you round about, and will lay siege against you with posted troops, and I will raise siege works against you. 4 And you will be brought down, and will speak out of the ground, and your speech will be low out of the dust; and your voice will be as a spirit out of the ground, and your speech will whisper out of the dust.

5 But the multitude of your strangers will be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones as chaff that passes away: yes, it will be suddenly in an instant. 6 She will be visited of Yahweh of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire. 7 And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all that fight against her and her stronghold, and that distress her, will be as a dream, a vision of the night. 8 And it will be as when a hungry man dreams, and, look, he eats; but he awakes, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreams, and, look, he drinks; but he awakes, and, look, he is faint, and his soul has appetite: so will the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against mount Zion.

9 Tarry+ and wonder; take your+ pleasure and be blind: they are drunk, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink. 10 For Yahweh has poured out on you+ the spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your+ eyes, the prophets; and your+ heads, the seers, he has covered. 11 And all vision has become to you+ as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one who is learned, saying, Read this, I pray you; and he says, I can't, for it is sealed: 12 and the book is delivered to him who is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray you; and he says, I am not learned.

13 And the Lord said, Since this people draw near [to me], and with their mouth and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment of men which has been taught [to them]; 14 therefore, look, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men will perish, and the understanding of their prudent men will be hid.

15 Woe to those who hide deep their counsel from Yahweh, and whose works are in the dark, and who say, Who sees us? And who knows us? 16 You+ turn things upside down! Will the potter be esteemed as clay; that the thing made should say of him who made it, He didn't make me; or the thing formed say of him who formed it, He has no understanding?

17 Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon will be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field will be esteemed as a forest? 18 And in that day the deaf will hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind will see out of obscurity and out of darkness. 19 The meek also will increase their joy in Yahweh, and the poor among man will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. 20 For the terrible one is brought to nothing, and the scoffer ceases, and all those who watch for iniquity are cut off; 21 who make man an offender in [his] cause, and lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate, and turn aside the just with a thing of nothing.

22 Therefore thus says Yahweh, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: Jacob will not now be ashamed, neither will his face now wax pale. 23 But when he sees his children, the work of my hands, in the midst of him, they will sanctify my name; yes, they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and will stand in awe of the God of Israel. 24 Those also who err in spirit will come to understanding, and those who murmur will receive instruction.

30  Woe to the rebellious sons, says Yahweh, who take counsel, but not of me; and who make a league, but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin; 2 who set out to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to take refuge in the shadow of Egypt! 3 Therefore will the strength of Pharaoh be your+ shame, and the refuge in the shadow of Egypt your+ confusion. 4 For their princes are at Zoan, and their ambassadors have come to Hanes. 5 They will all become a stench because of a people who cannot profit them, who are not a help nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach.

6 The burden of the beasts of the South. Through the land of trouble and anguish, from where come the lioness and the lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they carry their riches on the shoulders of young donkeys, and their treasures on the humps of camels, to a people who will not profit [them]. 7 For Egypt helps in vain, and to no purpose: therefore I have called her Rahab that sits still.

8 Now go, write it before them on a tablet, and inscribe it in a book, that it may be for the time to come forever and ever. 9 For it is a rebellious people, lying sons, sons who will not hear the law of Yahweh; 10 who say to the seers, Don't see; and to the prophets, Don't prophesy to us right things, speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits, 11 get+ out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us. 12 Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, Because you+ despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and rely on them; 13 therefore this iniquity will be to you+ as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking comes suddenly in an instant. 14 And he will break it as a potter's vessel is broken, breaking it in pieces without sparing; so that there will not be found among its pieces a sherd with which to take fire from the hearth, or to dip up water out of the cistern.

15 For thus said the Sovereign Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, In returning and rest you+ will be saved; in quietness and in confidence will be your+ strength. And you+ would not: 16 but you+ said, No, for we will flee on horses; therefore you+ will flee: and, We will ride on the swift; therefore those who pursue you+ will be swift. 17 A thousand together [will flee] at the threat of one; at the threat of five you+ will flee: until you+ are left as a beacon on the top of a mountain, and as an ensign on a hill.

18 And therefore Yahweh will wait, that he may be gracious to you+; and therefore he will be exalted, that he may have mercy on you+: for Yahweh is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him. 19 For the people will dwell in Zion at Jerusalem; you will weep no more; he will surely be gracious to you at the voice of your cry; when he will hear, he will answer you. 20 And though the Lord gives you+ the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your teachers will not be hidden anymore, but your eyes will see your teachers; 21 and your ears will hear a word behind you, saying, This is the way, walk+ in it; when you+ turn to the right hand, and when you+ turn to the left. 22 And you+ will defile the overlaying of your graven images of silver, and the plating of your molten images of gold: you will cast them away as a menstrual cloth; you will say to it, Get away from here.

23 And he will give the rain for your seed, with which you will sow the ground; and bread of the increase of the ground, and it will be fat and plenteous. In that day your cattle will be shepherded in large pastures; 24 the oxen likewise and the young donkeys that till the ground will eat savory fodder, which has been winnowed with the shovel and with the fork. 25 And there will be on every lofty mountain, and on every high hill, brooks [and] streams of waters, in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. 26 Moreover the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that Yahweh binds up the hurt of his people, and heals the stroke of their wound.

27 Look, the name of Yahweh comes from far, burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue is as a devouring fire; 28 and his breath is as an overflowing stream, that reaches even to the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction: and a bridle that causes to err [will be] in the jaws of the peoples. 29 You+ will have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goes with a pipe to come to the mountain of Yahweh, to the Rock of Israel. 30 And Yahweh will cause the grandeur of his voice to be heard, and will show the coming down of his arm, with the indignation of [his] anger, and the flame of a devouring fire, with a blast, and tempest, and hailstones. 31 For through the voice of Yahweh will the Assyrian be dismayed; with his rod he will strike [him]. 32 And every stroke of the appointed staff, which Yahweh will lay on him, will be with [the sound of] tabrets and harps; and in battles with the brandishing [of his arm] he will fight with them. 33 For a Topheth is prepared of old; yes, for the king it is made ready; he has made it deep and large; its pile is fire and much wood; the breath of Yahweh, like a stream of brimstone, kindles it.

31  Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, and rely on horses, and trust in chariots because they are many, and in horsemen because they are very strong, but they don't look to the Holy One of Israel, neither seek Yahweh! 2 Yet he also is wise, and will bring evil, and will not call back his words, but will arise against the house of the evildoers, and against the help of those who work iniquity. 3 Now Egypt is man, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit: and when Yahweh will stretch out his hand, both he who helps will stumble, and he who is helped will fall, and all of them will be consumed together.

4 For thus says Yahweh to me, As the lion and the young lion growling over his prey, if a multitude of shepherds are called forth against him, will not be dismayed at their voice, nor abase himself for the noise of them: so will Yahweh of hosts come down to fight on mount Zion, and on its hill. 5 As birds hovering, so will Yahweh of hosts protect Jerusalem; he will protect and deliver [it], he will pass over and preserve [it]. 6 Turn+ to him from whom you+ have deeply revolted, O sons of Israel. 7 For in that day they will cast away every man his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which your+ own hands have made to you+ for a sin. 8 And the Assyrian will fall by the sword, not of a man; and the sword, not of man, will devour him; and he will flee from the sword, and his young men will become subject to slave labor. 9 And his rock will pass away by reason of terror, and his princes will be dismayed at the ensign, says Yahweh, whose fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem.

32  Look, a king will reign in righteousness, and princes will rule in justice. 2 And a man will be as a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest, as streams of water in a dry place, as the shade of a great rock in a weary land. 3 And the eyes of those who see will not be dim, and the ears of those who hear will listen. 4 And the heart of the rash will understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers will be ready to speak plainly. 5 The fool will no more be called noble, nor the churl said to be bountiful. 6 For the fool will speak folly, and his heart will work iniquity, to do profaneness, and to utter error against Yahweh, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and to cause the drink of the thirsty to fail. 7 And the instruments of the churl are evil: he devises wicked devices to destroy the meek with lying words, even when the needy speaks right. 8 But the noble devises noble things; and in noble things he will continue.

9 Rise up, you+ women who are at ease, [and] hear my voice; you+ careless daughters, give ear to my speech. 10 For days beyond a year you+ will be troubled, you+ careless women; for the vintage will fail, the ingathering will not come. 11 Tremble, you+ women who are at ease; be troubled, you+ careless ones; strip+, and make yourselves bare, and gird [sackcloth] on your+ loins. 12 They will strike on the breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine. 13 On the land of my people thorns and briers will come up; yes, on all the houses of joy in the joyous city. 14 For the palace will be forsaken; the populous city will be deserted; the hill and the watchtower will be for dens forever, a joy of wild donkeys, a pasture of flocks; 15 until the Spirit is poured on us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is esteemed as a forest.

16 Then justice will stay in the wilderness; and righteousness will remain in the fruitful field. 17 And the work of righteousness will be peace; and the effect of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever. 18 And my people will remain in a peaceful habitation, and in safe dwellings, and in quiet resting-places. 19 But it will hail in the downfall of the forest; and the city will be completely laid low. 20 Blessed are you+ who sow beside all waters, who send forth the feet of the ox and the donkey.

33  Woe to you who destroy, and you were not destroyed; and who betray, and they did not betray you! When you have ceased to destroy, you will be destroyed; and when you have made an end of betraying, they will betray you. 2 O Yahweh, be gracious to us; we have waited for you: be the arm [which attacks] them every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble. 3 At the noise of the tumult the peoples have fled; at the lifting up of yourself the nations have scattered. 4 And your+ spoil will be gathered [as] the caterpillar gathers: as locusts leap will men leap on it. 5 Yahweh is exalted; for he stays on high: he has filled Zion with justice and righteousness. 6 And there will be stability in your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge: the fear of Yahweh is his treasure.

7 Look, I will appear to them; they cry out in the streets; the ambassadors of peace weep bitterly. 8 The highways lie waste, the wayfaring man ceases: [the enemy] has broken the covenant, he has despised the witnesses, he does not regard common man. 9 The land mourns and languishes; Lebanon is confounded and withers away; Sharon is like a desert; and Bashan and Carmel shake off [their leaves]. 10 Now I will arise, says Yahweh; now I will lift up myself; now I will be exalted. 11 You+ will be pregnant with chaff, you+ will give birth to stubble: your+ breath is a fire that will devour you+. 12 And the peoples will be as the burnings of lime, as thorns cut down, that are burned in the fire.

13 Hear, you+ who are far off, what I have done; and, you+ who are near, acknowledge my might. 14 The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling has seized the godless ones: Who among us can dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings? 15 He who walks righteously, and speaks uprightly; he who despises the gain of oppressions, who shakes his hands from taking a bribe, who stops his ears from hearing of blood, and shuts his eyes from looking on evil: 16 He will stay on high; his place of defense will be the munitions of rocks; his bread will be given [him]; his waters will be sure.

17 Your eyes will see the king in his beauty: they will look at a land that reaches far. 18 Your heart will muse on the terror: Where is he who counted, where is he who weighed [the tribute]? Where is he who counted the towers? 19 You will not see the fierce people, a people of a deep speech that you can't comprehend, of a strange tongue that you can't understand. 20 Look at Zion, the city of our solemnities: your eyes will see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tent that will not be removed, the stakes of which will never be plucked up, neither will any of its cords be broken. 21 But there Yahweh will be with us in majesty, a place of broad rivers and streams, in which will go no galley with oars, neither will gallant ship pass by it. 22 For Yahweh is our judge, Yahweh is our lawgiver, Yahweh is our king; he will save us. 23 Your tacklings are loosed; they could not strengthen the foot of their mast, they could not spread the sail: then the prey of a great spoil was divided; the lame took the prey. 24 And the neighbor will not say, I am sick: the people who dwell in it will be forgiven their iniquity.

34  Come near, you+ nations, to hear; and listen, you+ peoples: let the earth hear, and the fullness of it; the world, and all things that come forth from it. 2 For Yahweh has indignation against all the nations, and wrath against all their host: he has completely destroyed them, he has delivered them to the slaughter. 3 Their slain also will be cast out, and the stench of their dead bodies will come up; and the mountains will be melted with their blood. 4 And all the host of heaven will be dissolved, and the heavens will be rolled together as a scroll; and all their host will fade away, as the leaf fades from off the vine, and as a fading [leaf] from the fig tree. 5 For my sword has drank its fill in heaven: look, it will come down on Edom, and on the people of my curse, to judgment. 6 The sword of Yahweh is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams; for Yahweh has a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Edom. 7 And the wild-oxen will come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls: and their land will be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness.

8 For Yahweh has a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion. 9 And the streams of [Edom] will be turned into pitch, and its dust into brimstone, and its land will become burning pitch. 10 It will not be quenched night nor day; its smoke will go up forever; from generation to generation it will lie waste; none will pass through it forever and ever. 11 But the pelican and the porcupine will possess it; and the owl and the raven will stay in it: and he will stretch over it the line of confusion, and the plummet of emptiness. 12 They will call its nobles to the kingdom, but none will be there; and all its princes will be nothing. 13 And thorns will come up in its palaces, nettles and thistles in its fortresses; and it will be a habitation of jackals, a court for ostriches. 14 And the wild beasts of the desert will meet with the wolves, and the wild goat will cry to his companion; yes, the night-monster will settle there, and will find her a place of rest. 15 There will the dart-snake make her nest, and lay, and hatch, and gather under her shade; yes, there will the kites be gathered, every one with her mate.

16 Seek+ out of the Book of Yahweh, and read: no one of these will be missing, none will want her mate; for my mouth, it has commanded, and his Spirit, it has gathered them. 17 And he has cast the lot for them, and his hand has divided it to them by line: they will possess it forever; from generation to generation they will stay in it.

35  The wilderness and the dry land will be glad; and the desert will rejoice, and blossom as the rose. 2 It will blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing; the glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon: they will see the glory of Yahweh, the majesty of our God.

3 Strengthen+ the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. 4 Say to those who are of a fearful heart, Be strong, don't be afraid: look, your+ God will come [with] vengeance, [with] the recompense of God; he will come and save you+.

5 Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. 6 Then will the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the mute will sing; for in the wilderness will waters break out, and streams in the desert. 7 And the glowing sand will become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water: in the habitation of the jackals' resting place, will be grass with reeds and rushes. 8 And a highway will be there, and a way, and it will be called The Way of Holiness; the unclean will not pass over it; but it will be for [the redeemed]: the wayfaring men, yes fools, will not err [in it]. 9 No lion will be there, nor will any ravenous beast go up on it; they will not be found there; but the redeemed will walk [there]: 10 and the ransomed of Yahweh will return, and come with singing to Zion; and everlasting joy will be on their heads: they will obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

36  Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah, and took them. 2 And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to King Hezekiah with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field. 3 Then came forth to him Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder.

4 And Rabshakeh said to them, Say+ now to Hezekiah, Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this in which you trust? 5 I say, [your] counsel and strength for the war are but vain words: now on whom do you trust, that you have rebelled against me? 6 Look, you trust on the staff of this bruised reed, even on Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust on him. 7 But if you say to me, We trust in Yahweh our God: isn't that he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, You+ will worship before this altar? 8 Now therefore, I pray you, give pledges to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. 9 How then can you turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master's slaves, and put your trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? 10 And have I now come up without Yahweh against this land to destroy it? Yahweh said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.

11 Then Eliakim and Shebna and Joah said to Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray you, to your slaves in the Syrian language; for we understand it: and don't speak to us in the Jews' language, in the ears of the people who are on the wall. 12 But Rabshakeh said, Has my master sent me to your master, and to you, to speak these words? [Has he] not [sent me] to the men who sit on the wall, to eat their own feces, and to drink their own urine with you+ ?

13 Then Rabshakeh stood, and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and said, Hear+ the words of the great king, the king of Assyria. 14 Thus says the king, Don't let Hezekiah deceive you+; for he will not be able to deliver you+: 15 neither let Hezekiah make you+ trust in Yahweh, saying, Yahweh will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. 16 Don't listen to Hezekiah: for thus says the king of Assyria, Make your+ peace with me, and come out to me; and eat+ every one of his vine, and every one of his fig tree, and drink+ every one the waters of his own cistern; 17 until I come and take you+ away to a land like your+ own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards. 18 Beware that you don't let Hezekiah persuade you+, saying, Yahweh will deliver us. Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? 19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? And have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? 20 Who are they among all the gods of these countries, who have delivered their country out of my hand, that Yahweh should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?

21 But they held their peace, and did not answer him a word; for the king's commandment was, saying, Don't answer him. 22 Then came Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes rent, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.

37  And it came to pass, when King Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of Yahweh. 2 And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz. 3 And they said to him, Thus says Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of disgrace; for the sons have come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth. 4 It may be Yahweh your God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to defy the living God, and will rebuke the words which Yahweh your God has heard: therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant who is left.

5 So the slaves of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah. 6 And Isaiah said to them, Thus you+ will say to your+ master, Thus says Yahweh, Don't be afraid of the words that you have heard, with which the attendants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. 7 Look, I will put a spirit in him, and he will hear [some] news, and will return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.

8 So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah; for he had heard that he had departed from Lachish. 9 And he heard it said concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, He has come out to fight against you. And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 10 Thus you+ will speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Don't let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. 11 Look, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them completely: and will you be delivered? 12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them, which my fathers have destroyed, Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the sons of Eden who were in Telassar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah?

14 And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of Yahweh, and spread it before Yahweh. 15 And Hezekiah prayed to Yahweh, saying, 16 O Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, who sits [above] the cherubim, you are the God, even you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. 17 Incline your ear, O Yahweh, and hear; open your eyes, O Yahweh, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, who has sent to defy the living God. 18 Of a truth, Yahweh, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the countries, 19 and have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of man's hands, wood and stone; therefore they have destroyed them. 20 Now therefore, O Yahweh our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you are Yahweh, even you only.

21 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, Whereas you have prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, 22 this is the word which Yahweh has spoken concerning him: The virgin daughter of Zion has despised you and laughed you to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at you. 23 Whom have you defied and blasphemed? And against whom have you exalted your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? [Even] against the Holy One of Israel. 24 By your slaves you have defied the Lord, and have said, With the multitude of my chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains, to the innermost parts of Lebanon; and I will cut down its tall cedars, and its choice fir-trees; and I will enter into its farthest height, its forest park; 25 I have dug and drank water, and with the sole of my feet I will dry up all the rivers of Egypt. 26 Have you not heard how I have done it long ago, and formed it of ancient times? Now I have brought it to pass, that it should be yours to lay waste fortified cities into ruinous heaps. 27 Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded; they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, which is blighted before the east wind. 28 But I know your rising up and your sitting down, and your going out and your coming in, and your raging against me. 29 Because of your raging against me, and because your arrogance has come up into my ears, therefore I will put my hook in your nose, and my bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way by which you came.

30 And this will be the sign to you: you+ will eat this year that which grows of itself, and in the second year that which springs of the same; and in the third year sow+, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. 31 And the remnant that has escaped of the house of Judah will again take root downward, and bear fruit upward. 32 For out of Jerusalem will go forth a remnant, and out of mount Zion those who will escape. The zeal of Yahweh of hosts will perform this.

33 Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning the king of Assyria, He will not come to this city, nor shoot an arrow there, neither will he come before it with shield, nor cast up a mound against it. 34 By the way that he came, by the same he will return, and he will not come to this city, says Yahweh. 35 For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake, and for my slave David's sake.

36 And the angel of Yahweh went forth, and struck in the camp of the Assyrians 185,000; and when men arose early in the morning, look, these were all dead bodies. 37 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh. 38 And it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons struck him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esar-haddon his son reigned in his stead.

38  In those days was Hezekiah sick to death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, Thus says Yahweh, Set your house in order; for you will die, and not live. 2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall, and prayed to Yahweh, 3 and said, Remember now, O Yahweh, I urge you, how I have walked before you in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in your sight. And Hezekiah wept intensely. 4 Then the word of Yahweh came to Isaiah, saying, 5 Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus says Yahweh, the God of David your father, I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears: look, I will add to your days fifteen years. 6 And I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city. 7 And this will be the sign to you from Yahweh, that Yahweh will do this thing that he has spoken: 8 Look, I will move back the shadow of the steps, which has gone down on the steps from the Upper House of Ahaz - [I will move back] the sun[432] backward ten steps. So the sun returned ten steps on the steps on which it had gone down.

9 The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick, and had recovered of his sickness. 10 I said, In the noontide of my days I will go into the gates of Sheol: I am deprived of the residue of my years. 11 I said, I will not see Yah, Yah in the land of the living: I will not see man anymore with the inhabitants of this world. 12 My dwelling is removed, and is carried away from me as a shepherd's tent: I have rolled up, like a weaver, my life; he will cut me off from the loom: From day even to night you will make an end of me. 13 I quieted [myself] until morning; as a lion, so he breaks all my bones: From day even to night you will make an end of me. 14 Like a swallow [or] a crane, so I chattered; I moaned as a dove; my eyes fail [with looking] upward: O Lord, I am oppressed, be my surety. 15 What shall I say? He has both spoken to me, and himself has done it: I will go softly all my years because of the bitterness of my soul. 16 O Lord, by these things men live; And wholly in them is the life of my spirit: Therefore you recover me, and make me to live. 17 Look, [it was] for [my] peace [that] I had great bitterness: But you have in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption; For you have cast all my sins behind your back. 18 For Sheol can't praise you, death can't celebrate you: Those who go down into the pit can't hope for your truth. 19 The living, the living, he will praise you, as I do this day: The father to the sons will make known your truth. 20 Yahweh is [ready] to save me: Therefore we will sing my songs with stringed instruments All the days of our life in the house of Yahweh.[433]

39  At that time Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah; for he heard that he had been sick, and had recovered. 2 And Hezekiah was glad of them, and showed them the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious oil, and all the house of his armor, and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah did not show them. 3 Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah, and said to him, What did these men say? And where did they come to you from? And Hezekiah said, They have come from a far country to me, even from Babylon. 4 Then he said, What have they seen in your house? And Hezekiah answered, All that is in my house they have seen: there is nothing among my treasures that I haven't shown them. 5 Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, Hear the word of Yahweh of hosts: 6 Look, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have laid up in store until this day, will be carried to Babylon: nothing will be left, says Yahweh. 7 And of your sons who will issue from you, whom you will beget, they will take away; and they will be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. 8 Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, The word of Yahweh which you have spoken is good. He said moreover, For there will be peace and truth in my days.

40  Comfort+, comfort+ my people, says your+ God. 2 Speak+ comfortably to Jerusalem; and cry to her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received of Yahweh's hand double for all her sins.

3 The voice of one who cries, Prepare+ in the wilderness the way of Yahweh; make level in the desert a highway for our God. 4 Every valley will be exalted, and every mountain and hill will be made low; and the uneven will be made level, and the rough places a plain: 5 and the glory of Yahweh will be revealed, and all flesh will see it together; for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it.

6 The voice of one saying, Cry. And one said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all its goodliness is as the flower of the field. 7 The grass withers, the flower fades, because the breath of Yahweh blows on it; surely the people are grass. 8 The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever.

9 O you who tell good news to Zion, get yourself up on a high mountain; O you who tell good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with strength; lift it up, don't be afraid; say to the cities of Judah, Look, your+ God! 10 Look, the Sovereign Yahweh will come as a mighty one, and his arm will rule for him: Look, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. 11 Like a shepherd, he will shepherd his flock; he will gather the lambs in his arm, and carry them in his bosom; [and] will gently lead those that have their young.

12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? 13 Who has directed the Spirit of Yahweh, or being his counselor has taught him? 14 With whom did he take counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed to him the way of understanding? 15 Look, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are accounted as the small dust of the balance: look, he takes up the isles as a very little thing. 16 And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor its beasts sufficient for a burnt-offering. 17 All the nations are as nothing before him; they are accounted by him as less than nothing, and vanity.

18 To whom then will you+ liken God? Or what likeness will you+ compare to him? 19 The image, a workman has cast [it], and the goldsmith overlays it with gold, and casts [for it] silver chains. 20 He who is too impoverished for [such] an oblation chooses a tree that will not rot; he seeks to him a skillful workman to set up a graven image, that will not be moved. 21 Have you+ not known? Have you+ not heard? Has it not been told to you+ from the beginning? Have you+ not understood from the foundations of the earth? 22 [It is] he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are as grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens as a curtain, and spreads them out as a tent to dwell in; 23 who brings princes to nothing; who makes the judges of the earth as vanity. 24 Yes, they have not been planted; yes, they have not been sown; yes, their stock has not taken root in the earth: moreover he blows on them, and they wither, and the whirlwind takes them away as stubble. 25 To whom then will you+ liken me, that I should be equal [to him]? says the Holy One. 26 Lift up your+ eyes on high, and see who has created these, that brings out their host by number; he calls them all by name; by the greatness of his might, and for that he is strong in power, not one is lacking.

27 Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, My way is hid from Yahweh, and the justice [due] to me has passed away from my God? 28 Haven't you known? Haven't you heard? The everlasting God, Yahweh, the Creator of the ends of the earth, does not faint, neither is weary; there is no searching of his understanding. 29 He gives power to the faint; and to him who has no might he increases strength. 30 Even the youths will faint and be weary, and the young men will completely fall: 31 but those who wait for Yahweh will renew their strength; they will mount up with wings as eagles; they will run, and not be weary; they will walk, and not faint.

41  Keep silent before me, O islands; and let the peoples renew their strength: let them come near; then let them speak; let us come near together to judgment. 2 Who has raised up one from the east, whom he calls in righteousness to his foot? He gives nations before him, and makes him rule over kings; he gives them as the dust to his sword, as the driven stubble to his bow. 3 He pursues them, and passes on safely, even by a way that he had not gone with his feet. 4 Who has wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I, Yahweh, the first, and with the last, I am he. 5 The isles have seen, and fear; the ends of the earth tremble; they draw near, and come. 6 A man helps his fellow man; and says to his brother, Be of good courage. 7 So the carpenter encourages the goldsmith, [and] he who smoothes with the hammer him who strikes the anvil, saying of the soldering, It is good; and he fastens it with nails, that it should not be moved.

8 But you, Israel, my slave, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend, 9 you whom I have taken hold of from the ends of the earth, and called from its corners, and said to you, You are my slave, I have chosen you and not cast you away; 10 Don't be afraid, for I am with you; don't be dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you; yes, I will help you; yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness. 11 Look, all those who are incensed against you will be put to shame and confounded: those who strive with you will be as nothing, and will perish. 12 You will seek them, and will not find them, even those who contend with you: those who war against you will be as nothing, and as a thing of nothing. 13 For I, Yahweh your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, Don't be afraid; I will help you. 14 Don't be afraid, you worm Jacob, and you+ vermin Israel; I will help you, says Yahweh, and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. 15 Look, I have made you [to be] a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth; you will thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and will make the hills as chaff. 16 You will winnow them, and the wind will carry them away, and the whirlwind will scatter them; and you will rejoice in Yahweh, you will glory in the Holy One of Israel.

17 The poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue fails for thirst; I, Yahweh, will answer them, I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. 18 I will open rivers on the bare heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. 19 I will put in the wilderness the cedar, the acacia, and the myrtle, and the oil-tree; I will set in the desert the fir-tree, the pine, and the box-tree together: 20 that they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of Yahweh has done this, and the Holy One of Israel has created it.

21 Produce your+ cause, says Yahweh; bring forth your+ strong reasons, says the King of Jacob. 22 Let them bring forth, and declare to us what will happen: declare+ the former things, what they are, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or show us things to come. 23 Declare the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that you+ are gods: yes, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed and watch it together. 24 Look, you+ are of nothing, and your+ work is of nothing; he who chooses you+ is disgusting.

25 I have raised up one from the north, and he has come; from the rising of the sun one who calls on my name: and he will trample rulers as mortar, and as the potter treads clay. 26 Who has declared it from the beginning, that we may know? And formerly, that we may say, [He is] right? Yes, there is none who declares, yes, there is none who shows, yes, there is none who hears your+ words. 27 [I am the] first [who says] to Zion, Look, look at them; and I will give to Jerusalem one who brings good news. 28 And when I look, there is no man: even among them there is no counselor, who, when I ask of them, can answer a word. 29 Look, all of them, their works are vanity [and] nothing; their molten images are wind and confusion.

42  Look, my slave, whom I uphold; my chosen, in whom my soul delights: I have put my Spirit on him; he will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. 2 He will not cry, nor lift up his voice, nor cause it to be heard in the street. 3 A bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench: he will bring forth justice in truth. 4 He will not fail nor be discouraged, until he has set justice in the earth; and the isles will wait for his instructions.

5 Thus says God Yahweh, he who created the heavens, and stretched them forth; he who spread abroad the earth and that which comes out of it; he who gives breath to the people on it, and spirit to those who walk in it: 6 I, Yahweh, have called you in righteousness, and will hold your hand, and will keep you, and give you for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles; 7 to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, and those who sit in darkness out of the prison-house. 8 I am Yahweh, that is my name; and my glory I will not give to another, neither my praise to graven images. 9 Look, the former things have come to pass, and I declare new things; before they spring forth I tell you+ of them.

10 Sing to Yahweh a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth; you+ who go down to the sea, and all that is in it, the isles, and its inhabitants. 11 Let the wilderness and its cities lift up [their voice], the villages that Kedar inhabits; let the inhabitants of Sela sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains. 12 Let them give glory to Yahweh, and declare his praise in the islands. 13 Yahweh will go forth as a mighty man; he will stir up [his] zeal like a man of war: he will cry, yes, he will shout aloud; he will do mightily against his enemies.

14 I have held my peace for a long time; I have been still, and refrained myself: [now] I will cry out like a travailing woman; I will gasp and pant together. 15 I will lay waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs; and I will make the rivers islands, and will dry up the pools. 16 And I will bring the blind by a way that they don't know; in paths that they don't know I will lead them; I will make darkness light before them, and crooked places straight. These things I will do, and I will not forsake them. 17 They will be turned back, they will be completely put to shame, who trust in graven images, who say to molten images, You+ are our gods.

18 Hear, you+ deaf; and look, you+ blind, that you+ may see. 19 Who is blind, but my slave? Or deaf, as my messenger whom I send? Who is blind as he who is at peace [with me], and blind as Yahweh's slave? 20 You have seen many things, but you don't retain; his ears are open, but he doesn't hear. 21 It pleased Yahweh, for his righteousness' sake, to magnify the law, and make it honorable. 22 But this is a people robbed and plundered; all of them are snared in holes, and they are hid in prison-houses: they are for a prey, and none delivers; for a spoil, and none says, Restore.

23 Who is there among you+ who will give ear to this? Who will listen and hear for the time to come? 24 Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? Did not Yahweh? He against whom we have sinned, and in whose ways they would not walk, neither were they obedient to his law. 25 Therefore he poured on him the fierceness of his anger, and the strength of battle; and it set him on fire round about, yet he didn't know; and it burned him, yet he didn't lay it to heart.

43  But now thus says Yahweh who created you, O Jacob, and he who formed you, O Israel: Don't be afraid, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name, you are mine. 2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not overflow you: when you walk through the fire, you will not be burned, neither will the flame kindle on you. 3 For I am Yahweh your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I have given Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in your stead. 4 Since you have been precious in my sight, [and] honorable, and I have loved you; therefore I will give man in your stead, and peoples instead of your soul. 5 Don't be afraid; for I am with you: I will bring your seed from the east, and gather you from the west; 6 I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Don't keep back; bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the end of the earth; 7 everyone who is called by my name, and whom I have created for my glory, whom I have formed, yes, whom I have made.

8 Bring forth the blind people who have eyes, and the deaf who have ears. 9 Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the peoples be assembled: who among them can declare this, and show us former things? Let them bring their witnesses, that they may be justified; or let them hear, and say, It is truth. 10 You+ are my witnesses, says Yahweh, and my slave whom I have chosen; that you+ may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither will there be after me. 11 I, even I, am Yahweh; and besides me there is no savior. 12 I have declared, and I have saved, and I have shown; and there was no strange [god] among you+: therefore you+ are my witnesses, says Yahweh, and I am God. 13 Yes, since the day was, I am he; and there is none who can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who can hinder it?

14 Thus says Yahweh, your+ Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: For your+ sake I have sent to Babylon, and I will bring down all of them as fugitives, even the Chaldeans, in the ships of their rejoicing. 15 I am Yahweh, your+ Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your+ King. 16 Thus says Yahweh, who makes a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters; 17 who brings forth the chariot and horse, the army and the mighty man (they lie down together, they will not rise; they are extinct, they are quenched as a wick): 18 Don't remember+ the former things, neither consider the things of old. 19 Look, I will do a new thing; now it will spring forth; will you+ not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and paths[434] in the desert. 20 The beasts of the field will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches; because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen, 21 the people which I formed for myself, that they might set forth my praise.

22 Yet you haven't called on me, O Jacob; but you have been weary of me, O Israel. 23 You haven't brought me of your sheep for burnt-offerings; neither have you honored me with your sacrifices. I haven't burdened you with offerings, nor wearied you with frankincense. 24 You have bought me no sweet cane with silver, neither have you filled me with the fat of your sacrifices; but you have burdened me with your sins, you have wearied me with your iniquities.

25 I, I am he, who blots out your transgressions for my own sake; and I will not remember your sins. 26 Put me in remembrance; let us plead together: set you forth [your cause], that you may be justified. 27 Your first father sinned, and your teachers have transgressed against me. 28 Therefore I will profane the princes of the sanctuary; and I will give Jacob a curse, and Israel a reviling.

44  Yet hear now, O Jacob my slave, and Israel, whom I have chosen: 2 Thus says Yahweh who made you, and formed you from the womb, who will help you: Don't be afraid, O Jacob my slave; and you, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. 3 For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit on your seed, and my blessing on your offspring: 4 and they will spring up among the grass, as willows by the watercourses. 5 One will say, I am Yahweh's; and another will call the name of Jacob; and another will write with his hand, For Yahweh, and will name the name of Israel.

6 Thus says Yahweh, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, Yahweh of hosts: I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no God. 7 And who is like me? Let him call and declare it, and set it in order for me, since my establishing the ancient people. And let them declare the things that are coming, and that will come to pass, to [those among] them. 8 Don't be+ afraid, neither be scared: Have I not declared to you of old, and shown it? And you+ are my witnesses. Is there a God besides me? Yes, there is no Rock; I don't know any.

9 Those who fashion a graven image are all of them vanity; and the things that they delight in will not profit; and their own witnesses don't see, nor know: that they may be put to shame. 10 Who has fashioned a god, or molten an image that is profitable for nothing? 11 Look, all his partners will be put to shame; and the workmen, they are of man: let them all be gathered together, let them stand up; they will fear, they will be put to shame together.

12 The blacksmith [makes] an ax, and works in the coals, and fashions it with hammers, and works it with his strong arm: yes, he is hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water, and is faint. 13 The carpenter stretches out a line; he marks it out with a pencil; he shapes it with planes, and he marks it out with the compasses, and shapes it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of man, to dwell in a house. 14 He cuts down cedars, and takes the holm-tree and the oak, and strengthens for himself one among the trees of the forest: he plants a fir-tree, and the rain nourishes it. 15 Then it will be for man to burn; and he takes of it, and warms himself; yes, he kindles it, and bakes bread: yes, he makes a god, and worships it; he makes it a graven image, and falls down to it. 16 He burns part of it in the fire; with part of it he eats flesh; he roasts roast, and is satisfied; yes, he warms himself, and says, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire. 17 And its residue he makes a god, even his graven image; he falls down to it and worships, and prays to it, and says, Deliver me; for you are my god.

18 They don't know, neither do they consider: for he has shut their eyes, that they can't see; and their hearts, that they can't understand. 19 And none calls to mind, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yes, I have also baked bread on its coals; I have roasted flesh and eaten it: and shall I make its residue [into] a disgusting thing? Shall I fall down to a piece of wood? 20 He feeds on ashes; a deceived heart has turned him aside; and he can't deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?

21 Remember these things, O Jacob, and Israel; for you are my slave: I have formed you; you are my slave: O Israel, you will not be forgotten of me. 22 I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, your transgressions, and, as a cloud, your sins: return to me; for I have redeemed you. 23 Sing, O you+ heavens, for Yahweh has done it; shout, you+ lower parts of the earth; break forth into singing, you+ mountains, O forest, and every tree in it: for Yahweh has redeemed Jacob, and will glorify himself in Israel.

24 Thus says Yahweh, your Redeemer, and he who formed you from the womb: I am Yahweh, who makes all things; who stretches forth the heavens alone; who spreads abroad the earth (who is with me?); 25 who frustrates the signs of the liars, and makes fortune-tellers insane; who turns wise men backward, and makes their knowledge foolish; 26 who confirms the word of his slave, and performs the counsel of his messengers; who says of Jerusalem, She will be inhabited; and of the cities of Judah, They will be built, and I will raise up their waste places; 27 who says to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up your rivers; 28 who says of Cyrus, [He is] my shepherd, and will perform all my pleasure, even saying of Jerusalem, She will be built; and of the temple, Your foundation will be laid.

45  Thus says Yahweh to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held, to subdue nations before him, and I will loose the loins of kings; to open the doors before him, and the gates will not be shut: 2 I will go before you, and make the rough places smooth; I will break in pieces the doors of bronze, and cut in sunder the bars of iron; 3 and I will give you the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that it is I, Yahweh, who call you by your name, even the God of Israel. 4 For Jacob my slave's sake, and Israel my chosen, I have called you by your name: I have surnamed you, though you haven't known me. 5 I am Yahweh, and there is no other; besides me there is no God. I will gird you, though you haven't known me; 6 that they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none besides me: I am Yahweh, and there is no other. 7 I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil. I am Yahweh, who does all these things.

8 Trickle, you+ heavens, from above, and the skies will pour down righteousness; the earth will open, and salvation will bud and righteousness will spring up together; I, Yahweh, have created it.

9 Woe to him who strives with his Maker! A potsherd among the potsherds of the earth! Will the clay say to him who fashions it, What do you make? Or your work, He has no hands? 10 Woe to him who says to a father, What do you beget? Or to a woman, With what do you travail?

11 Thus says Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker: Ask me of the things that are to come; concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands, command+ me. 12 I have made the earth, and created man on it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens; and all their host I have commanded. 13 I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will make straight all his ways: he will build my city, and he will let my exiles go free, not for price nor reward, says Yahweh of hosts.

14 Thus says Yahweh, The labor of Egypt, and the merchandise of Ethiopia, and the Sabeans, men of stature, will come over to you, and they will be yours: they will go after you, in chains they will come over; and they will fall down to you, they will make supplication to you, [saying,] Surely God is in you; and there is no other, no [other] God. 15 Truly you are a God who hides yourself, O God of Israel, the Savior. 16 They will be put to shame, yes, confounded, all of them; they will go into confusion together who are makers of idols. 17 [But] Israel will be saved by Yahweh with an eternal salvation: you+ will not be put to shame nor confounded forever without end.

18 For thus says Yahweh who created the heavens, the God who formed the earth and made it, who established it and did not create it a waste, who formed it to be inhabited: I am Yahweh; and there is no other. 19 I haven't spoken in secret, in a place of the land of darkness; I didn't say to the seed of Jacob, Seek+ me in vain: I, Yahweh, speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.

20 Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, you+ who have escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge who carry the wood of their graven image, and pray to a god that can't save. 21 Declare+, and bring [it] forth; yes, let them take counsel together: who has shown this from ancient time? Who has declared it of old? Haven't I, Yahweh? And there is no other God besides me, a just God and a Savior; there is none besides me. 22 Look to me, and be+ saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. 23 By myself I have sworn, the word has gone forth from my mouth [in] righteousness, and will not return, that to me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear. 24 Only in Yahweh, it is said of me, is righteousness and strength. One will come to him; and all those who were incensed against him will be put to shame. 25 In Yahweh will all the seed of Israel be justified, and will glory.

46  Bel bows down, Nebo stoops; their idols are on the beasts, and on the cattle: the things that you+ carried about are made a load, a burden to the weary [beast]. 2 They stoop, they bow down together; they could not deliver the burden, but their soul has gone into captivity.

3 Listen to me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been borne [by me] from their birth, who have been carried from the womb; 4 and even to old age, I am he, and even to hoar hairs I will carry [you+]; I have made, and I will bear; yes, I will carry, and will deliver. 5 To whom will you+ liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be like? 6 Such as lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance, they hire a goldsmith, and he makes it a god; they fall down, yes, they worship. 7 They bear it on the shoulder, they carry it, and set it in its place, and it stands, from its place it will not remove: yes, one may cry to it, yet it can't answer, nor save him out of his trouble.

8 Remember this, and show yourselves men; bring it again to mind, O you+ transgressors. 9 Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is no other; [I am] God, and there is none like me; 10 declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not [yet] done; saying, My counsel will stand, and I will do all my pleasure; 11 calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country; yes, I have spoken, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed, I will also do it.

12 Listen to me, you+ stout-hearted, who are far from righteousness: 13 I bring near my righteousness, it will not be far off, and my salvation will not tarry; and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory.

47  Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; sit on the ground without a throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for you will no more be called tender and delicate. 2 Take the millstones, and grind meal; remove your veil, strip off the train, uncover the leg, pass through the rivers. 3 Your nakedness will be uncovered, yes, your shame will be seen: I will take vengeance, and will not spare man. 4 Our Redeemer, Yahweh of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel. 5 Sit silent, and get into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans; for you will no more be called The mistress of kingdoms. 6 I was angry with my people, I profaned my inheritance, and gave them into your hand: you showed them no mercy; on the aged you have very heavily laid your yoke. 7 And you said, I will be mistress forever; so that you did not lay these things to your heart, neither remembered the latter end of them.

8 Now therefore hear this, you who are given to pleasures, who sit securely, who say in your heart, I am, and there is no other besides me; I will not sit as a widow, neither will I know the loss of children: 9 but these two things will come to you in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood; in their full measure they will come upon you, in the multitude of your witchcraft, and the great abundance of your magic words. 10 For you have trusted in your wickedness; you have said, None sees me; your wisdom and your knowledge, it has perverted you, and you have said in your heart, I am, and there is no other besides me. 11 Therefore will evil come upon you; you will not know its dawning: and mischief will fall on you; you will not be able to put it away: and desolation will come upon you suddenly, which you do not know.

12 Stand now with your magic words, and with the multitude of your witchcraft, in which you have labored from your youth; perhaps you will be able to profit, perhaps you may prevail. 13 You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels: let the astrologers stand up now and save you, those observing the stars for determining your horoscopes.[435] 14 Look, they will be as stubble; the fire will burn them; they will not deliver their soul from the power of the flame: it will not be charcoal for their bread, nor a fire to sit before. 15 Thus will the things be to you in which you have labored: those who have trafficked with you from your youth will wander every one to his quarter; there will be none to save you.

48  Hear you+ this, O house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel, and have come forth out of the waters of Judah; who swear by the name of Yahweh, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness 2 (for they call themselves of the holy city, and lean on the God of Israel; Yahweh of hosts is his name): 3 I have declared the former things from of old; yes, they went forth out of my mouth, and I showed them: suddenly I did them, and they came to pass. 4 Because I knew that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew, and your brow bronze; 5 therefore I have declared it to you from of old; before it came to pass I showed it you; or else you will say, My idol has done them, and my graven image, and my molten image, has commanded them. 6 You have heard it; look at all this; and you+, will you+ not declare it? I have shown you new things from this time, even hidden things, which you haven't known. 7 They are created now, and not from of old; and before this day you did not hear them; or else you will say, Look, I knew them. 8 Yes, you didn't hear; yes, you didn't know; yes, from of old your ear wasn't opened: for I knew that you would be totally betraying, and were called a transgressor from the womb. 9 For my name's sake I will defer my anger, and for my praise I will refrain for you, that I don't cut you off. 10 Look, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction. 11 For my own sake, for my own sake, I will do it; for how should I be profaned? And my glory I will not give to another.

12 Listen to me, O Jacob, and Israel my called: I am he; I am the first, I am also the last. 13 Yes, my hand has laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand has spread out the heavens: when I call to them, they stand up together. 14 Assemble yourselves, all you+, and hear; who among them has declared these things? He whom Yahweh loves will perform his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm [will be on] the Chaldeans. 15 I, even I, have spoken; yes, I have called him; I have brought him, and he will make his way prosperous. 16 Come+ near to me, hear+ this; from the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time that it was, there I am: and now the Sovereign Yahweh has sent me, and his Spirit.

17 Thus says Yahweh, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am Yahweh your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you by the way that you should go. 18 Oh that you would have listened to my commandments! Then your peace would have been as a river, and your righteousness as the waves of the sea: 19 your seed also would have been as the sand, and the offspring from inside you like its grains: his name would not be cut off nor destroyed from before me.

20 Go+ forth from Babylon, flee+ from the Chaldeans; with a voice of singing declare+, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth: say+, Yahweh has redeemed his slave Jacob. 21 And they didn't thirst when he led them through the deserts; he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them; he split the rock also, and the waters gushed out. 22 There is no peace, says Yahweh, to the wicked.

49  Listen, O isles, to me; and listen, you+ peoples, from far: Yahweh has called me from the womb; from inside my mother he has made mention of my name: 2 and he has made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand he has hid me: and he has made me a polished shaft; in his quiver he has kept me close: 3 and he said to me, You are my slave; Israel, in whom I will be glorified. 4 But I said, I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely the justice [due] to me is with Yahweh, and my recompense with my God.

5 And now says Yahweh who formed me from the womb to be his slave, to bring Jacob again to him, and that Israel be gathered to him (for I am honorable in the eyes of Yahweh, and my God has become my strength); 6 yes, he says, It is too light a thing that you should be my slave to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give you for a light to the Gentiles, that you may be my salvation to the end of the earth. 7 Thus says Yahweh, the Redeemer of Israel, its Holy One, to a despised soul, to one who the nations are disgusted by, to a slave of rulers: Kings will see and arise; princes, and they will worship; because of Yahweh who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.

8 Thus says Yahweh, In an acceptable time I have answered you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you; and I will preserve you, and give you for a covenant of the people, to raise up the land, to make them inherit the desolate heritages: 9 saying to those who are bound, Go forth; to those who are in darkness, Show yourselves. They will be shepherded in the ways, and on all bare heights will be their pasture. 10 They will not hunger nor thirst; neither will the heat nor sun strike them: for he who has mercy on them will lead them, even by springs of water he will guide them. 11 And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways will be exalted. 12 Look, these will come from far; and, look, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Syene. 13 Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for Yahweh has comforted his people, and will have compassion on his afflicted.

14 But Zion said, Yahweh has forsaken me, and the Lord has forgotten me. 15 Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yes, these may forget, yet I will not forget you. 16 Look, I have graven you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me. 17 Your builders hurry more than your destroyers, and those who made you waste will go forth from you. 18 Lift up your eyes round about, and look at all these who gather themselves together, and come to you. As I live, says Yahweh, you will surely clothe yourself with them all as with an ornament, and gird yourself with them, like a bride. 19 For, as for your waste and your desolate places, and your land that has been destroyed, surely now you will be too strait for the inhabitants, and those who swallowed you up will be far away. 20 The sons of your bereavement will yet say in your ears, The place is too strait for me; give a place to me that I may dwell. 21 Then you will say in your heart, Who has begotten me these, seeing I have been bereaved of my children, and am solitary, an exile, and wandering to and fro? And who has brought these up? Look, I was left alone; these, where were they?

22 Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh, Look, I will lift up my hand to the nations, and set up my ensign to the peoples; and they will bring your sons in their bosom, and your daughters will be carried on their shoulders. 23 And kings will be your nursing fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers: they will bow down to you with their faces to the earth, and lick the dust of your feet; and you will know that I am Yahweh; and those who wait for me will not be put to shame.

24 Will the prey be taken from the mighty, or the captives of a tyrant be delivered? 25 But thus says Yahweh, Even the captives of the mighty will be taken away, and the prey of the terrible will be delivered; for I will contend with him who contends with you, and I will save your sons. 26 And I will feed those who oppress you with their own flesh; and they will be drunk with their own blood, as with sweet wine: and all flesh will know that I, Yahweh, am your Savior, and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.

50  Thus says Yahweh, Where is the bill of your+ mother's divorce, with which I have put her away? Or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you+? Look, for your+ iniquities you+ were sold, and for your+ transgressions your+ mother was put away. 2 Why, when I came, was there no man? When I called, was there none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Look, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish stink, because there is no water, and die for thirst. 3 I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering.

4 The Sovereign Yahweh has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with words him who is weary: he wakens morning by morning, he wakens my ear to hear as those who are taught. 5 The Sovereign Yahweh has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away backward. 6 I gave my back to the strikers, and my cheeks to those who plucked off the hair; I did not hide my face from shame and spitting. 7 For the Sovereign Yahweh will help me; therefore I have not been confounded: therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I will not be put to shame. 8 He is near who justifies me; who will contend with me? Let us stand up together: who is my adversary? Let him come near to me. 9 Look, the Sovereign Yahweh will help me; who is he who will condemn me? Look, they will all wax old as a garment; the moth will eat them up. 10 Who is among you+ who fears Yahweh, who obeys the voice of his slave? He who walks in darkness, and has no light, let him trust in the name of Yahweh, and rely on his God. 11 Look, all you+ who kindle a fire, who gird yourselves about with firebrands; walk+ in the flame of your+ fire, and among the brands that you+ have kindled. This you+ will have of my hand: you+ will lie down in a place of pain.

51  Listen to me, you+ who follow after righteousness, you+ who seek Yahweh: look to the rock from where you+ were cut, and to the hole of the pit from where you+ were dug. 2 Look to Abraham your+ father, and to Sarah who bore you+; for when he was but one I called him, and I blessed him, and made him many.

3 For Yahweh has comforted Zion; he has comforted all her waste places, and has made her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of Yahweh; joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.

4 Attend to me, O my people; and give ear to me, O my nation: for a law will go forth from me, and I will establish my justice for a light of the peoples. 5 My righteousness is near, my salvation has gone forth, and my arms will judge the peoples; the isles will wait for me, and on my arm they will trust. 6 Lift up your+ eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; for the heavens will vanish away like smoke, and the earth will wax old like a garment; and those who dwell in it will die in like manner: but my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will not be abolished.

7 Listen to me, you+ who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; don't be+ afraid of the reproach of common man, neither be+ dismayed at their revilings. 8 For the moth will eat them up like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool; but my righteousness will be forever, and my salvation to all generations.

9 Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of Yahweh; awake, as in the days of old, the generations of ancient times. Is it not you who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the monster? 10 Is it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep; who made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over? 11 And the ransomed of Yahweh will return, and come with singing to Zion; and everlasting joy will be on their heads: they will obtain gladness and joy; [and] sorrow and sighing will flee away.

12 I, even I, am he who comforts you+: who are you, that you are afraid of common man who will die, and of the son of man who will be made as grass; 13 and have forgotten Yahweh your Maker, who stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and fear continually all the day because of the fury of the oppressor, when he makes ready to destroy? And where is the fury of the oppressor? 14 The captive exile will speedily be loosed; and he will not die [and go down] into the pit, neither will his bread fail. 15 For I am Yahweh your God, who stirs up the sea, so that its waves roar: Yahweh of hosts is his name. 16 And I have put my words in your mouth, and have covered you in the shadow of my hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say to Zion, You are my people.

17 Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, that have drank at the hand of Yahweh the cup of his wrath; you have drank the bowl of the cup of staggering, and drained it. 18 There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she has brought forth; neither is there any who takes her by the hand among all the sons who she has brought up. 19 These two things have befallen you, who will bemoan you? Desolation and destruction, and the famine and the sword; [with] whom shall I comfort you? 20 Your sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as an antelope in a net; they are full of the wrath of Yahweh, the rebuke of your God.

21 Therefore now hear this, you afflicted, and drunk, but not with wine: 22 Thus says your Sovereign Yahweh, and your God who pleads the cause of his people, Look, I have taken out of your hand the cup of staggering, even the bowl of the cup of my wrath; you will no more drink it again: 23 and I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you and those who oppress you, who have said to your soul, Bow down, that we may go over; and you have laid your back as the ground, and as the street, to those who go over.

52  Awake, awake, put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for from now on there will no more come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean. 2 Shake yourself from the dust; arise, sit [on your throne], O Jerusalem: the bonds of your neck became loosened, O captive daughter of Zion.

3 For thus says Yahweh, You+ were sold for nothing; and you+ will be redeemed without silver.

4 For thus says the Sovereign Yahweh, My people went down at the first into Egypt to sojourn there: and the Assyrian has oppressed them without cause. 5 Now therefore, what do I have here, says Yahweh, seeing that my people are taken away for nothing? Those who rule over them howl, says Yahweh, and my name is blasphemed continually all the day. 6 Therefore my people will know my name: therefore [they will know] in that day that I am he who speaks; look, it is I.

7 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of good [things], who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, Your God reigns! 8 The voice of your watchmen! They lift up the voice, together they sing; for they will see eye to eye, when Yahweh returns to Zion. 9 Break forth into joy, sing together, you+ waste places of Jerusalem; for Yahweh has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem. 10 Yahweh has made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

11 Depart+, depart+, go+ out from there, touch no unclean thing; go+ out of the midst of her; cleanse yourselves, you+ who bear the vessels of Yahweh. 12 For you+ will not go out in a hurry, neither will you+ go by flight: for Yahweh will go before you+; and the God of Israel will be your+ rearward.

13 Look, my slave will deal wisely, he will be exalted and lifted up, and will be very high. 14 Just as many were astonished at you, so [is his] anointing[436] more than a man, his appearance and form more than sons of man. 15 So he will sprinkle many nations; kings will shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told to them they will see; and that which they had not heard they will understand.

53  Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of Yahweh been revealed? 2 For he grew up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he has no form nor majesty; and when we see him, there is no appearance that we should desire him. 3 He was despised, and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and as one from whom men hide their face he was despised; and we did not esteem him. 4 Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, struck of God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was on him; and with his stripes we are healed. 6 All of us like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and Yahweh has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed, yet when he was afflicted he didn't open his mouth; as a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before its shearers is mute, so he didn't open his mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and who considered his generation? For he was cut off out of the land of the living; because of the transgression of my people he was stricken to death. 9 And they made his grave with the wicked, and his tomb with the rich; although he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. 10 Yet it pleased Yahweh to bruise him who was made sick. If his soul makes an offering for sin, [then] he will see [his] seed, he will prolong his days, and the pleasure of Yahweh will prosper in his hand. 11 He will see the light of the travail of his soul, [and] will be satisfied: by his knowledge will my righteous slave justify many; and he will bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the great, and he will divide the spoil with the strong; because he poured out his soul to death, and was numbered with the transgressors: yet he bore the sins of many, and made intercession for their sins.

54  Sing, O barren, you who did not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, you who did not travail: for more are the sons of the desolate than the sons of the married wife, says Yahweh. 2 Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of your habitations; do not spare: lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes. 3 For you will spread abroad on the right hand and on the left; and your seed will possess the nations, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited. 4 Don't be afraid; for you will not be ashamed: neither be confounded; for you will not be put to shame: for you will forget the shame of your youth; and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more. 5 For your Maker is your husband; Yahweh of hosts is his name: and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he will be called the God of the whole earth. 6 For Yahweh has called you as a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, even a wife of youth, when she is cast off, says your God. 7 For a small moment I have forsaken you; but with great mercies I will gather you. 8 In overflowing wrath I hid my face from you for a moment; but with everlasting loving-kindness I will have mercy on you, says Yahweh your Redeemer.

9 For this is [as] the waters of Noah to me; for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah will no more go over the earth, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you, nor rebuke you. 10 For the mountains may depart, and the hills be removed; but my loving-kindness will not depart from you, neither will my covenant of peace be removed, says Yahweh who has mercy on you.

11 O you afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, look, I will set your stones in fair colors, and lay your foundations with sapphires. 12 And I will make your pinnacles of rubies, and your gates of carbuncles, and all your border of precious stones. 13 And all your sons will be taught of Yahweh; and great will be the peace of your sons. 14 In righteousness you will be established: you will be far from oppression, for you will not fear; and from terror, for it will not come near you. 15 Look, they may gather together, but not by me: whoever will gather together against you will fall because of you. 16 Look, I have created the blacksmith who blows the fire of coals, and brings forth a weapon for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy. 17 No weapon that is formed against you will prosper; and every tongue that will rise against you in judgment you will condemn. This is the heritage of the slaves of Yahweh, and their righteousness which is of me, says Yahweh.

55  Ho, everyone who thirsts, come+ to the waters, and he who has no silver; come+, buy, and eat; yes, come, buy wine and milk without silver and without price. 2 Why do you+ spend silver for that which is not bread? And your+ labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat+ that which is good, and let your+ soul delight itself in fatness. 3 Incline your+ ear, and come to me; hear, and your+ soul will live: and I will make an everlasting covenant with you+, even the sure mercies of David. 4 Look, I have given him for a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander to the peoples. 5 Look, you will call a nation that you don't know; and a nation that didn't know you will run to you, because of Yahweh your God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for he has glorified you.

6 Seek+ Yahweh while he may be found; call+ on him while he is near: 7 let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to Yahweh, and he will have mercy on him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. 8 For my thoughts are not your+ thoughts, neither are your+ ways my ways, says Yahweh. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your+ ways, and my thoughts than your+ thoughts. 10 For as the rain comes down and the snow from heaven, and does not return there, but waters the earth, and makes it bring forth and bud, and gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater; 11 so will my word be that goes forth out of my mouth: it will not return to me void, but it will accomplish that which I please, and it will prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. 12 For you+ will go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills will break forth before you+ into singing; and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. 13 Instead of the thorn will come up the fir-tree; and instead of the brier will come up the myrtle-tree: and it will be to Yahweh for a name, for an everlasting sign that will not be cut off.

56  Thus says Yahweh, Keep+ justice, and do righteousness; for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed. 2 Blessed is [the] common man who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast; who keeps the Sabbath from profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil. 3 Neither let the foreigner, who has joined himself to Yahweh, speak, saying, Yahweh will surely separate me from his people; neither let the eunuch say, Look, I am a dry tree.

4 For thus says Yahweh of the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, and choose that which pleases me, and hold fast my covenant: 5 To him I will give in my house and inside my walls a memorial and a name better than of sons and of daughters; I will give them an everlasting name, that will not be cut off.

6 Also the foreigners who join themselves to Yahweh, to minister to him, and to love the name of Yahweh, to be his slaves, everyone who keeps the Sabbath from profaning it, and holds fast my covenant; 7 even them I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt-offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all peoples. 8 The Sovereign Yahweh, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, says, Yet I will gather [others] to him, besides his own who are gathered. 9 All you+ beasts of the field, come to devour, [yes,] all you+ beasts in the forest.

10 His watchmen are blind, they are all without knowledge; they are all mute dogs, they can't bark; dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber. 11 Yes, the dogs are greedy of soul, they can never have enough; and these are shepherds who cannot understand: they have all turned to their own way, each one to his gain, from every quarter.[437] 12 Come+, [they say], I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow will be as this day, [a day] great beyond measure.  57  The righteous perishes, and no man lays it to heart; and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil [to come]. 2 He enters into peace; they rest in their beds, each one who walks in his uprightness.

3 But draw near here, you+ sons of the psychic,[438] the seed of the adulterer and the prostitute. 4 Against whom do you+ sport yourselves? Against whom do you+ make a wide mouth, and put out the tongue? Are you+ not children of transgression, a seed of falsehood, 5 you+ who inflame yourselves among the oaks, under every green tree; who slay the children in the valleys, under the clefts of the rocks? 6 Among the smooth [stones] of the valley is your portion; they, they are your lot; even to them you have poured a drink-offering, you have offered an oblation. Shall I be appeased for these things? 7 On a high and lofty mountain you have set your bed; there also you went up to offer sacrifice. 8 And behind the doors and the posts you have set up your memorial: for you have uncovered [yourself] to other than me, and have gone up; you have enlarged your bed, and you made a covenant with them: you have loved their bed, you have looked at the hand.[439] 9 And you went to the king[440] with oil, and increased your perfumes, and sent your ambassadors far off, and debased yourself even to Sheol. 10 You were wearied with the length of your way; yet you didn't say, It is in vain: you found a quickening of your strength; therefore you were not faint.

11 And of whom have you been afraid and in fear, that you lie, and haven't remembered me, nor laid it to your heart? Haven't I held my peace even of long time, and you don't fear me? 12 I will declare your righteousness; and as for your works, they will not profit you. 13 When you cry, let those who you have gathered deliver you; but the wind will take them, a breath will carry them all away: but he who takes refuge in me will possess the land, and will inherit my holy mountain.

14 And he will say, Cast+ up, cast+ up, prepare the way, take up the stumbling-block out of the way of my people.

15 For thus says the high and lofty One who stays eternally, whose name is Holy: I stay in the high and holy place, and with him who is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite. 16 For I will not contend forever, neither will I always be angry; for the spirit would faint before me, and the breath of those whom I have made. 17 For the iniquity of his covetousness I was angry, and struck him; I hid [my face] and was angry; and he went on backsliding in the way of his heart. 18 I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts to him and to his mourners. 19 I create the fruit of the lips: Peace, peace, to him who is far off and to him who is near, says Yahweh; and I will heal him. 20 But the wicked are like the troubled sea; for it can't rest, and its waters cast up mire and dirt. 21 There is no peace, says my God, to the wicked.

58  Cry aloud, do not spare, lift up your voice like a trumpet, and declare to my people their transgression, and to the house of Jacob their sins. 2 Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways: as a nation that did righteousness, and did not forsake the ordinance of their God, they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God. 3 Why have we fasted, [they say], and you don't see? [Why] have we afflicted our soul, and you take no knowledge? Look, in the day of your+ fast you+ find [your+ own] pleasure, and exact all your+ labors. 4 Look, you+ fast for strife and contention, and to strike with the fist of wickedness: you+ do not fast this day so as to make your+ voice to be heard on high. 5 Is such the fast that I have chosen? The day for man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a rush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and an acceptable day to Yahweh? 6 Isn't this the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and that you+ break every yoke? 7 Is it not to deal your bread to the hungry, and that you bring the poor who are cast out to your house? When you see the naked, that you cover him; and that you don't hide yourself from your own flesh? 8 Then will your light break forth as the morning, and your healing will spring forth speedily; and your righteousness will go before you; the glory of Yahweh will be your rearward. 9 Then you will call, and Yahweh will answer; you will cry, and he will say, Here I am.

If you take away from the midst of you the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking wickedly; 10 and if you draw out your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul: then your light will rise in darkness, and your obscurity be as the noonday; 11 and Yahweh will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in dry places, and make your bones strong; and you will be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. 12 And those who will be of you will build the old waste places; you will raise up the foundations of many generations; and you will be called The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.

13 If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, [and] the holy of Yahweh honorable; and will honor it, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking [your own] words: 14 then you will delight yourself in Yahweh; and I will make you to ride on the high places of the earth; and I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father: for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it.

59  Look, Yahweh's hand is not shortened, that it can't save; neither his ear heavy, that it can't hear: 2 but your+ iniquities have separated between you+ and your+ God, and your+ sins have hid his face from you+, so that he will not hear. 3 For your+ hands are defiled with blood, and your+ fingers with iniquity; your+ lips have spoken lies, your+ tongue mutters wickedness. 4 None sues in righteousness, and none pleads in truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they are pregnant with mischief, and give birth to iniquity. 5 They hatch adders' eggs, and weave the spider's web: he who eats of their eggs dies; and that which is crushed breaks out into a viper. 6 Their webs will not become garments, neither will they cover themselves with their works: their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands. 7 Their feet run to evil, and they hurry to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; desolation and destruction are in their paths. 8 The way of peace they don't know; and there is no justice in their goings: they have made crooked paths for themselves; whoever goes in them does not know peace.

9 Therefore justice is far from us, neither does righteousness overtake us: we look for light, but see darkness; for brightness, but we walk in obscurity. 10 We grope for the wall like the blind; yes, we grope as those who have no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the twilight; among those who are lusty we are as dead men. 11 We roar all like bears, and moan intensely like doves: we look for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us. 12 For our transgressions are multiplied before you, and our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us, and as for our iniquities, we know them: 13 transgressing and denying Yahweh, and turning away from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, being pregnant with, and uttering from the heart, words of falsehood. 14 And justice has turned away backward, and righteousness stands far off; for truth has fallen in the street, and uprightness can't enter. 15 Yes, truth is lacking; and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.

And Yahweh saw it, and it was evil in his eyes that there was no justice. 16 And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his own arm brought salvation to him; and his righteousness, it upheld him. 17 And he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head; and he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a mantle. 18 According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, wrath to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompense. 19 So they will fear the name of Yahweh from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun; for he will come as a rushing stream, which the breath of Yahweh drives. 20 And a Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob, says Yahweh. 21 And as for me, this is my covenant with them, says Yahweh: my Spirit who is on you, and my words which I have put in your mouth, will not depart out of your mouth, nor out of the mouth of your seed, nor out of the mouth of your seed's seed, says Yahweh, from now on and forever.

60  Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of Yahweh has risen on you. 2 For, look, darkness will cover the earth, and gross darkness the peoples; but Yahweh will arise on you, and his glory will be seen on you. 3 And nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.

4 Lift up your eyes round about, and see: all of them gather themselves together, they come to you; your sons will come from far, and your daughters will be carried in the arms. 5 Then you will see and be radiant, and your heart will thrill and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea will be turned to you, the wealth of the nations will come to you. 6 The multitude of camels will cover you, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba will come; they will bring gold and frankincense, and will proclaim the good news of the praises of Yahweh. 7 All the flocks of Kedar will be gathered together to you, the rams of Nebaioth will minister to you; they will come up with acceptance on my altar; and I will glorify the house of my glory. 8 Who are these who fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows? 9 Surely the isles will wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring your sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, for the name of Yahweh your God, and for the Holy One of Israel, because he has glorified you.

10 And foreigners will build up your walls, and their kings will minister to you: for in my wrath I struck you, but in my favor I have had mercy on you. 11 Your gates will also be open continually; they will not be shut day nor night; that men may bring to you the wealth of the nations, and their kings led captive. 12 For that nation and kingdom that will not serve you will perish; yes, those nations will be completely wasted. 13 The glory of Lebanon will come to you, the fir-tree, the pine, and the box-tree together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I will make the place of my feet glorious. 14 And the sons of those who afflicted you will come bending to you; and all those who despised you will bow themselves down at the soles of your feet; and they will call you The city of Yahweh, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel.

15 Whereas you have been forsaken and hated, so that no man passed through you, I will make you an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations. 16 You will also be nursed with the milk of the nations, and will be nursed with the breast of kings; and you will know that I, Yahweh, am your Savior, and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. 17 For bronze I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood bronze, and for stones iron. I will also make your officers peace, and your exactors righteousness. 18 Violence will no more be heard in your land, desolation nor destruction inside your borders; but you will call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise. 19 The sun will no more be your light by day; neither will the moon give light to you for brightness: but Yahweh will be to you an everlasting light, and your God your glory. 20 Your sun will no more go down, neither will your moon withdraw itself; for Yahweh will be your everlasting light, and the days of your mourning will be ended. 21 Your people also will all be righteous; they will inherit the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified. 22 The little one will become a thousand, and the small one a strong nation; I, Yahweh, will hurry it in its time.

61  The Spirit of the Sovereign Yahweh is on me; because Yahweh has anointed me to preach good news to the meek; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening [of the prison] to those who are bound; 2 to proclaim the year of Yahweh's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; 3 to appoint to those who mourn in Zion, to give to them a garland for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of Yahweh, that he may be glorified.

4 And they will build the old wastes, they will raise up the former desolations, and they will repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations. 5 And strangers will stand and shepherd your+ flocks, and foreigners will be your+ plowmen and your+ vine-dressers. 6 But you+ will be named the priests of Yahweh; men will call you+ the ministers of our God: you+ will eat the wealth of the nations, and in their glory you+ will boast yourselves. 7 Instead of your+ shame [you+ will have] double; and instead of dishonor they will rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they will possess double; everlasting joy will be to them. 8 For I, Yahweh, love justice, I hate robbery with burnt-offerings; and I will give them their recompense in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. 9 And their seed will be known among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples: all who see them will acknowledge them, that they are the seed which Yahweh has blessed.

10 I will greatly rejoice in Yahweh, my soul will be joyful in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. 11 For as the earth brings forth its bud, and as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Sovereign Yahweh will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.  62  For Zion's sake I will not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a lamp that burns. 2 And the nations will see your righteousness, and all kings your glory, and you will be called by a new name, which the mouth of Yahweh will name. 3 You will also be a crown of beauty in the hand of Yahweh, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God. 4 You will no more be termed Forsaken; neither will your land anymore be termed Desolate: but you will be called Hephzi-bah, and your land Beulah; for Yahweh delights in you, and your land will be married. 5 For as a young man takes possession of a virgin, so will your sons take possession of you; and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so will your God rejoice over you.

6 I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they will never hold their peace day nor night: you+ who are Yahweh's remembrancers, take+ no rest, 7 and give him no rest, until he establishes, and until he makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth. 8 Yahweh has sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength, Surely I will no more give your grain to be food for your enemies; and foreigners will not drink your new wine, for which you have labored: 9 but those who have garnered it will eat it, and praise Yahweh; and those who have gathered it will drink it in the courts of my sanctuary.

10 Go through, go through the gates; prepare+ the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up an ensign for the peoples. 11 Look, Yahweh has proclaimed to the end of the earth, Say+ to the daughter of Zion, Look, your salvation comes; look, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. 12 And they will call them The holy people, The redeemed of Yahweh: and you will be called Sought out, A city not forsaken.

63  Who is this that comes from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? This who is glorious in his apparel, striding in the greatness of his strength? I who speak in righteousness, with full resources to save. 2 Why are you red in your apparel, and your garments like him who treads in the wine vat? 3 I have trodden the wine press alone; and of the peoples there was no man with me: yes, I trod them in my anger, and trampled them in my wrath; and their lifeblood is sprinkled on my garments, and I have stained all my raiment. 4 For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year of my redeemed has come. 5 And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold: therefore my own arm brought salvation to me; and my wrath, it upheld me. 6 And I trod down the peoples in my anger, and made them drunk in my wrath, and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.

7 I will make mention of the loving-kindnesses of Yahweh, [and] the praises of Yahweh, according to all that Yahweh has bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he has bestowed on them according to his mercies, and according to the multitude of his loving-kindnesses. 8 For he said, Surely, they are my people, sons who will not deal falsely: so he was their Savior. 9 In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bore them, and carried them all the days of old.

10 But they rebelled, and grieved his Holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, [and] himself fought against them. 11 Then he remembered the days of old, Moses [and] his people, [saying,] Where is he who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of his flock? Where is he who put his Holy Spirit in the midst of them? 12 Who caused his glorious arm to go at the right hand of Moses? Who divided the waters before them, to make himself an everlasting name? 13 Who led them through the depths, as a horse in the wilderness, so that they did not stumble? 14 As the cattle that go down into the valley, the Spirit of Yahweh caused them to rest: so you led your people, to make yourself a glorious name.

15 Look down from heaven, and behold from the habitation of your holiness and of your glory: where are your zeal and your mighty acts? The yearning of your insides and your compassions are restrained toward me. 16 For you are our Father, though Abraham does not know us, and Israel does not acknowledge us: you, O Yahweh, are our Father; our Redeemer from everlasting is your name. 17 O Yahweh, why do you make us to err from your ways, and harden our heart from your fear? Return for your slaves' sake, the tribes of your inheritance. 18 Your holy people possessed [it] but a little while: our adversaries have trodden down your sanctuary. 19 We have become as they over whom you never bore rule, as those who were not called by your name.

64  Oh that you would rend the heavens, that you would come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence, 2 as when fire kindles the brushwood, [and] the fire causes the waters to boil; to make your name known to your adversaries, that the nations may tremble at your presence! 3 When you did awesome things which we didn't look for, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence. 4 For from of old men haven't heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither has the eye seen a God besides you, who works for him who waits for him. 5 You meet him who rejoices and works righteousness, those who remember you in your ways: look, you were angry, and we sinned: in them [we have been] of long time; and shall we be saved? 6 For we have all become as one who is unclean, and all our righteousnesses are as a polluted garment: and all of us fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. 7 And there is none who calls on your name, who stirs up himself to take hold of you; for you have hid your face from us, and have consumed us by means of our iniquities.

8 But now, O Yahweh, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you our potter; and all of us are the work of your hand. 9 Don't be angry very intensely, O Yahweh, neither remember iniquity forever: see, look, we urge you, we are all your people. 10 Your holy cities have become a wilderness, Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. 11 Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised you, has burned with fire; and all our pleasant places are laid waste. 12 Will you refrain yourself for these things, O Yahweh? Will you hold your peace, and afflict us very intensely?

65  I am inquired of by those who didn't ask [for me]; I am found of those who didn't seek me: I said, Look at me, look at me, to a nation that did not call on my name. 2 I have spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, after their own thoughts; 3 a people who provoke me to my face continually, sacrificing in gardens, and burning incense on bricks; 4 who sit among the graves, and lodge in the secret places; who eat swine's flesh, and broth of contaminated things is in their vessels; 5 who say, Stand by yourself, don't come near to me, for I am holier than you. These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burns all the day. 6 Look, it is written before me: I will not keep silent, but will recompense, yes, I will recompense into their bosom, 7 your+ own iniquities, and the iniquities of your+ fathers together, says Yahweh, who have burned incense on the mountains, and blasphemed me on the hills; therefore I will first measure their work into their bosom.

8 Thus says Yahweh, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one says, Don't destroy it, for a blessing is in it: so I will do for my slaves' sake, that I may not destroy them all. 9 And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains; and my chosen will inherit it, and my slaves will stay there. 10 And Sharon will be a fold of flocks, and the valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down in, for my people who have sought me. 11 But you+ who forsake Yahweh, who forget my holy mountain, who prepare a table for Fortune, and who fill up mingled wine to Destiny; 12 I will destine you+ to the sword, and you+ will all bow down to the slaughter; because when I called, you+ did not answer; when I spoke, you+ did not hear; but you+ did that which was evil in my eyes, and chose that in which I did not delight.

13 Therefore thus says the Sovereign Yahweh, Look, my slaves will eat, but you+ will be hungry; look, my slaves will drink, but you+ will be thirsty; look, my slaves will rejoice, but you+ will be put to shame; 14 look, my slaves will sing for joy of heart, but you+ will cry for sorrow of heart, and will wail for vexation of spirit. 15 And you+ will leave your+ name for a curse to my chosen; and the Sovereign Yahweh will slay you; and he will call his slaves by another name: 16 so that he who blesses himself in the earth will bless himself in the God of truth; and he who swears in the earth will swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from my eyes.

17 For, look, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things will not be remembered, nor come into mind. 18 But be+ glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for, look, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. 19 And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people; and there will be heard in her no more the voice of weeping and the voice of crying. 20 There will be no more from there an infant of days, nor an old man who has not filled his days; for the child will die a hundred years old, and the sinner being a hundred years old will be accursed. 21 And they will build houses, and inhabit them; and they will plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. 22 They will not build, and another inhabit; they will not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree will be the days of my people, and my chosen will long enjoy the work of their hands. 23 They will not labor in vain, nor bring forth for calamity; for they are the seed of the blessed of Yahweh, and their offspring with them. 24 And it will come to pass that, before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. 25 The wolf and the lamb will be shepherded together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox; and dust will be the serpent's food. They will not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, says Yahweh.

66  Thus says Yahweh, Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: what manner of house will you+ build to me? And what place will be my rest? 2 For all these things my hand has made, and [so] all these things had come to be, says Yahweh: but to this man I will look, even to him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at my word. 3 He who kills an ox is as he who slays a man; he who sacrifices a lamb, as he who breaks a dog's neck; he who offers an oblation, [as he who offers] swine's blood; he who burns frankincense, as he who blesses an idol. Yes, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their detestable things: 4 I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears on them; because when I called, none answered; when I spoke, they did not hear: but they did that which was evil in my eyes, and chose that in which I did not delight.

5 Hear the word of Yahweh, you+ who tremble at his word: Your+ brothers who hate you+, who cast you+ out for my name's sake, have said, Let Yahweh be glorious, that we may see your+ joy; but it is they who will be put to shame. 6 A voice of tumult from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of Yahweh who renders recompense to his enemies.

7 Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man-child. 8 Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Will a land be born in one day? Will a nation be brought forth at once? For as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her sons. 9 Will I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? says Yahweh: will I who cause to bring forth shut [the womb]? says your God.

10 Rejoice+ with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you+ who love her: rejoice for joy with her, all you+ who mourn over her; 11 that you+ may be nursed and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that you+ may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory. 12 For thus says Yahweh, Look, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream; and you+ will be nursed and be borne on the side; and will be cuddled on the knees. 13 As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you+; and you+ will be comforted in Jerusalem. 14 And you+ will see [it], and your+ heart will rejoice, and your+ bones will flourish like the tender grass: and the hand of Yahweh will be known toward his slaves; and he will have indignation against his enemies.

15 For, look, Yahweh will come with fire, and his chariots will be like the whirlwind; to render his anger with fierceness, and his rebuke with flames of fire. 16 For by fire Yahweh will execute judgment, and by his sword, on all flesh; and the slain of Yahweh will be many. 17 Those who sanctify themselves and purify themselves [to go] to the gardens, behind one in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the detestable, and the mouse, they will come to an end together, says Yahweh.

18 As for me, given their works and their thoughts: [the time] comes that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they will come, and will see my glory. 19 And I will set a sign among them, and I will send such as escape of them to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the isles far off, that haven't heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they will declare my glory among the nations. 20 And they will bring all your+ brothers out of all the nations for an oblation to Yahweh, on horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and on mules, and on dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says Yahweh, as the sons of Israel bring their oblation in a clean vessel into the house of Yahweh. 21 And of them I will also take for priests [and] for Levites, says Yahweh.

22 For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, will remain before me, says Yahweh, so will your+ seed and your+ name remain. 23 And it will come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh will come to worship before me, says Yahweh. 24 And they will go forth, and look at the dead bodies of the men who have transgressed against me: for their worm will not die, neither will their fire be quenched; and they will be an abhorring to all flesh.

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Jeremiah

1  The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin: 2 to whom the word of Yahweh came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. 3 It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, to the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, to the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.

4 Now the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 5 Before I formed you in the belly I knew you, and before you came forth out of the womb I sanctified you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations. 6 Then I said, Ah, Sovereign Yahweh! Look, I don't know how to speak; for I am a child. 7 But Yahweh said to me, Don't say, I am a child; for to whomever I will send you you will go, and whatever I will command you you will speak. 8 Don't be afraid because of them; for I am with you to deliver you, says Yahweh. 9 Then Yahweh put forth his hand, and touched my mouth; and Yahweh said to me, Look, I have put my words in your mouth: 10 see, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.

11 Moreover the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, Jeremiah, what do you see? And I said, I see a rod of an almond-tree. 12 Then Yahweh said to me, You have well seen: for I watch over my word to perform it.

13 And the word of Yahweh came to me the second time, saying, What do you see? And I said, I see a boiling cauldron; and the face of it is from the north. 14 Then Yahweh said to me, Out of the north evil will break forth on all the inhabitants of the land. 15 For, look, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, says Yahweh; and they will come, and they will set every one his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all its walls round about, and against all the cities of Judah. 16 And I will utter my judgments against them concerning all their wickedness, in that they have forsaken me, and have burned incense to other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands. 17 You therefore gird up your loins, and arise, and speak to them all that I command you: don't be dismayed at them, or else I will dismay you before them. 18 For, look, I have made you this day a fortified city, and an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against its princes, against its priests, and against the people of the land. 19 And they will fight against you; but they will not prevail against you: for I am with you, says Yahweh, to deliver you.

2  And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 2 Go, and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus says Yahweh, I remember for you the kindness of your youth, the love of your espousals; how you went after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown. 3 Israel [was] holiness to Yahweh, the first fruits of his increase: all who devour him will be held guilty; evil will come upon them, says Yahweh.

4 Hear+ the word of Yahweh, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel: 5 thus says Yahweh, What unrighteousness have your+ fathers found in me, that they have gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and have become vain? 6 Neither did they say, Where is Yahweh who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, that led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought and of the shadow of death, through a land that a man has not passed through, and where man has not dwelt? 7 And I brought you+ into a plentiful land, to eat its fruit and its goodness; but when you+ entered, you+ defiled my land, and made my heritage disgusting. 8 The priests didn't say, Where is Yahweh? And those who handle the law didn't know me: the rulers also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.

9 Therefore I will yet contend with you+, says Yahweh, and with the sons of your+ sons I will contend. 10 For pass over to the isles of Kittim, and see; and send to Kedar, and consider diligently; and see if there has been such a thing. 11 Has a nation exchanged [its] gods, which yet are no gods? But my people have exchanged my glory for that which does not profit.[441] 12 Be astonished, O you+ heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be+ very desolate, says Yahweh. 13 For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.

14 Is Israel a slave? Is he a home-born [slave]? Why has he become a prey? 15 The young lions have roared on him, and yelled; and they have made his land waste: his cities are burned up, without inhabitant. 16 The sons also of Memphis and Tahpanhes have broken the top of your head. 17 Have you not procured this to yourself, in that you have forsaken Yahweh your God, when he led you by the way? 18 And now what have you to do in the way to Egypt, to drink the waters of the Shihor? Or what have you to do in the way to Assyria, to drink the waters of the River? 19 Your own wickedness will correct you, and your backslidings will reprove you: know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing, that you have forsaken Yahweh your God, and that my fear is not in you, says the Lord, Yahweh of hosts.

20 For of old time I have broken your yoke, and burst your bonds; and you said, I will not serve; for on every high hill and under every green tree you were laying down prostituting. 21 Yet I had planted you a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then have you turned into the wild branches of a foreign vine to me? 22 For though you wash yourself with lye, and take yourself much soap, yet your iniquity is marked before me, says the Sovereign Yahweh. 23 How can you say, I am not defiled, I haven't gone after the Baalim? See your way in the valley, know what you have done: [you are] a swift dromedary traversing her ways; 24 a wild donkey used to the wilderness, that snuffs up the wind in the desire of her soul; in her occasion who can turn her away? All those who seek her will not weary themselves; in her month they will find her. 25 Withhold your foot from being unshod, and your throat from thirst: but you said, It is in vain; no, for I have loved strangers, and I will go after them.

26 As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets; 27 who say to a stock, You are my father; and to a stone, You have brought me forth: for they have turned their back to me, and not their face; but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and save us. 28 But where are your gods that you have made for yourself? Let them arise, if they can save you in the time of your trouble: for according to the number of your cities are your gods, O Judah.

29 Why will you+ contend with me? All of you+ have transgressed against me, says Yahweh. 30 In vain I have struck your+ sons; they received no correction: your+ own sword has devoured your+ prophets, like a destroying lion. 31 O generation, see+ the word of Yahweh. Have I been a wilderness to Israel? Or a land of thick darkness? Why do my people say, We have broken loose; we will come no more to you? 32 Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten me days without number. 33 How you trim your way to seek love! Therefore even the wicked women you have taught your ways. 34 Also in your skirts is found the blood of the souls of the innocent poor: you did not find them breaking in; but it is because of all these things. 35 Yet you said, I am innocent; surely his anger has turned away from me. Look, I will enter into judgment with you, because you say, I haven't sinned. 36 Why do you want to go away so much to change your course? You will be ashamed of Egypt also, as you were ashamed of Assyria. 37 From there also you will go forth, with your hands on your head: for Yahweh has rejected those in whom you trust, and you will not prosper with them.

3  They say, If a man puts away his wife, and she goes from him, and becomes another man's, will he return to her again? Will not that land be greatly polluted? But you have prostituted with many companions; yet return again to me, says Yahweh. 2 Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see; where haven't you been lain with? By the ways you have sat for them, as an Arabian in the wilderness; and you have polluted the land with your prostitution and with your wickedness. 3 Therefore the showers have been withheld, and there has been no latter rain; yet you have a prostitute's forehead, you refused to be ashamed. 4 Will you not from this time cry to me, My Father, you are the best friend of my youth? 5 Will he retain [his anger] forever? Will he keep it to the end? Look, you have spoken and have done evil things, and have had your way.

6 Moreover Yahweh said to me in the days of Josiah the king, Have you seen that which backsliding Israel has done? She's gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree and prostituted there. 7 And I said after she had done all these things, She will return to me; but she didn't return: and her betraying sister Judah saw it. 8 And I saw, when, for this very cause that backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a bill of divorce, yet betraying Judah her sister didn't fear; but she also went and prostituted. 9 And it came to pass through the lightness of her prostitution, that she defiled herself together with the land, and she committed adultery with stones and with stocks. 10 And yet for all this her betraying sister Judah has not returned to me with her whole heart, but feignedly, says Yahweh.

11 And Yahweh said to me, Backsliding Israel has shown her soul more righteous than betraying Judah. 12 Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, you backsliding Israel, says Yahweh; I will not look in anger on you+; for I am merciful, says Yahweh, I will not keep [anger] forever. 13 Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against Yahweh your God, and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every green tree, and you+ haven't obeyed my voice, says Yahweh. 14 Return, O backsliding sons, says Yahweh; for I am a husband to you+: and I will take you+ one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you+ to Zion: 15 and I will give you+ shepherds according to my heart, who will shepherd you+ with knowledge and understanding. 16 And it will come to pass, when you+ have multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, says Yahweh, they will say no more, The ark of the covenant of Yahweh; neither will it come to mind; neither will they remember it; neither will they miss it; neither will it be made anymore. 17 At that time they will call Jerusalem the throne of Yahweh; and all the nations will be gathered to it, to the name of Yahweh, to Jerusalem: neither will they walk anymore after the stubbornness of their evil heart. 18 In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together out of the land of the north to the land that I gave for an inheritance to your+ fathers.

19 But I said, How I will put you among the sons, and give you a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of the nations! And I said, You will call me My Father, and will not turn away from following me. 20 Surely as a wife betrays [by divorcing] from her companion, so you+ have betrayed me, O house of Israel, says Yahweh. 21 A voice is heard on the bare heights, the weeping [and] the supplications of the sons of Israel; because they have perverted their way, they have forgotten Yahweh their God. 22 Return, you+ backsliding sons, I will heal your+ backslidings.

Look, we have come to you; for you are Yahweh our God. 23 Truly, delusion comes from the hills, the tumult on the mountains: [but] truly in Yahweh our God is the salvation of Israel. 24 But the shameful thing has devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. 25 Let us lie down in our shame, and let our confusion cover us; for we have sinned against Yahweh our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day; and we haven't obeyed the voice of Yahweh our God.

4  If you will return, O Israel, says Yahweh, if you will return to me, and if you will put away your detestable things out of my sight; then you will not be removed; 2 and you will swear, As Yahweh lives, in truth, in justice, and in righteousness; and the nations will bless themselves in him, and in him they will glory.

3 For thus says Yahweh to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, Break up your+ fallow ground, and don't sow among thorns. 4 Circumcise yourselves to Yahweh, and take away the foreskins of your+ heart, you+ men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; or else my wrath will go forth like fire, and burn so that none can quench it, because of the evil of your+ doings.

5 Declare+ in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, Blow+ the trumpet in the land: cry aloud and say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the fortified cities. 6 Set up a standard toward Zion: flee for safety, don't stop; for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction. 7 A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations; he is on his way, he has gone forth from his place, to make your land desolate, that your cities be laid waste, without inhabitant. 8 For this gird yourselves with sackcloth, lament and wail; for the fierce anger of Yahweh has not turned back from us. 9 And it will come to pass at that day, says Yahweh, that the heart of the king will perish, and the heart of the princes; and the priests will be astonished, and the prophets will wonder.

10 Then I said, Ah, Sovereign Yahweh! Surely you have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, You+ will have peace; whereas the sword reaches to the soul.

11 At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A hot wind from the bare heights in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow, nor to cleanse; 12 a full wind from these will come for me: now I will also utter judgments against them. 13 Look, he will come up as clouds, and his chariots [will be] as the whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us! For we are ruined. 14 O Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. How long will your evil thoughts lodge inside you? 15 For a voice declares from Dan, and publishes evil from the hills of Ephraim: 16 make mention to the nations; Look, publish against Jerusalem [that] watchers come from a far country, and give out their voice against the cities of Judah. 17 As keepers of a field are those against her round about, because she has been rebellious against me, says Yahweh. 18 Your way and your doings have procured these things to you; this is your wickedness; for it is bitter, for it reaches to your heart.

19 Inside me, inside me! I am pained at my very heart; my heart is disquieted in me; I can't hold my peace; because you have heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. 20 Destruction on destruction is cried; for the whole land is laid waste: suddenly my tents are destroyed, [and] my curtains in a moment. 21 How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet? 22 For my people are foolish; they don't know me. They are foolish sons, and they have no understanding. They are wise to do evil; but to do good they don't know.

23 I saw the earth, and, look, it was waste and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. 24 I saw the mountains, and, look, they trembled, and all the hills moved to and fro. 25 I looked and saw that man was not there, and all the birds of the heavens had fled. 26 I looked and saw that the fruitful field was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down at the presence of Yahweh, [and] before his fierce anger.

27 For thus says Yahweh, The whole land will be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end. 28 For this the earth will mourn, and the heavens above be black; because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and I have not repented, neither will I turn back from it. 29 Every city flees for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen; they come into holes, hide in thickets, and climb up on the rocks: every city is forsaken, and not a man dwells in them. 30 And you, when you are made desolate, what will you do? Though you dress yourself with scarlet, though you deck you with ornaments of gold, though you enlarge your eyes with paint, in vain you make yourself fair; [your] lovers despise you, they seek your soul. 31 For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, the anguish as of her who brings forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, who gasps for breath, who spreads her hands, [saying,] Woe is me now! For my soul faints before the murderers.

5  Run+ to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places of it, if you+ can find a man, if there is any who does justly, who seeks truth; and I will pardon her. 2 And if they say, As Yahweh lives; surely they swear falsely. 3 O Yahweh, don't your eyes look at truth? You have stricken them, but they were not grieved; you have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.

4 Then I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish; for they don't know the way of Yahweh, nor the law of their God: 5 I will get myself to the great men, and will speak to them; for they know the way of Yahweh, and the law of their God. But these with one accord have broken the yoke, and burst the bonds. 6 Therefore a lion out of the forest will slay them, a wolf of the evenings will destroy them, a leopard will watch against their cities; everyone who goes out from there will be torn in pieces; because their transgressions are many, [and] their backslidings have increased.

7 How can I pardon you? Your sons have forsaken me, and sworn by those that are no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they committed adultery, and they dwell at a prostitute's house.[442] 8 They were as fed horses roaming at large; everyone neighed after his fellow man's wife. 9 Shall I not visit for these things? says Yahweh; and will not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

10 Go+ up on her walls, and destroy; but don't make a full end: take away her branches; for they are not Yahweh's. 11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have totally betrayed me, says Yahweh. 12 They have denied Yahweh, and said, It is not he; neither will evil come upon us; neither will we see sword nor famine: 13 and the prophets will become wind, and the word is not in them: thus it will be done to them.

14 Therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of hosts, Because you+ speak this word, look, I will make my words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it will devour them. 15 Look, I will bring a nation on you+ from far, O house of Israel, says Yahweh: it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you don't know, neither understand what they say. 16 Their quiver is an open tomb, they are all mighty men. 17 And they will eat up your harvest, and your bread, [which] your sons and your daughters should eat; they will eat up your flocks and your herds; they will eat up your vines and your fig trees; they will beat down your fortified cities, in which you trust, with the sword. 18 But even in those days, says Yahweh, I will not make a full end with you+.

19 And it will come to pass, when you+ will say, Why has Yahweh our God done all these things to us? Then you will say to them, Like you+ have forsaken me, and served foreign gods in your+ land, so you+ will serve strangers in a land that is not yours+.

20 Declare+ this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying, 21 Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; who have eyes, and don't see; who have ears, and don't hear: 22 Don't you+ fear me? says Yahweh: Will you+ not tremble at my presence, who has placed the sand for the bound of the sea, by a perpetual decree, that it can't pass it? And though its waves toss themselves, yet they can't prevail; though they roar, yet they can't pass over it. 23 But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart; they have revolted and gone. 24 Neither do they say in their heart, Let us now fear Yahweh our God, who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season; and preserves to us the appointed weeks of the harvest. 25 Your+ iniquities have turned away these things, and your+ sins have withheld good from you+. 26 For among my people are found wicked men: they watch, as a fowler lying in wait; they set a trap, they catch men. 27 As a cage is full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit: therefore they have become great, and waxed rich. 28 They are waxed fat, they shine: yes, they overpass in deeds of wickedness; they don't plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper; and they don't judge the right of the needy. 29 Shall I not visit for these things? says Yahweh; will not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

30 A wonderful and horrible thing has come to pass in the land: 31 the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will you+ do in the end of it?

6  Flee for safety, you+ sons of Benjamin, out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and raise up a signal on Beth-haccherem; for evil looks forth from the north, and a great destruction. 2 The comely and delicate one, the daughter of Zion, I will cut off. 3 Shepherds with their flocks will come to her; they will pitch their tents against her round about; they will shepherd every one in his place. 4 Prepare+ war against her; arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe to us! For the day declines, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out. 5 Arise, and let us go up by night, and let us destroy her palaces. 6 For thus has Yahweh of hosts said, Cut+ down trees, and cast up a mound against Jerusalem: this is the city to be visited; she is wholly oppression in the midst of her. 7 As a well casts forth its waters, so she casts forth her wickedness: violence and destruction is heard in her; before me continually is sickness and wounds. 8 Be instructed, O Jerusalem, or else my soul will be alienated from you; and I will make you a desolation, a land not inhabited.

9 Thus says Yahweh of hosts, They will thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine: turn again your hand as a grape-gatherer into the baskets. 10 To whom shall I speak and testify, that they may hear? Look, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot listen: look, the word of Yahweh has become to them a reproach; they have no delight in it. 11 Therefore I am full of the wrath of Yahweh; I am weary with holding in: pour it out on the children in the street, and on the assembly of young men together; for even the husband with the wife will be taken, the aged with him who is full of days. 12 And their houses will be turned to others, their fields and their wives together; for I will stretch out my hand on the inhabitants of the land, says Yahweh. 13 For from the least of them even to the greatest of them everyone is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even to the priest everyone deals falsely. 14 They have healed also the hurt of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace. 15 They were ashamed when they did these disgusting things.[443] But, they did not feel ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they will fall among those who fall; at the time that I visit them they will be cast down, says Yahweh.

16 Thus says Yahweh, Stand+ in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way; and walk in it, and you+ will find rest for your+ souls: but they said, We will not walk [in it]. 17 And I set watchmen over you+, [saying,] Listen to the sound of the trumpet; but they said, We will not listen. 18 Therefore hear, you+ nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them. 19 Hear, O earth: look, I will bring evil on this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not listened to my words; and as for my law, they have rejected it. 20 To what purpose does frankincense from Sheba come to me, and the sweet cane from a far country? Your+ burnt-offerings are not acceptable, nor your+ sacrifices pleasing to me. 21 Therefore thus says Yahweh, Look, I will lay stumbling-blocks before this people; and the fathers and the sons together will stumble against them; the neighbor and his fellow man will perish.

22 Thus says Yahweh, Look, a people comes from the north country; and a great nation will be stirred up from the uttermost parts of the earth. 23 They lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel, and have no mercy; their voice roars like the sea, and they ride on horses, everyone set in array, as a man to the battle, against you, O daughter of Zion. 24 We have heard its report; our hands wax feeble: anguish has taken hold of us, [and] pangs as of a woman in travail. 25 Don't go forth into the field, nor walk by the way; for the sword of the enemy, [and] terror, are on every side. 26 O daughter of my people, gird with sackcloth, and wallow in ashes: make mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation; for the destroyer will suddenly come upon us.

27 Among my people, I have made you as a trier [of metals], as a fortress you will examine and try their way. 28 All of them are grievous revolters, going about with slanders; they are bronze and iron: all of them, they deal corruptly. 29 The bellows blow fiercely; the lead is consumed of the fire: in vain they go on refining; for the wicked are not plucked away. 30 Men will call them refuse silver, because Yahweh has rejected them.

7  The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying, 2 Stand in the gate of Yahweh's house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of Yahweh, all you+ of Judah, who enter in at these gates to worship Yahweh. 3 Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your+ ways and your+ doings, and I will make it so that you+ stay in this place. 4 Don't trust+ in lying words, saying, The temple of Yahweh, the temple of Yahweh, the temple of Yahweh, are these [buildings]. 5 For if you+ thoroughly amend your+ ways and your+ doings; if you+ thoroughly execute justice between a man and his fellow man; 6 if you+ don't oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, and don't shed innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your+ own hurt: 7 then I will make it so that you+ stay in this place, in the land that I gave to your+ fathers, from of old even forevermore.

8 Look, you+ trust in lying words, that can't profit. 9 Will you+ steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods that you+ have not known, 10 and come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered; that you+ may do all these disgusting things? 11 Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your+ eyes? Look, I, even I, have seen it, says Yahweh.

12 But go+ now to my place which was in Shiloh, where I made my name stay at first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel. 13 And now, because you+ have done all these works, says Yahweh, and I spoke to you+, rising up early and speaking, but you+ didn't hear; and I called you+, but you+ didn't answer: 14 therefore I will do to the house which is called by my name, in which you+ trust, and to the place which I gave to you+ and to your+ fathers, as I did to Shiloh. 15 And I will cast you+ out of my sight, as I have cast out all your+ brothers, even the whole seed of Ephraim.

16 Therefore don't pray for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me; for I will not hear you. 17 Don't you see what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18 The sons gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead the dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings to other gods, that they may provoke me to anger. 19 Do they provoke me to anger? says Yahweh; [do they] not [provoke] themselves, to the confusion of their own faces? 20 Therefore thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Look, my anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, on man, and on beast, and on the trees of the field, and on the fruit of the ground; and it will burn, and will not be quenched.

21 Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: Add your+ burnt-offerings to your+ sacrifices, and eat+ flesh. 22 For I did not speak to your+ fathers, nor command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt-offerings or sacrifices: 23 but this thing I commanded them, saying, Listen to my voice, and I will be your+ God, and you+ will be my people; and walk+ in all the way that I command you+, that it may be well with you+. 24 But they didn't listen, nor incline their ear, but walked in [their own] counsels [and] in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward. 25 Since the day that your+ fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have sent all my slaves the prophets to you+, daily rising up early and sending them: 26 yet they didn't listen to me, nor incline their ear, but made their neck stiff: they did worse than their fathers.

27 And you will speak all these words to them; but they will not listen to you: you will also call to them; but they will not answer you. 28 And you will say to them, This is the nation that has not listened to the voice of Yahweh their God, nor received instruction: truth has perished, and is cut off from their mouth.

29 Cut off your hair, [O Jerusalem], and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on the bare heights; for Yahweh has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath. 30 For the sons of Judah have done that which is evil in my sight, says Yahweh: they have set their detestable things in the house which is called by my name, to defile it. 31 And they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I did not command, neither did it come into my mind. 32 Therefore, look, the days come, says Yahweh, that it will no more be called Topheth, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of Slaughter: for they will bury in Topheth, until there is no place [to bury]. 33 And the dead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the heavens, and for the beasts of the earth; and none will frighten them away. 34 Then I will cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride; for the land will become a waste.

8  At that time, says Yahweh, they will bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves; 2 and they will spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of heaven, which they have loved, and which they have served, and after which they have walked, and which they have sought, and which they have worshiped: they will not be gathered, nor be buried, they will be for dung on the face of the earth. 3 And death will be chosen rather than life by all the residue that remain of this evil family, that remain in all the places where I have driven them, says Yahweh of hosts.

4 Moreover you will say to them, Thus says Yahweh: Will men fall, and not rise up again? Will one turn away, and not return? 5 Why then has this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? They hold fast deceit, they refuse to return. 6 I listened and heard, but they did not speak aright: no man repents of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? Everyone turns to his race,[444] as a horse that rushes headlong in the battle. 7 Yes, the stork in the heavens knows her appointed times; and the turtledove and the swallow and the crane observe the time of their coming; but my people don't know the law of Yahweh.

8 How do you+ say, We are wise, and the law of Yahweh is with us? But, look, the false pen of the scribes has wrought falsely. 9 The wise men are put to shame, they are dismayed and taken: look, they have rejected the word of Yahweh; and what manner of wisdom is in them? 10 Therefore I will give their wives to others, and their fields to those who will possess them: for everyone from the least even to the greatest is given to covetousness; from the prophet even to the priest everyone deals falsely. 11 And they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace. 12 They were ashamed when they did these disgusting things.[445] But, they did not feel ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they will fall among those who fall; in the time of their visitation they will be cast down, says Yahweh. 13 I will completely consume them, says Yahweh: there will be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf will fade; and [the things that] I have given them will pass away from them.

14 Why do we sit still? Assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the fortified cities, and let us be silent there; for Yahweh our God has put us to silence, and given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against Yahweh. 15 We looked for peace, but no good came; [and] for a time of healing, and, look, dismay! 16 The snorting of his horses is heard from Dan: at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones the whole land trembles; for they have come, and have devoured the land and all that is in it; the city and those who dwell in it. 17 For, look, I will send serpents, adders, among you+, which will not be charmed; and they will bite you+, says Yahweh.

18 I am grimacing because of my sorrow. My heart is faint inside me. 19 Look, the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people from a land that is very far off: Isn't Yahweh in Zion? Isn't her King in her? Why have they provoked me to anger with their graven images, and with foreign vanities? 20 The harvest has passed, the summer has ended, and we are not saved. 21 For the hurt of the daughter of my people I am hurt: I mourn; dismay has taken hold on me. 22 Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then hasn't the health of the daughter of my people recovered?

9  Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! 2 Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging-place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! For they are all adulterers, an assembly of betraying men. 3 And they arm their tongues, [as] their bows, with falsehood; and it is not for loyalty that they are strong: for they proceed from evil to evil, and they don't know me, says Yahweh. 4 Take+ heed every one of his fellow man, and don't trust+ in any brother; for every brother will completely supplant, and every fellow man will go about with slanders. 5 And they will deceive every one his fellow man, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies, perversion; they are unable to come back. 6 Oppression upon oppression, deceit upon deceit; they refuse to know me, says Yahweh.

7 Therefore this is what Yahweh of Hosts says, Look, I will melt them, and try them; for what [else] should I do, because [it is] of the daughter of my people? 8 Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceit: with his mouth one speaks peacefully to his fellow man, but in his heart he lays wait for him. 9 Shall I not visit them for these things? says Yahweh; will not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

10 For the mountains I will lift: a weeping and a wailing; and for the pastures of the wilderness: a lamentation; because they are burned up, so that none passes through; neither can men hear the voice of the cattle; both the birds of the heavens and the beasts have fled, they are gone. 11 And I will make Jerusalem heaps, a dwelling-place of jackals; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.

12 Who is the wise man, that may understand this? And [who is] he to whom the mouth of Yahweh has spoken, that he may declare it? Why has the land perished and burned up like a wilderness, so that none passes through? 13 And Yahweh says, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and haven't obeyed my voice, neither walked in it, 14 but have walked after the stubbornness of their own heart, and after the Baalim, which their fathers taught them; 15 therefore this is what Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, says, Look, I will feed this people with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink. 16 I will scatter them also among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them.

17 This is what Yahweh of hosts says, Consider+, and call+ for the mourning women, that they may come; and send+ for the skillful women, that they may come: 18 and let them hurry, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters. 19 For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How we are ruined! We are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because they have cast down our dwellings. 20 Yet hear the word of Yahweh, O you+ women, and let your+ ear receive the word of his mouth; and teach your+ daughters wailing, and every woman her fellow woman lamentation. 21 For death has come up into our windows, it has entered into our palaces; to cut off the children from outside, [and] the young men from the streets. 22 Speak, Thus says Yahweh, The dead bodies of man will fall as dung on the open field, and as the handful after the harvestman; and none will gather [them].

23 Thus says Yahweh, Don't let the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, don't let the rich man glory in his riches; 24 but let him who glories glory in this, that he has understanding, and knows me, that I am Yahweh who exercises loving-kindness, justice, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, says Yahweh.

25 Look, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will punish all those who are circumcised in [their] uncircumcision: 26 Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the sons of Ammon, and Moab, and all who have the corners [of their hair] cut off, who dwell in the wilderness; for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart.

10  Hear+ the word which Yahweh speaks to you+, O house of Israel: 2 thus says Yahweh, Don't learn the way of the nations, and don't be dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the nations are dismayed at them. 3 For the customs of the peoples are vanity; for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the ax. 4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it will not move. 5 They are like a palm-tree, of turned work, and don't speak: they must surely be borne, because they can't go. Don't be afraid of them; for they can't do evil, neither is it in them to do good.

6 There is none like you, O Yahweh; you are great, and your name is great in might. 7 Who should not fear you, O King of the nations? For to you does it appertain; since among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their royal estate, there is none like you. 8 But they are together brutish and foolish: the instruction of idols! It is but a stock. 9 There is silver beaten into plates, which is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the artificer and of the hands of the goldsmith; blue and purple for their clothing; they are all the work of skillful men. 10 But Yahweh is the true God; he is the living God, and an everlasting King: at his wrath the earth trembles, and the nations are not able to endure his indignation.

11 Thus you+ will say to them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, these will perish from the earth, and from under the heavens.

12 He has made the earth by his power, he has established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding he has stretched out the heavens: 13 when he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; he makes lightnings for the rain, and brings forth the wind out of his treasuries. 14 All of man has become brutish [and is] without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his graven image; for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. 15 They are vanity, a work of delusion: in the time of their visitation they will perish. 16 The portion of Jacob is not like these; for he is the former of all things; and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance: Yahweh of hosts is his name.

17 Gather up your wares out of the land, O you who remain in the siege. 18 For thus says Yahweh, Look, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this time, and will distress them, that they may feel [it].

19 Woe is me[446] because of my hurt! My wound is grievous: but I said, Truly this is [my] grief, and I must bear it. 20 My tent is destroyed, and all my cords are broken: my sons have gone forth from me, and they are not: there is none to spread my tent anymore, and to set up my curtains. 21 For the shepherds have become brutish, and haven't inquired of Yahweh: therefore they haven't prospered, and all their flocks are scattered. 22 The voice of news, look, it comes, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah a desolation, a dwelling-place of jackals.

23 O Yahweh, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in a man who walks to direct his steps. 24 O Yahweh, correct me,[447] but in measure: not in your anger, or else you will bring me to nothing. 25 Pour out your wrath on the nations that don't know you, and on the families that do not call on your name: for they have devoured Jacob, yes, they have devoured him and consumed him, and have laid waste his habitation.

11  The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying, 2 Hear+ the words of this covenant. And speak them to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, 3 and say to them, This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says: Cursed be the man who does not hear the words of this covenant, 4 which I commanded your+ fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace, saying, Obey my voice, and do them, according to all which I command you+: so you+ will be my people, and I will be your+ God; 5 that I may establish the oath which I swore to your+ fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as at this day. Then I answered, and said, Amen, O Yahweh.

6 And Yahweh said to me, Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, Hear+ the words of this covenant, and do them. 7 For I earnestly protested to your+ fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even to this day, rising early and protesting, saying, Obey my voice. 8 Yet they didn't obey, nor incline their ear, but walked every one in the stubbornness of their evil heart: therefore I brought on them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they didn't do them.

9 And Yahweh said to me, A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 10 They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear my words; and they have gone after other gods to serve them: the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant which I made with their fathers. 11 Therefore thus says Yahweh, Look, I will bring evil on them, which they will not be able to escape; and they will cry to me, but I will not listen to them. 12 Then will the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem go and cry to the gods to which they offer incense: but they will not save them at all in the time of their trouble. 13 For according to the number of your cities are your gods, O Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem have you+ set up altars to the shameful thing, even altars to burn incense to Baal.

14 Therefore don't pray for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them; for I will not hear them in the time that they cry to me because of their trouble. 15 What has my beloved to do in my house, seeing she has wrought lewdness [with] many, and the holy flesh has passed from you? When you do evil, then you rejoice. 16 Yahweh called your name, A green olive tree, beautiful with goodly fruit: with the noise of a great tumult he has kindled fire on it, and the branches of it are broken. 17 For Yahweh of hosts, who planted you, has pronounced evil against you, because of the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have wrought for themselves in provoking me to anger by offering incense to Baal.

18 And Yahweh gave me knowledge of it, and I knew it: then you showed me their doings. 19 But I was like a gentle lamb that is led to the slaughter; and I didn't know that they had devised devices against me, [saying,] Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be remembered no more. 20 But, O Yahweh of hosts, who judges righteously, who tries the heart and the mind, I will see your vengeance on them; for to you I have revealed my cause. 21 Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning the men of Anathoth, who seek your soul, saying, You will not prophesy in the name of Yahweh, that you will not die by our hand; 22 therefore this is what Yahweh of Hosts says, Look, I will punish them: the young men will die by the sword; their sons and their daughters will die by famine; 23 and there will be no remnant to them: for I will bring evil on the men of Anathoth, even the year of their visitation.

12  You are righteous, O Yahweh, when I contend with you; yet I would reason the cause with you: why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are total betrayers at ease? 2 You have planted them, yes, they have taken root; they grow, yes, they bring forth fruit: you are near in their mouth, and far from their heart. 3 But you, O Yahweh, know me; you see me, and try my heart toward you: pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter. 4 How long will the land mourn, and the herbs of the whole country wither? For the wickedness of those who dwell in it, the beasts are consumed, and the birds; because they said, He will not see our latter end.

5 If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses? And though in a land of peace you are secure, yet how will you do in the pride of the Jordan? 6 For even your brothers, and the house of your father, even they have betrayed you; even they have cried aloud after you: don't believe them, though they speak good things to you.

7 I have forsaken my house, I have cast off my heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies. 8 My heritage has become to me as a lion in the forest: she has uttered her voice against me; therefore I have hated her. 9 Is my heritage to me as a speckled bird of prey? Are the birds of prey against her round about? Go+, assemble+ all the beasts of the field, bring+ them to devour. 10 Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness. 11 They have made it a desolation; it mourns to me, being desolate; the whole land is made desolate, because no man lays it to heart. 12 Destroyers have come upon all the bare heights in the wilderness; for the sword of Yahweh devours from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land: no flesh has peace. 13 They have sown wheat, and have reaped thorns; they have tired themselves out, and profit nothing. And be+ ashamed of your+ fruits, because of the fierce anger of Yahweh.

14 Thus says Yahweh against all my evil neighbors, that touch the inheritance which I have caused my people Israel to inherit: Look, I will pluck them up from off their land, and will pluck up the house of Judah from among them. 15 And it will come to pass, after that I have plucked them up, I will return and have compassion on them; and I will bring them again, every man to his heritage, and every man to his land. 16 And it will come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, As Yahweh lives; even as they taught my people to swear by Baal; then they will be built up in the midst of my people. 17 But if they will not hear, then I will pluck up that nation, plucking up and destroying it, says Yahweh.

13  Thus says Yahweh to me, Go, and buy a linen loincloth, and put it on your loins, and don't put it in water. 2 So I bought a loincloth according to the word of Yahweh, and put it on my loins. 3 And the word of Yahweh came to me the second time, saying, 4 Take the loincloth that you have bought, which is on your loins, and arise, go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a cleft of the rock. 5 So I went, and hid it by the Euphrates, as Yahweh commanded me. 6 And it came to pass after many days, that Yahweh said to me, Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take the loincloth from there, which I commanded you to hide there. 7 Then I went to the Euphrates, and dug, and took the loincloth from the place where I had hid it; and, look, the loincloth was marred, it was profitable for nothing.

8 Then the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 9 Thus says Yahweh, After this manner I will mar the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem. 10 This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who walk in the stubbornness of their heart, and have gone after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, will even be as this loincloth, which is profitable for nothing. 11 For as the loincloth sticks to the loins of a man, so I have caused to stick to me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, says Yahweh; that they may be to me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory: but they would not hear.

12 Therefore you will speak to them this word: This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, Every bottle will be filled with wine: and they will say to you, Don't we certainly know that every bottle will be filled with wine? 13 Then you will say to them, Thus says Yahweh, Look, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, even the kings who sit on David's throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness. 14 And I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together, says Yahweh: I will not pity, nor spare, nor have compassion, that I should not destroy them.

15 Hear+, and give ear; don't be proud; for Yahweh has spoken. 16 Give glory to Yahweh your+ God, before he causes darkness, and before your+ feet stumble on the dark mountains, and, while you+ look for light, he turns it into the shadow of death, and makes it gross darkness. 17 But if you+ will not hear it, my soul will weep in secret for [your+] pride; and my eye will weep intensely, and run down with tears, because Yahweh's flock is taken captive.

18 Say to the king and to the queen-mother, Humble yourselves, sit down; for what is on your+ head has come down, even the crown of your+ glory. 19 The cities of the South are shut up, and there is none to open them: Judah is carried away captive, all of it; it is wholly carried away captive.

20 Lift up your+ eyes, and look at those who come from the north: where is the flock that was given to you, your beautiful flock? 21 What will you say, when he will set over you as head those whom you have yourself taught to be best friends to you? Will not sorrows take hold of you, as of a woman in travail? 22 And if you say in your heart, Why have these things come upon me? For the greatness of your iniquity are your skirts uncovered, and your heels suffer violence. 23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then may you+ also do good, who are accustomed to do evil. 24 Therefore I will scatter them, as the stubble that passes away, by the wind of the wilderness. 25 This is your lot, the portion measured to you from me, says Yahweh; because you have forgotten me, and trusted in falsehood. 26 Therefore I will also uncover your skirts on your face, and your shame will appear. 27 I have seen your detestable things, even your adulteries, and your neighings, the lewdness of your prostitution, on the hills in the field. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! You will not be made clean; how much longer will it be?

14  The word of Yahweh that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought.

2 Judah mourns, and its gates languish, they sit in black on the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem has gone up. 3 And their majestic ones send their little ones to the waters: they come to the cisterns, and find no water; they return with their vessels empty; they are put to shame and confounded, and cover their head. 4 Because of the ground which is cracked, for no rain has been in the land, the plowmen are put to shame, they cover their heads. 5 Yes, the hind also in the field calves, and forsakes [her young], because there is no grass. 6 And the wild donkeys stand on the bare heights, they pant for air like jackals; their eyes fail, because there is no herbage.

7 Though our iniquities testify against us, work for your name's sake, O Yahweh; for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against you. 8 O you hope of Israel, its Savior in the time of trouble, why should you be as a sojourner in the land, and as a wayfaring man who turns aside to tarry for a night? 9 Why should you be as a man frightened, as a mighty man who can't save? Yet you, O Yahweh, are in the midst of us, and we are called by your name; don't leave us.

10 Thus says Yahweh to this people, Even so they have loved to wander; they haven't refrained their feet: therefore Yahweh does not accept them; now he will remember their iniquity, and visit their sins. 11 And Yahweh said to me, Don't pray for this people for [their] good. 12 When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt-offering and meal-offering, I will not accept them; but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence.

13 Then I said, Ah, Sovereign Yahweh! Look, the prophets say to them, You+ will not see the sword, neither will you+ have famine; but I will give you+ assured peace in this place. 14 Then Yahweh said to me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name; I did not send them, neither have I commanded them, neither did I speak to them: they prophesy to you+ a lying vision, and a psychic reading, and a thing of nothing, and the deceit of their own heart. 15 Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name, and I did not send them, yet they say, Sword and famine will not be in this land: By sword and famine will those prophets be consumed. 16 And the people to whom they prophesy will be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and they will have none to bury them—them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters: for I will pour their wickedness on them. 17 And you will say this word to them, Let my eyes run down with tears night and day, and don't let them cease; for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach, with a very grievous wound. 18 If I go forth into the field, then, look, the slain with the sword! And if I enter into the city, then, look, those who are sick with famine! For both the prophet and the priest go about in the land, and have no knowledge.

19 Have you completely rejected Judah? Has your soul loathed Zion? Why have you struck us, and there is no healing for us? We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of healing, and, look, dismay! 20 We acknowledge, O Yahweh, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers; for we have sinned against you. 21 Do not abhor [us], for your name's sake; do not shame the throne of your glory: remember, don't break your covenant with us. 22 Are there any among the vanities of the nations that can cause rain? Or can the heavens give showers? Are you not he, O Yahweh our God? Therefore we will wait for you; for you have made all these things.

15  Then Yahweh said to me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my soul would not be toward this people: cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth. 2 And it will come to pass, when they say to you, Where shall we go forth? Then you will tell them, Thus says Yahweh: Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for captivity, to captivity. 3 And I will appoint over them four kinds, says Yahweh: the sword to slay, and the dogs to tear, and the birds of the heavens, and the beasts of the earth, to devour and to destroy. 4 And I will cause them to be tossed to and fro among all the kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem.

5 For who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem? Or who will bemoan you? Or who will turn aside to ask of your welfare? 6 You have rejected me, says Yahweh, you have gone backward: therefore I have stretched out my hand against you, and destroyed you; I am weary with repenting. 7 And I have winnowed them with a fan in the gates of the land; I have bereaved [them] of children, I have destroyed my people; they didn't return from their ways. 8 Their widows have increased to me above the sand of the seas; I have brought on them against the mother of the young men a destroyer at noonday: I have caused anguish and terrors to fall on her suddenly. 9 She who has borne seven languishes; she has breathed out her soul; her sun has gone down while it was yet day; she has been put to shame and confounded: and the residue of them I will deliver to the sword before their enemies, says Yahweh.

10 Woe to me, my mother, that you have borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have not lent, neither have men lent to me; [yet] every one of them curses me.

11 Yahweh said, Truly I will release you for [your] good; truly I will cause the enemy to make supplication to you in the time of evil and in the time of affliction. 12 Can one break iron, even iron from the north, and bronze? 13 Your substance and your treasures I will give for a spoil, as a price for all your sins, even in all your borders. 14 And I will make you a slave of your enemies into a land which you don't know; for a fire is kindled in my anger, which will burn on you+.

15 O Yahweh, you know; remember me, and visit me, and avenge me of my persecutors; don't take me away in your long-suffering: know that for your sake I have suffered reproach. 16 Your words were found, and I ate them; and your words were to me a joy and the rejoicing of my heart: for I am called by your name, O Yahweh, God of hosts. 17 I did not sit in the assembly of those who make merry, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of your hand; for you have filled me with indignation. 18 Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuses to be healed? Will you indeed be to me as a deceitful [brook], as waters that fail?

19 Therefore thus says Yahweh, If you return, then I will bring you again, that you may stand before me; and if you take forth the precious from the vile, you will be as my mouth: they will return to you, but you will not return to them. 20 And I will make you to this people a fortified bronze wall; and they will fight against you, but they will not prevail against you; for I am with you to save you and to deliver you, says Yahweh. 21 And I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem you out of the hand of the terrible.

16  The word of Yahweh came also to me, saying, 2 You will not take for yourself a wife, neither will you have sons or daughters, in this place. 3 For thus says Yahweh concerning the sons and concerning the daughters who are born in this place, and concerning their mothers who bore them, and concerning their fathers who begot them in this land: 4 They will die grievous deaths: they will not be lamented, neither will they be buried; they will be as dung on the face of the ground; and they will be consumed by the sword, and by famine; and their dead bodies will be food for the birds of the heavens, and for the beasts of the earth.

5 For thus says Yahweh, Don't enter into the house of mourning, neither go to lament, neither bemoan them; for I have taken away my peace from this people, says Yahweh, even loving-kindness and tender mercies. 6 Both great and small will die in this land; they will not be buried, neither will men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them; 7 neither will men break bread for the mourner, to comfort them for the dead; neither will men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother. 8 And you will not go into the house of feasting to sit with them, to eat and to drink. 9 For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: Look, I will cause to cease out of this place, before your+ eyes and in your+ days, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.

10 And it will come to pass, when you will show this people all these words, and they will say to you, Why has Yahweh pronounced all this great evil against us? Or what is our iniquity? Or what is our sin that we have committed against Yahweh our God? 11 Then you will say to them, Because your+ fathers have forsaken me, says Yahweh, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshiped them, and have forsaken me, and haven't kept my law; 12 and you+ have done evil more than your+ fathers; for, look, you+ walk every one after the stubbornness of his evil heart, so that you+ don't listen to me: 13 therefore I will cast you+ forth out of this land into the land that you+ haven't known, neither you+ nor your+ fathers; and there you+ will serve other gods day and night; for I will show you+ no favor.

14 Therefore, look, the days come, says Yahweh, that it will no more be said, As Yahweh lives, who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt; 15 but, As Yahweh lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the countries where he had driven them. And I will bring them again into their land that I gave to their fathers.

16 Look, I will send for many fishers, says Yahweh, and they will fish them up; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the clefts of the rocks. 17 For my eyes are on all their ways; they are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity concealed from my eyes. 18 And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double, because they have polluted my land with the carcasses of their detestable things, and have filled my inheritance with their disgusting things.

19 O Yahweh, my strength, and my stronghold, and my refuge in the day of affliction, to you will the nations come from the ends of the earth, and will say, Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies, [even] vanity and things in which there is no profit. 20 Will man make to himself gods, which yet are no gods?

21 Therefore, look, I will cause them to know, this once I will cause them to know my hand and my might; and they will know that my name is Yahweh.

17  The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, [and] with the point of a diamond: it is graven on the tablet of their heart, and on the horns of your+ altars; 2 while their sons remember their altars and their Asherim by the green trees on the high hills. 3 O you in the field who goes to the mountain,[448] I will give your substance and all your treasures for a spoil, [and] your high places for sin, throughout all your borders. 4 And you, by your own fault, will discontinue from your heritage that I gave you; and I will cause you to serve your enemies in the land which you don't know: for you+ have kindled a fire in my anger which will burn forever.

5 Thus says Yahweh: Cursed is the [noble] man who trusts in man, and makes flesh his arm, and whose heart departs from Yahweh. 6 For he will be like the heath in the desert, and will not see when good comes, but will stay in the parched places in the wilderness, a salt land and not inhabited. 7 Blessed is the [noble] man who trusts in Yahweh, and whose trust is Yahweh. 8 For he will be as a tree planted by the waters, that spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes, but its leaf will be green; and will not be careful in the year of drought, neither will cease from yielding fruit.

9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly corrupt: who can know it? 10 I, Yahweh, search the mind, I try the heart, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings. 11 As the partridge that sits on [eggs] which she has not laid, so is he who gets riches, and not by right; in the midst of his days they will leave him, and at his end he will be a fool.

12 A glorious throne, [set] on high from the beginning, is the place of our sanctuary. 13 O Yahweh, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you will be put to shame. Those who depart from me will be written in the earth, because they have forsaken Yahweh, the fountain of living waters. 14 Heal me, O Yahweh, and I will be healed; save me, and I will be saved: for you are my praise. 15 Look, they say to me, Where is the word of Yahweh? Let it come now. 16 As for me, I haven't hurried from being a shepherd after you; neither have I desired the woeful day; you know: that which came out of my lips was before your face. 17 Don't be a terror to me: you are my refuge in the day of evil. 18 Let them be put to shame who persecute me, but don't let me be put to shame; let them be dismayed, but don't let me be dismayed; bring on them the day of evil, and destroy them with double destruction.

19 Thus Yahweh said to me: Go, and stand in the gate of the sons of the people, by which the kings of Judah come in, and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem; 20 and say to them, Hear+ the word of Yahweh, you+ kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that enter in by these gates: 21 Thus says Yahweh, Take heed to your+ souls, and bear no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem; 22 neither carry forth a burden out of your+ houses on the Sabbath day, neither do+ any work: but hallow+ the Sabbath day, as I commanded your+ fathers. 23 But they didn't listen, neither inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, and might not receive instruction.

24 And it will come to pass, if you+ diligently listen to me, says Yahweh, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but to hallow the Sabbath day, to do no work in it; 25 then there will enter in by the gates of this city kings and princes sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and this city will remain forever. 26 And they will come from the cities of Judah, and from the places round about Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the lowland, and from the hill-country, and from the South, bringing burnt-offerings, and sacrifices, and meal-offerings, and frankincense, and bringing [sacrifices of] thanksgiving, to the house of Yahweh. 27 But if you+ will not listen to me to hallow the Sabbath day, and not to bear a burden and enter in at the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day; then I will kindle a fire in its gates, and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it will not be quenched.

18  The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying, 2 Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause you to hear my words. 3 Then I went down to the potter's house, and, look, he was making a work on the wheels. 4 And when the vessel that he made of the clay was marred in the hand of the potter, he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

5 Then the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 6 O house of Israel, can't I do with you+ as this potter? says Yahweh. Look, as the clay in the potter's hand, so are you+ in my hand, O house of Israel. 7 At what instant I will speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy it; 8 if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do to them. 9 And at what instant I will speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; 10 if they do that which is evil in my sight, that they do not obey my voice, then I will repent of the good, with which I said I would benefit them. 11 Now therefore, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus says Yahweh: Look, I frame evil against you+, and devise a device against you+: return+ now every one from his evil way, and amend your+ ways and your+ doings. 12 But they say, It is in vain; for we will walk after our own devices, and we will do every one after the stubbornness of his evil heart.

13 Therefore thus says Yahweh: Ask+ now among the nations, who has heard such things; the virgin of Israel has done a very horrible thing. 14 Will the snow of Lebanon fail from the rock of Shaddai?[449] [Or] will the cold waters that flow down from far away be dried up? 15 For my people have forgotten me, they have burned incense to false [gods]; and they made them stumble in their ways, in the ancient paths, to walk in bypaths, in a way not cast up; 16 to make their land an astonishment, and a perpetual hissing; everyone who passes by it will be astonished, and shake his head. 17 I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will see them with the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.

18 Then they said, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law will not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.

19 Give heed to me, O Yahweh, and listen to the voice of those who contend with me. 20 Will evil be recompensed for good? For they have dug a pit for my soul. Remember how I stood before you to speak good for them, to turn away your wrath from them. 21 Therefore deliver up their sons to the famine, and give them over to the power of the sword; and let their wives become childless, and widows; and let their men be slain of death, [and] their young men struck of the sword in battle. 22 Let a cry be heard from their houses, when you will bring a troop suddenly on them; for they have dug a pit to take me, and hid snares for my feet. 23 Yet, Yahweh, you know all their counsel against me to slay me; don't forgive their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from your sight; but let them be overthrown before you; deal with them in the time of your anger.

19  This is what Yahweh said, Go, and buy a potter's earthen bottle,[450] and [take] of the elders of the people, and of the elders of the priests; 2 and go forth to the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the gate Harsith, and proclaim there the words that I will tell you; 3 and say, Hear+ the word of Yahweh, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem: thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, Look, I will bring evil on this place, which whoever hears, his ears will tingle. 4 Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it to other gods, that they didn't know, they and their fathers and the kings of Judah; and have filled this place with innocent blood, 5 and have built the high places of Baal, to burn their sons in the fire for burnt-offerings to Baal; which I didn't command, nor speak it, neither did it come into my mind: 6 therefore, look, the days come, says Yahweh, that this place will no more be called Topheth, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of Slaughter. 7 And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place; and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their soul: and their dead bodies I will give to be food for the birds of the heavens, and for the beasts of the earth. 8 And I will make this city an astonishment, and a hissing; everyone who passes by it will be astonished and hiss because of all its plagues. 9 And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters; and they will eat every one the flesh of his fellow man, in the siege and in the distress, with which their enemies, and those who seek their soul, will distress them.

10 Then you will break the bottle in the sight of the men who go with you, 11 and will say to them, Thus says Yahweh of hosts: Even so I will break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter's vessel, that can't be made whole again; and they will bury in Topheth, until there is no place to bury. 12 Thus I will do to this place, says Yahweh, and to its inhabitants, even making this city as Topheth: 13 and the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, which are defiled, will be as the place of Topheth, even all the houses on whose roofs they have burned incense to all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink-offerings to other gods.

14 Then Jeremiah came from Topheth, where Yahweh had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of Yahweh's house, and said to all the people: 15 Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, Look, I will bring on this city and on all its towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it; because they have made their neck stiff, that they may not hear my words.

20  Now Pashhur, the son of Immer the priest, who was leading officer in the house of Yahweh, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things. 2 Then Pashhur struck Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the upper gate of Benjamin, which was in the house of Yahweh. 3 And it came to pass on the next day, that Pashhur brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then said Jeremiah to him, Yahweh has not called your name Pashhur, but Magor-missabib. 4 For thus says Yahweh, Look, I will make you a terror to yourself, and to all your friends; and they will fall by the sword of their enemies, and your eyes will watch it; and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will carry them captive to Babylon, and will slay them with the sword. 5 Moreover I will give all the riches of this city, and all its gains, and all its precious things, yes, all the treasures of the kings of Judah I will give into the hand of their enemies; and they will make them a prey, and take them, and carry them to Babylon. 6 And you, Pashhur, and all who dwell in your house will go into captivity; and you will come to Babylon, and there you will die, and there you will be buried, you, and all your friends, to whom you have prophesied falsely.

7 O Yahweh, you have persuaded me, and I was persuaded; you are stronger than I, and have prevailed: I have become a laughingstock all the day, everyone mocks me. 8 For as often as I speak, I cry out; I cry, Violence and destruction! Because the word of Yahweh has been a reproach to me, and a derision, all the day. 9 And if I say, I will not make mention of him, nor speak anymore in his name, then there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with forbearing, and I can't [contain]. 10 For I have heard the defaming of many, terror on every side. Denounce, and we will denounce him, [say] all my friends among common man, those who watch for my fall; perhaps he will be persuaded, and we will prevail against him, and we will take our revenge on him. 11 But Yahweh is with me as a mighty one [and] a terrible: therefore my persecutors will stumble, and they will not prevail; they will be completely put to shame, because they have not dealt wisely, even with an everlasting dishonor which will never be forgotten. 12 But, O Yahweh of hosts, who tries the righteous, who sees the heart and the mind, let me see your vengeance on them; for to you I have revealed my cause. 13 Sing to Yahweh, praise you+ Yahweh; for he has delivered the soul of the needy from the hand of evildoers.

14 Cursed be the day in which I was born: don't let the day in which my mother bore me be blessed. 15 Cursed be the man who brought good news to my father, saying, A man-child is born to you; making him very glad. 16 And let that man be as the cities which Yahweh overthrew, and didn't repent: and let him hear a cry in the morning, and shouting at noontime; 17 because he didn't slay me from the womb; and so my mother would have been my grave, and her womb always pregnant. 18 Why did I come forth out of the womb to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?

21  The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur the son of Malchijah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, saying, 2 Inquire, I pray you, of Yahweh for us; for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon makes war against us: perhaps Yahweh will deal with us according to all his wondrous works, that he may go up from us.

3 Then Jeremiah said to them, Thus you+ will say to Zedekiah: 4 This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, Look, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your+ hands, with which you+ fight against the king of Babylon, and against the Chaldeans who besiege you+, outside the walls; and I will gather them into the midst of this city. 5 And I myself will fight against you+ with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation. 6 And I will strike the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast: they will die of a great pestilence. 7 And afterward, says Yahweh, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his slaves, and the people, and those who are left in this city, from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their soul: and he will strike them with the edge of the sword; he will not spare them, neither have pity, nor have mercy.

8 And to this people you will say, Thus says Yahweh: Look, I set before you+ the way of life and the way of death. 9 He who remains in this city will die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence; but he who goes out, and passes over to the Chaldeans who besiege you+, he will live, and his soul will be to him for a prey. 10 For I have set my face on this city for evil, and not for good, says Yahweh: it will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire.

11 And concerning the house of the king of Judah, hear+ the word of Yahweh: 12 O house of David, thus says Yahweh, Execute justice in the morning, and deliver him who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor, or else my wrath will go forth like fire, and burn so that none can quench it, because of the evil of your+ doings. 13 Look, I am against you, O inhabitant of the valley, [and] of the rock of the plain, says Yahweh; you+ who say, Who will come down against us? Or who will enter into our habitations? 14 And I will punish you+ according to the fruit of your+ doings, says Yahweh; and I will kindle a fire in her forest, and it will devour all that is round about her.

22  Thus said Yahweh: Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word, 2 And say, Hear the word of Yahweh, O king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David, you, and your slaves, and your people who enter in by these gates. 3 Thus says Yahweh: Execute+ justice and righteousness, and deliver him who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence, to the sojourner, the fatherless, nor the widow; neither shed innocent blood in this place. 4 For if you+ do this thing indeed, then there will enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his slaves, and his people. 5 But if you+ will not hear these words, I swear by myself, says Yahweh, that this house will become a desolation. 6 For thus says Yahweh concerning the house of the king of Judah: You are Gilead to me, [and] the head of Lebanon; [yet] surely I will make you a wilderness, [and] cities which are not inhabited. 7 And I will prepare destroyers against you, every one with his weapons; and they will cut down your choice cedars, and cast them into the fire. 8 And many nations will pass by this city, and they will say every man to his fellow man, Why has Yahweh done thus to this great city? 9 Then they will answer, Because they forsook the covenant of Yahweh their God, and worshiped other gods, and served them.

10 Don't weep+ for the dead, neither bemoan him; but weep intensely for him who goes away; for he will return no more, nor see his native country. 11 For thus says Yahweh concerning Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, [and] who went forth out of this place: He will not return there anymore. 12 But in the place where they have led him captive, there he will die, and he will see this land no more.

13 Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by injustice; who uses his fellow man's service without wages, and does not give him his wages; 14 who says, I will build me a wide house and spacious chambers, and cuts him out many windows; and it is ceiled with cedar, and painted with vermilion. 15 Will you reign, because you strive to excel in cedar? Did not your father eat and drink, and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him. 16 He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Wasn't this the knowledge of me? says Yahweh. 17 But your eyes and your heart are not but for your covetousness, and for shedding innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it. 18 Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: they will not lament for him, [saying,] Ah my brother! Ah best brother![451] They will not lament for him, [saying,] Ah lord! Ah his excellence! 19 He will be buried with the burial of a donkey, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.

20 Go up to Lebanon, and cry; and lift up your voice in Bashan, and cry from Abarim; for all your lovers are destroyed. 21 I spoke to you in your prosperity; but you said, I will not hear. This has been your manner from your youth, that you didn't obey my voice. 22 The wind will shepherd all your shepherds, and your lovers will go into captivity: surely then you will be ashamed and confounded for all your wickedness. 23 O inhabitant of Lebanon, that make your nest in the cedars, how greatly to be pitied you will be when pangs come upon you, the pain as of a woman in travail!

24 As I live, says Yahweh, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet on my right hand, yet I would pluck you from there; 25 and I will give you into the hand of those who seek your soul, and into the hand of them of whom you are afraid, even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans. 26 And I will cast you out, and your mother who bore you, into another country, where you+ were not born; and there you+ will die. 27 But to the land to where their soul longs to return, they will not return there. 28 Is this man Coniah a despised broken vessel? Is he a vessel in which none delights? Why are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into the land which they don't know? 29 O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of Yahweh. 30 Thus says Yahweh, Write+ this man childless, a [prominent] man who will not prosper in his days; for no more will a man of his seed prosper, sitting on the throne of David, and ruling in Judah.

23  Woe to the shepherds that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says Yahweh. 2 Therefore this is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, against the shepherds who shepherd my people: You+ have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them; look, I will visit on you+ the evil of your+ doings, says Yahweh. 3 And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they will be fruitful and multiply. 4 And I will set up shepherds over them, who will shepherd them; and they will fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither will any be lacking, says Yahweh.

5 Look, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will raise to David a righteous Branch, and he will reign as king and deal wisely, and will execute justice and righteousness in the land. 6 In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will stay safely; and this is his name by which he will be called: Yahweh our righteousness. 7 Therefore, look, the days come, says Yahweh, that they will no more say, As Yahweh lives, who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt; 8 but, As Yahweh lives, who brought up and who led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all the countries where I had driven them. And they will dwell in their own land.

9 Concerning the prophets. My heart inside me is broken, all my bones shake; I am like a drunk man, and like an [able-bodied] man whom wine has overcome, because of Yahweh, and because of his holy words. 10 For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourns; the pastures of the wilderness are dried up. And their course is evil, and their might is not right; 11 for both prophet and priest are profane; yes, in my house I have found their wickedness, says Yahweh. 12 Therefore their way will be to them as slippery places in the darkness: they will be driven on, and fall in it; for I will bring evil on them, even the year of their visitation, says Yahweh.

13 And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied by Baal, and caused my people Israel to err. 14 In the prophets of Jerusalem also I have seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies; and they strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that none returns from his wickedness: they are all of them to me as Sodom, and its inhabitants as Gomorrah. 15 Therefore this is what Yahweh of Hosts says concerning the prophets: Look, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall; for from the prophets of Jerusalem has ungodliness gone forth into all the land.

16 Thus says Yahweh of hosts, Don't listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you+: they teach you+ vanity; they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of Yahweh. 17 They say continually to those who despise me, Yahweh has said, You+ will have peace; and to everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart they say, No evil will come upon you+. 18 For who has stood in the council of Yahweh, that he should perceive and hear his word? Who has marked my word, and heard it? 19 Look, the tempest of Yahweh, [even his] wrath, has gone forth, yes, a whirling tempest: it will burst on the head of the wicked. 20 The anger of Yahweh will not return, until he has executed, and until he has performed the intents of his heart: in the latter days you+ will understand it perfectly. 21 I did not send these prophets, yet they ran: I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied. 22 But if they had stood in my council, then they would cause my people to hear my words, and turn them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.

23 Am I a God at hand, says Yahweh, and not a God far off? 24 Can any hide himself in secret places so that I will not see him? says Yahweh. Don't I fill heaven and earth? says Yahweh. 25 I have heard what the prophets have said, who prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. 26 How long will this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies, even the prophets of the deceit of their own heart, 27 who think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his fellow man, as their fathers forgot my name for Baal? 28 The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream; and he who has my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the straw to the wheat? says Yahweh. 29 Isn't my word like fire? says Yahweh; and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? 30 Therefore, look, I am against the prophets, says Yahweh, that steal my words every man from his fellow man. 31 Look, I am against the prophets, says Yahweh, that use their tongues, and say, He says. 32 Look, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, says Yahweh, and tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their vain boasting: yet I did not send them, nor command them; neither do they profit this people at all, says Yahweh.

33 And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, will ask you, saying, What is the burden of Yahweh? Then you will say to them, You are the burden. I will cast you+ off, says Yahweh. 34 And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people, who will say, The burden of Yahweh, I will even punish that man and his house. 35 Thus you+ will say every man to his fellow man, and every man to his brother, What has Yahweh answered? And, What has Yahweh spoken? 36 And the burden of Yahweh you+ will mention no more: for every man's own word will be his burden; for you+ have perverted the words of the living God, of Yahweh of hosts our God. 37 Thus you will say to the prophet, What has Yahweh answered you? And, What has Yahweh spoken? 38 But if you+ say, The burden of Yahweh; therefore thus says Yahweh: Because you+ say this word, The burden of Yahweh, and I have sent to you+, saying, You+ will not say, The burden of Yahweh; 39 therefore, look, I will surely lift you+ up, and I will cast you+ off, and the city that I gave to you+ and to your+ fathers, away from my presence: 40 and I will bring an everlasting reproach on you+, and a perpetual shame, which will not be forgotten.

24  Yahweh showed me, and, look, two baskets of figs set before the temple of Yahweh, after Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the craftsmen and blacksmiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon. 2 One basket had very good figs, like the figs that are first-ripe; and the other basket had very bad figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad. 3 Then Yahweh said to me, What do you see, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs; the good figs, very good; and the bad, very bad, that can't be eaten, they are so bad.

4 And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 5 This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says: Like these good figs, so I will regard the captives of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans, for good. 6 For I will set my eyes on them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up. 7 And I will give them a heart to know me, that I am Yahweh: and they will be my people, and I will be their God; for they will return to me with their whole heart.

8 And as the bad figs, which can't be eaten, they are so bad, surely thus says Yahweh, So I will give up Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, that remain in this land, and those who dwell in the land of Egypt, 9 I will even give them up to be tossed to and fro among all the kingdoms of the earth for evil; to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places where I will drive them. 10 And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, until they are consumed from off the land that I gave to them and to their fathers.

25  The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (the same was the first year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon), 2 which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying: 3 From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, these three and twenty years, the word of Yahweh has come to me, and I have spoken to you+, rising up early and speaking; but you+ haven't listened. 4 And Yahweh has sent all his slaves the prophets to you+, rising up early and sending them (but you+ haven't listened, nor inclined your+ ear to hear), 5 saying, Return+ now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your+ doings, and dwell in the land that Yahweh has given to you+ and to your+ fathers, from of old and even forevermore; 6 and don't go after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, and don't provoke me to anger with the work of your+ hands; and I will do you+ no hurt. 7 Yet you+ haven't listened to me, says Yahweh; that you+ may provoke me to anger with the work of your+ hands to your+ own hurt. 8 Therefore this is what Yahweh of Hosts says: Because you+ haven't heard my words, 9 look, I will send and take all the families of the north, says Yahweh, and [I will send] to Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my slave, and will bring them against this land, and against its inhabitants, and against all these nations round about; and I will completely destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and a hissing, and perpetual desolations. 10 Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the lamp. 11 And this whole land will be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

12 And it will come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, says Yahweh, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it desolate forever. 13 And I will bring on that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations. 14 For many nations and great kings will make slaves of them, even of them; and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the work of their hands.

15 For this is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, to me: take this cup of the wine of wrath at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it. 16 And they will drink, and reel to and fro, and be insane, because of the sword that I will send among them. 17 Then I took the cup at Yahweh's hand, and made all the nations to drink, to whom Yahweh had sent me: 18 [to wit,] Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and its kings, and its princes, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse, as it is this day; 19 Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his slaves, and his princes, and all his people; 20 and all the mingled people, and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Gaza, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod; 21 Edom, and Moab, and the sons of Ammon; 22 and all the kings of Tyre, and all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the isle which is beyond the sea; 23 Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all who have the corners [of their hair] cut off; 24 and all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mingled people who stay in the wilderness; 25 and all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes; 26 and all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the world, which are on the face of the earth: and the king of Sheshach will drink after them.

27 And you will say to them, Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: Drink+, and be drunk, and spew, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you+. 28 And it will be, if they refuse to take the cup at your hand to drink, then you will say to them, Thus says Yahweh of hosts: You+ will surely drink. 29 For, look, I begin to work evil at the city which is called by my name; and should you+ be completely unpunished? You+ will not be unpunished; for I will call for a sword on all the inhabitants of the earth, says Yahweh of hosts.

30 Therefore prophesy against them all these words, and say to them, Yahweh will roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he will mightily roar against his fold; he will give a shout, as those who tread [the grapes], against all the inhabitants of the earth. 31 A noise will come even to the end of the earth; for Yahweh has a controversy with the nations; he will enter into judgment with all flesh: as for the wicked, he will give them to the sword, says Yahweh.

32 Thus says Yahweh of hosts, Look, evil will go forth from nation to nation, and a great tempest will be raised up from the uttermost parts of the earth. 33 And the slain of Yahweh will be at that day from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth: they will not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they will be dung on the face of the ground. 34 Wail, you+ shepherds, and cry; and wallow [in ashes], you+ majestic ones of the flock; for the days of your+ slaughter and of your+ dispersions have fully come, and you+ will fall like a goodly vessel. 35 And the shepherds will have no way to flee, nor the majestic ones of the flock to escape. 36 A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and the wailing of the majestic ones of the flock! For Yahweh lays waste their pasture. 37 And the peaceful folds are brought to silence because of the fierce anger of Yahweh. 38 He has left his covert, as the lion; for their land has become an astonishment because of the fierceness of the oppressing [sword], and because of his fierce anger.

26  In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from Yahweh, saying, 2 Thus says Yahweh: Stand in the court of Yahweh's house, and speak to all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in Yahweh's house, all the words that I command you to speak to them; do not diminish a word. 3 It may be they will listen, and turn every man from his evil way; that I may repent of the evil which I purpose to do to them because of the evil of their doings. 4 And you will say to them, Thus says Yahweh: If you+ will not listen to me, to walk in my law, which I have set before you+, 5 to listen to the words of my slaves the prophets, whom I send to you+, even rising up early and sending them, but you+ haven't listened; 6 then I will make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth. 7 And the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of Yahweh.

8 And it came to pass, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that Yahweh had commanded him to speak to all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people laid hold on him, saying, You will surely die. 9 Why have you prophesied in the name of Yahweh, saying, This house will be like Shiloh, and this city will be desolate, without inhabitant? And all the people had gathered to Jeremiah in the house of Yahweh.

10 And when the princes of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king's house to the house of Yahweh; and they sat in the entry of the new gate of Yahweh's [house]. 11 Then the priests and the prophets spoke to the princes and to all the people, saying, This man is worthy of death; for he has prophesied against this city, as you+ have heard with your+ ears. 12 Then Jeremiah spoke to all the princes and to all the people, saying, Yahweh sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that you+ have heard. 13 Now therefore amend your+ ways and your+ doings, and obey the voice of Yahweh your+ God; and Yahweh will repent of the evil that he has pronounced against you+. 14 But as for me, look, I am in your+ hand: do with me as is good and right in your+ eyes. 15 Only know+ for certain that, if you+ put me to death, you+ will bring innocent blood on yourselves, and on this city, and on its inhabitants; for of a truth Yahweh has sent me to you+ to speak all these words in your+ ears.

16 Then the princes and all the people said to the priests and to the prophets: This man is not worthy of death; for he has spoken to us in the name of Yahweh our God. 17 Then certain of the elders of the land rose up and spoke to all the assembly of the people, saying, 18 Micah the Morashtite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah; and he spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus says Yahweh of hosts: Zion will be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem will become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest. 19 Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him to death? Did he not fear Yahweh, and entreat the favor of Yahweh, and Yahweh repented of the evil which he had pronounced against them? Thus we are committing great evil against our own souls.

20 And there was also a man who prophesied in the name of Yahweh, Uriah the son of Shemaiah of Kiriath-jearim; and he prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah: 21 and when Jehoiakim the king, with all his mighty-men, and all the princes, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death; but when Uriah heard it, he was afraid, and fled, and went into Egypt: 22 and Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt, [namely], Elnathan the son of Achbor, and certain men with him, into Egypt; 23 and they fetched forth Uriah out of Egypt, and brought him to Jehoiakim the king, who slew him with the sword, and cast his dead body into the graves of the common people. 24 But the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, that they should not give him into the hand of the people to put him to death.

27  2 This[452] is what Yahweh said to me: Make bonds and bars for yourself, and put them on your neck; 3 and send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the sons of Ammon, and to the king of Tyre, and to the king of Sidon, by the hand of the messengers who come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah; 4 and give them a charge to their masters, saying, Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, Thus you+ will say to your+ masters: 5 I have made the earth, and man and beast that are on the face of the earth, by my great power and by my outstretched arm; and I give it to whom it seems right to me. 6 And now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my slave; and the beasts of the field also I have given him to serve him. 7 And all the nations will serve him, and his son, and his son's son, until the time of his own land comes: and then many nations and great kings will make him their slaves. 8 And it will come to pass, that the nation and the kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation I will punish, says Yahweh, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand. 9 But as for you+, don't listen to your+ prophets, or to your+ fortune-tellers, or to your+ dreamers, or to your+ psychics,[453] or to your+ sorcerers, who speak to you+, saying, You+ will not serve the king of Babylon: 10 for they prophesy a lie to you+, to remove you+ far from your+ land, and that I should drive you+ out, and you+ should perish. 11 But the nation that will bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him, that [nation] I will let remain in their own land, says Yahweh; and they will till it, and dwell in it.

12 And I spoke to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying, Bring your+ necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live. 13 Why will you+ die, you and your people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as Yahweh has spoken concerning the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon? 14 And don't listen to the words of the prophets who speak to you+, saying, You+ will not serve the king of Babylon; for they prophesy a lie to you+. 15 For I haven't sent them, says Yahweh, but they prophesy falsely in my name; that I may drive you+ out, and that you+ may perish, you+, and the prophets who prophesy to you+.

16 Also I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, Thus says Yahweh: Don't listen to the words of your+ prophets who prophesy to you+, saying, Look, the vessels of Yahweh's house will now shortly be brought again from Babylon; for they prophesy a lie to you+. 17 Don't listen to them; serve the king of Babylon, and live: why should this city become a desolation? 18 But if they are prophets, and if the word of Yahweh is with them, let them now make intercession to Yahweh of hosts, that the vessels which are left in the house of Yahweh, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, don't go to Babylon. 19 For this is what Yahweh of Hosts says concerning the pillars, and concerning the sea, and concerning the bases, and concerning the residue of the vessels that are left in this city, 20 which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take, when he carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem; 21 yes, thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that are left in the house of Yahweh, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem: 22 They will be carried to Babylon, and there they will be, until the day that I visit them, says Yahweh; then I will bring them up, and restore them to this place.

28  And it came to pass in the fourth year of Zedekiah king of Judah,[454] in the fifth month, that Hananiah the son of Azzur, the prophet, who was of Gibeon, spoke to me in the house of Yahweh, in the presence of the priests and of all the people, saying, 2 Thus speaks Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. 3 Within two full years I will bring again into this place all the vessels of Yahweh's house, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place, and carried to Babylon: 4 and I will bring again to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, with all the captives of Judah, that went to Babylon, says Yahweh; for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.

5 Then the prophet Jeremiah said to the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests, and in the presence of all the people who stood in the house of Yahweh, 6 even the prophet Jeremiah said, Amen: May Yahweh do so; May Yahweh perform your words which you have prophesied, to bring again the vessels of Yahweh's house, and all them of the captivity, from Babylon to this place. 7 Nevertheless hear now this word that I speak in your ears, and in the ears of all the people: 8 The prophets who have been before me and before you of old prophesied against many countries, and against great kingdoms, of war, and of evil, and of pestilence. 9 The prophet who prophesies of peace, when the word of the prophet will come to pass, then will the prophet be known, that Yahweh has truly sent him. 10 Then Hananiah the prophet took the bar from off the prophet Jeremiah's neck, and broke it. 11 And Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, Thus says Yahweh: Even so I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon within two full years from off the neck of all the nations. And the prophet Jeremiah went his way.

12 Then the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, after Hananiah the prophet had broken the bar from off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, saying, 13 Go, and tell Hananiah, saying, Thus says Yahweh: You have broken the bars of wood; but you have made in their stead bars of iron. 14 For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: I have put a yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they will serve him: and I have given him the beasts of the field also. 15 Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, Hear now, Hananiah: Yahweh has not sent you; but you make this people to trust in a lie. 16 Therefore thus says Yahweh, Look, I will send you away from off the face of the earth: this year you will die, because you have spoken rebellion against Yahweh. 17 So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh month.

29  Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the residue of the elders of the captivity, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon 2 (after Jeconiah the king, and the queen-mother, and the eunuchs, [and] the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, and the craftsmen, and the blacksmiths, had departed from Jerusalem), 3 by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah (whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), saying, 4 Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the captivity, whom I have caused to be carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 Build+ houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them. 6 Take+ wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your+ sons, and give your+ daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; and multiply+ there, and don't be diminished. 7 And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you+ to be carried away captive, and pray to Yahweh for it; for in its peace you+ will have peace. 8 For this is what Yahweh of Hosts says, the God of Israel: Don't let your+ prophets who are in the midst of you+, and your+ fortune-tellers, deceive you+; neither listen+ to your+ dreamers whom you+ get to dream. 9 For they prophesy falsely to you+ in my name: I haven't sent them, says Yahweh. 10 For thus says Yahweh, After seventy years are accomplished for Babylon, I will visit you+, and perform my good word toward you+, in causing you+ to return to this place. 11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you+, says Yahweh, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you+ hope in your+ latter end. 12 And you+ will call on me, and you+ will go and pray to me, and I will listen to you+. 13 And you+ will seek me, and find me, when you+ will search for me with all your+ heart. 14 And I will be found of you+, says Yahweh, and I will turn again your+ captivity, and I will gather you+ from all the nations, and from all the places where I have driven you+, says Yahweh; and I will bring you+ again to the place from where I caused you+ to be carried away captive.

15 Because you+ have said, Yahweh has raised us up prophets in Babylon; 16 thus says Yahweh concerning the king who sits on the throne of David, and concerning all the people who dwell in this city, your+ brothers who have not gone forth with you+ into captivity; 17 this is what Yahweh of Hosts says; Look, I will send on them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that can't be eaten, they are so bad. 18 And I will pursue after them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be tossed to and fro among all the kingdoms of the earth, to be an execration, and an astonishment, and a hissing, and a reproach, among all the nations where I have driven them; 19 because they haven't listened to my words, says Yahweh, with which I sent to them my slaves the prophets, rising up early and sending them; but you+ would not hear, says Yahweh. 20 Hear+ therefore the word of Yahweh, all you+ of the captivity, whom I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon.

21 Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and concerning Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy a lie to you+ in my name: Look, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; and he will slay them before your+ eyes; 22 and of them will be taken up a curse by all the captives of Judah who are in Babylon, saying, Yahweh make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire; 23 because they have wrought folly in Israel, and have committed adultery with their fellow men's wives, and have spoken words in my name falsely, which I did not command them; and I am he who knows, and am witness, says Yahweh.

24 And concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite you will speak, saying, 25 Thus speaks Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, Because you have sent letters in your own name to all the people who are at Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, and to all the priests, saying, 26 Yahweh has made you priest in the stead of Jehoiada the priest, that there may be officers in the house of Yahweh, for every man who is insane, and makes himself a prophet, that you should put him in the stocks and in shackles. 27 Now therefore, why haven't you rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth, who makes himself a prophet to you+, 28 since he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, [The captivity] is long: build+ houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them? 29 And Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the ears of Jeremiah the prophet. 30 Then the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, saying, 31 Send to all those of the captivity, saying, Thus says Yahweh concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you+, and I did not send him, and he has caused you+ to trust in a lie; 32 therefore thus says Yahweh, Look, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite, and his seed; he will not have a man to dwell among this people, neither will he see the good that I will do to my people, says Yahweh, because he has spoken rebellion against Yahweh.

30  The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying, 2 Thus speaks Yahweh, the God of Israel, saying, Write all the words that I have spoken to you in a book. 3 For, look, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will turn again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, says Yahweh; and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they will possess it.

4 And these are the words that Yahweh spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah. 5 For thus says Yahweh: We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. 6 Ask+ now, and see whether a man travails with child: why do I see every [able-bodied] man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces have turned pale? 7 Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he will be saved out of it. 8 And it will come to pass in that day, says Yahweh of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off your neck, and will burst your bonds; and strangers will no more make him their slave; 9 but they will serve Yahweh their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up to them. 10 Therefore don't be afraid, O Jacob my slave, says Yahweh; neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, look, I will save you from afar, and your seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob will return, and will be quiet and at ease, and none will make him afraid. 11 For I am with you, says Yahweh, to save you: for I will make a full end of all the nations where I have scattered you, but I will not make a full end of you; but I will correct you in measure, and will in no way leave you unpunished.

12 For thus says Yahweh, Your hurt is incurable, and your wound grievous. 13 There is none to plead your cause, that you may be bound up: you have no healing medicines. 14 All your lovers have forgotten you; they don't seek you: for I have wounded you with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the greatness of your iniquity, because your sins have increased. 15 Why do you cry for your hurt? Your pain is incurable: for the greatness of your iniquity, because your sins have increased, I have done these things to you. 16 Therefore all those who devour you will be devoured; and all your adversaries, every one of them, will go into captivity; and those who despoil you will be a spoil, and all who prey on you I will give for a prey. 17 For I will restore health to you, and I will heal you of your wounds, says Yahweh; because they have called you an outcast, [saying,] It is Zion, whom no man seeks after.

18 Thus says Yahweh: Look, I will turn again the captivity of Jacob's tents, and have compassion on his dwelling-places; and the city will be built on its own hill, and the palace will be inhabited after its own manner. 19 And out of them will proceed thanksgiving and the voice of those who make merry: and I will multiply them, and they will not be few; I will also glorify them, and they will not be small. 20 His sons also will be as previously, and his congregation will be established before me; and I will punish all who oppress him. 21 And his majestic one will be of himself, and his ruler will proceed from the midst of him; and I will cause him to draw near, and he will approach to me: for who is he who has had boldness to approach to me? says Yahweh. 22 And you+ will be my people, and I will be your+ God.

23 Look, the tempest of Yahweh, [even his] wrath, has gone forth, a sweeping tempest: it will burst on the head of the wicked. 24 The fierce anger of Yahweh will not return, until he has executed, and until he has performed the intents of his heart: in the latter days you+ will understand it.

31  At that time, says Yahweh, I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be my people. 2 Thus says Yahweh, The people who were left of the sword found favor in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest. 3 Yahweh appeared of old to me, [saying,] Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love: therefore with loving-kindness I have drawn you. 4 Again I will build you, and you will be built, O virgin of Israel: again you will be adorned with your tabrets, and will go forth in the dances of those who make merry. 5 Again you will plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria; the planters will plant, and will enjoy [the fruit]. 6 For there will be a day, that the watchmen on the hills of Ephraim will cry, Arise+, and let us go up to Zion to Yahweh our God.

7 For thus says Yahweh, Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout for the chief of the nations: publish+, praise+, and say, O Yahweh, save your people, the remnant of Israel. 8 Look, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the uttermost parts of the earth, [and] with them the blind and the lame, the pregnant woman and her who travails with child together: a great company they will return here. 9 They will come with weeping; and with supplications I will lead them: I will cause them to walk by rivers of waters, in a straight way in which they will not stumble; for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.

10 Hear the word of Yahweh, O you+ nations, and declare it in the isles far off; and say, He who scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd does his flock. 11 For Yahweh has ransomed Jacob, and redeemed him from the hand of him who was stronger than he. 12 And they will come and sing in the height of Zion, and will flow to the goodness of Yahweh, to the grain, and to the new wine, and to the oil, and to the sons of the flock and of the herd: and their soul will be as a watered garden; and they will not sorrow anymore at all. 13 Then will the virgin rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old together; for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow. 14 And I will soak the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people will be satisfied with my goodness, says Yahweh.

15 Thus says Yahweh: A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her sons; she refuses to be comforted for her sons, because they are not. 16 Thus says Yahweh: Refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears; for your work will be rewarded, says Yahweh; and they will come again from the land of the enemy. 17 And there is hope for your latter end, says Yahweh; and [your] sons will come again to their own border. 18 I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself [thus], You have chastised me, and I was chastised, as a calf unaccustomed [to the yoke]: turn me, and I will be turned; for you are Yahweh my God. 19 Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after I was instructed, I struck on my thigh: I was ashamed, yes, even confounded, because I bore the reproach of my youth. 20 Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he a darling child? For as often as I speak against him, I earnestly remember him still: therefore my insides yearn for him; I will surely have mercy on him, says Yahweh.

21 Set up waymarks, make guideposts; set your heart toward the highway, even the way by which you went: turn again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to these cities of yours. 22 How long will you go here and there, O you backsliding daughter? For Yahweh has created a new thing in the earth: A woman will encircle an [able-bodied] man.

23 Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, Yet again they will use this speech in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I will bring again their captivity: Yahweh bless you, O habitation of righteousness, O mountain of holiness. 24 And Judah and all its cities will dwell in it together, the husbandmen, and [those who] go about with flocks. 25 For I have satiated the weary soul, and every sorrowful soul I have replenished. 26 On this I awakened, and looked; and my sleep was sweet to me.

27 Look, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man, and with the seed of beast. 28 And it will come to pass that, like I have watched over them to pluck up and to break down and to overthrow and to destroy and to afflict, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says Yahweh. 29 In those days they will say no more, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the sons are set on edge. 30 But every one will die for his own iniquity: any among man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth will be set on edge.

31 Look, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: 32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which covenant of mine they broke, although I was a husband to them, says Yahweh. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says Yahweh: I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they will be my people: 34 and they will teach no more every man his fellow man, and every man his brother, saying, Know Yahweh; for they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says Yahweh: for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.

35 Thus says Yahweh, who gives the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who stirs up the sea, so that its waves roar; Yahweh of hosts is his name: 36 If these ordinances depart from before me, says Yahweh, then the seed of Israel also will cease from being a nation before me forever. 37 Thus says Yahweh: If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, then I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, says Yahweh.

38 Look, the days come, says Yahweh, that the city will be built to Yahweh from the tower of Hananel to the gate of the corner. 39 And the measuring line will go out further straight onward to the hill Gareb, and will turn about to Goah. 40 And the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields to the brook Kidron, to the corner of the horse gate toward the east, will be holy to Yahweh; it will not be plucked up, nor thrown down anymore forever.

32  The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar. 2 Now at that time the king of Babylon's army was besieging Jerusalem; and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the guard, which was in the king of Judah's house. 3 For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, Why do you prophesy, and say, Thus says Yahweh, Look, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will take it; 4 and Zedekiah king of Judah will not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, but will surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and will speak with him mouth to mouth, and his eyes will look at his eyes; 5 and he will bring Zedekiah to Babylon, and there he will be until I visit him, says Yahweh: though you+ fight with the Chaldeans, you+ will not prosper?

6 And Jeremiah said, The word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 7 Look, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle will come to you, saying, Buy my field that is in Anathoth; for the right of redemption is yours to buy it. 8 So Hanamel my uncle's son came to me in the court of the guard according to the word of Yahweh, and said to me, Buy my field, I pray you, that is in Anathoth, which is in the land of Benjamin; for the right of inheritance is yours, and the redemption is yours; buy it for yourself. Then I knew that this was the word of Yahweh. 9 And I bought the field that was in Anathoth of Hanamel my uncle's son, and weighed him the silver, even seventeen shekels of silver. 10 And I subscribed the deed, and sealed it, and called witnesses, and weighed him the silver in the balances. 11 So I took the deed of the purchase, both that which was sealed, [containing] the terms and the stipulations, and that which was open: 12 and I delivered the deed of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel my cousin,[455] and in the presence of the witnesses that subscribed the deed of the purchase, before all the Jews who sat in the court of the guard. 13 And I charged Baruch before them, saying, 14 Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these deeds, this deed of the purchase which is sealed, and this deed which is open, and put them in an earthen vessel; that they may continue many days. 15 For this is what Yahweh of Hosts says, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards will yet again be bought in this land.

16 Now after I had delivered the deed of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to Yahweh, saying, 17 Ah Sovereign Yahweh! Look, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm; there is nothing too hard for you, 18 who show loving-kindness to thousands, and recompense the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their sons after them; the great, the mighty God, Yahweh of hosts is his name; 19 great in counsel, and mighty in work; whose eyes are open on all the ways of the sons of man, to give every one according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings: 20 who did set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, even to this day, both in Israel and among man; and made you a name, as at this day; 21 and did bring forth your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs, and with wonders, and with a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terror; 22 and gave them this land, which you swore to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey; 23 and they came in, and possessed it, but they did not obey your voice, neither walked in your law; they have done nothing of all that you commanded them to do: therefore you have caused all this evil to come upon them. 24 Look, the mounds, they have come to the city to take it; and the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans who fight against it, because of the sword, and of the famine, and of the pestilence; and what you have spoken has come to pass; and, look, you see it. 25 And you have said to me, O Sovereign Yahweh, Buy the field for silver, and call witnesses; whereas the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.

26 Then the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, saying, 27 Look, I am Yahweh, the God of all flesh: is there anything too hard for me? 28 Therefore thus says Yahweh: Look, I will give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and he will take it: 29 and the Chaldeans, that fight against this city, will come and set this city on fire, and burn it, with the houses, on whose roofs they have offered incense to Baal, and poured out drink-offerings to other gods, to provoke me to anger. 30 For the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah have done only that which was evil in my eyes from their youth; for the sons of Israel have only provoked me to anger with the work of their hands, says Yahweh. 31 For this city has been to me a provocation of my anger and of my wrath from the day that they built it even to this day; that I should remove it from before my face, 32 because of all the evil of the sons of Israel and of the sons of Judah, which they have done to provoke me to anger, they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets, and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 33 And they have turned to me the back, and not the face: and though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they haven't listened to receive instruction. 34 But they set their detestable things in the house which is called by my name, to defile it. 35 And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through [the fire] to Molech; which I did not command them, neither did it come it into my mind, that they should do this disgusting thing, to cause Judah to sin.

36 And now therefore this is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, concerning this city, of which you+ say, It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence: 37 Look, I will gather them out of all the countries, where I have driven them in my anger, and in my wrath, and in great indignation; and I will bring them again to this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely: 38 and they will be my people, and I will be their God: 39 and I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for the good of them, and of their sons after them: 40 and I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from following them, to do them good; and I will put my fear in their hearts, that they may not depart from me. 41 Yes, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul. 42 For thus says Yahweh: Like I have brought all this great evil on this people, so I will bring on them all the good that I have promised them. 43 And fields will be bought in this land, of which you+ say, It is desolate, without man or beast; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans. 44 Men will buy fields for silver, and subscribe the deeds, and seal them, and call witnesses, in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, and in the cities of the hill-country, and in the cities of the lowland, and in the cities of the South: for I will cause their captivity to return, says Yahweh.

33  Moreover the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah the second time, while he was yet shut up in the court of the guard, saying, 2 Thus says Yahweh who does it, Yahweh who forms it to establish it; Yahweh is his name: 3 Call to me, and I will answer you, and will show you great and difficult things, which you don't know. 4 For this is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, concerning the houses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, which are broken down:[456] The mounds and the sword 5 are coming to fight with the Chaldeans, and to fill them with the dead bodies of man, whom I have slain in my anger and in my wrath, and for all whose wickedness I have hid my face from this city: 6 Look, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them; and I will reveal to them abundance of peace and truth. 7 And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them, as at the first. 8 And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, by which they have sinned against me; and I will pardon all their iniquities, by which they have sinned against me, and by which they have transgressed against me. 9 And [this city] will be to me a name of joy, a praise and a glory to all the nations of the earth, which will hear all the good that I do to them, and will fear and tremble for all the good and for all the peace that I procure to it.

10 Thus says Yahweh: Yet again there will be heard in this place, of which you+ say, It is waste, without man and without beast, even in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, that are desolate, without man and without inhabitant and without beast, 11 the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who say, Give thanks to Yahweh of hosts, for Yahweh is good, for his loving-kindness [endures] forever; [and of those] who bring [sacrifices of] thanksgiving into the house of Yahweh. For I will cause the captivity of the land to return as at the first, says Yahweh.

12 Thus says Yahweh of hosts: Yet again there will be in this place, which is waste, without man and without beast, and in all its cities, a habitation of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down. 13 In the cities of the hill-country, in the cities of the lowland, and in the cities of the South, and in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, will the flocks again pass under the hands of him who numbers them, says Yahweh.

14 Look, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will perform that good word which I have spoken concerning the house of Israel and concerning the house of Judah. 15 In those days, and at that time, I will cause a Branch of righteousness to grow up to David; and he will execute justice and righteousness in the land. 16 In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will stay safely; and this is what she will be called: Yahweh our righteousness. 17 For thus says Yahweh: David will not lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel; 18 neither will the priests the Levites lack a man before me to offer burnt-offerings, and to burn meal-offerings, and to sacrifice continually.

19 And the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, saying, 20 Thus says Yahweh: If you+ can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, so that there will not be day and night in their season; 21 then may also my covenant be broken with David my slave, that he will not have a son to reign on his throne; and with the Levites the priests, my ministers. 22 As the host of heaven can't be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured; so I will multiply the seed of David my slave, and the Levites who minister to me.

23 And the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, saying, 24 Have you not considered what this people have spoken, saying, The two families which Yahweh chose, he has cast them off? Thus they despise my people, that they should be no more a nation before them. 25 Thus says Yahweh: If [there is] not my covenant of day and night, if I haven't appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth; 26 then I will also cast away the seed of Jacob, and of David my slave, so that I will not take of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and will have mercy on them.

34  The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth that were under his dominion, and all the peoples, were fighting against Jerusalem, and against all its cities, saying: 2 This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, Go, and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, and tell him, Thus says Yahweh, Look, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire: 3 and you will not escape out of his hand, but will surely be taken, and delivered into his hand; and your eyes will look at the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he will speak with you mouth to mouth, and you will go to Babylon. 4 Yet hear the word of Yahweh, O Zedekiah king of Judah: thus says Yahweh concerning you, You will not die by the sword; 5 you will die in peace; and with the burnings of your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so they will make a burning for you; and they will lament you, [saying,] Ah Lord! For I have spoken the word, says Yahweh.

6 Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem, 7 when the king of Babylon's army was fighting against Jerusalem, and against all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish and against Azekah; for these [alone] remained of the cities of Judah [as] fortified cities.

8 The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, after the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people who were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty to them; 9 that every man should let his male slave, and every man his female slave, who is a Hebrew or a Hebrewess, go free; that none should make slaves of them, [to wit,] of a Jew his brother. 10 And all the princes and all the people obeyed, who had entered into the covenant, that every one should let his male slave, and every one his female slave, go free, that none should make slaves of them anymore; they obeyed, and let them go: 11 but afterward they turned, and caused the male slaves and the female slaves, whom they had let go free, to return, and brought them into subjection for male slaves and for female slaves.

12 Therefore the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying, 13 This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says: I made a covenant with your+ fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slaves, saying, 14 At the end of the seven year period you+ will let go every man his brother who is a Hebrew, who has been sold to you, and has served you six years, you will let him go free from you: but your+ fathers did not listen to me, neither inclined their ear. 15 And you+ had now turned, and had done that which is right in my eyes, in proclaiming liberty every man to his fellow man; and you+ had made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name: 16 but you+ turned and profaned my name, and caused every man his male slave, and every man his female slave, whom you+ had let go free according to their soul, to return; and you+ brought them into subjection, to be to you+ for male slaves and for female slaves.

17 Therefore thus says Yahweh: You+ have not listened to me, to proclaim liberty, every man to his brother, and every man to his fellow man: look, I proclaim to you+ a liberty, says Yahweh, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you+ to be tossed to and fro among all the kingdoms of the earth. 18 And I will give the men who have transgressed my covenant, who have not performed the words of the covenant which they made before me, when they cut the calf in two and passed between its parts; 19 the princes of Judah, and the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests, and all the people of the land, who passed between the parts of the calf; 20 I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their soul; and their dead bodies will be for food to the birds of the heavens, and to the beasts of the earth. 21 And Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes I will give into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their soul, and into the hand of the king of Babylon's army, that have gone away from you+. 22 Look, I will command, says Yahweh, and cause them to return to this city; and they will fight against it, and take it, and burn it with fire: and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.

35  The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying, 2 Go to the house of the Rechabites, and speak to them, and bring them into the house of Yahweh, into one of the chambers, and give them wine to drink. 3 Then I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazziniah, and his brothers, and all his sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites; 4 and I brought them into the house of Yahweh, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan the son of Igdaliah, the man of God, which was by the chamber of the princes, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the keeper of the threshold. 5 And I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites bowls full of wine, and cups; and I said to them, Drink+ wine. 6 But they said, We will drink no wine; for Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, saying, You+ will drink no wine, neither you+, nor your+ sons, forever: 7 neither will you+ build house, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyard, nor have any; but all your+ days you+ will dwell in tents; that you+ may live many days in the land in which you+ sojourn. 8 And we have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he charged us, to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, or our daughters; 9 nor to build houses for us to dwell in; neither have we vineyard, nor field, nor seed: 10 but we have dwelt in tents, and have obeyed, and done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us. 11 But it came to pass, when Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came up into the land, that we said, Come, and let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans, and for fear of the army of the Syrians; so we dwell at Jerusalem.

12 Then the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, saying, 13 Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: Go, and say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Will you+ not receive instruction to listen to my words? says Yahweh. 14 The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, that he commanded his sons, not to drink wine, are performed; and to this day they drink none, for they obey their father's commandment: but I have spoken to you+, rising up early and speaking; and you+ haven't listened to me. 15 I have sent also all my slaves the prophets to you+, rising up early and sending them, saying, Return+ now every man from his evil way, and amend your+ doings, and don't go after other gods to serve them, and you+ will dwell in the land which I have given to you+ and to your+ fathers: but you+ haven't inclined your+ ear, nor listened to me. 16 Since the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have performed the commandment of their father which he commanded them, but this people has not listened to me; 17 therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: Look, I will bring on Judah and on all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the evil that I have pronounced against them; because I have spoken to them, but they haven't heard; and I have called to them, but they haven't answered.

18 And Jeremiah said to the house of the Rechabites, Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: Because you+ have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your+ father, and kept all his precepts, and done according to all that he commanded you+; 19 therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: Jonadab the son of Rechab will not lack a man to stand before me forever.

36  And it came to pass in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, that this word came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying, 2 Take a roll of a book, and write in it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah, even to this day. 3 It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do to them; that they may return every man from his evil way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.

4 Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah; and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of Yahweh, which he had spoken to him, on a roll of a book. 5 And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, I am shut up; I can't go into the house of Yahweh: 6 therefore you go, and read in the roll, which you have written from my mouth, the words of Yahweh in the ears of the people in Yahweh's house on the fast-day; and also you will read them in the ears of all Judah that come out of their cities. 7 It may be they will present their supplication before Yahweh, and will return every one from his evil way; for great is the anger and the wrath that Yahweh has pronounced against this people. 8 And Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading in the book the words of Yahweh in Yahweh's house.

9 Now it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, that all the people in Jerusalem, and all the people who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem, proclaimed a fast before Yahweh. 10 Then Baruch read in the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of Yahweh, in the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan, the scribe, in the upper court, at the entry of the new gate of Yahweh's house, in the ears of all the people.

11 And when Micaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, had heard out of the book all the words of Yahweh, 12 he went down into the king's house, into the scribe's chamber: and, look, all the princes were sitting there, [to wit,] Elishama the scribe, and Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, and Elnathan the son of Achbor, and Gemariah the son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the princes. 13 Then Micaiah declared to them all the words that he had heard, when Baruch read the book in the ears of the people. 14 Therefore all the princes sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, to Baruch, saying, Take in your hand the roll in which you have read in the ears of the people, and come. So Baruch the son of Neriah took the roll in his hand, and came to them. 15 And they said to him, Sit down now, and read it in our ears. So Baruch read it in their ears. 16 Now it came to pass, when they had heard all the words, they turned in fear one toward another, and said to Baruch, We will surely tell the king of all these words. 17 And they asked Baruch, saying, Tell us now, How did you write all these words at his mouth? 18 Then Baruch answered them, He pronounced all these words to me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink in the book. 19 Then said the princes to Baruch, Go, hide yourself, you and Jeremiah; and let no man know where you+ are.

20 And they went in to the king into the court; but they had laid up the roll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe; and they told all the words in the ears of the king. 21 So the king sent Jehudi to fetch the roll; and he took it out of the chamber of Elishama the scribe. And Jehudi read it in the ears of the king, and in the ears of all the princes who stood beside the king. 22 Now the king was sitting in the winter-house in the ninth month: and [there was a fire in] the brazier burning before him. 23 And it came to pass, when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, that [the king] cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was in the brazier, until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was in the brazier. 24 And they were not afraid, nor rent their garments, neither the king, nor any of his slaves who heard all these words. 25 Moreover Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah had made intercession to the king that he would not burn the roll; but he would not hear them. 26 And the king commanded Jerahmeel the king's son, and Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to take Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet; but Yahweh hid them.

27 Then the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, after the king had burned the roll, and the words which Baruch wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah, saying, 28 Take again another roll for yourself, and write in it all the former words that were in the first roll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah has burned. 29 And concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah you will say, Thus says Yahweh: You have burned this roll, saying, Why have you written in it, saying, The king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land, and will cause to cease from there man and beast? 30 Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: He will have none to sit on the throne of David; and his dead body will be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost. 31 And I will punish him and his seed and his slaves for their iniquity; and I will bring on them, and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and on the men of Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them, but they didn't listen. 32 Then Jeremiah took another roll, and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who wrote in it from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire; and there were added besides to them many like words.

37  And Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned as king, instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah. 2 But neither he, nor his slaves, nor the people of the land, listened to the words of Yahweh, which he spoke by the prophet Jeremiah.

3 And Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, Pray now to Yahweh our God for us. 4 Now Jeremiah came in and went out among the people; for they had not put him into prison. 5 And Pharaoh's army came forth out of Egypt; and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard news of them, they broke up from Jerusalem.

6 Then the word of Yahweh came to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, 7 This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, Thus you+ will say to the king of Judah, that sent you+ to me to inquire of me: Look, Pharaoh's army, which has come forth to help you+, will return to Egypt into their own land. 8 And the Chaldeans will come again, and fight against this city; and they will take it, and burn it with fire. 9 Thus says Yahweh, Do not deceive your+ souls, saying, The Chaldeans will surely depart from us; for they will not depart. 10 For though you+ had struck the whole army of the Chaldeans who fight against you+, and there remained but wounded men among them, yet would they rise up every man in his tent, and burn this city with fire.

11 And it came to pass that, when the army of the Chaldeans was broken up from Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh's army, 12 then Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin, to receive his portion there, in the midst of the people. 13 And when he was in the gate of Benjamin, a captain of the ward was there, whose name was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah; and he laid hold on Jeremiah the prophet, saying, You are falling away to the Chaldeans. 14 Then said Jeremiah, It is false; I am not falling away to the Chaldeans. But he didn't listen to him; so Irijah laid hold on Jeremiah, and brought him to the princes. 15 And the princes were angry with Jeremiah, and struck him, and put him in prison[457] in the house of Jonathan the scribe; for they had made that the prison.

16 When Jeremiah came into the dungeon-house, and into the cells, and Jeremiah had remained there many days; 17 Then Zedekiah the king sent, and fetched him: and the king asked him secretly in his house, and said, Is there any word from Yahweh? And Jeremiah said, There is. He said also, You will be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon. 18 Moreover Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, In what have I sinned against you, or against your slaves, or against this people, that you+ have put me in prison? 19 Where now are your+ prophets who prophesied to you+, saying, The king of Babylon will not come against you+, nor against this land? 20 And now hear, I pray you, O my lord the king: let my supplication, I pray you, be presented before you, that you don't cause me to return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there. 21 Then Zedekiah the king commanded, and they committed Jeremiah into the court of the guard; and they gave him daily a loaf of bread out of the bakers' street, until all the bread in the city was spent. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.

38  And Shephatiah the son of Mattan, and Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, and Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur the son of Malchijah, heard the words that Jeremiah spoke to all the people, saying, 2 Thus says Yahweh, He who remains in this city will die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence; but he who goes forth to the Chaldeans will live, and his soul will be to him for a prey, and he will live. 3 Thus says Yahweh, This city will surely be given into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon, and he will take it. 4 Then the princes said to the king, Let this man, we pray you, be put to death; since he weakens the hands of the men of war that remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words to them: for this man does not seek the welfare of this people, but the hurt. 5 And Zedekiah the king said, Look, he is in your+ hand; for the king is not he who can do anything against you+. 6 Then they took Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchijah the king's son, that was in the court of the guard: and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire; and Jeremiah sank in the mire.

7 Now when Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, a eunuch, who was in the king's house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon (the king then sitting in the gate of Benjamin), 8 Ebed-melech went forth out of the king's house, and spoke to the king, saying, 9 My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon; and he is likely to die in the place where he is, because of the famine; for there is no more bread in the city. 10 Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, Take from here thirty men with you, and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon, before he dies. 11 So Ebed-melech took the men with him, and went into the house of the king under the treasury, and took from there rags and worn-out garments, and let them down by cords into the dungeon to Jeremiah. 12 And Ebed-melech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, Put now these rags and worn-out garments under your armholes under the cords. And Jeremiah did so. 13 So they drew up Jeremiah with the cords, and took him up out of the dungeon: and Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.

14 Then Zedekiah the king sent, and took Jeremiah the prophet to him into the third entry that is in the house of Yahweh: and the king said to Jeremiah, I will ask you a thing; hide nothing from me. 15 Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, If I declare it to you, will you not surely put me to death? And if I give you counsel, you will not listen to me. 16 So Zedekiah the king swore secretly to Jeremiah, saying, As Yahweh lives, that made us this soul, I will not put you to death, neither will I give you into the hand of these men who seek your soul.

17 Then said Jeremiah to Zedekiah, Thus says Yahweh, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: If you will go forth to the king of Babylon's princes, then your soul will live, and this city will not be burned with fire; and you will live, and your house. 18 But if you will not go forth to the king of Babylon's princes, then will this city be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they will burn it with fire, and you will not escape out of their hand. 19 And Zedekiah the king said to Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews who have fallen away to the Chaldeans, in case they deliver me into their hand, and they mock me. 20 But Jeremiah said, They will not deliver you. Obey, I urge you, the voice of Yahweh, in that which I speak to you: so it will be well with you, and your soul will live. 21 But if you refuse to go forth, this is the word that Yahweh has shown me: 22 look, all the women who are left in the king of Judah's house will be brought forth to the king of Babylon's princes, and those women will say, Your familiar friends have set you on, and have prevailed over you: [now that] your feet are sunk in the mire, they have turned away back. 23 And they will bring out all your wives and your sons to the Chaldeans; and you will not escape out of their hand, but will be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon: and you will cause this city to be burned with fire.

24 Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, Let no man know of these words, and you will not die. 25 But if the princes hear that I have talked with you, and they come to you, and say to you, Declare to us now what you have said to the king; don't hide it from us, and we will not put you to death; also what the king said to you: 26 then you will say to them, I presented my supplication before the king, that he would not cause me to return to Jonathan's house, to die there. 27 Then all the princes came to Jeremiah, and asked him; and he told them according to all these words that the king had commanded. So they left off speaking with him; for the matter was not perceived. 28 So Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard until the day that Jerusalem was taken. And it came to pass that Jerusalem was taken.[458]

39  In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem, and besieged it. 2 In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, a breach was made in the city. 3 And all the princes of the king of Babylon came in, and sat in the middle gate, [to wit,] Nergal-sharezer, Samgar-nebo, Sar-sechim the Rabsaris, Nergal-sharezer the Rabmag, with all the rest of the princes of the king of Babylon.

4 And it came to pass that, when Zedekiah the king of Judah and all the men of war saw them, then they fled, and went forth out of the city by night, by the way of the king's garden, through the gate between the two walls; and he went out toward the Arabah. 5 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after them, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho: and when they had taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath; and he gave judgment on him. 6 Then the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah before his eyes: also the king of Babylon slew all the nobles of Judah. 7 Moreover he put out Zedekiah's eyes, and bound him in fetters, to carry him to Babylon. 8 And the Chaldeans burned the king's house, and the house[459] of the people, with fire, and broke down the walls of Jerusalem. 9 Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive into Babylon the residue of the people who remained in the city, the deserters also that fell away to him, and the residue of the people who remained. 10 But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the poor of the people, who had nothing, in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time.

11 Now Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon gave charge concerning Jeremiah to Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, saying, 12 Take him, and look well to him, and do him no harm; but do to him even as he will say to you. 13 So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard sent, and Nebushazban, Rab-saris, and Nergal-sharezer, Rab-mag, and all the chief officers of the king of Babylon; 14 they sent, and took Jeremiah out of the court of the guard, and committed him to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, that he should carry him home: so he dwelt among the people.

15 Now the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, while he was shut up in the court of the guard, saying, 16 Go, and speak to Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: Look, I will bring my words on this city for evil, and not for good; and they will be accomplished before you in that day. 17 But I will deliver you in that day, says Yahweh; and you will not be given into the hand of the men of whom you are afraid. 18 For I will surely save you, and you will not fall by the sword, but your soul will be for a prey to you; because you have put your trust in me, says Yahweh.

40  The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, after Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had let him go from Ramah, when he had taken him being bound in chains among all the captives of Jerusalem and Judah, who were carried away captive to Babylon. 2 And the captain of the guard took Jeremiah, and said to him, Yahweh your God pronounced this evil on this place; 3 and Yahweh has brought it, and done according to as he spoke: because you+ have sinned against Yahweh, and haven't obeyed his voice, therefore this thing has come upon you+. 4 And now, look, I loose you this day from the chains which are on your hand. If it seems good to you to come with me into Babylon, come, and I will look well to you; but if it seems ill to you to come with me into Babylon, forbear: look, all the land is before you; where it seems good and right to you to go, there go. 5 Now since he had not yet gone back, [he said] Go back then to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has made governor over the cities of Judah, and dwell with him among the people; or go wherever it seems right to you to go. So the captain of the guard gave him victuals and a present, and let him go. 6 Then Jeremiah went to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah, and dwelt with him among the people who were left in the land.

7 Now when all the captains of the forces who were in the fields, even they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam governor in the land, and had committed to him men, and women, and children, and of the poorest of the land, of those who were not carried away captive to Babylon; 8 then they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, [to wit,] Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, and the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jezaniah the son of the Maacathite, they and their men. 9 And Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan swore to them and to their men, saying, Don't be afraid to serve the Chaldeans: dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it will be well with you+. 10 As for me, look, I will dwell at Mizpah, to stand before the Chaldeans who will come to us: but you+, gather+ wine and summer fruits and oil, and put them in your+ vessels, and dwell in your+ cities that you+ have taken. 11 Likewise when all the Jews who were in Moab, and among the sons of Ammon, and in Edom, and who were in all the countries, heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant of Judah, and that he had set over them Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan; 12 then all the Jews returned out of all places where they were driven, and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah, to Mizpah, and gathered very much wine and summer fruits.

13 Moreover Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces who were in the fields, came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, 14 and said to him, Do you know that Baalis the king of the sons of Ammon has sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to take your soul? But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam did not believe them. 15 Then Johanan the son of Kareah spoke to Gedaliah in Mizpah secretly, saying, Let me go, I pray you, and I will slay Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and no man will know it: why should he take your soul, that all the Jews who are gathered to you should be scattered, and the remnant of Judah perish? 16 But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said to Johanan the son of Kareah, You will not do this thing; for you speak falsely of Ishmael.

41  Now it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal seed and [one of] the chief officers of the king, and ten men with him, came to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah; and there they ate bread together in Mizpah. 2 Then Ishmael the son of Nethaniah arose, and the ten men who were with him, and struck Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan with the sword, and slew him, whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land. 3 Ishmael also slew all the Jews who were with him, [to wit,] with Gedaliah, at Mizpah, and the Chaldeans who were found there, the men of war.

4 And it came to pass the second day after he had slain Gedaliah, and no man knew it, 5 that there came men from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, even eighty men, having their beards shaven and their clothes rent, and having cut themselves, with meal-offerings and frankincense in their hand, to bring them to the house of Yahweh. 6 And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah went forth from Mizpah to meet them, weeping all along as he went: and it came to pass, as he met them, he said to them, Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. 7 And it was so, when they came into the midst of the city, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah slew them, [and cast them] into the midst of the pit, he, and the men who were with him. 8 But ten men were found among those who said to Ishmael, Don't slay us; for we have stores hidden in the field, of wheat, and of barley, and of oil, and of honey. So he forbare, and did not slay them among their brothers. 9 Now the pit in which Ishmael cast all the dead bodies of the men whom he had slain was the cistern of Gedaliah. This was the one that Asa the king had made for fear of Baasha king of Israel. Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with those who were slain. 10 Then Ishmael carried away captive all the residue of the people who were in Mizpah, even the king's daughters, and all the people who remained in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had committed to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam; Ishmael the son of Nethaniah carried them away captive, and departed to go over to the sons of Ammon.

11 But when Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces who were with him, heard of all the evil that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done, 12 then they took all the men, and went to fight with Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and found him by the great waters that are in Gibeon. 13 Now it came to pass that, when all the people who were with Ishmael saw Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces who were with him, then they were glad. 14 So all the people who Ishmael had carried away captive from Mizpah turned about and came back, and went to Johanan the son of Kareah. 15 But Ishmael the son of Nethaniah escaped from Johanan with eight men, and went to the sons of Ammon. 16 Then Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces who were with him, took all the remnant of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, from Mizpah, after he had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, [to wit,] the men of war, and the women, and the children, and the eunuchs, whom he had brought back from Gibeon: 17 and they departed, and dwelt in Geruth Chimham, which is by Beth-lehem, to go to enter into Egypt, 18 because of the Chaldeans; for they were afraid of them, because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon made governor over the land.

42  Then all the captains of the forces, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least even to the greatest, came near, 2 and said to Jeremiah the prophet, Let, we pray you, our supplication be presented before you, and pray for us to Yahweh your God, even for all this remnant; for we are left but a few of many, as your eyes see us: 3 that Yahweh your God may show us the way in which we should walk, and the thing that we should do. 4 Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, I have heard you+; look, I will pray to Yahweh your+ God according to your+ words; and it will come to pass that whatever thing Yahweh will answer you+, I will declare it to you+; I will keep nothing back from you+. 5 Then they said to Jeremiah, Yahweh be a true and faithful witness among us, if we do not do according to all the word with which Yahweh your God will send you to us. 6 Whether it is good, or whether it is evil, we will obey the voice of Yahweh our God, to whom we send you; that it may be well with us, when we obey the voice of Yahweh our God.

7 And it came to pass after ten days, that the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah. 8 Then he called Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces who were with him, and all the people from the least even to the greatest, 9 and said to them, This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, to whom you+ sent me to present your+ supplication before him: 10 If you+ will still remain in this land, then I will build you+, and not pull you+ down, and I will plant you+, and not pluck you+ up; for I repent of the evil that I have done to you+. 11 Don't be afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom you+ are afraid; don't be afraid of him, says Yahweh: for I am with you+ to save you+, and to deliver you+ from his hand. 12 And I will grant you+ mercy, that he may have mercy on you+, and he will let you+ return to your+ own land. 13 But if you+ say, We will not dwell in this land; so that you+ do not obey the voice of Yahweh your+ God, 14 saying, No; but we will go into the land of Egypt, where we will see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have hunger of bread; and there we will dwell: 15 now therefore hear+ the word of Yahweh, O remnant of Judah: Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, If you+ indeed set your+ faces to enter into Egypt, and go to sojourn there; 16 then it will come to pass, that the sword, which you+ fear, will overtake you+ there in the land of Egypt; and the famine, of which you+ are afraid, will stick [closely] after you+ there in Egypt; and there you+ will die. 17 So it will be with all the men who set their faces to go into Egypt to sojourn there: they will die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence; and none of them will remain or escape from the evil that I will bring on them.

18 For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: As my anger and my wrath has been poured forth on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so will my wrath be poured forth on you+, when you+ will enter into Egypt; and you+ will be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach; and you+ will see this place no more. 19 Yahweh has spoken concerning you+, O remnant of Judah, Don't go+ into Egypt: know certainly that I have testified to you+ this day. 20 For you+ have dealt deceitfully against your+ own souls; for you+ sent me to Yahweh your+ God, saying, Pray for us to Yahweh our God; and according to all that Yahweh our God will say, so declare to us, and we will do it: 21 and I have this day declared it to you+; but you+ haven't obeyed the voice of Yahweh your+ God in anything for which he has sent me to you+. 22 Now therefore know certainly that you+ will die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, in the place where you+ desire to go to sojourn there.

43  And it came to pass that, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking to all the people all the words of Yahweh their God, with which Yahweh their God had sent him to them, even all these words, 2 then Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men spoke, saying to Jeremiah, You speak falsely: Yahweh our God has not sent you to say, You+ will not go into Egypt to sojourn there; 3 but Baruch the son of Neriah sets you on against us, to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they may put us to death, and carry us away captive to Babylon. 4 So Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, and all the people, didn't obey the voice of Yahweh, to dwell in the land of Judah. 5 But Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, took all the remnant of Judah, that had returned from all the nations where they had been driven, to sojourn in the land of Judah; 6 the [able-bodied] men, and the women, and the children, and the king's daughters, and every soul who Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan; and Jeremiah the prophet, and Baruch the son of Neriah; 7 and they came into the land of Egypt; for they didn't obey the voice of Yahweh: and they came to Tahpanhes.

8 Then the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying, 9 Take great stones in your hand, and hide them in mortar in the brickwork, which is at the entry of Pharaoh's house in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah; 10 and say to them, Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: Look, I will send and take Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my slave, and I will set his throne on these stones that I have hid; and he will spread his royal pavilion over them. 11 And he will come, and will strike the land of Egypt; such as are for death [will be given] to death, and such as are for captivity to captivity, and such as are for the sword to the sword. 12 And I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt; and he will burn them, and carry them away captive: and he will array himself with the land of Egypt, as a shepherd puts on his garment; and he will go forth from there in peace. 13 He will also break the pillars of Beth-shemesh, that is in the land of Egypt; and the houses of the gods of Egypt he will burn with fire.

44  The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews who dwelt in the land of Egypt, who dwelt at Migdol, and at Tahpanhes, and at Memphis, and in the country of Pathros, saying, 2 Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: You+ have seen all the evil that I have brought on Jerusalem, and on all the cities of Judah; and, look, this day they are a desolation, and no man dwells in them, 3 because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke me to anger, in that they went to burn incense to serve other gods, that they did not know, neither they, nor you+, nor your+ fathers. 4 Nevertheless I sent all my slaves the prophets to you+, rising up early and sending them, saying, Oh, don't do this disgusting thing that I hate. 5 But they didn't listen, nor incline their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense to other gods. 6 Therefore my wrath and my anger was poured forth, and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they are wasted and desolate, as it is this day. 7 Therefore now thus says Yahweh, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: Why do you+ commit [this] great evil against your+ own souls, to cut off from you+ man and woman, infant and suckling, out of the midst of Judah, to leave you+ none remaining; 8 in that you+ provoke me to anger with the works of your+ hands, burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt, where you+ have gone to sojourn; that you+ may be cut off, and that you+ may be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth? 9 Have you+ forgotten the wickedness of your+ fathers, and the wickedness of the kings of Judah, and the wickedness of his wives, and your+ own wickedness, and the wickedness of your+ wives which they committed in the land of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem? 10 They are not humbled even to this day, neither have they feared, nor walked in my law, nor in my statutes, that I set before you+ and before your+ fathers.

11 Therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: Look, I will set my face against you+ for evil, even to cut off all Judah. 12 And I will take the remnant of Judah, that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, and they will all be consumed; in the land of Egypt they will fall; they will be consumed by the sword and by the famine; they will die, from the least even to the greatest, by the sword and by the famine; and they will be an execration, [and] an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach. 13 For I will punish those who dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence; 14 so that none of the remnant of Judah, who have gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, will escape or be left, to return into the land of Judah, to which their soul longs to return to dwell there: for none will return except such as will escape.

15 Then all the men who knew that their wives burned incense to other gods, and all the women who stood by, a great assembly, even all the people who dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying, 16 As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of Yahweh, we will not listen to you. 17 But we will certainly perform every word that has gone forth out of our mouth, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings to her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem; for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil. 18 But since we left off burning incense to the queen of heaven, and pouring out drink-offerings to her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine. 19 And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink-offerings to her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink-offerings to her, without our husbands?

20 Then Jeremiah said to all the people, to the [prominent] men, and to the women, even to all the people who had given him that answer, saying, 21 The incense that you+ burned in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, you+ and your+ fathers, your+ kings and your+ princes, and the people of the land, didn't Yahweh remember them, and didn't it come into his mind? 22 So that Yahweh could no longer bear, because of the evil of your+ doings, and because of the disgusting things that you+ have done; therefore your+ land has become a desolation, and an astonishment, and a curse, without inhabitant, as it is this day. 23 Because you+ have burned incense, and because you+ have sinned against Yahweh, and haven't obeyed the voice of Yahweh, nor walked in his law, nor in his statutes, nor in his testimonies; therefore this evil is happened to you+, as it is this day.

24 Moreover Jeremiah said to all the people, and to all the women, Hear the word of Yahweh, all Judah who are in the land of Egypt: 25 Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, You+ and your+ wives have both spoken with your+ mouths, and with your+ hands have fulfilled it, saying, We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings to her: establish then your+ vows, and perform your+ vows. 26 Therefore hear+ the word of Yahweh, all Judah who dwell in the land of Egypt: Look, I have sworn by my great name, says Yahweh, that my name will no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, As the Sovereign Yahweh lives. 27 Look, I watch over them for evil, and not for good; and all the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt will be consumed by the sword and by the famine, until there is an end of them. 28 And those who escape the sword will return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah, few in number; and all the remnant of Judah, that have gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, will know whose word will stand, mine, or theirs. 29 And this will be the sign to you+, says Yahweh, that I will punish you+ in this place, that you+ may know that my words will surely stand against you+ for evil: 30 Thus says Yahweh, Look, I will give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of those who seek his soul; as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, who was his enemy, and sought his soul.

45  The word that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Baruch the son of Neriah, when he wrote these words in a book at the mouth of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying, 2 This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, to you, O Baruch: 3 You said, Woe is me now! For Yahweh has added sorrow to my pain; I am weary with my groaning, and I find no rest. 4 Thus you will say to him, Thus says Yahweh: Look, that which I have built I will break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up; and this in the whole land. 5 And do you seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them; for, look, I will bring evil on all flesh, says Yahweh; but your soul I will give to you for a prey in all places where you go.

46  The word of Yahweh which came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations. 2 Of Egypt: concerning the army of Pharaoh-neco king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon struck in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah.

3 Prepare+ the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle. 4 Harness the horses, and get up, you+ horsemen, and stand forth with your+ helmets; furbish the spears, put on the coats of mail. 5 Why have I seen it? They are dismayed and are turned backward; and their mighty ones are beaten down, and have fled apace, and don't look back: terror is on every side, says Yahweh. 6 Don't let the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape; in the north by the river Euphrates they have stumbled and fallen. 7 Who is this that rises up like the Nile, whose waters toss themselves like the rivers? 8 Egypt rises up like the Nile, and his waters toss themselves like the rivers: and he says, I will rise up, I will cover the earth; I will destroy cities and their inhabitants. 9 Go up, you+ horses; and rage, you+ chariots; and let the mighty men go forth: Cush and Put, that handle the shield; and the Ludim, that handle and bend the bow. 10 For that day is [a day] of the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries: and the sword will devour and be satiate, and will drink its fill of their blood; for the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, has a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates. 11 Go up into Gilead, and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt: in vain you use many medicines; there is no healing for you. 12 The nations have heard of your shame, and the earth is full of your cry; for the mighty man has stumbled against the mighty, they have fallen both of them together.

13 The word that Yahweh spoke to Jeremiah the prophet, how that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon should come and strike the land of Egypt. 14 Declare+ in Egypt, and publish in Migdol, and publish in Memphis and in Tahpanhes: say+, Stand forth, and prepare yourself; for the sword has devoured round about you. 15 Why has Apis fled? Your bull did not stop, because Yahweh drove him out. 16 He stumbled much, yes, a man fell on his fellow man: and they said, Arise, and let us go again to our own people, and to the land of our nativity, from the oppressing sword. 17 Call+ the name of Pharaoh king of Egypt: A noise that let the appointed time pass by. 18 As I live, says the King, whose name is Yahweh of hosts, surely like Tabor among the mountains, and like Carmel by the sea, so he will come. 19 O you daughter who dwells in Egypt, furnish yourself to go into captivity; for Memphis will become a desolation, and will be burned up, without inhabitant. 20 Egypt is a very fair heifer; [but] destruction out of the north has come, it has come. 21 Also her hired workers in the midst of her are like calves of the stall; for they also have turned back, they have fled away together, they did not stand: for the day of their calamity has come upon them, the time of their visitation. 22 Her sound will be like a serpent going away; for they will march with an army, and come against her with axes, as hewers of wood. 23 They will cut down her forest, says Yahweh, though it can't be searched; because they are more than the locusts, and are innumerable. 24 The daughter of Egypt will be put to shame; she will be delivered into the hand of the people of the north. 25 Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, says: Look, I will punish Amon of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with her gods, and her kings; even Pharaoh, and those who trust in him: 26 and I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their souls, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his slaves; and afterward it will be stayed in, as in the days of old, says Yahweh.

27 But don't be afraid, O Jacob my slave, neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, look, I will save you from afar, and your seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob will return, and will be quiet and at ease, and none will make him afraid. 28 Don't you be afraid, O Jacob my slave, says Yahweh; for I am with you: for I will make a full end of all the nations where I have driven you; but I will not make a full end of you, but I will correct you in measure, and will in no way leave you unpunished.

47  The word of Yahweh that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines, before Pharaoh struck Gaza. 2 Thus says Yahweh: Look, waters rise up out of the north, and will become an overflowing stream, and will overflow the land and all that is in it, the city and those who dwell in it; and man will cry, and all the inhabitants of the land will wail. 3 At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong ones, at the rushing of his chariots, at the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers don't look back to their sons for feebleness of hands; 4 because of the day that comes to destroy all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every helper that remains: for Yahweh will destroy the Philistines, the remnant of the isle of Caphtor. 5 Baldness has come upon Gaza; Ashkelon is brought to nothing, the remnant of the Anakim: how long will you cut yourself? 6 O you sword of Yahweh, how long will it be before you are quiet? Put yourself up into your scabbard; rest, and be still. 7 How can you be quiet, seeing Yahweh has given you a charge? Against Ashkelon, and against the seashore, there he has appointed it.

48  Of Moab. Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: Woe to Nebo! For it is laid waste; Kiriathaim is put to shame, it is taken; Misgab is put to shame and broken down. 2 The praise of Moab is no more; in Heshbon they have devised evil against her: Come, and let us cut her off from being a nation. You also, O Madmen,[460] will be brought to silence; the sword will pursue you. 3 The sound of a cry from Horonaim, desolation and great destruction! 4 Moab is destroyed; They caused a cry to be heard as far as Zoar. 5 For by the ascent of Luhith with continual weeping they will go up; for at the descent of Horonaim they have heard the distress of the cry of destruction. 6 Flee, save your+ souls, and be like a juniper in the wilderness. 7 For, because you have trusted in your works and in your treasures, you also will be taken: and Chemosh will go forth into captivity, his priests and his princes together. 8 And the destroyer will come upon every city, and no city will escape; the valley also will perish, and the plain will be destroyed; as Yahweh has spoken. 9 Give wings to Moab, that she may fly and get away: and her cities will become a desolation, without any to dwell in them. 10 Cursed be he who does the work of Yahweh negligently; and cursed be he who keeps back his sword from blood.

11 Moab has been at ease from his youth, and he has settled on his lees, and has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither has he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remains in him, and his scent is not changed. 12 Therefore, look, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will send to him those who pour off, and they will pour him off; and they will empty his vessels, and break their bottles in pieces. 13 And Moab will be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Beth-el their confidence. 14 How do you+ say, We are mighty men, and valiant men for the war? 15 Moab is laid waste, and they have gone up into his cities, and his chosen young men have gone down to the slaughter, says the King, whose name is Yahweh of hosts. 16 The calamity of Moab is near to come, and his affliction hurries fast. 17 All you+ who are round about him, bemoan him, and all you+ who know his name; say, How is the strong staff broken, the beautiful rod! 18 O you daughter who dwells in Dibon, come down from your glory, and sit in thirst; for the destroyer of Moab has come up against you, he has destroyed your strongholds. 19 O inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the way, and watch: ask him who flees, and her who escapes; say, What has been done? 20 Moab is put to shame; for it is broken down: wail and cry; tell+ it by the Arnon, that Moab is laid waste. 21 And judgment has come upon the plain country, on Holon, and on Jahzah, and on Mephaath, 22 and on Dibon, and on Nebo, and on Beth-diblathaim, 23 and on Kiriathaim, and on Beth-gamul, and on Beth-meon, 24 and on Kerioth, and on Bozrah, and on all the cities of the land of Moab, far or near. 25 The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, says Yahweh.

26 Make+ him drunk; for he magnified himself against Yahweh: and Moab will wallow in his vomit, and he also will be in derision. 27 For wasn't Israel a derision to you? Was he found among thieves? For as often as you speak of him, you wag the head. 28 O you+ inhabitants of Moab, leave the cities, and stay in the rock; and be like the dove that makes her nest over the mouth of the abyss. 29 We have heard of the pride of Moab, [that] he is very proud; his loftiness, and his pride, and his arrogance, and the haughtiness of his heart. 30 I know his wrath, says Yahweh, that it is nothing; his boastings have wrought nothing. 31 Therefore I will wail for Moab; yes, I will cry out for all Moab: for the men of Kir-heres they will mourn. 32 With more than the weeping of Jazer I will weep for you, O vine of Sibmah: your branches passed over the sea, they reached even to the sea of Jazer: on your summer fruits and on your vintage the destroyer has fallen. 33 And gladness and joy is taken away from the fruitful field and from the land of Moab; and I have caused wine to cease from the winepresses: none will tread with shouting; the shouting will be no shouting. 34 From the cry of Heshbon even to Elealeh, even to Jahaz they have uttered their voice, from Zoar even to Horonaim, to Eglath-shelishiyah: for the waters of Nimrim also will become desolate. 35 Moreover I will cause to cease in Moab, says Yahweh, him who offers in the high place, and him who burns incense to his gods.

36 Therefore my heart sounds for Moab like pipes, and my heart sounds like pipes for the men of Kir-heres: therefore the abundance that he has gotten has perished. 37 For every head is bald, and every beard clipped: on all the hands are cuttings, and on the loins sackcloth. 38 On all the housetops of Moab and in its streets there is lamentation every where; for I have broken Moab like a vessel in which none delights, says Yahweh. 39 How it is broken down! [How] they wail! How Moab has turned the back with shame! So will Moab become a derision and a terror to all who are round about him. 40 For thus says Yahweh: Look, he will fly as an eagle, and will spread out his wings against Moab. 41 Kerioth is taken, and the strongholds are seized, and the heart of the mighty men of Moab at that day will be as the heart of a woman in her pangs. 42 And Moab will be destroyed from being a people, because he has magnified himself against Yahweh. 43 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are on you, O inhabitant of Moab, says Yahweh. 44 He who flees from the fear will fall into the pit; and he who gets up out of the pit will be taken in the snare: for I will bring on Moab the year of their visitation, says Yahweh.

45 Those who fled stand without strength under the shadow of Heshbon; for a fire has gone forth out of Heshbon, and a flame from the midst of Sihon, and has devoured the corner of Moab, and the top of the head of the tumultuous ones. 46 Woe to you, O Moab! The people of Chemosh is undone; for your sons are taken away captive, and your daughters into captivity. 47 Yet I will bring back the captivity of Moab in the latter days, says Yahweh. Thus far is the judgment of Moab.

49  Of the sons of Ammon. Thus says Yahweh: Has Israel no sons? Has he no heir? Why then does Milcom possess Gad, and his people dwell in its cities? 2 Therefore, look, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard against Rabbah of the sons of Ammon; and it will become a desolate heap, and her daughters will be burned with fire: then will Israel possess those who possessed him, says Yahweh. 3 Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai is laid waste; cry, you+ daughters of Rabbah, gird+ with sackcloth: lament, and run to and fro among the fences; for Milcom will go into captivity, his priests and his princes together. 4 Why do you glory in the valleys, your flowing valley, O backsliding daughter? that trusted in her treasures, [saying,] Who will come to me? 5 Look, I will bring a fear on you, says the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, from all who are round about you; and you+ will be driven out every man right forth, and there will be none to gather together the fugitives. 6 But afterward I will bring back the captivity of the sons of Ammon, says Yahweh.

7 Of Edom. Thus says Yahweh of hosts: Is wisdom no more in Teman? Has counsel perished from the prudent? Is their wisdom vanished? 8 Flee+, turn back, dwell in the depths, O inhabitants of Dedan; for I will bring the calamity of Esau on him, the time that I will visit him. 9 If grape-gatherers came to you, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? If thieves by night, would they not destroy until they had enough? 10 But I have made Esau bare, I have uncovered his secret places, and he cannot hide himself: his seed is destroyed, and his brothers, and his neighbors; and he is not. 11 Leave your fatherless children, I will preserve them alive; and let your widows trust in me. 12 For thus says Yahweh: Look, they to whom it did not pertain to drink of the cup will assuredly drink; and are you he who will altogether go unpunished? You will not go unpunished, but you will surely drink. 13 For I have sworn by myself, says Yahweh, that Bozrah will become an astonishment, a reproach, a waste, and a curse; and all its cities will be perpetual wastes.

14 I have heard news from Yahweh, and an ambassador is sent among the nations, [saying,] Gather yourselves together, and come against her, and rise up to the battle. 15 For, look, I have made you small among the nations, and despised among man. 16 As for your terribleness, the pride of your heart has deceived you, O you who stay in the clefts of the rock, that hold the height of the hill: though you should make your nest as high as the eagle, I will bring you down from there, says Yahweh. 17 And Edom will become an astonishment: everyone who passes by it will be astonished, and will hiss at all its plagues. 18 As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring cities, says Yahweh, a man will not dwell there, neither will any son of man sojourn in it. 19 Look, he will come up like a lion from the pride of the Jordan against the strong habitation: for I will suddenly make him run away from it; and whoever is chosen, I will appoint him over it: for who is like me? And who will appoint me a time? And who is the shepherd that will stand before me?

20 Therefore hear+ the counsel of Yahweh, that he has taken against Edom; and his purposes, that he has purposed against the inhabitants of Teman: Surely they will drag them away, [even] the little ones of the flock; surely he will make their habitation desolate over them. 21 The earth trembles at the noise of their fall; there is a cry, the noise of which is heard in the Red Sea. 22 Look, he will come up and fly as the eagle, and spread out his wings against Bozrah: and the heart of the mighty men of Edom at that day will be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.

23 Of Damascus. Hamath is confounded, and Arpad; for they have heard evil news, they melt [with fear]; on the sea [there is] anxiety, it can't be quiet. 24 Damascus is waxed feeble, she turns herself to flee, and trembling has seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken hold of her, as of a woman in travail. 25 How is the city of praise not forsaken, the city of my joy? 26 Therefore her young men will fall in her streets, and all the men of war will be brought to silence in that day, says Yahweh of hosts. 27 And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it will devour the palaces of Ben-hadad.

28 Of Kedar, and of the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon struck. Thus says Yahweh: Arise+, go up to Kedar, and destroy the sons of the east. 29 They will take their tents and their flocks; they will carry away for themselves their curtains, and all their vessels, and their camels; and they will cry to them, Terror on every side! 30 Flee+, wander far off, dwell in the depths, O you+ inhabitants of Hazor, says Yahweh; for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon has taken counsel against them, and has conceived a purpose against you+. 31 Arise, get+ up to a nation that is at ease, that dwells without care, says Yahweh. It has neither gates nor bars. They stay alone. 32 And their camels will be a booty, and the multitude of their cattle a spoil: and I will scatter to all winds those who have the corners [of their hair] cut off; and I will bring their calamity from every side of them, says Yahweh. 33 And Hazor will be a dwelling-place of jackals, a desolation forever: man will not dwell there, neither will any son of man sojourn in it.

34 The word of Yahweh that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying, 35 Thus says Yahweh of hosts: Look, I will break the bow of Elam, the chief of their might. 36 And on Elam I will bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven, and will scatter them toward all those winds; and there will be no nation where the outcasts of Elam will not come. 37 And I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies, and before those who seek their soul; and I will bring evil on them, even my fierce anger, says Yahweh; and I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them; 38 and I will set my throne in Elam, and will destroy from there king and princes, says Yahweh. 39 But it will come to pass in the latter days, that I will bring back the captivity of Elam, says Yahweh.

50  The word that Yahweh spoke concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by Jeremiah the prophet. 2 Declare+ among the nations and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and do not conceal: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is put to shame, Merodach is dismayed; her images are put to shame, her idols are dismayed. 3 For out of the north there comes up a nation against her, which will make her land desolate, and none will dwell in it: they have fled, they have gone, both man and beast. 4 In those days, and in that time, says Yahweh, the sons of Israel will come, they and the sons of Judah together; they will go on their way weeping, and will seek Yahweh their God. 5 They will inquire concerning Zion with their faces toward there, [saying,] Come+, and join yourselves to Yahweh in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.

6 My people have been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray; they have turned them away on the mountains; they have gone from mountain to hill; they have forgotten their resting-place. 7 All who found them have devoured them; and their adversaries said, We are not guilty, because they have sinned against Yahweh, the habitation of righteousness, even Yahweh, the hope of their fathers. 8 Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the he-goats before the flocks. 9 For, look, I will stir up and cause to come up against Babylon a company of great nations from the north country; and they will set themselves in array against her; from there she will be taken: their arrows will be as a mighty man taking away children, they will not return in vain. 10 And Chaldea will be a prey: all who prey on her will be satisfied, says Yahweh.

11 Because you+ are glad, because you+ rejoice, O you+ who plunder my heritage, because you+ are wanton as a heifer that treads out [the grain], and neigh as strong horses; 12 your+ mother will be completely put to shame; she who bore you+ will be confounded: look, she will be the hindermost of the nations, a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert. 13 Because of the wrath of Yahweh she will not be inhabited, but she will be wholly desolate: everyone who goes by Babylon will be astonished, and hiss at all her plagues. 14 Set yourselves in array against Babylon round about, all you+ who bend the bow; shoot at her, spare no arrows: for she has sinned against Yahweh. 15 Shout against her round about: she has submitted herself; her bulwarks have fallen, her walls are thrown down; for it is the vengeance of Yahweh: take vengeance on her; as she has done, do to her. 16 Cut off the sower from Babylon, and him who handles the sickle in the time of harvest: for fear of the oppressing sword they will turn every one to his people, and they will flee every one to his own land.

17 Israel is a hunted sheep; the lions have driven him away: first, the king of Assyria devoured him; and now at last Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon has broken his bones. 18 Therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: Look, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria. 19 And I will bring Israel again to his pasture, and he will feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul will be satisfied on the hills of Ephraim and in Gilead. 20 In those days, and in that time, says Yahweh, the iniquity of Israel will be sought for, and there will be none; and the sins of Judah, and they will not be found: for I will pardon them whom I leave as a remnant.

21 Go up against the land of Merathaim, even against it, and against the inhabitants of Pekod: slay and completely destroy after them, says Yahweh, and do according to all that I have commanded you. 22 A sound of battle is in the land, and of great destruction. 23 How is the hammer of the whole earth cut apart and broken! How has Babylon become a desolation among the nations! 24 I have laid a snare for you, and you are also taken, O Babylon, and you were not aware: you are found, and also caught, because you have striven against Yahweh. 25 Yahweh has opened his armory, and has brought forth the weapons of his indignation; for the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, has a work [to do] in the land of the Chaldeans. 26 Come against her from the utmost border; open her storehouses; cast her up as heaps, and destroy her completely; let nothing of her be left. 27 Slay all her bullocks; let them go down to the slaughter: woe to them! For their day has come, the time of their visitation. 28 The voice of those who flee and escape out of the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of Yahweh our God, the vengeance of his temple.

29 Call together the archers against Babylon, all those who bend the bow; encamp against her round about; let none of her escape: recompense her according to her work; according to all that she has done, do to her; for she has been proud against Yahweh, against the Holy One of Israel. 30 Therefore will her young men fall in her streets, and all her men of war will be brought to silence in that day, says Yahweh. 31 Look, I am against you, O you proud one, says the Lord, Yahweh of hosts; for your day has come, the time that I will visit you. 32 And the proud one will stumble and fall, and none will raise him up; and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it will devour all who are round about him.

33 Thus says Yahweh of hosts: The sons of Israel and the sons of Judah are oppressed together; and all who took them captive hold them fast; they refuse to let them go. 34 Their Redeemer is strong; Yahweh of hosts is his name: he will thoroughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the earth, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon. 35 A sword is on the Chaldeans, says Yahweh, and on the inhabitants of Babylon, and on her princes, and on her wise men. 36 A sword is on the boasters, and they will become fools; a sword is on her mighty men, and they will be dismayed. 37 A sword is on their horses, and on their chariots, and on all the mingled people who are in the midst of her; and they will become as women: a sword is on her treasures, and they will be robbed. 38 A drought is on her waters, and they will be dried up; for it is a land of graven images, and they are mad over idols. 39 Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wolves will dwell there, and the ostriches will dwell in it: and it will be inhabited no more forever; neither will it be stayed in from generation to generation. 40 As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring cities, says Yahweh, so a man will not dwell there, neither will any son of man sojourn in it.

41 Look, a people comes from the north; and a great nation and many kings will be stirred up from the uttermost parts of the earth. 42 They lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel, and have no mercy; their voice roars like the sea; and they ride on horses, everyone set in array, as a man to the battle, against you, O daughter of Babylon. 43 The king of Babylon has heard the news of them, and his hands wax feeble: anguish has taken hold of him, [and] pangs as of a woman in travail. 44 Look, [the enemy] will come up like a lion from the pride of the Jordan against the strong habitation: for I will suddenly make them run away from it; and whoever is chosen, I will appoint him over it: for who is like me? And who will appoint me a time? And who is the shepherd that can stand before me? 45 Therefore hear+ the counsel of Yahweh, that he has taken against Babylon; and his purposes, that he has purposed against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely they will drag them away, [even] the little ones of the flock; surely he will make their habitation desolate over them. 46 At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth trembles, and the cry is heard among the nations.

51  Thus says Yahweh: Look, I will raise up against Babylon, and against those who dwell in Leb-kamai,[461] a destroying wind. 2 And I will send to Babylon strangers, that will winnow her; and they will empty her land: for in the day of trouble they will be against her round about. 3 Against [him who] bends let the archer bend his bow, and against [him who] lifts himself up in his coat of mail: and don't spare+ her young men; destroy+ completely all her host. 4 And they will fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans, and thrust through in her streets.

5 For Israel is not forsaken, nor Judah, of his God, of Yahweh of hosts; though their land is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel. 6 Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and save every man his soul; don't be cut off in her iniquity: for it is the time of Yahweh's vengeance; he will render to her a recompense. 7 Babylon has been a golden cup in Yahweh's hand, that made all the earth drunk: the nations have drank of her wine; therefore the nations are mad. 8 Babylon has suddenly fallen and destroyed: wail for her; take balm for her pain, if perhaps she may be healed. 9 We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country; for her judgment reaches to heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies. 10 Yahweh has brought forth our righteousness: come, and let us declare in Zion the work of Yahweh our God.

11 Make sharp the arrows; hold firm the shields: Yahweh has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes; because his purpose is against Babylon, to destroy it: for it is the vengeance of Yahweh, the vengeance of his temple. 12 Set up a standard against the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, set the watchmen, prepare the ambushes; for Yahweh has both purposed and done that which he spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon. 13 O you who stay on many waters, abundant in treasures, your end has come, the measure of your covetousness. 14 Yahweh of hosts has sworn by his soul, [saying,] Surely I will fill you with man, as with the cankerworm; and they will lift up a shout against you.

15 He has made the earth by his power, he has established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding he has stretched out the heavens: 16 when he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; he makes lightnings for the rain, and brings forth the wind out of his treasuries. 17 Everyone among man has become brutish [and is] without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his image; for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. 18 They are vanity, a work of delusion: in the time of their visitation they will perish. 19 The portion of Jacob is not like these; for he is the former of all things, and the rod of his inheritance: Yahweh of hosts is his name.

20 You are my battle-ax and weapons of war: and with you I will break in pieces the nations; and with you I will destroy kingdoms; 21 and with you I will break in pieces the horse and his rider; 22 and with you I will break in pieces the chariot and him who rides in it; and with you I will break in pieces man and woman; and with you I will break in pieces the old man and the youth; and with you I will break in pieces the young man and the virgin; 23 and with you I will break in pieces the shepherd and his flock; and with you I will break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke [of oxen]; and with you I will break in pieces governors and deputies. 24 And I will render to Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your+ sight, says Yahweh.

25 Look, I am against you, O destroying mountain, says Yahweh, which destroys all the earth; and I will stretch out my hand on you, and roll you down from the rocks, and will make you a burnt mountain. 26 And they will not take of you a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but you will be desolate forever, says Yahweh.

27 Set+ up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, prepare the nations against her, call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz: appoint a marshal against her; cause the horses to come up as the rough cankerworm. 28 Prepare against her the nations, the kings of the Medes, their governors, and all their deputies, and all the land of their dominion. 29 And the land trembles and is in pain; for the purposes of Yahweh against Babylon stand, to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant. 30 The mighty men of Babylon have forborne to fight, they remain in their strongholds; their might has failed; they have become as women: her dwelling-places are set on fire; her bars are broken. 31 One post will run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken on every quarter: 32 and the passages are seized, and the reeds they have burned with fire, and the men of war are frightened.

33 For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing-floor at the time when it is trodden; yet a little while, and the time of harvest will come for her. 34 Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me, he has crushed me, he has made me an empty vessel, he has, like a monster, swallowed me up, he has filled his maw with my delicacies; he has cast me out. 35 The violence done to me and to my flesh be on Babylon, will the inhabitant of Zion say; and, My blood be on the inhabitants of Chaldea, will Jerusalem say. 36 Therefore thus says Yahweh: Look, I will plead your cause, and take vengeance for you; and I will dry up her sea, and make her fountain dry. 37 And Babylon will become heaps, a dwelling-place for jackals, an astonishment, and a hissing, without inhabitant. 38 They will roar together like young lions; they will growl as lions' whelps. 39 When they are heated, I will make their feast, and I will make them drunk, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not awaken, says Yahweh. 40 I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with he-goats.

41 How is Sheshach taken! And the praise of the whole earth seized! How has Babylon become a desolation among the nations! 42 The sea has come up on Babylon; she is covered with the multitude of its waves. 43 Her cities have become a desolation, a dry land, and a desert, a land in which no man dwells, neither does any son of man pass by it. 44 And I will execute judgment on Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he has swallowed up; and the nations will not flow anymore to him: yes, the wall of Babylon will fall.

45 My people, go+ out of the midst of her, and save your soul every man from the fierce anger of Yahweh. 46 Or else your+ heart will be faint, and you+ will fear for the news that will be heard in the land; for news will come one year, and after that in another year [will come] news, and violence in the land, ruler against ruler. 47 Therefore, look, the days come, that I will execute judgment on the graven images of Babylon; and her whole land will be confounded; and all her slain will fall in the midst of her. 48 Then the heavens and the earth, and all that is in them, will sing for joy over Babylon; for the destroyers will come to her from the north, says Yahweh. 49 As Babylon has caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon will fall the slain of all the land. 50 You+ who have escaped the sword, go+, don't stand still; remember Yahweh from afar, and let Jerusalem come into your+ mind. 51 We are confounded, because we have heard reproach; confusion has covered our faces: for strangers have come into the sanctuaries of Yahweh's house. 52 Therefore, look, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will execute judgment on her graven images; and through all her land the wounded will groan. 53 Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me will destroyers come to her, says Yahweh.

54 The sound of a cry from Babylon, and of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans! 55 For Yahweh lays Babylon waste, and destroys out of her the great voice; and their waves roar like many waters; the noise of their voice is uttered: 56 for the destroyer has come upon her, even on Babylon, and her mighty men are taken, their bows are broken in pieces; for Yahweh is a God of recompenses, he will surely repay. 57 And I will make drunk her princes and her wise men, her governors and her deputies, and her mighty men; and they will sleep a perpetual sleep, and not awaken, says the King, whose name is Yahweh of hosts. 58 Thus says Yahweh of hosts: The broad walls of Babylon will be completely overthrown, and her high gates will be burned with fire; and the peoples will labor for vanity, and the nations for the fire; and they will be weary.

59 The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. Now Seraiah was chief chamberlain. 60 And Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon, even all these words that are written concerning Babylon. 61 And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When you come to Babylon, then see that you read all these words, 62 and say, O Yahweh, you have spoken concerning this place, to cut it off, that none will dwell in it, neither man nor beast, but that it will be desolate forever. 63 And it will be, when you have made an end of reading this book, that you will bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates: 64 and you will say, Thus will Babylon sink, and will not rise again because of the evil that I will bring on her; (and they will be weary). Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.

52  Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 2 And he did that which was evil in the eyes of Yahweh, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. 3 For through the anger of Yahweh it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, until he had cast them out from his presence.

And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. 4 And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and encamped against it; and they built forts against it round about. 5 So the city was besieged to the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. 6 In the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was intense in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land. 7 Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled, and went forth out of the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king's garden (now the Chaldeans were against the city round about); and they went toward the Arabah. 8 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him. 9 Then they took the king, and carried him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath; and he gave judgment on him. 10 And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes: he slew also all the princes of Judah in Riblah. 11 And he put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him in fetters, and carried him to Babylon, and put him in prison until the day of his death.

12 Now in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, who stood before the king of Babylon, came into Jerusalem: 13 and he burned the house of Yahweh, and the king's house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every house of the great, he burned with fire. 14 And all the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down all the walls of Jerusalem round about. 15 Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the poorest of the people, and the residue of the people who were left in the city, and those who fell away, who fell to the king of Babylon, and the residue of the artisans. 16 But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and husbandmen.

17 And the pillars of bronze that were in the house of Yahweh, and the bases and the bronze sea that were in the house of Yahweh, the Chaldeans broke in pieces, and carried all the bronze of them to Babylon. 18 The pots also, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the basins, and the spoons, and all the vessels of bronze with which they ministered, they took away. 19 And the cups, and the firepans, and the basins, and the pots, and the lampstands, and the spoons, and the bowls—that which was of gold, in gold, and that which was of silver, in silver,—the captain of the guard took away. 20 The two pillars, the one sea, and the twelve bronze bulls that were under the bases, which King Solomon had made for the house of Yahweh—the bronze of all these vessels was without weight. 21 And as for the pillars, the height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits; and a line of twelve cubits encircled it; and its thickness was four fingers: it was hollow. 22 And a capital of bronze was on it; and the height of the one capital was five cubits, with network and pomegranates on the capital round about, all of bronze: and the second pillar also had like these, and pomegranates. 23 And there were ninety and six pomegranates on the sides; all the pomegranates were a hundred on the network round about.

24 And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold: 25 and out of the city he took an officer who was set over the men of war; and seven men of those who saw the king's face, who were found in the city; and the scribe of the captain of the host, who mustered the people of the land; and threescore men of the people of the land, who were found in the midst of the city. 26 And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah. 27 And the king of Babylon struck them, and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried away captive out of his land.

2^8 This is the people whom Nebuchadrezzar carried away captive: in the seventh year three thousand Jews and three and twenty; 29 in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar he carried away captive from Jerusalem eight hundred thirty and two souls; 30 in the three and twentieth year of Nebuchadrezzar, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, carried away captive of the Jews seven hundred forty and five souls: all the souls were four thousand and six hundred.

31 And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the five and twentieth day of the month, that Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the [first] year of his reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and brought him forth out of prison; 32 and he spoke kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon, 33 and changed his prison garments. And [Jehoiachin] ate bread before him continually all the days of his life: 34 and for his allowance, there was a continual allowance given him by the king of Babylon, every day a portion until the day of his death, all the days of his life.

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Lamentations

1  How[462] the city sits solitary, that was full of people! She has become as a widow, that was great among the nations! She who was a princess among the provinces has become slave labor! 2 She weeps intensely in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks; Among all her friends she has none to comfort her: All her companions have betrayed her; they have become her enemies. 3 Judah has gone into captivity because of affliction, and because of great servitude; She dwells among the nations, she finds no rest: All her persecutors overtook her inside the straits. 4 The ways of Zion mourn, because none come to the solemn assembly; All her gates are desolate, her priests sigh: Her virgins are afflicted, and she herself is in bitterness. 5 Her adversaries have become the head, her enemies prosper; For Yahweh has afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions: Her young children have gone into captivity before the adversary. 6 And from the daughter of Zion all her majesty has departed: Her princes have become like harts that find no pasture, And they are gone without strength before the pursuer. 7 Jerusalem remembers in the days of her affliction and of her wandering all her pleasant things that were from the days of old: When her people fell into the hand of the adversary, and none helped her, The adversaries saw her, they mocked at her desolations. 8 Jerusalem has grievously sinned; therefore she has become as an unclean thing; All who honored her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness: Yes, she sighs, and turns backward. 9 Her filthiness was in her skirts; she didn't remember her latter end; Therefore she has come down wonderfully; she has no comforter: See, O Yahweh, my affliction; for the enemy has magnified himself. 10 The adversary has spread out his hand on all her pleasant things: For she has seen that the nations have entered into her sanctuary, Concerning whom you commanded that they should not enter into your assembly. 11 All her people sigh, they seek bread; They have given their pleasant things for food to refresh the soul: See, O Yahweh, and behold; for I have become abject.

12 Is it nothing to you+, all you+ who pass by? Look, and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow, which is brought on me, With which Yahweh has afflicted [me] in the day of his fierce anger. 13 From on high he has sent fire into my bones, and it prevails against them; He has spread a net for my feet, he has turned me back: He has made me desolate and faint all the day. 14 The yoke of my transgressions is tied by his hand; They are knit together, they have come up on my neck; he has made my strength to fail: The Lord has delivered me into their hands, against whom I am not able to stand. 15 The Lord has set at nothing all my mighty men in the midst of me; He has called a solemn assembly against me to crush my young men: The Lord has trodden as in a wine press the virgin daughter of Judah. 16 For these things I weep; my eye, my eye runs down with water; Because the comforter that should refresh my soul is far from me: My sons are desolate, because the enemy has prevailed. 17 Zion spreads forth her hands; there is none to comfort her; Yahweh has commanded concerning Jacob, that those who are round about him should be his adversaries: Jerusalem is among them as an unclean thing. 18 Yahweh is righteous; for I have rebelled against his mouth: Hear, I pray you+, all you+ peoples, and look at my sorrow: My virgins and my young men have gone into captivity. 19 I called for my lovers, [but] they deceived me: My priests and my elders gave up the ghost in the city, While they sought food for them to refresh their souls.

20 Look, O Yahweh; for I am in distress; my insides are troubled; My heart is turned inside me; for I have grievously rebelled: Abroad the sword bereaves, at home there is as death. 21 They have heard that I sigh; there is none to comfort me; All my enemies have heard of my trouble; they are glad that you have done it: You have brought the day that you have proclaimed, and they will be like me. 22 Let all their wickedness come before you; And do to them, as you have done to me for all my transgressions: For my sighs are many, and my heart is faint.

2  How has the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger! He has cast down from heaven to the earth the beauty of Israel, And has not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger. 2 The Lord has swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, and has not pitied: He has thrown down in his wrath the strongholds of the daughter of Judah; He has brought them down to the ground; he has profaned the kingdom and its princes. 3 He has cut off in fierce anger all the horn of Israel; He has drawn back his right hand from before the enemy: And he has burned up Jacob like a flaming fire, which devours round about. 4 He has bent his bow like an enemy, he has stood with his right hand as an adversary, And has slain all who were pleasant to the eye: In the tent of the daughter of Zion he has poured out his wrath like fire. 5 The Lord has become as an enemy, he has swallowed up Israel; He has swallowed up all her palaces, he has destroyed his strongholds; And he has multiplied in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation. 6 And he has violently taken away his tabernacle, as if it were of a garden; he has destroyed his place of assembly: Yahweh has caused solemn assembly and Sabbath to be forgotten in Zion, And has despised in the indignation of his anger the king and the priest. 7 The Lord has cast off his altar, he has abhorred his sanctuary; He has given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces: They have made a noise in the house of Yahweh, as in the day of a solemn assembly. 8 Yahweh has purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion; He has stretched out the line, he has not withdrawn his hand from destroying; And he has made the rampart and wall to lament; they languish together. 9 Her gates are sunk into the ground; he has destroyed and broken her bars: Her king and her princes are among the nations where the law is not; Yes, her prophets find no vision from Yahweh. 10 The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground, they keep silent; They have cast up dust on their heads; they have girded themselves with sackcloth: The virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.

11 My eyes fail with tears, my insides are troubled; My liver is poured on the earth, because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, Because the young children and the sucklings swoon in the streets of the city. 12 They say to their mothers, Where is grain and wine? When they swoon as the wounded in the streets of the city, When their soul is poured out into their mothers' bosom. 13 What shall I testify to you? What shall I liken to you, O daughter of Jerusalem? What shall I compare to you, that I may comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? For your breach is great like the sea: who can heal you? 14 Your prophets have seen for you false and foolish visions; And they have not uncovered your iniquity, to bring back your captivity, But have seen for you false oracles and causes of banishment. 15 All who pass by clap their hands at you; They hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, [saying,] Is this the city that men called The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth? 16 All your enemies have opened their mouth wide against you; They hiss and gnash the teeth; they say, We have swallowed [her] up; Certainly this is the day that we looked for; we have found, we have seen it. 17 Yahweh has done that which he purposed; he has fulfilled his word that he commanded in the days of old; He has thrown down, and has not pitied: And he has caused the enemy to rejoice over you; he has exalted the horn of your adversaries. 18 Their heart cried to the Lord: O walls of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night; Give yourself no respite; don't let the apple of your eye cease. 19 Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the watches; Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord: Lift up your hands toward him for the soul of your young children, who faint for hunger at the head of every street.

20 See, O Yahweh, and look at whom you have done thus! Will the women eat their fruit, the children who are cuddled in the hands? Will the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord? 21 The youth and the old man lie on the ground in the streets; My virgins and my young men have fallen by the sword: You have slain them in the day of your anger; you have slaughtered, [and] not pitied. 22 You have called, as in the day of a solemn assembly, my terrors on every side; And there was none who escaped or remained in the day of Yahweh's anger: Those who I have cuddled and brought up, my enemy has consumed.

3  I am the [noble] man who has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. 2 He has led me and caused me to walk in darkness, and not in light. 3 Surely against me he turns his hand again and again all the day. 4 My flesh and my skin he has made old; he has broken my bones. 5 He has built against me, and surrounded me with gall and travail. 6 He has made me to dwell in dark places, as those who have been long dead. 7 He has walled me about, that I can't go forth; he has made my chain heavy. 8 Yes, when I cry, and call for help, he shuts out my prayer. 9 He has walled up my ways with cut stone; he has made my paths crooked. 10 He is to me as a bear lying in wait, as a lion in secret places. 11 He has turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces; he has made me desolate. 12 He has bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow. 13 He has caused the shafts of his quiver to enter into my reins. 14 I have become a derision for my whole nation, and their song all the day. 15 He has filled me with bitterness, he has sated me with wormwood. 16 He has also broken my teeth with gravel stones; he has covered me with ashes. 17 And you have removed my soul far off from peace; I forgot prosperity. 18 And I said, My strength has perished, and my expectation from Yahweh. 19 Remember my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and the gall. 20 My soul has them still in remembrance, and is bowed down inside me. 21 This I recall to my mind; therefore I have hope. 22 [It is of] Yahweh's loving-kindnesses that we are not consumed, because his compassions do not fail. 23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 24 Yahweh is my portion, says my soul; therefore I will hope in him. 25 Yahweh is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. 26 It is good that a man should hope and quietly wait for the salvation of Yahweh. 27 It is good for a [noble] man that he bear the yoke in his youth. 28 Let him sit alone and keep silent, because he has laid it on him. 29 Let him put his mouth in the dust, if perhaps there may be hope. 30 Let him give his cheek to him who strikes him; let him be filled full with reproach. 31 For the Lord will not cast off forever. 32 For though he causes grief, yet he will have compassion according to the multitude of his loving-kindnesses. 33 For he does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the sons of a man.[463] 34 To crush under foot all the prisoners of the earth, 35 To turn aside the right of a [noble] man before the face of the Most High, 36 To subvert man in his cause, the Lord does not approve. 37 Who is he that says, and it comes to pass, when the Lord does not command it? 38 Out of the mouth of the Most High does there not come evil and good? 39 Why does man complain, a living [noble] man for the punishment of his sins?

40 Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to Yahweh. 41 Let us lift up our heart with our hands to God in the heavens. 42 We have transgressed and have rebelled; you have not pardoned. 43 You have covered with anger and pursued us; you have slain, you have not pitied. 44 You have covered yourself with a cloud, so that no prayer can pass through. 45 You have made us an offscouring and refuse in the midst of the peoples. 46 All our enemies have opened their mouth wide against us. 47 Fear and the pit have come upon us, devastation and destruction. 48 My eye runs down with streams of water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people. 49 My eye pours down, and does not cease, without any intermission, 50 Until Yahweh looks down, and beholds from heaven. 51 My eye affects my soul, because of all the daughters of my city. 52 They have chased me intensely like a bird, those who are my enemies without cause. 53 They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and have cast a stone on me. 54 Waters flowed over my head; I said, I am cut off.

55 I called on your name, O Yahweh, out of the lowest dungeon. 56 You heard my voice; don't hide your ear at my breathing, at my cry. 57 You drew near in the day that I called on you; you said, Don't be afraid. 58 O Lord, you have pleaded the causes of my soul; you have redeemed my life. 59 O Yahweh, you have seen my wrong; judge my cause. 60 You have seen all their vengeance and all their devices against me. 61 You have heard their reproach, O Yahweh, and all their devices against me, 62 The lips of those who rose up against me, and their device against me all the day. 63 Look at their sitting down, and their rising up; I am their song. 64 You will render to them a recompense, O Yahweh, according to the work of their hands. 65 You will give them hardness of heart, your curse to them. 66 You will pursue them in anger, and destroy them from under the heavens of Yahweh.

4  How has the gold become dim! [How] has the most pure gold changed! The stones of the sanctuary are poured out at the head of every street. 2 The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, How are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter! 3 Even the jackals draw out the breast, they nurse their young ones: The daughter of my people has become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness. 4 The tongue of the nursing child sticks to the roof of his mouth for thirst: The young children ask bread, and no man breaks it to them. 5 Those who did feed delicately are desolate in the streets: Those who were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills. 6 For the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the sin of Sodom, That was overthrown as in a moment, and no hands were laid on her. 7 Her nobles were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk; They were more ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing was as of sapphire. 8 Their visage is blacker than a charcoal; they are not recognized in the streets: Their skin shrivels to their bones; it is withered, it has become like a stick. 9 Those who are slain with the sword are better than those who are slain with hunger; For these pine away, stricken through, for want of the fruits of the field. 10 The hands of the pitiful women have boiled their own children; They were their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people. 11 Yahweh has accomplished his wrath, he has poured out his fierce anger; And he has kindled a fire in Zion, which has devoured its foundations. 12 The kings of the earth did not believe, neither all the inhabitants of the world, That the adversary and the enemy would enter into the gates of Jerusalem. 13 [It is] because of the sins of her prophets, [and] the iniquities of her priests, Who have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her. 14 They wander as blind men in the streets, they are polluted with blood, So that men can't touch their garments. 15 Depart+, they cried to them, Unclean! Depart, depart, don't touch! When they fled away and wandered, men said among the nations, They will no more sojourn [here]. 16 The anger of Yahweh has scattered them; he will no more regard them: They did not respect the persons of the priests, they did not favor the elders. 17 Our eyes do yet fail [in looking] for our vain help: In our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save. 18 They hunt our steps, so that we can't go in our streets: Our end is near, our days are fulfilled; for our end has come. 19 Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the heavens: They chased us on the mountains, they laid wait for us in the wilderness. 20 The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of Yahweh, was taken in their pits; Of whom we said, Under his shadow we will live among the nations.

21 Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that dwell in the land of Uz: The cup will pass through to you also; you will be drunk, and will make yourself naked. 22 The punishment of your iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Zion; he will no more carry you away into captivity: He will visit your iniquity, O daughter of Edom; he will uncover your sins.

5  Remember, O Yahweh, what has come upon us: Look, and see our reproach. 2 Our inheritance has turned to strangers, Our houses to aliens. 3 We are orphans and fatherless; Our mothers are as widows. 4 We have drank our water for silver; Our wood is sold to us. 5 Our pursuers are on our necks: We are weary, and have no rest. 6 We have given the hand to the Egyptians, And to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread. 7 Our fathers sinned, and are not; And we have borne their iniquities. 8 Slaves rule over us: There is none to deliver us out of their hand. 9 We get our bread at the peril of our souls, Because of the sword of the wilderness. 10 Our skin is black like an oven, Because of the burning heat of famine. 11 They humbled the women in Zion, The virgins in the cities of Judah. 12 Princes were hanged up by their hand: The faces of elders were not honored. 13 The young men bore the mill; And the children stumbled under the wood. 14 The elders have ceased from the gate, The young men from their music. 15 The joy of our heart has ceased; Our dance has turned into mourning. 16 The crown has fallen from our head: Woe to us! For we have sinned. 17 For this our heart is faint; For these things our eyes are dim; 18 For the mountain of Zion, which is desolate: The foxes walk on it.

19 You, O Yahweh, remain forever; Your throne is from generation to generation. 20 Why do you forget us forever, [And] forsake us so long time? 21 Turn us to you, O Yahweh, and we will be turned; Renew our days as of old. 22 But you have completely rejected us; You are very angry against us.

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Ezekiel

1  Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth [month], in the fifth [day] of the month, as I was among the captives by the river Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. 2 In the fifth [day] of the month, which was the fifth year of king Jehoiachin's captivity, 3 the word of Yahweh came expressly to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of Yahweh was there on him.

4 And I looked and saw that a stormy wind came out of the north, a great cloud, with a fire infolding itself, and a brightness round about it, and out of the midst of it as it were glowing metal, out of the midst of the fire. 5 And out of the midst of it came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: they had the likeness of man. 6 And every one had four faces, and every one of them had four wings. 7 And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf's foot; and they sparkled like burnished bronze. 8 And they had the hands of man under their wings on their four sides; and the four of them had their faces and their wings [thus]: 9 their wings were joined one to another; they did not turn when they went; they went every one straight forward. 10 As for the likeness of their faces, they had the face of man; and the four of them had the face of a lion on the right side; and the four of them had the face of an ox on the left side; the four of them had also the face of an eagle. 11 And their faces and their wings were separate above; two [wings] of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies. 12 And they went every one straight forward: where the spirit was to go, they went; they did not turn when they went. 13 As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of torches: [the fire] went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning. 14 And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.

15 And I looked at the living creatures, and saw one wheel on the earth beside the living creatures, for each of their four faces. 16 The appearance of the wheels and their work was like a beryl: and the four of them had one likeness; and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel inside a wheel. 17 When they went, they went in their four directions: they did not turn when they went. 18 As for their rims, they were high and dreadful; and the four of them had their rims full of eyes round about. 19 And when the living creatures went, the wheels went beside them; and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up. 20 Wherever the spirit was to go, they went; there was the spirit to go: and the wheels were lifted up beside them; for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels. 21 When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up beside them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.

22 And over the head of the living creature there was the likeness of a firmament, like the awesome crystal to look at, stretched forth over their heads above. 23 And under the firmament their wings were straight, the one toward the other: every one had two which covered on this side, and every one had two which covered on that side, their bodies. 24 And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings like the noise of great waters, like the voice of the Almighty, a noise of tumult like the noise of a host: when they stood, they let down their wings. 25 And there was a voice above the firmament that was over their heads: when they stood, they let down their wings.

26 And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone; and on the likeness of the throne was a likeness as the appearance of man on it above. 27 And I saw as it were glowing metal, as the appearance of fire inside it round about, from the appearance of his loins and upward; and from the appearance of his loins and downward I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness round about him. 28 As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of Yahweh. And when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard a voice of one who spoke.

2  And he said to me, Son of Man, stand on your feet, and I will speak with you. 2 And the Spirit entered into me when he spoke to me, and set me on my feet; and I heard him who spoke to me. 3 And he said to me, Son of Man, I send you to the sons of Israel, to nations that are rebellious, which have rebelled against me: they and their fathers have transgressed against me even to this very day. 4 And the sons are impudent and stiffhearted: I am sending you to them; and you will say to them, Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh. 5 And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear (for they are a rebellious house), yet will know that there has been a prophet among them. 6 And you, Son of Man, don't be afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you, and you dwell among scorpions: don't be afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house. 7 And you will speak my words to them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear; for they are in rebellion.

8 But you, Son of Man, hear what I say to you; don't be rebellious like that rebellious house: open your mouth, and eat that which I give you. 9 And I looked and saw that a hand was put forth to me; and saw that a roll of a book was in it; 10 And he spread it before me: and it was written inside and outside; and there were written in it lamentations, and mourning, and woe.

3  And he said to me, Son of Man, eat that which you find; eat this roll, and go, speak to the house of Israel. 2 So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat the roll. 3 And he said to me, Son of Man, cause your belly to eat, and fill your insides with this roll that I give you. Then I ate it; and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness.

4 And he said to me, Son of Man, go, get to the house of Israel, and speak with my words to them. 5 For you are not sent to a people of a strange speech and of a hard language, but to the house of Israel; 6 not to many peoples of a strange speech and of a hard language, whose words you can't understand. Surely, if I sent you to them, they would listen to you. 7 But the house of Israel will not listen to you; for they will not listen to me: for all the house of Israel are of a hard forehead and of a stiff heart. 8 Look, I have made your face hard against their faces, and your forehead hard against their foreheads. 9 As an adamant harder than flint I have made your forehead: don't fear them, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house. 10 Moreover he said to me, Son of Man, all my words that I will speak to you receive in your heart, and hear with your ears. 11 And go, get to them of the captivity, to the sons of your people, and speak to them, and tell them, Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear.

12 Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me the voice of a great rushing, [saying,] Blessed be the glory of Yahweh from his place. 13 And [I heard] the noise of the wings of the living creatures as they touched one another, and the noise of the wheels beside them, even the noise of a great rushing. 14 So the Spirit lifted me up, and took me away; and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; and the hand of Yahweh was strong on me. 15 Then I came to them of the captivity at Tel-abib, who dwelt by the river Chebar, and there where they were dwelling; and I sat there dismayed among them seven days.

16 And it came to pass at the end of seven days,[464] that the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 17 Son of Man, I have made you a watchman to the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. 18 When I say to the wicked, You will surely die; and you do not give him warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man will die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. 19 Yet if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he will die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul. 20 Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he will die: because you have not given him warning, he will die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done will not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand. 21 Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man, that the righteous not sin, and he does not sin, he will surely live, because he took warning; and you have delivered your soul.

22 And the hand of Yahweh was there on me; and he said to me, Arise, go forth into the plain, and I will there talk with you. 23 Then I arose, and went forth into the plain: and, look, the glory of Yahweh stood there, as the glory which I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell on my face. 24 Then the Spirit entered into me, and set me on my feet; and he spoke with me, and said to me, Go, shut yourself inside your house. 25 But you, Son of Man, look, they will lay bands on you, and will bind you with them, and you will not go out among them: 26 and I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth, that you will be mute, and will not be to them a reprover; for they are a rebellious house. 27 But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you will say to them, Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: He who hears, let him hear; and he who forbears, let him forbear: for they are a rebellious house.

4  You also, Son of Man, take for yourself a tile, and lay it before you, and portray on it a city, even Jerusalem: 2 and lay siege against it, and build forts against it, and cast up a mound against it; set camps also against it, and plant battering rams against it round about. 3 And you take to yourself an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between you and the city: and set your face toward it, and it will be besieged, and you will lay siege against it. This will be a sign to the house of Israel.

4 Moreover you lie on your left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel on it; [according to] the number of the days that you will lie on it, you will bear their iniquity. 5 For I have appointed the years of their iniquity to be to you a number of days, even three hundred and ninety days: so you will bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. 6 And again, when you have accomplished these, you will lie on your right side, and will bear the iniquity of the house of Judah: forty days, each day for a year, I have appointed it to you. 7 And you will set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, with your arm uncovered; and you will prophesy against it. 8 And, look, I lay bands on you, and you will not turn from one side to the other, until you have accomplished the days of your siege.

9 You take also to yourself wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and spelt, and put them in one vessel, and make yourself bread of them; [according to] the number of the days that you will lie on your side, even three hundred and ninety days, you will eat of it. 10 And your food which you will eat will be by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time you will eat it. 11 And you will drink water by measure, the sixth part of a hin: from time to time you will drink. 12 And you will eat it as barley cakes, and you will bake it in their sight with dung that comes out of man. 13 And Yahweh said, Even thus will the sons of Israel eat their bread unclean, among the nations where I will drive them. 14 Then I said, Ah Sovereign Yahweh! Look, my soul has not been polluted; for from my youth up even until now I have not eaten of that which dies of itself, or is torn of beasts; neither has there come contaminated flesh into my mouth. 15 Then he said to me, See, I have given you cow's dung for man's dung, and you will prepare your bread on it. 16 Moreover he said to me, Son of Man, look, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they will eat bread by weight, and with fearfulness; and they will drink water by measure, and in dismay: 17 that they may want bread and water, and be dismayed a man and his brother, and pine away in their iniquity.

5  And you, Son of Man, take yourself a sharp sword; [as] a barber's razor you will take it to yourself, and will cause it to pass on your head and on your beard: then take yourself balances to weigh, and divide the hair. 2 A third part you will burn in the fire in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled; and you will take a third part, and strike with the sword round about it; and a third part you will scatter to the wind, and I will draw out a sword after them. 3 And you will take of them a few in number, and bind them in your skirts. 4 And of these again you will take, and cast them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire; therefrom will a fire come forth into all the house of Israel.

5 Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: This is Jerusalem; I have set her in the midst of the nations, and countries are round about her. 6 And she has rebelled against my ordinances in doing wickedness more than the nations, and against my statutes more than the countries that are round about her; for they have rejected my ordinances, and as for my statutes, they haven't walked in them. 7 Therefore thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Because you+ are turbulent more than the nations that are round about you+, and haven't walked in my statutes, neither have kept my ordinances, neither have done after the ordinances of the nations that are round about you+; 8 therefore thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Look, I, even I, am against you; and I will execute judgments in the midst of you in the sight of the nations. 9 And I will do in you that which I haven't done, and to which I will not do anymore the like, because of all your disgusting behaviors. 10 Therefore the fathers will eat the sons in the midst of you, and the sons will eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments on you; and the whole remnant of you I will scatter to all the winds. 11 Therefore, as I live, says the Sovereign Yahweh, surely, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your detestable things, and with all your disgusting behaviors, therefore I also will shave [you off];[465] neither will my eye spare, and I also will have no pity. 12 A third part of you will die with the pestilence, and with famine they will be consumed in the midst of you; and a third part will fall by the sword round about you; and a third part I will scatter to all the winds, and will draw out a sword after them.

13 Thus will my anger be accomplished, and I will cause my wrath toward them to rest, and I will be comforted; and they will know that I, Yahweh, have spoken in my zeal, when I have accomplished my wrath on them. 14 Moreover I will make you a desolation and a reproach among the nations that are round about you, in the sight of all who pass by. 15 So it will be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an astonishment, to the nations that are round about you, when I will execute judgments on you in anger and in wrath, and in wrathful rebukes (I, Yahweh, have spoken it); 16 when I will send on them the evil arrows of famine, that are for destruction, which I will send to destroy you+. And I will increase the famine on you+, and will break your+ staff of bread; 17 and I will send on you+ famine and evil beasts, and they will bereave you; and pestilence and blood will pass through you; and I will bring the sword on you: I, Yahweh, have spoken it.

6  And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 2 Son of Man, set your face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy to them, 3 and say, You+ mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Sovereign Yahweh: Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh to the mountains and to the hills, to the watercourses and to the valleys: Look, I, even I, will bring a sword on you+, and I will destroy your+ high places. 4 And your+ altars will become desolate, and your+ sun-images will be broken; and I will cast down your+ slain men before your+ idols. 5 And I will lay the dead bodies of the sons of Israel before their idols; and I will scatter your+ bones round about your+ altars. 6 In all your+ dwelling-places the cities will be laid waste, and the high places will be desolate; that your+ altars may be laid waste and made desolate,[466] and your+ idols may be broken and cease, and your+ sun-images may be cut down, and your+ works may be abolished. 7 And the slain will fall in the midst of you+, and you+ will know that I am Yahweh.

8 Yet I will leave a remnant, in that you+ will have some who escape the sword among the nations, when you+ will be scattered through the countries. 9 And those of you+ who escape will remember me among the nations where they will be carried captive, how that I have been broken with their lewd heart, which has departed from me, and with their eyes, which prostitute after their idols: and they will loathe themselves in their own sight for the evils which they have committed in all their disgusting behaviors. 10 And they will know that I am Yahweh: I have not said in vain that I would do this evil to them.

11 Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Strike with your hand, and stamp with your foot, and say, Alas! Because of all the evil disgusting behaviors of the house of Israel; for they will fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence. 12 He who is far off will die of the pestilence; and he who is near will fall by the sword; and he who remains and is besieged will die by the famine: thus I will accomplish my wrath on them. 13 And you+ will know that I am Yahweh, when their slain men will be among their idols round about their altars, on every high hill, on all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the places where they offered sweet savor to all their idols. 14 And I will stretch out my hand on them, and make the land desolate and waste, from the wilderness of Diblatha, in all their habitations: and they will know that I am Yahweh.

7  Moreover the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 2 And you, Son of Man, thus says the Sovereign Yahweh to the land of Israel, An end: the end has come upon the four corners of the land. 3 Now the end is on you, and I will send my anger on you, and will judge you according to your ways; and I will bring on you all your disgusting behaviors. 4 And my eye will not spare you, neither will I have pity; but I will bring your ways on you, and your disgusting behaviors will be in the midst of you: and you+ will know that I am Yahweh.

5 Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: An evil, an only evil; look, it comes. 6 An end has come, the end has come; it awakes against you; look, it comes. 7 Your doom has come to you, O inhabitant of the land: the time has come, the day is near, [a day of] tumult, and not [of] joyful shouting, on the mountains. 8 Now I will shortly pour out my wrath on you, and accomplish my anger against you, and will judge you according to your ways; and I will bring on you all your disgusting behaviors. 9 And my eye will not spare, neither will I have pity: I will bring on you according to your ways; and your disgusting behaviors will be in the midst of you; and you+ will know that I, Yahweh, do strike.

10 Look, the day, see it comes: your doom has gone forth; the rod has blossomed, pride has budded. 11 Violence has risen up into a rod of wickedness; none of them [will remain], nor of their multitude, nor of their wealth: neither will there be eminency among them. 12 The time has come, the day draws near: don't let the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn; for wrath is on all their multitude. 13 For the seller will not return to that which is sold, although they are yet alive: for the vision is concerning their whole multitude, none will return; neither will any strengthen himself in the iniquity of his life.

14 They have blown the trumpet, and have made all ready; but none goes to the battle; for my wrath is on all their multitude. 15 The sword is outside, and the pestilence and the famine inside: he who is in the field will die with the sword: and he who is in the city, famine and pestilence will devour him. 16 But the ones of those who escape will escape, and will be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them moaning, everyone in his iniquity. 17 All hands will be feeble, and all knees will be weak as water. 18 They will also gird themselves with sackcloth, and horror will cover them; and shame will be on all faces, and baldness on all their heads. 19 They will cast their silver in the streets, and their gold will be as an unclean thing; their silver and their gold will not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of Yahweh: they will not satisfy their souls, neither fill their insides; because it has been the stumbling block of their iniquity. 20 As for the beauty of his ornament, he set it in splendor; but they made the images of their disgusting things [and] their detestable things in it: therefore I have made it to them as an unclean thing. 21 And I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil; and they will profane it. 22 I will also turn my face from them, and they will profane my secret [place]; and robbers will enter into it, and profane it.

23 Make the chain; for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence. 24 Therefore I will bring the worst of the nations, and they will possess their houses: I will also make the pride of the strong to cease; and their holy places will be profaned. 25 Destruction comes; and they will seek peace, and there will be none. 26 Mischief will come upon mischief, and rumor will be on rumor; and they will seek a vision of the prophet; but the law will perish from the priest, and counsel from the elders. 27 The king will mourn, and the prince will be clothed with desolation, and the hands of the people of the land will be troubled: I will do to them after their way, and according to their deserts I will judge them; and they will know that I am Yahweh.

8  And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth [month], in the fifth [day] of the month, as I sat in my house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Sovereign Yahweh fell there on me. 2 Then I looked and saw a likeness as the appearance of fire; from the appearance of his loins and downward, fire; and from his loins and upward, as the appearance of brightness, as it were glowing metal. 3 And he put forth the form of a hand, and took me by a lock of my head; and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven, and brought me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the gate of the inner [court] that looks toward the north; where the seat of the image of jealousy was, which provokes to jealousy. 4 And, look, the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the appearance that I saw in the plain.

5 Then he said to me, Son of Man, lift up your eyes now the way toward the north. So I lifted up my eyes the way toward the north, and look, northward of the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry. 6 And he said to me, Son of Man, do you see what they do? Even the great disgusting things that the house of Israel commit here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary? But you will again see yet other great disgusting things.

7 And he brought me to the door of the court; and I looked and saw a hole in the wall. 8 Then he said to me, Son of Man, dig now in the wall: and when I had dug in the wall, look, a door. 9 And he said to me, Go in, and see the wicked disgusting things that they do here. 10 So I went in and saw; and look, every form of creeping things, and detestable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed on the wall round about. 11 And there stood before them seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel; and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, every man with his censer in his hand; and the odor of the cloud of incense went up. 12 Then he said to me, Son of Man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in his chambers of imagery? For they say, Yahweh does not see us; Yahweh has forsaken the land. 13 He also said to me, You will again see yet other great disgusting things which they do.

14 Then he brought me to the door of the gate of Yahweh's house which was toward the north; and look, there sat the women weeping for Tammuz. 15 Then he said to me, Have you seen [this], O Son of Man? You will again see yet greater disgusting things than these.

16 And he brought me into the inner court of Yahweh's house; and look, at the door of the temple of Yahweh, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of Yahweh, and their faces toward the east; and they were worshiping the sun toward the east. 17 Then he said to me, Have you seen [this], O Son of Man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they do the disgusting things which they commit here? For they have filled the land with violence, and have turned again to provoke me to anger: and, look, they put the branch to their nose. 18 Therefore I will also deal in wrath; my eye will not spare, neither will I have pity; and though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, yet I will not hear them.

9  Then he cried in my ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause+ those who have charge over the city to draw near, every man with his destroying weapon in his hand. 2 And look, six men came from the way of the upper gate, which lies toward the north, every man with his slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man in the midst of them clothed in linen, with a writer's inkhorn by his side. And they went in, and stood beside the bronze altar.

3 And the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub, on which it was, to the threshold of the house: and he called to the man clothed in linen, who had the writer's inkhorn by his side. 4 And Yahweh said to him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and that cry over all the disgusting things that are done in the midst of it. 5 And to the others he said in my hearing, Go+ through the city after him, and strike: don't let your+ eye spare, neither have+ pity; 6 slay completely the old man, the young man and the virgin, and little children and women; but don't come near any man on whom is the mark: and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the old men who were before the house. 7 And he said to them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain: go+ forth. And they went forth, and struck in the city. 8 And it came to pass, while they were striking, and I was left, that I fell on my face, and cried, and said, Ah Sovereign Yahweh! Will you destroy all the residue of Israel in your pouring out of your wrath on Jerusalem?

9 Then he said to me, The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of wresting [of judgment]: for they say, Yahweh has forsaken the land, and Yahweh does not see. 10 And as for me also, my eye will not spare, neither will I have pity, but I will bring their way on their head. 11 And look, the man clothed in linen, who had the inkhorn by his side, reported the matter, saying, I have done as you have commanded me.

10  Then I looked, and saw that in the firmament that was over the head of the cherubim there appeared above them as it were a sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne. 2 And he spoke to the man clothed in linen, and said, Go in between the whirling [wheels], even under the cherub, and fill both your hands with coals of fire from between the cherubim, and scatter them over the city. And he went in in my sight. 3 Now the cherubim stood on the right side of the house, when the man went in; and the cloud filled the inner court. 4 And the glory of Yahweh mounted up from the cherub, [and stood] over the threshold of the house; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of Yahweh's glory. 5 And the sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard even to the outer court, as the voice of God Almighty when he speaks. 6 And it came to pass, when he commanded the man clothed in linen, saying, Take fire from between the whirling [wheels], from between the cherubim, that he went in, and stood beside a wheel. 7 And the cherub stretched forth his hand from between the cherubim to the fire that was between the cherubim, and took [of it], and put it into the hands of him who was clothed in linen, who took it and went out. 8 And there appeared in the cherubim the form of man's hand under their wings.

9 And I looked, and saw, four wheels beside the cherubim, one wheel beside one cherub, and another wheel beside another cherub; and the appearance of the wheels was like a beryl stone. 10 And as for their appearance, the four of them had one likeness, as if a wheel had been inside a wheel. 11 When they went, they went in their four directions: they didn't turn as they went, but to the place where the head looked they followed it; they didn't turn as they went. 12 And their whole body, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and the wheels, were full of eyes round about, [even] the wheels that the four of them had. 13 As for the wheels, they were called in my hearing, the whirling [wheels]. 14 And every one had four faces: the first face was the face of the cherub, and the second face was the face of man, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.

15 And the cherubim mounted up: this is the living creature that I saw by the river Chebar. 16 And when the cherubim went, the wheels went beside them; and when the cherubim lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, the wheels also did not turn from beside them. 17 When they stood, these stood; and when they mounted up, these mounted up with them: for the spirit of the living creature was in them.

18 And the glory of Yahweh went forth from over the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubim. 19 And the cherubim lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight when they went forth, and the wheels beside them: and they stood at the door of the east gate of Yahweh's house; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.

20 This is the living creature that I saw under the God of Israel by the river Chebar; and I knew that they were cherubim. 21 Every one had four faces, and every one four wings; and the likeness of the hands of man was under their wings. 22 And as for the likeness of their faces, they were the faces which I saw by the river Chebar, their appearances and themselves; they went every one straight forward.

11  Moreover the Spirit lifted me up, and brought me to the east gate of Yahweh's house, which looks eastward: and look, at the door of the gate five and twenty men; and I saw in the midst of them Jaazaniah the son of Azzur, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people. 2 And he said to me, Son of Man, these are the men who devise iniquity, and who give wicked counsel in this city; 3 who say, [The time] is not near to build houses: this [city] is the cauldron, and we are the flesh. 4 Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, O Son of Man.

5 And the Spirit of Yahweh fell on me, and he said to me, Speak, Thus says Yahweh: Thus you+ have said, O house of Israel; for I know the things that come into your+ mind. 6 You+ have multiplied your+ slain in this city, and you+ have filled its streets with the slain. 7 Therefore thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Your+ slain whom you+ have laid in the midst of it, they are the flesh, and this [city] is the cauldron; but you+ will be brought forth out of the midst of it. 8 You+ have feared the sword; and I will bring the sword on you+, says the Sovereign Yahweh. 9 And I will bring you+ forth out of the midst of it, and deliver you+ into the hands of strangers, and will execute judgments among you+. 10 You+ will fall by the sword; I will judge you+ in the border of Israel; and you+ will know that I am Yahweh. 11 This [city] will not be your+ cauldron, neither will you+ be the flesh in the midst of it; I will judge you+ in the border of Israel; 12 and you+ will know that I am Yahweh: for you+ have not walked in my statutes, neither have you+ executed my ordinances, but have done after the ordinances of the nations that are round about you+.

13 And it came to pass, when I prophesied, that Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. Then I fell down on my face, and cried with a loud voice, and said, Ah Sovereign Yahweh! Will you make a full end of the remnant of Israel?

14 And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 15 Son of Man, your brothers, even your brothers, the men of your kindred, and all the house of Israel, all of them, [are they] to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Get+ far from Yahweh; to us this land is given for a possession. 16 Therefore say, Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Whereas I have removed them far off among the nations, and whereas I have scattered them among the countries, yet I will be to them a sanctuary for a little while in the countries where they have come. 17 Therefore say, Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: I will gather you+ from the peoples, and assemble you+ out of the countries where you+ have been scattered, and I will give you+ the land of Israel. 18 And they will come there, and they will take away all its detestable and disgusting things from there. 19 And I will give them another heart, and I will put a new spirit inside you+; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh; 20 that they may walk in my statutes, and keep my ordinances, and do them: and they will be my people, and I will be their God. 21 But those whose heart walks after their detestable things and disgusting things, I will bring their way on their own heads, says the Sovereign Yahweh.

22 Then the cherubim lifted up their wings, and the wheels were beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above. 23 And the glory of Yahweh went up from the midst of the city, and stood on the mountain which is on the east side of the city. 24 And the Spirit lifted me up, and brought me in the vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to them of the captivity. So the vision that I had seen went up from me. 25 Then I spoke to them of the captivity all the things that Yahweh had shown me.

12  The word of Yahweh also came to me, saying, 2 Son of Man, you dwell in the midst of the rebellious house, that have eyes to see, and don't see, that have ears to hear, and don't hear; for they are a rebellious house. 3 Therefore, you Son of Man, prepare for yourself stuff for removing, and remove by day in their sight; and you will remove from your place to another place in their sight: it may be they will consider, though they are a rebellious house. 4 And you will bring forth your stuff by day in their sight, as stuff for removing; and you will go forth yourself at evening in their sight, as when men go forth into exile. 5 Dig through the wall in their sight, and carry out through it. 6 In their sight you will bear it on your shoulder, and carry it forth in the dark; you will cover your face, that you don't see the land: for I have set you for a sign to the house of Israel.

7 And I did so as I was commanded: I brought forth my stuff by day, as stuff for removing, and in the evening I dug through the wall with my hand; I brought it forth in the dark, and bore it on my shoulder in their sight.

8 And in the morning the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 9 Son of Man, has not the house of Israel, the rebellious house, said to you, What are you doing? 10 Say to them, Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: This burden [concerns] the prince in Jerusalem, and all the house of Israel among whom they are. 11 Say, I am your+ sign: like I have done, so it will be done to them; they will go into exile, into captivity. 12 And the prince who is among them will bear on his shoulder in the dark, and will go forth: they will dig through the wall to carry out through it: he will cover his face, because he will not see the land with his eyes. 13 My net also I will spread on him, and he will be taken in my snare; and I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; yet he will not see it, though he will die there. 14 And I will scatter toward every wind all who are round about him to help him, and all his bands; and I will draw out the sword after them. 15 And they will know that I am Yahweh, when I will disperse them among the nations, and scatter them through the countries. 16 But I will leave a few men of them from the sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence; that they may declare all their disgusting behaviors among the nations where they come; and they will know that I am Yahweh.

17 Moreover the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 18 Son of Man, eat your bread with quaking, and drink your water with trembling and with fearfulness; 19 and say to the people of the land, Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh concerning the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the land of Israel: They will eat their bread with fearfulness, and drink their water in dismay, that her land may be desolate of all that is in it, because of the violence of all those who dwell in it. 20 And the cities that are inhabited will be laid waste, and the land will be a desolation; and you+ will know that I am Yahweh.

21 And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 22 Son of Man, what is this proverb that you+ have in the land of Israel, saying, The days are prolonged, and every vision fails? 23 Tell them therefore, Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: I will make this proverb to cease, and they will no more use it as a proverb in Israel; but say to them, The days are at hand, and the fulfillment of every vision. 24 For there will be no more any false vision nor flattering psychic readings inside the house of Israel. 25 For I am Yahweh; I will speak, and the word that I will speak will be performed; it will be deferred no more: for in your+ days, O rebellious house, I will speak the word, and will perform it, says the Sovereign Yahweh.

26 Again the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 27 Son of Man, look, those of the house of Israel say, The vision that he sees is for many days to come, and he prophesies of times that are far off. 28 Therefore say to them, Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: None of my words will be deferred anymore, but the word which I will speak will be performed, says the Sovereign Yahweh.

13  And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 2 Son of Man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who prophesy, and say to those who prophesy out of their own heart, Hear+ the word of Yahweh: 3 Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh, Woe to the foolish prophets, who follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing! 4 O Israel, your prophets have been like foxes in the waste places. 5 You+ have not gone up into the gaps, neither built up the wall for the house of Israel, to stand in the battle in the day of Yahweh. 6 They have seen falsehood and a lying psychic reading, who say, Yahweh says; but Yahweh has not sent them: and they have made men to hope that the word would be confirmed. 7 Have you+ not seen a false vision, and have you+ not spoken a lying psychic reading, in that you+ say, Yahweh says; albeit I haven't spoken?

8 Therefore thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Because you+ have spoken falsehood, and seen lies, therefore, look, I am against you+, says the Sovereign Yahweh. 9 And my hand will be against the prophets who see false visions, and who tell lying fortunes: they will not be in the council of my people, neither will they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither will they enter into the land of Israel; and you+ will know that I am the Sovereign Yahweh. 10 Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there is no peace; and when one builds up a wall, look, they daub it with untempered [mortar]: 11 say to those who daub it with untempered [mortar], that it will fall: there will be an overflowing shower; and you+, O great hailstones, will fall; and a stormy wind will rend it. 12 Look, when the wall has fallen, will it not be said to you+, Where is the daubing with which you+ have daubed it? 13 Therefore thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: I will even rend it with a stormy wind in my wrath; and there will be an overflowing shower in my anger, and great hailstones in wrath to consume it. 14 So I will break down the wall that you+ have daubed with untempered [mortar], and bring it down to the ground, so that its foundation will be uncovered; and it will fall, and you+ will be consumed in the midst of it: and you+ will know that I am Yahweh. 15 Thus I will accomplish my wrath on the wall, and on those who have daubed it with untempered [mortar]; and I will say to you+, The wall is no more, neither those who daubed it; 16 [to wit,] the prophets of Israel who prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and who see visions of peace for her, and there is no peace, says the Sovereign Yahweh.

17 And you, Son of Man, set your face against the daughters of your people, who prophesy out of their own heart; and prophesy against them, 18 and say, Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Woe to the women who sew pillows on all elbows, and make kerchiefs for the head of [persons of] every stature to hunt souls! Will you+ hunt the souls of my people, and save souls alive for yourselves? 19 And you+ have profaned me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to slay the souls who should not die, and to save the souls alive who should not live, by your+ lying to my people who listen to lies.

20 Therefore thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Look, I am against your+ pillows, with which you+ there hunt the souls to make [them] fly, and I will tear them from your+ arms; and I will let the souls go, even the souls who you+ hunt to make [them] fly. 21 Your+ kerchiefs also I will tear, and deliver my people out of your+ hand, and they will be no more in your+ hand to be hunted; and you+ will know that I am Yahweh. 22 Because with lies you+ have grieved the heart of the righteous, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, and be saved alive: 23 therefore you+ will no more see false visions, nor tell any fortunes: and I will deliver my people out of your+ hand; and you+ will know that I am Yahweh.

14  Then certain of the elders of Israel came to me, and sat before me. 2 And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 3 Son of Man, these men have taken their idols into their heart, and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face: should I be inquired of at all by them? 4 Therefore speak to them, and say to them, Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Every man of the house of Israel who takes his idols into his heart, and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet; I Yahweh will answer him in it according to the multitude of his idols; 5 that I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols.

6 Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Return+, and turn yourselves from your+ idols; and turn away your+ faces from all your+ disgusting things. 7 For every man of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel, who separates himself from me, and takes his idols into his heart, and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet to inquire for himself of me; I Yahweh will answer him by myself: 8 and I will set my face against that man, and will make him an astonishment, for a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and you+ will know that I am Yahweh. 9 And if the prophet is deceived and speaks a word, I, Yahweh, have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand on him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel. 10 And they will bear their iniquity: the iniquity of the prophet will be even as the iniquity of him who seeks [him]; 11 that the house of Israel may go no more astray from me, neither defile themselves anymore with all their transgressions; but that they may be my people, and I may be their God, says the Sovereign Yahweh.

12 And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 13 Son of Man, when a land sins against me by committing a trespass, and I stretch out my hand on it, and break the staff of its bread, and send famine on it, and cut off from it man and beast; 14 though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, says the Sovereign Yahweh. 15 If I cause evil beasts to pass through the land, and they ravage it, and it is made desolate, so that no man may pass through because of the beasts; 16 though these three men were in it, as I live, says the Sovereign Yahweh, they should deliver neither sons nor daughters; they only should be delivered, but the land should be desolate. 17 Or if I bring a sword on that land, and say, Sword, go through the land; so that I cut off from it man and beast; 18 though these three men were in it, as I live, says the Sovereign Yahweh, they should deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only should be delivered themselves. 19 Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my wrath on it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast; 20 though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, says the Sovereign Yahweh, they should deliver neither son nor daughter; they should but deliver their own souls by their righteousness.

21 For thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: How much more when I send my four intense judgments on Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the evil beasts, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast! 22 Yet, look, in it will be left a remnant that will be carried forth, both sons and daughters: look, they will come forth to you+, and you+ will see their way and their doings; and you+ will be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought on Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought on it. 23 And they will comfort you+, when you+ see their way and their doings; and you+ will know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, says the Sovereign Yahweh.

15  And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 2 Son of Man, what is the vine-tree more than any tree, the vine-branch which is among the trees of the forest? 3 Will wood be taken of it to make any work? Or will men take a pin of it to hang any vessel on it? 4 Look, it is cast into the fire for fuel; the fire has devoured both the ends of it, and the midst of it is burned: is it profitable for any work? 5 Look, when it was whole, it was meet for no work: how much less, when the fire has devoured it, and it is burned, will it yet be meet for any work! 6 Therefore thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: As the vine-tree among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so I will give the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 7 And I will set my face against them; they will go forth from the fire, but the fire will devour them; and you+ will know that I am Yahweh, when I set my face against them. 8 And I will make the land desolate, because they have committed a trespass, says the Sovereign Yahweh.

16  Again the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 2 Son of Man, cause Jerusalem to know her disgusting behaviors; 3 and say, Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh to Jerusalem: Your birth and your nativity is of the land of the Canaanite; the Amorite was your father, and your mother was a Hittite. 4 And as for your nativity, in the day you were born your umbilical cord was not cut, neither were you washed in water to cleanse you; you were not salted at all, nor swaddled at all. 5 No eye pitied you, to do any of these things to you, to have compassion on you; but you were cast out in the open field, for that your soul was abhorred, in the day that you were born.

6 And when I passed by you, and saw you weltering in your blood, I said to you in your blood, live; yes, I said to you in your blood, live. 7 I caused you to multiply as that which grows in the field, and you increased and waxed great, and you attained to excellent ornament; your breasts were fashioned, and your hair was grown; yet you were naked and bare. 8 Now when I passed by you, and looked on you, and saw your time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over you, and covered your nakedness: yes, I swore to you, and entered into a covenant with you, says the Sovereign Yahweh, and you became mine. 9 Then I washed you with water; yes, I thoroughly washed away your blood from you, and I anointed you with oil. 10 I clothed you also with embroidered work, and put sandals on you with sealskin, and I girded you about with fine linen, and covered you with silk. 11 And I decked you with ornaments, and I put bracelets on your hands, and a chain on your neck. 12 And I put a ring on your nose, and earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head. 13 Thus you were decked with gold and silver; and your raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and embroidered work; you ate fine flour, and honey, and oil; and you were exceedingly beautiful, and you prospered to royal estate. 14 And your renown went forth among the nations for your beauty; for it was perfect, through my majesty which I had put on you, says the Sovereign Yahweh.

15 But you trusted in your beauty, and prostituted because of your renown, and poured out your prostitution on everyone who passed by, that it may be for him. 16 And you took of your garments, and made for yourself high places decked with diverse colors, and prostituted on them: [this] should not come, neither should it be [so]. 17 You also took your fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given to you, and made for yourself images of men, and prostituted with them; 18 and you took your embroidered garments, and covered them, and set my oil and my incense before them. 19 My bread also which I gave you, fine flour, and oil, and honey, with which I fed you, you even set it before them for a sweet savor; and [thus] it was, says the Sovereign Yahweh. 20 Moreover you have taken your sons and your daughters, whom you have borne to me, and these you have sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your prostitutions a small matter, 21 that you have slain my sons, and delivered them up, in causing them to pass through [the fire] to them? 22 And in all your disgusting behaviors and your prostitutions you haven't remembered the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, and were weltering in your blood.

23 And it has come to pass after all your wickedness (woe, woe to you! says the Sovereign Yahweh), 24 that you have built yourself a vaulted place, and have made yourself a lofty place in every street. 25 You have built your lofty place at the head of every way, and were disgusted with your beauty, and have spread your legs[467] for everyone who passed by, and multiplied your prostitution. 26 You have also prostituted with the Egyptians, your neighbors, great of flesh; and have multiplied your prostitution, to provoke me to anger. 27 Look therefore, I have stretched out my hand over you, and have diminished your ordinary [food], and delivered you to the soul of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who are ashamed of your lewd way. 28 You have prostituted also with the Assyrians, because you were insatiable; yes, you have prostituted with them, and yet you were not satisfied. 29 You have moreover multiplied your prostitution to the land of traffic, to Chaldea; and yet you were not satisfied herewith.

30 How weak is your heart, says the Sovereign Yahweh, seeing you do all these things, the work of an overbearing prostitute; 31 in that you build your vaulted place at the head of every way, and make your lofty place in every street, and have not been as a prostitute, in that you scorn wages. 32 A wife who commits adultery! Who takes strangers instead of her husband! 33 They give gifts to all prostitutes; but you give your gifts to all your lovers, and bribe them, that they may come to you on every side for your prostitution. 34 And you are different from [other] women in your prostitution, in that no one solicits you for prostitution; and you pay but you are not paid, therefore you are different.

35 Therefore, O prostitute, hear the word of Yahweh: 36 Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh, Because your filthiness was poured out, and your nakedness uncovered through your prostitution with your lovers; and because of all the idols of your disgusting things, and for the blood of your sons, that you gave to them; 37 therefore look, I will gather all your lovers, with whom you have taken pleasure, and all those who you have loved, with all those who you have hated; I will even gather them against you on every side, and will uncover your nakedness to them, that they may see all your nakedness. 38 And I will judge you, as women who break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will bring on you the blood of wrath and jealousy. 39 I will also give you into their hand, and they will throw down your vaulted place, and break down your lofty places; and they will strip you of your clothes, and take your fair jewels; and they will leave you naked and bare. 40 They will also bring up a company against you, and they will stone you with stones, and thrust you through with their swords. 41 And they will burn your houses with fire, and execute judgments on you in the sight of many women; and I will cause you to cease prostituting, and you will also give no wages anymore. 42 So I will cause my wrath toward you to rest, and my jealousy will depart from you, and I will be quiet, and will be angry no more. 43 Because you haven't remembered the days of your youth, but have raged against me in all these things; therefore, look, I also will bring your way on your head, says the Sovereign Yahweh: and you will not commit this lewdness with all your disgusting behaviors.

44 Look, everyone who uses proverbs will use [this] proverb against you, saying, As is the mother, so is her daughter. 45 You are the daughter of your mother, that loathes her husband and her sons; and you are the sister of your sisters, that loathed their husbands and their sons: your+ mother was a Hittite, and your+ father an Amorite. 46 And your elder sister is Samaria, that dwells at your left hand, she and her daughters; and your younger sister, that dwells at your right hand, is Sodom and her daughters. 47 Yet you have not walked in their ways, nor followed their disgusting behaviors; but, as [if that were] a very little [thing], you were more corrupt than they in all your ways. 48 As I live, says the Sovereign Yahweh, Sodom your sister did not do, she nor her daughters, as you have done, you and your daughters. 49 Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: pride, fullness of bread, and prosperous ease was in her and in her daughters; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. 50 And then they were lifted up, and then did disgusting things before me: therefore I took them away as I saw [this]. 51 Neither did Samaria commit half of your sins; but you have multiplied your disgusting behaviors more than they, and have justified your sisters by all the disgusting things that you have done. 52 You also, bear you your own shame, in that you have given judgment for your sisters; through your sins you are more disgusting than they, they are more righteous than you: yes, be also confounded, and bear your shame, in that you have justified your sisters.

53 And I will turn again their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, and the captivity of your captives in the midst of them; 54 that you may bear your own shame, and may be ashamed because of all that you have done, in that you are a comfort to them. 55 And your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, will return to their former estate; and Samaria and her daughters will return to their former estate; and you and your daughters will return to your+ former estate. 56 For your sister Sodom was not mentioned by your mouth in the day of your pride, 57 before your wickedness was uncovered, as at the time of the reproach of the daughters of Syria, and of all who are round about her, the daughters of the Philistines, who do despite to you round about. 58 You have borne your lewdness and your disgusting behaviors, says Yahweh. 59 For thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: I will also deal with you as you have done, who have despised the oath in breaking the covenant.

60 Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish to you an everlasting covenant. 61 Then you will remember your ways, and be ashamed, when you will receive your sisters, your elder [sisters] and your younger; and I will give them to you for daughters, but not by your covenant. 62 And I will establish my covenant with you; and you will know that I am Yahweh; 63 that you may remember, and be confounded, and never open your mouth anymore, because of your shame, when I have forgiven you all that you have done, says the Sovereign Yahweh.

17  And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 2 Son of Man, put forth a riddle, and speak a parable to the house of Israel; 3 and say, Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: A great eagle with great wings and long pinions, full of feathers, which had diverse colors, came to Lebanon, and took the top of the cedar: 4 he cropped off the topmost of its young twigs, and carried it to a land of traffic; he set it in a city of merchants. 5 He also took of the seed of the land, and planted it in a fruitful soil; he placed it beside many waters; he set it as a willow-tree. 6 And it grew, and became a spreading vine of low stature, whose branches turned toward him, and its roots were under him: so it became a vine, and brought forth branches, and shot forth sprigs.

7 There was also another great eagle with great wings and many feathers: and, look, this vine bent its roots toward him, and shot forth its branches toward him, from the rows of its plantation, that he might water it. 8 It was planted in a good soil by many waters, that it might bring forth branches, and that it might bear fruit, that it might be a goodly vine. 9 Say, Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Will it prosper? Will he not pull up its roots, and cut off its fruit, that it may wither; that all its fresh springing leaves may wither? And not by a strong arm or many people can it be raised from its roots. 10 Yes, look, being planted, will it prosper? Will it not completely wither, when the east wind touches it? It will wither on the rows where it grew.

11 Moreover the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 12 Say now to the rebellious house, Don't you+ know what these things mean? Tell them, Look, the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, and took its king, and its princes, and brought them to himself to Babylon: 13 and he took of the royal seed, and made a covenant with him; he also brought him under an oath, and took away the mighty of the land; 14 that the kingdom might be base, that it might not lift itself up, but that by keeping his covenant it might stand. 15 But he rebelled against him in sending his ambassadors into Egypt, that they might give him horses and many people. Will he prosper? Will he escape who does such things? Will he break the covenant, and yet escape? 16 As I live, says the Sovereign Yahweh, surely in the place where the king dwells who made him king, whose oath he despised, and whose covenant he broke, even with him in the midst of Babylon he will die. 17 Neither will Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company help him in the war, when they cast up mounds and build forts, to cut off many souls. 18 For he has despised the oath by breaking the covenant; and look, he had given his hand, and yet has done all these things; he will not escape. 19 Therefore thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: As I live, surely my oath that he has despised, and my covenant that he has broken, I will even bring it on his own head. 20 And I will spread my net on him, and he will be taken in my snare, and I will bring him to Babylon, and will enter into judgment with him there for his trespass that he has trespassed against me. 21 And all his places of refuge with all his bands will fall by the sword, and those who remain will be scattered toward every wind: and you+ will know that I, Yahweh, have spoken it.

22 Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: I will also take of the lofty top of the cedar, and will set it; I will crop off from the topmost of its young twigs a tender one, and I will plant it on a high and lofty mountain: 23 in the mountain of the height of Israel I will plant it; and it will bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a majestic cedar: and under it will stay all birds of every wing; in the shade of its branches they will stay. 24 And all the trees of the field will know that I, Yahweh, have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish; I, Yahweh, have spoken and have done it.

18  The word of Yahweh came to me again, saying, 2 What do you+ mean, that you+ use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the sons are set on edge? 3 As I live, says the Sovereign Yahweh, you+ will not have [occasion] anymore to use this proverb in Israel. 4 Look, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins will die.

5 But if a man is just, and does that which is lawful and right, 6 and has not eaten on the mountains, neither has lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, neither has defiled his fellow man's wife, neither has come near to a woman in her impurity, 7 and has not wronged any, but has restored his pledge for debt, has taken nothing by robbery, has given his bread to the hungry, and has covered the naked with a garment; 8 he who has not given forth on interest, neither has taken any increase, who has withdrawn his hand from iniquity, has executed true justice between man and man, 9 has walked in my statutes, and has kept my ordinances, to act in accordance with them; he is just, he will surely live, says the Sovereign Yahweh.

10 If he begets a son who is violent, a shedder of blood, and is one who does this type of thing;[468] 11 and not only does this type of thing, but also has eaten on the mountains, and defiled his fellow man's wife, 12 has wronged the poor and needy, has taken by robbery, has not restored the pledge, and has lifted up his eyes to the idols, has done a disgusting thing, 13 has given forth on interest, and has taken increase; will he then live? He will not live: he has done all these disgusting things; he will surely die; his blood will be on him.

14 Now, look, if he begets a son, who sees all his father's sins, which he has done, and he sees, and does not do such; 15 who has not eaten on the mountains, neither has lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, has not defiled his fellow man's wife, 16 neither has wronged any, has not taken anything for a pledge, neither has taken by robbery, but has given his bread to the hungry, and has covered the naked with a garment; 17 who has withdrawn his hand[469] from the poor, who has not received interest nor increase, has executed my ordinances, has walked in my statutes; he will not die for the iniquity of his father, he will surely live. 18 As for his father, because he cruelly oppressed, robbed his brother, and did that which is not good among his people, look, he will die in his iniquity.

19 Yet you+ say, Why doesn't the son bear the iniquity of the father? When the son has done that which is lawful and right, and has kept all my statutes, and has done them, he will surely live. 20 The soul who sins will die: the son will not bear the iniquity of the father, neither will the father bear the iniquity of the son; the righteousness of the righteous will be on him, and the wickedness of the wicked will be on him.

21 But if the wicked turns from all his sins that he has committed, and keeps all my statutes, and does that which is lawful and right, he will surely live, he will not die. 22 None of his transgressions that he has committed will be remembered against him: in his righteousness that he has done he will live. 23 Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked? says the Sovereign Yahweh; and not rather that he should return from his way, and live? 24 But when the righteous turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and does according to all the disgusting things that the wicked man does, will he live? None of his righteous deeds that he has done will be remembered: in his trespass that he has trespassed, and in his sin that he has sinned, in them he will die.

25 Yet you+ say, The way of the Lord is not fair. Hear now, O house of Israel: Is not my way fair? Are not your+ ways unfair? 26 When the righteous man turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and dies in it; in his iniquity that he has done he will die. 27 Again, when the wicked man turns away from his wickedness that he has committed, and does that which is lawful and right, he will save his soul alive. 28 Because he considers, and turns away from all his transgressions that he has committed, he will surely live, he will not die. 29 Yet says the house of Israel, The way of the Lord is not fair. O house of Israel, are not my ways fair? Are not your+ ways unfair? 30 Therefore I will judge you+, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, says the Sovereign Yahweh. Return+, and turn yourselves from all your+ transgressions; so iniquity will not be your+ ruin. 31 Cast away all your+ transgressions from you+, by which you+ have transgressed through them; and make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit: for why will you+ die, O house of Israel? 32 For I have no pleasure in the death of him who dies, says the Sovereign Yahweh: So turn yourselves, and live.

19  Moreover, take yourself up a lamentation for the princes of Israel, 2 and say, What was your mother? A lioness: she couched among lions, in the midst of the young lions she nourished her whelps. 3 And she brought up one of her whelps: he became a young lion, and he learned to catch the prey; he devoured man. 4 The nations also heard of him; he was taken in their pit; and they brought him with hooks to the land of Egypt. 5 Now when she saw that she had waited, and her hope was lost, then she took another of her whelps, and made him a young lion. 6 And he went up and down among the lions; he became a young lion, and he learned to catch the prey; he devoured man. 7 And he cast down his widows, and laid waste their cities; and the land was desolate, and the fullness of it, because of the noise of his roaring. 8 Then the nations set against him on every side from the provinces; and they spread their net over him; he was taken in their pit. 9 And they put him in a cage with hooks, and brought him to the king of Babylon; they brought him into fortresses, that his voice should no more be heard on the mountains of Israel.

10 Your mother was like a vine, in your blood, planted by the waters: it was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters. 11 And it had strong rods for the scepters of those who bore rule, and their stature was exalted among the thick boughs, and they were seen in their height with the multitude of their branches. 12 But it was plucked up in fury, it was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up its fruit: its strong rods were broken off and withered; the fire consumed them. 13 And now it is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty land. 14 And fire has gone out of the rods of its branches, it has devoured its fruit, so that there is in it no strong rod to be a scepter to rule. This is a lamentation, and will be for a lamentation.

20  And it came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth [month], the tenth [day] of the month, that certain of the elders of Israel came to inquire of Yahweh, and sat before me. 2 And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 3 Son of Man, speak to the elders of Israel, and say to them, Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Is it to inquire of me that you+ have come? As I live, says the Sovereign Yahweh, I will not be inquired of by you+. 4 Will you judge them, Son of Man, will you judge them? Cause them to know the disgusting things of their fathers; 5 and say to them, Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: In the day when I chose Israel, and swore to the seed of the house of Jacob, and made myself known to them in the land of Egypt, when I swore to them, saying, I am Yahweh your+ God; 6 in that day I swore to them, to bring them forth out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands. 7 And I said to them, Cast+ away every man the detestable things of his eyes, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt; I am Yahweh your+ God. 8 But they rebelled against me, and would not listen to me; they did not every man cast away the detestable things of their eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt. Then I said I would pour out my wrath on them, to accomplish my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt. 9 But I wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, among which they were, in whose sight I made myself known to them, in bringing them forth out of the land of Egypt.

10 So I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness. 11 And I gave them my statutes, and showed them my ordinances, which if man does, he will live in them. 12 Moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am Yahweh who sanctifies them. 13 But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they didn't walk in my statutes, and they rejected my ordinances, which if man keeps, he will live in them; and my Sabbaths they greatly profaned. Then I said I would pour out my wrath on them in the wilderness, to consume them. 14 But I wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, in whose sight I brought them out. 15 Moreover I also swore to them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands; 16 because they rejected my ordinances, and didn't walk in my statutes, and profaned my Sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols. 17 Nevertheless my eye spared them, and I did not destroy them, neither did I make a full end of them in the wilderness.

18 And I said to their sons in the wilderness, Don't walk+ in the statutes of your+ fathers, neither observe their ordinances, nor defile yourselves with their idols. 19 I am Yahweh your+ God: walk in my statutes, and keep my ordinances, and do them; 20 and hallow my Sabbaths; and they will be a sign between me and you+, that you+ may know that I am Yahweh your+ God. 21 But the sons rebelled against me; they didn't walk in my statutes, neither kept my ordinances to do them, which if man does, he will live in them; they profaned my Sabbaths. Then I said I would pour out my wrath on them, to accomplish my anger against them in the wilderness. 22 Nevertheless I withdrew my hand, and wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, in whose sight I brought them forth. 23 Moreover I swore to them in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the nations, and disperse them through the countries; 24 because they had not executed my ordinances, but had rejected my statutes, and had profaned my Sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers' idols. 25 Moreover I also gave them statutes that were not good, and ordinances in which they should not live; 26 and I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they caused to pass through [the fire] all that opens the womb, that I might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I am Yahweh.

27 Therefore, Son of Man, speak to the house of Israel, and say to them, Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: In this moreover have your+ fathers blasphemed me, in that they have committed a trespass against me. 28 For when I had brought them into the land, which I swore to give to them, then they saw every high hill, and every thick tree, and they offered there their sacrifices, and there they presented the provocation of their offering; there also they made their sweet savor, and they poured out there their drink-offerings. 29 Then I said to them, What is the high place to where you+ go? So its name is called Bamah to this day. 30 Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Do you+ pollute yourselves after the manner of your+ fathers? And you+ prostitute after their detestable things? 31 And when you+ offer your+ gifts, when you+ make your+ sons to pass through the fire, do you+ pollute yourselves with all your+ idols to this day? And shall I be inquired of by you+, O house of Israel? As I live, says the Sovereign Yahweh, I will not be inquired of by you+; 32 and that which comes into your+ mind will not be at all, in that you+ say, We will be as the nations, as the families of the countries, to minister wood and stone.

33 As I live, says the Sovereign Yahweh, surely with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with wrath poured out, I will be king over you+: 34 and I will bring you+ out from the peoples, and will gather you+ out of the countries in which you+ are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with wrath poured out; 35 and I will bring you+ into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will enter into judgment with you+ face to face. 36 Like I entered into judgment with your+ fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you+, says the Sovereign Yahweh. 37 And I will cause you+ to pass under the rod, and I will bring you+ into the bond of the covenant; 38 and I will purge out from among you+ the rebels, and those who transgress against me; I will bring them forth out of the land where they sojourn, but they will not enter into the land of Israel: and you+ will know that I am Yahweh. 39 As for you+, O house of Israel, thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Go+, serve every one his idols, and hereafter also, if you+ will not listen to me; but my holy name you+ will profane no more with your+ gifts, and with your+ idols.

40 For in my holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel, says the Sovereign Yahweh, there will all the house of Israel, all of them, serve me in the land: there I will accept them, and there I will require your+ offerings, and the first fruits of your+ oblations, with all your+ holy things. 41 As a sweet savor I will accept you+, when I bring you+ out from the peoples, and gather you+ out of the countries in which you+ have been scattered; and I will be sanctified in you+ in the sight of the nations. 42 And you+ will know that I am Yahweh, when I will bring you+ into the land of Israel, into the country which I swore to give to your+ fathers. 43 And there you+ will remember your+ ways, and all your+ doings, in which you+ have polluted yourselves; and you+ will loathe yourselves in your+ own sight for all your+ evils that you+ have committed. 44 And you+ will know that I am Yahweh, when I have dealt with you+ for my name's sake, not according to your+ evil ways, nor according to your+ corrupt doings, O you+ house of Israel, says the Sovereign Yahweh.

45 And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 46 Son of Man, set your face toward the south, and drop [your word] toward the south, and prophesy against the forest of the field in the South; 47 and say to the forest of the South, Hear the word of Yahweh: Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh, Look, I will kindle a fire in you, and it will devour every green tree in you, and every dry tree: the flaming flame will not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north will be burned by it. 48 And all flesh will see that I, Yahweh, have kindled it; it will not be quenched. 49 Then I said, Ah Sovereign Yahweh! They say of me, Is he not a speaker of parables?

21  And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 2 Son of Man, set your face toward Jerusalem, and drop [your word] toward the sanctuaries, and prophesy against the land of Israel; 3 and say to the land of Israel, Thus says Yahweh: Look, I am against you, and will draw forth my sword out of its sheath, and will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked. 4 Seeing then that I will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked, therefore will my sword go forth out of its sheath against all flesh from the south to the north: 5 and all flesh will know that I, Yahweh, have drawn forth my sword out of its sheath; it will not return anymore. 6 Sigh therefore, you Son of Man; with the breaking of your loins and with bitterness you will sigh before their eyes. 7 And it will be, when they say to you, Why do you sigh? Then you will say, Because of the news, for it comes; and every heart will melt, and all hands will be feeble, and every spirit will faint, and all knees will be weak as water: look, it comes, and it will be done, says the Sovereign Yahweh.

8 And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 9 Son of Man, prophesy, and say, Thus says Yahweh: Say, A sword, a sword, it is sharpened, and also furbished; 10 it is sharpened that it may make a slaughter; it is furbished that it may be as lightning: shall we then make mirth? The rod of my son, it despises every tree. 11 And it is given to be furbished, that it may be handled: the sword, it is sharpened, yes, it is furbished, to give it into the hand of the slayer. 12 Cry and wail, Son of Man; for it is on my people, it is on all the princes of Israel: they are delivered over to the sword with my people; strike therefore on your thigh. 13 For there is a trial; and what if even the rod that despises will be no more? says the Sovereign Yahweh. 14 You therefore, Son of Man, prophesy, and strike your hands together; and let the sword be doubled the third time, the sword of the deadly wounded: it is the sword of the great one who is deadly wounded, which enters into their chambers. 15 I have set the threatening sword against all their gates, that their heart may melt, and their stumblings be multiplied: ah! It is made as lightning, it is sheathed for slaughter. 16 Gather yourself together, go to the right, set yourself in array, go to the left, wherever your face is set. 17 I will also strike my hands together, and I will cause my wrath to rest: I, Yahweh, have spoken it.

18 The word of Yahweh came to me again, saying, 19 Also, you Son of Man, appoint for yourself two ways, that the sword of the king of Babylon may come; they will both come forth out of one land: and mark out a place, mark it out at the head of the way to the city. 20 You will appoint a way for the sword to come to Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, and to Judah in Jerusalem the fortified. 21 For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to tell his fortune: he shook the arrows to and fro, he consulted the talismans, he looked in the liver. 22 In his right hand was the reading [for] Jerusalem, to set battering rams, to open the mouth in the slaughter, to lift up the voice with shouting, to set battering rams against the gates, to cast up mounds, to build forts. 23 And it will be to them as a false reading in their sight, who have sworn oaths to them; but he brings iniquity to remembrance, that they may be taken.

24 Therefore thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Because you+ have made your+ iniquity to be remembered, in that your+ transgressions are uncovered, so that in all your+ doings your+ sins appear; because you+ have come to remembrance, you+ will be taken with the hand. 25 And you, O deadly wounded wicked one, the prince of Israel, whose day has come, in the time of the iniquity of the end, 26 thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Remove the turban, and take off the crown; this [will be] no more the same; exalt that which is low, and abase that which is high. 27 I will overturn, overturn, overturn it: neither has this taken place, until he comes whose right it is; and I will give it [to him].

28 And you, Son of Man, prophesy, and say, Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh concerning the sons of Ammon, and concerning their reproach; and say, A sword, a sword is drawn, for the slaughter it is furbished, to cause it to devour, that it may be as lightning; 29 while they see for you false visions, while they tell you a lying fortune, to lay you on the necks of the wicked who are deadly wounded, whose day has come in the time of the iniquity of the end. 30 Cause it to return into its sheath. In the place where you were created, in the land of your birth, I will judge you. 31 And I will pour out my indignation on you; I will blow on you with the fire of my wrath; and I will deliver you into the hand of brutish men, skillful to destroy. 32 You will be for fuel to the fire; your blood will be in the midst of the land; you will be no more remembered: for I, Yahweh, have spoken it.

22  Moreover the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 2 And you, Son of Man, will you judge, will you judge the bloody city? Then cause her to know all her disgusting behaviors. 3 And you will say, Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: A city that sheds blood in the midst of her, that her time may come, and that makes idols against herself to defile her! 4 You have become guilty in your blood that you have shed, and are defiled in your idols which you have made; and you have caused your days to draw near, and have come even to your years: therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations, and a mocking to all the countries. 5 Those who are near, and those who are far from you, will mock you, you infamous one [and] full of tumult.

6 Look, the princes of Israel, every one according to his power, have been in you to shed blood. 7 In you they have set light by father and mother; in the midst of you they have dealt by oppression with the sojourner; in you they have wronged the fatherless and the widow. 8 You have despised my holy things, and have profaned my Sabbaths. 9 Slanderous men have been in you to shed blood; and in you they have eaten on the mountains: in the midst of you they have committed lewdness. 10 In you they have uncovered their fathers' nakedness; in you they have humbled her who was unclean in her impurity. 11 And one has done a disgusting thing with his fellow man's wife; and another has lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law; and another in you has humbled his sister, his father's daughter. 12 In you they have taken bribes to shed blood; you have taken interest and increase, and you have greedily gained of your fellow men by oppression, and have forgotten me, says the Sovereign Yahweh.

13 Look, therefore, I have struck my hand at your dishonest gain which you have made, and at your blood which has been in the midst of you. 14 Can your heart endure, or can your hands be strong, in the days that I will deal with you? I, Yahweh, have spoken it, and will do it. 15 And I will scatter you among the nations, and disperse you through the countries; and I will consume your filthiness out of you. 16 And I will be profaned by you, in the sight of the nations; and you will know that I am Yahweh.

17 And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 18 Son of Man, the house of Israel has become dross to me: all of them are bronze and tin and iron and lead, in the midst of the furnace; they are the dross of silver. 19 Therefore thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Because you+ have all become dross, therefore, look, I will gather you+ into the midst of Jerusalem. 20 As they gather silver and bronze and iron and lead and tin into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire on it, to melt it; so I will gather you+ in my anger and in my wrath, and I will lay you+ there, and melt you+. 21 Yes, I will gather you+, and blow on you+ with the fire of my wrath, and you+ will be melted in the midst of it. 22 As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so you+ will be melted in the midst of it; and you+ will know that I, Yahweh, have poured out my wrath on you+.

23 And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 24 Son of Man, say to her, You are a land that is not cleansed, nor rained on in the day of indignation. 25 There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst of it, like a roaring lion ravening the prey: they have devoured souls; they take treasure and precious things; they have made her widows many in the midst of it. 26 Her priests have done violence to my law, and have profaned my holy things: they have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they caused men to discern between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. 27 Her princes in the midst of it are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, [and] to destroy souls, that they may get dishonest gain. 28 And her prophets have daubed for them with untempered [mortar], seeing false visions, and telling them lying fortunes, saying, Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh, when Yahweh has not spoken. 29 The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery; yes, they have vexed the poor and needy, and have oppressed the sojourner wrongfully. 30 And I sought for a man among them, that should build up the wall, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found none. 31 Therefore I have poured out my indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way I have brought on their heads, says the Sovereign Yahweh.

23  The word of Yahweh came again to me, saying, 2 Son of Man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother: 3 and they prostituted in Egypt; they prostituted in their youth; where their breasts were squeezed and their virgin nipples were caressed. 4 And the names of them were Oholah the elder, and Oholibah her sister: and they became mine, and they bore sons and daughters. And as for their names, Samaria is Oholah, and Jerusalem Oholibah.

5 And Oholah prostituted when she was mine; and she lusted after her lovers, on the nearby Assyrians, 6 who were clothed with blue, governors and rulers, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses. 7 And she bestowed her prostitution on them, the choicest men of Assyria all of them; and on whomever she lusted after, with all their idols she defiled herself. 8 Neither has she left her prostitution since [the days of] Egypt; for in her youth they lay with her, and they caressed her virgin nipples; and they poured out their prostitution on her. 9 Therefore I delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, on whom she lusted after. 10 These uncovered her nakedness; they took her sons and her daughters; and they slew her with the sword: and she became a byword among women; for they executed judgments on her.

11 And her sister Oholibah saw this, yet was she more corrupt in her lust than she, and in her prostitutions which were more than the prostitutions of her sister. 12 She lusted after the nearby Assyrians, governors and rulers, clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men. 13 And I saw that she was defiled; they both took one way. 14 And she increased her prostitution; for she saw men portrayed on the wall, the images of the Chaldeans portrayed with vermilion, 15 girded with loincloths on their loins, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them princes to look at, after the likeness of the Babylonians in Chaldea, the land of their nativity. 16 And as soon as she saw them she lusted after them, and sent messengers to them into Chaldea. 17 And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their prostitution, and she was polluted with them, and her soul was alienated from them. 18 So she uncovered her prostitution, and uncovered her nakedness: then my soul was alienated from her, like my soul was alienated from her sister. 19 Yet she multiplied her prostitution, remembering the days of her youth, in which she had prostituted in the land of Egypt. 20 And she lusted after their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of donkeys, and whose issue is like the issue of horses. 21 Thus you called to remembrance the lewdness of your youth, when from Egypt they caressed your nipples and squeezed your youthful breasts.

22 Therefore, O Oholibah, thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Look, I will raise up your lovers against you, from whom your soul is alienated, and I will bring them against you on every side: 23 the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, [and] all the Assyrians with them; desirable young men, governors and rulers all of them, princes and men of renown, all of them riding on horses. 24 And they will come against you equipped with chariots, and wagons, and with a company of peoples; they will set themselves against you with buckler and shield and helmet round about; and I will commit the judgment to them, and they will judge you according to their judgments. 25 And I will set my jealousy against you, and they will deal with you in fury; they will take away your nose and your ears; and your residue will fall by the sword: they will take your sons and your daughters; and your residue will be devoured by the fire. 26 They will also strip you of your clothes, and take away your fair jewels. 27 Thus I will make your lewdness to cease from you, and your prostitution [brought] from the land of Egypt; so that you will not lift up your eyes to them, nor remember Egypt anymore. 28 For thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Look, I will deliver you into the hand of them whom you hate, into the hand of them from whom your soul is alienated; 29 and they will deal with you in hatred, and will take away all your labor, and will leave you naked and bare; and the nakedness of your prostitution will be uncovered, both your lewdness and your prostitution.

30 These things will be done to you, for that you have prostituted after the nations, and because you are polluted with their idols. 31 You have walked in the way of your sister; therefore I will give her cup into your hand. 32 Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: You will drink of your sister's cup, which is deep and large; you will be laughed to scorn and had in derision; it contains much. 33 You will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, with the cup of astonishment and desolation, with the cup of your sister Samaria. 34 You will even drink it and drain it out, and you will gnaw its sherds, and will tear your breasts; for I have spoken it, says the Sovereign Yahweh. 35 Therefore thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Because you have forgotten me, and cast me behind your back, therefore bear you also your lewdness and your prostitution.

36 Yahweh said moreover to me: Son of Man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their disgusting behaviors. 37 For they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands; and with their idols they have committed adultery; and they have also caused their sons, whom they bore to me, to pass through [the fire] to them for food. 38 Moreover this they have done to me: they have defiled my sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned my Sabbaths. 39 For when they had slain their sons to their idols, then they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it; and, look, thus they have done in the midst of my house. 40 And furthermore you+ have sent for men who come from afar, to whom a messenger was sent, and, see, they came; for whom you washed yourself, painted your eyes, and decked yourself with ornaments, 41 and sat on a stately bed, with a table prepared before it, on which you set my incense and my oil. 42 And the voice of a multitude being at ease was with her: and men of the multitude of man were brought from the wilderness; and they put bracelets on their hands, and beautiful crowns on their heads.

43 Then I said of her who was old in adulteries, Now they will still prostitute with her, and she [with them]. 44 And they went in to her, as they go in to a prostitute: so went they in to Oholah and to Oholibah, the lewd women. 45 And righteous men, they will judge them with the judgment of adulteresses, and with the judgment of women who shed blood; because they are adulteresses, and blood is in their hands. 46 For thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: I will bring up a company against them, and will give them to be tossed to and fro and robbed. 47 And the company will stone them with stones, and dispatch them with their swords; they will slay their sons and their daughters, and burn up their houses with fire. 48 Thus I will cause lewdness to cease out of the land, that all women may be taught not to do after your+ lewdness. 49 And they will recompense your+ lewdness on you+, and you+ will bear the sins of your+ idols; and you+ will know that I am the Sovereign Yahweh.

24  Again, in the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the tenth [day] of the month, the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 2 Son of Man, write for yourself the name of the day, [even] of this very same day: the king of Babylon drew close to Jerusalem this very same day. 3 And utter a parable to the rebellious house, and say to them, Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh, Set on the cauldron, set it on, and also pour water into it: 4 gather its pieces into it, even every good piece, the thigh, and the shoulder; fill it with the choice bones. 5 Take the choice of the flock, and also pile the bones under it; make it boil well; yes, its bones were boiled in the midst of it.

6 Therefore thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Woe to the bloody city, to the cauldron whose corrosion is in it, and whose corrosion has not gone out of it! Take out of it piece after piece; No lot has fallen on it. 7 For her blood is in the midst of her; she set it on the bare rock; she did not pour it on the ground, to cover it with dust. 8 That it may cause wrath to come up to take vengeance, I have set her blood on the bare rock, that it should not be covered. 9 Therefore thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Woe to the bloody city! I also will make the pile great. 10 Heap on the wood, make the fire hot, boil well the flesh, and make thick the broth, and let the bones be burned. 11 Then set it empty on its coals, that it may be hot, and its bronze may burn, and that the filthiness of it may be molten in it, that the corrosion of it may be consumed. 12 It has frustrated the efforts [to clean it]; yet her great corrosion does not go forth out of her; her corrosion [does not go forth] by fire. 13 In your filthiness is lewdness: because I have cleansed you and you were not cleansed, you will not be cleansed from your filthiness anymore, until I have caused my wrath toward you to rest. 14 I, Yahweh, have spoken it: it will come to pass, and I will do it: I will not go back, neither will I spare, neither will I repent; according to your ways, and according to your doings, they will judge you, says the Sovereign Yahweh.

15 Also the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 16 Son of Man, look, I take away from you the desire of your eyes with a stroke: yet you will neither mourn nor weep, neither will your tears run down. 17 Sigh, but not aloud, make no mourning for the dead; bind your headtire on you, and put your sandals on your feet, and don't cover your lips, and don't eat the bread of men.[470] 18 So I spoke to the people in the morning; and at evening my wife died; and I did in the morning as I was commanded.

19 And the people said to me, Will you not tell us what these things are to us, that you do so? 20 Then I said to them, The word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 21 Speak to the house of Israel, Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Look, I will profane my sanctuary, the pride of your+ power, the desire of your+ eyes, and that which your+ soul pities; and your+ sons and your+ daughters whom you+ have left behind will fall by the sword. 22 And you+ will do as I have done: you+ will not cover your+ lips, nor eat the bread of men. 23 And your+ tires will be on your+ heads, and your+ sandals on your+ feet: you+ will not mourn nor weep; but you+ will pine away in your+ iniquities, and moan one toward another. 24 Thus Ezekiel will be to you+ a sign; according to all that he has done you+ will do: when this comes, then you+ will know that I am the Sovereign Yahweh.

25 And you, Son of Man, will it not be in the day when I take from them their strength, the joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that on which they set their soul, their sons and their daughters, 26 that in that day he who escapes will come to you, to cause you to hear it with your ears? 27 In that day your mouth will be opened to him who has escaped, and you will speak, and be mute no more: so you will be a sign to them; and they will know that I am Yahweh.

25  And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 2 Son of Man, set your face toward the sons of Ammon, and prophesy against them: 3 and say to the sons of Ammon, Hear the word of the Sovereign Yahweh: Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh, Because you said, Aha, against my sanctuary, when it was profaned; and against the land of Israel, when it was made desolate; and against the house of Judah, when they went into captivity: 4 therefore, look, I will deliver you to the sons of the east for a possession, and they will set their encampments in you, and make their dwellings in you; they will eat your fruit, and they will drink your milk. 5 And I will make Rabbah a stable for camels, and the sons of Ammon a couching-place for flocks: and you+ will know that I am Yahweh. 6 For thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Because you have clapped your hands, and stamped with the feet, and rejoiced with all the despite of your soul against the land of Israel; 7 therefore, look, I have stretched out my hand on you, and will deliver you for a spoil to the nations; and I will cut you off from the peoples, and I will cause you to perish out of the countries: I will destroy you; and you will know that I am Yahweh.

8 Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Because Moab and Seir say, Look, the house of Judah is like all the nations; 9 therefore, look, I will open the side of Moab from the cities, from his cities which are on his frontiers, the glory of the country, Beth-jeshimoth, Baal-meon, and Kiriathaim, 10 to the sons of the east, [to go] against the sons of Ammon; and I will give them for a possession, that the sons of Ammon may not be remembered among the nations. 11 And I will execute judgments on Moab; and they will know that I am Yahweh.

12 Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Because Edom has dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and has greatly offended, and revenged himself on them; 13 therefore thus says the Sovereign Yahweh, I will stretch out my hand on Edom, and will cut off man and beast from it; and I will make it desolate from Teman; even to Dedan they will fall by the sword. 14 And I will lay my vengeance on Edom by the hand of my people Israel; and they will do in Edom according to my anger and according to my wrath; and they will know my vengeance, says the Sovereign Yahweh.

15 Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Because the Philistines have dealt by revenge, and have taken vengeance with despite of soul to destroy with perpetual enmity; 16 therefore thus says the Sovereign Yahweh, Look, I will stretch out my hand on the Philistines, and I will cut off the Cherethites, and destroy the remnant of the seacoast. 17 And I will execute great vengeance on them with wrathful rebukes; and they will know that I am Yahweh, when I will lay my vengeance on them.

26  And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first [day] of the month,[471] that the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 2 Son of Man, because Tyre has said against Jerusalem, Aha, she is broken [that was] the gate of the peoples; she has turned to me; I will be replenished, now that she is laid waste: 3 therefore thus says the Sovereign Yahweh, Look, I am against you, O Tyre, and will cause many nations to come up against you, as the sea causes its waves to come up. 4 And they will destroy the walls of Tyre, and break down her towers: I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her a bare rock. 5 She will be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea; for I have spoken it, says the Sovereign Yahweh; and she will become a spoil to the nations. 6 And her daughters who are in the field will be slain with the sword: and they will know that I am Yahweh.

7 For thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Look, I will bring on Tyre Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, king of kings, from the north, with horses, and with chariots, and with horsemen, and a company, and many people. 8 He will slay with the sword your daughters in the field; and he will make forts against you, and cast up a mound against you, and raise up the buckler against you. 9 And he will set his battering engines against your walls, and with his axes he will break down your towers. 10 By reason of the abundance of his horses their dust will cover you: your walls will shake at the noise of the horsemen, and of the wagons, and of the chariots, when he will enter into your gates, as men enter into a city in which a breach is made. 11 With the hoofs of his horses he will tread down all your streets; he will slay your people with the sword; and the pillars of your strength will go down to the ground. 12 And they will make a spoil of your riches, and make a prey of your merchandise; and they will break down your walls, and destroy your pleasant houses; and they will lay your stones and your timber and your dust in the midst of the waters. 13 And I will cause the noise of your songs to cease; and the sound of your harps will be heard no more. 14 And I will make you a bare rock; you will be a place for the spreading of nets; you will be built no more: for I Yahweh have spoken it, says the Sovereign Yahweh. 15 Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh to Tyre: will not the isles shake at the sound of your fall, when the wounded groan, when the slaughter is made in the midst of you? 16 Then all the princes of the sea will come down from their thrones, and lay aside their robes, and strip off their embroidered garments: they will clothe themselves with trembling; they will sit on the ground, and will tremble every moment, and be astonished at you. 17 And they will take up a lamentation over you, and say to you, How you are destroyed, that were inhabited by seafaring men, the renowned city, that was strong in the sea, she and her inhabitants, that caused their terror to be on all who dwelt there! 18 Now will the isles tremble in the day of your fall; yes, the isles that are in the sea will be dismayed at your departure.

19 For thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: When I will make you a desolate city, like the cities that are not inhabited; when I will bring up the deep on you, and the great waters will cover you; 20 then I will bring you down with those who descend into the pit, to the people of old time; and will make you to dwell in the nether parts of the earth, like places that are desolate of old, with those who go down to the pit, that you are not inhabited; but I will make glory in the land of the living. 21 I will make you a terror, and you will no more have any being; though you are sought for, yet you will never be found again, says the Sovereign Yahweh.

27  The word of Yahweh came again to me, saying, 2 And you, Son of Man, take up a lamentation over Tyre; 3 and say to Tyre, O you that dwell at the entry of the sea, that are the merchant of the peoples to many isles, thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: You, O Tyre, have said, I am perfect in beauty. 4 Your borders are in the heart of the seas; your builders have perfected your beauty. 5 They have made all your planks of fir-trees from Senir; they have taken a cedar from Lebanon to make a mast for you. 6 Of the oaks of Bashan they have made your oars; they have made your benches of ivory inlaid in cypress-wood, from the isles of Kittim. 7 Of fine linen with embroidered work from Egypt was your sail, that it might be to you for an ensign; blue and purple from the isles of Elishah was your awning. 8 The inhabitants of Sidon and Arvad were your rowers: your wise men, O Tyre, were in you, they were your pilots. 9 The old men of Gebal and its wise men were in you, your caulkers: all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in you to deal in your merchandise. 10 Persia and Lud and Put were in your army, your men of war: they hanged the shield and helmet in you; they set forth your majesty. 11 The men of Arvad with your army were on your walls round about, and valorous men were in your towers; they hanged their shields on your walls round about; they have perfected your beauty.

12 Tarshish was your merchant by reason of the multitude of all kinds of riches; with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded for your wares. 13 Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were your traffickers; they traded the souls of man and vessels of bronze for your merchandise. 14 They of the house of Togarmah traded for your wares with horses and warhorses and mules. 15 The sons of Rodan were your traffickers; many isles were the mart of your hand: they brought you in exchange horns of ivory and ebony. 16 Syria was your merchant by reason of the multitude of your handiworks: they traded for your wares with emeralds, purple, and embroidered work, and fine linen, and coral, and rubies. 17 Judah, and the land of Israel, they were your traffickers: they traded for your merchandise wheat of Minnith, and pannag, and honey, and oil, and balm. 18 Damascus was your merchant for the multitude of your handiworks, by reason of the multitude of all kinds of riches, with the wine of Helbon, and white wool, 19 and the earthenware wine jars of Izalla,[472] for your wares: bright iron, cassia, and calamus, were among your merchandise. 20 Dedan was your trafficker in precious cloths for riding. 21 Arabia, and all the princes of Kedar, they were the merchants of your hand; in lambs, and rams, and goats, in these they were your merchants. 22 The traffickers of Sheba and Raamah, they were your traffickers; they traded for your wares with the chief of all spices, and with all precious stones, and gold. 23 Haran and Canneh and Eden, the traffickers of Sheba, Asshur [and] Chilmad, were your traffickers. 24 These were your traffickers in choice wares, in wrappings of blue and embroidered work, and in chests of rich apparel, bound with cords and made of cedar, these were your merchandise. 25 The ships of Tarshish were your caravans for your merchandise: and you were replenished, and made very glorious in the heart of the seas.

26 Your rowers have brought you into great waters: the east wind has broken you in the heart of the seas. 27 Your riches, and your wares, your merchandise, your mariners, and your pilots, your caulkers, and the dealers in your merchandise, and all your men of war, who are in you, with all your company which is in the midst of you, will fall into the heart of the seas in the day of your ruin. 28 At the sound of the cry of your pilots the suburbs will shake. 29 And all who handle the oar, the mariners, [and] all the pilots of the sea, will come down from their ships; they will stand on the land, 30 and will cause their voice to be heard over you, and will cry bitterly, and will cast up dust on their heads, they will wallow themselves in the ashes: 31 and they will make themselves bald for you, and gird them with sackcloth, and they will weep for you in bitterness of soul with bitter mourning. 32 And in their wailing they will take up a lamentation for you, and lament over you, [saying,] Who is there like Tyre, like her that is brought to silence in the midst of the sea? 33 When your wares went forth out of the seas, you filled many peoples; you did enrich the kings of the earth with the multitude of your riches and of your merchandise. 34 In the time that you were broken by the seas in the depths of the waters, your merchandise and all your company fell in the midst of you. 35 All the inhabitants of the isles are astonished at you, and their kings are horribly afraid; they are troubled in their countenance. 36 The merchants among the peoples hiss at you; you have become a terror, and you will nevermore have any being.

28  The word of Yahweh came again to me, saying, 2 Son of Man, say to the leader of Tyre, Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Because your heart is lifted up, and you have said, I am a god, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet you are man, and not God, though you set your heart as the heart of God;— 3 look, you are wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that is hidden from you; 4 by your wisdom and by your understanding you have gotten you riches, and have gotten gold and silver into your treasures; 5 by your great wisdom [and] by your traffic you have increased your riches, and your heart is lifted up because of your riches;— 6 therefore thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Because you have set your heart as the heart of God, 7 therefore, look, I will bring strangers on you, the terrible of the nations; and they will draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom, and they will defile your brightness. 8 They will bring you down to the pit; and you will die the death of those who are slain, in the heart of the seas. 9 Will you yet say before him who slays you, I am God? But you are man, and not God, in the hand of him who wounds you. 10 You will die the death of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers: for I have spoken it, says the Sovereign Yahweh.

11 Moreover the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 12 Son of Man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and say to him, Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: You seal up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. 13 You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering, the sardius, the topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of your tabrets and of your pipes was in you; in the day that you were created they were prepared. 14 You were the anointed cherub that covers; I set you; you were on the holy mountain of God; you have walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. 15 You were perfect in your ways from the day that you were created, until unrighteousness was found in you. 16 By the abundance of your traffic they filled the midst of you with violence, and you have sinned: therefore I have cast you as profane out of the mountain of God; and I have destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. 17 Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you have corrupted your wisdom by reason of your brightness: I have cast you to the ground; I have laid you before kings, that they may look at you. 18 By the multitude of your iniquities, in the unrighteousness of your traffic, you have profaned your sanctuaries; therefore I have brought forth a fire from the midst of you; it has devoured you, and I have turned you to ashes on the earth in the sight of all those who look at you. 19 All those who know you among the peoples will be astonished at you: you have become a terror, and you will nevermore have any being.

20 And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 21 Son of Man, set your face toward Sidon, and prophesy against it, 22 and say, Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Look, I am against you, O Sidon; and I will be glorified in the midst of you; and they will know that I am Yahweh, when I will have executed judgments in her, and will be sanctified in her. 23 For I will send pestilence into her, and blood into her streets; and the wounded will fall in the midst of her, with the sword on her on every side; and they will know that I am Yahweh. 24 And there will be no more a pricking brier to the house of Israel, nor a hurting thorn of any who are round about them, who did despite to them; and they will know that I am the Sovereign Yahweh.

25 Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: When I will have gathered the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered, and will be sanctified in them in the sight of the nations, then they will dwell in their own land which I gave to my slave Jacob. 26 And they will dwell securely in it; yes, they will build houses, and plant vineyards, and will dwell securely, when I have executed judgments on all those who do them despite round about them; and they will know that I am Yahweh their God.

29  In the tenth year, in the tenth [month], in the twelfth [day] of the month, the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 2 Son of Man, set your face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him, and against all Egypt; 3 speak, and say, Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Look, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the crocodile[473] that lies in the midst of his rivers, that has said, My river is my own, and I have made it for myself. 4 And I will put hooks in your jaws, and I will cause the fish of your rivers to stick to your scales; and I will bring you up out of the midst of your rivers, with all the fish of your rivers which stick to your scales. 5 And I will cast you forth into the wilderness, you and all the fish of your rivers: you will fall on the open field; you will not be brought together nor gathered; I have given you for food to the beasts of the earth and to the birds of the heavens. 6 And all the inhabitants of Egypt will know that I am Yahweh, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel. 7 When they took hold of you by your hand, you broke, and rent all their shoulders; and when they leaned on you, you broke, and made all their loins to be at a stand.

8 Therefore thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Look, I will bring a sword on you, and will cut off from you man and beast. 9 And the land of Egypt will be a desolation and a waste; and they will know that I am Yahweh. Because he has said, The river is mine, and I have made it; 10 therefore, look, I am against you, and against your rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt an utter waste and desolation, from the tower of Seveneh even to the border of Ethiopia. 11 No foot of man will pass through it, nor foot of beast will pass through it, neither will it be inhabited forty years. 12 And I will make the land of Egypt a desolation in the midst of the countries that are desolate; and her cities among the cities that are laid waste will be a desolation forty years; and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries.

13 For thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: At the end of forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the peoples where they were scattered; 14 and I will bring back the captivity of Egypt, and will cause them to return into the land of Pathros, into the land of their birth; and they will be there a base kingdom. 15 It will be the basest of the kingdoms; neither will it anymore lift itself up above the nations: and I will diminish them, that they will no more rule over the nations. 16 And it will be no more the confidence of the house of Israel, bringing iniquity to remembrance, when they turn to look after them: and they will know that I am the Sovereign Yahweh.

17 And it came to pass in the seven and twentieth year, in the first [month], in the first [day] of the month, the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 18 Son of Man, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon caused his army to serve a great service against Tyre: every head was made bald, and every shoulder was worn; yet he had no wages, nor his army, from Tyre, for the service that he had served against it. 19 Therefore thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Look, I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; and he will carry off her multitude, and take her spoil, and take her prey; and it will be the wages for his army. 20 I have given him the land of Egypt as his recompense for which he served, because they wrought for me, says the Sovereign Yahweh.

21 In that day I will cause a horn to bud forth to the house of Israel, and I will give you the opening of the mouth in the midst of them; and they will know that I am Yahweh.

30  The word of Yahweh came again to me, saying, 2 Son of Man, prophesy, and say, Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Wail+, Alas for the day! 3 For the day is near, even the day of Yahweh is near; it will be a day of clouds, a time of the nations. 4 And a sword will come upon Egypt, and anguish will be in Ethiopia, when the slain will fall in Egypt; and they will take away her multitude, and her foundations will be broken down. 5 Ethiopia, and Put, and Lud, and all the mingled people, and Cub, and the sons of the land that is in league, will fall with them by the sword.

6 Thus says Yahweh: Those also who uphold Egypt will fall; and the pride of her power will come down: from the tower of Seveneh they will fall in it by the sword, says the Sovereign Yahweh. 7 And they will be desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate; and her cities will be in the midst of the cities that are wasted. 8 And they will know that I am Yahweh, when I have set a fire in Egypt, and all her helpers are destroyed. 9 In that day messengers will go forth from before me in ships to make the careless Ethiopians afraid; and there will be anguish on them, as in the day of Egypt; for, look, it comes.

10 Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: I will also make the multitude of Egypt to cease, by the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon. 11 He and his people with him, the terrible of the nations, will be brought in to destroy the land; and they will draw their swords against Egypt, and fill the land with the slain. 12 And I will make the rivers dry, and will sell the land into the hand of evil men; and I will make the land desolate, and all that is in it, by the hand of strangers: I, Yahweh, have spoken it.

13 Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: I will also destroy the idols, and I will cause the images to cease from Memphis; and there will be no more a prince from the land of Egypt: and I will put a fear in the land of Egypt. 14 And I will make Pathros desolate, and will set a fire in Zoan, and will execute judgments on No. 15 And I will pour my wrath on Sin, the stronghold of Egypt; and I will cut off the multitude of No. 16 And I will set a fire in Egypt: Sin will be in great anguish, and No will be broken up; and Memphis [will have] anguish daily. 17 The young men of On and of Pibeseth will fall by the sword; and these [cities] will go into captivity. 18 At Tehaphnehes also the day will withdraw itself, when I will break there the yokes of Egypt, and the pride of her power will cease in her: as for her, a cloud will cover her, and her daughters will go into captivity. 19 Thus I will execute judgments on Egypt; and they will know that I am Yahweh.

20 And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first [month], in the seventh [day] of the month, that the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 21 Son of Man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and, look, it has not been bound up, to apply [healing] medicines, to put a bandage to bind it, that it is strong to hold the sword. 22 Therefore thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Look, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and will break his arms, the strong [arm], and that which was broken; and I will cause the sword to fall out of his hand. 23 And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries. 24 And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and put my sword in his hand: but I will break the arms of Pharaoh, and he will groan before him with the groanings of a deadly wounded man. 25 And I will hold up the arms of the king of Babylon; and the arms of Pharaoh will fall down; and they will know that I am Yahweh, when I will put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will stretch it out on the land of Egypt. 26 And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them through the countries; and they will know that I am Yahweh.

31  And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the third [month], in the first [day] of the month, that the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 2 Son of Man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to his multitude: Whom are you like in your greatness? 3 Look, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with beautiful branches, and with a forest-like shade, and of high stature; and its top was among the thick boughs. 4 The waters nourished it, the deep made it to grow: its rivers ran round about its plantation; and it sent out its channels to all the trees of the field. 5 Therefore its stature was exalted above all the trees of the field; and its boughs were multiplied, and its branches became long by reason of many waters, when it shot [them] forth. 6 All the birds of the heavens made their nests in its boughs; and under its branches all the beasts of the field brought forth their young; and under its shadow dwelt all great nations. 7 Thus it was fair in its greatness, in the length of its branches; for its root was by many waters. 8 The cedars in the garden of God could not hide it; the fir-trees were not like its boughs, and the plane-trees were not as its branches; nor was any tree in the garden of God like it in its beauty. 9 I made it beautiful by the multitude of its branches, so that all the trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied it.

10 Therefore thus said the Sovereign Yahweh: Because you are exalted in stature, and he has set his top to [reach] among the thick boughs, and his heart is lifted up in his height; 11 I will even deliver him into the hand of the mighty one of the nations; he will surely deal with him; I have driven him out for his wickedness. 12 And strangers, the terrible of the nations, have cut him off, and have left him: on the mountains and in all the valleys his branches have fallen, and his boughs are broken by all the watercourses of the land; and all the peoples of the earth have gone down from his shadow, and have left him. 13 On his ruin all the birds of the heavens will stay, and all the beasts of the field will be on his branches; 14 to the end that none of all the trees by the waters exalt themselves in their stature, neither set their top to [reach] among the thick boughs, nor that their mighty ones stand up in their height, [even] all that drink water: for they are all delivered to death, to the nether parts of the earth, in the midst of the sons of man, with those who go down to the pit.

15 Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: In the day when he went down to Sheol I caused a mourning: I covered the deep for him, and I restrained its rivers; and the great waters were kept back; and I caused Lebanon to mourn for him, and all the trees of the field fainted for him. 16 I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to Sheol with those who descend into the pit; and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, were comforted in the nether parts of the earth. 17 They also went down into Sheol with him to those who are slain by the sword; yes, those who were his arm, [who] dwelt under his shadow in the midst of the nations.

18 To whom are you thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? Yet you will be brought down with the trees of Eden to the nether parts of the earth: you will lie in the midst of the uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, says the Sovereign Yahweh.

32  And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, in the first [day] of the month, that the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 2 Son of Man, take up a lamentation over Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say to him, You were likened to a young lion of the nations: yet are you as a crocodile[474] in the seas; and you broke forth with your rivers, and troubled the waters with your feet, and fouled their rivers. 3 Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: I will spread out my net on you with a company of many peoples; and they will bring you up in my net. 4 And I will leave you on the land, I will cast you forth on the open field, and will cause all the birds of the heavens to stay on you, and I will satisfy the beasts of the whole earth with you. 5 And I will lay your flesh on the mountains, and fill the valleys with your height. 6 I will also water with your blood the land in which you swim, even to the mountains; and the watercourses will be full of you. 7 And when I will extinguish you, I will cover the heavens, and make their stars dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light. 8 All the bright lights of heaven I will make dark over you, and set darkness on your land, says the Sovereign Yahweh. 9 I will also vex the hearts of many peoples, when I will bring your destruction among the nations, into the countries which you have not known. 10 Yes, I will make many peoples amazed at you, and their kings will be horribly afraid for you, when I will brandish my sword before them; and they will tremble at every moment, every man for his own soul, in the day of your fall.

11 For thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: The sword of the king of Babylon will come upon you. 12 By the swords of the mighty I will cause your multitude to fall; the terrible of the nations are all of them: and they will bring to nothing the pride of Egypt, and all its multitude will be destroyed. 13 I will destroy also all its beasts from beside many waters; neither will the foot of man trouble them anymore, nor the hoofs of beasts trouble them. 14 Then I will make their waters clear, and cause their rivers to run like oil, says the Sovereign Yahweh. 15 When I will make the land of Egypt desolate and waste, a land destitute of that of which it was full, when I will strike all those who dwell in it, then they will know that I am Yahweh. 16 This is the lamentation with which they will lament; the daughters of the nations will lament with it; over Egypt, and over all her multitude, they will lament with it, says the Sovereign Yahweh.

17 It came to pass also in the twelfth year, in the fifteenth [day] of the month,[475] that the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 18 Son of Man, wail for the multitude of Egypt, and cast them down, even her, and the daughters of the majestic nations, to the nether parts of the earth, with those who go down into the pit. 19 Whom do you pass in beauty? Go down, and be laid with the uncircumcised. 20 They will fall in the midst of those who are slain by the sword: she is delivered to the sword; draw her away and all her multitudes. 21 The strong among the mighty will speak to him out of the midst of Sheol with those who help him: they have gone down, they lie still, even the uncircumcised, slain by the sword. 22 Asshur is there and all her company; their[476] graves are round about them; all of them slain, fallen by the sword; 23 whose graves are set in the uttermost parts of the pit, and her company is round about her grave; all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who caused terror in the land of the living.

24 There is Elam and all her multitude round about her grave; all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who have gone down uncircumcised into the nether parts of the earth, who caused their terror in the land of the living, and have borne their shame with those who go down to the pit. 25 They have set her a bed in the midst of the slain with all her multitude; her graves are round about them;[477] all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword; for their terror was caused in the land of the living, and they have borne their shame with those who go down to the pit: he is put in the midst of those who are slain.

26 There is Meshech-Tubal and all her multitude; her graves are round about them;[478] all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword; for they caused their terror in the land of the living. 27 And they will not lie with the mighty who have fallen of old, who have gone down to Sheol with their weapons of war, and have laid their swords under their heads, and their iniquities are on their bones; for [they were] the terror of the mighty in the land of the living. 28 But you will be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised, and will lie with those who are slain by the sword.

29 There is Edom, her kings and all her princes, who in their might are laid with those who are slain by the sword: they will lie with the uncircumcised, and with those who go down to the pit. 30 There are the princes of the north, all of them, and all the Sidonians, who have gone down with the slain; in the terror which they caused by their might they are put to shame; and they lie uncircumcised with those who are slain by the sword, and bear their shame with those who go down to the pit.

31 Pharaoh will see them, and will be comforted over all his multitude, even Pharaoh and all his army, slain by the sword, says the Sovereign Yahweh. 32 For I put his terror in the land of the living; but he will be laid in the midst of the uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword, even Pharaoh and all his multitude, says the Sovereign Yahweh.

33  And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 2 Son of Man, speak to the sons of your people, and say to them, When I bring the sword on a land, and the people of the land take a man from among them, and set him for their watchman; 3 if, when he sees the sword come upon the land, he blows the trumpet, and warns the people; 4 then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet, and does not take warning, if the sword comes, and takes him away, his blood will be on his own head. 5 He heard the sound of the trumpet, and did not take warning; his blood will be on him; whereas if he had taken warning, he would have delivered his soul. 6 But if the watchman sees the sword come, and doesn't blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes, and takes any soul from among them; he is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchman's hand.

7 So you, Son of Man, I have set you a watchman to the house of Israel; therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. 8 When I say to the wicked, O wicked man, you will surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way; that wicked man will die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. 9 Nevertheless, if you warn the wicked of his way to turn from it, and he does not turn from his way; he will die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your soul.

10 And you, Son of Man, say to the house of Israel: Thus you+ speak, saying, Our transgressions and our sins are on us, and we pine away in them; how then can we live? 11 Say to them, As I live, says the Sovereign Yahweh, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn+, turn+ from your+ evil ways; for why will you+ die, O house of Israel? 12 And you, Son of Man, say to the sons of your people, The righteousness of the righteous will not deliver him in the day of his transgression; and as for the wickedness of the wicked, he will not fall by it in the day that he turns from his wickedness; neither will he who is righteous be able to live by it in the day that he sins. 13 When I say to the righteous, that he will surely live; if he trusts to his righteousness, and commits iniquity, none of his righteous deeds will be remembered; but in his iniquity that he has committed, in it he will die. 14 Again, when I say to the wicked, You will surely die; if he turns from his sin, and does that which is lawful and right; 15 if the wicked restores the pledge, gives again that which he had taken by robbery, walks in the statutes of life, committing no iniquity; he will surely live, he will not die. 16 None of his sins that he has committed will be remembered against him: he has done that which is lawful and right; he will surely live.

17 Yet the sons of your people say, The way of the Lord is not fair: but as for them, their way is not fair. 18 When the righteous turns from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, he will even die in it. 19 And when the wicked turns from his wickedness, and does that which is lawful and right, he will live by it. 20 Yet you+ say, The way of the Lord is not fair. O house of Israel, I will judge you+ every one after his ways. 21 And it came to pass in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth [month], in the fifth [day] of the month, that one who had escaped out of Jerusalem came to me, saying, The city is struck. 22 Now the hand of Yahweh had been on me in the evening, before he who had escaped came; and he had opened my mouth, until he came to me in the morning; and my mouth was opened, and I was mute no more.

23 And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 24 Son of Man, those who inhabit those waste places in the land of Israel speak, saying, Abraham was one, and he inherited the land: but we are many; the land was given to us for inheritance. 25 Therefore say to them, Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: You+ eat with the blood, and lift up your+ eyes to your+ idols, and shed blood: and will you+ possess the land? 26 You+ stand on your+ sword, you+ do disgusting things, and you+ defile every one his fellow man's wife: and will you+ possess the land? 27 Thus you will say to them, Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: As I live, surely those who are in the waste places will fall by the sword; and him who is in the open field I will give to the beasts to be devoured; and those who are in the strongholds and in the caves will die of the pestilence. 28 And I will make the land a desolation and an astonishment; and the pride of her power will cease; and the mountains of Israel will be desolate, so that none will pass through. 29 Then they will know that I am Yahweh, when I have made the land a desolation and an astonishment, because of all the disgusting things that they have done.

30 And as for you, Son of Man, the sons of your people talk of you by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another, every one to his brother, saying, Come, I pray you+, and hear what the word is that comes forth from Yahweh. 31 And they come to you like the coming of a people, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear your words, but don't do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goes after their gain. 32 And, look, you are to them as a very lovely song of one who has a beautiful voice, and can play well on an instrument; for they hear your words, but they don't do them. 33 And when this comes to pass (look, it comes), then they will know that a prophet has been among them.

34  And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 2 Son of Man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say to them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who have been shepherding themselves! Should not the shepherds shepherd the sheep? 3 You+ eat the milk,[479] and you+ clothe yourselves with the wool, you+ kill the fatlings; but you+ don't shepherd the sheep. 4 The diseased you+ have not strengthened, neither have you+ healed that which was sick, neither have you+ bound up that which was broken, neither have you+ brought back that which was driven away, neither have you+ sought that which was lost; but with force and with rigor you+ have ruled over them. 5 And they were scattered, because there was no shepherd; and they became food to all the beasts of the field, and were scattered. 6 My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and on every high hill: yes, my sheep were scattered on all the face of the earth; and there was none who searched or sought [after them].

7 Therefore, you+ shepherds, hear the word of Yahweh: 8 As I live, says the Sovereign Yahweh, surely since my sheep became a prey, and my sheep became food to all the beasts of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for my sheep, but the shepherds shepherded themselves, and didn't shepherd my sheep; 9 therefore, you+ shepherds, hear the word of Yahweh: 10 Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Look, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my sheep at their hand, and cause them to cease from shepherding the sheep; neither will the shepherds shepherd themselves anymore; and I will deliver my sheep from their mouth, that they may not be food for them.

11 For thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Look, I myself, even I, will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. 12 As a shepherd seeks out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered abroad, so I will seek out my sheep; and I will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. 13 And I will bring them out from the peoples, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will shepherd them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited places of the country. 14 I will shepherd them with good pasture; and on the mountains of the height of Israel will their fold be: there they will lie down in a good fold; and on fat pasture they will be shepherded on the mountains of Israel. 15 I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will cause them to lie down, says the Sovereign Yahweh. 16 I will seek that which was lost, and will bring back that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but the fat and the strong I will destroy; I will shepherd them in justice.

17 And as for you+, O my flock, thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Look, I judge between sheep and sheep, the rams and the he-goats. 18 Does it seem a small thing to you+ to have fed on the good pasture, but you+ must tread down with your+ feet the residue of your+ pasture? And to have drank of the clear waters, but you+ must foul the residue with your+ feet? 19 And as for my sheep, they eat that which you+ have trodden with your+ feet, and they drink that which you+ have fouled with your+ feet.

20 Therefore thus says the Sovereign Yahweh to them: Look, I, even I, will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. 21 Because you+ thrust with side and with shoulder, and push all the diseased with your+ horns, until you+ have scattered them abroad; 22 therefore I will save my flock, and they will no more be a prey; and I will judge between sheep and sheep. 23 And I will set up another shepherd over them, and he will shepherd them, even my slave David; he will shepherd them, and he will be their shepherd. 24 And I, Yahweh, will be their God, and my slave David prince among them; I, Yahweh, have spoken it.

25 And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause evil beasts to cease out of the land; and they will dwell securely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods. 26 And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in its season; there will be showers of blessing. 27 And the tree of the field will yield its fruit, and the earth will yield its increase, and they will be secure in their land; and they will know that I am Yahweh, when I have broken the bars of their yoke, and have delivered them out of the hand of those who made slaves of them. 28 And they will no more be a prey to the nations, neither will the beasts of the earth devour them; but they will dwell securely, and none will make them afraid. 29 And I will raise up to them a plantation for renown, and they will be no more consumed with famine in the land, neither bear the shame of the nations anymore. 30 And they will know that I, Yahweh, their God am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, says the Sovereign Yahweh. 31 And you+ my sheep, the sheep of my pasture: you+ are man, [and] I am your+ God, says the Sovereign Yahweh.

35  Moreover the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 2 Son of Man, set your face against mount Seir, and prophesy against it, 3 and say to it, Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Look, I am against you, O mount Seir, and I will stretch out my hand against you, and I will make you a desolation and an astonishment. 4 I will lay your cities waste, and you will be desolate; and you will know that I am Yahweh. 5 Because you have had a perpetual enmity, and have given over the sons of Israel to the power of the sword in the time of their calamity, in the time of the iniquity of the end; 6 therefore, as I live, says the Sovereign Yahweh, I will prepare you to blood, and blood will pursue you: since you have not hated blood, therefore blood will pursue you. 7 Thus I will make mount Seir an astonishment and a desolation; and I will cut off from it him who passes through and him who returns. 8 And I will fill its mountains with its slain: in your hills and in your valleys and in all your watercourses they will fall who are slain with the sword. 9 I will make you a perpetual desolation, and your cities will not be inhabited; and you+ will know that I am Yahweh.

10 Because you have said, These two nations and these two countries will be mine, and we will possess it; whereas Yahweh was there: 11 therefore, as I live, says the Sovereign Yahweh, I will do according to your anger, and according to your envy which you have shown out of your hatred against them; and I will make myself known among them, when I will judge you. 12 And you will know that I, Yahweh, have heard all your revilings which you have spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying, They are laid desolate, they are given us to devour. 13 And you+ have magnified yourselves against me with your+ mouth, and have multiplied your+ words against me: I have heard it. 14 Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: When the whole earth rejoices, I will make you desolate. 15 As you rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so I will do to you: you will be desolate, O mount Seir, and all Edom, even all of it; and they will know that I am Yahweh.

36  And you, Son of Man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel, and say, You+ mountains of Israel, hear the word of Yahweh. 2 Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Because the enemy has said against you+, Aha! And, The ancient high places are ours in possession; 3 therefore prophesy, and say, Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Because, even because they have made you+ desolate, and swallowed you+ up on every side, that you+ might be a possession to the residue of the nations, and you+ are taken up in the lips of talkers, and the evil report of the people; 4 therefore, you+ mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Sovereign Yahweh: Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh to the mountains and to the hills, to the watercourses and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes and to the cities that are forsaken, which have become a prey and derision to the residue of the nations that are round about; 5 therefore thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Surely in the fire of my jealousy I have spoken against the residue of the nations, and against all Edom, that have appointed my land to themselves for a possession with the joy of all their heart, with despite of soul, in order that its pasture ground [may be delivered] for plunder. 6 Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and say to the mountains and to the hills, to the watercourses and to the valleys, Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Look, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my wrath, because you+ have borne the shame of the nations: 7 therefore thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: I have sworn, [saying,] Surely the nations that are round about you+, they will bear their shame.

8 But you+, O mountains of Israel, you+ will shoot forth your+ branches, and yield your+ fruit to my people Israel; for they are at hand to come. 9 For, look, I am for you+, and I will turn to you+, and you+ will be tilled and sown; 10 and I will multiply man on you+, all the house of Israel, even all of it; and the cities will be inhabited, and the waste places will be built; 11 and I will multiply on you+ man and beast; and they will increase and be fruitful; and I will cause you+ to be inhabited after your+ former estate, and will do better [to you+] than at your+ beginnings: and you+ will know that I am Yahweh. 12 Yes, I will cause man to walk on you+, even my people Israel; and they will possess you, and you will be their inheritance, and you will no more from now on bereave them. 13 Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Because they say to you+, You [land] are a devourer of man, and have been a bereaver of your nation; 14 therefore you will devour man no more, neither bereave your nation anymore, says the Sovereign Yahweh; 15 neither will I let you hear anymore the shame of the nations, neither will you bear the reproach of the peoples anymore, neither will you cause your nation to stumble anymore, says the Sovereign Yahweh.

16 Moreover the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 17 Son of Man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their way and by their doings: their way before me was as the uncleanness of a woman in her impurity. 18 Therefore I poured out my wrath on them for the blood which they had poured out on the land, and because they had defiled it with their idols; 19 and I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries: according to their way and according to their doings I judged them. 20 And when the people[480] came to the nations, where they went, they profaned my holy name; in that men said of them, These are the people of Yahweh, and have gone forth out of his land. 21 But I had regard for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations, where they went.

22 Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: I don't do [this] for your+ sake, O house of Israel, but for my holy name, which you+ have profaned among the nations, where you+ went. 23 And I will sanctify my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you+ have profaned in the midst of them; and the nations will know that I am Yahweh, says the Sovereign Yahweh, when I will be sanctified in you+ before their eyes. 24 For I will take you+ from among the nations, and gather you+ out of all the countries, and will bring you+ into your+ own land. 25 And I will sprinkle clean water on you+, and you+ will be clean: from all your+ filthiness, and from all your+ idols, I will cleanse you+. 26 A new heart also I will give you+, and a new spirit I will put inside you+; and I will take away the stony heart out of your+ flesh, and I will give you+ a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit inside you+, and cause you+ to walk in my statutes, and you+ will keep my ordinances, and do them. 28 And you+ will dwell in the land that I gave to your+ fathers; and you+ will be my people, and I will be your+ God. 29 And I will save you+ from all your+ uncleannesses: and I will call for the grain, and will multiply it, and lay no famine on you+. 30 And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that you+ may receive no more the reproach of famine among the nations. 31 Then you+ will remember your+ evil ways, and your+ doings that were not good; and you+ will loathe yourselves in your+ own sight for your+ iniquities and for your+ disgusting behaviors.

32 I don't do [this] for your+ sake, says the Sovereign Yahweh, be it known to you+: be ashamed and confounded for your+ ways, O house of Israel. 33 Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: In the day that I cleanse you+ from all your+ iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places will be built. 34 And the land that was desolate will be tilled, whereas it was a desolation in the sight of all who passed by. 35 And they will say, This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited. 36 Then the nations that are left round about you+ will know that I, Yahweh, have built the ruined places, and planted that which was desolate: I, Yahweh, have spoken it, and I will do it.

37 Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: For this, moreover, I will be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them: I will increase them with man like a flock. 38 As the flock for sacrifice, as the flock of Jerusalem in her appointed feasts, so will the waste cities be filled with flocks of man; and they will know that I am Yahweh.

37  The hand of Yahweh was on me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of Yahweh, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones. 2 And he caused me to pass by them round about: and, look, there were very many in the open valley; and, look, they were very dry. 3 And he said to me, Son of Man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Sovereign Yahweh, you know. 4 Again he said to me, Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O you+ dry bones, hear the word of Yahweh. 5 Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh to these bones: Look, I will cause breath to enter into you+, and you+ will live. 6 And I will lay sinews on you+, and will bring up flesh on you+, and cover you+ with skin, and put breath in you+, and you+ will live; and you+ will know that I am Yahweh.

7 So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and, look, an earthquake; and the bones came together, bone to its bone. 8 And I looked, and saw that there were sinews on them, and flesh came up, and skin covered them above; but there was no breath in them. 9 Then he said to me, Prophesy to the wind, prophesy, Son of Man, and say to the wind, Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live. 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up on their feet, an exceedingly great army.

11 Then he said to me, Son of Man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: look, they say, Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are clean cut off. 12 Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Look, I will open your+ graves, and cause you+ to come up out of your+ graves, O my people; and I will bring you+ into the land of Israel. 13 And you+ will know that I am Yahweh, when I have opened your+ graves, and caused you+ to come up out of your+ graves, O my people. 14 And I will put my Spirit in you+, and you+ will live, and I will place you+ in your+ own land: and you+ will know that I, Yahweh, have spoken it and performed it, says Yahweh.

15 The word of Yahweh came again to me, saying, 16 And you, Son of Man, take for yourself one stick, and write on it, For Judah, and for the sons of Israel his partners: then take another stick, and write on it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and [for] all the house of Israel his partners: 17 and join them for you one to another into one stick, that they may become one in your hand. 18 And when the sons of your people will speak to you, saying, Will you not show us what you mean by these? 19 Say to them, Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Look, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his partners; and I will put them with it, [even] with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they will be one in my hand. 20 And the sticks on which you write will be in your hand before their eyes. 21 And say to them, Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Look, I will take the sons of Israel from among the nations, where they have gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land: 22 and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king will be king to them all; and no more will they be two nations, neither will they be divided into two kingdoms anymore at all; 23 neither will they defile themselves anymore with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions; but I will save them out of all their backslidings, in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so they will be my people, and I will be their God.

24 And my slave David will be king over them; and all of them will have one shepherd: they will also walk in my ordinances, and observe my statutes, and do them. 25 And they will dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob my slave, in which your+ fathers dwelt; and they will dwell in it, they, and their sons, and the sons of their sons, forever: and David my slave will be their prince forever. 26 Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant with them; and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them forevermore. 27 My tabernacle also will be with them; and I will be their God, and they will be my people. 28 And the nations will know that I am Yahweh who sanctifies Israel, when my sanctuary will be in the midst of them forevermore.

38  And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 2 Son of Man, set your face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him, 3 and say, Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Look, I am against you, O Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal: 4 and I will turn you about, and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you forth, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great company with buckler and shield, all of them handling swords; 5 Persia, Cush, and Put with them, all of them with shield and helmet; 6 Gomer, and all his hordes; the house of Togarmah in the uttermost parts of the north, and all his hordes; even many peoples with you.

7 Be prepared, yes, prepare yourself, you, and all your companies that are assembled to you, and be a guard to them. 8 After many days you will be visited: in the latter years you will come into the land that is brought back from the sword, that is gathered out of many peoples, on the mountains of Israel, which have been a continual waste; but it is brought forth out of the peoples, and they will dwell securely, all of them. 9 And you will ascend, you will come like a storm, you will be like a cloud to cover the land, you, and all your hordes, and many peoples with you.

10 Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: It will come to pass in that day, that things will come into your mind, and you will devise an evil device: 11 and you will say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to those who are at rest, who dwell securely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates; 12 to take the spoil and to take the prey; to turn your hand against the waste places that are [now] inhabited, and against the people who are gathered out of the nations, who have gotten cattle and goods, who dwell in the middle of the earth. 13 Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all its young lions, will say to you, Have you come to take the spoil? Have you assembled your company to take the prey? To carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take great spoil?

14 Therefore, Son of Man, prophesy, and say to Gog, Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: In that day when my people Israel dwells securely, will you not wake up? 15 And you will come from your place out of the uttermost parts of the north, you, and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great company and a mighty army; 16 and you will come up against my people Israel, as a cloud to cover the land: it will come to pass in the latter days, that I will bring you against my land, that the nations may know me, when I will be sanctified in you, O Gog, before their eyes.

17 Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Are you he of whom I spoke in old time by my slaves the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days for years that I would bring you against them? 18 And it will come to pass in that day, when Gog will come against the land of Israel, says the Sovereign Yahweh, that my wrath will come up into my nostrils. 19 For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath I have spoken, Surely in that day there will be a great shaking in the land of Israel; 20 so that the fish of the sea, and the birds of the heavens, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep on the earth, and all of man who are on the face of the earth, will shake at my presence, and the mountains will be thrown down, and the steep places will fall, and every wall will fall to the ground. 21 And I will call for a sword against him to all my mountains, says the Sovereign Yahweh: every man's sword will be against his brother. 22 And with pestilence and with blood I will enter into judgment with him; and I will rain on him, and on his hordes, and on the many peoples who are with him, an overflowing shower, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. 23 And I will magnify myself, and sanctify myself, and I will make myself known in the eyes of many nations; and they will know that I am Yahweh.

39  And you, Son of Man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Look, I am against you, O Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal: 2 and I will turn you about, and will lead you on, and will cause you to come up from the uttermost parts of the north; and I will bring you on the mountains of Israel; 3 and I will strike your bow out of your left hand, and will cause your arrows to fall out of your right hand. 4 You will fall on the mountains of Israel, you, and all your hordes, and the peoples who are with you: I will give you to the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured. 5 You will fall on the open field; for I have spoken it, says the Sovereign Yahweh. 6 And I will send a fire on Magog, and on those who dwell securely in the isles; and they will know that I am Yahweh. 7 And my holy name I will make known in the midst of my people Israel; neither will I allow my holy name to be profaned anymore: and the nations will know that I am Yahweh, the Holy One in Israel. 8 Look, it comes, and it will be done, says the Sovereign Yahweh; this is the day of which I have spoken. 9 And those who dwell in the cities of Israel will go forth, and will make fires of the weapons and burn them, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the handstaves, and the spears, and they will make fires of them seven years; 10 so that they will take no wood out of the field, neither cut down any out of the forests; for they will make fires of the weapons; and they will plunder those who plundered them, and rob those who robbed them, says the Sovereign Yahweh.

11 And it will come to pass in that day, that I will give to Gog a place of renown for burial in Israel, the valley of those who pass through on the east of the sea; and it will stop those who pass through: and there they will bury Gog and all his multitude; and they will call it The valley of Hamon-gog. 12 And seven months will the house of Israel be burying them, that they may cleanse the land. 13 Yes, all the people of the land will bury them; and it will be to them a renown in the day that I will be glorified, says the Sovereign Yahweh. 14 And they will set apart men of continual employment, who will pass through the land, and, with those who pass through, those who bury those who remain on the face of the land, to cleanse it: after the end of seven months they will search. 15 And those who pass through the land will pass through; and when any sees man's bone, then he will set up a sign by it, until the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamon-gog. 16 And Hamonah will also be the name of a city. Thus they will cleanse the land.

17 And you, Son of Man, thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Speak to the birds of every sort, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I sacrifice for you+, even a great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel, that you+ may eat flesh and drink blood. 18 You+ will eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan. 19 And you+ will eat fat until you+ are full, and drink blood until you+ are drunk, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you+. 20 And you+ will be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, says the Sovereign Yahweh.

21 And I will set my glory among the nations; and all the nations will see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid on them. 22 So the house of Israel will know that I am Yahweh their God, from that day and forward. 23 And the nations will know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity; because they trespassed against me, and I hid my face from them: so I gave them into the hand of their adversaries, and they fell all of them by the sword. 24 According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions I did to them; and I hid my face from them.

25 Therefore thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Now I will bring back the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for my holy name. 26 And they will bear their shame, and all their trespasses by which they have trespassed against me, when they will dwell securely in their land, and none will make them afraid; 27 when I have brought them back from the peoples, and gathered them out of their enemies' lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations. 28 And they will know that I am Yahweh their God, in that I caused them to go into captivity among the nations, and have gathered them to their own land; and I will leave none of them anymore there; 29 neither will I hide my face anymore from them; for I have poured out my Spirit on the house of Israel, says the Sovereign Yahweh.

40  In the five and twentieth year of our captivity, in the beginning of the year, in the tenth [day] of the month, in the fourteenth year after that the city was struck, in the very same day, the hand of Yahweh was on me, and he brought me there. 2 In the visions of God he brought me into the land of Israel, and set me down on a very high mountain, on which was, as it were the frame of a city on the south. 3 And he brought me there; and, look, there was a man, whose appearance was like the appearance of bronze, with a line of flax in his hand, and a measuring reed; and he stood in the gate. 4 And the man said to me, Son of Man, look with your eyes, and hear with your ears, and set your heart on all that I will show you; for, to the intent that I may show them to you, you were brought here: declare all that you see to the house of Israel.

5 And, look, a wall on the outside of the house round about, and in the man's hand a measuring reed six cubits long, of a cubit and a handbreadth each: so he measured the thickness of the building, one reed; and the height, one reed. 6 Then he came to the gate which looks toward the east, and went up its steps: and he measured the threshold of the gate, one reed broad; and the other threshold, one reed broad. 7 And every lodge was one reed long, and one reed broad; and [the space] between the lodges was five cubits; and the threshold of the gate by the porch of the gate toward the house was one reed. 8 He measured also the porch of the gate, 9 eight cubits; and its posts, two cubits; and the porch of the gate was toward the house. 10 And the lodges of the gate eastward were three on this side, and three on that side; the three of them were of one measure: and the posts had one measure on this side and on that side. 11 And he measured the width of the opening of the gate, ten cubits; and the length of the gate, thirteen cubits; 12 and a border before the lodges, one cubit [on this side], and a border, one cubit on that side; and the lodges, six cubits on this side, and six cubits on that side. 13 And he measured the gate from the roof of the one lodge to the roof of the other, a width of five and twenty cubits; door against door. 14 He also made posts, threescore cubits; and the court [went] all round the gate [reaching] to the posts. 15 And [from] the forefront of the gate at the entrance to the forefront of the inner porch of the gate were fifty cubits. 16 And there were closed windows to the lodges, and to their posts inside the gate round about, and likewise to the arches; and windows were round about inward; and on [each] post were palm-trees. 17 Then brought he me into the outer court; and, look, there were chambers and a pavement, made for the court round about: thirty chambers were on the pavement. 18 And the pavement was by the side of the gates, answerable to the length of the gates, even the lower pavement. 19 Then he measured the length from the forefront of the lower gate to the forefront of the inner court outside, a hundred cubits, [both] on the east and on the north.

20 And the gate of the outer court whose prospect is toward the north, he measured its length and its width. 21 And its lodges were three on this side and three on that side; and its posts and its arch was after the measure of the first gate: its length was fifty cubits, and the width five and twenty cubits. 22 And its windows, and its arch, and its palm-trees, were after the measure of the gate whose prospect is toward the east; and they went up to it by seven steps; and its arch was before them. 23 And there was a gate to the inner court opposite the [other] gate, [both] on the north and on the east; and he measured from gate to gate a hundred cubits.

24 And he led me toward the south; and, look, a gate toward the south: and he measured its posts and its arch according to these measures. 25 And there were windows in it and in its arch round about, like those windows: the length was fifty cubits, and the width five and twenty cubits. 26 And there were seven steps to go up to it, and its arch was before them; and it had palm-trees, one on this side, and another on that side, on its posts. 27 And there was a gate to the inner court toward the south: and he measured from gate to gate toward the south a hundred cubits.

28 Then he brought me to the inner court by the south gate: and he measured the south gate according to these measures; 29 and its lodges, and its posts, and its arch, according to these measures: and there were windows in it and in its arch round about; it was fifty cubits long, and five and twenty cubits broad. 30 And there were arches round about, five and twenty cubits long, and five cubits broad. 31 And its post was toward the outer court; and palm-trees were on its posts: and the ascent to it had eight steps.

32 And he brought me into the inner court toward the east: and he measured the gate according to these measures; 33 and its lodges, and its posts, and its arch, according to these measures: and there were windows in it and in its arch round about; it was fifty cubits long, and five and twenty cubits broad. 34 And its post was toward the outer court; and palm-trees were on its posts, on this side, and on that side: and the ascent to it had eight steps.

35 And he brought me to the north gate: and he measured [it] according to these measures; 36 its lodges, its posts, and its arch: and there were windows in it round about; the length was fifty cubits, and the width five and twenty cubits. 37 And its post was toward the outer court; and palm-trees were on its posts, on this side, and on that side: and the ascent to it had eight steps.

38 And a chamber with its door was by the posts at the gates; there they washed the burnt-offering. 39 And in the porch of the gate were two tables on this side, and two tables on that side, to slay on them the burnt-offering and the sin-offering and the trespass-offering. 40 And on the [one] side outside, as one goes up to the entry of the gate toward the north, were two tables; and on the other side, which belonged to the porch of the gate, were two tables. 41 Four tables were on this side, and four tables on that side, by the side of the gate; eight tables, on which they slew [the sacrifices]. 42 And there were four tables for the burnt-offering, of cut stone, a cubit and a half long, and a cubit and a half broad, and one cubit high; on which they laid the instruments with which they slew the burnt-offering and the sacrifice. 43 And the hooks, a handbreadth long, were fastened inside round about: and the flesh of the oblation [was brought] to the tables.

44 And outside the inner gate were chambers for the singers in the inner court, which was at the side of the north gate, and their prospects were toward the south; one at the side of the east gate having the prospect toward the north. 45 And he said to me, This chamber, whose prospect is toward the south, is for the priests, the keepers of the charge of the house; 46 and the chamber whose prospect is toward the north is for the priests, the keepers of the charge of the altar: these are the sons of Zadok, who from among the sons of Levi come near to Yahweh to minister to him. 47 And he measured the court, a hundred cubits long, and a hundred cubits broad, foursquare; and the altar was before the house.

48 Then he brought me to the porch of the house, and measured each post of the porch, five cubits on this side, and five cubits on that side: and the width of the gate was three cubits on this side, and three cubits on that side. 49 The length of the porch was twenty cubits, and the width eleven cubits; and on ten steps they went up to it: and there were pillars by the posts, one on this side, and another on that side.

41  And he brought me to the temple, and measured the posts, six cubits broad on the one side, and six cubits broad on the other side, which was the width of the tabernacle. 2 And the width of the entrance was ten cubits; and the sides of the entrance were five cubits on the one side, and five cubits on the other side: and he measured its length, forty cubits, and the width, twenty cubits. 3 Then went he inward, and measured each post of the entrance, two cubits; and the entrance, six cubits; and the width of the entrance, seven cubits. 4 And he measured its length, twenty cubits, and the width, twenty cubits, before the temple: and he said to me, This is the most holy place.

5 Then he measured the wall of the house, six cubits; and the width of every side-chamber, four cubits, round about the house on every side. 6 And the side-chambers were in three stories, one over another, and thirty in order; and they entered into the wall which belonged to the house for the side-chambers round about, that they might have hold, and not have hold in the wall of the house. 7 And the side-chambers were broader as they encompassed [the house] higher and higher; for the encompassing of the house went higher and higher round about the house: therefore the width of the house [continued] upward; and so one went up [from] the lowest [chamber] to the highest by the middle [chamber]. 8 I saw also that the house had a raised basement round about: the foundations of the side-chambers were a full reed of six great cubits. 9 The thickness of the wall, which was for the side-chambers, on the outside, was five cubits, and that which was left of the structure of the side rooms which belonged to the house. 10 And between the chambers was a width of twenty cubits round about the house on every side. 11 And the doors of the side-chambers were toward [the place] that was left, one door toward the north, and another door toward the south: and the width of the place that was left was five cubits round about.

12 And the building that was before the separate place at the side toward the west was seventy cubits broad; and the wall of the building was five cubits thick round about, and its length ninety cubits. 13 So he measured the house, a hundred cubits long; and the separate place, and the building, with its walls, a hundred cubits long; 14 also the width of the face of the house, and of the separate place toward the east, a hundred cubits.

15 And he measured the length of the building before the separate place which was at its back, and its galleries on the one side and on the other side, a hundred cubits; and the inner temple, and the arches of the court; 16 the thresholds, and the closed windows, and the galleries round about on their three stories, opposite the threshold, ceiled with wood round about, and [from] the ground up to the windows (now the windows were covered), 17 to [the space] above the door, even to the inner house, and outside, and by all the wall round about inside and outside, by measure. 18 And it was made with cherubim and palm-trees; and a palm-tree was between cherub and cherub, and every cherub had two faces; 19 so that there was the face of man toward the palm-tree on the one side, and the face of a young lion toward the palm-tree on the other side. [Thus was it] made through all the house round about: 20 from the ground to above the door were cherubim and palm-trees made: thus was the wall of the temple.

21 As for the temple, the door-posts were squared; and as for the face of the sanctuary, the appearance [of it] was as the appearance [of the temple]. 22 The altar was of wood, three cubits high, and its length two cubits; and its corners, and its length, and its walls, were of wood: and he said to me, This is the table that is before Yahweh. 23 And the temple and the sanctuary had two doors. 24 And the doors had two leaves [apiece], two turning leaves: two [leaves] for the one door, and two leaves for the other. 25 And there were made on them, on the doors of the temple, cherubim and palm-trees, like were made on the walls; and there was a threshold of wood on the face of the porch outside. 26 And there were closed windows and palm-trees on the one side and on the other side, on the sides of the porch: thus were the side-chambers of the house, and the thresholds.

42  Then he brought me forth into the outer court, the way toward the north: and he brought me into the chamber that was opposite the separate place, and which was opposite the building toward the north. 2 Before the length of a hundred cubits was the north door, and the width was fifty cubits. 3 Opposite the twenty [cubits] which belonged to the inner court, and opposite the pavement which belonged to the outer court, was gallery against gallery in the third story. 4 And before the chambers was a walk of ten cubits' width, and inward a passage of one cubit; and their doors were toward the north. 5 Now the upper chambers were shorter; for the galleries took away from these, more than from the lower and the middlemost, in the building. 6 For they were in three stories, and they did not have pillars as the pillars of the courts: therefore [the uppermost] was straitened more than the lowest and the middlemost from the ground. 7 And the wall that was outside by the side of the chambers, toward the outer court before the chambers, its length was fifty cubits. 8 For the length of the chambers that were in the outer court was fifty cubits: and, look, before the temple were a hundred cubits. 9 And from under these chambers was the entry on the east side, as one goes into them from the outer court.

10 In the thickness of the wall of the court toward the east, before the separate place and before the building, there were chambers, 11 and the way before them was like the appearance of [the way of] the chambers which were toward the north; according to their length so was their width, and all their egresses were both according to their fashions. And as their doors, 12 so were also the doors of the chambers that were toward the south was a door at the head of the way, even the way directly before the wall toward the east, as one enters into them.

13 Then he said to me, The north chambers and the south chambers, which are before the separate place, they are the holy chambers, where the priests who are near to Yahweh will eat the most holy things: there they will lay the most holy things, and the meal-offering, and the sin-offering, and the trespass-offering; for the place is holy. 14 When the priests enter in, then they will not go out of the holy place into the outer court, but there they will lay their garments in which they minister; for they are holy: and they will put on other garments, and will approach to that which pertains to the people.

15 Now when he had made an end of measuring the inner house, he brought me forth by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east, and measured it round about. 16 He measured on the east side with the measuring reed five hundred reeds, with the measuring reed round about. 17 He measured on the north side five hundred reeds with the measuring reed round about. 18 He measured on the south side five hundred reeds with the measuring reed. 19 And he turned about to the west side: he measured five hundred reeds with the measuring reed. 20 He measured it on the four sides: it had a wall round about, the length five hundred, and the width five hundred, to make a separation between that which was holy and that which was common.

43  Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looks toward the east. 2 And, look, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth shined with his glory. 3 And it was according to the appearance of the vision which I saw, even according to the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city; and the visions were like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell on my face. 4 And the glory of Yahweh came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east. 5 And the Spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court; and, look, the glory of Yahweh filled the house.

6 And I heard one speaking to me out of the house; and a man stood by me. 7 And he said to me, Son of Man, as for the place of my throne, and as for the place of the soles of my feet, [they will be] where I will stay in the midst of the sons of Israel forever. And the house of Israel will no more defile my holy name, neither they, nor their kings, by their prostitution, and by the dead bodies of their kings [in] their high places; 8 in their setting of their threshold by my threshold, and their door-post beside my door-post, and there was [but] the wall between me and them; and they have defiled my holy name by the disgusting behaviors that they have done: therefore I have consumed them in my anger. 9 Now let them put away their prostitution, and the dead bodies of their kings, far from me; and I will stay in the midst of them forever.

10 You, Son of Man, show the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and let them measure the pattern. 11 And if they are ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the form of the house, and its fashion, and its egresses, and its entrances, and all its forms, and all its ordinances, and all its forms, and all its laws; and write it in their sight; that they may keep its whole form, and all its ordinances, and do them. 12 This is the law of the house: on the top of the mountain the whole limit of it round about will be most holy. Look, this is the law of the house.

13 And these are the measures of the altar by cubits (the cubit is a cubit and a handbreadth): And a hole of one cubit and the width a cubit, and its border by its edge round about a span; and this will be the base of the altar. 14 And from the bottom on the ground to the lower ledge will be two cubits, and the width one cubit; and from the lesser ledge to the greater ledge will be four cubits, and the width a cubit. 15 And the upper altar will be four cubits; and from the altar hearth and upward there will be four horns. 16 And the altar hearth will be twelve [cubits] long by twelve broad, square in its four sides. 17 And the ledge will be fourteen [cubits] long by fourteen broad in its four sides; and the border about it will be half a cubit; and its bottom will be a cubit round about; and its steps will look toward the east.

18 And he said to me, Son of Man, thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: These are the ordinances of the altar in the day when they will make it, to offer burnt-offerings on it, and to sprinkle blood on it. 19 You will give to the priests the Levites who are of the seed of Zadok, who are near to me, to minister to me, says the Sovereign Yahweh, a young bull for a sin-offering. 20 And you will take of its blood, and put it on the four horns of it, and on the four corners of the ledge, and on the border round about: thus you will cleanse it and make atonement for it. 21 You will also take the bull of the sin-offering, and it will be burned in the appointed place of the house, outside the sanctuary. 22 And on the second day you will offer a he-goat without blemish for a sin-offering; and they will cleanse the altar, as they cleansed it with the bull. 23 When you have made an end of cleansing it, you will offer a young bull without blemish, and a ram out of the flock without blemish. 24 And you will bring them near before Yahweh, and the priests will cast salt on them, and they will offer them up for a burnt-offering to Yahweh. 25 Seven days you will prepare every day a goat for a sin-offering: they will also prepare a young bull, and a ram out of the flock, without blemish. 26 Seven days they will make atonement for the altar and purify it; so they will consecrate it. 27 And when they have accomplished the days, it will be that on the eighth day, and forward, the priests will make your+ burnt-offerings on the altar, and your+ peace-offerings; and I will accept you+, says the Sovereign Yahweh.

44  Then he brought me back by the way of the outer gate of the sanctuary, which looks toward the east; and it was shut. 2 And Yahweh said to me, This gate will be shut; it will not be opened, neither will any man enter in by it; for Yahweh, the God of Israel, has entered in by it; therefore it will be shut. 3 As for the prince, he will sit in it as prince to eat bread before Yahweh; he will enter by the way of the porch of the gate, and will go out by the way of the same.

4 Then he brought me by the way of the north gate before the house; and I looked and saw that the glory of Yahweh filled the house of Yahweh: and I fell on my face. 5 And Yahweh said to me, Son of Man, mark well, and look with your eyes, and hear with your ears all that I say to you concerning all the ordinances of the house of Yahweh, and all its laws; and mark well the entrance of the house, with every egress of the sanctuary. 6 And you will say to the rebellious, even to the house of Israel, Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: O you+ house of Israel, let it suffice you+ of all your+ disgusting behaviors, 7 in that you+ have brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to profane it, even my house, when you+ offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant, [to add] to all your+ disgusting behaviors.[481] 8 And you+ have not kept the charge of my holy things; but you+ have set keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for yourselves.

9 Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh, No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, will enter into my sanctuary, of any foreigners who are among the sons of Israel. 10 But the Levites who went far from me, when Israel went astray, who went astray from me after their idols, they will bear their iniquity. 11 Yet they will be ministering in my sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the house, and ministering in the house: they will slay the burnt-offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they will stand before them to minister to them. 12 Because they ministered to them before their idols, and became a stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel; therefore I have lifted up my hand against them, says the Sovereign Yahweh, and they will bear their iniquity. 13 And they will not come near to me, to execute the office of priest to me, nor to come near to any of my holy things, to the things that are most holy; but they will bear their shame, and the disgusting things that they have done. 14 Yet I will make them keepers of the charge of the house, for all its service, and for all that will be done in it.

15 But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, who kept the charge of my sanctuary when the sons of Israel went astray from me, they will come near to me to minister to me; and they will stand before me to offer to me the fat and the blood, says the Sovereign Yahweh: 16 they will enter into my sanctuary, and they will come near to my table, to minister to me, and they will keep my charge. 17 And it will be that, when they enter in at the gates of the inner court, they will be clothed with linen garments; and no wool will come upon them, while they minister in the gates of the inner court, and inside. 18 They will have linen tires on their heads, and will have linen breeches on their loins; they will not gird themselves with [anything that causes] sweat. 19 And when they go forth into the outer court to the people, they will put off their garments in which they minister, and lay them in the holy chambers; and they will put on other garments, that they do not sanctify the people with their garments. 20 Neither will they shave their heads, nor allow their locks to grow long; they will only cut off the hair of their heads. 21 Neither will any of the priests drink wine, when they enter into the inner court. 22 Neither will they take for their wives a widow, nor her who is put away; but they will take virgins of the seed of the house of Israel, or a widow who is the widow of a priest. 23 And they will teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean. 24 And in a controversy they will stand to judge; according to my ordinances they will judge it: and they will keep my laws and my statutes in all my appointed feasts; and they will hallow my Sabbaths. 25 And they will go in to no dead of man to defile themselves; but for father, or for mother, or for son, or for daughter, for brother, or for sister who has had no husband, they may defile themselves. 26 And after he is cleansed, they will reckon to him seven days. 27 And in the day that he goes into the sanctuary, into the inner court, to minister in the sanctuary, he will offer his sin-offering, says the Sovereign Yahweh.

28 And they will have an inheritance: I am their inheritance; and you+ will give them no possession in Israel; I am their possession. 29 They will eat the meal-offering, and the sin-offering, and the trespass-offering; and every devoted thing in Israel will be theirs. 30 And the first of all the first fruits of every thing, and every oblation of everything, of all your+ oblations, will be for the priest: you+ will also give to the priests the first of your+ dough, to cause a blessing to rest on your house. 31 The priests will not eat of anything that dies of itself, or is torn, whether it is bird or beast.

45  Moreover, when you+ will divide by lot the land for inheritance, you+ will offer an oblation to Yahweh, a holy portion of the land; the length will be the length of five and twenty thousand [reeds], and the width will be twenty thousand: it will be holy in all its border round about. 2 Of this there will be for the holy place five hundred [in length] by five hundred [in width], square round about; and fifty cubits for its suburbs round about. 3 And of this measure you will measure a length of five and twenty thousand, and a width of ten thousand: and in it will be the sanctuary, which is most holy. 4 It is a holy portion of the land; it will be for the priests, the ministers of the sanctuary, who come near to minister to Yahweh; and it will be a place for their houses, and a holy place for the sanctuary. 5 And five and twenty thousand in length, and ten thousand in width, will be to the Levites, the ministers of the house, for a possession to themselves, [for] cities to live in. 6 And you+ will appoint the possession of the city five thousand broad, and five and twenty thousand long, side by side with the oblation of the holy portion: it will be for the whole house of Israel. 7 And [whatever is] for the prince [will be] on the one side and on the other side of the holy oblation and of the possession of the city, in front of the holy oblation and in front of the possession of the city, on the west side westward, and on the east side eastward; and in length answerable to one of the portions, from the west border to the east border. 8 In the land it will be to him for a possession in Israel: and my princes will no more oppress my people; but they will give the land to the house of Israel according to their tribes.

9 Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Let it suffice you+, O princes of Israel: remove violence and spoil, and execute justice and righteousness; take away your+ exactions from my people, says the Sovereign Yahweh. 10 You+ will have just balances, and a just ephah, and a just bath. 11 The ephah and the bath will be of one measure, that the bath may contain the tenth part of a homer, and the ephah the tenth part of a homer: its measure will be after the homer. 12 And the shekel will be twenty gerahs; twenty shekels, five and twenty shekels, fifteen shekels, will be your+ maneh.

13 This is the oblation that you+ will offer: the sixth part of an ephah from a homer of wheat; and you+ will give the sixth part of an ephah from a homer of barley; 14 and the set portion of oil, of the bath of oil, the tenth part of a bath out of the cor, [which is] ten baths, even a homer (for ten baths are a homer); 15 and one lamb of the flock, out of two hundred, from the well-watered pastures of Israel; -for a meal-offering, and for a burnt-offering, and for peace-offerings, to make atonement for them, says the Sovereign Yahweh. 16 All the people of the land will give to this oblation for the prince in Israel. 17 And it will be the prince's part to give the burnt-offerings, and the meal-offerings, and the drink-offerings, in the feasts, and on the new moons, and on the Sabbaths, in all the appointed feasts of the house of Israel: he will prepare the sin-offering, and the meal-offering, and the burnt-offering, and the peace-offerings, to make atonement for the house of Israel.

18 Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: In the first [month], in the first [day] of the month, you will take a young bull without blemish; and you will cleanse the sanctuary. 19 And the priest will take of the blood of the sin-offering, and put it on the door-posts of the house, and on the four corners of the ledge of the altar, and on the posts of the gate of the inner court. 20 And so you will do on the seventh [day] of the month for everyone who errs, and for him who is simple: so you+ will make atonement for the house.

21 In the first [month], in the fourteenth day of the month, you+ will have the Passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread will be eaten. 22 And on that day the prince will prepare for himself and for all the people of the land a bull for a sin-offering. 23 And the seven days of the feast he will prepare a burnt-offering to Yahweh, seven bullocks and seven rams without blemish daily the seven days; and a he-goat daily for a sin-offering. 24 And he will prepare a meal-offering, an ephah for a bull, and an ephah for a ram, and a hin of oil to an ephah. 25 In the seventh [month], in the fifteenth day of the month, in the feast, he will do the like the seven days; according to the sin-offering, according to the burnt-offering, and according to the meal-offering, and according to the oil.

46  Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: The gate of the inner court that looks toward the east will be shut the six working days; but on the Sabbath day it will be opened, and on the day of the new moon it will be opened. 2 And the prince will enter by the way of the porch of the gate outside, and will stand by the post of the gate; and the priests will prepare his burnt-offering and his peace-offerings, and he will worship at the threshold of the gate: then he will go forth; but the gate will not be shut until the evening. 3 And the people of the land will worship at the door of that gate before Yahweh on the Sabbaths and on the new moons. 4 And the burnt-offering that the prince will offer to Yahweh will be on the Sabbath day six lambs without blemish and a ram without blemish; 5 and the meal-offering will be an ephah for the ram, and the meal-offering for the lambs as he is able to give, and a hin of oil to an ephah.

6 And on the day of the new moon it will be a young bull without blemish, and six lambs, and a ram; they will be without blemish: 7 and he will prepare a meal-offering, an ephah for the bull, and an ephah for the ram, and for the lambs according to as he is able, and a hin of oil to an ephah. 8 And when the prince will enter, he will go in by the way of the porch of the gate, and he will go forth by the way of it.

9 But when the people of the land will come before Yahweh in the appointed feasts, he who enters by the way of the north gate to worship will go forth by the way of the south gate; and he who enters by the way of the south gate will go forth by the way of the north gate: he will not return by the way of the gate by which he came in, but will go forth straight before him. 10 And the prince, when they go in, will go in in the midst of them; and when they go forth, they will go forth [together]. 11 And in the feasts and in the solemnities the meal-offering will be an ephah for a bull, and an ephah for a ram, and for the lambs as he is able to give, and a hin of oil to an ephah. 12 And when the prince will prepare a freewill-offering, a burnt-offering or peace-offerings as a freewill-offering to Yahweh, one will open for him the gate that looks toward the east; and he will prepare his burnt-offering and his peace-offerings, as he does on the Sabbath day: then he will go forth; and after his going forth one will shut the gate.

13 And you will prepare a lamb a year old without blemish for a burnt-offering to Yahweh daily: morning by morning you will prepare it. 14 And you will prepare a meal-offering with it morning by morning, the sixth part of an ephah, and the third part of a hin of oil, to moisten the fine flour; a meal-offering to Yahweh continually by perpetual ordinances. 15 Thus they will prepare the lamb, and the meal-offering, and the oil, morning by morning, for a continual burnt-offering.

16 Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: If the prince gives a gift to any of his sons, it is his inheritance, it will belong to his sons; it is their possession by inheritance. 17 But if he gives of his inheritance a gift to one of his slaves, it will be his to the year of liberty; then it will return to the prince; but as for his inheritance, it will be for his sons. 18 Moreover the prince will not take of the people's inheritance, to thrust them out of their possession; he will give inheritance to his sons out of his own possession, that my people are not scattered every man from his possession.

19 Then he brought me through the entry, which was at the side of the gate, into the holy chambers for the priests, which looked toward the north: and, see, there was a place on the hinder part westward. 20 And he said to me, This is the place where the priests will boil the trespass-offering and the sin-offering, [and] where they will bake the meal-offering; that they do not bring them forth into the outer court, to sanctify the people. 21 Then he brought me forth into the outer court, and caused me to pass by the four corners of the court; and, look, in every corner of the court there was a court. 22 In the four corners of the court there were courts enclosed, forty [cubits] long and thirty broad: these four set into the corners were of one measure. 23 And there was a wall round about in them, round about the four, and boiling-places were made under the walls round about. 24 Then he said to me, These are the boiling-houses, where the ministers of the house will boil the sacrifice of the people.

47  And he brought me back to the door of the house; and, look, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward (for the forefront of the house was toward the east); and the waters came down from under, from the right side of the house, on the south of the altar. 2 Then he brought me out by the way of the gate northward, and led me round by the way outside to the outer gate, by the way of [the gate] that looks toward the east; and, look, there ran out waters on the right side.

3 When the man went forth eastward with the line in his hand, he measured a thousand cubits, and he caused me to pass through the waters, waters that were to the ankles. 4 Again he measured a thousand, and caused me to pass through the waters, waters that were to the knees. Again he measured a thousand, and caused me to pass through [the waters], waters that were to the loins. 5 Afterward he measured a thousand; [and it was] a river that I could not pass through; for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed through.

6 And he said to me, Son of Man, have you seen [this]? Then he brought me, and caused me to return to the bank of the river. 7 Now when I had returned, look, on the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other. 8 Then he said to me, These waters issue forth toward the eastern region, and will go down into the Arabah; and they will go toward the sea; into the sea [will the waters go] which were made to issue forth; and the waters will be healed. 9 And it will come to pass, that every living soul which swarms, in every place where the rivers[482] come, will live; and there will be a very great multitude of fish; for these waters have come there, and [the waters of the sea] will be healed, and everything will live wherever the river comes. 10 And it will come to pass, that fishers will stand by it: from En-gedi even to En-eglaim will be a place for the spreading of nets; their fish will be after their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceedingly many. 11 But its miry places, and its marshes, will not be healed; they will be given up to salt. 12 And by the river on its bank, on this side and on that side, will grow every tree for food, whose leaf will not wither, neither will its fruit fail: it will bring forth new fruit every month, because its waters issue out of the sanctuary; and its fruit will be for food, and its leaf for healing.

13 Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: This will be the border, by which you+ will divide the land for inheritance according to the twelve tribes of Israel: Joseph [will have two] portions. 14 And you+ will inherit it, one as well as another; for I swore to give it to your+ fathers: and this land will fall to you+ for inheritance.

15 And this will be the border of the land: On the north side, from the great sea, by the way of Hethlon, to the entrance of Zedad; 16 Hamath, Berothah, Sibraim, which is between the border of Damascus and the border of Hamath; Hazer-hatticon, which is by the border of Hauran. 17 And the border from the sea, will be Hazar-enon at the border of Damascus; and on the north northward is the border of Hamath. This is the north side. 18 And the east side, between Hauran and Damascus and Gilead, and the land of Israel, will be the Jordan from the border to the east sea as far as Tamar. This is the east side. 19 And the south side southward will be from Tamar as far as the waters of Meriboth-kadesh, to the brook [of Egypt], to the great sea. This is the south side southward. 20 And the west side will be the great sea, from the border as far as opposite the entrance of Hamath. This is the west side.

21 So you+ will divide this land to you+ according to the tribes of Israel. 22 And it will come to pass, that you+ will divide it by lot for an inheritance to you+ and to the strangers who sojourn among you+, who will beget sons among you+; and they will be to you+ as the home-born among the sons of Israel; they will have inheritance with you+ among the tribes of Israel. 23 And it will come to pass, that in what tribe the stranger sojourns, there you+ will give him his inheritance, says the Sovereign Yahweh.

48  Now these are the names of the tribes: From the north end, beside the way of Hethlon to the entrance of Hamath, Hazar-enan at the border of Damascus, northward beside Hamath (and they will have their sides east [and] west), Dan, one [portion]. 2 And by the border of Dan, from the east side to the west side, Asher, one [portion]. 3 And by the border of Asher, from the east side even to the west side, Naphtali, one [portion]. 4 And by the border of Naphtali, from the east side to the west side, Manasseh, one [portion]. 5 And by the border of Manasseh, from the east side to the west side, Ephraim, one [portion]. 6 And by the border of Ephraim, from the east side even to the west side, Reuben, one [portion]. 7 And by the border of Reuben, from the east side to the west side, Judah, one [portion].

8 And by the border of Judah, from the east side to the west side, will be the oblation which you+ will offer, five and twenty thousand [reeds] in width, and in length as one of the portions, from the east side to the west side: and the sanctuary will be in the midst of it. 9 The oblation that you+ will offer to Yahweh will be five and twenty thousand [reeds] in length, and ten thousand in width. 10 And for these, even for the priests, will be the holy oblation; toward the north five and twenty thousand [in length], and toward the west ten thousand in width, and toward the east ten thousand in width, and toward the south five and twenty thousand in length: and the sanctuary of Yahweh will be in the midst of it. 11 [It will be] for the priests who are sanctified, the sons of Zadok, who have kept my charge, who did not go astray when the sons of Israel went astray, as the Levites went astray. 12 And it will be to them an oblation from the oblation of the land, a thing most holy, by the border of the Levites.

13 And answerable to the border of the priests, the Levites will have five and twenty thousand in length, and ten thousand in width: all the length will be five and twenty thousand, and the width ten thousand. 14 And they will sell none of it, nor exchange it, nor will the first fruits of the land be alienated; for it is holy to Yahweh.

15 And the five thousand that are left in the width, in front of the five and twenty thousand, will be for common use, for the city, for dwelling and for suburbs; and the city will be in the midst of it. 16 And these will be its measures: the north side four thousand and five hundred, and the south side four thousand and five hundred, and on the east side four thousand and five hundred, and the west side four thousand and five hundred. 17 And the city will have suburbs: toward the north two hundred and fifty, and toward the south two hundred and fifty, and toward the east two hundred and fifty, and toward the west two hundred and fifty. 18 And the residue in the length, answerable to the holy oblation, will be ten thousand eastward, and ten thousand westward; and it will be answerable to the holy oblation; and its increase will be for food to those who labor in the city. 19 And those who labor in the city, out of all the tribes of Israel, will till it. 20 All the oblation will be five and twenty thousand by five and twenty thousand: you+ will offer the holy oblation foursquare, with the possession of the city.

21 And the residue will be for the prince, on the one side and on the other of the holy oblation and of the possession of the city; in front of the five and twenty thousand of the oblation toward the east border, and westward in front of the five and twenty thousand toward the west border, answerable to the portions, it will be for the prince: and the holy oblation and the sanctuary of the house will be in the midst of it. 22 Moreover from the possession of the Levites, and from the possession of the city, being in the midst of that which is the prince's, between the border of Judah and the border of Benjamin, it will be for the prince.

23 And as for the rest of the tribes: from the east side to the west side, Benjamin, one [portion]. 24 And by the border of Benjamin, from the east side to the west side, Simeon, one [portion]. 25 And by the border of Simeon, from the east side to the west side, Issachar, one [portion]. 26 And by the border of Issachar, from the east side to the west side, Zebulun, one [portion]. 27 And by the border of Zebulun, from the east side to the west side, Gad, one [portion]. 28 And by the border of Gad, at the south side southward, the border will be even from Tamar, the waters of Meribath-kadesh, to the brook [of Egypt], to the great sea. 29 This is the land which you+ will divide by lot to the tribes of Israel for inheritance, and these are their several portions, says the Sovereign Yahweh.

30 And these are the egresses of the city: On the north side four thousand and five hundred [reeds] by measure; 31 and the gates of the city will be after the names of the tribes of Israel, three gates northward: the gate of Reuben, one; the gate of Judah, one; the gate of Levi, one. 32 And at the east side four thousand and five hundred [reeds], and three gates: even the gate of Joseph, one; the gate of Benjamin, one; the gate of Dan, one. 33 And at the south side four thousand and five hundred [reeds] by measure, and three gates: the gate of Simeon, one; the gate of Issachar, one; the gate of Zebulun, one. 34 At the west side four thousand and five hundred [reeds], with their three gates: the gate of Gad, one; the gate of Asher, one; the gate of Naphtali, one. 35 It will be eighteen thousand [reeds] round about: and the name of the city from that day will be, Yahweh is there.

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Daniel

1  In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to Jerusalem, and besieged it. 2 And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God; and he carried them into the land of Shinar to the house of his god: and he brought the vessels into the treasure-house of his god. 3 And the king spoke to Ashpenaz the master of his eunuchs, that he should bring in [certain] of the sons of Israel, even of the royal seed and of the nobles; 4 youths in whom was no blemish, but well-favored, and skillful in all wisdom, and endued with knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability to stand in the king's palace; and that he should teach them the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans. 5 And the king appointed for them a daily portion of the king's dainties, and of the wine which he drank, and that they should be nourished three years; that at the end of it they should stand before the king. 6 Now among these were, of the sons of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. 7 And the prince of the eunuchs gave names to them: to Daniel he gave [the name of] Belteshazzar; and to Hananiah, [of] Shadrach; and to Mishael, [of] Meshach; and to Azariah, [of] Abed-nego.

8 But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the king's dainties, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. 9 Now God made Daniel to find kindness and compassion in the sight of the prince of the eunuchs. 10 And the prince of the eunuchs said to Daniel, I fear my lord the king, who has appointed your+ food and your+ drink: for why should he see your+ faces worse looking than the youths who are of your+ own age? So you+ would endanger my head with the king. 11 Then Daniel said to the steward whom the prince of the eunuchs had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: 12 Prove your slaves, I urge you, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink. 13 Then let our countenances be looked on before you, and the countenance of the youths who eat of the king's dainties; and as you see, deal with your slaves.

14 So he listened to them in this matter, and proved them ten days. 15 And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer, and they were fatter in flesh, than all the youths who ate of the king's dainties. 16 So the steward took away their dainties, and the wine that they should drink, and gave them pulse.

17 Now as for these four youths, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. 18 And at the end of the days which the king had appointed for bringing them in, the prince of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. 19 And the king communed with them; and among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: therefore stood they before the king. 20 And in every matter of wisdom and understanding, concerning which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the sacred scholars[483] and psychics[484] who were in all his realm. 21 And Daniel continued even to the first year of King Cyrus.

2  And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams; and his spirit was troubled, and his sleep went from him. 2 Then the king commanded to call the sacred scholars, and the psychics, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king. 3 And the king said to them, I have dreamed a dream, and my spirit is troubled to know the dream. 4 Then the Chaldeans spoke to the king in the Syrian language, O king, live forever: tell your slaves the dream, and we will show the interpretation. 5 The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, The thing has gone from me: if you+ don't make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you+ will be cut in pieces, and your+ houses will be made a dunghill. 6 But if you+ show the dream and its interpretation, you+ will receive of me gifts and rewards and great honor: therefore show me the dream and its interpretation. 7 They answered the second time and said, Let the king tell his slaves the dream, and we will show the interpretation. 8 The king answered and said, I know of a certainty that you+ would gain time, because you+ see the thing has gone from me. 9 But if you+ don't make known to me the dream, there is but one law for you+; for you+ have prepared lying and corrupt words to speak before me, until the time is changed: therefore tell me the dream, and I will know that you+ can show me its interpretation. 10 The Chaldeans answered before the king, and said, There is not a man on the earth that can show the king's matter, since no king, lord, or ruler, has asked such a thing of any sacred scholar, or psychic, or Chaldean. 11 And it is a rare thing that the king requires, and there is no other that can show it before the king, except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh. 12 For this cause the king was angry and very furious, and commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. 13 So the decree went forth, and the wise men were to be slain; and they sought Daniel and his colleagues to be slain.

14 Then Daniel returned answer with counsel and prudence to Arioch the captain of the king's guard, who had gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon; 15 he answered and said to Arioch the king's captain, Why is the decree so urgent from the king? Then Arioch made the thing known to Daniel. 16 And Daniel went in, and desired of the king that he would appoint him a time, and he would show the king the interpretation.

17 Then Daniel went to his house, and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his colleagues: 18 that they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret; that Daniel and his colleagues should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. 19 Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. 20 Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God forever and ever; for wisdom and might are his. 21 And he changes the times and the seasons; he removes kings, and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to those who have understanding; 22 he reveals the deep and secret things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him. 23 I thank you, and praise you, O you God of my fathers, who have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what we desired of you; for you have made known to us the king's matter. 24 Therefore Daniel went in to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon; he went and said thus to him: Don't destroy the wise men of Babylon; bring me in before the king, and I will show to the king the interpretation.

25 Then Arioch brought in Daniel before the king in a hurry, and said thus to him, I have found a [prominent] man of the sons of the captivity of Judah, that will make known to the king the interpretation. 26 The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, Are you able to make known to me the dream which I have seen, and its interpretation? 27 Daniel answered before the king, and said, The secret which the king has demanded can neither wise men, psychics, sacred scholars, nor astrologers, show to the king; 28 but there is a God in heaven that reveals secrets, and he has made known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. Your dream, and the visions of your head on your bed, are these: 29 as for you, O king, your thoughts came [into your mind] on your bed, what should come to pass hereafter; and he who reveals secrets has made known to you what will come to pass. 30 But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living, but to the intent that the interpretation may be made known to the king, and that you may know the thoughts of your heart.

31 You, O king, looked, and saw a great image. This image, which was mighty, and whose brightness was excellent, stood before you; and its aspect was terrible. 32 As for this image, its head was of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, its feet part of iron, and part of clay. 34 You saw until a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet that were of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, were broken in pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors; and the wind carried them away, so that no place was found for them: and the stone that struck the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.

36 This is the dream; and we will tell its interpretation before the king. 37 You, O king, are king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, and the strength, and the glory; 38 and wherever the sons of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens he has given into your hand, and has made you to rule over them all: you are the head of gold. 39 And after you will arise another kingdom inferior to you; and another third kingdom of bronze, which will bear rule over all the earth. 40 And the fourth kingdom will be strong as iron, since iron breaks in pieces and subdues all things; and as iron that crushes all these, it will break in pieces and crush. 41 And whereas you saw the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, it will be a divided kingdom; but there will be in it of the strength of the iron, since you saw the iron mixed with miry clay. 42 And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom will be partly strong, and partly broken. 43 And whereas you saw the iron mixed with miry clay, they will mingle themselves with the seed of men; but they will not stick one to another, even as iron does not mingle with clay. 44 And in the days of those kings will the God of heaven set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, nor will its sovereignty be left to another people; but it will break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it will stand forever. 45 Since you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and its interpretation sure.

46 Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face, and worshiped Daniel, and commanded that they should offer an oblation and sweet odors to him. 47 The king answered to Daniel, and said, Of a truth your+ God is the God of gods, and the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing you have been able to reveal this secret. 48 Then the king made Daniel great, and gave him many great gifts, and made him to rule over the whole province of Babylon, and to be chief governor over all the wise men of Babylon. 49 And Daniel requested of the king, and he appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, over the affairs of the province of Babylon: but Daniel was in the gate of the king.

3  Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and its width six cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. 2 Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the satraps, the deputies, and the governors, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. 3 Then the satraps, the deputies, and the governors, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, were gathered together to the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. 4 Then the herald cried aloud, To you+ it is commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages, 5 that at what time you+ hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, lyre, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music, you+ fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king has set up; 6 and whoever does not fall down and worship will the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. 7 Therefore at that time, when all the peoples heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, lyre, psaltery, and all kinds of music, all the peoples, the nations, and the languages, fell down and worshiped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.

8 Therefore at that time [prominent] men, Chaldeans, came near and brought accusation against the Jews. 9 They answered and said to Nebuchadnezzar the king, O king, live forever. 10 You, O king, have made a decree, that every man who will hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, lyre, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, will fall down and worship the golden image; 11 and whoever does not fall down and worship, will be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. 12 There are Jewish [prominent] men whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego; these [prominent] men, O king, have not regarded you: they don't serve your gods, nor worship the golden image which you have set up.

13 Then Nebuchadnezzar in [his] rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. Then they brought these [prominent] men before the king. 14 Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, Is it on purpose, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, that you+ don't serve my god, nor worship the golden image which I have set up? 15 Now if you+ are ready that at what time you+ hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, lyre, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, you+ fall down and worship the image which I have made, [well]: but if you+ don't worship, you+ will be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that god who will deliver you+ out of my hands? 16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. 17 If it is [so], our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace; and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. 18 But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods, nor worship the golden image which you have set up.

19 Then Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego: [therefore] he spoke, and commanded that they should heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated. 20 And he commanded mighty [prominent] men who were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, [and] to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. 21 Then these [prominent] men were bound in their hosen, their tunics, and their mantles, and their [other] garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. 22 Therefore because the king's commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceedingly hot, the flame of the fire slew those [prominent] men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. 23 And these three [prominent] men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.

24 Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished, and rose up in a hurry: he spoke and said to his counselors, Didn't we cast three [prominent] men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said to the king, True, O king. 25 He answered and said, Look, I see four [prominent] men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the aspect of the fourth is like a son of the gods. 26 Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the opening of the burning fiery furnace: he spoke and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, you+ slaves of the Most High God, come forth, and come here. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego came forth out of the midst of the fire. 27 And the satraps, the deputies, and the governors, and the king's counselors, being gathered together, saw these [prominent] men, that the fire had no power on their bodies, nor was the hair of their head singed, neither were their hosen changed, nor had the smell of fire passed on them.

28 Nebuchadnezzar spoke and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, who has sent his angel, and delivered his slaves who trusted in him, and have changed the king's word, and have yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God. 29 Therefore I make a decree, that every people, nation, and language, which speak anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, will be cut in pieces, and their houses will be made a dunghill; because there is no other god that is able to deliver after this sort. 30 Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego in the province of Babylon.

4  Nebuchadnezzar the king, to all the peoples, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied to you+. 2 It has seemed good to me to show the signs and wonders that the Most High God has wrought toward me. 3 How great are his signs! And how mighty are his wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to generation.

4 I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at rest in my house, and flourishing in my palace. 5 I saw a dream which made me afraid; and the thoughts on my bed and the visions of my head troubled me. 6 Therefore I made a decree to bring in all the wise men of Babylon before me, that they might make known to me the interpretation of the dream. 7 Then the sacred scholars, the psychics, the Chaldeans, and the astrologers came in; and I told the dream before them; but they did not make known to me its interpretation. 8 But at the last Daniel came in before me, whose name was Belteshazzar, according to the name of my god, and in whom is the spirit of the holy gods: and I told the dream before him, [saying,] 9 O Belteshazzar, master of the sacred scholars, because I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in you, and no secret troubles you, tell me the visions of my dream that I have seen, and its interpretation. 10 Thus were the visions of my head on my bed: I looked, and saw a tree in the midst of the earth; and its height was great. 11 The tree grew, and was strong, and its height reached to heaven, and its sight to the end of all the earth. 12 Its leaves were fair, and its fruit much, and in it was food for all: the beasts of the field had shadow under it, and the birds of the heavens dwelt in its branches, and all flesh was fed from it. 13 I saw in the visions of my head on my bed, and, look, a watcher and a holy one came down from heaven. 14 He cried aloud, and said thus, Cut down the tree, and cut off its branches, shake off its leaves, and scatter its fruit: let the beasts get away from under it, and the fowls from its branches. 15 Nevertheless leave the stump of its roots in the earth, even with a band of iron and bronze, in the tender grass of the field; and let it be wet with the dew of heaven: and let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth: 16 let his heart be changed from man's, and let a beast's heart be given to him; and let seven times pass over him. 17 The sentence is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones; to the intent that the living may know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever he will, and sets up over it the lowest of men. 18 This dream I, King Nebuchadnezzar, have seen; and you, O Belteshazzar, declare the interpretation, since all the wise men of my kingdom are not able to make known to me the interpretation; but you are able; for the spirit of the holy gods is in you.

19 Then Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was stricken mute for awhile, and his thoughts troubled him. The king answered and said, Belteshazzar, don't let the dream, or the interpretation, trouble you. Belteshazzar answered and said, My lord, the dream be to those who hate you, and its interpretation to your adversaries. 20 The tree that you saw, which grew, and was strong, whose height reached to heaven, and its sight to all the earth; 21 whose leaves were fair, and its fruit much, and in it was food for all; under which the beasts of the field dwelt, and on whose branches the birds of the heavens stayed: 22 it is you, O king, that have grown and become strong; for your greatness has grown, and reaches to heaven, and your dominion to the end of the earth. 23 And whereas the king saw a watcher and a holy one coming down from heaven, and saying, Cut down the tree, and destroy it; nevertheless leave the stump of its roots in the earth, even with a band of iron and bronze, in the tender grass of the field, and let it be wet with the dew of heaven: and let his portion be with the beasts of the field, until seven times pass over him; 24 this is the interpretation, O king, and it is the decree of the Most High, which has come upon my lord the king: 25 that you will be driven from men, and your dwelling will be with the beasts of the field, and you will be made to eat grass as oxen, and will be wet with the dew of heaven, and seven times will pass over you; until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever he will. 26 And whereas they commanded to leave the stump of the roots of the tree; your kingdom will be sure to you, after that you will have known that the heavens do rule. 27 Therefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable to you, and break off your sins by righteousness, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor; if there may be a lengthening of your tranquility.

28 All this came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar. 29 At the end of twelve months he was walking in the royal palace of Babylon. 30 The king spoke and said, Is not this great Babylon, which I have built for the royal dwelling-place, by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty? 31 While the word was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, [saying,] O King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: The kingdom has departed from you: 32 and you will be driven from men; and your dwelling will be with the beasts of the field; you will be made to eat grass as oxen; and seven times will pass over you; until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever he will. 33 The same hour was the thing fulfilled on Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven from men, and ate grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, until his hair was grown like eagles' [feathers], and his nails like birds' [claws].

34 And at the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored him who lives forever; for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom from generation to generation. 35 And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; and he does according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can hold back his hand, or say to him, What are you doing? 36 At the same time my understanding returned to me; and for the glory of my kingdom, my majesty and brightness returned to me; and my counselors and my lords sought to me; and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent greatness was added to me. 37 Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven; for all his works are truth, and his ways justice; and those who walk in pride he is able to abase.

5  Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand. 2 Belshazzar, while he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king and his lords, his wives and his concubines, might drink from them. 3 Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem; and the king and his lords, his wives and his concubines, drank from them. 4 They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of bronze, of iron, of wood, and of stone. 5 In the same hour came forth the fingers of a man's hand, and wrote across from the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. 6 Then the king's countenance was changed in him, and his thoughts troubled him; and the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees struck one against another. 7 The king cried aloud to bring in the psychics, the Chaldeans, and the astrologers. The king spoke and said to the wise men of Babylon, Whoever will read this writing, and show me its interpretation, will be clothed with purple, and have a chain of gold about his neck, and will be the third ruler in the kingdom. 8 Then all the king's wise men came in; but they could not read the writing, nor make known to the king the interpretation. 9 Then King Belshazzar was greatly troubled, and his countenance was changed in him, and his lords were perplexed.

10 [Now] the queen by reason of the words of the king and his lords came into the banquet house: the queen spoke and said, O king, live forever; don't let your thoughts trouble you, nor let your countenance be changed. 11 There is a [prominent] man in your kingdom, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods; and in the days of your father light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, were found in him; and the king Nebuchadnezzar your father, the king, [I say], your father, made him master of the sacred scholars, psychics, Chaldeans, and astrologers; 12 since an excellent spirit, and knowledge, and understanding, interpreting of dreams, and showing of dark sentences, and dissolving of doubts, were found in the same Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar. Now let Daniel be called, and he will show the interpretation.

13 Then Daniel was brought in before the king. The king spoke and said to Daniel, Are you that Daniel, who is of the sons of the captivity of Judah, whom the king my father brought out of Judah? 14 I have heard of you, that the spirit of the gods is in you, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom are found in you. 15 And now the wise men, the psychics, have been brought in before me, that they should read this writing, and make known to me its interpretation; but they could not show the interpretation of the thing. 16 But I have heard of you, that you can give interpretations, and dissolve doubts; now if you can read the writing, and make known to me its interpretation, you will be clothed with purple, and have a chain of gold about your neck, and will be the third ruler in the kingdom.

17 Then Daniel answered and said before the king, Let your gifts be to yourself, and give your rewards to another; nevertheless I will read the writing to the king, and make known to him the interpretation. 18 You, O king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father the kingdom, and greatness, and glory, and majesty: 19 and because of the greatness that he gave him, all the peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him: whom he would he slew, and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he raised up, and whom he would he put down. 20 But when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit was hardened so that he dealt proudly, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him: 21 and he was driven from the sons of men, and his heart was made like the beasts', and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys; he was fed with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven; until he knew that the Most High God rules in the kingdom of men, and that he sets up over it whomever he will. 22 And you his son, O Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this, 23 but have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before you, and you and your lords, your wives and your concubines, have drank wine from them; and you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which don't see, nor hear, nor know; and the God in whose hand is your breath, and are all your ways, you have not glorified. 24 Then was the part of the hand sent from before him, and this writing was inscribed.

25 And this is the writing that was inscribed: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. 26 This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God has numbered your kingdom, and brought it to an end; 27 TEKEL; you are weighed in the balances, and are found wanting. 28 PERES; your kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.

29 Then Belshazzar commanded, and they clothed Daniel with purple, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom.

30 In that night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was slain. 31 And Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old.

6  It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom a hundred and twenty satraps, who should be throughout the whole kingdom; 2 and over them three presidents, of whom Daniel was one; that these satraps might give account to them, and that the king should have no damage. 3 Then this Daniel was distinguished above the presidents and the satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king thought to set him over the whole realm.

4 Then the presidents and the satraps sought to find occasion against Daniel as concerning the kingdom; but they could find no occasion nor fault, since he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him. 5 Then these [prominent] men said, We will not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God. 6 Then these presidents and satraps assembled together to the king, and said thus to him, King Darius, live forever. 7 All the presidents of the kingdom, the deputies and the satraps, the counselors and the governors, have consulted together to establish a royal statute, and to make a strong interdict, that whoever will ask a petition of any god or man for thirty days, except of you, O king, he will be cast into the den of lions. 8 Now, O king, establish the interdict, and sign the writing, that it may not be changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which does not alter. 9 Therefore King Darius signed the writing and the interdict.

10 And when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house (now his windows were open in his chamber toward Jerusalem) and he knelt on his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did previously. 11 Then these [prominent] men assembled together, and found Daniel making petition and supplication before his God. 12 Then they came near, and spoke before the king concerning the king's interdict: Have you not signed an interdict, that every man who will make petition to any god or man within thirty days, except to you, O king, will be cast into the den of lions? The king answered and said, The thing is true, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which does not alter. 13 Then they answered and said before the king, That Daniel, who is of the sons of the captivity of Judah, does not regard you, O king, nor the interdict that you have signed, but makes his petition three times a day. 14 Then the king, when he heard these words, was intensely displeased, and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him; and he labored until the going down of the sun to rescue him. 15 Then these [prominent] men assembled together to the king, and said to the king, Know, O king, that it is a law of the Medes and Persians, that no interdict nor statute which the king establishes may be changed.

16 Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of lions. [Now] the king spoke and said to Daniel, Your God whom you serve continually, he will deliver you. 17 And a stone was brought, and laid on the mouth of the den; and the king sealed it with his own signet, and with the signet of his lords; that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel. 18 Then the king went to his palace, and passed the night fasting; neither were instruments of music brought before him: and his sleep fled from him.

19 Then the king arose very early in the morning, and went in a hurry to the den of lions. 20 And when he came near to the den to Daniel, he cried with a lamentable voice; the king spoke and said to Daniel, O Daniel, slave of the living God, is your God, whom you serve continually, able to deliver you from the lions? 21 Then said Daniel to the king, O king, live forever. 22 My God has sent his angel, and has shut the lions' mouths, and they have not hurt me; since before him innocence was found in me; and also before you, O king, I have done no hurt. 23 Then the king was exceedingly glad, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no manner of hurt was found on him, because he had trusted in his God.

24 And the king commanded, and they brought those [prominent] men who had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions, them, their children, and their wives; and the lions had the mastery of them, and broke all their bones in pieces, before they came to the bottom of the den. 25 Then King Darius wrote to all the peoples, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied to you+. 26 I make a decree, that in all the dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel; for he is the living God, and steadfast forever, And his kingdom [is] that which will not be destroyed; and his dominion will be even to the end. 27 He delivers and rescues, and he works signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who has delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.

28 So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian.

7  In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head on his bed: then he wrote the dream and told the sum of the matters. 2 Daniel spoke and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, look, the four winds of heaven broke forth on the great sea. 3 And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another. 4 The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings: I looked until its wings were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made to stand on two feet as a man; and a man's heart was given to it. 5 And, look, another beast, a second, like a bear; and it was raised up on one side, and three ribs were in its mouth between its teeth: and they said thus to it, Arise, devour much flesh. 6 After this I looked, and saw another, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it. 7 After this I saw in the night-visions, and, look, a fourth beast, terrible and powerful, and exceedingly strong; and it had great iron teeth; it devoured and broke in pieces, and stamped the residue with its feet: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns. 8 I considered the horns, and, look, there came up among them another horn, a little one, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots: and, look, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things.

9 I looked until thrones were placed, and one who was ancient of days sat: his raiment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames, [and] its wheels burning fire. 10 A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousands of thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened. 11 I looked at that time because of the voice of the great words which the horn spoke; I looked even until the beast was slain, and its body destroyed, and it was given to be burned with fire. 12 And as for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time.

13 I saw in the night-visions, and, look, there came with the clouds of heaven one like a son of man, and he came even to the ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. 14 And there was given to him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which will not pass away, and his kingdom [is] that which will not be destroyed.

15 As for me, Daniel, my spirit was grieved in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head troubled me. 16 I came near to one of those who stood by, and asked him the truth concerning all this. So he told me, and made me know the interpretation of the things. 17 These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, that will arise out of the earth. 18 But the saints of the Most High will receive the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever. 19 Then I desired to know the truth concerning the fourth beast, which was diverse from all of them, exceedingly terrible, whose teeth were of iron, and its nails of bronze; which devoured, broke in pieces, and stamped the residue with its feet; 20 and concerning the ten horns that were on its head, and the other [horn] which came up, and before which three fell, even that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spoke great things, whose look was more stout than its fellows. 21 I looked, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; 22 until the ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High, and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.

23 Thus he said, The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on earth, which will be diverse from all the kingdoms, and will devour the whole earth, and will tread it down, and break it in pieces. 24 And as for the ten horns, out of this kingdom will ten kings arise: and another will arise after them; and he will be diverse from the former, and he will put down three kings. 25 And he will speak words against the Most High, and will wear out the saints of the Most High; and he will think to change the times and the law; and they will be given into his hand until a time and times and half a time. 26 But the judgment will be set, and they will take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it to the end. 27 And the kingdom and the dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven, will be given to the people of the saints of the Most High: his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions will serve and obey him. 28 Here is the end of the matter. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts much troubled me, and my countenance was changed in me: but I kept the matter in my heart.

8  In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar a vision appeared to me, even to me, Daniel, after that which appeared to me at the first. 2 And I saw in the vision; now it was so, that when I saw, I was in Shushan the palace, which is in the province of Elam; and I saw in the vision, and I was by the river Ulai. 3 Then I lifted up my eyes, and looked, and saw there stood before the river a ram which had two horns: and the two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last. 4 I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward; and no beasts could stand before him, neither was there any who could deliver out of his hand; but he did according to his will, and magnified himself.

5 And as I was considering, look, a he-goat came from the west over the face of the whole earth, and did not touch the ground: and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes. 6 And he came to the ram that had the two horns, which I saw standing before the river, and ran on him in the fury of his power. 7 And I saw him come close to the ram, and he was moved with anger against him, and struck the ram, and broke his two horns; and there was no power in the ram to stand before him; but he cast him down to the ground, and trampled on him; and there was none who could deliver the ram out of his hand. 8 And the he-goat magnified himself exceedingly: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and instead of it there came up four notable [horns] toward the four winds of heaven.

9 And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceedingly great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the glorious [land]. 10 And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and some of the host and of the stars it cast down to the ground, and trampled on them. 11 Yes, it magnified itself, even to the prince of the host; and it took away from him the continual [burnt-offering], and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. 12 And the host was given over [to it] together with the continual [burnt-offering] through transgression; and it cast down truth to the ground, and it did [its pleasure] and prospered. 13 Then I heard a holy one speaking; and another holy one said to that certain one who spoke, How long will be the vision [concerning] the continual [burnt-offering], and the transgression that makes desolate, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? 14 And he said to me, To two thousand and three hundred evenings [and] mornings; then the sanctuary will be cleansed.

15 And it came to pass, when I, even I Daniel, had seen the vision, that I sought to understand it; and, look, there stood before me as the appearance of a [prominent] man. 16 And I heard man's voice between [the banks of] the Ulai, which called, and said, Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision. 17 So he came near where I stood; and when he came, I was frightened, and fell on my face: but he said to me, Understand, O Son of Man; for the vision belongs to the time of the end. 18 Now as he was speaking with me, I fell into a deep sleep with my face toward the ground; but he touched me, and set me upright. 19 And he said, Look, I will make you know what will be in the latter time of the indignation; for it belongs to the appointed time of the end. 20 The ram which you saw, that had the two horns, they are the kings of Media and Persia. 21 The he-goat is the king of Greece: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king. 22 And as for that which was broken, in the place of which four stood up, four kingdoms will stand up out of the nation, but not with his power. 23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors have come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, will stand up. 24 And his power will be mighty, but not by his own power; and he will destroy wonderfully, and will prosper and do [his pleasure]; and he will destroy the mighty ones and the holy people. 25 And through his policy he will cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he will magnify himself in his heart, and in [their] security he will destroy many: he will also stand up against the prince of princes; but he will be broken without hand. 26 And the vision of the evenings and mornings which has been told is true: but you shut up the vision; for it belongs to many days [to come]. 27 And I, Daniel, fainted, and was sick certain days; then I rose up, and did the king's business: and I wondered at the vision, but none understood it.

9  In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans, 2 in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years of which the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah the prophet, for the accomplishing of the desolations of Jerusalem, even seventy years.

3 And I set my face to the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. 4 And I prayed to Yahweh my God, and made confession, and said, Oh, Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and loving-kindness with those who love him and keep his commandments, 5 we have sinned, and have dealt perversely, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even turning aside from your precepts and from your ordinances; 6 neither have we listened to your slaves the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. 7 O Lord, righteousness belongs to you, but to us confusion of face, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, who are near, and who are far off, through all the countries where you have driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against you. 8 O Lord, to us belongs confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you. 9 To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness; for we have rebelled against him; 10 neither have we obeyed the voice of Yahweh our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his slaves the prophets. 11 Yes, all Israel have transgressed your law, even turning aside, that they should not obey your voice: therefore the curse has been poured out on us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the slave of God; for we have sinned against him. 12 And he has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing on us a great evil; for under the whole heaven has not been done as has been done on Jerusalem. 13 As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil has come upon us: yet we have not entreated the favor of Yahweh our God, that we should turn from our iniquities, and have discernment in your truth. 14 Therefore Yahweh has watched over the evil, and brought it on us; for Yahweh our God is righteous in all his works which he does, and we have not obeyed his voice. 15 And now, O Lord our God, who have brought your people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have gotten yourself renown, as at this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly. 16 O Lord, according to all your righteousness, let your anger and your wrath, I pray you, be turned away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a reproach to all who are round about us. 17 Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your slave, and to his supplications, and cause your face to shine on your sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord's sake. 18 O my God, incline your ear, and hear; open your eyes, and look at our desolations, and the city which is called by your name: for we do not present our supplications before you for our righteousnesses, but for your great mercies' sake. 19 O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, listen and do; don't defer, for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.

20 And while I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before Yahweh my God for the holy mountain of my God; 21 yes, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation. 22 And he caused me to understand, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you wisdom and understanding. 23 At the beginning of your supplications the word went forth, and I have come to tell; for you are greatly beloved: therefore consider the word, and understand the vision.

24 Seventy weeks are decreed on your people and on your holy city, to finish transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy. 25 Therefore know and discern: from the going forth of the word to restore and to build Jerusalem, to an anointed leader, [there are] seven weeks. And sixty-two weeks it will be built again,[485] with street and moat, even in troublous times. 26 And after the sixty-two weeks an anointed one will be cut off, and will have nothing. And the people of a coming leader will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will be with a flood, and even to the end will be war; desolations are determined. 27 And he will make a firm covenant with many for one week. And in the midst of the week he will cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease; and on the wing of detestable things[486] [will come] one who makes desolate even to the full end, and that which is determined will be poured out on the desolator.[487]

10  In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a word was revealed to Daniel, whose name was called Belteshazzar; and the word was true, even a great warfare: and he understood the word, and had understanding of the vision. 2 In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three whole weeks. 3 I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine into my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, until three whole weeks were fulfilled. 4 And in the four and twentieth day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river, which is Hiddekel, 5 I lifted up my eyes, and looked and saw a man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with pure gold of Uphaz: 6 his body also was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as flaming torches, and his arms and his feet like burnished bronze, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude. 7 And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision; for the men who were with me didn't see the vision; but a great quaking fell on them, and they fled to hide themselves. 8 So I was left alone, and saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me; for my grandeur was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength. 9 Yet heard I the voice of his words; and when I heard the voice of his words, then I fell into a deep sleep on my face, with my face toward the ground.

10 And, look, a hand touched me, which set me on my knees and on the palms of my hands. 11 And he said to me, O Daniel, you man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak to you, and stand upright; for now I have been sent away to you. And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood trembling. 12 Then he said to me, Don't be afraid, Daniel; for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard: and I have come for your words' sake. 13 But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days; but, look, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me: and I remained there with the kings of Persia. 14 Now I have come to make you understand what will befall your people in the latter days; for the vision is yet for [many] days: 15 and when he had spoken to me according to these words, I set my face toward the ground, and was mute. 16 And, look, one in the likeness of the sons of man touched my lips: then I opened my mouth, and spoke and said to him who stood before me, O my lord, by reason of the vision my sorrows are turned on me, and I retain no strength. 17 For how can the slave of this my lord talk with this my lord? For as for me, immediately there remained no strength in me, neither was there breath left in me.

18 Then there touched me again one like the appearance of man, and he strengthened me. 19 And he said, O man greatly beloved, don't be afraid: peace be to you, be strong, yes, be strong. And when he spoke to me, I was strengthened, and said, Let my lord speak; for you have strengthened me. 20 Then he said, Do you know why I have come to you? And now I will return to fight with the prince of Persia: and when I go forth, look, the prince of Greece will come. 21 But I will tell you that which is inscribed in the writing of truth: and there is none who holds with me against these, but Michael your+ prince.  11  And as for me, in the first year of Darius the Mede, I stood up to confirm and strengthen him.

2 And now I will show you the truth. Look, there will stand up yet three kings in Persia; and the fourth will be far richer than all of them: and when he is waxed strong through his riches, he will stir up all against the realm of Greece. 3 And a mighty king will stand up, that will rule with great dominion, and do according to his will. 4 And when he will stand up, his kingdom will be broken, and will be divided toward the four winds of heaven, but not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion with which he ruled; for his kingdom will be plucked up, even for others besides these.

5 And the king of the south will be strong, and [one] of his princes; and he will be strong above him, and have dominion; his dominion will be a great dominion. 6 And at the end of years they will join themselves together; and the daughter of the king of the south will come to the king of the north to make an agreement: but she will not retain the strength of her arm; neither will he stand, nor his arm; but she will be given up, and those who brought her, and he who begot her, and he who strengthened her in those times.

7 But out of a shoot from her roots will one stand up in his place, who will come to the army, and will enter into the fortress of the king of the north, and will deal against them, and will prevail. 8 And also their gods, with their molten images, [and] with their goodly vessels of silver and of gold, he will carry captive into Egypt; and he will refrain some years from the king of the north. 9 And he will come into the realm of the king of the south, but he will return into his own land.

10 And his sons will war, and will assemble a multitude of great forces, which will come upon, and overflow, and pass through; and they will return and war, even to his fortress. 11 And the king of the south will be moved with anger, and will come forth and fight with him, even with the king of the north; and he will set forth a great multitude, and the multitude will be given into his hand. 12 And the multitude will be lifted up, and his heart will be exalted; and he will cast down tens of thousands, but he will not prevail. 13 And the king of the north will return, and will set forth a multitude greater than the former; and he will come upon at the end of the times, [even of] years, with a great army and with much substance. 14 And in those times there will many stand up against the king of the south: also the sons of the violent among your people will lift themselves up to establish the vision; but they will fall. 15 So the king of the north will come, and cast up a mound, and take a well-fortified city: and the forces of the south will not stand, neither his chosen people, neither will there be any strength to stand. 16 But he who comes against him will do according to his own will, and none will stand before him; and he will stand in the glorious land, and in his hand will be destruction. 17 And he will set his face to come with the strength of his whole kingdom, and he had equitable conditions, and performed them: and he will give him the daughter of women, to corrupt her; but she will not stand, neither be for him. 18 After this he will turn his face to the isles, and will take many: but a prince will cause the reproach offered by him to cease; moreover, he will cause his reproach to turn on him. 19 Then he will turn his face toward the fortresses of his own land; but he will stumble and fall, and will not be found.

20 Then in his place one will stand up that will cause an exactor to pass through the glory of the kingdom; but within few days he will be destroyed, neither in anger, nor in battle. 21 And in his place will stand up a contemptible person, to whom they had not given the grandeur of the kingdom: but he will come in time of security, and will obtain the kingdom by flatteries. 22 And the flooding forces will be flooded away from before him, and will be broken; and also the leader of the covenant. 23 And after the league made with him he will work deceitfully; for he will come up, and will become strong, with a small people. 24 In time of security he will come even on the fattest places of the province; and he will do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers' fathers; he will scatter among them prey, and spoil, and substance: yes, he will devise his devices against the strongholds, even for a time. 25 And he will stir up his power and his courage against the king of the south with a great army; and the king of the south will war in battle with an exceedingly great and mighty army; but he will not stand; for they will devise devices against him. 26 Yes, those who eat of his dainties will destroy him, and his army will flood; and many will fall down slain. 27 And as for both these kings, their hearts will be to do mischief, and they will speak lies at one table: but it will not prosper; for yet the end will be at the time appointed.

28 Then he will return into his land with great substance; and his heart [will be] against the holy covenant; and he will do [his pleasure], and return to his own land. 29 At the time appointed he will return, and come into the south; but it will not be in the latter time as it was in the former. 30 For ships of Kittim will come against him; therefore he will be grieved, and will return, and have indignation against the holy covenant, and will do [his pleasure]: he will even return, and have regard to those who forsake the holy covenant. 31 And forces will stand on his part, and they will profane the sanctuary, even the fortress, and will take away the continual [burnt-offering], and they will set up the detestable thing[488] that makes desolate. 32 And such as do wickedly against the covenant he will pervert by flatteries; but the people who know their God will be strong, and do [exploits]. 33 And those who are wise among the people will instruct many; yet they will fall by the sword and by flame, by captivity and by spoil, [many] days. 34 Now when they will fall, they will be helped with a little help; but many will join themselves to them with flatteries. 35 And some of those who are wise will fall, to refine among them, and to purify, and to make them white, even to the time of the end; because it is yet for the time appointed.

36 And the king will do according to his will; and he will exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and will speak marvelous things against the God of gods; and he will prosper until the indignation is accomplished; for that which is determined will be done. 37 Neither will he regard the gods of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god; for he will magnify himself above all. 38 But in his place he will honor the god of fortresses; and a god whom his fathers did not know he will honor with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things. 39 And he will deal with the strongest fortresses by the help of a foreign god: whoever acknowledges [him] he will increase with glory; and he will cause them to rule over many, and will divide the land for a price.

40 And at the time of the end the king of the south will contend with him; and the king of the north will come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he will enter into the countries, and will flood and pass through. 41 He will enter also into the glorious land, and tens of thousands will be overthrown; but these will be delivered out of his hand: Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the sons of Ammon. 42 He will stretch forth his hand also on the countries; and the land of Egypt will not escape. 43 But he will have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt; and the Libyans and the Ethiopians will be at his steps. 44 But news out of the east and out of the north will trouble him; and he will go forth with great fury to destroy and to completely sweep away many. 45 And he will plant the tents of his palace between the sea and the glorious holy mountain; yet he will come to his end, and none will help him.

12  And at that time Michael will stand up, the great prince who stands for the sons of your people; and there will be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time your people will be delivered, everyone who will be found written in the book. 2 And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. 3 And those who are wise will shine as the brightness of the firmament; and those who turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever. 4 But you, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many will run to and fro, and the knowledge will be increased.

5 Then I, Daniel, looked, and noticed that there stood another two, the one on the brink of the river on this side, and the other on the brink of the river on that side. 6 And one said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, How long will it be to the end of these wonders? 7 And I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand to heaven, and swore by him who lives forever that it will be for a time, times, and a half; and when they have made an end of breaking in pieces the power of the holy people, all these things will be finished. 8 And I heard, but I didn't understand: then I said, O my lord, what will be the issue of these things? 9 And he said, Go your way, Daniel; for the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end. 10 Many will purify themselves, and make themselves white, and be refined; but the wicked will do wickedly; and none of the wicked will understand; but those who are wise will understand. 11 And from the time that the continual [burnt-offering] will be taken away, and the detestable thing[489] that makes desolate [is] set up, there will be a thousand and two hundred and ninety days. 12 Blessed is he who waits, and comes to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days. 13 But you go your way until the end; for you will rest, and will stand in your lot, at the end of the days.

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Hosea

1  The word of Yahweh that came to Hosea the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.

2 When Yahweh spoke at the first by Hosea, Yahweh said to Hosea, Go, take to yourself a wife of prostitution and children of prostitution; for the land commits great prostitution, [departing] from Yahweh. 3 So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; and she became pregnant, and bore him a son. 4 And Yahweh said to him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel on the house of Jehu, and will cause the kingdom of the house of Israel to cease. 5 And it will come to pass at that day, that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel. 6 And she became pregnant again, and gave birth to a daughter. And [Yahweh] said to him, Call her name Lo-ruhamah; for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, that I should in any wise pardon them. 7 But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and will save them by Yahweh their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen. 8 Now when she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she became pregnant, and gave birth to a son. 9 And [Yahweh] said, Call his name Lo-ammi; for you+ are not my people, and I will not be your+ [God].

10 Yet the number of the sons of Israel will be as the sand of the sea, which can't be measured nor numbered; and it will come to pass that, in the place where it was said to them, You+ are not my people, it will be said to them, [You+ are] the sons of the living God. 11 And the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel will be gathered together, and they will appoint themselves one head, and will go up from the land; for great will be the day of Jezreel.  2  Say+ to your+ brothers, Ammi; and to your+ sisters, Ruhamah.

2 Contend with your+ mother, contend; for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband; and let her put away her prostitution from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts; 3 or else I will strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst. 4 Yes, on her sons I will have no mercy; for they are sons of prostitution; 5 for their mother has prostituted; she who became pregnant with them has done shamefully; for she said, I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink. 6 Therefore, look, I will hedge up your way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her, that she will not find her paths. 7 And she will follow after her lovers, but she will not overtake them; and she will seek them, but will not find them: then will she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then it was better with me than now.

8 For she did not know that I gave her the grain, and the new wine, and the oil, and multiplied to her silver and gold, which they used for Baal. 9 Therefore I will take back my grain in its time, and my new wine in its season, and will pluck away my wool and my flax which should have covered her nakedness. 10 And now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none will deliver her out of my hand. 11 I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feasts, her new moons, and her Sabbaths, and all her solemn assemblies. 12 And I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees, of which she has said, These are my wages that my lovers have given me; and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field will eat them. 13 And I will visit on her the days of the Baalim, to which she burned incense, when she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and went after her lovers, and forgot me, says Yahweh.

14 Therefore, look, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably to her. 15 And I will give her her vineyards from there, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope; and she will answer there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt. 16 And it will be at that day, says Yahweh, that you will call: Ishi; and will call me no more: Baali. 17 For I will take away the names of the Baalim out of her mouth, and they will no more be mentioned by their name. 18 And in that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the birds of the heavens, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the land, and will make them to lie down safely. 19 And I will betroth you to me forever; yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness, and in justice, and in loving-kindness, and in mercies. 20 I will even betroth you to me in faithfulness; and you will know Yahweh.

21 And it will come to pass in that day, I will answer, says Yahweh, I will answer the heavens, and they will answer the earth; 22 and the earth will answer the grain, and the new wine, and the oil; and they will answer Jezreel. 23 And I will sow her to me in the earth; and I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; and I will say to those who were not my people, You are my people; and they will say, [You are] my God.

3  And Yahweh said to me, Go again, love a woman loved by a companion, but [is] an adulteress, even as Yahweh loves the sons of Israel, though they turn to other gods, and love cakes of raisins. 2 So I bought her to me for fifteen [shekels] of silver, and a homer of barley, and a half-homer of barley; 3 and I said to her, You will remain with me many days; you will not prostitute; and you will not have any sex with any man—not even me. 4 For the sons of Israel will remain many days without king, and without prince, and without sacrifice, and without pillar, and without ephod or talismans: 5 afterward the sons of Israel will return, and seek Yahweh their God, and David their king, and will come with fear to Yahweh and to his goodness in the latter days.

4  Hear the word of Yahweh, you+ sons of Israel; for Yahweh has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor goodness, nor knowledge of God in the land. 2 Swearing, lying, killing, stealing, and committing adultery are rampant; and blood is everywhere.[490] 3 Therefore the land will mourn, and everyone who dwells in it will languish, with the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens; yes, the fish of the sea also will be taken away. 4 Yet let no man strive, neither let any man reprove; for your people are as those who strive with the priest. 5 And you will stumble in the day, and the prophet also will stumble with you in the night; and I will destroy your mother.

6 My people are destroyed for lack of the knowledge[491] [of God]: because you have rejected the knowledge [of God], I will also reject you, that you will be no priest to me: seeing you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your sons. 7 As they were multiplied, so they sinned against me: I will change their glory into shame. 8 They feed on the sin of my people, and set their soul on their iniquity. 9 And it will be, like people, like priest; and I will punish them for their ways, and will repay them their doings. 10 And they will eat, and not have enough; they will cause prostitution, and will not increase; because they have left off taking heed to Yahweh.

11 Prostitution and wine and new wine take away the understanding. 12 My people ask counsel at their stock, and their staff declares to them; for the spirit of prostitution has caused them to err, and they have prostituted, [departing] from under their God. 13 They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains, and burn incense on the hills, under oaks and poplars and terebinths, because their shadow is good: therefore your+ daughters commit prostitution, and your+ brides commit adultery. 14 I will not punish your+ daughters when they commit prostitution, nor your+ brides when they commit adultery; for [the men] themselves go apart with prostitutes, and they sacrifice with prostitutes; and the people that does not understand will be overthrown.

15 Though you, Israel, are prostituting, yet don't let Judah offend; and don't come+ to Gilgal, neither go+ up to Beth-aven, nor swear, As Yahweh lives. 16 For Israel has behaved himself stubbornly, like a stubborn heifer: now Yahweh will feed them as a lamb in a large place. 17 Ephraim is joined to idols; leave him alone. 18 Their drink has become sour; they prostitute continually; her rulers dearly love shame. 19 The wind has wrapped her up in its wings; and they will be put to shame because of their altars.

5  Hear this, O you+ priests, and listen, O house of Israel, and give ear, O house of the king; for to you+ pertains the judgment; for you+ have been a snare at Mizpah, and a net spread on Tabor. 2 And the revolters have gone deep in making slaughter; but I am a rebuker of them all. 3 I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me; for now, O Ephraim, you have prostituted, Israel is defiled. 4 Their doings will not allow them to turn to their God; for the spirit of prostitution is inside them, and they don't know Yahweh. 5 And the pride of Israel testifies to his face: therefore Israel and Ephraim will stumble in their iniquity; Judah also will stumble with them. 6 They will go with their flocks and with their herds to seek Yahweh; but they will not find him: he has withdrawn himself from them. 7 They have betrayed Yahweh; for they have borne strange sons: now will the new moon devour them with their fields.

8 Blow+ the cornet in Gibeah, and the trumpet in Ramah: sound an alarm at Beth-aven; behind you, O Benjamin. 9 Ephraim will become a desolation in the day of rebuke: among the tribes of Israel I have made known that which will surely be. 10 The princes of Judah are like those who remove the landmark: I will pour out my wrath on them like water. 11 Ephraim is oppressed, he is crushed in judgment; because he was determined to walk after crap. 12 Therefore I am to Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as rottenness. 13 When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah [saw] his wound, then Ephraim went to Assyria, and sent to the great king: but he is not able to heal you+, neither will he cure you+ of your+ wound. 14 For I will be to Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah: I, even I, will tear and go away; I will carry off, and there will be none to deliver. 15 I will go and return to my place, until they acknowledge their offense, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me earnestly.

6  Come, and let us return to Yahweh; for he has torn, and he will heal us; he has struck, and he will bind us up. 2 After two days he will revive us: on the third day he will raise us up, and we will live before him. 3 And let us know, let us follow on to know Yahweh: his going forth is sure as the morning; and he will come to us as the rain, as the latter rain that waters the earth.

4 O Ephraim, what shall I do to you? O Judah, what shall I do to you? For your+ goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the dew that goes early away. 5 Therefore I have hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and my judgment goes forth as the light. 6 For I desire goodness, and not sacrifice; and knowledge of God more than burnt-offerings. 7 But they like man have transgressed the covenant: there they have betrayed me. 8 Gilead is a city of those who work iniquity; it is stained with blood. 9 And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way toward Shechem; yes, they have committed lewdness. 10 In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing: there prostitution is [found] in Ephraim, Israel is defiled. 11 Also, O Judah, there is a harvest appointed for you, when I bring back the captivity of my people.

7  When I would heal Israel, then is the iniquity of Ephraim uncovered, and the wickedness of Samaria; for they commit falsehood, and the thief enters in, and the troop of robbers ravages outside. 2 And they don't consider in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness: now their own doings have beset them about; they are before my face. 3 They make the king glad with their wickedness, and the princes with their lies. 4 They are all adulterers; they are as an oven heated by the baker; he ceases to stir [the fire], from the kneading of the dough, until it is leavened. 5 On the day of our king the princes made themselves sick with the heat of wine; he stretched out his hand with scoffers. 6 For they have brought their heart into their ambush, as into an oven: their baker sleeps all the night; in the morning it burns as a flaming fire. 7 They are all hot as an oven, and devour their judges; all their kings have fallen: there is none among them who calls to me.

8 Ephraim, he mixes himself among the peoples; Ephraim is a cake not turned. 9 Strangers have devoured his strength, and he does not know [it]: yes, gray hairs are here and there on him, and he does not know [it]. 10 And the pride of Israel testifies to his face: yet they have not returned to Yahweh their God, nor sought him, for all this. 11 And Ephraim is like a silly dove, without understanding: they call to Egypt, they go to Assyria. 12 When they will go, I will spread my net on them; I will bring them down as the birds of the heavens; I will chastise them, as their congregation has heard. 13 Woe to them! For they have wandered from me; destruction to them! For they have trespassed against me: though I would redeem them, yet they have spoken lies against me. 14 And they have not cried to me with their heart, but they howl on their beds: they gash themselves for grain and new wine; they rebel against me. 15 Though I have taught and strengthened their arms, yet they devise mischief against me. 16 They return, but not upwards; they are like a deceitful bow; their princes will fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue: this will be their derision in the land of Egypt.

8  [Set] the trumpet to your mouth. As an eagle [he comes] against the house of Yahweh, because they have transgressed my covenant, and trespassed against my law. 2 They will cry to me, My God, we Israel know you. 3 Israel has cast off that which is good: the enemy will pursue him. 4 They have set up kings, but not by me; they have made princes, and I did not know it: of their silver and their gold they have made for themselves idols, that they may be cut off. 5 He has cast off your calf, O Samaria; my anger is kindled against them: how long will it be before they attain to innocence? 6 For from Israel is even this; the workman made it, and it is not God; yes, the calf of Samaria will be broken in pieces. 7 For they sow the wind, and they will reap the whirlwind: he has no standing grain; the blade will yield no meal; if it does yield, strangers will swallow it up.

8 Israel is swallowed up: now they are among the nations as a vessel in which none delights. 9 For they have gone up to Assyria, [like] a wild donkey alone by himself: Ephraim has hired lovers. 10 Yes, though they hire among the nations, now I will gather them; and they begin to be diminished by reason of the burden of the king of princes.

11 Because Ephraim has multiplied altars for sinning, altars have been to him for sinning. 12 I wrote for him the ten thousand things of my law; but they are counted as a strange thing. 13 As for the sacrifices of my offerings, they sacrifice flesh and eat it; but Yahweh does not accept them: now he will remember their iniquity, and visit their sins; they will return to Egypt. 14 For Israel has forgotten his Maker, and built palaces; and Judah has multiplied fortified cities: but I will send a fire on their cities, and it will devour their castles.

9  Don't rejoice, O Israel, for joy, like the peoples; for you have prostituted [away] from your God; you have loved wages on every grain-floor. 2 The threshing-floor and the wine press will not feed them, and the new wine will fail her. 3 They will not dwell in Yahweh's land; but Ephraim will return to Egypt, and they will eat unclean food in Assyria. 4 They will not pour out wine-offerings to Yahweh, neither will they be pleasing to him: their sacrifices will be to them as the bread of mourners; all who eat of it will be polluted; for their bread will be for their soul; it will not come into the house of Yahweh. 5 What will you+ do in the day of solemn assembly, and in the day of the feast of Yahweh? 6 For, look, they have gone away from destruction; [yet] Egypt will gather them up, Memphis will bury them; their pleasant things of silver, nettles will possess them; thorns will be in their tents. 7 The days of visitation have come, the days of recompense have come; Israel will know it: the prophet is a fool, the man who has the spirit is insane, for the abundance of your iniquity, and because the enmity is great. 8 Ephraim [was] a watchman with my God: as for the prophet, a fowler's snare is in all his ways, [and] enmity in the house of his God. 9 They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah: he will remember their iniquity, he will visit their sins.

10 I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your+ fathers as the first-ripe in the fig tree at its first season: but they came to Baal-peor, and consecrated themselves to the shameful thing, and became detestable things like that which they loved. 11 As for Ephraim, their glory will fly away like a bird: there will be no birth, and no pregnancy, and no conception. 12 Though they bring up their sons, yet I will bereave them, so that man will not be left: yes, woe also to them when I depart from them! 13 I saw Ephraim as a grove of palm trees planted in a pleasant place: but Ephraim will bring out his sons to the slayer. 14 Give them, O Yahweh—what will you give? Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts. 15 All their wickedness is in Gilgal; for there I hated them: because of the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of my house; I will love them no more; all their princes are revolters. 16 Ephraim is struck, their root is dried up, they will bear no fruit: yes, though they bring forth, yet I will slay the beloved fruit of their womb. 17 My God will cast them away, because they did not listen to him; and they will be wanderers among the nations.

10  Israel is a luxuriant vine, that puts forth his fruit: according to the abundance of his fruit he has multiplied his altars; according to the goodness of their land they have made goodly pillars. 2 Their heart is divided; now they will be found guilty: he will strike their altars, he will destroy their pillars. 3 Surely now they will say, We have no king; for we don't fear Yahweh; and the king, what can he do for us?

4 They speak [vain] words, swearing falsely in making covenants: therefore judgment springs up as hemlock in the furrows of the field. 5 The neighbor of Samaria will be in terror for the calves of Beth-aven; for its people will mourn over it, and its priests who rejoiced over it, for its glory, because it has departed from it. 6 It also will be carried to Assyria for a present to the great king: Ephraim will receive shame, and Israel will be ashamed of his own counsel. 7 Samaria is cut off, her king as a twig on the water. 8 The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, will be destroyed: the thorn and the thistle will come up on their altars; and they will say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us.

9 O Israel, you have sinned from the days of Gibeah: there they stood; the battle against the sons of iniquity does not overtake them in Gibeah. 10 When it is my desire, I will chastise them; and the peoples will be gathered against them, when they are bound to their two furrows. 11 And Ephraim is a heifer that is taught, that loves to tread out [the grain]; but I have passed by her fair neck: I will set a rider on Ephraim; Judah will plow, Jacob will break his clods.

12 Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap according to kindness; break up your+ fallow ground; for it is time to seek Yahweh, until he comes and rains righteousness on you+. 13 You+ have plowed wickedness, you+ have reaped iniquity; you+ have eaten the fruit of lies; for you trusted in your way, in the multitude of your mighty men. 14 Therefore will a tumult arise among your people, and all your fortresses will be destroyed, as Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel in the day of battle: the mother was dashed in pieces with her sons. 15 So Beth-el will do to you+ because of your+ great wickedness: at daybreak the king of Israel will be completely cut off.

11  When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and I called my son out of Egypt. 2 The more [the prophets] called them, the more they went from them: they sacrificed to the Baalim, and burned incense to graven images. 3 Yet I taught Ephraim to walk; He took them up in his arms; but they did not know that I healed them. 4 I drew them with cords of man, with bands of love; and I was to them as those who lift up the yoke from their jaws; and I laid food before them.

5 They will not return into the land of Egypt; but the Assyrian will be their king, because they refused to return [to me]. 6 And the sword will fall on their cities, and will consume their bars, and devour [them], because of their own counsels. 7 And my people are bent on backsliding from me: though they call them to [him who is] on high, none at all will exalt [him].

8 How shall I give you up, Ephraim? [How] shall I cast you off, Israel? How shall I make you as Admah? [How] shall I set you as Zeboiim? My heart is turned inside me, my compassions are kindled together. 9 I will not execute the fierceness of my anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of you; and I will not come in wrath. 10 They will walk after Yahweh, who will roar like a lion; for he will roar, and the sons will come trembling from the west. 11 They will come trembling as a bird out of Egypt, and as a dove out of the land of Assyria; and I will make them to dwell in their houses, says Yahweh.

12 Ephraim circles me about with falsehood, and the house of Israel with deceit; and even Judah went down from God and the faithful Holy One.  12  Ephraim feeds on wind, and follows after the east wind: he continually multiplies lies and violence; and they make a covenant with Assyria, and oil is carried into Egypt. 2 Yahweh also has a controversy with Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his ways; according to his doings he will recompense him. 3 In the womb he took his brother by the heel; and in his manhood he had power with God: 4 yes, he had power over the angel, and prevailed; he wept, and made supplication to him: he found him at Beth-el, and there he spoke with us, 5 even Yahweh, the God of hosts; Yahweh is his memorial [name]. 6 Therefore you will turn to your God: keep kindness and justice, and wait for your God continually.

7 [He is] a trafficker, the balances of deceit are in his hand: he loves to oppress. 8 And Ephraim said, Surely I have become rich, I have found wealth for myself: in all my labors they will find in me no iniquity which [would be] sin. 9 But I am Yahweh your God from the land of Egypt; I will yet again make you to dwell in tents, as in the days of the solemn feast. 10 I have also spoken to the prophets, and I have multiplied visions; and by the hand of the prophets I have used similitudes. 11 Is Gilead iniquity? They are altogether false; in Gilgal they sacrifice bullocks; yes, their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the field. 12 And Jacob fled into the field of Aram, and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept [sheep]. 13 And by a prophet Yahweh brought Israel up out of Egypt, and by a prophet he was preserved. 14 Ephraim has provoked to anger most bitterly: therefore his blood will be left on him, and his reproach his Lord will return to him.

13  When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling; he exalted himself in Israel; but when he offended in Baal, he died. 2 And now they sin more and more, and have made for themselves molten images of their silver, even idols according to their own understanding, all of them the work of the craftsmen: they say of them, Let man who sacrifices kiss the calves. 3 Therefore they will be as the morning cloud, and as the dew that passes early away, as the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the threshing-floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney.

4 Yet I am Yahweh your God from the land of Egypt; and you will know no god but me, and besides me there is no savior. 5 I knew you in the wilderness, in the land of great drought. 6 According to their pasture, so they were filled; they were filled, and their heart was exalted: therefore they have forgotten me. 7 Therefore I am to them as a lion; as a leopard I will watch by the way; 8 I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps, and will rend the caul of their heart; and there I will devour them like a lioness; the wild beast will tear them.

9 It is your destruction, O Israel, that [you are] against me, against your help. 10 Where now is your king, that he may save you in all your cities? And your judges, of whom you said, Give me a king and princes? 11 I have given you a king in my anger, and have taken him away in my wrath. 12 The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up; his sin is laid up in store. 13 The sorrows of a travailing woman will come upon him: he is an unwise son; for it is time he should not tarry in the place of the breaking forth of sons. 14 I will ransom them from the power of Sheol; I will redeem them from death: O Death, I will be your plague. O Sheol, I will be your destruction. Repentance will be hid from my eyes.

15 Though he is fruitful among his brothers, an east wind will come, the breath of Yahweh coming up from the wilderness; and his spring will become dry, and his fountain will be dried up: he will make spoil of the treasure of all goodly vessels. 16 Samaria will bear her guilt; for she has rebelled against her God: they will fall by the sword; their infants will be dashed in pieces, and their pregnant women will be ripped up.

14  O Israel, return to Yahweh your God; for you have fallen by your iniquity. 2 Take with you+ words, and return to Yahweh: say to him, Take away all iniquity, and accept that which is good: so we will render [as] bullocks [the offering of] our lips. 3 Assyria will not save us; we will not ride on horses; neither will we say anymore to the work of our hands, [You+ are] our gods; for in you the fatherless finds mercy.

4 I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely; for my anger is turned away from him. 5 I will be as the dew to Israel; he will blossom as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. 6 His branches will spread, and his grandeur will be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon. 7 Those who dwell under his shadow will return; they will revive the grain, and blossom as the vine: his scent will be as the wine of Lebanon. 8 Ephraim [will say], What have I to do anymore with idols? I have answered, and will regard him: I am like a green fir-tree; from me is your fruit found.

9 Who is wise, that he may understand these things? Prudent, that he may know them? For the ways of Yahweh are right, and the just will walk in them; but transgressors will fall in them.

__________________________

Joel

1  The word of Yahweh that came to Joel the son of Pethuel. 2 Hear this, you+ old men, and give ear, all you+ inhabitants of the land. Has this been in your+ days, or in the days of your+ fathers? 3 Tell+ your+ sons of it, and [let] your+ sons [tell] their sons, and their sons another generation. 4 That which the palmer-worm has left has the locust eaten; and that which the locust has left has the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm has left has the caterpillar eaten.

5 Awake, you+ drunkards, and weep; and wail, all you+ drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine; for it is cut off from your+ mouth. 6 For a nation has come up on my land, strong, and without number; his teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he has the jaw-teeth of a lioness. 7 He has laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he has made it clean bare, and cast it away; its branches are made white.

8 Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth. 9 The meal-offering and the drink-offering are cut off from the house of Yahweh; the priests, Yahweh's ministers, mourn. 10 The field is laid waste, the land mourns; for the grain is destroyed, the new wine is dried up, the oil languishes. 11 Be confounded, O you+ husbandmen, wail, O you+ vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; for the harvest of the field has perished. 12 The vine is withered, and the fig tree languishes; the pomegranate-tree, the palm-tree also, and the apple-tree, even all the trees of the field are withered: for joy has withered away from the sons of man.

13 Gird yourselves [with sackcloth], and lament, you+ priests; wail, you+ ministers of the altar; come, lie all night in sackcloth, you+ ministers of my God: for the meal-offering and the drink-offering are withheld from the house of your+ God. 14 Sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the old men [and] all the inhabitants of the land to the house of Yahweh your+ God, and cry to Yahweh.

15 Alas for the day! For the day of Yahweh is at hand, and as destruction from the Almighty it will come. 16 Is not the food cut off before our eyes, [yes,] joy and gladness from the house of our God? 17 The seeds rot under their clods; the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the grain is withered. 18 How the beasts groan! The herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yes, the flocks of sheep are made desolate. 19 O Yahweh, to you I will cry; for the fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame has burned all the trees of the field. 20 Yes, the beasts of the field pant to you; for the water brooks are dried up, and the fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.

2  Blow+ the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain; let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of Yahweh comes, for it is near at hand; 2 a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, as the dawn spread on the mountains; a great and a strong people; there has not ever been the like, neither will [there] be anymore after them, even to the years of many generations. 3 A fire devours before them; and behind them a flame burns: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yes, and none has escaped them.

4 The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so they run. 5 Like the noise of chariots on the tops of the mountains they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devours the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array. 6 At their presence the peoples are in anguish; all faces are waxed pale. 7 They run like mighty men; they climb the wall like men of war; and they march every one on his ways, and they do not proceed in a confused manner on their way. 8 Neither does one thrust another; they march every [able-bodied] man in his path; and they burst through the weapons, and don't break off [their course]. 9 They leap on the city; they run on the wall; they climb up into the houses; they enter in at the windows like a thief. 10 The earth quakes before them; the heavens tremble; the sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. 11 And Yahweh utters his voice before his army; for his camp is very great; for he is strong that executes his word; for the day of Yahweh is great and very awesome; and who can endure it?

12 Yet even now, says Yahweh, turn+ to me with all your+ heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: 13 and rend your+ heart, and not your+ garments, and turn to Yahweh your+ God; for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving-kindness, and repents of the evil. 14 Who knows whether he will not turn and repent, and leave a blessing behind him, even a meal-offering and a drink-offering to Yahweh your+ God?

15 Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly; 16 gather the people, sanctify the assembly, assemble the old men, gather the children, and those who are nursed by the breasts; let the bridegroom go forth from his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. 17 Let the priests, the ministers of Yahweh, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare your people, O Yahweh, and don't give your heritage to reproach, that the nations should rule over them: why should they say among the peoples, Where is their God?

18 Then Yahweh was jealous for his land, and had pity on his people. 19 And Yahweh answered and said to his people, Look, I will send you+ grain, and new wine, and oil, and you+ will be satisfied with them; and I will no more make you+ a reproach among the nations; 20 but I will remove far off from you+ the northern [army], and will drive it into a land barren and desolate, its forepart into the eastern sea, and its hinder part into the western sea; and its stench will come up, and its ill savor will come up, because it has done great things.

21 Don't be afraid, O land, be glad and rejoice; for Yahweh has done great things. 22 Don't be afraid, you+ beasts of the field; for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree bears its fruit, the fig tree and the vine yield their strength. 23 Be glad then, you+ sons of Zion, and rejoice in Yahweh your+ God; for he gives you+ the former rain in just measure, and he causes to come down for you+ the rain, the former rain and the latter rain, in the first [month]. 24 And the floors will be full of wheat, and the vats will overflow with new wine and oil. 25 And I will restore to you+ the years that the locust has eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmer-worm, my great army which I sent among you+. 26 And you+ will eat in plenty and be satisfied, and will praise the name of Yahweh your+ God, who has dealt wondrously with you+; and my people will never be put to shame. 27 And you+ will know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am Yahweh your+ God, and there is no other; and my people will never be put to shame.

28 And it will come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; and your+ sons and your+ daughters will prophesy, your+ old men will dream dreams, your+ young men will see visions: 29 and also on the male slaves and on the female slaves in those days I will pour out my Spirit. 30 And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. 31 The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and awesome day of Yahweh comes. 32 And it will come to pass, that whoever will call on the name of Yahweh will be delivered; for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who escape, as Yahweh has said, and among the remnant those whom Yahweh calls.

3  For, look, in those days, and in that time, when I will bring back the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, 2 I will gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat; and I will execute judgment on them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations: and they have parted my land, 3 and have cast lots for my people, and have given a boy for a prostitute, and sold a girl for wine, that they may drink. 4 Yes, and what are you+ to me, O Tyre, and Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Will you+ render me a recompense? And if you+ recompense me, swiftly and speedily I will return your+ recompense on your+ own head. 5 Since you+ have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your+ temples my goodly precious things, 6 and have sold the sons of Judah and the sons of Jerusalem to the sons of the Grecians, that you+ may remove them far from their border; 7 look, I will stir them up out of the place where you+ have sold them, and will return your+ recompense on your+ own head; 8 and I will sell your+ sons and your+ daughters into the hand of the sons of Judah, and they will sell them to the men of Sheba, to a nation far off: for Yahweh has spoken it.

9 Proclaim+ this among the nations; prepare war; stir up the mighty men; let all the men of war draw near, let them come up. 10 Beat your+ plowshares into swords, and your+ pruning-hooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. 11 Hurry+, and come, all you+ nations round about, and gather yourselves together: there cause your mighty ones to come down, O Yahweh. 12 Let the nations bestir themselves, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there I will sit to judge all the nations round about. 13 Put+ in the sickle; for the harvest is ripe: come, tread+; for the wine press is full, the vats overflow; for their wickedness is great.

14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of Yahweh is near in the valley of decision. 15 The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. 16 And Yahweh will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth will shake: but Yahweh will be a refuge to his people, and a stronghold to the sons of Israel. 17 So you+ will know that I am Yahweh your+ God, staying in Zion my holy mountain: then Jerusalem will be holy, and there will no strangers pass through her anymore.

18 And it will come to pass in that day, that the mountains will drop down sweet wine, and the hills will flow with milk, and all the brooks of Judah will flow with waters; and a fountain will come forth from the house of Yahweh, and will water the valley of Shittim. 19 Egypt will be a desolation, and Edom will be a desolate wilderness, for the violence done to the sons of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land. 20 But Judah will remain forever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation. 21 And I will make their blood innocent, that I have not made innocent: for Yahweh stays in Zion.

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Amos

1  The words of Amos, who was among the herdsmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.

2 And he said, Yahweh will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the pastures of the shepherds will mourn, and the top of Carmel will wither.

3 Thus says Yahweh: For three transgressions of Damascus, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron: 4 but I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, and it will devour the palaces of Ben-hadad. 5 And I will break the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant from the valley of Aven, and him who holds the scepter from the house of Eden; and the people of Syria will go into captivity to Kir, says Yahweh.

6 Thus says Yahweh: For three transgressions of Gaza, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they carried away captive the whole people, to deliver them up to Edom: 7 but I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, and it will devour its palaces. 8 And I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, and him who holds the scepter from Ashkelon; and I will turn my hand against Ekron; and the remnant of the Philistines will perish, says the Sovereign Yahweh.

9 Thus says Yahweh: For three transgressions of Tyre, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they delivered up the whole people to Edom, and did not remember the brotherly covenant: 10 but I will send a fire on the wall of Tyre, and it will devour its palaces.

11 Thus says Yahweh: For three transgressions of Edom, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because he pursued his brother with the sword, and had cast off all pity, and his anger tore perpetually, and he kept his wrath forever: 12 but I will send a fire on Teman, and it will devour the palaces of Bozrah.

13 Thus says Yahweh: For three transgressions of the sons of Ammon, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they have ripped up the pregnant women of Gilead, that they may enlarge their border. 14 But I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it will devour its palaces, with shouting in the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind; 15 and their king will go into captivity, he and his princes together, says Yahweh.

2  Thus says Yahweh: For three transgressions of Moab, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime: 2 but I will send a fire on Moab, and it will devour the palaces of Kerioth; and Moab will die with tumult, with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet; 3 and I will cut off the judge from the midst of it, and will slay all its princes with him, says Yahweh.

4 Thus says Yahweh: For three transgressions of Judah, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they have rejected the law of Yahweh, and have not kept his statutes, and their lies have caused them to err, after which their fathers walked: 5 but I will send a fire on Judah, and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem.

6 Thus says Yahweh: For three transgressions of Israel, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they have sold the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals— 7 those who pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek: and a man and his father go to the [same] maiden, to profane my holy name: 8 and they lay themselves down beside every altar on clothes taken in pledge; and in the house of their God they drink the wine of such as have been fined.

9 Yet I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath. 10 Also I brought you+ up out of the land of Egypt, and led you+ forty years in the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite. 11 And I raised up of your+ sons for prophets, and of your+ young men for Nazirites. Is it not even thus, O you+ sons of Israel? says Yahweh. 12 But you+ gave the Nazirites wine to drink, and commanded the prophets, saying, Don't prophesy.

13 Look, I will press [you+] in your+ place, as a cart presses that is full of sheaves. 14 And flight will perish from the swift; and the strong will not strengthen his force; neither will the mighty deliver his soul; 15 neither will he stand that handles the bow; and he who is swift of foot will not deliver [his soul]; neither will he who rides the horse deliver his soul; 16 and he who is courageous among the mighty will flee away naked in that day, says Yahweh.

3  Hear this word that Yahweh has spoken against you+, O sons of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up out of the land of Egypt, saying, 2 You+ only I have known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will visit all your+ iniquities on you+. 3 Will two walk together, except they have agreed? 4 Will a lion roar in the forest, when he has no prey? Will a young lion cry out of his den, if he has taken nothing? 5 Can a bird fall in a snare on the earth, where no trap is [set] for him? Will a snare spring up from the ground, and have taken nothing at all? 6 Will the trumpet be blown in a city, and the people not be afraid? Will evil befall a city, and Yahweh has not done it? 7 Surely the Sovereign Yahweh will do nothing, except he reveals his secret to his slaves the prophets. 8 The lion has roared; who will not fear? The Sovereign Yahweh has spoken; who can but prophesy?

9 Publish+ in the palaces at Ashdod, and in the palaces in the land of Egypt, and say, Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria, and look at what great tumults are in it, and what oppressions are in the midst of it. 10 For they don't know to do right, says Yahweh, who stores up violence and robbery in their palaces. 11 Therefore thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: An adversary [there will be], even round about the land; and he will bring down your strength from you, and your palaces will be plundered. 12 Thus says Yahweh: As the shepherd rescues out of the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear, so will the sons of Israel be rescued that sit in Samaria in the corner of a couch, and on the silken cushions of a bed.

13 Hear+, and testify against the house of Jacob, says the Sovereign Yahweh, the God of hosts. 14 For in the day that I will visit the transgressions of Israel on him, I will also visit the altars of Beth-el; and the horns of the altar will be cut off, and fall to the ground. 15 And I will strike the winter-house with the summer-house; and the houses of ivory will perish, and the great houses will have an end, says Yahweh.

4  Hear this word, you+ kine of Bashan, who are in the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to their lords, Bring, and let us drink. 2 The Sovereign Yahweh has sworn by his holiness, that, look, the days will come upon you+, that they will take you+ away with hooks, and your+ residue with fishhooks. 3 And you+ will go out at the breaches, everyone straight before her; and you+ will be cast toward Harmon, says Yahweh.

4 Come to Beth-el, and transgress; to Gilgal, [and] multiply transgression; and bring your+ sacrifices every morning, [and] your+ tithes every three days; 5 and offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened, and proclaim freewill-offerings and publish them: for this pleases you+, O you+ sons of Israel, says the Sovereign Yahweh.

6 And I also have given you+ cleanness of teeth in all your+ cities, and want of bread in all your+ places; yet you+ have not returned to me, says Yahweh. 7 And I also have withheld the rain from you+, when there were yet three months to the harvest; and I caused it to rain on one city, and caused it not to rain on another city: one piece was rained on, and the piece on which it did not rain withered. 8 So two or three cities wandered to one city to drink water, and were not satisfied: yet you+ have not returned to me, says Yahweh. 9 I have struck you+ with blasting and mildew: the multitude of your+ gardens and your+ vineyards and your+ fig trees and your+ olive trees has the palmer-worm devoured: yet you+ have not returned to me, says Yahweh. 10 I have sent among you+ the pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your+ young men I have slain with the sword, and have carried away your+ horses; and I have made the stench of your+ camp to come up even into your+ nostrils: yet you+ have not returned to me, says Yahweh. 11 I have overthrown [cities] among you+, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you+ were as a brand plucked out of the burning: yet you+ have not returned to me, says Yahweh.

12 Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel; [and] because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel. 13 For, look, he who forms the mountains, and creates the wind, and declares what his thought is to man; who makes the morning darkness, and treads on the high places of the Earth—Yahweh, the God of hosts, is his name.

5  Hear+ this word which I take up for a lamentation over you+, O house of Israel. 2 The virgin of Israel is fallen; she will no more rise: she is cast down on her land; there is none to raise her up. 3 For thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: The city that went forth a thousand will have a hundred left, and that which went forth a hundred will have ten left, to the house of Israel.

4 For thus says Yahweh to the house of Israel, Seek+ me, and you+ will live; 5 but don't seek Beth-el, nor enter into Gilgal, and don't pass to Beer-sheba: for Gilgal will surely go into captivity, and Beth-el will come to nothing. 6 Seek Yahweh, and you+ will live; or else he will break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it will devour, and there will be none to quench it in Beth-el. 7 You+ who turn justice to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth, 8 [seek him] that makes the Pleiades and Orion, and turns the shadow of death into the morning, and makes the day dark with night; that calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the face of the earth (Yahweh is his name); 9 that brings sudden destruction on the strong, so that destruction comes on the fortress.

10 They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they are disgusted by him who speaks uprightly. 11 Forasmuch therefore as you+ trample on the poor, and take exactions from him of wheat: you+ have built houses of cut stone, but you+ will not dwell in them; you+ have planted pleasant vineyards, but you+ will not drink their wine. 12 For I know how manifold are your+ transgressions, and how mighty are your+ sins—you+ who afflict the just, who take a bribe, and who turn aside the needy in the gate [from their right]. 13 Therefore he who is prudent will keep silent in such a time; for it is an evil time.

14 Seek good, and not evil, that you+ may live; and so Yahweh, the God of hosts, will be with you+, as you+ say. 15 Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish justice in the gate: it may be that Yahweh, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.

16 Therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of hosts, the Lord: Wailing will be in all the broad ways; and they will say in all the streets, Alas! Alas! And they will call the husbandman to mourning, and a wailing for such as are skillful in lamentation. 17 And in all vineyards will be wailing; for I will pass through the midst of you, says Yahweh.

18 Woe to you+ who desire the day of Yahweh! Why would you+ have the day of Yahweh? It is darkness, and not light. 19 As if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. 20 Will not the day of Yahweh be darkness, and not light? Even very dark, and no brightness in it?

21 I hate, I despise your+ feasts, and I will take no delight in your+ solemn assemblies. 22 Yes, though you+ offer me your+ burnt-offerings and meal-offerings, I will not accept them; neither will I regard the peace-offerings of your+ fat beasts. 23 Take away from me the noise of your songs; for I will not hear the melody of your viols. 24 But let justice roll down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.

25 Did you+ bring to me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? 26 Yes, you+ have borne the tabernacle of your+ king and the Kewan—your+ idols, the star of your+ god which you+ made to yourselves. 27 Therefore I will cause you+ to go into captivity beyond Damascus, says Yahweh, whose name is the God of hosts.

6  Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, and to those who are secure in the mountain of Samaria, the notable men of the chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel come! 2 Pass+ to Calneh, and see; and from there go+ to Hamath the great; then go down to Gath of the Philistines: are they better than these kingdoms? Or is their border greater than your+ border? 3 —you+ who put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near; 4 who lie on beds of ivory, and stretch themselves on their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall; 5 who sing idle songs to the sound of the viol; who invent for themselves instruments of music, like David; 6 who drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief oils; but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.

7 Therefore they will now go captive with the first that go captive; and the revelry of those who stretched themselves will pass away. 8 The Sovereign Yahweh has sworn by his soul, says Yahweh, the God of hosts: I abhor the excellency of Jacob, and hate his palaces; therefore I will deliver up the city with all that is in it. 9 And it will come to pass, if ten men remain in one house, that they will die. 10 And when a man's uncle will take him up, even he who burns him, to bring out the bones out of the house, and will say to him who is in the innermost parts of the house, Is there yet any with you? And he will say, No; then he will say, Hold your peace; for we may not make mention of the name of Yahweh. 11 For, look, Yahweh commands, and the great house will be struck with breaches, and the little house with clefts.

12 Will horses run on the rock? Will one plow [there] with oxen? For you+ have turned justice into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood; 13 you+ who rejoice in a thing of nothing,[492] who say, Have we not taken to us horns[493] by our own strength? 14 For, look, I will raise up against you+ a nation, O house of Israel, says Yahweh, the God of hosts; and they will afflict you+ from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of the Arabah.

7  Thus the Sovereign Yahweh showed me: and, look, he formed locusts in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and, look, it was the latter growth after the king's mowings. 2 And it came to pass that, when they made an end of eating the grass of the land, then I said, O Sovereign Yahweh, forgive, I urge you: how will Jacob stand? For he is small. 3 Yahweh repented concerning this: It will not be, says Yahweh.

4 Thus the Sovereign Yahweh showed me: and, look, the Sovereign Yahweh called to contend by fire; and it devoured the great deep, and would have eaten up the land. 5 Then I said, O Sovereign Yahweh, cease, I urge you: how will Jacob stand? For he is small. 6 Yahweh repented concerning this: this also will not be, says the Sovereign Yahweh.

7 Thus he showed me: and, look, the Lord stood beside a wall made by a plumb-line, with a plumb-line in his hand. 8 And Yahweh said to me, Amos, what do you see? And I said, A plumb-line. Then said the Lord, Look, I will set a plumb-line in the midst of my people Israel; I will not again pass by them anymore; 9 and the high places of Isaac will be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel will be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.

10 Then Amaziah the priest of Beth-el sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words. 11 For thus Amos says, Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will surely be led away captive out of his land. 12 Also Amaziah said to Amos, O you seer, go, flee away into the land of Judah, and eat bread there, and prophesy there: 13 but don't prophesy again anymore at Beth-el; for it is the king's sanctuary, and it is a royal house.

14 Then Amos answered, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet's son; but I was a herdsman, and a dresser of sycamore-trees: 15 and Yahweh took me from following the flock, and Yahweh said to me, Go, prophesy to my people Israel. 16 Now therefore hear the word of Yahweh: You say, Don't prophesy against Israel, and don't drop [your word] against the house of Isaac; 17 therefore thus says Yahweh: Your wife will prostitute in the city, and your sons and your daughters will fall by the sword, and your land will be divided by line; and you yourself will die in a land that is unclean, and Israel will surely be led away captive out of his land.

8  Thus the Sovereign Yahweh showed me: and, look, a basket of summer fruit. 2 And he said, Amos, what do you see? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then Yahweh said to me, The end has come upon my people Israel; I will not again pass by them anymore. 3 And the songs of the temple will be wailings in that day, says the Sovereign Yahweh: the dead bodies will be many: in every place they will cast them forth with silence.

4 Hear this, O you+ who would swallow up the needy, and cause the poor of the land to fail, 5 saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and dealing falsely with balances of deceit; 6 that we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals, and sell the refuse of the wheat? 7 Yahweh has sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works. 8 Will not the land tremble for this, and everyone mourn who dwells in it? Yes, it will rise up wholly like the River; and it will be troubled and sink again, like the River of Egypt. 9 And it will come to pass in that day, says the Sovereign Yahweh, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day. 10 And I will turn your+ feasts into mourning, and all your+ songs into lamentation; and I will bring sackcloth on all loins, and baldness on every head; and I will make it as the mourning for an only son, and its end as a bitter day.

11 Look, the days come, says the Sovereign Yahweh, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of Yahweh. 12 And they will wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east; they will run to and fro to seek the word of Yahweh, and will not find it. 13 In that day the beautiful virgins and the young men will faint for thirst. 14 Those who swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, As your god, O Dan, lives; and, As the pilgrimage of Beer-sheba lives; they will fall, and never rise up again.

9  I saw the Lord standing beside the altar: and he said, Strike the capitals, that the thresholds may shake; and break them to pieces on the head of all of them; and I will slay the last of them with the sword: there will not one of them flee away, and there will not one of them escape. 2 Though they dig into Sheol, from there will my hand take them; and though they climb up to heaven, from there I will bring them down. 3 And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out from there; and though they are hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, from there I will command the serpent, and it will bite them. 4 And though they go into captivity before their enemies, from there I will command the sword, and it will slay them: and I will set my eyes on them for evil, and not for good.

5 For the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, [is] he who touches the land and it melts, and all who dwell in it will mourn; and it will rise up wholly like the River, and will sink again, like the River of Egypt; 6 [it is] he who builds his staircase in the heavens, and has founded his vault on the earth; he who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the face of the earth; Yahweh is his name.

7 Are you+ not as the sons of the Ethiopians to me, O sons of Israel? says Yahweh. Haven't I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir? 8 Look, the eyes of the Sovereign Yahweh are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; except that I will not completely destroy the house of Jacob, says Yahweh. 9 For, look, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all the nations, like [grain] is sifted in a sieve, yet the least kernel will not fall on the earth. 10 All the sinners of my people will die by the sword, who say, The evil will not overtake nor meet us.

11 In that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David that has fallen, and close up its breaches; and I will raise up its ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old; 12 that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the nations that are called by my name, says Yahweh who does this. 13 Look, the days come, says Yahweh, that the plowman will overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him who sows seed; and the mountains will drop sweet wine, and all the hills will melt. 14 And I will bring back the captivity of my people Israel, and they will build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they will plant vineyards, and drink their wine; they will also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. 15 And I will plant them on their land, and they will no more be plucked up out of their land which I have given them, says Yahweh your God.

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Obadiah

1  The vision of Obadiah. Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh concerning Edom: We have heard news from Yahweh, and an ambassador is sent among the nations, [saying,] Arise+, and let us rise up against her in battle. 2 Look, I have made you small among the nations: you are greatly despised. 3 The pride of your heart has deceived you, O you who stay in the clefts of the rock, in the height of your habitation; who says in his heart, Who will bring me down to the ground? 4 Though you mount on high as the eagle, and though your nest is set among the stars, I will bring you down from there, says Yahweh.

5 If thieves came to you, if robbers by night (how you are cut off!), would they not steal [only] until they had enough? If grape-gatherers came to you, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? 6 How are [the things of] Esau searched! How are his hidden treasures sought out! 7 All the men of your confederacy have brought you on your way, even to the border: the men who were at peace with you have deceived you, and prevailed against you; [those who eat] your bread lay a snare under you: there is no understanding in him. 8 Shall I not in that day, says Yahweh, destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mount of Esau? 9 And your mighty men, O Teman, will be dismayed, to the end that everyone may be cut off from the mount of Esau by slaughter.

10 For the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame will cover you, and you will be cut off forever. 11 In the day that you stood on the other side, in the day that strangers carried away his substance, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots on Jerusalem, even you were as one of them. 12 But don't look on the day of your brother in the day of his disaster, and don't rejoice over the sons of Judah in the day of their destruction; neither speak proudly in the day of distress. 13 Don't enter into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; yes, don't look on their affliction in the day of their calamity, neither lay+ [hands] on their substance in the day of their calamity. 14 And don't stand in the crossway, to cut off those of his that escape; and don't deliver up those of his that remain in the day of distress.

15 For the day of Yahweh is near on all the nations: as you have done, it will be done to you; your dealing will return on your own head. 16 For as you+ have drank on my holy mountain, so will all the nations drink continually; yes, they will drink, and swallow down, and will be as though they had not been.

17 But in mount Zion there will be those who escape, and it will be holy; and the house of Jacob will possess those who dispossess them. 18 And the house of Jacob will be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they will burn among them, and devour them; and there will not be any remaining to the house of Esau; for Yahweh has spoken it. 19 And those of the South will possess the mount of Esau, and those of the lowland the Philistines; and they will possess the field of Ephraim, and the field of Samaria; and Benjamin [will possess] Gilead. 20 And the captives of this bulwark of the sons of Israel, who are [among] the Canaanites, [will possess] even to Zarephath; and the captives of Jerusalem, who are in Sepharad, will possess the cities of the South. 21 And saviors will come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom will be Yahweh's.

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Jonah

1  Now the word of Yahweh came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness has come up before me. 3 But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh; and he went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid its fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh.

4 But Yahweh sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was likely to be broken. 5 Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man to his god; and they cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it to them. But Jonah had gone down into the innermost parts of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep. 6 So the shipmaster came to him, and said to him, What do you mean, O sleeper? Arise, call on your God, perhaps God will think on us, that we will not perish. 7 And they said every one to his fellow man, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is on us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 Then they said to him, Tell us, we pray you, for whose cause this evil is on us; what is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you? 9 And he said to them, I am a Hebrew; and I fear Yahweh, the God of heaven, who has made the sea and the dry land. 10 Then the men were exceedingly afraid, and said to him, What is this that you have done? For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of Yahweh, because he had told them.

11 Then they said to him, What shall we do to you, that the sea may be calm to us? For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. 12 And he said to them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so the sea will be calm to you+: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is on you+. 13 Nevertheless the men rowed hard to get back to the land; but they could not: for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. 14 Therefore they cried to Yahweh, and said, We urge you, O Yahweh, we urge you, let us not perish for this man's soul, and don't lay innocent blood on us; for you, O Yahweh, have done as it pleased you. 15 So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea; and the sea ceased from its raging. 16 Then the men feared Yahweh exceedingly; and they offered a sacrifice to Yahweh, and made vows.

17 And Yahweh prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah; and Jonah was in the insides of the fish three days and three nights.  2  Then Jonah prayed to Yahweh his God out of the insides of the fish. 2 And he said,

I called by reason of my affliction to Yahweh,

And he answered me;

Out of the belly of Sheol I cried,

[And] you heard my voice.

3 For you had cast me into the depth, in the heart of the seas,

And the flood was round about me;

All your waves and your billows passed over me.

4 And I said, I am cast out from before your eyes;

Yet I will look again toward your holy temple.

5 The waters surrounded me, even to the soul;

The deep was round about me;

The weeds were wrapped about my head.

6 I went down to the bottoms of the mountains;

The earth with its bars [closed] on me forever:

Yet you have brought up my life from the pit, O Yahweh my God.

7 When my soul fainted inside me, I remembered Yahweh;

And my prayer came in to you, into your holy temple.

8 Those who regard lying vanities

Forsake their own mercy.

9 But I will sacrifice to you with the voice of thanksgiving;

I will pay that which I have vowed.

Salvation is of Yahweh.

10 And Yahweh spoke to the fish, and it vomited out Jonah on the dry land.

3  And the word of Yahweh came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the preaching that I bid you. 3 So Jonah arose, and went to Nineveh, according to the word of Yahweh. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, of three days' journey. 4 And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh will be overthrown.

5 And the people of Nineveh believed God; and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. 6 And the news reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and laid his robe from him, and covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7 And he made proclamation and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; don't let them feed, nor drink water; 8 but let them be covered with sackcloth, both man and beast, and let them cry mightily to God: yes, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in his hands. 9 Who knows whether God will not turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we will not perish? 10 And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil which he said he would do to them; and he did not do it.

4  But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. 2 And he prayed to Yahweh, and said, I pray you, O Yahweh, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I hurried to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving-kindness, and one who repents of the evil. 3 Therefore now, O Yahweh, take, I urge you, my soul from me; for it is better for me to die than to live. 4 And Yahweh said, Do you well to be angry? 5 Then Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made for himself a booth, and sat under it in the shade, until he might see what would become of the city.

6 And Yahweh God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to deliver him from his evil case. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the gourd. 7 But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it struck the gourd, that it withered. 8 And it came to pass, when the sun arose, that God prepared a sultry east wind; and the sun beat on the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and requested for his soul to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live. 9 And God said to Jonah, Do you well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even to death. 10 And Yahweh said, You have had regard for the gourd, for which you have not labored, neither made it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night: 11 and should I not have regard for Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than sixscore thousand of man who can't discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?

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Micah

1  The word of Yahweh that came to Micah the Morashtite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.

2 Hear, you+ peoples, all of you+: listen, O earth, and all that is in it: and let the Sovereign Yahweh be witness against you+, the Lord from his holy temple. 3 For, look, Yahweh comes forth out of his place, and will come down, and tread on the high places of the earth. 4 And the mountains will be melted under him, and the valleys will be split, as wax before the fire, as waters that are poured down a steep place. 5 For the transgression of Jacob is all this, and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? And what are the high places of Judah? Are they not Jerusalem? 6 Therefore I will make Samaria as a heap of the field, [and] as places for planting vineyards; and I will pour down her stones into the valley, and I will uncover her foundations. 7 And all her graven images will be beaten to pieces, and all her wages will be burned with fire, and all her idols I will lay desolate; for of the wages of a prostitute she has gathered them, and to the wages of a prostitute they will return.

8 For this I will lament and wail; I will go stripped and naked; I will make a wailing like the jackals, and a lamentation like the ostriches. 9 For her wounds are incurable; for it has come even to Judah; it reaches to the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem. 10 Don't tell it in Gath, don't weep at all: at Beth-le-aphrah I have rolled myself in the dust. 11 Pass by, O inhabitant of Shaphir, in nakedness and shame: the inhabitant of Zaanan has not come forth; the wailing of Beth-ezel will take from you+ its standing ground. 12 For the inhabitant of Maroth waits anxiously for good, because evil has come down from Yahweh to the gate of Jerusalem. 13 Bind the chariot to the swift steed, O inhabitant of Lachish: she was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion; for the transgressions of Israel were found in you. 14 Therefore you will give a parting gift to Moresheth-gath: the houses of Achzib will be a deceitful thing to the kings of Israel. 15 I will yet bring to you, O inhabitant of Mareshah, him who will possess you: the glory of Israel will come even to Adullam. 16 Make yourself bald, and cut off your hair for the sons of your delight: enlarge your baldness as the eagle; for they have gone into captivity from you.

2  Woe to those who devise iniquity and work evil on their beds! When the morning is light, they do it, because it is in the power of their hand. 2 And they covet fields, and seize them; and houses, and take them away: and they oppress a [noble] man and his house, even a man and his heritage. 3 Therefore thus says Yahweh: Look, I devise an evil against this family, from which you+ will not remove your+ necks, neither will you+ walk haughtily; for it is an evil time. 4 In that day they will take up a parable against you+, and lament with a doleful lamentation, [and] say, We are completely ruined: he exchanges the portion of my people: how he removes [it] from me! In order to make restitution, he divides our fields. 5 Therefore you will have none who will cast the line by lot in the assembly of Yahweh.

6 Do not prophesy+, [thus] they prophesy. They will not prophesy to these: reproaches will not depart. 7 Will it be said, O house of Jacob, Is the Spirit of Yahweh straitened? Are these his doings? Do not my words do good to him who walks uprightly? 8 Even yesterday my people rose up as an enemy: in front of a cloak you+ strip the glory from those who pass by securely, being averse to war. 9 The women of my people you+ cast out from their pleasant houses; from their young children you+ take away my majesty forever. 10 Arise+, and depart; for this is not your+ resting-place; because of uncleanness that destroys, even with a grievous destruction. 11 If a man walking after the wind and producing lies, lies, [saying,] I will prophesy to you of wine and of strong drink; he will even be the prophet of this people.

12 I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of you; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as a flock in the midst of their pasture; they will make great noise by reason of man. 13 The breaker has gone up before them: they have broken forth and passed on to the gate, and have gone out of it; and their king has passed on before them, and Yahweh at the head of them.

3  And I said, Hear, I pray you+, you+ heads of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel: is it not for you+ to know justice? 2 You+ who hate the good, and love the evil; who pluck off their skin from off them, and their flesh from off their bones; 3 who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them, and break their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as flesh inside the cauldron. 4 Then they will cry to Yahweh, but he will not answer them; yes, he will hide his face from them at that time, according to as they have wrought evil in their doings.

5 Thus says Yahweh concerning the prophets who make my people to err; that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace; and whoever does not put into their mouths, they even prepare war against him: 6 Therefore it will be night to you+, that you+ will have no vision; and it will be dark to you+, that you+ will not have fortune-telling; and the sun will go down on the prophets, and the day will be black over them. 7 And the seers will be put to shame, and the fortune-tellers confounded; yes, they will all cover their lips; for there is no answer of God. 8 But as for me, I am full of power by the Spirit of Yahweh, and of judgment, and of might, to declare to Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin.

9 Hear this, I pray you+, you+ heads of the house of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel, who are disgusted by justice, and pervert all equity. 10 They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. 11 The heads of it judge for reward, and its priests teach for wages, and its prophets tell the future for silver: yet they lean on Yahweh, and say, Is not Yahweh in the midst of us? No evil will come upon us. 12 Therefore will Zion for your+ sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem will become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.

4  But in the latter days it will come to pass, that the mountain of Yahweh's house will be established on the top of the mountains, and it will be exalted above the hills; and peoples will flow to it. 2 And many nations will go and say, Come+, and let us go up to the mountain of Yahweh, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths. For out of Zion will go forth the law, and the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem; 3 and he will judge between many peoples, and will decide concerning strong nations far off: and they will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation will not lift up sword against nation, neither will they learn war anymore. 4 But they will sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none will make them afraid: for the mouth of Yahweh of hosts has spoken it. 5 For all the peoples walk every one in the name of his god; and we will walk in the name of Yahweh our God forever and ever.

6 In that day, says Yahweh, I will assemble that which is lame, and I will gather that which is driven away, and that which I have afflicted; 7 and I will make that which was lame a remnant, and that which was cast far off a strong nation: and Yahweh will reign over them in mount Zion from now on even forever. 8 And you, O tower of the flock, the hill of the daughter of Zion, to you it will come, yes, the former dominion will come, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.

9 Now why do you cry out aloud? Is there no king in you, has your counselor perished, that pangs have taken hold of you as of a woman in travail? 10 Be in pain, and labor to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail; for now you will go forth out of the city, and will stay in the field, and will come even to Babylon: there you will be rescued; there Yahweh will redeem you from the hand of your enemies. 11 And now many nations are assembled against you, that say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye see [our desire] on Zion. 12 But they don't know the thoughts of Yahweh, neither do they understand his counsel; for he has gathered them as the sheaves to the threshing-floor. 13 Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion; for I will make your horn iron, and I will make your hoofs bronze; and you will beat in pieces many peoples: and I will devote their gain to Yahweh, and their substance to the Lord of the whole earth.  5  Now gash yourself, O daughter of troops: he has laid siege against us; they will strike the judge of Israel with a rod on the cheek.

2 But you, Beth-lehem Ephrathah, which are little to be among the thousands of Judah, out of you will one come forth to me who is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting. 3 Therefore he will give them up, until the time that she who travails has brought forth: then the residue of his brothers will return to the sons of Israel. 4 And he will stand, and will shepherd [his flock] in the strength of Yahweh, in the splendor of the name of Yahweh his God: and they will remain; for now he will be great to the ends of the earth. 5 And this [man] will be [our] peace. When the Assyrian will come into our land, and when he will tread in our palaces, then we will raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principals of man. 6 And they will shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod with the dagger: and he will deliver from the Assyrian, when he comes into our land, and when he treads inside our border. 7 And the remnant of Jacob will be in the midst of many peoples as dew from Yahweh, as showers on the grass, that do not tarry for man, nor wait for the sons of men. 8 And the remnant of Jacob will be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep; who, if he goes through, treads down and tears in pieces, and there is none to deliver. 9 Let your hand be lifted up above your adversaries, and let all your enemies be cut off.

10 And it will come to pass in that day, says Yahweh, that I will cut off your horses out of the midst of you, and will destroy your chariots: 11 and I will cut off the cities of your land, and will throw down all your strongholds. 12 And I will cut off sorcerers out of your hand; and you will have no psychics:[494] 13 and I will cut off your graven images and your pillars out of the midst of you; and you will no more worship the work of your hands; 14 and I will pluck up your Asherim out of the midst of you; and I will destroy your cities. 15 And I will execute vengeance in anger and wrath on the nations which did not listen.

6  Hear+ now what Yahweh says: Arise, contend before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice. 2 Hear, O you+ mountains, Yahweh's controversy, and you+ enduring foundations of the earth; for Yahweh has a controversy with his people, and he will contend with Israel. 3 O my people, what have I done to you? And in what have I wearied you? Testify against me. 4 For I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of slaves; and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. 5 O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him; [remember] from Shittim to Gilgal, that you+ may know the righteous acts of Yahweh.

6 How shall I come before Yahweh, and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings, with calves a year old? 7 Will Yahweh be pleased with thousands of rams, [or] with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 8 He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does Yahweh require of you, but to do justly, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

9 The voice of Yahweh cries to the city, and wisdom will see your name: hear+ the rod, and who has appointed it. 10 Are there yet treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and a scant measure that is abhorred? 11 Shall I be pure with wicked balances, and with a bag of deceitful weights? 12 For its rich men are full of violence, and its inhabitants have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth. 13 Therefore I also have struck you with a grievous wound; I have made you desolate because of your sins. 14 You will eat, but not be satisfied; and your humiliation will be in the midst of you: and you will put away, but will not save; and that which you save I will give up to the sword. 15 You will sow, but will not reap; you will tread the olives, but you will not anoint with oil; and the vintage, but will not drink the wine. 16 For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab, and you+ walk in their counsels; that I may make you a desolation, and her[495] inhabitants a hissing: and you+ will bear the reproach of my people.

7  Woe is me! For I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grape gleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat; my soul desires the first-ripe fig. 2 The godly has perished from the earth, and the upright is not among man: all of them lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net. 3 Their hands are on that which is evil to do it diligently; the prince asks, and the judge [is ready] for a reward; and the great man, he utters the evil desire of his soul: thus they weave it together. 4 The best of them is as a brier; the upright is [worse] than a thorn hedge: the day of your watchmen, even your visitation, has come; now will be their perplexity. 5 Don't trust+ in a companion; don't put+ confidence in a best friend; keep the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your bosom. 6 For the son dishonors the father, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man's enemies are the men of his own house.

7 But as for me, I will look to Yahweh; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me. 8 Don't rejoice against me, O my enemy: when I fall, I will arise; when I sit in darkness, Yahweh will be a light to me. 9 I will bear the indignation of Yahweh, because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my cause, and executes judgment for me: he will bring me forth to the light, [and] I will see his righteousness. 10 Then my enemy will see it, and shame will cover her who said to me, Where is Yahweh your God? My eyes will see [my desire] on her; now she will be trodden down as the mire of the streets. 11 A day for building your walls! In that day the decree will be far removed. 12 In that day they will come to you from Assyria and the cities of Egypt, and from Egypt even to the River, and from sea to sea, and [from] mountain to mountain. 13 Yet the land will be desolate because of those who dwell in it, for the fruit of their doings.

14 Shepherd your people with your rod, the flock of your heritage, which stay solitarily, in the forest in the midst of Carmel: let them pasture in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old. 15 As in the days of your coming forth out of the land of Egypt I will show him[496] marvelous things. 16 The nations will see and be ashamed of all their might; they will lay their hand on their mouth; their ears will be deaf. 17 They will lick the dust like a serpent; like crawling things of the earth they will come trembling out of their close places; they will come with fear to Yahweh our God, and will be afraid because of you.

18 Who is a God like you, who pardons iniquity, and passes over the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in loving-kindness. 19 He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities under foot; and you will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. 20 You will perform the truth to Jacob, [and] the loving-kindness to Abraham, which you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old.

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Nahum

1  The burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite. 2 Yahweh is a jealous God and avenges; Yahweh avenges and is full of wrath; Yahweh takes vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserves [wrath] for his enemies. 3 Yahweh is slow to anger, and great in power, and will by no means leave unpunished [the guilty]: Yahweh has his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. 4 He rebukes the sea, and makes it dry, and dries up all the rivers: Bashan languishes, and Carmel; and the flower of Lebanon languishes. 5 The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt; and the earth arose at his presence, yes, the world, and all that dwell in it. 6 Who can stand before his indignation? And who can arise in the fierceness of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken apart by him. 7 Yahweh is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and he knows those who take refuge in him. 8 But with an overrunning flood he will make a full end of her[497] place, and will pursue his enemies into darkness.

9 What do you+ devise against Yahweh? He will make a full end; affliction will not rise up the second time. 10 For entangled like thorns, and drunk as with their drink, they are consumed completely as dry stubble. 11 One has gone forth out of you, that devises evil against Yahweh, that counsels wickedness.

12 Thus says Yahweh: Though they are in full strength, and likewise many, even so they will be cut down, and he will pass away. Though I have afflicted you, I will afflict you no more. 13 And now I will break his yoke from off you, and will burst your bonds in sunder. 14 And Yahweh has given commandment concerning you, that no more of your name will be sown: out of the house of your gods I will cut off the graven image and the molten image; I will make your grave; for you have not measured up.[498]

15 Look, on the mountains the feet of him who brings good news, that publishes peace! Keep your feasts, O Judah, perform your vows; for the wicked one will no more pass through you; he is completely cut off.  2  He who dashes in pieces has come up against you: keep the fortress, watch the way, make your loins strong, fortify your power mightily. 2 For Yahweh restores the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel; for the emptiers have emptied them out, and destroyed their vine-branches. 3 The shield of his mighty men is made red, the valiant men are in scarlet: the chariots are blazing in the day of his preparation, and the cypress [spears] are brandished. 4 The chariots rage in the streets; they rush to and fro in the broad ways: the appearance of them is like torches; they run like the lightnings. 5 He remembers his majestic ones: they stumble in their march; they hurry to her wall, and the mantelet is prepared. 6 The gates of the rivers are opened, and the palace is dissolved. 7 And he is drawn up, she is uncovered, she is carried away; and her female slaves moan as with the voice of doves, beating on their breasts.

8 But Nineveh has been from of old like a pool of water: yet they flee away. Stand, stand, [they cry]; but none looks back. 9 Take+ the spoil of silver, take+ the spoil of gold; for there is no end of the store, the glory of all goodly furniture. 10 She is empty, and void, and waste; and the heart melts, and the knees strike together, and anguish is in all loins, and the faces of them all are waxed pale. 11 Where is the den of the lions, and the feeding-place of the young lions, where the lion [and] the lioness walked, the lion's whelp, and none made them afraid? 12 The lion tore in pieces enough for his whelps, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his caves with prey, and his dens with ravin. 13 Look, I am against you, says Yahweh of hosts, and I will burn your crowd in the smoke, and the sword will devour your young lions; and I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers will be heard no more.

3  Woe to the bloody city! It is all full of lies and rapine; the prey does not depart. 2 The noise of the whip, and the noise of the rattling of wheels, and prancing horses, and bounding chariots, 3 the horseman mounting, and the flashing sword, and the glittering spear, and a multitude of slain, and a great heap of corpses, and there is no end of the bodies; they stumble on their bodies;— 4 because of the multitude of the prostitutions of the well-favored prostitute, the mistress[499] of witchcrafts, that sells nations through her prostitutions, and families through her witchcrafts. 5 Look, I am against you, says Yahweh of hosts, and I will uncover your skirts on your face; and I will show the nations your nakedness, and the kingdoms your shame. 6 And I will cast detestable things on you, and make you vile, and will set you as a gazing-stock. 7 And it will come to pass, that all those who look at you will flee from you, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her? From where shall I seek comforters for you?

8 Are you better than No-amon, that was situated among the rivers, that had the waters round about her; whose rampart was the sea, [and] her wall was more than the sea? 9 Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were your helpers. 10 Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity; her young children also were dashed in pieces at the head of all the streets; and they cast lots for her honorable men, and all her great men were bound in chains. 11 You also will be drunk; you will be hid; you also will seek a stronghold because of the enemy. 12 All your fortresses will be [like] fig trees with the first-ripe figs: if they are shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater. 13 Look, your people in the midst of you are women; the gates of your land are set wide open to your enemies: the fire has devoured your bars. 14 Draw yourself water for the siege; strengthen your fortresses; go into the clay, and tread the mortar; make strong the brickkiln. 15 There the fire will devour you; the sword will cut you off; it will devour you like the cankerworm: make yourself many as the cankerworm; make yourself many as the locust. 16 You have multiplied your merchants above the stars of heaven: the cankerworm ravages, and flees away. 17 Your princes are as the locusts, and your marshals as the swarms of grasshoppers, which encamp in the hedges in the cold day, but when the sun rises they flee away, and their place is not known where they are. 18 Your shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria; your majestic ones stay at rest; your people are scattered on the mountains, and there is none to gather them. 19 There is no assuaging of your hurt: your wound is grievous: all who hear the report of you clap their hands over you; for on whom has not your wickedness passed continually?

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Habakkuk

1  The burden which Habakkuk the prophet saw. 2 O Yahweh, how long shall I cry, and you will not hear? I cry out to you of violence, and you will not save. 3 Why do you show me iniquity, and look at perverseness? For destruction and violence are before me; and there is strife, and contention rises up. 4 Therefore the law is slacked, and justice does never go forth; for the wicked circles about the righteous; therefore justice goes forth perverted.

5 Look+ among the nations, and see+, and wonder+ marvelously; for a work is working in your+ days, which you+ will not believe though it is told you+. 6 For, look, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, that marches through the width of the earth, to possess dwelling-places that are not theirs. 7 They are terrible and awesome; their judgment and their dignity proceed from themselves. 8 Their horses also are swifter than leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves; and their horsemen press proudly on: and they ride from afar; they fly as an eagle that hurries to devour. 9 They come all of them for violence; the set of their faces is forwards; and they gather captives as the sand. 10 Yes, he scoffs at kings, and princes are a derision to him; he derides every stronghold; for he heaps up dust, and takes it. 11 Then he will sweep by [as] a wind, and will pass over, and be guilty, [even] he whose might is his god.

12 Are not you from everlasting, O Yahweh my God, my Holy One? We will not die. O Yahweh, you have appointed him for judgment; and you, O Rock, have established him for correction. 13 You who are of purer eyes than to look at evil, and who cannot look at perverseness, why do you look on betrayers, and hold your peace when the wicked swallows up the man who is more righteous than he; 14 and make man as the fish of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them? 15 He takes up all of them with the angle, he catches them in his net, and gathers them in his drag: therefore he rejoices and is glad. 16 Therefore he sacrifices to his net, and burns incense to his drag; because by them his portion is fat, and his food plenteous. 17 Will he therefore draw his sword, and not spare to slay the nations continually?

2  I will stand on my watch, and set myself on the tower, and will look forth to see what he will speak with me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint. 2 And Yahweh answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain on tablets, that he may run that reads it. 3 For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it hurries toward the end, and will not lie: though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not delay.

4 Look, his soul is presumptuous, it is not upright in him; but the righteous will live by his faith. 5 And how much more arrogant is a betrayer, a haughty [able-bodied] man, that does not keep at home; who enlarges his soul as Sheol, and he is as death, and can't be satisfied, but gathers to himself all nations, and heaps to himself all peoples. 6 Will not all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, Woe to him who increases that which is not his! How long? And that loads himself with pledges! 7 Will they not rise up suddenly that will bite you, and awake that will vex you, and you will be for booty to them? 8 Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples will plunder you, because of man's blood, and for the violence done to the land, to the city and to all who dwell in it.

9 Woe to him who gets an evil gain for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the hand of evil! 10 You have devised shame to your house, by cutting off many peoples, and have sinned against your soul. 11 For the stone will cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber will answer it.

12 Woe to him who builds a town with blood, and establishes a city by iniquity! 13 Look, is it not of Yahweh of hosts that the peoples labor for the fire, and the nations weary themselves for vanity? 14 For the earth will be filled with knowledge of the glory of Yahweh, as the waters cover the sea.

15 Woe to him who gives his fellow man drink, mixing your strong wine, and make him drunk also, that you may look at their nakedness! 16 You are filled with shame, and not glory: you also drink, and show your foreskin; the cup of Yahweh's right hand will come round to you, and foul shame will be on your glory. 17 For the violence done to Lebanon will cover you, and the destruction of the beasts, which will frighten you; because of man's blood, and for the violence done to the land, to the city and to all who dwell in it.

18 What does it profit the graven image, that its maker has graven it; the molten image, even the teacher of lies, that he who fashions its form trusts in it, to make mute idols? 19 Woe to him who says to the wood, "Awake; Arise!" [And] to the mute stone, "It will teach." Look, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it. 20 But Yahweh is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silent before him.

3  A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, set to Shigionoth.

2 O Yahweh, I have heard the report of you, and am afraid:

O Yahweh, revive your work in the midst of the years;

In the midst of the years make it known;

In wrath remember mercy.

3 God came from Teman,

And the Holy One from mount Paran. Selah.

His grandeur covered the heavens,

And the earth was full of his praise.

4 And [his] brightness was as the light;

He had rays [coming forth] from his hand;

And there was the hiding of his power.

5 Before him went the pestilence,

And fiery bolts went forth at his feet.

6 He stood, and measured the earth;

He looked, and drove apart the nations;

And the eternal mountains were scattered;

The everlasting hills bowed down;

His goings were [as] of old.

7 I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction;

The curtains of the land of Midian trembled.

8 Was Yahweh displeased with the rivers?

Was your anger against the rivers,

Or your wrath against the sea,

That you rode on your horses,

On your chariots of salvation?

9 Your bow was bared naked;[500]

By means of a word the arrows are assigned by oath. Selah.

You split the earth with rivers.

10 The mountains saw you, and were afraid;

The tempest of waters passed by;

The deep uttered its voice,

And lifted up its hands on high.

11 The sun and moon stood still in their habitation,

At the light of your arrows as they went,

At the shining of your glittering spear.

12 You marched through the land in indignation;

You threshed the nations in anger.

13 You went forth for the salvation of your people,

For the salvation of your anointed;

You wounded the head out of the house of the wicked man,

Laying bare the foundation even to the neck. Selah.

14 You pierced with his own staves the head of his warriors:

They came as a whirlwind to scatter me;

Their rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly.

15 You trod the sea with your horses,

The heap of mighty waters.

16 I heard, and my body trembled,

My lips quivered at the voice;

Rottenness enters into my bones, and I tremble in my place;

Because I must wait quietly for the day of trouble,

For the coming up of the people that invades us.

17 For though the fig tree will not flourish,

Neither will fruit be in the vines;

The labor of the olive will fail,

And the fields will yield no food;

The flock will be cut off from the fold,

And there will be no herd in the stalls:

18 Yet I will rejoice in Yahweh,

I will joy in the God of my salvation.

19 Yahweh, the Lord, is my strength;

And he makes my feet like hinds' [feet]

And will make me to walk on my high places.

For the Chief Musician, on my stringed instruments.

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Zephaniah

1  The word of Yahweh which came to Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah.

2 I will completely consume all things from off the face of the ground, says Yahweh. 3 I will consume man and beast; I will consume the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, and the stumbling blocks with the wicked; and I will cut off man from off the face of the ground, says Yahweh. 4 And I will stretch out my hand on Judah, and on all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place, [and] the name of the Chemarim with the priests; 5 and those who worship the host of heaven on the housetops; and those who worship, that swear to Yahweh and swear by Milcom; 6 and those who have turned back from following Yahweh; and those who have not sought Yahweh, nor inquired after him.

7 Hold your peace at the presence of the Sovereign Yahweh; for the day of Yahweh is at hand: for Yahweh has prepared a sacrifice, he has consecrated his guests. 8 And it will come to pass in the day of Yahweh's sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, and the king's sons, and all such as are clothed with foreign apparel. 9 And in that day I will punish all those who leap over the threshold, that fill their master's house with violence and deceit. 10 And in that day, says Yahweh, there will be the noise of a cry from the fish gate, and a wailing from the second quarter, and a great crashing from the hills. 11 Wail, you+ inhabitants of Maktesh; for all the people of Canaan are undone; all those who were laden with silver are cut off. 12 And it will come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with lamps; and I will punish the men who are settled on their lees, who say in their heart, Yahweh will not do good, neither will he do evil. 13 And their wealth will become a spoil, and their houses a desolation: yes, they will build houses, but will not inhabit them; and they will plant vineyards, but will not drink their wine.

14 The great day of Yahweh is near, it is near and hurries greatly, [even] the voice of the day of Yahweh; the mighty man cries there bitterly. 15 That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, 16 a day of the trumpet and alarm, against the fortified cities, and against the high battlements. 17 And I will bring distress on man, that they will walk like blind men, because they have sinned against Yahweh; and their blood will be poured out as dust, and their flesh as dung. 18 Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them in the day of Yahweh's wrath; but the whole land will be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he will make an end, yes, a terrible end, of all those who dwell in the land.

2  Gather yourselves together, yes, gather together, O nation that has no shame; 2 before the decree brings forth, [before] the day passes as the chaff, before the fierce anger of Yahweh comes on you+, before the day of Yahweh's anger comes on you+. 3 Seek+ Yahweh, all you+ meek of the earth, who have kept his ordinances; seek+ righteousness, seek+ meekness: it may be you+ will be hid in the day of Yahweh's anger.

4 For Gaza will be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation; they will drive out Ashdod at noonday, and Ekron will be rooted up. 5 Woe to the inhabitants of the seacoast, the nation of the Cherethites! The word of Yahweh is against you+, O Canaan, the land of the Philistines; I will destroy you, that there will be no inhabitant. 6 And the seacoast will be pastures, cisterns of shepherds and folds for flocks. 7 And the portion will be for the remnant of the house of Judah; they will feed [their flocks] thereupon; in the houses of Ashkelon they will lie down in the evening; for Yahweh their God will visit them, and bring back their destiny.

8 I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the revilings of the sons of Ammon, with which they have reproached my people, and magnified themselves against their border. 9 Therefore as I live, says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, Surely Moab will be as Sodom, and the sons of Ammon as Gomorrah, a possession of nettles, and saltpits, and a perpetual desolation: the residue of my people will make a prey of them, and the remnant of my nation will inherit them. 10 This they will have for their pride, because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of Yahweh of hosts. 11 Yahweh will be awesome to them; for he will famish all the gods of the earth; and men will worship him, every one from his place, even all the isles of the nations.

12 You+ Ethiopians also, they are slain by my sword. 13 And he will stretch out his hand against the north, and destroy Assyria, and will make Nineveh a desolation, and dry like the wilderness. 14 And herds will lie down in the midst of her, all the beasts of the nations: both the pelican and the porcupine will lodge in her capitals; [their] voice will sing in the windows; desolation will be in the thresholds: for he has laid bare the cedar-work. 15 This is the joyous city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none besides me: how has she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in! Everyone who passes by her will hiss, and wag his hand.

3  Woe to her who is rebellious and polluted! To the oppressing city! 2 She did not obey the voice; she did not receive correction; she did not trust in Yahweh; she did not draw near to her God. 3 Her princes in the midst of her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves; they leave nothing until the next day. 4 Her prophets are reckless and betraying men; her priests have profaned the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law. 5 Yahweh in the midst of her is righteous; he will not do iniquity; every morning he brings his justice to light, he does not fail; but the unjust knows no shame. 6 I have cut off nations; their battlements are desolate; I have made their streets waste, so that none passes by; their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man, so that there is no inhabitant. 7 I said, Only fear me; receive correction; so her dwelling will not be cut off, [according to] all that I have appointed concerning her: but they rose early and corrupted all their doings.

8 Therefore wait+ for me, says Yahweh, until the day that I rise up to the prey; for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour on them my indignation, even all my fierce anger; for all the earth will be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.

9 For then I will turn to the peoples a pure language,[501] that they may all call on the name of Yahweh, to serve him with one consent.[502] 10 From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia my suppliants, even the daughter of my dispersed, will bring my offering. 11 In that day you will not be put to shame for all your doings, in which you have transgressed against me; for then I will take away out of the midst of you your proudly exulting ones, and you will no more be haughty in my holy mountain. 12 But I will leave in the midst of you an afflicted and poor people, and they will take refuge in the name of Yahweh. 13 The remnant of Israel will not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither will a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth; for they will feed and lie down, and none will make them afraid.

14 Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. 15 Yahweh has taken away your judgments, he has cast out your enemy: the King of Israel, even Yahweh, is in the midst of you; you will not fear evil anymore. 16 In that day it will be said to Jerusalem, Don't be afraid; O Zion, don't let your hands be slack. 17 Yahweh your God is in the midst of you, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with joy; he will rest in his love; he will joy over you with singing. 18 I will gather those who sorrow for the solemn assembly, who were of you; [to whom] the burden on her was a reproach. 19 Look, at that time I will deal with all those who afflict you; and I will save that which is lame, and gather that which was driven away; and I will make them a praise and a name, whose shame has been in all the earth. 20 At that time I will bring you+ in, at the time when I will gather you+; for I will make you+ a name and a praise among all the peoples of the earth, when I bring back your+ captivity before your+ eyes, says Yahweh.

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Haggai

1  In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, the word of Yahweh came by Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying, 2 Thus speaks Yahweh of hosts, saying, This people say, It is not the time [for us] to come, the time for Yahweh's house to be built. 3 Then the word of Yahweh came by Haggai the prophet, saying, 4 Is it a time for you+ yourselves to dwell in your+ ceiled houses, while this house lies waste? 5 Now therefore this is what Yahweh of Hosts says: Consider your+ ways. 6 You+ have sown much, and bring in little; you+ eat, but you+ don't have enough; you+ drink, but you+ are not filled with drink; you+ clothe yourselves, but there is none warm; and he who earns wages, earns wages [to put it] into a bag with holes.

7 Thus says Yahweh of hosts: Consider your+ ways. 8 Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, says Yahweh. 9 You+ looked for much, and, look, it came to little; and when you+ brought it home, I blew on it. Why? says Yahweh of hosts. Because of my house that lies waste, while you+ run every man to his own house. 10 Therefore above you+ the heavens withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit. 11 And I called for a drought on the land, and on the mountains, and on the grain, and on the new wine, and on the oil, and on that which the ground brings forth, and on man, and on cattle, and on all the labor of the hands.

12 Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of Yahweh their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as Yahweh their God had sent him; and the people feared before Yahweh. 13 Then Haggai, Yahweh's messenger, spoke Yahweh's message to the people, saying, I am with you+, says Yahweh. 14 And Yahweh stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked on the house of Yahweh of hosts, their God, 15 in the four and twentieth day of the month, in the sixth [month], in the second year of Darius the king.

2  In the seventh [month], in the one and twentieth [day] of the month, the word of Yahweh came by Haggai the prophet, saying, 2 Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people, saying, 3 Who is left among you+ that saw this house in its former glory? And how do you+ see it now? Is it not in your+ eyes as nothing? 4 Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, says Yahweh; and be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest; and be strong, all you+ people of the land, says Yahweh, and work: for I am with you+, says Yahweh of hosts, 5 [according to] the word that I covenanted with you+ when you+ came out of Egypt, and my Spirit remained among you+: don't be+ afraid. 6 For this is what Yahweh of Hosts says: Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; 7 and I will shake all nations; and the precious things of all nations will come; and I will fill this house with glory, says Yahweh of hosts. 8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, says Yahweh of hosts. 9 The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former, says Yahweh of hosts; and in this place I will give peace, says Yahweh of hosts.

10 In the four and twentieth [day] of the ninth [month], in the second year of Darius, the word of Yahweh came by Haggai the prophet, saying, 11 Thus says Yahweh of hosts: Ask now the priests concerning the law, saying, 12 If one bears holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt touches bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any food, will it become holy? And the priests answered and said, No. 13 Then Haggai said, If one who is unclean by reason of a soul touches any of these, will it be unclean? And the priests answered and said, It will be unclean. 14 Then Haggai answered and said, So is this people, and so is this nation before me, says Yahweh; and so is every work of their hands; and that which they offer there is unclean. 15 And now, I pray you+, consider from this day and backward, before a stone was laid on a stone in the temple of Yahweh, 16 how were you? When one came to a heap of twenty [measures], there were but ten; when one came to the winevat to draw out fifty vessels, there were but twenty. 17 I struck you+ with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the work of your+ hands; yet you+ did not [turn] to me, says Yahweh. 18 Consider, I pray you+, from this day and backward, from the four and twentieth day of the ninth [month], since the day that the foundation of Yahweh's temple was laid, consider it. 19 Is the seed yet in the barn? And even the vine, and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree have not brought forth; from this day I will bless [you+].

20 And the word of Yahweh came the second time to Haggai in the four and twentieth [day] of the month, saying, 21 Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I will shake the heavens and the earth; 22 and I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms; and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those who ride in them; and the horses and their riders will come down, every one by the sword of his brother. 23 In that day, says Yahweh of hosts, I will take you, O Zerubbabel, my slave, the son of Shealtiel, says Yahweh, and will make you as a signet; for I have chosen you, says Yahweh of hosts.

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Zechariah

1  In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of Yahweh came to Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet, saying, 2 Yahweh was very displeased with your+ fathers. 3 Therefore you say to them, Thus says Yahweh of hosts: Return to me, says Yahweh of hosts, and I will return to you+, says Yahweh of hosts. 4 Don't be+ as your+ fathers, to whom the former prophets cried, saying, Thus says Yahweh of hosts, Return+ now from your+ evil ways, and from your+ evil doings: but they did not hear, nor listen to me, says Yahweh. 5 Your+ fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? 6 But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my slaves the prophets, did they not overtake your+ fathers? And they turned and said, Like Yahweh of hosts thought to do to us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so has he dealt with us.

7 On the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of Yahweh came to Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet, saying, 8 I saw in the night, and, look, a man riding on a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle-trees that were in the bottom; and behind him there were horses, red, sorrel, and white. 9 Then I said, O my lord, what are these? And the angel who talked with me said to me, I will show you what these are. 10 And the man who stood among the myrtle-trees answered and said, These are those whom Yahweh has sent to walk to and fro through the earth. 11 And they answered the angel of Yahweh who stood among the myrtle-trees, and said, We have walked to and fro through the earth, and, look, all the earth sits still, and is at rest.

12 Then the angel of Yahweh answered and said, O Yahweh of hosts, how long will you not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which you have had indignation these seventy years? 13 And Yahweh answered the angel who talked with me with good words, [even] comfortable words. 14 So the angel who talked with me said to me, Cry out, saying, Thus says Yahweh of hosts: I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy. 15 And I am very intensely displeased with the nations that are at ease; for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction. 16 Therefore thus says Yahweh: I have returned to Jerusalem with mercies; my house will be built in it, says Yahweh of hosts, and a line will be stretched forth over Jerusalem. 17 Cry out yet again, saying, Thus says Yahweh of hosts: My cities will yet overflow with prosperity; and Yahweh will yet comfort Zion, and will yet choose Jerusalem.

18 And I lifted up my eyes, and looked, and saw four horns. 19 And I said to the angel who talked with me, What are these? And he answered me, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem. 20 And Yahweh showed me four blacksmiths. 21 Then I said, What do these come to do? And he spoke, saying, These are the horns which scattered Judah, so that no man lifted up his head; but these have come to terrify them, to cast down the horns of the nations, which lifted up their horn against the land of Judah to scatter it.

2  And I lifted up my eyes, and looked, and saw a man with a measuring line in his hand. 2 Then I said, Where are you going? And he said to me, To measure Jerusalem, to see what is its width, and what is its length. 3 And, look, the angel who talked with me went forth, and another angel went out to meet him, 4 and said to him, Run, speak to this young man, saying, Jerusalem will be inhabited as villages without walls, by reason of the multitude of man and cattle in her. 5 For I, says Yahweh, will be to her a wall of fire round about, and I will be the glory in the midst of her.

6 Ho, ho, flee from the land of the north, says Yahweh; for I have spread you+ abroad as the four winds of the heavens, says Yahweh. 7 Ho Zion, escape, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon. 8 For this is what Yahweh of Hosts says: After glory he has sent me to the nations which plundered you+; for he who touches you+ touches the apple[503] of my eye. 9 For, look, I will shake my hand over them, and they will be a spoil to their slaves; and you+ will know that Yahweh of hosts has sent me. 10 Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion; for, look, I come, and I will stay in the midst of you, says Yahweh. 11 And many nations will join themselves to Yahweh in that day, and will be my people; and I will stay in the midst of you, and you will know that Yahweh of hosts has sent me to you. 12 And Yahweh will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and will yet choose Jerusalem. 13 Be silent, all flesh, before Yahweh; for he has awakened out of his holy habitation.

3  And he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of Yahweh, and Satan standing at his right hand to be his adversary. 2 And Yahweh said to Satan, Yahweh rebuke you, O Satan; yes, Yahweh who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire? 3 Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and was standing before the angel. 4 And he answered and spoke to those who stood before him, saying, Take the filthy garments from off him. And to him he said, Look, I have caused your iniquity to pass from you, and I will clothe you with rich apparel. 5 And I said, Let them set a clean turban on his head. So they set a clean turban on his head, and clothed him with garments; and the angel of Yahweh was standing by.

6 And the angel of Yahweh protested to Joshua, saying, 7 Thus says Yahweh of hosts: If you will walk in my ways, and if you will keep my charge, then you also will judge my house, and will also keep my courts, and I will give you a place of access among these who stand by. 8 Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your companions that sit before you; for they are men who are a sign: for, look, I will bring forth my slave the Branch. 9 For, look, the stone that I have set before Joshua; on one stone are seven eyes: look, I will engrave its engraving, says Yahweh of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. 10 In that day, says Yahweh of hosts, you+ will invite every man his fellow man under the vine and under the fig tree.

4  And the angel who talked with me came again, and woke me, as a man who is awakened out of his sleep. 2 And he said to me, What do you see? And I said, I have seen, and, look, a lampstand all of gold, with its bowl on the top of it, and its seven lamps on it; there are seven pipes to each of the lamps, which are on the top of it; 3 and two olive trees by it, one on the right side of the bowl, and the other on the left side of it. 4 And I answered and spoke to the angel who talked with me, saying, What are these, my lord? 5 Then the angel who talked with me answered and said to me, Don't you know what these are? And I said, No, my lord. 6 Then he answered and spoke to me, saying, This is the word of Yahweh to Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says Yahweh of hosts. 7 Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel [you will become] a plain; and he will bring forth the top stone with shoutings of Grace, grace, to it. 8 Moreover the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 9 The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands will also finish it; and you will know that Yahweh of hosts has sent me to you+. 10 For who has despised the day of small things? For these seven will rejoice, and will see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel; [these are] the eyes of Yahweh, which run to and fro through the whole earth.

11 Then I answered, and said to him, What are these two olive trees on the right side of the lampstand and on the left side of it? 12 And I answered the second time, and said to him, What are these two olive-branches, which are beside the two golden spouts, that empty the gold out of themselves? 13 And he answered me and said, Don't you know what these are? And I said, No, my lord. 14 Then he said, These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth.

5  Then again I lifted up my eyes, and looked, and saw a flying roll. 2 And he said to me, What do you see? And I answered, I see a flying roll; its length is twenty cubits, and its width ten cubits. 3 Then he said to me, This is the curse that goes forth over the face of the whole land: for according to this side [of the scroll], everyone who steals will be emptied; and according to the other side, everyone who swears will be emptied. 4 I brought it out, says Yahweh of hosts, and it will enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him who swears falsely by my name; and it will reside in the midst of his house, and will consume it with its timber and its stones.

5 Then the angel who talked with me went forth, and said to me, Lift up now your eyes, and see what this is that goes forth. 6 And I said, What is it? And he said, This is the ephah that goes forth. He said moreover, This is their desire[504] in all the land 7 (and, look, there was lifted up a talent of lead); and this is a woman sitting in the midst of the ephah. 8 And he said, This is Wickedness: and he cast her down into the midst of the ephah; and he cast the weight of lead on its mouth. 9 Then I lifted up my eyes, and looked, and saw there came forth two women, and the wind was in their wings; now they had wings like the wings of a stork; and they lifted up the ephah between earth and heaven. 10 Then I said to the angel who talked with me, Where do these bear the ephah? 11 And he said to me, To build her a house in the land of Shinar: and when it is prepared, she will be set there in her own place.

6  And again I lifted up my eyes, and looked, and saw four chariots come out from between two mountains; and the mountains were mountains of bronze. 2 In the first chariot were red horses; and in the second chariot black horses; 3 and in the third chariot white horses; and in the fourth chariot grizzled strong horses. 4 Then I answered and said to the angel who talked with me, What are these, my lord? 5 And the angel answered and said to me, These are the four winds of heaven, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth. 6 [The chariot] in which are the black horses goes forth toward the north country; and the white went forth after them; and the grizzled went forth toward the south country. 7 And the strong went forth, and sought to go that they might walk to and fro through the earth: and he said, Go+ from here, walk to and fro through the earth. So they walked to and fro through the earth. 8 Then he cried to me, and spoke to me, saying, Look, those who go toward the north country have quieted my spirit in the north country.

9 And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 10 Take of them of the captivity, even of Heldai, of Tobijah, and of Jedaiah; and you come the same day, and go into the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah, where they have come from Babylon; 11 yes, take [of them] silver and gold, and make crowns, and set them on the head of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest; 12 and speak to him, saying, Thus speaks Yahweh of hosts, saying, Look, the man whose name is the Branch: and he will grow up out of his place; and he will build the temple of Yahweh; 13 even he will build the temple of Yahweh; and he will bear the grandeur, and will sit and rule on his throne; and he will be a priest on his throne; and the counsel of peace will be between them both. 14 And the crowns will be to Helem, and to Tobijah, and to Jedaiah, and for the kindness of the son of Zephaniah, for a memorial in the temple of Yahweh. 15 And those who are far off will come and build in the temple of Yahweh; and you+ will know that Yahweh of hosts has sent me to you+. And [this] will come to pass, if you+ will diligently obey the voice of Yahweh your+ God.

7  And it came to pass in the fourth year of King Darius, that the word of Yahweh came to Zechariah in the fourth [day] of the ninth month, even in Kislev. 2 Now [they of] Beth-el had sent Sharezer and Regem-melech, and their men, to entreat the favor of Yahweh, 3 [and] to speak to the priests of the house of Yahweh of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years? 4 Then the word of Yahweh of hosts came to me, saying, 5 Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When you+ fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh [month], even these seventy years, did you+ at all fast to me, even to me? 6 And when you+ eat, and when you+ drink, don't you+ eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves? 7 [Should you+] not [hear] the words which Yahweh cried out by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and her cities round about her, and the South and the lowland were inhabited?

8 And the word of Yahweh came to Zechariah, saying, 9 Thus has Yahweh of hosts spoken, saying, Execute true judgment, and show kindness and compassion every man to his brother; 10 and don't oppress the widow, nor the fatherless, the sojourner, nor the poor; and let none of you+ devise evil against his brother in your+ heart. 11 But they refused to listen, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they might not hear. 12 Yes, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which Yahweh of hosts had sent by his Spirit by the former prophets: therefore there came great wrath from Yahweh of hosts. 13 And it has come to pass that, as he cried out, and they would not hear, so they will cry out, and I will not hear, said Yahweh of hosts; 14 but I will scatter them with a whirlwind among all the nations which they have not known. Thus the land was desolate after them, so that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land desolate.

8  And the word of Yahweh of hosts came [to me], saying, 2 Thus says Yahweh of hosts: I am jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I am jealous for her with great wrath. 3 Thus says Yahweh: I have returned to Zion, and will stay in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem will be called The city of truth; and the mountain of Yahweh of hosts, The holy mountain. 4 Thus says Yahweh of hosts: There will yet dwell old men and old women in the streets of Jerusalem, every man with his staff in his hand for very age. 5 And the streets of the city will be full of boys and girls playing in its streets. 6 Thus says Yahweh of hosts: If it is marvelous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in those days, should it also be marvelous in my eyes? says Yahweh of hosts. 7 Thus says Yahweh of hosts: Look, I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country; 8 and I will bring them, and they will stay in the midst of Jerusalem; and they will be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness.

9 Thus says Yahweh of hosts: Let your+ hands be strong, you+ who hear in these days these words from the mouth of the prophets who were there in the day that the foundation of the house of Yahweh of hosts was laid, even the temple, that it might be built. 10 For before those days there was no wage for man, nor any wage for beast; neither was there any peace to him who went out or came in, because of the adversary: for I set all of man, every man against his fellow man. 11 But now I will not be to the remnant of this people as in the former days, says Yahweh of hosts. 12 For [there will be] the seed of peace; the vine will give its fruit, and the ground will give its increase, and the heavens will give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to inherit all these things. 13 And it will come to pass that, as you+ were a curse among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so I will save you+, and you+ will be a blessing. Don't be afraid, [but] let your+ hands be strong.

14 For this is what Yahweh of Hosts says: As I thought to do evil to you+, when your+ fathers provoked me to wrath, says Yahweh of hosts, and I did not repent; 15 so again I have thought in these days to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah: don't be+ afraid. 16 These are the things that you+ will do: speak+ every man the truth with his fellow man; execute the judgment of truth and peace in your+ gates; 17 and let none of you+ devise evil in your+ hearts against his fellow man; and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate, says Yahweh.

18 And the word of Yahweh of hosts came to me, saying, 19 Thus says Yahweh of hosts: The fast of the fourth [month], and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, will be to the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts; therefore love truth and peace. 20 Thus says Yahweh of hosts: [It will] yet [come to pass], that there will come peoples, and the inhabitants of many cities; 21 and the inhabitants of one [city] will go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to entreat the favor of Yahweh, and to seek Yahweh of hosts: I will go also. 22 Yes, many peoples and strong nations will come to seek Yahweh of hosts in Jerusalem, and to entreat the favor of Yahweh. 23 Thus says Yahweh of hosts: In those days [it will come to pass], that ten men will take hold, out of all the languages of the nations, they will take hold of the skirt of him who is a Jew, saying, We will go with you+, for we have heard that God is with you+.

9  The burden of the word of Yahweh on the land of Hadrach, and Damascus [will be] its resting-place (for the eye of man and of all the tribes of Israel is toward Yahweh); 2 and Hamath, also, which borders on it; Tyre and Sidon, because they are very wise. 3 And Tyre built herself a stronghold, and heaped up silver as the dust, and fine gold as the mire of the streets. 4 Look, the Lord will dispossess her, and he will strike her power in the sea; and she will be devoured with fire. 5 Ashkelon will see it, and fear; Gaza also, and will be very pained; and Ekron, for her expectation will be put to shame; and the king will perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon will not be inhabited. 6 And a bastard will dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines. 7 And I will take away his blood out of his mouth, and his detestable things from between his teeth; and he also will be a remnant for our God; and he will be as a chieftain in Judah, and Ekron as a Jebusite.

8 And I will encamp about my house against the army, that none pass through or return; and no oppressor will pass through them anymore: for now I have seen with my eyes.

9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: look, your king comes to you; he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding on a donkey, even on a colt the son of a donkey. 10 And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow will be cut off; and he will speak peace to the nations: and his dominion will be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.

11 As for you also, because of the blood of your covenant I have set free your prisoners from the pit in which is no water. 12 Turn+ to the stronghold, you+ prisoners of hope: even today I declare that I will render double to you. 13 For I have bent Judah for me, I have filled the bow with Ephraim; and I will stir up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, and will make you as the sword of a mighty man. 14 And Yahweh will be seen over them; and his arrow will go forth as the lightning; and the Sovereign Yahweh will blow the trumpet, and will go with whirlwinds of the south. 15 Yahweh of hosts will defend them; and they will devour, and will tread down the sling-stones; and they will drink, and make a noise as through wine; and they will be filled like bowls, like the corners of the altar. 16 And Yahweh their God will save them in that day as the flock of his people; for [they will be as] the stones of a crown, lifted on high over his land. 17 For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty! Grain will make the young men flourish, and new wine the virgins.

10  Ask+ of Yahweh rain in the time of the latter rain, [even of] Yahweh who makes lightnings; and he will give them showers of rain, to everyone grass in the field. 2 For the talismans have spoken vanity, and the fortune-tellers have seen a lie; and they have told false dreams, they comfort in vain: therefore they go their way like sheep, they are afflicted, because there is no shepherd. 3 My anger is kindled against the shepherds, and I will punish the he-goats; for Yahweh of hosts has visited his flock, the house of Judah, and will make them as his horse of grandeur in the battle. 4 From him will come forth the cornerstone, from him the nail, from him the battle bow, from him every ruler together. 5 And they will be as mighty men, treading down [their enemies] in the mire of the streets in the battle; and they will fight, because Yahweh is with them; and the riders on horses will be confounded. 6 And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them back; for I have mercy on them; and they will be as though I had not cast them off: for I am Yahweh their God, and I will hear them. 7 And [they of] Ephraim will be like a mighty man, and their heart will rejoice as through wine; yes, their sons will see it, and rejoice; their heart will be glad in Yahweh.

8 I will hiss for them, and gather them; for I have redeemed them; and they will increase as they have increased. 9 And I will sow them among the peoples; and they will remember me in far countries; and they will raise their sons, and will return. 10 I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria; and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon; and [place] will not be found for them. 11 And he will pass through the sea of affliction, and will strike the waves in the sea, and all the depths of the Nile will dry up; and the pride of Assyria will be brought down, and the scepter of Egypt will depart. 12 And I will strengthen them in Yahweh; and they will walk up and down in his name, says Yahweh.

11  Open your doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour your cedars. 2 Wail, O fir-tree, for the cedar has fallen, because the majestic ones are destroyed: wail, O you+ oaks of Bashan, for the strong forest has come down. 3 A voice of the wailing of the shepherds! For their glory is destroyed: a voice of the roaring of young lions! For the pride of the Jordan is laid waste.

4 Thus Yahweh my God said: Shepherd the flock of slaughter; 5 whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty; and those who sell them say, Blessed be Yahweh, for I am rich; and their own shepherds don't pity them. 6 For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, says Yahweh; but, look, I will deliver man, every man into his fellow man's hand, and into the hand of his king; and they will strike the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them. 7 So I shepherded the flock of slaughter, and the sheep-dealers. And I took to me two poles; the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bands; and I shepherded the flock. 8 And I cut off the three shepherds in one month; for my soul was weary of them, and their soul also loathed me. 9 Then I said, I will not shepherd you+: that which dies, let it die; and that which is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let those that are left eat every one the flesh of another. 10 And I took my staff Beauty, and cut it apart, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the peoples. 11 And it was broken in that day; and the sheep-dealers that gave heed to me knew that it was the word of Yahweh. 12 And I said to them, If you+ think good, give me my wages; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my wages thirty [shekels] of silver. 13 And Yahweh said to me, Cast it to the potter, the goodly price that I was prized at by them. And I took the thirty [shekels] of silver, and cast them to the potter, in the house of Yahweh. 14 Then I cut apart my other staff, even Bands, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

15 And Yahweh said to me, Take to yourself yet again the instruments of a foolish shepherd. 16 For, look, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, who will not visit those that are cut off, neither will seek that which remains behind, nor heal that which is broken, nor feed that which is sound; but he will eat the flesh of the fat [sheep], and will tear their hoofs in pieces. 17 Woe to the worthless shepherd who leaves the flock! The sword will be on his arm, and on his right eye: his arm will be clean dried up, and his right eye will be completely darkened.

12  The burden of the word of Yahweh concerning Israel. [Thus] says Yahweh, who stretches forth the heavens, and lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man inside him: 2 look, I will make Jerusalem a cup of reeling to all the peoples round about, and on Judah also it will be in the siege against Jerusalem. 3 And it will come to pass in that day, that I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all the peoples; all who burden themselves with it will be critically wounded; and all the nations of the earth will be gathered together against it. 4 In that day, says Yahweh, I will strike every horse with terror, and his rider with madness; and I will open my eyes on the house of Judah, and will strike every horse of the peoples with blindness. 5 And the chieftains of Judah will say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength in Yahweh of hosts their God. 6 In that day I will make the chieftains of Judah like a pan of fire among wood, and like a flaming torch among sheaves; and they will devour all the peoples round about, on the right hand and on the left; and [they of] Jerusalem will yet again dwell in their own place, even in Jerusalem. 7 Yahweh also will save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem will not magnify above Judah. 8 In that day Yahweh will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and he who is feeble among them at that day will be as David; and the house of David will be as God, as the angel of Yahweh before them. 9 And it will come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

10 And I will pour on the house of David, and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication; and they will look to me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for him, as one mourns for his only son, and will be in bitterness for him, as one who is in bitterness for his firstborn. 11 In that day there will be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. 12 And the land will mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; 13 the family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of the Shimeites apart, and their wives apart; 14 all the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart.

13  In that day there will be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness. 2 And it will come to pass in that day, says Yahweh of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they will no more be remembered; and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land. 3 And it will come to pass that, when any will yet prophesy, then his father and his mother who begot him will say to him, You will not live; for you speak lies in the name of Yahweh; and his father and his mother who begot him will thrust him through when he prophesies. 4 And it will come to pass in that day, that the prophets will be ashamed every one of his vision, when he prophesies; neither will they wear a hairy mantle to deceive: 5 but he will say, I am no prophet, I am a tiller of the ground; for man has acquired me from my youth. 6 And one will say to him, What are these wounds between your arms? Then he will answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.

7 Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the [prominent] man who is my associate, says Yahweh of hosts: strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; and I will turn my hand on the little ones. 8 And it will come to pass, that in all the land, says Yahweh, two parts in it will be cut off and die; but the third will be left in it. 9 And I will bring the third part into the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried. They will call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people; and they will say, Yahweh is my God.

14  Look, a day of Yahweh comes, when your spoil will be divided in the midst of you. 2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city will be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women raped; and half of the city will go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people will not be cut off from the city. 3 Then will Yahweh go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. 4 And his feet will stand in that day on the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east; and the mount of Olives will be divided in the midst of it toward the east and toward the west, [and there will be] a very great valley; and half of the mountain will remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. 5 And you+ will flee by the valley of my mountains; for the valley of the mountains will reach to Azel; yes, you+ will flee, like you+ fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah; and Yahweh my God will come, and all the holy ones with you. 6 And it will come to pass in that day, that there will not be light; the bright ones will withdraw themselves: 7 but it will be one day which is known to Yahweh; not day, and not night; but it will come to pass, that at evening time there will be light. 8 And it will come to pass in that day, that living waters will go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the eastern sea, and half of them toward the western sea: in summer and in winter it will be.

9 And Yahweh will be King over all the earth: in that day Yahweh will be one, and his name one. 10 All the land will be made like the Arabah, from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem; and she will be lifted up, and will dwell in her place, from Benjamin's gate to the place of the first gate, to the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananel to the king's wine-presses. 11 And men will dwell in her, and there will be no more curse; but Jerusalem will dwell safely.

12 And this will be the plague with which Yahweh will strike all the peoples that have warred against Jerusalem: their flesh will consume away while they stand on their feet, and their eyes will consume away in their sockets, and their tongue will consume away in their mouth. 13 And it will come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from Yahweh will be among them; and they will lay hold every one on the hand of his fellow man, and his hand will rise up against the hand of his fellow man. 14 And Judah also will fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the nations round about will be gathered together, gold, and silver, and apparel, in great abundance. 15 And so will be the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the donkey, and of all the beasts that will be in those camps, as that plague.

16 And it will come to pass, that everyone who is left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, Yahweh of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. 17 And it will be, that whoever of [all] the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, Yahweh of hosts, on them there will be no rain. 18 And if the family of Egypt does not go up, and does not come, will this not happen to them? This will be the plague with which Yahweh will strike the nations that don't go up to keep the feast of tabernacles. 19 This will be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all the nations that don't go up to keep the feast of tabernacles. 20 In that day there will be on the bells of the horses, HOLY TO YAHWEH; and the pots in Yahweh's house will be like the bowls before the altar. 21 Yes, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy to Yahweh of hosts; and all those who sacrifice will come and take of them, and boil in them: and in that day there will be no more a Canaanite in the house of Yahweh of hosts.

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Malachi

1  The burden of the word of Yahweh to Israel by Malachi. 2 I have loved you+, says Yahweh. Yet you+ say, In what have you loved us? Wasn't Esau Jacob's brother, says Yahweh: yet I loved Jacob; 3 but Esau I hated, and made his mountains a desolation, and [gave] his heritage to the jackals of the wilderness. 4 Whereas Edom says, We are beaten down, but we will return and build the waste places; this is what Yahweh of Hosts says, They will build, but I will throw down; and men will call them The border of wickedness, and The people against whom Yahweh has indignation forever. 5 And your+ eyes will see, and you+ will say, May Yahweh be magnified beyond the border of Israel.

6 A son honors his father, and a slave his master: if then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says Yahweh of hosts to you+, O priests, that despise my name. And you+ say, In what have we despised your name? 7 You+ offer polluted bread on my altar. And you+ say, In what have we polluted you? In that you+ say, The table of Yahweh is contemptible. 8 And when you+ offer the blind for sacrifice, it is no evil! And when you+ offer the lame and sick, it is no evil! Present it now to your governor; will he be pleased with you? Or will he accept your person? says Yahweh of hosts. 9 And now, I pray you+, entreat the favor of God, that he may be gracious to us: this has been by your+ means: will he accept any of your+ persons? says Yahweh of hosts. 10 Oh that there were one among you+ who would shut the doors, that you+ might not kindle [fire on] my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you+, says Yahweh of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your+ hand. 11 For from the rising of the sun even to the going down of the same my name [will be] great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense [will be] offered to my name, and a pure offering: for my name [will be] great among the Gentiles, says Yahweh of hosts. 12 But you+ profane it, in that you+ say, The table of Yahweh is polluted, and its fruit, even its food, is contemptible. 13 You+ also say, Look, what a weariness it is! And you+ have snorted at it, says Yahweh of hosts; and you+ have brought that which was taken by violence, and the lame, and the sick; thus you+ bring the offering: should I accept this at your+ hand? says Yahweh. 14 But cursed be the deceiver, who has in his flock a male, and vows, and sacrifices to the Lord a blemished thing; for I am a great King, says Yahweh of hosts, and my name is awesome among the Gentiles.

2  And now, O you+ priests, this commandment is for you+. 2 If you+ will not hear, and if you+ will not lay it to heart, to give glory to my name, says Yahweh of hosts, then I will send the curse on you+, and I will curse your+ blessings; yes, I have cursed them already, because you+ don't lay it to heart. 3 Look, I will rebuke your+ seed, and will spread feces on your+ faces, even the feces of your+ feasts; and you+ will be taken away with it. 4 And you+ will know that I have sent this commandment to you+, that my covenant may be with Levi, says Yahweh of hosts. 5 My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him that he might fear; and he feared me, and stood in awe of my name. 6 The law of truth was in his mouth, and unrighteousness was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many away from iniquity. 7 For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth; for he is the messenger of Yahweh of hosts. 8 But you+ have turned aside out of the way; you+ have caused many to stumble in the law; you+ have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says Yahweh of hosts. 9 Therefore I have also made you+ contemptible and base before all the people, according to as you+ have not kept my ways, but have had respect of persons in the law.

10 Don't we all have one father? Has not one God created us? Why do we betray every man against his brother, profaning the covenant of our fathers? 11 Judah has betrayed, and a disgusting thing is done in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah has profaned the holiness of Yahweh which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. 12 Yahweh will cut off, to the man who does this, him who wakes and him who answers, out of the tents of Jacob, and him who offers an offering to Yahweh of hosts. 13 And this again you+ do: you+ cover the altar of Yahweh with tears, with weeping, and with sighing, insomuch that he does not regard the offering anymore, neither receives it with goodwill at your+ hand. 14 Yet you+ say, Why? Because Yahweh has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, whom you have betrayed,[505] though she is your partner, and the wife of your covenant. 15 And no one who does this has part of the Spirit remaining in him; neither is such a one seeking a godly seed. Therefore take heed+ to your+ spirit; and do not betray the wife of your youth. 16 For he who hates, divorces,[506] says Yahweh, the God of Israel, and he will cover his garment with violence,[507] says Yahweh of hosts. Therefore take heed to your+ spirit, that you+ do not betray [the wife of your youth].[508]

17 You+ have wearied Yahweh with your+ words. Yet you+ say, In what have we wearied him? In that you+ say, Everyone who does evil is good in the eyes of Yahweh, and he delights in them; or where is the God of justice?  3  Look, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom you+ seek, will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant, whom you+ desire, look, he comes, says Yahweh of hosts. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming? And who will stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap: 3 and he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi, and refine them as gold and silver; and they will offer to Yahweh offerings in righteousness. 4 Then will the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant to Yahweh, as in the days of old, and as in ancient years. 5 And I will come near to you+ to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the false swearers, and against those who unjustly reduce the wages of the hired worker, the widow, and the fatherless, and who turn aside the sojourner [from his right], and do not fear me, says Yahweh of hosts. 6 For I, Yahweh, do not change; therefore you+, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.

7 From the days of your+ fathers you+ have turned aside from my ordinances, and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you+, says Yahweh of hosts. But you+ say, In what shall we return? 8 Will man rob God? Yet you+ rob me. But you+ say, In what have we robbed you? In tithes and offerings. 9 You+ are cursed with the curse; for you+ rob me, even this whole nation. 10 Bring+ the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and prove me now herewith, says Yahweh of hosts, if I will not open for you+ the windows of heaven, and pour out a blessing for you+, that there will not be room enough [to receive it]. 11 And I will rebuke the devourer for your+ sakes, and he will not destroy the fruits of your+ ground; neither will your+ vine cast its fruit before the time in the field, says Yahweh of hosts. 12 And all nations will call you+ happy; for you+ will be a delightsome land, says Yahweh of hosts.

13 Your+ words have been stout against me, says Yahweh. Yet you+ say, What have we spoken against you? 14 You+ have said, It is vain to serve God; and what profit is it that we have kept his charge, and that we have walked mournfully before Yahweh of hosts? 15 And now we call the proud happy; yes, those who work wickedness are built up; yes, they make trial of God, and escape.

16 Then those who feared Yahweh spoke one with another; and Yahweh listened, and heard, and a book of remembrance was written before him, for those who feared Yahweh, and who thought on his name. 17 And they will be mine, says Yahweh of hosts, [even] my own possession, in the day that I make; and I will spare them, as a man spares his own son who serves him. 18 Then you+ will return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him who serves God and him who does not serve him.

4  For, look, the day comes, it burns as a furnace; and all the proud, and all who work wickedness, will be stubble; and the day that comes will burn them up, says Yahweh of hosts, that it will leave them neither root nor branch. 2 But to you+ who fear my name the sun of righteousness will arise with healing in its wings; and you+ will go forth, and leap as calves of the stall. 3 And you+ will tread down the wicked; for they will be ashes under the soles of your+ feet in the day that I make, says Yahweh of hosts.

4 Remember+ the law of Moses my slave, which I commanded to him in Horeb for all Israel, even statutes and ordinances. 5 Look, I will send you+ Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of Yahweh comes. 6 And he will turn the heart of the fathers to the sons, and the heart of the sons to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the earth with a curse.

Appendix

Background

The purpose of this translation is: to provide a modern version that retains the accuracy of older English translations; to update archaic words so that it is easier to read using a modern English vocabulary; and to apply discoveries of new materials, such as manuscripts, to improve accuracy.

This Bible is free to copy, even commercially, but is not to be modified except as specified in the section below entitled "Copyright Restrictions."

Special Features

Plus signs ( + ) are used in superscripts next to words such as "you" and "your" when they refer to a group of two or more. This is done to improve accuracy.

In some cases, the word 'you' or 'your' is not present in some verses for smoother English style. This was mostly done in imperative (command) sentences. If the word 'you' was plural and the context is not clear, the plus sign will move to the verb. For example, a command such as, "Do you+ not seek these things" becomes "Do+ not seek these things." In such cases, other plural verbs in the same verse may be marked plural as needed to avoid ambiguity. In situations other than these, verbs are not generally marked as to whether they refer to a singular or plural subject.

Brackets [ ] are used to enclose words supplied in the translation that are not present in the original Bible text in order to make a passage more understandable. A threshold is involved in disclosing these. There are some words that will normally be supplied and not disclosed in brackets, but for the most part these are required if not clearly implied by the original Bible text. The reason that brackets are used, instead of italics or other means, is discussed below in Style Guidelines.

Authoritative Texts

The UPDV Bible is based on the American Standard Version of 1901 (ASV). The ASV was used as the starting point for this Bible (except for First Maccabees and Sirach). The UPDV Bible is a revision of the ASV.

The authoritative texts used for further refinement of the translation are as follows (see also the special section in the appendix concerning the Book of Matthew):

Old Testament: Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (Electronic Edition). United Bible Societies' Preliminary and Interim Report on the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project (5 volumes). The final report in Critique Textuelle De L'Ancien Testament by Dominique Barthelemy (First 4 volumes).

New Testament (Greek): United Bible Societies—The Greek New Testament, Fifth Edition (UBS5) and Nestle-Aland Novum Testamentum Graece, 28th Edition (NA28). Readings in these Greek editions within single brackets have been generally retained as part of the regular text in the UPDV Bible. These readings may be regarded as part of the text but they cannot be taken as completely certain. This type of bracketed text should not be confused with use of bracketed text in the UPDV Bible. In the UPDV Bible, bracketed text is used to indicate words used to help in understanding the text that are not present in the original languages.

New Testament (Syriac): The Old Syriac and Peshitta versions were also reviewed for variant readings. In some cases, it was found that one or more Syriac versions were more likely to contain the original reading than was the Greek critical text. Footnotes indicates where the Syriac was followed instead of the Greek critical text.

By using the above texts, the UPDV Bible uses the eclectic method of selecting the original reading of verses. This means that when more than one reading for a passage exists, each verse is evaluated independently based on its merits. Some variants (different readings of verses) are disclosed in footnotes especially when they affect entire verses which are omitted or inserted. In rare instances, the texts above were not followed if convincing evidence was found to the contrary. In such cases, they are listed in the Variant Exceptions section in this appendix.

Gender

Gender has been generally translated literally. The following general guidelines are used to distinguish the various meanings:

Gender in The New Testament

The current usage of gender in the New Testament is similar to the guidelines noted below for the Old Testament. However, due to differences between the languages and styles, not all of same distinctions are present. Context will generally dictate the interpretation.

Gender in The Old Testament

Man, of man, from man, etc.: When used in its plain form, generally refers to mankind, humans, or people, without necessarily indicating male or female.

'Common man' is used in a similar manner, but in general, refers to ordinary man, as a class, also known as commoners.

A man, any man, this man, men, etc.: Generally refer to one or more of the male sex of man, or a group which may at least partially consist of males.

[Able-bodied] men, [prominent] men, etc.: This is based on a Hebrew word which focuses on a special type of strength, such as mighty, capability, being a soldier, being in one's prime, age, nobility, leadership, wisdom, or other such types of special qualities. The quality referred to is somewhat interpretive based on the context and is placed within brackets. See Exodus 10:11 for example.

A woman, any woman, this woman, women, etc.: Generally refer to one or more of the female sex of man, or a group which may at least partially consist of females.

Sons and daughters: These are generally retained and can mean either literal descendants or something else as indicated by the context.

He, she, and other such references are generally retained and unchanged from the ASV.

Content Warning for Children

This Bible may contain material not suitable for children.

The Book of Matthew

The Book of Matthew in this Bible is a reconstructed text generally based on the use of existing material from Matthew, as well as being supplemented or modified with text from Mark and Luke. The chapters and verses in Matthew have also been renumbered.

It has become apparent that the Book of Matthew has undergone a significant amount of modification since the original. These modifications have generally gone unnoticed because the modifications seem to have happened before the time of currently existing Greek manuscripts.

By most accounts, Matthew was originally written in Hebrew or Aramaic. Although we do not have what are likely to be copies of a direct line to the Hebrew version, there are some indirect witnesses to it. Some of the Church fathers make references to a gospel written in Hebrew. At times, they even indicate where it differs from the Greek version. They also mention different Hebrew versions, different groups using them, and some issues with these groups and texts. This provides us with some important information concerning the original text of Matthew.

Witnesses To A Substantially Different Text

1) We have long been aware of some comments by Epiphanius that he knew of some Hebrew versions that did not contain the first two chapters. He also seems to indicate that some may have at least contained the genealogy section.

2) Somewhat recently, in 1966, Shlomo Pines in "The Jewish Christians of the Early Centuries of Christianity According to a New Source", describes the contents of a text which reflects the views and traditions of a Jewish Christian community. On page 21 he states that this text, which may have been written down in the fifth century or later, may represent an independent, otherwise quite unknown tradition concerning some events which occurred in the earliest Christian community. Further, he states that this tradition, however distorted it may have been in the course of transmission, could yet conceivably go back in parts to the first period of Christianity.

The section relevant to Matthew is on page 23. After some discussion as to whether the original text includes narratives as well as just 'sayings', he goes on to say that the Jewish Christian texts imply that the 'true' Hebrew Gospel did not contain an account of the birth and life of Jesus.

3) New witnesses have been found to Matthew 1:16 which include Manuscripts R and O at 17.3ab of the early document, "The Dialogue of Timothy and Aquila" (TA), the Old Syriac (Sinaiticus), some Palestinian Syriac, some Greek manuscripts, and Von Soden's critical text. These texts appear to show that this verse was modified very early to support the concept of a virgin birth of Jesus.

4) Beginning with Matthew 1:18 (old numbering), a very unusual syntax appears for a text which has been translated from Hebrew to Greek. Instead of finding any resemblance to Hebrew style, we find an almost exact match to a narrative from ancient Greek literature.[509] This tends to show that what we have is something introduced later into the text when it was in Greek.

5) An article titled, "Dreams, the Ancient Novels, and the Gospel of Matthew: An Intertextual Study", provides some interesting background on the dream stories in Matthew:

"No doubt the dream narratives in Matthew lack the flourish and color that we find in the dream reports of the Greek novels. ... Yet the formal features of the dream narratives in Matthew correspond to those found in other Greco-Roman literature, including the romance novels. Based simply on the formal features of the dreams in Matthew, it seems evident that an ancient auditor in the Greco-Roman world would bring to Matthew's dream narratives the same literary expectations and values as the dreams found in the novels."[510]

"Chariton 2.9.6 offers a particularly interesting parallel to Matt 1:18b-24 (old numbering). Just as Callirhoe comes to a decision about her unborn child by means of a dream, Joseph also comes to a decision about Mary's unborn child by means of a dream. Because of the dream, Callirhoe does not kill her unborn child but gives birth to the child and makes it a legitimate child of Dionysius.  ... Thus the dreams in Matthew's infancy narrative and the Greek novels share similar functions in relation to children and prophecy." It goes on further to discuss how in Matthew 27:19 (old numbering), the dream terminology of Pilate's wife "is consistent with that in Matthew's infancy narrative...".[511]

This indicates that these portions of Matthew, not only at the beginning, but also at the end, may be the creation of a later writer who was familiar with novels in his culture; rather than being the original work of a Hebrew author.

Patterns of the Modified Text

Although the above factors focus on the first two chapters, the modifications continue throughout Matthew. The first two chapters turn out to be just a symptom of a much more widespread problem. In reviewing Matthew, some patterns emerge when we find material that is not present in John, Mark, or Luke. In general terms, Matthew contains unparalleled materials that tend to:

a) Sensationalize or exaggerate;

b) Support a misunderstood Scripture;

c) Prematurely insert extra prophecies; and

d) Over-emphasize certain phrases and topics.

Context

In many cases, passages were found that were not in their proper context. By presenting the material in a context which was not originally intended when the words were spoken, this was likely to result in misinterpretation. There were also cases of multiple sayings that were placed together even though they happened at different times and in different contexts.

Reconstruction

The UPDV has used the existing material in Matthew as a basis for reconstructing a replacement text which:

a) Removes the unattested material;

b) Puts the events in a more chronological order;

c) Places the text in its proper context; and

d) Covers the same general subjects and events.

While the existing material of Matthew was used as much as possible, sometimes it was necessary to use the text from parallel accounts in Mark and Luke. Sometimes different readings from Matthew, Mark, and Luke were combined together in whole or in part. In some cases, the text in Matthew was not included in any form due to the lack of a confirming witness to the reading or context. Some texts which appear genuine are included even though the location they belong is not certain; however, footnotes are generally present indicating the uncertainty of the location. Slight modification of the narrative material was occasionally required in order to transition the reconstructed text with the surrounding context.

Renumbering

The chapter and verse numbering in Matthew has been changed. It is at times necessary to refer to the old method of numbering and/or the new one. In such cases, the old system will be indicated by (old) or (old numbering). The new system will be indicated by (new) or (new numbering). In cases where it is not indicated, the new system is to be assumed by default.

Additional reference material related to the reconstruction of Matthew may be found at the website www.updated.org including a conversion chart from the old numbering system to the new numbering system; a parallel comparison of the old text of Matthew to the new; and a guide to the new text showing the general references from which it was derived.

Acts of the Apostles (Acts)

The book of the Acts of the Apostles is not included in this Bible. It appears that the book of Acts was generally based on historical people and events for its outline; however, many of the details within it appear to be created. The reasons for taking this position include the following:

1) The internal writing style in the Gospel of Luke is different in some respects when compared to Acts. This tends to indicate that someone else wrote Acts. For example, note the use of the Greek word τε (9 times in Luke; 151 times in Acts). Also compare the difference in use of ανηρ (27 times in Luke; 100 times in Acts) to ανθρωπος (95 times in Luke, 46 times in Acts). See the following article for other examples: A.W. Argyle, "The Greek of Luke and Acts," New Testament Studies (Cambridge University Press) 20 (1974): pp. 441 - 445.

2) Contradictions to other events in the New Testament. For example compare Galatians 1:11-2:10 to the corresponding events in Acts.

3) Significant amounts of material which are unsubstantiated. Many of the details found in Acts are not present in Paul's writings even when they would be expected. For example, compare the details of Paul's conversion and persecution of the Church in Galatians 1:13-24 and 1 Corinthians 15:1-9 to those found in Acts.

4) Similarities of some parts of Acts with Greco-Roman literature. This may indicate some of the material in Acts was created based on stories in the literature of the time. For examples of this see: Ruben Rene Dupertuis. "The Summaries in Acts 2, 4, and 5 and Greek Utopian Literary Traditions." PhD diss., Claremont Graduate University, 2005.

First Maccabees (I Maccabees)

The book of First Maccabees is included since it fills in some important events in the history of Israel between the time of Malachi and the New Testament.

However, in reviewing the text, it appears that some parts of First Maccabees were likely to have been added at a later time. The following factors were evaluated in excluding text that was not likely to be original:

1) Sections of text which were introduced by a suspect style of writing. This includes evaluating the way subjects were referred to at the beginning of new context.

2) The pattern of vocabulary, grammar, and/or style of writing do not appear to be from the original author based on comparison to the rest of his writing.

3) The text does not appear to parallel the account given by Josephus, the ancient historian. A significant portion of First Maccabees appears to have been used by Josephus. However some parts were not. This could be since he did not want to use them, or because these parts were not in the copy which he had at the time.

4) The context and/or flow of thought seem unusually abrupt or out of place.

This process resulted in retaining about 75% of the text of First Maccabees. The sections of text which are not included are: 1:1-9 (partial), Chapter 8, 9:34, 12:1-23, and 13:43-16:24. There is additional information in the footnotes at these texts.

The book's historical chapter and verse numbering has generally been followed. This allows easier comparison to other versions and use of reference works. There is no present intention of including in this Bible any of the books commonly known as Second, Third, or Fourth Maccabees. However, the name of First Maccabees was retained since that is what it is commonly known as today.

First Maccabees was not included in the ASV which was the starting point for the rest of the UPDV Bible (except Sirach). The following text was used as the starting point in the UPDV Bible for First Maccabees: The Holy Bible Translated, from the Latin Vulgate; Diligently Compared with the Hebrew, Greek, and other Editions in Divers Languages. Baltimore: John Murphy Company, 1914.

Wisdom of Sirach (Sirach)

It is generally accepted that the author of Sirach was a teacher and scribe in the second century BC. He was well-versed in the Scriptures and wrote to help those who wanted to make progress in both knowing the Scriptures and doing them. References and allusions to other parts of the Old Testament abound. Sirach is also a practical guide, often similar to the style of James in the New Testament. The original time of writing is estimated to be between 190 BC and 180 BC, a time after Malachi of the Old Testament and before the New Testament.

Sirach was originally written in Hebrew. But over time, the Hebrew copies fell into disuse. In modern times, Sirach had generally only been found in Greek, Syriac, and Latin manuscripts. Practically no Hebrew existed. However, from 1896 AD to 1982 AD, significant Hebrew manuscripts for some parts of Sirach were identified. The translation of Sirach in this Bible uses those Hebrew manuscripts in many cases instead of the Greek and other manuscripts.

The historical chapter and verse numbering has generally been followed. This allows easier comparison to other versions and use of reference works. The book's title 'Wisdom of Sirach' is sometimes referred to as Sirach, Wisdom of Sirach, Ben-Sira, Wisdom of Ben-Sira, or Ecclesiasticus. The dash is sometimes omitted in Ben-Sira.

This translation of Sirach was not derived from the ASV which was the starting point for the rest of this Bible (except First Maccabees).

Definitions

For the purposes of this Bible, the following general definition(s) are used:

Life, Live, Save, Saved: Aramaic is likely the original language of part of the New Testament. In Syriac, a type of Aramaic, there is a word for 'life' which can mean 'life' such as eternal life. In some instances where the Syriac has the word 'life', it shows in Greek as 'saved' or a similar word. While the Greek may have a valid meaning, it was determined better in some contexts to use 'life' (and derivatives such as 'to live') to represent the same basic Syriac word.  This way it is easier to see the relationship between similar words in the surrounding context. For example, John 5:34 is often translated as '...that you+ may be saved'. Yet John 5:40 is  translated '...that you+ may have life'. However, in Syriac, the words 'be saved' and 'have life' both have the same root meaning of 'life'. These are some of the reasons why the Syriac text has been followed at John 5:34 and 10:9.

Sex, Having Sex, or Having Any Sex: Someone is 'having sex' or 'having any sex' by contacting the genitalia, groin, inner thigh, the breasts, between the breasts, the buttocks, or between the buttocks of another; when such contact is with an intent to arouse or gratify anyone's sexual, erotic, or reproductive desire; given that 'contacting' means touching in any way, with any body part or any physical object, either directly or indirectly.

Slaves, Slavery: The words related to slaves and slavery have been translated as literal as possible. However, it is important to understand slavery in terms of the specific ancient cultures that are represented in the Bible. Attempting to understand slavery based on preconceptions from other times or cultures may lead to misunderstandings. For additional background, a comprehensive Bible reference should be consulted such as the entry for 'Slavery' in The Anchor Bible Dictionary, New York: Doubleday, 1992.

Abbreviations

The following abbreviations are commonly used in the footnotes and appendix:

ASV: American Standard Version.

CTAT: Critical Text of the Old Testament. (See Authoritative Texts section above).

CT: Critical Text of the New Testament based on NA28.

DBL: Swanson, James. Dictionary of Biblical Languages With Semantic Domains. electronic ed. Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc., second edition, 2001.

DSS: Refers in general to the Dead Sea Scrolls and findings in the Judean Desert.

HOTTP: Hebrew Old Testament Text Project (See Authoritative Texts section above).

K&D: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament.

KJV: King James Version.

LXX: The Septuagint. An ancient translation of the Hebrew Old Testament into Greek.

NA28: Nestle-Aland—Novum Testamentum Graece, 27th Edition (NA28).

(new), (new numbering): Refers to the new system of numbering the chapters and verses in Matthew as presented in this Bible.

(old), (old numbering): Refers to the traditional numbering of the chapters and verses in Matthew.

Syr-c: The Curetonian Old Syriac text.

Syr-s: The Sinaitic Old Syriac text.

TA: The Dialogue of Timothy and Aquila. The critical text presented in a thesis by Robert Gerald Robertson at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1986.

TCGNT: A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, First and Second Editions. Bruce M. Metzger. United Bible Societies.

UBS5: United Bible Societies—The Greek New Testament, Fifth Edition.

Style

The conventions for usage and style generally use the following as guides (with some exceptions): The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, The University of Chicago Press, 2003. And, The SBL Handbook of Style, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 1999.

Examples of the style conventions used are:

Spelling out numbers from one through one hundred instead of using the numerals follows the general principle at 9.3.

Using brackets [ ] for words not found in the original follows rules 6.104 and 11.68. Italics were not used for this purpose since rule 7.49 states that the purpose of italics is to call attention to a certain portion of text.

Capitalization is used for what are clearly proper nouns and adjectives per the rules for religious names and terms at 8.97 through 8.119. Accordingly, words such as he and his, even when referring to God, are not capitalized unless at the beginning of a sentence. Also of note on this subject, the original Hebrew and Greek texts generally do not show any difference when they use words such as he and his in reference to God.

Names

Sometimes the traditional spelling, or the one that is consistently used throughout the Bible, is used for the names of people and places. Also see the section below titled, "The Name of God."

The Speech of God

It is possible that the underlying word in Aramaic in John 1:1 was originally 'Memra' (ממרא). This would match the extensive use in some of the Targums (Aramaic translations of the Old Testament). The significance of this is that John may have used his understanding of this term from the Targum when he wrote in John 1:1, 'In the beginning was the Speech...'.

In reference to the use of 'Memra' in the Targums, J.W. Etheridge states:

"... it seems, I repeat, impossible to restrict the signification of the epithet in question to a mere figurative personification, and not to perceive that St. John, when he wrote the first verses of his Gospel, communicated to the Gentile churches a mystery of the truth which had long been held sacred by the ancient people of God." (J.W. Etheridge, M.A. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch with the Fragments of the Jerusalem Targum from the Chaldee. KTAV Publishing House, Inc. New York, 1968, first published 1862, pages 19-20.)

Holding a similar view is Martin McNamara who says:

"...it is legitimate to assume that John is very much under the influence of the targums in the formulation of his doctrine of the Logos. " Martin McNamara, Targum and Testament. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1972, page 104.

In understanding John 1:1, it is also important to differentiate between the meaning of the 'Logos' of Greek Philosophy and the 'Memra' of the Old Testament. John Gill in his 'Exposition of the Entire Bible' at John 1:1 indicates that the meaning of John 1:1 is based on the meaning of 'Memra' from the Targums rather than from the writings of Plato or his followers.  Gill further states that it is much more probable that Plato got his idea of the 'Logos' from the 'Memra' of the Old Testament, rather than supposing that John's ideas in John 1:1 were derived from Plato.

In order to show where 'Memra' is used in the Old Testament, the corresponding English translation has been underlined. For example, in Genesis 1:3, the Targum reads, 'And the Memra of the Lord said'. Our present version reads, 'And God said'. Accordingly, 'God' in Genesis 1:3 in this translation has been underlined. This shows the corresponding use of 'Memra' in the Targum. This also shows a possible relationship between 'God' of Genesis 1:3 to the 'Speech' of John 1:1. The 'Speech' of John 1:1 is also underlined since it is likely to have been originally derived from 'Memra' in the Targum.

If the word 'I' is underlined, the verb next to it will also be underlined to make it easier to notice.

In Genesis 1:3, 7, 9, 11, 15, 24, and 30, the last phrase of the verse is underlined to show the additional phrase 'according to the decree of his Memra' or 'according to his Memra' which appears at the end of the verse in the Targum. In Genesis 1:3 the Targum reads, 'and there was light according to the decree of his Memra'. The rest of the verses listed above read in the Targum, 'and it was so according to his Memra.'

The following are the instances where underlining has taken place to show an underlying use of 'Memra' in the Old Testament as well as the possible use of the same word in New Testament (parenthesis indicate the number of times 'Memra' appears in a verse if more than once):

John

1:1 (3 times), 1:14.

Genesis 1:3(2),4,5,6,7,8,9(2),10,11(2),15,16,20,22,24(2),25,27,28,30; 2:2; 3:8,10; 4:26; 8:20; 9:12,13,15,16,17; 12:7(2),8(2); 13:4,14,18; 14:19,22; 15:1,6; 16:13; 17:1,3,7,8,11; 18:1,17,19; 19:24; 20:3,6,13; 21:33; 22:16,18; 24:1,3; 26:3,5,25; 28:15(2); 29:31; 30:22; 31:3,5; 35:1; 46:4; 49:25.

Exodus

3:4,8,12(2),17; 4:12,15; 5:23; 6:3,7; 8:22; 10:10; 11:4; 12:12,23; 13:21; 14:30,31; 15:2,25,26; 17:1,6; 18:4; 19:5,9,20; 20:24; 23:22; 25:22; 29:43,45; 30:6,36; 31:17; 32:13; 34:5.

Leviticus

8:35; 9:4; 16:2; 18:30; 20:23; 22:9; 24:12; 26:11,12,30,46.

Numbers

3:16,39,51; 4:37,41,45,49; 9:18(2),19,20(2),23(4); 10:13,29; 11:17,20,21; 13:3; 14:9,11,14,22,41; 17:4; 20:12,24; 21:5; 22:9,12,18,20; 23:3,4,16,21; 24:4,13,16; 27:14; 33:2,38; 36:5.

Deuteronomy

1:26,32,43; 2:7; 4:30,33,36; 5:5,23; 8:20; 9:23(2); 13:4,18; 15:5; 18:19; 20:1; 26:14,17; 27:10; 28:1,2,15,45,62; 30:2,8,10,20; 31:8,23; 32:51; 34:5.

Psalms

2:12; 5:11(2); 7:1,8; 9:2,7,9,10; 11:1; 14:5; 16:1; 21:7; 22:4,5; 23:4; 25:2,3,20; 26:1; 27:1,10; 28:6,7; 31:1,6,14,24; 32:11; 33:21; 34:2,8,22; 35:9; 37:3,5,9,22,34,40; 40:3,16; 41:3; 52:7; 55:16; 56:4,10(2),11; 57:1; 62:8; 63:4,6,11; 64:10; 66:6; 68:11,16,33; 70:4; 71:1,6; 81:8,11; 84:5,12; 85:6,12; 89:24; 91:2,14; 95:7; 97:12; 104:34; 106:23,25; 107:25; 110:1,2; 112:7; 114:3; 115:9,10,11,12,14; 116:7; 118:26; 121:7; 124:2,8; 125:1; 135:14; 141:8; 143:8,9; 144:2.

Isaiah

1:20; 5:24; 6:8; 8:5,14; 9:7; 10:17,20; 12:2; 17:7; 21:17; 22:25; 25:8,9; 26:3,4; 28:23; 29:19(2); 30:11; 31:1; 32:9; 33:2; 37:32,35; 40:5; 41:10,13,14,16; 43:5; 44:24; 45:12,17,22,24,25; 46:3,12; 48:3,12,16; 49:1,5; 51:1,4,5,7; 55:2,3; 57:13; 58:14; 59:17; 60:9; 61:10; 62:2; 63:8; 66:6; 66:13.

'Memra' has only been noted in Genesis through Deuteronomy, Psalms, and Isaiah in the Old Testament of the UPDV Bible. 'Memra' is present elsewhere in the Targums. However, the reason for its use in these other places often seems to be for other purposes such as avoiding the use of God's name directly in negative contexts.  However, the primary reason for indicating 'Memra' in this Bible is to show the possible background to John 1:1. Accordingly, 'Memra' is only noted in the books where it is reasonably associated with John's use. Also see the note below in Variant Exceptions for John 1:1.

The Name of God

The Old Testament

In the Old Testament, the names "Yahweh" (a personal name for God) and "Yah" (a contracted form of Yahweh) are used instead of what is rendered in many versions as "LORD."

In addition to the name "Yahweh," the name "Sovereign Yahweh" is used when the two Hebrew words "Lord" and "Yahweh" are together. This is intended to portray an emphatic title of God incorporating majesty and authority.

The New Testament and Greek Sections of Sirach

In the New Testament, and in the Greek sections of Sirach, the existing Greek manuscripts do not contain the name "Yahweh" as do the Old Testament Hebrew manuscripts. Almost all references to God or "Yahweh" in the New Testament and the Greek sections of Sirach are in the form of Lord, God, or Master. However, it is possible to determine where "Yahweh," or another title for God, was likely to be the meaning.

The UPDV Bible attempts to maintain the distinction between "Yahweh" and "the Lord" in the New Testament and the Greek sections of Sirach when possible. However, the reader should understand that this is done to facilitate understanding and that the existing underlying Greek manuscripts generally only say "the Lord."

Translation of Soul

The translation of the word 'Soul' throughout this Bible is done literally and consistently. It directly represents the words 'Nephesh/Nefesh' in Hebrew and 'Psyche/Psuche' in Greek. That means that anytime the word 'Soul' appears, it translates only those Hebrew and Greek words. It it may have a wide range of meanings in English; but, it is always translated the same in this Bible. This gives the reader the ability to derive a fuller meaning by allowing the Bible to interpret itself. One may also consult Bible dictionaries and commentaries for further study.

Variant Exceptions

The following are instances where the UPDV Bible has followed a reading different than those of the HOTTP, CTAT, or UBS primary recommendations.

John 1:1 - The meaning of the Aramaic word (מלתא) is broader than the translation 'Word'. Although it can mean either, here 'Speech' is more accurate. In some other places in the Bible this Aramaic is also translated as 'Speech'. Compare, for example, John 4:42 and 8:43 in Syriac and Greek. Also see this verse in 'The Pulpit Commentary: St. John Vol. I. Edited by H. D. M. Spence-Jones'. See the note above regarding 'The Speech of God'. Also see a more detailed article on the Internet at the following web site:

https://www.updated.org/help/speech.html

John 4:14 – This verse has been conjecturally reconstructed. Compare the text at the verse to the current Greek text in the footnote at the verse to see the differences. This verse is reconstructed based on the following:

1) The Liege Diatessaron shows a reading of 'living water' in this verse, although the rest of the verse appears to be an expanded reading which also has 'eternal life'.

2) The context is one where 'living water' is a subject of the discussion (see John 4:10 and 4:11). It would be expected that this same subject would also be used in this verse. However, the phrase 'eternal life' is used much more often. Accordingly, at an early stage, a copyist or translator decided that the word 'live or living' went with 'eternal' for 'eternal life' instead of 'living water'.

3) The word for 'springing up' is likely to have been added to help in the translation after 'eternal life' was selected in the text. Compare Syr-c which omits it to Syr-s.

4) The form of the text appears to expect 'forever' to end the sentence by itself. Compare the literal first part to the literal reconstructed second part of this verse below:

(whoever drinks of the water...) will not thirst—forever

(the water) will be in him a well of living water—forever

5) An original Aramaic would be easy to confuse based on a similar text.

6) See a similar case at John 6:27.

John 5:34 – See the entry for 'Life' in the Definitions Section of the Appendix.

John 6:27 – This verse has been conjecturally reconstructed. Compare the text at the verse to the current Greek text in the footnote at the verse to see the differences. This verse is reconstructed based on similar reasons to John 4:14 above. Note particularly in this verse: The Liege Diatessaron; the context discussing food; the comparison of food that perishes to food that lasts forever; and the Aramaic similarity.

John 7:37-39 – See footnote for the reading in the CT. These verses are in the known manuscripts. However, these verses are not included in this Bible for reasons which include the following:

1) In several cases in the Gospels, there are passages pertaining to the Holy Spirit which appear to be additions to the text by someone other than the original author. See the Appendix below for Luke 11:13 and the other verses listed there as well. Note also John 20:22 which was likely part of an addition by someone other than the original author of the Gospel.

2) The text here is problematic for a number of reasons and has generally defied attempts to understand it. A number of journal articles and commentaries are available on this subject. The problems include difficulty finding the Scripture that is referred to; determining who the water comes from; and understanding the punctuation. It is possible that these problems resulted from a disturbance in the text.

3) These three verses do not seem to fit in the context of the surrounding verses. Before and after these verses, the subject is where Jesus came from and where he is going. It is difficult to see why there would be an interruption to discuss the receiving of the Spirit by believers at a later time. Also it is hard to see why the crowd reacts based on these three verses.

4)  The attendants from 7:32 appear to have been dispatched around the middle of the feast (see 7:14). However, 7:37 together with 7:45 seem to make the day the attendants return as the last day of the feast.

5) The interpretation given in John 7:39 seems unrealistic and contradictory to the dialog about living water in John 4:6-15, especially John 4:14.

Given the factors above, it is likely that these verses are out of place and/or have been tampered with. Accordingly, they have been moved out of the main body of text and placed in a footnote.

John 7:53-8:11 – This is not a variant from the Critical Text.  CT is certain (Level A) that John 7:53-8:11 is not part of the original text.

John 10:9 – See the entry for 'Life' in the Definitions Section of the Appendix.

John 19:36-21:25 – Although known manuscripts contain these passages, they are likely to be additions by someone other than the original author. Accordingly, this text has not been included. The reasons for this determination include the following:

1) The wording of John 19:35 seems to be the most natural ending of the book. Note the similar endings at John 20:30-31 and 21:24-25 which progressively imitate and expand the ending at John 19:35. This may indicate two additional layers of expansion in the ending of the text of John.

2) John's ending at 3 John 1:12 is similar to John 19:35.

3) Several elements of style and vocabulary are not consistent with the author's writing in other places.

4) Generally, the content in this section conflicts with, or is not substantiated by, parallel accounts in the New Testament.

Matthew 1:16 – See footnote at this verse. The Greek followed is based on the TA mentioned there. However it is styled to NA28 for conjunctions and omits the intervening dialog by the speaker.

Matthew 7:22 – See footnote at this verse. The CT was not certain (Level C) of its choice of the reading 'works' instead of 'children'. The UPDV Bible has chosen 'children' due to the similarity of the words in Hebrew and Aramaic. It is easy to see how they would be confused by a translator from one of those languages into Greek. In Greek however, they are quite different and would not likely be mistaken for one another. Compare Luke 7:35 which also has the reading 'children'.

Mark 14:28 – See footnote at this verse. This verse is not included for the reasons which include the following: The Fayyum Fragment does not contain this verse; this verse seems out of context; this verse is probably borrowed from an early error in Mark 16:7. See also the note in the Appendix on Mark 16:7 below.

Mark 16:7 – See also the note in the Appendix on Mark 14:28 above. It seems most likely that Mark 16:7 in our Greek texts was either an early modification or an error in an early translation (compare Luke 24:6). This probably resulted in the insertion of Mark 14:28 as well as the reason for part of the story in John 21.

Luke Chapters 1 and 2 – There is evidence that the early life of Christ probably was not in the original gospel account from which Luke is derived. The Book of Matthew was likewise found to include similar material of a doubtful origin. Accordingly, it seemed best to not include these two chapters in the text of Luke. For additional information, see Joseph P. Tyson, Marcion and Luke-Acts (Columbia, University of South Caroline Press, 2006), p. 119. See also the note below regarding Luke 23:39-24:53.

Luke 3:23 – This verse has been restored based on the following: The phrase 'he was known as' is also used in a similar sense in Matthew 2:2 (per quote from Epiphanius). It is likely an original Aramaic was translated into a Greek reading of 'as was supposed'. This gives it the nuance of 'it was said to be, but wasn't really true.' However, that is not the meaning here.

The Aramaic has two meanings. Here it more literally means to be called or known as something. Compare also the similar Aramaic root at John 19:17. The word for 'began' in Greek (see CT reading below) seems to be a mistranslation of 'to be', see Payne Smith page 101, column 1. The CT reads this verse as follows: 'And Jesus himself, when he began, was about thirty years of age, being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the [son] of Eli,'. See also Matthew 1:16-2:23 (old numbering), Luke 1:27, 34, 2:5, Isaiah 7:14.

Luke 11:13 – The reading of 'good [things]' is based on the parallel account in Matthew 14:37 (or 7:11 in old numbering). It is likely that the reading of 'Holy Spirit' was a later addition. It may have taken place due to the similar looking Greek word for 'good' being read as 'holy'. Once 'holy' was read, 'spirit' could have been added to make the meaning clearer.

There is a variant here in some Greek texts which reads 'good gifts' instead of 'Holy Spirit'. This variant may be a correction by someone realizing something was wrong with the text and using the immediate context for the correction. However, it seems an original reading of the single word 'good', as read in Matthew, would be most likely to explain the other readings.

This error in the text, along with other factors, likely show the tendency of early editors to add phrases about the 'Holy Spirit', especially in Luke. Those texts in Luke, which are not attested by the other gospel writers and are not suggested by the context, are not included in the main body of text. They are included only in the footnotes and are at the following verses: Luke 1:15, 1:41, 1:67, 2:25, 2:26, 2:27, 4:1, 4:14, 10:21, and 11:13. See also a similar case at John 14:26.

Luke 11:41 – See footnote at this verse. This change was made due to the likelihood of an original Aramaic text being slightly misread. Compare Matthew 15:22 as well as the contexts of these passages. For more information see: Maurice Casey, Aramaic Approach to Q (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002), pp. 10, 23, 24. Also note the references there. The rest of the verse was translated following the Greek forms as closely as possible in the context of the corrected wording.

Luke 11:42 – See footnote at this verse. This change was made due to the likelihood of an original Aramaic text being slightly misread (שברא for שבתא). In addition to the difference with Matthew 15:23, 'rue' was not subject to tithing according to Jewish writings (the Mishnah). For more information see: Arndt, Danker, and Bauer, A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), p. 810.

Luke 23:39-24:53 – The tendency of the other Gospel accounts has been to include endings which are of a doubtful origin. Based on the style, content of the text, other witnesses, and the textual variants at the end of Luke, it is likely that some of the material in Luke is not original. Accordingly, it seemed best to include in the ending of Luke only the material which is either directly or indirectly attested to by some other source. The comparison material was based on the other texts in the New Testament, including the other Gospel accounts as well as in Luke up to this point. This ending section of Luke has been reconstructed accordingly. Also  see the note above regarding Luke Chapters 1 and 2. For further background refer to: Joseph P. Tyson, Marcion and Luke-Acts (Columbia, University of South Caroline Press, 2006), p. 119.

Revelation 11:1 – See footnote at this verse. This change was made due to the likelihood of an original Aramaic text being slightly misread. For additional information see: Jastrow pages 955-956; Payne Smith p. 361; and C. C. Torrey, The Apocalypse of John (Yale University Press, 1958), p. 120.

Revelation 19:13 – See footnote at this verse. The way the literal reading appears is awkward in style and not consistent with John's other uses of the phrase 'the Word of God'. Something in the text is likely to have dropped out or something in the syntax is likely to be misunderstood. All things considered, it seems most likely that John's intent was to merely write another name by which the person was known and to indicate that it was found in the Word of God. Accordingly, the structure of the verse has been rearranged and the word 'in' has been supplied by conjecture.

Exodus 34:24 – See footnote at this verse.

Deuteronomy 31:11 – See footnote at Exodus 34:24.

Joshua 19:7 – The UPDV Bible follows CTAT's reconstruction of the original text.

Judges 5:30 – The UPDV Bible follows a conjectural restoration noted in K&D to read 'the neck of the queen' instead of 'the neck(s) of the spoil'.

2 Samuel 4:6 – CTAT prefers M reading with C-level confidence. However, due to similar reading in Ezekiel 23:40 along with witnesses of G, S, and T, and only vocalization change required, the UPDV Bible has followed: "and, look, they."

2 Samuel 12:31 – This verse and the parallel passage at 1 Chronicles 20:3 are sometimes translated as the captured inhabitants being subject to various types of tortures such as being hacked with saws and axes and being burned. It also appears that the difficulty in understanding these verses has led to the original Hebrew undergoing slight modification at an early stage. Accordingly, the UPDV Bible has translated these passages by re-evaluating the original language, context, and use of similar vocabulary elsewhere in the Bible. There are three main parts of this verse which directed the translation:

a) There is a one letter difference between the Hebrew word in 2 Samuel 'put [them]' (ישם) and 1 Chronicles 'sawed [them]' (ישר). Based on comparing the two readings, it is believed that 'put [them]' was the original meaning. The concept is that they were made to work using these tools.

b) There is a one letter difference between the Hebrew word in 2 Samuel 'axes' (מגזרת) and 1 Chronicles 'saws [of a stone-cutter]' (מגרות). Based on the more comprehensive and seemingly more accurate account in 2 Samuel, the reading in 1 Chronicles was assumed to have been slightly modified at an early stage due to difficulty understanding the text.

c) Only the passage in 2 Samuel contains 'made them serve making bricks'. This is sometimes translated as 'made them pass through the brickkiln'. The difference is due to the verb in Hebrew currently reading העביר (passed through, made to pass). However, it most likely originally read, with a very similar one letter difference, העביד (made to serve). This fits the context. It also matches similar wording and vocabulary about being made to serve making bricks at Exodus 1:13. Making captives serve in a particular function is similar to that found at Joshua 9:21.

CTAT and HOTTP did not recommend these readings; however, they were limited in scope by available texts. They did not recommend something as original when there was no text with the reading currently found to exist. However, HOTTP does note that the readings followed in (a) and (c) above probably represent the original texts. And with respect to (b), CTAT indicated considerable doubt in their recommendation.

1 Chronicles 4:32 – The UPDV Bible follows CTAT's reconstruction of the original text.

1 Chronicles 20:3 – See note above at 2 Samuel 12:31.

Psalm 2:9 – See footnote at this verse. The UPDV Bible has followed the Hebrew text with different vowel pointing in accordance with the LXX reading.

Psalm 106:20 - See footnote at this verse. Also see Jeremiah 2:11. This verse is on ancient rabbinical lists of euphemisms in the Bible. 'Their glory' appears to be a euphemism to avoid directly referencing God in this context. See the discussion in CTAT at Psalm 106:20.

Jeremiah 2:11 - See footnote at this verse. Also see Psalm 106:20. This verse is on ancient rabbinical lists of euphemisms in the Bible. A translation such as 'their glory' appears to be a euphemism to avoid directly saying that God could be exchanged for something. 'His glory' also seems out of place given the first person surrounding context. See the discussion in CTAT at Psalm 106:20 and the footnote in the text of WBC at Jeremiah 2:11.

Jeremiah 22:18 – See footnote at this verse. This reading was followed for reasons which include the following: a) The Hebrew word for 'sister' is similar to one meaning 'brotherhood' as in Zechariah 11:14. b) A lament in this form is nearly always addressed to the person who would be dead. There is no dead woman in the context who would be called 'sister'. c) When two phrases are next to each other in a lament, generally the second phrase is either a duplication of the first; a further identification of the first; or an emphasis of the first. In this verse, 'my brother' is emphasized as 'best brother'. And, 'lord' is emphasized as 'his excellence'.

For further reference, see Theodor H. Gaster, 'Myth, Legend, and Custom in the Old Testament', page 604. Also see the historical examples in Mark E. Cohen's, 'The Canonical Lamentations of Ancient Mespotamia'. And also see the Syriac at this verse.

Jeremiah 27:1 – See footnote at this verse. The UPDV Bible has followed an optional recommendation in HOTTP.

Jeremiah 28:1 – CTAT indicates the LXX is nearly certain to have the earlier reading, and that the MT appears to have text inserted in this verse at a later time by a secondary source. CTAT still recommends the MT based on textual criteria. However, based on all factors, the UPDV Bible has followed the LXX. See footnote at this verse. See also CTAT.

Ezekiel 27:19 – The UPDV Bible follows CTAT's conjectural restoration of the original text.

Those referenced only in the footnotes are: Matthew (see individual footnotes and separate section in appendix), John 1:7, 1:12, 5:34, 6:68, 10:9, 14:26, Mark 6:3, Luke 1:27, 34, 2:5, 3:23, 11:13, Genesis 46:19-22, 46:26-27, Exodus 1:5, First Maccabees, and Sirach.

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UPDV Updated Bible Version

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Version Number: 2.17 (May 31, 2018)

Copyright © 2003–2018

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Notes

[←1]

Speech is in the range of meaning found in the Syriac here and in verse 14. In Greek it is translated as, 'Word'. See Appendix for more information about this subject and for the purpose of underlining here and in verse 14. See also the web site article at:

http://www.updated.org/help/speech.html

[←2]

sons follows the Old Syriac and Peshitta. CT reads, 'children'.

[←3]

twenty or thirty gallons, literally 'two or three measures'. Each measure is estimated to be about ten gallons.

[←4]

Verses one and two follow the Old Syriac (Sinaiticus). The Greek reads: 'When therefore Jesus knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John—although Jesus himself didn't baptize, but his disciples—'.

[←5]

See note at verse one.

[←6]

living water - see footnote at Genesis 26:19.

[←7]

This verse has been conjecturally reconstructed. See Appendix for more information. In the CT this verse reads: but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.

[←8]

CT is certain (Level A) that the last part of verse 3 and all of verse 4 are not part of the original text: waiting for the moving of the water. 4 for an angel of Yahweh went down at certain seasons into the pool, and troubled the water: whoever then first after the troubling of the waters stepped in was made whole, with whatever disease he was held.

[←9]

may live follows Syriac. Greek CT reads, 'may be saved'. See the entry for 'Life' in the Definitions Section of the Appendix.

[←10]

200 denarii. A denarius was a Roman coin worth about one day's wages.

[←11]

Literally, 'twenty-five or thirty stadia'. A stadion was about 600 feet.

[←12]

This verse has been conjecturally reconstructed. See the Variant Exceptions in the Appendix for more information. CT reads: Don't work for the food which perishes, but for the food which stays to eternal life.

[←13]

word of eternal life follows Old Syriac. Greek reads, 'words of eternal life'.

[←14]

Verses 37 through 39 are not included. See the Variant Exceptions in the Appendix for more information. The CT reads: 37 Now on the last day, the great [day] of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 He who believes on me, as the Scripture has said, from inside him will flow rivers of living water. 39 But this he spoke of the Spirit, which those who believed on him were to receive: for the Spirit was not yet [given]; because Jesus was not yet glorified.

[←15]

The text from 7:53 through 8:11 is not included. This follows the recommendation of the Critical Text. See the Variant Exceptions in the Appendix for details.

[←16]

do the things which you+ heard from the Father is translated as a command. See TCGNT.

[←17]

father of lies, is literally 'father of it [lies]' or 'father of him [liars]'.

[←18]

will live follows Syriac. Greek CT reads, 'will be saved'. See the entry for 'Life' in the Definitions Section of the Appendix.

[←19]

gods here means judges, see footnotes at Psalm 82:1 and Exodus 22:9. See also John 10:35.

[←20]

gods here means judges, see footnotes at Psalm 82:1 and Exodus 22:9. See also John 10:34.

[←21]

The apostrophe after days and the word [time] are added here so that, when reading aloud, 'four days' is not confused with 'for days'.

[←22]

Literally, 'fifteen stadia'. A stadion was about 600 feet.

[←23]

The apostrophe after days and the word [time] are added here so that, when reading aloud, 'four days' is not confused with 'for days'.

[←24]

pound. A Roman pound which contained 12 ounces.

[←25]

300 denarii. A denarius was a Roman coin worth about one day's wages.

[←26]

the King of Israel in literal word order comes after 'the name of Yahweh'; however, grammatically it refers back to 'he who comes in the name of Yahweh'. Accordingly, in order to avoid confusion, it has been placed next to the person that it refers to. See Luke 19:38 where the original word order puts 'the King' in this same position.

[←27]

But the Spirit, the Supporter follows the Old Syriac. The Greek CT reads, 'But the Supporter, [even] the Holy Spirit'.

[←28]

what is singular.

[←29]

John 19:36-21:25 shows indications of being from an uncertain source and is not included. For further information see the Variant Exceptions in the Appendix at John 19:36-21:25.

[←30]

The Book of Matthew in the UPDV Bible has been reconstructed from sources other than existing manuscripts of Matthew. The text is mostly from existing manuscripts of Matthew, Mark and Luke, or combinations of them. The chapters and verses have also been renumbered. See the Appendix for additional information.

[←31]

begot when referring to a man generally means to become the father of.

[←32]

from the wife of Uriah follows the Old Syriac and Peshitta. CT reads, "from her who was Uriah's".

[←33]

This verse follows Manuscripts R and O at 17.3ab of the early document, "The Dialogue of Timothy and Aquila" (TA). It is also partially supported by the Old Syriac (Sinaiticus), some Palestinian Syriac, some Greek manuscripts, and Von Soden's critical text, which indicate Joseph begot Jesus but with text included about Mary. CT reads, "and Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary; from her was born Jesus, who is called Christ." For the meaning of "begot", see the footnote at Matthew 1:2.

[←34]

was known as being, compare the similar phrasing at Luke 3:23 and see footnote there.

[←35]

captain, or centurion. This rank commanded about 100 men.

[←36]

Instead of children, CT recommends placing 'works' here, but it is not certain (Level C). See Textual Variants in Appendix for details.

[←37]

girl. It is believed she was born in the year 10 A.D. This would make her about 15-20 years old depending on the year of this event.

[←38]

The text of verses 23 - 29 appears to be genuine; however, the location of them here is uncertain. UPDV has placed them here to match them to an apparently suitable context. See Appendix on Matthew.

[←39]

the multitudes, literally, 'them'.

[←40]

Literally, 'many stadia'. Probably a distance of at least a mile. A stadion was about 600 feet.

[←41]

The text of verses 18 and 19 appears to be genuine; however, the location of the text here is uncertain. UPDV has placed them here to match them to an apparently similar context. See Appendix on Matthew.

[←42]

Jesus, literally, 'he'.

[←43]

The text of verse 9 appears to be genuine; however, the location of the text here is uncertain. UPDV has placed it here to match it to an apparently similar context. Compare Luke 10:16. Also see Appendix on Matthew.

[←44]

lack of self-control, could also be translated as 'self-indulgence'.

[←45]

An assarion. A Roman coin worth about 1/16 of a day's wages.

[←46]

The text of verses 6 - 10 appears to be genuine; however, the location of them here is uncertain. UPDV has placed them here to match them to an apparently suitable context. See Appendix on Matthew.

[←47]

left to you+, follows Old Syriac. CT reads: 'left to you+ desolate'.

[←48]

Ten minas. A mina was worth about 100 days' wages.

[←49]

A denarius was a Roman coin worth about one day's wages. It contained about 1/8 of a troy ounce of silver.

[←50]

detestable thing, traditionally 'abomination'

[←51]

Return, literally, 'turn away'.

[←52]

battalion, or a cohort. It consisted of about 600 men. It was also a tenth of a legion.

[←53]

and your sisters: CT is not certain (Level C) if this phrase is original. See also TCGNT.

[←54]

[ready to] deliver means when it is 'ripe'.

[←55]

For meaning of Legion, see footnote at Matthew 27:15.

[←56]

the son of the carpenter and Mary: this follows some Greek manuscripts which read the verse this way. CT reads: 'the carpenter, the son of Mary'.

[←57]

generals: the chiliarchos or leader of 1000 soldiers. This was the equivalent of the Roman tribunus militum, a commander of a cohort which was about 600 men. Although this would be roughly equivalent to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel or higher, in context it likely refers to the highest ranking officers. Accordingly it is translated as 'generals'.

[←58]

see footnote at Matthew 7:28.

[←59]

200 denarii. A denarius was a Roman coin worth about one day's wages.

[←60]

in the middle of the sea does not necessarily mean it was exactly in the middle, but that it was 'a far distance out in the sea'.

[←61]

CT is certain (Level A) that verse 16 is not part of the original text: If any man has ears to hear, let him hear.

[←62]

CT is certain (Level A) that verse 44 is not part of the original text: where their worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched.

[←63]

CT is certain (Level A) that verse 46 is not part of the original text: where their worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched.

[←64]

CT is certain (Level A) that verse 26 is not part of the original text: But if you+ do not forgive, neither will your+ Father who is in heaven forgive your+ trespasses.

[←65]

A denarius was a Roman coin worth about one day's wages. It contained about 1/8 of a troy ounce of silver.

[←66]

The lepta was the smallest copper coin, worth about 1/128 of a day's wages. The quadrans was the second smallest, worth about 1/64 of a day's wages.

[←67]

detestable thing, traditionally 'abomination'

[←68]

300 denarii. A denarius was a Roman coin worth about one day's wages.

[←69]

Nearly all known Greek texts include Chapter 14 Verse 28. See the Variant Exceptions in the Appendix for further details. CT reads: 28 Nevertheless, after I am raised up, I will go before you+ into Galilee.

[←70]

CT is certain (Level A) that Chapter 15 Verse 28 is not part of the original text: And the scripture was fulfilled, which says, And he was reckoned with transgressors.

[←71]

All known Greek texts include verse 7. See the Variant Exceptions in the Appendix for further details. CT reads: 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter, He goes before you+ into Galilee: there you+ will see him, as he said to you+.

[←72]

The text from verse 9 through verse 20 is not included. CT is certain (Level A) that verses 9-20 are not part of the original text.

[←73]

Chapters 1 and 2 of Luke are not included in the text. See the Variant Exceptions in the Appendix for details.

[←74]

See Variant Exceptions in the Appendix.

[←75]

At this place in the text the CT also includes the following: 'in the power of the Spirit'. See the Variant Exceptions regarding Luke 11:13 in the Appendix for more information.

[←76]

There is internal and external evidence that the events in Chapter 4 may not be in the correct chronological sequence. However, to avoid renumbering the text, they have been left as is.

[←77]

Most likely the copies of Old Testament books were in the form of scrolls.

[←78]

See footnote at verse 15.

[←79]

See footnote at verse 15.

[←80]

sharers, in this context it means those who shared with them as their partners. The same Greek word for 'sharers' is used as 'sharers' or 'peers' in Hebrews 1:9, 3:1, 3:14, 6:4, and 12:8.

[←81]

A denarius was a Roman coin worth about one day's wages.

[←82]

For meaning of Legion see footnote at Matthew 27:15.

[←83]

At this place in the text the CT also includes the following: 'rejoiced in the Holy Spirit, and'. However, compare the reading of Matthew 14:20 (new numbering). See the Variant Exceptions regarding Luke 11:13 in the Appendix for more information.

[←84]

A denarius was a Roman coin worth about one day's wages.

[←85]

good [things]. CT reads 'Holy Spirit'. See Variant Exceptions in the Appendix for more information.

[←86]

Greek text reads: 'But give for alms those things which are inside; and look, all things are clean to you+.' See Variant Exceptions in Appendix.

[←87]

dill, Greek text reads: 'rue'. See Variant Exceptions in Appendix.

[←88]

Assaria. Roman coins each worth about 1/16 of a day's wages.

[←89]

lepton. See footnote at Mark 12:42.

[←90]

ten drachmas.  The drachma was worth about one day's wages.

[←91]

CT is certain (Level A) that verse 36 is not part of the original text: There will be two men in the field; the one will be taken, and the other will be left.

[←92]

ten minas. A mina was worth about 100 days' wages.

[←93]

A denarius was a Roman coin worth about one day's wages. It contained about 1/8 of a troy ounce of silver.

[←94]

lepta. See footnote at Mark 12:42.

[←95]

her: the two references to 'her' in verse 21 refer back to 'Jerusalem' in verse 20.

[←96]

CT is certain (Level A) that verses 43 and 44 are not part of the original text: 43 And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. 44 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became as it were great drops of blood falling down on the ground.

[←97]

CT is certain (Level A) that verse 17 is not part of the original text: Now he must needs release to them at the feast one prisoner.

[←98]

CT is certain (Level A) that the first part of verse 34 is not part of the original text: And Jesus said, Father, forgive them; for they don't know what they do.

[←99]

Luke 23:39 through 24:53 has been reconstructed. See Variant Exceptions in the Appendix for more information.

[←100]

Luke 23:39 through 24:53 has been reconstructed. See Variant Exceptions in the Appendix for more information.

[←101]

Luke 23:39 through 24:53 has been reconstructed. See Variant Exceptions in the Appendix for more information. Also see the Appendix for information about the book of Acts.

[←102]

called. Here and in verses 6 and 7 'called' refers to being invited or selected for something. It does not directly refer to being named something. Hence, a called apostle is one selected as an apostle. The called of Jesus Christ, are those selected to belong to Jesus Christ. The called saints, are ones selected as saints. The word for called is also used in verse 8:28.

[←103]

Yahweh of hosts, a title for God as in 1 Sam 17:45. Also compare other uses of the 'host(s)' designation in Deut 20:9 and 1 Sam 12:9.

[←104]

servant, see 1 Timothy 3:8 and footnote.

[←105]

CT is certain (Level A) that verse 24 is not part of the original text: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with all of you+. Amen.

[←106]

called, in verses 1, 2, and 24: see footnote at Romans 1:1. Note in verse 2, the word 'called' has a different meaning than the word 'call'.

[←107]

That is, men who behave, dress, or otherwise have characteristic(s) similar to women.

[←108]

have any sex with a woman: Literally, 'touch a woman'. See this Greek word used in the Septuagint in similar contexts at: Genesis 20:4 (come near), 20:6 (touch), and Proverbs 6:29 (touches).

[←109]

accepted is literally 'holy' or 'made holy'. unaccepted is literally 'unclean'. In this verse, these terms refer to the acceptance/legitimacy before God of the relationship to these family members. This does not mean that any aspect of salvation or eternal hope is given to these family members because of their family relationship to a believer.

[←110]

Verse 27 has been translated based on the immediate context. It literally reads: Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be loosed. Are you loosed from a wife? Do not seek a wife.

[←111]

sister, refers to a woman believer, not a sister by blood or immediate family.

[←112]

race, literally, 'stadion'. A stadion was about 600 feet. This could also refer to a place where a race was held with a course of this length.

[←113]

the ends of the [past] ages may be similar in meaning to 'the end of an era'. See also Hebrews 9:26.

[←114]

food market': most likely a collection of stores with meat as well as other types of food. Some sources define it as just the 'meat market'.

[←115]

Accursed Jesus, literally 'Anathema Jesus'. This means to reject and place Jesus under a curse. See other uses of 'anathema' at Rom 9:3, 1 Cor 12:3, 16:22, and Gal 1:8-9.

[←116]

stay, that is, 'remain alive'.

[←117]

upon turning is literally, 'whenever (he, she, or it) turns'. Since it is not certain what the subject of the turning is, the translation has been worded to reflect this.

[←118]

Belial. In Greek, 'Beliar'.

[←119]

According to CT, The traditional verses 13-14 are moved to start as the last part of verse 12 through verse 13.

[←120]

forever and ever is in a unique form in the Greek here. This same Greek syntax is found in the Bible elsewhere only in the Septuagint of Daniel 7:18.

[←121]

overseers, traditionally rendered 'bishops'. For servants, see 1 Timothy 3:8 and footnote.

[←122]

vessel, see 1 Samuel 21:5 and footnote there.

[←123]

take advantage of his brother in this matter probably refers to having any sex with another believer's wife.

[←124]

Servants - Ones who help. In Greek: deacons.

[←125]

peers: see footnote at Luke 5:7.

[←126]

servant. The Greek word here rendered servant is mainly used in the Greek Old Testament to translate the word for 'slave'.

[←127]

the hope, see footnote at Hebrews 10:23.

[←128]

at the very end of the [past] ages may mean 'at the end of an era'. See also 1 Corinthians 10:11.

[←129]

Sprinkled in this context likely refers to a sprinkling of blood.

[←130]

the unwavering hope: what is referred to as 'unwavering' is what is being hoped for. The emphasis is not on hope as a feeling, but is rather on the object of the hope as it is in the similar phrase 'the hope' in Hebrews 6:18.

[←131]

tens of thousands. This likely refers to a very large number rather than a specific multiple of ten thousand.

[←132]

brother who is lowly, this may just be a further description of the brother. It is not necessarily a certain type of brother who is considered low. This would then contrast the brother in verse 9 to the rich of verse 10.

[←133]

ventures, could also mean journeys, paths, or ways, perhaps in the sense of orbits or revolutions. Compare the sun rising in the first part of this verse and the context of verse 17.

[←134]

the helmsman, literally, 'him who makes straight'. Compare to John 1:23.

[←135]

Tartarus is similar in meaning to 'hell', but thought by some to be a place of divine punishment inside the Earth that was below Hades.

[←136]

found. One alternate reading that is not as likely to be the original is, 'burned up'. See TCGNT.

[←137]

CT is certain (Level A) that the following is not part of the original text: 'in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit: and these three are one. 8 And there are three who bear witness on earth,'.

[←138]

the three are in [agreement as] one, literally, 'the three are in the one'. This likely refers to the three being witnesses in agreement together.

[←139]

some men are the same people who are referred to as 'these [men]' in verses 7, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, and 19.

[←140]

afterward, literally 'the second' or 'secondly'.

[←141]

homosexuality is literally 'having gone after different flesh'.

[←142]

hidden rocks, or coral reefs. The idea is that these men are as dangerous as rocks or coral reefs which can cause a shipwreck.

[←143]

Him Who Is and Who Was and Who Is To Come. This appears to be a title for God which has essentially the same meaning as the Hebrew for 'Who Always Is' in Exo 3:14. See footnote at Exo 3:14. See also Rev 1:8 and 4:8.

[←144]

denarius. A Roman coin worth about one day's wages. It contained about 1/8 of a troy ounce of silver.

[←145]

200 million. Literally, 'two ten thousands of ten thousand'.

[←146]

the barrier within it. CT reads: 'those who worship in it.' See Appendix.

[←147]

Literally, '1,600 stadia'. A stadion was about 600 feet. More precisely, 606.75 feet in English distances, 600 in Greek, or 625 Roman.

[←148]

slaves—even souls of men. Literally, bodies; and/even/also souls of men. souls of men is believed to explain what is meant by bodies. Compare LXX at Genesis 34:29. See also Word Pictures by Robertson, Rev 18:13; and Bible Studies by Deissmann, page 160.

[←149]

Hallelujah is Hebrew for 'Praise+ Yah'. Also in the Old Testament, for example see Psalm 106.1.

[←150]

Literally this verse reads: 'And he [who is] arrayed in a garment dipped in blood and his name is called the Word of God.' See Appendix for more information.

[←151]

Literally, '12,000 stadia'. A stadion was about 600 feet. More precisely, 606.75 feet in English distances, 600 in Greek, or 625 Roman.

[←152]

homosexuals, literally, 'dogs'.  See also Deuteronomy 23:18.

[←153]

See 'The Speech of God' in the Appendix for the purpose of underlining.

[←154]

See Appendix for translation of the word 'Soul' throughout this Bible.

[←155]

had sex, see the Definitions section of the Appendix.

[←156]

Hebrew nests [and] nests

[←157]

from all those coming out of the ark to all the beasts of the earth, indicates two categories: first those which came out of the ark, and then those which live thereafter. This parallels the structure of verse 9 which applies to those present now and those who will be afterwards. See HOTTP.

[←158]

See footnote at Psalm 49:2.

[←159]

mistress refers to a woman having authority or control over something or someone.

[←160]

had any sex, see the Definitions section of the Appendix.

[←161]

he said, The two men represent God.  So when they speak in his name, their message is introduced by the singular 'he said' instead of 'they said'.  See HOTTP.

[←162]

Zoar, in Hebrew this name sounds like the word for 'little one' used in verses 20 and 21.

[←163]

had not had any sex with her, literally: 'had not come near her'. See footnote at 1 Corinthians 7:1.

[←164]

have any sex with her, literally: 'to touch her'. See footnote at 1 Corinthians 7:1.

[←165]

A shekel was a unit of weight equal to about 1/3 of a troy ounce.

[←166]

living water - this phrase was previously translated in this verse as 'springing water'. However, for consistency in the literal translation, it is translated as 'living water' here and at John 4:10,11,14; Lev 14:5,50; 15:13; Num 19:17; Song 4:15; Jer 2:13; 17:13; and Zech 14:8. The reader may use the context to determine the meaning in each verse.

[←167]

Shibah means oath or seven.

[←168]

Talismans from the Hebrew: teraphim. Objects believed to possess mystical or occult powers. They can vary in size from a small lucky charm to something larger sized such as a statue. They can be in the shape of a person, animal, or other object. They may have images or other engravings. Also see Nuzi tablets for significance.

[←169]

sacred scholars. The literal transliteration is believed to be the Egyptian title of 'chief lector-priest'. That is, one who is head of those who are in charge of the sacred writings. This may have also included a connotation of being magicians. See Ward in Bibsac 114:453, Jan 1957, for more information.

[←170]

sons of one man. Similar to the phrase 'sons of a man', except the word 'one' is present. Also in verse 13. See footnote at Psalm 49:2.

[←171]

These three titles within quotation marks are very similar to actual titles given to Egyptian officials. See Ward in Bibsac 114.453, Jan 1957 for more information.

[←172]

Current texts of Genesis 46:19-22, 46:26-27, and Exodus 1:5 are likely to contain errors. These passages are reconstructed based on a comparison of LXX, MT, HOTTP, as well as Philo's 1 Chronicles 7:14 (Yonge's Translation). See CTAT at 1 Chronicles 7:14. See also footnote at Exodus 1:5.

[←173]

See footnote at Genesis 46:19.

[←174]

Genesis 47:5-6 follows LXX per HOTTP.

[←175]

Seventy-five follows the LXX reading. The Hebrew text reads 'seventy'. See footnote at Genesis 46:19 for more information.

[←176]

I AM WHO ALWAYS IS in this verse is literally, 'I AM WHO I AM'. The words translated 'I AM' and 'ALWAYS IS' are based on the same word in Hebrew. However, it is in a form which can be in the present, past, or future depending on the context. For example, it is the same word translated as "I was" in Psalm 50:21, "I am" in Ruth 2:13, and "I will be" in Exodus 3:12. It is likely that 'who always is' in this verse has essentially the same meaning as 'who is and who was and who is to come' in Revelation 1:4, 1:8 and 4:8. See also Targum Pseudo-Jonathan at Exodus 3:14.

[←177]

Yahweh, relates to the similar Hebrew word 'I AM' in verse 14. Accordingly, verse 14 appears to serve as the basis for the name 'Yahweh' introduced in verse 15.

[←178]

prominent men. See the Appendix under gender for more information.

[←179]

Yah, a contracted form of 'Yahweh' throughout the Old Testament.

[←180]

gods here means judges, see footnotes at Psalm 82:1 and Exodus 22:9.

[←181]

betrayed, that is, deliberately broke promises and/or loyalty on which others had relied.

[←182]

gods here means judges, see footnotes at Psalm 82:1 and Exodus 22:9.

[←183]

gods here means judges, see footnotes at Psalm 82:1 and Exodus 22:9.

[←184]

gods here means judges, see footnote at Psalm 82:1. Of special importance to this translation is that the verb for 'will condemn' is in the plural form. If this were meant to refer to 'God', a singular verb would be expected. Although the Hebrew word for 'God' is plural in form, it normally uses a singular verb. Hence, the translation here is 'gods' which means 'judges' as noted in Psalm 82:1.

[←185]

gods here means judges, see footnotes at Psalm 82:1 and Exodus 22:9.

[←186]

will appear before me. This text was originally, 'will see my face'. HOTTP indicates this text originally contained the active form such as 'one will see'. However, it recommends 'will appear before' here since it is the earliest attested text. This is a theological correction by scribes to eliminate the active meaning and replace it with the passive meaning. See also, Exo 23:17; 34:20, 23, 24; Deu 16:16, 31:11, 1Sam 1:22, Psa 42:2, 84:7, Isa 1:12. Especially Exo 34:24 and Psa 42:3. For interpretation of seeing one's face, see similar phrasing in Gen 44:23-26.

[←187]

will appear before the Sovereign Yahweh is the earliest attested text, but was originally, 'will see the face of the Sovereign Yahweh'. See Exo 23:15.

[←188]

will appear before me is the earliest attested text, but was originally, 'will see my face'. See Exo 23:15.

[←189]

appear before the Sovereign Yahweh is the earliest attested text, but was originally, 'see the face of the Sovereign Yahweh'. See Exo 23:15.

[←190]

to see the face of Yahweh reads 'to appear before Yahweh' in the earliest attested text. See note at Exo 23:15. However here and at Deu. 31:11, the original is put in the text body even though it is not the earliest attested text. This type of change was outside the scope of HOTTP/CTAT but is made here by the publisher based on HOTTP remarks at Exo 23:15 and CTAT's discussion at Isa 1:12.

[←191]

it refers to the basin.

[←192]

man, see Appendix. This construction is used instead of 'a man' or 'any man' to indicate the underlying Hebrew word 'adam' with some consistency throughout the Old Testament.

[←193]

associate. This word generally refers to people who do business with each another. This is the same concept behind the word 'associate' in these other verses: Leviticus 18:20, 19:11, 19:15, 19:17, 24:19, 25:14, 25:15, 25:17 and Zechariah 13:7.

[←194]

in Chapters 18 and 20 to have any sex with means any type of sexual activity. It is generally translated in place of the idioms 'to uncover nakedness', 'to approach', or 'to lie with' in the original texts. See the Definitions section in Appendix.

[←195]

Ancient gloss.

[←196]

that is, during the third year. See Deu 26:12.

[←197]

that is, during the seventh year.

[←198]

appear before Yahweh is the earliest attested text, but was originally, 'see the face of Yahweh'. See Exo 23:15.

[←199]

see footnote in first part of this verse.

[←200]

psychics i.e. those interpreting omens.

[←201]

homosexual prostitute, literally, 'dog'. See also Revelation 22:15.

[←202]

to see the face of Yahweh reads 'to appear before Yahweh' in the earliest attested text. See note at Exo 34:24.

[←203]

long-haired heads: When consecrated for military service, warriors would not cut their hair while at war; this is the long hair of dedicated warriors.

[←204]

Instead of DSS reading gods LXX reads 'sons of God'.

[←205]

She hid it (the matter of receiving them into her house).

[←206]

The meaning of this place-name is probably "salt pit," literally "burning water." Also used in 13:6.

[←207]

it refers to this half-tribe of Manasseh just mentioned.

[←208]

among man of Anakim, i.e. 'among the people of Anakim'.

[←209]

The listing of these three cities is based on the reconstruction in CTAT. See also 1 Chronicles 4:32.

[←210]

They refers to the bones of Joseph.

[←211]

Aram-naharaim

[←212]

relieving himself: literally, 'covering his feet'. See 1 Samuel 24:3.

[←213]

i.e. after Ephraim

[←214]

the neck of the queen. For details see the Variant Exceptions section in the Appendix.

[←215]

Psychics here is in Hebrew: 'Meonenim', those interpreting omens.

[←216]

El-berith, another name for, or possibly changed from an original text of 'Baal-berith' which is at 8:33 and 9:4. Some versions of the Septuagint read Baal here instead of El (i.e. god). See also p. 31, Bibliotheca Sacra, Volume 108, Dallas Theological Seminary, 1951.

[←217]

Zepheh is the same as Mizpah in 11:11, 29, and 34.

[←218]

Yahweh of hosts, a title for God as in 1 Sam 17:45. Also compare other uses of the 'host(s)' designation in Deut 20:9 and 1 Sam 12:9.

[←219]

may appear before Yahweh is the earliest attested text, but was originally, 'may see the face of Yahweh'. See Exo 23:15.

[←220]

you is represented by second-person masculine singular in Hebrew.

[←221]

he is represented by third-person masculine singular in Hebrew.

[←222]

watching has the same Hebrew consonants (mzph) as 'Mizpah'. If the name 'Mizpah' was the original, it would be translated, "his seat by the road to Mizpah." No known text has this reading; however, the HOTTP indicates the original text probably did read this way.

[←223]

Some texts omit [and] fifty thousand men. It is also a highly unusual construction in the Hebrew and is not likely to mean 50,070 even if this reading is genuine (see CTAT, K&D, and UBS Handbook). It is possible only 70 were killed (see Josephus). This would leave the meaning of 50,000 not presently known.

[←224]

now these three days, literally: 'this day three days'. In Hebrew this means that they were lost the day before yesterday: Today is the third day they were lost. Yesterday was the second day they were lost. The day before yesterday was the actual day they were lost. See also 1 Samuel 20:12, 20:19, and 30:13.

[←225]

Literally: 'Saul was a son of a year in his reigning and two years he reigned over Israel.' This follows the Hebrew text. There are variations in the ancient texts at this verse. In this Bible the literal phrase 'a son of a year' is usually translated as 'a year old' (for example see Exodus 12:5). The phrase 'in his reigning' is normally translated as 'he began to reign' (for example see 2 Samuel 5:4). A possible interpretation of this verse is that Saul was now considered a year old as a new man (see 1 Samuel 10:6) or in his new heart (see 1 Samuel 10:9).

[←226]

and the seconds refer to those animals which were kept and fattened after the first-born had been given to God. (HOTTP)

[←227]

See footnote at Genesis 31:19.

[←228]

talismans - see footnote at Genesis 31:19.

[←229]

his head refers to where David's head would be on the bed. It does not necessarily indicate that there is any feature of a head on the talismans. Also in verse 16.

[←230]

see footnote at verse 13.

[←231]

This is in the form of an oath taken in the name of Yahweh, God of Israel.

[←232]

on the third day. Literally: the third tomorrow, or tomorrow the third.  In Hebrew this means the day after tomorrow: Today is day one. Tomorrow is day two. The day after tomorrow is day three. See also 1 Samuel 9:20, 20:19, and 30:13.

[←233]

Literally: 'the enemies of David' which is a euphemism for the sons of David. (see HOTTP, CTAT) See also 2 Sam 12:14.

[←234]

on the third day. Literally: 'the third'. In Hebrew this means the day after tomorrow: Today is day one. Tomorrow is day two. The day after tomorrow is day three. See also 1 Samuel 9:20, 20:12, and 30:13.

[←235]

vessels in both places in this verse may be a euphemism for the male reproductive organ (see CTAT).

[←236]

relieve himself: literally, 'cover his feet'. See Judges 3:24.

[←237]

To life is an idiom which means to give good wishes and hope for peace and prosperity.

[←238]

Literally, 'the enemies of David' which is a euphemism for David.

[←239]

mistress refers to a woman having authority or control over something or someone.

[←240]

see footnote at verse 7.

[←241]

The following words of this verse are included based on the HOTTP recommendation to follow the LXX: and go to the town that I gave you+. And don't take the complaint to heart, because you are good in my sight. There is a significant level of uncertainty for this decision.  It is rated D (the lowest) on a scale of A-D. However, the UBS handbook also recommend including this longer text.

[←242]

this is now the third day. Literally: 'this day three'. In Hebrew this means the event happened the day before yesterday: Today is the third day. Yesterday was the second day. The day before yesterday was the first day. The first day was the day that his master left him behind. See also 1 Samuel 9:20, 20:12, and 20:19.

[←243]

Eliada likely was originally 'Baaliada'. (See also 1Ch 3:8, 14:7)

[←244]

Ahio could also be translated 'his brother' or 'his brothers'.

[←245]

Tribes may be used in the place of a related word meaning 'leaders' or 'chiefs'.

[←246]

Yahweh, literally in the MT reads: 'the word of Yahweh' which is a euphemism. (See also 1 Sam 20:16, and 2 Sam 12:14)

[←247]

you have shown utter contempt for Yahweh, literally in the MT reads: 'you have made the enemies of Yahweh show utter contempt' which is a euphemism. (See also 1 Sam 20:16, and 2 Sam 12:9)

[←248]

harrows, a harrow is an implement with spikes drawn over land to level it and break the clods, to stir the soil and make it fine, or to cover seed when sown.

[←249]

See Variant Exceptions in the Appendix regarding this verse.

[←250]

Horonaim is the plural of Horon. It refers to the two cities in the mountains of Judah called Upper and Lower Beth-horon (Josh 16:3, 5; 2 Chr 8:5, 1 Sam 13:18).

[←251]

gates of their land - at its outskirts, the region of its borders.

[←252]

See 2 Chronicles 7:21 and footnote there.

[←253]

See 2 Chr 9:7 and footnote.

[←254]

Egypt here, perhaps different than the land of the Nile, is located in the upper part of Mesopotamia. Literally, 'Mizraim'.

[←255]

Kue may be Cilicia.

[←256]

detestable thing, possibly changed from an original text of 'god'. See Bibliotheca Sacra in footnote at Judges 9:46.

[←257]

see footnote at verse 5.

[←258]

This may have originally read the 'Mount of Olives' and changed to the current text due to the context of idolatry. See footnote at 2Ki 23:13.

[←259]

see footnote at verse 5.

[←260]

Hastily put is literally, 'cast'.

[←261]

i.e. no, that's not a sign to go forward ten steps

[←262]

Mount of Olives. Literally, 'Mount of Corruption' which was substituted, perhaps as a euphemism to avoid mentioning the Mount of Olives in an idolatrous context. See also 1Ki 11:7 and footnote.

[←263]

the father of Etam has a plural meaning as in 4:19 and 8:29 and may be translated as 'the founders of Etam'.

[←264]

The listing of these four cities is based on the reconstruction in CTAT. See also Joshua 19:7.

[←265]

Another may have been used to refer to Dan or due to a lack of information (see HOTTP, CTAT).

[←266]

This is likely the original form of the name 'Eliada' in 2Sa 5:16 and 1Ch 3:8.

[←267]

LXX omits the word son. K&D assume it should be omitted also.

[←268]

See Variant Exceptions in the Appendix regarding this verse.

[←269]

According to this, Ithamar has eight heads each of whom will be attributed two chosen ones. (See HOTTP, CTAT)

[←270]

This text literally reads, 'and the sons of Jeriah'. However, according to CTAT, this text is corrupt. By conjecture it is assumed that originally it was close to 23:19.

[←271]

Egypt here, perhaps different than the land of the Nile, is located in the upper part of Mesopotamia. Literally, 'Mizraim'.

[←272]

Kue may be Cilicia.

[←273]

gates of their land - at its outskirts, the region of its borders.

[←274]

The text of 1 Kings 9:8 ('in ruins') is considered to be the original wording during this event. However, the original text written in 2 Chronicles, which is so high, is done either for stressing (see HOTTP and CTAT) or as a euphemism.

[←275]

The text of 1 Kings 10:8 ('wives') is considered to be the original wording during this event. However, the original text written here, men, reflects an attempt to remove the mention of Solomon's badly reputed women in 1 Kings 11. (see HOTTP and CTAT).

[←276]

Or 'doubles', meaning uncertain.

[←277]

Literally, Binnui is 'and his sons, the sons of'. See HOTTP.

[←278]

The number of talents is uncertain. (HOTTP, CTAT)

[←279]

The most ancient textual witnesses do not attest to verse 68 which was likely inserted at a later time from the parallel passage in Ezra 2:65-66. (See HOTTP, CTAT)

[←280]

The son of, was probably originally 'Binnui', although none of the textual witnesses have preserved it here. (See HOTTP, CTAT)

[←281]

It is likely that verses 1-9 in their present form were not part of the original version of this book. This finding is primarily based on the parallel account in Josephus not starting until verse 10 as well as factual errors in the passage. However, in order to preserve an introduction to the book that fits the context, the basic verifiable facts have been reconstructed from verses 1, 4 (partial), and 7. See the Appendix for further information on First Maccabees.

[←282]

his successors, literally: 'of them.' See Josephus, Antiquities, XI.8.7 (words used from William Whiston translation, Baltimore, 1830).

[←283]

gymnasium: see historical accounts of gymnasiums.

[←284]

Some versions split this verse into two verses at this location.

[←285]

Some versions split this verse into two verses at this location.

[←286]

fifteenth: one Syriac version reads 'twenty-fifth'.

[←287]

foreigners, literally 'sons of foreigners'.

[←288]

foreigners, literally 'sons of foreigners'.

[←289]

sons of valor, based on the Hebrew words used at 2 Samuel 2:7, which contains the same Greek words as this verse.

[←290]

men who were of the castle, literally 'sons of the castle'.

[←291]

towns, literally 'daughters'.

[←292]

towns, literally 'daughters'.

[←293]

Chapter 8 is not included. Based on the context, style of writing, historical errors, and lack of a significant amount of Josephus parallels, it is likely that it was added after the original version of this book was completed.

[←294]

last seen, literally: 'not seen'.

[←295]

Verse 34 is likely to be a later addition to the text here based on style and context considerations. It reads: 34 And Bacchides understood it, and he came himself with all his army over the Jordan on the Sabbath day.

[←296]

Chapter 12, Verses 1-23 are not included. Based on the context and style of writing, it is likely that they were added after the original version of this book was completed.

[←297]

The text from Chapter 13 Verse 43 through Chapter 16 Verse 24 is not included based on the context, style of writing, and general lack of parallel readings in Josephus.

[←298]

or 'soap'.

[←299]

The likely meaning is that God, having removed their symbol of authority, puts a loincloth on the kings which is worn for doing hard physical labor, and so depicts a slave.

[←300]

he is in one is literal, meaning could be 'he is alone' (i.e. none is equal to him).

[←301]

More precisely, the umbel.

[←302]

his ambush follows LXX. Or 'his light' follows the MT. HOTTP was evenly split on a recommendation.

[←303]

those that stay in them refers to animals and other forms of life which live in the waters.

[←304]

The waters are those of a wadi which unexpectedly take the traveler by surprise.

[←305]

Meaning of this verse is uncertain.

[←306]

have sex with her, literally 'bow down on her'.

[←307]

i.e. the orphan

[←308]

i.e. the widow

[←309]

a bird in ancient Egypt

[←310]

pious in Hebrew is similar to 'stork' (which is literally, the pious one).

[←311]

shepherd, traditionally read 'break'. 'Shepherd' follows the LXX and the Hebrew in the MT, but with different vowel pointing.

[←312]

Embrace purity partly follows LXX interpretation (i.e. 'accept correction' or 'embrace discipline'). MT could be literally, 'Kiss cleanness/purity'. Some interpret this as 'Kiss the son' possibly by textual correction or accepting an Aramaic definition in this Hebrew text.

[←313]

See footnote at Psalm 49:2.

[←314]

Literally this reads, 'They surrounded me like a lion my hands and my feet.' This is the reading of the MT which follows HOTTP with a good degree of certainty (B on a scale of A-D). Also see Gesenius who concurs in his lexicon on page 388. Note the similar context of dogs and lions in verses 13, 20 and 21. However, LXX, DSS and other manuscripts may read 'They pierced my hands and my feet'.

[←315]

seek is an imperative command here, as if the psalmist is commanding his face to seek Yahweh's face.

[←316]

godless fools is literally 'mockers of the feast/cake'. See also DBL entry #5056 and K&D in this verse.

[←317]

see the face of God is the earliest attested text and HOTTP recommendation here. The traditional reading here would be: 'appear before God'. See also Exo 23:15 note.

[←318]

my salvation is literally, 'the salvation of my face'. Also at 42:11, and 43:5. For verse division, see HOTTP.

[←319]

i.e. round shields. This word could also be rendered 'chariots'.

[←320]

sons of man and sons of a man, these are distinct phrases representing different Hebrew words. 'son of man' and 'sons of man' are used numerous times. 'sons of a man' is used infrequently and can also be found at Gen 42:11, 13, Psa 4:2, Psa 62:9 (both phrases), Lam 3:33. 'son of a man' can be found at Lev 24:10 (of a man and of a woman), 1Sam 9:1, 17:12, 2Sam 1:13, 17:25, 23:20, 1Ch 11:22. For gender information, see Appendix. 'sons of a woman' (wife) see 1Ch 4:19. 'son of a woman' see Lev 24:10 (of a man and of a woman) and 1Ki 7:14.

[←321]

See footnote at Psalm 49:2.

[←322]

gods refers to 'judges' of the people. See it also used this way in verse 6, as well as Exodus 21:6, 22:8-9, 22:28, and John 10:34-35. Also see the footnote at Exodus 22:9.

[←323]

gods here means judges, see footnotes at Psalm 82:1 and Exodus 22:9. See also John 10:34-35.

[←324]

will be seen is the earliest attested text and HOTTP recommendation here. See also Exo 23:15 note and HOTTP at Psa 42:3(2). See KJV for a traditional reading.

[←325]

Hallelujah is Hebrew for 'Praise+ Yah'. Also in the New Testament, for example see Revelation 19:1.

[←326]

his glory. Literally, 'their glory'. See variant exceptions in the Appendix.

[←327]

Psalm 119 is acrostic. It contains twenty-two sections which correspond to the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Each verse in a section starts with the same Hebrew letter. The Hebrew letter and English name for it are shown in brackets at the beginning of each section.

[←328]

See Psalm 106:22 for similar use of awesome works. Also see HOTTP.

[←329]

See Exodus 33:16 for similar use of distinguished. Also see HOTTP.

[←330]

speak lies about me is literally: 'those who change me'.

[←331]

HOTTP with uncertainty, and LXX omit verse 16: For their feet run to evil, And they hurry to shed blood.

[←332]

has sex with her, literally 'touches her'. See footnote at 1 Corinthians 7:1.

[←333]

double-tongued, follows LXX for consistency with use in Sirach. Previously translated as 'talebearer'.

[←334]

or, 'in his integrity'

[←335]

to life, See 1 Samuel 25:6 and footnote there.

[←336]

HOTTP and LXX omit verse 5: 'The thoughts of the diligent [tend] only to plenteousness; But every one who is in a hurry [hurries] only to want.'

[←337]

HOTTP and LXX omit verse 6: 'Train up a child in the way he should go, And even when he is old he will not depart from it.'

[←338]

as smoke for the eyes is to be placed here per HOTTP with a low certainty rating of D on a scale of A-D.

[←339]

HOTTP and LXX omit the following at the first part of this verse: '[As] one who takes off a garment in cold weather'

[←340]

Meaning of the Hebrew phrase is uncertain.

[←341]

messenger in this context is likely to mean the priest. Compare to Malachi 2:7. Messenger can also be translated as 'angel'.

[←342]

Land, i.e. a geographical or political unit such as a country.

[←343]

fellow shepherds is literally 'partners'. See also verse 8:13.

[←344]

And the depth of the deep, follows the Latin. Most Greek manuscripts read 'and the deep and wisdom'.

[←345]

Verse 5 is not in the best Greek manuscripts.

[←346]

secrets, based on the Hebrew word used at Sirach 42:18, which contains the same Greek word as this verse. Also compare Job 11:6. Verse 7 is not in the best Greek manuscripts.

[←347]

This verse follows the Syriac version.

[←348]

Most Greek manuscripts read, 'He himself allotted her, and saw, and numbered her'.

[←349]

Syriac reads to those who fear him.

[←350]

interwoven, literally 'knit together with' or 'joined together with.' See Ps 139:13.

[←351]

them refers back to the men in verse 15 and possibly also their seed.

[←352]

crown, or wreath. May refer to a type of crown made from plants. The crown is what is blossoming in the second part of the verse.

[←353]

Verse 21 in Greek is not likely to be the original text.

[←354]

son. This is the normal mode of addressing pupils. The Greek reads, 'child', but also does so in the Hebrew parts of Sirach where the literal reading is 'son'. For example see Sir 3:8, 12, 17, 4:1. to the fear of Yahweh follows the Syriac reading, Greek reads 'to serve'.

[←355]

Verse 18 follows the Syriac which has these two lines instead of four.

[←356]

sons, in Greek: 'children'; see footnote at Sir 2:1.

[←357]

sons is literally 'children' in Greek, but see footnote at 2:1; also compare Prov 1:8 and 6:20.

[←358]

God, follows the Syriac word often used for God in Hebrew. Greek reads, 'the Lord'. The Hebrew version does not contain verse 7.

[←359]

leave him alone, in the sense of 'do not bother him'. See similar phrases at Mark 14:6 and 2 Kings 4:27.

[←360]

breaking it down, see similar phrase at Job 19:10, 24:20 and Psalm 52:5. Also compare Sirach 3:14-15 to Job 24:19-20.

[←361]

The Hebrew version does not contain verse 19.

[←362]

Verse 25 has been omitted since it has varying wording and appears in different places in different manuscripts.

[←363]

The translation of the word 'misery' is somewhat uncertain due to the difficulty in determining the underlying Hebrew word.

[←364]

Peace - In Hebrew, 'Shalom', a common word of greeting.

[←365]

The translation of the last half of this verse is uncertain. It is reconstructed here based on transposing two letters in one Hebrew word (אהלו) and reading different word spacing in another (במאויה).

[←366]

The Hebrew version does not contain verse 16.

[←367]

your soul refers to 'yourself'.

[←368]

excessive desire, this phrase is also used at Isaiah 56:11.

[←369]

Peace - In Hebrew, 'Shalom', a common word of greeting.

[←370]

Peace - In Hebrew, 'Shalom', a common word of greeting.

[←371]

The Hebrew text of verses 23-24 is not available. Translations from other languages exist, but could differ substantially from the original.

[←372]

The Hebrew text of verse 26 is not available. See footnote at verse 22.

[←373]

[it] - Based on the Hebrew, what is changed to a delight does not refer to wisdom, rest, bundle, or stone. It could mean that the time afterward will change to a delight. Or perhaps it refers to some previous hardship.

[←374]

The Hebrew text of verse 34 is not available. See footnote at verse 22.

[←375]

This is verse 9 in Hebrew. See footnote at verse 15.

[←376]

There is no Hebrew text at verse 15. However, a similar text is at verse 9.

[←377]

Parts of the list of offerings are uncertain in the Hebrew text. They have been reconstructed by comparing the other versions.

[←378]

your words is literally 'the nobles' in Hebrew. The readings have similar letters in Hebrew. 'Nobles' was perhaps repeated in error from Sirach 8:2.

[←379]

This verse in Hebrew is located at 10:2. However, the location in other sources places it at 10:3.

[←380]

This verse in Hebrew is located at 10:3. However, the location in other sources places it at 10:2.

[←381]

This verse in Hebrew is located at 10:4. However, the location in other sources places it at 10:5.

[←382]

This verse in Hebrew is located at 10:5. However, the location in other sources places it at 10:4.

[←383]

The Hebrew text of verse 15 is not available.

[←384]

The Hebrew text of verse 21 is not available.

[←385]

Verses 15 and 16 are not included. They are considered to be later expansions to the text due to manuscript and internal evidence.

[←386]

one who hides - the underlying Hebrew is unclear. The translation here  is reconstructed based on similar Hebrew letters and the context.

[←387]

The Hebrew text of verse 26 is not available.

[←388]

The Hebrew numbering of verses 4-7 is different than other manuscripts.

[←389]

The Hebrew version does not contain verse 14.

[←390]

The Hebrew version does not contain verses 7-8.

[←391]

it refers to 'praise' in verses 9-10.

[←392]

Verses 15 and 16 are not likely to be part of the original text. They are in the Hebrew, Syriac, and a small number of Greek manuscripts. However, the content and style of the verses are suspect.

[←393]

Verses 18 and 19 are not likely to be part of the original text. The content and style of the verses are suspect.

[←394]

the decree is set - the translation of this phrase is uncertain. Alternatively: the decree is distant. The meaning seems to be that the outcome of things is either a) already set and there's nothing that can be done about it (similar to the idiom: 'the die is cast'); or b) a very long time away in the future.

[←395]

Verses 5-10 generally follow the Syriac version which includes, omits, and orders differently than the Greek version.

[←396]

Verses 16, 18, and 21 are not likely to be part of the original text.

[←397]

The rest of verse 2 and 3 are not likely to be part of the original text.

[←398]

Verses 18 and 19 are not likely to be part of the original text.

[←399]

Verse 21 is not likely to be part of the original text.

[←400]

Verses 9 and 10 are not likely to be part of the original text.

[←401]

Verses 1-5 have been reconstructed based on an emended Greek text and partially on Syriac.

[←402]

Verse 28 is not likely to be part of the original text.

[←403]

Verse 18 is not likely to be part of the original text.

[←404]

Verse 24 is not likely to be part of the original text.

[←405]

Verse 12 is not likely to be part of the original text.

[←406]

The rest of this chapter includes only the verses contained in Hebrew.

[←407]

Verses 19-27 are not likely to be part of the original text.

[←408]

One ancient translation: 'a rich man'; Greek 'man of war'.

[←409]

In Greek, verses 30:25-33:16 come after 33:16-36:11. Hebrew, Syriac, and Latin preserve the correct order which is used here.

[←410]

The order of verses 14 and 15 have been switched.

[←411]

This verse has been reconstructed.

[←412]

The text of this verse is uncertain.

[←413]

The text of verse 26 is omitted in Syriac and uncertain in others.

[←414]

Verse 21 is not likely to be part of the original text.

[←415]

The order of verses 24 and 25 have been switched.

[←416]

Verse 19 is not present in Hebrew. The meaning is uncertain in other texts.

[←417]

Verse 11 is reconstructed. Greek is uncertain.

[←418]

the mother of all living - i.e. the earth.

[←419]

A clause should be here but is not present in any of the versions. The above bracketed text is supplied from 1 Samuel 7:9.

[←420]

The order of verses 2 and 3 have been switched.

[←421]

to see my face is the earliest attested text and HOTTP recommendation here. See also Psa 42:2 and 84:7, and Exo 23:15 note. The traditional reading here would be: 'to appear before me'. See also CTAT.

[←422]

creditors is the translation preferred by HOTTP and CTAT. The alternate translation is 'women' based on the same Hebrew consonants.

[←423]

houses of the soul is the literal translation for perfume boxes.

[←424]

See similar phrase at Isa 22:14.

[←425]

young woman, this follows the Hebrew. The Septuagint reads 'virgin'.

[←426]

Immanuel, see also 8:8 and 8:10.

[←427]

God is with us, in Hebrew: 'Immanuel'. See also 7:14 and 8:8.

[←428]

darkened, or possibly, 'burned up'. See CTAT.

[←429]

common man, see Appendix under gender for definition of common man versus man.

[←430]

all the words relating to serpent, adder, and fruit are masculine singular in this verse.

[←431]

he refers to his lord in verse 18.

[←432]

[I will move back] the sun here resumes and compliments the beginning of the verse, 'I will move back'.

[←433]

Verses 21 and 22 are likely to be secondary additions based on DSS evidence. HOTTP recommends their omission or placing them in a note. The text of these two verses would read: 21 Now Isaiah had said, Let them take a cake of figs, and lay it for a plaster on the boil, and he will recover. 22 Hezekiah also had said, What is the sign that I will go up to the house of Yahweh?

[←434]

paths, or alternatively 'rivers'. See HOTTP and CTAT.

[←435]

horoscopes, literally, 'in the new moons what will happen to you'.

[←436]

Anointing, traditionally: 'disfigured'. See CTAT Vol. 2 pp. 385-395.

[←437]

excessive desire, this phrase is also used at Sirach 6:4.

[←438]

psychic, i.e. an interpreter of omens.

[←439]

you have looked at the hand can mean either: 'when you have seen the penis', or, 'when you have the opportunity'. See HOTTP.

[←440]

king, or 'Melech'.

[←441]

exchanged my glory. Literally, 'exchanged his glory'. Some translations have, 'exchanged their glory'. The original here may have just been, 'exchanged me'. See CTAT and variant exceptions in the Appendix.

[←442]

they dwell at a prostitute's house. That is, they are accustomed to visiting it frequently.

[←443]

This refers to the people regarding these prophets as shameful persons. The clause which follows refers to feeling shame. See also verse 8:12 and HOTTP.

[←444]

race, as in manner of running. See similar uses of 'running' at 2Sa 18:27.

[←445]

See footnote at verse 6:15.

[←446]

me. Although this is singular it has a collective meaning. It is the people who speak. Also in verse 24.

[←447]

me. See footnote at verse 19.

[←448]

The expression refers to a dweller of the country who goes to the mountain, probably to celebrate an idolatrous rite there. (See CTAT)

[←449]

rock of Shaddai may refer to one of the peaks of the Antilebanon mountains.

[←450]

the bottle mentioned was a narrow-mouthed ceramic jar used for drinking water.

[←451]

best brother is based on a reading listed in Field's Hexapla which is literally 'beloved brother'. Hebrew reads, 'sister'. See Appendix.

[←452]

Verse 1 was added by a secondary source to the text at a later time. This addition reads: 'In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, came this word to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying,' See HOTTP/CTAT. LXX omits this verse.

[←453]

i.e. interpreters of omens

[←454]

This text is most likely closer to original, and based on LXX. MT may include secondary sources and reads: 'And it came to pass the same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year'.

[←455]

my cousin - on the father's side.

[←456]

See CTAT regarding verse division here. Also see context at Jer 32:24.

[←457]

prison, in this instance it is literally 'house of binding'.

[←458]

And it came to pass that Jerusalem was taken. Some interpret that verse 28 should be divided, with this last part moved to Chapter 39.

[←459]

house. This may have a collective meaning, as in the residences of the people.

[←460]

Madmen is the Hebrew name of a town.

[←461]

Leb-kamai, this expression means "the Heart of my adversaries" and is believed to refer to the Chaldeans.

[←462]

The title 'Lamentations' is not in the original text but has been adopted from the Greek translation (the Septuagint). In the original text from the Hebrew Bible, the title is How (the first word of the first sentence).

[←463]

See footnote at Psalm 49:2.

[←464]

This may refer to the end of a seven day period. That is, on the seventh day.

[←465]

shave [you off], literally: 'cut [you] down'. In this phrase, there is a play on words involving verse 5:1 where Ezekiel was instructed to shave his head and beard. (See HOTTP/CTAT)

[←466]

made desolate, literally, 'will expiate'. The Hebrew word here is not the same as the word for desolate in verse 4. However, it sounds similar--it is a play on words.

[←467]

spread your legs, literally 'opened your feet'.

[←468]

this type of thing. Literally, 'from one of these'. Probably referring to the acts of violence and shedding blood that characterize this person. Also in verse 11.

[←469]

withdrawn his hand, here means 'not to punish, refrain from punishing'.

[←470]

the bread of men, this refers to normal bread eaten by those who are not priests.

[←471]

The actual month is not directly specified. Compare to 32:1 and 32:17.

[←472]

See discussion on this verse in CTAT.

[←473]

crocodile here could be translated 'monster' or 'dragon'. See also 32:2.

[←474]

Crocodile, see footnote at 29:3.

[←475]

The actual month is not directly specified here, but a month was previously indicated at 32:1. See also 26:1 for a similar case.

[←476]

their and them refer to the company.

[←477]

them refers to the multitude.

[←478]

them refers to the multitude.

[←479]

the milk - the expression refers to milk and the products of milk such as butter, cheese, cream, etc.

[←480]

the people. Literally, 'he' (see HOTTP/CTAT). Likely refers to the 'people of Yahweh' in this verse which is also masculine singular in form.

[←481]

foreigners, literally 'sons of foreigners'.

[←482]

rivers, or 'two currents [of a river]'

[←483]

sacred scholars - see footnote at Genesis 41:8.

[←484]

psychics in the book of Daniel is used in the general sense of one who interprets signs, communicates with spirits, and other does other rituals to determine one's fate.

[←485]

And sixty-two weeks it will be built again, this phrase expresses the idea that Jerusalem will remain built until the end of the sixty-two week period. It does not focus on when the building would be taking place. See page 26 in the citation from the footnote at the end of verse 27. See also the first paragraph of Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible at this verse under the phrase, 'The street shall be built again'.

[←486]

detestable things, traditionally 'abominations'.

[←487]

For various issues related to the translation of Daniel 9:24-27, such as the arrangement of clauses, see "The Seventy Weeks of Daniel against the Background of Ancient Near Eastern Literature" by Thomas Edward McComiskey in Westminster Theological Journal, Volume 47 (Spring 1985), pages 19-45, Westminster Theological Seminary, 1985.

[←488]

detestable thing, traditionally 'abomination'.

[←489]

detestable thing, traditionally 'abomination'.

[←490]

blood is everywhere, literally: blood touches blood.

[←491]

the knowledge. The definite article, 'the' makes this a specific type of knowledge, mostly likely referring back to the knowledge mentioned in verse 1. See K&D.

[←492]

a thing of nothing, in Hebrew this may be a word play of the town 'Lo-debar' as in 2Sam 9:4-5 and 17:27.

[←493]

horns, in Hebrew this may be a word play for a city named 'Karnaim'.

[←494]

i.e. an interpreter of omens

[←495]

her refers to the city which the prophet has in mind.

[←496]

him, possibly referring to 'people' or Egypt.

[←497]

her, probably Ninevah.

[←498]

not measured up, that is, lacking in weight as if being measured against a standard on a scale. See Dan 5:27 for a similar context.

[←499]

mistress refers to a woman having authority or control over something or someone.

[←500]

bared naked, that is, completely removing the protective covering and making it ready to use.

[←501]

language, literally 'lip'.

[←502]

consent, literally 'shoulder'.

[←503]

apple, literally 'pupil'.

[←504]

desire, literally 'eye'.

[←505]

betrayed: that is, deliberately broke promises and/or loyalty on which others had relied. In this passage, to betray is to divorce. See other verses which use the same word. For example see Exodus 21:8 and Judges 9:23.

[←506]

he who hates, divorces: see Deut 24:1-3.

[←507]

he will cover his garment with violence: For more information on the meaning of covering of a garment with violence, see Ps 73:6 and Prov 13:2. Also compare Ps 109:29, Isa 59:6, Obad 1:10, and Hab 2:17.

[←508]

This verse could be translated less literally as, 'If someone hates, he can divorce, but then punishment will return to him because of it. Therefore watch yourself carefully, so that you do not betray your wife by divorcing her.'

[←509]

E. Abel, "Scholia recentia in Pindari epinicia," Berlin: Calvary, 1891, Vol. 1: 7.46-48. Text from TLG® (Thesaurus Linguae Graecae) by the Regents of the University of California.

[←510]

Derek S. Dodson, "Dreams, the Ancient Novels, and the Gospel of Matthew: An Intertextual Study," Perspectives in Religious Studies, Vol. 29, Spring 2002: 46-47.

[←511]

Dodson, "Dreams," 51.