PHILIPPIANS

JB PHILIPPIANS Chapter 1

THE LETTER OF PAUL TO THE CHURCH AT PHILIPPI

Address

1:1 From Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus, together with their presiding elders and deacons.

1:2 We wish you the grace and peace of God our Father and of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanksgiving and prayer

1:3 I thank my God whenever I think of you; and

1:4 every time I pray for all of you, I pray with joy,

1:5 remembering how you have helped to spread the Good News from the day you first heard it right up to the present.

1:6 I am quite certain that the One who began this good work in you will see that it is finished when the Day of Christ Jesus comes.

1:7 It is only natural that I should feel like this towards you all, since you have shared the privileges which have been mine: both my chains and my work defending and establishing the gospel. You have a permanent place in my heart,

1:8 and God knows how much I miss you all, loving you as Christ Jesus loves you.

1:9 My prayer is that your love for each other may increase more and more and never stop improving your knowledge and deepening your perception.

1:10 so that you can always recognise what is best. This will help you to become pure and blameless, and prepare you for the Day of Christ,

1:11 when you will reach the perfect goodness which Jesus Christ produces in us for the glory and praise of God.

Paul’s own circumstances

1:12 I am glad to tell you, brothers, that the things that happened to me have actually been a help to the Good News.

1:13 My chains, in Christ, have become famous not only all over the Praetorium but everywhere,

1:14 and most of the brothers have taken courage in the Lord from these chains of mine and are getting more and more daring in announcing the Message without any fear.

1:15 It is true that some of them are doing it just out of rivalry and competition, but the rest preach Christ with the right intention,

1:16 out of nothing but love, as they know that this is my invariable way of defending the gospel.

1:17 The others, who proclaim Christ for jealous or selfish motives, do not mind if they make my chains heavier to bear.

1:18 But does it matter? Whether from dishonest motives or in sincerity, Christ is proclaimed; and that makes me happy;

1:19 and I shall continue being happy, because I know this will help to save me,[*a] thanks to your prayers and to the help which will be given to me by the Spirit of Jesus.

1:20 My one hope and trust is that I shall never have to admit defeat, but that now as always I shall have the courage for Christ to be glorified in my body, whether by my life or by my death.

1:21 Life to me, of course, is Christ, but then death would bring me something more;

1:22 but then again, if living in this body means doing work which is having good results-I do not know what I should choose.

1:23 I am caught in this dilemma: I want to be gone and be with Christ, which would be very much the better,

1:24 but for me to stay alive in this body is a more urgent need for your sake.

1:25 This weighs with me so much that I feel sure I shall survive and stay with you all, and help you to progress in the faith and even increase your joy in it;

1:26 and so you will have another reason to give praise to Christ Jesus on my account when I am with you again.

Fight for the faith

1:27 Avoid anything in your everyday lives that would be unworthy of the gospel of Christ, so that, whether I come to you and see for myself, or stay at a distance and only hear about you, I shall know that you are unanimous in meeting the attack with firm resistance, united by your love for the faith of the gospel

1:28 and quite unshaken by your enemies. This would be the sure sign that they will lose and you will be saved. It would be a sign from God

1:29 that he has given you the privilege not only of believing in Christ, but of suffering for him as well.

1:30 You and I are together in the same fight as you saw me fighting before and, as you will have heard, I am fighting still.

JB PHILIPPIANS Chapter 1

Preserve unity in humility

2:1 If our life in Christ means anything to you, if love can persuade at all, or the Spirit that we have in common, or any tenderness and sympathy,

2:2 then be united in your convictions and united in your love, with a common purpose and a common mind. That is the one thing which would make me completely happy.

2:3 There must be no competition among you, no conceit; but everybody is to be self-effacing. Always consider the other person to be better than yourself,

2:4 So that nobody thinks of his own interests first but everybody thinks of other s people’s interests instead.

2:5 In your minds you must be the same as Christ Jesus:[*a]

2:6 His state was divine, yet he did not cling to his equality with God

2:7 but emptied himself to assume the condition of a slave, and became as men are; and being as all men are,

2:8 he was humbler yet, even to accepting death, death on a cross.

2:9 But God raised him high and gave him the name which is above all other names

2:10 so that all beings in the heavens, on earth and in the underworld, should bend the knee[*b] at the name of Jesus

2:11 and that every tongue should acclaim Jesus Christ as Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Work for salvation

2:12 So then, my dear friends, continue to do as I tell you, as you always have; not only as you did when I was there with you, but even more now that I am no longer there; and work for your salvation ‘in fear and trembling’.

2:13 It is God, for his own loving purpose, who puts both the will and the action into you.

2:14 Do all that has to be done without complaining or arguing

2:15 and then you will be innocent and genuine, perfect children of God among a deceitful and underhand brood,[*c] and you will shine in the world like bright stars

2:16 because you are offering it the word of life. This would give me something to be proud of for the Day of Christ, and would mean that I had not run in the race and exhausted myself for nothing.

2:17 And then, if my blood has to be shed as part of your own sacrifice and offering-which is your faith[*d] I shall still be happy and rejoice with all of you,

2:18 and you must be just as happy and rejoice with me.

The mission of Timothy and Epaphroditus

2:19 I hope, in the Lord Jesus, to send Timothy to you soon, and I shall be reassured by having news of you.

2:20 I have nobody else like him here, as wholeheartedly concerned for your welfare:

2:21 all the rest seem more interested in themselves than in Jesus Christ.

2:22 But you know how he has proved himself by working with me on behalf of the Good News like a son helping his father.

2:23 That is why he is the one that I am hoping to send you, as soon as I know something definite about my fate.

2:24 But I continue to trust, in the Lord, that I shall be coming soon myself.

2:25 It is essential, I think, to send brother Epaphroditus back to you. He was sent as your representative to help me when I needed someone to be my companion in working and battling,

2:26 but he misses you all and is worried because you heard about his illness.

2:27 It is true that he has been ill, and almost died, but God took pity on him, and on me as well as him, and spared me what would have been one grief on top of another.

2:28 So I shall send him back as promptly as I can; you will be happy to see him again, and that will make me less sorry.

2:29 Give him a most hearty welcome, in the Lord; people like him are to be honoured.

2:30 It was for Christ’s work that he came so near to dying, and he risked his life to give me the help that you were not able to give me yourselves.

JB PHILIPPIANS Chapter 1

3:1 Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord.[*a]

The true way of Christian salvation

It is no trouble to me to repeat what I have already written to you, and as far as you are concerned, it will make for safety.

3:2 Beware of dogs! Watch out for the people who are making mischief. Watch out for the cutters.[*b]

3:3 We are the real people of the circumcision, we who worship in accordance with the Spirit of God; we have our own glory from Christ Jesus without having to rely on a physical operation.

3:4 If it came to relying on physical evidence, I should be fully qualified myself. Take any man who thinks he can rely on what is physical: I am even better qualified.

3:5 I was born of the race of Israel and of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrew parents, and I was circumcised when I was eight days old. As for the Law, I was a Pharisee;

3:6 as for working for religion, I was a persecutor of the Church; as far as the Law can make you perfect, I was faultless.

3:7 But because of Christ, I have come to consider all these advantages that I had as disadvantages.

3:8 Not only that, but I believe nothing can happen that will outweigh the supreme advantage of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For him I have accepted the loss of everything, and I look on everything as so much rubbish if only I can have Christ

3:9 and be given a place in him. I am no longer trying for perfection by my own efforts, the perfection that comes from the Law, but I want only the perfection that comes through faith in Christ, and is from God and based on faith.

3:10 All I want is to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and to share his sufferings by reproducing the pattern of his death.

3:11 That is the way I can hope to take my place in the resurrection of the dead.

3:12 Not that I have become perfect yet: I have not yet won, but I am still running, trying to capture the prize for which Christ Jesus captured me.

3:13 I can assure you my brothers, I am far from thinking that I have already won. All I can say is that I forget the past and I strain ahead for what is still to come;

3:14 I am racing for the finish, for is the prize to which God calls us upwards to receive in Christ Jesus.

3:15 We who are called ‘perfect’ must all think in this way. If there is some point on which you see things differently, God will make it clear to you;

3:16 meanwhile, let us go forward on the road that has brought us to where we are.

3:17 My brothers, be united in following my rule of life. Take as your models everybody who is already doing this and study them as you used to study us.

3:18 I have told you often, and I repeat it today with tears, there are many who are behaving as the enemies of the cross of Christ.

3:19 They are destined to be lost. They make foods into their god and they are proudest of something they ought to think shameful; the things they think important are earthly things.

3:20 For us, our homeland is in heaven, and from heaven comes the saviour we are waiting for, the Lord Jesus Christ,

3:21 and he will transfigure these wretched bodies of ours into copies of his glorious body. He will do that by the same power with which he can subdue the whole universe.

JB PHILIPPIANS Chapter 1

4:1 So then, my brothers and dear friends, do not give way but remain faithful in the Lord. I miss you very much, dear friends; you are my joy and my crown.

Last advice

4:2 I appeal to Evodia and I appeal to Syntyche to come to agreement with each other, in the Lord;

4:3 and I ask you, Syzygus,[*a] to be truly a ‘companion’ and to help them in this. These women were a help to me when I was fighting to defend the Good News-and so, at the same time, were Clement and the others who worked with me. Their names are written in the book of life.

4:4 I want you to be happy, always happy in the Lord; I repeat, what I want is your happiness.

4:5 Let your tolerance be evident to everyone: the Lord is very near.

4:6 There is no need to worry; but if there is anything you need, pray for it, asking God for it with prayer and thanksgiving,

4:7 and that peace of God, which is so much greater than we can understand, will guard your hearts and your thoughts, in Christ Jesus.

4:8 Finally, brothers, fill your minds with everything that is true, everything that is noble, everything that is good and pure, everything that we love and honour, and everything that can be thought virtuous or worthy of praise.

4:9 Keep doing all the things that you learnt from me and have been taught by me and have heard or seen that I do. Then the God of peace will be with you.

Thanks for help received

4:10 It is a great joy to me, in the Lord, that at last you have shown some concern for me again; though of course you were concerned before, and only lacked an opportunity.

4:11 I am not talking about shortage of money: I have learnt to manage on whatever I have,

4:12 I know how to be poor and I know how to be rich too. I have been through my initiation and now I am ready for anything anywhere: full stomach or empty stomach, poverty or plenty.

4:13 There is nothing I cannot master with the help of the One who gives me strength.

4:14 All the same, it was good of you to share with me in my hardships.

4:15 In the early days of the Good News, as you people of Philippi well know, when I left Macedonia, no other church helped me with gifts of money. You were the only ones;

4:16 and twice since my stay in Thessalonika you have sent me what I needed.

4:17 It is not your gift that I value; what is valuable to me is the interest that is mounting up in your account.

4:18 Now for the time being I have everything that I need and more: I am fully provided now that I have received from Epaphroditus the offering that you sent, a sweet fragrance-the sacrifice that God accepts and finds pleasing.

4:19 In return my God will fulfil all your needs, in Christ Jesus, as lavishly as only God can.

4:20 Glory to God, our Father, for ever and ever. Amen.

Greetings and final wish

4:21 My greetings to every one of the saints in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me send their greetings.

4:22 All the saints send their greetings, especially those of the imperial household.[*b]

4:23 May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

END OF JB PHILIPPIANS [4 Chapters].

PHILEMON

JB PHILEMON Chapter 1

THE LETTER FROM PAUL TO PHILEMON

Address

1:1 From Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus and from our brother Timothy; to our dear fellow worker Philemon,

1:2 our sister Apphia, our fellow soldier Archippus and the church that meets in your house;

1:3 wishing you the grace and the peace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanksgiving and prayer

1:4 I always mention you in my prayers and thank God for you,

1:5 because I hear of the love and the faith which you have for the Lord Jesus and for all the saints.

1:6 I pray that this faith will give rise to a sense of fellowship that will show you all the good things that we are able to do for Christ.

1:7 I am so delighted, and comforted, to know of your love; they tell me, brother, how you have put new heart into the saints.

The request about Onesimus

1:8 Now, although in Christ I can have no diffidence about telling you to do whatever is your duty,

1:9 I am appealing to your love instead, reminding you that this is Paul writing, an old man now and, what is more, still a prisoner of Christ Jesus.

1:10 I am appealing to you for a child of mine, whose father I became while wearing these chains: I mean Onesimus.

1:11 He was of no use to you before, but he will be useful[*a] to you now, as he has been to me.

1:12 I am sending him back to you, and with him – I could say – a part of my own self.

1:13 I should have liked to keep him with me; he could have been a substitute for you, to help me while I am in the chains that the Good News has brought me.

1:14 However, I did not want to do anything without your consent; it would have been forcing your act of kindness, which should be spontaneous.

1:15 I know you have been deprived of Onesimus for a time, but it was only so that you could have him back for ever,

1:16 not as a slave any more, but something much better than a slave, a dear brother; especially dear to me, but how much more to you, as a blood-brother as well as a brother in the Lord.

1:17 So if all that we have in common means anything to you, welcome him as you would me;

1:18 but if he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything, then let me pay for it.

1:19 I am writing this in my own handwriting: I, Paul, shall pay it back – I will not add any mention of your own debt to me, which is yourself.

1:20 Well then, brother, I am counting on you, in the Lord; put new heart into me, in Christ.

1:21 I am writing with complete confidence in your compliance, sure that you will do even more than I ask.

A personal request. Good wishes

1:22 There is another thing: will you get a place ready for me to stay in? I am hoping through your prayers to be restored to you.

1:23 Epaphras, a prisoner with me in Christ Jesus, sends his greetings;

1:24 so do my colleagues Mark, Aristarchus, Demas and Luke.

1:25 May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

END OF JB PHILEMON [1 Chapter].

OBADIAH

B OBADIAH Chapter 1

Title and prologue

1:1a Vision of Obadiah: about Edom.

1:1c I have received a message from Yahweh, a herald has been sent throughout the nations, ‘Up! Let us march against this people. Into battle!’

Sentence pronounced on Edom

1:1b The Lord Yahweh says this:

1:2 Now I am going to reduce you among the nations, and make you utterly despised.

1:3 Your pride of heart has led you astray, you whose home is in the holes in the rocks,[*a] who make the heights your dwelling, who say in your heart, ‘Who will bring me down to the ground?’

1:4 Though you soared like the eagle, though you set your nest among the stars, I would still fling you down again – it is Yahweh who speaks.

The annihilation of Edom

1:5 If robbers came to you, or plunderers at night, they would steal to their heart’s content. If grape-gatherers came to you, they would leave no gleanings behind them. How you have been pillaged!

1:6 How Esau has been looted, his hidden treasures rifled!

1:7 They have driven you right to the frontiers, they have misled you, all your allies. They have deceived you, your fine friends. Those who ate your bread now set traps for you, ‘He has no intelligence now’.

1:8 When that day comes – it is Yahweh who speaks – shall I not deprive Edom of sages, the Mount of Esau of intelligence?

1:9 Your warriors, Teman,[*b] will be seized with terror until not a single one is left in the Mount of Esau.

The guilt of Edom

For the slaughter,

1:10 for the violence done to your brother Jacob[*c], shame will cover you and you will vanish for ever.

1:11 On the day you stood by as strangers carried off his riches, as barbarians passed through his gate and cast lots for Jerusalem, you behaved like the rest of them.

1:12 Do not gloat over your brother on the day of his misfortune. Do not exult over the sons of Judah on the day of their ruin. Do not play the braggart on the day of distress.

1:13 Do not pass through the gate of my people on the day of its misfortune. Do not, in your turn, gloat over its disaster on the day of its misfortune. Do not lay a finger on its treasures on the day of its misfortune.

1:14 Do not take your stand at the crossroads to cut off its fugitives. Do not hand over its survivors on the day of distress.

1:15 For the day of Yahweh is near for all the nations. As you have done, so will it be done to you: your deeds will recoil on your own head.

The day of Yahweh. Israel revenged on Edom

1:16 [*d] Yes, as you have drunk on my holy mountain, so will all the nations drink unsparingly; they will drink, and drink deep, and will be as if they had never been.

1:17 But on Mount Zion there will be some who have escaped – it shall become a holy place – and the House of Jacob will despoil its own despoilers.

1:18 The House of Jacob shall be a fire, the House of Joseph[*e] a flame, the House of Esau stubble. They will set it alight and burn it up, and no member of the House of Esau shall survive. Yahweh has spoken.

The new Israel

1:19 Men from the Negeb will occupy the Mount of Esau, men from the Lowlands the country of the Philistines; they will occupy the land of Ephraim and the land of Samaria, and Benjamin will occupy Gilead.

1:20 The exiles from this army, the sons of Israel, will occupy Canaan[*f] as far as Zarephath; and the exiles from Jerusalem now in Sepharad will occupy the town of the Negeb.

1:21 Victorious, they will climb Mount Zion to judge the Mount of Esau, and the sovereignty shall belong to Yahweh.

END OF JB OBADIAH [1 Chapter].

NUMBERS

JB NUMBERS Chapter 1

I. THE CENSUS

1:1 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 the exodus from the land of Egypt. He said:

1:2 ‘Take a census of the whole community of Israel’s sons, by clans and families, of the names of all the males, head by head.

1:3 Every man of Israel, twenty years of age and over, fit to bear arms, must be registered by you and Aaron answered to his fighting station.

1:4 You are to take a man from each tribe, the head of his family, to help you in this.

The census officials

1:5 ‘These are the names of those who are to be your helpers: For Reuben, Elizur son of Shedeur.

1:6 For Simeon, Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai.

1:7 For Judah, Nahshon son of Amminadab.

1:8 For Issachar, Nethanel son of Zuar.

1:9 For Zebulun, Eliab son of Helon.

1:10 Of the sons of Joseph: for Ephraim, Elishama son of Ammihud; for Manasseh, Gamaliel son of Pedahzur.

1:11 For Benjamin, Abidan son of Gideoni.

1:12 For Dan, Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai.

1:13 For Asher, Pagiel son of Ochran.

1:14 For Gad, Eliasaph son of Reuel.

1:15 For Naphtali, Ahira son of Enan.’

1:16 These were men of repute in the community; they were leaders of their ancestral clans, chiefs of Israel’s hosts.

1:17 Moses and Aaron took these men who have been named,

1:18 and on the first day of the second month they mustered the whole community. The sons of Israel established their kinship by clans and families, and one by one the names of all men of twenty years and over were singled out.

1:19 As Yahweh had commanded, Moses took a census of them in the wilderness of Sinai.

The census

1:20 When the kinship of the sons of Reuben, Israel’s first-born, had been established by clans and families, the names of all the males of twenty years and over, fit to bear arms, were singled out one by one.

1:21 The total of these for the tribe of Reuben was forty-six thousand five hundred.

1:22 When the kinship of the sons of Simeon had been established by clans and families, the names of all the males of twenty years and over, fit to bear arms, were singled out, one by one.

1:23 The total of these for the tribe of Simeon was fifty-nine thousand three hundred.

1:24 When the kinship of the sons of Gad had been established by clans and families, the names of all the males of twenty years and over, fit to bear arms, were singled out one by one.

1:25 The total of these for the tribe of Gad was forty-five thousand six hundred and fifty.

1:26 When the kinship of the sons of Judah had been established by clans and families, the names of all the males of twenty years and over, fit to bear arms, were singled out one by one.

1:27 The total of these for the tribe of Judali was seventy-four thousand six hundred.

1:28 When the kinship of the sons of Issachar had been established by clans and families, the names of all the males of twenty years and over, fit to bear arms, were singled out one by one.

1:29 The total of these for the tribe of Issachar was fifty-four thousand four hundred.

1:30 When the kinship of the sons of Zebulun had been established by clans and families, the names of all the males of twenty years and over, fit to bear arms, were singled out one by one.

1:31 The total of these for the tribe of Zebulun was fifty-seven thousand four hundred.

1:32 The sons of Joseph: when the kinship of the sons of Ephraim had been established by clans and families, the names of all the males of twenty years and over, fit to bear arms, were singled out one by one.

1:33 The total of these for the tribe of Ephraim was forty thousand five hundred.

1:34 When the kinship of the sons of Manasseh had been established by clans and families, the names of all the males of twenty years and over, fit to bear arms, were singled out one by one.

1:35 The total of these for the tribe of Manasseh was thirty-two thousand two hundred. When the kinship of the sons of Benjamin had been established by clans and families, the names of all the males of twenty years and over, fit to bear arms, were singled out one by one.

1:36 The total of these for the tribe of Benjamin was thirty-five thousand four hundred. When the kinship of the sons of Dan had been established by clans and families, the names of all the males of twenty years and over, fit to bear arms, were singled out one by one.

1:39 The total of these for the tribe of Dan was sixty-two thousand seven hundred.

1:40 When the kinship of the sons of Asher had been established by clans and families, the names of all the males of twenty years and over, fit to bear arms, were singled out one by one.

1:41 The total of these for the tribe of Asher was forty-one thousand five hundred.

1:42 When the kinship of the sons of Naphtali had been established by clans and families, the names of all the males of twenty years and over, fit to bear arms, were singled out one by one.

1:43 The total of these for the tribe of Naphtali was fifty-three thousand four hundred.

1:44 Such were the men registered by Moses, Aaron and the leaders of Israel, of whom there were twelve, each representing his patriarchal House.

1:45 Every man of Israel of twenty years and over, fit to bear arms, was counted according to his patriarchal House.

1:46 Altogether the full total was six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty.[*a]

1:47 But the Levites and their patriarchal tribe were not included in the count.

Statute for the Levites

1:48 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said:

1:49 ‘Do not, however, take any census of the Levites, or register them among the sons of Israel.

1:50 You yourself must enrol the Levites to serve the tabernacle of the Testimony and to look after its furnishings and its belongings. They are to carry the tabernacle, and all its furnishings, and they are to take care of it and pitch their camp around it.

1:51 Whenever the tabernacle is moved the Levites are to be the people to dismantle it; whenever the tabernacle is set up again, they are to do this. Any layman coming near it must be put to death.

1:52 The sons of Israel are to pitch their tents in formation each in their own encampment, every man by his standard.

1:53 But the Levites are to pitch their tents round the tabernacle of the Testimony. In this way the wrath will be kept from falling on the whole community of the sons of Israel. The Levites are to be in charge of the tabernacle of the Testimony.’

1:54 The Sons of Israel did exactly as Yahweh had ordered Moses. They did as he said.

JB NUMBERS Chapter 2

Order of the tribes

2:1 Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron. He said:

2:2 ‘The sons of Israel are to pitch their tents, every man by his own standard, under the banner of his patriarchal House. They are to pitch their tents all round the tabernacle of the Testimony, at a measured distance.

2:3 ‘Those who are to pitch their tents on the east side: ‘Towards the sunrise, the standard of the camp of Judah, in battle array. Leader of the sons of Judah: Nahshon son of Amminadab.

2:4 His command: seventy-four thousand six hundred men.

2:5 ‘Encamped next to him: ‘The tribe of Issachar. Leader of the sons of Issachar: Nethanel son of Zuar.

2:6 His command: fifty-four thousand four hundred men.

2:7 ‘The tribe of Zebulun. Leader of the sons of Zebulun: Eliab son of Helon.

2:8 His command: fifty seven thousand four hundred men

2:9 The assembled strength of the camp. These are to be first in order of breaking camp

2:10 ‘On the south side, the standard of the camp of Reuben, in battle array. Leader of the sons of Reuben: Elizur son of Shedeur.

2:11 His command: forty-six thousand five hundred men.

2:12 ‘Encamped next to him: ‘The tribe of Simeon. Leader of the sons of Simeon: Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai.

2:13 His command: fifty-nine thousand three hundred men.

2:14 ‘The tribe of Gad. Leader of the sons of Gad: Eliasaph son of Reuel.

2:15 His command: forty-five thousand six hundred and fifty men.

2:16 ‘The assembled strength of the camp of Reuben numbers in all a hundred and fifty-one thousand four hundred and fifty. They are to be second in order of breaking camp.

2:17 ‘Next the Tent of Meeting will move, since the camp of the Levites is situated in the middle of the other camps. The order of movement is to be the order of encampment, every man under his own standard.

2:18 ‘On the west side, the standard of the camp of Ephraim, in battle array. Leader of the sons of Ephraim: Elishama son of Ammihud.

2:19 His command: forty thousand five hundred men.

2:20 ‘Next to him: The tribe of Manasseh. Leader of the tribe of Manasseh: Gamaliel son of Pedahzur.

2:21 His command: thirty-two thousand two hundred men.

2:22 ‘The tribe of Benjamin. Leader of the sons of Benjamin: Abidan son of Gideoni.

2:23 His command: thirty-five thousand four hundred men.

2:24 ‘The assembled strength of the camp of Ephraim numbers in all a hundred and eight thousand one hundred. They are to be third in order of breaking camp.

2:25 ‘On the north side, the standard of the camp of Dan, in battle array. Leader of the sons of Dan: Ahiezer son of Ammishaddal.

2:26 His command: sixty-two thousand seven hundred men.

2:27 ‘Encamped next to him: ‘The tribe of Asher. Leader of the sons of Asher: Pagiel son of Ochran.

2:28 His command: forty-one thousand five hundred men.

2:29 ‘The tribe of Naphtali. Leader of the sons of Naphtali: Ahira son of Enan.

2:30 His command: fifty-three thousand four hundred men.

2:31 ‘The assembled strength of the camp of Dan numbers in all a hundred and fifty-seven thousand six hundred. They are to be last in order of breaking camp.’ (This concerns their stationing by standards.)

2:32 Such was the tally of the sons of Israel when the census was made according to patriarchal Houses. The full count of the entire camp, grouped under the various commands, is six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty.

2:33 The Levites, as Yahweh had commanded Moses, were not included in this census of the sons of Israel.

2:34 The sons of Israel did exactly as Yahweh had ordered Moses. This was how they pitched camp, grouped by standards. This was how they broke camp, each in his own clan, every man with his own family.

JB NUMBERS Chapter 3

The tribe of Levi

a. The priests

3:1 These are the descendants of Aaron and Moses, at the time when Yahweh spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai.

3:2 These are the names of the sons of Aaron: Nadab the eldest, then Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.

3:3 These are the names of Aaron’s sons, priests anointed and invested with the powers of the priesthood.

3:4 Nadab and Abihu died in the presence of Yahweh, in the wilderness of Sinai, when they offered fire that was unlawful. They left no children and so it fell to Eleazar and Ithamar to exercise the priesthood under their father Aaron.

b. The Levites: their duties

3:5 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said:

3:6 ‘Muster the tribe of Levi and put it at the disposal of Aaron the priest: they are to be at his service.

3:7 They are to undertake the duties that are laid on him and on the entire community before the Tent of Meeting, in their service of the tabernacle.

3:8 The furnishings for the Tent of meeting are to be in their charge, and they are to undertake the duties that are laid on the sons of Israel in their service of the tabernacle.

3:9 You are to give the Levites to Aaron and his sons as ‘oblates’,[*a] they are to be given to him by the sons of Israel.

3:10 ‘You are to enrol Aaron and his sons, and they are to carry out their priestly duty. But any layman who comes near is to be put to death.’

c. Their divine election

3:11 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said:

3:12 ‘I myself have chosen the Levites from among the sons of Israel, in place of the first-born, those who open the mother’s womb among the sons of Israel; these Levites therefore belong to me.

3:13 For every first-born belongs to me. On the day when I struck all the first-born in the land of Egypt, I consecrated for my own all the first-born of Israel, of both man and beast. They are mine; I am Yahweh.’

d. Census of the Levites

3:14 Yahweh spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai. He said:

3:15 ‘You are to take a census of the sons of Levi by families and clans; all the males of the age of one month and over must be counted’.

3:16 At Yahweh’s word, Moses took his census, as Yahweh had ordered.

3:17 These are the names of the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath and Merari.

3:18 These are the names of Gershon’s sons by their clans: Libni and Shimei;

3:19 Kohath’s sons by their clans: Amram, Izhar, Hebron and. Uzziel;

3:20 Merari’s sons by their clans: Mahli and Mushi. These are the clans of Levi, grouped according to their patriarchal families.

3:21 From Gershon are descended the Libnite and the Shimeite clans; these are the Gershonite clans.

3:22 Their full number, counting the males of one month and over, came to seven thousand five hundred.

3:23 The Gershonite clans pitched their camp behind the tabernacle, on the west side.

3:24 The leader of the House of Gershon was Eliasaph son of Lael.

3:25 In the Tent of Meeting the sons of Gershon had charge of the tabernacle, the Tent and its covering, the screen for the entrance to the Tent of Meeting,

3:26 the hangings in the court, the screen for the entrance to the court surrounding the tabernacle and the altar, and the cords needed for all this work.

3:27 From Kohath are descended the Amramite, the Izharite, the Hebronite and the Uzzielite clans; these are the Kohathite clans.

3:28 Their full number, counting the males of one month and over, came to eight thousand three hundred. They were in charge of the sanctuary.

3:29 The Kohathite clans pitched their camp on the south side of the tabernacle.

3:30 The leader of the house of the Kohathite clans was Elizaphan son of Uzziel

3:31 They were in charge of the ark, the table, the lamp-stand, the altars, the sacred vessels used in the liturgy, and the screen with all its fittings.

3:32 The chief of the Levite leaders was Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest. He was the head of all those who were in charge of the sanctuary.

3:33 From Merari are descended the Mahlite and the Mushite clans; these are the Merarite clans;

3:34 Their full number, counting the males of one month and over, came to six thousand two hundred.

3:35 The leader of the house of the Merarite clans was Zuriel, son of Abihail. They pitched their camp on the north side of the tabernacle.

3:36 The sons of Merari were in charge of the framework of the tabernacle, with its crossbars, posts and sockets, all its accessories and fittings,

3:37 and also the posts round the court, with their sockets, pegs and cords.

3:38 Finally, on the east side, facing the tabernacle and the Tent of Meeting, towards the sunrise, was the camp of Moses and Aaron and his sons, who had charge of the sanctuary on behalf of the sons of Israel. Any layman coming near was to be put to death.

3:39 Altogether, the total count of Levites of the age of one month and over, whom Moses numbered by clans as Yahweh had ordered, came to twenty-two thousand.

e. The Levites and the ransoming of the first-born

3:40 Yahweh said to Moses: ‘Take a census of all the first-born among the sons of Israel, all the males from the age of one month and over; take a census of them by name.

3:41 Then you will present the Levites to me, Yahweh, in place of the first-born of Israel; in the same way you will give me their cattle in place of the first-born cattle of the sons of Israel.’

3:42 As Yahweh ordered, Moses took a census of all the first-born of the sons of Israel.

3:43 The total count, by name, of the first-born from the age of one month and over came to twenty-two thousand two hundred and seventy-three.

3:44 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,

3:45 ‘Take the Levites in the place of all the first-born of Israel’s sons, and the cattle of the Levites in place of their cattle; the Levites shall be my own, Yahweh’s own.

3:46 For the ransom of the two hundred and seventy-three of the first-born of the sons of Israel in excess of the number of Levites,

3:47 you are to take five shekels for each, reckoning by the sanctuary shekel, twenty gerahs to the shekel;

3:48 you must then give this money to Aaron and his sons as the ransom price for this extra number.’

3:49 Moses received this money as the ransom for this extra number unransomed by the Levites.

3:50 He received the money for the first-born of the sons of Israel, one thousand three hundred and sixty-five shekels, sanctuary shekels.

3:51 Moses handed over this ransom money to Aaron and his sons, at the bidding of Yahweh, as Yahweh had ordered Moses.

JB NUMBERS Chapter 4

The Levite clans

a. The Kohathites

4:1 Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron. He said:

4:2 ‘Take a census of those Levites who are sons of Kohath, by clans and families:

4:3 count all the men between thirty and fifty years of age, those fit to bear arms, who are liable for service in the Tent of Meeting.

4:4 ‘These are the duties of the sons of Kohath in the Tent of Meeting: they are to have charge of the most holy things.

4:5 ‘When camp is broken, Aaron and his sons are to come and take down the veil of the screen. With it they must cover up the ark of the Testimony.

4:6 On top of this they must put a covering of fine leather, and spread over the whole a cloth all of violet. Then they are to fix the poles to the ark.

4:7 ‘Over the offertory table they are to spread a violet cloth, and put on it the dishes, cups, bowls and libation jars; the bread of perpetual offering is also to be on it.

4:8 Over these they must spread a cloth of scarlet and cover the whole with a covering of fine leather. Then they are to fix the poles to the table.

4:9 ‘They are then to take a cloth of violet and cover the light-bearing lamp-stand, together with the lamps, snuffers, trays and all the oil jars that belong to it.

4:10 They are to put it, with all its accessories, on a covering of fine leather and place it on the litter.

4:11 ‘Over the golden altar they must spread a violet cloth, and cover that with a covering of fine leather. Then they are to fix the poles to it.

4:12 ‘They are also to take all the other objects used in the service of the sanctuary. They must put them all on a violet cloth, cover them with a covering of fine leather, and place them together on the litter.

4:13 ‘When they have removed the ashes from the altar,[*a] they must spread a scarlet cloth over it,

4:14 and place on this all the objects used in the liturgical service, the fire pans, hooks, scoops, sprinkling basins and all the altar vessels. Over the whole they must spread a covering of fine leather. Then they are to fix the poles to it.

4:15 ‘When Aaron and his sons have finished covering all the sacred objects and all their accessories at the breaking of camp, the sons of Kohath are to come to take up the burden, but without touching any of the sacred things; otherwise they would die. This is the charge entrusted to the sons of Kohath in the Tent of Meeting.

4:16 It is to fall to Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, to watch over the oil for the light, the fragrant incense, the perpetual oblation and the chrism; he must watch over the whole tabernacle and everything in it: the sacred objects and their accessories.’

4:17 Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron. He said:

4:18 ‘Do not cut off the tribe of the clans of Kohath from the number of the Levites.

4:19 But deal with them in this way, so that they may live on and not incur death when they approach the most holy things: Aaron and his sons must go in and assign to each of them his task and his burden.

4:20 In this way they can go in and yet cast not their eyes, even for a moment, on any of the holy things; if they did, they would die.’

b. The Gershonites

4:21 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said to him:

4:22 ‘Take a census also of the sons of Gershon, by families and clans:

4:23 count all the men between thirty and fifty years of age, those fit to bear arms, who are liable for service in the Tent of Meeting.

4:24 ‘These are the duties of the Gershonite clans, their functions and their burdens.

4:25 They are to carry the curtains of the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting with its covering and the covering of fine leather that goes over it, the screen for the entrance to the Tent of Meeting,

4:26 the hangings of the court, the screen for the entrance to the court that surrounds the tabernacle and the altar, the cords and all the accessories, and all the necessary equipment. ‘They are to be responsible for these things.

4:27 All the duties of the sons of Gershon – their functions and their tasks – are to be carried out under the direction of Aaron and his sons: you must see that they fulfil their charge.

4:28 Such shall be the duties of the Gershonite clans in the Tent of Meeting. Their work will be supervised by Ithamar, son of Aaron the priest.

c. The Merarites

4:29 ‘You are to count the sons of Merari, by clans and families.

4:30 Count all the men between thirty and fifty years of age, those fit to bear arms, who are liable for service in the Tent of Meeting.

4:31 ‘The burden they are to carry and the duties that are to fall to them in the Tent of Meeting shall be as follows: the framework of the tabernacle, its crossbars, its posts and sockets,

4:32 the posts around the court with their sockets, pegs, cords and all their tackle. You are to draw up a list of their names with the burden that each man must carry.

4:33 ‘These are the duties of the Merarite clans. All their duties in the Tent of Meeting will be supervised by Ithamar, son of Aaron the priest.’

Census of the Levites

4:34 Moses, Aaron and the leaders of the community took a census of the sons of Kohath, by clans and families:

4:35 of every man between thirty and fifty years of age, fit to bear arms and liable for service in the Tent of Meeting.

4:36 The total of their clans was two thousand seven hundred and fifty men.

4:37 This was the number of the Kohathite clans, of all those who were liable for service in the Tent of Meeting, whom Moses and Aaron counted at the bidding of Yahweh given through Moses.

4:38 A census was taken of the sons of Gershon, by clans and families:

4:39 of every man between thirty and fifty years of age, fit to bear arms and liable for service in the Tent of Meeting.

4:40 By clans and families the total was two thousand six hundred and thirty men.

4:41 This was the number of the Gershonite clans, of all those who were liable for service in the Tent of Meeting, whom Moses and Aaron counted at the bidding of Yahweh.

4:42 A census was taken of the clans of the sons of Merari, by clans and families:

4:43 of every man between thirty and fifty years of age, fit to bear arms and liable for service in the Tent of Meeting.

4:44 The total of their clans was three thousand two hundred men.

4:45 This was the number of the Merarite clans, whom Moses and Aaron counted at the bidding of Yahweh through Moses.

4:46 The total number of Levites, counted according to clans and families by Moses and Aaron and the leaders of Israel-

4:47 all the men between thirty and fifty years of age, fit to bear arms and liable for serving or carrying in the Tent of Meeting-

4:48 amounted to eight thousand five hundred and eighty.

4:49 At the bidding of Yahweh through Moses, the census was taken to assign to every man his duty and his task; they were numbered as Yahweh had ordered Moses.

JB NUMBERS Chapter 5

II. VARIOUS LAWS

Expulsion of the unclean

5:1 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said:

5:2 ‘Order the sons of Israel to put out of the camp all lepers, and all who suffer from a discharge, or who have become unclean by touching a corpse.

5:3 Man or woman, you must put them out and forbid them the camp. The sons of Israel must not defile in this way the camp where I dwell among them.’

5:4 The sons of Israel did so: they put them out of the camp. The sons of Israel did as Yahweh had ordered Moses.

Restitution

5:5 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,

5:6 ‘Tell the sons of Israel: “If a man or woman commits any of the sins by which men break faith with Yahweh, that person incurs guilt.

5:7 “He must confess the sin he has committed and restore in full the amount for which he is liable, with one-fifth added. Payment is to be made to the person whom he has wronged.

5:8 “If, however, the latter has no kinsman to whom this restitution can be made, the restitution due to Yahweh reverts to the priest, over and above the ram of atonement with which the priest makes atonement for the guilty man.

5:9 For of everything consecrated by the sons of Israel and brought to the priest he has a right to the portion set aside.

5:10 Whatever a man consecrates is his own; whatever is given to the priest belongs to the priest.”‘

Oblation in cases of jealousy

5:11 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,

5:12 ‘Say this to the sons of Israel: “If anyone has a wife who goes astray and is unfaithful to him,

5:13 if some other man sleeps with the woman without the husband’s knowledge, if she disgraces herself in secret in this way, without any witness against her, and without anyone catching her in the act;

5:14 then, if a spirit of jealousy comes over the husband and makes him jealous for the wife who has disgraced herself, or again if this spirit of jealousy comes upon him and makes him jealous for his wife even when she is innocent:

5:15 the man must bring his wife before the priest, and on her behalf make an offering of one-tenth of an ephah of barley meal. He is not to pour oil on it or put incense on it, because this is an ‘oblation for jealousy’, a memorial offering to record a fault.

5:16 “The priest is then to bring the woman forward and stand her before Yahweh.

5:17 Then he shall take living water in an earthen jar, and on the water throw dust that he has taken from the floor of the tabernacle.

5:18 After he has placed the woman before Yahweh, he shall unbind her hair and put in her hands the commemorative oblation (that is, the oblation for jealousy). In his own hands the priest will hold the water of bitterness and of cursing.

5:19 “He is then to put the woman on oath. He shall say to her: If it is not true that a man has slept with you, that you have gone astray and disgraced yourself while under your husband’s authority, then may this water of bitterness and cursing do you no harm.

5:20 But if it is true that you have gone astray, while under your husband’s authority, that you have disgraced yourself by sharing your bed with a man other than your husband…

5:21 Here the priest shall impose an imprecatory oath on the woman. He shall say to her:… May Yahweh make of you an execration and a curse among your people, making your thigh shrivel and your belly swell!

5:22 May this water of cursing enter your bowels to swell your belly and shrivel your organs!’ The woman must answer: Amen! Amen!

5:23 “Then the priest shall commit these curses to writing and wash them off in the water of bitterness.

5:24 He must make the woman drink this water of bitterness and of cursing, and this water of cursing shall go into her and be bitter inside her.

5:25 “The priest shall then take the oblation for jealousy from the woman’s hands, and hold it up before Yahweh with a gesture of offering, and so carry it up to the altar.

5:26 He shall take a handful as a memorial, and burn it on the altar.

5:27 “He shall then make the woman drink the water.. After he has made her drink it, if it is true that she has disgraced herself, deceiving her husband, then the water of cursing that goes into her shall indeed be bitter: her belly will swell and her thigh shrivel, and she will be an execration among her people.

5:28 But if she has not disgraced herself and is clean, then she will go unscathed and will bear children.

5:29 “This is the ritual in cases of jealousy, when a woman has gone astray and disgraced herself while under her husband’s authority,

5:30 or when a spirit of jealousy has come over a man and made him jealous for his wife. When a husband brings such a woman before Yahweh, the priest must apply this ritual to her in full.

5:31 The husband shall be guiltless, but the woman must bear the punishment for her sin.”‘

JB NUMBERS Chapter 6

The nazirite

6:1 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,

6:2 ‘Say this to the sons of Israel: man or a woman wishes to make a vow, the vow of the nazirite by which he is pledged to Yahweh,

6:3 he shall abstain from wine and strong drink and neither drink the juice of grapes, nor eat grapes, fresh or dried.

6:4 For the duration of his vow he shall touch nothing that comes from the vine, not even verjuice or lees.

6:5 As long as he is bound by his vow, no razor shall touch his head; until the time of his consecration to Yahweh is completed, he remains under vow and shall let his hair grow free.

6:6 For the entire period of his consecration to Yahweh he must not go near a corpse,

6:7 he must not make himself unclean for either father or mother, for either brother or sister, should they die; On his head he carries his consecration to his God.

6:8 Throughout the whole of his nazirate he is a person consecrated to Yahweh.

6:9 “If anyone dies suddenly in his presence, and so makes his consecrated hair unclean, he must shave his head on the day of his cleansing, he must shave his head on the seventh day.

6:10 On the eighth day, he is to bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest, at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

6:11 The priest must offer one as a sacrifice for sin, and the other as a holocaust; he must then perform over this man the rite of atonement for the defilement that he has contracted from the corpse. The man must consecrate his head that same day;

6:12 he must consecrate himself to Yahweh for the period of his nazirate, and he must bring a male yearling lamb as a sacrifice of reparation. The time already spent shall not count, since his hair has become unclean.

6:13 “This is the ritual to be followed by the nazirite on the day when his period of consecration is completed. He is to be led to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting,

6:14 and must make his offering to Yahweh: for holocaust, a male yearling lamb without blemish; for sacrifice for sin, a yearling ewe lamb without blemish; for communion sacrifice, a ram without blemish,

6:15 and a basket of unleavened loaves made of fine flour mixed with oil, and of unleavened wafers spread with oil, with the oblations and libations appropriate to them.

6:16 When he has brought all this before Yahweh, the priest must offer the sacrifice for sin and the holocaust for the nazirite.

6:17 The nazirite must offer up the communion sacrifice with the ram and the unleavened bread in the basket, and the priest must offer the accompanying oblation and libation.

6:18 Then the nazirite shall shave off his consecrated hair at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, and taking the locks of his consecrated head, he shall put them in the fire of the communion sacrifice.

6:19 The priest is to take the shoulder of the ram, as soon as it is cooked, with an unleavened cake from the basket, and an unleavened wafer. He is to put them into the hands of the nazirite when the nazirite has shaved off his hair.

6:20 With them he must make the gesture of offering before Yahweh; as it is a holy thing, it reverts to the priest, in addition to the breast that has been presented and the thigh that has been set aside. After this the nazirite may once more drink wine.

6:21 “Such is the ritual for the nazirite. If, besides the hair, he has also vowed a personal offering to Yahweh, he must (apart from anything else that his means allow) fulfil the vow that he has made, in addition to what the ritual prescribes for his hair.”‘

The form of blessing

6:22 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,

6:23 ‘Say this to Aaron and his sons: “This is how you are to bless the sons of Israel. You shall say to them:

6:24 May Yahweh bless you and keep you.

6:25 May Yahweh let his face shine on you and be gracious to you.

6:26 May Yahweh uncover his face to you and bring you peace.”

6:27 This is how they are to call down my name on the sons of Israel, and I will bless them.’

JB NUMBERS Chapter 7

III. OFFERINGS OF THE LEADERS AND CONSECRATION OF THE LEVITES

Offering of wagons

7:1 On the day Moses finished setting up the tabernacle, he anointed and consecrated it with all its furniture, as well as the altar and all its accessories. When he had anointed and consecrated it all,

7:2 the leaders of Israel made an offering; these were the heads of the patriarchal Houses, who were leaders of tribes and had presided over the census.

7:3 They brought their offering before Yahweh: six covered wagons and twelve oxen, one wagon for every two leaders and one ox each. They brought them before the tabernacle.

7:4 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,

7:5 ‘Accept these from them, and let them be set apart for the service of the Tent of Meeting. You are to give them to the Levites, to each as his duties require.’

7:6 Moses took the wagons and the oxen, and gave them to the Levites.

7:7 To the sons of Gershon he gave two wagons and four oxen for the duties they had to perform.

7:8 To the sons of Merari he gave four wagons and eight oxen, for the duties they had to perform under the direction of Ithamar, son of Aaron the priest.

7:9 But to the sons of Kohath he gave none at all, because the sacred charge entrusted to them had to be carried on their shoulders.

Dedication offering

7:10 The leaders then made an offering for the dedication of the altar, on the day it was anointed. They brought their offering before the altar,

7:11 and Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Let the leaders each bring an offering on successive days for the dedication of the altar’.

7:12 On the first day an offering was brought by Nahshon son of Amminadab, of the tribe of Judah.

7:13 His offering consisted of: one silver bowl weighing a hundred and thirty shekels, one silver sprinkling bowl weighing seventy shekels (sanctuary shekels), both of them filled, for the oblation, with fine flour mixed with oil,

7:14 one golden bowl weighing ten shekels, filled with incense,

7:15 one young bull, one ram and one male yearling lamb for the holocaust,

7:16 one goat for the sacrifice for sin,

7:17 and, for the communion sacrifice, two oxen, five rams, five kids, and five male yearling lambs. This was the offering of Nahshon son of Amminadab.

7:18 On the second day an offering was brought by Nethanel son of Zuar, leader of Issachar.

7:19 His offering consisted of: one silver bowl weighing a hundred and thirty shekels, one silver sprinkling bowl weighing seventy shekels (sanctuary shekels), both of them filled, for the oblation, with fine flour mixed with oil,

7:20 one golden bowl weighing ten shekels, filled with incense,

7:21 one young bull, one ram and one male yearling lamb for the holocaust,

7:22 one goat for the sacrifice for sin,

7:23 and, for the communion sacrifice, two oxen, five rams, five kids, and five male yearling lambs. This was the offering of Nethanel son of Zuar.

7:24 On the third day an offering was brought by Eliab son of Helon, leader of the sons of Zebulun.

7:25 His offering consisted of: one silver bowl weighing a hundred and thirty shekels, one silver sprinkling bowl weighing seventy shekels (sanctuary shekels), both of them filled, for the oblation, with fine flour mixed with oil,

7:26 one golden bowl weighing ten shekels, filled with incense,

7:27 one young bull, one ram and one male yearling lamb for the holocaust,

7:28 one goat for the sacrifice for sin,

7:29 and, for the communion sacrifice, two oxen, five rams, five kids, and five male yearling lambs. This was the offering of Eliab son of Helon.

7:30 On the fourth day an offering was brought by Elizur son of Shedeur, leader of the sons of Reuben.

7:31 His offering consisted of: one silver bowl weighing a hundred and thirty shekels, one silver sprinkling bowl weighing seventy shekels (sanctuary shekels), both of them filled, for the oblation, with fine flour mixed with oil,

7:32 one golden bowl weighing ten shekels, filled with incense,

7:33 one young bull, one ram, and one male yearling lamb for the holocaust,

7:34 one goat for the sacrifice for sin,

7:35 and, for the communion sacrifice, two oxen, five rams, five kids, and five male yearling lambs. This was the offering of Elizur son of Shedeur.

7:36 On the fifth day an offering was brought by Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai, leader of the sons of Simeon.

7:37 His offering consisted of: one silver bowl weighing a hundred and thirty shekels, one silver sprinkling bowl weighing seventy shekels (sanctuary shekels), both of them filled, for the oblation, with fine flour mixed with oil,

7:38 one golden bowl weighing ten shekels, filled with incense,

7:39 one young bull, one ram and one male yearling lamb for the holocaust,

7:40 one goat for the sacrifice for sin,

7:41 and, for the communion sacrifice, two oxen, five rams, five kids, and five male yearling lambs. This was the offering of Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai.

7:42 On the sixth day an offering was brought by Eliasaph son of Reuel, leader of the sons of Gad.

7:43 His offering consisted of: one silver bowl weighing a hundred and thirty shekels, one silver sprinkling bowl weighing seventy shekels (sanctuary shekels), both of them filled, for the oblation, with fine flour mixed with oil,

7:44 one golden bowl weighing ten shekels, filled with incense,

7:45 one young bull, one ram and one male yearling lamb for the holocaust,

7:46 one goat for the sacrifice for sin,

7:47 and, for the communion sacrifice, two oxen, five rams, five kids, and five male yearling lambs. This was the offering of Eliasaph son of Reuel.

7:48 On the seventh day an offering was brought by Elishama son of Ammihud, leader of the sons of Ephraim.

7:49 His offering consisted of: one silver bowl weighing a hundred and thirty shekels, one silver sprinkling bowl weighing seventy shekels (sanctuary shekels), both of them filled, for the oblation, with so fine flour mixed with oil,

7:50 one golden bowl weighing ten shekels, filled with incense,

7:51 one young bull, one ram and one male yearling lamb for the holocaust,

7:52 one goat for the sacrifice for sin,

7:53 and, for the communion sacrifice, two oxen, five rams, five kids, and five male yearling lambs. This was the offering of Elishama, son of Ammihud.

7:54 On the eighth day an offering was brought by Gamaliel son of Pedahzur, leader of the sons of Manasseh.

7:55 His offering consisted of: one silver bowl weighing a hundred and thirty shekels, one silver sprinkling bowl weighing seventy shekels (sanctuary shekels), both of them filled, for the oblation, with fine flour mixed with oil,

7:56 one golden bowl weighing ten shekels, filled with incense,

7:57 one young bull, one ram and one male yearling lamb for the holocaust,

7:58 one goat for the sacrifice for sin,

7:59 and, for the communion sacrifice, two oxen, five rams, five kids, and five male yearling lambs. This was the offering of Gamaliel son of Pedahzur.

7:60 On the ninth day an offering was brought by Abidan son of Gideoni, leader of the sons of Benjamin.

7:61 His offering consisted of: one silver bowl weighing a hundred and thirty shekels, one sprinkling bowl weighing seventy shekels (sanctuary shekels), both of them filled, for the oblation, with fine flour mixed with oil,

7:62 one golden bowl weighing ten shekels, filled with incense,

7:63 one young bull, one ram and one male yearling lamb for the holocaust,

7:64 one goat for the sacrifice for sin,

7:65 and, for the communion sacrifice, two oxen, five rams, five kids, and five male yearling lambs. This was the offering of Abidan son of Gideoni.

7:66 On the tenth day an offering was brought by Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai, leader of the sons of Dan.

7:67 His offering consisted of: one silver bowl weighing a hundred and thirty shekels, one silver sprinkling bowl weighing seventy shekels (sanctuary shekels), both of them filled, for the oblation, with fine flour mixed with oil,

7:68 one golden bowl weighing ten shekels, filled with incense,

7:69 one young bull, one ram, and one male yearling lamb for the holocaust,

7:70 one goat for the sacrifice for sin,

7:71 and, for the communion sacrifice, two oxen, five rams, five kids, and five male yearling lambs. This was the offering of Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai.

7:72 On the eleventh day an offering was brought by Pagiel son of Ochran, leader of the sons of Asher.

7:73 His offering consisted of: one silver bowl weighing a hundred and thirty shekels, one silver sprinkling bowl weighing seventy shekels (sanctuary shekels), both of them filled, for the oblation, with fine flour mixed with oil,

7:74 one golden bowl weighing ten shekels, filled with incense,

7:75 one young bull, one ram and one male yearling lamb for the holocaust,

7:76 one goat for the sacrifice for sin,

7:77 and, for the communion sacrifice, two oxen, five rams, five kids, and five male yearling lambs. This was the offering of Pagiel son of Ochran.

7:78 On the twelfth day an offering was brought by Ahira son of Enan, leader of the sons of Naphtali.

7:79 His offering consisted of: one silver bowl weighing a hundred and thirty shekels, one silver sprinkling bowl weighing seventy shekels (sanctuary shekels), both of them filled, for the oblation, with fine flour mixed with oil,

7:80 one golden bowl weighing ten shekels, filled with incense,

7:81 one young bull, one ram and one male yearling lamb for the holocaust,

7:82 one goat for the sacrifice for sin,

7:83 and, for the communion sacrifice, two oxen, five rams, five kids, and five male yearling lambs. This was the offering of Ahira son of Enan.

7:84 These were the offerings made by the leaders of Israel for the dedication of the altar on the day it was anointed: twelve silver bowls, twelve silver sprinkling bowls, and twelve golden bowls.

7:85 Each silver bowl weighed a hundred and thirty shekels, and each sprinkling bowl seventy, the silver of these objects weighing in all two thousand four hundred sanctuary shekels.

7:86 The twelve golden bowls filled with incense weighed ten shekels each (sanctuary shekels), the gold of these bowls weighing in all a hundred and twenty shekels.

7:87 The sum total of animals for the holocaust: twelve bulls, twelve rams, twelve male yearling lambs, together with their accompanying oblations. For the sacrifice for sin, twelve goats.

7:88 The sum total of animals for the communion sacrifice: twenty-four bulls, sixty rams, sixty kids, and sixty male yearling lambs. These were the offerings for the dedication of the altar, after it had been anointed.

7:89 When Moses went into the Tent of Meeting to speak with Him, he heard the voice that spoke to him from above the throne of mercy which was on the ark of the Testimony, from between the two cherubs. It was then that he spoke with Him.

JB NUMBERS Chapter 8

The lamps for the lamp-stand

8:1 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said:

8:2 ‘Say this to Aaron, “When you set up the lamps, the seven lamps must throw their light towards the front of the lamp-stand”‘.

8:3 Aaron saw to this. He set up the lamps to the front of the lamp-stand, as Yahweh had ordered Moses.

8:4 This lamp-stand was worked in beaten gold, including its stem and its petals, which were also of beaten gold. This lamp-stand had been made according to the pattern Yahweh had shown to Moses.

The Levites are offered to Yahweh

8:5 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said:

8:6 ‘Separate the Levites from the sons of Israel and purify them.

8:7 This is how you are to purify them: you must sprinkle them with lustral water, and they must shave their bodies all over and wash their clothing. They will then be clean.

8:8 They must next take a young bull, with the accompanying oblation of fine flour mixed with oil, and you must take a second young bull for a sacrifice for sin.

8:9 Then bring the Levites before the Tent of Meeting, and call together the whole community of the sons of Israel.

8:10 When you have brought the Levites before Yahweh, the sons of Israel must lay their hands on them.

8:11 Aaron shall then offer the Levites, making the gesture of offering before Yahweh on behalf of the sons of Israel. From that time, they will be dedicated to the service of Yahweh.

8:12 ‘The Levites must then lay their hands on the heads of the bulls, one of which you are to offer as a sacrifice for sin, and the other as a holocaust to Yahweh; this is how the rite of atonement for the Levites is to be performed.

8:13 Having brought the Levites before Aaron and his sons, you will present them to Yahweh with the gesture of offering.

8:14 This is how you are to set the Levites apart from he rest of the sons of Israel, so that they may be mine.

8:15 The Levites will then begin their ministry in the Tent of Meeting. ‘You must purify them and offer them with the gesture of offering

8:16 because they have been made over to me from among the sons of Israel, as ‘oblates’. They are to replace those who open the womb, all the first-born; of all the sons of Israel I have taken them for my own.

8:17 All the first-born among the sons of Israel, man and beast, do indeed belong to me: the day I struck all the first-born in the land of Egypt, I consecrated them to myself,

8:18 and now, in place of all the first-born among the sons of Israel, I have taken the Levites.

8:19 From among the sons of Israel I give them to Aaron and his sons, as ‘oblates’; on behalf of the sons of Israel, they will minister in the Tent of Meeting and perform the rite of atonement over them, so that none of the sons of Israel may be struck down for approaching the sanctuary.’

8:20 Moses, Aaron and the whole community of the sons of Israel dealt with the Levites exactly as Yahweh had directed Moses concerning them; this is what the sons of Israel did with them.

8:21 The Levites purified themselves and washed their clothes, and Aaron presented them with the gesture of offering before Yahweh. Then he performed the rite of atonement over them to purify them.

8:22 The Levites were then allowed to perform their ministry in the Tent of Meeting in the presence of Aaron and his sons. As Yahweh had directed Moses concerning the Levites, so it was done to them.

The duration of their ministry

8:23 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said:

8:24 ‘This concerns the Levites. From the age of twenty-five onwards, the Levite must exercise his ministry and do duty in the Tent of Meeting.

8:25 After the age of fifty, he is no longer bound to the ministry; he will have no further duties;

8:26 but he will still help his brothers to ensure the services in the Tent of Meeting, though he himself will no longer have any ministry. See that this is the rule for the ministry of the Levites.’

JB NUMBERS Chapter 9

IV. THE PASSOVER AND THE DEPARTURE

Date of the Passover

9:1 Yahweh spoke to Moses, in the wilderness of Sinai, in the second year after the exodus from Egypt, in the first month. He said:

9:2 ‘Let the sons of Israel keep the Passover at its appointed time.

9:3 The fourteenth day of this month, between the two evenings, is the appointed time for you to keep it. You must keep it with all the laws and customs proper to it.’

9:4 Moses gave orders for the sons of Israel to keep the Passover.

9:5 They kept it, in tile wilderness of Sinai, in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, between the two evenings. The sons of Israel did exactly as Yahweh had ordered Moses.

Individual cases

9:6 It happened that certain men had become unclean by touching a dead body; they could not keep the Passover that day. They came the same day to Moses and Aaron,

9:7 and said to them, ‘We have become unclean by touching a dead body. Why should we be forbidden to bring an offering to Yahweh at the proper time with the rest of the sons of Israel?’

9:8 Moses answered them, ‘Wait there till I learn what orders Yahweh gives about you’.

9:9 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,

9:10 ‘Say this to the sons of Israel: “If anyone, among you or your descendants, becomes unclean by touching a dead body or is on a journey abroad, he can still keep a Passover for Yahweh.

9:11 Such persons shall keep it in the second month, on the fourteenth day, between the two evenings. They are to eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs;

9:12 nothing of it must be left over until morning, nor must they break any of its bones: they must keep this Passover exactly according to the paschal ritual.

9:13 But if anyone who is clean, or who has not had to go on a journey, fails to keep the Passover, he shall be outlawed from his people. He has not brought the offering to Yahweh at its appointed time, and he must bear the burden of his sin.

9:14 “If a stranger is living among you and keeps a Passover for Yahweh, he must keep it in accordance with the laws and customs of the Passover. There is to be only one law among you, for settler and native alike.”‘

The cloud

9:15 On the day the tabernacle was set up, the Cloud covered the tabernacle, the Tent of the Testimony. From nightfall until morning, it remained over the tabernacle under the appearance of fire.

9:16 So the Cloud covered it continually, at night taking the appearance of fire.

9:17 Whenever the Cloud lifted above the Tent, the sons of Israel broke camp; whenever the Cloud halted, there the sons of Israel pitched camp.

9:18 The sons of Israel set out at the command of Yahweh, and at his command they pitched camp. The people remained encamped as long as the Cloud rested on the tabernacle.

9:19 If the Cloud stayed for many days above the tabernacle, the sons of Israel paid worship to Yahweh and did not break camp.

9:20 But if the Cloud happened to stay for only a few days above the tabernacle, they pitched camp at Yahweh’s command and broke camp at Yahweh’s command.

9:21 If the Cloud happened to remain only from evening to morning, they set out when it lifted the next morning. Or, if it stayed for a whole day and night, they set out only when it lifted.

9:22 Sometimes it stayed there for two days, a month, or a year; however long the Cloud stayed, above the tabernacle, the sons of Israel remained in camp in the same place, and when it lifted they set out.

9:23 At Yahweh’s command they pitched camp, and at Yahweh’s command they broke camp. They paid worship to Yahweh, according to the orders which Yahweh had given through Moses.

JB NUMBERS Chapter 10

The trumpets

10:1 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said:

10:2 ‘Make two trumpets; make them of beaten silver; and use them for summoning the community, and for sounding the order to break camp.

10:3 Whenever they are sounded, the whole community is to gather round you, at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

10:4 But if only one trumpet is sounded, then only the leaders, the chiefs of Israel’s battalions, are to gather round you.

10:5 ‘When the trumpet blast is accompanied by a battle cry, the camps pitched to the east shall set out.

10:6 At the second blast accompanied by a battle cry, the camps pitched to the south shall set out. To break camp, the trumpet blast must be accompanied by a battle cry,

10:7 but to assemble the community the trumpets shall be sounded without battle cry.

10:8 The sons of Aaron, the priests, are to sound the trumpets; this is a perpetual law for you and your descendants.

10:9 ‘In your own land when you go to war against an enemy who oppresses you, you must sound the trumpet with a battle cry: Yahweh your God will remember you, and you will be delivered from your enemies.

10:10 At your festivals, solemnities, or new-moon feasts, you will sound the trumpet at the time of your holocausts and your communion sacrifices, and they will call you to the remembrance of your God. I am Yahweh your God.’

The order of march

10:11 In the second year, in the second month, on the twentieth day of the month, the Cloud lifted over the tabernacle of the Testimony.

10:12 The sons of Israel set out, in marching order, from the wilderness of Sinai. In the wilderness of Paran the Cloud came to rest.

10:13 These are the men who set out in the vanguard, at the order of Yahweh given through Moses:

10:14 in the vanguard was the standard of the camp of the sons of Judah, in battle array. In command of Judah’s force was Nahshon son of Amminadab;

10:15 in command of the sons of Issachar, in battle array, was Nethanel son of Zuar;

10:16 in command of the tribe of the sons of Zebulun, in battle array, was Eliab son of Helon.

10:17 Then, the tabernacle being dismantled, the sons of Gershon and the sons of Merari set out, carrying the tabernacle.

10:18 Then came the standard of the camp of the sons of Reuben, in battle array. In command of Reuben’s force was Elizur son of Shedeur;

10:19 in command of the tribe of the sons of Simeon, in battle array, was Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai;

10:20 in command of the tribe of the sons of Gad, in battle array, was Eliasaph son of Reuel.

10:21 Then came the sons of Kohath, who carried the sanctuary (the tabernacle was set up before their arrival).

10:22 Then came the standard of the camp of the sons of Ephraim, in battle array. In command of Ephraim’s force was Elishama son of Ammihud;

10:23 in command of the tribe of the sons of Manasseh, in battle array, was Gamaliel son of Pedahzur;

10:24 in command of the tribe of the sons of Benjamin was Abidan son of Gideoni.

10:25 Last of all, the rearguard of all the camps, came the standard of the camp of the sons of Dan, in battle array. In command of the force of Dan was Ahiezer, son of Ammishaddai;

10:26 in command of the tribe of the sons of Asher, in battle array, was Pagiel son of Ochran;

10:27 in command of the sons of Naphtali, in battle array, was Ahira son of Enan.

10:28 Such was the order of march for the sons of Israel, in battle array. So they set out.

Moses’ proposal to Hobab

10:29 Moses said to Hobab son of Reuel the Midianite, his father-in-law, ‘We are setting out for the land of which Yahweh has said: I will give it to you. Come with us, and we will treat you well, for Yahweh has promised happiness to Israel.’

10:30 ‘I will not come with you,’ he answered ‘I will go to my own land and my own kindred.’

10:31 ‘Do not leave us,’ Moses replied ‘for you know where we can camp in the wilderness, and so you will be our eyes.

10:32 If you come with us, you will share in the blessing of the happiness with which Yahweh blesses us.’

The departure

10:33 They set out from the mountain of Yahweh and journeyed for three days. The ark of the covenant of Yahweh went at their head for this journey of three days, searching out a camping place for them.

10:34 In the daytime, the Cloud of Yahweh was over them whenever they left camp.

10:35 And as the ark set out, Moses would say, ‘Arise, Yahweh, may your enemies be scattered and those who hate you run for their lives before you!’

10:36 And as it came to rest, he would say, ‘Come back, Yahweh, to the thronging hosts of Israel’.

JB NUMBERS Chapter 11

V. THE HALTS IN THE WILDERNESS

Taberah

11:1 Now the people set up a lament which was offensive to Yahweh’s ears, and Yahweh heard it. His anger blazed, and the fire of Yahweh burned among them: it destroyed one end of the camp.

11:2 The people appealed to Moses, and he interceded with Yahweh and the fire died down.

11:3 So the place was called Taberah, because the fire of Yahweh had burned among them.

Kibroth-hattaavah[*a]. The people complain

11:4 The rabble who had joined the people were overcome by greed, and the sons of Israel themselves began to wail again, ‘Who will give us meat to eat?’ they said.

11:5 ‘Think of the fish we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic!

11:6 Here we are wasting away, stripped of everything; there is nothing but manna for us to look at!’

11:7 The manna was like coriander seed, and had the appearance of bdellium.

11:8 The people went round gathering it, and ground it in a mill or crushed it with a pestle; it was then cooked in a pot and made into pancakes. It tasted like cake made with oil.

11:9 When the dew fell on the camp at night-time, the manna fell with it.

The prayer of Moses

11:10 Moses heard the people wailing, every family at the door of its tent. The anger of Yahweh flared out, and Moses greatly worried over this.

11:11 And he spoke to Yahweh: ‘Why do you treat your servant so badly? Why have I not found favour with you, so that you load on me the weight of all this nation?

11:12 Was it I who conceived all this people, was it I who gave them birth, that you should say to me, “Carry them in your bosom, like a nurse with a baby at the breast, to the land that I swore to give their fathers”?

11:13 Where am I to find meat to give to all this people, when they come worrying me so tearfully and say, “Give us meat to eat”?

11:14 I am not able to carry this nation by myself alone; the weight is too much for me.

11:15 If this is how you want to deal with me, I would rather you killed me! If only I had found favour in your eyes, and not lived to see such misery as this!’

Yahweh replies

11:16 Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Gather seventy of the elders of Israel, men you know to be the people’s elders and scribes. Bring them to the Tent of Meeting, and let them stand beside you there.

11:17 I will come down to speak with you; and I will take some of the spirit which is on you and put it on them. So they will share with you the burden of this nation, and you will no longer have to carry it by yourself.

11:18 ‘To the people, say this, “Purify yourselves for tomorrow and you will have meat to eat, now that you have walled in the hearing of Yahweh and said: Who will give us meat to eat? How happy we were in Egypt! So be it! Yahweh will give you meat to eat.

11:19 You shall eat it not for one day only, or two, or five or ten or twenty,

11:20 but for a full month, until you are sick of it and cannot bear the smell of it, because you have rejected Yahweh who is with you, and have wailed before him saying: Why did we ever leave Egypt?”‘

11:21 Moses said, ‘The people round me number six hundred thousand foot soldiers, and you say, “I shall give them meat to eat for a whole month”! If all the flocks and herds were slaughtered, would that be enough for them? If all the fish in the sea were gathered, would that be enough for them?’

11:22 Yahweh answered Moses, ‘Is the arm of Yahweh so short? You shall see whether the promise I have made to you comes true or not.’

The spirit given to the elders

11:24 Moses went out and told the people what Yahweh had said. Then he gathered seventy elders of the people and brought them round the Tent.

11:25 Yahweh came down in the Cloud. He spoke with him, but took some of the spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders. When the spirit came on them they prophesied, but not again.

11:26 Two men had stayed back in the camp; one was called Eldad and the other Medad. The spirit came down on them; though they had not gone to the Tent, their names were enrolled among the rest. These began to prophesy in the camp.

11:27 The young man ran to tell this to Moses, ‘Look,’ he said ‘Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp’.

11:28 Then said Joshua the son of Nun, who had served Moses from his youth, ‘My Lord Moses, stop them!’

11:29 Moses answered him, ‘Are you jealous on my account? If only the whole people of Yahweh were prophets, and Yahweh gave his Spirit to them all!’

11:30 Then Moses went back to the camp, the elders of Israel with him.

The quails

11:31 A wind came from Yahweh and it drove quails in from the sea and brought them down on the camp. They lay for a distance of a day’s march either side of the camp, two cubits thick on the ground.

11:32 The people were up all that day and night and all the next day collecting quails: the least gathered by anyone was ten homers; then they spread them out round the camp.

11:33 The meat was still between their teeth, not even chewed, when the anger of Yahweh blazed out against the people. Yahweh struck them with a very great plague.

11:34 The name given to this place was Kibroth-hattaavah, because it was there that they buried the people who had indulged their greed.

11:35 From Kibroth-hattaavah the people set out for Hazeroth, and at Hazeroth they pitched camp.

JB NUMBERS Chapter 12

Hazeroth, Complaints of Miriam and Aaron

12:1 Miriam, and Aaron too, spoke against Moses in connexion with the Cushite woman[*a] he had taken. (For he had married a Cushite woman.)

12:2 They said, ‘Has Yahweh spoken to Moses only? Has he not spoken to us too?’ Yahweh heard this.

12:3 ‘Now Moses was the most humble of men, the humblest man on earth.

God’s answer

12:4 Suddenly, Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron and Miriam, ‘Come, all three of you, to the Tent of Meeting’. They went, all three of them,

12:5 and Yahweh came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the Tent. He called Aaron and Miriam and they both came forward.

12:6 Yahweh said, ‘Listen now to my words: If any man among you is a prophet I make myself known to him in a vision, I speak to him in a dream.

12:7 Not so with my servant Moses: he is at home in my house;

12:8 I speak with him face to face, plainly and not in riddles, and he sees the form of Yahweh. How then have you dared to speak against my servant Moses?’

12:9 The anger of Yahweh blazed out against them. He departed,

12:10 and as soon as the cloud withdrew from the Tent, there was Miriam a leper, white as snow! Aaron turned to look at her; she had become a leper.

The prayer of Aaron and Moses

12:11 Aaron said to Moses: ‘Help me, my lord! Do not punish us for a sin committed in folly of which we are guilty.

12:12 I entreat you, do not let her be like a monster, coming from its mother’s womb with flesh half corrupted.’

12:13 Moses cried to Yahweh, ‘O God,’ he said ‘please heal her, I beg you!’

12:14 Then Yahweh said to Moses, ‘If her father had done no more than spit in her face, would she not be a thing of shame for seven days? Let her be shut outside the camp for seven days, and then let her be brought in again.

12:15 Miriam was shut outside the camp for seven days. The people did not set out until she returned.

12:16 Then the people left Hazeroth, and camp was pitched in the wilderness of Paran.

JB NUMBERS Chapter 13

The reconnaissance in Canaan

13:1 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,

13:2 ‘Send out men, one from each tribe, to make a reconnaissance of this land of Canaan which I am giving to the sons of Israel. Send the leader of each tribe.’

13:3 At Yahweh’s bidding, Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran. All these men were chiefs among the sons of Israel.

13:4 These were their names: For the tribe of Reuben, Shammua son of Zaccur;

13:5 for the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat son of Hori;

13:6 for the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh;

13:7 for the tribe of Issachar, Igal son of Joseph;

13:8 for the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea son of Nun;

13:9 for the tribe of Benjamin, Palti son of Raphu;

13:10 for the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel son of Sodi;

13:11 for the tribe of Joseph, for the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi son of Susi;

13:12 for the tribe of Dan, Ammiel son of Gemalli;

13:13 for the tribe of Asher, Sethur son of Michael;

13:14 for the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi son of Vophsi;

13:15 for the tribe of Gad, Geuel son of Machi.

13:16 These were the names of the men whom Moses sent to make a reconnaissance of the land. Then Moses gave to Hoshea son of Nun the name of Joshua.

13:17 Moses sent them to reconnoitre the land of Canaan, ‘Go up into the Negeb; then go up into the highlands.

13:18 See what sort of country it is, and what sort of people the inhabitants are, whether they are strong or weak, few or many,

13:19 what sort of country they live in, whether it is good or poor; what sort of towns they have, whether they are open or fortified;

13:20 what sort of land it is, fertile or barren, wooded or open. Be bold, and bring back some of the produce of the country. It was the season for early grapes.

13:21 They went up to reconnoitre the land, from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, the Pass of Hamath.[*a]

13:22 They went up by way of the Negeb as far as Hebron, where the Anakim lived, Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai. (Hebron was founded seven years before Tanis in Egypt.)

13:23 They came to the Valley of Esheol; there they lopped off a vine branch with a cluster of grapes, which two of them carried away on a pole, as well as pomegranates and figs.

13:24 This place was called the Valley of Eshcol[*b] after the cluster which the sons of Israel had cut there.

The envoys’ report

13:25 At the end of forty days, they came back from their reconnaissance of the land.

13:26 They sought out Moses, Aaron and the whole community of Israel, in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh. They made their report to them, and to the whole community, and showed them the produce of the country.

13:27 They told them this story, ‘We went into the land to which you sent us. It does indeed flow with milk and honey; this is its produce.

13:28 At the same time, its inhabitants are a powerful people; the towns are fortified and very big; yes, and we saw the descendants of Anak there.

13:29 The Amalekite holds the Negeb area, the Hittite, Amorite and Jebusite the highlands, and the Canaanite the sea coast and the banks of the Jordan.’

13:30 Caleb harangued the people gathered about Moses: ‘We must march in,’ he said ‘and conquer this land: we are well able to do it’.

13:31 But the men who had gone up with him answered, ‘We are not able to march against this people; they are stronger than we are’.

13:32 And they began to disparage the country they had reconnoitred to the sons of Israel, ‘The country we went to reconnoitre is a country that devours its inhabitants. Every man we saw there was of enormous size.

13:33 Yes, and we saw giants there (the sons of Anak, descendants of the Giants).We felt like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.’

JB NUMBERS Chapter 14

The rebellion of Israel

14:1 At this, the whole community raised their voices and cried aloud, and the people wailed all that night.

14:2 Then all the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole community said, ‘Would that we had died in the land of Egypt, or at least that we had died in this wilderness!

14:3 Why does Yahweh bring us to this land, only to have us fall by the sword, and our wives and young children seized as booty? Should we not do better to go back to Egypt?’

14:4 And they said to one another, ‘Let us appoint a leader and go back to Egypt’.

14:5 Before the whole assembled community of the sons of Israel, Moses and Aaron fell down, face to the ground.

14:6 Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, two of those who had reconnoitred the country, tore their garments;

14:7 and they said to the entire community of the sons of Israel, ‘The land we went to reconnoitre is a good land, an excellent land.

14:8 If Yahweh is pleased with us, he will lead us into this land and give it to us. It is a land where milk and honey flow.

14:9 Do not rebel against Yahweh. And do not be afraid of the people of this land; we shall gobble them up. Their tutelary shadow has gone from them so long as Yahweh is with us.[*a] Do not be afraid of them.

The anger of Yahweh. Moses makes an appeal

14:10 The entire community was talking of stoning them, when the glory of Yahweh appeared at the Tent of Meeting to all the sons of Israel.

14:11 And Yahweh said to Moses: ‘How long will this people insult me? How long will they refuse to believe in me despite the signs I have worked among them?

14:12 I will strike them with pestilence and disown them. And of you I shall make a new nation, greater and mightier than they are.’

14:13 Moses answered Yahweh: ‘But the Egyptians already know that you, by your own power, have brought this people out from their midst.

14:14 They have said as much to the inhabitants of this country. They already know that you, Yahweh, are in the midst of this people, and that you show yourself to them face to face; that it is you, Yahweh, whose cloud stands over them, that you go before them in a pillar of cloud is by day and a pillar of fire by night.

14:15 If you destroy this people now as if it were one man, then the nations who have heard about you will say,

14:16 “Yahweh was not able to bring this people into the land he swore to give them, and so he has slaughtered them in the wilderness”.

14:17 No, my Lord! It is now you must display your power, according to those words you spoke,

14:18 “Yahweh is slow to anger and rich in graciousness, forgiving faults and transgression, and yet letting nothing go unchecked, punishing the father’s fault in the sons to the third and fourth generation”.

14:19 In the abundance, then, of your graciousness, forgive the sin of this people, as you have done from Egypt until now.

Pardon and punishment

14:20 Yahweh said, ‘I forgive them as you ask.

14:21 But-as I live, and as the glory of Yahweh fills all the earth-

14:22 of all the men who have seen my glory and the signs that I worked in Egypt and in the wilderness, who have put me to the test ten times already and obeyed my voice,

14:23 not one shall see the land I swore to give their fathers. Not one of those who slight me shall see it. But

14:24 my servant Caleb is of another spirit. Because he has obeyed me perfectly, I will bring him into the land he has entered, and his race shall possess it. (The Amalekite and the Canaanite dwell in the plain.)

14:25 Tomorrow you will turn about and go back into the wilderness, in the direction of the Sea of Suph

14:26 Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron. He said:

14:27 ‘How long does this perverse community, which complains against me…? I have heard the complaints which the sons of Israel make against me.

14:28 Say to them, “As I live – it is Yahweh who speaks – I will deal with you according to the very words you have used in my hearing.

14:29 In this wilderness your dead bodies will fall, all you men of the census, all you who were numbered from the age of twenty years and over, you who have complained against me.

14:30 I swear that you shall not enter the land where I swore most solemnly, to settle you. It is Caleb son of Jephunneh, and Joshua son of Nun,

14:31 and your young children that you said would be seized as booty, it is these I shall bring in to know the land you have disdained.

14:32 As for you, your dead bodies will fall in this wilderness,

14:33 and your sons will be nomads in the wilderness for forty years, bearing the weight of your faithlessness, until the last of you lies dead in the desert.

14:34 For forty days you reconnoitred the land. Each day shall count for a year: for forty years you shall bear the burden of your sins, and you shall learn what it means to reject me.”

14:35 I, Yahweh, have spoken: this is how I will deal with this perverse community that has conspired against me. Here in this wilderness, to the last man, they shall die.’

14:36 The men whom Moses had sent to reconnoitre the land, who on their return had incited the whole community of Israel to grumble against Yahweh by disparaging it,

14:37 these men who had disparaged the land were all struck dead before Yahweh.

14:38 Of the men who had gone to reconnoitre the land, only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh remained alive.

An abortive attempt by the Israelites

14:39 Moses reported these words to all the sons of Israel, and the people set up a great outcry.

14:40 Then they rose early and set out for the heights of the highlands saying, ‘Look, we are setting out for this place, since Yahweh has told us that we have sinned’.

14:41 Moses replied, ‘Why disobey the command of Yahweh? Nothing will come of it.

14:42 Do not go up, for Yahweh is not among you; do not get yourselves beaten by your enemies.

14:43 Yes, there facing you are the Amalekite and the Canaanite, and you will fall to their swords because you have turned away from Yahweh, and Yahweh is not with you.’

14:44 Yet they set out presumptuously towards the heights of the highlands. Neither the ark of the covenant of Yahweh nor Moses left the camp.

14:45 The Amalekite and the Canaanite who lived in that hill country came down and defeated them, and harried them all the way to Hormah.

JB NUMBERS Chapter 15

VI. LAWS GOVERNING SACRIFICES, POWERS OF PRIESTS AND LEVITES

The oblation to accompany sacrifices

15:1 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,

15:2 ‘Tell this to the sons of Israel: “When you have arrived in the land where you are to live, the land I give to you,

15:3 and you make burnt offering to Yahweh either as a holocaust or as a sacrifice, whether in payment of a vow, or as a voluntary gift, or on the occasion of one of your solemn feasts – taking from your herds and flocks to make an appeasing fragrance for Yahweh-

15:4 the offerer must bring, as his personal gift to Yahweh, an oblation of one-tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with one quarter of a hin of oil.

15:5 You must also make a libation of wine, one quarter of a hin to each lamb, in addition to the holocaust or sacrifice.

15:6 For a ram, you must make an oblation of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with one-third of a hin of oil,

15:7 and a libation of one-third of a bin of wine, offering it as an appeasing fragrance for Yahweh.

15:8 If you offer a bull as a holocaust or sacrifice, in payment of a vow or as a communion sacrifice for Yahweh,

15:9 you must offer in addition to the beast an oblation of three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with half a hin of oil,

15:10 and you must offer a libation of half a bin of wine, as a burnt offering, an appeasing fragrance for Yahweh.

15:11 This must be done for every bull, every ram, every lamb or kid.

15:12 Whatever the number of victims you have for sacrifice, you must do the same for each of them, however many there are.

15:13 “This must be done by every man of your own people when he makes a burnt offering, an appeasing fragrance for Yahweh.

15:14 Any stranger living among you, or among your descendants, will also make a burnt offering, an appeasing fragrance for Yahweh: just as you act, so must

15:15 the assembly,[*a] There shall be only one law for you and for the settler among you. This is a law that shall bind your descendants always: before Yahweh, you and the settler are alike.

15:16 There is to be one law only, and one statute for you and for the stranger who lives among you.”‘

The first-fruits of bread

15:17 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,

15:18 ‘Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them: “When you have entered the land to which I am bringing you,

15:19 you must set aside a portion for Yahweh when you eat the bread of this country.

15:20 You must set aside one loaf as the first-fruits of your meal; you must set this offering aside like the one set aside from your threshing.

15:21 You are to set aside for Yahweh a portion of the best of your meal. This applies to your descendants.

Atonement for faults of inadvertence

15:22 “If through inadvertence you fail in any of these commands that Yahweh has given to Moses

15:23 (every single precept that Yahweh has laid on you through Moses, from the day he gave his commands and onwards to your descendants),

15:24 this is what must be done: “If it is an inadvertence of the community, the community as a whole must make a holocaust of a young bull, an appeasing fragrance for Yahweh, with the prescribed accompanying oblation and libation, and a he-goat must be offered as a sacrifice for sin.

15:25 The priest must perform the rite of atonement over the entire community of the sons of Israel, and pardon will be given, since it was an inadvertence. When they have brought their offering as a burnt offering to Yahweh, and have presented their sacrifice for sin before Yahweh to make amends for their inadvertence,

15:26 pardon will be given to the entire community of the sons of Israel, as also to the stranger who lives among them, since the entire people has sinned through inadvertence.

15:27 “If it is an individual who has sinned by inadvertence, he must offer a yearling kid in sacrifice for sin.

15:28 The priest must perform the rite of atonement before Yahweh over the person who has gone astray by this sin of inadvertence; when the rite of atonement has been performed over him, he will be forgiven,

15:29 whether he is a native, one of the sons of Israel, or a stranger living among them. There shall be only one law among you for the man who sins by inadvertence.

15:30 “But the man who sins deliberately, whether native or stranger, outrages Yahweh himself. Such a man must be outlawed from his people;

15:31 he has despised the word of Yahweh and broken his command. This man must be entirely outlawed, since his sin is inseparable from him.”‘

Breaking the sabbath

15:32 While the sons of Israel were in the wilderness, a man was caught gathering wood on the sabbath day.

15:33 Those who caught him gathering wood brought him before Moses, Aaron and the whole community.

15:34 He was kept in custody, because the penalty he should undergo had not yet been fixed.

15:35 Yahweh said to Moses, ‘This man must be put to death. The whole community must stone him outside the camp.’

15:36 The whole community took him outside the camp and stoned him till he was dead, as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

Tassels on garments

15:37 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,

15:38 ‘Speak to the sons of Israel and tell them to put tassels on the hems of their garments, and to put a violet cord on this tassel at the hem.

15:39 You must have a tassel, then, and the sight of it will remind you of all the commands of Yahweh. You are to put them into practice then, and no longer follow the desires of your heart and your eyes, which have led you to make wantons of yourselves.

15:40 ‘This will remind you of all my commandments; put them into practice, and you will be consecrated to your God.

15:41 It is I, Yahweh your God, who have brought you out of the land of Egypt so that I may be your God, I Yahweh your God.’

JB NUMBERS Chapter 16

The rebellion of Korab, Dathan and Abiram

16:1 Korah son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi took . . .Dathan and Abiram sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth (Eliab and Peleth were sons of Reuben)

16:2 rebelled against Moses, together with two hundred and fifty of the sons of Israel, leaders of the community, prominent in the solemn feasts, men of repute.

16:3 These joined forces against Moses and Aaron saying to them, ‘You take too much on yourselves! The whole community and all its members are consecrated, and Yahweh lives among them. Why set yourselves higher than the community of Yahweh?’

16:4 Moses, when he heard this, threw himself face downward on the ground.

16:5 Then he said to Korah and all his followers, ‘Tomorrow morning Yahweh will reveal who is his, who is the consecrated man that he will allow to come near him. The one he allows to come near is the one whom he has chosen.

16:6 This is what you are to do: take the censers of Korah and all his followers,

16:7 fill them with fire and, tomorrow, put incense in them before Yahweh. Yahweh will choose the one who is the consecrated man. Sons of Levi, you take too much on yourselves!’

16:8 Moses said to Korah, ‘Listen to me now, you sons of Levi!

16:9 Is it not enough for you that the God of Israel has singled you out from the community of Israel, and called you close to himself for service in the tabernacle of Yahweh, to stand before this community and perform the sacred rites on their behalf?

16:10 He has called you to be near him, you and all your brother Levites with you, and now you aspire to the office of priesthood as well!

16:11 Against Yahweh himself you have joined forces, you and your followers: for what is Aaron that you should complain against him?’

16:12 Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab. They replied, ‘We will not come.

16:13 Was it not enough to take us from a land where milk and honey flow to die in this wilderness, without seeking to lord it over us now?

16:14 There is no land flowing with milk and honey that you have brought us to, nor have you given us fields and vineyards for our inheritance. Do you expect this people to be blind? We will not come.’

16:15 Moses flew into a rage and said to Yahweh, ‘Pay no heed to their offering. I have not taken so much as a donkey from them, nor have I harmed any of them.’

The punishment

16:16 Moses said to Korah, ‘You and all your followers, come tomorrow into the presence of Yahweh, you and they, and Aaron too.

16:17 Let every man bring his censer, put incense in it, and carry his censer before Yahweh-two hundred and fifty censers. You and Aaron also, each of you bring his censer.’

16:18 So every man took his censer, filled it with fire, and put incense in it. And they stood at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, and Moses and Aaron with them.

16:19 Then, when Korah had assembled the whole community to confront these two at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, the glory of Yahweh appeared to the whole community.

16:20 Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron. He said,

16:21 ‘Stand apart from this assembly, I am going to destroy them here and now’.

16:22 They threw themselves face downward on the ground, and cried out, ‘O God, God of the spirits that give life to every living thing, will you be angry with the whole community for one man’s sin?’

16:23 Yahweh answered Moses and said,

16:24 ‘Say this to the community, “Stand clear of the dwelling of Korah”‘.

16:25 Moses stood up and went to Dathan and Abiram; the elders of Israel followed him.

16:26 He said to the community, ‘Stand away, I beg you, from the tents of these perverse men, and touch nothing that belongs to them, for fear that with all their sins you too will be swept away’.

16:27 So they moved away from the dwelling of Korah. Dathan and Abiram had come out and were standing at their tent doors, with their wives and their sons and their young children.

16:28 Moses said, ‘By this you will know that Yahweh himself has sent me to perform all these tasks and that this is not my doing.

16:29 If these people die a natural death such as men commonly die, then Yahweh has not sent me.

16:30 But if Yahweh does something utterly new, if the earth should open its mouth and swallow them, themselves and all that belongs to them, so that they go down alive to Sheol[*a], then you will know that these men have rejected Yahweh.’

16:31 The moment he finished saying all these words, the ground split open under their feet,

16:32 the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, their families too, and all Korah’s men and all their belongings.

16:33 They went down alive to Sheol, they and all their possessions. The earth closed over them and they disappeared from the midst of the assembly.

16:34 At their cries all the Israelites around them ran away. For they said, ‘The earth must not swallow us!’

16:35 A fire came down from Yahweh and consumed the two hundred and fifty men carrying incense.

JB NUMBERS Chapter 17

The censers

17:1 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,

17:2 ‘Tell Eleazar, son of Aaron, the priest, to pick the censers out of these ashes and take this unlawful fire elsewhere,

17:3 for these sinful censers are sanctified, at the price of these men’s lives. Since they have been brought before Yahweh and consecrated, let the metal be hammered into sheets to cover the altar. They will be an object-lesson to the sons of Israel.’

17:4 Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers which had been carried by the men who were destroyed by the fire. They were hammered into sheets to cover the altar.

17:5 They are a reminder to the sons of Israel that no layman, no one outside Aaron’s line, may come near Yahweh with incense to burn, under pain of suffering the lot of Korah and his followers, according to the order given by Yahweh through Moses.

Aaron Intercedes

17:6 On the following day, the entire community of the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron, saying, ‘You have brought death to the people of Yahweh’.

17:7 As the community was banding together against Moses and Aaron, these turned towards the Tent of Meeting, and there was the Cloud covering it, and the glory of Yahweh appeared.

17:8 And Moses and Aaron went to the door of the Tent of Meeting.

17:9 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,

17:10 ‘Stand clear of this community; I am going to destroy them here and now’. They threw themselves face downward on the ground.

17:11 Then Moses said to Aaron, ‘Take the censer, fill it with fire from the altar, put incense in it and hurry to the community to perform the rite of atonement over them. The wrath has come down from Yahweh and the plague has begun.’

17:12 Aaron did as Moses said and ran among the assembly, but the plague was already at work among them. He put in the incense and performed the rite of atonement over the people.

17:13 Then he stood between the living and the dead, and the plague stopped.

17:14 There were fourteen thousand seven hundred victims of that plague, not counting those who died because of Korah.

17:15 Then Aaron came back to Moses at the Tent of Meeting; the plague had been halted.

Aaron’s branch

17:16 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,

17:17 ‘Tell the sons of Israel to give you a branch, one for each patriarchal family; let their leaders together give you twelve branches for their patriarchal families. Write the name of each on his branch; and

17:18 on the branch of Levi write the name of Aaron, because the leader of the families of Levi must have a branch too.

17:19 Then put them in the Tent of Meeting before the Testimony, the place where I meet you.

17:20 The man whose branch sprouts will be the one I have chosen; this is how I shall put an end to the complaints that the sons of Israel make against you.’

17:21 Moses spoke to the sons of Israel, and all their leaders gave him one branch each, twelve branches in all for their patriarchal families; Aaron’s branch was among them.

17:22 Moses placed them before Yahweh in the Tent of the Testimony.

17:23 On the following day Moses came to the Tent of the Testimony and there already sprouting, was Aaron’s branch, standing for the House of Levi. Buds had opened, flowers had blossomed, and almonds had already ripened.

17:24 Moses took all the branches away from before Yahweh and brought them back to all the sons of Israel; they examined them and each one took back his own branch.

17:25 Then Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Put back Aaron’s branch before the Testimony, where it will have its prescribed place, a sign to these rebels. It will stop them complaining to me any more, and they will not die.’

17:26 Moses did as Yahweh had ordered. That is what he did.

Atonement: the function of the priesthood

17:27 The sons of Israel said to Moses, ‘We are lost! We are dead men! We are all dead men!

17:28 Anyone who goes near the tabernacle of Yahweh with an offering will die. Are we to be doomed to the last man?’

JB NUMBERS Chapter 18

18:1 Then Yahweh said to Aaron: ‘You and your sons, and your whole family shall bear the burden of transgressions against the sanctuary. You and your sons with you shall bear the burden of the transgressions of your priesthood.

18:2 Let your brothers of the branch of Levi, your father’s tribe, come with you too. They are to join you and serve you, yourselves and your sons, before the Tent of the Testimony.

18:3 They are to be at your service and the service of the whole Tent. Provided they do not come near the sacred vessels or the altar, they will be in no more danger of death than you.

18:4 They are to join you, they are to take charge of the Tent of Meeting for the entire ministry of the Tent, and no layman shall come near you.

18:5 You must take charge of the sanctuary and charge of the altar, and the wrath will never again fall on the sons of Israel.

18:6 I myself have chosen your brothers, the Levites, from among the sons of Israel as a gift to you. As ‘oblates’ they will belong to Yahweh, to serve at the Tent of Meeting.

18:7 You and your sons will undertake the priestly duties in all that concerns the altar and all that lies behind the veil.[*a] You will perform the liturgy, the duties of which I entrust to your priesthood. But the layman who comes near shall die.’

The priests’ portion

18:8 Yahweh said to Aaron: ‘I myself have given you charge of all that is set aside for me. Everything that the sons of Israel consecrate I give to you as your portion, as well as to your sons, by perpetual ordinance.

18:9 This is what shall be yours of the most holy things, of the consecrated food: every offering that the sons of Israel give back to me, whether it be an oblation or a sacrifice for sin or a sacrifice of reparation, is a thing most holy; it shall belong to you and your sons

18:10 You may eat these most holy things. Every male may eat them. You are to count them sacred.

18:11 ‘To you also shall belong whatever is set aside from the offerings of the sons of Israel to be held out with the gesture of offering; this I give to you, as well as to your sons and daughters by perpetual ordinance. Every undefiled person in your house may eat it.

18:12 All the best of the oil, all the best of the wine and wheat, the first-fruits made over by them to Yahweh, these I give to you.

18:13 All the first produce of their land which they bring to Yahweh shall be yours. Every undefiled person in your house may eat them.

18:14 All in Israel on which the ban is laid shall be yours.

18:15 Every first-born brought to Yahweh shall be yours, of all living creatures, whether man or beast; nevertheless you must redeem the first-born of man, and you must redeem the first-born of an unclean beast.

18:16 You must redeem it in the month in which it is born at the price of five shekels, each of sanctuary weight-which is twenty gerahs.

18:17 The first-born of cow, sheep and goat, these alone you shall not redeem. They are holy: you must sprinkle their blood on the altar and burn the fat as a burnt offering, an appeasing fragrance for Yahweh;

18:18 the meat shall be yours, together with the breast that has been presented with the gesture of offering, and the right thigh.

18:19 All that the sons of Israel set aside for Yahweh from the holy things, this I give to you, and to your sons and daughters, by perpetual ordinance. This is a covenant of salt for ever before Yahweh, for you and your descendants after you.’

The Levites’ portion

18:20 Yahweh said to Aaron: ‘You shall have no inheritance in their land, no portion of it among them shall be yours. It is I who will be your portion and your inheritance amongst the sons of Israel.

18:21 See, to the sons of Levi I give as their inheritance all the tithes collected in Israel, in return for their services, for the ministry they render in the Tent of Meeting.

18:22 The sons of Israel must no longer go near the Tent of Meeting; they would be burdened with sin and die.

18:23 To Levi belongs the ministry of the Tent of Meeting, and the Levites will bear the burden of their sin. This is a perpetual law for all your descendants: the Levites are to have no inheritance among the sons of Israel.

18:24 The tithe that the sons of Israel set aside for Yahweh, I give the Levites for their inheritance. For this reason I have told them that they are to have no inheritance among the sons of Israel.’

Tithes

18:25 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,

18:26 ‘You are to say to the Levites: “When you receive the tithe from the sons of Israel which they must pay you and which I am giving you as your inheritance, out of this you are to set aside a portion for Yahweh, a tithe of the tithe.

18:27 This is to take the place of the portion set aside that is due from you, like the corn from the threshing-floor and new wine from the press.

18:28 Thus you too will set aside a portion for Yahweh, of all the tithes you receive from the sons of Israel. You will give what you have set aside for Yahweh to Aaron the priest.

18:29 Out of all the gifts you receive you will set aside a portion for Yahweh. From the best of all these things you will set aside the sacred portion.”

18:30 ‘You are to say to them, “After you have set aside the best, all these gifts shall, for the Levites, take the place of the produce of the threshing-floor and of the wine press.

18:31 You may consume them anywhere, you and your people: this is your payment for serving in the Tent of Meeting.

18:32 You will not incur the burden of any sin on this account, once you have set aside the best; you will not be profaning the things consecrated by the sons of Israel, and you will not die.”‘

JB NUMBERS Chapter 19

The ashes of the red heifer[*a]

19:1 Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron. He said:

19:2 ‘This is a statute of the Law which Yahweh has prescribed. Say this to the sons of Israel, They are to bring you a red heifer without fault or blemish, one that has never borne the yoke.

19:3 You will give it to Eleazar the priest. It must be taken outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence.

19:4 Then Eleazar the priest is to take some of the victim’s blood on his finger, and sprinkle this blood seven times towards the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

19:5 The heifer must then be burned in his presence: hide, flesh, blood, and the dung too, must be burnt.

19:6 Then the priest is to take cedar wood, hyssop and cochineal red, and throw them on the fire where the heifer is burning.

19:7 Then he must wash his clothing and bathe his body in water; after which he may go back to the camp, though he will remain unclean until evening.

19:8 The man who has burnt the heifer must wash his clothing and bathe his body in water and will remain unclean until evening.

19:9 The man who gathers up the ashes of the heifer must be ritually clean; he will deposit them outside the camp, in a clean place. They must be kept for the ritual use of the community of the sons of Israel for making lustral water; it is a sacrifice for sin.

19:10 The man who has gathered up the ashes of the heifer must wash his clothing and will remain unclean until evening. For the sons of Israel as for the stranger living among them, this will be a perpetual law.

A case of uncleanness

19:11 ‘Anyone who touches a corpse, of any person whatsoever, shall be unclean for seven days.

19:12 He shall purify himself with these waters on the third and the seventh day, and he will be clean; but if he does not purify himself on the third and the seventh day he will not be clean.

19:13 Anyone who touches a dead person, the body of a man that has died, and has not purified himself, defiles the tabernacle of Yahweh; such a man must be outlawed from Israel because the lustral waters have not flowed over him; he is unclean, and his uncleanness remains in him.

19:14 This is the law when a man dies in a tent. Anyone who goes into the tent, or anyone who is already there, shall be unclean for seven days.

19:15 Equally unclean also shall be every open vessel that has not been closed with a lid or fastening.

19:16 Anyone in the open country who touches a man who has been killed, or a man who has died, or human bones or a tomb, shall be unclean for seven days.

The ritual of lustral water

19:17 ‘For a man thus unclean, some of the ashes must be taken from the victim burnt as a sacrifice for sin. Spring water must be poured on them, in a vessel.

19:18 Then one who is ritually clean shall take hyssop and dip it in the water. He must then sprinkle the tent, all the vessels and everyone there, and also the man who has touched the bones, or the body of the person, whether he was killed or died of natural causes, or the tomb.

19:19 The man who is clean must sprinkle the unclean on the third and the seventh day, and on the seventh day he will have freed him from his sin. The man who is unclean must then wash his clothing and bathe himself in water, and by evening he will be clean.

19:20 If an unclean man fails to purify himself in this way, he must be cut off from the community, for he would defile the sanctuary of Yahweh. The lustral waters have not flowed over him, and he is unclean.

19:21 ‘This is to be a perpetual law for them. The person who sprinkles the lustral water must wash his clothing, and the person who touches these waters shall be unclean until evening.

19:22 Anything that an unclean person touches shall be unclean, and anyone who touches it shall be unclean until evening.’

JB NUMBERS Chapter 20

VII. FROM KADESH TO MOAB

The waters of Meribah

20:1 The sons of Israel, the whole community, arrived in the first month at the desert of Zin. The people settled at Kadesh. It was there that Miriam died and was buried.

20:2 There was no water for the community, and they were all united against Moses and Aaron.

20:3 The people challenged Moses: ‘We would rather have died,’ they said ‘as our brothers died before Yahweh!

20:4 Why did you bring the assembly of Yahweh into this wilderness, only to let us die here, ourselves and our cattle?

20:5 Why did you lead us out of Egypt, only to bring us to this wretched place? It is a place unfit for sowing, it has no figs, no vines, no pomegranates, and there is not even water to drink!’

20:6 Leaving the assembly, Moses and Aaron went to the door of the Tent of Meeting. They threw themselves face downward on the ground, and the glory of Yahweh appeared to them.

20:7 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,

20:8 ‘Take the branch and call the community together, you and your brother Aaron. Then, in full view of them, order this rock to give water. You will make water flow for them out of the rock, and provide drink for the community and their cattle.’

20:9 Moses took up the branch from before Yahweh, as he had directed him.

20:10 Then Moses and Aaron called the assembly together in front of the rock and addressed them, ‘Listen now, you rebels. Shall we make water gush from this rock for you?’

20:11 And Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with the branch; water gushed in abundance, and the community drank and their cattle too.

The punishment of Moses and Aaron

20:12 Then Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron, ‘Because you did not believe that I could proclaim my holiness in the eyes of the sons of Israel, you shall not lead this assembly into the land I am giving them’.[*a]

20:13 These are the waters of Meribah, where the sons of Israel challenged Yahweh and he proclaimed his holiness.

Edom refuses right of way

20:14 Moses sent messengers from Kadesh, ‘To the king of Edom. A message from your brother Israel. You know well enough the extremity to which we have been reduced.

20:15 Our ancestors went down into Egypt, and there we stayed for a long time. But the Egyptians treated us badly, as they did our ancestors.

20:16 We cried to Yahweh. He listened to us and sent an angel to bring us out of Egypt. Now we are here at Kadesh, a town on the borders of your territory.

20:17 We ask permission to pass through your land. We will not cross any fields or vineyards; we will not drink any water from the wells; we will keep to the king’s highway without turning to right or left until we are clear of your frontiers.’

20:18 Edom answered, ‘You shall not pass through my country; if you do, I will come out to attack you’.

20:19 The answer of the sons of Israel was, ‘We will keep to the high road; if we use any of your water for myself and my cattle, I will pay for it. I am asking only to pass through on foot.’

20:20 Edom replied, ‘You shall not pass’, and Edom marched out to meet them with many men and in great force.

20:21 At Edom’s refusal to allow Israel a passage through his territory, Israel turned away.

The death of Aaron

20:22 They set out from Kadesh, and the whole community of the sons of Israel came to Mount Hor.

20:23 Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron at Mount Hor, on the frontier of the land of Edom.[*b] He said,

20:24 ‘Aaron must be gathered to his people: he is not to enter the land that I am giving to the sons of Israel, since you disobeyed my order at the waters of Meribah.

20:25 Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up Mount Hor.

20:26 There, strip Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son, and Aaron will be gathered to his people: he is to die there.’

20:27 Moses did as Yahweh ordered. In the sight of the whole community they went up Mount Hor.

20:28 Moses stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son; and Aaron died there on top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came back down the mountain.

20:29 The whole community saw that Aaron had died, and all the House of Israel wept for Aaron for thirty days.

JB NUMBERS Chapter 21

The capture of Hormah

21:1 The king of Arad,[*a] a Canaanite living in the Negeb, learned that Israel was coming by way of Atharim. He attacked Israel and took some prisoners.

21:2 Israel then made this vow to Yahweh, ‘If you deliver this people into my power, I will lay their towns under ban’.

21:3 Yahweh heard the voice of Israel and delivered the Canaanites into their power. And they laid them under ban, both them and their towns. This place was given the name Hormah.

The bronze serpent

21:4 They left Mount Hor by the road to the Sea of Suph,[*b] to skirt the land of Edom. On the way the people lost patience.

21:5 They spoke against God and against Moses, ‘Why did you bring us out of Egypt to die in this wilderness? For there is neither bread nor water here; we are sick of this unsatisfying food.’

21:6 At this God sent fiery serpents among the people; their bite brought death to many in Israel.

21:7 The people came and said to Moses, ‘We have sinned by speaking against Yahweh and against you. Intercede for us with Yahweh to save us from these serpents.’ Moses interceded for the people,

21:8 and Yahweh answered him, ‘Make a fiery serpent and put it on a standard. If anyone is bitten and looks at it, he shall live.’

21:9 So Moses fashioned a bronze serpent which he put on a standard, and if anyone was bitten by a serpent, he looked at the bronze serpent and lived.

By stages to Transjordania

21:10 The sons of Israel set out and camped at Oboth.

21:11 Then they left Oboth and camped at Iye-abarim, in the wilderness that borders Moab, towards the sunrise.

21:12 They set out from there and camped in the wadi Zered.

21:13 They set out from there and camped beyond the Arnon…[*c] This wadi in the desert begins in the land of the Amorites. For the Arnon is the frontier of Moab, between the Moabites and the Amorites.

21:14 Hence it is written in the Book of the Wars of Yahweh:

21:15 …Waheb by Suphah and the wadi Arnon and the slope of the ravine that runs down to the site of Ar and leans over the frontier of Moab…..

21:16 and from there they went on to Beer…[*d] It was of the well here that Yahweh had said to Moses, ‘Call the people together and I will give them water’.

21:17 Then it was that Israel sang this song: ‘For the well. Sing out for the well

21:18 that was sunk by the princes and dug by the leaders of the people with the sceptre, with their staves.’ …and from Beer to Mattanah,

21:19 and from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth,

21:20 and from Bamoth to the valley that gives on to the country of Moab, towards the heights of Pisgah which marks the edge of the desert and looks down on it.

The conquest of Transjordania

21:21 Israel sent messengers to say to Sihon, king of the Amorites,

21:22 ‘I wish to pass through your land. We will not stray into fields or vineyards; we will not drink any water from the wells; we will keep to the king’s highway until we are clear of your frontiers.’

21:23 But Sihon would not give Israel leave to pass through his land. He gathered all his people, marched into the desert to meet Israel, and reached Jahaz, where he gave battle to Israel.

21:24 Israel struck him down with the edge of the sword and conquered his country from the Anion to the Jabbok, as far as the sons of Ammon, for Jazer was the Ammonite frontier.

21:25 Israel took all these towns, and occupied all the Amorite towns, Heshbon and all the towns under its jurisdiction,

21:26 Heshbon being the capital of Sihon, king of the Amorites. It was the same Sihon who had waged war on the first king of Moab and captured all his territory as far as the Arnon.

21:27 Hence the poets sing: Courage, Heshbon! Well built and well founded, city of Sihon!

21:28 For a fire came out of Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon, it devoured Ar of Moab, it engulfed the heights of the Anion.

21:29 Woe to you, Moab! You are lost, people of Chemosh! He has turned his sons into fugitives, his daughters into captives for Sihon, king of the Amorites.

21:30 Heshbon has destroyed the little children as far as Dibon, the women as far as Nophah, the men as far as Medeba.

21:31 Israel settled in the land of the Amorites.

21:32 Moses sent men to reconnoitre Jazer, and Israel took it and all the towns in its jurisdiction and evicted the Amorites who dwelt there.

21:33 Then they turned and marched in the direction of Bashan. Og king of Bashan marched out to meet them with all his people to give battle at Edrei.

21:34 Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Do not be afraid of him, for I have given him into your power, him and all his people and his country. Deal with him as you dealt with Sihon, king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.’

21:35 So they defeated him, his sons and all his people; not one of them escaped. And they took possession of his country.

JB NUMBERS Chapter 22

22:1 Then the sons of Israel set out and pitched their camp in the plains of Moab, beyond the Jordan opposite Jericho.[*a]

The king of Moab appeals to Balaam[*b]

22:2 Balak son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites,

22:3 and Moab was seized with panic before this people because of their immense number. Moab was afraid of the sons of Israel;

22:4 he said to the elders of Midian, ‘Here is a horde now cropping everything round us as an ox crops the grass of the fields’. Now Balak son of Zippor was king of Moab at the time.

22:5 He sent messengers to summon Balaam son of Beor, at Pethor on the river,[*c] in the land of the sons of Amaw, saying, ‘Look how this people coming from Egypt has overrun the whole countryside; they have settled at my door.

22:6 Come, please, and curse this people for me, for they are stronger than I am. We may then be able to defeat them and drive them out of the country. For this I know: the man you bless is blessed, the man you curse is accursed.’

22:7 The elders of Moab and the elders of Midian set out, taking the fee for the divination with them. They found Balaam and gave him Balak’s message.

22:8 He said to them, ‘Stay the night here, and I will answer as Yahweh directs me.’ So the chiefs of Moab stayed with Balaam.

22:9 God came to Balaam and said, ‘Who are these men staying with you?’

22:10 Balaam gave God this answer, ‘Balak son of Zippor has sent me this message,

22:11 “Look how this people coming from Egypt has overrun the whole countryside. Come and curse them for me; I may then be able to defeat them and drive them out.”‘

22:12 God said to Balaam, ‘You are not to go with them. You are not to curse this people, for they are blessed.’ In the morning Balaam rose and said to the chiefs sent by Balak,

22:13 ‘Go back to your country, for Yahweh will not let me go with you’.

22:14 So the chiefs of Moab rose and returned to Balak and said, ‘Balaam would not come with us’.

22:15 And again Balak sent chiefs, more numerous and more renowned than the first.

22:16 They came to Balaam and said, ‘A message from Balak son of Zippor, “Do not refuse, I beg you, to come to me.

22:17 I will load you with honours and do whatever you say. Come, I beg you, and curse this people for me.”‘

22:18 Balaam answered the envoys of Balak, Even if Balak gave me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go against the order of Yahweh my God in anything, great or small.

22:19 Now please stay the night here yourselves, and I will learn what else Yahweh has to tell me.’

22:20 God came to Balaam during the night and said to him, ‘Have not these men come to summon you? Get up, go with them. But you must do nothing except what I tell you.’

22:21 In the morning Balaam rose and saddled his she-donkey and set out with the chiefs of Moab.

Balaam’s donkey

22:22 His going kindled the wrath of Yahweh, and the angel of Yahweh took his stand on the road to bar his way. He was riding his donkey and his two servants were with him.

22:23 Now the donkey saw the angel of Yahweh standing on the road, a drawn sword in his hand, and she turned off the road and made off across country. But Balaam beat her to turn her back on to the road.

22:24 The angel of Yahweh then took his stand on a narrow path among the vineyards, with a wall to the right and a wall to the left.

22:25 The donkey saw the angel of Yahweh and brushed against the wall, grazing Balaam’s foot. Balaam beat her again.

22:26 The angel of Yahweh moved and took up his stand in a place so narrow that there was no room to pass, right or left.

22:27 When the donkey saw the angel of Yahweh, she lay down under Balaam. Balaam flew into a rage and beat her with his stick.

22:28 Then Yahweh opened the mouth of the donkey, who said to Balaam, ‘What have I done to you? Why beat me three times like this?’

22:29 Balaam answered the donkey, ‘Because you are playing the fool with me! If I had had a sword in my hand, I would have killed you by now.’

22:30 The donkey said to Balaam, ‘Am I not your donkey, and have I not been your mount from your youth? In all this time, have I ever failed to serve you?’ He answered, ‘No’.

22:31 Then Yahweh opened the eyes of Balaam. He saw the angel of Yahweh standing on the road, a drawn sword in his hand; and he bowed down and fell prostrate on his face.

22:32 And the angel of Yahweh said to him, ‘Why did you beat your donkey three times like that? I myself had come to bar your way; while I am here your road is blocked.

22:33 The donkey saw me and turned aside from me three times. You are lucky she did turn aside, or I should have killed you by now, though I would have spared her.’

22:34 Balaam answered the angel of Yahweh, ‘I have sinned. I did not know you were standing in my path. However, if you are angry with me, I will go back.’

22:35 The angel of Yahweh answered Balaam, ‘Go with these men, but only say what I tell you to say.’ So Balaam went with the chiefs sent by Balak.

Balaam and Balak

22:36 Balak learned that Balaam was coming and went out to meet him, in the direction of Ar of Moab, at the Arnon frontier on the country’s furthest boundary.

22:37 Balak said to Balaam, ‘Did I not send messengers to summon you? Why did you not come to me? Did you think, perhaps, I could confer no honours on you?’

22:38 Balaam answered Balak, ‘Here I am at your side. May I make myself clear to you now? The word that God puts into my mouth, this I shall speak.’

22:39 Balaam set out with Balak. They came to Kiriath-huzoth.

22:40 Balak sacrificed oxen and sheep, and offered portions to Balaam and the chiefs who were with him.

22:41 Next morning Balak took Balaam and brought him up to Bamoth-baal, from where he could see the end of the camp.

JB NUMBERS Chapter 23

23:1 Balaam said to Balak, ‘Build me seven altars, and bring here to me seven bulls and seven rams’.

23:2 Balak did as Balaam asked and he offered a holocaust of one bull and one ram on each altar.

23:3 Balaam then said to Balak, ‘Stand beside your holocausts. I will go; perhaps Yahweh will allow me to meet him. Whatever he shows me I shall tell you.’ And he withdrew to a bare hill.

The oracles of Balaam

23:4 God came to meet Balaam, who said to him, ‘I have prepared the seven altars and offered a holocaust of one bull and one ram on each altar’.

23:5 Yahweh then put a word into his mouth and said to him, ‘Go back to Balak and that is what you must say to him’.

23:6 So Balaam went back to him, and found him still standing beside his holocaust, with all the chiefs of Moab.

23:7 Then he declaimed his poem. He said: ‘Balak brought me from Aram, the king of Moab from the hills of Kedem, “Come, curse Jacob for me; come, denounce Israel”.

23:8 How shall I curse one when God does not curse? How shall I denounce when God does not denounce?

23:9 Yes, from the top of the crags I see him, from the hills I observe him. See, a people dwelling apart, not reckoned among the nations.

23:10 Who can count the dust of Jacob? Who can number the cloud of Israel? May I die the death of the just! May my end be one with theirs!’

23:11 Balak said to Balaam, ‘What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, and you heap blessings on them!’

23:12 Balaam answered, ‘Am I not obliged to say what Yahweh puts into my mouth?’

23:13 Balak said to him, ‘Come with me to another place. What you see from here is only the fringe of this people, you do not see them all. Curse them for me over there.’

23:14 He led him to the Field of Spies, towards the summit of Pisgah. There he built seven altars and offered a holocaust of one bull and one ram on each altar.

23:15 Balaam said to Balak, ‘Stand beside these holocausts. I will wait over there.’

23:16 God came to meet Balaam, he put a word into his mouth and said to him, ‘Go back to Balak and that is what you must say to him’.

23:17 So Balaam went to him, and found him still standing beside his holocaust and all the chiefs of Moab with him. ‘What did Yahweh say?’ Balak asked him.

23:18 Then Balaam declaimed his poem. He said: ‘Arise, Balak, and listen, give ear to me, son of Zippor.

23:19 God is no man that he should lie, no son of Adam to draw back. Is it his to say and not to do, to speak and not fulfil?

23:20 The charge laid on me is to bless, I shall bless and not take it back.

23:21 I have seen no evil in Jacob I marked no suffering in Israel. Yahweh his God is with him; in him sounds the royal acclaim.

23:22 God brings him out of Egypt, he is like the wild ox’s horns to him.

23:23 There is no omen against Jacob, no divination against Israel. Though men say to Jacob, say to Israel, “What wonder has God to show?”

23:24 here is a people like a lioness rising, poised like a lion to spring; not lying down till he has devoured his prey and drunk the blood of his victims.’

23:25 Balak said to Balaam, ‘Very well! Do not curse them. But at least do not bless them!’

23:26 Balaam answered Balak, ‘Have I not told you: whatever Yahweh says, I must do?’

23:27 Balak said to Balaam, ‘Come then, let me take you somewhere else. From there perhaps it will please God to curse them.’

23:28 So Balak led Balaam to the summit of Peor, dominating the desert.

23:29 Then Balaam said to Balak, ‘Build me seven altars here and find me seven bulls and seven rams’.

23:30 Balak did as Balaam asked, and offered a holocaust of one bull and one ram on each altar.

JB NUMBERS Chapter 24

24:1 Balaam then saw that it pleased Yahweh to bless Israel. He did not go as before to seek omens but turned towards the wilderness.

24:2 Raising his eyes Balaam saw Israel, encamped by tribes; the spirit of God came on him and he declaimed his poem.

24:3 He said: ‘The oracle of Balaam son of Beor, the oracle of the man with far-seeing eyes,

24:4 the oracle of one who hears the word of God. He sees what Shaddai makes him see, receives the divine answer, and his eyes are opened.

24:5 How fair are your tents, O Jacob! How fair your dwellings, Israel!

24:6 Like valleys that stretch afar, like gardens by the banks of a river, like aloes planted by Yahweh, like cedars beside the waters!

24:7 A hero arises from their stock, he reigns over countless peoples. His king is greater than Agag, his majesty is exalted.

24:8 God brings him out of Egypt, he is like the wild ox’s horns to him. He[*a] feeds on the carcase of his enemies, and breaks their bones in pieces.

24:9 He has crouched, he has lain down, like a lion, like a lioness; who dare rouse him? Blessed be those who bless you, and accursed be those who curse you!’

24:10 Balak flew into a rage with Balaam. He beat his hands together and said to Balaam, ‘I brought you to curse my enemies, and you bless them three times over!

24:11 Be off with you, and go home. I promised to load you with honours. Yahweh himself has deprived you of them.’

24:12 Balaam answered Balak, ‘Did I not tell the messengers you sent me:

24:13 Even if Balak gave me his house full of gold and silver I could not go against the order of Yahweh and do anything of my own accord, good or evil; what Yahweh says is what I will say.

24:14 Now that I am going back to my own folk, let me warn you what this people will do to your people, in time to come.’

24:15 Then he declaimed his poem. He said: The oracle of Balaam son of Beor, the oracle of the man with far-seeing eyes,

24:16 the oracle of one who hears the word of God, of one who knows the knowledge of the Most High. He sees what Shaddai makes him see, receives the divine answer, and his eyes are opened.

24:17 I see him – but not in the present, I behold him – but not close at hand: a star from Jacob takes the leadership, a sceptre arises from Israel. It crushes the brows of Moab the skulls of all the sons of Sheth[*b].

24:18 Edom becomes a conquered land; a conquered land is Seir.

24:19 Israel exerts his strength, Jacob dominates his enemies and destroys the fugitives from Ar.’

24:20 Balaam looked on Amalek and declaimed his poem. He said: ‘Amalek, first among the nations! But his posterity shall perish for ever.’

24:21 Then he looked on the Kenites and declaimed his poem. He said: ‘Your house was firm, Kain, and your nest[*c] perched high in the rock.

24:22 But the nest belongs to Beor; how long will you be Asshur’s captive?’

24:23 Then he looked on Og[*d] and declaimed his poem. He said: ‘The Sea-people[*e] gather in the north,

24:24 ships from the coasts of Kittim. They bear down on Asshur, they bear down on Eber; he too shall perish for ever.’

24:25 Then Balaam rose, left and went home. Balak too went his way.

JB NUMBERS Chapter 25

Israel at Peor

25:1 Israel settled at Shittim. The people gave themselves over to debauchery with the daughters of Moab.

25:2 These invited them to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down before their gods.

25:3 With Israel thus committed to the Baal of Peor, the anger of Yahweh blazed out against them.

25:4 Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Take all the leaders of the people. Impale them for Yahweh, here in the sun; then the burning anger of Yahweh will turn away from Israel.’

25:5 Moses said to the judges in Israel, ‘Every one of you must put to death those of his people who have committed themselves to the Baal of Peor’.

25:6 A man of the sons of Israel came along, bringing the Midianite woman into his family, under the very eyes of Moses and the whole community of the sons of Israel as they wept at the door of the Tent of Meeting.

25:7 When he saw this, Phinehas the priest, son of Eleazar son of Aaron, stood up and left the assembly, seized a lance,

25:8 followed the Israelite into the alcove, and there ran them both through, the Israelite and the woman, right through the groin. And the plague that had struck the sons of Israel was arrested.

25:9 In the plague twenty-four thousand of them had died.

25:10 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,

25:11 ‘Phinehas the priest, son of Eleazar son of Aaron, has turned my wrath away from the sons of Israel, because he was the only one among them to have the same zeal as I have; for this I did not make an end, in my zeal, of the sons of Israel.

25:12 Proclaim this, therefore: To him I now grant my covenant of peace.

25:13 For him and for his descendants after him, this covenant shall ensure the priesthood for ever. In reward for his zeal for his God, he shall have the right to perform the ritual of atonement over the sons of Israel.’

25:14 The Israelite who was killed (he who had been killed with the Midianite woman) was called Zimri son of Salu, leader of one of the patriarchal Houses of Simeon.

25:15 The woman, the Midianite who was killed, was called Cozbi, daughter of Zur, chief of a clan, of a patriarchal House in Midian.

25:16 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,

25:17 ‘Harry the Midianites and strike them down,

25:18 for they have harassed you with their guile in the Peor affair and in the affair of Cozbi their sister, daughter of a prince of Midian, the woman who was killed the day the plague came on account of Peor’.

VIII. FURTHER LEGISLATION

The census

25:19 After this plague,

JB NUMBERS Chapter 26

26:1 Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Eleazar son of Aaron, the priest. He said:

26:2 ‘Take a census of all the community of the sons of Israel, by families: all those of twenty years and over, fit to bear arms.

26:3 So Moses and Eleazar the priest spoke to the people in the plains of Moab, near the Jordan opposite Jericho. They counted:

26:4 (As Yahweh had ordered Moses and the sons of Israel on their coming out of the land of Egypt:) Men of twenty years and over:

26:5 Reuben, the first-born of Israel. The sons of Reuben: for Hanoch, the Hanochite clan; for Pallu, the Palluite clan;

26:6 for Hezron, the Hezronite clan; for Carmi, the Carmite clan.

26:7 These were the Reubenite clans. They numbered forty-three thousand seven hundred and thirty men.

26:8 The sons of Pallu: Eliab.

26:9 The sons of Eliab: Nemuel, Dathan and Abiram. These two, Dathan and Abiram, men of repute in the community, were the ones who challenged Moses and Aaron; they belonged to the followers of Korah who challenged Yahweh.

26:10 The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them (Korah perished with his followers), when fire consumed the two hundred and fifty men. They were a sign.

26:11 The sons of Korah did not perish.

26:12 The sons of Simeon by clans; for Nemuel, the Nemuelite clan; for Jamin, the Jaminite clan; for Jachin, the Jachinite clan;

26:13 for Zerah, the Zerahite clan; for Shaul, the Shaulite clan.

26:14 These were the Simeonite clans. They numbered twenty-two thousand two hundred men.

26:15 The sons of Gad by clans: for Zephon, the Zephonite clan; for Haggi, the Haggite clan; for Shuni, the Shunite clan;

26:16 for Ozni, the Oznite clan; for En, the Erite clan;

26:17 for Arod, the Arodite clan; for Areli, the Arelite clan.

26:18 These were the clans of the sons of Gad. They numbered forty thousand five hundred men.

26:19 The sons of Judah: Er and Onan. Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan.

26:20 The sons of Judah became clans: for Shelah, the Shelanite clan; for Perez, the Perezzite clan; for Zerah, the Zerahite clan.

26:21 The sons of Perez were: for Hezron, the Hezronite clan; for Hamul, the Hamulite clan.

26:22 These were the clans of Judah. They numbered seventy-six thousand five hundred men.

26:23 The sons of Issachar, by clans: for Tola, the Tolaite clan; for Puvah, the Puvite clan;

26:24 for Jashub, the Jashubite clan; for Shimron, the Shimronite clan.

26:25 These were the clans of Issachar. They numbered sixty-four thousand three hundred men.

26:26 The sons of Zebulun by clans: for Sered, the Seredite clan; for Elon, the Elonite clan; for Jahleel, the Jahleelite clan.

26:27 These were the clans of Zebulun. They numbered sixty thousand five hundred men.

26:28 The sons of Joseph, by clans: Manasseh and Ephraim.

26:29 The sons of Manasseh: for Machir, the Machirite clan; Machir was the father of Gilead: for Gilead, the Gileadite clan.

26:30 These were the clans of Gilead; for Iezer, the Iezerite clan; for Helek, the Helekite clan;

26:31 Asriel, the Asrielite clan Shechem, the Shechemite clan;

26:32 Shemida, the Shemidaite clan; Hepher, the Hepherite clan.

26:33 Zelophehad son of Hepher had no sons but only daughters; these are the names of Zelophehad’s daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah.

26:34 These were the clans of Manasseh. They numbered fifty-two thousand seven hundred men.

26:35 These are the sons of Ephraim by clans: for Shuthelah, the Shuthelahite clan; for Becher, the Becherite clan; for Tahan, the Tahanite clan.

26:36 These are the sons of Shuthelah: for Eran, the Eranite clan.

26:37 These were the clans of Ephraim. They numbered thirty-two thousand five hundred men. These were the sons of Joseph, by clans.

26:38 The sons of Benjamin, by clans: for Bela, the Belaite clan; for Ashbel, the Ashbelite clan: for Ahiram, the Ahiramite clan;

26:39 for Shephupham, the Shephuphamite clan; for Hupham, the Huphamite clan.

26:40 Bela had Ard and Naaman for sons: for Ard, the Ardite clan; for Naaman, the Naamite clan.

26:41 These were the sons of Benjamin by clans. They numbered forty-five thousand six hundred men.

26:42 These were the sons of Dan, by clans: for Shuham, the Shuhamite clan. These were the sons of Dan, by clans.

26:43 All the Shuhamite clans numbered sixty-four thousand four hundred men.

26:44 The sons of Asher, by clans: for Imnah the Imnite clan; for Ishvi, the Ishvite clan; for Beriah, the Berute clan.

26:45 For the sons of Beriah: for Heber, the Heberite clan; for Malchiel, the Malchielite clan.

26:46 The daughter of Asher was called Serah.

26:47 These were the clans of Asher. They numbered fifty-three thousand four hundred men.

26:48 The sons of Naphtali, by clans: for Jahzeel, the Jahzeelite clan; for Guni, the Gunite clan;

26:49 for Jezer, the Jezerite clan; for Shillem the Shillemite clan.

26:50 These were the clans of Naphtali grouped by clans. The sons of Naphtali numbered forty-five thousand four hundred men

26:51 The sons of Israel numbered in all six hundred and one thousand seven hundred and thirty men.

26:52 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,

26:53 ‘The land is to be shared out among these as a heritage, according to the number of those inscribed.

26:54 To the large in number you are to give a large area of land, to the small in number a small area; to each the heritage will be in proportion to the registered.

26:55 The dividing of the land is, however, to be done by lot. Each is to receive his inheritance according to the number of names in the patriarchal tribes;

26:56 the inheritance of each tribe is to be divided by lot, each receiving in accordance with its larger or smaller numbers.’

Census of the Levites

26:57 These are, by clans, the Levites that were registered: for Gershon, the Gershonite clan; for Kohath, the Kohathite clan; for Merari, the Merarite clan.

26:58 These are the Levite clans: the Libnite clan, the Hebronite clan, the Mahlite clan, the Mushite clan, the Korahite clan. Kohath was the father of Amram.

26:59 The wife of Amram was called Jochebed daughter of Levi, born to him in Egypt. To Amram she bore Aaron, Moses and Miriam their sister.

26:60 Aaron was the father of Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.

26:61 Nadab and Abihu died when they brought unlawful fire before Yahweh.

26:62 Altogether there were registered twenty-three thousand males of one month and over. They were not registered with the sons of Israel, having received no inheritance among them.

26:63 These were the men registered by Moses and Eleazar the priest who took this census of the sons of Israel in the plains of Moab, near the Jordan, opposite Jericho.

26:64 Not one of them. was among those whom Moses and Aaron had registered when they numbered the sons of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai;

26:65 for Yahweh had told them that these were to die in the wilderness and without anyone remaining, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

JB NUMBERS Chapter 27

The inheritance of daughters

27:1 Then there came forward the daughters of Zelophehad. He was the son of Hepher son of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh; he belonged to the clans of Manasseh son of Joseph. These are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah.

27:2 They appeared before Moses, before Eleazar the priest, and before the leaders and the whole community, at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, and said,

27:3 ‘Our father died in the desert. He was not one of the company of those who conspired against Yahweh, Korah’s party; it was for his own sin that he died without sons.

27:4 Why must our father’s name be lost to his clan? Since he had no son, give us some property among our father’s kinsmen.’

27:5 Moses took their case before Yahweh,

27:6 and Yahweh spoke to Moses. He said,

27:7 ‘The daughters of Zelophehad have a just case. Give them a property for their inheritance among their father’s kinsmen; pass on to them their father’s inheritance.

27:8 Then say this to the sons of Israel, “If a man dies without sons, his inheritance is to pass to his daughter.

27:9 If he has no daughter, the inheritance is to go to his brothers.

27:10 If he has no brothers, it is to go to his father’s brothers.

27:11 If his father has no brothers, it is to go to the member of his clan who is most nearly related: he is to take possession. This shall be a statutory ordinance for the sons of Israel, as Yahweh has ordered Moses.”‘

Joshua the head of the community

27:12 Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Climb this mountain of the Abarim range, and look on the land I have given to the sons of Israel.

27:13 After you have seen it, you will be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother was.

27:14 For you both rebelled in the wilderness of Zin when the community complained against me, when I ordered you to proclaim my holiness before their eyes by means of the water.’ (These are the waters of Meribah of Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin.)

27:15 Moses said to Yahweh,

27:16 ‘May Yahweh, God of the spirits that give life to all living creatures, appoint a leader for this community,

27:17 to be at their head in all they do, a man who will lead them out and bring them in, so that the community of Yahweh may not be like sheep without a shepherd’.

27:18 Yahweh answered Moses, ‘Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom the spirit dwells. Lay your hands on him.

27:19 Then bring him before Eleazar the priest and the whole community, to give him your orders in their presence

27:20 and to give him a share of your authority, so that the whole community of the sons of Israel may obey him.

27:21 He shall present himself to Eleazar the priest, who is to make inquiry for him before Yahweh, according to the rite of the Urim. At his command all the sons of Israel shall go out and come in with him, the whole community.’

27:22 Moses did as Yahweh had ordered. He took Joshua and brought him before Eleazar the priest and the whole community,

27:23 laid his hands on him and gave him his orders, as Yahweh had directed through Moses.

JB NUMBERS Chapter 28

Regulations for sacrifices

28:1 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,

28:2 ‘Give the sons of Israel this order: “take care to bring at the appointed time my offering, my sustenance in the form of burnt offering, an appeasing fragrance for me”.

28:3 Say to them, “These are the burnt offerings you must offer to Yahweh:

a. Daily sacrifices

28:4 Every day, two yearling lambs without blemish, as a perpetual holocaust. The first lamb you must offer in the morning, the second between the two evenings,

28:5 together with an oblation of one-tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with one quarter of a hin of purest oil.

28:6 This is the perpetual holocaust made long ago at Mount Sinai as an appeasing fragrance, a burnt offering to Yahweh.

28:7 The accompanying libation is to be at the rate of one quarter of a hin for each lamb; the libation of strong drink for Yahweh must be poured out in the sanctuary.

28:8 The second lamb you must offer as a holocaust between the two evenings; do this with the same oblation and the same libation as in the morning, as a burnt offering, an appeasing fragrance for Yahweh.

b. The sabbath

28:9 “On the sabbath day, you must offer two yearling lambs without blemish, and two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour as an oblation, mixed with oil, as well as the accompanying libation.

28:10 The Sabbath holocaust is to be offered every sabbath in addition to the perpetual holocaust, and the accompanying libation similarly.

c. The feast of New Moon

28:11 “At the beginning of each of your months you must offer a holocaust to Yahweh: two young bulls, one ram and seven yearling lambs without blemish;

28:12 for each bull an oblation of three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil; for each ram, an oblation of two-tenths of fine flour mixed with oil;

28:13 for each lamb, an oblation of one-tenth of fine flour mixed with oil. This is a holocaust, an appeasing fragrance, a burnt offering to Yahweh.

28:14 The accompanying libation is to be half a hin of wine for a bull, one-third of a hin for a ram, one-quarter of a hin for a lamb. This must be the monthly holocaust, month after month, every month of the year.

28:15 In addition to the perpetual holocaust a he-goat must be offered to Yahweh, as a sacrifice for sin, with its accompanying libation.

d. The feast of Unleavened Bread

28:16 “The fourteenth day of the first month, is the Passover of Yahweh,

28:17 and the fifteenth day of this month is a feast day. For seven days unleavened bread must be eaten.

28:18 On the first day there will be a solemn assembly. You must do no laborious work.

28:19 You shall offer to Yahweh a burnt offering as a holocaust: two young bulls, a ram, seven yearling sheep without blemish.

28:20 The accompanying oblation of fine flour mixed with oil is to be three-tenths of an ephah for the bull, two-tenths for the ram,

28:21 and one-tenth for each of the seven lambs.

28:22 There must also be a he-goat for the sacrifice for sin, for performing the rite of atonement over you.

28:23 This must be done in addition to the morning holocaust which is a perpetual holocaust.

28:24 You must do this every day for seven days. It is nourishment, a burnt offering, an appeasing fragrance for Yahweh; it is to be offered in addition to the perpetual holocaust and its accompanying libation.

28:25 On the seventh day you must hold a solemn assembly; you will do no laborious work.

e. The feast of Weeks

28:26 “On the day of the first-fruits, when you make your offering of new fruits to Yahweh at your feast of Weeks, you are to hold a solemn assembly; you must do no laborious work.

28:27 You must offer as a holocaust, an appeasing fragrance for Yahweh: two young bulls, one ram, seven yearling lambs.

28:28 The accompanying oblation of fine flour mixed with oil is to be three-tenths of an ephah for each bull,

28:29 two-tenths for the ram, and one-tenth for each of the seven lambs.

28:30 There must also be a he-goat for the sacrifice for sin, for performing the rite of atonement over you.

28:31 This must be done in addition to the perpetual holocaust and its accompanying oblation.

JB NUMBERS Chapter 29

f. The feast of Acclamations

29:1 “In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you are to hold a solemn assembly; you must do no heavy work. It shall be your day of Acclamations.

29:2 You must offer as a holocaust, an appeasing fragrance for Yahweh: one young bull, one ram, seven yearling lambs without blemish.

29:3 The accompanying oblation of fine flour mixed with oil is to be three-tenths of an ephah for the bull, two-tenths for the ram,

29:4 and one-tenth for each of the seven lambs.

29:5 There must also be a he-goat for the sacrifice for sin, for performing the rite of atonement over you.

29:6 All this must be done in addition to the monthly holocaust and its oblation, the perpetual holocaust and its oblation, and the accompanying libations enjoined by law,-an appeasing fragrance, a burnt offering to Yahweh.

g. The day of Atonement

29:7 “On the tenth day of this seventh month, you are to hold a solemn assembly. You must fast and do no work.

29:8 You must offer as a holocaust to Yahweh, an appeasing fragrance: one young bull, one ram, and seven yearling lambs of your choice without blemish.

29:9 The accompanying oblation of fine flour mixed with oil is to be three-tenths of an ephah for the bull, two-tenths for the ram,

29:10 and one-tenth for each of the seven lambs.

29:11 A he-goat must be offered for the sacrifice for sin. This is in addition to the victim for sin at the feast of Atonement, and to the perpetual holocaust with its accompanying oblation and libations.

h. The feast of Tabernacles

29:12 “On the fifteenth day of the seventh month you are to hold a solemn assembly, you must do no heavy work, and for the space of seven days you are to celebrate a feast for Yahweh.

29:13 You must offer as a holocaust, a burnt offering, an appeasing fragrance for Yahweh: thirteen young bulls, two rams, fourteen yearling lambs without blemish.

29:14 The accompanying oblation of fine flour mixed with oil is to be three-tenths of an ephah for each of the thirteen bulls, two-tenths for each of the two rams,

29:15 one-tenth for each of the fourteen lambs;

29:16 also one he-goat as a sacrifice for sin. This is in addition to the perpetual holocaust and its oblation and libations.

29:17 “On the second day: twelve young bulls, two rams, fourteen yearling lambs without blemish;

29:18 the accompanying oblation and libations, as prescribed, in proportion to the number of bulls, rams and lambs;

29:19 also one he-goat for the sacrifice for sin. This is in addition to the perpetual holocaust with its oblation and libations.

29:20 “On the third day: eleven bulls, two rams, fourteen yearling lambs without blemish;

29:21 the accompanying oblation and libations, as prescribed, in proportion to the number of bulls, rams and lambs;

29:22 also one he-goat for the sacrifice for sin. This is in addition to the perpetual holocaust with its oblations and libation.

29:23 “On the fourth day: ten bulls, two rams, fourteen yearling lambs without blemish;

29:24 the accompanying oblation and libations, as prescribed, in proportion to the number of bulls, rams and lambs;

29:25 also one he-goat for the sacrifice for sin. This is in addition to the perpetual holocaust with its oblation and libations.

29:26 “On the fifth day: nine bulls, two rams, fourteen yearling lambs without blemish;

29:27 the accompanying oblation and libations, as prescribed, in proportion to the number of bulls, rams and lambs;

29:28 also one he-goat for the sacrifice for sin. This is in addition to the perpetual holocaust with its oblation and libations.

29:29 “On the sixth day: eight bulls, two rams, fourteen yearling lambs without blemish;

29:30 the accompanying oblation and libations, as prescribed, in proportion to the number of bulls, rams and lambs;

29:31 also one he-goat for the sacrifice for sin. This is in addition to the perpetual holocaust with its oblation and libations.

29:32 “On the seventh day: seven bulls, two rams, fourteen yearling lambs without blemish;

29:33 the accompanying oblation and libations, as prescribed, in proportion to the number of bulls, rams and lambs;

29:34 also one he-goat for the sacrifice for sin. This is in addition to the perpetual holocaust with its oblation and libations.

29:35 “On the eighth day you must all assemble. You must do no heavy work.

29:36 You must offer as a holocaust, a burnt offering, an appeasing fragrance for Yahweh: one bull, one ram, seven yearling lambs without blemish;

29:37 the accompanying oblation and libations, as prescribed, in proportion to the number of bulls, rams and lambs;

29:38 also one goat for the sacrifice for sin. This is in addition to the perpetual holocaust with its oblation and libations.

29:39 “This is what you are to do for Yahweh at your solemn feasts, over and above your votive and voluntary offerings, your holocausts, oblations and libations, and your communion sacrifice.”‘

JB NUMBERS Chapter 30

30:1 Moses told the sons of Israel exactly what Yahweh had ordered him.

Laws concerning vows

30:2 Moses spoke to the leaders of the tribes of the sons of Israel. He said, This is what Yahweh has ordered:

30:3 “If a man makes a vow to Yahweh or takes a formal pledge under oath, he must not break his word: whatever he promises by word of mouth he must do.

30:4 “If a woman makes a vow to Yahweh or takes a formal pledge during her youth, while she is still in her father’s house,

30:5 and if he hears about this vow or pledge made by her and says nothing to her, her vow, whatever it may be, shall be binding, and the pledge she has taken, whatever it may be, shall be binding.

30:6 But if the father on the day he learns of it expresses his disapproval of it, then none of the vows or pledges she has taken shall be binding. Yahweh will not hold her to it, since her father has expressed his disapproval.

30:7 “If, being bound by vows or by a pledge voiced without due reflection, she then marries,

30:8 and if her husband hears of it but says nothing on the day he learns of it, her vows shall be binding and the pledges she has taken shall be binding.

30:9 But if on the day he learns of it he expresses his disapproval to her, this will annul the vow that she has made or the pledge that binds her, voiced without due reflection. Yahweh will not hold her to it.

30:10 “The vow of a widow or a divorced woman and all pledges taken by her are binding on her.

30:11 “If she has made a vow or taken a pledge under oath while in her husband’s house,

30:12 and if when the husband learns of it he says nothing to her and does not express disapproval to her, then the vow, whatever it is, shall be binding, and the pledge, whatever it is, shall be binding.

30:13 But if the husband when he hears of them annuls them on the day he learns of them, no word of her mouth, vow or pledge, shall be binding. Since the husband has annulled them, Yahweh will not hold her to them.

30:14 “Every vow or oath that is binding on the wife may be endorsed or annulled by the husband.

30:15 “If by the following day the husband has said nothing to her, it means that he endorses her vow, whatever it may be, or her pledge, whatever it may be. He endorses them if he says nothing on the day he learns of them.

30:16 But if he annuls them a longer time after he learnt of them, then he must bear the burden of the wife’s fault.”‘

30:17 These are the laws ordained by Yahweh to Moses, concerning the relationship between man and wife, and between a father and his daughter while still young and living in her father’s home.

JB NUMBERS Chapter 31

IX. BOOTY AND ITS ALLOCATION

The holy war against Midian

31:1 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,

31:2 ‘Exact full vengeance for the sons of Israel on the Midianites. Afterwards you will be gathered to your people.’ Moses said to the people,

31:3 ‘Some of you must take arms to wage Yahweh’s campaign against Midian, to carry out the vengeance of Yahweh on Midian.

31:4 Put a thousand men in the field from each of the tribes of Israel.’

31:5 In this way Israel’s hosts provided twelve thousand men equipped for war, one thousand from each tribe:

31:6 Moses put them in the field, one thousand from each tribe, with Phinehas, son of Eleazar the priest, to go with them carrying the sacred vessels and the trumpets for sounding the alarm.

31:7 They waged the campaign against Midian, as Yahweh had ordered Moses, and they put every male to death.

31:8 And further, they killed the kings of Midian, Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur and Reba, the five Midianite kings; they also put Balaam son of Beor to the sword.

31:9 The sons of Israel took the Midianite women captive with their young children, and plundered all their cattle, all their flocks. and all their goods.

31:10 They set fire to the towns where they lived and all their encampments.

31:11 Then, taking all their booty, all that they had captured, man and beast,

31:12 they took the captives, spoil and booty to Moses, Eleazar the priest and all the community of the sons of Israel, at the camp in the plains of Moab, near the Jordan opposite Jericho.

The slaughter of the women and purification of the booty

31:13 Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders of the community went out of the camp to meet them.

31:14 Moses was enraged with the commanders of the army, the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, who had come back from this military expedition.

31:15 He said, ‘Why have you spared the life of all the women?

31:16 These were the very ones who, on Balaam’s advice, perverted the sons of Israel and made them renounce Yahweh in the affair at Peor: hence the plague which struck the community of Israel.

31:17 So kill all the male children. Kill also all the women who have slept with a man.

31:18 Spare the lives only of the young girls who have not slept with a man, and take them for yourselves.

31:19 As for you, you must camp for seven days outside the camp, all of you who have killed a man or touched a corpse. Purify yourselves, you and your prisoners, on the third and seventh days;

31:20 purify also all clothing, everything made of skin, everything woven of goats’ hair and everything made of wood.’

31:21 Eleazar the priest said to the soldiers who had come back from this campaign, ‘This is a statute of the Law which Yahweh has commanded Moses.

31:22 Whereas the gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin and lead,

31:23 everything that can withstand fire, must be passed through the fire and it will be clean, yet it must still be purified with lustral water. Whatever cannot resist fire you must pass through water.

31:24 ‘Wash your clothes on the seventh day and you will then be clean. You may then come back to the camp.’

The allocation of the booty

31:25 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said:

31:26 ‘With Eleazar the priest and the heads of families in the community, count the spoils and the captives, man and beast.

31:27 Then share out the spoil, half and half, between those who fought the campaign and the rest of the community.

31:28 As Yahweh’s portion you will set aside, from the share of the combatants who took part in the campaign, one out of every five hundred persons, oxen, donkeys and sheep.

31:29 These are to be taken from the half share which is their due, and given to Eleazar the priest as an offering to Yahweh.

31:30 From the half which is due to the sons of Israel, you will take one out of every fifty persons, oxen, donkeys, sheep, and all other animals, and give them to the Levites who have charge of the tabernacle of Yahweh.’

31:31 Moses and Eleazar the priest did as Yahweh had ordered Moses.

31:32 The spoils, the remainder of the booty captured by the soldiers, came to six hundred and seventy-five thousand head of small stock,

31:33 seventy-two thousand head of cattle,

31:34 sixty-one thousand donkeys,

31:35 and in persons, women who had never slept with a man, thirty-two thousand in all.

31:36 Half was assigned to those who had taken part in the war, namely three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred head of small stock,

31:37 of which Yahweh’s portion was six hundred and seventy-five,

31:38 thirty-six thousand head of cattle, of which Yahweh’s portion was seventy-two.

31:39 Thirty thousand five hundred donkeys, of which Yahweh’s

31:40 portion was sixty-one, and sixteen thousand persons, of which Yahweh’s portion was thirty-two.

31:41 Moses gave Eleazar the priest the portion set aside for Yahweh, in accordance with Yahweh’s instructions to Moses.

31:42 As for the half due to the sons of Israel, which Moses had separated from that of the combatants,

31:43 this half, the community’s share, came to three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred head of small stock,

31:44 thirty-six thousand head of cattle,

31:45 thirty thousand five hundred donkeys

31:46 and sixteen thousand persons.

31:47 From this half, the share of the sons of Israel, Moses took one out of every fifty, man and beast, and gave them to the Levites who had charge of the tabernacle of Yahweh, in accordance with Yahweh’s instructions to Moses.

The offerings

31:48 The commanders of the hosts who had fought the campaign, the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, came to Moses

31:49 and said, ‘Your servants have numbered the soldiers under their command: not one is missing.

31:50 And further, we bring as an offering for Yahweh the gold ornaments we have found, armlets and bracelets, signet rings, earrings and brooches, to have the rite of atonement performed over us before Yahweh.’

31:51 Moses and Eleazar the priest accepted this gold from them, all this jewellery.

31:52 This offering of gold given by them to Yahweh amounted to sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels, all given by the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds.

31:53 Each of the soldiers took his own booty.

31:54 But Moses and Eleazar the priest received the gold from the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and carried it to the Tent of Meeting as a reminder to Yahweh of the sons of Israel.

JB NUMBERS Chapter 32

The allocation of Transjordania

32:1 The sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad owned great herds of fine cattle. Now they observed that the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead was an ideal region for raising stock.

32:2 The sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben therefore went to Moses, Eleazar the priest and the leaders of the community, and said to them,

32:3 ‘The land of Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo and Beon,

32:4 which Yahweh has conquered in the sight of the community of Israel, is ideal land for raising stock, and your servants are cattle breeders.

32:5 If we have deserved your friendship,’ they said ‘give this land to your servants for our own; do not make us cross the Jordan.’

32:6 Moses said to the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben, ‘Your brothers are off to the war – are you content to stay here?

32:7 Why do you keep the sons of Israel from entering the land that Yahweh has given them?

32:8 This is what your fathers did when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to inspect the land.

32:9 They went up as far as the Valley of Eschol and inspected the land; but they kept the sons of Israel from entering the land that Yahweh had given them.

32:10 Hence the wrath of Yahweh blazed out that day and he swore this oath,

32:11 “If ever these men of twenty years and over, who came out from Egypt, set eyes on the land that I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob… [*a] For they have not followed me faithfully,

32:12 except Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite, and Joshua son of Nun: these indeed have followed Yahweh faithfully.”

32:13 The wrath of Yahweh blazed out against Israel and he made them wander in the wilderness for forty years, until the generation that offended Yahweh had all disappeared.

32:14 And now you, you rise up in your father’s place, offshoot of sinful stock, to add still more to the burning wrath of Yahweh against Israel!

32:15 If you turn away from him, he will prolong the time spent in the wilderness, and you will bring about the ruin of all this people.’

32:16 They came to Moses and said, ‘We would like to build sheepfolds here for our flocks and towns for our young children.

32:17 We ourselves will take up arms to lead the sons of Israel until we have brought them to the place appointed for them: only our young children will stay in the fortified towns, safe from the inhabitants of the country.

32:18 We will not return to our homes until every one of the sons of Israel has taken possession of his inheritance.

32:19 For we shall have no inheritance with them on the other bank of the Jordan or beyond, since our inheritance has fallen to us here, east of the Jordan.’

32:20 Moses said to them, ‘If you do as you have said, if you are prepared to fight before Yahweh,

32:21 and if all those of you who bear arms cross the Jordan before Yahweh, until he has driven all his enemies before him,

32:22 then, once the land has become subject to Yahweh, you may go back; you shall be free of your obligation towards Yahweh and Israel, and this land shall be your inheritance before Yahweh.

32:23 But if you do not, you will sin against Yahweh, and be sure your sin will find you out.

32:24 Build towns, then, for your young children and folds for your flocks; but do what you have promised.’

32:25 The sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben said to Moses, ‘Your servants will do as you order, sir.

32:26 Our children, our wives, our flocks and all our livestock will stay in the towns of Gilead,

32:27 but your servants, every man armed for war, will cross over to fight before Yahweh as you have ordered.’

32:28 Then Moses gave directions about them to Eleazar the priest, to Joshua son of Nun, and to the leaders of the patriarchal Houses of the tribes of Israel.

32:29 Moses said to them, ‘If the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben, all who bear arms, cross the Jordan with you to fight before Yahweh, then once the land is in your power, you will give them the land of Gilead for their possession.

32:30 But if they do not cross over in arms with you, then they must have their possessions with you in the land of Canaan.’

32:31 The sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben replied, ‘What Yahweh has said to your servants, we will do.

32:32 We will cross in arms before Yahweh into the land of Canaan; but you must give us possession of our inheritance beyond the Jordan.’

32:33 Moses gave them-the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben and the half-tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph-the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites, the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, the land and the towns contained within its boundaries, the frontier towns of the land.

32:34 The sons of Gad built Dibon, Ataroth, Aroer,

32:35 Atroth-shophan, Jazer, Jogbehah,

32:36 Beth-nimrah, Beth-haran, fortified towns, and folds for the flocks.

32:37 The sons of Reuben built Heshbon, Elealeh, Kiriathaim,

32:38 Nebo, Baal-meon (their names were changed), Sibmah. They gave names to the towns they had built.

32:39 The sons of Machir son of Manasseh went to Gilead. They conquered it and drove out the Amorites who were there.

32:40 Moses gave Gilead to Machir son of Manasseh, and he settled there.

32:41 Jair son of Manasseh went and seized their encampments and called them Encampments of Jair.

32:42 Nobah went and seized Kenath with its outlying villages, and called it Nobah after himself.

JB NUMBERS Chapter 33

The Stages of the Exodus

33:1 Here are the stages of the journey made by the sons of Israel when they came out in a body from the land of Egypt, under the leadership of Moses and Aaron.

33:2 Moses recorded their starting-points in writing whenever they broke camp on Yahweh’s orders. Here are the stages according to their starting-points.

33:3 They left Rameses in the first month. It was on the fifteenth day of the first month, on the day following the Passover, that the sons of Israel set out triumphantly in the sight of all Egypt.

33:4 The Egyptians. were burying those of their own people whom Yahweh had struck down, all their first-born; Yahweh had carried out his judgement on their gods.

33:5 The sons of Israel left Rameses and camped at Succoth.

33:6 Then they left Succoth and encamped at Etham which is on the edge of the wilderness.

33:7 They left Etham, turned back to Pi-hahiroth which faces Baal-zephon, and encamped before Migdol.

33:8 They left Pi-hahiroth, crossed over the sea into the wilderness, and after marching for three days in the desert of Etham they encamped at Marah.

33:9 They left Marah and reached Elim. At Elim there are twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees; they encamped there.

33:10 They left Elim and encamped by the Sea of Reeds.

33:11 They left the Sea of Reeds and encamped in the wilderness of Sin.

33:12 They left the wilderness of Sin and encamped at Dophkah.

33:13 They left Dophkah and encamped at Alush.

33:14 They left Alush and encamped at Rephidim; the people found no drinking water there.

33:15 They left Rephidim and encamped in the wilderness of Sinai.

33:16 They left the wilderness of Sinai and encamped at Kibroth-hattaavah.

33:17 They left Kibroth-hattaavah and encamped at Hazeroth.

33:18 They left Hazeroth and encamped at Rithmah.

33:19 They left Rithmah and encamped at Rimmon-perez.

33:20 They left Rimnion-perez and encamped at Libnah.

33:21 They left Libnah and encamped at Rissah.

33:22 They left Rissah and encamped at Kehelathah.

33:23 They left Kehelathah and encamped at Mount Shepher.

33:24 They left Mount Shepher and encamped at Haradah.

33:25 They left Haradah and encamped at Makheloth.

33:26 They left Makheloth and encamped at Tahath.

33:27 They left Tahath and encamped at Terah.

33:28 They left Terah and encamped at Mithkah.

33:29 They left Mithkah and encamped at Hashmonah.

33:30 They left Hashmonah and encamped at Moseroth.

33:31 They left Moseroth and encamped at Bene-jaakan.

33:32 They left Bene-jaakan and encamped at Hor-haggidgad.

33:33 They left Hor-haggidgad and encamped at Jotbathah.

33:34 They left Jotbathah and encamped at Abronah.

33:35 They left Abronah and encamped at Ezion-geber.

33:36 They left Ezion-geber and encamped in the wilderness of Zin; this is Kadesh.

33:37 They left Kadesh and encamped at Mount Hor, on the borders of the land of Edom.

33:38 Aaron the priest went up Mount Hor on Yahweh’s orders and it was there that he died, in the fortieth year of the exodus of the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt, in the fifth month, on the first day of the month.

33:39 Aaron was a hundred and twenty-three years old when he died at Mount Hor.

33:40 The king of Arad, a Canaanite who lived in the Negeb in the land of Canaan, was informed when the sons of Israel arrived.

33:41 They left Mount Hor and encamped at Zalmonah.

33:42 They left Zalmonah and encamped at Punon.

33:43 They left Punon and encamped at Oboth.

33:44 They left Oboth and encamped in Moabite territory at Iye-abarim.

33:45 They left lyim and encamped at Dibon-gad.

33:46 They left Dibon-gad and encamped at Almon-diblathaim.

33:47 They left Almon-diblathaim and encamped in the Abarim mountains facing Nebo.

33:48 They left the Abarim mountains and encamped in the plains of Moab, near the Jordan opposite Jericho.

33:49 They encamped near the Jordan between Beth-ha-jeshimoth and Abel-hash-shittim, in the plains of Moab.

The allocation of Canaan. God’s order

33:50 Yahweh spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab, near the Jordan opposite Jericho. He said:

33:51 ‘Say this to the sons of Israel: “When you have crossed the Jordan into the land of Canaan,

33:52 you must drive all the inhabitants of the country before you. You must destroy their sculptured stones, you must destroy all their statues of cast metal, and you must demolish all their high places.

33:53 You will take possession of this land and you will stay in it, for I have given it to you for your own.

33:54 You are to divide it by lot among your clans. To a large clan you will give a greater inheritance, to a small clan a lesser one. Where the lot falls for each, that will be his. Make this apportionment according to patriarchal tribes.

33:55 But if you do not drive the inhabitants of the country before you, then those you have spared will be barbs in your eyes and thorns in your side, they will harass you in the land where you live

33:56 and I will deal with you as I meant to deal with them.”‘

JB NUMBERS Chapter 34

The boundaries of Canaan

34:1 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,

34:2 ‘Give the sons of Israel this order: “When you go into the land (of Canaan), this is the territory that will be your inheritance. This is the land of Canaan defined by its boundaries.

34:3 “The southern part of your country will stretch from the wilderness of Zin, on the borders of Edom. Your southern boundary will start on the east at the end of the Salt Sea.

34:4 It will then turn south towards the Ascent of the Scorpions and go by Zin to end in the south at Kadesh-barnea. Then it will go towards Hazar-addar and pass through Azmon.

34:5 From Azmon the boundary will turn towards the wadi of Egypt and end at the Sea.

34:6 “Your seaboard will be the Great Sea; this will be your western boundary.

34:7 “This will be your northern boundary. You will draw a line from the Great Sea to Mount Hor,

34:8 then from Mount Hor you will draw a line to the Pass of Hamath, and the boundary will end at Zedad.

34:9 From there it will go on to Ziphron and end at Hazar-enan. This will be your northern boundary.

34:10 “You will then draw your eastern boundary from Hazar-enan to Shepham.

34:11 The boundary will go down from Shepham towards Riblah on the east side of Am. Further down it will keep to the eastern shore of the Sea of Chinnereth[*a].

34:12 The frontier will then follow the Jordan and end at the Salt Sea. “This will be your land with the boundaries surrounding it.”‘

34:13 Moses then laid this charge on the sons of Israel: ‘This is the land you are to apportion by lot, which Yahweh has ordered to be made over to the nine tribes and the half-tribe.

34:14 The tribe of the sons of Reuben with its patriarchal Houses and the tribe of the sons of Gad with its patriarchal Houses have already been given their heritage; the half-tribe of Manasseh has also been given its heritage.

34:15 These two tribes and the half-tribe have been given their heritage beyond the Jordan opposite Jericho, to the east, towards the sunrise.

The leaders in charge of the allocation

34:16 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said:

34:17 ‘These are the names of those who will share out the land: Eleazar the priest and Joshua son of Nun,

34:18 and you will take one leader from each tribe to share out the land.

34:19 Here are the names of these men: For the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh;

34:20 for the tribe of the sons of Simeon, Shemuel son of Ammihud;

34:21 for the tribe of Benjamin, Elidad son of Chislon;

34:22 for the tribe of the sons of Dan, the leader Bukki son of Jogli;

34:23 for the sons of Joseph: for the tribe of Manasseh, the leader Hanniel son of Ephod;

34:24 and for the tribe of the sons of Ephraim, the leader Kemuel son of Shiphtan;

34:25 for the tribe of the sons of Zebulun, the leader Elizaphan son of Parnach;

34:26 for the tribe of the sons of Issachar, the leader Paltiel son of Azzan;

34:27 for the tribe of the sons of Asher, the leader Ahihud son of Shelomi;

34:28 for the tribe of the sons of Naphtali, the leader Pedahel son of Ammihud.’

34:29 These are the men whom Yahweh ordered to divide the land of Canaan among the sons of Israel.

JB NUMBERS Chapter 35

The portion of the Levites

35:1 Yahweh spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab, near the Jordan opposite Jericho. He said:

35:2 ‘Direct the sons of Israel to make over to the Levites, out of the inheritance they possess, towns in which to live and pasture land round the towns. Give these to the Levites.

35:3 The towns are to be their homes and the surrounding pasture land is to be for their cattle; their possessions and all their animals.

35:4 The pasture land surrounding the towns that you make over to the Levites shall extend, from the walls of the towns, for a thousand cubits all round.

35:5 ‘Outside the town, measure two thousand cubits to the east side, two thousand cubits to the south, two thousand cubits to the west and two thousand cubits to the north, the town lying in the centre: this is to be the pasture-land for these towns.

35:6 The towns you hand over to the Levites will be the six cities of refuge, ceded by you as sanctuary for men who cause another’s death; and you are to hand over forty-two towns in addition.

35:7 Altogether you will make over forty-eight towns to the Levites, towns together with their pasturage.

35:8 Of the towns that you grant out of the possession or the sons of Israel, more will be taken from those who hold more, and less from those who hold less. Everyone will make over towns to the Levites in proportion to the inheritance he himself has received.’

Cities of refuge

35:9 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said:

35:10 ‘Say this to the sons of Israel:

35:11 “When you cross the Jordan and reach the land of Canaan, you are to select towns which you will make into cities of refuge where a man who has killed accidentally may find sanctuary.

35:12 These towns will be your refuge from the avenger of blood, so that the killer may not die without being brought to judgement before the

35:13 The towns you make over will serve you as six cities of refuge.

35:14 the three that you make over beyond the Jordan and the three that you make over in the land of Canaan are to be cities of refuge.

35:15 These six towns will be a refuge, for the sons of Israel as well as for the stranger and the settler among you, where anyone who has killed accidentally may find sanctuary

35:16 “But if he has struck the person with an iron object so as to cause death, he is a murderer. The murderer must be put to death.

35:17 If he struck him with a stone capable of killing him, and has killed him, he is a murderer. The murderer must be put to death.

35:18 Or if he has struck him with a wooden instrument capable of killing, and has killed him, he is a murderer. The murderer must be put to death.

35:19 The avenger of blood must put the murder to death. When he meets him he must put him to death.[*a]

35:20 “If the killer has maliciously manhandled his victim, or thrown some lethal missile to strike him down,

35:21 or out of enmity dealt him the death-blow with his fist, then he who struck the blow must die; he is a murderer; the avenger of blood must put him to death when he meets him.

35:22 If, however, he has manhandled his victim by chance, without malice, or thrown some missile at him not meaning to hit him,

35:23 or without seeing him dropped a stone on him capable of causing death and so killed him, so long as he bore him no malice and wished him no harm,

35:24 then the community must decide in accordance with these rules between the one who struck the blow and the avenger of blood,

35:25 and so rescue the killer from the avenger of blood. They will send him back to the city of refuge where he had sought sanctuary, and there he will stay until the death of the high priest who has been anointed with the holy oil.

35:26 If the killer should leave the bounds of the city of refuge where he has sought sanctuary

35:27 and the avenger of blood encounters him outside the bounds of his city of refuge, the avenger of blood may kill him without fear of reprisal;

35:28 since the killer should stay in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest; only after the death of the high priest is he free to go back to the land where he has his home.

35:29 These regulations shall have force of law for you and your descendants, wherever you may be.

35:30 In any case of homicide, the evidence of witnesses must determine whether the murderer is to be put to death; but the evidence of a single witness is not sufficient to uphold a capital charge.

35:31 You are not to accept ransom for the life of a murderer condemned to death; he must die.

35:32 Nor are you to accept ransom for anyone who, having sought sanctuary in his city of refuge, wishes to come back and live at home before the death of the high priest.

35:33 You must not profane the land you live in. Blood profanes the country, and there is no other expiation for the country for bloodshed than the blood of the one who shed it.

35:34 You must not defile the land you inhabit, the land in which I live; for I, Yahweh, live among the sons of Israel.”‘

JB NUMBERS Chapter 36

A wife’s inheritance

36:1 Then the heads of families in the clan of the sons of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh, one of the clans of Joseph’s sons, came forward.

36:2 They spoke before Moses and the leaders, the heads of families of Israel’s sons, and said: ‘Yahweh has ordered my lord to give the land to the sons of Israel, sharing it out by lot; and my lord has been ordered by Yahweh to give the inheritance of our brother Zelophehad to his daughters.

36:3 Now, if they marry someone from another tribe in the sons of Israel, their property will be taken away from the inheritance of our fathers. The property of the tribe to which they will belong will be increased, and the property allotted to us diminished.

36:4 And when the jubilee comes round for the sons of Israel, the property of these women will be added to the inheritance of the tribe to which they then belong, and lost to the inheritance of our own patriarchal tribe.’

36:5 Moses, at Yahweh’s bidding, gave the following ruling to the sons of Israel. He said: ‘The tribe of the sons of Joseph is in the right.

36:6 This is Yahweh’s ruling for the daughters of Zelophehad: “They may marry whom they please, providing they marry into a clan of their father’s tribe.

36:7 The heritage of the sons of Israel is not to be transferred from tribe to tribe; every man of the sons of Israel is to remain bound to the heritage of his patriarchal tribe.

36:8 Every daughter who has a heritage in one of the tribes of the sons of Israel must marry into a clan of her own paternal tribe, so that the sons of Israel may each preserve the heritage of his father.

36:9 No heritage may be transferred from one tribe to another: every tribe of the sons of Israel will stay bound to its own heritage.”‘

36:10 The daughters of Zelophehad did as Yahweh had ordered Moses.

36:11 Mahlah, Tirzah, Hogiah, Milcah and Noah, daughters of Zelophehad, married the sons of their father’s brothers.

36:12 Since they married into the clans of the sons of Manasseh son of Joseph, their heritage reverted to the tribe of their father’s clan.

Conclusion

36:13 These are the commandments and laws that Yahweh laid down for the sons of Israel through Moses in the plains of Moab near the Jordan opposite Jericho.

END OF JB NUMBERS [36 Chapters].

NEHEMIAH

JB NEHEMIAH Chapter 1

The call of Nehemiah: his mission to Judah

1:1 The words of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah. In the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes,[*a] when I was in the citadel of Susa,

1:2 one of my kinsmen, Hanani, arrived with some men from Judah. I asked them about the Jews-the remnant rescued from captivity-and about Jerusalem.

1:3 ‘Those who escaped from captivity,’ they replied ‘who are back there in the province, are in great trouble and humiliation: the walls of Jerusalem are in ruins and its gates burnt down.’

1:4 On hearing this I sank down and wept; for several days I mourned, fasting and praying before the God of heaven.

1:5 And I said, ‘Yahweh, God of heaven, great God who must be feared, maintaining covenant and kindness with those who love you and obey your commandments,

1:6 let your ear be listening, and your eyes open, to hear your servant’s prayer. I am making this to you now day and night on behalf of the sons of Israel, your servants; and I confess the sins of the sons of Israel which we have committed against you: I and my father’s House have sinned.

1:7 We have acted very wickedly towards you: we have not kept the commandments, laws and customs you laid down for Moses your servant.

1:8 Remember, I beg you, the charge you gave to Moses your servant: “If you prove faithless, I will scatter you among the peoples;

1:9 but if you come back to me and keep my commandments and practise them, even if your outcasts were at the very sky’s end, I would gather them from there and bring them back to the place I have chosen for my name to dwell in”.

1:10 Now these are your servants, your own people: you have redeemed them with your mighty power and outstretched arm.

1:11 O Lord, let your ear be attentive to your servant’s prayer and to the prayer of your servants who delight to reverence your name. I beg you, let your servant be successful today; make him acceptable to this man.’ At that time I was cupbearer to the king.

JB NEHEMIAH Chapter 2

2:1 In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes,[*a] the wine being my concern, I took up the wine and offered it to the king. Now I had never been downcast before.

2:2 So the king said, ‘Why is your face so sad? You are not sick, surely? This must be a sadness of the heart.’ A great fear came over me

2:3 and I said to the king, ‘May the king live for ever! How could my face be other than sad when the city where the tombs of my ancestors are lies in ruins, and its gates have been burnt down?’

2:4 ‘What’ the king asked ‘is your request?’ I called on the God of heaven

2:5 and made this reply to the king, ‘If it pleases the king, and if you are satisfied with your servant, give me leave to go to Judah, to the city of my ancestors’ tombs, and rebuild it’.

2:6 The king, with the queen sitting there beside him, said, ‘How long will your journey take, and when will you return?’ So I named a date that seemed acceptable to the king and he gave me leave to go.

2:7 I spoke to the king once more, ‘If it please the king, could letters be given me for the governors of Transeuphrates to allow me to pass through to Judah?

2:8 And also a letter for Asaph, keeper of the king’s park, to supply me with timber for the gates of the citadel of the Temple, for the city walls and for the house I am to occupy?’ This the king granted me, for the kindly favour of my God was with me.

2:9 So I travelled to the governors of Transeuphrates, and handed them the king’s letters. The king had given me an escort of army officers and cavalry.

2:10 When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite slave[*b] came to know of this, they were much displeased that anyone should come to promote the welfare of the sons of Israel.

The decision to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem

2:11 And so I reached Jerusalem and stayed there for three days.

2:12 Then I rose in the night, with a few other men, not having told anyone what work God had inspired me to do for Jerusalem, and having no animal with me but my own mount.

2:13 At night, therefore, leaving by the Valley Gate, I went by way of the Well of the Dragon to the Dung Gate; I examined the walls of Jerusalem with their gaps and burnt-out gates.

2:14 I went on to the Fountain Gate and the King’s Pool, but found no further path for my mount.

2:15 So I returned, in the dark, through the wadi, still examining the walls, and came in again by the Valley Gate. And so I returned

2:16 without the officials knowing where I had gone or what I was doing. So far I had said nothing to the Jews: either to the priests, the authorities, the officials or any other responsible persons.

2:17 Then I said to them, ‘You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem is in ruins, its gates have been burnt down. Come, let us rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and suffer this indignity no longer.’

2:18 And I told them how the kindly favour of God had been with me, and also repeated the words the king had said to me. ‘Let us start!’ they exclaimed ‘Let us build’; and with willing hands they set about the good work.

2:19 When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite slave, and Geshem the Arab came to know of this, they ridiculed us, and came and asked, ‘What are you doing? Are you planning to revolt against the king?’

2:20 But I gave them this answer, ‘The God of heaven will give us success. We, his servants, are going to build; you have neither share nor rights nor memorial in Jerusalem.’

JB NEHEMIAH Chapter 3

The volunteer builders

3:1 Eliashib the high priest and his brother priests set about building the Sheep Gate; they constructed its framework and set its doors, bolts and bars in place, and proceeded as far as the Tower of Hananel.

3:2 The men of Jericho built next to them; Zaccur son of Imri built next to them.

3:3 The sons of Hassenaah built the Fish Gate; they constructed its framework and set its doors, bolts and bars in place.

3:4 Meremoth son of Uriah, son of Hakkoz carried out repairs next to them; Meshullam son of Berechiah, son of Meshezabel carried out repairs next to him.

3:5 The men of Tekoa carried out repairs next to him, though their chiefs refused to bow their necks and work for their lords.

3:6 Joiada son of Paseah and Meshullam son of Besodeiah repaired the gate of the new quarter: they constructed its framework and set its doors, bolts and bars in place.

3:7 Next to them repairs were carried out by Melatiah of Gibeon and Jadon of Meronoth, and also by the men of Gibeon and Mizpah, on behalf of the governors of Transeuphrates.

3:8 Next to them repairs were carried out by Uzziel, a member of the goldsmiths’ guild, and next to him repairs were carried out by Hananiah, of the perfumers’ guild: they strengthened Jerusalem as far as the Wall of the Square.

3:9 Next to them repairs were carried out by Rephaiah son of Hur, ruler of half the district of Jerusalem.

3:10 Next to them Jedaiah son of Harumaph carried out repairs opposite his own house; next to him repairs were carried out by Hattush son of Hashabneiah.

3:11 Malchijah son of Harim and Hasshub son of Pahath-moab repaired the next section as far as the Tower of the Furnaces.

3:12 Next to them repairs were carried out by Shallum son of Hallohesh, ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, by him and his sons.

3:13 Hanun and the inhabitants of Zanoah repaired the Valley Gate; they restored it, constructed its framework and set its doors, bolts and bars in place, and repaired a thousand cubits of wall up to the Dung Gate.

3:14 Malchijah son of Rechab, ruler of the district of Beth-hac-cherem, repaired the Dung Gate, he and his sons: he set its doors, bolts and bars in place.

3:15 Shallum son of Col-hozeh, ruler of the district of Mizpah, repaired the Fountain Gate; he restored it, covered it, and set its doors, bolts and bars in place. He also rebuilt the wall of the conduit cistern, adjoining the king’s garden, as far as the steps coming down from the Citadel of David.

3:16 Next to him, Nehemiah son of Azbuk, ruler of half the district of Beth-zur, carried out repairs up to a point opposite the tombs of David, the artificial pool and the House of Heroes.

3:17 Next to him repairs were carried out by the Levites: Rehum son of Bani; next to him Hashabiah, ruler of half the district of Keilah, carried out repairs for his own district.

3:18 Next to him repairs were carried out by their brothers: Binnui son of Henadad, ruler of half the district of Keilah;

3:19 next to him, Ezer son of Jeshua, ruler of Mizpah, repaired another section opposite the slope up to the Armoury, towards the Angle.

3:20 Next to him Baruch son of Zabbai repaired another section from the Angle as far as the door of the house of Eliashib the high priest.

3:21 Next to him Meremoth son of Uriah, son of Hakkoz repaired another section from the door of Eliashib’s house to its farther end.

3:22 Next to him repairs were carried out by the priests who lived locally in the country.

3:23 Next to them repairs were carried out by Benjamin and Hasshub, opposite their own houses. Next to them repairs were carried out by Azariah son of Maaseiah, son of Ananiah, beside his own house.

3:24 Next to him Binnui son of Henadad repaired another section from the house of Azariah as far as the Angle.

3:25 Next to him Palal son of Uzai carried out repairs opposite the corner of the tower jutting out over the upper palace of the king and standing in the prison courtyard. Next to him Pedaiah son of Parosh carried out repairs

3:26 as far as the Water Gate, in an easterly direction and up to a point opposite the projecting tower.

3:27 Next to him the men of Tekoa repaired another section opposite the great projecting tower as far as the wall of Ophel.

3:28 From the Horse Gate onwards repairs were carried out by the priests, each opposite his own house.

3:29 Next to them repairs were carried out by Zadok son of Immer opposite his own house. Next to him repairs were carried out by Shemaiah son of Shecaniah, keeper of the East Gate.

3:30 Next to him Hananiah son of Shelemiah and Hanun sixth son of Zalaph repaired another section. Next to him repairs were carried out by Meshullam son of Berechiah opposite where he lived.

3:31 Next to him Malchijah, of the goldsmiths’ guild, repaired as far as the quarters of the oblates and of the merchants, opposite the Watch Gate as far as the high chamber of the corner.

3:32 And between the high chamber of the corner and the Sheep Gate repairs were carried out by the goldsmiths and the merchants.

The effect on the Jews’ opponents

3:33 When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the walls he flew into a rage, beside himself with anger. He ridiculed the Jews

3:34 and in front of his kinsmen and the wealthy men of Samaria he exclaimed, ‘What are these pathetic Jews trying to do?… Do they expect to finish in one day? Do they think they can put new life into these charred stones, salvaged from the heaps of rubble?’

3:35 Tobiah the Ammonite was standing beside him. ‘Let them build,’ he said ‘a jackal jumping on their wall will soon knock the stones down again.’

3:36 See, our God, how we are despised! Make their sneers fall back on their own heads. Give them over to shame in a land of exile.

3:37 Do not hide their guilt or let their sin be blotted out before you, for heaping insults on the builders.

3:38 Meanwhile we were rebuilding the wall which was soon finished all the way round to mid-height, since the people put their hearts into the work.

3:3a. Called ‘the gate of Ephraim’ in Ne 12:39. b. Once the barracks of the king’s bodyguard.

JB NEHEMIAH Chapter 4

4:1 When news reached Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the Ashdodites, that repairs to the walls of Jerusalem were going forward-since the gaps were beginning to be made good-they were furious,

4:2 and conspired together to come and attack Jerusalem and upset my plans.

4:3 Then we called on our God and set a watch against them, day and night, to guard the city.

4:4 Judah, however, was saying, ‘The strength of the carriers is failing and the amount of rubble enormous; we shall never finish the wall’.

4:5 And our enemies were saying, ‘We will appear among them before they know or see anything; then we will cut them down and put an end to the business’.

4:6 Now on ten occasions Jews who lived near them gave us warning, ‘They are coming up against us from every place they live in’.

4:7 So we took up positions down behind the wall where the place was clear; I posted the people by families with their swords, spears and bows.

4:8 I had seen their fear and I stood up and addressed the authorities, the officials and the rest of the people, ‘Do not be afraid of them. Keep your minds on the Lord, who is great and to be feared, and fight for your kinsmen, your sons, your daughters, your wives and your homes.’

4:9 Learning, however, that we were forewarned, and that God had thwarted their plan, our enemies withdrew, and we all went back, everyone to his work on the wall.

4:10 But from that day onwards only half of my men continued the work; the rest, with spears, shields, bows and breastplates, stood behind all the House of Judah

4:11 who were building the wall. The carriers, too, were armed so that each did his work with one hand while gripping his weapon with the other.

4:12 And as each builder worked, he wore his sword at his side. Beside me stood a trumpeter.

4:13 I addressed the authorities, the officials and the rest of the people, ‘The work is important and extensive, and we are deployed along the wall at some distance from each other.

4:14 Rally round us wherever you hear the trumpet sounding, and our God will fight for us.’

4:15 So we went on with the work from break of day till the stars appeared.

4:16 Then I spoke to the people again, ‘Let each man, with his servant, spend the night inside Jerusalem: in this way we can employ the night in watching and the day in working’.

4:17 But none of us, neither myself, my kinsmen, my servants, nor the members of my personal guard, ever took off our clothes; every man kept his weapon to hand.

JB NEHEMIAH Chapter 5

The social problems of Nehemiah. He vindicates his administration

5:1 The ordinary people and their wives began complaining loudly against their brother Jews.

5:2 Some said, ‘We are having to barter our sons and daughters to get enough corn to eat and keep us alive’.

5:3 Others said, ‘We are having to mortgage our fields, our vineyards, our houses to get corn during the famine’.

5:4 Still others said, ‘We have had to borrow money on our fields and our vineyards to pay the king’s tax;

5:5 and though we are of the same flesh as our brothers, and our children as good as theirs, we are having to sell our sons and our daughters into slavery; some of our daughters have even been raped! We can do nothing about it, since our fields and our vineyards are now the property of others.’

5:6 When I heard their complaints and these words I was very angry.

5:7 Having turned the matter over in my mind, I reprimanded the authorities and officials. ‘What a burden you impose,’ I said ‘every one of you on his brother!’ Summoning a great assembly to deal with them,

5:8 I said to them, ‘To the best of our power, we have redeemed our brother Jews who had been sold to foreigners, and now you in turn are selling our brothers for us to redeem them!’ They were silent and could find nothing to say.

5:9 ‘What you are doing’ I went on ‘is wrong. Do you not want to walk in the fear of our God and escape the sneers of the nations, our enemies?

5:10 I too, my kinsmen, and my servants have lent them money and corn. Let us cancel this debt.

5:11 Return them their fields, their vineyards, their olive groves and their houses forthwith, and remit the debt on the money, corn, wine and oil which you have lent them.’

5:12 ‘We will make restitution,’ they replied ‘we will claim nothing more from them; we will do as you say.’ At once I summoned the priests and made them swear to do as they had promised.

5:13 Then I shook out the lap of my gown with the words, ‘May God do this, and shake out of his house and property any man who does not keep this promise; may he be shaken out like this and left empty!’ And the whole assembly answered, ‘Amen’ and gave praise to Yahweh. And the people kept this promise.

5:14 What is more, from the day the king appointed me governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth to the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes, for twelve years, neither I nor my kinsmen ever ate governor’s bread.[*a]

5:15 Now the former governors, my predecessors, had been a burden on the people, from whom they took forty silver shekels each day as their subsistence allowance, while their servants oppressed the people too. But I, fearing God, never did this.

5:16 And furthermore I worked on this wall all the time, though I owned no land; and my servants also were all employed on the work.

5:17 Leaders and officials to the number of a hundred and fifty ate at my table, not to mention those who came to us from the surrounding nations.

5:18 Every day, one ox, six fine sheep, and poultry, were prepared at my expense; every ten days skins of wine were brought in bulk. But even so, I never claimed the governor’s subsistence allowance, since the people already had burden enough to bear.

5:19 In my favour, my God, remember all I have done for this people.

JB NEHEMIAH Chapter 6

The intrigues of Nehemiah’s enemies. The wall is finished

6:1 When Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab and our other enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall and that not a single gap was left-though at that time I had not fixed the doors to the gates-

6:2 Sanballat and Geshem sent me a message, ‘Come and meet us at Hac-chepirim in the Vale of Ono’. Now they intended some harm to me.

6:3 So I sent messengers to them to say, ‘I am engaged in a great undertaking and so cannot come down. The work would come to a halt if I left it to come down to you.’

6:4 Four times they sent me the same invitation and I made them the same reply.

6:5 The fifth time, with the same purpose in mind, Sanballat sent me his servant bearing an open letter.

6:6 It ran, ‘There is a rumour among the nations, so Gashmu[*a] says, that you and the Jews are thinking of rebelling, which is why you are building the wall; that you yourself are to become their king;

6:7 that you have even briefed prophets in your own interest in Jerusalem to proclaim: “Judah has a king”. These rumours will soon be reaching the king; so you had better come and talk things over with us.’

6:8 To this, however, I replied, ‘As regards what you say, nothing of the sort has occurred; it is a figment of your own imagination’.

6:9 For they were trying to frighten us, thinking, ‘Their hands will tire of the work, and it will never be finished’. But I meanwhile was making my hands even stronger.

6:10 I had been to visit Shemaiah son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel, since he was prevented from coming to me. He said: ‘Let us meet at the Temple of God, in the innermost part of the sanctuary; let us shut the sanctuary doors, for they are coming to kill you, they are coming to kill you tonight’.

6:11 But I retorted, ‘Is a man like me to run away? A man in my position to go into the sanctuary to save his life? I will not go.’

6:12 I realised that God had not sent him to say this, but that he had pronounced this oracle over me because Tobiah was paying him

6:13 to frighten me into doing this, and so committing a sin as a result of which they would have been able to blacken my reputation and ridicule me.

6:14 Remember Tobiah, my God, for what he has done; and Noadiah the prophetess, and the other prophets who tried to frighten me.

6:15 The wall was finished within fifty-two days, on the twenty-fifth of Elul.[*b]

6:16 When all our enemies heard about it, and all the surrounding nations had seen it, they were deeply impressed and acknowledged that this work had been accomplished by the power of our God.

6:17 During this same period several of the authorities of Judah kept sending letter after letter to Tobiah, and letters from Tobiah kept arriving for them;

6:18 for he had many sworn to his interest in Judah, since he was son-in-law to Shecaniah son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam son of Berechiah.

6:19 They even cried up his good deeds in my presence, and they reported what I said back to him. And Tobiah kept on sending letters to frighten me.

JB NEHEMIAH Chapter 7

7:1 When the wall had been rebuilt and I had set the doors in place, keepers were appointed for the gates (besides cantors and Levites).

7:2 I entrusted the administration of Jerusalem to my brother Hanani, and to Hananiah the commander of the citadel, for he was a trustworthy man and God-fearing above the ordinary.

7:3 I said to them, ‘The gates of Jerusalem must not be opened until the sun gets hot; and you are to shut and bar the doors while it is still high; and detail guard pickets from the inhabitants of Jerusalem, some for the lookout posts, and others for duty outside their own houses’.

The repopulation of Jerusalem

7:4 The city was large and spacious but the population was small, and no new families were growing up.

7:5 My God therefore inspired me to assemble the authorities, the officials and the people for the purpose of taking a census by families. I discovered the genealogical register of those who had returned in the first group, and there I found entered:

A list of the first exiles to return

7:6 These are the people of the province who returned from captivity and exile. After being deported by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, they returned to Jerusalem and to Judah, each to his own town.

7:7 They arrived with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum, Baanah. The number of the men of the people of Israel:

7:8 sons of Parosh, two thousand one hundred and seventy-two;

7:9 sons of Shephatiah, three hundred and seventy-two;

7:10 sons of Arah, six hundred and fifty-two;

7:11 sons of Pahath-moab, that is to say sons of Jeshua and Joab, two thousand eight hundred and eighteen;

7:12 sons of Elam, one thousand two hundred and fifty-four;

7:13 sons of Zattu, eight hundred and forty-five;

7:14 sons of Zaccai, seven hundred and sixty;

7:15 sons of Binnui, six hundred and forty-eight;

7:16 sons of Bebai, six hundred and twenty-eight;

7:17 sons of Azgad, two thousand three hundred and twenty-two;

7:18 sons of Adonikam, six hundred and sixty-seven;

7:19 sons of Bigvai, two thousand and sixty-seven;

7:20 sons of Adin, six hundred and fifty-five;

7:21 sons of Ater, that is to say of Hezekiah, ninety-eight;

7:22 sons of Hashum, three hundred and twenty-eight;

7:23 sons of Bezai, three hundred and twenty-four;

7:24 sons of Hariph, one hundred and twelve;

7:25 men of Gibeon, ninety-five;

7:26 men of Bethlehem and Netophah, one hundred and eighty-eight;

7:27 men of Anathoth, one hundred and twenty-eight;

7:28 men of Beth-azmaveth, forty-two;

7:29 men of Kiriath-jearim, Chephirah and Beeroth, seven hundred and forty-three;

7:30 men of Ramah and Geba, six hundred and twenty-one;

7:31 men of Michmas, one hundred and twenty-two;

7:32 men of Bethel and Ai, one hundred and twenty-three;

7:33 men of Nebo, fifty-two;

7:34 sons of another Elam, one thousand two hundred and fifty-four;

7:35 sons of Harim, three hundred and twenty;

7:36 men of Jericho, three hundred and forty-five;

7:37 men of Lod, Hadid and Ono, seven hundred and twenty-one;

7:38 sons of Senaah, three thousand nine hundred and thirty.

7:39 The priests: sons of Jedaiah, that is to say the House of Jeshua, nine hundred and seventy-three;

7:40 sons of Immer, one thousand and fifty-two;

7:41 sons of Pashhur, one thousand two hundred and forty-seven;

7:42 sons of Harim, one thousand and seventeen.

7:43 The Levites: sons of Jeshua, that is to say of Kadmiel, Binnui, Hodiah, seventy-four.

7:44 The cantors: sons of Asaph, one hundred and forty-eight.

7:45 The gatekeepers: sons of Shallum, sons of Ater, sons of Talmon, sons of Akkub, sons of Hatita, sons of Shobai, one hundred and thirty-eight.

7:46 The oblates: sons of Ziha, sons of Hasupha, sons of Tabbaoth,

7:47 sons of Keros, sons of Sia, sons of Padon,

7:48 sons of Lebana, sons of Hagaba, sons of Shalmai,

7:49 sons of Hanan, sons of Giddel, sons of Gahar,

7:50 sons of Reaiah, sons of Rezin, sons of Nekoda,

7:51 sons of Gazzam, sons of Uzza, sons of Paseah,

7:52 sons of Besai, sons of the Meunites, sons of the Nephusites,

7:53 sons of Bakbuk, sons of Hakupha, sons of Harhur,

7:54 sons of Bazlith, sons of Mehida, sons of Harsha,

7:55 sons of Barkos, sons of Sisera, sons of Temah,

7:56 sons of Neziah, sons of Hatipha.

7:57 The sons of Solomon’s slaves: sons of Sotai, sons of Sophereth, sons of Perida,

7:58 sons of Jaala, sons of Darkon, sons of Giddel,

7:59 sons of Shephatiah, sons of Hattil, sons of Pochereth-haz-zebaim, sons of Amon.

7:60 The total of the oblates and the sons of Solomon’s slaves: three hundred and ninety-two.

7:61 The following, who came from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addon and Immer, could not prove that their families and ancestry were of Israelite origin:

7:62 sons of Delaiah, sons of Tobiah, sons of Nekoda: six hundred and forty-two.

7:63 And among the priests: sons of Hobaiah, sons of Hakkoz, sons of Barzillai-who had married one of the daughters of Barzillai, the Gileadite, whose name he adopted.

7:64 These people searched in their ancestral registers but could not be located in them, so they were excluded from the priesthood as unclean,

7:65 and His Excellency forbade them to eat the sacred foods until a priest could be found for the Urim and Thummim.

7:66 The whole assembly numbered forty-two thousand three hundred and sixty people,

7:67 not counting their slaves and maidservants to the number of seven thousand three hundred and thirty-seven. They also had two hundred and forty-five male and female singers.

7:68 They had (seven hundred and thirty-six horses, two hundred and forty-five mules) four hundred and thirty-five camels and six thousand seven hundred and twenty donkeys.

7:69 A certain number of heads of families gave offerings for the building. His Excellency contributed one thousand gold drachmas, fifty bowls, thirty priestly robes and five hundred (silver minas) to the fund.

7:70 And heads of families gave twenty thousand gold drachmas and two thousand two hundred silver minas to the building fund.

7:71 The gifts made by the rest of the people amounted to twenty thousand gold drachmas, two thousand silver minas, and sixty-seven priestly robes.

7:72a The priests, Levites and part of the people settled in Jerusalem; the gatekeepers, cantors, oblates and all the other Israelites, in their own towns.

Judaism is born. Ezra reads the Law. The feast of Tabernacles

7:72b When the seventh month came,

JB NEHEMIAH Chapter 8

8:1 all the people gathered as one man on the square before the Water Gate. They asked Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses which Yahweh had prescribed for Israel.

8:2 Accordingly Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, consisting of men, women, and children old enough to understand. This was the first day of the seventh month.

8:3 On the square before the Water Gate, in the presence of the men and women, and children old enough to understand, he read from the book from early morning till noon; all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law.

8:4 Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden dais erected for the purpose; beside him stood, on his right, Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah and Maaseiah; on his left, Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam.

8:5 In full view of all the people-since he stood higher than all the people-Ezra opened the book; and when he opened it all the people stood up.

8:6 Then Ezra blessed Yahweh, the great God, and all the people raised their hands and answered, ‘Amen! Amen!’; then they bowed down and, face to the ground, prostrated themselves before Yahweh.

8:7 (Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabab, Hanan, Pelaiah, who were Levites, explained the Law to the people while the people remained standing.)

8:8 And Ezra read from the Law of God, translating and giving the sense, so that the people understood what was read.

8:9 Then (Nehemiah-His Excellency-and) Ezra, priest and scribe (and the Levites who were instructing the people) said to all the people, ‘This day is sacred to Yahweh your God. Do not be mournful, do not weep.’ For the people were all in tears as they listened to the words of the Law.

8:10 He then said, ‘Go, eat the fat, drink the sweet wine, and send a portion to the man who has nothing prepared ready. For this day is sacred to our Lord. Do not be sad: the joy of Yahweh is your stronghold.’

8:11 And the Levites calmed all the people, saying, ‘Be at ease; this is a sacred day. Do not be sad.’

8:12 And all the people went off to eat and drink and give shares away and begin to enjoy themselves since they had understood the meaning of what had been proclaimed to them.

8:13 On the second day the heads of families of the whole people, and the priests and Levites, gathered round Ezra the scribe to study the words of the Law.

8:14 And written in the Law that Yahweh had prescribed through Moses they found this, ‘The sons of Israel are to live in shelters during the feast of the seventh month’.

8:15 As soon as they heard this, they issued a proclamation in all their towns and in Jerusalem: ‘Go into the hills and bring branches of olive, pine, myrtle, palm and other leafy trees to make shelters, as it says in the book’.

8:16 The people went; they brought back branches and made themselves shelters, each man on his own roof, in their courtyards, in the precincts of the Temple of God, on the square of the Water Gate and the square of the Gate of Ephraim.

8:17 The whole assembly, all who had returned from captivity, put up shelters and lived in them; the sons of Israel had never done such a thing from the days of Joshua son of Nun till the present.[*a] And there was great merrymaking.

8:18 Each day, from the first day to the last, Ezra read from the Book of the Law of God. They celebrated the feast for seven days; on the eighth day, as prescribed, there was a solemn assembly.

JB NEHEMIAH Chapter 9

The ceremony of atonement

9:1 On the twenty-fourth day of this month the Israelites, in sackcloth and with dust on their heads, assembled for a fast.

9:2 Those of Israelite stock separated themselves from all those of foreign origin; they stood confessing their sins and the transgressions of their ancestors.

9:3 (Standing, each man in his right position, they read from the Book of the Law of Yahweh their God for one quarter of the day; for another quarter they confessed their sins and prostrated themselves before Yahweh their God.)[*a]

9:4 (On the Levites’ platform stood Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani and Chenani, calling loudly to Yahweh their God;

9:5 and the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah and Pethahiah said, ‘Arise and bless Yahweh our God’.) Blessed be you, Yahweh our God, from everlasting to everlasting. And blessed be your name of glory that surpasses all blessing and praise.

9:6 Yahweh, you are the only one. You made the heavens, the heaven of heavens, with all their array, the earth and all it bears, the seas and all they hold. To all of these you give life and the array of the heavens bows down before you.

9:7 Yahweh, you are the God who chose Abram, brought him out from Ur in Chaldaea, and gave him the name of Abraham.

9:8 Finding him faithful of heart before you, you made a covenant with him, to give him the land of the Canaanite, of the Hittite and Amorite, of the Perizzite, Jebusite, Girgashite, to him and his posterity. And you kept your promise because you are just.

9:9 You saw the distress of our fathers in Egypt, you heard their cry by the Sea of Reeds.

9:10 You worked portents and miracles against Pharaoh, against his servants and all the people of his land; for you knew how they treated them with arrogance. You won a reputation which you keep to this day.

9:11 You divided the sea in front of them: they passed through the deep sea dry-shod. Into the depths you hurled their pursuers like a stone into rushing waters.

9:12 With a pillar of cloud you led them by day, with a pillar of fire by night: to light the way ahead of them by which they should go.

9:13 You came down on Mount Sinai and spoke with them from heaven; you gave them ordinances that are just, laws that are sure, good statutes and commandments;

9:14 you taught them to know your holy sabbath, laid down for them commandments (statutes) and Law through Moses your servant.

9:15 For their hunger you gave them bread from heaven, for their thirst you brought them water spurting from the rock. You bade them go in and take possession of the land that you had sworn to give to them.

9:16 But our fathers grew proud, were obstinate, and flouted your commands.

9:17 They refused to obey, forgetful of the wonders that you had worked for them; they became obstinate, they even thought of going back to Egypt and their slavery. But you are a God of forgiveness, gracious and loving, slow to anger, abounding in goodness, you did not forsake them.

9:18 When they cast themselves a calf out of molten metal and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up from Egypt’ (and were guilty of grave blasphemies),

9:19 you, so greatly loving, still did not forsake them in the wilderness: the pillar of cloud did not leave them that led them on their path by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, to light the way ahead of them by which they should go.

9:20 You gave them your good spirit to make them wise, you did not withhold your manna from their mouths, you gave them water for their thirst.

9:21 Forty years you cared for them in the wilderness: they went short of nothing, their clothes did not wear out, their feet were not swollen.

9:22 You gave to them kingdoms and peoples, allotted them these as frontier regions; they occupied the land of Sihon king of Heshbon, and of Og king of Bashan.

9:23 You multiplied their sons as the stars of heaven and led them to the land that you had told their fathers to enter and possess.

9:24 The sons invaded and conquered the land, and before them you humbled the land’s inhabitants, the Canaanites, whom you gave into their hands; with their kings and the population of that country, to be treated just as they pleased;

9:25 they captured fortified towns and a fertile countryside, took possession of houses stocked with all kinds of goods, of cisterns ready-hewn, of vineyards and olive groves, of fruit trees in profusion; they ate, ate their fill, regaling themselves on the good things you lavished on them.

9:26 But, disobedient as they were and rebellious towards you, they thrust the Law behind their backs, they killed the prophets who admonished them to bring them back to you (and were guilty of grave blasphemies).

9:27 So you delivered them into the hands of their oppressors who oppressed them. In the days of their oppression they cried to you, and from heaven you heard them and, greatly loving, you granted them saviours who freed them from the hands of their oppressors.

9:28 But, once at peace, again they did wrong before you and you gave them over to the hands of their enemies who treated them tyrannically. And once more they cried to you and from heaven you heard them: how often are you, so loving, to deliver them?

9:29 You admonished them to bring them back to your Law; but they grew proud, they did not obey your commandments, they sinned against your ordinances in which a man finds life if he observes them; they shrugged their shoulders, they were obstinate, they would not obey.

9:30 You were patient with them for many years; you admonished them by your spirit through your prophets, but they would not listen. You delivered them then into the hands of the natives of the countries.

9:31 But, greatly loving, you did not make an end of them, you did not forsake them, for you are a gracious and a loving God.

9:32 Now therefore, our God, great and mighty God who must be feared, maintaining your covenant and your kindness, count as no small thing this misery that has happened to us, our kings, our leaders, our priests, our prophets, and all your people from the time of the kings of Assyria to the present day.

9:33 You have been just in all that has happened to us, for you have shown your faithfulness, we our wickedness:

9:34 our kings, our leaders, our priests and our fathers have not kept your Law, they have been unmindful of your commandments and the warnings that you gave them.

9:35 While they were in their kingdom with the good things you lavished on them, in the wide and fertile land that you had set before them, they did not renounce their evil deeds.

9:36 Here are we now, enslaved; here in the land you gave our fathers to enjoy its fruits and its good things, we are slaves.

9:37 Its rich fruits swell the profit of the kings whom for our sins you have set over us, who dispose as they please of our bodies and our cattle. Such the distress we endure!

JB NEHEMIAH Chapter 10

A record of the promises made by the community[*a]

10:1 …As a result of all this we make a firm agreement, in writing. Our leaders, our Levites, and our priests have put their names to the document under seal…

10:2 On the sealed document were the names of: Nehemiah son of Hacaliah, and Zedekiah,

10:3 Seraiah, Azariah, Jeremiah,

10:4 Pashhur, Amariah, Malchijah,

10:5 Hattush, Shebaniah, Malluch,

10:6 Harim, Meremoth, Obadiah,

10:7 Daniel, Ginnethon, Baruch,

10:8 Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin,

10:9 Maaziah, Bilgai, Shemaiah: these are the priests.

10:10 Then the Levites: Jeshua son of Azaniah, Binnui of the sons of Henadad, Kadmiel,

10:11 and their kinsmen Shebaniah, Hodaviah, Kelita, Pelaiah, Hanan,

10:12 Mica, Rehob, Hashabiah,

10:13 Zaccur, Sherebiah, Shebaniah,

10:14 Hodiah, Bani, Chenani.

10:15 The leaders of the people: Parosh, Pahath-moab, Elam, Zattu, Bani,

10:16 Bunni, Azgad, Bebai,

10:17 Adonijah, Bigvai, Adin,

10:18 Ater, Hezekiah, Azzur,

10:19 Hodiah, Hashum, Bezai,

10:20 Hariph, Anathoth, Nebai,

10:21 Magpiash, Meshullam, Hezir,

10:22 Meshezabel, Zadok, Jaddua,

10:23 Pelatiah, Hanan, Anaiah,

10:24 Hoshea, Hananiah, Hasshub,

10:25 Hallohesh, Pilha, Shobek,

10:26 Rehum, Hashabnah, Maaseiah,

10:27 Ahiah, Hanan, Anan,

10:28 Malluch, Harim, Baanah.

10:29 …but also the rest of the people, priests and Levites-gatekeepers, cantors, oblates-in short, all who have broken with the natives of the countries to adhere to the Law of God; as also their wives, sons and daughters, all those who are old enough to understand,

10:30 join with their kinsmen and leaders and undertake, under curse and oath, to walk according to the Law of God given through Moses, the servant of God, and to observe and practise all the commandments of Yahweh our Lord, his customs and his laws.

10:31 In particular: we will not give our daughters to the natives of the land nor take their daughters for our sons.

10:32 If the natives of the land bring goods or any foodstuff whatever to sell on the sabbath day, we will buy nothing from them on sabbath or holy day. We will forego the fruits of the soil in the seventh year, and all debts.

10:33 We recognise the following obligations: to give one third of a shekel yearly for the liturgical requirements of the Temple of our God:

10:34 for the loaves set out, for the perpetual oblation, for the perpetual holocaust, for the sacrifices on sabbaths, on New Moon feasts and on solemnities, for sacred foods, for sacrifices for sin to atone for Israel; in short, for all the services of the Temple of our God;

10:36 and further, to bring yearly to the Temple of our God the first-fruits of our soil and the first-fruits of every fruit of every tree,

10:37 also the first-born of our sons and of our cattle, as is written in the Law-those first-born of our herds and flocks taken to the Temple of our God being intended for the priests officiating in the Temple of our God.

10:38 Furthermore, we will bring to the priests, to the chambers of the Temple of our God, the best of our meal, the fruit of every tree, new wine and oil; and to the Levites the tithe on our soil-the Levites themselves will collect the tithes from all our agricultural towns;

10:39 a priest, a son of Aaron, is to accompany the Levites when they collect the tithes, and the Levites will pay a tenth part of the tithes into the Temple of our God, into the treasury offices;

10:40ab since these rooms are where the Israelites and the Levites bring the contributions of corn, wine and oil, and where the supplies are kept for the sanctuary, the officiating priests, the gatekeepers and cantors.

10:35 Furthermore, as regards deliveries of wood for burning on the altar of our God as is written in the Law, we have arranged, by drawing lots among the priests, Levites and people, that these deliveries are to be made at the Temple of our God by each family in turn at stated times every year.

10:40c We will no longer neglect the Temple of our God.

JB NEHEMIAH Chapter 11

The repopulation policy of Nehemiah. Various lists

11:1 …Then the leaders of the people settled in Jerusalem. The rest of the people drew lots: one man in ten was to come and live in Jerusalem, the holy city, while the remaining nine were to stay in their towns.

11:2 And the people blessed all those who volunteered to live in Jerusalem.

11:3 These are the provincial leaders who settled in Jerusalem-and those who settled in the towns of Judah. So Israel, the priests, the Levites, the oblates and the sons of Solomon’s slaves, made their homes in their appropriate towns, each man on his own property.

The Jewish population in Jerusalem

11:4 In Jerusalem there lived some of the sons of Judah and some of the sons of Benjamin. Of the sons of Judah: Athaiah son of Uzziah, son of Zechariah, son of Amariah, son of Shephatiah, son of Mehalalel, of the descendants of Perez;

11:5 Maaseiah son of Baruch, son of Col-hozeh, son of Hazaiah, son of Adaiah, son of Joiarib, son of Zechariah, descendant of Shelah.

11:6 The total number of the descendants of Perez living in Jerusalem was four hundred and sixty-eight adult men.

11:7 These are the sons of Benjamin: Sallu son of Meshullam, son of Joed, son of Pedaiah, son of Kolaiah, son of Maaseiah, son of Ithiel, son of Jeshaiah,

11:8 and his kinsmen, adult men: nine hundred and twenty-eight.

11:9 Joel son of Zichri was in charge of them, and Judah son of Hassenuah was second in command of the city.

11:10 Of the priests: Jedaiah son of Joiakim, son of

11:11 Seraiah, son of Hilkiah, son of Meshullam, son of Zadok, son of Meraioth, son of Ahitub, prefect of the Temple of God,

11:12 and his kinsmen who were responsible for the Temple liturgy: eight hundred and twenty-two; Adaiah son of Jeroham, son of Pelaliah, son of Amzi, son of Zechariah, son of Pashhur, son of Malchijah,

11:13 and his kinsmen, heads of families: two hundred and forty-two; and Amashai son of Azarel, son of Ahzai, son of Meshillemoth, son of Immer,

11:14 and his kinsmen, adult men: one hundred and twenty-eight. Zabdiel son of Haggadol was in charge of them.

11:15 Of the Levites: Shemaiah son of Hasshub, son of Azrikam, son of Hashabiah, son of Bunni;

11:16 Shabbethai and Jozabad, the levitical leaders responsible for the outside work of the Temple of God;

11:17 Mattaniah son of Mica, son of Zabdi, son of Asaph, who directed the hymns and, at prayer, intoned the thanksgiving; Bakbukiah, the second in rank among his kinsmen; Obadiah son of Shammua, son of Galal, son of Jeduthun.

11:18 The total number of Levites in the holy city: two hundred and eighty-four.

11:19 The gatekeepers: Akkub, Talmon and their kinsmen, who kept watch at the gates: one hundred and seventy-two.

Supplementary notes

11:21 The oblates lived at Ophel; Ziha and Gishpa were in charge of the oblates.

11:22 The head of the Levites in Jerusalem was Uzzi son of Bani, son of Hashabiah, son of Mattaniah, son of Mica; he belonged to the sons of Asaph who were responsible for the chanted parts of the liturgy in the Temple of God;

11:23 there was a royal decree relating to the cantors, embodying regulations for their attendance day by day.

11:24 Pethahiah son of Meshezabel, belonging to the sons of Zerah son of Judah, was the king’s commissioner for all such matters as concerned the people.

11:20 The rest of the Israelites, priests and Levites made their homes throughout the towns of Judah, each man in his own inheritance,

11:25 and in the hamlets situated in rural districts of their own.

The Jewish population outside Jerusalem

Some of the sons of Judah made their homes in Kiriath-arba and its outlying villages, in Dibon and its outlying villages, in Jekabzeel and its outlying hamlets,

11:26 in Jeshua, Moladah, Beth-pelet,

11:27 Hazar-shual, in Beersheba and its villages,

11:28 in Ziklag, in Meconah and its villages,

11:29 in Enrimmon, Zorah, Jarmuth,

11:30 Zanoah, Adullam and their hamlets, Lachish and its countryside, Azekah and its villages: thus, they settled from Beersheba as far as the Valley of Hinnom.

11:31 Some of the sons of Benjamin made their homes in Geba, Michmash, Aija, in Bethel and its villages,

11:32 Anathoth, Nob, Ananiah,

11:33 Hazor, Ramah, Gittaim,

11:34 Hadid, Zeboim, Neballat,

11:35 Lod and Ono, and the Valley of the Craftsmen.

11:36 Some groups of Levites settled in Judah as well as in Benjamin.

JB NEHEMIAH Chapter 12

Priests and Levites who returned under Zerubbabel and Jeshua

12:1 These are the priests and the Levites who came back with Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua:

Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra,

12:2 Amariah, Malluch, Hattush,

12:3 Shecaniah, Harim, Meremoth,

12:4 Iddo, Ginnethoi, Abijah,

12:5 Mijamin, Maadiah, Bilgah,

12:6 Shemaiah; also: Joiarib, Jedaiah,

12:7a Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah, Jedaiah.

12:8 And the Levites: Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, Mattaniah-this last, with his kinsmen, directed the hymns of thanksgiving

12:9 while Bakbukiah, Unno and their kinsmen in their respective orders formed an alternate choir.

12:7b These were the heads of the priests and of their kinsmen in the days of Jeshua.

Genealogical list of high priests

12:10 Jeshua was the father of Joiakim, Joiakim father of Eliashib, Eliashib father of Joiada,

12:11 Joiada father of Johanan, and Johanan father of Jaddua.

Priests and Levites in the time of the High Priest Joiakim

12:12 In the days of Joiakim the heads of the priestly families were: family of Seraiah, Meraiah; of Jeremiah, Hananiah;

12:13 of Ezra, Meshullam; of Amariah, Jehohanan;

12:14 of Malluchi, Jonathan; of Shebaniah, Joseph;

12:15 of Harim, Adna; of Meremoth, Helkai;

12:16 of Iddo, Zechariah; of Ginnethon, Meshullam;

12:17 of Abijah, Zichri; of Miniamin, …; of Moadiah, Piltai;

12:18 of Bilgah, Shammua; of Shemaiah, Jehonathan;

12:19 also: of Joiarib, Mattenai; of Jedaiah, Uzzi;

12:20 of Sallai, Kallai; of Amok, Eber;

12:21 of Hilkiah, Hashabiah; of Jedaiah, Nethanel.

12:22 In the days of Eliashib, Joiada, Johanan and Jaddua, the heads of the priestly families had been recorded in the Book of the Chronicles[*a] up to the reign of Darius the Persian.

12:23 The sons of Levi. The heads of families were recorded in the Book of the Chronicles, but only up to the time of Johanan, grandson of Eliashib.

12:24 The heads of the Levites: Hashabiah, Sherebiah, Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel; and their kinsmen forming an alternate choir for the hymns of praise and thanksgiving, in accordance with the ordinances of David the man of God, in corresponding groups,

12:25 these were: Mattaniah, Bakbukiah and Obadiah. The gatekeepers, Meshullam, Talmon and Akkub stood guard at the storehouses near the gates.

12:26 These lived in the days of Joiakim son of Jeshua, son of Jozadak, and in the days of Nehemiah the governor and of Ezra, priest and scribe.

The dedication of the wall of Jerusalem

12:27 At the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem the Levites were sent for, wherever they lived, to come to Jerusalem: the dedication was to be celebrated joyfully with songs of thanksgiving, with cymbal, lute and lyre.

12:28 Accordingly the cantors, sons of Levi, assembled from the countryside round Jerusalem, from the villages of the Netophathites,

12:29 from Beth-gilgal, from the districts of Geba and Azmaveth; since the cantors had built themselves villages all round Jerusalem.

12:30 And the priests and Levites purified themselves, then purified the people, the gates and the wall.

12:31 I then made the leaders of Judah come on to the top of the wall, and organized two great choirs. The first made its way along the top of the wall, right-handed, towards the Dung Gate;

12:32 bringing up the rear were Hoshaiah and half the leaders of Judah,

12:33 and also Azariah, Ezra, Meshullam,

12:34 Judah, Mijamin, Shemaiah and Jeremiah,

12:35 selected from the priests and carrying trumpets; then Zechariah son of Jonathan, son of Shemaiah, son of Mattaniah, son of Micaiah, son of Zaccur, son of Asaph,

12:36 with his kinsmen, Shemaiah, Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, Judah, Hanani, carrying the musical instruments of David the man of God. And Ezra the scribe walked at their head.

12:37 At the Fountain Gate they went straight on up, near the steps of the Citadel of David, along the top of the wall and along the ascent of the Palace of David as far as the Water Gate, on the east.

12:38 The second choir made its way left-handed; I followed it, with half the leaders of the people, along the top of the wall, above the Tower of the Furnaces and as far as the wall of the Square,

12:39 then over the Gate of Ephraim, the Fish Gate, the Tower of Hananel, as far as the Sheep Gate; they came to a halt at the Watch Gate.

12:40 The two choirs then took their places in the Temple of God. I had half of the officials with me,

12:41 as well as the priests, Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, Hananiah, carrying trumpets,

12:42 also Maaseiah, Shemaiah, Eleazar, Uzzi, Jehohanan, Malchijah, Elam and Ezer. The cantors sang under the direction of Jezrahiah.

12:43 There were great sacrifices offered that day and the people rejoiced, God having given them good cause for rejoicing; the women and children rejoiced too, and the joy of Jerusalem could be heard from far away.

A golden age

12:44 For the chambers intended for the stores, contributions, first-fruits and tithes, supervisors were then appointed whose business it would be to collect in them those portions from the town lands awarded by the Law to the priests and Levites. For Judah rejoiced in the officiating priests and Levites.

12:45 lt was they who performed the liturgy of their God and the duties of purification-and the cantors and gatekeepers too-in accordance with the ordinances of David and his son Solomon.

12:46 For from ancient times, from the days of David and Asaph, there had been guilds of cantors and canticles of praise and thanksgiving to God.

12:47 And so, in the days of Zerubbabel and in the days of Nehemiah, the whole of Israel used to give the cantors and gatekeepers their due portion for each day. They set aside for the Levites their sacred dues, and the Levites would set theirs aside for the sons of Aaron.

JB NEHEMIAH Chapter 13

13:1 At that time they were reading from the Book of Moses to the people, when they found this written in it, ‘The Ammonite and the Moabite shall never be admitted to the assembly of God,

13:2 since they did not come to meet the sons of Israel with bread and water. They hired Balaam against them to curse them,[*a] but our God turned the curse into a blessing.’

13:3 As soon as the people had heard the Law they excluded all of foreign descent from Israel.

The second mission of Nehemiah

13:4 Now before this, Eliashib the priest had been appointed supervisor of the chambers of the Temple of our God. A connection of Tobiah’s,

13:5 he had furnished a spacious chamber for him where the oblations, incense, utensils, tithes of corn, wine and oil had previously been kept, that is to say the portions of the Levites, cantors and gatekeepers, and what was set aside for the priests.

13:6 While all this was going on I was away from Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon [*b] I had gone to see the king. But after some time I asked the king for permission to leave,

13:7 and returned to Jerusalem. It was then that I heard the wicked thing that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, furnishing a chamber for him inside the court of the Temple of God.

13:8 This made me very angry. I threw all Tobiah’s household furniture out of the chamber,

13:9 gave orders for the chambers to be purified, and had the utensils of the Temple of God, the oblations and the incense, all put back.

13:10 I also discovered that the portions of the Levites were not being delivered and that they, the Levites and the cantors responsible for the liturgy, had all gone off home to their fields.

13:11 I reprimanded the officials. ‘Why is the Temple of God deserted?’ I asked. And I collected them together again and sent them back to their duties.

13:12 Then the whole of Judah brought the tithe of corn, wine and oil to the storehouses.

13:13 As supervisors of the storehouses I appointed Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, Pedaiah one of the Levites and, as their assistants, Hanan son of Zaccur, son of Mattaniah, since they were considered reliable; their duty was to make the distributions to their kinsmen.

13:14 Remember me for this, my God; do not blot out the pious deed I have done for the Temple of my God and for its liturgy.

13:15 In those days I saw people in Judah treading winepresses on the sabbath, and others taking sheaves of corn and loading them on donkeys with wine, grapes, figs and every kind of load which they meant to bring into Jerusalem on the sabbath day. I warned them not to sell the foodstuffs.

13:16 In Jerusalem itself, Tyrians who lived in the city were bringing in fish and every sort of merchandise to sell them on the sabbath day.

13:17 I reprimanded the authorities of Judah, ‘What a wicked way to behave, profaning the sabbath day!

13:18 Did not your ancestors do just this, with the result that our God brought all this misery on us and on this city? Do you want to bring fresh wrath on Israel, by profaning the sabbath?’

13:19 So just before the sabbath[*c] as the shadows were falling on the gates of Jerusalem, I gave orders for the doors to be shut, and said, ‘Do not open them again until the sabbath is over’. I stationed a few of my servants at the gates to see that no load was brought in on the sabbath day.

13:20 Once or twice merchants and traders in goods of all kinds spent the night outside Jerusalem,

13:21 but I gave them this warning, ‘Why are you spending the night by the wall? Do it again, and I will punish you.’ After that, they did not come on the sabbath any more.

13:22 I ordered the Levites to purify themselves and to come and supervise the gates, so that the sabbath day might be kept holy. For this too remember me, my God, and as your mercy is great, so pity me.

13:23 At that time I again saw Jews who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon and Moab.

13:24 As regards their children, half of them spoke the language of Ashdod[*d] or the language of one of the other peoples, but could not speak the language of Judah.

13:25 I reprimanded them and called down curses on them; I struck several of them and tore out their hair and made them swear by God, ‘You shall not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters either for your sons or for yourselves.

13:26 Is this not how Solomon king of Israel sinned? Among all the nations there was never a king like him; he was loved by his God; God made him king of all Israel; and yet for him, foreign women were causes of sin.

13:27 Must we then hear it said that you too are committing this grave crime: playing traitor to our God by marrying foreign women?’

13:28 One of the sons of Jehoiada, son of the high priest Eliashib, was son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite, and I expelled him from my presence.

13:29 Remember these, O my God, for the degradation they have brought on the priesthood and on the covenant of the priests and Levites.

13:30 And so I purged them of everything foreign; I drew up regulations for the priests and Levites defining each man’s duty,

13:31 and regulations for the deliveries of wood at stated times, and for the first-fruits. Remember me, my God, for my happiness.

END OF JB NEHEMIAH [13 Chapters].

NAHUM

JB NAHUM Chapter 1

1:1 Oracle on Nineveh. Book of the vision of Nahum of Elkosh.

PRELUDE

Psalm. The wrath of Yahweh

Aleph

1:2 Yahweh is a jealous and vengeful God, Yahweh avenges, he is full of wrath; Yahweh takes vengeance on his foes, he stores up fury for his enemies.

1:3 Yahweh is slow to anger but immense in power. Most surely Yahweh will not leave the guilty unpunished.

Beth

In storm and whirlwind he takes his way, the clouds are the dust stirred up by his feet.

Ghimel

1:4 He rebukes the sea and drains it, he dries up all the rivers.

Daleth

… Bashan and Carmel wither, the green of Lebanon fades.

He

1:5 The mountains tremble before him, the hills reel;

Waw

the earth collapses before him, the world and all who live in it.

Zain

1:6 His fury – who can withstand it? Who can endure his burning wrath?

Heth

His anger pours out like fire and the rocks break to pieces before him.

Teth

1:7 Yahweh is good; he is a stronghold in the day of distress;

Yod

he calls to mind those who trust in him

1:8 when the flood overtakes them.

Kaph

Those who defy him he will destroy utterly, he will pursue his foes into the darkness.

Prophecies addressed alternately to Judah and Nineveh

to Judah

1:9 How do you imagine Yahweh? He it is who utterly destroys: oppression will not lift its head a second time.

1:10 They will be consumed like a thicket of thorns, like dry straw, utterly.

to Assyria

1:11 From you has sprung one who plots evil against Yahweh, a man with the mind of Belial.[*a]

to Judah

1:12 Yahweh says this: Equipped and many though they be, they are going to be cut down, annihilated. Though I have disciplined you, I will discipline you no more.

1:13 And now I am going to break that yoke of his that weighs you down, and I will burst your chains.

to the king of Nineveh

1:14 For you, here is Yahweh’s decree: There will be no more offspring to bear your name; from the temple of your gods I mean to take away the carved and the cast image, and I intend to make your tomb an object of shame.

JB NAHUM Chapter 2

to Judah

2:1 See, over the mountains the messenger hurries! ‘Peace!’ he proclaims. Judah, celebrate your feasts, carry out your vows, for Belial will never pass through you again; he is utterly annihilated.

2:3 Yes, Yahweh is restoring the vineyard of Jacob and the vineyard of Israel. For the plunderers had plundered them, they had broken off their branches.

THE FALL OF NINEVEH

The assault

2:2 A destroyer advances against you. Mount guard on the rampart, watch the road, tuck up your cloaks; muster all your forces.

2:4 The shields of his fighting men show red, his warriors are dressed in scarlet; all the steel of the chariots flashes as they are thrown into battle; the horsemen are impatient for action;

2:5 the chariots storm through the streets, they hurtle across the squares; they look like blazing flames, like lightning they dash to and fro.

2:6 The picked troops are called out; the columns clash, they hurl themselves against the rampart, the mantelet is already in place.

2:7 The gates that give on the river are opened, in the palace all is panic.

2:8 The Lady[*a] is carried off, taken into exile, her handmaids raise the dirge, with sighs like the moaning of doves, and beat their breasts.

2:9 Nineveh is like a pool whose waters are draining away. ‘Stop! Stop!’ But no one turns back.

2:10 ‘Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold!’ There are endless treasures, tons of valuables.

2:11 Raid and ravage and ruin! Heart fails and knees give way, fear is in the loins of all and every face grows pale.

The Lion of Assyria threatened

2:12 Where is the lions’ den, the cave of the lion’s whelps? When the lion made his foray the lioness stayed behind, the lion’s cubs too; and no one molested them.

2:13 The lion clawed enough for his whelps, and tore up prey for his lionesses; he filled his caves with his spoil, and his dens with the prey.

2:14 I am here! Look to yourself! – It is Yahweh Sabaoth who speaks. I mean to send your chariots up in smoke; the sword shall devour your lion’s whelps. I will wipe the earth clean of your plunder, the voice of your envoys shall be heard no more.

JB NAHUM Chapter 3

Nineveh threatened for its crimes

3:1 Woe to the city soaked in blood, full of lies, stuffed with booty, whose plunderings know no end!

3:2 The crack of the whip! The rumble of wheels! Galloping horse, jolting chariot,

3:3 charging cavalry, flash of swords, gleam of spears… a mass of wounded, hosts of dead, countless corpses; they stumble over the dead.

3:4 So much for all the whore’s debauchery, for that wonderful beauty, for that cunning witch who enslaved nations by her debauchery and tribes by her spells.

3:5 I am here! Look to yourself! It is Yahweh Sabaoth who speaks. I mean to lift your skirts as high as your face and show your nakedness to nations, your shame to kingdoms.

3:6 I am going to pelt you with filth, shame you, make you a public show.

3:7 And all who look on you will turn their backs on you and say, ‘Nineveh is a ruin’. Could anyone pity her? Where can I find anyone to comfort her?

The lesson of Thebes

3:8 Are you mightier than No-amon[* ]who had her throne beside the river, who had the sea for outer wall, the waters for rampart?

3:9 Her strength was Ethiopia, Egypt too; she had no boundaries. Men of Put and the Libyans were her auxiliaries.

3:10 And yet she was forced into exile, she went into captivity; her little ones, too, were dashed to pieces at every crossroad; lots were drawn for her nobles, all her great men were loaded with chains.

3:11 You too will be encircled, you will be overwhelmed; you too will have to search for a refuge from the enemy.

Nineveh’s preparations useless

3:12 Your fortresses are all fig trees laden with early-ripening figs: shake, and they fall into any mouth that wants to eat them.

3:13 Look at your people: your inhabitants are women. The gates of your country stand wide open to the foe; fire has burnt up your locking beams.

3:14 Draw water for the siege, strengthen your bulwarks, tread the mud, tread down the clay, set your hand to the brick mould.

3:15 There the fire will burn you up, the sword will cut you down.

The locusts fly away

Increase like the locust, increase like the grasshopper;

3:16a multiply your traders to exceed the stars of heaven;

3:17a your guards are like grasshoppers, your scribes like a cloud of insects. They settle on the walls when the day is cold. The sun appears,

3:16b and the locusts spread their wings; they fly away,

3:17b they are gone, no one knows where.

A funeral lament

Alas!

3:18 Are your shepherds asleep, then, king of Assyria? Your picked troops slumber, your people are scattered on the mountains with no one to rally them.

3:19 There is no remedy for your wound, your injury is past healing. All who hear the news of you clap their hands at your downfall. For who has not felt your unrelenting cruelty?

END OF JB NAHUM [3 Chapters].

MICAH

JB MICAH Chapter 1

1:1 The word of Yahweh that was addressed to Micah of Moresheth in the time of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. His visions of Samaria and Jerusalem.

I. ISRAEL ON TRIAL

THREAT AND CONDEMNATION

The judgement of Samaria[*a]

1:2 Listen, you peoples, all of you. Attend, earth, and everything in it. Yahweh is going to give evidence against you, the Lord, as he sets out from his sacred palace.

1:3 For look, Yahweh sets out from his holy place, he comes down, he treads the heights of earth.

1:4 The mountains melt as he goes, the valleys are torn apart, like wax before the fire, like water poured out on a steep place.

1:5 All this is because of the crime of Jacob, the sin of the House of Israel. What is the crime of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? What is the sin of the House of Judah? Is it not Jerusalem?

1:6 I mean to make Samaria a ruin in the open country, a place where vines will be planted.

I will set her stones rolling into the valley, I will lay her foundations bare.

1:7 All her images are going to be shattered, all her earnings consumed by fire, all her idols broken in pieces, for they have been collected with prostitutes’ earnings and prostitutes’ earnings they will be again.

Lament for the lowland Cities[*b]

1:8 This why is why I am going to mourn and lament, go barefoot and naked, howl like the jackals, wail like the ostriches.

1:9 For there is no healing for the blow Yahweh strikes; it reaches into Judah, it knocks at the very door of my people, reaches even into Jerusalem.

1:10 Do not announce it in Gath,[*c] in… shed no tears. In Beth-leaphrah roll in the dust.

1:11 Sound the horn, you who live in Shaphir. She has not left her city, she who lives in Zaanan. Beth-ezel is torn from its foundations, from its strong supports.

1:12 What hope has she of happiness, she who lives in Maroth? For doom has come down from Yahweh to the very gate of Jerusalem.

1:13 Harness the horse to the chariot, you who live in Lachish. (This was the beginning of sin for the daughter of Zion, for Israel’s crimes were to be found in you.)

1:14 So you must provide a dowry for Moresheth-gath. Beth-achzib will prove a snare for the kings of Israel.

1:15 The plunderer will come to you again, you who live in Mareshah . . . to Adullam will go the glory of Israel.

1:16 Off with your hair, shave your head, for the sons that were your joy. Make yourselves bald like the vulture, for they have gone from you into exile.

JB MICAH Chapter 2

Against the tyranny of the rich

2:1 Woe to those who plot evil, who lie in bed planning mischief! No sooner is it dawn than they do it – their hands have the strength for it.

2:2 Seizing the fields that they covet, they take over houses as well, owner and house they confiscate together, taking both man and inheritance.

2:3 So Yahweh says this: Now it is I who plot such mischief against this breed as your necks will not escape; nor will you be able to walk proudly, so evil will the time be.

2:4 On that day they will make a satire on you, sing a dirge and say, ‘We are stripped of everything; my people’s portion is measured out and shared, no one will give it back to them, our fields are awarded to our despoiler’.

2:5 Therefore you will have no one to measure out a share in the community of Yahweh.

The prophet of misfortune

2:6 ‘Do not rave,’ they rave ‘do not rave like this. No shame is going to overtake us.

2:7 Can the House of Jacob be accursed? Has Yahweh lost patience? Is that his way of going to work? Surely his words are words of kindness for his people Israel?’

2:8 It is you who play the enemy to my people. From the innocent man you snatch his cloak on the man who thinks himself safe you inflict the damage of war.

2:9 The women of my people you drive out from the homes they loved; their children you rob for ever of the honour I gave them,

2:10 ‘Get up! Be off! There is no resting here.’ For a worthless thing, you exact an extortionate pledge.

2:11 Were there a man of inspiration who would invent this lie, ‘I prophesy you wine and strong drink’, he would be the prophet for a people like this.

Promises of restoration

2:12 Yes, I am going to gather all Jacob together, I will gather the remnant of Israel, bring them together like sheep in the fold; like a flock in its pasture they will fear no man.

2:13 He who walks at their head will lead the way in front of them; he will walk at their head, they will pass through the gate and go out by it; their king will go on in front of them, Yahweh at their head.

JB MICAH Chapter 3

Against the rulers who oppress the people

3:1 Then I said: Listen now, you princes of the House of Jacob, rulers of the House of Israel. Are you not the ones who should know what is right,

3:2 you, enemies of good and friends of evil?

3:3 When they have devoured the flesh of my people and torn off their skin and crushed their bones; when they have shredded them like flesh in a pot and like meat in a cauldron,

3:4 then they will cry out to Yahweh. But he will not answer them. He will hide his face at that time because of all the crimes they have committed.

Against venal prophets

3:5 Yahweh says this against the prophets who lead my people astray: So long as they have something to eat they cry ‘Peace’. But on anyone who puts nothing into their mouths they declare war.

3:6 And so the night will come to you: an end of vision; darkness for you: an end of divination. The sun will set for the prophets, the day will go black for them.

3:7 Then the seers will be covered with shame, the diviners with confusion; they will all cover their lips, because no answer comes from God.

3:8 Not so with me, I am full of strength (of the breath of Yahweh), of justice and courage to declare Jacob’s crime to his face and Israel’s to his.

To the guilty ones: prophecy of the ruin of Zion

3:9 Now listen to this, you princes of the House of Jacob, rulers of the House of Israel, you who loathe justice and pervert all that is right,

3:10 you who build Zion with blood, Jerusalem with crime.

3:11 Her princes pronounce their verdict for bribes, her priests take a fee for their rulings, her prophets make divinations for money. And yet they rely on Yahweh. They say, ‘Is not Yahweh in our midst? No evil is going to overtake us.’

3:12 Because of this, since the fault is yours, Zion will become ploughland, Jerusalem a heap of rubble, and the mountain of the Temple a wooded height.

JB MICAH Chapter 4

II. PROMISES TO ZION

The future reign of Yahweh in Zion[*a]

4:1 The mountain of the Temple of Yahweh will be put on top of the mountains and be lifted higher than the hills. The peoples will stream to it,

4:2 nations without number will come to it; and they will say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of Yahweh, to the Temple of the God of Jacob so that he may teach us his ways and we may walk in his paths; since from Zion the Law will go out, and the oracle of Yahweh from Jerusalem.’

4:3 He will wield authority over many peoples and arbitrate for mighty nations; they will hammer their swords into ploughshares, their spears into sickles. Nation will not lift sword against nation, there will be no more training for war.

4:4 Each man will sit under his vine and his fig tree, with no one to trouble him. The mouth of Yahweh Sabaoth has spoken it.

4:5 For all the peoples go forward, each in the name of its god; but we, we go forward in the name of Yahweh, our God, for ever and evermore.

The gathering of the scattered flock in Zion

4:6 That day – it is Yahweh who speaks – I will finally gather in the lame, and bring together those that have been led astray and those that have suffered at my hand.

4:7 Out of the lame I will make a remnant, and out of the weary a mighty nation. Then will Yahweh reign over them on the mountain of Zion from now and for ever.

4:8 And you, Tower of the Flock, Ophel of the daughter of Zion,[*b] to you shall be given back your former sovereignty, and royal power over the House of Israel.

The siege, exile, and liberation of Zion

4:9 Why are you crying aloud? Is there no king within you? Are your counsellors lost that pains should grip you like a woman in labour?

4:10 Writhe, cry out, daughter of Zion, like a woman in labour, for now you have to leave the city and live in the open country. To Babylon you must go and there you will be rescued; there Yahweh will ransom you out of the power of your enemies.

The pagans crushed on the threshing-floor in Zion

4:11 Now many nations are mustered against you. ‘Let her be desecrated,’ they say ‘let our eyes feast on the ruins of Zion.’

4:12 But they do not know Yahweh’s thoughts, they have failed to understand his purpose, he has collected them like sheaves on the threshing floor.

4:13 Up, daughter of Zion, and thresh; for I will give you horns of iron, hoofs of bronze, for you to trample down many peoples. You will dedicate their plunder to Yahweh, their treasures to the Lord of the whole earth.

The distress and glory of the Davidic dynasty

4:14 Now look to your fortifications, Fortress. They have laid siege against us; with a rod they strike on the cheek the judge of Israel.

JB MICAH Chapter 5

5:1 But you, (Bethlehem) Ephrathah, the least of the clans of Judah, out of you will be born for me the one who is to rule over Israel; his origin goes back to the distant past, to the days of old.

5:2 Yahweh is therefore going to abandon them till the time when she who is to give birth[*a] gives birth. Then the remnant of his brothers will come back to the sons of Israel.

5:3 He will stand and feed his flock with the power of Yahweh, with the majesty of the name of his God. They will live secure, for from then on he will extend his power to the ends of the land.

5:4a He himself will be peace.

5:5b He will deliver us from Assyria should it invade our country, should it set foot inside our frontiers.

The confidence of the people of Judah

5:4b As for Assyria, should it invade our country, should it set foot on our soil, we will raise seven shepherds against it, eight leaders of men;

5:5a they will shepherd Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod with the sword blade.

The future role of the remnant among the nations

5:6 Then among the many peoples, the remnant of Jacob will be like a dew from Yahweh, like raindrops on the grass, putting no hope in men, expecting nothing from mankind.

5:7 Then among the many peoples, the remnant of Jacob will be like a lion among beasts of the forest, like a young lion among flocks of sheep trampling as he goes, mangling his prey which no one takes from him.

Yahweh will withdraw the temptation to rely on men

5:8 Let your hand be raised against your foes and all your enemies shall be cut off.

5:9 This is how it will be, that day – it is Yahweh who speaks – I will tear away your horses from you, and destroy your chariots;

5:10 tear the towns of your country from you, bring down all your strongholds;

5:11 tear the charms from your hands, and you will have no more soothsayers;

5:12a tear from you your images and your pillars;

5:13 tear from you your sacred poles, and demolish your idols;

5:12b and no longer will you bow down before the work of your hands.

5:14 I will take revenge in anger and fury on the nations that would not obey.

JB MICAH Chapter 6

III. ISRAEL ON TRIAL

DENUNCIATION AND THREAT

Yahweh puts his people on trial

6:1 Now listen to what Yahweh is saying: Stand up and let the case begin in the hearing of the mountains and let the hills hear what you say.

6:2 Listen, you mountains, to Yahweh’s accusation, give ear, you foundations of the earth, for Yahweh is accusing his people, pleading against Israel:

6:3 My people, what have I done to you, how have I been a burden to you? Answer me.

6:4 I brought you out of the land of Egypt, I rescued you from the house of slavery; I sent Moses to lead you, with Aaron and Miriam.

6:5 My people, remember: what did Balak plot, that king of Moab? What did Balaam answer, that son of Beor? …………………………………………………………….. from Shittim to Gilgal, for you to know the rightness of the ways of Yahweh.

6:6 – ‘With what gift shall I come into Yahweh’s presence and bow down before God on high? Shall I come with holocausts, with calves one year old?

6:7 Will he be pleased with rams by the thousand, with libations of oil in torrents? Must I give my first-born for what I have done wrong, the fruit of my body for my own sin?’

6:8 – What is good has been explained to you, man; this is what Yahweh asks of you: only this, to act justly, to love tenderly and to walk humbly with your God.

Against tricksters in the city

6:9 The voice of Yahweh. He is calling to the city: Listen, tribe, and assembly of the city

6:12 whose rich men are crammed with violence, whose citizens are liars.

6:10 Must I put up with fraudulent measure, or that abomination the short-weight bushel?

6:11 Must I hold the man honest who measures with false scales and a bag of faked weights?

6:13 I have therefore begun to strike you down, to bring you to ruin for your sins.

6:15 You will sow but never reap, press the olive but never rub yourself with oil, press the grape but never drink wine from it;

6:14 you will eat but never be satisfied, store away but never preserve – and what is preserved I shall give to the sword.

The example of Samaria

6:16 You keep the laws of Omri and follow all the practices of the House of Ahab;[*a] you are guided by their standards, and they force me to make a terrible example of you, and to turn your inhabitants into a laughing-stock, to suffer the scorn of the peoples.

JB MICAH Chapter 7

Universal injustice

7:1 I am in trouble! I have become like a harvester in summer time, like a gleaner at the vintage: not a single cluster to eat, not one of the early figs I so long for.

7:2 The devout have vanished from the land: there is not one honest man left. All are lurking for blood, every man hunting down his brother.

7:3 Their hands are skilled in evil: the official demands…, the judge gives judgement for a bribe, the man in power pronounces as he pleases.

7:5 Put no trust in a neighbour, have no confidence in a friend; to the woman who shares your bed do not open your mouth.

7:6 For son insults father, daughter defies mother, daughter-in-law defies mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are those of his own household.

7:4 … among them, the best is like a briar, the most honest a hedge of thorn. Today will come their ordeal from the North, now is the time for their confusion.

7:7 For my part, I look to Yahweh, my hope is in the God who will save me; my God will hear me.[*a]

IV. HOPE FOR THE FUTURE

Zion insulted by her enemy

7:8 Do not gloat over me, my enemy: though I have fallen, I shall rise; though I live in darkness, Yahweh is my light.

7:9 I must suffer the anger of Yahweh, for I have sinned against him, until he takes up my cause and rights my wrongs; he will bring me out into the light and I shall rejoice to see the rightness of his ways.

7:10 When my enemy sees it, she will be covered with shame, she who said to me, ‘Where is Yahweh your God?’ My eyes will gloat over her; she will be trampled underfoot like mud in the streets.

An oracle of restoration

7:11 The day is coming for rebuilding your walls. Your frontiers will be extended that day,

7:12 men will come to you that day from Assyria as far as to Egypt, from Tyre as far as to the river, from sea to sea, from mountain to mountain.

7:13 The earth will become a desert by reason of its inhabitants, in return for what they have done.

A prayer for the confusion of the pagans

7:14 With shepherd’s crook lead your people to pasture, the flock that is your heritage, living confined in a forest with meadow land all around. Let them pasture in Bashan and Gilead as in the days of old.

7:15 As in the days when you came out of Egypt grant us to see wonders.

7:16 The pagans, seeing it, will be confounded for all their power; they will lay their hands to their mouths, their ears will be deafened by it.

7:17 They will lick the dust like serpents, like things that crawl on the earth. They will come trembling from their lairs, in terror and fear before you.

A plea for God’s forgiveness

7:18 What god can compare with you: taking fault away, pardoning crime, not cherishing anger for ever but delighting in showing mercy?

7:19 Once more have pity on us, tread down our faults, to the bottom of the sea throw all our sins.

7:20 Grant Jacob your faithfulness, and Abraham your mercy, as you swore to our fathers from the days of long ago.

END OF JB MICAH [7 Chapters].

MALACHI

JB MALACHI Chapter 1

1:1 An oracle. The word of Yahweh to Israel through the ministry of Malachi.[*a]

The love of Yahweh for Israel

1:2 I have shown my love for you, says Yahweh. But you ask, ‘How have you shown your love?’ Was not Esau[*b] Jacob’s brother? – it is Yahweh who speaks; yet I showed my love for Jacob

1:3 and my hatred for Esau. I turned his towns into a wilderness and his heritage into desert pastures.

1:4 Should Edom say, ‘We have been struck down but we will rebuild our ruins’, this is the reply of Yahweh Sabaoth: Let them build! I will pull down. They shall be known as Unholy Land and Nation-with-which-Yahweh-is-angry-for-ever.

1:5 Your eyes are going to see this and you will say, ‘Yahweh is mighty beyond the borders of Israel’.

An indictment of the priests

1:6 The son honours his father, the slave respects his master. If I am indeed father, where is my honour? If I am indeed master, where is my respect? Yahweh Sabaoth asks this of you, priests, you who despise my name. You ask, ‘How have we despised your name?’

1:7 By putting polluted food on my altar. You ask, ‘How have we polluted it?’ By holding the table of Yahweh in contempt.

1:8 When you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you bring the lame and the diseased, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your high commissioner, and see if he is pleased with this or receives you graciously, says Yahweh Sabaoth.

1:9 Now try pleading with God to take pity on us (this is your own fault); do you think he will receive you graciously? says Yahweh Sabaoth.

1:10 Oh, is there no one among you who will shut the doors and stop you from lighting useless fires on my altar? I am not pleased with you, says Yahweh Sabaoth; from your hands I find no offerings acceptable.

1:11 But from farthest east to farthest west my name is honoured among the nations and everywhere a sacrifice of incense is offered to my name, and a pure offering too, since my name is honoured among the nations, says Yahweh Sabaoth.

1:12 But you, you profane it by thinking of the Lord’s table as defiled and by holding in contempt the food placed on it.

1:13 ‘How tiresome it all is!’ you say; and you sniff disdainfully at me, says Yahweh Sabaoth. You bring a stolen, lame or diseased animal, you bring that as an offering! Am I to accept this from your hand? says Yahweh Sabaoth.

1:14 Cursed be the rogue who owns a male which he has vowed to offer from his flock, and instead sacrifices a blemished animal to me! For I am a great king, says Yahweh Sabaoth, and my name is feared throughout the nations.

JB MALACHI Chapter 2

2:1 And now, priests, this warning is for you.

2:2 If you do not listen, if you do not find it in your heart to glorify my name, says Yahweh Sabaoth, I will send the curse on you and curse your very blessing.[*a] Indeed I have already cursed it, since there is not a single one of you who takes this to heart.

2:3 Now watch how I am going to paralyse your arm and throw dung in your face – the dung from your very solemnities – and sweep you away with it.

2:4 Then you shall learn that it is I who have given you this warning of my intention to abolish my covenant with Levi, says Yahweh Sabaoth.

2:5 My covenant was with him: it stood for life and peace, and these were what I gave him; it stood for fear and trembling, and he respected me and stood in awe of my name.

2:6 The teaching of truth was in his mouth, falsehood was not to be found on his lips; he walked with me in integrity and virtue; he converted many from sinning.

2:7 The lips of the priest ought to safeguard knowledge; his mouth is where instruction should be sought, since he is the messenger of Yahweh Sabaoth.

2:8 But you, you have strayed from the way; you have caused many to stumble by your teaching. You have destroyed the covenant of Levi, says Yahweh Sabaoth.

2:9 And so I in my turn have made you contemptible and vile in the eyes of the whole people in repayment for the way you have not kept to my paths but have shown partiality in your administration.

Mixed marriage and divorce

2:10 Have we not all one Father? Did not one God create us? Why, then, do we break faith with one another, profaning the covenant of our ancestors?

2:11 Judah has broken faith: a detestable thing has been done (in Israel and) in Jerusalem. Yes, Judah has profaned the sanctuary that Yahweh loves. He has married the daughter of an alien god.

2:12 The man who does this – whoever he be – may Yahweh cut him off from the tents of Jacob and from the company of those who present the offering to Yahweh Sabaoth.

2:13 And here is something else you do: you cover the altar of Yahweh with tears, with weeping and wailing, because he now refuses to consider the offering or to accept it from your hands.

2:14 And you ask, ‘Why?’ It is because Yahweh stands as witness between you and the wife of your youth, the wife with whom you have broken faith, even though she was your partner and your wife by covenant.

2:15 Did he not create a single being that has flesh and the breath of life? And what is this single being destined for? God-given offspring. Be careful for your own life, therefore, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth.

2:16 For I hate divorce, says Yahweh the God of Israel, and I hate people to parade their sins on their cloaks, says Yahweh Sabaoth. Respect your own life, therefore, and do not break faith like this.

The day of Yahweh

2:17 You weary Yahweh with your talk. You ask, ‘How do we weary him?’ When you say, ‘Any evil-doer is good as far as Yahweh is concerned; indeed he likes them best’; or when you say, ‘Where is the God of justice now?’

JB MALACHI Chapter 3

3:1 Look, I am going to send my messenger to prepare a way before me. And the Lord you are seeking will suddenly enter his Temple; and the angel of the covenant whom you are longing for, yes, he is coming, says Yahweh Sabaoth.

3:2 Who will be able to resist the day of his coming? Who will remain standing when he appears? For he is like the refiner’s fire and the fullers’ alkali.

3:3 He will take his seat as refiner and purifier; he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and then they will make the offering to Yahweh as it should be made.

3:4 The offering of Judah and Jerusalem will then be welcomed by Yahweh as in former days, as in the years of old.

3:5 I mean to visit you for the judgement and I am going to be a ready witness against sorcerer, adulterer and perjurer, against those who oppress the wage-earner, the widow and the orphan, and who rob the settler of his rights-no need for you to be afraid of me, says Yahweh Sabaoth.

Temple tithes

3:6 No; I, Yahweh, do not change; and you, sons of Jacob, you are not ruined yet!

3:7 Since the days of your ancestors you have evaded my statutes and not observed them. Return to me and I will return to you, says Yahweh Sabaoth. You ask, ‘How are we to return?

3:8 Can a man cheat God?’ Yet you are cheating me. You ask, ‘How are we cheating you?’ In the matter of tithes and dues.

3:9 The curse lies on you because you, yes you the whole nation, are cheating me.

3:10 Bring the full tithes and dues to the storehouse so that there may be food in my house, and then see if I do not open the floodgates of heaven for you and pour out blessing for you in abundance.

3:11 For your sake I will lay a strict injunction on the locust not to destroy the fruits of your soil nor to make the vine in your fields barren, says Yahweh Sabaoth.

3:12 All the nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delights, says Yahweh Sabaoth.

The triumph of the virtuous on the day of Yahweh

3:13 You say harsh things about me, says Yahweh. You ask, ‘What have we said against you?’

3:14 You say, ‘It is useless to serve God; what is the good of keeping his commands or of walking mournfully before Yahweh Sabaoth?

3:15 Now we have reached the point when we call the arrogant blessed; yes, they prosper, these evil-doers; they try God’s patience and yet go free.’

3:16 This is what those who fear Yahweh used to say to one another. But Yahweh took note and heard them: a book of remembrance was written in his presence recording those who fear him and take refuge in his name.

3:17 On the day which I am preparing, says Yahweh Sabaoth, they are going to be my own special possession. I will make allowances for them as a man makes allowances for the son who obeys him.

3:18 Then once again you will see the difference between an upright man and a wicked one, between the one who serves God and the one who does not serve him.

3:19 For the day is coming now, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and the evil-doers will be like stubble. The day that is coming is going to burn them up, says Yahweh Sabaoth, leaving them neither root nor stalk.

3:20 But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness will shine out with healing in its rays; you will leap like calves going out to pasture.

3:21 You will trample on the wicked, who will be like ashes under your feet on the day I am preparing, says Yahweh Sabaoth.

Appendices

3:22 Remember the Law of my servant Moses to whom at Horeb I prescribed laws and customs for the whole of Israel.

3:23 Know that I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before my day comes, that great and terrible day.

3:24 He shall turn the hearts of fathers towards their children and the hearts of children towards their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a curse.

END OF JB MALACHI [3 Chapters].

LEVITICUS

JB LEVITICUS Chapter 1

LEVITICUS

I. THE RITUAL OF SACRIFICE

Holocaust[*a]

1:1 Yahweh called Moses, and from the Tent of Meeting addressed him, saying,

1:2 ‘Speak to the sons of Israel; say to them, “When any of you brings an offering to Yahweh, he can offer an animal from either herd or flock.

1:3 “If his offering is a holocaust of an animal out of the herd, he is to offer a male without blemish; it is to be offered at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, so that it may be accepted before Yahweh.

1:4 He is to lay his hand on the victim’s head, and it shall be accepted as effectual for his atonement.

1:5 Then he must immolate the bull before Yahweh, and the sons of Aaron, the priests, shall offer the blood. They will pour it out on the borders of the altar which stands at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

1:6 Then he must skin the victim and quarter it.

1:7 The sons of Aaron, the priests, must put fire on the altar and arrange wood on this fire.

1:8 Then the sons of Aaron, the priests, are to put the pieces, the head and the fat on the wood on the altar fire.

1:9 He is to wash the entrails and legs in water, and the priest is to burn all of it on the altar. This holocaust will be a burnt offering[*b] and the fragrance of it will appease Yahweh.

1:10 “If his offering is an animal out of the flock, a lamb or a goat offered as a holocaust, he is to offer a male without blemish.

1:11 He must immolate it on the north side of the altar, before Yahweh, and the sons of Aaron, the priests, shall pour out the blood on the borders of the altar.

1:12 Then he is to quarter it, and the priest is to arrange the quarters, as well as the head and the fat, on the wood on the altar fire.

1:13 He is to wash the entrails and legs in water, and the priest shall burn all of it on the altar. This holocaust will be a burnt offering and the fragrance of it will appease Yahweh.

1:14 “If his offering to Yahweh is a holocaust of a bird, he is to offer a turtledove or a young pigeon.

1:15 The priest shall offer it at the altar and wring off its head, which he is to burn on the altar; then its blood is to be drained out on the side of the altar.

1:16 Then he shall remove the crop and the feathers; these he is to throw on the eastern side of the altar, where the ashes from the fat are placed.

1:17 He is to divide it in two halves with a wing on each side, but without separating the two parts. Then the priest shall burn it on the altar, on the wood that is on the fire. This holocaust will be a burnt offering and its fragrance will appease Yahweh.

JB LEVITICUS Chapter 2

The Oblation[*a]

2:1 “If anyone offers Yahweh an oblation, his offering is to consist of wheaten flour on which he is to pour wine and put incense.

2:2 He shall bring it to the sons of Aaron, the priests; he is to take a handful of the wheaten flour and oil and all the incense, and the priest shall burn it on the altar as a memorial, a burnt offering whose fragrance will appease Yahweh.

2:3 The remainder of the oblation is to revert to Aaron and his sons; a most holy portion of the burnt offerings of Yahweh.

2:4 “When you are going to offer an oblation of dough baked in the oven, the wheaten flour is to be prepared either in the form of unleavened cakes mixed with oil, or in the form of unleavened wafers spread with oil.

2:5 “If your offering is an oblation cooked on the griddle, the wheaten flour mixed with oil is to contain no leavening.

2:6 You must break it in pieces and pour oil over it. It is an oblation.

2:7 “If your offering is an oblation cooked in the pan, the wheaten flour is to be prepared in oil.

2:8 “You must bring to Yahweh the oblation that has been thus prepared, presenting it to the priest, who is to bring it to the altar.

2:9 The priest shall take the memorial from the oblation and burn it on the altar, as a burnt offering whose fragrance will appease Yahweh.

2:10 The remainder of the oblation will revert to Aaron and his sons, a most holy portion of Yahweh’s burnt offering.

2:11 “None of the oblations that you offer to Yahweh is to be prepared with leaven, for you must never burn leaven or honey as a burnt offering for Yahweh.

2:12 You may offer them up to Yahweh as an offering of first-fruits, but they must not go up as an appeasing fragrance at the altar.

2:13 You must salt every oblation that you offer, and you must never fail to put on your oblation the salt of the Covenant with your God: to every offering you are to join an offering of salt to Yahweh your God.

2:14 If you offer Yahweh an oblation of first-fruits, you must offer roasted corn or bread made from ground corn.

2:15 You are to add oil to it and put incense on it; it is an oblation;

2:16 and the priest is to burn the memorial from part of the bread and oil (together with all the incense) as a burnt offering for Yahweh.

JB LEVITICUS Chapter 3

The Communion Sacrifice[*a]

3:1 “If a man’s sacrifice is a communion sacrifice, and if he offers an animal from the herd, male or female, whatever he offers before Yahweh must be without blemish.

3:2 He is to lay his hand on the victim’s head and immolate it at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. Then the sons of Aaron, the priests, must pour out the blood on the borders of the altar.

3:3 He is to offer part of the sacrifice as a burnt offering for Yahweh: the fat that covers the entrails, all the fat that is on the entrails,

3:4 the two kidneys, the fat on them and on the loins, the fatty mass which he is to remove from the liver and kidneys.

3:5 The sons of Aaron must burn this part on the altar, in addition to the holocaust, on the wood of the fire. It will be a burnt offering and its fragrance will appease Yahweh.

3:6 “If it is an animal from the flock that he offers as a communion sacrifice for Yahweh, he is to offer a male or female without blemish.

3:7 “If he offers a sheep, he is to offer it before Yahweh;

3:8 he is to lay his hand on the victim’s head and immolate it in front of the Tent of Meeting; then the sons of Aaron shall pour out its blood on the borders of the altar.

3:9 Of this communion sacrifice he is to offer the following as a burnt offering for Yahweh: the fat, all the tail taken off near the sacrum, the fat that covers the entrails, all the fat that is on the entrails,

3:10 the two kidneys, the fat that is on them and on the loins, the fatty mass which he will remove from the liver and kidneys.

3:11 The priest must burn this part on the altar as food, as a burnt offering for Yahweh.

3:12 “If his offering is a goat, he is to offer it before Yahweh:

3:13 he is to lay his hand on the victim’s head and immolate it in front of the Tent of Meeting, and the sons of Aaron shall pour out its blood on the borders of the altar.

3:14 Then this is what he is to offer as a burnt offering for Yahweh: the fat that covers the entrails, all the fat that is on the entrails,

3:15 the two kidneys, the fat that is on them and on the loins, the fatty mass which he will remove from the liver and kidneys.

3:16 The priest must burn these pieces on the altar as food, as a burnt offering for Yahweh. “All the fat belongs to Yahweh.

3:17 This is a perpetual law for all your descendants, wherever you may live: never eat either fat or blood.”‘
JB LEVITICUS Chapter 4

The Sacrifice for Sin[*a]

4:1 Yahweh spoke to Moses; he said:

4:2 ‘Speak to the sons of Israel and say: “A man may sin inadvertently against any one of the commandments of Yahweh

and do one of the forbidden things; in such a case:

a. Sins of the high priest

4:3 “If the one who sins is the anointed priest, thus making the people guilty, then for the sin which he has committed he is to offer to Yahweh a young bull, an animal from the herd without blemish, as a sacrifice for sin.

4:4 He is to bring the bull before Yahweh at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, he is to lay his hand on its head and immolate it before Yahweh.

4:5 Then the anointed priest must take a little of the blood of the bull and take it into the Tent of Meeting.

4:6 He shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle it over the veil of the sanctuary seven times, before Yahweh.

4:7 Then the priest must put a little of the blood of the bull on the horns of the altar of incense that smokes before Yahweh in the Tent of Meeting, and he is to pour all the rest of the bull’s blood at the foot of the altar of holocaust at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

4:8 “Of all the fat of this bull offered as a sacrifice for sin, this is what he will remove: the fat that covers the entrails, all the fat that is on the entrails,

4:9 the two kidneys, the fat that is on them and on the loins, the fatty mass which he will remove from the liver and kidneys –

4:10 exactly as was done with the portion set apart in the communion sacrifice – and the priest must burn these on the altar of holocaust.

4:11 “The bull’s skin, all its flesh, its head, legs, entrails and dung,

4:12 the whole of the bull, must be carried outside the camp to a place that is clean, the place where the ashes from the fat are thrown away, and the bull must be burnt there.

b. Sins of the community of Israel

4:13 “If the whole community of lsrael has sinned inadvertently, and without being aware of it has done something that is forbidden by the commandments of Yahweh,

4:14 the community is to offer a young bull as a sacrifice for sin, an animal of the herd without blemish, when the sin of which they have been guilty is discovered. The animal must be brought before the Tent of Meeting;

4:15 before Yahweh the elders of the community shall lay their hands on the bull’s head, and it must be immolated before Yahweh.

4:16 “Then the anointed priest is to carry a little of the blood of the bull into the Tent of Meeting.

4:17 He is to dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle the veil before Yahweh seven times.

4:18 Then he must put a little of the blood on the horns of the altar that stands before Yahweh inside the Tent of Meeting, and then pour out all the rest of the blood at the foot of the altar of holocaust at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

4:19 “Then he is to remove all the fat from the animal and burn it on the altar.

4:20 He must treat this bull as he did the other for the sacrifice of sin. It is to be treated in the same way; and when the priest has performed the rite of atonement over the people, they will be forgiven.

4:21 “He must have the bull taken out of the camp and burn it as he burned the first one. This is the sacrifice for the sin of the community.

c. Sins of leaders in the community

4:22 “When a leader sins and inadvertently does one of the things forbidden by the commandments of Yahweh his God, thus rendering himself guilty

4:23 (or if anyone draws his attention to the sin thus committed), he is to bring a goat as an offering, a male without blemish.

4:24 He is to lay his hand on the goat’s head and immolate it in the place where the holocausts are immolated before Yahweh. This is a sacrifice for sin:

4:25 the priest is to take a little of the victim’s blood on his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of holocaust. Then he must pour out its blood at the foot of the altar of holocaust

4:26 and burn all the fat on the altar, as with the fat in the communion sacrifice. This is how the priest is to perform the rite of atonement over this leader to free him from his sin, and he will be forgiven.

d. Sins of private individuals

4:27 “If one of the people sins inadvertently and makes himself guilty by doing something forbidden by the commandments of Yahweh

4:28 (or if anyone draws his attention to the sin he has committed), he is to bring a she-goat as an offering for the sin he has committed, a female without blemish.

4:29 He is to lay his hand on the victim’s head and immolate it in the place where the holocausts are immolated.

4:30 The priest is to take a little of its blood on his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of holocaust. Then he must pour out all the rest of the blood at the foot of the altar.

4:31 Then he is to remove all the fat, as the fat was removed for the communion sacrifice, and the priest shall burn it on the altar as an appeasing fragrance for Yahweh. This is how the priest is to perform the rite of atonement over the man, and he will be forgiven.

4:32 “If he wishes to bring a lamb as an offering for this kind of sacrifice, he is to bring a female without blemish.

4:33 He is to lay his hand on the victim’s head and immolate it as a sacrifice for sin in the place where the holocausts are immolated.

4:34 The priest is to take a little of the blood of this sacrifice on his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of holocaust. Then he must pour out all the rest of the blood at the foot of the altar.

4:35 He is to remove its fat as was done for the sheep in the communion sacrifice, and the priest shall burn it all on the altar, in addition to the burnt offering for Yahweh. This is how the priest is to perform the rite of atonement over the man., and he will be forgiven.

JB LEVITICUS Chapter 5

Some cases of Sacrifice for Sin

5:1 “If any one sins in any of these following cases: “A man should have come forward to give evidence when he heard the formal adjuration, having seen the incident or known the facts; but he has not spoken out, and so bears the consequences of his fault;

5:2 “or else he touches something unclean, whatever it may be – the dead body of an unclean animal, wild or tame, or of one of the unclean things that swarm – and without realising it becomes unclean, he becomes answerable for it;

5:3 “or else he touches some human uncleanness, whatever it may be, and contact with it makes him unclean; he does not notice it, then, realising it later, he becomes answerable for it;

5:4 “or else a man lets slip some oath to do either evil or good, in any of those matters on which a man may swear unthinkingly; he does not notice it, then, realising it later, he becomes answerable for it;

5:5 “if he is answerable in any of those cases, he will have to confess the sin committed,

5:6 and he must bring to Yahweh as a sacrifice of reparation for the sin committed a female of the flock (sheep or goat) as a sacrifice for sin; and the priest shall perform the rite of atonement over him to free him from his sin.

Sins of private individuals (continued)

5:7 “If he cannot afford an animal of the flock, he is to bring to Yahweh, as a sacrifice of reparation for the sin he has committed, two turtledoves or two young pigeons – one for a sacrifice for sin and the other for a holocaust.

5:8 He will bring them to the priest who is to offer first the one intended for the sacrifice for sin. The priest is to wring its neck, but not remove the head.

5:9 He must sprinkle the side of the altar with the victim’s blood, and then drain out the rest of the blood at the foot of the altar. This is a sacrifice for sin.

5:10 Of the other bird he is to make a holocaust according to the ritual. This is how the priest is to perform the rite of atonement over the man for the sin he has committed. and he will be forgiven.

5:11 “If he cannot afford two turtledoves or two young pigeons, he is to bring a tenth of an ephah of wheaten flour as an offering for the sin committed; he must not mix oil with it or put incense on it, for it is a sacrifice for sin.

5:12 He is to bring it to the priest, who is to take a handful of it as a memorial, and burn this in addition to the burnt offering for Yahweh. This is a sacrifice for sin.

5:13 This is how the priest is to perform the rite of atonement over the man for the sin he has committed in any of those cases, and he will be forgiven. In this case, the priest has the same rights as in the oblation.”‘

The Sacrifice of Reparation[*a]

5:14 Yahweh spoke to Moses; he said:

5:15 ‘If anyone is guilty of fraud and sins inadvertently by not observing Yahweh’s sacred rights, he is to bring to Yahweh as a sacrifice of reparation an unblemished ram from his flock. This ram is to be valued in silver shekels according to the rate of the shekel of the sanctuary. This is a sacrifice of reparation.

5:16 He must restore what his sin subtracted from the sacred rights, adding one-fifth to the value, and give it to the priest. The priest shall perform the rite of atonement over him with the ram for the sacrifice of reparation and he will be forgiven.

5:17 ‘If anyone sins and without realising it does one of the things forbidden by the commandments of Yahweh, he must answer for it and must bear the consequences of his fault.

5:18 As a sacrifice of reparation he is to bring to the priest an unblemished ram of his flock, subject to valuation. The priest shall perform the rite of atonement over him for the oversight he has committed without realising it and he will be forgiven.

5:19 This is a sacrifice of reparation; the man was certainly answerable to Yahweh.’

5:20 <1 Yahweh spoke to Moses; he said:

5:21 <2 ‘If anyone sins and is guilty of fraud against Yahweh by deceiving his neighbour over a deposit or a security, or by withholding something due to him or exploiting him;

5:22 <3 ‘or if he finds lost property and denies it; ‘or if he perjures himself about any sin that a man may commit;

5:23 <4 ‘if he sins and so becomes answerable, he is to restore what he has taken or demanded in excess: the deposit confided to him, the lost property that he found,

5:24 <5 or any object about which he has perjured himself. He must add one-fifth to the principal and pay the whole to whoever held the property rights on the day when he became answerable.

5:25 <6 Then he is to bring an unblemished ram of his flock to Yahweh as a sacrifice of reparation: it must be valued according to the rate paid to the priest for a sacrifice of reparation.

5:26 <7 The priest shall perform the rite of atonement over him before Yahweh and he will be forgiven, whatever the act for which he became answerable.’

JB LEVITICUS Chapter 6

Priesthood and sacrifice

a. Holocaust

6:1 <8 Yahweh spoke to Moses; he said:

6:2 <9 ‘Give these orders to Aaron and his sons: “This is the ritual for holocaust (that is, the holocaust that stays on the altar brazier all night until morning and is consumed by the altar fire).

6:3 <10 “The priest is to put on his linen tunic and cover his body with linen. Then he must remove the ashes of the fat of the sacrifice consumed by the altar fire and place them at the side of the altar.

6:4 <11 ‘Then he is to take off his clothes and put on others and carry the ashes to some place that is clean, outside the camp.

6:5 <12 “The fire that consumes the holocaust on the altar must not be allowed to go out. Every morning the priest must make it up with wood. He is to arrange the holocaust on it and burn the fat from the communion sacrifices.

6:6 <13 An undying fire is always to burn on the altar; it must not go out.

b. The Oblation

6:7 <14 “This is the ritual for the oblation: “One of the sons of Aaron is to bring it into the presence of Yahweh in front of the altar;

6:8 <15 he is to take a handful of the wheaten flour (with the oil and incense which have been added to it); he must burn the memorial on the altar so that its fragrance will appease Yahweh;

6:9 <16 and after all this has been done Aaron and his sons shall eat the remainder in the form of unleavened loaves. They are to eat it in a sacred place within the precincts of the Tent of Meeting.

6:10 <17 The portion I give them of my burnt offering must not be baked with leaven. It is a most holy portion, like the sacrifice for sin and the sacrifice of reparation.

6:11 <18 All the males of Aaron’s family may eat this portion of Yahweh’s burnt offering (this is a perpetual law for all your descendants; and everyone who touches it will be consecrated).”‘

6:12 <19 Yahweh spoke to Moses; he said:

6:13 <20 ‘This is the offering that Aaron and his sons are to make to Yahweh on the day of their anointing: one-tenth of an ephah of wheaten flour as a perpetual oblation, half in the morning and half in the evening.

6:14 <21 It must be prepared on the griddle and mixed with oil; you must bring the paste as an oblation in several pieces, offering them as a fragrance that will appease Yahweh.

6:15 <22 The priest among the sons of Aaron who is to be anointed in his place shall do the same. ‘This is a perpetual law. This entire oblation must be burnt for Yahweh.

6:16 <23 Every oblation made by a priest must be a total sacrifice; none of it is to be eaten.’

c. The Sacrifice for Sin

6:17 <24 Yahweh spoke to Moses; he said,

6:18 <25 ‘Say to Aaron and his sons: “This is the ritual for the sacrifice for sin: “The victim for the sacrifice is to be immolated before Yahweh in the place where the holocausts are immolated. It is a most holy thing.

6:19 <26 The priest who offers this sacrifice is to eat it. It must be eaten in a holy place within the precincts of the Tent of Meeting.

6:20 <27 Everything that touches the flesh of this victim will become consecrated; if any of the blood splashes on clothing, the stain must be cleaned in some holy place.

6:21 <28 The earthenware vessel in which the meat is cooked must be broken; if a bronze vessel has been used for the cooking, it must be scrubbed and thoroughly rinsed with water.

6:22 <29 Any male who is a priest may eat it. It is a most holy thing.

6:23 <30 But no one may eat any of the victims offered for sin, the blood of which has been taken into the Tent of Meeting to make atonement inside the sanctuary. These must be thrown on the fire.

JB LEVITICUS Chapter 7

d. The Sacrifice of Reparation

7:1 “This is the ritual for the sacrifice of reparation: “It is a most holy thing.

7:2 The victim is to be immolated in the place where the holocausts are immolated, and the priest must pour out the blood on the borders of the altar.

7:3 Then he is to offer all the fat: the tail, the fat that covers the entrails,

7:4 the two kidneys, the fat that is on them and on the loins, the fatty mass which he will remove from the liver and kidneys.

7:5 The priest must burn these pieces on the altar as a burnt offering for Yahweh. This is a sacrifice of reparation.

7:6 Every male who is a priest may eat it. It must be eaten in a holy place; it is a most holy thing.

The rights of the priests

7:7 “As with the sacrifice for sin, so with the sacrifice of reparation – the ritual is the same for both. The offering with which he has performed the rite of atonement is to revert to the priest.

7:8 The skin of the victim presented by a man to the priest to be offered as a holocaust shall revert to the priest.

7:9 Every oblation baked in the oven, every oblation cooked in the pan or on the griddle shall revert to the priest who offered it.

7:10 Every oblation, mixed with oil or dry, is to revert to all the sons of Aaron without distinction.

e. The Communion Sacrifice

(I) Sacrifice with Praise

7:11 “This is the ritual for the communion sacrifice offered to Yahweh:

7:12 “If it is offered with a sacrifice with praise, there must be added to it an offering of unleavened cakes mixed with oil, unleavened wafers spread with oil, and wheaten flour in the form of cakes mixed with oil.

7:13 This offering, then, must be added to the cakes of leavened bread and to the communion sacrifice with praise.

7:14 One of the cakes of this offering is to be presented as an offering to Yahweh; it shall revert to the priest who pours out the blood of the communion sacrifice.

7:15 The flesh of the victim must be eaten on the day when the offering is made; nothing must remain until the next morning.

(II) Votive or Voluntary Sacrifices

7:16 “If the victim is offered as a votive or a voluntary sacrifice, it is to be eaten on the day it is offered and also on the following day;

7:17 but on the third day whatever remains of the victim’s flesh must be thrown on the fire.

General rules

7:18 “If the flesh offered as a communion sacrifice is eaten on the third day, the man who has offered it will not be accepted. He is to receive no credit for it, it is defiled flesh, and the man who eats it shall bear the consequences of his fault.

7:19 “Flesh that has touched anything unclean cannot be eaten; it must be thrown on the fire. “Anyone who is clean may eat flesh,

7:20 but anyone unclean who eats the flesh of a communion sacrifice offered to Yahweh shall be outlawed from his people.

7:21 If anyone touches anything unclean, human or animal, or any foul thing, and then eats the flesh of a communion sacrifice offered to Yahweh, this man shall be outlawed from his people.”‘

7:22 Yahweh spoke to Moses; he said,

7:23 ‘Speak to the sons of Israel, say to them: “You must not eat the fat of ox, sheep or goat.

7:24 The fat of an animal that has died a natural death or been savaged by beasts may be used for any other purpose, but you must not eat it.

7:25 Anyone who eats the fat of an animal offered as a burnt offering to Yahweh shall be outlawed from his people.

7:26 “Wherever you live, you must not eat blood, whether it be of bird or of beast.

7:27 Anyone who eats blood, whoever he may be, shall be outlawed from his people.”‘

The priest’s portion

7:28 Yahweh spoke to Moses; he said,

7:29 ‘Speak to the sons of Israel, say to them: “Anyone who offers a communion sacrifice to Yahweh is to bring him part of his sacrifice as an offering.

7:30 He is to bring Yahweh’s burnt offering – that is, the fat that adheres to the breast – with his own hands. He is to bring it, and also the breast, with which he must make the gesture of offering before Yahweh.

7:31 The priest must burn the fat on the altar, and the breast shall revert to Aaron and his sons.

7:32 You must set aside the right thigh from your communion sacrifices and give it to the priest.

7:33 This right thigh shall be the portion of the son of Aaron who offers the blood and fat of the communion sacrifice.

7:34 Thus, I keep back this breast and thigh out of the communion sacrifices offered by the sons of Israel, and give these to Aaron the priest and to his sons: this is a perpetual law binding the sons of Israel.”‘

Conclusion

7:35 This, then, was the portion of Aaron and of his sons in Yahweh’s burnt offerings on the day he presented them to Yahweh to be his priests.

7:36 This is what the orders of Yahweh bind the sons of Israel to give them on the day they are anointed: this is a perpetual law for all their descendants.

7:37 Such then is the ritual for holocaust, oblation, sacrifice for sin, sacrifices of reparation, investiture and communion.

7:38 This is what Yahweh commanded Moses on Mount Sinai when he ordered the sons of Israel to make their offerings to Yahweh in the wilderness of Sinai.

JB LEVITICUS Chapter 8

II. THE INVESTITURE OF THE PRIESTS

Ordination rites[*a]

8:1 Yahweh spoke to Moses; he said:

8:2 ‘Take Aaron, his sons with him, and the vestments, and the chrism, the bull for the sacrifice for sin, the two rams and the basket of unleavened bread.

8:3 Then call the whole community together at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.’

8:4 Moses followed the orders of Yahweh; the community gathered at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting,

8:5 and Moses said to them, ‘This is what Yahweh has ordered to be done’.

8:6 He made Aaron and his sons come forward, and washed them with water.

8:7 He put the tunic on him, passed the girdle round his waist, dressed him in the robe and put the ephod on him. Then he put round his waist the woven band of the ephod with which he clothed him.

8:8 He put the pectoral on him, and placed the Urim and Thummim in it.

8:9 He put the turban on his head, with the golden plate on the front; this is the sacred diadem as Yahweh prescribed it to Moses.

8:10 Then Moses took the chrism and anointed the tabernacle and everything in it, to consecrate them.

8:11 He sprinkled the altar seven times, and anointed the altar and its furnishing, the basin and its stand, to consecrate them.

8:12 Then he poured the chrism on Aaron’s head, consecrating him by unction.

8:13 Then Moses made Aaron’s sons come forward; he put the tunics on them, passed the girdles round their waists and put on their head-dress, as Yahweh had ordered Moses.

8:14 Then he had the bull for the sacrifice for sin brought forward. Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the victim’s head

8:15 and Moses immolated it. Then he took the blood and with his finger put some of it on the horns round the altar, to take away its sin. Then he poured out the rest of the blood at the foot of the altar, which he consecrated by performing the rite of atonement over it.

8:16 Then he took all the fat that covers the entrails, the fatty mass which is over the liver, the two kidneys and their fat; and he burnt them all on the altar.

8:17 The bull’s skin, its flesh and its dung he burnt outside the camp, as Yahweh had ordered Moses.

8:18 Then he had the ram for holocaust brought forward. Aaron and his sons laid their hands on its head

8:19 and Moses immolated it. He poured its blood out on the borders of the altar.

8:20 Then he quartered the ram and burned the head, the pieces and the fat.

8:21 He washed the entrails and legs, and burnt the whole ram on the altar. This was a holocaust whose fragrance would appease Yahweh; a burnt offering for Yahweh, as Yahweh had ordered Moses.

8:22 Then he had the other ram brought forward, for the sacrifice of investiture. Aaron and his sons laid their hands on its head

8:23 and Moses immolated it. He took some of its blood and put it on the lobe of Aaron’s right ear, the thumb of his right hand, and the big toe of his right foot.

8:24 Then he made the sons of Aaron come forward and he put some of the blood on the lobes of their right ears, the thumbs of their right hands and the big toes of their right feet. Next Moses poured the rest of the blood on the borders of the altar.

8:25 Then he took the fat: the tail, all the fat that is on the entrails, the fatty mass which is over the liver, the two kidneys and their fat, and the right thigh.

8:26 From the basket of unleavened bread placed before Yahweh, he took an unleavened cake, a cake of bread made with oil, and a wafer; he placed these on the fat and the right thigh,

8:27 and put it all into Aaron’s hands and those of his sons, and made the gesture of offering before Yahweh.

8:28 Then Moses took them back and burned them on the altar in addition to the holocaust. This was the sacrifice of investiture whose fragrance would appease Yahweh, a burnt offering to Yahweh.

8:29 Then Moses took the breast and made the gesture of offering before Yahweh. This was the portion of the ram of investiture that reverted to Moses, as Yahweh had ordered Moses.

8:30 Then Moses took the chrism and the blood that was on the altar and sprinkled Aaron and his vestments with it, and his sons and their vestments. In this way he consecrated Aaron and his vestments, and his sons and their vestments.

8:31 Then Moses said to Aaron and his sons, ‘Cook the meat at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, and eat it there, as also the bread for the sacrifice of investiture that is in the basket, as I ordered, when I said: Aaron and his sons are to eat it.

8:32 What remains of the meat and bread you will burn.

8:33 For seven days you must not leave the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, until the time of your investiture is complete; for your investiture will require seven days.

8:34 Yahweh has ordered us to do as we have done today to perform the rite of atonement over you;

8:35 and for seven days, day and night, you must remain at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting observing Yahweh’s ritual; do this, and you will not die.[*b] For this is the order I received.’

8:36 And Aaron and his sons did everything that Yahweh had ordered through Moses.

JB LEVITICUS Chapter 9

The priests assume their functions

9:1 On the eighth day Moses summoned Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel;

9:2 he said to Aaron, ‘Take a calf to offer a sacrifice for sin, and a ram for a holocaust, both without blemish, and bring them before Yahweh.

9:3 Then say to the sons of Israel, “Take a goat to be offered as a sacrifice for sin, and as a holocaust a calf and a lamb both one year old and without blemish,

9:4 and for communion sacrifices an ox and a ram to be immolated before Yahweh; and finally an oblation mixed with oil. For Yahweh will appear to you today.”‘

9:5 They brought what Moses had commanded in front of the Tent of Meeting; then the whole community came and stood before Yahweh.

9:6 Moses said, ‘This is what Yahweh has ordered to be done, so that his glory may be visible to you’.

9:7 Moses then addressed Aaron, ‘Go to the altar and offer your sacrifice for sin and your holocaust, and so perform the rite of atonement for yourself and your family. Then present the people’s offering and perform the rite of atonement for them, as Yahweh has ordered.’

9:8 Aaron went to the altar and immolated the calf as a sacrifice for his own sin.

9:9 Then the sons of Aaron presented the blood to him; he dipped his finger in it and put some on the horns of the altar, and then poured out the rest of the blood at the foot of the altar.

9:10 The fat of the sacrifice for sin and the kidneys and the fatty mass which is over the liver, he burned on the altar, as Yahweh had commanded Moses;

9:11 the flesh and the skin he burned outside the camp.

9:12 Next Aaron immolated the holocaust; his sons handed him the blood and he poured it on the borders of the altar.

9:13 Then they handed him the quartered victim, and its head too, and he burned these on the altar.

9:14 He washed the entrails and legs and burned them on the altar in addition to the holocaust.

9:15 He then presented the people’s offering. He took the goat for the people’s sacrifice for sin, immolated it, and made a sacrifice for sin with it in the same way as with the first.

9:16 Then he had the holocaust brought forward and proceeded according to the ritual.

9:17 Next he had the oblation brought forward, took a handful of it and burned it on the altar in addition to the morning holocaust.

9:18 Finally, he immolated the ox and the ram as a communion sacrifice for the people. Aaron’s sons handed him the blood and he poured it out on the borders of the altar.

9:19 The fat of the ox and of the ram – the tail, the fatty covering, the kidneys, the fatty mass over the liver –

9:20 all of this he laid on the breasts and burned it all on the altar.

9:21 With the breasts and the right thigh Aaron made the gesture of offering as Yahweh had ordered Moses.

9:22 Then Aaron raised his hands towards the people and blessed them. Having thus performed the sacrifice for sin, the holocaust and the communion sacrifice, he came down

9:23 and entered the Tent of Meeting with Moses. Then they came out together to bless the people and the glory of Yahweh appeared to the whole people –

9:24 a flame leaped forth from before Yahweh and consumed the holocaust and the fat that was on the altar. At this sight the people shouted for joy and fell on their faces.

JB LEVITICUS Chapter 10

Complementary legislation[*a]

a. A lesson in exact observance

10:1 Nadab and Abihu, sons of Aaron, each took his censer, put fire in it and incense on the fire, and presented unlawful fire before Yahweh, fire which he had not prescribed for them.

10:2 Then from Yahweh’s presence a flame leaped out and consumed them, and they perished in the presence of Yahweh.

10:3 And Moses said to Aaron, ‘That is what Yahweh meant when he said: “In those who are close to me I show my holiness, and before all the people I show my glory”‘.[*b] Aaron remained silent.

b. Removal of bodies

10:4 Moses summoned Mishael and Elzaphan, sons of Aaron’s uncle Uzziel, and said to them, ‘Come and take your brothers far away from the sanctuary, out of the camp’.

10:5 They came and carried them away, still in their tunics, out of the camp, as Moses had ordered.

c. Rules for priestly mourning

10:6 Moses said to Aaron and his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, ‘Do not disorder your hair nor tear your garments;[*c] you are not going to die. It is with the whole community that he is angry; it is the whole House of Israel that must lament your brothers, the victims of Yahweh’s fire.

10:7 Do not leave the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, lest you die; for the chrism of Yahweh is on you.’ And they obeyed the words of Moses.

d. Wine forbidden

10:8 Yahweh spoke to Aaron; he said:

10:9 ‘When you come to the Tent of Meeting, you and your sons with you, do not take wine or strong drink; then you will not die. This is a perpetual law for all your descendants.

10:10 And so be it too when you separate the sacred from the profane, the unclean from the clean,

10:11 and when you teach the sons of Israel any of the laws that Yahweh has pronounced for them through Moses.’

e. The priests’ portion in offerings

10:12 Moses said to Aaron and his surviving sons, Eleazar and Ithamar, ‘Take the oblation that is left over from Yahweh’s burnt offering. Eat the unleavened part of it beside the altar, because it is a most holy thing.

10:13 Eat it in a holy place; it is the portion of Yahweh’s burnt offering prescribed for you and your sons; this is the order I have received.

10:14 ‘The breast that was offered up and the thigh that was set aside you will eat in some place that is clean, you, your sons and your daughters with you; this is the portion of the communion sacrifices of the sons of Israel that is prescribed for you and your sons.

10:15 The thigh that was set aside and the breast that was offered up, when the fat was burnt, revert to you, to you and your sons with you, after they have been presented before Yahweh by the gesture of offering, in virtue of a perpetual law as Yahweh has ordered.’

f. A special regulation concerning Sacrifice for Sin

10:16 Then Moses enquired about the goat offered as a sacrifice for sin, and found that they had burnt it. He was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s surviving sons:

10:17 ‘Why’ he asked ‘did you not eat this victim in the holy place? For it is a most holy thing given to you to take away the fault of the community, by performing the rite of atonement over it before Yahweh.

10:18 Since its blood was not taken inside the sanctuary, you should have eaten its flesh there, as I ordered you.’

10:19 Aaron said to Moses, ‘Today they have offered their sacrifice for sin and their holocaust before Yahweh. If I had been concerned, if I had eaten the victim for sin today, would that have seemed good to Yahweh?’

10:20 And when Moses heard this, he was satisfied.

JB LEVITICUS Chapter 11

III. RULES CONCERNING THE CLEAN AND UNCLEAN

Clean and unclean beasts

a. On land

11:1 Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron and said to them,

11:2 ‘Speak to the sons of Israel and say: “Of all the beasts on the earth these are the animals you may eat:

11:3 “You may eat any animal that has a cloven hoof, divided into two parts, and that is a ruminant.

11:4 The following, which either chew the cud or have a cloven hoof, are the ones that you may not eat: the camel must be held unclean, because though it is ruminant, it has not a cloven hoof;

11:5 the hyrax must be held unclean, because though it is ruminant, it has not a cloven hoof;

11:6 the hare must be held unclean, because though it is ruminant, it has not a cloven hoof;

11:7 the pig must be held unclean, because though it has a cloven hoof, divided into two parts, it is not ruminant.

11:8 You must not eat the meat of such animals nor touch their dead bodies; you must hold them unclean.

b. In water

11:9 “Of all that lives in water, these you may eat: “Anything that has fins and scales, and lives in the water, whether in sea or river, you may eat.

11:10 But anything in sea or river that has not fins or scales, of all the small water-creatures and all the living things found there, must be held detestable.

11:11 You must hold them detestable; you are not to eat their flesh and you must avoid their carcases.

11:12 Anything that lives in water, but has no fins or scales, is to be held detestable.

c. Birds

11:13 “Among the birds here are those you must hold detestable; they may not be eaten, they are detestable: “The tawny vulture, the griffon, the osprey,

11:14 the kite, the several kinds of buzzard,

11:15 all kinds of raven,

11:16 the ostrich, the screech owl, the seagull, the several kinds of hawk,

11:17 horned owl, night owl, cormorant, barn owl,

11:18 ibis, pelican, white vulture,

11:19 stork, the several kinds of heron, hoopoe and bat.

d. Winged insects

11:20 “All winged insects that move on four feet[*a] you must hold detestable.

11:21 Of all these winged insects you may eat only the following: those that have legs above their feet so that they can leap over the ground.

11:22 These are the ones you may eat: the several kinds of migratory locust, solham, hargol and hagab locusts in their several kinds.

11:23 But all winged insects on four feet you are to hold detestable.

Contact with unclean animals

11:24 “By these you will be made unclean. Anyone who touches the carcase of one will be unclean until evening.

11:25 Anyone who picks up their carcases must wash his clothing and will be unclean until evening.

11:26 Animals that have hoofs, but not cloven, and that are not ruminant, you are to hold unclean; anyone who touches them will be unclean.

11:27 Those four-footed animals which walk on the flat of their foot[*b] must be held unclean; anyone who touches their carcases will be unclean until evening,

11:28 and anyone who picks up their carcases must wash his clothing and will be unclean until evening. You are to hold them unclean.

e. Small ground beasts

11:29 “These are the small beasts crawling on the ground that you are to hold unclean: the mole, the rat, the several kinds of lizard:

11:30 gecko, koah, letaah, chameleon and tinshameth.

Further rules on contact with things unclean

11:31 “Of all the small beasts, these are the creatures that you are to hold unclean. Anyone who touches them when they are dead will be unclean until evening.

11:32 “Any object on which one of these creatures falls when it is dead becomes unclean: wooden utensil, clothing, skin, sackcloth – any utensil at all. It must be dipped in water and will remain unclean until evening: then it will be clean.

11:33 If the creature falls into an earthenware vessel, the vessel must be broken; whatever the vessel contains is unclean.

11:34 Any food that is eaten will be unclean, even if it is steeped in water; any liquid that is drunk will be unclean, no matter what its container.

11:35 Anything on which a carcase of such a creature may fall will be unclean: oven or stove must be destroyed, for unclean they are and unclean they must be for you

11:36 (although springs, wells and stretches of water will remain clean); anyone who touches a carcase of theirs will be unclean.

11:37 If one of their carcases falls on any seed whatever, the seed will remain clean; but if the seed has been wet, and a carcase of theirs falls on it, then you must hold it unclean.

11:39 “If one of the animals that you use as food dies, then anyone who touches the carcase will be unclean until evening;

11:40 anyone who eats the dead meat must wash his clothing and will remain unclean until evening; anyone who picks up the carcase must wash his clothing and will remain unclean until evening.

The religious aspect

11:41 “Any small beast that crawls on the ground is detestable; you must not eat it.

11:42 Anything that moves on its belly, anything that moves on four legs or more – in short all the small beasts that crawl on the ground – you must not eat these because they are detestable.

11:43 Do not make yourself detestable with all these crawling beasts; do not defile yourself with them, do not be defiled

by them.

11:44 For it is I, Yahweh, who am your God. You have been sanctified and have become holy because I am holy: do not defile yourself with all these beasts that crawl on the ground.

11:45 Yes, it is I, Yahweh, who brought you out of Egypt to be your God: you therefore must be holy because I am holy.”‘

Conclusion

11:46 Such is the law concerning animals, birds, all living creatures that move in water and every creature that crawls on the ground.

11:47 Its purpose is to separate the clean from the unclean; creatures that may be eaten from those that must not be eaten.

JB LEVITICUS Chapter 12

Purification of a woman after childbirth

12:1 Yahweh spoke to Moses; he said,

12:2 ‘Speak to the sons of Israel and say: woman conceives and gives birth to a boy, she is to be unclean for seven days, just as she is unclean during her monthly periods.

12:3 On the eighth day the child’s foreskin must be circumcised,

12:4 and she must wait another thirty-three days for her blood to be purified. She must not touch anything consecrated nor go to the sanctuary until the time of her purification is over.

12:5 “If she gives birth to a girl, she is to be unclean for two weeks, as during her monthly periods; and she must wait another sixty-six days for her blood to be purified.

12:6 “When the period of her purification is over, for either boy or girl, she is to bring to the priest at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting a lamb one year old for a holocaust, and a young pigeon or turtledove as a sacrifice for sin.

12:7 The priest is to offer this before Yahweh, perform the rite of atonement over her, and she will be purified from her flow of blood. “Such is the law concerning a woman who gives birth to either a boy or a girl.

12:8 If she cannot afford a lamb, she is to take two turtledoves or two young pigeons, one for the holocaust and the other for the sacrifice for sin. The priest is to perform the rite of atonement over her and she will be purified.”‘

JB LEVITICUS Chapter 13

Human leprosy

a. Swellings, scabs, discolorations

13:1 Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron,

13:2 ‘If a swelling or scab or shiny spot appears on a man’s skin, a case of leprosy of the skin is to be suspected. The man must be taken to Aaron, the priest, or to one of the priests who are his sons.

13:3 The priest must examine the disease on the skin. If the hair on the diseased part has turned white, or if the disease bites into the skin, then it is indeed a case of leprosy, and after examination the priest must declare the man unclean.

13:4 But if there is a shiny spot on the skin without any visible depression of the skin and without whitening of the hair, the priest is to isolate the sick person for seven days.

13:5 On the seventh day he must examine him, and if he sees with his own eyes that the disease persists though without spreading over the skin, he is to isolate him for a further seven days

13:6 and examine him again on the seventh. If he finds that the diseased part is no longer shiny and has not spread over the skin, then the priest is to declare the man clean. It is a scab merely. Having washed his clothing he will be clean.

13:7 But if the scab spreads over the skin after the sick person has been examined by the priest and declared clean, then he must present himself again to the priest.

13:8 After examining him and certifying the spread of the scab over the skin, the priest must declare him unclean: it is leprosy.

b. Chronic leprosy

13:9 When a leprous disease strikes a man, he must be taken to the priest,

13:10 who must examine him, and if he finds on the skin a whitish swelling with whitening of the hair and an ulcer forming,

13:11 then it is chronic leprosy in the skin and the priest must declare him unclean. He is not to isolate him; he is unclean beyond doubt.

13:12 ‘But if the leprosy spreads all through the skin, if it covers him entirely from head to foot so far as the priest can see,

13:13 then the priest must examine the sick person and, if he finds that the leprosy covers his whole body, declare the sick person[*a] clean. Since it has all become white, he is clean.

13:14 But as soon as an ulcer appears on him, he will be unclean.

13:15 After examining the ulcer, the priest is to declare him unclean: the ulcer is unclean, it is leprous.

13:16 But if the ulcer becomes white again, the man must go to the priest;

13:17 the priest must examine him and if he finds that the disease has turned white, he is to declare the sick person clean: he is clean.

c. Boils

13:18 ‘When a boil appears on a man’s skin, which, after healing,

13:19 leaves in its place a whitish swelling or a shiny spot of reddish white, the man must show himself to the priest.

13:20 The priest must examine him, and if he finds a visible depression in the skin and a whitening of the hair, he is to declare him unclean: it is a case of leprosy that has broken out in a boil.

13:21 But if on examination the priest finds neither white hair nor depression of the skin, but a fading of the affected part, he is to isolate the sick person for seven days.

13:22 If the disease has indeed spread over the skin, he must declare him unclean: it is a case of leprosy.

13:23 But if the shiny spot is still restricted and has not spread, then it is the scar of a boil and the priest is to declare the man clean.

d. Burns

13:24 ‘If someone has had a burn, and on the burn an ulcer forms, a shiny spot reddish-white or whitish in colour,

13:25 then the priest must examine it. If he finds a whitening of the hair or a visible depression of the mark on the skin, this means that leprosy has broken out in the burn. The priest is to declare the man unclean: it is a case of leprosy.

13:26 If on the other hand the priest on examination does not find white hair on the mark or depression of the skin, but a fading of the mark, then the priest is to isolate him for seven days.

13:27 On the seventh day he must examine him, and if the disease has spread on the skin, he must declare him unclean: it is a case of leprosy.

13:28 If the mark is still restricted and has not spread over the skin, but has faded instead, this means that it is only a swelling due to the burn. The priest is to declare the man clean: it is merely a burn scar.

e. Diseases of the Scalp and chin

13:29 ‘If a man or a woman has a sore on the head or chin,

13:30 the priest must examine this sore; and if he finds a depression visible in the skin, with the hair on it yellow and thin, he must declare the sick person unclean. It is tinea, that is to say, leprosy of the head or chin.

13:31 If on examining this case of tinea the priest finds no visible depression in the skin nor yellow hair, he is to isolate the person so affected for seven days.

13:32 He must examine the infected part on the seventh day, and if he finds that the tinea has not spread, that the hair on it is not yellow, and that there is no visible depression in the skin,

13:33 the sick person will shave his hair, all except the part affected with tinea, and the priest is to isolate him again for seven days.

13:34 He must examine the infected part on the seventh day, and if he finds that it has not spread over the skin, and that there is no visible depression of the skin, the priest is to declare the sick person clean. After washing his clothes he will be clean.

13:35 But if after this purification the tinea does spread over the skin,

13:36 the priest must examine him; if he finds that the tinea has indeed spread over the skin, this means that the sick person is unclean, and there is no need to verify whether the hair is yellow.

13:37 Whereas if, so far as he can see, the tinea is arrested and dark hair is beginning to grow on it, this means that the sick person is cured. He is clean, and the priest is to declare him clean.

f. Rash

13:38 ‘If shiny spots break out on the skin of a man or woman, and if these spots are white,

13:39 the priest must examine them. If he finds that these patches are of a dull white, it is a rash that has broken out on the skin: the sick person is clean.

g. Loss of hair

13:40 ‘If a man loses the hair of his scalp, this is baldness of the scalp but the man is clean.

13:41 If he loses his hair off the front of the head, this is baldness of the forehead but the man is clean.

13:42 If, however, a reddish-white sore appears on scalp or forehead, this means that leprosy has broken out on the man’s scalp or forehead.

13:43 The priest must examine it, and if he finds a reddish-white swelling on the scalp or forehead, of the same appearance as leprosy of the skin,

13:44 this means that the man is leprous: he is unclean. The priest must declare him unclean; he is suffering from leprosy of the head.

A regulation for lepers

13:45 ‘A man infected with leprosy must wear his clothing torn and his hair disordered; he must shield his upper lip and cry, “Unclean, unclean”.

13:46 As long as the disease lasts he must be unclean; and therefore he must live apart: he must live outside the camp.

Leprosy of clothes

13:47 ‘When a piece of clothing is infected with leprosy – woollen or linen clothing,

13:48 linen or woollen fabric or covering, leather or leatherwork –

13:49 and if this clothing, fabric, covering, leather or leatherwork appears greenish or reddish, it is a case of leprosy to be shown to the priest.

13:50 The priest must examine the infection and isolate the object for seven days.

13:51 If on the seventh day he observes that the infection has spread on the garment, fabric, covering, leather or leatherwork, whatever it may be, it is a case of contagious leprosy and the object is unclean.

13:52 He will burn this clothing, fabric, linen or woollen covering, leather article of any kind, on which the infection has appeared; for it is a contagious leprosy which must be destroyed by fire.

13:53 ‘But if on examination the priest finds that the infection has not spread on the clothing, fabric, covering, or leather object whatever it may be,

13:54 he is to order the infected article to be washed and is to isolate it again for a period of seven days.

13:55 After the cleansing he must examine the infection and if he finds that there is no change in its appearance, even though it has not spread, the article is unclean. It must be destroyed by fire; it is infected through and through.

13:56 ‘But if on examination the priest finds that the infection has diminished after washing, he is to cut it out of the clothing, leather, fabric or covering.

13:57 But if the infection reappears on the same clothing, fabric, covering or leather article whatever it may be, this means that the infection is active and you must destroy by fire whatever is infected.

13:58 The clothing, fabric, covering or leather article whatever it may be, from which the infection disappears after washing, is to be clean after it has been washed a second time.

13:59 ‘Such is the law for a case of leprosy in a linen or woollen garment, a fabric or covering or leather article whatever it may be, when it is a question of declaring them clean or unclean.’

JB LEVITICUS Chapter 14

Purification of lepers

14:1 Yahweh spoke to Moses; he said:

14:2 This is the law to be applied to a leper on the day he is purified. He must be taken to the priest,

14:3 and the priest must go outside the camp. If he finds on examination that the leper is cured of his leprosy,

14:4 he shall order the following to be brought for the man’s purification: two live birds that are clean, cedar wood, scarlet and hyssop.

14:5 Then he is to give orders for one of the birds to be immolated in an earthenware pot over running water.

14:6 Then he is to take the live bird, the cedar wood, the scarlet and the hyssop and he must dip all of this (including the live bird) into the blood of the bird immolated over running water.

14:7 Then he must sprinkle the man who is to be purified of leprosy seven times, and having declared him clean, must set the live bird free to fly off into the open country.

14:8 The man who is undergoing purification is to wash his clothing, shave all his hair, and wash himself; then he will be clean. After this he may return to the camp, although he must remain seven days outside his tent.

14:9 On the seventh day he must shave off all his hair – head, beard and eyebrows; he must shave off all his hair. After washing his clothing and his body he will be clean.

14:10 ‘On the eighth day, he is to take two lambs without blemish, an unblemished ewe one year old, three-tenths[*a] of wheaten flour mixed with oil for the oblation, and one log of oil.

14:11 The priest who is performing the purification is to station the man who is being purified, with all his offerings, at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, before Yahweh.

14:12 Then he must take one of the lambs and offer it as a sacrifice of reparation, as also the log of oil. With these he is to make the gesture of offering before Yahweh.

14:13 Then he must immolate the lamb on that spot inside the sacred precincts where the victims of the sacrifice for sin and of the holocaust are immolated. This offering of reparation, like the sacrifice for sin, reverts to the priest: it is a most holy thing.

14:14 The priest must take the blood of this sacrifice and put some of it on the lobe of the right ear, the thumb of the right hand, and the big toe of the right foot of the man who is being purified.

14:15 Then he is to take the log of oil and pour a little into the hollow of his left hand.

14:16 He must dip a finger of his right hand into the oil in the hollow of his left hand, and with this oil make seven sprinklings with his finger before Yahweh.

14:17 Then he is to take a little of the oil that remains in the hollow of his hand and put it on the lobe of the right ear of the man who is being purified, and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot (this in addition to the blood of the sacrifice of reparation).

14:18 The rest of the oil in the hollow of his hand he is to put on the head of the man who is being purified. In this way he will have performed over him the rite of atonement before Yahweh.

14:19 ‘Then the priest must offer the sacrifice for sin, and perform the rite of atonement for uncleanness over the man who is being purified. After this he must immolate the holocaust,

14:20 and send up holocaust and oblation on the altar. When .the priest has performed the rite of atonement over him in this way, the man will be clean.

14:21 ‘If he is poor and cannot afford all this, he need take only one lamb, the one for the sacrifice of reparation, and it is to be presented with the gesture of offering to perform the rite of atonement over the man. And he is to take for the oblation only one-tenth of wheaten flour mixed with oil, and the log of oil,

14:22 and finally two turtledoves or two young pigeons – if he can afford them – one to be used as a sacrifice for sin and the other for the holocaust.

14:23 On the eighth day he must bring them to the priest at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting before Yahweh, for his purification.

14:24 The priest is to take the lamb for the sacrifice of reparation and the log of oil, and present them before Yahweh with the gesture of offering.

14:25 Then he must immolate the lamb for the sacrifice of reparation, take some of its blood and put it on the lobe of the right ear of the man who is being purified, on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot.

14:26 He is to pour the oil into the hollow of his left hand,

14:27 and with this oil in the hollow of his left hand he must make seven sprinklings with his finger before Yahweh.

14:28 He is to put some of it on the lobe of the right ear of the man who is being purified, on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot, as he did with the blood of the sacrifice of reparation.

14:29 The remainder of the oil in the hollow of his hand he must put on the head of the man who is being purified, performing the rite of atonement over him before Yahweh.

14:30 Of the two turtledoves or two young pigeons – if he can afford them – he is to offer

14:31 a sacrifice for sin with one, and with the other a holocaust together with an oblation – if he can afford them. In this way the priest will have performed before Yahweh the rite of atonement over the person who is being purified.

14:32 ‘Such is the law concerning a person afflicted by leprosy who cannot afford the means for his purification.’

Leprosy of houses

14:33 Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron; he said:

14:34 ‘When you reach the land of Canaan, which I am giving you as an inheritance, if I strike a house with leprosy in the land you are to possess,

14:35 the owner must come and warn the priest; he must say, “I have seen something like leprosy in the house”.

14:36 The priest is to give orders for the house to be emptied before he goes to examine the infection; thus nothing in the house will become unclean. Then the priest must go and look at the house;

14:37 and if on examination he finds the walls of the house pitted with reddish or greenish depressions,

14:38 the priest is to go out of the house, to the door, and shut it up for seven days.

14:39 On the seventh day he must go back again, and if on examination he finds that the infection has spread over the walls of the house,

14:40 he must give orders for the infected stones to be removed and thrown into some unclean place outside the town.

14:41 Then he must have all the inside of the house scraped, and the plaster that comes off must be emptied out into an unclean place outside the town.

14:42 The stones must be replaced by new ones and the house given a new coat of plaster.

14:43 ‘If the infection spreads again after the stones have been removed and the house scraped and replastered,

14:44 the priest is to come and examine it. If he finds that the infection has spread, this means that there is a contagious leprosy in the house: it is unclean.

14:45 lt must be pulled down and the stones, woodwork and all the plaster be taken to an unclean place outside the town.

14:46 ‘Anyone who enters the house while it is closed will be unclean until evening.

14:47 Anyone who sleeps there must wash his clothing. Anyone who eats there must wash his clothing.

14:48 But if the priest finds, when he comes to examine the infection, that it has not spread in the house since it was plastered, he is to declare the house clean, for the infection is cured.

14:49 ‘As a sacrifice for the sin of the house, he is to take two birds, cedar wood, scarlet and hyssop.

14:50 He must immolate one of the birds in an earthenware pot over running water.

14:51 Then he is to take the cedar wood, the hyssop, the scarlet and the live bird, and must dip them into the blood of the bird that was immolated and into the running water. He is to sprinkle the house seven times;

14:52 and after having offered a sacrifice for the sin of the house with the blood of the bird, the running water, the live bird, the cedar wood, the hyssop and the scarlet,

14:53 he must set the live bird free to fly out of the town into the open country. When the rite of atonement has been performed over the house in this way it will be clean.

14:54 ‘Such is the law for all cases of leprosy and tinea,

14:55 leprosy of clothing and houses,

14:56 swellings, scabs and shiny spots. It defines the occasions when things are unclean and when clean.

14:57 Such is the law on leprosy.’

JB LEVITICUS Chapter 15

Sexual impurities

a. Of men

15:1 Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron; he said:

15:2 ‘Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them: “When a man has a discharge from his body, that discharge is unclean.

15:3 While the discharge continues, the nature of his uncleanness is as follows: “Whether his body allows the discharge to flow or whether it retains it, he is unclean.

15:4 “Any bed the man lies on and any seat he sits on shall be unclean.

15:5 “Anyone who touches his bed must wash his clothing and wash himself and will be unclean until evening.

15:6 “Anyone who sits on a seat where the man has sat must wash his clothing and wash himself and will be unclean until evening.

15:7 “Anyone who touches the body of a man so affected must wash his clothing and wash himself and will be unclean until evening.

15:8 “If the sick man spits on someone who is clean, that person must wash his clothing and wash himself and will be unclean until evening.

15:9 “Any saddle the sick man travels on will be unclean.

15:10 “All those who touch any object that may be under him will be unclean until evening. “Anyone who picks up such an object must wash his clothing and wash himself and will be unclean until evening.

15:11 “All those whom the sick man touches without washing his hands must wash their clothing and wash themselves and will be unclean until evening.

15:12 “Any earthenware vessel the sick man touches must be broken and any wooden utensil must be rinsed.

15:13 “When the man suffering from a discharge is cured, he must allow seven days for his purification. He must wash his clothing and wash his body in running water and he will be clean.

15:14 On the eighth day he must take two turtledoves or two young pigeons and come before Yahweh at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, and give them to the priest.

15:15 The priest is to offer a sacrifice for sin with one of them, and with the other a holocaust. So the priest will perform the rite of atonement over him before Yahweh for his discharge.

15:16 “When a man has a seminal discharge, he must wash his whole body with water and he shall be unclean until evening.

15:17 Any clothing or leather touched by the seminal discharge must be washed and it will be unclean until evening.

15:18 When a woman has slept with a man, both of them must wash and they will be unclean until evening.

b. Of women

15:19 “When a woman has a discharge of blood, and blood flows from her body, this uncleanness of her monthly periods shall last for seven days. “Anyone who touches her will be unclean until evening.

15:20 “Any bed she lies on in this state will be unclean; any seat she sits on will be unclean.

15:21 “Anyone who touches her bed must wash his clothing and wash himself and will be unclean until evening.

15:22 “Anyone who touches any seat she has sat on must wash his clothing and wash himself and will be unclean until evening.

15:23 If there is anything on the bed or on the chair on which she sat, anyone who touches it will be unclean until evening.

15:24 “If a man sleeps with her, he will be affected by the uncleanness of her monthly periods. He shall be unclean for seven days. Any bed he lies on will be unclean.

15:25 “If a woman has a flow of blood for several days outside the period, or if the period is prolonged, during the time this flow lasts she shall be in the same state of uncleanness as during her monthly periods.

15:26 Any bed she lies on during the time this flow lasts will be in the same condition as the bed she lies on during

her monthly periods. Any seat she sits on will be unclean as it would be during her monthly periods.

15:27 Anyone who touches them will be unclean; he must wash his clothing and wash himself and will be unclean until evening.

15:28 “When she is cured of her flow, she will let seven days pass; then she will be clean.

15:29 On the eighth day she is to take two turtledoves or two young pigeons and bring them to the priest at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

15:30 With one of them the priest is to offer a sacrifice for sin and with the other a holocaust. This is the way in which the priest will perform the rite of atonement over her before Yahweh for the flow that caused her uncleanness.”

Conclusion

15:31 ‘You must warn the sons of Israel of their uncleanness lest they should die because of it, by being a defilement to my tabernacle which is set amongst them.

15:32 ‘Such is the law concerning a man with a discharge, anyone made unclean by a seminal discharge,

15:33 a woman in the uncleanness of her monthly periods, a man or a woman with a discharge, a man who sleeps with an unclean woman.’

JB LEVITICUS Chapter 16

The great Day of Atonement

16:1 After the death of the two sons of Aaron who died through offering fire before Yahweh,

16:2 Yahweh spoke to Moses. He said: ‘Tell Aaron your brother that he must not enter the sanctuary beyond the veil, in front of the throne of mercy that is over the ark, whenever he chooses. He may die; for I appear in a cloud on the throne of mercy.

16:3 ‘This is how he is to enter the sanctuary: with a young bull for a sacrifice for sin and a ram for a holocaust.

16:4 He is to put on a tunic of consecrated linen, wear linen on his body, a linen girdle round his waist, and a linen turban on his head. These are the sacred vestments he must put on after washing himself with water.

16:5 ‘He is to receive two goats for a sacrifice for sin and a ram for a holocaust from the community of the sons of Israel.

16:6 After offering the bull as a sacrifice for his own sin and performing the rite of atonement for himself and his family,

16:7 Aaron must take the two goats and set them before Yahweh at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

16:8 He is to draw lots for the two goats and allot one to Yahweh and the other to Azazel.[*a]

16:9 Aaron is to offer up the goat whose lot was marked “For Yahweh”, and offer it as a sacrifice for sin.

16:10 The goat whose lot was marked “For Azazel” shall be set before Yahweh, still alive, to perform the rite of atonement over it, sending it out into the desert to Azazel.

16:11 ‘Aaron must offer the bull which is to be a sacrifice for his own sin, then he must perform the rite of atonement for himself and for his family, and immolate the bull.

16:12 Then he is to fill a censer with live coals from the altar that stands before Yahweh; and to take two handfuls of finely ground aromatic incense. He is to take these through the veil

16:13 and then to put the incense on the fire before Yahweh, and with a cloud of incense he must cover the throne of mercy that is on the Testimony; if he does this, he shall not die.

16:14 Then he must take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the eastern side of the throne of mercy; in front of the throne of mercy he must sprinkle this blood seven times with his finger.

16:15 ‘He must then immolate the goat for the sacrifice for the sin of the people, and take its blood through the veil. With this blood he is to do as with the blood of the bull, sprinkling it on the throne of mercy and in front of it.

16:16 This is how he is to perform the rite of atonement over the sanctuary for the uncleanness of the sons of Israel, for their transgressions and for all their sins. ‘This also is how he must deal with the Tent of Meeting which remains with them, surrounded by their uncleanness.

16:17 Let no one stay in the Tent of Meeting, from the moment he enters to make atonement in the sanctuary until the time he comes out. ‘When he has made atonement for himself, for his family, and for the whole community of Israel,

16:18 he is to come out and go to the altar which is before Yahweh, and perform over it the rite of atonement. He must take some of the blood of the bull and of the goat, and put it on the horns around the altar.

16:19 With this blood he must sprinkle the altar seven times with his finger. This is how he will render it clean and sacred, purified and separated from the uncleanness of the sons of Israel.

16:20 ‘When the atonement of the sanctuary, the Tent of Meeting and the altar is complete, he is to bring the other goat that is still alive.

16:21 Aaron must lay his hands on its head and confess all the faults of the sons of Israel, all their transgressions and all their sins, and lay them to its charge. Having thus laid them on the goat’s head, he shall send it out into the desert led by a man waiting ready,

16:22 and the goat will bear all their faults away with it into a desert place. ‘When he has sent the goat out into the wilderness,

16:23 Aaron is to return to the Tent of Meeting and remove the linen vestments he wore to enter the sanctuary. He must leave them there

16:24 and wash his body in a consecrated place. Then he is to put the vestments on again and go out to offer his own and the people’s holocaust. He must perform the rite of atonement for himself and for the people;

16:25 he must burn up the fat of the sacrifice for sin on the altar.

16:26 ‘The man who leads out the goat to Azazel must wash his clothing and his body, and then he can return to the camp.

16:27 The bull and the goat offered as a sacrifice for sin, whose blood has been taken into the sanctuary for the rite of atonement, are to be taken out of the camp where their skin, flesh and dung are to be burnt.

16:28 The man who burns them must wash his clothing and his body, and then he can return to the camp.

16:29 ‘This shall be a perpetual law for you. ‘On the tenth day of the seventh month you must fast and refrain from work, the native and the stranger who lives among you.

16:30 For this is the day on which the rite of atonement shall be performed over you, to purify you. Before Yahweh you will be clean of all your sins.

16:31 It shall be a sabbath rest for you and you are to fast. This is a perpetual law.

16:32 The rite of atonement must be performed by the priest who has been anointed and installed to officiate in place of his father. He is to put on the linen, the sacred vestments,

16:33 and to perform the atonement of the sacred sanctuary, the Tent of Meeting and the altar. Then he must perform the rite of atonement over the priests and all the people of the community.

16:34 This shall be a perpetual law for you; once a year the rite of atonement must be made over the sons of Israel for all their sins. And it was done as Yahweh commanded Moses.

JB LEVITICUS Chapter 17

IV. THE LAW OF HOLINESS

Immolation and sacrifice

17:1 Yahweh spoke to Moses; he said:

17:2 ‘Speak to Aaron and his sons and all the sons of Israel and say to them: “This is the word of Yahweh, his command:

17:3 Any man of the House of Israel who immolates an ox, lamb or goat, whether inside the camp or outside it,

17:4 must first bring it to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting to make an offering of it to Yahweh before his tabernacle; and anyone who fails to do this must answer for the blood that is spilt; he shall be outlawed from his people.

17:5 Thus, the sacrifices that the sons of Israel wish to make in the open country will be brought to the priest, for Yahweh, at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, and with them they will make communion sacrifices for Yahweh.

17:6 The priest shall sprinkle the blood on the altar of Yahweh that stands at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, and he shall burn the fat, and its fragrance will appease Yahweh.

17:7 They must no longer offer their sacrifices to the satyrs[*a] in whose service they once prostituted themselves.[*b] This is a perpetual law for them and for their descendants.”

17:8 ‘You will also say to them, “Any man of the House of Israel or stranger living among you who offers a holocaust or sacrifice

17:9 without bringing it to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting to offer it to Yahweh shall be outlawed from his people.

17:10 “If any man of the House of Israel or stranger living among you eats blood of any kind, I will set my face against the man who has eaten the blood and will outlaw him from his people.

17:11 The life of the flesh is in the blood. This blood I myself have given you to perform the rite of atonement for your lives at the altar; for it is blood that atones for a life.

17:12 That is why I have said to the sons of Israel: None of you nor any stranger living among you shall eat blood.

17:13 “If any son of Israel or any stranger living among you catches game or bird that it is lawful to eat, he must pour out its blood and cover it with earth.

17:14 For the life of all flesh is its blood, and I have said to the sons of Israel: You must not eat the blood of any flesh, for the life of all flesh is in its blood, and anyone who eats it shall be outlawed from his people.

17:15 “Anyone, native or stranger, who eats an animal that has died a natural death or been savaged by beasts must wash his clothing and wash himself; he shall be unclean until evening, then he will be clean.

17:16 But if he does not wash his clothing and wash his body, he must bear the consequences of his fault.”‘

JB LEVITICUS Chapter 18

Rules for conjugal relationships

18:1 Yahweh spoke to Moses; he said:

18:2 ‘Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them: “I am Yahweh your God.

18:3 You must not behave as they do in Egypt where once you lived; you must not behave as they do in Canaan where I am taking you. You must not follow their laws.

18:4 You must follow my customs and keep my laws; by them you must lead your life. “I am Yahweh your God.

18:5 You must keep my laws and my customs. Whoever complies with them will find life in them. “I am Yahweh.

18:6 “None of you may approach a woman who is closely related to him, to uncover her nakedness. I am Yahweh.

18:7 “You must not uncover the nakedness of your father or mother. She is your mother – you must not uncover her nakedness.

18:8 “You must not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife; it is your father’s nakedness.

18:9 “You must not uncover the nakedness of your sister, whether she is your father’s or your mother’s daughter. Whether she is born in the same house or elsewhere, you must not uncover her nakedness.

18:10 “You must not uncover the nakedness of the daughter of your son or daughter; for their nakedness is your own.

18:11 “You must not uncover the nakedness of the daughter of your father’s wife, born of your father. She is your sister; you must not uncover her nakedness.

18:12 “You must not uncover the nakedness of your father’s sister; for it is your father’s flesh.

18:13 “You must not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister; for it is your mother’s flesh.

18:14 “You must not uncover the nakedness of your father’s brother; you must therefore not approach his wife, for she is your aunt.

18:15 “You must not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law. She is your son’s wife; you must not uncover her nakedness.

18:16 “You .must not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife; for it is your brother’s nakedness.

18:17 “You must not uncover the nakedness of a woman and of her daughter too; you must not take the daughter of her son or of her daughter to uncover their nakedness. They are your own flesh; it would be incest.

18:18 “You must not take into your harem a woman and her sister at the same time, uncovering the latter’s nakedness while the former is still alive.

18:19 “You must not approach and uncover the nakedness of a woman who is unclean by reason of her monthly periods.

18:20 “You must not give your marriage bed to your neighbour’s wife; you would thereby become unclean.

18:21 “You must not hand over any of your children to have them passed to Molech,[*a] nor must you profane the name of your God in this way. I am Yahweh.

18:22 “You must not lie with a man as with a woman. This is a hateful thing.

18:23 “You must not lie with any animal; you would thereby become unclean. A woman must not offer herself to an animal, to have intercourse with it. This would be a foul thing.

18:24 “Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these practices, for it was by such things that the nations that I have expelled to make way for you made themselves unclean.

18:25 “The land became unclean; I exacted the penalty for its fault and the land had to vomit out its inhabitants.

18:26 “But you must keep my laws and customs, you must not do any of these hateful things, neither native nor stranger living among you.

18:27 For all these hateful things were done by the people who inhabited this land before you, and the land became unclean.

18:28 If you make it unclean, will it not vomit you out as it vomited the nation that was here before you?

18:29 Yes, anyone who does one of these hateful things, whatever it may be, any person doing so must be cut off from his people.

18:30 Keep to my rules; do not observe the hateful practices that were observed before you came, then you will not be made unclean by them. I am Yahweh your God.”‘

JB LEVITICUS Chapter 19

Worship

19:1 Yahweh spoke to Moses; he said:

19:2 ‘Speak to the whole community of the sons of Israel and say to them: “Be holy, for I, Yahweh your God, am holy.

19:3 “Each of you must respect his father and mother. “And you must keep my sabbaths; I am Yahweh your God.

19:4 “Do not turn to idols, and cast no gods of metal. I am Yahweh your God.

19:5 “If you offer a communion sacrifice to Yahweh, make yourselves acceptable and so offer it.

19:6 It must be eaten the same day or the day after; whatever is left the day after must be burnt.

19:7 If eaten on the third day it would be a corrupt offering, it would not be acceptable.

19:8 Anyone who eats it must bear the consequences of his fault, for he will have profaned the holiness of Yahweh; this person shall be outlawed from his people.

19:9 “When you gather the harvest of your land, you are not to harvest to the very end of the field. You are not to gather the gleanings of the harvest.

19:10 You are neither to strip your vine bare nor to collect the fruit that has fallen in your vineyard. You must leave them for the poor and the stranger. I am Yahweh your God.

19:11 “You must not steal nor deal deceitfully or fraudulently with your neighbour.

19:12 You must not swear falsely by my name, profaning the name of your God. I am Yahweh.

19:13 You must not exploit or rob your neighbour. You must not keep back the labourer’s wage until next morning.

19:14 You must not curse the dumb, nor put an obstacle in the blind man’s way, but you must fear your God. I am Yahweh.

19:15 “You must not be guilty of unjust verdicts. You must neither be partial to the little man nor overawed by the great; you must pass judgement on your neighbour according to justice.

19:16 You must not slander your own people, and you must not jeopardise your neighbour’s life. I am Yahweh.

19:17 You must not bear hatred for your brother in your heart. You must openly tell him, your neighbour, of his offence; this way you will not take a sin upon yourself.

19:18 You must not exact vengeance, nor must you bear a grudge against the children of your people. You must love your neighbour as yourself. I am Yahweh.

19:19 “You must keep my laws. “You are not to mate your cattle with those of another kind; you are not to sow two kinds of grain in your field; you are not to wear a garment made from two kinds of fabric.

19:20 “If a man sleeps with a woman as though married to her, she being another’s concubine slave not yet purchased or given her freedom, then the man is to be answerable for infringement of rights, but he shall not be put to death, since she was not a free woman.

19:21 He must bring a sacrifice of reparation for Yahweh to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. This is to be a ram of reparation.

19:22 With this ram of reparation the priest must perform the rite of atonement over the man before Yahweh for the sin committed; and the sin he has committed will be forgiven.

19:23 “Once you have entered this land and planted a fruit tree of any sort, you are to regard its fruits as its foreskin.[*a] For three years it shall be a thing uncircumcised, and you must not eat it.

19:24 In the fourth year, all the fruit shall be consecrated to Yahweh in a feast of praise.

19:25 In the fifth year you may eat the fruit and gather the produce for yourselves. I am Yahweh your God.

19:26 “You must eat nothing with blood in it. You must not practise divination or magic.

19:27 [*b] “You are not to round off your hair at the edges nor trim the edges of your beard.

19:28 You are not to gash your bodies when someone dies, and you are not to tattoo yourselves. I am Yahweh.

19:29 “Do not profane your daughter by making her a prostitute; thus the land will not be prostituted and filled with incest.

19:30 “You must keep my sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary. I am Yahweh.

19:31 “Do not have recourse to the spirits of the dead or to magicians; they will defile you. I am Yahweh your God.

19:32 “You are to rise up before grey hairs, you are to honour old age and fear your God. I am Yahweh.

19:33 “If a stranger lives with you in your land, do not molest him.

19:34 You must count him as one of your own countrymen and love him as yourself – for you were once strangers yourselves in Egypt. I am Yahweh your God.

19:35 “Your legal verdicts, your measures – length, weight and capacity – must all be just.

19:36 Your scales and weights must be just, a just ephah and a just hin. I am Yahweh who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

19:37 “Keep all my laws and customs, put them into practice. I am Yahweh.”‘

JB LEVITICUS Chapter 20

Penalties

a. Offences against true worship

20:1 Yahweh spoke to Moses; he said:

20:2 ‘Tell the sons of Israel: “Any son of Israel or any stranger living in Israel must die if he hands over any of his children to Molech. The people of the country must stone him,

20:3 and I shall set my face against that man and outlaw him from his people; for in handing over his children to Molech he has defiled my sanctuary and profaned my holy name.

20:4 If the people of the country choose to close their eyes to the man’s action in handing over his children to Molech, and they do not put him to death,

20:5 I myself shall turn my face against him and his clan. I shall outlaw them from their people, him and all those after him who prostitute themselves by following Molech.

20:6 “If a man has recourse to the spirits of the dead or to magicians, to prostitute himself by following them, I shall set my face against that man and outlaw him from his people.

20:7 “You must make yourselves holy, for I am Yahweh your God.

b. Offences against the family

20:8 “You must keep my laws and put them into practice, for it is I, Yahweh, who make you holy.

20:9 Hence: “Anyone who curses father or mother must die. Since he has cursed his father or mother, his blood shall be on his own head.

20:10 “The man who commits adultery with a married woman: “The man who commits adultery with his neighbour’s wife must die, he and his accomplice.

20:11 “The man who lies with his father’s wife has uncovered his father’s nakedness. Both of them must die, their blood shall be on their own heads.

20:12 “The man who lies with his daughter-in-law: both of them must die; they have defiled each other, their blood shall be on their own heads.

20:13 “The man who lies with a man in the same way as with a woman: they have done a hateful thing together; they must die, their blood shall be on their own heads.

20:14 “The man who takes a woman and her mother to wife: that is incest. They must be burnt to death – he and they: there must be no incest among you.

20:15 “The man who lies with an animal: he must die and the animal must be killed.

20:16 “The woman who approaches any animal to have intercourse with it: you shall kill the woman and the animal. They must die, their blood shall be on their own heads.

20:17 “The man who takes the daughter of his father or mother to wife: if he sees her nakedness and she sees his, it is a disgrace. They must be executed in public, for the man has uncovered the nakedness of his sister and he must bear the consequences of his fault.

20:18 “The man who lies with a woman during her monthly periods and uncovers her nakedness: he has laid bare the source of her blood, and she has uncovered the source of her blood: both of them must be outlawed from their people.

20:19 “You must not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister or of your father’s sister, a man has thus uncovered his own flesh, and they must bear the consequences of their fault.

20:20 “The man who lies with the wife of his paternal uncle: he has uncovered his uncle’s nakedness, they must bear the consequences of their fault and die childless.

20:21 “The man who takes to wife the wife of his brother: that is impurity; he has uncovered his brother’s nakedness, and they shall die childless.

c. Appendix: the clean and the unclean

20:22 “You must keep all my laws, all my customs, and put them into practice: thus you will not be vomited out by the land where I am taking you to live.

20:23 You must not follow the laws of the nations that I expel to make way for you; they practised all these things and for this I have come to detest them.

20:24 I have told you already: You shall take possession of their soil, I myself will give you possession of it, a land where milk and honey flow. “I, Yahweh your God, have set you apart from these peoples.

20:25 Therefore you must set the clean animal apart from the unclean, the unclean bird apart from the clean. Do not defile yourselves with these animals or birds, or things that creep on the ground: I have made you set them apart as unclean.

Conclusion

20:26 “Be consecrated to me, because I, Yahweh, am holy, and I will set you apart from all these peoples so that you may be mine.

20:27 “Any man or woman who is a necromancer or magician must be put to death by stoning; their blood shall be on their own heads.”‘

JB LEVITICUS Chapter 21

The holiness of the priesthood

a. The priests

21:1 Yahweh said to Moses: ‘Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: “None of them is to make himself unclean by going near the corpse of one of his family,

21:2 unless it be of his closest relations – father, mother, son, daughter, brother.

21:3 He may also make himself unclean for his virgin sister: if she is still a close relation since she has not belonged to a man.

21:4 If a husband, he must not make himself unclean for his family; in doing so he would profane himself.

21:5 “They must not wear tonsures, shave the edges of their beards, or gash their bodies.

21:6 They shall be consecrated to their God and must not profane the name of their God. For it is they who bring the burnt offerings to Yahweh, the food of their God; and they must be in a holy condition.

21:7 “They must not marry a woman profaned by prostitution, or one divorced by her husband; for the priest is consecrated to his God.

21:8 You shall treat him as holy, for he offers up the food of your God. He shall be a holy person to you, because I, Yahweh, am holy, who sanctify you.

21:9 “If the daughter of a man who is a priest profanes herself by prostitution, she profanes her father and must be burnt to death.

b. The high priest

21:10 “The priest who is pre-eminent over his brother, on whose head the chrism is poured, and who, clothed with the sacred robes, receives investiture, is not to disorder his hair or tear his garments;

21:11 he must not go near a dead man’s corpse, he must not make himself unclean even for his father or mother.

21:12 He must not leave the holy place, so that he may not profane the sanctuary of his God; for he bears on himself the consecration of his God, given by the oil of anointing. I am Yahweh.

21:13 “He must take to wife a woman who is still a virgin.

21:14 He must not marry a woman who is a widow or divorced, or profaned by prostitution: only a virgin from his own family may he take to wife.

21:15 He must not profane his levitical descendants, for it is I, Yahweh, who have sanctified him.”‘

c. Impediments to the priesthood

21:16 Yahweh spoke to Moses; he said:

21:17 ‘Speak to Aaron and say: “None of your descendants, in any generation, must come forward to offer the food of his God if he has any infirmity –

21:18 no man must come near if he has an infirmity such as blindness or lameness, if he is disfigured or deformed,

21:19 if he has an injured foot or arm,

21:20 if he is a hunchback or a dwarf, if he has a disease of the eyes or of the skin, if he has a running sore, or if he is a eunuch.

21:21 No descendant of Aaron the priest must come forward to offer the burnt offerings of Yahweh if he has any infirmity; if he has an infirmity, he must not come forward to offer the food of his God.

21:22 “He may eat the food of his God, things most holy and things holy;

21:23 but he must not go near the veil or approach the altar, because he has an infirmity, and must not profane my holy things; for it is I, Yahweh, who have sanctified them.”‘

21:24 And Moses told this to Aaron, to his sons, and to all the sons of Israel.

JB LEVITICUS Chapter 22

Holiness in consuming the sacred meal

a. The priests

22:1 Yahweh spoke to Moses; he said:

22:2 Speak to Aaron and his sons: let them be consecrated through the holy offerings of the sons of Israel, and not profane my holy name; for my sake they are to sanctify it; I am Yahweh.

22:3 Tell them this: “Any one of your descendants, in any generation, who in a state of uncleanness approaches the holy offerings consecrated to Yahweh by the sons of Israel, shall be outlawed from my presence. I am Yahweh.

22:4 “Anyone of Aaron’s line who is afflicted with leprosy or with a discharge must not eat holy things until he is clean. Anyone who touches something made unclean by a dead body, or has a seminal discharge,

22:5 or is made unclean by touching either some creeping thing or some man who has communicated to him his own uncleanness of whatever kind,

22:6 in short, anyone who has had any such contact shall be unclean until evening, and must not eat holy things until he has washed his body.

22:7 At sunset he will be clean and may then eat holy things, for these are his food.

22:8 “He must not eat an animal that has died a natural death or been savaged by beasts; he would contract uncleanness from it. I am Yahweh.

22:9 “Let them keep my rules and not burden themselves with sin. If they profane them, they shall die: it is I, Yahweh, who have sanctified them.

b. Lay people

22:10 “No lay person may eat holy things: neither the guest of a priest, nor his hired servant.

22:11 But if the priest has acquired a slave by purchase, the slave may eat them like anyone born in the house; for they eat his own food.

22:12 “If a priest’s daughter marries a layman, she must not eat the holy portion set aside;

22:13 but if she is widowed or divorced and, being childless, has had to return to her father’s house as when she was young, she may eat her father’s food. No lay person may eat of it;

22:14 if someone does eat a holy thing by inadvertence, he shall restore it to the priest with one-fifth added.

22:15 “They must not profane the holy offerings which the sons of Israel have set aside for Yahweh.

22:16 To eat these would lay on them a fault demanding a sacrifice of reparation; for it is I, Yahweh; who have sanctified these offerings.”‘

c. Animals sacrificed

22:17 Yahweh spoke to Moses; he said:

22:18 ‘Tell this to Aaron, to his sons, and to all the sons of Israel: “Any man of the House of Israel or any stranger living in Israel who brings an offering either in payment of a vow or as a voluntary gift, and makes a holocaust with it for Yahweh,

22:19 must, if he is to be acceptable, offer a male without blemish, ox, sheep or goat.

22:20 You must not offer one that is blemished; for it would not make you acceptable.

22:21 “If anyone offers to Yahweh a communion sacrifice, either to fulfil a vow or as a voluntary offering, the animal – from the herd or from the flock – must be without blemish if it is to be acceptable; no defect must be found in it.

22:22 You must not offer to Yahweh an animal that is blind, lame, mutilated, ulcerous, or suffering from skin disease or sore. No part of such an animal shall be laid on the altar as a burnt offering for Yahweh.

22:23 As a voluntary offering, you may offer a bull or a lamb that is underdeveloped or deformed; but such will not be

acceptable in payment of a vow.

22:24 An animal must not be offered to Yahweh if its testicles have been bruised, crushed, removed or cut. You are not to do that in your country,

22:25 and you are not to accept any such from the hands of a stranger, to be offered as food for your God. Their deformity is a blemish, and they would not make you acceptable.”‘

22:26 Yahweh spoke to Moses; he said:

22:27 ‘A calf, lamb, or kid shall stay with its dam seven days after birth. From the eighth day it will be acceptable as a burnt offering to Yahweh.

22:28 But no animal, whether cow or ewe, shall be immolated on the same day as its young.

22:29 ‘If you offer Yahweh a sacrifice with praise, do it in the acceptable manner;

22:30 it must be eaten the same day, with nothing left till the morning. I am Yahweh.

d. Final exhortation

22:31 ‘You must keep my commands and put them into practice. I am Yahweh.

22:32 You must not profane my holy name, so that I may be proclaimed holy among the sons of Israel, I, Yahweh who sanctify you.

22:33 I who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God, I am Yahweh.’

JB LEVITICUS Chapter 23

The ritual for the annual feasts

23:1 Yahweh spoke to Moses; he said:

23:2 ‘Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them: (the solemn festivals of Yahweh to which you summon them are sacred assemblies) “These are my solemn festivals.

a. Sabbath

23:3 “You may work for six days, but the seventh must be a day of complete rest, a day for the sacred assembly on which you do no work at all. Wherever you live, this is a sabbath for Yahweh.

23:4 “These are Yahweh’s solemn festivals, the sacred assemblies to which you are to summon the sons of Israel on the appointed day.

b. The Passover and the feast of Unleavened Bread

23:5 “The fourteenth day of the first month, between the two evenings, is the Passover of Yahweh;

23:6 and the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of Unleavened Bread for Yahweh. For seven days you shall eat bread without leaven.

23:7 On the first day you are to hold a sacred assembly; you must do no heavy work.

23:8 For seven days you shall offer a burnt offering to Yahweh. The seventh day is to be a day of sacred assembly; you must do no work.”‘

c. The first sheaf

23:9 Yahweh spoke to Moses; he said:

23:10 ‘Speak to the sons. of Israel and say to them: “When you enter the land that I give you, and gather in the harvest there, you must bring the first sheaf of your harvest to the priest,

23:11 and he is to present it to Yahweh with the gesture of offering, so that you may be acceptable. The priest shall make this offering on the day after the sabbath,

23:12 and on the same day as you make this offering, you are to offer Yahweh the holocaust of an unblemished lamb one year old.

23:13 The oblation for that day shall be two-tenths of wheaten flour mixed with oil, a burnt offering whose fragrance will appease Yahweh. The libation is to be one quarter of a hin of wine.

23:14 You are to eat no bread, roasted corn or baked bread, before this day, before making the offering to your God. This is a perpetual law for all your descendants, wherever you live.

d. The feast of Weeks

23:15 “From the day after the sabbath, the day on which you bring the sheaf of offering, you are to count seven full weeks.

23:16 You are to count fifty days, to the day after the seventh sabbath, and then you are to offer Yahweh a new oblation.

23:17 You must bring bread from your houses to present with the gesture of offering – two loaves, made of two-tenths of wheaten flour baked with leaven; these are first-fruits for Yahweh.

23:18 In addition to the bread you must offer seven unblemished lambs one year old, a young bull and two rams, as a holocaust to Yahweh, together with an oblation and a libation, a burnt offering whose fragrance will appease Yahweh.

23:19 You are also to offer a goat as a sacrifice for sin, and two lambs one year old as a communion sacrifice.

23:20 The priest shall present them before Yahweh with the gesture of offering, in addition to the bread of the first-fruits. These, and the two lambs, are holy things for Yahweh, and will revert to the priest.

23:21 “This same day you are to hold an assembly; this shall be a sacred assembly for you; you will do no heavy work. This is a perpetual law for your descendants, wherever you live.

23:22 “When you gather the harvest in your country, you are not to harvest to the very end of your field, and you are not to gather the gleanings of the harvest. You are to leave them for the poor and the stranger. I am Yahweh your God.”‘

e. The First Day of the Seventh Month

23:23 Yahweh spoke to Moses; he said:

23:24 Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them: “The first day of the seventh month[*a] shall be a day of rest for you, a sacred assembly proclaimed with trumpet call.

23:25 You must not do any heavy work and you must offer a burnt offering to Yahweh.”

f. The Day of Atonement

23:26 Yahweh spoke to Moses; he said:

23:27 ‘But the tenth day of this seventh month shall be the Day of Atonement. You are to hold a sacred assembly. You must fast, and you must offer a burnt offering to Yahweh.

23:28 You are not to do any work that day, for it is the Day of Atonement, on which the rite of atonement will be performed over you before Yahweh your God.

23:29 Indeed, anyone who fails to fast that day shall be outlawed from his people;

23:30 anyone who works that day I will remove from his people.

23:31 No work must be done – this is a perpetual law for your descendants wherever you live.

23:32 This is to be a day of sabbath rest for you. You must fast; on the evening of the ninth day of the month, from this to the following evening, you must cease to work.’

g. The feast of Tabernacles

23:33 Yahweh spoke to Moses; he said:

23:34 ‘Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them: “The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of Tabernacles for Yahweh, lasting seven days.

23:35 The first day is a day of sacred assembly; you must do no heavy work.

23:36 For seven days you must offer a burnt offering to Yahweh. On the eighth day you are to hold a sacred assembly, you must offer a burnt offering to Yahweh. It is a day of solemn meeting; you must do no heavy work.

Conclusion

23:37 “These are the solemn festivals of Yahweh to which you are to summon the children of Israel, sacred assemblies for the purpose of offering burnt offerings, holocausts, oblations, sacrifices and libations to Yahweh, according to the ritual of each day,

23:38 besides the sabbaths of Yahweh and the presents, and the votive and voluntary gifts that you make to Yahweh.

Recapitulation on the feast of Tabernacles

23:39 “But on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have harvested the produce of the land, you are to celebrate the feast of Yahweh for seven days. On the first and eighth days there shall be a complete rest.

23:40 On the first day you shall take choice fruits, palm branches, boughs of leafy trees and willows from the river bank, and for seven days you shall rejoice in the presence of Yahweh your God.

23:41 You are to celebrate a feast for Yahweh in this way for seven days every year. This is a perpetual law for your descendants. “You are to keep this feast in the seventh month.

23:42 For seven days you are to live in shelters: all natives of Israel must live in shelters,

23:43 so that your descendants may know that I made the sons of Israel live in shelters when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am Yahweh your God.”‘

23:44 And Moses described the solemn festivals of Yahweh to the sons of Israel.

JB LEVITICUS Chapter 24

Complementary ritual prescriptions

a. The perpetual flame

24:1 Yahweh spoke to Moses; he said:

24:2 ‘Order the sons of Israel to bring you pure olive oil for the lamp-stand, and keep a flame burning there continually.

24:3 Outside the veil of Testimony, in the Tent of Meeting, Aaron is to see to this flame. It shall burn there before Yahweh from evening to morning continually. This is a perpetual law for your descendants:

24:4 Aaron is to see to the lamps on the pure lamp-stand before Yahweh, continually.

b. The bread on the Golden Table

24:5 ‘You are to take wheaten flour and with it bake twelve cobs, each of two-tenths of an ephah.

24:6 Then you must set them in two rows of six on the pure table that stands before Yahweh.

24:7 On each row you shall place pure incense. This will be the food offered as a memorial, a burnt offering for Yahweh.

24:8 Continually, every sabbath they shall be set before Yahweh. The sons of Israel are to provide them by unending covenant.

24:9 They will belong to Aaron and his sons, who shall eat them in a holy place, for they are a most holy portion for him of Yahweh’s burnt offerings. This is a perpetual law.’

A case of blasphemy. The law of retaliation

24:10 There was a man whose mother was an Israelite woman and whose father was an Egyptian. He came out of his house and in the camp, surrounded by the sons of Israel, he began to quarrel with a man who was an Israelite.

24:11 Now this son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the name and cursed it. So they brought him to Moses (his mother’s name was Shelomith daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan).

24:12 He was put under guard until the will of Yahweh should be made clear to them.

24:13 Yahweh spoke to Moses; he said:

24:14 ‘Take the man who pronounced the curse outside the camp. Let all who have heard him lay their hands on his head, and let the whole community stone him.

24:15 Then say to the sons of Israel: “Any man who curses his God shall bear the burden of his fault.

24:16 The one who blasphemes the name of Yahweh must die; the whole community must stone him. Stranger or native, if he blasphemes the name, he dies.

24:17 “If a man strikes down any human being, he must die.

24:18 “If a man strikes an animal down he must make restitution for it: a life for a life.

24:19 “If a man injures his neighbour, what he has done must be done to him:

24:20 broken limb for broken limb, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. As the injury inflicted, so must be the injury suffered.

24:21 The one who strikes an animal down must make restitution for it, and the one who strikes down a man must die.

24:22 The sentence you pass shall be the same whether it be on native or on stranger; for I am Yahweh your God.”‘

24:23 When Moses had said this to the sons of Israel, they took the man who had pronounced the curse out of the camp and stoned him. In this way the sons of Israel carried out the order of Yahweh to Moses.

JB LEVITICUS Chapter 25

The Holy Years

a. The Sabbatical Year

25:1 Yahweh spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai; he said:

25:2 to the sons of Israel and say to them: “When you enter the land that I am giving you, the land is to keep a sabbath’s rest for Yahweh.

25:3 For six years you shall sow your field, for six years you shall prune your vine and gather its produce.

25:4 But in the seventh year the land is to have its rest, a sabbath for Yahweh. You must not sow your field or prune your vine,

25:5 or harvest your ungathered corn or gather grapes from your untrimmed vine. It is to be a year of rest for the land.

25:6 The sabbath of the land will itself feed you and your servants, men and women, your hired labourer, your guest, and all who live with you.

25:7 For your cattle too, and the animals on your land, its produce will serve as food.

b. The Year of Jubilee

25:8 “You are to count seven weeks of years – seven times seven years, that is to say a period of seven weeks of years, forty-nine years.

25:9 And on the tenth day of the seventh month you shall sound the trumpet; on the Day of Atonement you shall sound the trumpet throughout the land.

25:10 You will declare this fiftieth year sacred and proclaim the liberation of all the inhabitants of the land. This is to be a jubilee for you; each of you will return to his ancestral home, each to his own clan.

25:11 This fiftieth year is to be a jubilee year for you: you will not sow, you will not harvest the ungathered corn, you will not gather from the untrimmed vine.

25:12 The jubilee is to be a holy thing to you, you will eat what comes from the fields.

25:13 “In this year of jubilee each of you is to return to his ancestral home.

25:14 If you buy or sell with your neighbour, let no one wrong his brother.

25:15 If you buy from your neighbour, this must take into account the number of years since the jubilee: according to the number of productive years he will fix the price.

25:16 The greater the number of years, the higher shall be the price demanded; the less the number of years, the greater the reduction; for what he is selling you is a certain number of harvests.

25:17 Let none of you wrong his neighbour, but fear your God; I am Yahweh your God.

25:18 “You must put my laws and customs into practice; you must keep them, practise them; and so you shall be secure in your possession of the land.

25:19 The land will give its fruit, you will eat your fill and live in security.

The divine guarantee

25:20 “In case you should ask: What shall we eat in this seventh year if we do not sow or harvest the produce?

25:21 I have ordered my blessing to be on you every sixth year, which will therefore provide for you for three years.[*a]

25:22 You will have the old produce to eat while you are sowing in the eighth year and even as late as the ninth year; you will eat the old produce, while waiting for the harvest of that year.

Consequences of the holiness of land and people

a. The land: redemption of landed property

25:23 “Land must not be sold in perpetuity, for the land belongs to me, and to me you are only strangers and guests.

25:24 You will allow a right of redemption on all your landed property.

25:25 If your brother falls on evil days and has to sell his patrimony, his nearest relation shall come to him and exercise his right of redemption on what his brother has sold.

25:26 The man who has no one to exercise this right can regain his property in this way: when he has found the means to effect the redemption,

25:27 he is to calculate the number of years that the alienation would have lasted, repay to the purchaser the sum due for the time still to run, and so return to his property.

25:28 If he cannot find the sum for paying the compensation, the property sold shall remain in the possession of the purchaser until the jubilee year. In the jubilee year, the latter must relinquish it and return to his own property.

25:29 “If anyone sells a dwelling house that is in a walled town, he shall have the right of redemption until the expiry of the year following the sale. His right of redemption is limited to the year;

25:30 and if the redemption has not been effected by the end of the year, this house in the town shall be the property of the purchaser and his descendants in perpetuity; he need not relinquish it at the jubilee.

25:31 But houses in villages not enclosed by walls will be considered as situated in the open country; they carry the right of redemption, and the purchaser must relinquish them at the jubilee.

25:32 “As regards the towns of the Levites, any property in the towns possessed by them shall carry a perpetual right of redemption in their favour.

25:33 If it is a Levite who is affected by the right of redemption, at the jubilee he must come out of the property that was sold and return to his house, to the town in which he has a title to property. For the houses in the towns of the Levites are their property in the midst of the sons of Israel,

25:34 and the arable land depending on these towns cannot be sold, for it is their property for ever.

b. The people: loans and enfranchisement

25:35 “If your brother who is living with you falls on evil days and is unable to support himself with you, you must support him as you would a stranger or a guest, and he must continue to live with you.

25:36 Do not make him work for you, do not take interest from him; fear your God, and let your brother live with you.

25:37 You are not to lend him money at interest, or give him food to make a profit out of it.

25:38 I am Yahweh your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.

25:39 “If your brother falls on evil days when he is with you and sells himself to you, you must not impose a slave’s work on him;

25:40 he shall be like a hired man or a guest, and shall work with you until the jubilee year.

25:41 Then he shall leave you, he and his children; he shall return to his clan and regain possession of his ancestral property.

25:42 For they are my servants, these whom I have brought out of Egypt, and they must not be sold like slaves.

25:43 You must not be a hard master to him, but you must fear your God.

25:44 “The servants you have, men and women, shall come from the nations round you; from these you may purchase servants, men and women.

25:45 You may also purchase them from the children of the strangers who live among you, and from their families living with you who have been born on your soil. They shall be your property

25:46 and you may leave them as an inheritance to your sons after you, to hold in perpetual possession. These you may have for slaves; but to your brothers, the sons of Israel, you must not be hard masters.

25:47 “If some stranger or settler among you grows rich, and your brother falls on evil days and is in difficulties with him and sells himself to him, to this stranger or settler among you or to one of his descendants,

25:48 he shall enjoy the right of redemption after sale, and one of his brothers may redeem him.

25:49 His paternal uncle, his uncle’s son, or a member of his own family may redeem him; if he has the means, he may redeem himself.

25:50 By agreement with his purchaser, he must count the number of years between the year of sale and the jubilee year; the sum of the price of sale must be calculated at the annual rate for these years, his time being valued as that of a hired man.

25:51 If there are still many years to run, in proportion to their number he must refund part of his sale price as payment for his redemption.

25:52 And if there are only a few years still to run before the jubilee year, he must calculate in proportion to the number of these years what shall be refunded for his redemption,

25:53 the calculation being made as if he were hired by the year. You must see that the man is not hardly dealt with.

25:54 “If he has not been redeemed in any of these ways, he shall go free in the jubilee year, he and his children with him.

25:55 For they are my servants, these sons of Israel; they are my servants whom I have brought out of the land of Egypt. I am Yahweh your God.

JB LEVITICUS Chapter 26

Summary: conclusion

26:1 “You must make no idols; you must set up neither carved image nor standing-stone, set up no sculptured stone in your land, to prostrate yourselves in front of it; for it is I, Yahweh, who am your God.

26:2 You must keep my sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary. I am Yahweh.

Blessings

26:3 “If you live according to my laws, if you keep my commandments and put them into practice,

26:4 I will give you the rain you need at the right time; the earth shall give its produce and the trees of the countryside their fruits;

26:5 you shall thresh until vintage time and gather grapes until sowing time. You shall eat your fill of bread and live secure in your land.

26:6 “I will give peace to the land, and you shall sleep with none to frighten you. I will rid the land of beasts of prey. The sword shall not pass through your land.

26:7 You shall pursue your enemies and they shall fall before your sword;

26:8 five of you pursuing a hundred of them, one hundred pursuing ten thousand; and your enemies shall fall before your sword.

26:9 “I will turn towards you, I will make you be fruitful and multiply, and I will uphold my Covenant with you.

26:10 “You shall eat your fill of last year’s harvest, and still throw out the old to make room for the new.

26:11 “I will set up my dwelling among you, and I will not cast you off.

26:12 I will live in your midst; I will be your God and you shall be my people.

26:13 It is I, Yahweh your God, who have brought you out of the land of Egypt so that you should be their servants no longer. I have broken the yoke that bound you and have made you walk with head held high.

Curses

26:14 “But if you do not listen to me, and do not observe each one of these commandments,

26:15 if you refuse my laws and disregard my customs, and break my Covenant by not observing each one of my commandments,

26:16 then I will deal in like manner with you. “I will inflict terror on you, consumption and fever that waste the eyes away and exhaust the breath of life. You shall sow your seed in vain – your enemies shall feed on it.

26:17 I will turn against you and you shall be defeated by your enemies. Your foes shall have the mastery over you, and you shall take flight when there is no one pursuing you.

26:18 “And if in spite of this, you do not listen to me, I will still punish you sevenfold for your sins.

26:19 I will break your proud strength. I will give you a sky of iron, an earth of bronze.

26:20 You shall wear out your strength in vain, your land shall not yield its produce any longer nor the trees their fruit.

26:21 “If you set yourselves against me and will not listen to me, I will heap these plagues on you in sevenfold punishment for your sins.

26:22 I will let wild beasts loose against you to make away with your children, destroy your cattle, and reduce you in number until your roads are deserted.

26:23 “And if that does not reform you, and you still set yourselves against me,

26:24 I too will set myself against you and I will strike you with sevenfold punishment for your sins.

26:25 I will send out the sword against you, to avenge the Covenant. You may huddle inside your towns: I will send pestilence among you, and you shall be delivered into the hands of the enemy.

26:26 I will take away from you your bread, which is your staff, and one oven shall suffice for ten women to bake your bread; they shall dole this bread out by weight, and you shall eat and not be filled.

26:27 “And if, in spite of this, you do not listen to me but set yourselves against me,

26:28 I will set myself against you in fury and punish you sevenfold for your sins.

26:29 You shall eat the flesh of your own sons, and you shall eat the flesh of your own daughters.

26:30 I will destroy your high places and smash your altars of incense; I will pile your corpses on the corpses of your idols, and I will cast you off.

26:31 I will reduce your cities to ruins; I will lay your sanctuaries waste; I will no longer breathe the fragrance that would appease me.

26:32 I, yes I, will make such a desolation of the land that your enemies who come to live there will be appalled by it.

26:33 And I will scatter you among the nations. I will unsheathe the sword against you to make your land a waste and your towns a ruin.

26:34 Then the land will observe its sabbaths indeed, lying desolate there, while you are in the land of your enemies. Then indeed the land will rest and observe its sabbaths.

26:35 And as it lies desolate it will rest, as it never did on your sabbaths when you lived in it.

26:36 I will strike fear into the hearts of those of you that are left; in the land of their enemies the sound of a falling leaf shall send them fleeing as men flee from the sword, and they shall fall though there is no one pursuing them.

26:37 They shall stumble over one another as if the sword were upon them even when there is no one pursuing them. You shall be powerless to stand before your enemies;

26:38 you shall perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies shall swallow you up.

26:39 For their sins, those of you who are left shall perish in the lands of their enemies; they shall perish too for the sins of their fathers added to their own.

26:40 Then they shall confess their sins and the sins of their fathers, sins by which they betrayed me worse, by which they set themselves against me.

26:41 “I in my turn will set myself against them and take them to the land of their enemies. Then their uncircumcised heart will be humbled, then they will atone for their sins.

26:42 I shall remember my Covenant with Jacob, and my Covenant with Isaac and my Covenant with Abraham; and I shall remember the land.

26:43 “Abandoned by them, the land will keep its sabbaths, as it lies desolate when they are gone. But they must atone for their sin, for they have spurned my customs and abhorred my laws.

26:44 “Yet this is not the end. When they are in the land of their enemies, I will not so spurn them or abhor them as to destroy them altogether and break my Covenant with them; for I am Yahweh their God.

26:45 For their sake I will remember the Covenant I made with those first generations that I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I would be their God, I, Yahweh.”‘

26:46 These are the laws, customs and rules which Yahweh laid down between himself and the sons of Israel on Mount Sinai through the mediation of Moses.

JB LEVITICUS Chapter 27

Tariffs and estimates

a. Persons

27:1 Yahweh spoke to Moses; he said:

27:2 ‘Speak to the sons of Israel and tell them: “If anyone vows the value of a person to Yahweh and wishes to discharge the vow:

27:3 “a man between twenty and sixty years of age shall be valued at fifty silver shekels – the sanctuary shekel;

27:4 a woman shall be valued at thirty shekels;

27:5 “between five and twenty years, a boy shall be valued at twenty shekels, a girl at ten shekels;

27:6 “between one month and five years, a boy shall be valued at five silver shekels, a girl at three silver shekels;

27:7 “at sixty years and over, a man shall be valued at fifteen shekels and a woman at ten shekels.

27:8 “If the person who made the vow cannot meet this valuation, he must present the person concerned to the priest, and the priest shall set a value proportionate to the resources of the person who made the vow.

b. Animals

27:9 “If it is a question of an animal suitable for offering to Yahweh, any such animal given to Yahweh shall be a consecrated thing.

27:10 It cannot be exchanged or a substitute offered – good for bad, bad for good. If one animal is substituted for another, both of them shall be consecrated.

27:11 If it is a question of an unclean animal, and not suitable for offering to Yahweh, whatever it may be it must be presented to the priest

27:12 and he shall set a value on it, judging it good or bad. You must abide by his valuation;

27:13 but if the person wishes to redeem it, he must add one-fifth to the valuation.

c. Houses

27:14 “If a man consecrates his house to Yahweh, the priest shall set a value on it, judging whether its value is great or little. You must abide by the priest’s valuation,

27:15 but if the man who has vowed his house wishes to redeem it, he must add one-fifth to the valuation, and it shall revert to him.

d. Fields

27:16 “If a man consecrates one of the fields of his patrimony to Yahweh, its value shall be calculated according to its productivity, at the rate of fifty silver shekels to one omer of barley.

27:17 “If he consecrates the field during the jubilee year, he must stand by this valuation.

27:18 But if he consecrates it after the jubilee, the priest shall calculate the price on the basis of the number of years still to run until the next jubilee and the valuation shall be reduced accordingly.

27:19 “If he wishes to redeem the field, he shall add one-fifth to the valuation, and the field shall revert to him.

27:20 If he does not redeem it but sells it to another, the right of redemption ceases;

27:21 when the buyer has to relinquish it at the jubilee year, it becomes a thing consecrated to Yahweh, the same as a field laid under ban: the man’s property passes to the priest.

27:22 “If he consecrates to Yahweh a field which he has bought, but which is not part of his patrimony,

27:23 the priest shall assess the valuation on the basis of the number of years still to run before the jubilee year; and the man shall pay this sum the same day, as for a thing consecrated to Yahweh.

27:24 In the jubilee year, the field shall return to the seller, to the man to whose patrimony the land belongs.

27:25 All valuation must be made in sanctuary shekels, at the rate of twenty gerahs to the shekel.

Particular rules for the redemption

a. of first-born

27:26 “No one, however, may consecrate the first-born of his cattle, for it belongs to Yahweh by right: whether ox or sheep, it belongs to Yahweh.

27:27 But if it is an unclean animal it may be repurchased at the valuation price with one-fifth added; if it is not redeemed, the animal shall be sold at the valuation price.

b. of things under the ban

27:28 “Nothing, however, that a man lays under ban for Yahweh may be redeemed; nothing he possesses, whether man, beasts, or fields of his patrimony. What is laid under ban is always a most holy thing and belongs to Yahweh.

27:29 A human being laid under ban cannot be redeemed, he must be put to death.

c. of tithes

27:30 “All tithes of the land, levied on the produce of the earth or the fruits of trees, belong to Yahweh; they are consecrated to Yahweh.

27:31 If a man wishes to redeem part of his tithe, he must add one-fifth to its value.

27:32 “In all tithes of flock or herd, the tenth animal of all that pass under the herdsman’s staff shall be a thing consecrated to Yahweh;

27:33 there must be no picking out of good and bad, no substitution. If substitution takes place, both the animal and its substitute shall be things consecrated without possibility of redemption.”‘

27:34 These are the commandments that Yahweh laid down for Moses on Mount Sinai, for the sons of Israel.

END OF JB LEVITICUS [27 Chapters].

…..

LAMENTATIONS

JB LAMENTATIONS Chapter 1

FIRST LAMENTATION

Aleph

1:1 Oh, how lonely she sits, the city once thronged with people, as if suddenly widowed. Though once great among the nations, she, the princess among provinces, is now reduced to vassalage.

Beth

1:2 She passes her nights weeping; the tears run down her cheeks. Not one of all her lovers remains to comfort her. Her friends have all betrayed her and become her enemies.

Ghimel

1:3 Judah is exiled after her downfall and harsh enslavement. She dwells among the nations now, but finds no relief there. Her pursuers all overtake her in places where there is no way out.

Daleth

1:4 The roads to Zion are in mourning; no one comes to her festivals now. Her gateways are all deserted; her priests groan; her virgins are grief-stricken; she suffers bitterly.

He

1:5 Her oppressors now have the upper hand, her enemies enjoy prosperity; Yahweh himself has made her suffer for her many, many sins; her little children have left her as prisoners driven in front of the oppressor.

Waw

1:6 From the daughter of Zion all her glory has departed. Her leaders were like rams that find no pasture. Listlessly they took the road, driven by the drover.

Zain

1:7 Jerusalem remembers her days of misery and distress, when her people fell before the enemy and no one came to help her. Her oppressors looked at her and laughed at her downfall.

Heth

1:8 Jerusalem has sinned grievously and she has become a thing unclean. All those who used to honour her despise her; they have seen her nakedness. While she herself groans and turns her face away.

Teth

1:9 Her filth clings to the hem of her clothes. She had never thought of ending like this, sinking as low as this. She has no one to comfort her. ‘Yahweh, look on my degradation; my enemy is triumphant.’

Yod

1:10 The oppressor has laid his hands on all she treasured; she has seen the pagans enter her sanctuary, men whom you had forbidden to attend your Assembly.

Kaph

1:11 All her people groan as they search for bread; they barter their valuables for food, to keep life in them. ‘Look, Yahweh, and mark how despised I am.’

Lamed

1:12 All you who pass this way, look and see: is any sorrow like the sorrow that afflicts me, with which Yahweh has struck me on the day of his burning anger?

Mem

1:13 He has sent a fire from on high down into my bones; he has laid a snare underneath my feet; he has brought me down; he has left me deserted, and ill all day long.

Nun

1:14 The yoke of my sins weighs down on me, his, the hand that knotted them; their yoke is on my neck, he makes my energy fail. The Lord has put me at their mercy, I have no strength left to resist.

Samek

1:15 Yahweh has spurned the bravest fighters I had; he has summoned a host against me to destroy the flower of my army. In his winepress the Lord has trampled the virgin daughter of Judah.

Ain

1:16 And that is why I weep; my eyes dissolve in tears, since the comforter who could revive me is far away. My sons are in despair, the enemy has proved too strong.

Pe

1:17 Zion stretches out her hands; no one is there to comfort her. Yahweh has summoned against Jacob foes from every side; Jerusalem has become an unclean thing to them.

Sade

1:18 Yahweh is acting rightly, for I had rebelled against his order. Listen therefore, all you nations, and see my sorrow. My virgins and my young men have gone into exile.

Qoph

1:19 I called for help to my lovers; they failed me. My priests and my elders were perishing inside the city, as they searched for food to keep life in them.

Resh

1:20 Look, Yahweh. How great my anguish! My entrails shudder; my heart turns over inside me. Alas! I have always been a rebel – and now, outside, the sword has robbed me of my children, and inside, there is death.

Shin

1:21 Listen to my groaning; there is no one to comfort me. All my enemies gloat over my disaster: this is your doing. Bring the day you once foretold, so that they may be as I am.

Tau

1:22 Let all their wickedness come before you; treat them as you have treated me for all my sins. Many indeed are my groans, my heart is sick.

JB LAMENTATIONS Chapter 2

SECOND LAMENTATION

Aleph

2:1 Oh, how Yahweh in his wrath has brought darkness on the daughter of Zion! He has flung the glory of Israel from heaven to the ground, no more remembering his footstool[*a] on the day of his wrath.

Beth

2:2 The Lord has pitilessly destroyed all the homes of Jacob; in his displeasure he has shattered the strongholds of the daughter of Judah; he has thrown to the ground, he has left accursed the kingdom and its rulers.

Ghimel

2:3 In his burning anger he has broken every horn in Israel, withdrawn the strength of his right hand at the coming of the enemy, and kindled in Jacob a fire that burns up everything near it.

Daleth

2:4 Like an enemy he has bent his bow, holding his right hand steady; like a foe, he has slaughtered everything that delights the eye; on the tent of the daughter of Zion he has poured his anger out like fire.

He

2:5 The Lord has been like an enemy; he has destroyed Israel; he has destroyed every one of her palaces, laid low her strongholds, and for the daughters of Judah has multiplied wailing on wailing.

Waw

2:6 He has wrecked his own domain like a garden, shattered his own gathering place; Yahweh has wiped out the memory of festivals and sabbaths in Zion; in the heat of his wrath he has repudiated king and priest.

Zain

2:7 The Lord has grown weary of his altar, has come to loathe his sanctuary, and handed her palace walls over to the enemy; from the uproar in the Temple of Yahweh it might have been a day of festival.

Heth

2:8 Yahweh resolved to ruin the city wall of the daughter of Zion; with a line he measured it, and did not withdraw his hand until he had completely overthrown it, bringing mourning on city wall and rampart; now they are crumbling down together.

Teth

2:9 Her gates have sunk into the ground; he has shattered their bars. Her king, her nobles, are now with the pagans, the Law is no more. Even her prophets receive no further vision from Yahweh.

Yod

2:10 Mutely they sit on the ground, the elders of the daughter of Zion; they have put dust on their heads, and wrapped themselves in sackcloth. The virgins of Jerusalem hang their heads down to the ground.

Kaph

2:11 My eyes wasted away with weeping, my entrails shuddered, my liver spilled on the ground at the ruin of the daughters of my people, as children, mere infants, fainted in the squares of the Citadel.

Lamed

2:12 They kept saying to their mothers, ‘Where is the bread?’ as they fainted like wounded men in the squares of the City, as they poured out their souls on their mothers’ breasts.

Mem

2:13 How can I describe you, to what compare you, daughter of Jerusalem? Who can rescue and comfort you, virgin daughter of Zion? For huge as the sea is your affliction; who can possibly cure you?

Nun

2:14 The visions your prophets had on your behalf were delusive, tinsel things, they never pointed out your sin, to ward off your exile. The visions they proffered you were false, fallacious, misleading.

Samek

2:15 All who pass your way clap their hands at the sight; they whistle and shake their heads over the daughter of Jerusalem. ‘Was this the loveliest of all, this, the joy of the whole world?’

Pe

2:16 Your enemies open their mouths in chorus against you; they whistle and grind their teeth; they say, ‘We have swallowed her up. This is the day we were waiting for; now we can touch it, see it.’

Ain

2:17 Yahweh has accomplished his intention, he has carried out his word decreed in the days of old; he has destroyed without pity, giving your enemy cause to gloat over you and raising his horn.

Sade

2:18 Cry aloud, then, to the Lord, groan, daughter of Zion; let your tears flow like a torrent, day and night; give yourself no relief, grant your eyes no rest.

Qoph

2:19 Up, cry out in the night-time, in the early hours of darkness; pour your heart out like water before Yahweh. Stretch out your hands to him for the lives of your children.

Resh

2:20 Look, Yahweh, and consider: whom have you ever treated like this? Why, women have eaten their little ones, the children they had nursed in their arms! Why, priest and prophet have been slaughtered in the sanctuary of Yahweh!

Shin

2:21 Children and old men are lying on the ground in the streets; my virgins and my young men have fallen by the sword; you have killed on the day of your wrath, you have slaughtered pitilessly.

Tau

2:22 As though to a festival you have summoned terrors from every side; on the day of your wrath, no one escaped, no one survived. Those whom I had nursed and reared, my enemy has murdered them all.

JB LAMENTATIONS Chapter 3

THIRD LAMENTATION

Aleph

3:1 I am the man familiar with misery under the rod of his anger;

3:2 I am the one he has driven and forced to walk in darkness, and without any light.

3:3 Against me alone he turns his hand, again and again, all day long.

Beth

3:4 He has wasted my flesh and skin away, has broken my bones.

3:5 He has made a yoke for me, has encircled my head with weariness.

3:6 He has forced me to dwell in darkness with the dead of long ago.

Ghimel

3:7 He has walled me in; I cannot escape; he has made my chains heavy;

3:8 and when I call and shout, he shuts out my prayer.

3:9 He has blocked my ways with cut stones, he has obstructed my paths.

Daleth

3:10 For me he has been a lurking bear, a lion on the watch.

3:11 He has filled my paths with briars and torn me, he has made me a thing of horror.

3:12 He has bent his bow and taken aim, making me the target for his arrows.

He

3:13 In my back he has planted his darts, the children of his quiver.

3:14 I have become the laughing-stock of my whole nation, their butt all day long.

3:15 He has given me my fill of bitterness, he has made me drunk with wormwood.

Waw

3:16 He has broken my teeth with gravel, he has given me ashes for food.

3:17 My soul is shut out from peace; I have forgotten happiness.

3:18 And now I say, ‘My strength is gone, that hope which came from Yahweh’.

Zain

3:19 Brooding on my anguish and affliction is gall and wormwood.

3:20 My spirit ponders it continually and sinks within me.

3:21 This is what I shall tell my heart, and so recover hope:

Heth

3:22 the favours of Yahweh are not all past, his kindnesses are not exhausted;

3:23 every morning they are renewed; great is his faithfulness.

3:24 ‘My portion is Yahweh’ says my soul ‘and so I will hope in him.’

Teth

3:25 Yahweh is good to those who trust him, to the soul that searches for him.

3:26 It is good to wait in silence for Yahweh to save.

3:27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke from youth onwards,

Yod

3:28 to sit in solitude and silence when the Lord fastens it on him,

3:29 to put his lips to the dust – perhaps there still is hope –

3:30 to offer his cheek to the striker, to be overwhelmed with insults.

Kaph

3:31 For the Lord does not reject mankind for ever and ever.

3:32 If he has punished, he has compassion so great is his kindness;

3:33 since he takes no pleasure in abasing and afflicting the human race.

Lamed

3:34 When all the prisoners in a country are crushed and trampled underfoot,

3:35 when a man’s rights are overridden in defiance of the Most High,

3:36 when a man is deprived of justice, does not the Lord see it?

Mem

3:37 Who has only to speak to make things exist? Who commands, if not the Lord?

3:38 From where, if not from the mouth of the Most High, do evil and good come?

3:39 Why then should man complain? Better for him to be bold against his sins.

Nun

3:40 Let us examine our path, let us ponder it and return to Yahweh.

3:41 Let us stretch out our hearts and hands to God in heaven.

3:42 We are the ones who have sinned, who have rebelled, and you have not forgiven.

Samek

3:43 You have wrapped yourself in wrath, pursued us, slaughtered us without pity.

3:44 You have wrapped yourself in a cloud too thick for prayer to pierce.

3:45 You have reduced us to rubbish to the scourings of the nations.

Pe

3:46 Our enemies have opened their mouths in chorus against us.

3:47 Dread and pitfall have been our lot, ravage and ruin.

3:48 My eyes dissolve in torrents of tears over the ruin of the daughters of my people.

Ain

3:49 My eyes weep ceaselessly, without relief

3:50 until Yahweh looks down and sees from heaven.

3:51 My eyes have grown sore over all the daughters of my Citadel.

Sade

3:52 They hunted me, harried me like a bird, they who hate me for no reason.

3:53 They tumbled my life into a pit, they threw stones down on me.

3:54 The waters went over my head; I said, ‘I am lost’.

Qoph

3:55 Yahweh, I called on your name from the deep pit.

3:56 You heard me crying, ‘Do not close your ear to my prayer’.

3:57 You came near that day when I called to you; you said, ‘Do not be afraid’.

Resh

3:58 You have defended the cause of my soul, you have redeemed my life.

3:59 Yahweh, you have seen the wrong done to me; grant me redress.

3:60 You have seen all their frenzy, all their plots against me.

Shin

3:61 Yahweh, you have heard their insults, all their plots against me,

3:62 my opponents slandering me under their breath all day long.

3:63 Whether they sit, or whether they stand, see, I am their butt.

Tau

3:64 Yahweh, repay them as their deeds deserve.

3:65 Give them hardness of heart, your curse be on them.

3:66 Pursue them in fury, root them out from underneath your heavens.

JB LAMENTATIONS Chapter 4

FOURTH LAMENTATION

Aleph

4:1 Oh, how the old gold has tarnished, that gold so fine! The sacred stones now lie scattered at the corner of every street.

Beth

4:2 The sons of Zion, as precious as finest gold, Oh, reckoned now no better than earthenware pots made by the potter!

Ghimel

4:3 The very jackals give the breast, and suckle their young: but the daughters of my people have grown cruel like the ostriches of the desert.

Daleth

4:4 The tongue of the baby at the breast sticks to his palate for thirst, little children go begging for bread; no one spares a scrap for them.

He

4:5 Those who used to eat only the best, now lie dying in the streets; those who were reared in the purple claw at the rubbish heaps.

Waw

4:6 The crimes of the daughter of my people have outdone the sins of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment, no time for a man to wring his hands.

Zain

4:7 Once her young men were brighter than snow, whiter than milk; rosier than coral their bodies, their hue as radiant as sapphire.

Heth

4:8 Now with faces darker than blackness itself they move unrecognisable through the streets. The skin is shrunken against their bones, dry as a stick.

Teth

4:9 Happy were those killed by the sword, happier than those by hunger, spent and sinking, deprived of the fruits of the fields.

Yod

4:10 With their own hands, tender-hearted women have boiled their children; these have been their food in the disaster that fell on the daughter of my people.

Kaph

4:11 Yahweh has indulged his fury, has poured his anger out. He has lit a fire in Zion that has devoured her foundations.

Lamed

4:12 The kings of the earth never believed, nor did all the inhabitants of the world, that oppressor and enemy would ever penetrate the gates of Jerusalem.

Mem

4:13 It came through the sins of her prophets and the crimes of her priests, who had shed the blood of the upright in the heart of the city.

Nun

4:14 Through the streets like blind men, they roamed polluted with blood, so that no one dared to touch their clothes.

Samek

4:15 ‘Keep away! Unclean!’ people shouted ‘Keep away! Do not touch us!’ If they left and took refuge with the nations, they were not allowed to shelter there either.

Pe

4:16 The face of Yahweh dispersed them; he never spared a glance for them again. People respected the priests no longer, they paid no attention to the prophets.

Ain

4:17 And still we wore out our eyes, watching for help in vain. From our towers we watched for a nation[*a] which could not save us anyway.

Sade

4:18 Our enemies eyed our steps, and barricaded our squares. Our end was near, our days were done.

Qoph

4:19 Our pursuers were swifter than eagles in the sky; they dogged our steps in the mountains, they ambushed us in the desert.

Resh

4:20 The breath of our nostrils, Yahweh’s anointed,[*b] was captured in their pits, he of whom we said, ‘Under his shadow we shall live among the nations’.

Shin

4:21 Rejoice, exult, daughter of Edom, as you dwell in Uz! To you in turn the cup will pass; it will make you drunk, and you will show your nakedness.

Tau

4:22 Your crime has been atoned for, daughter of Zion; he will never banish you again. Your crime he will punish, daughter of Edom; he will lay bare your sins.

JB LAMENTATIONS Chapter 5

FIFTH LAMENTATION

5:1 Yahweh, remember what has happened to us; look on us and see our degradation.

5:2 Our inheritance has passed to aliens, our homes to barbarians.

5:3 We are orphans, we are fatherless; our mothers are like widows.

5:4 We drink our own water – at a price; we have to pay for what is our own firewood.

5:5 The yoke is on our necks; we are persecuted; we are worked to death; no relief for us.

5:6 We hold out our hands to Egypt, or to Assyria, just to get enough bread.

5:7 Our fathers have sinned; they are no more, and we ourselves bear the weight of their crimes.

5:8 Slaves[*a] rule us; no one rescues us from them.

5:9 At peril of our lives we earn our bread, by risking the sword of the desert.

5:10 Our skin is as hot as the oven, such is the fever of famine.

5:11 They have raped the women in Zion, the virgins in the towns of Judah.

5:12 Princes have been hanged at their hands; the face of the old has not been respected.

5:13 Youths have toiled at the mill; boys have collapsed under loads of wood.

5:14 The elders have deserted the gateway; the young men have given up their music.

5:15 Joy has vanished from our hearts; our dancing has been turned to mourning.

5:16 The garland has fallen from our heads. Woe to us, because we have sinned!

5:17 This is why our hearts are sick; this is why our eyes are dim:

5:18 because Mount Zion is desolate; jackals roam to and fro on it.

5:19 But you, Yahweh, you remain for ever; your throne endures from age to age.

5:20 You cannot mean to forget us for ever? You cannot mean to abandon us for good?

5:21 Make us come back to you, Yahweh, and we will come back. Renew our days as in times past,

5:22 unless you have utterly rejected us, in an anger that knows no limit.

END OF JB LAMENTATIONS [5 Chapters].